Classic Games Revisited
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands Walkthrough
30. Upper Castle
Several interesting things happen in the upper castle and again, at almost every juncture there are multiple choices and outcomes, too many to detail here. First, go kill all the guards around 2 so they won’t interfere with us later. The chest (X) usually has nothing valuable.
The door to the southwest is locked, so make your way to the northwest, looting a couple of skeletons (S) on your way to 3. An Earth Elemental stands in your way. It requires +2 weapons to hit. Once it is dealt with, the skeleton behind it has a chain leg armor, which sells for 3,000cp. Unfortunately it doesn’t grant better AC unlike its arm counterpart. The skeleton also has a Bow +2, one of two magical bows in the game.
30.1. The Good Druid
Open the door and go in to 4, and the Druid of the Howling Wind will thank you for freeing him from the earth elemental. He’ll want us to retrieve a Wyvern Hook from a Wyvern Master. You can ask questions about the mission, then be honored to accept it. Each party member gets 500xp. If you want you can rest at the campfire in the room.
If anyone in the party is hurt or even dead, you will have a dialog option to ask the druid to heal your wounds. The druid will not only provide full campfire services (healing and spell restoration), but will also revive dead party members. Contrary to what the manual claims (that elves can never be resurrected), the druid’s healing will also revive elves! What is more, revival via the druid does not result in permanent loss of Constitution, as using the druid spell Raise Dead would.
Important: Take the key from the northwest corner of the room.
30.2. The Bad Master
Use the key you just got on the door at 5, then discard it. The wyvern master at 6 will want you to ally with him, or make some sort of deal to let him escape, but we know he’s going to betray us later, so be very aggressive and choose combat. He’ll call for guards, and five new guards will spawn in a couple of different locations.
Each party member receives 2,000xp when the wyvern master dies. Clean up the guards, then loot his body for a banana, a pear, a Wind Ring which confers Protection from Normal Missiles, Drake Armor +1 which gives only 2 AC (same as other mundane heavy armor) but also improves saving throws vs. cold by 3, and the Wyvern Hook.
The chest may have something you can sell, but look carefully behind the bed in the northeast corner for a green key. Use the key to open the treasury at 7, then drop it. When you’ve finished looting (am I glad to be carrying so many containers!), head back to the druid at 4 to turn in the hook, and maybe to rest up. When you hand over the hook, the druid will give you the Wind Potion, which is required to permanently get rid of Tara.
30.3. The Ugly Tara
We are finally ready to face Tara and her zombies at 8, after looting a skeleton on the way. You can Turn Undead from outside the door to take care of all the extra traffic. Be extremely rude to Tara, and she will initiate combat to prove a point. Once she dies, you will only have a few seconds to open your inventory and use the Wind Potion, otherwise she will reappear. When you use the potion after killing her, each party member gets 3,000xp.
Tara leaves behind a Silver Necklace, which improves AC by 1 and reduces incoming damage by 2, and Tynan’s Heart, which is similar to A’Poss’ heart we found earlier. Don’t lose it. Loot the skeleton, then report your success to the druid and he will tell you about the Serpent Boots and Dark Flame that we have already taken. Leave at 1 to return to the Lower Castle.
30.4. Return to Cedrilte
Go somewhere near the zombies you left alive (outside the rooms at 2), and use the Wind Potion. Each party member gets yet another 1,000xp for freeing the spirits. The zombie from 2 will thank you if he sees you. Watch them all leave.
Don’t interfere with them in any way (e.g., get in their way, talk to them, etc.) while they are leaving. A bug might cause them to go hostile. Just watch all the dots disappear from the map.
Leave at 1 when all the zombies are gone, and then at 1 from Undermountain to deliver the good news to the village.
Killing the guards at 10 in Undermountain now will still spawn one guard behind the portcullis, but new ones won’t spawn in the castle.
30.5. Third Allies
Back in Cedrilte, Chaya will thank you, and now you can ask her to ally with Teaquetzl. She will still be reluctant; argue that the Drajian army will crush them. The Druid of the Howling Winds interjects and promises to offer protection to the village so that Chaya can afford to send some warriors to our aid. Chaya is convinced, and each party member receives 5,000xp. Chaya also gifts us a lime and a bracelet of Animal Affinity.
We’ll need to return to Cedrilte for a quest later, but the obelisk here makes it convenient. Teleport to the Elvish Caravan and turn in the wyvern quest to the wagon master to receive 1,000cp. Go through all her quest dialogue again to get the magera quest for another monetary reward. Sell all the loot we’ve been hauling around.
Unfortunately nobody spawned at the campfire for me to speak to. Teleport to Teaquetzl to celebrate the news of the alliance. Visit the war council at 2 and they will mention a reward. Go to your hut at 5. Katura will be waiting there. No, she is not your reward; this is the conclusion of the quest we have been setting up all this time.
Speak to Katura, be nice to her (if you are a male you will also have some romantic dialog options—if you pursue those first, she’ll give you a non-magical ring), say you’ve heard a lot about her, then ask about her true parents. Say they are connected to a Templar in Nibenay, then say magic is not a toy. Finally, instruct her to learn discipline. Whoever conducts the conversation with this dialog path receives 500xp.
Finally, look in the large chest for a bracelet of Share Strength, a pink pear (cures serious wounds), and a Helm of Might, which increases the wearer’s strength by 1. It stacks with the Strength spell, so one party member’s strength can potentially go up to 25.