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The aim of the game is to have the five Azure Bond tattoos removed from the characters arms, this can only be achieved by defeating each of the five factions of the Alliance that the bonds represent.
I found that a party of two Fighters, two Mages, a Cleric and a Thief was about the best to complete this game. Have the Mages learn the fireball spell as soon as they reach a high enough level as this is probably the most effective spell in the game.
When travelling through the wilderness, the party will meet less enemies if they travel along the trails than they will if they go through the wilderness. But going through the wilderness and fighting the monsters the party finds there will increase the party's experience points and help the party increase in levels more quickly. Make a visit to the bar in each of the towns the party enter to hear the tavern tales there are about four tales to hear in each bar. The map below shows the various towns and villages.
After the party have removed their second bond, go to a city, and you will have an added option: "Search Area." This usually leads to a cave or ruins that they can explore. It's a great way to build up their experience points, and to find weapons, scrolls, and gold. Be warned that some of them are quite involved and have several levels and the lower levels are often far more dangerous and difficult. One of them, the Tower of Oxam outside of Dagger Falls has a huge battle in a meeting room with multiple Beholders, Elf Lords, High Priests, and Rakshasa that is seemingly impossible to win, it is possible, however.
At least half of the game is spent in combat, and much of the fun of the game is in determining the tactics necessary to win the many battles. Generally, though, either blast enemy magic-users and clerics with spells as quickly as the party can, or move right next to them and hack away with your party's weapons. Enemy clerics and magic-users do not cast spells very often when being beaten on the head with a sword! Your clerics' Hold Person spells are effective against most magic-users and clerics; one spell can incapacitate several of them! Stinking Cloud is also sometimes effective in disabling some of them. Hold Monsters stops the larger creatures. It's best to have a weapon-bearing character immediately strike the immobile enemy, one blow will destroy him.
If a character is poisoned, cast a Neutralise Poison spell, and the character will survive, even if you're informed that the character is dead, don't believe everything you read.
Drow Lord chain mail and shields will lower a characters' AC to -7, and leave them with 12 movement points. Drow Lords also carry +5 swords.
The Necklace of Missiles casts a series of fireball spells. It is found in the sewers of Tilverton.
The Wand of Missiles casts low-level missile spells. This is the best of the items you can buy at the Magic Shop. The other offensive spells sold there are Hornets Nest Darts an excellent weapon for a single classed magic-user -- get several, and Lance of Piercing which highly recommended for use at the Mass Meeting of the Beholder Corps.
The Dust of Disappearance is the most powerful weapon in the game! With it, you can win any battle. Unfortunately, it can only be used once. It is an invisibility spell that keeps working even while you're attacking! Ready it and use it in camp before either the battle with Tyranthraxus to win the game or to win the battle against the mass meeting of beholders in the Tower of Oxam. It is found in the thieves' treasure room in the Thieves Guild below Tilverton.
The Dwarfs Girdle is beneficial primarily to Dwarves in raising strength attributes. Experiment with it, however, to see what it will do to each of your troops when readied. WARNING due to a bug in the game using it may cause the attribute to change to an unrealistic number beyond the maximum allowed. You're better advised to sell the Girdle.
The Girdle of Giants Strength when worn raises the characters strength attribute to 24, unlike the Dwarf's Girdle this one seems to work all right.
The Gloves of Dexterity increases the wearers dexterity attribute by +1.
The Ring of Wizardry a magic-user wearing this ring has double the amount of spells available to memorise and cast.
The Cloak of Dexterity decreases the wearers armour class by -2.
The Ioun Stones do various things to attributes only if the characters are not already at their maximum allowable attribute.
Deep red sphere -- +1 Dexterity
Pink and green sphere -- +1
Charisma
Pale blue rhomboid -- +1 Strength
Scarlet and blue
sphere -- +1 Intelligence
Incandescent blue sphere -- +1 Wisdom
Some of the monsters are difficult to kill simply because they resist magic.
Beholder: Use Haste on your strong, fast fighters and quickly eliminate a single beholder or even a small party of them with magical weapons. Don't waste time casting magic spells. They will block most if not all of them. You can also hide behind walls to stay out of range of their spells. Protection spells may protect you from some of their spells. They have a Disappearing ray that will not only kill your character, but wipe out his stats. His condition will be GONE, which is deader than dead.
Black Dragon: I have had the most success with Fireballs, and quickly eliminated the Black Dragons before they could use their breath weapons. Don't let your party bunch together, one 45-point hit of acid breath can almost decimate your whole party. Missile spells are also effective. Stinking Cloud prevents them from using their acid breath, as well as making them helpless at times.
Dracolich: In defeating Crimdrac, spreading out, and casting multiple missile spells from a distance was very effective. Each of my party used a missile wand if they didn't have a regular and more powerful missile spell.
Medusa: I never had any problems with Medusas. Burn them to a crisp with fireball spells from a distance before they can get close and use their Gaze that turns you into stone. They also can't use their gaze if the party are invisible.
Rakshasa: They can be slain by a blessed bolt from a cross bow, but any magical weapon will do, and engaging them quickly in battle prevents them from using their favourite spell: the Lightning Bolt.
Tyranthraxus: Protect your magic-users with the Minor Globe of Invulnerability, and the Lightning Bolts he throws will be harmless. You can cast Invisibility 10' Radius, which should protect the others, as long as they don't attack anyone. Of course, The Dust of Disappearance will keep everyone safe from being targeted by spells, and Potions of Extra-Healing will help restore the HPs you will lose when you bump into his various bodyguards in the final confrontation.
The first thing you should do after creating your characters is to go to the Weapons Shop and the General Store. Get your characters equipped as best as possible. Also visit the High Priest of the Temple of Gond and the Sage of Filani, then go to the tavern and have a drink until the tavern keeper asks you to leave. Leave and go to the side entrance then return to the front and enter the tavern again. To explain what just happened, Princess Nacacia just got ambushed by the Fire Knives as she tried to enter the tavern. If you transferred Pools of Radiance or Hillsfar Characters then go to the Training Hall and have them train and then return to the Inn where the party started, rest and memorise spells then leave the Inn and go to either north of the Store or south of the Weapons Shop keep trying to go west at these locations until the King's carriage appears and the party attack it. Fight the Purple Guard and while the party are doing this the fire knives have kidnapped Giogi Wyvernspur from the carriage. After the party defeat the guards, either surrender or run down the nearest alley, here the party meet a thief who takes them to the Thieves Guild. Rest and heal up, once the party have done this the Fire Knives attack. Kill them off and when they have been the party find that the guild master is dying but as he does so he gives them a map of the sewers. Clear the thieves guild area of Fire Knife patrols, some of these have dogs with them others have a couple of wizards. When the party meet ones with wizards, concentrate on the wizards with the party's mage and cleric casting spells at them while the fighters deal with the others. A useful tactic is to lob fireball spells into the rear ranks of the opposition to thin them out and weaken them for the fighters to polish them off. Find the treasure room and pick up the items from there then head for the sewer entrance and go through into the sewers.
The sewers are in three distinct sections in the first section, the party will come across a Fireknife checkpoint, a room full of Otyugh, a piece of paper (which is randomly placed) and a piece of purple cloth. There is nothing much to do in this section except kill of the Fireknives and the Otyugh, the Otyugh can be a bit of a problem but the fireballs in the ranks technique works well with them. The second section contains nothing but two rooms of Otyugh. Parley with the first group and they'll let you have the shiny object if you get the piles of food from the second group, it's not wise to fight this first group as there are about six Neo-Otyugh in there and these are very difficult to kill and can kill off a character in a couple of hits. Enter the room with the second group from the north or you can't get the food for the first group, fight these Otyugh and take the food back to the first group who will let you have the jewellery. In the third section are two rooms full of Trolls one has about five Trolls with a load of Crocodiles the other just eight Trolls. Again attack with fireballs and any other high-level offensive spells to kill off the trolls as quickly as possible or they will regenerate. Three rooms to the south and east of a secret door is a secret Training Hall where the party can rest and train up its member, just search in this area to find it. The party will also meet a Knight of Myth Drannor, tell him your allegiance is with Princess Nacacia and he lets the party go on warning them to watch out for a cleric who is also trying to rescue the Princess. Now head for the exits from the sewers to the south and into the hideout.
There are only a few places to go that are of any real interest in the Hideout. Have the party head west and south to the Torture Chamber, kill off any Fireknife patrols along the way. If the party enter a room with rotating blades in it just wait until the blades disappear before continuing. Another room the party might enter on the way contains a number of frozen Fireknives, interrogate them before continuing on. Kill off the Fireknives in the Torture Chamber to free Gharri the Cleric, then go to the eastern corner of the Hideout to a treasure room and take the treasure from it. Another room close by holds a burnt body holding a piece of paper that gives the party some information. Proceed to the Armoury and take the weapons, the party could also visit the hospital next door for more information. Kill off the Fireknives at the checkpoint at the western end of the passage and go into the room in the southwest corner of the Hideout where the Princess Nacacia is being held. The usual fireball into the ranks again works well here, but watch out for the two Mages that will be with the Fireknives. Have the party's mage attack these if the fireball doesn't kill them. Once the Fireknives have been defeat Princess Nacacia forces the Fireknife leader to remove his bond and her father Azoun and his mage Vandergahast appear. The party is allowed to leave but is banished from Tilverton.
Camp and rest then Journey On to Ashabenford, travel via the trail as the party meet less monsters this way, go in the Bar and relax until the party has heard all the tavern tales then go to the Hall and train any members who can. Go into the Inn to rest, heal and memorise spells. Leave to town and Journey On to Essembra, visit the Bar here before leaving and Journeying On to the Standing Stones. Here the party meets a grey hooded man who speaks to them, Thank him and he tells the party to seek Red to the South, this is the Renegade Red wizard of Thay, Dracandros, the perpetrator of the next bond to have removed. Journey On to Haptooth and enter the village.
The party's first task in removing the bond is to free the village, this is quite easy and should not pose to much of a problem. The village has been taken over by an Efreet and his Drow minions. The party will find help in the inn in the form of one Akabar El Akesh. He is a level 5 mage and is of almost no use other than cannon fodder. There is also a store and a Temple of Sune in Haptooth should the party need them. If the party go into the southern most building immediately they will more than likely be killed by the Efreeti and his Drow forces. If however the party kill off some Drow patrols first, then the Efreeti's forces will be severely reduced and easy pickings. After killing the Efreeti go to the caves.
As the party enter the caves they will be attacked by three Drow and four salamanders so it is advisable to cast protect against fire on the party before going in. After defeating this welcoming party pick up their armour shields and weapons, their chainmail is better than plate armour, their shields are +2 enchanted and their swords are +2 enchanted. Equip the party with these weapons but don't drop the old weapons as once the party leave the village of Haptooth the weapons will disappear and the party will have to re-equip their old weapons and armour. On the wall near where the party enter there is an arrow scratched on the wall if the party follow this it will lead the party to meet Silk of the swanmays. If there is a female in the party she will give the 1st female in the party the mark of a swanmay and will ask the party to do something for her, if not they will just be turned away. Other than the patrols that wander around the caves which usually consist of three or four Drow plus a cleric and a mage or some salamanders, there are seven main concentrations of enemies, these can all be bypassed but in doing so the party will miss out on a lot of experience points and some useful magical items.
The door to the north of where the party enter the caves leads to a barracks full of Drow, cast all the protective spells the party has and have the mage make the party invisible then enter the room, kill off as many of the Drow with spells, arrow and dart fire before going in with the fighters and polishing the final few off. The invisibility spell should make sure that the Drow don't attack the party while it's using the spell and missile attacks to wipe out the vast majority of the twenty or so Drow in the room. Rest, heal and memorise spells make sure the mage or cleric has enough resist fire and protection from fire spells to cover the party then go to the sulphur baths, cast the protective spells the enter the baths and use the same tactics as with the Drow to kill the fifteen or so Salamanders then get the chests, if at first the party member selected doesn't open the chest then just try again eventually he will. There are several magic items in the chests including a long sword +2 "Dragon slayer" and a scroll of protection against Dragon breath, which will help the party should it decide to kill off the dragons. The next door the party comes to harbours about twenty clerics. Use the same tactics as against the Drow but also have the mage cast a confusion spells into the ranks of clerics if the party has them, so that the clerics start to attack each other as well.
The area behind the clerics room is a sacred place and a couple of Drow will attack with about six Anhkheg, kill these off then head south to another room that contains about twenty mages, use the same tactics as with the clerics to wipe these out then head to the room in the southeast corner here there are about eight Efreeti and a few Drow. After killing these leave the room and follow the passage round to the west to a large room with some more Efreeti and Drow, after killing these rest up, heal and memorise spells as in the next room is the Dracolich "Crimdrac", cast all the protection the party can then enter the room and split up around the Dracolich, have all the party throw all the offence they can at the Dracolich, even so before it is killed probably more than one of the party will be dead. The party can avoid the fight with the Dracolich but there is a lot of experience points to had for killing it. If the party wish to avoid the fight just surrender and the party will be taken up to the roof of the tower. If the party fight, after killing the Dracolich, have the party return to the village and visit the temple to raise any dead members. After healing up go through the door at the back of the room and up the stairs into the tower.
When the party enter the tower they will meet Dracandros and he will teleport them to the top of the tower where a host of evil black dragons are waiting. They force Dracandros to remove the bond and the party now have three choices either attack the dragons, attack the wizard or be passive and wait. If they decide to attack the dragons they should have cast all the protective spells they have including protection from dragons breath which they should have found on a scroll by now. There are about ten dragons and this is a difficult fight to win, if the party succeed they get quite a few experience points and the stuff that Silk of the Swanmays wants. Rest and heal up then cast all the party's protection as there is another important fight coming. Go down the stairs and the party meet a Drow lord who is sometimes hard to kill, after killing him get his weapons and armour as this is better than anything the party will currently have. On this level of the tower there is also a room full of Wyverns and a room called the Test of The Sphere. In this test a character controls a sphere of annihilation and must, by concentrating on it, force it into an opposing mage. The character doesn't have to be a mage as the opposition mage says, any character will do. If the character wins the party get some magic Items, if he loses he is disintegrated permanently.
As the party move around the tower they will also meet enemy patrols comprising of Wizards, Clerics, Drow, Salamanders, Bearowls and Efreeti, so have protection cast on the party at all times. Have the party make it's way to the southwest corner of the tower and take the stairs down to the next level, there is nothing on this level but a few patrols so have the party make its way to the northwest corner and take the stairs down. At the bottom of the stairs will be another Drow Lord attack it as it is an illusion and will disappear at the first hit. Also on this level is Dracandros' bedroom containing a magic scroll and a room containing a dragons egg which Silk of the Swanmays also wants.
Take the party to the southwest corner of the tower once they have everything they need from this level and take the stairs down to the ground floor, as the party reach the bottom of the stairs they are thrown into a spike trap which will cause damage.There is nothing on this level except a room full of Wyverns which the party have to pass through to get out of the tower. After defeating the Wyverns have the party rest and heal before going through the southern door.
As the party leave the tower they will be attacked by Dracandros himself and a force of about ten Efreeti and six Drow this is a difficult battle to win as Dracandros keeps well back out of harms way and surrounds the party with his forces. After going through the door move the party members to the left behind the walls in front of it this will protect the party from Dracandros' spells while they deal with the Efreeti and Drow once these have been killed move behind the walls towards Dracandros then rush him. After killing him the party will find loads of magical items on him take these but not the robe as this is cursed and when worn removes the mages magic. They will also be notified that they have found The Helm of Dragons. You won't find it in your inventory, but you do have it. It is the first of three items you need before you're ready to go to Myth Drannor. There will be a few Drow patrols in the courtyard so go to the southeast corner and leave. Re-enter the caves if the party need to see Silk of the Swanmays again then return to Haptooth, identify all magic items in the store then rest, heal and memorise all characters and spells etc. Now travel back to the standing stone and thank the man after he talks to the party, the hooded man will tell the party to seek the woman in green to the northwest, by this he means Mogion a cultist of Moander who resides in Moanders pit.
Journey on to Hillsfar then continue on to Yulash the party should enter by asking for permission they will then be taken to see the commander. Have the party walk around the room until the spies try to escape, kill them and the party wont have to worry about the red plume guards patrols and check points. The party can visit the Mess Hall to hear some tavern tales or visit the barracks to rest up and heal. There are only two places the party must go to in Yulash, the first is the middle of the city to get the wand of defoliation from a dead monk whose body is being dragged away by some Shambling Mounds. The wand of defoliation is a useful weapon against Shambling Mounds and Vegepygmies. The second is to the north of the monk where the entrance to the Pit of Moander lies. As the party move around Yulash they will encounter Zhentil terror teams comprising a cleric, a couple of mages and a few fighters. Have your mage cast hold monsters at the mages and clerics while your fighters deal with the opposition fighters. They will also meet bands of green robed cultists, defecting Red Plume guards and Shambling Mounds, again cast hold monster/person spells at them then kill them off with the fighters. Hold Monster spells tend to be more effective than Hold Person spells even against people.
Enter the Pit of Moander and the entrance is sealed behind the party, follow the sights and sounds of a recent battle, the party will eventually find Alias and Dragonbait a fighter and paladin, allow them to join the party then head for the stairs to the south east. Take the party down the stairs then go through the door and west to a path leading north continue north until the party reach a pair of doors. The party will have to fight off some more cultists, Shambling Mounds and this time Giant Slugs, the usual tactics of hold monsters, fireballs or lightening bolts and fighters again works well. Once at the doors, cast all the protection the party can then go through the door to be confronted by Mogion and her Cultists, Shambling Mounds and Vegepygmies. Hold monsters and fire balls will deal with the cultists and Vegepygmies and have one character use the wand of defoliation on the Shambling Mounds before finishing them off with the fighters.
After killing Mogion and her cultists the party will be attacked by a parts of the god, Moander, called "Bit'O'Moanders" they are reasonably easy to defeat, using spells like stinking cloud, hold monster and the wand of defoliation. Have the party search the altar for the Gauntlets of Moandar (like the Dragon Helm, invisible to you) then return to the stairs and up to the upper level. Continue north to a junction then west. Alias will say the Dragonbait can smell fresh air to the west, so go through this door and then south twice, evade the giant slugs in this room and cast the party's protection spells before taking the other door north where the party will be attacked in a last stand by the remaining cultists, use the usual tactics to defeat them then leavethe pit by the exit door as the party leave Yulash, Alias and Dragonbait will leave the party. Now travel back to the standing stones again and thank the man after he talks to you again, he will now tell you to "Seek Black to the North." The black lord is Fzoul Chembyrl, one of the higher members of the Zhentrim at Zhentil Keep.
Journey back to Yulash and on to Zhentil Keep, enter the city and buy any items that the party might require from the shops and visit the tavern. Follow the street around until the party meet Olive Ruskettle, the halfling bard. Follow her and have the party enter the door in front of them when she leaves. Here they will find Dimswart the sage have him join the party and then have the party make its way to the chapel. If a hooded woman appears don't follow her until the party have searched around the altar in the chapel. The sword is cursed so don't bother with it, take the rest of the items then leave the chapel and go through the west door, if the party search in this room the hooded woman will appear again, follow the hooded woman (Medusa) and she will take you to Dexam the Beholder in his temple.
Dexam will disintegrate Fzoul, removing your bond and then leave his minions to kill the party. The usual tactics apply but watch out for a Dark Lord in the opposition party he is quite difficult to kill sometimes, so after dealing with any clerics and wizards concentrate the spells against him. Take the east door from the chapel and follow the passages going east and north to a junction leading west, follow this round until the party find a dead elf, search the body and take the items from the pouch. Retrace the party's steps to the first arch that they came through the follow the passages round to the north then south and west until they find Dexam with his Medusa and some Minotaurs. Whilst travelling around the passages the party will meet roving bands of Manticore and Minotaurs that will have the usual cleric or priest and mages with them, some of the bands will also have a Dark Lord with them. Use the usual tactics of hold monsters spells with fireballs, lightening bolts etc. to deal with them. In the northeast corner of the passages is a transporter that when walked into transports the party to the dead elf's body, inflicting some damage as it does so. Once the party get close to where Dexam is hold out, cast all the protection the party has then go and confront him, use the usual tactics but concentrate the magic users on the Medusa and Dexam when possible. After you win the battle you will get the final object, The Amulet of Lathander, again, it will be not be visible in your inventory. More than likely more than one of the party will either be dead or stoned after this encounter. Save the game then rest and heal up, have the cleric cast raise dead on any dead characters then head for the exit from the temple in the south east corner.
Journey on to Hillsfar and visit the temple to have any stoned characters restored, train and heal and buy any items the party needs from the store then continue on to the standing stone to meet the hooded man again, who reveals himself to be Tyranthraxus before departing to Myth Drannor. Journey on to Myth Drannor and enter the city.
In the Burial Glen, fights with spiders can not be avoided, however, fights with the Thri-Kreen can by parlaying and saying that Tyranthraxus is your master. Have the party rebury any skeletons and replace the any bones in crypts. As the party enters the Burial Ground they are met by the Spirit Queen, greet her then go north to a fence then east and north. Whilst on the way the party should meet up with the Knights of Myth Drannor, parlay with them and they tell the party that they will provide a diversion as the party enters the Temple of Tyranthraxus. Enter the building and make your way upstairs, don't fight anything whilst in the building, once upstairs the party meets up with the Spirit Queen again and she will give the party some magical weapons. After leaving the building go through the south gate and enter the building just to the south. Kill all the Thri-Kreen in the building then leave and enter the building to the east. Kill all of the spiders in this building then leave, and wander around the Burial Glen until you meet up with a Red Plume soldier, follow him and he disappears, go straight to the fenced off area in the northeast corner of the Burial Glen where the party will find that the soldier is really a Rakshasa. Kill him, if one of the party possesses a bow or crossbow with blessed arrows or quarrels use this as this will kill Rakshasa with one shot. While wandering around the Burial Glen the party should also have met up with the Nameless Bard, Finder Wyvernspur.
When the party enter the Burial Glen from the wilderness, don't enter the building immediately to your right when facing north, especially, do not enter the web to use the password KRRKIK. It is a Rakshasa trick to trap you in a Giant Spider's sticky web.
Rest, memorise spells and heal up then head east to the city ruins, follow the woods not the path. Once in the ruins wander around until the party meets up with a man being chased by hell hounds rescue the man then head for the northeast corner of the ruins where the party will find the mans hidden cache, in the cache is a +5 Sword and The Girdle of Giant Strength. If the party had taken the path to the ruins you will meet a Rakshasa who will become a member of your party if you help him fight his thieving uncle, this leads to many encounters with Rakshasa patrols, however, so it is better to take the route through the woods. Next go and visit the old Rakshasa and speak haughtily to him, he will offer his assistance. Go to the northwest corner of the ruins and break up the gambling game, have one character equipped with blessed arrows or quarrels and use these against the Rakshasa, while the rest of the party split up and deal with the rest of the monsters. Whilst the party are wandering around the ruins they may meet up with a Rakshasa patrol just give them money to save having to fight them. Finally go east into the next ruined building and enter the sewer grate located there after killing the margoyle.
The party will now find itself in the kitchens of the temple, leave the kitchen and follow the corridor around to a door heading south, when the party goes through this door they will meet up with Tyranthraxus, after a short scene Tyranthraxus will go off leaving his minions behind to fight you in his altar room. The party must now fight it's way out of the Altar room then go through the centre of the northern doors and continue north then east to the stairs up to level two. Once on level two continue north through a door then follow the corridor to the right and Tyranthraxus is in the second room on the right. Camp, save the game, and cast your spells. If the party still has the dust of disappearance use it now as this will make the forthcoming battle a lot easier. If not cast all the protective spells the party has and any that increase attributes then equip one fighter with a bow or crossbow and blessed quarrels.
Enter the room and the party is now in the final battle with Tyranthraxus and his High Priests and Margoyles. Split the party up so they not easy targets and have the mage's concentrate on the enemy priests and margoyles, while the fighters go round the back and tackle Tyranthraxus and the bowman uses arrows against him. Once Tyranthraxus has been killed finish off any remaining enemies then the Knights of Myth Drannor will arrive at the end to heal your wounded. The party is then transported to Shadowdale and a feast is held in their honour. Quest completed.
After the party has removed the second bond, they will have the choice of using the Search Area option when they reach a city. Some of the Search Area options lead them to the same place that selecting Enter the City does. For example, Zhentil Keep and Myth Drannor have no separate places to explore, but the Search Area option is on the menu.
These other areas can be used to gain experience points and levels, and to find gold, magic weapons, scrolls, and armour. They all involve exploring mazes -- some more difficult than others. The Shadowdale, Ashabenford, and Essembra caves have several levels. The next lower level being filled with more difficult monsters than the previous. If you're party is lucky, they may find some +2 Long Bows and Composite Bows. What they find is randomly selected, however, and their discoveries will vary greatly. They reach another level when they pass through a tunnel in a cave. There is a walled city on the third level of the cave near Shadowdale and the second level of the cave near Ashabenford, where the party can find Tarsus, who will transport them back to the surface if they wish; Dracolich, Black Dragons and Elf Lords abound here. At Shadowdale the party will be asked to rescue the Magistrate's kidnapped daughter, she can be found somewhere on the first level. Report back to the Magistrate in the city and he'll reward the party for their efforts.
The "Search Area" option at Phlan leads the party to an unconquered section of the city, filled with Moander cultists and monsters: Shambling Mounds and Vegepygmies. The party can sometimes watch a ritual being performed in front of the temple's altar. The ruins outside Hillsfar feature Phase Spiders, Margoyle, and Thri-Keen. The ruins outside of Teshwave contain pirate treasure. The harder side adventures randomly give the party MU scrolls which the mages can scribe.
The "Patrol the Forest" option at the Standing Stones usually leads to a battle with dangerous black dragons, but the party can win a lot of experience points by defeating them. Black dragons are particularly vulnerable to Stinking Cloud spells. If the party incapicitates them with this spell, they won't be able to use their deadly acid breath against the party.
The Tower of Oxam is at Dagger Falls and is the best and most rewarding of the places that the party can visit. When Search Area is selected at Dagger Falls, the party finds a second Magic Shop. This is a nice surprise since Zhentil Keep is barred to the party once they have completed the bond quest there. Buy plenty of healing potions and potions of speed then stock the fighters up with as many Javelins of Piercing as they can carry and the party can afford. If the party choose to explore the Tower, they begin in the foyer. The party can go up the tower but there is little up there except a few small encounters, or stay on the ground level where they will eventually find the mass meeting of the Mulmaster Beholder Corps. Go west into the sitting room then south where the party will find the stairs up, continue east through the door, and south through a door where they will battle a group of minotaurs. Go through the east door and the party will be in a cave, keep going east until they can turn south into a large room with many doors. Go through the third door from the left in the southern wall then west and follow a path west past several rooms. At the end of this long path continue north, west, north, west, south, east, south, east through an archway the east down a long hallway, and through the door and the end into a large cavern.
Go south then west to another door and go through it into a hall with three doors. Beyond the northern door is a single Dark Lord who can be easily disposed off using the usual techniques and through the southern door are three Rakshasa who again can be easily disposed off using blessed arrows or quarrels. Continuing through the west door and along the passage there is another door to the north into a room containing three beholders. Following the passage the party will reach a door straight on and one to the left beyond the left door there is the room where the mass meeting of the Mulmaster Beholder Corps is being held. If the party still has the dust of disappearance use it now as this makes the following battle a lot easier, otherwise Cast Enlarge and Haste on everyone. The Blink spell seemed to work better than Invisibility for avoiding undesired magic spells and physical hits. If the mages can't Blink, use regular invisibility and cast invisibility on the rest of the party. This provides only minimal protection during initial contact when you are trying to gain better tactical ground. When the party enter the room, you get the message, "You enter a room dominated by a large conference table. On each side is an assemblage of Rakshasa, Drow, Priests, and Beholders. They are discussing the fate of adventurers." Your options are "Flee in Panic," and "Throw Caution to the Winds." There are 8 Rakshasa, 10 High Priests, 10 Drow Lords, and 15 Beholders in the room.
Survive at the cost of an easy kill, in other words, when a Beholder approaches within lethal distance, run! Try to get the enemy to use up all his spells. Drow Lords run faster than anyone else. Cold spells work on Drow Lords better than anything else. The -2 AC loss for Stink Cloud victims can be essential. Curse works only on clerics and isn't worth it. Nothing bothers Beholders or the Rakshasa magicians except force. Hit the Drow Lords and priests with Confuse, not many will be affected, but it's enough to eventually drain most of their combat spells. Your first manoeuvre should be to escape from the main room. Run to the back of the room and get behind walls at the back. Eventually, all the enemies will congregate in the back of the room. Drow Lords and Rakshasa will be the most prominent in the crowd. I positioned my party around the walls to hold some of the monsters in, and then enticed them to come out of the room one or two at a time only. If the going gets rough or looks hairy, move away from the entrance this re-clusters the enemy away from the entrance and gives the party time to cast Healing spells and drink Healing Potions.
When the party have defeated the last of the enemies they are awarded 22,000+ experience points. Go through the back door and in search mode through the other door, in that room the party will find a great treasure and receive another 10,000 experience points and a bunch of magic weapons. Have the party retrace its steps back to the passage then go south and east to another door that leads out back to the wilderness.