Wilderness Overview – Pool of Radiance

This guide will help you navigate the wilderness areas in Pool of Radiance.

Wilderness Map

Area Note

At random points in the wilderness you can discover caves / groves / lairs. Inside you’ll find creatures to kill and maybe a treasure or two, but once you’ve left them (or once you’ve declined to enter them) then they’ll disappear forever.

1 – New Phlan

2 – Boat Landing

3 – Zhentil Keep

At the start of the game, if you visit the keep, some corporals will ask you to leave. If you refuse, then they’ll attack, but nothing else will happen.

Later, Councilman Cadorna will ask you to deliver a message to the keep. At that point you’ll be invited inside. See the Zhentil Keep section for details.

4 – Ankheg Battle

If you step into this part of the swamp, there’s a good chance you’ll be attacked by a pair of ankhegs.

5 – Rowboat / Pyramid

You’ll find a rowboat here. You can use it to sail to the pyramid to the south. The interior is covered the Pyramid section.

6 – Kobold Cave

The description makes it sound like there are two caves here — a large one and a small one — but both entrances lead to the same cave. However, the “small cave” entrance puts you on the easier side (the other entrance leads you right to a wyvern), and so that’s the one you should go in.

Note: Near the caves you’ll have to fend off a couple screaming hordes of kobolds. If those battles aren’t extremely easy, then you probably shouldn’t go in the caves yet.

The interior of the cave is handled in the Kobold Cave section.

7 – Nomad Camp

See the Nomad Camp section for details.

8 – Dragon Cave

When you enter the cave, you’ll have to give your reason for being there. The silver dragon (Diogenes) who lives in the cave is a good dragon, so don’t “challenge” it (as far as we can tell, you won’t be able to attack it anyway; you’ll just get hit by a fireball and then have to leave the cave). For any of the other options, the dragon will tell you about the Kobold Cave to the east (#6) and ask you to retrieve a “silver bottle of great power” from it.

When you return with the bottle, the dragon will tell you, “That bottle contains a powerful efreet who was summoned to kill vampires. He will be a valuable ally in Old Phlan. In Valhingen Graveyard there is a vampire. When you meet the vampire use the bottle and you may have a chance in defeating him.” In other words, hang onto the bottle if you haven’t been to the graveyard yet.

After telling you about the bottle, the dragon will fly away, and you won’t be able to do anything more in the cave.

9 – Ruined Castle

Lizardmen live in the castle now. For more information, see the Ruined Castle section.

10 – Buccaneer Base

The buccaneer base won’t show up at the start of the game. You’ll have to do something or see something to make it appear. Possibilities include seeing the notice for the base on Yarash’s desk in the Pyramid, and receiving the Bivant quest from the Council Clerk in the Civilized District of New Phlan.

The interior of the base is covered in the Buccaneer Base section.