Stage 13: The Four Memory Crystals: Hermit's Isle, Kreigspire, Eel Waters, Darkmoor

Getting to the temple is the only real danger: Hermit's Isle crawls with Titans and Hydras. Beacon or fly in, cast Fly, and head southwest to the island with the large temple. Position yourself over the front door, switch to turn-based mode, and descend while everything fires at you so you can dart through the door before it connects.

The temple itself is a 30-second job. Take the south path to the window that overlooks the central chamber. Cast Feather Fall, jump for the ledge (there isn't really one — you fall), flip to turn-based mode, and you land on a small ledge near the bottom. Run around the Priests of Baa and Devil Spawn to the table behind them and grab Memory Crystal Alpha. (Slicker Silvertongue, the traitor, is one of the priests here if you want revenge, but it is purely optional.) Town Portal straight back to Free Haven.

Fly into the middle of the Kreigspire volcano where the castle sits; clear the minotaurs and earth monsters at the door with meteor showers/arrows (remember minotaurs are Magic-immune, so weapons and bows do the real work) or just land and rush inside.

Open the door ahead and kill the two minotaurs; another waits in the top corner with a chest. Watch the Minotaur Kings — they cast Finger of Death and hit for 60+ on a swing. Head east, then north as far as you can; the Jeweled Egg for the Kreigspire-village quest is behind the big door in this wing. Return to the eastern corridor, kill the minotaurs through the windows, and work toward the circular rooms in the east — but do not drop into them, or enemies spawn in each one. Stay on the top ledges, ring around them, reach the top-right room, and push the switch in its central column.

That opens a passage off the south side of the earlier hallway. Follow it (ignore the right-hand door for now), go up the north path to the cage room for Roland's Journal, then drop into the room to the south for Memory Crystal Epsilon and a corner chest. Step on the black void to teleport back up, then leave. There is also a hidden gold cache in the castle's largest chamber — see the spoiler tip below if you want it.

Take the boat from the Silver Cove north island on a Wednesday, or beacon in; the castle on the hill is the target. Inside it is wall-to-wall Magic Users, Magyars and Air Elementals, and a sprawling, easy-to-get-lost layout. The direct route to the crystal: go right first and clear the two magic users in the left-hand hallway, then head south. At the next east/west hall turn east and follow it (you will trip a small army along the way) until a south path opens; take it through the magic users and air elementals to a theater-like room.

In the theater room, turn right and go through the door to the west, then immediately right onto the elevator and ride it up. Heal any insanity/injuries picked up while running. Walk through the doorway that looks like it leads to nothing — there is a narrow beam to stand on. Look right and you'll see a doorway at the far end of the beam. Enter it and you'll be prompted for a password. The five enchanted trees scattered through the castle spell out the answer; the crystal is just down the hall past the prompt. (Alternatively, cast Jump to reach the overhead beams directly from the SW garden room with the two 'fountains'.)

Save this for last: it is the second-toughest dungeon in the game after the Tomb of Varn. Fly to the castle atop the mountain in the western Mire and enter. The cast: Ogres (manageable), Greater/Power Liches (Magic-immune, so kill them with weapons/arrows; they have low HP but cast Dispel Magic from two rooms away), and the brutal floating Eyes — Flying Eye sleeps you, Terrible Eye Dispels Magic and causes Fear, and the Maddening Eye (400 HP, Electricity- and Magic-immune) inflicts Insanity. Fight Eyes from doorways where their line of sight is blocked.

The dungeon is a three-switch / blue-cube puzzle. Clear to the south room, ramp up to the west, kill the liches and eyes, and touch the sign at the end of the corridor to open a level below; pull that lever. Go to the southeast room, ramp up, and find the big room with the blue cube hanging from the ceiling — making it glow red opens the north door. Through there, reach the central fort, Jump up into the opening above, follow the corridor west past more liches to another sign, click it and pull the switch to arm a second cube. Return, climb back up, turn 180° and use Telekinesis on the blue cube in the large room (“The way has been cleared”).

Down at the far-west end, cross the lich room, descend the north stairs, and hug the eastern wall of the big square room (stepping into the center spawns liches and ogres). West is the huge lich/eye room — stand in the doorway, where a force field blocks their line of sight, and snipe the close ones. Run the north wall to the alcove and take Memory Crystal Delta from the northwest corner.