Blackshire
Blackshire is a hard-tier western region of werewolf-haunted mountains and a southern lizard desert, with a fountain-rich town that doubles as a rare Master-trainer hub. You first visit it on the Free Haven Spell Run / Blackshire Fly-by stage (stage-05-freehaven-spells-blackshire-flyby), once you own Fly: you skim the mountains from the air to pull Lord Kilburn's Shield from a trapped chest, rescue Prince Nicolai from the April–July circus, and join the town guilds while picking up three quests. Its two dungeons (Temple of the Snake, Lair of the Wolf) are flagged for a much later, higher-level return on the Promotion Finale stage (stage-10-promotion-finale-dungeons). You pass back through to finish Twillen's statuette quest and click the region's obelisk on the Statuette & Obelisk stage (stage-11-statuettes-obelisks-dragonsand-cache).
Keys
- Dragon Tower Keys → a door
Traps
- event 210: Fireball
Connections
- → Temple of the Snake
- → Lair of the Wolf
Visit in: Stage 5 · Stage 10 · Stage 11
Quests
Find Lord Kilburn's Shield
[stage]Giver: Regent Humphrey (Castle Ironfist) — council quest
Humphrey's High Council quest sends you to Blackshire for Lord Kilburn's Shield (+9 AC), held in a heavily trapped chest in an open area toward the middle of the region, ringed by werewolves. Fly in, thin the wolves, save before opening (the trap can sting even an Expert disarmer), then return the shield to Humphrey to secure Kilburn's council vote (~5,000 gold, ~40,000 XP, a reputation bump).
Rescue Prince Nicolai (return to Castle Ironfist)
[stage]Giver: Circus, Blackshire grounds (April–July)
After Nicolai bolted and flipped to “kidnapped,” the travelling circus is how you get him back. When it is parked in Blackshire (April–July), fly to the circus grounds and search the biggest tent to find him (~7,500 XP); keep him aboard and ferry him home to Castle Ironfist to restore castle access.
Place the five statuettes
[stage]Giver: Twillen (Blackshire)
Twillen hands you a chest of five statuettes to set on pedestals across Enroth (Bootleg Bay, Mire of the Damned, Kreigspire, Dragonsand, Sweet Water). When all five are placed, return to Blackshire and open the reward chest outside the large house in the eastern part of town for random items plus a large experience bonus.
Stop the werewolf curse
[stage]Giver: Maria Trepan (Blackshire)
The town's werewolf curse is lifted inside the Lair of the Wolf (south of town): obtain the Pearl of Purity from the Ghost of Baltazar and touch the southern Wolf Altar with it to save Blackshire. Save this dungeon for the promotion-finale stage — it is wall-to-wall werewolves and oozes. (See Secrets for the exact solution.)
Find Emmanuel
[stage]Giver: Joanne Cravitz (Blackshire)
Emmanuel Cravitz is caged inside the Temple of the Snake on the island in the lake east of town. Click the hanging cage to free him and turn him in at the house east of the temple in Blackshire. The temple is Hero-level (Gold Dragon + the boss Q), so take the quest now but clear the temple on the promotion-finale stage.
Dungeons
When: later (return ~level 20-28 on the promotion-finale stage) [cleared in stage]
South of town. Oozes (physical- and magic-immune in their base form — use elemental spells/magic-damage weapons), Swordsmen, and werewolves of every grade. Resolves Maria Trepan's curse via the Pearl of Purity; the Werewolf Leader carries the Pearl of Putrescence for the Ghost of Baltazar's follow-up. Several passages re-spawn monsters, and the wolf-temple section is a party-killer if released all at once.
Rewards
- Pearl of Purity
Keys
- Pearl of Purity → door 53
Ambushes
- event 29: monsters
- event 59: monsters
- event 61: monsters
- event 67: monsters
- event 68: monsters
Connections
- → Blackshire
When: later (Hero-level promotion finale) [cleared in stage]
On the island in the small lake east of Blackshire. Frees Emmanuel (Joanne Cravitz's quest); guarded by Medusas/Gorgons (petrify — bring Stone-to-Flesh), a Gold Dragon, and the secret boss Q (~16,000 HP, casts Finger of Death every turn). Chests are lethally trapped — save before opening. Q's reward is the Horn of Ros (shows enemy HP) plus spell books (Stone-to-Flesh, Town Portal, Lloyd's Beacon) and big wands.
Traps
- Chest: DamagePlayer
- event 16: DamagePlayer
- event 17: DamagePlayer
- event 18: DamagePlayer
- event 19: DamagePlayer
- event 20: DamagePlayer
- event 24: Ice Blast
Connections
- → Blackshire
Trainers
Blackshire
Wolf's Den provides Skill (Normal) training (levels up to 100). Expert: Dark Magic (1st house N. of bank). Masters: Sword (Guy Hampton, 2 houses N. of the south fountain), Mace (E. house across from the Light & Dark guilds), Shield (1st house N. of the temple).
Trains: dark (expert), sword (master), mace (master), shield (master)
NPCs & Shops
Guilds & training: Blackshire is a rare Master-trainer town. Master Sword (Guy Hampton, rank 8, Cavaliers, 2 houses N. of the south fountain), Master Mace (Errol Ostermann, rank 8, Might 40, 5,000gp, E. house across from the Light & Dark guilds), and Master Shield (Bronwyn Meck, rank 10, 5,000gp, 1st house N. of the temple) are all here. Expert Dark Magic (Ambrose Brusse, 2,000gp) is the 1st house N. of the bank, and the Wolf's Den Training Hall offers Normal skill training up to level 100.
Join the Light Guild (Marton Ferris, 1,000gp; sells Light spellbooks 1–10 for 2,000gp), the Dark Guild (Rebecca Calaway, 1,000gp; Dark spellbooks 1–10), and the Smuggler's Guild (Tess Tucker, 50gp; teaches Leather Armor, Identify Item, Disarm Trap, Diplomacy, and Perception, 250gp each). Town services: Inn, Bank, Armor Store, Weapon Store, Alchemist, General Store, Temple, and the Coach Travel office (coach to Free Haven Tuesday/Friday, 3 days, 250gp).
Fountains (Blackshire is unusually fountain-rich): one gives a temporary +50 Luck, one restores +50 spell points; the Temple fountain grants a temporary +30 Magic Resistance but turns the drinker to stone; one gives a permanent +5 Magic Resistance but diseases the drinker; and one gives a permanent +5 Intellect and Personality but also diseases. Read the prompt before sipping. There is also a Dragon Tower (for the Dragon Tower Keys promotion quest) and the region's Obelisk #5, far east in the sand area surrounded by lizards. The Shrine of Magic appears here in December (the Castle Ironfist Seer points to it).
Secrets
Show spoiler — Lair of the Wolf — lifting the werewolf curse (Pearls of Purity & Putrescence)
At the altar in the southern circle, go west to the end and meet the Ghost of Baltazar, who promises the Pearl of Purity. You must then collect it from the identical eastern room by clicking where its ghost would stand. Touch the southern Wolf Altar with the Pearl of Purity to open the wall and lift Maria Trepan's curse — Blackshire is saved (return the Pearl to Humphrey in Ironfist). The ghost then asks for the Pearl of Putrescence: take the right-hand path behind the altar, up the stairs through wolf rooms and a hidden swordsman lair, to the wolf-temple section where the Werewolf Leader drops it. Release that pack a few at a time — the whole swarm at once is a party-killer.
Show spoiler — Temple of the Snake — the boss Q and its loot
Click the wall in the northeast room to open Q's chamber. Q has ~16,000 HP and casts Finger of Death every turn — lure it into a side alcove and stand where you can see it but its spell hits a wall, then grind it down with arrows. Save before opening its two chests: they are extremely heavily trapped and can wipe the party in one click. The payoff is the Horn of Ros (shows enemy HP), big wands on the right, and on the left the spell books for Stone-to-Flesh, Town Portal, and Lloyd's Beacon. To reach the captive, the Gold Dragon must be killed (the bottom of the ramps teleports you back up); park in a damaging doorway and shoot it. Do not hit the captive NPCs in the Medusa room — they turn hostile and tank your reputation.
Show spoiler — Lord Kilburn's Shield chest — trap warning
The chest holding Lord Kilburn's Shield (toward the middle of Blackshire, ringed by werewolves) is heavily trapped — the trap can still hurt even an Expert disarmer, so save before opening and bring your best Disarm Trap rank.
Combat
✅ Clear
- Werewolves (Wolfman 100 HP, Werewolf 180 HP, Greater Werewolf 280 HP) guarding the Lord Kilburn's Shield chest and the circus tent — low resistances (5/10/15), so arrows and physical hits work; shoot them from the air to dodge their disease and one-hit-knockout specials.
- Lair of the Wolf werewolves/Swordsmen — a strong XP grind once you can survive it, on the promotion-finale return; required to lift the curse and recover the Pearl of Putrescence.
- Temple of the Snake Q (~16,000 HP, Finger of Death) — worth killing via the safe-alcove trick for the Horn of Ros and the Town Portal/Lloyd's Beacon/Stone-to-Flesh spell books.
⏭ Skip
- Greater Werewolves you don't have to engage — the Uncon special can knock a character out in one hit, and even lesser wolves disease you.
- Fire / Lightning / Thunder Lizards in the Blackshire sand (280–540 HP, ~10–14 dice per hit; Fire Lizard is fire-immune, Lightning Lizard lightning-immune, Thunder Lizard cold-immune) — fly over them; deep-desert content.
- Dust Devils / Twisters / Air Elementals near the Temple of the Snake (all three are Air-, Poison-, and Magic-immune; the Air Elemental also breaks items) — fly past to the temple door.
- Temple of the Snake Gold Dragon (near-total resists, can one-shot a character) unless you want its chests — only Q is mandatory loot.
- Medusas / Gorgons (magic-immune, petrify) off the path — never melee without Stone-to-Flesh ready, and never hit the captive NPCs.
- Lair of the Wolf Oozes (poison/magic/physical-immune in base form) off the critical path — they waste SP and drop nothing.