The labyrinth was originally the creation of Murkon's, and its population was a fearsome horde of beasts under his direction. No longer! Now the labyrinth is laden with hostile adventurers. You begin the game at the bottom of the labyrinth and must ascend its ten levels, meeting and defeating increasingly powerful adventurers as you go. There are numerous hazards, like traps and teleporters, and many more interesting things that are best discovered as you play. Each new level offers new obstacles for you to overcome.

Adventurers

There are two types of adventuring parties you'll encounter in the labyrinth: freeborn parties and special parties. When you have progressed in the game far enough to have discovered how to get a top-down view of your surroundings, you will notice that the freeborn parties are represented with blue icons, while the special parties are represented with red icons.

There are exactly 20 unique parties on each level. You must dispose of them all before progressing to the next level. A counter on the main screen lists your "Kills Left" -- this is the number of unique parties left alive on the level.

The unique parties are real character parties created and used in Murkon's Refuge. If you played Murkon's Refuge back in 2002, when the game first came out, you may be facing your own characters as enemies in Murkon's Vengeance!

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 you are facing.

At the outset of the game, you don't know which direction you are facing. One of the first puzzles, in fact, is to figure out how to get a COMPASS spell going. When 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. Again, figuring out how to do this is one of the early puzzles. This second view 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 brown icon in the center of the view. Walls, doors, 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 you are 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 Murkon's statistics and inventory and invoke items. These two buttons are available in the upper left control panel. Viewing Murkon gives you the chance to do other things, such as changing equipment and examining inventory. See the Viewing Murkon and Invoking Items sections for more information.