The Summoning: All for the Want of a Horseshoe Nail

Who doesn't use an Odin rune the moment they possess it?

        

Well, I'm stuck. Perhaps not really stuck; just stuck in the way that all of my options are really annoying.

     

I had complained in the last entry about the developers ruining what would have otherwise been a fun mapping puzzle by providing the answer to the teleportation maze. Little did I know that the Otherworld One level would feature another such maze, this time unmapped. One section of the level had 15 squares, each 2 x 2, each with two teleporters. Most of them had no other features, although several had broken vials, clearly meant to confuse the player. By dropping my own items to identify each square, I was able to map all of them. The goal was to get to a lever and then to an exit square.

         

My teleporter map.

        

Shortly after I visited this area, alas, my adventures in the Otherworld came to an end. I reached a point where the only direction left to explore required putting items into slots. I lacked the first two items--a black pearl and what I assume is an Isa rune. I certainly hope I find those things going forward because I don't feel like turning around. I spoke to King Evermore and he sent me back to the basement of End Four, where I resumed my exploration of the upper and lower levels.

            

Each of these ladders goes to a separate room on the level above.

           

End Four took an incredible amount of time. Both the upper and lower levels were huge, definitely the largest so far, with no blank space at all. Most of the levels consisted of small rooms with between one and four ladders. Rooms were configured differently on the upper and lower levels, so getting from one place to another was a long process of climbing down, moving across a room, climbing up, moving across a room, climbing down, and so on. The level maximized backtracking by requiring me to find a key in one far-flung area then open a lock on the other side of the dungeon.

 

In the end, I'm not sure the rewards were worth it. Well, one probably was: a suit of enchanted plate mail, gloves, and greaves. I got this by finding the key components in various remote parts of the levels and bringing them back to the dwarven smith. But another series of puzzles and trekking got me no more than a handful of runes. Granted, one was an Odin rune and it increased my power to 21, but I'm still not sure it was worth several hours. 

         

My enchanted plate is forged.

        

There weren't many fights in End Four. I think they were all with cyclopes. Still, Warmonger continued leveling in power, until ultimately I had all eight symbols and the sword said it was capable of taking on the guardian swords outside Shadow Weaver's chambers. At that point, I put it away and equipped my glaive because my skill with pole-arms is very low. Ultimately, though, I broke the glaive, two axes, a flanged mace, and most of my arrows, and thus had to pick up Warmonger again.

         

Warmonger reaches his level cap.

        

I was still trying to find my way through End Four when I found the entrance to the sewers. I had been warned that they were dangerous, but I decided to check them out. Unfortunately, the character actually sinks in the sewers until she can't use her weapons. I couldn't figure out any way to solve this. My Boots of Levitation vanished while I was using them to cross some glyphs and pits in part of End Four, and I don't believe there's any kind of "Levitation" spell in the game. Thus, I turned around and returned to End Four and figured I'd skip the sewers.

         

This isn't going to work.

       

End Three was the only other exit, and it also took a long time, but this time because of puzzles. Right near the entrance was an entire long hallway full of pressure plates, each of which de-activated or re-activated a teleporter in a different hallway. I had to stop a ball from rolling east-west and instead get it rolling north-south down the first hallway, then watch the effect on the teleporters, figure out the pattern, and use it to safely get down the second hallway without stepping on a teleporter.

          

This is intimidating.

       

No sooner had I figured that out than I ran into another huge batch of teleporters and had to figure out how to turn them off by throwing rocks into the right ones to shut them down. (The rocks teleported to a room with pressure plates and activated the plates, thus killing the teleporters.) In both puzzles, I had some hints--a magic mouth in the former case and the fact that there was a pile of rocks next to the teleporters in the latter. You have to watch for these things.

    

Assassins and creeping vines were the level's enemies, both capable of poisoning. There was one room that had about 10 assassins, but fortunately they seem to walk around randomly, only attacking when they happen to encounter you, rather than swarming you. When my glaive broke, I switched to my bow and shot them from a distance; this was particularly effective against the slow-moving vines. There were a lot more teleporters, pressure plates, and keyholes on the level, but when I finished, the map made it look like I'd only completed half a level. I particularly hadn't found an assassin named Raven, whose fellow assassin offered a reward for his head.

        

Level 3 doesn't look like it could possibly be complete, but I didn't find any other paths.

         

Exits gave me a choice of End Two or End Five. The map at the back of the manual suggested that End Two and End One were both optional and that End Five would connect with the first Citadel level. But I needed items and experience, so I reasoned I'd try End Two until it got annoying, at least.

    

It never really did. The level was battle-heavy, and there were a lot of teleporters, but no really tough puzzles. Monsters were mostly cyclopes, but there were phoenixes (a new monster) in some areas that cause constant fire damage as they attack. A casting of "Fire Shield" helped quite a bit with those.

         

Attacked by multiple phoenixes.

       

I met a wizard named Ehdrik who wanted me to find the Staff of the Serpent for him. In return, he taught me the "Dispel" spell.

          

HOOK a LITTLE PAPER, DUDE. Then SERVE the PAPER.

        

There was also a cobbler who offered to make me a pair of lava boots for walking in the lava level. He needed a sandstone, which I eventually found, and six gold pieces in payment. Well, wouldn't you know, several levels after I ditched a bunch of "extra" gold pieces, I've now run out. I hoped to find more on the level but I only found one or two.

    

I did dip in to the lava level, but it's another place where you take constant damage even if you're not walking in lava. I suspect I really need the boots if I want to survive there.

          

There was also this.

        

A warrior named Thorfin Ironfist, meanwhile, told me that only messengers are allowed through the gates and into the first level of the citadel. I had met a hostile messenger in End Four and swiped his pass, hat, and uniform when he was dead. I met another one in End Two and got a duplicate set.

    

With no way to progress from here, I returned to End Three and went to the exit to End Five. End Five is the home of the assassin Raven, who at least two NPCs want me to kill, though I haven't found him yet. Throughout the large, largely open level, magic mouths request various "donations" to the assassins' guild, such as an apple of vigor, a pearl, a great plate helmet, a gold key, a rowan wand, an Odin rune, a harpy feather, an iron token, a diamond, a "Zap Away" parchment, and a suit of chainmail. I had a few of these items but didn't have most of them. I know that some are in my backpath, but way back.

          

Killing his rivals--that's so Raven.

        

I explored this level as far as I could, but clearly my lack of some of these items is prohibiting me from moving forward, both to the base of the citadel and also to Raven. Meanwhile, a healer named Ghervass is offering to teach me a healing spell (which won't require a potion jar) for even more gold that I don't have.

Thus, at this point, I have several options, none of which really appeal to me:

   

• Backtrack to previous levels to find the items that the magic mouths require. I'm 100% sure I never left a gold key in my backpath, though. Keys are usually used right away. Even if I can't find all the items I need for End Five, I could probably at least find enough gold for Ghervass and the cobbler.

• In conjunction with the first option, then explore the lava level. Maybe there are items there sufficient for End Five.

      

The game seems to be discouraging me from this option.

         

• Explore around some more. Maybe I missed something on one of these levels. There are lots of levers and plates and teleporters, some with multiple destinations, and it would be easy to overlook something. Without knowing specifically what I'm looking for, though, this isn't appealing.

• Try the sewer route. It's supposed to be an alternative to getting into the citadel, but very hard, and I don't know how I can fight without the ability to swing my arms. Spells don't work, either.

• I have a Fehu rune. I could scum for one of the items that End Five needs, but I don't know what specific item will break the roadblock. I don't know if Fehu ever produces some items, like keys.

    

I will take suggestions and even outright spoilers at this point.

     

A few miscellaneous notes:

   

• The "Battle Rage" spell is completely worth it. I wish I'd used it sooner (although the battles haven't been very hard, especially since I got my magic plate). It significantly increases speed and damage of weapons.

• I keep accidentally throwing my sword just because my fingers twitch on the keys. I'm worried that one of these times, I'm not going to notice until I've lost it.

• Not only has Jera not leveled up in about 10 hours, she's not really even close to the next level. It is impossible to imagine reaching the 600,000 experience points needed for Level 12 ("Vanquisher") without any respawning. I've only earned 107,000 points in the game so far.

• She has, however, reached "Expert" with edged weapons (9/10) and "Stalwart" with missile weapons. No changes in magic levels.

• Despite needing several types of keys to move forward, for some reason I have three excess "sun keys."

        

Commenters did try to warn me about these unreasonable requests for items, but other than never using anything unless he has a copy, I don't really know what a player is supposed to do. Some of them are absurd, like the spell parchment--there's no reason in the game to save parchments after recording the gestures. As much as I've been enjoying the game, this kind of nonsense is going to hurt its score.

    

Time so far: 37 hours