hi all,
i managed to get through the crypt and sweettalked those always-the-same-repeating ladies to open the wall. now in ishad n`ha i was just wandering around enjoying the lovely countryside, when all sudden some i don`t know whats came and killed me in a few seconds. all i try is in vain, i just can´t get rid of them. my chars are meanwhile level 7 or 6, one warrior, 1 priest, 1 wizzard, a thief and another warrior. best spell is burn or flamestrike, the priest heals and blesses (not quite successfully) and rudolph, the ratlings does nothing at all. he never can hit anyone and i guess, i cound have given the ability of lockpicking to my second warrior.
another problem for me is the lack of money. i have not even enough to pay for all identifications. do the items also work without identification? i mean, i can weat them, but i don´t know what they are doing, if they do anything.
i have read the postings concerning mantraps and salads and i am sure, if these are the same that i met.
help would be much appreciated
greetins
mr

Ah-h-h, salads [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] Yes, that's for sure. What to do?

With your party, you'd perhaps better to reach Shurugeon Castle as fast as possible. Run! Ignore the ratlings on your way and run! Once you reach the channel of water around the Castle, turn left and swim around the walls (the water contains moat piranhas, which are much stronger that the petty fish in the Valeia area, so that run on the gound around the channel and only then jump into the water). Once you have swum through the first tower, you can turn back and kill the monsters that were following you (the piranhas and, probably, some ratlings). Salads cannot follow you there.
Continue swimming through the channel until you reach a ruined wall, which allows you to enter the Castle area. You will have to kill some ghosts there. Do that and continue through the area until you reach the (closed) main gate to the Castle.
It is possible to climb the walls there. Be sure that the salads will occur down the walls in a moment. Now, you have some possibilities:
a) Use the walls as a shield. Cast a spell, hide behind the wall, heal, regenerate mana, repeat.
b) I have seen that somebody on this forum has used the drawbridge (the lever is on the walls) as a weapon: lower the drawbridge, wait until a salad enters it, rise the drawbridge, BUM, BUM, BUM [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] , next salad [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] Perhaps, this method will be most efficient :D

Ah yes - the Rite of Passage ;)

megan - have you done the Serpent Temple yet?

It is very tempting when you get to Ishad N'hahaha to exit out the west gate and explore but as you have noted, there are some big nasties out there that can wipe out your party before you even know they're there.

If you haven't already, finish off the stuff on the east side of Ishad N'ha to help build up your characters. Take lots of cure poison to the Serpent Temple. If you have already done the temple and really do need to start exploring west of the village - do so in daylight.
Trying to run for Shurugeon Castle is a good strategy but if you don't know how to get there, may not be that helpful.
You can try this - as you go out the west gate always stay as far to your right as possible. The path from Ishad leads west a ways and then north (to a burnt out house) and off again to the west where your options on which way to go are considerably broader. The Mantraps are lurking off to the west and a tad south, once they spot you THEY WILL HUNT YOU DOWN!! (so don't ever lead them back to the village gates!). You can avoid them for a while if you always stick to the right - that's going to take you up to the Boogre Caves which is always an interesting experience.
SAVE SAVE SAVE - use multiple slots to save your game in different places.
If you don't have any good distance spells - get them. They are most useful in fighting the Mantraps!

You might want to check out the BEST TIPS thread for ways to make $$. There are many different methods, you should find one that will be able to help you.

One good way to save on identifications it to put all items that appear to be the same into the inventory of just one character. Identifying one will then identify all identical items.

Hope that helps!

Wyv

thanks a lot to you. maybe i should really do the serpents first.
btw what are good distance spells?
greetings
mr

Lightning, incinerate, and the storm spells are good distance spell. At your present level flamedrop will presumably be your best bet. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Those are stone distant spells you listed. There's plenty others, like incinerate, magma bomb, whirling dervish, and all the storm spells are great. The effectiveness of spells throughout the game seem to become less and less until you get the storm spells, so those are the spells you should aim for.

Guten tag Megan. Willkomen zu das IW.

Here in the area with the salads, fire spells seem to be best. Flamedrop will work but at a slow pace. As Radek pointed out, you will need to use defensive tactics to overcome them.

Gold! That is the single most annoyance in this game. In the super tips that Wyv pointed you to, one will find ways to enhance their purse.

Your "Rat" never hits? Could it be he is using dagger and not a front row combatant? Train him a little and give him a bow.

Firestorm.......worked wonders on those annoying salads......well maybe more than annoying....a lot more........

Also, I would gladly invite you, megan row, to join the ranks of the Inn Pillagers....gold shouldn't be a problem with us!

I admit there was a typo. I wrote spell - I meant to write spells. I hope it is obvious that I meant all storm spells.

And furthermore incinerate is not a stone spell.

[ 03-05-2004, 06:57 AM: Message edited by: bsftcs ]

Yes indeedy, Megan, you've found the salads. Amazoni Mantraps, and their cousins later on, the Jungle Lilies. Both are deadly to a young party. The clue is "...and they killed me before I knew what was happening". :(

For a low-level party, flamedrop is absolutely the best spell to use. Why? Because it keeps on giving. Cast it on a salad, and every second (or so), the salad takes damage and has its attack disrupted. They can't fight back!

It may take a while, as Felix pointed out, but have your wizard cast flamedrop on each salad, and then keep on casting. The one thing you don't want is for the flamedrop to wear off...

And Radek, I mentioned trying to use the drawbridge as a weapon. I haven't done it yet, but the Den is getting so desperate to get rid of the remaining salads that they're willing to try almost anything... :D

Fire bombs are also effective against the salads. I wish I had some... :(

As for money, you've got a couple of options. You can put all the like items with one character, because one ID will identify all the like items. For things like arrows, potions, gems, bolts, shurikens, and throwing knives, always keep one in inventory. When you pick up more, they get added to the already-identified one, and you get free ID. Just make sure you don't give an identified item to someone with the same item unidentified -- then they all become unidentified :(

You can also use arbitrage, which involves your warrior going into the back room of the warrior guild to buy +1 arrows, and then selling them in the front room. There's quite a profit in those things... There's a better markup on Takekatsu arrows in the Bushi guild, so if you're a bushi guild member, that's a better place to arbitrage.

Good luck!

Ah, so it was Bungleau who has foud that humorous trick. I see [img]smile.gif[/img] Only one final note: don't forget to hit the salad somehow while it is crushed by the drawbridge. Otherwise, you will lose XP's for it. And, each salad is about 14500 XP (for non-elves). Cast a spell on it or shoot an arrow. One successful hit should suffice. The rest can be done by the drawbridge.

Bsftcs, I'm quite aware that incinerate is a sun spell and not a stone spell ;) .
IIRC, salads have some resistance to stone spells, right? I think I used lightning once and it was no go, although I might be thinking of the wrong spell.

good morning,
thanks again for your help. indeed i have given a dagger to rudolphe (with "e" at the end, since he is of french origin and he is proud of this)but i will change that immediately.
furthermore i am now a very rich woman, that money-making-trick has worked quite will.
new questions: where can a rogue get into a guid?
how do i come into the serpent temple? i found no lever.
i remarked that instead of fighting, rudolphe can always try to steal an like this i have got back the amulett from that mill-woman.

Shame on you... Stealing from a distraught woman who has just lost her fiancé. At least I am kind enough to purchase it back. :D

There is a rogue guild in Ishad N'ha (the small mill).

There are two entrances to the Serpent Temple. One in the big serpent head where you meet Kol. That is only accessible from the inside. The other one (where you will be heading) is in a small cave at the end of a creek. (You have to duck underneath a grate. Check out the maps at Xignal's Site. ;)

to bsftcs (interesting name, anyway):
i cannot accept your reproaches. if she SELLS the only and one relict from her fiancé, she can as well lose it through theft. and she does not feel guilty by the thought of selling out her memories. so all in all i am more kind towards her.
davs
mr

All right, point taken. :D

(Davs selv... oder guten Tag). ;)

Nice logic, Megan [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img] Steal it, and she can blame someone else for its absence. Buy it, and she can bemoan her own greed.

I wonder if the same holds true for Torin... :D

I've always wondered that my self B. Especially since the fact remains that he never acknowledges his fathers fate to the Witch Hag.