Mystic Wood
A place that you’ll come back to again and again over the course of the game. It has both a Transportation Nexus and an easy route to the Underworld, which makes it a highly useful conduit between the two.
There are plenty of mid-game encounters here, including wandering monsters (1 in 25).
Exits
You can’t exit to the West; other directions drop you on the Isle of the Sun at the appropriate place.
There’s a Transportation Nexus here at (07,05), along with a portal to the Underworld at (04,15).
Points of Interest
The Underworld Well (04,15): Use Climb to drop down into the Underworld.
Enkidu’s Shrine (02,13): Read paragraph #6. There’s a Beast Horn (D:Beast Call) sitting at the foot of his statue (02,15). Cast D:Beast Call, use the horn, or use SPR, and the demigod himself appears and offers to wrestle (paragraph #73). Make a STR check against 1d8+15 (so STR 15 always loses and STR 24 always wins); if you win, you get Druid Magic 2 and a bunch of spells. No penalty for losing.
Enkidu’s library: D:Death Curse, D:Fire Blast, D:Insect Plague, D:Whirl Wind, D:Scare, D:Greater Healing, and D:Beast Call
The Mushroom Log (13,14): Pick up some Mushrooms before you visit the Necropolis.
The Tracks (07,09): Use Tracker to go on a roundabout walk through the woods which eventually deposits you at the mouth of the clearing (07,03) with the Nexus.
The Ring (14,08): Stand here, face the pond (S), and use Swim. You retrieve The Ring (+2 AC, +2 AV, H:Cloak Arcane). I’m pretty sure that’s supposed to be a Lord of the Rings reference.
The Mysterious Island (13,05 - 14,05): If you have the Golden Boots, you can go to (11,05) and use them to hop over to this tiny island. On the other hand, if you try to Swim, you’ll wake up the pond guardians and they won’t be very happy about it. Once you’re on the island, you can use Arcane Lore on the shrine to read paragraph #72. Use any weapon (Maces work, but Ammunition doesn’t) to shed a drop of blood on the shrine and receive the Enkidu Totem.
The Lagooners (01,05): A nasty fight, but you get a locked chest (difficulty 2) with Plate Mail (+10 AC, -5 AV), Gauntlets (+2 AC), a Great Bow (+1 AV, 50’, DEX 16), a healing Wand (S:Major Healing), and seven Dragon Stones.
The Transportation Nexus (07,05): If someone in your party has Arcane Lore, you can travel to the matching Nexus on either Quag or King’s Isle. If you don’t have Arcane Lore, it picks one at random.
Zaton’s Grave (05,01): There’s a grave marker here for Zaton, one of the Master Mages of Dilmun. If you have the Soul Bowl, use it here to revive Zaton’s spirit; you receive 500 XP and a bunch of Druid scrolls: D:Brambles, D:Greater Heal, D:Cure All, D:Create Wall, D:Invoke Spirit, D:Beast Call, D:Wood Spirit. This also disables most of the random encounters.
More Druid Magic Scrolls (01,00): A locked chest (difficulty 2) with even more Druid Magic scrolls: D:Death Curse, D:Fire Blast, D:Insect Plague, D:Scare.
Bestiary
| STR | DEX | INT | SPR | HP | AV | DV | Speed | XP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dire Wolves | 20 | 20 | 3 | 10 | 11–36 | +2 | +0 | 30' | 220 |
| 5d6, 4d6, flee | |||||||||
| Earth Men | 45 | 16 | 5 | 10 | 15–60 | +2 | +0 | 10' | 180 |
| 5d10 stun, call for help, flee — can't be disarmed | |||||||||
| Lagooners | 50 | 23 | 1 | 1 | 30–60 | +3 | +0 | 30' | 300 |
| 10d6 stun | |||||||||
| Old Guys | 10 | 15 | 30 | 60 | 21–51 | +2 | +0 | 10' | 240 |
| H:Fire Light @2, H:Ice Chill @2, flee | |||||||||
| Rock Men | 10 | 20 | 30 | 30 | 12–42 | +2 | +0 | 30' | 400 |
| 2d4 breath | |||||||||
| Water Spirits | 3 | 15 | 30 | 50 | 32–50 | +2 | +0 | 10' | 200 |
| 2d4 breath, 7d8 stun | |||||||||
| Wild Dogs | 20 | 14 | 8 | 10 | 14–42 | +3 | +0 | 20' | 200 |
| 4d8, 3d8, flee | |||||||||
| Wild Dogs | 12 | 19 | 3 | 5 | 9–39 | +2 | +0 | 30' | 100 |
| 4d8, 3d8, 3d8 health, flee | |||||||||