CHAPTER 17: ENTER THE UNICORNS
In this chapter, you must search for and make contact with the Unicorns, the elusive rebels of the Western Lands who seek to depose Anthraxus Storm. You need to gain their trust in order for them to join in the final assault on Sharranth that is being planned by the Lord Paladine. But to win the Unicorns' trust, you'll have to journey across the Sword Lands from one end to the other, through mountains, lava and scorched earth -literally!-.
1) after liberating Aranys, the Lord Paladine charges you to find and make contact with the Unicorns, a secret group that has been rebelling against Anthraxus Storm ever since he conquered Sharranth, almost six years ago. As the Lord Paladine wishes to seize the chance presenting itself in liberating Sharranth from Storm's despotism, he feels that if those rebels truly exist, then it would be only fair for them to lead the way as the combined forces of Wailsrond and Tanirith march onto Sharranth.
x56y32; x42y54; x50y59: gates of the city.
x61y27: Mamy Prava's Street Shop.
x62y27: Temple of Larishar.
x72y27: General Market (for the city's nobility).
x71y31: Halls of Justice.
x74y29: Temple of Barask.
x74y31: Bank.
x60y36: Inn of the Sleepy Road.
x67y36: Central Market.
x60y38: The Mercantile Alchemist.
x77y37: Mansion of Ertham Zoh (Royal Warlock of Sharranth).
x73y24: Gates to the military barracks.
x80y26: Castle gates.
x83y24: Castle of Anthraxus Storm, King and Warlord of Sharranth.
x46y53: Leatherwork Crafts.
x47y52: The Bottomless Keg.
x49y56: Harbor Master building.
x51y56: Sharranth's Exotic Imports.
x57y50: The Miner's Toolbox.
x59y52: Temple of Woralduur.
x54y73: The Waterfront (outside of city).
1) head to the Western Lands through the Western Pass (just north of Aranys -see SL Guide-) and to Sharranth.
2) go to the Bottomless Keg and walk around the place: you might be accosted by a mysterious person who is in contact with the Unicorns (this will happen only if you have completed Chapter 14). This person will direct you to meet with another contact, an old man, who is located in a remote house at x11y83 far southwest in the Western Lands.
3) upon arriving at this remote house, the old man will reveal himself to be none other than your comrade Strider, from TiSL, in disguise! If you did not play TiSL, Strider will nonetheless shed his disguise and introduce himself. In any event, the ranger will direct you to the Unicorns' HQ (located at x13y81), with him tagging along (the HQ will be found only if you spoke with Strider first).
4) inside the underground HQ, head straight north to the door at the end of the corridor, where you get to meet Naerun Halgard, leader of the Unicorns and rightful heir to the throne of Sharranth. His late father was assassinated by Ertham Zoh, then a traitorous court mage who helped Anthraxus Storm to conquer the city and seize the crown. While Strider vouches for you, Naerun needs you to free Arcantilivius (former Royal Warlock, friend and mentor to Naerun, and true founder of the Unicorns), so that all Unicorns may trust you and the leaders of Tanirith and Wailsrond. Arcantilivius is currently imprisoned in his own mansion on the small island on Cedar Lake, at x15y69: a powerful force field surrounds his mansion, preventing any entrance or exit from it. Accept to find a way to free the old mage.
5) exit the Unicorns' HQ and
go to Cedar Cove (see SL Guide). There you can get a
boat in order for you to sail to Arcantilivius' island. Once
there, you'll realize that nothing will work to bring the force
field down. Thus, you need to find an item powerful enough to do
the trick.
6) head back to Adv. Inc. in Tanirith and take the large job of exploring the Tellurian ruins in the Volcanic Rockies. Also, take the time to get the info from Adv. Inc. about the empires of Telluria and Macremia, and the Desert of Astaroth: this will come in quite handy later on. From there, head straight to the tunnel at x43y3, NW of Lantharond (make sure you have plenty of waterskins!). Crossover to the Volcanic Rockies by walking straight north. Once in the rockies, walk in a general NE direction, then south to the Tellurian ruins (see image at left). With search on, walk over to the ruin at x78y66 and use iron spikes to make an entrance (or use spells like dig hole or shape earth).
7) inside the ruin, walk over to x78y72 with search on, then click on the encounter button: use iron spikes or spells like dig hole/shape earth. This will open the way to a flight of stairs at x78y65, which lead down to the basement (see lower-left image). Don't forget to search for trinkets to bring back to Adv. Inc., as proof that you explored the ruins.
8) in the basement, head to x79y80 or x81y80 with search
on: in the encounter that pops up, choose to push the wall. This
opens the way to a corridor: enter the corridor (keep search on
until you reach the door further north: this will reveal a lose
tile that will slide the wall back). Open the door at x80y76,
where you'll be greeted by beyonders. After doing away with them,
enter the large room, which is filled with metal wires and
strange technological artifacts (no, you can't take any of these
as proof, although some other trinkets lying on the floor you may
pick up). Once in the room, pass through the secret door at
x80y67, then head straight to the door at x80y64: fight off the
greater beyonder and his followers that are living there. Once
the battle is over, the dying greater beyonder will belch out his
stash: among the interesting (albeit icky) stuff, you'll find a Stone
of Tongues and a Horn of Whirlwinds
(two crucial items). Note: don't mess with the teleporting
platform in this room, because it is malfunctioning.
9) head all the way back to Adv. Inc. in Tanirith to get your reward (don't forget to bring back trinkets/artifacts from the ruins!), then choose the large job of exploring the macremian ruins in the Desert of Astaroth. Stock up on waterskins and head back to the Volcanic Rockies: this time, walk in a general N-NE direction to a cave located at x64y30. Then walk to x65y23 in order to exit the passage. From there, go N then W to a secret door at x31y7. You exit this passage through another secret door, at x26y9. This lands you right next to a fire giant village: don't go there yet; besides, you are currently badly outnumbered to even think about attacking these fire giants (see Chapter 19). From your position, go N then W to the cave at x5y1, then straight N to enter the Desert of Astaroth.
10) in the dry, rocky desert, head in a general N and W
direction, until you reach the outskirts of a small village
populated by beastmen (see figure on the left). Upon seeing you,
their warriors will rush toward you with their weapons drawn:
choose to stand your ground *without* drawing your own weapons.
Somewhat confused by your reaction, they will take you to their
shaman-king Ogarond (you need the Stone of
Tongues for this to happen; otherwise, you will have to walk away
since you cannot understand their language and they cannot
understand yours). Ogarond will tell you a wonderful and
fascinating story about his tribe and the beastmen of the desert
in general. His tribe, the tribe of Astur, was entrusted with the
Pearl of Asturia, which allows passage through
the Stone Towers that guard the way to the holy
(and ruined) city of Asturia. However, a powerful and brutal
tribe, the tribe of Murdor, have stolen the Pearl. Ogarond offers
you a deal: retrieve the Pearl from the Murdor, explore the ruins
of Asturia, and *then* bring back the Pearl to him and his tribe.
Accept the deal!
11) the village of Astur has a small market (x6y15) and a temple dedicated to Quanthaas (x7y10), if you are in need of basic supplies and/or healing services. Whenever you are ready, trek east and north to reach the cave of the Murdor tribe, located at x70y5. Battle the warriors there, then enter their underground cave complex. Inside, head straight to x81y70 (with more warriors barring your way), where you get to face off against the Murdor shaman-king Uhl'Garath, his best warriors and ... psi-warriors? Yup. Looks like the Overlords' hands reach rather far, eh? After the battle, you'll find an interesting message from Primus with directions to one of his psi-commanders, concerning the need to find a Power Stone (if Naryl Thezzat is with you, this will confirm what she will have told you upon running into her initially). From this message, Primus suspects that the item in question may be lying in the ruins of Asturia; if not, then it may yet be found at another "location" nearer to the Overlords' base (see Chapter 21). In any event, walk over to the chest at x82y67 to grab Uhl'Garath's stash, which includes the Pearl. Walk back in the main cave and pick up nourishing mushrooms from the mushroom garden, as well as fresh water from the small pond, in order to make sure that you won't starve or dehydrate.
12) back outside in the
treacherous and dangerous desert, head for the silent Stone
Towers at x14y17 (see figure at left). Then walk between the two
rows of towers: with nearly each step you take, the towers will
activate to strike you with deadly rays ... but thanks to the
Pearl, the towers power down each time. Walk along the alley
until you reach the cave at x23y9, then exit at x26y11 in the
ruins area of Asturia. From there, head straight for the large
sand dune at x26y4 (with search on). Take one step back, then hit
the encounter button, and choose to use the Horn of Whirlwinds.
This will blow all the sand away, revealing cyclopean ruins that
were buried underneath. Enter the ruins.
13) inside the ruins, head to a library shelf at x20y44 in the library (see lower-left figure) with search on: you'll find intriguing words and numbers that will be needed later on (see Chapter 21). Explore the rest of the place, making sure to pick up trinkets/artifacts to bring back for Adv. Inc.. Then walk over to the altar in the main hall at x12y51, with search on: you'll be able to make the altar slide in order to reveal a flight of stairs going down.
14) once further underground, head straight to the
secret door at x51y17, then through the door at x60y19. More
beyonders will be in your way. In the large room where you end
up, and which looks strangely similar to the one you visited in
the tellurian ruins earlier, go to the secret door at x72y18.
From there, go to the door at x73y23, where you'll have to fight
it out with another greater beyonder and his followers (them
beyonders sure like weird ruins, don't they?). Once the battle is
over, walk over to x73y31 with search on to retrieve the greater
beyonder's loot (this time, you won't get to clean any treasure
item from icky stuff!). Among the nice goodies you find, you'll
get an Arcane Nullifier: this will do the trick
to bring down the force field surrounding Arcantilivius' mansion!
15) go back to Ogarond's hut (x8y9) to give him back the Pearl. After doing the good and honest deed, journey all the way back to Tanirith in order to get your reward from Adv. Inc. (better bring back some of them trinkets from the macremian ruins!), then journey further to Arcantilivius' mansion. With the Nullifier Stone in hand, the force field will dissipate like a morning spring breeze. A thankful Arcantilivius will tell you that Ertham Zoh was the one that imprisoned him; the old mage will then accompany you back to the Unicorns' HQ. In the HQ, walk to Naerun Halgard's room, where Arcantilivius will be greeted warmly and happily. Having secured the trust of the Unicorns and their oath to join the combined forces from Tanirith and Wailsrond when they reach the gates of Sharranth, you leave everyone to their joyful reunion in order to bring back the good news to the Lord Paladine.
There you have it! You have found the Unicorns and secured their help! You can now tackle either Chapter 18 (most suggested), Chapter 19, or Chapter 20!
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