QUESTRON (SSI) (?)

Here you are, a lowly serf, out to seek fame and fortune by destroying the evil Mantor. When the game starts you find yourself wearing only rawhide for armor and with no weapons. The first thing to do is get to Geraldtown and buy a weapon. Once you get a weapon, wander about and soon you'll meet with one of the many Questron monsters. Keep fighting with them and after each kill, you'll find gold. Don't go near water as you aren't equipped to handle the sea monsters yet.

Keep a close eye on your food supply, because you'll die once it runs out. You can replenish your food supply and buy more weapons and better armor at Geraldtown or any of the other towns in Questron. Relatively soon you'll run low on hit points. Go to the Swamp Cathedral, located north and slightly east of Geraldtown. Give a donation to the priest and he'll increase your hit points. Unless you've given at least 75 pieces of gold, don't enter the box in the corner.

Frequently when you're in Questron, creatures will offer you hit points, weapons, armour or valuable information for a price. You don't need to pay for the valuable information because this Solution will give you that. But do buy anything else from them if you can afford it, because their prices are generally cheaper than at the towns (or in the cathedral). In the towns, you'll often find gambling games. These games are not tipped in your favor, so watch out as you can lose all of your gold. There's no need to play them if you don't wish to.

You'll also find jails where you can bribe the guards and speak to the prisoners. You don't need to do this because any information they have, you'll get in this Solution. Soon you should be rich enough to be able to give the priest 75 gold pieces. He should tell you not to be afraid and you will be rewarded. Go to the box in the corner, enter the door, (T)ake, (H)old the (H)oly water, and (O)perate, and that will get you 100 hit points. You cannot have more than 500 hit points, so if you get close to that, don't drink anymore holy water, because you'll be wasting it.

Meanwhile, back on Questron, you'll going to need a variety of weapons to deal with the variety of monsters you'll be meeting. Some monsters are particularly vulnerable to certain weapons. Here's a partial list:

  1. Strangler Fiend-Morning Star
  2. Pit Screamer-Flail
  3. Phazor Spider-Whip
  4. Irish Stalker-Rope and Hooks
  5. Dirt Weird-Mace
  6. Leopard Yeti-Mace
  7. Stone Axe Beak-Morning Star
  8. Piercing Pungie-Club
In general, if you keep missing the monster, or the monster is hit by blows under 10, you should try a different weapon.

Eventually, you'll want to get over the mountains. You'll need a Lama, as horses can't cross mountains. You can buy a Lama in Free Town (Long 3, Lat 3). (You can also cross the mountains on foot, if you have ropes and hooks and you arm yourself with them) After you've built your money supply up, you can purchase a raft. It's nearly impossible to get the raft that is located above Jail Town, and you wouldn't want it anyway because it's on the wrong shore. River Junction (Long 3, Lat 2) and Lake Centre (Long 2, Lat 3) sell rafts and once you buy one you can get to the Island Cathedral. You're probably wondering how to increase some of your attributes.

At the Swamp cathedral you can increase your dexterity by playing a rather primitive arcade game and at the Island Cathedral you can increase your intelligence by playing a game similar to Master Mind. You definitely want to take advantage of these games, particularly the Master Mind type game.

At some point in the game, you'll get a message that Mesron has called. Mesron is located in the Castle (Long 2, Lat 4) which is difficult to find. Once you enter the Castle grounds, go east, then north and the figure in orange is Mesron. He'll raise your rank and give you some powder to use against the Castle guards. Don't use the powders against the guards unless you absolutely have to because the powders have a much better use later in the game. There are five keys located in the Castle, along with lots of gold and other suprises. You will need all the keys.

The silver and ruby keys are on the west side of the Castle. Go through the entrance in the southwest corner. The emerald key is located straight north and the lead key is located in the northeast corner. There's one more key, but I'll let you find that one. (don't worry, it's not hard to find). Once you get some of the keys you can enter various rooms. For 500 pieces of gold, you can see maps of the Land of Evil and Questron. Unless you are a skilled sketcher, don't bother with the maps.

The Doctor will want 10 vials of holy water to increase your strength. Give him the 10 vials because you can't get all of the gold from the Castle without the increased strength. The Princess will increase your charisma by 20 points for 2,000 gold pieces. You're not going to be able to get everything on one trip. Get a key, exit, go get more holy water and enter the Castle again. In the Atari version, you must wait a certain length of time before re-entering the castle (you'll know that it's safe because the guards will be in their normal positions and not gathered at the door ways).

In the Apple version, you can exit and immediately re-enter. The Ocean Point cathedral is not far from the Castle (Long 4, Lat 4) and you'll find a magic Flute there. It says that you can only use the Flute three times, but if you bring it back to the cathedral it can be recharged. By the way, you have to have a Lama or ropes and hooks to get to the Ocean Point cathedral. Back at the Castle, once you've gotten the gold key, you can enter the King's room. He will Knight you and increase your stamina and intelligence. You must steal the King's trumpet, located in a small room just to the southeast of the King.

After you do this, Mesron will want to see you again. Mesron will take your holy water, increase your hit points and give you some instructions and help for the rest of the game. At some point before leaving Questron you should rob all of the chests in the Castle, as you'll be needing as much gold as possible. Take Mesron's advice and increase your intelligence to 60. After that, go to Jail town, use the Trumpet to get through the fog and buy a clipper in the town above Jail town.

Don't try to use the Raft because you'll drown. The clipper costs 2380 gold pieces. Get the clipper and sail straight north. You will soon reach the Land of Evil.

The Land of Evil looks very much like Questron, except that are fewer towns and no friendly creatures. You can now buy magic items to use in the dungeons and food is a little cheaper. You can also buy a trained eagle, which is very handy to have as the eagle can take you anywhere you want to go. Before you enter the Mountain Catacombs (the first dungeon) you'll need a supply of all the spells with the exception of the Magic Missiles. A good supply of Fireballs and Armour Enhancers is particularly useful.

You'll need to purchase more than one set of armor and weapons because the monsters will sometimes take them. You will definitely need rope and hooks also. Before you buy, shop at different towns because the prices vary widely. While you're above surface in the Land of Evil, stay away from the dragons and whenever an 'unknown creature' approaches attack immediately because they will attack you. The Mountain Catacombs are at Long 3, Lat 3. Once you're in the dungeon, (X)amine at every step in order to avoid the traps that fill the dungeon.

There is a compass located on the first level of the dungeon. Use it. Don't forget to keep the Armor Enhance spell active at all times. The monsters on the first few levels you can usually kill without the use of spells, but as you get deeper into the dungeon you'll need to use the Fireballs more often. It's a wise idea to explore the first 2 or 3 levels of the dungeon and then exit the dungeon and buy more supplies. You can (A)rm with (RO)pe and Hooks to climb up the shafts if there's no ladder or rope.

A special clue: if you descend the third rope past the mine on the second level to the third level and go down the passages, you'll come to a passage that is lined with hit points, gold, and food. If you (X)amine all of the caves, you'll find a shaft down to the fourth level. The traps reset every time you leave a level and the chests reset every time you leave the dungeon. The best way to get lots of gold and hit points is to remember where all the chests are on the first few levels and then keep exiting and re-entering the dungeon.

The Mountain Catacombs have eight levels. You'll find a key to the second dungeon on the eighth level. If you use a Wall Pass in the right place, it'll lead you straight to the safe with the key. The Dungeons of Death is the second dungeon (Long 3, Lat 4). You'll need more of all the spells than you did for the first dungeon because the monsters hit a lot hrder. You'll particularly need Stone Spells because often there is more than one monster hitting you at a time. Be careful of them though, sometimes they back fire and freeze you instead of the monsters.

On the first or second level of the Dungeons of Death, you'll find a shaft that goes all the way down to the sixth level. You'll need a Wall Pass here to descend to the lower levels. The Dungeons of Death has eight levels also. Once you've gotten the key from the Dungeons of Death, you can enter Mantor's Mountain, the final dungeon. Hopefully, you've gotten a trained eagle by this time because that's the only way you can reach Mantor's Mountain (Long 4, Lat 1).

Before you enter the dungeon you should have 20,000+ hit points, some Magic Shields, some Long Bows and Lances and lots and lots of spells. There are 17 levels to Mantor's Mountain and the monsters hit extremely hard. The long bows are extremely useful in attacking monsters before they get to you and the lances are good backups. Once you enter Mantor's Mountain remember that when you get to the bottom (finally) you won't be coming back to the Land of Evil.

Also be careful of the urns and the hit point chests on the lower level because some of them are booby-trapped and will cause you to lose at least a fourth of your hit points. Some of the levels are difficult to descend from; remember to (X)amine in every cave and corner. When you finally reach the bottom and open the safe, you'll be in Mantor's Castle (or, you can pay one of the monsters the bribe that he asks for, and you will be transported instantly to the castle). I'm not going to spoil the superlative ending for you, but just remember two things: There's a second use for the magic powder and the game's not over til it's over.

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