FAQ/Walkthrough - Guide for Prince Of Persia 3D

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Prince of Persia 3D
An FAQ/Walkthrough by CyricZ
Version: 1.0
E-mail: [email protected]
Created on October 30, 1999 (Can ya believe it? ^_^)
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Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Thoughts on the Game
3. Movement
4. Weapons
5. Potions
6. Traps
7. Enemies and Combat
8. General Play Tips
9. Level 1 - Dungeon
10. Level 2 - Ivory Tower
11. Level 3 - Cistern
12. Level 4 - Palace 1
13. Level 5 - Palace 2
14. Level 6 - Palace 3
15. Level 7 - Rooftops
16. Level 8 - Streets and Docks
17. Level 9 - Lower Dirigible 1
18. Level 10 - Lower Dirigible 2
19. Level 11 - Upper Dirigible
20. Level 12 - Dirigible Finale
21. Level 13 - Floating Ruins
22. Level 14 - Cliffs
23. Level 15 - Sun Temple
24. Level 16 - Moon Temple
25. Level 17 - Finale
26. Final Thoughts
27. Updates
28. Legal Junk


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1. Introduction

What does one do when one looks on the Internet for answers on a game
and can't find them?  One makes his own walkthrough.  Sh'yeah.  Yep.
This here's my mostly-complete walkthrough for the recently released
game, Prince of Persia 3D.  I WILL update this as I learn new things.
So, learn and enjoy, won't you?  WON'T YOU?

By the by, if you haven't downloaded the most recent patch, I suggest
you do so immediately, if not sooner.

A year and a half later: Hoo boy...  Guess it's time to dig out the old
CD, eh?  Those FAQ writers out there will know that this game's now on
the Bounty List, so now I have a reason to complete the FAQ... :-P

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2. Thoughts on the Game

If any of you out there are like me, I'd be scared.  Seriously, I'm a
real retrogamer.  I love the classics and the remakes of the classics.
This is why I bought Prince of Persia 3D.  I loved the original,
especially the version for the Super NES with a whole new atmosphere.
Naturally, I was drawn to this game, and this is what I found:

This game's graphics are phenomenal.  I mean, the Persain/Arabic decorum
in the palace-type areas is just beautiful, and there are so many little
nuances that lend to the atmosphere.  I'd go into them here, but they
really should be in the context of the game.  Der.  All this razamatazz
presents a few problems with framerate, slowdown, and large loading
times that may detract from the lure.

The music is lovely, too.  General moving around in this game presents a
haunting, moody, and, of course, Persian melody.  When engaged with an
enemy, the beat picks up and a battle-type ditty ensues.  Think of a
fast-paced Persian/Arabic tume.  Now, turn it into a dance mix, complete
with the hip-hop percussion.  That's cool.

Play control in this game is a mite awkward.  It's realistic, plain and
simple.  You can't immediately break into a sprint from the moment you
start moving forward in real life, so it's the same in this game - The
Prince begins with a bit of a lope to pick up speed, and skids a bit
when he comes to a stop.  This happens with jumping, too.

The play control while fighting is very interesting.  I'll get to that
in the Combat section.

Overall, this game is quite a pretty ride, and the combat really draws
you in.

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3. Movement

Our Prince is a really strong, agile guy.  He can hang by his fingertips
indefinitely.  He has a vertical jump that about as high as he himself
is, and can swing from ropes and poles with the grace of an acrobat.
What girl wouldn't want him?

Most of this info will be found in your manual, and I won't give
specific keystroke commands for each movement, but I'll embellish on key
points:

General Movement:

Some of this goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, dagnabbit!
Walk in any areas where the ground is narrow.  In his zeal to save the
Princess, our Prince may run himself right over the edge of a cliff, if
you're not careful with the running.  Running in large open areas is
usually okay, but sometimes, in tight corridors, running will run you
afoul of the odd trap.

Don't forget your crouch function either.  If some area seems too tight
a squeeze, or there's a nasty trap blocking your path, it could possibly
be due to the fact that you're just not crawling like the Persian cobra,
assuming there is one...

Jumping:

Get used to it quick, because you're going to be doing a lot of it.
There are a few basic types of jumping.  First, the standard vertical
leap.  This will access to ledges above you, which is invaluable, yet
that's all there is to it.  Second, the standing jump.  You can do this
in any direction, and, indeed, some situations will call for you to leap
to your side.  I haven't found any situations requiring you to leap
backwards, but it's nice to know it's there.  Finally, the running jump,
when the standing jump isn't enough.  Of course, using this will latch
you onto distant ledges.

There are non-basic jumps, too.  These are done while not in a standing
position, such as while holding onto something.  The first is a jump off
a stationary rope.  Facing away from the ledge you want to drop on, let
go of the Jump key and you'll drop to the ledge.  It's important to note
that the Prince can't push himself back very far while jumping off a
rope, so you should be high enough past the ledge that you won't miss
it, but not so high as you'll take damage from the drop.  You'll figure
this out quickly though.

Second non-standard jump is the jump off a swinging rope.  The time to
let go is just before the rope reaches the end of its arc.  If you let
go on your first swing over, you may not carry as far as if you let go
on the second swing, where you've picked up momentum.  After the second
swing, you'll start over at the lesser swing, so pay attention to your
swing momentum.

The last type of jumping is off a horizontal pole.  When hanging from
one of these, pushing forward will set you in a swinging motion.  First,
forward, then back, and then forward a second time.  The top of that
second time is your cue to let go of the jump key which was holding you
here.  It's as easy as that.

Swimming:

You won't be swimming too often in this game, but for those times you
will, it's helpful to know that the foward/back/left/right will orient
you in your underwater world:  Forward will pitch you down, and back
will pitch you up.  The Jump key will push you forward in the water,
whether it's down and deep, or up and out.  Once on the surface, holding
the walk key will allow you grab onto a low ledge and pull yourself up.

Interaction:

The CTRL key is the defualt interaction key.  You can use it to activate
switches, grab things to push or pull, pick up items, and later use them
at their proper spot if they're event items.  If you think you can
interact with something, and it doesn't look like part of the background,
try using CTRL.

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4. Weapons:

Ah, yes, the good stuff.  Gone are the olden days when the Prince had to
rely on only his blade to get him out of scrapes.  Now, he has a variety
of toys to help him in his quest.

The Sword: Of course, you knew the Prince would still rely on his trusty
scimitar to ventilate his enemies.  The sword is a balanced weapon that
has average power, speed, and reach.

The Staff: This weapon is a three-foot long pole that springs open to a
six-foot, double-barbed staff.  A slow weapon, but unsurpassed in reach
and power.

The Double Knives:  The favored weapon of the speedy assassin, these
twin knives have three blades each.  One blossoming from each side, and
a third blade pointing straight from the handle.  These blades are
incredibly fast, which is good, because you'll be fighting a long time
with their low power, and you'll be right in your enemies face with
their reach.

More about the close-combat weapons will be explained in the Combat
section.

The Bow: Here's an interesting weapon.  The longbow was made to be a
sniper's weapon.  You should never enter a direct confrontation with
your bow in hand.  The cool thing about the bow is that there are
several different arrow types to play with.  Let's look at them, shall
we?

Standard Arrow: What can I say?  Not flashy or powerful, but it's more
plentiful than the specialty arrows.  Each hit on an enemy will drain
one life bottle.

Call of the Swarm Arrow (aka Wasp Arrow): Shooting this arrow will
release a swarm of wasps upon the nearest person.  If that's you then
watch out.  Arrow itself hits for one life bottle, but the wasps can hit
the enemy for up to three more.  Very useful.

Atar's Fiery Messenger (aka Fire Arrow): An arrow encased in a blue
flame.  Does two life bottles damage, and has a special use later on in
the game.

Arrow of Freeze (aka Ice Arrow): This arrow freezes your enemy in his
tracks, putting him out of the fight until the spring thaw, and
reputedly freezes any liquid it comes in contact with.  I have found no
need to freeze liquid, yet.

Snare of the Unwary Soul (aka Possession Arrow): This arrow, if it
strikes an individual, will allow the shooter to possess the body of
that individual.  It has a special use at one point in the game.

Ahura's Fury (aka Explosion Arrow): This arrow creates a small explosion
when it strikes.  I don't know how much it takes away, yet.

Arrow of the Thief (aka Lifestealing Arrow): Particularly useful if
you're low on health and there are no potions around.  This arrow will
not only decrease the enemy's health by one bottle, but it will increase
the Prince's health by one bottle.

Arrow of Despair (aka Death Arrow): I have not found this arrow yet,
but, supposedly, as the name says, a hit with this arrow will send one
to the Great Beyond.

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5. Potions

Well, they've come up with an excuse.  It's seems you HAVE to drink a
potion where it is, because they are a delicate mixture of rare oils and
spirits, which can't stand violent shaking.  Ah, well.  Here are the
lovely potions you'll encounter, and their color, which allows you to
identify them.

Some of these potions have actual names.  Some I made up.  The ones I
made up have a (*) in front of them.

Soma's Tisane (Blue): What's a tisane?  You got me, but drinking this
quite plentiful potion can restore anywhere between one and three life
bottles.  It's not random, though.  If you drink a blue potion that
restores two life bottles, that potion in that spot will always restore
two life bottles.  However, I won't go so far as to telling you which
blue potion heals how much.  You can usually assume that a blue potion
will restore one bottle.

Dahaka's Blood (Yellow): This potion reportedly increases your strength
and ferocity in battle.  I have no mathematical proof that this is true,
but I have come across a couple of these and I can't remember having
lots of trouble in battle shortly afterward.

*Rendalim's Elixir (Purple): They say in the manual that this one is
Malak's Tears.  I think it's the next one, personally.  Drinking this
lovely lavender potion will fully restore your health.  Quite a
refreshment after a hard day's combat, eh? (I named it after a good
healing potion in one of my fantasy books)

Malak's Tears (Red): Drinking this potion will make you immune to all
arrow attacks for a limited time, it's better than becoming a human
pincushion I s'pose.

Gaokerena's Sap (Green): Green means GO!  Get this potion whenever you
see it!  This is that potion, folks.  Drinking this sweet, sweet nectar
will refill all your life bottles and, as an added bonus, will add an
extra bottle onto your health meter.

Note:  Although very helpful, green potions are not at all required to
complete the game.  Smart combat and watching for traps will allow you
save your bottles and stay alive, so don't panic if you can't find green
potions.

Ahriman's Oil (Gray): This sludge will render you invisible to your
enemies.  Attack all you want, they won't fight back.  Heh heh.

*Phoenix's Breath (Orange): Ever wanted to be Superman?  This takes you
close.  Drinking this potion will give you a little extra spring in your
step, and make your jumps extra high and long.

*Chameleon's Bile (Brown): This is an awfully unusual potion.  Drinking
this stuff will allow you to assume the form of an enemy in the area.
You won't be attacked by bad guys if you look like one.

*Pegasus' Vintage (White): This potion will make you a breaker of the
law of gravity.  Once you imbibe this potion, you will fall downward at
a much slower rate.

Poison (Light Blue/Green): I mistook this for green the first time I saw
it.  This potion will decrease your health by one bottle.  Solution:
Don't drink.

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6. Traps

If you enjoyed the other Prince of Persia's, you know that the thing
that made the game cool was the kill-o-matic traps.  The traps in this
game don't show up as frequently as in the other games, but they're
still here.

Spikes are a classic.  In the old game, walking could get you past
spikes.  Not in this game, boyo.  Getting too close to the spikes will
leave you with a few extra holes than before.

Slicers are back too.  You have to time your way through the vertical
blades, just like the old games.

Also, a more prominent trap is the horizontal rotating blades.  Most are
neck high.  Gee, wonder what happens if you get too close?  There are
also some that are ankle level, which won't put you in much of a state
to continue.  Crawl under or jump over, respectively.

Another commonplace trap is a dart trap.  A dart shoots out of a hole in
the wall.  They hurt.  They may be activated by a pressure plate,
proximity, or they may be timed.  Stay alert.

There are also a whole bunch of traps that show up once or twice in the
game.  I'll explain them as we get to them.

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7. Enemies and Combat

Enemies:

Despite all the walks of life of the combatants, all minor enemies fall
into five basic categories, one-handed weapon users, two-handed weapon
users, double weapon users, archers, and unarmed adversaries.

All armed adversaries increase in skill as you progress through the
game.  They become more and more efficient at blocking and counter
striking.

Archers perch in high places and let loose standard arrows down on you.
They beg to be shot off with arrows.  Sometimes that's your best option.
Other times you can avoid their arrows and get close enough to them to
strike.  They do have their own melee weapons, but it takes a while for
them to put their bows away and pull out their weapons.  You can get
plenty of licks in at that point.

Unarmed adversaries refer to certain monsters.  They can't block, so you
can slash away with abandon to kill them.  If they get close, though,
they'll hurt.  Muck monsters like to stay out of your range and dash
forward to attack.  Right slash as they dash to hit them.

Combat:

Combat's not all that difficult if you know the intricacies.

Beginner's Combat:  The basic thing you need to learn is how to block.
To successfully block an attack, you need hit the block key as your
opponent moves to strike.  As soon as your blades connect, launch a
counterattack.  The best way to counter strike is to attack in the
direction your weapon is at the time.  If the blade is to your right,
attack right.  If your blade is above you, attack high.  This way,
you'll get off the quickest hit.

Intermediate Combat:  Once you get more effective at blocking, add
dodging to the mix.  Dodging is effected by hitting back, left, or
right, twice or more.  This is more effective in wide areas.

Also of import are some of the effective counterattacks of specific
weapons.  Attacks with the sword can be combined into one fluid
movement, increasing the chance for greater damage.  The staff can be
used to execute a deft spinning manuever.  When a side strike is
blocked, the attacker can use the blocking weapon as a fulcrum and use
it to give an opposite strike more leverage.  Having the double blades
is better than having one, as you can parry a blow with one, and then
quickly strike with the other.  Also, pressing both left and right
attack will make you lunge forward in a double strike, unblockable, but
dodgable.

Expert Combat:  Now this is stuff that goes really well when it works,
but it's tough to pull off and requires pinpoint reflexes.  Feinting
requires some good keyboard movements, but it's a good tactic to throw
off your opponent.  To me, it seems a bit unnecessary.

Probably the hardest combat maneuver to hit right is anticipating your
opponent's movement and striking first.  This can end a battle really
quick, but it leaves you open to attack, so it's quite risky.

Finishing Moves:

This is the fun part about combat.  Once you have your opponent down to
one half health bottle, you can execute a killing manuever.  All you
need to do to execute these is wait until your attacker slumps from his
wounds, and then hit any attack key, as opposed to finshing him off with
rapid strikes.  These can be deceptively simple, brutally grotesque, or
exceedingly showy.  Just for fun, I'll point out what happens with each
type of enemy when you kill it with different weapons.

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8. General Play Tips

Goes without saying.  Save OFTEN!

Always keep an eye on your surroundings.  Look up and down all the time.
You never know when you'll find a ledge to climb, or an archer above you
trying to shoot you down.

If you find yourself in a really dangerous situation with multiple
enemies, there may be times where you can avoid combat altogether by
running past the whole mess.

Always flip switches.  No bad comes of flipping them.

The designers tried to give the impression that you were in a real
palace, so there are a lot of doors lying around that you'll never open.
Assume that unless you can see beyond the door, you won't open it.

If you run into a lousy combat situation, and you come out seriously
wounded, consider restoring your game and giving the combat another
shot.  It helped me get through the game my first time.

Don't drink the poison.

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9. Level 1 - Dungeon

General NOTE:  I won't point out how to advance if it's an obvious route
later on in the game.  In this level I'll point out how to get around,
though.  However, I won't tell you how to reach a new area if it's
really obvious.

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Opening movie:

Camera pans down onto Assan's palace.  Zoom into a chamber next to a
large pool.  Cut to a close-up of a belly dancer with a sword.  Dancer
begins dancing against a black background.  Moves back and then close
again.  Scene swithces to a lavishly decorated throne room.  Musicians
play their instruments as the dancer continues her dance.  Pan past
Assan on his throne smoking a hookah over to the other spectators of the
dance:  the Sultan on a square cushioned stone, his two bodyguards, and
to the Sultan's right, on a cushion, looking quite bored with the
spectacle, sits the Prince.  The dancer comes close to him, and he
begrudgingly looks up at her, as she balances her sword on her head and
smirks at him.  He inches over to the Sultan:

Prince: "Excuse me Sultan, the Princess was expecting me..."

Sultan: "And I expect you to remain seated.  Would you insult my
brother?  Refuse his hospitality?"

The Prince returns to his seat and casually fidgets with a tassle on the
cushion.

Cut to the Princess walking down a hallway to the throne room.  A guard
pivots his spear to block her entrance.  She begins a terse arguement
with the guard, unheard to the Prince due to the noise of the dance.
The guard slams the door behind him, leaving the Princess and the guard
out of sight.  One of the bodyguards notices and turns to his comrade,
who has noticed the slamming door as well.  They begin to move, when the
dancer steps between them.  She performs a particularly provocative
move.  The guard is clearly aroused, but his look of astonishment soon
turns to a scream of pain.  The dancer has plunged her sword into his
gut (who knew?).  She quickly withdraws it and strikes the other
bodyguard down.  The Prince stands but is quickly detained by the
suprisingly strong musicians.  Both the Prince and the bewildered Sultan
look to King Assan.  He nonchalantly releases a puff of smoke from his
hookah.  The camera focuses on the smoke, from behind which the Prince
of Persia 3D logo appears.  Cut.

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Well, it's not that you haven't been in this situation before.  Yeah,
you, the Prince.  This time, you have to get yourself out of prison.
Fortunately, your exit from your cell is clearly defined.  Note the
outlined portion of the wall.  Try pushing it.  You're free!  Kinda...

The guard outside the gate apparently doesn't notice your breakout.  The
only way for you to go would be the cell area to the left.  Stepping on
the plate shuts the gate behind you, but don't worry about it.  Walk up
to the two prisoners to speak to each of them.  Above and to the right
of the entrance as you walk in is your way out.  See the hole?  Shimmy
yourself up there.

You're now in a small room with a prisoner seated at the far wall.
He'll mention that you'll need a sword.  Please.  You think you can
figure that out, huh?  Continue past Captain Obvious to a room with a
trough of water suspended above the floor.  Hmm...  What could this be?
There's a pressure plate near the far wall.  Hey.  Get used to looking
for these, they're everywhere.  Step on it.  Of course!  You've found
the showers.  As the amount of water decreases in the trough above you,
a door will open up next to the trough to maintain the water level.
That door up there is your destination.  Climb up on the bench, and then
to the trough.  Proceed through the now open door, and you'll enter the
reservoir for the showers.

Swim to the stone ledge on the right.  Climb up to the bridge across the
rocks.  Run across this bridge, as, you guessed it, it collapses.  Don't
worry if you can't make it.  It's jumpable.  Climb up the rocks up to
the passage that leads out of the reservoir area.  The small alcove off
to your right as you exit contains nothing.

Well, here's your first trap of sorts.  All it really is is a jump that,
if you don't make it, will kill you.  There are spikes laced along the
bottom of this small pit.  Just take a running leap and you'll clear the
spikes.  No prob.  At the end of the passageway, crawl through the small
opening to enter the main cell area.

You'll find a prisoner here that tells you how brick stupid these guards
are.  As you exit his cell, there will be a guard patrolling the cell
block to the right of you.  To your left is your way out, a locked gate
with spikes in front of it.  The pressure plate to open this gate is
beyond the patrolling guard.  All you really need to do is walk behind
the guard as he paces back and forth.  On a walkway suspended above him,
you'll find a gray potion, but invisibility really isn't necessary for
this occasion.  Once you hit the pressure plate, the gate will open.
The guard who threw you into your cell will come out of a door nearby
and chase after you.  Just run to the gate, jump over the spikes, the
gate will slam shut behind you, and you'll be home free.

In this next corridor area, there are plenty of floor traps to make life
miserable for you.  Just walk around them and there shouldn't be a big
problem.  You'll come to a big door that you can't climb over.  However,
the nearby awning you CAN climb on, from which you can leap to the
ledge.  Drop down on the other side.

You're now in a room with three exits.  Take the exit to your right.
You'll pass a guard snoozing next to a switch.  Leave him be for now and
continue onward.  You'll come to a corridor with two side rooms.  One
room has a slave working at a smith who reiterates about the sword.  The
other room has a slave sitting at the bottom of a shaft singing to
himself (no, really!) and a box along the wall.  You can pull the box
away and crawl in the hole for a blue potion if you need it.  Continue
along the corridor and you'll come to a crane-type contraption.  Turn
the crank.  Yippee.  You lifted a box.  No, that didn't do anything, but
now you know what cranes can do.  Climb down to the sunken mining area.
Flip the switch on the wall to open a way to a large room.  The wall
will shut behind you, but don't panic.  Using the middle platform, climb
up to the door on the opposite wall and hop across the gap.  Below is an
area with a blue potion and a crane, but there's no way to pick anything
up.  Unless you need to go to the area, don't bother.  Take a flying
leap to the wooden platform across the room.  Down below you'll see a
guard.  Quickly run past him to the corridor on your left.  Don't move
too far, though, as there's a rotating blade trap.  Crawl under it, the
guard won't follow you.  Follow the short passage, and climb up onto the
far ledge.  You'll be situated above the guard now.  Notice a movable
box near you.  Hmmmm....  Push the box over the gap in the wall.  That
sounded like it hurt...  Wait.  What did he drop?  Yes!  The sword!  You
can drop down on top of the box (and listen to the satisfying squish as
you apply more pressure to the already broken body), and grab the
shining blade.

You'll see a small cinematic where a guard runs in to a previous room
yelling "What's that noise?" to no one in particular.  Retrace your
steps to that room and battle the guard.

Finishing move (same for all these specific armored guards): The Prince
rears back his sword and comes forward in a flashy slice across the
guard's chest, striking a pose as the sword spins to his other side.

Follow the newly opened passage until you reach a crane.  Push the box
under the crane.  Climb up and turn the crank.  Huzzah!  A green bottle!
Right after your first combat, too!  Drink, won't you?  Continue further
along the passage and you'll be back in the first mine room.  Retrace
your steps (battling another guard along the way) until you reach the
sleeping tatooed guard.  Advance towards him.  Battle.

Finishing move (standard sword finisher for most enemies, assume that
this is the finisher if I don't bring it up): The Prince swings downward
across the guard's body, grabs the sword with his other hand, and shoves
the blade through the guard's chest.  On thinner enemies, the sword will
be visible sticking out from the other side.  Yeah, baby.

Right.  Flip the switch.  This will open a door back in that three-exit
room.  Go back to that room, but take the remaining exit, with a guard
beyond its threshold.  Deal with him (blue potion in the corner) and
proceed to the next room.  You'll watch as a guard sticks his hand in a
stone face's mouth and the gate will open.  You can save the game and
see what happens if you stick your hand in there, or you can check out
that small box on the table.  No way to open it, eh?  Go to the room you
previously opened, the torture chamber (watch the blade trap).  Flip the
switch on the wall.  Ick.  Good thing you're head's not going there.
Hmm...  Place the box on the table with the head crusher.   Now flip the
switch.  Why, inside is a rather tacky bracelet!  Grab the bracelet.
NOW stick your hand in the stone face's mouth.  Go through the gate.  Up
the stairs, you'll face an unhappy guard.  Do him in.  Continue through
the gate and you've escaped the prison!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cutscene:

Assan's throne room:

Sultan: "Traitor!  I will have you--"

Assan: "My dear brother, your tongue betrays a forgetful mind.  We have
a pact.  Is today not your daughter's twenty-first birthday?"  (And they
didn't invite her to the party?)

Sultan: "You don't mean... your son?"

Assan: "My son is not the problem, your WORD is the problem!"  (smashes
glass bottle)  "Has it grown as weak and impotent as your mind?   You're
daughter, as promised, shall marry my son, Rugnor."

Sultan: "Have you forgotten that I am still the Sultan?"

Assan: (wipes hands) "Of course not.  But, with your entire
bodyguard.....relieved?  It would be most advantageous of you to honor
our agreement."

Cut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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10. Level 2 - Ivory Tower

Note: From now on, I'm going to assume you can navigate areas.  For
example, if you see a ledge above you and there's nowhere else to go, go
that way.  I'll only bring up specific problems or special instances,
and I'll still point out where the bad guys are.

Proceed up the passage.  Hey!  Who's shooting at you?  Fortunately, your
agile and can automatically avoid the extra holes in your person.
Another fortunately is that the archer up there has run out of arrows.
(I told you we should've bought more than three!).  There will be an
interesting-looking pool in front of you, with tusks poking out of it.
To the right of where you came in is your ultimate destination, but as
you proceed towards the bridge, a guard pulls the switch and raises it.
Now what?  The only option is to the left of where you came in.  Proceed
along the pathway, jumping across ledges, until you reach some medieval
floor-situated paper shredders.  This is tough.  First, jump up to the
ledge where there are shredders above you.  Don't climb all the way up.
Inch over to the right where the ledge has no shredders.  Now, climb up,
IMMEDIATELY turn around, and do a forward jump.  You'll hit the ledge in
the distance, and the wall that was gonna push you into the lower
shredders has failed its purpose.

Proceed along the platforms.  Soon, you'll reach a passage with several
plates on the ground and several odd-looking holes in the wall.  Do
yourself a favor.  Don't step on them.  Lightly-poisoned darts shoot out
of the wall if you do.  Continue past this area and you'll reach an area
with two gates.  The pressure plate in front of you as you enter the
room will open the first gate, and the one in the back of the room will
open the second gate.  Simply stand on the first one, aim at the second
one, and turn (while running) and you should be able to make it through
the gates.  Just STOP once you pass them.  A small jumping puzzle awaits
beyond.  There are certain parts of the thin ledge above you that will
crumble away.  Be careful and be sure to save.

Once you reach the top, you'll see a familiar face.  The archer who was
just trying to plug you is perched here.  Advance on him.  He sees
you!....whoops.  Man, that guys gotta switch to decaf.  So, what score
do you give that dive?  Not very high, as he missed the pool.  Grab the
bow lying on the floor.  Yes, you need it.  Maybe you can perform a
better dive?  Well, just try to hit the pool, and save first, of course.

While you're down here in the pool, explore a bit.  There's a rather
well-defined passage that leads you to a blue potion and some arrows.
There are also some arrows lying by the archer's heap.  Now, pull out
your new toy and look over at that bridge that was pulled up earlier.
Notice that symbol on the winch mechanism?  Let fly a shaft.  Presto!
Cross the bridge.  Be sure to switch back to your sword, as the guy who
pulled the winch is still hangin' around.  After you dispatch him,
continue along, avoiding the blade trap.  You enter a courtyard with a
big door.  You notice a prisoner being led in.  A VERY familiar looking
prisoner.  The guard tells the gate controllers to open the door.  The
two guards on gate control each step on a pressure plate to open the
door.  Don't worry about tailing the guard and the prisoner, you won't
catch up.

Anyhoo, there's a door to your left as you enter.  Enter that room and
take a look at the ceiling.  Yep, spikes at certain points on the
ceiling.  Perhaps you shouldn't walk under them?  If you do, the floor
tile rises to the ceiling, crushing you against the spikes.  So,
carefully navigate around the danger zones and onto the ramp.  At the
top you'll square off against a staff-wielding guard.  After you kill
him, proceed along the hallway.  As you reach the end, the guard you
just killed wants to get back at you for killing him and hits a nearby
pressure plate before breathing his last.  Pieces of the corridor floor
will fall away.  Don't panic.  Just time your leaps and you can reach
the far doorways.  In one, there's a blue potion.  In the other, there's
a desk you can pull out of the way to crawl in a hole in the wall.  In
this room, there's hole in the ceiling and a crate you can push to climb
up the hole.  After you do this, make a running jump across to the guard
station.  There, you'll fight another guard.  Kill him, please.  Step on
the pressure plate in the station.  You need to hit the other one, too,
remember?  No worries.  Turns out the guard is a supreme loyalist to
Assan and doesn't move from his post, EVER.  Just pull out your bow and
stick it to him.  Turns out that this man is a wuss, too.  One arrow
drops him on the plate in front of him (Did I mention that this man is
such a loyalist that he will perform his duties TO THE DEATH?).  Right.
Climb down the platforms (walk backwards off them and you'll climb down,
and proceed through the now open door.  Hit the floor switch behind the
door to open the drawbridge.  Hope you're not afraid of water!

**********************************************************************

11. Level 3 - Cistern

As I just said, this place is mostly water.  It's not a big level, but
there are a few tricks to it.

You'll begin at one end of the underground harbor.  At an ornate guard
post on a bridge from far off, an archer will be firing at you.  Ooh,
your first archery combat!  He takes three arrows, so plan accordingly.
You may also opt to dodge his arrows and deal with him close up.  Once
you deal with him (be sure to pick up the arrows by the boxes), you'll
come across your first swinging rope.  Stay calm, have faith, and refer
to the section on swinging jumps.  You have water below you, so don't
panic if you miss, and you can always save and reload.  Once you reach
the broken staircase, hop up the broken steps. (Hmm... Notice one part
of the staircase does not seem to be connected to ANYTHING?  What the
heck?)  Pick up the purple potion and the arrows dropped by the archer.
Step on the elevator to lower yourself to the dock next to the boat.
Stand next to the boat and make a standing jump onto it.  Press the
Action button next to the pole and you'll operate the boat.  This ain't
no pleasure cruise.  As soon as you get underway, a sword-wielding
Darkhold Assassin descends on the boat.  He's better than your average
guard.

Finishing Move (for Assassins with swords):  A downward slash, and a
neck-high left-to-right slice.  You can guess the result.

After you beat the Assassin (there may be more than one depending on the
difficulty) the boat cruises into the other harbor.  Jump off the side
of the boat and climb up on the crates in the water.  Hop up to the
perimeter docks.  Don't fall in the water outside the docks.  There are
muck monsters swimming around that will make life miserable, and short.

Climb the chain over the water, near the front of the docks.  You'll
land on a small bridge with a box and a switch at one end.  Flip the
switch, which will set the box on a crane in motion.  Move the box under
one of the suspended platforms above you.  Climb up onto the platform
and jump across to the next one.  Jump over to the moving box as it
slides towards you.  Timing is everything, of course.  Jump off the box
onto the side of the harbor opposite the one you started on.  There are
two ways to travel along this platform.  The left side has collapsing
platforms.  The right side has shooting darts.  Opt for the left side at
a full run and you'll be fine.

At the top of the harbor, right before the door, you'll meet another
part of Assan's welcoming committee.  Finish him.  Proceed through the
door to finish the level.  Quick and easy, eh?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cutscene:

The Princess paces back and forth in her "cell", complete with canopy
bed.  She lies down on the bed.  A dark figure, Assan's son Rugnor,
approaches the bed.

Rugnor: "My royal cousin.  You are to be my bride, and yet, your beauty
is such that I cannot look upon you."

The Princess sits up.

Princess: "Bride?  Has no one told you?  I am already married."

Rugnor steps forward, exposing his were-tiger form.

Rugnor: "Widowed..."

Her eyes widen and she gasps at the sight of Rugnor and her worry for
her husband.

Cut.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
********************************************************************

12. Level 4 - Palace 1

Well, now we’ve finally reached the Palace proper.  Things only pick up
from here, so stay alert!

As you enter the drawbridge area, the bridge will be raised.  From the
passageway beneath it, a guard runs forward to challenge you.  Deal with
him and get the yellow potion he leaves behind.  Proceed along the
hallway that he came from.  At the end, you’ll see a switch to your
left.  Flip it.  The drawbridge will now lower. Flip the switch further
to your right to open the gate, and crawl to avoid the blade trap.
It’s timed, however, so you’ll have to hurry.

Another bad boy waits at the top.  Rub him out.  Flip the switch up here
and the drawbridge rises.  Climb the bridge, watching out for the dart
trap.  Climb up into the window.  You’ll come across a wall of crates,
one of which you can push.  This will, through a rope mechanism, raise
the entire wall and you with it.  You’ll be in an open hall, with a
bubbling fountain and a blue potion, not to mention a couple of archers.
One stands on the floor off to your right.  The other is above and
behind to the right.  Kill the first one using conventional methods, and
you can either kill the other with arrows or you can get to him later.
There is a crate here.  Push into the spot the first crate used to be
and the wall of crates will descend.  Climb up to the gate on the far
side.  It’ll close before you get there.  D’oh.  Look to the side of the
drawbridge that has the guard patrolling.  It’s time to give him an
unwelcome surprise.  Hop through the window and fight him.  Cross the
crumbling bridge.  You’ll be on the ledge above the fountain hall.  Note
the arrows next to you.  That's actually just one arrow, but it's a
Call of the Swarm, so it's pretty useful, so pick it up, won't you?
Across from you will be the other archer.  Getting across to him is
tricky.  It starts with a horizontal pole jump, followed by a swinging
rope jump.  Deal with the archer if you haven’t already.  Climb through
the open window and continue onto the hanging chain.  Work your way up
to the roof.  The camera will shift to show the raised, slanted
drawbridge.  Yes, you can make it.  Hop down to the drawbridge and slide
down.  (Whee!)  Let the guard at the bottom have it.  In the darkened
room off to the side, there’s a blue potion.

Inside the door you’ll see a library.  You’ll watch as an odd
elevator/platform thingamajig ascends to parts above.  Speak to the
standing monk.  He’ll tell you about the elevator and that there’s
another way out, through the bookcase.  It’s rather easy to see where
the secret passages are.  But, which one?  You can try all, but save
first, of course.  You can ask the seated monk and he’ll tell you that
the correct one is the one behind him.

Behind the bookcase you’ll find a passageway.  Continue along until you
enter a REALLY big library!  Across from the floor, you’ll see a stack
of books.  That’s your way up.  Proceed on up until you come to the
doorway above.  Climb the spiral staircase and take down the guard.
When you return to the library, hit the switch.  Quickly step on the
platform and you’ll be carried to the other side.  Watch out for an
archer throughout this next part.  Climb up the shelves until you’re
within range of the rope to the right of the shelves.  Take a guess what
you do next.  You’re going to have to jump on the second swing, and hold
forward or you won’t make it.  Cross from the platform and grab the
chain.  Climb up and leap backwards onto the horizontal chain.  Here's
where it gets nerve-wracking.  Sidestep along the cahin to the archer's
platform.  Climb up until you’re behind a tapestry and you can see an
orange potion.  Drink.  Hop down a step to the platform below the one
you're standing on.  With the super jump ability, you can make it to
the platform with the blue potion on it, then further out to the
platform across the library, then up to the elevator/platform
thing.  Hit the switch on the platform to rise up to the final room of
this area.  Face off against an axe-wielding guard up here and pass
through the open door to the next level.

Finishing move: You rear back, skip all flashiness, and ram the sword
into his gut, lifting him as you do so.

************************************************************************

13. Level 5 – Palace 2

For those of y’all who’ve played the demo, you’ll recognize this level
quickly.

There’s a guard rushing you right from the start on this level.  Show
him how good a swordsman you are, and move on.  You have three choices
once you enter the split passageway room.  Take the high route up the
middle.  Step on the pressure plate in the alcove.  Immediately turn
around and walk straight off the edge.  There is a blade trap that
covers certain areas here, but if you stay in the middle there’ll be no
problem.  Do an about-face and hit the pressure plate.  Both gates ahead
will now be open, and they WON’T stay open for long.  Rush out of the
area, but BE CAREFUL of the blade trap, not to mention the slicer to
your left, which you will have to pass.  Bound up the steps and leap
across to the rope.  It’s further out than you think.  Swing to the
other side and climb the rope on the ledge.

In the next room, there’ll be tiles with spikes folding out from them.
Avoid them.  Attack the staff-wielder in the next room.  Swing across
the rope afterwards.  Continue onward until you hit an empty octagonal
room.  You fall into a pit and the ceiling descends on you.  Don’t
panic.  There’s a discolored section of the wall that pushes open.  Make
use of it.  Push the wall all the way out.  Proceed left along the
hallway until you reach a room with a walkway above.  Climb onto one of
the alcoves and jump to the walkway.  From where you’re standing, take
the left doorway.  At the end will be a switch.  It opens a gate at the
end of this level.  Go back and take the other route on the walkway.
You’ll open a gate leading back to the last rope you swung across.  This
time, jump down into the pool of water below you.  You’ll be in the area
you would have reached had you gone left in the split passageway.  Run
past the stairway towards the key member of Assan’s staff.  Run through
the gate and you’ll watch as the belly dancer assassin jumps into a
pool.

************************************************************************

14. Level 6 – Palace 3

Right.  Straight ahead of you is the pool the assassin just dove in.
Don’t try to follow her just yet.  Instead, go past the pool.  Note the
archer above you and to the right.  Enter the doorway situated below
him.  Inside, you can speak to a monk, who begs you not to hurt him.

Now, to your right as you enter the inside portion is a dead end, but
you can make out the outline of a pushable block.  Once you push it, a
rope will drop from the archer perch to the circular room opposite the
monk.  Also in that room is your first arrow shrine.  You can charge as
many arrows as you want, but the enchantment will wear off after a
while.  The enchantment of this shrine is explosion arrows.  If anyone
has found any use for the explosion arrows, besides killing guards more
effectively, let me know.  Anyway, the arrows the archer drops are Life
Stealers, so it may behoove you to attack him hand-to-hand, instead of
afar.

Take a left around the rope chamber and you'll see a passage with a
blue potion at the end.  Get on your belly and crawl in the passage,
because the darts will be flying overhead.  To your left will be a hole
with a rope and a platform in the middle.  Back up to the wall and leap
out to the rope.  Let go after the FIRST swing and you'll land short,
grab the ledge, and see the reason why I said first swing.  Spikes pop
out of the platform.  Shimmy to the left or right on the platform and
climb up on a spikeless area.  Walk to the edge of the platform and
standing jump across to the doorway.  You'll make it.

Proceed along the passage.  You'll see a platform on your right, and a
pressure plate in front of a gate to your left.  The gate leads back to
the monk.  Hop up onto the platform and deal with Mr. Mustache.  Right
after you beat him, a Darkhold Assassin will drop down to challenge you
as well.  Once both are dealt with, hop up to the platform above.  A
switch is there, and there's also a curious-looking item on the ground.
Why...  It's the double knives!  Finally, a new weapon to play with! ^_^
Pull 'em out and fiddle with them for a while if you like, then flip the
switch.  Note as it shuts off the cogs nearby, as well as some chopping
blades in the water.  That's what would have happened if you hopped in
the drink earlier.  Wouldn't have been pretty.  So, trot on back to the
open area and jump up to the central platform.  Hop in the water.
You've got quite a long swim, and it'll probably take most of your air.
Once you get to the blade area, you can go either left or right and
you'll eventually surface in a round room.

Note: The finisher with the knives (always) is the Prince crosses the
knives in his hands, stabs the enemy with both together, twists them,
and slices apart.

This is an interesting room.  Smell "puzzle" yet?  We've got three
closed gates.  One with a triangle, one with a circle, and one with a
square on the gate.  The open doorway leads to three buttons with the
same markings.  Let's not beat around the bush.  Hit the triangle button
and go through the now open gate.  Proceed and you'll see a room with an
alcove flanked by two torches, but one is quite obviously a switch,
since it's unlit and horizontal.  Flip it, and the alcove opens.

This next part requires a bit of timing and luck.  What happens is that
a Darkhold Assassin rushes up, sword drawn.  Sure, you can draw your
sword right away and attempt combat, but the alcove closes in a matter
of seconds.  Sure, you can rush right through, but you won't have time
to stop and draw your weapon before the Assassin makes shiskabob out of
you.  So, run right in and jump past the Assassin.  When you hit the
far wall, then it's relatively safe to draw your sword and battle.

Once you finish the Assassin, climb up the ledge at the far end.  Run to
the end of the passage, and hop up onto the table-like thing in the
middle of the room.  Put your back to the doorway, and climb up the far
left ledge into the next room.  Why?  Because that's the only side that
doesn't have a dart pressure plate on it.  Climb on up.  Walk your way
around, avoiding the plates, and head towards the doorway leading
outside.  You're on a ledge now, overlooking two guards on the platform
below.  Take out your bow, and turn the one on the right into a
pincushion.  It should take four standard arrows.  You can shoot down
the other guard, but it's not necessary, and you probably should save
your arrows.  So, why did we kill just the one guard?  If you took that
passage normally, you'd face off against one, and the other would walk
up and stab you from behind.  Not a good day...

Anyway, once he's down, run back to the main shape room and step on the
circle button.  Head through the circle door.  Hop up onto the outer
ledge and take the exit out of the room.  Get a running start, and take
a flying leap off the ledge.  You'll sail over some spikes.  Continue
down the hall and outside.  Face off against the remaining guard, if
you didn't attack him earlier.  Once he's done, head towards the
platform and step on the pressure plate.  A drawbridge will rise up and
you can head over to the tower.  Unfortunately, there's nothing going on
here.  So, just hop onto the outer ledge and head out the left window.
Take a flying leap across to the balcony, walk in, and take out the
guard standing there.  Step on the pressure plate, which will raise the
gate, and you're back in triangle land, only this time, there's a
circle gate here that's open.  Run allll the way back to the first
triangle gate and go through the now open circle gate.  You'll ride an
elevator up.

Run through the passage and you'll come upon a ledge with a swinging
rope leading to an opposite ledge.  Swing across, and in the next room,
walk around the ledge and push the vase into the lower room.  As you'll
soon see, you're above the triangle button, which will now stay pressed
no matter what.  Head back into the ledge room, and walk off and you'll
safely splash into the pool.  You're in the main shape room.  Head to
the button room and step on the square one.  Head through the square
gate, and the following triangle gate.  Don't worry.  You're almost
done.

Run through the passage and down the stairs, and you'll see you've
finally caught up with the belly-dancer.  After an impressive little
spin, she'll attack.  She's rather skilled, so be on your guard.  Sadly,
after whatever impressive battle you have with her, the finisher is
still just the standard chest thrust, but at least you get the
satisfaction of the sword sticking out the other side... ^_^  Pick up
the potion she drops if you need it, and proceed.  Be careful though.
After you climb the steps, you'll see three spikes in the floor, they
blossom into spinning blades of death, so take a flying leap past them,
then run into the throne room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cutscene:

The Prince bursts into the throne room:

Prince: (yelling) Where is the Princess?

Sultan: Forgive me, my son.  I am to blame.  You shall have any other
woman in the kingdom, ten, if you like, but I had no right to marry you
to my daughter.

While the Sultan speaks, Assan draws a hidden dagger from the sleeve of
his robe.

Prince: There are no others for me...

Sultan: I'm sorry, but that is the only choice...

Assan holds up his dagger to throw...

Sultan: Brother!  No!

The Sultan rushes in front of the Prince and takes the dagger meant for
him.  He collapses in the Prince's arms.

Assan (off screen): Guards, come quick!  That beggar has killed the
Sultan!

Sultan: Forgive me...  As I die, so dies the pact with my brother.  Go...
Your fate is with the Princess...

The Sultan gestures towards an odd balloon contraption in the distance.

The Prince leaps out of the throne room, slides down the trunk of a
tree, and rushes off, while several guards chase him...

Cut.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
************************************************************************

15. Level 7 - Rooftops

Now, there aren't really any guards after you.  Apparently, you shook
'em, so just relax.  Run across the bridge.  Note the green potion on
your right.  Tempting, eh?  Shall we go get it?  Sure, but we do have
to go a little roundabout to get it.

As you cross the platform, the gate opens up, and there's a guard
standing behind it.  He won't attack until you cross the threshold, so
draw your sword and inch across and attack.  After you finish him,
proceed (don't flip the switch).  When you come to the stairway, climb
over the banister, and drop down the other side.  There's a blade trap
there for you, so no need to deal with it.

Continue on, and an Assassin ahead will shut the gate in front of you.
Climb out the window on your right (Ha ha!  Outwitted them again!) and
drop down on the ledge to face the Assassin.  Kill him, and follow the
ledge past the gate, and cross the odd-colored stone bridge, which,
naturally, collapses.  Take a leap off the bridge and run into the
room on the right.  On the right side of the room is a pressure plate.
Step on it to open the nearby windows.  Climb out.  You'll see a platform
opposite you that has an Assassin patrolling it.  Jump over to the
platform, then scale to the top.  Kill the Assassin.  Note the rope
across the way.  Take a swing across it.  Now what?

Look down and to your right.  Nice open window for ya.  The leap is
tough, though.  You'll need to leap from the corner of the platform
near the stained glass windows.  Once you're across, climb up the
spiral staircase, and you'll soon reach the green potion.  Yay! ^_^

Run up the nearby stairs and you'll reach a window that will drop you
outside the stained-glass windows you recently opened with a plate.
There's another plate right in front of you.  Step on it to open the
windows once again.  Proceed through and back to the open area from a
while ago.

Don't worry about much of this open space, just hop across to the ledge
opposite and climb up to the windows right above.  Walk onto the ledge
and look down.  Note the Assassin.  Face him and side-hop down to the
lower floor.  Pull out your weapon and teach him a lesson.  Continue on
and you'll reach another open area.  Rugnor will be here with the
Princess and he'll tell a bare-chested Assassin to stop you.  The
Assassin will do so by closing off the nearby gate.  What is it with
people and their thinking they can stop you with gates?

Anyway, there's a rooftop off to your left that's your new destination.
Hop up onto one of the brick pillars lining the roof you're on, and hop
over.  Note the Archer above and to the left.  Kill him if you want,
but it's not necessary.  Look to the right and you'll see a small window
with a blue ledge.  It looks far, but you can make it with a leap.
Climb up and jump onto the chain in the middle of this new room.  It's
actually connected to a lamp, so you'll have to jump off when you reach
the bottom.

You have two exits in this new room.  Take the one that has a dark room
in the distance.  DON'T enter this dark room!  There's an invisible bad
guy there that will dice you up nicely, and you can't return the favor!
Instead, climb the staircase and you'll eventually reach a pressure
plate.  Step on it and you'll open up the first set of bars in a grille
above you.  To open up the other set of bars is a little more
complicated.  Get to the room below you, either by dropping or going
back down the stairs and going the other way, and head outside.  There's
a tower immediately to your right that you need to get to.  To get up
there, you need to push a box, but it's at an odd angle.  Push it one
space to the right side of the tower, and push it towards the tower the
rest of the way.  You can scale the box and then the tower.

As you look across the nearby passage, you can see you're in Trap City.
There are floor spikes first, then a blade trap just after.  Save,
natch.  Leap across the spikes and stop short.  Drop to the ground and
crawl under the blades, then watch out again, for there's a timed dart
trap in the wall.  Such fun...  Proceed out the doorway, avoiding the
darts, and hit the pressure plate to remove the other set of bars.
Climb up to ledge, shimmy over to the now open grille and go through.

Where the heck are we now?  There's a ledge above you.  Get to the very
edge of the ledge you're on, turn around and jump up.  Note the potion.
Note the greenish-blue color.  That's poison.  Get it?  Good.

Turn around and jump onto the next ledge.  Get a good running start and
leap onto the rope, swinging across.  Nothing to do here, but jump onto
the roof off to your right.  Enter and descend the stairs, but watch out
for a floor spike trap at the bottom.  Tough to avoid on stairs, so get
at the very bottom of the stairs, and make a standing jump across them.

Once you're in this new area (looks like the exit would, doesn't it,
well, tough...), hop off the ledge and look across.  You'll notice an
Assassin has seen you.  Now would be a good time to use some good
arrows.  If you picked up a Call of the Swarm arrow, use that.  Jump
over to the ledge, climb the stairs and you'll eventualy hit a switch.
This will drop a lantern into the dark room, and you'll be able to see
your adversary.  Run back down the stairs, around the right side, and
you'll hit the plate for a gate that'll lead to Mr. Black.  He's armed
with a staff and he's actually pretty good, so beware.  Once you finish
him, continue forward and you'll ride an elevator up.  Go out, turn
left on the ledge and carefully enter the doorway at the end, avoiding
the spikes in front of it.  Turn right and run head down the passage.

Look out when you get the stairs and note the rafters hanging overhead.
Jump and grab onto one of them and shimmy your way across.  As you'll
see, the stairs will open up below you, so it's a good thing you used
the rafter.  Once you make it all the way across, drop down and exit
the hallway to the outside.  Jump across to the waterway you'll see
across from you.  Go forward down the waterway and down the stairs.
You'll see a rope and the bare-chested Assassin across from you.  To
get across, you need to make a run from the stairs, and leap at the
bottom, grab the rope and swing across.  Regain your composure and draw
your weapon as soon as possible.  The battle with the Assassin is
tough, because you'll have to learn to deal with a knife wielder.
Remember to back up whenever he tries the double stab.

Once he's dead, pick up the potion he leaves behind, hop onto the
balcony behind him and head for the double doors to finish!  Yay! ^_^

************************************************************************

16. Level 8 - Streets and Docks

Time for some street combat.  You'll notice immediately that directly
across from you are two ruffians.  They're not friendly, and fighting
them is very tough, since you can only concentrate on one at a time...

You have a couple of options.  You can try fighting them using fancy
dodging techniques to avoid both of them, which is risky and hard, or
you can climb up on the box next to you, and either shoot them with
arrows or just plain avoid them.  This is, by far, the safer choice...

Once you're on the box, climb up to the ledge above quickly, because
the bad guys can still hurt you from this height.  Walk along the ledge,
and be prepared to jump past the first wooden section of the ledge (it
gives way).  Walk onto the gate next to you and cross to the other side
of the street.  The reason you're up here is to get a Call of the
Swarm arrow, so if you feel you don't need it, just drop down.

Anyway, on the opposite side of the street are several traps.  First,
there's a floor spike, as you'll be able to see.  Right after that,
there's a plate that'll activate a dart shooter.  Across the way, on
the next ledge, is another plate that'll activate another dart shooter.
It doesn't help that the camera likes to pick an angle for you here,
either.  Anyway, hop over the spikes, then sidestep to the edge of the
ledge so you can avoid the dart, then jump over to the ledge, hopefully
close enough to the edge so the next dart misses you, as well.  Cross
over to the alcove here, and claim your Call of the Swarm arrow.

Anyway, drop down and head towards the fountain.  Note that past the
fountain, are a couple of gates.  Note also the keyhole.

Continue down the street, and there will be a small alcove off to your
left.  You can see the misting of a potion there.  It's a brown potion.
Chugging it will make you look like any of the ruffians on the streets
at this point.  Let's not use it yet, though...

First, let's kill the thug down the small alley to the right.  With
him out of the way, you don't have to rush as much.  Anyway, take a few
cautious steps down the long alley to the left, and you'll see that the
camera man is on your side, for you're given a shot of the area at the
end of the alley.  There are two guys, which can make life very
complicated.  Naturally, this is where the potion comes in.  Drink it.
You'll be a thug for about thirty seconds.  Run down the alley.  Follow
it all the way to the end and climb up the opening into a building.
Run up the ramp, and you'll notice a key on a table.  Pick it up, and
the blue potion nearby, and hop down out of the window.  Head back to
the fountain and use the key on the keyhole.

Note: You CAN make it without killing the first thug, even chugging the
blue potion and picking up the key, but it's a tight squeeze, so you're
better off in the long run just getting rid of the first guy ASAP...

Once you open the gates, you have two choices.  Left or right:

Right:  Don't go this way.  You have to jump over some spikes, avoid a
guard, and jump over another set of spikes, and your reward is a bottle
of poison.

Left: Go this way.  Both ways lead to an area with some wooden rafters.
There's a lot of dart-shooting going on, but you don't need to worry
about that.  Just run off the edge, face the far end and draw your
sword, so you can deal with the old coot with the staff.

Once Old Guy's dead, walk over to the grate and press the Action key to
open it.  Hop down into the sewers.  Watch that first turn.  See the
holes in the doorway?  Those have nasty spikes.  You'll have to time
your run through them.  Wait until they poke out, then hit forward.  It
may take some experimentation.

Go towards the hole in the floor and back into it to grab onto the side.
You'll get a new angle on things, and you'll see the spikes in the hole.
Wait until they stop, and drop down.

Head up the stairs and look down into the pit.  Your first muck monster!
Jump down when he's not all that close and draw your weapon.  As I said
in the combat section, the way to beat muck monsters is to strike to the
right as soon as he starts to slither towards you.  He'll go down
rather easily...

Walk into the next passage.  You'll see the pit in front of you has
spikes.  The passage ahead of you is elevated, so you can't reach it
even with a leap.  Solution?  Look above and behind you.  Climb up into
the alcove.  Back up to the wall and take a running leap out to the
horizontal rope.  Swing off the rope (on the second swing) and climb
into the passage.

Oh, fun...  Now you've two sets of those wall spikes to deal.  This'll
take a while.  Run through them one at a time, stopping short of the
second one.  It's tough, but doable.

Climb the rope at the end of the passage and you'll leave the sewers.
Finally, you're at the docks.  This area's big, haphazard, and quite
confusing, but there are three points of interest.  One has a green
potion.  One has an item you need to proceed, and the third has the way
out.

Note: Don't fall in the water.  There's been a recent muck monster
infestation, and they're much more adept at combat in the water than
you.

First of all, watch out for the wooden platform near the building in
front of you, it'll collapse (but it'll only drop you a level).  Climb
up onto the wall to the left to avoid it.  Drop down on the far side.
You'll be facing a few ramshackle buildings.  The one in front of you
and to the left has the green potion, but there's no obvious entry.  To
get inside, you'll need to get under it.  Drop down a level of
platforms, and you'll notice a whole on the bottom side.  Climb up, and
claim your prize.

The item you need is in a rather obvious building, in the sense that
it's the only one with burning torches.  It's at the far end of this
dock system, and tough to miss.  Go inside, talk to the old man if you
like, and pick up the flute on his table.

Now, for your way out.  You can try the docks that extend out onto the
water, but you'll quickly learn that part has broken off and you can't
make the jump.  As you exit the flutist's hut, you can see a rather
large stone building off to your right.  You can try the water level
entrance, but it won't help, since there's a nasty patch of spikes in the
way.  The way you need to get in is on the top floor.  So climb up there
however you can (there are several ways) and look inside.  With all the
rotten beams and wood, it's tough to see the wooden panels.  The first
is right across from you on the same level, but a little to the left.
Hop onto it.  Next, face towards the left, back up as far as you can on
the platform, and leap out towards the wall.  You should land on, or
at least grab, a platform one level down.  After that, turn around, and
you can jump onto the wall below.  Just make sure you don't land in the
small section.  If you fall at all, you want it to be in the larger
section.

Anyway, once you're on the ground, head towards the dug up hole in the
corner.  This will lead to a mineshaft type thing.  Proceed along the
tunnel.  Evenutally, you'll come to a big pit.  This is too far to jump,
but you can get a few extra steps from the planks sticking out.  Just
don't linger on them, because they fall.

Proceed along the tunnel and you'll come up on a muck monster in a pool
of water.  You have to make it past him, but you don't necessarily have
to fight him.  What I normally do is get a running start, leap into the
pool, then quickly climb out the other side.  Simple, and relatively
painless.

Proceed and you'll come to another hole, but this has a ledge on the
side, so make use of it.  Keep going forward.  Eventually, you'll see a
side passage to the right, which has a blue potion.  At the end of the
tunnel, you'll see a rope on the floor.  Press the Action Key and
you'll pull out your flute.  With a silent song, you'll raise the rope
(It's magic, baby!) and you climb up to the pier.

Okay.  As you proceed along, you can easily see two huts.  One to the
far left, and the other to the far right.  Go left first.  There's
nothing in the hut, but try climbing on top of it.  Still nothing?  Turn
around and look at the raised pier.  Ah!  Arrows!  Hop over and grab
them.  You now have three Atar's Fiery Messengers (aka Fire Arrows).

Head back to the other hut.  This has a yellow potion inside.  Take it.
You'll need all the help you can get.  Move out towards the balloon
thing in the distance.

Once you reach a big square platform, a rather large muck monster will
leap out and attack you.  I've found this guy likes to get really close,
so, if he tries to go toe to toe with you, just swat him with the
sword.

Yes, you're partly in the water, but you're okay for now.  Simply head
to the ramped pier in the distance (Use the Look function if you really
want to see your floor) and start hopping along the wooden piers,
and you'll reach your destination, of the dirigible dock wall.  Climb
over the wall.  There are two guards and two archers around here, but
you don't need to worry about any of them.  Just jump into the water,
(it's safe) and swim to the pier on the other side.  Climb up and run
into the open door to end the mission.  Hope you're not afraid of
heights...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cutscene:

The Prince enters the main staging dock for the dirigible.  He looks
above and sees Rugnor and the Princess on a platform above.  She sees
him and waves and screams to get his attention.  Rugnor pushes her away
and roars to the crew.

The crew cut all the ropes holding the dirigible in place.  A herd of
elephants pulls on a wheel that guides the massive wonder of techonology
out of its dock and into the open.  The Prince cuts a pulley line
which vaults him to a higher platform, races out and grabs a trailing
rope on the lowest platform, as the dirigible takes to the sky.

Cut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
************************************************************************

17. Level 9 - Lower Dirigible 1

If you've looked at the Table of Contents, you'll see that there are
four areas to the dirigible.  This is one big puppy...

This first part is actually quite straightforward.  Climb the rope.
Walk inside.  The (unarmed) crew member will tell you the passenger
compartments are above (Duh, everything's above at this point).  Climb
up the boxes.  You'll fight a roustabout here.  These guys are really
thin, but they're no different than any other guard.  I'm going to call
them rousts from now on, to shorten things...

Anyway, keep climbing up ledges until you reach a metal tub like
structure.  Don't worry about the nearby conveyor belt.  Just climb onto
the boxes into the back of the tub, then to the hanging box.  Climb
onto the ledge.  Notice the roust across from you.  He looks a bit
different.  It's tough to get into combat with him, because you start at
a different level.  You can try to soften him up with arrows if you
like, but he has to be killed in close combat, so run up and past him,
and then draw your sword.  If you're lucky, you won't get hit.  Kill him,
please. (Finisher for these guys: Slash, Slash, and then a gut thrust,
and a short lift into the air before dropping him)

Hit the plate and walk inside the compartment.  As you walk in, the roust
you just finished will dissolve into the ground.  The crew hand will tell
you that you have killed one of the Al-Khazin brothers.  When you kill
one, the rest grow stronger.  What this means is that subsequent guards
of that type have more and more bottles of life.  Beware.

Off to your right in this little compartment is a blue potion if you
need it.  Climb out the other side of the compartment.  There a couple
of ways to go from here.  Neither is particularly perilous, nor
particularly rewarding.  You can jump straight off the platform in front
of you, climb the rope, and jump to the other side of the tower, or you
can go to your left, hop across the crate, and then onto the
suspended ramped walkway.  Either way, your destination is above.  Climb
a rope into a metal compartment.  There's another rope nearby.  You'll
have to make a running jump to get on it, because the floor below it
gives way.

Climb up.  Ascend the ramps and you'll face off against another
Al-Khazim brother.  Kill him, watch him dissolve, and make your way
around the platform.  Hop onto a wooden platform near the main mast, and
climb up until you're in a little gear room.  Walk out the other side
and hit the plate to lower another platform.  Go out onto the new
platform and start climbing.

Eventually, you'll reach a large platform with a roust.  Take him out.
There's a blue potion on the unfinished portion of the platform.  Grab
it at your own risk.  Note the moving platform above your head.  Hop up
onto the nearby crates and jump onto the platform when it gets close.
Jump to the higher bridge when it reaches it.  Proceed along this
bridge and jump up onto the suspended square platform, then up onto
another bridge.  Move to the end and hop onto the large suspended crate.
The crate will lower and raise another crate at the opposite end.
Make your way to that crate, hop up onto the square platform next to it,
jump onto the crate, and quickly jump tothe next square platform before
the crate drops.  I don't think it's timed.  It seems to be only gravity
sensitive.

Anyway, now you're next to a vertical conveyor.  Carefully hop onto a
nearby rising platform and ride up.  As you get high enough, jump onto
an opposite platform, then hop onto the rope and climb up to the inner
mast.  A door closes behind you.  Guess what?  You're done 1 out of 4
dirigible sections!

************************************************************************

18. Level 10 - Lower Dirigible 2

This part is less single platforms and outrigging and more actual large
platforms.  It's still a bit of a mess, though...

Climb up and you'll notice three openings.  Take the one furthest to the
right, and climb up.  Climb up the rope and watch the moving platform.
Drop onto it when you get the chance.  Jump onto the bridge.  To your
left is a small enclosure you can jump to and swing a rope to.  This
enclosure has five standard arrows for your snagging pleasure.  You can
use these to snipe at the guard if you wish, or you can just hop up and
duel with him yourself.  The nearby plate will open a small pen with a
blue potion.

Cross the platforms and bridges and take note of the nearby archer.  If
you jump up to the platform near the small enclosure, and step on the
plate, you'll find a red potion, which will make you impervious to the
archer's arrows.  Climb further up and make your jump to the moving
platform.  Jump onto the bridge, and, if you wish, you can use the rope
to climb down and attack the archer.  Beat him, and hop down to grab a
purple potion to refill your health, which probably needs it...

Climb back up, and you'll enter a new platform.  You'll be able to climb
inside and out to fight a roust.  Flip a switch to raise a platform, and
now you can cross to another bridge, and fight another Al-Khazim
brother.  Take him out and proceed onto a new system of platforms.

Whee...  There's a green potion up here, but there's also a guard who
operates a little cannon dealie...  This cannon will fire at you if you
get in front of it, so you'll have to climb around it, using a rope and
the platforms nearby.  Note the chain suspending two crates.  Eventually,
you'll need to step on one crate to lower it and raise the other that'll
block the cannon.  But first, let's get that potion.  To get to the
potion, proceed across the platforms to the left of the cannon, then, as
soon as you get a good position next to the horizontal chain, jump out
and grab it (standing jump).  Swing across and snag the brew.

Head back down, step on the furthest crate to lower the near one, then
proceed to that crate, hop up, and deal with the guard standing there.
Defeat him, and a box will bust open revealing an Al-Khazim brother.

Note the switch and the two pressure plates.  These control the cannon.
Formulating an idea yet?  Yes...  Step on the plate nearest the switch
twice to point the cannon at the Al-Khazim brother, then flip the
switch to kiss him goodbye.  Hop onto the platform he previously
occupied and run up to the elevator.  Don't relax.  You're not done
yet...

Ride the elevators up to the top.  You'll get a small cutscene where
you'll see an Al-Khazim brother entering a stone building, but the door
will close behind him.  If you try to get there, the bridge beneath your
feet will drop you a level lower.  You need to get there the old
roundabout way, like always.

Far below you is the lowest platform.  There's a guard on patrol here,
and there's no reason to go down there.  Near below you is a moving
platform on rails.  You need to drop onto that, and climb up at the
other end.  After which, you'll need to get by a conveyor belt/slicer
duo.  Run up to the slicer, stop as it slices, then run again and take a
mighty leap as soon as you have room.

This is the monkey bar area.  Take a standing jump out to the first bar,
swing over, hop onto the elevator and climb up.  At the set of two bars,
jump straight up to the first one, then swing over to the second one
(let go of the jump key, then hold it down again before you grab the
second bar).  Once you're on the next platform, turn right and you'll
see a rope.  Take a running jump out to it.  Now, you need to swing onto
a moving platform.  Wait until it gets close, then let go and pray.

Ride the moving platform to the stationary one and jump on it.  Now face
to the left and you'll see two moving platforms below you.  Jump on the
closer one when it's under you, then jump on the second one, and climb
up to the bridge.  Tired of all these acrobatics yet?

Walk into the metal structure and flip the switch.  Jump on the platform
that lowers, ride it up, and jump off at the top.  Walk outside, face to
the left, and run over to the box moving area.  This is where the
dirigible performs the essential task of moving boxes back and forth!

Drop onto the floor of that area and time your runs.  After the boxes,
you should see a doorway on your left.  Run through it, and drop down
onto a big crate.  You can drop down onto the lower bridge and deal with
the slicers, or you can simply run and jump to the bridge on your right.
You can make it.

Anyway, now you can hop onto to the spinning fan blade and cross to the
other side.  Naturally, you'll need to time your jumps properly to get
it.  Climb up and you'll finally be able to access the room that
contains the final, most powerful, and most skilled Al-Khazim brother.

Defeat him, and flip the switch.  Whooooooa!  Your foe's body tumbles
out and you almost follow him.  Unfortunately, your weapons do follow
him.  You're now unarmed.  Poopie...

Climb up the inside of the room that's now vertical.  Once you reach the
top you'll find an elevator.  Hop on and you'll ride to one final bridge.

Go to the end of the bridge, where the lift will take you up and out of
these accursed bowels...  Finally!

************************************************************************

19. Level 11 - Upper Dirigible

Hey, this is new...

So, how'd they manage to fit a whole palace on here?  Now's not the time
to ask questions...  Now's the time to get armed...

First of all, note the locked gate.  The key is in the pool.  Once you
open the gate, crawl under the sword-swinging statues.  In the next room,
run straight for the first pressure plate, and leap over the second one.
There's a guard that'll make mincemeat out of you if you don't hurry.
Run into the next room and look at the floor on the far left.  Why, it's
a staff!  Pull it out and experiment with it.  Fun, eh?  There are two
finishers for the staff.  One is an artsy little move where you knock
over your enemy with a smack, spin around, and plant the staff in his
back.  The other one grabs the enemy around the neck with the staff and
snaps his neck with it.  Groovy...

Now, run up the nearby steps and you'll engage in your first staff duel.
After the guard's finished, crawl under the sword-swinging statues, and
under the most dangerous ceiling fan ever...

Continue on.  Jump out the window and run like mad towards the opposite
end of the bridge before it retracts.  Make a jump if you have to.  In
this new room, flip the switch.  Watch the crate drop into the pusher.
Once the crate drops out of sight.  Run over and jump onto it.  Climb up
on top of it.  Make a standing jump off it, run up to the wall, and jump
up quickly.  Once you're up on top, continue, grab the blue potion, and
move onward.  Run down the stairs, and outside, and you'll fall through a
trapdoor.  Whoops!

Hit the pressure plate, then fall through another trap door.  Oh no!
We're back on the outrigging!  *sob*  Well, drop down to the next
platform and fight the guard.  Take the potion he leaves behind and
continue along the platforms.  Watch out for an archer to your right.
When you reach the box pusher, you could keep climbing, etc., or you
could take a shortcut and jump right from the platform to the archer's
perch.  It's a completable jump.  Do that.

Once you kill the archer, take his bow.  That was quick.  Now you're
ready for some action.  Note that you lost your bow, but you still have
all your arrows.  Not bad.  Pick up the three standard arrows on the
floor nearby, and head for the top of the box being pushed around.

Cross the box top to the gray platforms.  Climb up the platforms, cross
another box top, and more gray platforms.  Watch out for the long one.
The middle collapses.  Keep moving and climb up to a red-stained metal
hole.  Red-stained?  Grab the ledge but don't climb up, because the
mother of all food processors is up there...  Watch it with the Look,
and wait until it stops.  Climb up and get down on the ground.  Look up
for a hole, crawl under it, wait for the blade to stop, and jump up.
Next, you'll have to deal with a conveyor and two slicers.  Simply run
past both of them, but stop a little short at the end so you don't fall
past a ledge and take damage.

Anyway, get to the ground floor, and head for the opening in the wooden
wall.  Get up to the ramp and you'll be at the garden (in a dirigible?)
Face off against the guard and move into the next room.  The gates will
slam shut behind you.  Start climbing the tower in the middle.  Once you
can jump to the nearby platforms, do so, and grab the orange potion.
It'll be a little awkward, but you'll have to make some vertical jumps
to catch the ledges.  Jump straight up, then back to the tower.  Jump out
to the next platform and hit a pressure plate to drop a bridge.  Jump
over there, jump up a level, and hit another pressure plate.  Keep doing
this, and eventually, you'll lower an elevator.  Hop on, and your super
jump will wear out as you go up.

Climb the rope.  You're going to drop into a rotating room.  Getting out
is a simple matter of jumping when you pass the ledge.  Keep moving, and
you'll reach a room with hammers.  The hammers are actually pretty easy
to avoid.  You won't take damage if you run into them while they're down.
Pass them, and continue on to a metal room.  Lower yourself down the
hole.  Don't drop or you'll take damage.  The crewman here will tell you
there's poisonous gas in the next room.  Step on the nearby pressure
plate and enter.

You can see the vent on the floor.  You can also see a box at the far
wall.  There's a switch that will open the ceiling above you, lower an
elevator, and release the gas.  The first two are pretty good, but that
last one kinda stinks...  To alleviate it, grab the box and pull it
onto the vent.  Flip the switch, get a step away from the box, and jump
onto the lift.  Ride up, jump off, and face a staff-wielding Darkhold
Assassin.  Kill him.

Head to the center structure and climb up on the upper deck.  Hmm...  A
catapult.  Look up and look for a post with a net in it.  That's your
destination.  How are we gonna get there?  Well, I think you know the
answer, but we have to compensate for a failing in the machine.  Hit the
pressure plate to the right of the catapult and you'll twist it to the
right.  Jump up the ramp leading to the launcher, and you'll slide(?)
up.  Walk onto the launcher, and you'll be thrown into the net.  Climb
on top of the net, and climb once more to reach the very top of the
dirigible.  Phew!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cutscene:

As the prince reaches the apex of the dirigible, the contraption enters
a nasty patch of cumulo nimbi (storm clouds).  The storm rips into the
dirigible, setting a patch of canvas on fire.

Cut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
************************************************************************

20. Level 12 - Dirigible Finale

All right!  We're at the top!  Woo hoo!  Let's go kick Rugnor's furry
butt!

Climb up, turn right and time your movements so you can get past the
flame jet.  Attack the guard.  Once he's dead.  Jump across towards the
rope.  Swing it to the center platform, which will give way.  There's a
rope down here, though.  Climb up, jump off, and climb on top of the
structure.  Step on the pressure plate.  The panels surrounding will
fall down, and the last one reveals Rugnor...  Pull out your staff and
attack.

Rugnor's good, and he's got the advantage of a long sword...  The way I
usually do things is inch towards him until I can hit him with the
staff with a right attack (the longest).  He usually can't respond, and
you can knock him down easily this way.  Finisher: The Prince rams him
with his shoulder, knocking him off the platform.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cutscene:

Rugnor plummets into the mists.  The Prince looks down on him (with a
sword in his hand?).

Princess (from far off): My husband!

The Princess waves from her perch.  The Prince grins and grabs a rope to
swing over.

Suddenly, Rugnor reappears on an odd winged beast.  He swoops up and
grabs the Princess.  The Prince makes a swing on the rope, but his luck
catches up with him, and he misses, plummetting into the clouds.

Princess: Noooooooo!!!

Cut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
************************************************************************

21. Level 13 - Floating Ruins

Ack!  Where the heck are we?

Well, apparently, this was the leftover of a mad wizard, who created a
floating castle in the sky.  Now, all that's left are these ruins.
Perfect for a running and jumping Prince such as yourself.

You'll splash down in the water.  Climb out.  You'll see a harpy across
the way.  They're nasty.  With their long double blades, they can make a
mess out of you.  I suggest making her a pincushion with your arrows.
Once she's down, jump onto the spot where she was, and continue on.

When it looks like you have nowhere left to go, a path will form in
front of you.  Run along it before it drops.  Take a leap onto the
ledge and hop onto the structure.  Time your jumps across the two up and
down platforms, and hop onto the next set of appearing platforms.  Run,
jump onto a swinging rope, land on a horizontal bar, swing onto a
moving platform, jump onto a swinging rope, and hop up onto a ledge, and
get me some coffee...  Wait, scratch that last one...

Anyway, there's a castle-like structure in front of you.  On the left
side is a blue potion.  Run onto the structure, watch for falling blocks,
and start climbin' up the structure.  Once you reach the top, leap out
to the horizontal bar.  Jump off, slide down the ramp, and jump off the
next two horizontal bars.  Run up the steps and you'll see a fiend.  He's
a tough fight, mainly because you can't attack him until you're really
close.  I usually run up to him, pull out the staff and just hit him a
billion times, since he can't block at that range.  He'll drop a blue
potion.

Run up to the next structure.  Hop across the gap to the other side, and
there'll be a moving platform.  Jump onto it and ride it up.  Jump across
and inside.  Immediately rush and jump onto the bar before the wall
crushes you.  Swing off the bar, and rush and jump onto the next
platform.  Climb off and cross the roof of the structure quickly, before
the walls push you off.  At the end, jump onto the railing and walk into
the hole.  Time your movements between the moving walls and drop into
the next hole.  There's another harpy down here.  Shoot or risk the
fight.  Cross over to the stairway, run down it and out to the next
platform.

All right, jump out, hit the pressure plate on the next platform, and
a section of the wall will move away.  Jump across the platforms and hop
up the hole in the wall.  You'll find an orange potion.  Time for some
mad jumping.  Take some flying leaps across the platforms.  You're
aiming, eventually, for some large stone platforms.  You'll see a
spiral staircase thing.  At the top is a blue potion if you need it, but
it's quite out of your way.  Look for a big pool.  To the right of it is
your next destination.  Keep jumping, and look for a big rock formation
above and to your right.  On a stone railing nearby is a sheaf of five
arrows.  You can use them for the harpy on the large rock formation, or
just fight her.  After the fight, go to the far end of the platform and
climb the series of stone platforms.  To your left will be an
interesting statue.  To your right is your next destination.

Climb up to the right.  This is an interesting little area.  First,
you've got ankle-high blade traps.  Walk around them.  Next, you've
got a rotating platform with zapper things and three pools around it.
These three pools connect by cute little warp points at the bottom.  The
pool on the right is your first destination.  Avoid the zapper things,
and jump into the pool.  Once you warp, surface and jump out onto the
rotating platform.  Hop onto the stone platform nearby and make your
way to the odd-looking gem in the stone.  Grab it, and jump up to the
light brown stone platform.  There are ankle blade traps up there.  Don't
even bother with them.  You make the jump back into the pool from the
side you're on.  Dive in and you'll surface in the third pool.  Climb
out of the pool, up the stairs, and make your way past the first ankle
traps and head for the statue.  Note that the eye of the statue is
exactly the same as the gem you carry.

Climb up to the empty eye socket of the statue and place your gem.  Jump
down and watch the hands open up.  The creature, a lamasu will fly off,
but you should be more interested in what's behind the lamasu.  It's
your sword!  Or, at least, a sword that looks like it...  Grab it.

There's a harpy, too, and she's ready for you.  I suggest just jumping
and running past her, unless you want to use up some more arrows.

Anyway, jump past her and you'll slide down a ramp.  At the bottom,
you'll reach a new area, and the camera will decide to play a little
trick with you.  It'll be at a fixed angle, and you'll see a complete
floor, but if you use your Look function, you'll see it's an optical
illusion.  Carefully, make your way around this area, snagging the
blue potion if you wish, and jump over to the fiend.  Kill him
quickly, grab the potion he leaves behind, and run up to the raised
platform inside.  It's an elevator, and a long one at that...  Ride it
all the way, and jump up at the top.

Using the ropes and jumping, climb up to the top of this new structure
and head inside...  Hmm...  Interesting.  First, I'll tell you to push
the box against the closed door.

Now, step on the pressure plate.  Whoa!  WHOA!  Where are we?

Take a good look around.  Hey!  You're shrunk!  Neato!  Run towards the
center and climb the rope.  After you reach the top, climb up the ledge,
run out and swing across the rope.  Run around the rotating disk and hop
off the edge onto the ledge.  Keep running and jump onto the now-
humongous box, and through the keyhole, where you'll grow back.  If you
take too long, you'll regain your size prematurely.

Anyway, cross some more platforms.  You'll notice a green potion off in
the distance.  Don't worry, we'll get to it.  Make your way down and
to the right.  Notice that arrow shrine?  Use an arrow on it.  Weird...
Shoot it at that roust that's pacing back and forth over there.

WHOA!  Talk about your out-of-body experiences.  Use the roust's body to
push the box.  Once you change back, get the potion, and make your way
back to the arrow shrine and up to the structure.  Enter the plaza and
you'll be set upon by three harpies.  No es bueno.  Ah, but the lamasu
showed up!  Run over and leap onto it to finally exit this acid trip
of an area.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cutscene:

The lamasu, with the Prince astride, takes off from the ruins.  It flies
over the ocean until it reaches a land high in the mountains, with
darkness all around, and a looming castle.  The lamasu swoops down and
lands on a platform near the bottom of the castle.

Cut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
************************************************************************

22. Level 14 - Cliffs

All right!  For some reason, the lamasu dropped you off at Rugnor's
magnificent palace thing!  Lucky coincidence I suppose...

Of course, he had to put you at the farthest possible place, but
whatever...

Anyway, proceed along the rather obvious cliff path, jumping and running
as necessary.  No real surprises here.  Note the waterfall.  Note the
cave behind the waterfall.  There are five standard arrows in there for
you if you desire.  Climb up to the highest point on the right side of
the waterfall and cross using a horizontal bar.  Once you reach the other
side, you'll see a door, and a human-sized mound of snow nearby.  Hmm?
Well, you can't do anything here, so proceed along.

Move along the right side of the mountain and you'll eventually reach a
temple.  Go to the right of the temple and up into the nearby alcove.
Note there's a small piece of meat here.  Grab it and enter the temple.
There are a lot of rats in this area, and a pressure plate.  Step on it,
and you'll open the gate that leads further inside (and what the hell is
that?).  Unfortunately, the plate needs constant pressure, so drop the
meat on it.  The meat alone isn't enough weight, but the rats that
swarm towards it are, so head straight ahead or to the right to enter the
inner temple.  Square off against the demon (Finisher: Beheading) and
grab the double knives in the corner.  Hooray!  You're fully armed now!

Step on the pressure plate and the skull will rise, revealing a flame.
This is actually an arrow shrine.  Charge up an arrow with fire and
quickly make your way back to the door and human-sized snow mound.  Fire
the fire arrow at it, and lo and behold, you've freed a kindly monk, who
opens the door for you.

Fall through the patch of snow at the end of this path, and jump over to
the opposite cliff.  Climb up.  Note there's a really thin path.  You'll
have to side jump to grab it.  Inch around and keep climbing up.
Evenutally, you'll reach a broken bridge.  The way to cross is with a
swinging rope in the distance.

Climb up and jump across ledges.  Be sure to be constantly looking around
for ledges that lead up.  Watch out for snow patches.  Sometimes they
conceal holes.  Keep climbing up.  As you get higher, you'll run into a
manrat.  These guys can't block, so slice him up.  Climb up to the
building area.  Hit the pressure plate to the right of the door to open
it up.  Proceed through, and note the Assassin that's far off in the
distance.  Don't go too far forward to attack him, because there's an
archer behind you.  Kill the Assassin and go inside the larger building.
There's a big hole in the floor and a gray potion behind the gate.
Climb down the hole and drop down.  There's a manrat down here, and a
green potion.  Easiest green potion you'll ever get, believe you me...

Run back up and climb the rope.  Once you're out, you can grab the gray
potion to make yourself invisible.  Climb up, walk past the Assassin
(or run him through while he can't see you) and drop back down to the
first room.

Now, you're back outside.  Run across the bridge, which, naturally,
collapses behind you.  Enter the nearby cavern and face off against the
demon, who drops a blue potion when killed.  Proceed along and drop into
the water.  Look out over the right edge.  That's your destination, but
it's a real long drop.  Instead, swim over to the left and climb up onto
the shore.  There's a door on this level, and the plate to open it is
right next to it.  Flip the switch inside, which will turn off the
waterfall.  Run up the ramp and over to the waterfall stream, which you
can pass now that it's shut off.  Continue around the path and into the
next area.  Move along the passage, and you'll enter another temple.
The gate will shut behind you.  There are two buttons beneath torches
here.  Push both of them and the skull will rise up revealing a
nasty-looking satyr guy.  He's good and strong.  Fight smart and don't
die. (Finisher: One of my faves.  The Prince flips the sword in his
hand so that it's blade down, raises his arms up and slams the sword
into the demon's chest.  The demon roars and the Prince yanks it back
out.)

Hit the two buttons again and grab the potion.  It's a white potion, so
it'll make you fall slowly.  Flip the blue switch behind the potion to
open the gate.  Run through, out into the lake, and jump in.  Run off
the edge of the wall to fall to the ground below.  Climb up the cliff
and at the top, watch out for the archer.  As always, you can shoot back,
or climb up and hurt him good.  (He falls off the edge after you kill
him ^_^)

Continue climbing and you'll reach a fast-moving river.  Jump in.
AAAAAAAHHHH!  OOF!  OW!  OUCH!  OW!  Hold the Jump key as you fly off the
edge, so that you'll grab the bridge.  What a ride, eh?

Now, this next part, for all it's dizzying heights, etc., is actually
quite straightforward.  It's basic climb and shimmy stuff.  There's a
point where you'll have to jump sideways to latch onto a horizontal bar,
and there's another point where you're shimmying along a crack in the
wall, and you'll have to drop down to another crack, but it's very
simple.

After a bit of this stuff, you'll make it to a cliff top.  Step on the
plate next to a door to release a staff-wielding Assassin, who'll drop a
blue potion, and step on the next plate to release a sword-wielding
Assassin, who'll also drop a blue potion.  After both are dead, flip the
blue switch in the second tower to lower the drawbridge.  Run inside to
finish the level.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cutscene:

In a part of Rugnor's palace, the Princess weeps on her bed.  Rugnor
enters.

Rugnor: I'm sure your grief is real, my love, but the beggar Prince
is now gone.  Will you never allow me to comfort you?

The Princess gets up and runs to the window.

Princess (between sobs): Get out...

Rugnor growls and rips down a curtain.

Rugnor: You will learn to NEVER turn your back on me!  You will look upon
me when I speak to you, and when I act you will see that I am in every
way the equal of your late husband!

The Princess stops and turns towards him...

Princess: Perhaps you're right...  my husband...

The Princess sidles close to him, and suddenly yanks his sword from its
holster.  He growls.  She swings, and cuts off his left tiger arm at the
elbow.  (You go, girl!)  He roars in pain.  She raises the sword again,
and he punches her in the face dropping her to the ground.  He nurses
the grevious wound as she lies there on the floor.

Cut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
************************************************************************

23. Level 15 - Sun Temple

I was surprised the first time.  This level is actually very short.

Hop across the lava and deal with the female assassin.  The blade
wielders are tough, but they're killable.  The button here will open the
nearby gate, but it requires constant pressure.  Jump up to the next
level, kill the next female assassin, and keep climbing up.  You'll find
a box on the third level that you can push down onto the button.  Drop
down to the first level and head towards the door, avoiding the slicer.

In the next room, flip the blue switch and press the button.  Cross the
moving platforms in the next room with well-timed jumps, and press on.
Avoid the slicer and enter the next room up the stairs.  Defeat the
demon, and head for the far door.  The floor gives way.  Eek!

And... that's it...  Told you it was short.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cutscene:

The Princess regains consciousness to find she's strapped to a large
gear.  Rugnor's associates finish tying her down.

Rugnor: It's a pity that a flower so lovely must be crushed...

He strokes her face.

Rugnor: Perhaps... Perhaps that fate can be changed?

The Princess responds by spitting at him.

Rugnor snarls and wipes his face with his new golden prosthetic hand.

Rugnor: Very well...

Prince (from God knows where): Rugnooooor!

Princess: My husband!

Rugnor: Not a movement.  Not a breath from you...

Rugnor steps back and pulls a lever, starting up the machine.  The gear
the princess is strapped to lifts into the air and starts a slow
movement towards another, much sharper gear...

Cut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
************************************************************************

24. Level 16 - Moon Temple

This is a mad puzzle level...  It has some acrobatics, too, of course...

You'll start by splashing in a pool of water.  Swim out.

Run up the stairs and enter.  In the first room, climb on the rocks so
you can clear the gap in the floor.  Soon, you'll see an entrance to
your left.  This has a sword-wielding assassin.  Take care of him, and
climb up the hole in the ceiling.  Jump across the chasm up here and
drop to the ledge below.  Walk through the small tunnel and grab the
blue potion.  Start climbing up to the doorway at the top.  Ooo...
Pretty catacombs.  Walk around the outside of the room and climb up at
the wall that's shorter.  Climb up to the top of the center structure
and into the hole, watching out for the spikes.

Find the tunnel that will let you enter a temple area.  Climb on top of
a piece of rock and jump across the hole.  Get your weapon out to
receive the attack of the female assassin.  Once she's dead, grab the
blue potion if you feel like it and make a sideways hop onto the thin
ledge on the right side of the pit.  Yes, we see the archer over there,
but unless you saved some arrows, there's little you can do about him.
Cross over and kill the archer.  Note the floor here...

Sun = I
Moon = II
Wind = III
Lightning = IV

Is that important?  Of course it is, duh...

Head into the next room.  Step on the Moon plate.  This will raise up a
crystal.  Nice, eh?  Proceed to the room on the right.  Keep going
through rooms until you reach a room with a hole in the floor and spike
traps.  Face the wall with the picture of moon, wind, and lightning.
Side-jump onto the ledge and drop to the bar below.  Swing onto the
rope nearby and climb up.  Take out the knife-wielding assassin at the
top.  Once that's done, climb to the top of the structure behind you.
Flip the switch at the top, which will lower a telescope.  Go down the
hole using the left or right side, to avoid spikes at the bottom.  Climb
out and head to the telescope room, which is close by.  Climb up the
telescope and jump to the upper ledge (it's tough, but you can make it).

This next room had me puzzled for so long.  You've got a rope to swing
across, but you land on a ledge blanketed with spikes.  The easy way to
get past this is to not use the rope at all.  Just jump off the corner
and aim for one of the side ledges.  Pull yourself up and kill the
archer.  Move on.

You're now in a room with two ledges.  Push the box in the next room in
front of the higher ledge and jump up.  Kill the assassin that's up
here and move on.  You'll find a switch up on this ledge.  This lets the
moonlight into the room, which reflects off crystals and opens doors.
Your task here is to divert the moonlight around here to get around.

Okay.  Step 1 is to get back to the main spire room, which you can do by
retracing your steps.  In the spire room, flip the switch to rotate the
crystal.  Go through the open door and duel with the demon on the other
side.  Continue on to the next crystal spire room.  Don't bother going
straight ahead.  Instead, go up on the ledge and flip the switch to
divert the light to the other door in the room.  Go through that door.

In the next area, you've got a nasty swinging puzzle.  You have to jump
before the spike trap, grab the rope, and let go on the first swing, so
you don't swing back into the spikes.  Let go and you'll drop to a lower
ledge.  Climb up on the left side, where there aren't any spikes.

Next, you'll be in a large courtyard area.  At the far end is the switch
that opens the two gates on each side.  The left side has a potion, but
you'll have to fight a female assassin to get back out.  The right has
the way forward.

The next jumping puzzle is nasty.  First leap up onto the horizontal bar
and swing yourself over to the hanging rope, jump off on the first swing
to the second rope, and jump off on the second swing to the gray rope.
Climb up and face off against the staff-wielding assassin, then later a
knife-wielding assassin.

Eventually, you'll reach a big room.  Flip the switch up here and you'll
start two platforms moving.  Drop down a level and you'll realize you're
back in the second crystal room.  Flip the switch down here to open a
different door.  Proceed through.  Take out the assassin on the other
side.

Time your jumps onto the moving platforms.  Watch out for the flying
darts at the top.  Once you reach the next room, pull the switch that
will open up the floor and a crystal spire will rise up.  Now, you need
to go back to the first crystal room.  Do this by climbing through a
hole in the nearby ceiling and you can make your way back to the second
crystal room.  Run to the first crystal room, flip the switch, and you'll
open another door.  There are horizontal bars here.  Swing across the
three of them to avoid spike traps.  You'll soon be in the third crystal
room.  Simply climb up the rope and proceed through the door.  Deal with
the demon on the other side and press on.  You're almost done!

Okay.  Now, you're in the last room.  Note the tiles on the floor.  You
must step on them in the order of Sun, Moon, Wind, and Lightning, and
keep stepping in that order until you reach the other side.  Simple.

Here's the layout, in number form.

2 4 3 1
3 4 2 1
1 2 3 4
1 3 4 2
3 2 4 1
1 3 2 4

You could probably even trace out a path from this, but, because I'm
such a nice guy, I'll give you some instructions.

Jump on the Sun at the left.  Jump forward and right onto the Moon.  Step
either forward or back on the Wind, then to the right onto either of the
Lightnings.  Go to the right onto the Sun, forward onto the Moon, and
forward and to the left onto the Wind.  Right onto the Lightning.
Forward onto the Sun.  Left onto the Moon, and foward onto the Wind and
you're done!

If you want some fun, step out of order on any of the tiles to die in
different interesting manners, depending on the tile.

Anyway, go through the double doors, and prepare for the final battle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cutscene:

The Prince bursts into the Gear Room.  He looks up and sees the Princess
and Rugnor.

Rugnor sees him as well and shoves a lever down, making the gear the
Princess is strapped to turn faster.  He then breaks the lever off,
sneers, and tosses it aside.  He draws his wicked-looking sword and
roars his challenge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
************************************************************************

25. Level 17 - Finale

All right.  As you might expect, you have a time limit on this level.
It's really short too; about two minutes.

If, at any time, you fail, just start the level over.  It can be done,
but you have to be fast and lucky with your sword strikes.  Don't bother
Quicksaving...

Immediately run up the path, up the stairs and jump onto Rugnor's
platform.  Pull out your favorite weapon and challenge him.  I suggest
not using the knives, just because Rugnor's sword is so long.  Duel with
him down to a half a bottle and perform the finisher.

Before you can lay down the final blow, Rugnor chugs a potion.  He jumps
up to a higher platform.  Turn left and jump on a hanging chain.  Climb
up as fast as possible (You'll get a camera pan over to the Princess to
see how you're doing).  Jump off when you get to the next platform, turn
around and jump to the small blue platform near the big one.  Climb up to
the top and face Rugnor for one last time.

Duel with him as best and as fast as you can.  Take the initiative a few
times.  It's much better than waiting for him.  If you can whittle him
down far enough, you can perform your finisher of a shoulder to the head,
knocking him off the platform.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bad Cutscene - Take too much time

The Princess disappears behind the gears, and we hear her scream as she
is crushed.  The Prince cries out in despair and slumps to the ground,
defeated.  Rugnor steps up behind him, snickers, raises his sword, and
ends the life of the second of two lovers.

Cut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ending - Kill Rugnor in time

Rugnor screams as he plummets from the platform.  He grabs onto a gear,
but his grip slips and he drops further into the mechanism.  He's lost
behind the crushing gears, and his golden hand gets caught up on one
and freezes the machine, just as the massive gear was about to crush the
Princess.

The Princess breathes her sigh of relief.  The Prince leaps over to the
gear and unties her.

Princess: My love!  But, I thought--

The Prince interrupts her by joining his lips with hers...  The scenery
spins around them.

Cut to the two riding away on the lamasu (in full CGI!)

Princess (looking around): Persia lies to the north...

Prince: So it does...

Princess (jokingly): Am I to be stolen away... again?

Cut.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
************************************************************************

26. Final Thoughts

Gotta say...  That ending left me kinda hollow...  Sure, everything's
happy for the two lovers, but what now?  What happened to Assan?  How
will Persia be run without a Sultan?  If both the Princess and the
Prince are running off, who'll be in charge?  Will Assan take over?

Geez...

Anyway, it was a pretty cool final battle.  Best part was the camera cut
to the moving gear as you climbed up.  Added quite a bit of suspense to
the situation...

So, that's it.  There's not much else to the game.  There are probably
one or two green potions I missed, but the game can be beaten without
any extra life bottles, so don't panic if you miss some.

Oh, yeah...  There are supposed to be arrows of death (Despair).  I
never found any...  If anyone at all stumbles across some, let me know.
They probably hid them real well...

************************************************************************

27. Updates

Version 1.0 - May 13, 2001 - Well, that's it.  That was a quick one.
Enjoy the game, and e-mail me if you have any problems...

Version 0.6 - May 12, 2001 - Added from Palace 3 to the beginning of the
Floating Ruins.  Boy, have I set myself to this or what?

Version 0.4 - May 11, 2001 - This is pretty much what I had done some
time in December, 1999.

************************************************************************

28. Legal Junk

This FAQ was made 100% by me, Scott "CyricZ" Zdankiewicz.  You may not
take it in whole or in part and claim it as your own. You may not alter
it in any way, even if you ask me first, and that includes putting it
in HTML format.  Please don’t post this on your site unless you have
express consent by me.  I’ve put a lot of time into this.  Give me some
credit...

Enjoy the game... ^_^