Valjevo Castle Upper & Lower Levels – Pool of Radiance

This guide will help you navigate the Upper & Lower Levels of the Valjevo Castle in Pool of Radiance.

Upper & Lower Levels Map

Area Overview

1 – Medusa

The medusa only has 30 hit points, and it doesn’t seem to have a very good initiative, so it’s not as difficult to kill as you might expect. But hit it with everything you have right away so you can avoid its flesh-to-stone gaze.

If the medusa gives you problems, you can simply skip it. It doesn’t give much experience, and it doesn’t drop any money or equipment.

2 – Trap Door

The trap door leads down to the room with the medusa (#1), but if you jump down your party will take damage. If you really want to fight the medusa, just take the stairs instead.

3 – Thief

You’ll find a level 1 thief here. Possibly, if you didn’t loot the equipment from the Temple of Bane in the Southwestern Quadrant, then you’ll be able to talk with the thief, but he simply attacked our group.

4 – Genheeris

Genheeris is a level 7 magic user. When you meet him he’ll offer to join you. He has a wand of lightning bolt, which he’ll use every time he attacks, and so he’s useful to have in your party for the final battle.

5 – Tyranthraxus

Before you can fight Tyranthraxus, you’ll have to deal with his guards — a dozen level 8 fighters. The fighters have enough hit points that you’ll be better off trying spells like “stinking cloud” and “hold person” rather than damage dealers like “fireball,” just because it will take several “fireball” spells to kill them, while a single “hold person” spell can disable a group of them and make them killable with one hit. That said, spells won’t have any effect on Tyranthraxus, so you might as well use them all here.

Once you’ve killed the fighters or caused them to surrender, choose the “continue battle” option so you can heal your party with spells and potions. After that, be sure to loot the corpses because each fighter drops a ring of protection +3, a two-handed sword +2, and plate mail +2.

When you get to Tyranthraxus, he’ll ask each of your characters if they’d like to join him. Obviously, you should choose to “attack” rather than “join.” All of our characters fought against Tyranthraxus, but since the question is there, we’re guessing there’s a chance a character will desert and turn against you.

Tyranthraxus is, as you might expect, nasty. He has a lightning bolt attack, and it can hit your characters for 80 points of damage. Spells won’t affect him, so try to spread out your characters (to avoid those lightning bolts as much as possible) and hit him with melee weapons and kill him as quickly as possible. He’s alone and only has 80 hit points, so the battle shouldn’t last too many rounds.

Once you’ve defeated Tyranthraxus, you’ll be teleported to the Civilized District of New Phlan. The game won’t end. Instead, you’ll be able to keep exploring and visit places you might have skipped along the way. If you stop by the Council Clerk, he’ll reward you with over 250,000 experience points plus some gems and jewels.

Exits:

A. Stairs down to the Northwestern Quadrant.
B. Stairs between the landing and lower level.
C. Stairs between the landing and the upper level.
D. Stairs between the upper level and the pool room.