Bard’s Tale III walkthrough part 2: the catacombs and Unterbrae

Once you’ve had a chance to take in the sights of Skara Brae (part 1 here), it’s time to head over to the Mad God’s temple and speak the word to the priest. If you’re a new or low-level party, say “tarjan” to be taken to the catacombs. Otherwise you can skip that and say “chaos” to go straight to Unterbrae.

The Catacombs

Three items of interest in the catacombs, all stairs.

Stairs to the Mad God’s temple (N0 E0): go back where you came from

Stairs to Skara Brae (N0 E8): these take you to N2 E23 of Skara Brae, and your only way out of there is to come back down. Taking these stairs allows you to view the final prophecies of Longinus the Mad, which is relevant only where you are hunting all the achievements on Steam.

Stairs to the Tunnels (N12 E2)

There is literally nothing of interest here. Good for levelling up and nothing else.

Unterbrae

If you’re feeling confident, saying “chaos” will put you here, on your way to killing your first boss.

Stairs up (N0 E14): takes you back to the Mad God’s temple

Teleport (N10 E14): teleports you to N12 E2, which is not necessary to complete the dungeon

Riddle time (N14 E11): the first riddle of the game! Answer “blue” to access the stairs down

Stairs down (N14 E12): takes you to level 2

Stairs up (N14 E12): back to level 1

Riddle (N3 E1): answer “shadow” and a door appears, leading to the stairs down

Stairs down (N5 E0): takes you to level 3

Stairs up (N5 E0): back to level 2

Riddle (N0 E2): answer “sword” and a door appears, giving you access to the portal down

Portal down (N0 E0): takes you the final level

You’ll notice this map isn’t complete, and there’s a reason for that – it’s not fully accessible. Just head straight for the top left corner.

Portal up (N0 E0): this is also the start of the smoke maze

Smoke maze: Your directions here are: N E N E E S S E E E E N N W N N W W N

This gets you through the maze and into the second section of the map. This section is easy; just head straight north. The walls follows you as you go, but don’t worry as you won’t be coming back this way.

The third section is full of nasty surprises. Head straight for the door at E0 N19 and go through.

Take a step to the right and fight Brilhasti ap Tarj.

Once you’ve killed Brilhasti, you’ll be teleported back to the Review Board in Skara Brae, where the old man gives you a boon

You must also now make a difficult decision; one of your mages must give up all their magical knowledge to become a Chronomancer. This is a necessary step to access the rest of the game, but the loss of magic will be a blow until your Chronomancer can gain levels and cast powerful spells once more.

Now the game can truly begin! In part 3 we’ll have a good roam around the wilderness outside Skara Brae.