When you leave town and enter the labyrinth, you abandon the safety of town and face any number of perils. There are monsters, traps, and other hazards in the labyrinth.

The labyrinth is ten levels deep. The hazards get more and more dangerous the deeper you go, but the rewards are greater further down, too. At the start, your characters will stick to the uppermost level of the labyrinth as they gain experience and hunt for a way to access the staircase that leads to the next level down. When your characters are stronger, they'll be able to face the stronger monsters that reside further down. Ultimately, you'll be able to face Murkon himself, who lurks about on the tenth level.

Navigating the Labyrinth

There are two displays that give an indication of where you are and what's around you. The first person 3D view of the labyrinth is in the upper right corner of the page. This shows you what things look like directly ahead of you. When you use this view, you use the Forward/Turn Left/Turn Right/Turn Back buttons to maneuver through the labyrinth. Intuitively, the 'Forward' button takes you forward one step. Using the 'Turn' buttons changes the direction your party is facing. If a COMPASS spell is in effect, the direction you are facing is given next to the 3D view.

The second view is only displayed if you have some sort of LIGHT spell in effect. This is a bird's eye view of the dungeon that is displayed underneath the 3D view. The location of your party is indicated by the red icon in the center of the view. Walls, doors, monsters, towns, stairs, and other elements of the labyrinth are visible in this view. (The 3D view only shows walls, doors, and hallways.) The size of the view depends on how strong a LIGHT spell is in effect.

When a COMPASS spell is in effect, a set of alternative controls to the Forward/Turn buttons are given. These are North/East/South/West buttons. If you hit the 'North' button, you'll move one step toward the north, regardless of what direction the party is currently facing. If you are using these controls, then "up" on the bird's eye view will always be north. If you are using the Forward/Turn buttons, then "up" on the bird's eye view will be the direction the party is facing. If all this sounds hopelessly confusing, just play around with the controls, and you'll get the hang of it.

Besides moving around, you'll also be able to view characters, cast spells, invoke items, and reorder the party. These buttons are all available in the upper left control panel. To view a character, cast a spell, or invoke an item, simply select a character from the drop-down list and hit the appropriate button. See the Casting Spells and Invoking Items sections for more information.