The Seven Portals



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This level is a 'hub' level which leads to several sub-levels. To solve

this level you need to solve puzzles in the sub-levels.



For convenience, from now on I will refer to each of the seven gates in

this level by a number. The first gate on the left as you enter the level

is Gate 1, the second gate on the left is Gate 2, and so on, going in a

clockwise order around the level. Each gate leads to a portal that takes

you to one of three sub-levels.



The first three gates



The first gate that you'll open is Gate 2. This is opened by pulling the

switch on the pillar in front of the gate. You need to kill the chaos

serpents behind the gate first; then a quartz flask will appear in front of

a window at the far end of the room. Pick up the quartz flask, and two

passages at the side will open. A portal will rise in the icy room beyond.

This portal leads to the Guardian of Ice.



Guardian of Ice (1)



At this point, many passages are still inaccessible in the Guardian of Ice,

and the only way you can go is to the room at the far end of the level.

This room has four pillars. Pull the switch at the end of the room and

these pillars will rise and fall for a while. Then they will all stop and a

white arrow will appear on the ground, pointing to one of the pillars. This

is the teleport to go back to the Seven Portals. DO NOT STEP INTO ANY OTHER

PILLAR!! They will crush you. Note that this teleport is randomly picked;

you should always watch for the arrow each time you play the game. For now,

step into the teleport.



This takes you back to Seven Portals, but now Gates 1 and 3 are open. There

is a switch behind each gate which opens a portal. The portal in Gate 1

leads to the Guardian of Fire; the portal in Gate 3 goes to the Guardian of

Steel. Here, I'll take you through Gate 1 first (of course, you can always

go to Gate 3 first, if you want to). Step into the portal in Gate 1 and you

will go to:



Guardian of Fire (1)



The first room you see in front of you looks innocent... until you step

into it. Well, you have to go through it, so go in and see what happens.

After things have calmed down, enter the doorway to the right which leads

to a room with a lava pool. You'll find a switch in a niche on the right

side of the room. Pull it. This is one of three switches you need in order

to open Gate 6 in the Seven Portals.



Now go to the room with the lava pillar. There is a wall with a mask on it

to the left. This is a secret door that leads to a long room with a bridge

in the middle. There are lots of flechettes on the bridge.



  1. If you're greedy for flechettes (like me), aim very carefully for the

     far end of the bridge and run across the bridge as fast as you can! Do

     not swerve to either side; you will drop to your death! When you reach

     the other side, clutch the door in fright until things calm down :)

     Now jump to the narrow ledge on the left and carefully walk down the

     ledge until you come to a new opening that leads back to the room with

     the lava pool.

  2. Or, if you're less confident, step onto the bridge quickly, and step

     back. You can now watch the fun without having to be in it. :) Now, go

     back to the room with the lava pool. A new passage has opened.



There is a switch in the newly-opened passage; pull it to open the door at

the end of the bridge that closed when you stepped on the bridge. Walk

along the ledge on the left side of the bridge room, and enter the door.

Take the Flame Mask. Jump back on the ledge (I pity all you who are sacred

of heights!) and go back to the room with the lava pool.



That's all you can do on this level at this point. Go back to the portal

that leads to the Seven Portals. If you haven't been to the Guardian of

Steel yet, step into the portal in Gate 3 now. Otherwise, you can proceed

to Gate 6.



Guardian of Steel (1)



You start in a room that opens into a corridor with stairs on both sides.

Each flight of stairs lead to a similar chamber with a switch and a fast

door. Remember these two rooms: you need to fiddle with the switches later.

For now, enter go to either room and enter the fast door. You will see two

flights of stairs; one leading up and one leading down. Take the one

leading up and you'll get to what I call the central room in the Guardian

of Steel. You get to this same room no matter which way you took.



There are two doors here, besides the two flights of stairs. One of them

needs the Steel Key: you don't have it yet. So, enter the other door. This

is an elevator. Another door opens when the elevator reaches the bottom. Go

out and you'll find yourself in a corridor. One end of the corridor will be

blocked; go to the other end and you will see a room with a switch. Pull

this switch. This is another one of the three switches you need to pull in

order to open Gate 6 on the Seven Portals.



Now, go back to the two rooms with the fast doors. The switch in one of

them -- I leave it to you to find out which -- will open the blocked part

of the corridor and close the other part where you just went and pulled the

switch. Go to where the corridor just opened and pull the switch inside

there. This switch is the third switch that you need to pull in order to

open Gate 6 on the Seven Portals. That's all you can do here for now. Go

back to the Seven Portals.



If you haven't gone to the Guardian of Fire yet, do it now by stepping into

the portal behind Gate 1. Otherwise, proceed to:



Gate 6



If you've pulled the switch on the Guardian of Fire and the two switches on

the Guardian of Steel, Gate 6 at the Seven Portals should be open. Again,

you must kill all the Chaos Serpents before the portal at the far end of

the room behind Gate 6 will open. Be careful on your way to the portal,

though. Do not step on those bright patches on the icy floor! Those are

traps. Or, if you're good enough, run across them so that you won't ever

step into them accidentally again (don't try this if you're not fast enough

though). Enter the portal, and you'll find yourself in a new part of the

Guardian of Ice.



Guardian of Ice (2)



Go forward into the room in front and pull the switch. This switch raises

stairs in the room you just came from. Go back there and pull the two

switches at the top of each of the stairs that were just raised. Now, the

highest flight of stairs in the middle of the Seven Portals will be raised.

Some ettins will also teleport into the room you're in. Now, take the

passage that leads to an open area on the left. There's a room on the

right.



Enter that room (be careful of the trap in the room), and follow the

passage. This will take you on a winding flight of stairs that has windows

looking out to the open area you saw earlier. If you explored that open

area and slipped and fell, there is an elevator that takes you up to the

middle of this flight of stairs. Go the top of the stairs and pull the

switch. Take the platform up and you'll find yourself in the room behind

the dark room where you first entered the Guardian of Ice from Gate 2. Go

all the way to the room with the four pillars. Now two new bright arrows on

the ground will be pointing at two doors which you can now enter.



The Fire Key



The door on the right leads to the room with the Fire Key. To get the key,

place the Flame Mask on the wall on the far end of the room. This wall

looks exactly like other walls with similar masks except that the mask is

missing. Placing the mask there will lower the pillar with the Fire Key on

it.



The Steel Key



The door on the left leads to a large icy room. If you're playing a

difficult level, run as fast as you can to the left corner of the room.

Parts of the floor and ceiling will start to move. After a while, a switch

appears in the corner where you have run to; pull this switch. More ice

movements. The room now has deep crevasses in the floor; so be careful as

you make your next moves.



Go along the ledge on the left and jump into the next icy room. The Steel

Key is resting top of some icy steps. Grab the key and watch out as the ice

in this room begins rising and dropping too (a pillar of ice may even crush

you if you're standing on the wrong spot). Some enemies will appear. You

can either kill them or flee back to the first room (be careful as you jump

though!) Carefully make your way back to the entrance (you need good

jumping skills here... the ice is slippery too!) and get out of the room.

Step on the teleport that goes back to the Seven Portals.



Gates 5 and 7



Gates 5 and 7 should now be open. Again, you have a choice of where to go

first: Gate 5, which has a portal leading to another part of the Guardian

of Steel, or Gate 7, which leads to the room with the lava pool on the

Guardian of Fire.



The Guardian of Fire (2)



Now that you have the Fire Key, you can open the two doors in the room with

the lava pillar. In either room, you will find a switch. Pull this switch

and a platform lowers to ground level. Step on the platform and it takes

you to the area beyond the lava river which is blocked by pillars (you can

see this place vaguely from the room with the lava pillar). Kill the

monsters here and the pillars on the lava river opens. If you ever need to

get back to the room with the lava pillar this is the way out. But for now,

go to the other side of the room where there's a wall with a fire mask

symbol on it.



Two elevators will lower on either side of you. Step into one of them and

you get to an area with several connected corridors. There is a teleport

here; step into it. This takes you to a room with a switch. Pull the

switch. Note that if you open the walls with the fire mask symbol on them,

you will get back to the connected corridors with the teleport. For now, go

back to the room with the switch, and look behind where you teleported into

the room. There's a teleport symbol there: activate it and you'll be taken

back to the Seven Portals.



If you've entered Gate 5 already, you're ready to solve the puzzle on the

Seven Portals.



The Guardian of Steel (2)



The new area on the Guardian of Steel where Gate 5 takes you is very

similar to where Gate 3 takes you. However, this area is on the opposite

side of the level. Again, there are two rooms with fast doors and switches.

The stairs from these two rooms lead to the central room. Note that these

stairs were blocked when you first came here from Gate 3; now they are

open.



Since you have the Steel Key now, open the steel door. Again, there is an

elevator that takes you to a corridor. One side of the corridor is blocked;

the other side leads to a room with a switch. Pull this switch and a

message tells you to look for another switch. This other switch is in the

room behind where the corridor is blocked. Now... you guessed it! One of

the switches in the two rooms with fast doors will open this area. Go

figure out which one it is, and pull the switch in the room. More stairs

have raised on the Seven Portals.



If you have not been to Gate 7 yet, do it now.



Gate 4: the Final Encounter



You have almost solved the puzzle! Go back to the Seven Portals. By now,

three flight of stairs have risen. The highest of them leads to a switch

and a pair of Boots of Speed (your reward!). Pull this switch. This is one

of three switches you need to pull to open Gate 4. The other two switches

are at the top of the other two stairs. There are two switches at the top

of each of these stairs. The ones that look like a cow's head are the ones

that open Gate 4; the other two switches open two doors on the Guardian of

Ice. This is related to the secret level of this episode.



After you pull all three switches, Gate 4 will be open. This opens the

arena for the final encounter in episode one. Go inside Gate 4 and kill the

monsters there. There is a switch beside the big doors at the far end of

the room; pull this switch to open the doors. Beyond the doors you can see

a portal on the other side of a huge chasm. This portal takes you to

episode 2. But to get to the portal, you must first kill the centaurs.

After they are killed, a magic blue bridge will appear across the chasm.

Cross this transparent bridge (don't worry! it won't break :) and the

portal to episode 2 is waiting. There are lots of goodies around, so take a

break from your slaughtering and collect the stuff around here. You find

the first segment of your 4th weapon here, and there is a combined mana

hidden behind the portal.



For those of you who are more adventurous and those of you who noticed

something on the map: you can jump across the chasm to a narrow passage on

the east side of the chasm (look at the map to make sure... "look before

you leap!"). You get a close encounter with some chaos serpents on your way

up the passage. At the top, you can find a pair of Wings of Wrath on a

ledge. Jump down the ledge to get back to the area overlooking the chasm.

If you're paranoid about the magic bridge, you can use the wings to fly

across the chasm. Or use them to explore some other areas in this episode.



Now, take a deep breath, brace yourself, and step into the portal, which

will take you to Episode 2: Shadow Wood. Or, you may want to visit the

secret level first, if you haven't done so yet.



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Previous level: Winnowing Hall

Next episode: Shadow Wood (Episode 2)

Secret level: Bright Crucible

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