textfiles/apple/WALKTHROUGHS/shard.sprng.slv

                    
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                           How to solve:
                        The Shard of Spring
                            Cracked by:
                    Crockett  of Coast to Coast
                     Written by: Short Circuit
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Here's the solve to Shard of Spring. It's a decent game... even if I did
complete  it  in  less  then  10 hours playing time. One catch though, I
edited my characters as I described in my cheat to  Shard  of  Spring...
that made the game real easy, since I could kill anything in about three
blows.   Since  I  played with those "super" characters, I can't say how
easy things will be for you unless you edit them in  a  similar  manner.
Every now and then, the game would stop me and check the disk... usually
it did this in dungeons. I can only assume that it was checking if I had
gotten  certain  items, etc. Thus, my edited characters might be able to
pass points where your characters can not. Because of this, you'll  have
to  try  to figure out what it is you need, find it in the solve, and go
get it. The solve will be fairly short, because I'm only going to give a
brief description of what you  have  to  do  (some  of  which  your  new
characters will not be able to do).  Here we go. 

Go  south  from where you begin. You'll spot a bridge (it's orange). You
must move your characters across this, and then  go  east.  Go  straight
east and you will soon see a symbol. That's Blackfort. The place where a
priest  is  being  held.  Go into the dungeon and wander around till you
find the priest (that's a lot of help, isn't it?). A  lantern  or  torch
will  help  you  see farther. After you rescue the priest and he blesses
you (that's the key action), go down to the south wall of the  big  room
outside  the  priest's  cell.   There  should be a orange door there. Go
through it and gaze at the map you see. If you had looked around  a  bit
before  you  found  the  priest  (which you probably did) you would have
found the room with the key in it. Well, across the hall from that there
is a secret door where Devir lurks. Go there and kill  the  S.O.B.  That
done, get out of Blackfort. 

Continue  travelling  east until you enter some mountains and see swamps
above you (you will have to skirt south around a lake to get there).  Go
up  into  the  swamps  (it didn't hurt me, but I had those super charged
guys...) and enter the tomb you see there (it is  rather  distinct).  Go
in,  and take the path west from the pool inside. You should get to some
forests. Anyway, go through the door there and travel down the  hallway.
Through  the  door  at  the  end  is  a  pool  which will cure a few hit
points... if you're hurt you might want to stop by. If not,  then  check
the south wall for secret doors.  There'll be one, so enter it. You will
fight  the  Swamp King here (no problem for me, but I hit for an average
of 45 damage points a shot) and when you kill him will recieve a  bloody
head  (identifying  this will reveal it to be a King's Head). Get out of
the palace of the Swamp King (you're in it)  and  head  southeast.  Down
there  should  be  another symbol like Blackfort. This is Edrin's pad...
he's another friend of the dragon you're trying to kill...   anyway,  go
in,  and  go as far right or left as you can using the passages.  Sooner
or later, you'll come to some stairs. Go down them  and  wander  through
the  rooms  until  you come to the place where Edrin is with his friends
(it's hard to describe the route without a map, but it's not difficult).
After you kill him, go back up the stairs and exit the joint. 

Ok... your next goal is to conquer Islanda. Go south till  you  reach  a
river.  Travel  east  and  west along this river until you find a bridge
crossing it. Cross the bridge and keep going south. Soon  you  will  see
some  symbols that look like a wall with an archway through it. Go up to
the archway and you will get a message saying that this is  the  gateway
to Islanda. Go through, and follow these directions: 

Go  south  following the paths until you get to a place where you have a
choice of routes. Take the  left  one  (your  perspective...  with  your
characters  going  south it would be their right) and follow it downward
until you come to another branch. (There should be a city in this  area,
if  you  want  to  stop  by, feel free). Take the left (your perspective
again) branch and continue onward. Now, the place you  want  to  get  is
roughly  southwest  of  where  you  are now. So when you have choices of
routes, take the south and the west.  If  you  play  your  cards  right,
you'll  eventually  get  to  a  tomb  (there  are five of them in all of
Islanda, but you just want one on an island by itself. You need to cross
a bridge to get to it). This is the tomb  of  Islanda's  liberator.  The
dude  within  (can't  remember the name... sorry) conquered the Moonglow
family who were the tyrants who used to rule Islanda.   Anyway,  go  in,
and  when  he  asks you the names of the four Moonglows, type:  LOTHIAN,
MURTHIN, CERCION, and VANDIGUARD (there individual tombs <the other four
I mentioned> are interesting to see  if  you  have  time  and  can  find
them).   He  should give you a storm ring. Anyway, get out of Islanda...
you should be able to do that by now. 

Time to visit the Gatekeeper. Go east, and you'll eventually run into  a
lake  of  fire with a tower in the middle. This is your ultimate goal...
but you won't get there quite yet... go around it, and look at the shore
beyond.  There should be a point of land  sticking  out  away  from  the
rest.  Walk  out onto this until you get to the tower of the Gatekeeper.
Enter. Inside is a rather bizarre place. Don't worry... the metal plates
are teleporters, but I'll guide you through. Step onto  the  first  one,
then go down the passage you appear in and take the top teleporter. Then
go  up  again  to the next teleporter, then go down the passage and take
the top (again), then go south to the next one,  and  finally  go  right
down  the  passage  to  the  last  one.  You  will appear in yet another
passageway. Travel down this  till  you  get  to  the  message  how  the
Gatekeeper  greets  you  and all. The door you have to go through is the
one on the bottom left. Go through it. 

You should appear on an island with a bridge in sight above  you.  Cross
the bridge and go into the tomb. Follow the passages till you get to the
old man sitting by the fire. Go through the top door, the one surrounded
by  fire.   Here you are outside that tower in the pool of fire. Go into
it, and follow the path around to the bottom where you'll find the gate.
Supposedly this gate is protected by a massive spell, but  I  never  had
trouble  getting  through  it.  If you do have trouble, the words to the
spell that open it are:  DAZA REVELI. I never had to use them, but maybe
you will. Go in, fight the dragon at the door,  and  enter.  Follow  the
passages  till  you get to the down stairs with a door on your right. Go
through the door. Following is your climb up  the  tower.  It  is  quite
involved, so all I can say is DO IT. Just follow the passages, and after
climbing  numerous  stairs and fighting numerous guards, you'll get to a
place where it says there is a balcony with a dove on it, and there  are
two  doors on either side. Go directly south onto the grass, and get the
dove (you'll have to fight this black raven  first).  The  dove  is  the
teleporter  that  can  get you out of the castle if you happened to have
missed something you  needed  (I  think  I  got  everything...  but...).
Unfortunately,   the  only  place  this  teleporter  will  work  without
shattering is the lowest level of  the  castle,  about  8  floors  down.
Anyway,  take  the  right  door  in case you ever have to get out of the
castle to obtain something.  You'll learn how to mentally block Words of
Power (one of them guards the  exit).  Since  I  don't  think  I  missed
anything,  you'll  never have to use that knowledge. Anyway, go back out
to the balcony and take the right door. This will lead  you  farther  up
the  tower  (you'll have to fight various demons, devils, and elementals
to get there). When you reach the very top (you'll  know  because  there
will  be  stairs out in the middle of no where that you have to climb to
get there) your quest will almost be done. Go through the passages  till
you  get  to the lower right room (there are four rooms in a square). Go
to the lower right corner of that room and  you  should  get  a  message
telling  you  that there is a row of gems there and in what order do you
want to push them. Well, the song telling you is in Edrin's  place,  but
(aren't  you  glad  I'm  here)  the order is Blue, Blue, Red, Green. You
should float through the ceiling <!> and appear in a room with one exit.
Well, take the exit, follow the passage, and  you'll  come  to  a  place
where the dragon you have to kill is (I can't spell the stupid name so I
don't  want  to  make  a fool of myself trying). I found that the dragon
(name starts with an "S"....  argh, well, here goes: Sidraidne (sp????))
you have to kill is easier to conquer  then  some  of  the  demons  are.
Anyway, once you kill that dude, you win the game. Fun, eh? 

I  enjoyed  playing  the game... for one, it was the first SSI game that
had decent graphics... and the play system was enough like Ultima to  be
comfortable,  and  different enough to be unique. I liked the game. Hope
you did too. Later, all.