Yellow Mud Toad
A sinking, rotting, falling-apart old city, and yet one that marks a pivotal “mid-game” milestone. You find the Golden Boots here, which opens up a bunch of previously inaccessible locations.
Exits
East: Quag (26,08), which allows you to skip a Murk Tree fight.
South: Quag (25,07), which doesn’t.
There’s also the hidden staircase down to Lanac’toor’s Laboratory, once you repair the statue at (07,10).
Points of Interest
The Town Healer (10,04): Charges $4 per point of Health, just like everyone else.
The Souvenir Shop (13,06): A source of Dragon Stones, Bolts, and Arrows. But the really interesting thing you can buy here is an Ankh, which you can give to the dragon in Lansk in exchange for the Dragon Gem. (No, there’s no hint about this; you just have to guess.)
The Cavern Tavern (12,14): The barkeep knows a bunch of interesting gossip, but there’s no one to recruit here. However, if you navigated Phoebus correctly, Berengaria is waiting for you at (13,14). Disappointingly, this doesn’t advance the plot any, but you do receive scrolls of S:Rage of Mithras, S:Holy Aim, S:Armor of Light, S:Major Healing, and S:Summon Salamander.
The Statue of Lanac’toor (07,10): Read paragraph #20. If you collect the four stone body parts from around Dilmun, you can use them here to repair the statue, which nets you 500 XP and opens the stairs down to Lanac’toor’s Laboratory.
The Temple of the Mud Toad (04,13): Read paragraph #17 to receive the quest to stop the Mud Leak. Once you seal up the leak, return here and read paragraph #113 to receive the Golden Boots (+2 AC, allows jumping).
The Mud Leak (05,12): Mud Toad is filling up with mud from this spring. You can stop that by casting D:Create Wall at the space between (06,12) and (05,12).
The Crumbling Walls (14,06; 14,12): Use Climb to pass through the rock slide.
The Militia (02,02): Climb through the walls at (14,12), then walk all the way around until you meet the militia (paragraph #32). Kill them and keep searching E until you find their treasure at (06,02). You find scrolls of H:Water Summon and H:Reveal Glamour, plus the Barbed Flail (1d30, +2 AC, STR 16), Mountain Sword (1d30, +3 AV, +2 AC, H:Earth Summon, requires Mountain Lore 2), and a pair of Lucky Boots (+1 AC).
Bestiary
| STR | DEX | INT | SPR | HP | AV | DV | Speed | XP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crazed Militamen | 15 | 15 | 09 | 10 | 23–65 | +3 | +0 | 10' | 150 |
| 7d6 – awards gold | |||||||||
| Frothy Swamp Dogs | 12 | 40 | 03 | 05 | 24–44 | +3 | +0 | 30' | 170 |
| 1d6 breath, flee | |||||||||
| Loopy Citizens | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 | 21–51 | +3 | +0 | 10' | 120 |
| flee | |||||||||
| Robbers | 05 | 15 | 05 | 05 | 21–30 | +4 | +0 | 10' | 150 |
| 7d6, 10d10 stun, call for help, flee | |||||||||
| Snap Turtles | 12 | 10 | 01 | 01 | 25–60 | +5 | +0 | 20' | 150 |
| 7d6 | |||||||||
| Swamp Dogs | 20 | 40 | 03 | 03 | 24–60 | +2 | +0 | 60' | 150 |
| 1d6 breath, 8d6 | |||||||||
| Swamp Rats | 15 | 12 | 03 | 06 | 24–60 | +12 | +0 | 30' | 120 |
| 8d6, dodge, flee | |||||||||
| Swamp Turtles | 08 | 24 | 03 | 03 | 23–50 | +3 | +0 | 30' | 160 |
| 10d4 | |||||||||
| Thieves | 10 | 18 | 12 | 14 | 31–73 | +4 | +0 | 20' | 120 |
| 1d4 x ¼, 10d8 stun, 3d4, 3d4 piercing | |||||||||