Elysion/Elysion Island

The castle dungeon
When you begin the game, you must first speak with the king in the center chair of the throne room. To his left is the queen who will hold on to the scrolls that you gather, and to his right is the princess who will bestow gifts upon you at certain points in the game. Once you have spoken with the king and heard his request, you can exit the castle, and explore the dungeon entrance on the left.

Before you reach the dungeon, you must walk down a hallway populated with four treasure chests. These four chests contain the most basic equipment, as well as one healing potion. However, it is possible to get a substantially better weapon early on if you walk south from the castle, and then walk to the east, away from the Inn. Walk above the first rock formation, and walk above the first lake. Walk along the bottom of the closest rock formation and you will discover a hidden treasure chest. Inside the chest is a Feather Sword. If you are a Minos or a Viskam, you should have no problem equipping it, but if you are a Dionea or Aylex and wish to wear protective gear, you may have to wait a few levels for your strength to increase.

Back in the dungeon, walk through the door at the top of the hallway to arrive at the first floor of the dungeon. The dungeon is comprised of four floors altogether, with each floor's layout a little more complex than the previous floor. For now, you should remain on the first floor until you increase to the third or fourth level. Directly above the entrance is a fountain which will restore 3 health points with each sip (you can drink as often as you like.) Use this fountain as a base while you fight enemies in order to gain experience points and increase your level. In addition to the fountain, every character learns the spell of Heal, and you obtained one healing potion on your way in, so rely on those to recover if it does not seem like you will survive long enough to return to the fountain.

The first floor has three treasure chests (be sure to read the note about treasure chests on the page.)  The chest to the right of the entrance contains gold. A second chest above the fountain contains a random item. The third chest is found by following the path to the right of the fountain. After walking through a small maze and returning to the left, you will find the chest which contains the first scroll. While you can exit the dungeon and give the scroll to the queen in exchange for money and to find out what it says, you're generally better off waiting until you find all of the items you're looking for before you return to the castle.

Once you are feeling strong enough to withstand combat against more powerful enemies, you may wish to explore the ladder above the fountain first. This takes you down to the second floor. After a walk to the right, you will reach an expansive chamber. Near the middle of the chamber is a skeleton who guards a hidden treasure chest. This skeleton is unusually powerful, and you should not attempt to fight him at this point. However, he isn't particularly fast, so it's possible to get close to him and lure him away from his post. Then you can examine the space above him and discover the chest which contains a red key. (Note that other skeletons found in this dungeon are not nearly as strong as the one guarding the key, but still fairly powerful.) Below the skeleton are three treasure chests which you should examine. The content of left chest is random, and might provide you with a Feather Sword or Clothes +2. To the right of the skeleton, you will encounter a locked door. To open it, you must equip the red key and use the Open command while standing in front of the door. Beyond the door lies the fastest path to the location of the Hero Ring, as it virtually bypasses the entire third floor. However, if you didn't collect the red key from here, there is another copy of this key which you can obtain later.

There are four different means of reaching the third floor, including the ladder to the left of the skeleton. If you take this ladder, you will arrive in something of a maze. Above the ladder is a path that leads to the right before arriving at a fountain. This fountain, unlike the one on the first floor, restores your magic points. However, you can cast Heal as much as necessary, and then drink the fountain to gain your magic back. From the fountain, continue to the right and follow the path as it winds its way up to the top and ultimately to a teleport tile. Stepping on this tile will instantly transport you to a location on the fourth floor.

If you have the red key, you can open the door found to the right and shortcut a bit of the trip that you must make around this floor. Otherwise, you must make your way as far to the right as you can before you can travel up the right side of the dungeon and return to the left. After walking down a corridor along the top of the floor, you will reach a set of three horizontal walls. Explore the path that leads down to the right of these walls, and you will eventually reach the Hero Ring. As soon as you equip this ring, you will be instantly advanced to level 5. The irony is that in order to reach this location safely, you will probably have to be close to level 5 to begin with, if not beyond it.

Once you have the ring, double back to the three horizontal walls, and explore the downward pathway found to the left of the walls. This will take you down to the bottom and then up along the left side of the dungeon until you reach a ladder. Access the ladder and you will return to a closed off location on the third floor. Walk around to the first chest that you find, and it will contain a copy of the red key. Make a note of the odd colored wall here. You don't have the ability to do anything about it now, but you will need to return here in the future. Near the top of the same room is another chest, and this one contains the second scroll that you were charged with finding. You should now have all of the items that the king requested. Very fortunately, there is a teleport tile nearby that instantly warps you to the entrance of the first floor. When you arrive, simply walk down to return through the hallway and back to the castle.

Returning to the castle
Before you speak with the king, you may wish to take some time exploring the rest of the dungeon in order to find any treasure chests you may have missed, and to continue accumulating experience points. The monsters outside are quite tough, and you may find that level 5 is not sufficient to take most of them on. Reaching level 6 or even 7 can make combat outdoors a little more forgiving.

Once you're ready to continue, return to the castle and speak with the king. He will reward your success by giving you the title "Hero of God." Then he will tell you that the next part of your quest is to find the other 8 scrolls. He also tells you that the shrine of the holy sword is nearby. Then you are presented with the true title screen. The queen will pay you money for the scrolls that you have collected, 100 gold each, and then she will permit you to read the scrolls you have collected so far. The princess will also bestow some money on you for your success.

Having spoken to the king, the Lyra Inn just outside the castle will be open for business, but the entrance to the castle dungeon will be closed off for the time being. Head to the Inn and sell off all of the weapons, armor, and items that you no longer need which are taking up space in your inventory. The Inn doesn't sell too many useful items, but you should definitely purchase the Leather armor if you did not find any in the dungeon. If you need to recover health or magic points, you can sleep at the Inn for 10 gold. And last but not least, you can choose to Gamble if you like.

Black Knights
Before you wander far from the castle and the Lyra Inn, you should be aware of the threats that you will face on the rest of the island. The monsters outside are considerably stronger than the monsters found inside the dungeon. You should stay close to Lyra Inn until you reach level 7 or even 8. Most of the enemies are tough, but they can be defeated.

However, there is one particular monster that you should beware of. There are tall black knights that will appear on the screen from time to time. Only one will ever occupy the screen at a time. They are very tough enemies and can destroy you in very few hits, even just one if you are unlucky. On the other hand, they provide you will hundreds of experience points, and can help you rise in levels quite fast. If possible, fight them from far away using ranged weapons or spells. Upon reaching level 15, one last black knight will challenge you and provide you with the Black Ticket upon defeat. After that, no more black knights will appear. Taking them on can be a very risky prospect; dying will return you to the castle (or the last sage that you spoke with) and reduce your experience points to the minimum for your current level.

Island features
Elysion Island is shaped like a diamond. You begin in the west corner of the island.
 * West Elysion
 * The west corner is home to the castle and Lyra Inn, as you have already visited. You will need to return to the castle every time you wish to give the scrolls you find to the queen.  In return, she will give you 1000 gold for your effort.  The king and princess will also provide you with rewards so speak with them whenever you return.
 * Not far from the castle is a cave which serves as the entrance to the shrine of the Holy Sword. It can be found by walking east from Lyra Inn, and then a little to the south.  You can enter the shrine and "speak" with the sword, and it will tell you of the three jewels that contain the swords power.  You must find the jewels and restore the sword to defeat Baal.
 * As with all portions of the island, you will want to search the island very thoroughly, as there are a large number of hidden chests found all around. In fact, one of the hidden chests contains a scroll.  To ensure that you check everywhere, walk all around the edges of the rock formations.  You can use the spell of Inspect to make sure that you're not missing any chests.


 * South Elysion
 * The key feature of South Elysion is the cave entrance near the bottom of the island which connects with the Lost Forest. This is your primary conduit between the island and the next section of the world which you should explore.  The Lost Forest contains a few enemies that may be easier to fight at lower levels than those found on the island.  But continue to watch out for black knights and fight them cautiously.
 * More hidden chests can be found throughout the southern portion of the island, though none of them contain key items. There are two particularly good chests to look for.  One is immediately to the east of the cave that leads to the Lost Forest.  You'll have to walk around the barriers that block you in order to reach the chest.  Another is found on a long peninsula that leads off the east coast of the island.  This particular chest may even possess enchanted Ring Mail, which is an armor you typically don't find until much later in the game.
 * North Elysion
 * Far to the north of the castle, you will find Hork Inn and another cave. Hork Inn sells items which are only a small upgrade from those found in Lyra Inn, and you may already have superior equipment by the time you reach it.  A night's stay there costs 30 gold.  Naturally, there are more hidden treasure chests to find.  A particular good chest to find is located directly above Hork Inn.  Inside, you will find a Wood shield, which is much better than the shields sold at the Inn.
 * The cave leads to a tunnel that connects the island with the Desert of Mystery. You should not attempt to enter that location until you have accomplished all the you need to in the Lost Forest.  However, some players venture in early on to obtain an item and boost their level by finding a special fountain.
 * East Elysion
 * Along the east-most point on Elysion island, you will find Marin Inn. As with Hork Inn, none of the items you find there are a huge leap from what you already have.  It serves as more of a supply shop and staying the night will cost 40 gold.  You can find a treasure chest on the other side of the bushes to the west of the shop.  It usually contains a Small +1 weapon.  If it's the weapon that your race specializes in, check to see if it can do more damage than your current weapon.
 * Not far from the Inn is another cave entrance. While this cave leads to another location, like many others, it also contains a bit of a dungeon.  You should stay clear of this cave until you are through with the Desert of Mystery.  There is also another cave to the south of this one which leads to an area known as the Holy Land.