Making the Most of Magincia

I only want to visit Magincia once so I had better make the most of it. It's full of poison and a great place to reduce your hit points which then forces you to use Cure spells. Magincia is out on an island in the middle of nowhere but you can arrive by Moongate. When I first encountered it, I was impressed that the icon really does look like a ruined towne.

I managed to get over the entrance bridge without getting poisoned and was welcomed by Virtuebane. I remember the first time going into Magincia, we were expecting the daemon to approach and attack. When he didn't we had a nice conversation, and I realized that the skeletons and (oddly blue) ghosts (which looked "white" on a monochrome screen) were also conversation partners. Appropriately, after talking to Virtuebane, I talked to Ruskin who is actually described in the text as a blue ghost. (This is what made me actually notice the blue, or perhaps turquoise, shade of all the ghosts.) I was glad that he told me to ask the snake about the rune of humility before he struck. I remember Nate the Snake.

Next I talked to the skeletons Wierdrum and Demitry in the northwest corner. They didn't seem helpful although Demitry did say to watch out for Nate, a fact I already knew. The two of them were easy to access because I could talk to them without stepping into the poisonous marshes. I decided to wait until I got properly poisoned before talking to the third skeleton in the corner because I was sure I would get poisoned stepping through the bog.

I met a couple of ghosts named Ghostly who did not tell me much before Nate caught up to me. I managed to ask him about the rune. Then we did battle and he managed to poison me before he was dispatched, which was a little annoying. I was really hoping to do more exploring before I eventually got poisoned. (I used up a Cure spell here.) A little later I met Splot who told me to ask Nate about the rune AND the stone. Rats! I'll have to come back to Magincia to talk to the resurrected Nate again. 27 years ago when we entered Magincia, the first time we met Nate we did not even have a chance for conversation because we had not expected him to attack after having a pleasant conversation with Virtuebane and a few other folks. After getting information from Splot that first time around, we searched around for another snake but none was to be found, and I remember greatly ruing the fact that we had not tried to talk to Nate before he struck. (We did not know that the townes "reset" because we had not visited any dungeon rooms yet the first time we went to Magincia.)

Back to the present day, I eventually made it to the old Weapons and Armour shops (or perhaps I should say "shoppes") where Casperin told me to ask Heywood, who then told me to ask Faultless, for the mantra of Humility. Annoyingly, I have to go around the building and go through the marsh to talk to Faultless. (All the folks with important information seem to be stationed in a way so that your party most certainly gets poisoned.) Faultless told me the mantra of pride, not humility, and that pride is the antithesis of humility. The first time we played we had not noticed this subtle point. As a result, we used the wrong mantra when eventually visiting the shrine (although we quickly realized our error thanks to taking copious notes.) But that adventure is the subject of another story.

Now that Iolo and I were both poisoned, I went straight back to the northwest corner (trudging through more poisonous marsh) to talk to Banter, the third skeleton I mentioned earlier, who told me about the silver horn. He asked me to get more information from Demitry and Wierdrum and they told me more about the horn and the shrine. This was particularly useful. The first time my brother and I went on the Quest for the Avatar we had not done as good a job wheedling information from the denizens of Magincia in our first visit, nor did we explore it as carefully. We might even have skipped Banter that first time around to avoid the poison. We certainly did not know Katrina could be found in Magincia. (This is why she was the last to join back then after we figured this out.) As a result we actually ran into the endless daemon guard by accident while exploring the lands (or in this case the islands). But as mentioned above, that adventure will be detailed later when I visit the shrine. I will be well-prepared on my first visit this time.

The last thing to do was to find Katrina. Thanks to my good memory, I went to the southwest corner and invited her to join the party. I cured the poison from Iolo and myself and quickly exited Magincia to make camp outside. We had taken a beating thanks to the poison. But instead of getting any rest we were ambushed by a lone troll! Thankfully Iolo and I quickly awoke to deal with the troll before Katrina took any damage. After defeating the troll, we had a well-earned rest, and then re-entered Magincia to take a second shot at Nate.

This time, I just waited at the bridge for him to arrive and asked him about the stone before we did battle once more. Now I know what to ask the barkeeper at the pub in Britain. This means that the barkeeper does not know about the yellow stone, and I will have to talk to folks again in Britain. I was probably not as thorough the first time around. In any case, I was relatively efficient on the present trip to Magincia, and I think this will be my one and only visit to the ruined towne.

So it's back to Britain where I make a beeline for the pub. Just before talking to Sam the barkeep, I talk to the drunken fighter Joe, and it turns out he is the one that tells me the yellow stone's location. On my previous visit, I thought he was not going to give me any information and therefore I truncated the conversation too early. As to the black stone, Sam did not want to part with the information initially, claiming his memory was foggy even after I had offered 10 Gold. I offered him 50, and then he divulged some information - that I should look for Merlin the wizard. I don't think I've met Merlin yet and I don't remember where he is. Probably in one of the castles. I do need to go back and visit the Lycaeum anyway. Not to mention Empath Abbey since I understand Demitry's clue: "The queen of love has a lady in waiting that can tell more of the horn." Way back when I first heard this, I thought he was being particularly cryptic. That is one major difference between my present quest and the one from 27 years ago. These cryptic statements were real puzzles when we had no sense of the layout of Britannia (having no map or manual). That feeling of "discovery" is one I will not experience again this time around.

Taking a quick look at my experience levels, it looks like Iolo and I are due for a visit with Lord British. He does the needed thing expected of a supportive monarch and now I am ready to find a fourth person for our party. This however is a good stopping point. Back in the day, we would always "quit & save" in front of Castle Britannia in exactly the same spot. That is a habit I think I will continue.

3915 moves. Cumulative playing time: 3 hours