I'm trying to get to Ferro, b/c i'm in bad need of sword upgrade and hoped it would be easier than taking on the SE Wilderness Church with my lvl 14 party. I'm at the the Fire cage, but cannot get by either the Lava Lord or the group of Rapax making their rounds.(three samurai and 8 vets) Any advice on killing either and what are my chances of making it to Ferro???

Ghost, I may be wrong here, but I think a lvl 14 part is going to have
a real hard time in the Rapax Rift/Castle. Keep in mind when you enter the Castle, you are going to have a large encounter with lots
of Rapax who are intent on killing Ferro, so you have to kill them all before he dies. At least this is what I experienced, and have heard others talk about it too. At any rate, I think you might want to gain 3-4 more levels and come back later. My party was lvl 22
when I came to the Rift, and it was a cakewalk.

Helix

thanks for the imput. do you agree that i won't have any more luck in the SE wilderness church? i haven't tried too much, but it wasn't pretty when i did. i think i just keep hearing that weapons are available in those two places and i'm getting bored just killing guys. i don't think i have a prayer against Nessie with what i've got.

*spoiler below*
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
;
If your party contains a gadgeteer, no bard, then SE chapel is a must. There's Lazurite stone there! The earlier, the better.

Rift at lev 14 doesn't seem very easy, since you can't just jump into Ferro, buy stuff and go out. Rapax, and many of them, will be trying to stop you, and more important to kill Ferro d00d. And doing all the castle at this moment of the game just spoils the plot.

just a couple hints for nessie and the church...

First, I think you should be able to do Nessie at level 14. Just have your buffs up and make sure you element and sould shield and keep an elemental handy to do some damage. The best weapons that I had were demonsbane and bloodlust, and I really didn't have all that much trouble with her.

In the church, have your magic-user (or gadgeteer) cast hypnotic lure...that helped break up the fight a little. I used tha canned elemental to help draw away their elementals, too. I used the lure and hid around a corner so that I didn't face the full brunt, and the death lords didn't engage until after the first battle was done. I don't think I was much beyond level 14 when I did either one.

Thanks...
I've got the Bloodlust for fighter, CoC for Ninja that was an Alch., and decent others like Bipennis, Stun Rod, and Burning Spear. i just heard that both areas are good for fun and experience.

Ghost, if you want to upgrade that burning spear, find Bela in the Mountain Wilderness and get the Dread spear... that 50% Hex is a great effect and it has better damage. He also sells the Cloak of Many Colors and the Eagle Eye Bow.

Hello

I beat the SE wilderness temple at lvl 14-15 on expert.
It wasn't easy (hardest battle yet). But it's doable.

If you start the battle before they see you and then cast protection spells. then cast a damage spell so combat doesn't end. I sttod just outside of the temple and waited for them to come. This way I only fought 1 or 2 opponents at a time. the deathlords are BAD but I continued to cast purify air each round to stop those dangerous spells and just hope that not too many died each round (I think that all in all 4 of my chars died, two of them 2 times).

Elementals was good as decoys, but they died each time the deathlords cast deathwish, so they didn't last long.

GodSlayer

For the SE Wilderniss Church battle....

1. stay out of sight and cast sonic boom to get the fight started... this gives you 2 or 3 rounds to get your defenses and superman spells up before they reach you. The deathlords and queen will be the first to peak around the corner. To make sure combat is not stopped move in and out of the doorway every round, your out of sight again, but apparently they notice you and keep advancing.

2. Magic Mirror (gadgeteer) or Eye for an eye! The deathlords will always cast deathwish if there out of attack range... they killed all the small guys and elementals for me. Keep putting this spell up!
I think this is the one place that spell gets really usefull.

I cleared the area on expert with a level 11-12 party... this fight is one of few in the game where tactics are in place. About every other fight you can rush in and melee away... not this one!
On level 14, this should not be a problem if you play like this.

Signed,
One sick Psycho