In this guide, you’ll find a walkthrough for an area in the Bonus part of Pools of Darkness. To help you to navigate this area, a map, and legend are provided. There are more detailed notes for each point in the map legend at the bottom of the overview section.
Walkthrough
After defeating Gothmenes at the end of the game, you’ll be transported back to the original Phlan, which will be exactly the same as it was when you first visited it. Nobody will remember anything that you or Bane did during the game. You’ll still have your equipment from Bane’s Dimension. To re-acquire your Realms Dimension equipment, you’ll need to talk to Rolf at the docks in the northeastern corner of the city. He’ll have your gear in the “hold” of one of the ships there.
Note: If you feel like grinding some xp before accepting Dave’s Challenge, then you can travel to Mulmaster, where you’ll discover that the arena creatures there have taken over the city.
Another Note: You won’t be able to rest much during the challenge, so before starting it you might want to adjust your memorized spells, so you have more copies of buffs like Bless, Haste and Prayer.
To start Dave’s Challenge, you’ll need to visit Rolf at the docks in Phlan and choose the “challenge ship” option. When you reach your destination, you’ll hear Dave’s voice, and you’ll record his words as Journal Entry 64. Basically, Dave will challenge you to survive and escape his dungeon. To start off (#1), you’ll get attacked by eight Carrion Crawlers and four Great Basilisks. If they look a little tougher than normal, that’s because you’ll have to play the challenge on the “champion” difficulty setting where enemies will do extra damage and have 50% more hit points.
To escape the dungeon, you’ll need to break four bonds (#7, #13, #21, #28). Each bond is associated with a class, and the part of the dungeon leading up to the bond will be easiest for that class. After breaking the four bonds, a door (#29) will open, giving you access to the final boss fight, where a few of Bane’s lieutenants from the main part of the game will get a chance to take their revenge on you (#30). Defeating them will end the challenge and give you a nice reward (#31).
The tricky thing about Dave’s Challenge is that you won’t be able to rest very much, and at certain places you’ll lose some or all of your memorized spells (#9, #14, #22). So while it might seem like you should conserve your spells, in actuality, since there aren’t many fights and your spells will disappear, you might as well blow through them.
You’ll only be able to rest in one place (#4). This room is guarded by a rune, and as you rest the rune will fade. Then once the rune is gone, you won’t be able to rest anymore. In practice, this seems to mean that you’ll only be able to rest about three times, including using the “fix” command.
We had our best luck tackling the dungeon in this order:
- Thief’s bond (#7). You should be able to complete this with little trouble and without buffs.
- Beholder fight (#8). If this isn’t the most difficult fight in the dungeon, it’s certainly the most annoying. Buff up as much as you can beforehand.
- Mage’s bond (#13). You’ll lose your cleric spells in this part of the dungeon, so heal up your party and cast cleric buffs before going in.
- Fighter’s bond (#28). This is the most difficult part of the dungeon, so buff up as much as possible with mage and paladin spells before going in. You’ll lose all spells while heading for the bond, and you won’t be able to drink potions, either.
Cleric’s bond (#21). You’ll lose your mage spells in this part of the dungeon, but if you follow our order then you won’t have them available anyway. Clerics and paladins will be able to “turn” all of the enemies here, meaning it should be reasonably easy to complete this section without buffs and spells.
Ideally, you shouldn’t need to rest while breaking the bonds. But afterwards, you should “fix” and “rest” before approaching the final battle (Exit A), because you’ll need everything possible going for you to win — and maybe more beyond that.
As far as we can tell, the final pair of battles (#30) is impossible. The first battle in particular pins you against a wall with nowhere to move, and the Minions of Bane (Blue) will tear you apart before you can kill them. We managed to get through the rest of the challenge without cheating, but we had to cheat to beat the final battles. If you want to cheat, then just start the game using “game.exe 0 0 Helm.” With those parameters, you’ll be able to use alt-x in battles to instantly kill all of your enemies.
After completing the final battles — one way or the other — you should head to the northeastern corner of the room (Exit B), where you’ll be asked for the “mystic clue.” The answer is “oh, well.” When you type the answer in correctly, you’ll be teleported to the reward area (#31), where you’ll find an xp-generating pool (#32), a training hall (#33), and a treasure chest (#35). Then you’ll just need to return to Phlan (via Exit C or D), where you can sail off into retirement or keep playing.
1 – Starting Point
2 – Secret Door
The secret door here is trapped. If you fail to disarm the trap, then it will damage you for about 10 hit points, and it will prevent you from going through the door.
3 – Electrified Hallway
Every 20 minutes, electricity will flow through this hallway, dealing 20-25 damage to your party.
4 – Rune Room
You’ll be able to rest safely in this room. However, the more you rest here the more the rune protecting the room will fade, and when the rune finally disappears, you won’t be able to rest here anymore. So don’t run here after every fight; try to wait s long as possible. You’ll probably be able to rest here three times, and that includes fixing.
5 – Floor Trap
When you enter this square, the floor will start shifting beneath your feet. Despite receiving options for “advance,” “examine,” and “retreat,” it appears that anything you do will trigger the trap, which will deal 10-15 damage to your party. You’ll then get attacked by four Large Iron Golems and four Rakshasa Mahs. You can avoid the trap by going through the secret door to the south (which a thief can open safely), but you’ll have to fight the battle no mater what.
6 – Chest
If you successfully “examine” and “disarm” this chest, then inside you’ll find Elfin Chain +4, four Potions of Extra Healing, a Ring of Blinking, 1000 platinum, and 300 gems. If you trigger the trap on the chest, then it will explode, destroying its contents.
7 – Thief’s Bond
You’ll discover the thief’s bond here. The character you pick to destroy it will gain extra xp. After destroying the bond, the training hall menu will pop up, allowing you to train your characters.
8 – Beholders
Each time you enter this room you’ll meet a Beholder. The first three times this happens, you’ll be able to talk to the Beholder, and it will give you a clue. But after the third clue, the Beholder will call up some of its friends, and you’ll get attacked by seven Beholders and three Elder Orbs. We’d recommend casting (at least) Haste, Prayer, and Protection from Evil before the battle starts, and then going after the Elder Orbs first since they’ll cast Fireballs along with all of the other annoying Beholder spells.
The best luck we had in this fight was to keep our party separated as much as possible to avoid Slow spells. Move your ranged attackers to the far edges of the room, and have your fighters target different orbs. The fighters should do a lot of damage while they’re hasted, and the ranged attackers can finish off any orbs near death. Once you do get slowed, go ahead and start casting Summon Monster to give the orbs lots of targets other than your party for their spells (if you cast Summon Monster earlier, then the new creatures will get gated in right next to one of your characters, and that character will almost certainly to get slowed).
9 – Cleric Spells Lost
When you enter this room, your clerics will lose all of their memorized spells, so make sure your party is healed up and you cast Bless and Prayer before going in. Paladins won’t lose their spells here.
10 – Elementals
At this spot you’ll encounter some elementals loitering around a control crystal. If you successfully banish the elementals (magic-users are best for this), then you won’t have to fight anything. Otherwise you’ll have to fight ten Earth Elementals and ten Fire Elementals.
11 – Vampires
In this room you’ll have to fight eight Vampire Mages and eight Vampire Thieves. You won’t be able to turn them with your cleric.
12 – Multi-Dimensional Battle
In this room you’ll get attacked by four Bits o Moander (Large), four Minions of Bane (Blue), and three Pets of Kalistes.
13 – Mage’s Bond
You’ll discover the mage’s bond here. The character you pick to destroy it will gain extra xp. After destroying the bond, the training hall menu will pop up, allowing you to train your characters.
14 – Mage Spells Lost
When you enter this room, your magic-users will lose all of their memorized spells. Rangers won’t lose their spells here.
15 – Vampires
If you wander into the center of the room, then you’ll get ambushed by five Spectres, five Vampire Thieves, and three Vampire Mages.
16 – Malevolent Presence
When you enter this room, a malevolent presence will tell you that the room “hungers for souls.” If one of your characters can stand against it (paladins are good for this), then you’ll be allowed to pass through the room without a fight. But if your character fails, then the room will devour him (causing him to disappear forever), and you’ll have to fight a Minion of Bane (Red).
17 – Chest
Inside this chest you’ll find a Flail +4, a Mace +4, three Potions of Extra Healing, a Ring of Protection +5, 1100 platinum, and 300 gems.
18 – Skeletons
When you enter this room you’ll get attacked by six Giant Skeletons, six Skeletal Animals, six Skeletons, and a Spectre. After the battle, a second group of skeletons will form up, and if you advance into the next room (#19) to face them, then you’ll have to fight the exact same enemies again. Clerics should be able to turn these enemies, making the two battles pretty easy.
19 – Altar
When you fight your way to this altar, you’ll be allowed to destroy it with one of your clerics. The cleric will gain extra xp.
20 – Spectres
In this room you’ll get ambushed by six Spectres, six Wights, and six Wraiths. Clerics should be able to turn these enemies.
21 – Cleric’s Bond
In this room you’ll get attacked by six Liches and three Vampire Mages. Clerics should be able to turn these enemies. After the battle you’ll be allowed to destroy the cleric’s bond. The character you pick to destroy it will gain extra xp. After destroying the bond, the training hall menu will pop up, allowing you to train your characters.
22 – All Spells Lost
At this spot you’ll lose all of your memorized spells. You also won’t be able to use any potions beyond this point.
23 – Pets of Kalistes
When you enter this room you’ll get attacked by six Pets of Kalistes.
24 – Thieves
In this room you’ll get attacked by four Evil Champions and four Master Thieves. If you don’t have ranged weapons for your melee fighters, then you might want to grab some of the Slings +3 dropped by the thieves, because extra ranged attacks can be useful in the next battle (#25).
25 – Bizarre Assemblage
In this room you’ll get attacked by three Bulettes, seven Minions of Bane (Blue), and three Umber Hulks. This battle can be surprisingly difficult, since you probably won’t have a good way to deal with the Minions without magic. For best results, just chip away at the Minions with your ranged attacks, and keep your characters separated and away from the walls so the lightning bolts from the Minions do as little damage as possible. The Bulettes and Umber Hulks should be no threat at all, so let your melee fighters deal with them when convenient.
26 – Large Iron Golems
You’ll get attacked by five Large Iron Golems here.
27 – Chest
Inside this chest you’ll find a Fine Long Bow +2, Plate Mail +4, three Potions of Extra Healing, a Vorpal Long Sword (+3), and 500 gems.
28 – Fighter’s Bond
When you enter this room you’ll get attacked by a Blue Dragon, a Greed Dragon, two Red Dragons, and a White Dragon. After the battle you’ll be allowed to destroy the fighter’s bond. The character you pick to destroy it will gain extra xp. After destroying the bond, the training hall menu will pop up, allowing you to train your characters.
29 – Secret Door
You’ll only be able to pass through this door after you’ve destroyed the four bonds (#7, #13, #21, #28).
30 – Final Battles
When you get teleported to this room (via Exit A), you’ll lose all of your spells, and you’ll have to fight two battles back-to-back. In the first battle you’ll square off against Gothmenes, Tanetal, six Bits o Moander (Large), and eight Minions of Bane (Blue). In the second battle you’ll face Kalistes, Thorne, eight Pets of Kalistes, and six Red Dragons. This is the battle for people who thought Gothmenes was way too easy to kill at the end of the main game.
31 – Reward Area
32 – XP Fountain
Each time you drink from this fountain, your party will gain 400,000 xp.
33 – Training Hall
34 – Clear Pool
You’ll discover a clear pool here. If you “toss an object” into it, then the object will vaporize. If you have a character “enter” it, then the character will get wet.
35 – Chest
Inside this chest you’ll find three Boots of Speed, Bracers of AC 2, a Fine Long Bow +2, two Girdles of Giant Strength, a Silver Shield +4, two Vorpal Long Swords (+3), 1000 platinum, 1000 gems, and 1000 pieces of jewelry.
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