Titan Quest - Immortal Throne
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- I.M.M.O.R.T.A.L T.H.R.O.N.E -
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Copyright Mister Sinister, 2007
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This guide is dedicated to my beloved partner, Martyn "Shelfy" Owen
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CHAPTER 1 - Introduction to the Game
CHAPTER 2 - Choosing your Character
CHAPTER 3 - Basic Controls
CHAPTER 4 - Schools of Training
CHAPTER 5 - Main Walkthrough
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ACT ONE - GREECE
================
SECTION 1.0 - Road to Helos
SECTION 1.1 - A Troubled Village
SECTION 1.2 - Spartans At War
SECTION 1.3 - The Words of an Oracle
SECTION 1.4 - The Source of the Monsters
SECTION 1.5 - The Battle for Athens
SECTION 1.6 - The Order of Prometheus
SECTION 1.7 - Under the Labyrinth
SECTION 1.8 - The Blindness of the Gods
GREEK EPILOGUE
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ACT TWO - EGYPT
===============
SECTION 2.8 - The Blindness of the Gods
SECTION 2.9 - The Invocation
SECTION 2.10 - A Telkine in Egypt
SECTION 2.11 - The Sickle of Kronos
EGYPTIAN EPILOGUE
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ACT THREE - THE ORIENT
======================
SECTION 3.11 - The Sickle of Kronos
SECTION 3.12 - Hunt for the Sickle
SECTION 3.13 - Journey to the Jade Palace
SECTION 3.14 - Under Wusao Mountain
ORIENTAL EPILOGUE
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ACT THREE - MOUNT OLYMPUS
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SECTION 3.15 - Olympus
MOUNT OLYMPUS EPILOGUE
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ACT FOUR - HADES
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SECTION 4.16 - A Mysterious Message
SECTION 4.17 - Medea's Price
SECTION 4.18 - The Road to Hades
SECTION 4.19 - Judgment of the Living
SECTION 4.20 - The Battle for Elysium
SECTION 4.21 - The Immortal Throne
HADES EPILOGUE
CHAPTER 6 - Skills of the Schools
CHAPTER 7 - Relics
CHAPTER 8 - Monster Charms
CHAPTER 9 - Arcane Formulae
CHAPTER 10 - Shrines
CHAPTER 11 - Hero Monsters
CHAPTER 12 - Side Quests
CHAPTER 13 - Tips and Tricks
CHAPTER 14 - Playing on Epic and/or Legendary
CHAPTER 15 - Acknowledgments
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C H A P T E R O N E CHAPTER 1
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I N T R O D U C T I O N T O T H E G A M E
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Hello and welcome to my Titan Quest: Immortal Throne FAQ and beginning-to-end
walkthrough. I hope that you're able to glean some helpful information from
this guide, as I certainly enjoyed writing it. If you do have any helpful
comments or suggestions, please feel free to get in touch with me by
e-mailing me at shadowpath@hotmail.com. Please note, however, that I DO
MEAN "helpful" - if you have nothing nice or productive to say then my advice
is to say nothing at all - it'll save BOTH of us a lot of hassle, cheers.
So then my cheeky monkeys, let's get stared shall we ?? First, a brief
overview of the game ...
Titan Quest (and its Immortal Throne Expansion Pack) are simple-interface,
third-person perspective hack 'n slash game, which could best (without wanting
to sound like it is a clone or similar) be alikened to any of the Diablo
games, but with better levels of animation throughout. If you like Diablo
or the Diablo series, I'd bet my bottom dollar you'll love this game.
The focus of the game is on arcade-style hack 'n slash fun, with you being
thrown IMMEDIATELY into the fray, so if you're expecting something even
REMOTELY similar to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion ? STAY AWAY !! If you're into
simple interfaces and hours of guttural laughter from slaying troops en masse ?
GO GET A COPY NOW !!!!!! :)
You begin by customising your character from a limited number of options, or
importing a previously saved character if you have already played through
Titan Quest, and just installed the Immortal Throne Expansion Pack, and
set off on the road to fame, fortune and glory, travelling the ancient world
and stopping off at the holiday hotspots such as Delphi, Athens, the Nile,
Giza, and the Great Wall of China.
Naturally you will be meeting all manner of beasts and characters from the
myths of the ancient world along the way, and one of the most refreshing
things about Titan Quest is the fact that anybody that's read up on any of a
number of myths of the ancient world, will find something they find familiar
in this game AND, it must be said, something which has been given an
appropriate level of attention by the game's developers. EVERYTHING in this
game is graphically beautiful.
So ! Without further ado, let's get crackin' !!
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M A I N M E N U
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The main menu of Titan Quest (and Immortal Throne, although from this point
on I am going to make life easier and just refer to it as "Titan Quest")
provides you with the following options :-
* Play Titan Quest
Begins a Titan Quest "Main" Game (i.e. the game's main storyline)
* Play Custom Quest
Starts a Titan Quest "Custom" Game (e.g. a map created by a third party)
* Options
Tweak a number of graphics, sound and gameplay options amongst others
* Credits
Plays the game's credits (but you get cooler music if you beat the game)
* Updates
Checks for (and downloads) any updates/patches etc.
* Exit
Returns to Windows
I am going to take it as read that you are going to be pressing the Play Titan
Quest button ... as that's what I'm about to do.
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C H A P T E R T W O CHAPTER 2
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C H O O S I N G Y O U R C H A R A C T E R
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So ! We're ready to begin a Titan Quest "Main" Game eh ? Fair play !
Whilst it would only be natural to draw comparisons between this game and its
peers (mainly the Diablo series), I am going to avoid doing so, on the basis
that you as a reader might not have played any of the Diablo games - therefore
the Diablo commends stop NOW, ok ? I mean it now - no more ... :)
If you click on the "Create" button, you will be taken to the character
creation screen.
The options for customising your character are initially really quite limited,
which you may find to be a bit stifling, but stick with it - it does get MUCH
much better.
To start with, you get a choice of :-
1) What you want your character's name to be (up to 14 characters);
2) Whether you want a male or female character; and
3) What colour you want your character's tunic to be. You can pick from
either:- White, Tan, Teal, Grey or Rose
You can also see on the right-hand side of the screen that you have a couple
of options for the TYPE of game you'd like to play ... you can play a Single
Player game (which is what we are going to do together ... if you want of
course ...), or you can either join, or host, a multi-player game.
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C H A P T E R T H R E E CHAPTER 3
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B A S I C C O N T R O L S
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So ! Once you've started the game you will very very quickly realise just how
simple it is to play your character in the game. Very simply put, the control
method is as follows :-
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M O U S E C O N T R O L S
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Nb "left-attack" and "right-attack" are whatever attacks or commands have
been mapped to the corresponding buttons on the mouse, and you WILL wind up
changing these periodically as you play - however, to begin with they are :-
Left-click - Move/Attack target with left-attack/Pick up item
Right-click - Use right-attack at given location
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K E Y B O A R D S H O R T C U T S
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Alt - Highlights all undamaged items on the ground
C - Calls up the Character Screen
D (with item) - With an item raised, D drops the item on the ground
Q - Calls up your quests screen with details of all current quests
S - Calls up your skills screen
W - Changes your active weapon from 1 to 2 (and back if hit again)
Z - Highlights all damaged items on the ground
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D I R E C T I O N S
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I have given directions throughout this guide in accordance with the way that
was prevalent when I was a child - i.e. go north-west of this, or south-east
of that ...
Therefore I am going to draw you a little compass, just to make sure that we
are all familiar with which way I consider north on the screen to be. This
may sound childish, but as the game is angled, it will make your life a lot
easier, believe me ;)
NORTH
NORTH-WEST ^ NORTH-EAST
. /¦\ .
. ¦ .
. ¦ .
. ¦ .
WEST <--------------- YOU ----------------> EAST
. .
. ¦ .
. ¦ .
. \¦/ .
SOUTH-WEST V SOUTH-EAST
SOUTH
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C H A P T E R F O U R CHAPTER 4
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S C H O O L S O F T R A I N I N G
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Once you reach level 2, you can choose a school of training. Consider this a
character class for your player. There are NINE schools of training to pick
from - eight in regular Titan Quest, and nine in Immortal Throne.
Once you have chosen a school, however, you CANNOT undo it (without cheating).
You can pick a SECOND school of training at level 8, and it is your choice of
training schools which determines your ultimate character class, as you can
either stick with the one school, or pick up a second one at level 8 or any
point thereafter.
There are MANY classes to choose from, and a full list follows. To begin with
however, here are the nine schools of training :-
1) STORM
The Storm School handles two main elements - air and water. Its skills
include the ability to slow or freeze enemies, call lightning, summon
a wisp, fire shards of ice, interrupt other spellcasters and so on.
2) EARTH
The Earth School handles two main elements - fire and earth. Its
skills include the ability to burn and surround yourself in rock for
better defence, fire blasts and bombs of fire, create volcanoes under
your enemies, summon a golem to aid you, and so on.
3) WARFARE
The Warfare school represents absolute mastery in hand-to-hand combat.
Its students learn how to wield two weapons at the same time, as well
as how to channel their rage into their attacks, augmenting their
strength, accuracy, power and so on.
4) SPIRIT
Necromancy, plain and simple - the Spirit-master's powers focus on
causing pain and sorrow, attacking the minds and souls of their foes.
They can summon the powerful Liche King, as well as a Spirit-creature
of sorts, called the Outlander.
5) DEFENCE
Defence students are taught the most effective use of armour and
shields. They have a couple of skills that are similar to those of
the warfare school, including how to funnel their rage into their
strikes, but their dominant focus is on safety and defence, rather
than offensive power.
6) NATURE
Those that walk the path of nature are skilled in healing, and
communing with nature's beasts. They can summon wolves and the fierce
and reliable nymph to their aid, and can augment their power in combat
through auras.
7) HUNTING
Hunting focuses almost exclusively on the effective use of a bow and
arrows to target and eliminate enemies. Skills include augmenting
the character's arrows so that they penetrate enemies and strike those
behind them, or shatter upon impact to do burst damage.
8) ROGUE; and
The rogue is a master of stealth and cunning, relying on powders,
poisons, traps and assassin-style attacks for their strikes. Their
ability to coat their weapons with venom enables them to do more
damage, and their lethal strike power lets them HUGELY increase the
power of a single attack ... fire it up and watch for yourself !!
9) DREAM
Whilst this may sound rather biff, being able to control dreams DOES
have a number of advantages. You could dream kinky dreams, or dream
you win the lottery every night !! Ok sorry I know ... the Dream
school enables you to dominate the minds of your enemies, so it gives
you powers like sending your enemies to sleep (no joke), bending time
to increase your reflex-speeds, creating auras to augment your power,
summoning a nightmare to aid you, teleporting to strike your enemies,
and so on.
Here is a short list of the possible character classes that you can create, by
mixing different spheres of training :-
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Sphere 1 + Sphere 2 = Character Class .¦. Sphere 1 + Sphere 2 = Character Class
=======================================¦=======================================
¦
STORM - STORMCALLER ¦ DEFENCE - DEFENDER
STORM DEFENCE PALADIN ¦ DEFENCE NATURE GUARDIAN
STORM NATURE DRUID ¦ DEFENCE HUNTING WARDEN
STORM HUNTING SAGE ¦ DEFENCE ROGUE CORSAIR
STORM ROGUE SORCERER ¦ DEFENCE DREAM TEMPLAR
STORM DREAM PROPHET ¦ DEFENCE SPIRIT SPELLBINDER
STORM SPIRIT ORACLE ¦ DEFENCE WARFARE CONQUEROR
STORM WARFARE THANE ¦ DEFENCE EARTH JUGGERNAUT
STORM EARTH ELEMENTALIST ¦ DEFENCE STORM PALADIN
¦
=======================================¦=======================================
Sphere 1 + Sphere 2 = Character Class .¦. Sphere 1 + Sphere 2 = Character Class
=======================================¦=======================================
¦
EARTH - PYROMANCER ¦ NATURE - WANDERER
EARTH STORM ELEMENTALIST ¦ NATURE HUNTING RANGER
EARTH DEFENCE JUGGERNAUT ¦ NATURE ROGUE ILLUSIONIST
EARTH NATURE SUMMONER ¦ NATURE DREAM RITUALIST
EARTH HUNTING AVENGER ¦ NATURE SPIRIT SOOTHSAYER
EARTH ROGUE MAGICIAN ¦ NATURE WARFARE CHAMPION
EARTH DREAM EVOKER ¦ NATURE EARTH SUMMONER
EARTH SPIRIT CONJURER ¦ NATURE STORM DRUID
EARTH WARFARE BATTLEMAGE ¦ NATURE DEFENCE GUARDIAN
¦
=======================================¦=======================================
Sphere 1 + Sphere 2 = Character Class .¦. Sphere 1 + Sphere 2 = Character Class
=======================================¦=======================================
¦
WARFARE - WARRIOR ¦ HUNTING - HUNTER
WARFARE EARTH BATTLEMAGE ¦ HUNTING ROGUE BRIGAND
WARFARE STORM THANE ¦ HUNTING DREAM HARUSPEX
WARFARE DEFENCE CONQUEROR ¦ HUNTING SPIRITBONE CHARMER
WARFARE NATURE CHAMPION ¦ HUNTING WARFARE SLAYER
WARFARE HUNTING SLAYER ¦ HUNTING EARTH AVENGER
WARFARE ROGUE ASSASSIN ¦ HUNTING STORM SAGE
WARFARE DREAM HARBINGER ¦ HUNTING DEFENCE WARDEN
WARFARE SPIRIT SPELLBREAKER ¦ HUNTING NATURE RANGER
¦
=======================================¦=======================================
Sphere 1 + Sphere 2 = Character Class .¦. Sphere 1 + Sphere 2 = Character Class
=======================================¦=======================================
¦
SPIRIT - THEURGIST ¦ ROGUE - ROGUE
SPIRIT WARFARE SPELLBREAKER ¦ ROGUE DREAM DREAMKILLER
SPIRIT EARTH CONJURER ¦ ROGUE SPIRIT WARLOCK
SPIRIT STORM ORACLE ¦ ROGUE WARFARE ASSASSIN
SPIRIT DEFENCE SPELLBINDER ¦ ROGUE EARTH MAGICIAN
SPIRIT NATURE SOOTHSAYER ¦ ROGUE STORM SORCERER
SPIRIT HUNTING BONE CHARMER ¦ ROGUE DEFENCE CORSAIR
SPIRIT ROGUE WARLOCK ¦ ROGUE NATURE ILLUSIONIST
SPIRIT DREAM DIVINER ¦ ROGUE HUNTING BRIGAND
¦
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¦ Sphere 1 + Sphere 2 = Character Class ¦
=========================================
DREAM - SEER
DREAM SPIRIT DIVINER
DREAM WARFARE HARBINGER
DREAM EARTH EVOKER
DREAM STORM PROPHET
DREAM DEFENCE TEMPLAR
DREAM NATURE RITUALIST
DREAM HUNTING HARUSPEX
DREAM ROGUE DREAMKILLER
I shall go into considerably more detail on each school when you get to
Chapter Six: Skills of the Schools.
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C H A P T E R F I V E CHAPTER 5
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M A I N W A L K T H R O U G H
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ACT ONE - GREECE
================
===========================
SECTION 1.0 - ROAD TO HELOS
===========================
We begin the game on the road to Helos. Where is Helos you might ask ?
Buggered if I know I might answer ...
The first time you do any of a given number of actions in Titan Quest, a
very helpful little side panel will swing onto your screen from the right-
hand side, to tell you a little bit about what you need to do. The first
thing that will happen if you move towards Corythus the Boat-hand, who is
standing beside you, is the game will tell you about :-
=======================
INTERACTING WITH PEOPLE
=======================
Whilst diplomacy is not a hugely important factor in wielding a sword and
cutting the heads off monsters, there are a number of times when it is
both appropriate AND wise to speak to people. To help you discern the
worthwhile from the chav, you can see which characters you are able to
interact with, by looking for either a golden exclamation mark, or a golden
rhombus above their heads. The exclamation mark denotes a quest character,
i.e. somebody that will either have information for you relating to the
ongoing MAIN quests of the game, or who may have a side-quest to give you,
or update you on. ALWAYS TALK TO THE PEOPLE WITH THE EXCLAMATION MARKS.
The people with the rhombuses are just going to talk a lot of plop to be
honest, but it's nice to speak to one or two of them from time to time, as
they do have the odd story to tell.
Once you have exhausted the dialogue opportunities with any of the peeples
you meet in the game, the respective icon above their heads will go grey.
Continue down the road aways, and you will meet Timaeus, the Poor Farmer.
As you will see, Timaeus has an exclamation mark over his head, as would I
if I was wearing clothes like THAT, but hey ! Who cares.
If you speak to Timaeus you will get your first quest. This is the start
of the main quest in the game, and it goes a little something like this ...
================================
SECTION 1.1 - A TROUBLED VILLAGE
================================
Timaeus (a poor farmer) says that his village, Helos, is having trouble
dealing with a group of monsters that assail it. First and foremost
however, he appears to be having trouble with his horse, which a group of
monsters are about to slay. The plough-horse is his only possession, and
without it he cannot make a living. OK OK ! I get the picture !! We'll
save your bloody horse.
Head into the adjacent field and kill the ravenous boar and two satyrs
that are trying to kill the horse. They won't attack you (just to make
sure your first few kills are easy enough) ;)
================
PICKING UP ITEMS
================
Once you're done with the monsters, hold the ALT key on your keyboard and
you will see that they've dropped some items. Pick up whatever they've
left and, if it's a weapon, call up your character screen by pressing the
C button, and click on the little green "II" above, and to the right, of
your current weapon. This will activate your second set of weapons. Just
drop whatever weapon you've picked up (if any) into this second weapon
slot, and then you can chop-and-change between your two different sets of
weapons by pressing the W key on your keyboard.
====================
ROAD TO HELOS CONT'D
====================
Once Timaeus has been reunited with his plough-horse, you can continue
on down the road to Helos. Once you arrive, dispose of the five satyrs
that are assaulting the town's militia at the entrance to Helos, and then
head on in.
Incidentally, five is a very significant number in Titan Quest, as five is
generally-speaking the number of monsters that form what I shall be
referring-to from this point on as a "group" of monsters.
====================
THE VILLAGE OF HELOS
====================
Once you enter the village of Helos you will encounter your first
rebirth fountain.
================
REBIRTH FOUNTAIN
================
Rebirth fountains are REALLY cool - all you need to do is walk NEAR
one - not even right up to it, and it will activate itself. A rebirth
fountain is effectively a marker which serves to respawn your character
in the ... hopefully unlikely but possible event of their death.
If you find another rebirth fountain in the wilderness or another city,
and you will I assure you, then just walk up to it, and it will replace
the previous fountain (or marker) as your latest respawn point.
Just remember AT ALL TIMES that revisiting areas you have already been
to CAN be a bit of a pain in the arse, ESPECIALLY if you have already
activated a rebirth fountain further on in the game, as if you have
missed a rebirth fountain in an earlier part of the game, you stand a
chance of activating it if you come close to it, and this would see
your *later* rebirth fountain overwritten by this earlier one ...
... and that would suck ...
... a lot ...
That being said, once a rebirth fountain has been overwritten by another
one, it can only be REactivated by clicking on it with the left-mouse
button.
One other thing I should mention about dying and being respawned, is
that you WILL lose some experience points if you die and come back.
The higher your level, the more XP you will lose when you are brought
back to a rebirth fountain after death. HOWEVER, when you die (in
Immortal Throne at least - this doesn't happen in plain old Titan Quest),
a gravestone will appear at the site of your death. If you click on the
gravestone, it will sink into the ground and you will regain SOME of the
experience points you lost when you died. HOWEVER, if you are really
quick you can click on the gravestone AS IT IS SINKING, to gain 2, 3 or
even sometimes FOUR times the experience you might have lost ... this
is a glitch in the game, and one I expect you to exploit to the MAX, ok ??
In the village of Helos you will find :-
=====================
NON-QUEST INHABITANTS
=====================
MIDIAS - a villager who explains the function of rebirth fountains for
your benefit ... if you HAVEN'T been paying attention that is.
AESON - Guard Captain - distressed that the Shaman leading the tribe
of monsters that dwell nearby is overrunning the defences of
the town and destroying its farmlands.
IOLAUS - Storyteller, who recounts the tale of Herakles and many of his
twelve labours.
EUMOLPUS - Old Farmer, whom you cannot speak with at the outset. He does
congratulate you for saving Helos' farms and the livelihoods of
its citizens, once you have completed Diomedes' quest, however.
HESIONE - a villager who is, to be honest, a bit of a pessimist. She
is upset about the wholesale destruction of the town's crops
and begs you to speak with Diomedes.
LACHES - a villager who explains the function of portal shrines, which
we will get onto in a few moments.
LYERSES - Lookout, who will allow you to leave the town, but urges you
to speak with Diomedes (if you have not already done so) to
sort out the problems in Helos, before moving onwards.
=================
QUEST INHABITANTS
=================
DIOMEDES - Elder of Helos. Diomedes is the head honcho in the little
village of Helos, and proud of it. Unfortunately, however,
he has a problem. His village is being overrun by monsters
led by a satyr shaman. He says they have nobody to defend
them against the monsters, and he implores you to help him.
Diomedes updates your main quest with a call for you to
"find and defeat the satyr shaman".
For the sake of consistency, I'm going to finish exploring
the town of Helos before helping Diomedes in his quest.
Incidentally, as soon as you have spoken with Diomedes, a group
of satyr's rushes the bridge to his north, so you should help
the villagers fend them off before exploring further.
==================================================
MERCHANTS, ENCHANTERS, MYSTICS AND CARAVAN DRIVERS
==================================================
A quick word or two about merchants. They come in three fruity flavours
First off we have Blacksmiths, who specialise in weapons and armour.
Then come Arcanists, who focus on selling items that are of use to the
mages amongst you, and then you find Traders, who are quite happy to sell
whatever they can get their hands on.
When you are dealing with a merchant, you can move the mouse over any
item he or she is selling. If the mouse cursor changes to a red no go
sign over a purse, it means you cannot afford to purchase the item with
the amount of gold you currently possess. If the item is depicted on a
red background, you cannot use it for one of a number of possible
reasons, including :-
Your character is not of a high enough level;
Your character is not strong enough to wield the item;
Your character is too stupid to understand HOW to use the item; or
Your character is a clutz, and wouldn't be able to wield it anyhow.
Helpfully, when wanded, the game will automatically provide you with a
description of the item you are interested in, and how it compares with
any item/s you are currently carrying that might be replaced by it. E.g.
If you wand a necklace, the stats for that necklace are brought up on
screen, as are the stats for any necklace that you are currently wearing.
Another REALLY cool thing about merchants is that you can buy and sell
from them at the same price during a given transaction, MEANING if you
inadvertently sell them something and think "Sh!t !! I didn't mean to
sell that - I NEED IT BACK oh PLEASE sell it to me PLEASE", then rather
than turning around to you and saying "Sure !! AT THREE THOUSAND TIMES
ITS PURCHASE COST MUAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAR", the merchants in Titan Quest
will just turn around and say "hokay", and will sell you whatever, at
the same price it was when the original transaction took place.
Similarly, items which you sell are placed in a separate screen, meaning
that you can easily see what you've sold the merchant, and can buy it
back from them quickly and easily ...
If you quit the merchant screen and come back, however, you will have to
pay full-whack for whatever you have parted with.
Problems arise where you're selling HEAPS of stuff to a merchant (which
will happen later on in the game), as the amount of space they have to
store the stuff YOU sell them will wind up being less than the amount
of space you have to sell them items from, and so items in their "what you
have sold me" screen will be overwritten.
... confused ? I have more !! STICK AROUND ;)
ENCHANTERS are another additional type of character that are only present
in Immortal Throne and not Titan Quest, but as there are none in Helos,
we shall come to them in due course.
MYSTICS are a further type of character that are only present in Immortal
Throne and not Titan Quest. As with Enchanters, there are none in Helos,
so I shall discuss them at an appropriate time.
CARAVAN DRIVERS are KICKASS. They will hold items for you, so that you
don't have to carry them around with you all the time, and so that you
don't run the risk of losing them by leaving them on the ground. You can
purchase additional space from caravan drivers in two blocks. First block
you get for free - the first ADDITIONAL block you buy will cost you 10,000
GP, and the SECOND additional block of space you buy will cost you 500,000
GP.
Caravan Drivers also give you access to what is called a "Transfer Area".
You can use the transfer area to transfer items between ANY character in
Titan Quest, and your character. So if you pick something up and think
"I can't really use this, but character (x) can", then put it in the
transfer area, load up character (x), go to the nearest caravan driver and
voila !!
Caravan Drivers are only present in Immortal Throne, not Titan Quest.
In the village of Helos you will find the following merchants and caravan
drivers :-
CARCINUS - Trader
ERATODES - Caravan Driver
If you venture to the south of Carcinus and Eratodes, you will find the
villager Laches, standing beside a set of steps leading up to a circular
platform, encircled by statues. This is what is called a
=============
PORTAL SHRINE
=============
Portal Shrines are designed to enable you to quickly travel to areas that
you have been to previously. Similar to rebirth fountains (and Sharon
Stone), all you need to do to turn one on is walk up to it, and the rest
will happen for you. Once activated, Portal Shrines can never be turned
off, and you will be able to teleport back to this location whenever you
wish.
======================
PERSONAL TELEPORTATION
======================
Once you have activated your first portal shrine, you may press the L key
on your keyboard AT ANY TIME during play to call up a personal teleport
gate, which you can use to travel to any of the portal shrines you have
activated in the entire game.
Once you are done in whatever town/s you travel to, you may teleport back
to the exact location you created the teleport gate in. HOWEVER, if you
are slain, your teleport gate is automatically closed, which is a REAL
bugger, but nevermind.
So ! Now that we have explored Helos, let's go and sort out Diomedes'
problem, shall we ?
Head from Diomedes northwards, over the bridge, taking note that the two
torches on either side of the bridge light up as you pass by them. This is
another significant thing in Titan Quest, as torches like this, which light
up when you pass them ? Are a sure sign that you are going the right way.
Always remember that, as otherwise there are times when you might get a
tad lost exploring, and not know which way to go - it's happened to me
before I must admit !!
So, back to the plot. Once over the bridge, keep heading to the north,
through the Helos Farmlands and into the Helos Woods, slaying the satyr's,
crows and boar that you encounter en route. Left-click on any chests you
may find on the way and pilfer their contents, and REMEMBER to keep using
the ALT key to pick up those items that your enemies drop.
If (and it is very unlikely this will happen, but if) you fill your whole
inventory during this mission, press the L key and teleport back to Helos.
Sell your unwanted items to Carcinus, and then use the portal shrine in
Helos to teleport back to where you were and carry on.
If you encounter any obelisks in the wilderness - they may take a number of
forms, from crumbling blocks of stone to warped sculptured pieces of marble,
(but all of them will have a glowing light above them), these are called
=======
SHRINES
=======
Shrines give temporary benefits to the player once they are activated. A
full list of shrines can be found in Chapter Ten: Shrines. For now all you
need to know is that some shrines give immediate bonuses, such as full
health recharge, and others give duration-based bonuses, such as better xp
gains from kills for a given period of time, or the ability to slow down
your enemies with frost, giving you substantial benefits in combat.
Simply left-click on a shrine to use it. Some shrines recharge themselves
over time, but there is no point in waiting around for one to do so, trust
me ;)
Once you find the Shaman you will see that he immediately begins to bombard
you with magic spells from afar. He has two main types of attack :-
A) A fiery blast which he unleashes from his staff - it looks like a little
red flaming arrow; and
B) A flaming bomb which he lobs at you.
Stick and move - avoid his attacks whilst despatching his followers, who
are a combination of satyr archers and regular satyr's, and then close in
for the kill once those have been despatched.
Ordinarily there are two shrines in the area occupied by the Shaman - one
to the west, and one to the south - use those if you need to.
Once he has fallen to your might, open the chest behind him, grab the loot,
and either portal back to the town if you cannot carry it all in one go, or
walk back to town if you can.
Speak with Diomedes to earn your reward - 1000 GP, and 150 XP (on normal
difficulty), and a further plea for you to go and plead with General
Leonidas of Sparta to despatch a small platoon of soldiers to help protect
Helos against further assault.
I AM NOT YOUR ERRAND BOY !!!!! *Sinister pouts when he realises that he
cannot cleave Diomedes' arms from his body for the IMPUDENCE of his request*
=============================
SECTION 1.2 - SPARTANS AT WAR
=============================
And so we're off ! Helos having been spared a sure thrashing at the hands
of the satyr shaman and his horde, we can carry on in search of Sparta.
The Main Quests screen tells us that we will need to travel through Laconia
in order to get to Sparta, so what are we waiting for ??
As you leave Helos a shepherd named Nicostratus will come running towards
you and pause for breath, the weight of the exclamation mark on his head
obviously too much to bear. Speak with Nicostratus, and he will tell you
that his friend Tellis has been kidnapped by monsters whilst the two of them
were leading their flocks home, and that he now resides in a cave by the
road. You have just picked up the Monstrous Brigands Quest (your first
side quest).
Side quests are incidental quests that are not necessary in order for you
to continue through the main quest. They do, however, very often lead to
your receiving MASSIVE bonuses for completing them, so I shall guide you
through each of the side quests in the game, and show you how to complete
each one in the most expedient manner possible. Please note that, as with
the main quest, I shall detail what you get as a reward for completing
the quest on normal difficulty. For details of your rewards on Epic and
Legendary difficulties, please see Chapter Twelve: Side Quests.
==================
MONSTROUS BRIGANDS
==================
To find tellis, simply follow the road from Helos aways, and you will come
to a cave with two Satyr Trappers standing outside it. As you approach,
they will leg it inside. Follow them, slay ALL in the cave, and at the
back you will find tellis, huddled in a corner poor lad. He's the one
with his knees knocking together, just in case you WEREN'T sure ;)
Speak with tellis to gain your reward - a piece of magical jewellery, and
300 XP.
If you wish, you may go back to Helos (I would suggest teleporting there),
to speak with Nicostratus - however all he has for you is a thank you.
======================
SPARTANS AT WAR CONT'D
======================
Leave the cave where tellis is, and head further down the road. You will
pass a rebirth fountain and a set of torches as you go.
You are now entering the Laconia Woods. Stay on the road, and follow it
to the north-east. You will find that you walk past a battered cart and
by a rudimentary gate that leads into a clearing with a load of sawn trees
piled up high. Go in there, and slay the satyrs there. You will find
they are attacking a man who stands alone, cowering under their assault.
Once you have freed the man, speak with him. His name is Lycus, the
Labourer, and he is most grateful to have been freed.
================
THE CORNERED MAN
================
Having saved Lycus, you have earned yourself 300 XP, and 1500 GP. Well
done !! You'll be saving up for that pension in NO time.
======================
SPARTANS AT WAR CONT'D
======================
Return to the main road, and keep following it to the north. Keep going
all the way to the north, past another set of torches and to the next
rebirth fountain.
Just past that rebirth fountain you will see a traveller named Euphadimus,
who is standing scratching his head, next to his two oxen. Speak with him.
=================
MEDICINES WAYLAID
=================
Euphadimus is trying to get precious medicines to his hometown of Tegea, to
help combat a strange illness that afflicts the people there. However, his
path north is blocked by a satyr brute, and his entourage who are attacking
any who pass.
Head to the north and despatch this group of ruffians, taking special care
with the satyr brute, as he has considerably more health than his lower-
ranking satyr counterparts.
Once you have slain them and raided their bodies, return to Euphadimus for
your reward, being 350 XP, three lesser health potions and the full
restoration of your health and energy.
======================
SPARTANS AT WAR CONT'D
======================
Follow the road to the north again, and keep following it as it turns 90
degrees to the east. You will come upon Theages - a Spartan Peasant, who
appears to have something important to say. Speak with him.
==============
THE LOST DOWRY
==============
It turns out that Theages' daughter's wedding dowry has been stolen by a
group of monsters who trashed his cart and pegged it. A hit and run !!!
Travel to the north-east of Theages and into the Natural Cave that you
can see on your compass - it's a black hole in a red circle ?
Once inside, explore and retrieve the dowry necklace from the monster
that is holding it.
Return the necklace to Theages and you will earn, not only his gratitude,
but also 400 XP, and a random essence.
=========================
RELICS AND MONSTER CHARMS
=========================
You have just been given, quite possibly your first relic. Relics are
shards of a God's power, which you will only ever encounter in pieces.
Three pieces make one complete relic. On normal difficulty these
pieces are called "essences", such as the Essence of the Valour of
Achilles, or the Essence of Zeus' Thunderbolt.
Each relic can be used, even if you only wield 1/3 or 2/3 of a completed
one, by infusing its power with whatever type of weapon or armour the
relic purports to work with, so for example the Essence of Archimedes'
Mirror will only work on shields, whereas the Essence of Artemis' Bowstring
will work on bows only.
To use a relic, and PLEASE bear in mind that once used it can only be
retrieved by visiting an Enchanter (and Enchanters are only available in
Immortal Throne - NOT regular Titan Quest), simply right-click on it, and
then left-click on the item you wish to attach the relic to.
If you have attached, say, 1/3 of a relic to an item, and you them come
upon another 1/3 of the same relic, you can add that to the same item, to
make the relic in the item 2/3 of the completed relic, and so on.
The more pieces of a relic you combine, the stronger the relic becomes.
Three pieces of a relic make it a completed relic, giving you an ADDITIONAL
bonus (woohoo !!)
Monster Charms function exactly the same as relics, but they have to be
assembled in groups of FIVE rather than THREE.
You can either keep the relic you have just received, or use it to
augment the power of something you are carrying.
For a complete list of relics and their powers, see Chapters Seven: Relics
and Eight: Monster Charms.
======================
SPARTANS AT WAR CONT'D
======================
Continue north, and follow the road as it curves north-west, until you
reach the next rebirth fountain and set of torches. The wayfarer
Parmenides is standing by the roadside, and if you talk to him, he will
tell you that you are on the right road to get to the Spartan War Camp,
which is just a bit further on.
Cheers mate !!
Cross the bridge and you come to "Spartan Road", which you should follow
to the north until you get to the Spartan Camp. Be warned that straying
from the road will get you attacked by skeletons, who are buried near
the Spartan Road.
As you approach the Spartan War Camp you will see a small army of Satyrs
and Satyr Brutes set upon the Spartans.
Have you watched 300 ? These monkeys don't stand a CHANCE, but I'm sure
it might endear you to the Spartans to help them out a bit if you fancy
it.
============
HELPFUL HINT
============
Situations like this are generally very useful ones, as your enemies are,
for the most part, more interested in what they are doing (i.e. attacking
the Spartans at this time) than fighting you, making them easy pickings
for bows and magic-users. Easy XP ;)
Once you have helped fend off the attack on the camp, go in.
====================
THE SPARTAN WAR-CAMP
====================
* There is a rebirth fountain in the Spartan War-Camp
* There is a Portal Shrine in the Spartan War-Camp
=====================
NON-QUEST INHABITANTS
=====================
PARALUS - Spartan Soldier who tells you that Leonidas is in the camp, but
that he doesn't speak with those who are not invited. Hmmmmm.
CLEIPPIDES - Spartan Veteran who says that the monsters you are facing are
arguably more fearsome than the Macedonians and the Persians the
Spartans have faced before, as they yield only to death.
CEPHISUS - Young soldier who only joined the Spartan Army today, bless
him. He seems eager for combat.
AGATHON - Spartan Watch. You cannot speak with him at the present time.
You WILL, however, be able to speak with him once Leonidas and
Brasidas have moved off for Athens in a lil while, and he will
direct you to Athens if you wish to speak with them again.
DASCYLUS - Spartan Soldier who has the utmost faith in General Leonidas,
but who worries that the Spartans may not be able to defeat their
beastly enemies.
=================
QUEST INHABITANTS
=================
BRASIDAS - Leonidas' Guard. Brasidas has a task for you to complete
before he will let you speak with his master Leonidas. You
must find and slay the Centaur Nessus, to demonstrate your
worth.
LEONIDAS - Spartan General. Much like his portrayal in the OH so cool
300, Leonidas doesn't have time to waste with those people that
are not worthy of his audience.
EUTHYCLES - Melancholic Spartan who is concerned for his friend and great
idol Hippias. Hippias has wandered off and not returned since
morning, and Euthycles is worried that something may have
happened to him. He asks you to go in search of him.
================================================
MERCHANTS, ENCHANTERS, CARAVAN DRIVERS & MYSTICS
================================================
TERES - BLACKSMITH
PHALIUS - ARCANIST
NICANOR - ENCHANTER
==========
ENCHANTERS
==========
Enchanters are the first new type of businessmen that I referred to earlier
on in this guide. They are only available for treating with in the
Immortal Throne Expansion Pack, and serve TWO very useful functions.
Firstly, Enchanters are the only people that can craft Artifacts for you.
You see on your character portrait screen the inventory slot in the bottom
left-hand side ? That is for an Artifact - an item of great power that
you can only wield one of at a time, but which will give you BIG bonuses.
For full details of Artifacts and artifact creation, see Chapter Nine:
Arcane Formulae.
Secondly, Enchanters can separate items and relics, so if you have put a
relic in an item and later decide that you want it, or the item, back,
you can ask an Enchanter (upon payment of usually a RATHER large sum of
money) to separate them. HOWEVER there is a catch, as you can only
retain either the item, or the relic, so choose very carefully ;)
================================
QUESTS FROM THE SPARTAN WAR-CAMP
================================
==================
THE ANCIENT OF WAR
==================
This is the quest you get from Euthycles, and it is deceptively simple.
All you have to do is to leave the Spartan War-Camp by heading due east
of Euthycles, and keep heading east until you reach an impassable mountain
face. Head north (through a satyr encampment) and follow the mountain
around to the east and you will find Hippias, who is resting, sitting
on a rock, surrounded by dead bodies (don't forget to loot them - just
because you didn't kill them doesn't mean you can't benefit from their
slaughter - muahahahahahaaaaaar).
Once you have spoken with Hippias you will need to return to the Spartan
War-Camp to let Euthycles know that he is alright - however I personally
always take out Nessus first, so that I can return to the War-Camp and
kill two birds with one stone, so-to-speak. However, once you DO go and
speak with Euthycles, you will be rewarded 2000 GP, and 500 XP.
===============
SPARTANS AT WAR
===============
Brasidas asks you to despatch the Centaur Nessus, as the Spartans do not
have the resources to send after him at the present time. He says that
Nessus runs wild in the Pellana Valley, and that slaying him is the only
way you will be able to gain an audience with General Leonidas.
Nessus isn't running wild at all - he's actually staying put to the north-
west of Hippias. If you have found Hippias before going to find Nessus,
you will actually see a marker directing you to Nessus on your compass
from where Hippias is. Nessus is identified at the yellow circle with the
black exclamation mark in it ;)
Nessus is NOT an easy boss to fight - however I am going to teach you a
============
HELPFUL HINT
============
ALL bosses in Titan Quest and the Immortal Throne Expansion Pack are
limited insofar as how far from their starting point they are able to
move. If you are finding any boss particularly difficult to slay, simply
(I hate to say retreat so I'll say) fall back until they stop, turn around
and go back towards their starting point.
You can then walk towards them again, and they will turn around and move
towards you again. Step back again and they will turn around and move
away again. You can use this dizzying tactic to easily despatch most of
the bosses in the game. Yes, it may be BIFF, but trust me when you're
fighting Cerberus on Legendary Difficulty, you WILL thank me ;)
So ! Nessus is difficult for three reasons :-
1) He's a centaur, so he can run like he's in the Grand National;
2) He's got a small contingent of centaurs to help him out, so he has
safety in numbers; and
3) As a boss, he's really quite tough !!
Once Nessus has been slain (and please do remember my dizzying tactic, as
it will save you no end of desk-slamming and monitor-headbutting in the
long-run), investigate the rest of his encampment before returning to the
Spartan War-Camp to speak with Brasidas (and, hopefully now, Leonidas).
There is a Majestic Chest behind where Nessus was standing, which will
be FILLED with goodies. There are also three further chests to the north
of where the Majestic Chest lies.
============
HELPFUL HINT
============
Sometimes if you come back after completing the game to battle old bosses
like Nessus, you will find that the programmers have put in (I do not know
whether this is intentionally or by mistake) duplicate Majestic Chests,
so you get DOUBLE the goodies - all random of course, but double the
goodies nonetheless !! :)
Once you have done raiding the Centaur Camp, TELEPORT (don't walk) to the
Spartan War-Camp and speak with Brasidas who, true to his word, will now
allow you through to speak with General Leonidas.
Leonidas praises your skill in battle, and agrees to send a few of his
warriors to defend Helos. He says that he is not impressed that it is
those people that once mocked his army that now cry for their help.
He suggests that you venture to Delphi to consult the Oracle there, to
learn where the monsters are coming from. He tells you to stop at
Megara and speak with his friend Timon, who will help you locate a proper
offering to give to the Oracle, in order to secure an audience.
=====================================
SECTION 1.3 - THE WORDS OF THE ORACLE
=====================================
It would appear our business with the noble Spartans is done for now.
If you teleport back to the Centaur Camp, and head, not back into the
camp, but north outside the camp if that makes sense - i.e. north of the
entrance gate, but outside the camp, then you will pass between two rocks.
Continue north, and you will see a pair of torches, and the Spartan Sentry
Aeacus standing by them. Speak with him to learn that you are now on the
right road to reach (ultimately) Delphi. He says you must pass through
Megara, and head up the coast to reach Delphi. Result !! :)
Follow the road to the north and, when you run out of road, head north-
west towards the rebirth fountain that you will see on your compass.
From the rebirth fountain, keep heading north until you reach a set of
satyr encampments, and then head from there, see that rebirth fountain
on your compass ? The one in the north-east ? Well you're actually
going to have to go SOUTH-east to get to it, so follow the rudimentary
path around and to the south-east of the satyr encampments, and you will
enter the Mycenean Ruins. You do not need to explore the Mycenean Ruins,
you need merely to get through them, which you can do by hugging the
mountain wall that leads to the north - however if you DO choose to
explore the Mycenean Ruins, then I would ask you to please BEWARE, as
it is a burial ground, and it is CHOCK-FULL of undead bad guys.
Since they are almost all buried, you won't see them until you get close
enough for them to try and ambush you. Sinister says try and avoid
running into the ruins - take things step-by-step, and take out your
enemies wave-by-wave if you wish to explore the area.
At the back of the Mycenean Ruins (through the horde of undead warriors)
is a single-level ancient tomb for you to explore.
================================
OPENING SEPULCHRES INSIDE A TOMB
================================
This sound REALLY specific, but it applies to any type of tomb that you
may encounter inside a burial chamber.
When you open a tomb, sepulchre, or whatever it is called in the burial
chamber you are exploring, you will hear one of TWO noises. The first
is a noise which sounds like a stone slab being slid off the top of a
burial casket. This noise means the sepulchre is not trapped, and you
may take whatever is inside it.
If, however, you hear a noise which sounds like a clicking noise ? Like
a switch being depressed ? RUN AWAY. You have activated a trap, and
should stand well clear of the sepulchre until the trap has gone off.
There are four types of trap you can activate in Titan Quest :-
A) Gas Trap (longest duration - stay WELL back or be poisoned)
B) Frost Trap (does frost damage - stand back)
C) Fire Trap (does burning damage - stand back)
D) Lightning Trap (does lightning damage - stand back)
Sorry for the rather imaginative descriptions of those traps, but they
ARE pretty self-explanatory (!!).
Once you have either circumvented or explored the Mycenean Ruins, head
north to the rebirth fountain, and torches, and past them into the
Spartan Woods.
From entering the woods, head west-north-west and keep going up until you
reach the entrance to the Village of Tegea.
====================
THE VILLAGE OF TEGEA
====================
* There is a rebirth fountain in the Village of Tegea
=====================
NON-QUEST INHABITANTS
=====================
HAGNON - Storyteller who regales you with the details of the tale of
the Goddess Artemis and the mortal Actaeon. He tells you of how
Actaeon, a great hunter, chased his quarry to a stream where
Artemis was about to take a bath. P!ssed off that a mere mortal
had seen her in the buff, she turned him into a Stag, and he
was chased away by his own prey.
CLINIAS - Aging Farmhand who speaks to you of how news from Greece
confirms that the monsters are rampaging over all the lands. He
is worried that the Spartans may not be able to protect all the
Greeks (and he's right to worry).
=================
QUEST INHABITANTS
=================
OLORUS - Young Tegean. Olorus gives you the task of finding the source
of pollution of the town's water supply, and the Poisoned Spring
quest.
================================================
MERCHANTS, ENCHANTERS, CARAVAN DRIVERS & MYSTICS
================================================
PIRRO - Trader
================================
QUESTS FROM THE VILLAGE OF TEGEA
================================
===================
THE POISONED SPRING
===================
Head west of Olorus, out of Tegea and into the Tegea Forest. From here,
head immediately due west and follow the shoreline to the north-west until
you find the Water Nymph (aka Naiad) Pegaea. She will tell you that she
knows why the water has become tainted - it's because of all these
bleedin' spiders that have moved into her cave !!
Head into the cave to the north of Pegaea, and clear it of spiders. You
needn't kill them all - only the ones with the glow around their legs,
which is quite a few of them. I would suggest slaying them all for the XP
personally.
Once you have cleansed the cave, return to Pegaea for your reward: a
permanent +75 Health, 1500 XP and your health and energy fully restored !
Well worth it that one eh !! :)
From the Naiad, head back to the Village of Tegea, and this time leave
via the north, into Arcadia.
From entering Arcadia, follow the path as it winds north, and then when
the path ends, head north-west until it recommences. From there, follow
it up and into the hills (it will wind a bit), until you see a rebirth
fountain off in the distance on your compass.
Head north and into the Megara Bluff, and keep to the path as this will
lead you to the rebirth fountain.
From there, head north and wipe out the Maenad Encampment.
======
MAENAD
======
Maenad are quite dangerous, and you are reasonably likely to die at least
once until you work out how best to tackle them. They are cat-like women
with high dexterity and speed who attack with bow and arrow, poisoned
spear and needle traps, and who's spellcasters are storm-adepts, so watch
out for poison, blade and lightning attacks from this little lot.
The best way to deal with the Maenad (unless your character is just a
walking wall of muscle) is to take them on, as I suggested with the
undead in the Mycenean Ruins, in waves, step-by-step. If you get
overwhelmed, just fall back and try again once you've healed up. Heading
face-first into a conflict with the Maenad is folly.
Once you have slain the Maenad, head north and out through the two
torches onto the Megara Coast.
Once you get onto the Coast (ah, the beach at last), you should follow it
west, where you will encounter a set of new villains, the most significant
of which are the Coastal Ichthians.
Ichthians in ANY form are dangerous lizard-men - however their most
dangerous units are their spellcasters - their Shamen. Ichthian Shamen
can cast spells at quite a speed, and should be the first units you
attack in any Ichthian group. Later on you will encounter the Lords of
the Deep, who should ALSO be the first Ichthians you attack in any group.
Keep following the coast as it bends round ... as coasts do ... past two
torches and into the City of Megara.
==================
THE CITY OF MEGARA
===================
* There are two rebirth fountains in the City of Megara
* There is cool music in the City of Megara
* There is a portal shrine in the City of Megara
=====================
NON-QUEST INHABITANTS
=====================
EURYSTHEUS - Market Gossip who tells of how afraid he is of having to
raise his family in hiding should the monsters ultimately win.
XENOCLIDES - Storyteller who has a tale of the battle between the Gods
and the Titans. He tells of how the Titans ultimately lost to
the Gods, and all but one were banished to the pit of Tartarus.
The one Titan that was not banished to Tartarus was shackled to
the base of a mountain as a gesture of revenge by the Gods.
IPHITUS - Aged Fisherman who claims to be as comfy on the sea as you are
on land.
=================
QUEST INHABITANTS
=================
NIREUS - Citizen of Megara, who gives you the Skeleton Raiders quest - a
quest to help free Megara from the undead hordes that ravage its
gates on a daily ... or rather NIGHTLY ... basis.
ANTOR - Sailor who tells you of the cargo (treasure chests and so on) of
a mighty warship bound for Athens itself has washed ashore in the
area. Apparently siren song drove the crew mad, and they ran
aground. He gives you the News of a Shipwreck quest.
AUTOLYCUS - Master Artisan who gives you an update on the Skeleton Raiders
quest. He tells you that he knows that they are pouring forth
from the ancient city of Old Eleusis. You should also speak with
Meikiades for more information.
MEIKIADES - Young Artisan whom you cannot speak until you have spoken to
Autolycus, but who confirms that Old Eleusis (the spawning place
of the undead hordes assailing Megara) is the resting place of
three undead brothers - Princes who were cursed by the God Apollo
to never enter the afterlife, but to remain in this world as the
waking dead.
TIMON - Oligarch of Megara. Timon tells you that the Oracle requires an
offering (which we knew already). He recommends you take the
Oracle a branch from the sacred olive tree which lies in a grove
on the road to Delphi (north of Megara), above the Helicos Pass.
Timon updates your main quest, gives you the A Proper Offering
side quest, AND gives you your first INVENTORY BAG.
=============
INVENTORY BAG
=============
Timon has just given you the ability to carry additional goods on your
person. If you call up your character screen you will see additional
inventory slots have appeared on the right-hand side of the screen for
you. Isn't that sweet ? As you progress through the game you will pick
up a second, and ultimately a THIRD inventory bag as well, meaning you
will ultimately be able to carry THE WORLD on your shoulders !! Hahaha.
================================================
MERCHANTS, ENCHANTERS, CARAVAN DRIVERS & MYSTICS
================================================
PELLICHAS - BLACKSMITH
TIMANOR - ARCANIST
PIANKH - CARAVAN DRIVER
DADACES - ENCHANTER
==============================
QUESTS FROM THE CITY OF MEGARA
==============================
================
SKELETON RAIDERS
================
Skeletal armies are assailing Megara in waves ! The source of this
scourge is the ancient and now dilapidated city of Old Eleusis, wherein
reside three Prince-Brothers - accursed enemies of the God Apollo.
Leaving Megara by the north, follow the road through the two torches and
into the Megara Outskirts. Continue north and through the ramshackle
town that remains (wholly inhabited by undead creatures I might add), and
leave via the two torches to the north, into Kerata Forest.
Head north through the trees and you will come to Old Eleusis. Be
forewarned, however, that as with the Mycenean Ruins, Old Eleusis is
REPLETE with undead warriors, and more than likely a Hero Monster or
two, so be careful.
=============
HERO MONSTERS
=============
Hero Monsters are monsters of special note, who you will see on-screen
as having golden stars above their heads. They ALL display powers over
and above their usual brethren, and I have tried to make notes as best
I can as to where you are likely to find them and what their powers are,
in Chapter Eleven - Hero Monsters.
Once you have reached the entrance to Old Eleusis (a smashed marble path
leading north-east), follow it and enter the Ancient Ruins of the once
great City.
There is a smashed wooden door leading into the floor which you should
enter, to gain access to the labyrinth that houses the three Prince-
brothers.
============
HELPFUL HINT
============
The three Prince-brothers are ALWAYS in exactly the same locations, so
I shall point them out as we go around if you like.
For your information, the three Prince-brothers are :-
1) Polypas, Prince of the Blade
2) Aristeus, Prince of the Storm; and
3) Menon, Prince of the Bow.
From where you enter their labyrinth, take a left and head north-west.
Polypas, Prince of the Blade, is in the first room on your left.
Polypas is surrounded by weak enemies, and is, in my humble opinion, the
weakest of the three brothers. He should fall pretty easily to you to be
quite honest.
Leave Polypas' room after you have slain him, and head north-west again,
following the corridor as it turns 90 degrees to the north-east, and then
again 90 degrees to the south-east.
In the north-eastern end of this great room is Aristeus, Prince of the
Storm. He is, in my opinion, DEFINITELY the most powerful of the three
Prince-brothers, as he is a mage with expertise in Storm Magic.
Best way to despatch him is to take out the traps and lesser monsters in
the area, and only to focus on him when he is the last enemy left. Avoid
AT ALL COSTS the aura which he will attempt to create at your feet as its
icy damage will kill you in mere seconds, guaranteed.
Once he has fallen to your skills, do a 180 and head south-west, and then
follow the room as it turns 90 degrees to the south-east.
Enter the room to your north-east, and then follow the corridor that runs
south-east. Menon, Prince of the Bow, is in the room to your south-west
as you are heading south-east.
Menon is quick with his bow, and he gives an aura-bonus to those enemies
who are with him (who are also mainly bow-wielders), so he is a challenge
to be sure - however he is no way NEAR as powerful as Aristeus.
Once Menon has been disposed of, head through the door to the south-west
of his room, and then through the next room, and back into the main hall
where you started. It's just a quick 90 degree turn to your north-west,
and then the exit back to the outside world is to your south-west.
You will not complete this quest until you return to Megara and speak with
Autolycus, who will reward you with 2500 XP.
===================
NEWS OF A SHIPWRECK
===================
If you leave Old Eleusis and head north-west, you will pass through two
torches and over a bridge, whereupon you will see a small contingent of
Spartan soldiers (who are about to be DECIMATED), rushing north-west
to attack the Cyclops Polyphemus.
FIGHT !! *rolls up his sleeves*
Polyphemus is a VERY powerful adversary, and will be able to destroy you
easily, unfortunately. He, like all cyclops, has three primary attacks,
only two of which you need to concern yourself with :-
1) Club Swipe (you can all but disregard this one - it's easy to avoid);
2) Bellow (a cone-shaped noise attack that will daze you and make you
very easy for him to splat into the ground); and
3) Earthquake (he bashes his club to the ground, and a wall of energy
rips up the earth in a straight line - AVOID AT ALL COSTS)
Polyphemus is best dealt with at range, but just for your information,
whilst he can cross the bridge that leads back towards Old Eleusis, he
cannot travel much beyond it, so remember my dizzying tactic here ;)
You can use the Spartans as cannon fodder (which isn't very nice, but
they are next to useless in this fight), which will buy you a few seconds
but not much more unfortunately =./
Once Polyphemus has fallen, investigate the Majestic Chest behind him, and
the small cave behind that for loot.
West and then north of the cave where Polyphemus was residing will lead
you to another set of two torches that take you onto the beach of the
Halcyon Coast.
From where you set foot on the beach, head due west and then south-west
to uncover the loot that Antor was telling you about. Take care though,
as it is well-guarded by a contingent of Wraiths. You gain 1000 XP and
complete the quest once the last wraith has fallen.
==============================
THE WORDS OF THE ORACLE CONT'D
==============================
Once you are done with those two quests, follow the beach of the Halcyon
Coast to the north-west and up the hill until you reach the rebirth
fountain, and two torches that take you into Boetia. Boetia is a forest-
area filled with satyr's, centaur and the like - nothing you haven't seen
already really.
Follow the path as it snakes in an S-shape northwards, and when you exit
the Dark Satyr encampment, head north-north-west until you reach a bridge
that crosses the river to the north.
Cross that bridge and you enter the Ambrossos Farmlands, whereupon you
should continue heading due north until you reach a field of wheat.
At the northern edge of that field you will find the Centaur Chiron, who
is doing a really weird "I could really do with a backscratcher" kinda
motion, with a big exclamation mark over his head. Perhaps he's realised
that it is going to very difficult for him to scratch his back when he
has the hindquarters of a horse behind him - WHO KNOWS.
================
THE GOOD CENTAUR
================
Speak with Chiron and he will explain that whilst his centaur brethren
have become pain freaks, he himself has remained quite normal, and that
Ino, a Maenad Priestess, has stolen his bow and run into the caves to his
north, and he feels unable to retrieve it.
Head north (over the bridge) and enter the cave, to retrieve Chiron's Bow
from the FREAKB!ATCH Ino - IDEALLY over her dead body ;) Be advised,
however, that if you do not kill her outright, Ino will continually
retreat from one room to another in the cave that is her lair, leading
you into progressively harder sessions of combat. Not that a seasoned
warrior like yourself has THAT much to fear from her but still, 'tis a
bit of an annoyance all the same.
With Ino fallen and Chiron's Bow safely in your possession, return to him
and return the bow to him. He will reward you with 2 Attribute Points, and
3000 XP - WICKED !! :)
From where Chiron stands, head due west through the field of wheat, and
up to the bridge leading north-west into the Village of Ambrossos
========================
THE VILLAGE OF AMBROSSOS
========================
* There is a rebirth fountain in the Village of Ambrossos.
=====================
NON-QUEST INHABITANTS
=====================
MELESIPPUS - Brooding Man who mourns for the losses Greece has suffered to
its harvests and families
ELACATAS - Loitering Villager who tells you that the olive grove lies just
down the road aways.
=================
QUEST INHABITANTS
=================
ADMETUS - Simple Villager who gives you the a Master Blacksmith quest. He
tells of how, apparently, rumour has it that Termerus the
Blacksmith was taught by the God Hephaestus himself !!
ASIMIDES - Merchant Trader who tells you that he had to abandon his goods
whilst en route to Delphi to trade as he had inadvertently set up
his camp near a Skeleton hideout !! He is happy for whoever finds
his goods (which is going to be us ;)) to have them. Woohoo !!
================================================
MERCHANTS, ENCHANTERS, CARAVAN DRIVERS & MYSTICS
================================================
LAOMEDON - Trader.
====================================
QUESTS FROM THE VILLAGE OF AMBROSSOS
====================================
=================
A PROPER OFFERING
=================
Strictly-speaking, this is a quest you pick up in Sparta, but which looks
like it's for Delphi (because that is where you complete it) - however you
cannot do so without picking something up from the Olive Grove just outside
the Village of Ambrossos. Can you remember what that was ??
THAT'S RIGHT !! Well done !! An olive branch from the sacred tree in the
grove.
This will be the first mission we undertake upon leaving Ambrossos, so I
have put it here for good measure.
So ! Here we go. From the Village of Ambrossos, leave by the north-west,
and rid the two fleeing villagers of the harpy in pursuit. From there, head
north north-west, passing through a Satyr Encampment, and you will come to a
bridge that leads north-west across a valley below.
This takes you to the Helicos Pass, where you will see Eurytimus, the Olive
Farmer, standing by the roadside bowing his head in shame. Speak with him
to learn that his grove (where you need to go to get the olive branch) is
ON FIRE !!!!! He tells you that you might get to the tree you seek to find
it is unharmed, but that you will have to fight your way there.
OUR SPECIALITY !! ;)
However we're not STUPID are we ... we're going to activate that rebirth
fountain to the left of where Eurytimus is standing BEFORE we go up the hill
into the grove AREN'T we ... yeeeeeeeeeeeeees, that's right :)
So, now head up the hill slaying the spiders as you go, and you will
ultimately get to the top. Now, when you see the yellow circles with the
black exclamation marks in them I want you to STOP. Kill any enemies in
the immediate vicinity and MAKE SURE that you are at full health and ready
for a tough battle. The Olive Grove's sacred olive tree is being guarded
rather jealously by Arachne, the Spider Queen, who is a MASTER of poison
damage let me tell you.
Her primary attacks are :-
1) Spit venom which poisons an area of the ground for a few seconds;
2) Sword strike;
3) Summon Web Crawlers; and
4) Lob Venom, which does poison damage direct to you for a few seconds.
Don't forget to keep healing during combat, as you can actually - it sounds
stupid but it isn't - keep health points temporarily in reserve ? For
example, if your character has, say, 150 health points, and you consume a
potion that restores 200 health points when you were at 50 health points ?
Then you would have 200 + 50 = 250 health points. Obviously your maximum
health is 150, so the game very kindly allows you to continually regenerate
up to 150 for a few seconds until the potion wears off, or the 100 surplus
points you had from drinking the potion are spent.
Fortunately if she DOES kill you, you will rematerialise at the bottom of
the olive grove rather than back at the Village of Ambrossos, because you
took my advice and activated that rebirth fountain, didn't you ;)
Once Arachne has died her WELL-EARNED death, open the chests (three
Primitive and one Majestic) and take their contents, together with the
Sacred Olive Branch which you will need to present to the Oracle in Delphi
upon your arrival there.
===============
GOODS ABANDONED
===============
Head back down the path from the top of the olive grove to where Eurytimus
is standing, and then follow the path down to the south-west.
Keep following the path as it turns 90 degrees to the south-east, and then
as it turns north-east, head south-west and keep going south-west until you
reach a small army of skeletons, zombies and other nastiness. Slaughter the
LOT of them, and the treasure that Asimides was telling you about is all
yours for the taking !!
===================
A MASTER BLACKSMITH
===================
You pick up this quest either by speaking with Admetus (a name you will
become rather familiar with by the time the game is ultimately over) in the
Village of Ambrossos, or by simply finding him yourself. To get to Termerus
you will need to head north-east of the abandoned goods in the Helicos Pass
until you reach the rebirth fountain adjacent to the Phocian Swamps.
Head east, and every so slightly south of the rebirth fountain and you will
find two pre-lit small torches leading you across a marshy path, and from
there head north-east until you find another such path heading north.
Take that path, and then follow the path to the east north-east into Lower
Delphi. When the path turns 90 degrees to the south-east and crosses a
bridge, keep heading north-east and you will find Termerus (and a small
group of centaurs and satyrs) in a woodland clearing just off the road.
Finding Termerus completes the mission, and earns you 1500 XP.
Termerus lives up to his reputation, and sells (generally-speaking) some
very decent clobber, not to mention the OH so cool BLACK DYE for your tunic
should you choose to avail yourself of it. At 15000 GP it's not cheap, but
you know fashion !!!!! ;)
==============================
THE WORDS OF THE ORACLE CONT'D
==============================
Once you are done with Termerus, head south-west and then cross the bridge
to the south-east and follow the path as it winds eastwards through the
Crisaeos Falls and up to the rebirth fountain on the roadside.
Once you have gotten there, head east and then south-east into the Delphi
Highlands, and follow the path as it ultimately turns to the north, and then
leads north-west and winds into the City of Delphi. Beware the Maenad
contingent that assail the city, however - some of them are quite hard to
spot - ESPECIALLY the Maenad Rogues !!
==================
THE CITY OF DELPHI
==================
* There is a rebirth fountain in the City of Delphi
* There is a portal shrine in the City of Delphi
=====================
NON-QUEST INHABITANTS
=====================
EUMACHUS - Guard Captain who complains that their God, Apollo, has done
nothing to protect them from the onslaught of the monsters at the
city's gates.
EURYNOME - Wealthy Citizen who speaks of the refugees in the city, and of
the Oracle.
PELIAS - Storyteller who goes through the tale of the War of Troy.
=================
QUEST INHABITANTS
=================
IODAME - Grieving Widow who mourns the loss of her late husband - one of the
original defenders of Delphi who fell to a great boar/man. She
gives you the Grieving Widow quest.
ASTYOCHE - Temple Attendant who takes the Olive Branch from you and bids
you enter to speak with the Oracle of Delphi. For giving her the
branch you complete the a Proper Offering quest, and earn a
permanent +5% cold resistance for your character.
DELPHIC ORACLE OF APOLLO - Speak with her to have a prophesy given to you,
and the main quest updated to "The Source of the Monsters" (and
2000 XP)
================================================
MERCHANTS, ENCHANTERS, CARAVAN DRIVERS & MYSTICS
================================================
ARISTONUS - Blacksmith
DEON - Caravan Driver
IPHITOS - Enchanter
LYCON - Arcanist
PAUSANIAS - Mystic
=======
MYSTICS
=======
FINALLY we get to introduce those elusive Mystics !! Mystics are the final
type of businessmen that you will encounter in Titan Quest.
Mystics only serve one function, but it is a very, VERY useful one. You
can visit a mystic to buy back any skill points you want to re-allocate.
Doing this is a costly exercise, as the points become ever-increasingly more
expensive to buy back (until they reach a ceiling of 45000 GP per point).
To give you an idea of how much of a mark-up that is, the first point you buy
back costs you a paltry 250 GP !!
You cannot use a mystic to drain all your points in a school and to pick a
new school unfortunately, as you cannot decrease your mastery points in a
given school - however for individual skills this is a GREAT function -
provided you have the cash of course.
==============================
QUESTS FROM THE CITY OF DELPHI
==============================
==================
THE GRIEVING WIDOW
==================
This quest is actually completed as part of going through the main quest,
so I shall not speak of it for now, but I will bring it up at the right time,
have no fear.
========================================
SECTION 1.4 - THE SOURCE OF THE MONSTERS
========================================
Now that we have been directed further, we can leave Delphi through its
eastern gate (just travel south-east of Pausanias the Mystic and you will
find it no problem).
Continue heading up the hill (south-east), and you will come to two torches
which you should go straight through and carry on south-eastwards until you
get to the entrance to the Parnassus Caves.
In the Parnassus Caves, head down the set of steps at the back-end of the
first chamber you come to, and activate the rebirth fountain at the foot of
the stairs.
From the rebirth fountain, head east-south-east and you will find a way out
of this main chamber and into another area of the caves.
As you enter this new area, you will walk past two pre-lit torches (just
flaming sticks in the ground really), and from here you should head due
north (and a tiny bit east) to find
==================
THE GRIEVING WIDOW
==================
Cepharis - Master of the Flame. You remember him ? He is the nasty
boarman that slew the husband of Iodame - the Grieving Widow in Delphi.
Take care when you face him, as he has some mastery of earth (and fire)
magic. He is, however, quite a clumsy enemy, and should not pose a MAJOR
problem for you to defeat.
Once he has fallen, search the three chests (one of which is ornate) in his
cave for goodies, and create a portal to take you back to Delphi to deliver
the news of his downfall to Iodame, and she will reward you with 3000 XP.
=================================
THE SOURCE OF THE MONSTERS CONT'D
=================================
Hokay so, back on the road to Parnassus :) Leave the tiny chamber where
Cepharis was holed up by the south, and then head due east until you find
another corridor that leads you out and into the next chamber.
Once you are in THIS chamber, follow its northern wall as it travels south-
east, then east, and then take the corridor on the northern wall that leads
to the north-east.
At the end of this corridor, on the eastern wall, is the way out of these
dank and nasty caves. Hurrah !
You come straight out into the Parnassus Hinterlands, right beside a
rebirth fountain which you should activate immediately.
The path you need to take to get to the next main point - the Parnassus
Portal Shrine - is a bit weird, but here goes. Head south-east of the
rebirth fountain, and then follow the track as it curves to go north-east.
A fair way off it may be, but you will come (after a fair few encounters
with those pesky Maenad-fweeks) to a stone bridge that leads you to a
rebirth fountain, the Parnassus Portal Shrine, and Pelanis - a Satyr
Trader !
Once you are done dealing with Pelanis (who doesn't really say a whole
hell of a lot, but who is kinda sweet), you need to head due east of the
rebirth fountain, through a whole hell of a lot of Mountain Satyr's in
camps, to get to the next bridge that will lead across a span of water and
into the
==============
LOWER WAR-CAMP
==============
Yes friends, it appears we have pretty much found the source of the monsters.
There is an entire bloody WAR-CAMP of them !!!!! Time to get our hands
dirty !! :)
There are a number of different routes you can take to get through this
area of the war-camp (as I'm sure you must have guessed that, this being the
LOWER war-camp there must logically be an UPPER war-camp as well ?? *raises
his eyebrow knowingly*), but the easiest is probably to just batter your
way directly east until you come to a large set of stone steps and two
VERY widely-spaced torches.
As you enter this area you come across a small contingent of exhumed skeletal
soldiers, all with a glow around their feet. As I'm sure you will have no
doubt noticed by now, you must destroy anything that has such a glow, as it
more often than not signifies that the creature/s in question have some plot-
driven significance.
Once these boys have been taken care of, Hylas - a cowering vagabond - crawls
out from under some rocks nearby and proudly shows his exclamation mark for
all to see.
Speak with him, and he will babble on almost incoherently about an army of
centaurs, harpies, satyrs and other monsters marching off from here to who-
knows-where. He says a few of them have remained here, and that the WORST
of those that remain can ... wait for it ... yes, that's right ... *clears
his throat* ... TURN YOU TO STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE !!!!!
Pop question. Which Greek Mythological Monsters had the ability to turn
men to stone ? Answers after the break !!
Just to the north-east of Hylas is another rebirth fountain, which is a good
thing as this battle is only going to get harder ... and harder ... and
more harder ... heh.
Continue down the steps to the north-east, and take note that you are now in
the Upper War-Camp, but please be prepared for me to give you some VERY
specific directions as to which way to go - the upper war-camp is a large
area, and it is easy to wind up doubling-back on yourself if you aren't
careful.
From this first set of steps (the ones by the rebirth fountain), head due
north. This will take you up, and then almost immediately back down, a
set of steps that is very near to the rebirth fountain.
Keep heading due north of this position, and you will come upon a further
set of steps, which curve up and to the north-east. Take those steps and
you will see a large bonfire alight in front of you.
From here head to the north-east, and then follow the steps as they lead
down, and curve to the south-east before ending on a large expanse of
dark earth with isolated weeds here and there.
Head north-east of this set of steps, and you will see a petrified Cyclops
followed by ... a petrified set of humans ... followed by a pair of pre-lit
torches.
Yes, we're about to fight a boss ... *cracks his knuckles*
Enter the building ahead of you and you will step into the Pythian Caves.
Oddly the first enemies you encounter in these caves are the toughest for,
straight out of Greek Mythology I am proud to present you with ...
... THE GORGON SISTERS ...
YES friends these beauties might look like Miss World Contenders, but rest
assured their minds are NOT on winning beauty pageants this time around.
They're more interested in your ... ass ...
============
HELPFUL HINT
============
Whenever you enter a boss fight that requires you to go through a bigass
door to get into it ? The door WILL lock itself behind you once you are
inside. You CAN, however, stand just inside the threshold of the door, and
be quite safe from it locking. This obviously means that you can, in many
of the room-based boss fights on Titan Quest and Immortal Throne, avoid a
total asswhuppin' by using THIS technique which I shall dub the "doorstep"
technique, to maintain an escape route should you need it ;)
The THREE Gorgons you must fight in this boss fight are, true to Greek
myth :-
1) Sstheno
2) Medusa; and
3) Euryale.
All three have different attacks.
Sstheno is armed with a spear, and consequently likes to attack you up
close and personal.
Medusa is armed with a bow and arrows, and has the ability to petrify
you from afar (that's the large purple blast she fires at you from time
to time, WHICH YOU SHOULD AVOID in case that bit isn't obvious) ;)
She fires flaming arrows at you as well.
Euryale is also armed with a bow and arrows, and she is able to charge her
strikes with cold and lightning energy.
============
HELPFUL HINT
============
NONE of the gorgons is able to leave their cave, which is a good thing as
you cannot open the door to get back out once you are inside. If you are
a master of the Storm school, and have chosen the lightning and chain
lightning skills, you may be able to draw the gorgon sisters to you by
launching a lightning bolt so that it strikes the ground in the uppermost
corner of the screen near them. If they take damage from the strike - even
if it is just the tiniest sliver of damage - they WILL come to find out who
threw the lightning bolt at them, and you can use this in conjunction with
my dizzying attack to sort them out proper.
Once they have all fallen to your might, HEED MY WORDS and take care when
picking up the items they drop. Make sure you have enough space in your
inventory to carry them, as if you do not, and your character drops them
in disgust ? They may well just fall into the HUGE BLACK HOLES on either
side of the narrow bridge you have to cross to get to where the gorgons
were.
If this DOES happen, run to the very bottom edge of the room and you might
find that you are able to select the items from there - it's kooky logic,
but the game seems to work on a number of different planes to gauge where
you are in relation to objects in-game.
After you have raided their bodies, crack open the Majestic Chest and three
Primitive Chests that they were guarding, and then speak with the (now de-
petrified) Feiyan, who expresses her incredulation at how the gorgons got
the better of her. She then goes on to recount the tale of the Telkine.
It transpires that a Telkine is a "great sorcerer who can summon beasts and
monsters to raid and destroy" ... hmmmmmmmm ... sounds like another BOSS to
me ... anyhow, this "Telkine" of which she speaks attacked Feiyan's village,
slaying everybody there but her. Feiyan is pursuing the Telkine and is
sure that he is on his way to attack Athens itself.
WICKED !! This should be fun !! :) Err ... I mean ... OH NO ! How AWFUL !
===================================
SECTION 1.5 - THE BATTLE FOR ATHENS
===================================
With those B!ATCH gorgons taken care of, we can now leave through the north-
western door that Feiyan very kindly opened for us, and enter the Pythian
Caves proper ... and ... ooh what's this !?!?! MORE gorgons ???
Yup, the Pythian Caves are a veritable BREEDING GROUND for gorgons it seems.
There are FIVE main types of gorgon that you will encounter in these caves,
being :-
1) Gorgon Guards (armed with spears - a-typically Hastas)
2) Gorgon Archers (shockingly, armed with bow and arrows)
3) Gorgon Slayers (who can best be though of as more accurate and more
powerful Gorgon Archers - they are usually light blue in colour)
4) Gorgon Profaners (who are flame-red in colour and can attack you with
flaming arrows, and more annoyingly cause the ground underneath your
feet to burst into flames for a period of time, doing you HUGE amounts
of damage); and
5) Gorgon Geomancers (who are not QUITE as annoying as the Profaners, but
who are not far off it to be honest. The Geomancers have the ability to
strike you with poisoned arrows, and to cause the ground beneath your
feet to erupt in a noxious poisonous cloud doing poison damage for a few
seconds (and a lot of it, at that !!)).
Head north-west until you reach the rebirth fountain, and activate it.
From here, head north-east and when you enter the next main chamber (right
through the archway basically), head south-east and then follow the southern
wall around, and to the south-west to find the exit. If you're getting
stuck check out your compass - the exit is shown on that as a black hole
in a red circle.
As soon as you get outside the Pythian Caves, you enter the Athenian
Passage. Activate the rebirth fountain by the cave's exit, and trade your
surplus goods with the Trader Damaskenos, who has a cart and two horses
nearby.
Fortunately there really is only one way to go to get through the Athenian
Passage, and that is east, then south-east, then north-east of Damaskenos'
position. However, be warned that both this Passage, and the Valley beyond,
are VERY well inhabited by Centaurs and their Elders, so tread carefully.
Once you reach the next rebirth fountain, cross the bridge that it stands
beside, to enter Kephisos Valley. As with the Athenean Passage, there are
many Centaur (and Boar) here, so be wary.
From where you enter the Kephisos Valley, follow the shoreline to the north
until you find Pausanias the Spartan Captain, and Isarchus the Spartan
Soldier. Both have quests for you.
====================
TRAPPED IN THE RUINS
====================
Pausanias and his contingent of Spartan Warriors have managed to trap a
Giant Limos (a Life-Eater) in the ruins to your immediate north-west. They
have suffered losses at the hands of the Limos, however, as three of their
warrior have already been injured by the beast.
Gather your weapons, muster your arms, it's time to kick some ass.
The Giant Limos IS a tough enemy if you are not prepared for him. You will
undoubtedly have already crushed many of his lesser brethren in your quest
this far into the game, but he is much more dangerous.
The Giant Limos has THREE primary attacks :-
1) Clawed hand-strike;
2) Life-steal (where he replenishes his own life at the cost of yours);
3) Poison Gas Bomb (with Shrapnel add-on).
In case you're curious, this places him at about a level 24 Rogue in terms
of his mastery of the Rogue School of Training. NOT BAD EH - so BE ...
CAREFUL !!
Once he has fallen to you, return to Pausanias and earn your reward :-
3000 XP and a random magic weapon (tasty !!).
=============
SPARTANS LOST
=============
Isarchus - the Spartan Soldier who stands just to the east of Pausanias - is
looking for somebody to seek out a scouting party who were recently sent up
into the swamps nearby, but who have not reported back to the main group in
some time. He wants you to go and check up to make sure they are alright.
To do this, follow the shoreline as it leads east of Isarchus' position,
until you reach a bridge leading north-west. Cross the bridge to get into
the Monster Encampment, and then head north (and a TINY bit west), to get
into the Athens Marsh.
From here, hug the western wall and follow it north-east, until you reach
Eryx, the Spartan Scout and his scouting party.
Eryx says that he and his party are all fine, but they are just a little
lost, and so it would be COOL if you could please tell the rest of their
troop that they are safe and sound.
Head back to Isarchus and deliver this message, to complete the quest and
earn yourself 4000 XP.
===========================
NOTE ABOUT THE ATHENS MARSH
===========================
Be VERY careful when wandering through the Athens Marsh on the Legendary
difficulty setting, as there is a seven-headed Hydra - the Lernean Hydra -
camped on the eastern side of the marsh. This Hydra is one TOUGH mutha,
with the ability to bite using its multiple heads, as well as being able
to spit fire, frost and poison breath attacks at you. The Lernean
Hydra is guarding four Primitive Chests, and one Majestic Chest.
Many thanks to Michael Kier for pointing this out to me !!
============================
THE BATTLE FOR ATHENS CONT'D
============================
Once you are done with Isarchus and the wayward Spartan Scouting Party,
head back across the bridge that leads you into the Monster Encampment,
and from there head north-west until you reach a really quite large ...
wait for iiiiiiiiiiiiiit ... MONSTER ENCAMPMENT !! Shocking isn't it.
Follow the path as it winds through the Monster Encampment - it will go
north-west, then north-east, north and then north-east again, and you will
(upon clearing the encampment) find a rebirth fountain which you should,
of course, activate immediately.
Once activated, head east-north-east aways, and you will enter the
Athenian Battleground. What is happening, in case you haven't noticed,
is that the monsters (led by the Telkine) ARE mounting an offensive
against the legendary great city of Athens, and WE ... yes my friends
you, and I, are going to stop them.
Oh yes, we are.
So ! From your starting point I would like you to head north-west and into
the town. Just follow the road as it curves to the north-east, and then
back to the south-east. However, as it draws level with a field of wheat
to the north, turn and head due north-east, through the field, across a
path, through another field (just keep heading north-east), and then carry
on heading north-east until you reach a brick wall. THAT is the wall of
Athens, and you will find General Leonidas standing at the gate to Athens.
==================
THE CITY OF ATHENS
==================
* There is a rebirth fountain in the City of Athens.
* There is a Portal Shrine in the City of Athens.
=====================
NON-QUEST INHABITANTS
=====================
BRASIDAS - Leonidas' Guard who has made the journey with him from the
Spartan War-Camp all the way to Athens to help defend it from the
hordes of monsters preparing to bring it down. En route they were
joined by the Tegeans and the Corinthians, with the Thebans already
there ahead of them.
ANAXOGORAS - Storyteller who regales you with the tale of the Mountain
Nymph Maia, and how she gave birth to Hermes by the God Zeus. He
goes on to tell of how Hermes created the first Lyre, which he used
to pacify the God Apollo (he actually NEEDED to, as Apollo was on
the warpath to avenge the theft of some of his cattle BY Hermes !!).
MELETUS - Angry Citizen who just wants to know WHY the monsters have chosen
to attack Athens.
CLEANTHES - Philosopher who quite rightly comments that it is most often
when united by a common threat that old enemies become each others
protectors ... of course for how long ... who knows ??
EVANDER - Athenian Guard that can backup what Kyros tells you, and who also
confirms that the Athenian Guard are in the process of fighting
their way up to the Acropolis as you speak.
=================
QUEST INHABITANTS
=================
LEONIDAS - Spartan General (as always). Leonidas recounts how in the
Spartans hubris, they refused aid from their Greek counterparts -
a decision they bitterly regretted later on, as they suffered
many losses to the hordes of monsters they had to face on their
own.
Sparta marched to join forces with the other Greek factions,
united in the common defence of the great city of Athens.
He tells you that the Telkine of which you speak disappeared during
the battle in Athens, which gave the other factions the chance to
drive the monsters back, and has led them to their present
situation. Finally, he says that he has heard tales of battles
already going on within the city, but that he cannot spare a runner
to go and see what is going on. He wants to know if you could go
and see what is going on (and gives you 2500 XP and restores all
your health and mana as a gesture of his goodwill).
KYROS - Panicked Man who says that his leader is trapped by monsters in the
heart of the catacombs under the Acropolis, and who begs you to
save him by venturing beneath the Parthenon.
================================================
MERCHANTS, ENCHANTERS, CARAVAN DRIVERS & MYSTICS
================================================
ANTIPHON - Mystic
DEMODOCUS - Blacksmith
NICIAS - Arcanist
ENDIOS - Enchanter
KONON - Caravan Driver
==============================
QUESTS FROM THE CITY OF ATHENS
==============================
No specific ones - just a continuation of the main quest really.
=====================================
SECTION 1.6 - THE ORDER OF PROMETHEUS
=====================================
Kyros has let slip (totally intentionally) that the leader of their Sect -
the Order of Prometheus - is trapped in the Athenian Catacombs, and that he
needs your help otherwise he will surely perish.
Time to rip off your shirt and reveal that Superman undershirt you've got
on. C'mon I know you do ... eeeeeeeeeeeeverybody does ;)
If you would care to head up the MASSIVE flight of stairs due north-east of
where Kyros is cowering (and to help the Athenian Guard slay the large
number of ratmen that are coming DOWN at the same time), then you will find
the Acropolis at the top.
From where you enter the Acropolis, please head to the north-easternmost
corner, and up the flight of steps, through the archway. Then north-east
and up two more flights of stairs to get an update to the Order of
Prometheus quest, and access to the Parthenon.
At the backend of the Parthenon you will find a smashed wooden door, with
steps leading down into the Athens Catacombs.
================
ATHENS CATACOMBS
================
This is a FIVE-LEVEL Dungeon basically, with your objective being to get
down to the fifth level. There are rebirth fountains strategically-placed
throughout, and a HORDE of undead monsters and gorgons lurking on each
level, so please take things slow, and steady. We wouldn't want you to poke
an eye out with whatever weapon you're holding now WOULD we !!
First off, activate the rebirth fountain on the first level. I am going
to very (almost insultingly) simplistically write out in shorthand the
quickest way to get through each level, so here we go :-
----------------------------
ATHENS CATACOMBS - LEVEL ONE
----------------------------
> North-east through the archway between the two blue Athenian Standards
> North-west into the next room
> North-west into the next room
> North-west into the next room
> North-east into the next room
> Descend the steps on the south-eastern wall to get to
----------------------------
ATHENS CATACOMBS - LEVEL TWO
----------------------------
> North-east into the next room
> North-west into the next room
> North-west into the next room
> South-west into the next room (a VERY long room)
> South-east into the next room
> North-east into the next room
> South-east into the next room
> South-east into the next room
> South-west into the next room
> Descend the steps on the north-western wall to get to
------------------------------
ATHENS CATACOMBS - LEVEL THREE
------------------------------
> Activate the rebirth fountain
> North-west into the next room
> North-west into the next room
> North-east into the next room
> Descend the steps on the south-eastern wall to get to
-----------------------------
ATHENS CATACOMBS - LEVEL FOUR
-----------------------------
> South-west into the next room
> North-west into the next room (a very small one)
> North-west into the next room
> South-west down the narrow corridor, 
