Spelling Lessons

Magic-Users will want to have decently-high Intelligence and Magic abilities for this next part.  You'll probably use quite a few MP.  Grab a Magic Potion or two, and head east from the Healer's house, then two screens north and two more screens east (or, starting at Erana's peace, go south, west, south, east, east, south, east, east).  Go toward the base of the mountain, past the two signs that appear, and then up the mountain.

You'll find yourself at the front door of an elaborate purple house with an ugly (the narrator's term, not mine) Gargoyle above the entrance.  He might remind you of the Bridgekeeper in Monty Python and the Holy Grail as he asks you three questions before you're allowed entry.

The first question will always be "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?"  Answer truthfully--he knows the answer but is just testing you to make sure you're honest.  Type in (VGA users will simply select) the name you gave your character when you created him.  If you can't remember your name (it's happened to me a few times), you can open your character sheet and check.  Capitalization doesn't matter.

The second and third questions are slightly more difficult.  He'll ask two of the following (answers are provided):

When you've answered all three questions correctly, the door will open.  Go on in (3) and walk straight up to the tower.  You can look around the room you're in, but don't touch anything or try to go into the other rooms.  Erasmus will invite you to have a seat, and Fenrus will appear as well.

•   Magic-Users:  Erasmus will immediately start talking to you about the Mage's Maze.  You know all the spells required, so answer 'yes' for each one he asks about.  Say 'yes' again when he asks if you want to play (M5).  Click here if you need instructions.  When you beat him, he'll teach you the Dazzle spell (M12).  You can play again whenever you ask, and he'll always offer a game at the beginning of every visit.
  

You can talk to Erasmus to your heart's content (1), but make sure you don't ask him too many questions that don't interest him.  Also, he'll fill silences with jokes, and you need to humor him (pun intended) by saying that no, you don't know the answer.  Most of the jokes are pretty bad, but Fenrus makes up for it.  And if you're going to be playing the other four QFG games, you should start getting used to bad puns.

For those who don't like metagaming (i.e., having your character know something he shouldn't), be sure to question Erasmus about as many things as possible, specifically the curse on the Baron, and he'll mention a Magic Mirror that he misplaced.

Do be warned, as a wizard, Erasmus is subtle and quick to anger.  Spoiling his jokes by saying that you've heard them before (even if he's repeating ones he's already told you), trying to fight him, or asking too many questions that don't interest him will get you kicked out and make the entry questions harder for later visits.

When you've finished talking to Erasmus, stand up and he'll teleport you to the bottom of the mountain.

The rest of the day is yours to spend as you see fit.  We're getting close to the endgame, so try to get your skills up as high as possible, especially if you want to export your character into QFG2.  I personally like to have as many skills as possible at 100 before I export, but it's entirely up to you.  If your skills are too low, it probably won't be worth exporting, though.  <plug>Check out the shrine for Quest for Glory 2: Trial By Fire</plug> to see the starting statistics for its newly created characters, and compare them to yours.

• Fighters will want to keep fighting monsters (you should start to see Cheetaurs and more Mantrays during the day, and Trolls at night) and practicing with the Weapon Master.  You can also buy a few daggers from Kaspar and go to the archery range to get your Throwing skill up.  There's also a small sidequest you can do when your combat skills are extremely high.
• Magic Users should be practicing spells at every chance, and perhaps fighting monsters to work on Strength, Agility, and Vitality in order to get those HP and SP up.  Skill at individual spells isn't very important outside of the Mage's Maze, so you can just use your low-mana spells (Open and Detect) to practice.  Also, if you haven't already, go back to the Kobold's cave and kill him.  Cast Trigger to blow up his chest and wake him up, then use Flame Dart to take him out.  If your magic skill and skill with the Flame Dart spell are decently high (they should be by now), it should only take a couple of Darts to do the job.  Be sure to get the money that the exploding chest scattered across the floor, and your score should now be caught up to my list.
• Thieves should have Throwing at 100 soon, as well as a large supply of cash from beating the Chief at Dag-Nab-It.  Pick Locks should be pretty high (and your nose should be exceptionally clean), but Climbing and Stealth might still be in the middle (don't worry about this just yet--Stealth is next to impossible to max out and Climbing can be raised to 100 at the Brigand Camp).  You might also want to work on your combat skills, though you won't need them as much as Fighters will.
  

Also, be sure you've killed that Cheetaur and taken its claws.  Give the claws to the Healer (2) for five silver apiece.  You'll also want to kill a Troll (F4) and get its beard.  When you give the beard to the Healer (2), she'll trade it for two Healing Potions.  Cheetaurs can be found in most places of the forest at night, and Trolls are best found in the southern end of the valley, between the Antwerp and the Brigand Gauntlet, also at night.

* I'm going to assume that Fighters have found and killed a Red Saurus (F4) by now.  If you haven't, do so.  They'll be easy compared to the Trolls.

Click here to be polite to rude people, or here to meet the Brigand Leader.