The Ruined City is the entrance to the Minotaur Maze, found in the far western central part of the wilderness map.
Upon entering the wilderness tile containing the Ruined City, the following messages are generated: "As you advance into the ruins, you catch a short sight on some strange huge figure... With fluid motions it disappears into the ruins! Something seems to be waiting for you... You enter the ancient street of a long-dead and even longer-forgotten city. Various trees and shrubs have overgrown the monuments of a former civilization. Strange unknown runes cover what remains of ancient palaces and buildings. Some forboding evil seems to lurk beneath the peace of death emanating from this strange place."
The minotaur mazelord guarding the entrance may or may not be hostile. This may be alignment dependent (he seems to be always hostile to lawfuls), among other things and needs further investigation.
There is a lower experience level limit in order to enter the Minotaur Maze, which is level 22. PCs with lower experience level are frightened away. Likewise, there is an upper limit, which is experience level 30. The entrance to the Minotaur Maze is covered by an immovable stone block at this point. Given the extremely nasty nature of the Minotaur Maze, the player is well advised to have the PC as experienced as possible before entering. The fact that it closes at PC experience level 30 is a potential game-breaker. If the PC drops a Chaos Orb in the Maze, then achieves experience level 30 outside, the game is over. Since the Chaos Orb is inside an inaccessible location, it will never be possible to open the passage to D: 49. Note this same scenario can occur with the Pyramid (section 2.9).
The objective is to find the Minotaur Emperor on level seven of the maze. He holds the artifact Axe of the Minotaur Emperor. For those attempting the Ultimate ending, it is compulsory to visit the Maze, since it contains the Weird Fire Starter at its bottom.
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Ancient: Level: 1, DV: 18, PV: 18, Hits: 110, Attacks: 2, Damage: 2d10+18, Speed: 100. Lord: Level: 1, DV: 22, PV: 21, Hits: 150, Attacks: 2, Damage: 2d12+18, Speed: 100. Mazemaster: Level: 1, DV: 25, PV: 24, Hits: 200, Attacks: 3, Damage: 2d12+20, Speed: 110. Mazelord: Level: 1, DV: 30, PV: 27, Hits: 250, Attacks: 3, Damage: 2d14+20, Speed: 120. Living wall: Level: 1, DV: 5, PV: 40, Hits: 200, Attacks: 4, Damage: 1d16+6, Speed: 100. Mage: Level: 1, DV: 40, PV: 24, Hits: 200, Attacks: 2, Damage: 2d8+12, Speed: 120. Wall beast: Level: 1, DV: 5, PV: 40, Hits: 110, Attacks: 2, Damage: 1d50, Speed: 100. King: Level: 1, DV: 40, PV: 30, Hits: 300, Attacks: 4, Damage: 2d16+25, Speed: 130. |
Minotaur lords start appearing on level 2, mazemasters on level 3, mazelords and living walls on level 4, mages and wall beasts on level 5, and kings on level 6.
There is no random food generated in the mazes. The minotaurs leave corpses, but they are not good to eat because they cause confusion. Minotaurs may drop food when killed. The mazes are heavily trapped. It is wise to leave unnecessary equipment behind in order to prevent its destruction. Since a climbing set is required to reach this portion of the map, climbing sets should be left behind. The down staircases may lead to false levels, which must be explored only to find that there are only up staircases with no down staircase (unless the player keeps reading this GB, and plays version 1.1.1). Eventually the PC will find a true level six with a down staircase.
Minotaurs often panic when 'severely wounded' and run away. This can be useful. Minotaurs only set off the traps in the mazes when in a state of panic. Once they reach the panicked state, they seem to set off every trap they cross. It is thus possible to use them strategically to clear a path for the PC.
The player will likely want some way to mark illusionary walls. The easiest way is to drop a gold piece on either side of the wall. The position of the wall will then remain marked on the map even if a monster later picks these coins up.
The easiest and most painless way to complete the maze is to have numerous blessed scrolls of magic mapping and on-demand teleportation. Simply read the scroll, and teleport to the stairs. Repeat until the bottom is reached. Due to the large number of levels in the maze, many scrolls may be required. With some planning six scrolls is more than enough and you might have eight from Bug Temple.
A representative layout of the final level of the Minotaur Maze is shown here:
############################################################################### #.#.....#...#.......#.....#.............#.#.....#.....#.#.....#...............# #.###.#.#.#.#.###.#.###.#.###########.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#####.#.###.#.#########.# #.....#.#.#...#.#.#.#...#.....#.......#.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.......#...#.#.#.....#...# #######.###.###.#.#.#.#######.#.#######.#.#.#.###.#.###########.###.###.###.### #.....#...#.....#.#...#.......#.#.....#.#...#.....#.....#.....#...#...#.#...#.# #.#.#####.#######.###.#######.#.###.#########.#########.#.###.###.###.#.#.###.# #.#.#...#.#.....#...#.#.....#.#...#.#.......#...#.....#.#.#...#.#...#.#...#...# ###.#.#.#.#.###.###.###.###.#.#.#.#.#####.#.#####.###.#.#.#.###.###.#.#.####### #.#.#.#.#...#.#...#.......#.#.....#.......#.......#.#.#...#...#.....#.#...#...# #.###.#.#####.###.#.#######.#######################.#.###.###.#.#####.###.###.# #.#...#.........#.#...#...#.#......#......#.....#...#...#.#...#.#.......#...#.# #.#.#########.###.###.#.#.#.#####.#####.#.###.###.#.###.###.###.#######.###.#.# #.#...#.....#.....#...#.#.#.....#.#.....#.#...#...#...#.#...#.#.#.......#...#.# #.###.#.###.#######.###.#.#####.#.#.#####.#.#.#.#####.#.#.###.#.#.#######.###.# #...#.#.#...#.....#...#.#...#...#.#.....#...#.#.....#.#.#.#...#.#.#.....#.#...# #.#.#.###.#.###.#.#####.###.#.#.#.#####.###########.#.#####.###.#...###.#.##### #.#.......#.....#.......#.....#.......#.............#.............#...#.......# ###############################################################################Autoexploring - can decrease the tedium of exploring the mazes; additionally, autoexplore will automatically find and go through illusory walls.
All you have to do when you find a down stairs is:
If it isn't you're on a false level. Turn back.
The mazes actually contain 19-21 levels, as shown on the following picture. True levels are 1, 2b, 3d, 4d, 5e, 6c, and 7. Optional levels are 4e and 5a. The stairs between levels 4d-5d and 5e-6b are also optional. The top trap types for the maze are shown in the following table – so you don't have to do too much math ;-)
| Level | Top trap type | Trap # |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pit with vipers | 6 |
| 2a | Acid | 5 |
| 2b | Simple pit | 11 |
| 3a | Alarm | 3 |
| 3b | Fireball | 10 |
| 3c | Water | 9 |
| 3d | Arrow | 4 |
| 4a | Spear | 7 |
| 4b | Corruption | 1 |
| 4c | Teleportation | 8 |
| 4d | Water | 9 |
| 4e | Stone block | 2 |
| 5a | Arrow | 4 |
| 5b | Simple pit | 11 |
| 5c | Pit with vipers | 6 |
| 5d | Light | 0 |
| 5e | Stone block | 2 |
| 6a | Acid | 5 |
| 6b | Fireball | 10 |
| 6c | Spear | 7 |
| 7 | Light | 0 |
| Level: 1, DV: 50, PV: 35, Hits: 420, Attacks: 4, Damage: 3d20+30, Speed: 140. |
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In R+, the axe is 4d20+16 and also grants See invisible. The emperor also drops 0-1 random artifact, 1-6 potions of gain attributes, 1-4 potions of cure corruption, and 0-3 random spellbooks. He doesn't drop potion of strength. Also, the corpse can be delivered to Guth'Alak for additional potion of cure corruption.
Like all high-ranking minotaurs the emperor's corpse decreases Willpower by -8 and increases Perception, Strength and Toughness by up to 3 each +6 Pe; but also corrupts for 200d10 CP (about 1 effect) and heavily confuses for 40d24+60 turns.
It is a two-handed axe of colossal size and damage potential, that provides confusion resistance and has a 40% chance to score critical hits in melee.
In R+, it was upgraded. Notably, it has the highest damage potential of all weapons in the game; the axe now has a damage potential of 4d20+16 [20-96],
compared to the Trident of the Red Rooster's damage of 6d12+18 [24-90]. It now also grants the See invisible intrinsic. It appears as "great axe" in
its unidentified form; its weight and the fact that it is dropped by the Minotaur Emperor easily distinguishes it from regular great axes, though.With an unsurpassed damage potential and increased chance to land critical hits, the axe is stellar at dealing damage. Whilst it may be the holy grail for PCs depending on melee combat using weapons – particularly those not attempting an Ultra ending – obtaining and using the axe might pose problems for some PCs. Firstly, PCs wielding the axe are likely to suffer from low DV scores – due to both the DV penalty imposed directly by wielding the axe, and by its inability to be used with a shield. This tends to be a major problem in the mid to late game as many powerful monsters tend to punch through armor – making DV perhaps even more important than PV. Secondly, the axe is extremely heavy – weighing much more than Big Punch, or even an anvil or a huge rock for that matter. This makes it particularly undesirable for PCs with mediocre Strength scores to carry, and even problematic for very strong PCs to carry. Furthermore, the axe is hard for many PCs to obtain as it is heavily guarded at the bottom of the Minotaur Maze. Whilst the reward may still be attractive to PCs that rely on fighting with weapons, for those PCs devoted to spellcasting getting the axe is usually more trouble than it's worth.
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The Weird Fire Starter is found on the ground on the final level of the Minotaur Maze. It cannot be used to light torches.
After closing the Chaos Gate, it can be used on a dormant volcano to temporarily allow access to the Ultimate Dungeon.
Successfully using the Weird Fire Starter in this manner consumes it. It appears as a "tinderbox" when unidentified.
----------------------------- weird fire starter ---------------------------- Weight: 3s When used in melee combat it grants a -4 bonus to hit and causes 1d2 points of damage. When used as a missile it grants a -4 bonus to hit and causes 1d2 points of damage. (opens access to the Ultimate Dungeon) |
