The Gemstone of Balance and Other Stories (GGame Engine)

by Gary Arndt


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What is this?
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This document contains some hints that should help you if you are having trouble or don't want to discover various aspects of scenario 2 while playing the game (meaning, via NPC conversation, exploration, strategic trial and error, etc.).  This is in-game scenario-specific information; the subject of how to play the game is explained in the manual.

Note that this document is specifically about scenario 2, "The Gemstone of Balance"; no other scenarios are addressed here.

The information here consists of "spoilers"; this is information that you would otherwise discover while playing the game (although these spoilers run the range from very minor hints that don't give much away to very significant information that spells things out in detail).

You may want to read this document if your reaction to the game is any of the following:

- This game looked fun at first but is too hard so I'm thinking of just giving up

- I don't have the time and/or desire to learn the game using the more difficult/lengthy methods.  I think that I'd have more fun if I could just play through it knowing what to do in advance.

- I wish there was a hint/clue book


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Summary of sections
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Following is a summary of the sections detailed in this document.  To find one of these sections, either scroll down or do a search for the section title in your text editor/viewer.

Some basic hints

The beginning goblin battle

The benefits in town

Combat strategy

Resting is important .. and NOT for healing

Healing

A variety of actions
(including "I can't find the place or item mentioned in a quest or hint")

Where are things?

Boats and ships

My ship or boat is suddenly gone!

There appears to be a bug in the game where items disappear!

Is there a way to carry more?

A few more hints

Are there other lands?  Are all of the places you can go useful?

This game looks pretty basic ...

A few quest hints

Where is the Gemstone of Balance?

The treasure from a difficult dungeon seems very low!

The desert and arctic dungeons seem impossible

It seems impossible to get past some point

It is impossible to get past the final enemy when it attacks by summoning mountainous terrain

The final battle seems impossible!

How do you get to the locations on the outskirts of towns that are mentioned by some NPC's?

Are there any "Easter Eggs" in the game?

I'm pretty sure I've found a bug in the game ...

Is the design of the game finished?  Why are there newer releases?

Is that all?


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Some basic hints
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- You can scroll the text display up with the page up/down keys or with control + the up/down arrows.  The "reference card" is a section of the manual or the F1 key (and the F1 display can even be exported to a file if you want).  This and many other details related to playing the game are carefully documented in the manual.  While it is by no means necessary to read it all, the first few pages are strongly recommended.

- Don't fight the goblins at the beginning without a plan; you start the game unarmed and inexperienced.  This game is intentionally an old-style CRPG and this is typical in those games.  See the section about this below if you want more information.

- You should definitely explore, but be careful doing so.  The game is all about exploring and you will be rewarded for doing so, but some areas will be too difficult until you become more powerful.

- If something is too difficult, come back later when you are more powerful and try it again.  Another aspect of this being an old-style CRPG is that you can go a lot of places early on but many will be too difficult until you become more powerful.  Take note of these places and come back at a later time.

- Talk to all the NPC's; much of how to play the game successfully depends heavily on this, including how to be successful in combat.  And talking to the NPC's in games like this is a lot of the fun.  You can check who you have not talked to yet with the "show object state" command (ENTER or Control-ENTER).

- Combat is tactical and must be approached strategically; don't expect to win more difficult battles just by running up to the enemy and pressing "Attack" over and over.

- If you are going through healing potions like water, you need to reconsider your combat strategy and/or whether you are trying something too difficult for your level.  When I test the first part of the game, I only have to use healing potions every once in a while.

- Another aspect of this intentionally being an old-style CRPG is that you may get killed in some cases and need to reload.  Getting killed every once in a while is not unusual or a sign that you are doing something wrong.  Save often and use the "named saves" (which can be accessed in several ways such as with the F3 key) so you can go back to different save points if you make a mistake or the random rolls happen to go badly.

- Like many old CRPG's, this game does not tell you what you need to do; you would normally discover this while playing the game.

- While this game is intentionally very much in the style of older CRPG's, it is also very different and unique in many ways; don't expect everything to work exactly the same way as similar games.

- Be very careful where you set down or store items, as the game is intentionally designed to enforce care in doing so

- There are many more basic hints in the manual; search for "A few tips".


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The beginning goblin battle
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You start the game next to a group of goblins.  If you press 'Z' to view your stats, you may notice that you are level 0 and have no weapons or armor (!).  And you don't know how many goblins there are in that group.  On the other hand, there is that treasure chest sitting there just waiting for you ...

First of all, before you do anything else, save the game using F3 so you can restart if things don't go well.  Enter any name you want, maybe something like "start" or "1" or some such.

You have several different options:

- Use the terrain to trick them.  This is what I do every time I test the game.  Run south along the coast until you see the hills forming a pass to your east.  Lure them towards you but don't let them get any closer than necessary.  If you move just right the goblins will get slowed down in the hills after you do and you can circle back up to the north and back around west towards the treasure chest without them chasing you.  If you run into a combat with the sea serpents along the way, just retreat from them; they can't reach you if you don't approach them within the combat scene (and the retreat attempt will never fail).  Once you have lured the goblins south of you and of the mountains, they won't be able to reach you and you can get the treasure chest without them attacking.

- Fight the goblins to see how many there are and try to retreat if there are too many.  If there is only 1, you may be able to win even without any weapons or armor.  But if there are more than 1, you would be better off trying to retreat.  That said, there IS a chance you will fail to escape.  The chance that you can retreat depends on a number of factors including how close they are to you, how many there are, some stuff you won't be able to do at this point in the game (such as casting particular spells or using particular magic items), and a random chance (plus some creatures can't block you from retreating if they can't move on the same terrain such as the sea serpents mentioned earlier).  If you retreat before they move, the risk of not being able to escape is fairly low since they will be far away, but note that there is still a small risk due to the random chance.

- Move onto the treasure chest and try to retreat when they attack you.  As mentioned above, do so right away so they can't get close and therefore significantly reduce your chances of being able to escape.  If you are successful, you'll be standing on the treasure chest.  Press 'G' to get the chest.  You'll find it contains magic items which will allow you to easily win the combat if you want.  Or you can run away and save those items for later.

- Run away and head for the nearest town (go south following the west coastline).  You'll find that inside the town you can obtain numerous benefits that will let you win that combat very easily.


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The benefits in town
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Combat is vastly easier if you prepare for it.  The following all help:

- Buy a weapon.  If you are a fighter, also buy armor and a shield once you can afford it (the later only if you aren't using a 2-handed weapon).  But don't forget to save enough money for food.

- The cleric is free, so use his services.  If you got hurt opening the treasure chest, ask him to heal you.  And be sure and ask for him to cast bless on you.  You can check your current status with regards to spells that help you by using Control-Z to view the complex stats information (the results of spells such as bless wear out as they are used).

- If you don't have good morale, you won't perform well at anything including combat.  You'll need to boost your morale to be most successful.  Morale wears out quickly, but at this early stage in the game it makes a huge difference, in fact is critical.  You gain morale through several different methods that are tied to several distinct categories.  One involves a visit to the pub.  Drinks aren't very expensive so that's a good option.  The food is much more expensive than trail rations, but the price will grant significant morale points.  You should also sleep.  You can do so safely at the inn or you can camp for free outside by pressing Control-R to set up camp and rest, although that is much more dangerous because you could be ambushed.  But you will need the morale granted by sleeping (some minimum sleep is implied during overland travel; this is above and beyond).  And talk to the cats; since cats are awesome, you will gain morale for doing so.  Note that only a given number of morale points can be gained in each category which usually means about twice per type if you have no points left in the respective category.  You can check your current morale by using Control-Z to view the complex stats information.

- Talk to Joreth and if you ask enough questions and agree to help him, he tells you to talk to Corelith.  If you do as Joreth says and mention his name to Corelith, he will offer potions at a reasonable price.  Healing is important for everyone but you'll get a lot of healing potions as treasure so it may not actually be the most important thing to buy.  A spellcaster will benefit from mana potions.  Having a few cure potions is essential, although early on when your gold is limited you can wait to buy those as long as you have at least 1 with you.

- There are also other merchants that can help you in other ways such as innkeepers.  Other towns have different or additional merchants.  For example, Seaport is a very large city and has a wide variety of merchants.

- Of course, one of the biggest benefits in town are the people who can give you useful information


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Combat strategy
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- Use terrain.  A lot of being successful in combat is about choosing where you fight the enemy.  Terrain all has a movement cost involved with it, although that can differ depending on what you are fighting.  Hills and forest are very slow for most creatures, although forest can be a problem because visibility is so limited.  Bushes are fairly slow.  If you fight in the hills and wait for them to slowly come towards you, combat can become very easy.  If there are no hills nearby, try the bushes.  If there is only 1 left, you can walk around the battlefield until they try walking through terrain like bushes and then attack them while they are slowed down and they won't ever have a chance to get even one attack in on you.  Note that as mentioned earlier, this doesn't work on all creatures, particularly those that can fly.

- Don't forget about the things mentioned earlier regarding the benefits of town; you'll want to keep up the cleric blessing, your morale points, and have decent weapons and armor.  Stick close to town at first so that you can refresh your hit points, cleric blessing, and morale points.

- If you are a wizard, go get the Pacifism and Mass Pacifism spells as soon as you are able to get to Seaport (this is part of an early quest given in Friel so you'll eventually end up there).  A wizard won't do well early on in the game without spells like Stun and Pacifism.  Note that Pacifism is particular useful on archers.

- Use the "look" command (Control-L) and the "show object state" command during combat.  If they are delayed, you can attack them without them attacking you back.  Delays happen for a variety of reasons, some of which include moving through slow terrain, spells like Pacifism, and archer delay.  The look command will also tell you if they are retreating so you can focus your efforts on more dangerous enemies.

- Count how many spaces away archers can attack and don't let them get close enough to do so unless they are delayed and you are not.  For example, if you can get them moving through the bushes but you are moving across open grasslands, they will only be able to attack you minimally before you can reach them.

- Don't think archers are more powerful than non-archers; most archers are delayed every time they fire so they only fire every other turn.  But don't let archers hide behind the other fighters and attack you over and over; lure out enemies and use terrain delay against them so this doesn't happen.

- If you are a spellcaster, count how long your spells like Pacifism last.  And note that how long many spells last increase as you go up in level.

- If you retreat the enemies will all be healed the next time you fight them, but any you have killed or that have completely retreated will be permanently gone.  And the enemies will start back across the battlefield.  You can use this technique to chip away at a difficult enemy group.

- Don't forget to use magic (and that doesn't mean just a bunch of healing potions).  Spellcasters should not forget to use a variety of spells including those that can be cast in advance of combat to improve your character's chances.  And any character can use magic items such as wands.  Various magic items can be very useful in general or in particular situations.  Summoning allies is often very helpful.  Summoning an aquatic ally can be very useful for a difficult aquatic encounter (for example, distracting a Sea Dragon that is hard to reach while you move).  Some creatures can't be affected by some types of magic, but in a difficult battle those that you find do work can mean the difference between victory and defeat.  If you find a battle very difficult or are losing a huge amount of HP, this is likely an indication that you should have stocked up on magic items.  Note that there's a special magic item in the game that can give you the ability to store a large number of other items and there is at least one merchant that sell magic wands.

- If you are a spellcaster, be warned that the biggest spells aren't necessarily the best to cast as soon as you get enough spell points to do so.  Instead, consider using a variety of smaller spells so that you don't use up all of your spell points at once.  This is one of the reasons why there are spells like "Minor Luck" and "Lesser Luck" that cost the same to learn but have a different spell point cost.

- Another issue if you are a spellcaster is that spells that improve your changes like the "Luck" spells are limited by your level; you can't cast every improvement spell and expect them all to work at the same time.  Separate from spells overlapping in the same category is a total maximum cap on the number of points that you can have at one time regardless of category (you can check what is current with "Control-Z" to view the complex stats information).  This is another reason why there are spells like "Minor Luck" and "Lesser Luck" that cost the same to learn but have a different spell point cost.  Note that spells cast by NPC's such as the cleric's Bless spell are part of this.

- There is a resistance system.  For example, there's not a lot of magic that will work on undead, fire doesn't work well on fire-breathing dragons, and cold on arctic dragons, to name just a few.  However, finding what WILL work is intended to be part of the game.  For example, "blast", entanglement, and of course "turn undead" spells are a good way to deal with undead.


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Resting is important .. and NOT for healing
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Sleep in this game is not for healing; I've intentionally diverged from other old-style CRPG's on this point (along with several others).  While you will gain a small amount of HP, it is primarily for two other purposes:

- Morale: This is beneficial for every character

- Spell points: This is crucial for spellcasters

You rest using the Control-R option


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Healing
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You can heal using the following methods:

- Visit a town with a cleric (or any other NPC who can heal)

- If you are a cleric, you can heal yourself

- Healing potions, which, as mentioned above, you can buy most cheaply from Corelith.  (Again, if you are going through these like water you may want to rethink your strategy.)

- If you are desperate, resting will give you a very small amount of HP


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A variety of actions
(including "I can't find the place or item mentioned in a quest or hint")
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Try out different commands to interact with objects/aspects of the game (items, locations, vehicles, creatures, etc.); there is a reason there are many different commands rather than just a single default command to interact with them.  Having many different commands is a similar (although far less complex) approach to how many of the old text-based puzzle games (such as Zork) require typing in different actions and how it is often not clear which ones will be helpful.  Many newer games tend to "spoon feed" the solution by providing only a default action for a given object, which is unfortunate because that is far less interesting than having to figure out what particular action needs to be taken.  This game, like many older CRPG games, does not provide a singular default action, but requires you to decide which action you want to take.

You can use "Enter" in situations you may not expect such as on the main overland map when text suddenly appears on a given position telling you about an interesting area.  For example, text will appear when you move onto a particular position on the main overland map towards the south-west along the west coast.  This text tells you that there is a cliffside overlooking the ocean.  You can then press 'E' ("Enter") to enter a map just as you would with any other location such as a town, dungeon, etc..  This represents you deciding to take a closer look at the area since it is not just another anonymous position in the wilderness but rather something more interesting to investigate.

You can use "Look" to find hidden objects.  For example, if you are searching for a certain item that you have reason to believe is hidden somewhere on a given beach, then you could press Control-L ("Look") to search each of the positions along that beach.  If there is a special object there, text will tell you this is the case and you could then use 'G' ("Get") to get that hidden object (or, alternatively, you could simply skip using Look and instead use Get on the positions that you want to search).  That said, there is no reason to search for hidden objects unless you have a good reason to believe that there is something on a given position or positions.


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Where are things?
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- Corelith sends you to Seaport to find a merchant named Ightys.  Seaport is very large and it may be difficult to find him.  The idea of this low-level quest is to get you to explore the town since everything is very useful, but if you want to find him more quickly he is in a large manor house in the main part of town to the south.  When you enter town (by foot), go to the fountain, turn south, go across the bridges, and then onto the small path leading east.  Follow this path towards the house.  You'd normally have to figure out what to tell him, but words like "goods" or "Corelith" are some of the options.

- If you are a wizard, you'll be looking for the spell merchant.  He is in the main part of Seaport in the big building in a set of shops accessed with a staircase between two pillars.  When you enter town (by foot), go east until you see the pillars with the staircase to the north of the path.  Go up the stairs, continue north down the hallway, and go up the second set of stairs.  His shop is the first one on the east at the top of the stairs.


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Boats and ships
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- The game has an extensive system for vehicles, vehicle supplies, vehicle-related weather, vehicle combat, cargo, trading, and many other aspects of vehicle use.  You can purchase boat, ships, and related supplies from the shipwright in the city of Seaport.  A cheap boat is a good way to start.  A portable boat is fragile but essential to reach some areas of the game.  You should eventually be able to afford a ship or find and take one from enemies.  The shipwright also can fix vehicle damage, sells vehicle supplies, offers vehicle enhancements, and has a lot of important information and hints about a variety of related subjects.

- Dangers such as whirlpools don't just hurt you when you are aboard a vehicle, but also can destroy vehicles that are left by themselves while you are away from them.  This is a big problem problem if you leave your ship to explore by foot, particularly if you are carrying a lot of supplies and treasure in the cargo.  When leaving your vehicle in a safe location like inside a harbor town (such as Seaport) isn't possible, the solution is to protect it with a magic item or spell intended for protecting vehicles.  While obviously only a spellcaster can take advantage of such a spell, anyone may use these magic items, making the ability to protect your vehicle available to all classes.  The shipwright in Seaport not only warns you about this danger, but also sells these items.

- A ship's cannons are a good way to get rid of a difficult enemy, but be careful not to let them engage you in close combat and that you are carrying enough cannon balls.  Also be aware that you will blow up any treasure that enemy is carrying.

- The portable boat in the game is essential in a few cases and very helpful in others.  It is heavy, however, so you probably won't want to bring it everywhere with you.  That said, don't just ignore places that could potentially be accessed if you had a boat with you.

- You can carry some vehicles on other vehicles that allow cargo; refer to the manual for more information.  This can be very useful for a variety of reasons.  You can put a horse or a camel on a ship and bring it with you.  You should definitely put a smaller boat on a ship in case it sinks.  This is also very helpful if you have to travel into shallow water.  The portable boat can be used for this purpose but is very fragile.


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My ship or boat is suddenly gone!
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Refer to the above section "boats and ships".  A danger such as a whirlpool probably destroyed it.  A message and a sound will have been displayed if this was the case.  You will need to go back to an earlier save game (this assuming you are using the recommended approach of a sequence of named save games) and should definitely consider protecting your boat or ship with a spell or magic item that is intended for that purpose so that this does not happen again.


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There appears to be a bug in the game where items disappear!
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This isn't a bug.  Look at the messages about the safety of the area.  Every so often items in an unsafe area are scanned and may disappear.  Leave items you care about in safe places.  This is the purpose of warehouses and hidden containers and such, otherwise you could just leave everything anywhere on the ground.

A good place to store items is in a ship since it has a high cargo capacity.  Just be sure that ship doesn't sink!

Note that some areas are not saved so you can NEVER expect to any items to remain that you leave there.  That said, there is a special mechanism for combat scenes where remaining items will reappear on the outer map.


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Is there a way to carry more?
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Yes.

If you are doing a good job exploring, you will eventually come across such an item.

The items is in Seaport and called "The Wand of the Planar Abode".  At first, this may not seem to have anything to do with carrying more inventory.  But it is essential for this purpose and almost required for several quests.  Say you have to carry an unconcious warrior out of a dungeon; drop your heaviest geer, pick up him, use the wand and put him in the Abode.  Pick your gear back up, leave the dungeon, go back to where you need to bring him, and do the same to get him back out.  You can also have a very large stock of supplies available for use or pick up huge treasure hordes this way.  Just don't forget the fact that the wand has limited charges so you'll have to be careful about not using it too many time and about making sure it is recharged.


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A few more hints
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- Stock up on items including magic items.  The gold in the game isn't there just to horde; there's a LOT to spend it on.

- Consider the items you have; don't simply dismiss them.  For example, the compass is at least fairly useful in a variety of situations and in a few special cases can make a huge difference.  Even items that aren't usable by your class (such as a magic weapon a wizard can't use or a spell scroll a fighter can't use) can be sold.  Some wands that don't seem all that powerful can be absolutely critical in the right situation.

- If you are having difficulty finding your way through a puzzle, try dropping an item so you know where you have been.  Just remember that sometimes items disappear so may not be there when you come back if you leave them in an unsafe place.  If you are tring to "leave a trail of bread crumbs" in an unsafe location, you may want to consider dropping 1 gp in the first position, 2 gp in the next position, and so on since losing a few gp is a small loss and the specific quantity at the given position can mark that position uniquely.  And don't forget to use this technique in conjunction with direction spells or the compass, plus crystal balls or view spells (although in some cases you may need more powerful versions in order for them to work in certain areas).

- Since you can store extra supplies and treasure in a vehicle's cargo but a vehicle can be destroyed, you can put an extra vehicle inside a safe location such as a harbor in a town such as Seaport that is used to keep such items safe.  If you do not have an extra ship available, some towns such as Seaport have warehouses that will store items for you for a price (just be warned that the cheaper warehouses may not be entirely safe).  Further, some residences that you can gain for yourself have chests that you can use to store items safely.


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Are there other lands?  Are all of the places you can go useful?
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Yes.

First of all, as you would discover when you explore the game, there are many other overland maps; the one you start on is just one of them.  You can take a vehicle such as a ship or boat to the edge of any overland map and cross the border onto the next map if one is defined for that map's border.  As usual, you will be rewarded for exploring by finding a variety of items that will help you on your quest.

Many places are not required to solve the main quest of the game, but are extremely useful in providing rewards that help.  Without these, the final area of the game will almost certainly be too difficult.  However, each of these rewards gives advantages that makes the final area much less difficult.

It is worth repeating at this point that exploring is rewarded, but some areas will be too difficult until you become more powerful; if an area is too difficult, you may have to come back later and try again.

There are very few quests/items/etc. that are literally required (there are a few things such as needing a boat to access some areas).  However, the quest to find and use Gemstone of Balance is essentially required.  Without solving that quest there is a point near the end of the game that is almost impossible.


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This game looks pretty basic ...
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No, it is actually VERY complex under the surface and there is a lot to explore and discover.  There is a huge amount of detail in this game, both in the game engine and in scenario 2.

It may look basic for two reasons.

First of all, the game intentionally uses low-resolution graphics and behaves as an old-style CPRG in terms of the interface and such.

Secondly, the scenario intentionally starts off with a fairly basic approach.  However, it becomes increasingly complex as it progresses.  For example, the easier dungeon near Friel is a very old-fashioned one in that it uses only some random encounter table creatures, some secret passages, most treasure is random (although it does also contain some very significant specific treasure), etc..  A later dungeon to the east uses dungeon rooms (some of which with a very complex design), special objects like fountains, traps, pits using special scenes, and many more such complex features.  Even later dungeons like the arctic dungeon adds to that open sky and other special graphics, special terrain, special creatures, special encounters, more special objects such as portals and crystals, some special dungeon rooms that use even more complex features, and even more of the complex features.  There are many other continents and other main overland areas available by ship to explore, a huge number of special items to find that help to beat the final battle, etc..

While I do not have every feature of some of the older CRPG's (such as some of the rogue's powers, although I plan to eventually finish that), instead I do have an extremely large number of other special features that I included because as a fan of older CRPG games I would have liked those in the games I have played (the type of things that I would have reacted to as "wow, that is new and interesting or a nice detail").  You will discover these as you progress in the game.  Many of these are very subtle like how a NPC will shift when you enter a map and would otherwise be standing on the same position or how combat scenes in dungeons carefully and properly represent the layout of the terrain, while others are more obvious like a very wide variety of features related to ships and boats and various aspects of the most complex dungeons and other locations.

In other words, as you progress in the game more and more interesting features and other aspects of the game will appear, but you won't see these when you first start the game.


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A few quest hints
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This section includes some minor spoilers but focuses on hints over giving anything away directly.

- Where is the Gemstone of Balance?

Try exploring the game more fully and you will find several hints that point to it.  In particular, you will want to explore everywhere and talk to everyone in the game, particularly those individuals who happen to have more complex conversations.  If this is not enough, there is a separate section below with specific information.


- Where is the hidden mountains area?

An NPC sends you on a vital quest to find this place.  You could simply explore the vast number of possibilities yourself, but doing so would be very difficult without more specific information.  However, if you progress in some other aspects of the game, the location will become much more obvious.


- What is the point of the hidden desert area?

You could figure this out by trial and error, but doing so may be difficult without more specific information.  Try talking to someone who is familiar with this place and can give you additional guidance.


- Where is the Wand of the Planar Abode?

You need to explore to find this.  Be sure and talk to everyone.


- Some wands say they can recharged; how do you do this?

In all cases, you need to go somewhere specific to the wand in question.

For the Wand of the Planar Abode, remember where you got it in the first place.

For the unique summoning wands, try considering what location is related to the wand in question and explore even where you may have been before and prior to when you had the wands in your inventory.  Note that that the place to recharge the Wand of the Water has not yet implemented (at least as of the time this was written), but it is still useful (in fact, critical) even after it is out of charges.


- There are treasure items I cannot use due to my class so are worthless!

Actually, most treasure items are at least worth gold once you find someone who will buy them from you.


- The desert dungeon statues are not working correctly!

Yes, they actually are working correctly.  Listen very carefully to what the NPC who tells you about it says; the key of the issue is where the individuals were at, NOT where some of them happened to be looking at first (meaning, if you are having problems it may be that you have them reversed 180 degrees).  Use the compass or a direction spell to help deal with them, and remember that their facing is relative to "down the hall".


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Where is the Gemstone of Balance?
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... and why do you need it?

Obviously, this section gets into significant spoilers; beware!

Finding this gemstone is a significant aspect of the game and there are many hints in the game that will help guide you towards it or that are critical to finding it.  These hints will be found by exploring various settlements and talking to people.  For example, the jeweler in Harborside will tell you that he had the gem but sold it and will give you additional details if you ask him further about it.  That particular hint is one of those that is not critical but will help guide you towards it.

Anyway, first of all there is the issue of WHY you want to find it in the first place.  While you are exploring Seaport, you will come across a prisoner in the north district that will ask for your help.  If you accept this quest, he will tell you to find the gemstone, why it is important, and what to do with it once you find it.

As you explore this and other towns, several other people will mention the gemstone.  You will eventually discover that at some point it ended up in the hands of a group of pirates.  Since Seaport is known for its pirates (as you will discover as you explore and speak to people about Seaport), you will want to find those pirates and pose as one of them in order to talk to them and find out more (rather than attacking them and losing access to that information).

There are actually two different ways to do so.  In either case, start by going to Seaport.

For the first approach, go to the pub near the docks and talk to the barkeep.  While he is by no means a pleasant individual, he has critical information for you and so, like with most barkeeps in the game, you must tip him so that he will share his information.  Not surprisingly given how unpleasant he is, he is also quite greedy.  If you give him a large enough tip, he will share the password for the hidden pirate lair.

When you are exploring Seaport, you may notice that the big complex of adjacent buildings near the docks (which includes the afore-mentioned pub) has more positions than the total number of positions you can get to inside of those buildings, meaning there is a hidden space somewhere in with them.  Further, if you use a standard crystal ball or you are a wizard and cast a basic View spell, you will find that these will not function on this map.  The reason is that this area has been protected from scrying due to the afore-mentioned hidden space.  However, like many areas protected from scrying, that protection has limited power which means that a powerful enough crystal ball or View spell may overcome it so that it works and thus reveals the hidden area.

In any case (whether or not you use a crystal ball or View spell), you can find several secret doors in the complex.  One of these is in the back room of the pub.  When you enter one of these, you will find a hallway connecting several of them between several different buildings.  But there is yet another secret door along the east wall that leads to a small room with stairs going downwards.  If you go down these stairs, you will find a door to the east.  If you move adjacent to this door, text will tell you that you hear someone talking on the other side of it.  You may guess that these are the pirates the barkeep mentioned, so yell the password that the barkeep gave you using the 'Y' ("Yell") command.  Once you have done so, they will unlock the door and you will find yourself in the pirate lair.

The second approach to get into the pirate lair is to go to the north district and find the house to the far north.  When you talk to the children there, you find out one of them has been having dreams about a ship in a cave and you may begin to suspect that this was not just a dream, but that there is actually something hidden in the basement leading to such a place.  Go find the secret passage to the west and follow the cave to the hidden hole leading downwards.  Climb down it just like you would with stairs or a ladder ('D' to "Descend") and follow the passage until you find the overlook to view the sea passages.  This reveals that the child wasn't just dreaming, but rather sleepwalking and what he saw and heard was actually real.

At this point you may wonder how the pirates are getting their ships into the cave and that there is most likely a passage somewhere nearby along the coast.  Go back out and get a boat or ship.  If it is at the main docks, board it and sail north past the guard lookout until you move off of the map so that you move onto the map of the north district but on the water rather than the land.  Continue moving north along the beach until you pass it and reach the mountainous area at the north end.  You will find a dark opening there.  Move into it and you will find yourself inside the sea caves.  Explore these caves until you find the docks for the pirate lair.  Do not attack any pirates!  You want to pose as one of them, not kill your sources of information.  Exit your craft and work your way south until you find a secret door at the end of the long hallway.  You will find yourself in the room with the same door to the west that you would have gone through had you used the first method described above (the password to go through the door).

At this point, you will be in the same position in the pirate lair regardless of which method you used to get there.  Go through the south door and speak to the pirates.  Do not attack them!  They assume that you are one of them.  As you speak to them, you will discover that the gemstone was given the their fense to sell.  Leave the pirate lairs and begin to look for the fense.

You may have noticed while exploring Seaport that there is a merchant on the second floor of one of the shops in the central district (the SE building of the 4 tall buildings) that has nothing of interest for you to purchase and is dressed and speaks suspiciously like you would expect of a pirate.  Ask him about the gem that changes color.  He will tell you that he sold it to a noble woman with a bad attitude.

You may have noticed while exploring Seaport that the woman in the north district in the house to the far north (the one with the afore-mentioned children) fits his description.  Go ask her about the gem and she will sell it to you.  But when she goes to get it for you, she will then tell you that her children took it to play with and lost it!  Go talk to them and they will tell you where they lost it.  Go search this location and, after some searching, you will find it (refer to the above section about using the Look and/or Get command to find hidden objects).

Once you have picked up the gemstone so that it is in your inventory, look at it with the Use command.  If you do this more than once, you will find that it behaves just as everyone has been saying in that it changes colors.

Go back to the prisoner and he will be quite pleased that you have found the Gemstone of Balance.  From there, he can remind you what you should do with it.


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The treasure from a difficult dungeon seems very low!
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You've just managed to get through a very difficult dungeon and it doesn't seem like there was any worthwhile treasure.

If that treasure included some wand you've never heard of before like the Wand of Water, Lava, Desert, or Arctic, you've just obtained 1 of 4 major artifacts.  And if you have all 4, you now have a capability beyond that of each on their own.  Further, notice that these 4 wands don't disappear when they run out of charges and can be recharged.  They don't have a lot of charges, but are the most powerful items in the scenario and pivotal in the final battle (the Gemstone of Balance aside, which is almost required simply to survive an earlier point).

If you are in the dungeon with the Lich, well, he has a lot in common with a certain kind of red bird ... the real treasure in that particular lair is elsewhere, not with him; he has absolutely nothing (Liches are just jerks that way).  The people of the land still are likely to appreciate that you vanquished such a nasty villain, however ...

Often the treasures in a given dungeon are hidden or you only THINK you are at the end.  For example, you got to the very bottom of the desert dungeon and found a treasure chest with only 1 gold piece!  Well, keep looking; maybe level 8 isn't always the lowest level ...  The same holds true with the lava dungeon, the deepest dungeon in the scenario (just when you think you've reached the bottom, maybe you haven't, after all ... you'll know when you do).


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The desert and arctic dungeons seem impossible
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They are intentionally very difficult, but not impossible.  They were designed as the most complicated dungeons in the game with perhaps the exception of the final dungeon.  They are both VERY heavily puzzle-based and require a lot of thought to solve rather than just chopping your way through them, although of course there is also a lot of fighting required to get through them.

The desert dungeon has 2 distinct and separate puzzles, one helping to solve the other but not required.  The crystals and panels help to solve the statue puzzle, but are not required.  The statue puzzle IS required.  You need a vital piece of information to solve the statue puzzle (as a panel hint indicates).  The game encourages complete exploration.  In order to solve the desert dungeon, you will need to have explored the desert town very carefully and talked to the one who hold the most wisdom.

The arctic dungeon has one single but very complex major puzzle that is required to reach the end, although also has a series of statues that will give you hints helping with that puzzle and more.  If you wonder why you can't get past the room with the ravine, there's a reason.  Further, there is a second, much smaller puzzle that also requires heavy exploration in order to get a password.

For both of these dungeons, be prepared by bringing plenty of supplies.  You can put many of these supplies in the Planar Abode, although remember you only have a limited number of charges in the wand to get there so once you are exploring should be very careful about when you restock and consider at the same time dropping off treasure and refreshing yourself by resting in the bed and such.  You can of course recharge the wand back in Seaport while you are preparing the supplies in the first place, just don't forget to make sure the wand is fully charged before you leave.

Some supplies include food, mana potions, cure potions, heal potions, other magic items that you can purchase or that you have saved up (such as standard summoning wands and blast wands and such), torches (unless you are using spells), and ammunition such as arrows and such.

The compass is very helpuful in general, but particularly in the arctic dungeon where some way of detecting direction is absolutely crucial in several situations.  If you don't have it yet, you may want to go try to find it first.  Or if you are a spellcaster, you may have a spell that is just as useful, although will use up some SP every time you use it.

Crystal balls are also very useful, again particularly so in the arctic dungeon, although you will need more powerful ones to be effective there.  The spellcaster option is better in this case, as once they have a powerful View spell they can use it whenever they have enough SP, whereas crystal balls are heavy and get used up quickly.

Don't forget to magically protect your ship in the arctic!  It would not be pleasant to complete the entire dungeon and come back only to find your ship has been destroyed!  (This actually happened to me when playtesting which is WHY there is now a way to protect your ship!)

You'll want to keep warm in the arctic and have plenty of water in the desert; there are associated items for doing so.  And in the desert, don't forget you can fill and empty your waterskins.  Further, you can use up less water and other resources by moving more efficiently with a camel.

Lastly, be warned that there are some particularly difficult puzzles in the arctic dungeon, but there IS a solution to all of them.  If you can't find something you need, get lost, or get stuck in what seems to be one of several endless loops, consider careful and complete exploration, detailed mapping (and perhaps also screen shots of view magic), checking your direction frequently, checking your position via a crystal ball or view spell frequently, leaving a "trail of bread crumbs" (as described in another section in this document along with the uncertainty of doing so), process of elimination (if you have tried all else, then what remains?), considering all the many hints throughout the dungeon, realizing that you are likely to have to backtrack at least several times, and considering the various possible tricks that the magic of the place may be playing on you (a certain NPC would love these, but your character may not find them quite so pleasing).


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It seems impossible to get past some point
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Everything has been tested and there is a way to get by everything.  If it is simply too difficult, you may have to come back later or perhaps there is a way around or something you must do first.  If it seems blocked or that a puzzle is broken, this is a likely indication of a trick being needed to getting around it.  Sometimes you have to backtrack and do or find something first (such as a key).

For example, the bridge room on level 8 of the arctic dungeon DOES have a way to get around it; the room does not have a bug in it.  Another example in the same dungeon is that there IS a way through each of the phases of portal puzzle, but there are many tricks/puzzles involved in doing so (you'll definitely want to find and consider the hints throughout the dungeon that help you with these).  Another example in the final dungeon is that finding a particular key is necessary before you can progress to the final area and you may have to backtrack to find it.

I found myself creating quite a few puzzles that turned out to be rather difficult.  General things to keep in mind in solving these is that magic often helps and I usually (or perhaps always) provide some kind of hint.  For example with respect to the former, the direction spell or compass are very helpful if you get turned around and that is particularly important when some magic intentionally changes your position and/or direction.  An example with respect to the later is in several dungeons such as the desert and arctic, use the Look command on the statues (the 'L' command).  Or in the desert dungeon, the room with the pattern of lethal collapsing floor positions exactly matches that of the traps in the previous non-lethal room.


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It is impossible to get past the final enemy when it attacks by summoning mountainous terrain
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Warning: This is a significant spoiler!

Read above about the Gemstone of Balance quest.  If you haven't freed the mountain place of power from the dragon lord then he will use its power against you and almost certainly kill you.  This is what makes that quest almost required (as mentioned earlier).


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The final battle seems impossible!
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Did you listen to what the seer said?  He explains what to do.

Warning: The following is a significant spoiler!

If you need a better explanation, the seer's reading means that you must take your portable boat and move along the edge of the lake to attack them from behind.  Going directly across the lake to the island is extremely difficult.

Further, as noted earlier you'll have a far better chance of winning if you have found a variety of rewards that can help you.  For example, you should use the magic portable boat while in the lake in case any attacks are made against you while you are aboard it since it has more hull points.  You should have the cloak of fire resistance (which works automatically if it is in your inventory).  You should have the Wand of the Planar Abode and use it during the battle while you are there which will suspend time and allow you to restore yourself and to restock charge-based items you have stored there in advance (potions, wands, etc.).  You should summon the magic entity using 1 of the 4 entity summoning wands (which you can only do if you have all 4 of them) and those should be fully recharged if you have used them (recharge at the associated places of power).  Note that even with all 4 of them, you can also still use these wands to summon their original types and some of those are very useful additions to the magic entities given their unique abilities (the desert and arctic entities can do storm attacks from a distance).  You should also summon as many powerful allies as possible using other summoning wands.  You should use Blast wands (or spells if you are spellcaster) since they cannot be overcome by saving throws or magic resistance.  You should have a powerful magic version of the best weapon, shield, and armor you can use for your class.  If you are a spellcaster, you should have the best spells possible, cast as many point counter modifier spells as possible in advance, and have a large supply of mana potions.  Don't forget spells like Quick Strike of the Hero (in playtesting, this spell was vital for my wizard PC to hit the enemy leader).  You should have as many standard magic items as possible and every unique magic item you can get your hands on that is useful to your class.  You should be fairly high-level (at least level 10).  You should have gone to all of the places of power (as of this document there are 7 of them, but an 8th is planned), particularly those that add attribute points (desert, arctic, and lava).


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How do you get to the locations on the outskirts of towns that are mentioned by some NPC's?
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The Friel innkeeper mentions his old inn was just outside town and the man selling the residence in Seaport mentions there are homes and farms on the outskirts of town.  These are not real locations in the game that you can actually go to, but rather a reference to the abstraction of such locations that are only implied to exist.  In many games, most settlements are not large enough to make enough sense typically due to limitations on design time and map size, as well as not being useful to the player.  Therefore, I've always assumed that when you enter a settlement that you are entering the "main part" of that settlement, bypassing the many small locations on the outskirts that exist in theory (in the case of my game and this scenario, that means things like small homes and farms, etc.).  Such references in these conversations are intended only to point this out explicitly, not to lead the player to attempt to find such locations.

That said, other locations mentioned in conversations DO all exist such as the various places of natural power, the shipwreck, the location on the island mentioned in the treasure directions, etc..


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Are there any "Easter Eggs" in the game?
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Yes, absolutely.

There are 2 types of easter eggs in the game:
- A specific easter egg quest
- Minor cultural references and jokes in a variety of places throughout the game

As for the first type, there is an entirely optional quest that is an easter egg.  Be warned that the following is a spoiler!: This quest is a reference to a certain, very popular British science fiction show that unfortunately has a number of lost episodes (meaning, the sources for those episodes are literally gone although copies of some of them have been found over the years).  In this quest, you are able to find lost scripts for a series of plays by a suspiciously similar name.  If you need a hint as to where to look, try looking around in Seaport.  And if you want to know what to do with them, don't forget first that some of them have owners, and also that Seaport has a theater.

As for the second type, to start with, I enjoy cultural references and inside jokes so I've put some of these in the game (as has been done in many CRPG's over the years).

For example, the "fife" and "recorder" mentioned in Seaport are my analogies for two instruments I play, the flute and (E flat soprano) clarinet.  The harpsichorde is my analogy for the synth, the instrument I enjoy the most in the music I listen to and an instrument I play myself (although I also happen to also enjoy the literal harpsichorde).  There are also many references to some my favorite bands.

Another is an inside joke about the design of Friel that is mentioned by the innkeeper.  When he mentions his new inn was built from an old guard outpost thing, that is actually a reference to much older versions of the game (prior to any public release) where Friel's design didn't include an inn (or the small guard tower to the south) but rather the strange outpost thing he describes.  It didn't make much sense (as he says) and I decided Friel needed an inn, so I replaced it in the manner he describes.  The design had been that way for many years so it seemed appropriate to at least give it that little reference/memorial.

Anyway, one thing I should clarify is not read too much into these.  In particular, NO NPC's in the game are intended to represent anyone in real life (well, except maybe in one case of a certain former music instructor from the 90's ... :) ).  That said, a few of the specific musician NPC's are based on aspects of myself and the cats with names ARE based on real cats.

In some ways, everything in the game that is hard to find and not strictly required is a sort of Easter Egg; the game is largely about exploring and discovering things.  For example, there are a huge number of unique magic items in the game.


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I'm pretty sure I've found a bug in the game ...
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I've been very careful about how I've implemented this game and is should be very stable.

That said, I am a single individual without a QA team, so every so often I do unfortunately discover a bug during playtesting while trying something that I haven't tried before or haven't tested in a long while.  For example, I recently found and fixed a bug with exiting from locations after exiting from locations within them that use a particular scripting command.  This problem had been avoided/hidden by another problem I had fixed a few months earlier so I had not seen it in my earlier playtesting.  This bug caused you to exit from the dungeon to the wrong location after having fallen into a map-based pit scene or after being teleported to the top of the arctic dungeon by the ice gnome.  This game is extremely complicated and these things do happen every so often.

If you think you have found a bug, particular a serious one, you are welcome to let me know (and I would appreciate it).  You can do this via the current contact method I have provided in some separate documentation (as of this writing, this contact method is noted on my web page and points to a particular forum thread, but that method could change in the future without my correspondingly changing this document).  (You are also welcome to contact me for other reasons such as asking me a question, telling me about a scenario you have created, etc..)

That said, remember that, as noted in some earlier sections, some things that may appear to be bugs are actually not bugs but rather part of puzzles (for example, there is a portal puzzle in the arctic dungeon that is very difficult to find your way through and may seem to contain the bug of trapping you in an endless loop, but there IS a way to get through it).


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Is the design of the game finished?  Why are there newer releases?
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There is a saying about art only being abandoned, never finished.  That's definitely the case with this game.  While I have a huge list of things I'd like to do, scenario 2 is still entirely playable and any version can be considered "finished" from that perspective.  That said, I have found and fixed bugs from time to time (as mentioned earlier) and I have been adding content and making adjustments here and there, so from time to time I have updated the game and related tools (such as the editor).

Therefore, I'd suggest not waiting for a "final" version but rather playing the latest version whenever you want to do so.  If you discover a bug while playing a given version, it may be fixed in a newer version (as mentioned above, please let me know if it is not).  You may also want to access newer content and such.  For both reasons, I've tried to include support for importing older games into newer versions.


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Is that all?
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No; there is still a lot more that could be included in this document.  I'll try to add to it in the future, but I hope what is here helps for the time being.
