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Section II: Reference Material
Chapter 11: Dungeons
Throughout the Old World there are several dungeons, these vary in nature, danger and size though basically there are the locations that your party should seek in order to improve themselves. In fact to call them dungeons is a slight misnomer as in fact they vary in shape considerably from one another even if the basic format is the same, hunt far enough and you will find a dwarven city, caves, a pirates lair, catacombs and an ancient castle amongst others.
Once your party has some hints about the location of a dungeon you can set off through the wilderness or initially via a coach or ship to the city closest to the specific dungeon. Some are located quite close to cities whilst others can be found deep in the wilderness. The location of the dungeons does not change but the denizens and treasure found do. They are updated regularly so that any exploring party does not find an empty location. Each dungeon has a theme, which normally means that the monsters found within it follow a certain race.
The Orc Lair for example is filled with different kinds of Orcs, note that although some of these will be similar to the ones your party may have already encountered in the Wilderness there will be others who are tougher. Naturally (or should that be unnaturally) undead are in the catacombs, and though these will be the weaker forms of undead they should not be underestimated, certainly travelling to the Ancient Castle and trying to unlock its secrets can be formidable for a party starting out. Some dungeons are beyond the reach of non-paying parties and this alone is a good reason to pay the small subscription to the site.
Finding a dungeon is not always easy, but whenever you move across the wilderness you should study the locations page for a dungeon entrance.
Within the tribal dungeons you will normally find five different type of tribes people. The standard tribe members, the archers, who are fair in melee combat but will often during the missile faze, the warriors who are tougher than the normal tribesmen, the shamans or priests who will often cast Curse spells at the party. Each race tends to specialise in a certain type of curse and it is wise to take a note of maximum and current hit points after a combat has taken place. Finally, the chiefs of the tribe, who although is a certainly the best warrior is normally only encountered in groups of one or two.
Before entering a dungeon you may wish to take some precautions for your party. Once you step inside you may find yourselves attacked immediately, thus although your parties is able to deal with wilderness creatures you might find yourself up against 4 successive battles!
The best way to prepare for a dungeon is to make sure everyone has the correct item equipped, sell the stuff that is no longer needed. This can be achieved in a number of ways. Your spells can be readied in Combat Settings, and with your rank position. Also it is possible to set up magic commands so that only the fiercest monsters are met with the awesome power of your Magus. However the most important thing to check is your retreat setting. Finally you may wish to cast some bless spells to increase the abilities and hit points of your characters.
Once ready it is time to enter the dungeon. Within the dungeon movement costs are much less than in the wilderness, but each square may have a battle to face. It is important to look at what you are about to face and consider whether your retreat settings are appropriate. If one is unsure of the strength of the creatures, or their special abilities make sure that you retreat straight away and look at the damage done to your characters in the first few rounds. You may feel that the dungeon you have entered is just too tough, leaving the dungeon for a later date might be the sensible option. Lastly, be careful of multiple groups of enemies, you will have to fight each one normally in turn, the cumulative effect of this with a low retreat setting might be enough to lose a character, be careful. Until you are sure you can defeat the monsters you face it is worth the extra time and AP.s in changing your retreat level, resting, healing and making sure you keep your experienced characters alive. This is especially the case as you add more characters to your group.
The rewards in dungeons are a lot higher however, there is more experience and loot to be gained than outside. Some of the loot will be equipment, some in gold coins and rarely you may be lucky and pick up a magic item, some dungeons have more magic items than others. These items, once identified can be used; either by your characters to enhance their skills or some of the items are required to complete quests.
In the same way that when you travel around the wilderness you need to watch every step you make in case there is a dungeon entrance, the same applies to dungeons. There are some dungeons "squares" that will reveal entrances to other levels and in some dungeons quests may be found, so as you move around the dungeon take a little extra time to study the location page. If you find yourself in a dungeon and it is empty of creatures, it probably means that someone has recently been in and has killed the creatures there. You can ask in the chat page whether that is the case and often come to some arrangement about which section of the dungeon is still occupied before wasting lots of AP. However all of the dungeons replenish themselves, several times a day, the best thing to do is to wait, possibly in a room rather than a corridor and check every so often to see if the occupants have moved back in. Whilst waiting take a look at the forum, reread this manual, chat to other players or try one of the other games on this site.
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