Hera: The Sword of Rhin/The pirates cove

With your new submarine, new areas are open to explore.

Castle Venipanor

 * ''See also the corresponding text transcript.

Castle Venipanor is located in the mountains in the midlands of Hera. Use the submarine to reach it.

The castle offres three great services: the King raises both attributes (Strength only in the MS-DOS version); the bar sells the most convenient food; and the armoury sells the best armors.

Guards prevent you from talking to the prisoners in the west wing, and therefore from obtaining the next key item (the cross).

Use the submarine and "grind enemies" until you purchased the best available armor (in Castle Venipanor), raised your agility to 60 and purchased the best available weapon (in Castle Lunca). You will also need a sufficient amount of health points, normal keys (2 to 8) and jail keys (2 to 4).

In Castle Venipanor, beat the jail guard, pass the force field, beat or get past the two guards in the jail, talk to the two prisoners. Then, open the "normal" door in the south-east cell, defeat two guards in the corridor, explore the rest and meet two characters.

There is one chest in the east wing of the castle, but it is just a regular chest holding 1 to 19 Gold. It is protected by two more guards and a door: the chest contents are definitely insufficient to pay back the loss of health and the key.

Monastery of Saint Remi

 * ''See also the corresponding text transcript.

You might think that the access to the monastery is from the south, as it was for the castle, but if you dive with the submarine you will see a different underground river. In order to access the monastery, you should travel to the bay south of Castle Lunca, then dive and go east. Furthermore, "a strange force keeps you out" from the monastery, unless you own a cross.

The monastery lacks any shop.

A man in Castle Lunca told you how much to offer to Bishop Kristoffer. Listen to him and follow the lead until you obtain the diving suit from a man in the monastery.

Sunken ship
Many characters in Rara Avis talk about pirates and ships. Let us check back all they said long ago, plus the information beyond a locked door.

In the bay you can see a sunken ship, but only with the diving suit you can leave the submarine and explore the wreckage. Get the air tank in the center room and keep exploring: the flag was at the highest point of the ship, that now fell to the east. Follow the landscape.

Pirates cove

 * ''See also the corresponding text transcript.

Holding the pirate flag, you can get through the magic protection that kept you out of the pirates cove. Two pirates in the north side tell you all you need about the wand. In order to get it, though, steal a submarine and dive around the building with the wand itself.

Another building holds a dozen chests. They are protected by pirates, that can be easily dispatched wit cannon fire. A further building is inaccessible, but inside there are just more ships.

You can easily guess that [W]aving the wand allows access to Skull Mountain, but first, you need to obtain the sword of Rhin.