Swamp Town Cavern Walkthrough

Corak's Notes on Swamp Town Cavern:

The southern parts of this cave have come to be known as the Spirals of Age, for the Phantoms that stalk these winding corridors will transform a youthful adventurer into an emfeebled hulk. Reapers lie at the end of the spirals, but to get to them you must first defeat the grotesque mistresses of death.

Monsters in this area: Scorpias, Phantoms, Reapers.

Map of Swamp Town Cavern:

Entrance/Exit to the Cavern.

Gagish the Conjurer.

You'll see one of the "mistresses of death" mentioned in Corak's notes right away when you enter this area: A Scorpia. They're quite easily disposed of using ranged weapons, and even if they get in close they are quite slow to attack. But when you do your entire party will be hit by a poisonous attack. Do yourself a favor and don't let that happen. After beating the single Scorpia here, you will be left with three coffins. Open them up. Two will be empty, and the third one will be locked. Unlock the lid on the third one for a Dragon Breath scroll.

Continue on until you get to a fork in the road. The way west is barred by an electric field, and there's a locked coffin beside it containing a Create Food scroll. Now go east to reach the coffin with Gagish in it. He'll give a single party member membership to the Buzzard's Guild for 5000 gold. Buy this for all your magic users and head on over to the guild to upgrade your arsenal of spells, and return to the fork when you're done.

Head west this time, using Jump to pass by the electric field. However, to the north is another electric field in front of a door. And since Teleport doesn't work in these caverns, you'll need to walk through it. Cast Protection from Elements(Electricity) to prevent most of the damage, then step into electric field and get past the door using whatever methode you prefer (unlock, bash, or Etherealise). Beat the Scorpias in this room, and you'll be free top open the four coffins in this room. Don't open the first one you see on your left, however; doing so will Curse everyone in the party. Unlocking the first coffin on the right, however, will get your five random items. The western-most coffin contains 10000 gold, while the northern-most houses a Reaper. It's your choice whether or not you fight this creature. Reapers, being undead, are very resistant against Physical attacks, so hit it with attack spells and Turn Undead. If you have Holy Word and/or Disintegrate, use them: They will often destroy a Reaper in one hit.

After getting all you wanted from this room, go back to the hallway and continue west. Don't go south just yet, but continue west until you see another room to the north. Both the coffins in this room are home to Reapers. There's a secret passage at the north end, though. The coffin behind it contains an Ancient Artifact of Evil. When you return to the hallway afterwards, you'll see a message on the wall: "To visit the town on the fiery plot, tell the mirror you seek REDHOT." This message is telling you that REDHOT is the password for the Magic Mirror which will teleport you to Blistering Heights, the town with the best equipment, spells, hirelings, training facilities and food rations available. The town is inhabited by unfriendly creatures of fire, so be prepared for a fight should you decide to go there.

Now, proceed to the final northern room, all the way to the northwest. When you enter, the coffin right in front of you contains a Reaper. The first coffin on your right should not be opened, since it will Curse the party. The second coffin on your right will yield five random items. The last, northernmost coffin is home to another Reaper. If you bash the wall behind it, you'll find another coffin containing an Ancient Artifact of Evil.

Now head back to where you could turn south, and do so this time. Be warned that from this point on you will encounter Phantoms, which have the ability to Age you. Quickly defeat them (preferably with Holy Word or Disintegrate), since unnatural Aging is a pain to get rid of if you haven't raised the Fountain of Youth yet in the Pyramid of Storage. Plus if you get Aged too much, your characters may start dying of old age.

Anyway, after you get past the gate and defeat the first phantom, there will be another fork with an electric field in the center. You can pass the field safely by using Etherealise to step into it, then sidestepping away. Etheralise is pretty useful here anyway, since you will now have to pass several thin (but sturdy) walls. If you don't have the might to do that, you'll need the magic. Plus, you get hurt by the electric fields a lot less this way. In any case, it doesn't matter which spiral you go down first; each is a series of electric fields, thin walls and Phantoms you have to pass though. There's also some messages on the wall you'll see along the way, like "The Maze From Hell is an exquisite intricacy", and "Death such as this is equaled only in the Tomb of Terror". If you make it to the center of one of the spirals, you'll need to beat a Reaper at the end to reach an altar. Approach the altar in the western spiral, and all your party members will permanently gain +25 Might, making them much more formidable in combat. Bashing stuff down shouldn't be much of a problem anymore either. And if you approach the altar in the eastern spiral, all party members will permanently gain +25 Endurance, undoubtedly giving their HP a massive boost!

After getting these nice power-ups, you can head on back to Swamp Town.