-
- Forums
- Chatrooms
- Gallery
- Gameplay Videos
- Upload
- Articles
- Mod Reviews
- Shop SP: Games, Movies, Books
|
|
MOUNT GIGAS CAVES
Setting the Mount Gigas Caves Lake Chest
There's a chest in the Gigas Caves that I want to milk for a specific item, so I set up a savegame called "Mount Gigas Caves" before I go up the elevator.
I use the Security Pass Level 3 on the card slot to go up the elevator, which brings me to the spot marked "To Umpani Camp" on the Mount Gigas Caves map. I quick-save.
The chest is near the lake on the east side of the map. I reach it by going towards the hole at the spot marked "down", and then jumping down that hole and taking a little damage. Yes, there's going to plenty of monster fighting along the way.
I go east to the lake, which will usually have at least a few slimes of various sorts. The chest is on the north side of the like. I disarm the trap to open it, and check it's contents. It doesn't have what I'm looking for, another Cloak of Perception. So I reload the "Mount Gigas Caves" savegame.
It's a matter of repeating the process until I get what I want in the chest. I show the last attempt after a few previous ones, the one where the Cloak of Perception is now in the chest. That's when I reload the quicksave.
Pressure Plate and Chest
At the spot marked 'pp' is a pressure plate that can be depressed by leaving an object, any object, on top of it.
This opens the way to a chest at the spot marked 'ppc', which has random loot if you're interested. You will have to kill a few Pestilent Rats and a Deathsting Apus once the way is open, but this should be routine by now.
The chest itself draws from the "Umpani Good" list. An item I happened to get is a Ring of the Road (+1 AC, +20 Strength, Bards only). It is in fact an item that I want for Errol for its boost to Strength and by extension to Stamina as well. But I had been planning to get that as a random drop when I start fighting the Rattkin in Trynton. It was more of a priority to get the Cloak of Perception out of the lake chest. But getting it here is an added bonus I'll certainly accept.
I continue south and loot two more chests at points marked 'c'.
Danger Zone
Note that the southeast portion of the Mount Gigas Caves is what's referred to as the 'Danger Zone' or 'Unexplored Territory', meaning no Umpani will be found patrolling here but there will often be plenty of monsters around. What you often run into can include:
Vampire Bats - By now these guys will be much easier.
Bat Vampires - Can drain hit points, and can be quite tough except for the fact that they're very vulnerable to Banish. In fact, Errol can often kill them outright now with a single shot from his Cornu of Demonspawn.
Chameleon Rats - More powerful versions of Pestilent Rats. They can have a Chameleon type effect while approaching, in addition to being able to cause disease or nausea.
Contagion Bats - These guys have few hit points, but are very hard to hit. They are 20th level, and can cause all kinds of nasty conditions like paralysis, disease, and nausea. If you can hit them with something resembling frequency, you can take them out fairly quickly. If not, you may be in for a rough ride. You may need to cast spells to increase your chances of hitting them, like Armormelt, Superman, Haste, etc.
Moraxes - Undead spell casters. If you're higher level than them, Magic Screen on its own may be enough. If they're either higher level or roughly equal, you may need to add Elemental Shield and Soul Shield during the first round of combat as well. Morax Ratlords are often found with Pestilent Rats and the like, while Morax Batlords are often found with Vampire Bats and Bat Vampires.
Cavern Spiders - Can cause poisoning with their bite attacks, and can paralyze multiple party members with their ensnaring webs.
Ensnaring Spiders - More powerful versions of Cavern Spiders. One is doable. Two or three become a legitimate threat to the party if they can keep the party wrapped under ongoing webs. Avoid if you can, or hide around a corner and let them come to you so you can start attacking very soon and at most only one will be able to to use a web to start things.
I encountered two groups of Cavern Spiders, as well as Chameleon Rats accompanied by Twilight Bats, while exploring the caves. RFS-81 advances another level.
I eventually make my way to the spot marked 'down', and descend down the pit.
Lake of Slimes
I get attacked by an Emerald Slime almost as soon as I fall in the pit, but I easily kill it.
One tunnel runs southwest, while another runs east. I follow the southwest one to its end, and loot a chest there. I now decide to rest up and buff up, partly to encourage more random monsters during my foray into these caves.
I return to where I first fell down the pit and now go along the east tunnel. There will typically be slimes of various sorts at the lake itself, and in this instance I run into 4 Black Slimes. Keep in mind that multiple Black Slimes can be dangerous even for higher-level parties because their projectile attacks can score significant damage, and they can blind multiple party members at once. Fire is their relative weakness, so I had Chun-Li put a Firestorm over them. Even so, both Ryu and Chun-Li had close calls. Vi Domina and Rothgar ended their Blindness in the nick of time, and each cast Heal Wounds on their wounded comrades.
I now go the chest on the north shore of the lake, disarm it and loot it. RFS-81 now has his Cloak of Perception (+2 AC, +20 Senses).
I continue on. At the east end of the lake is a ladder that leads back up.
Sometimes slimes periodically spawn at the lake, so I went back down. And sure enough I get to fight another group of 4 Black Slimes. This one went much easier, partly because RFS-81 landed a critical hit on one of them at the start of the fight. Monks are great for fights like this, because they can fight effectively while blind.
Vi Domina takes Purify Air on her 17th level-up, making her another character who can clear Toxic Clouds and Firestorms and Death Clouds when the need arises. I start prioritizing Strength and Speed for her. I reason that her Speed was fairly high when she first joined the party. And it's sometimes useful for a character with the Priest's spellbook to get off a needed buff (e.g. Soul Shield) or healing spell even before Errol uses his Rousing Drums for the Haste effects. I go back up the stairs afterwards.
PTorch and Frigid Fiddle
I follow the tunnel and fight 8 Chameleon Rats and 8 Twilight Bats. Zarax used his Dracon breath weapon as they're oncoming, and Chun-Li dropped a Stink Bomb on them once they surrounded the party.
I continue south and encounter four Bat Vampires led by a Batlord Morax. Vi Domina puts up a Soul Shield just to be on the safe side. I blow the Bat Vampires away with Errol using his Cornue of Demonspawn and Chun-Li using a Dust of Banishment.
I continue to follow the tunnel south and then west. At the south side of the caves is a pit that has two ropes leading out of it. You can click on either rope to get out the side of the pit you want to be on, so there's no permanent harm in falling down the pit. At the bottom is the Ptorch, which a Gadgeteer can use for the Light spell. A Gadgeteer can also combine with a Magnifying Glass to produce a Searchlight. I already have the Magnifying Glass from the Monastery, and now hold onto the Ptorch as well. The Searchlight figures into my plans for temporarily having a Trynnie Gadgeteer in my party in Trynton, for purposes of crafting a specific crossbow for Rothgar.
I climb out of the pit to its east side. A little to the north and east is an instrument called the Frigid Fiddle, which a Bard can use to replicate the Freeze Flesh spell. It makes for a useful interim instrument for the time being.
Cave Mummy
Now I go east from where I found the Freezing Fiddle, and then north. I find a Book of Return. Rothgar inscribes it to learn both the Set Portal and Return to Portal spells.
I go back south a bit and then east. There's a wall blocking the way to a 'cave'. I simply click on the wall to knock it down, and there will be a rather casual encounter against another Mummy. More Mummy Dust will be left behind as well.
I loot the nearby chest for some loot. It also draws from the Umpani Good list.
To the Upper Caves
I go back to near where I found the Book of Return, and end up in a massive fight that includes Vampire Bats, Bat Vampires and Pestilent Rats led by a pair of Morax Ratlords. I begin by having Vi Domina put up Soul Shield, and Rothgar put up Elemental Shield. Terra puts up Ring of Fire in anticipation of the party getting surrounded.
Errol and Chun-Li blow away most of the Bat Vampires with a double shot of Banishment, and weaken the Ratlords.
Terra casts Toxic Cloud, and Chun-Li casts Firestorm, once the Rats and Vampire Bats gather around as well. It becomes a matter of wearing them down with weapon attacks after that.
I continue west, and defeat another patch of Chameleon Rats and Twilight Bats.
I move on until I reach the spot marked "To Upper Caves" on the map. I rest up, buff up, and use my Security Pass Level 3 to take the elevator up to the Mount Gigas Upper Caves.
