The castle provisioner[edit]
Two items are necessary: buy a waterskin and a lantern.
Also, this is the only place in the game where you can buy a cartograph (chart-graphics, i.e. a map). Look at it, and remember that north is to the left.
Next step: find a water source. Leave the castle, then turn west at the crossroads. Keep going west until you reach Balema Bayou. Here, you can get water and refill your waterskin. Read the sign carefully: if you get into the lake, an alligator will eat both you and Gorn (and this is how you learn the "Balema Bayou" name).
Cartography of Balema[edit]
The in-game world can be roughly divided in four parts. You and Gorn start on Disk 1 in King Galt's castle, that is in the south-east corner. Disk 2 includes two more areas, one to the north and one to the west. The largest portion of the cartograph is the land of an evil knight known as the Red Dragoon, and it is apparently inaccessible.
| Cartograph | Explanation of the cartograph | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 The thick red line is the border with the lands of the Red Knight. The thin red lines separate disk side 1 (south-east) from disk side 2 (west and north). |
Lands of the Red Dragoon This human knight is an enemy of King Galt. Entering his lands means getting imprisoned for life. |
North Balema (Disk 2) A provisioner can be found here. Other place of interest are a desert and a waterfall: look carefully! | |
| West Balema (Disk 2) Turn to the south and reach the sea. Turn north and reach a village and a fresh water lake. Press further west and reach the cave of the sphinx. |
Central Balema (Disk 1) You start the adventure here. There are a forest, a swamp, and roads that lead to the other territories. | ||
Learn dragon language[edit]
When you will meet dragon, you will soon learn that brute force is useless. Learn its language, so that you can communicate. This can be accomplished in three ways: choose your favorite one, or do them all.
From books[edit]
Before leaving the castle, ask the castle provisioner about books. Purchase "Lingua Draco Flameus", but if you try and read it, you will discover that it is Latin.
Therefore, also purchase "Pig Latin Made Simple" and read it: you will be able to understand the other book, and learn "dragonese". The two books cost a total of 50 Gold Sovereigns.
From the hermit[edit]
Leave the castle, go west, then south, then east, until you find a hermit's cave. From Balema Bayou, go back east, then south, then west.
Ask anything to the man, and he will in return ask some gold before revealing any useful information. Pay him 51 Gold Sovereigns, and he will reveal everything he knows, as well as teach you "dragonese".
With Lisa[edit]
Leave the castle, go west, then south, then west, and you will enter a swamp. From Balema Bayou, go back east, then south, then west.
Notice the skeleton to the south: upon a closer inspection, Gorn will notice a ring on its finger: get it.
Keep going west, then go north instead thus avoiding ruins. When you reach a road, go west. Knock at the house door. If you got the ring, Lisa the sorceress will agree to join you.
Instead of teaching you the dragon language, she will translate when you meet it.
Meet the dragon[edit]
In King Galt's thron room, Lady Diana said that the dragon is causeing trouble in the south-west. Let us go and look for it in that direction!
North-west entrance[edit]
From the forest, go west along the road. Turn the disk to access the western lands of Balema. At the first fork, go west (south leads to Balema Beach), at the second fork go north (south leads to a poisoned pond), at the third go west (north leads to the kingdom border).
At the next fork, go south: you will read the only cutscene in the game. Keep going south, and you will reach a lake where you can get water to refill the waterskin.
Backtrack and follow the road to the south-west. At the entrance of a cave, a huge sphinx asks to answer a riddle. If you guess right, you can pass. Light the lantern and proceed south.
SPHINX
What am I? You are a sphinx (a sphinx that is telling a riddle)!
South entrance[edit]
Some ancient ruins are located south of the forest, or far west from the hermit's cave. As soon as you enter them, light the lantern: there might be no time for it later. In fact, you will be soon attacked by three lizard-men.
If Lisa is with you, she will cast a fireball that obliterates the enemies, and you will be free to get the Dragonbane sword (that is anyway useless).
With or without Lisa, go [D]own into the cave.
Inside the cave[edit]
Inside the caves it is better to press "Return" and navigate in text mode. Indeed, the graphics are repetitive and even misleading: if you come to a tile from a different direction, the text will mix up left and right.
Green tile to the north-east: sphinx entrance.
Green tile to the south-east: ruins entrance.
Green & red tiles to the west: Red Knight border (game over).
Red square in the middle: dragon.
The grey arrows mark a minor bug: the tile in the middle says "east", but it is supposed to be "west".
If you learned dragonese, or if Lisa is with you, you can communicate with the dragon. Tell Gorn to ask about its sorrow, and the dragon will give you a quest: find its cub.
Going north[edit]
Obviously, the dragon cub is as far as possible from the mother.
- The carpet in the forest pit
- The north provisioner: buy a rope and an oilskin
- The desert
There are two places of interest in the desert: an oasis and a cliff.
- Desert oasis: from the entrance, go one tile east, then all the way north. There you can get water and refill the waterskin.
- Desert cliff: it runs along the east border of the desert. Gorn will notice one point of interest, exactly east from the oasis.
The cliffside cave[edit]
From below[edit]
If you have a flying carpet, ride it when you are below the cliffside cave in the desert.
From above[edit]
If you have a rope, go south-east (across the destroyed village) almost all the way back to King Galt's castle. At the last crossroad, go east, reach a river, then follow it east until you get to a waterfall. Tell Gorn to look at the fall, and he will find a passage behind it.
Navigate the cave straight north, and you will emerge at the top of the desert cliff. Tie the rope to the tree, go down and you will eventually reach the cliffside cave.
Back to the dragon[edit]
Inside the cliffside cave you can find the young dragon, asleep. Take it and bring it to its mother, alive. Look frequently at the young dragon to see how it fares.
In order to leave the cliff, the only way is to navigate the cave at the top (the magic carpet flew away). A dragon is a fire creature, and water is deadly for it: before you pass under the waterfall, put it in the oilskin, but also remember to take it out before it suffocates!