Stout Mines (Minds) or "The Pits"?

[Elowin]

Okay, I didn't give up. I haven't found any cheat that works with or without the beta patch. The party isn't that weak and has made it through each battle so far in the Mines with only one death (and resurrection).

While I bravely continue on I am still looking for a "trainer" that freezes hit points with a hot key.

MORE importantly though I am now quite disturbed about the automap feature of the game. There is something bizarre about the way these mines map out that I cannot follow and when I get back into them today I'm going to hand map the area because I cannot follow what is going on with the games passages. It strikes me as the poorest auto mapping I have ever seen but I hold out a thin thread that it might be quite normal for the area and I just don't understand the funcionality of the mines in the game yet--after all we do want a confusing maze and the automap certainly seems to help that.

So with all that is the auto map FUBAR in the game or telling the truth? Are there at least two mirror images of levels one on top of the other that the map shares? I stared so long at one elevator and the map to try and figure out what was going on that single insane miners and bats were finding me rather then the party finding them.

[Wyvern]

The automap is the pits. It treats each level or sometimes area as a separate thing and you are unable to scroll back to other levels/area to put it all together. This could have been resolved by assigning different levels different colors and allowing you to see "all levels" or one particular level but that isn't what we got.

The stout mines are particularly confusing. What I ended up doing to help myself out was putting flags onto the maps with notes indicating things like: go west to trolley, lever to north - I'd put flags in before and after the maps changed levels so that I could try to keep track of things. It was much easier the second time I played this area but it still is a pain. Because passages go up and down you can be changing level without realising that you have really done so and be back up or down to a level you just left using an elevator. Try putting flags on your map and see if that helps.

Wyv

[Elowin]

Moving right along... I drew my own maps and that worked fine. Now there are a few loose ends, questions, and problems?

1. After picking up six gold ingots from Freyedies Treasury using Raskalion's lift into the vault what was the point? They don't seem to be worth much. How do I enchange them for lots of coins?

2. More importantly... Just as I was about to leave Damosh's Armory I noticed that almost everyone has lost all their gold coins and I KNOW they all had their respective supply when I entered the armory. What happened to the coins? I quit the game and will restore and replay all this in the morning again. Is there a bug? Is there an item that makes the coins disappear? Does it have anything to do with the pool one crosses through or around when leaving Raskalion's mine?

3. I found only two metal ores but it looks like I only need one. Freyedies is making Dragon Armor for one person I guess. Will that be enough to take care of the Beast of Bronze? I'm hoping he will be finished with it when I return there next day?

4. I'm sure I visited the Burning Cavern area and hoped across all the stones in the lava and climbed all around the walls but I found no Living Stone. What was this all about?

Thank you for the help on any of this.

sell the gold bars at the shop. Only one set of armour is requied to enter dragonspire but fred will make you two with two lots of ore. Can be useful as it can be worn by sometimes by classes normally restricted in armour use. Stouts are simple you have seen the living rock only you knew it was lava. cant help with gold coins as never carry many so if they went missing I would not have noticed

[Davros]

You didn't accientally press the group all gold on one character button did you??

[Dr. Bob]

Hey, I've already finished the Stout mines and gone on to bigger and better things, but I was wondering if I should go back and steal all the stuff that was in the vault. The king, of course, warned us not to, and it sure sounded like a very ominous warning. Before I waste my time heading back, I'd love to hear whether you guys think I should. Thanks...

[Elowin]

I think you should steal it. You'll be doing Raskalion a favor. But not by the front door to the vault--go up from below. Take the mine car ride with the two switches set to east or where the car goes off to the right at each switch. There's not much to it once you get there. King Freyedies won't know. I walked into his throne room packing all his gold ingots and he still made me two sets of Dragon Armor for free. Today we are doing the Dragon's Spire and reading Harry Potter.