Durlag's Tower (Labyrinth Level Three)

To complete the third labyrinth level dungeon below the tower requires you to first explore one of three initial rooms. All three are quite large and present a unique set of enemies that must be defeated. The exit for each of them leads to a long hallway with four doors. You must enter each one and travel down a short passageway which leads to a separate area that represents one of four elements: fire, ice, slime, and wind. Each contains a specific type of "elemental" foe that must be defeated. You only need to complete one of the initial three rooms to reach the hallway. After reaching the hallway, the other two rooms can also be explored, thereby allowing you to collect the loot and experience offered by both of them.
==Fireball Room==
When you enter the level, you will find yourself standing in a stairwell and you'll immediately hear loud explosions. These emanate from the circular room in front of you and are Fireballs that regularly explode from the center of the room at roughly six and a half second intervals. With careful timing you can walk each of your party members to one of three exits (two doors and an open passageway) within the room without getting fried. There is also a couple of piles of loot on the floor of the room.
Tip: You can also Haste each member of the party or use The Paws of the Cheetah, passing the boots into each character's inventory to get everyone across the room, though the extra speed should not be necessary.
==Bestiary Room==
The top door leads to the largest of the three rooms called the bestiary room. Inside is a massive skeleton of Durlag's dragon Mechezarin. Upon entering the room a Skeleton immediately greets you with a summary of the nature of the room and what it contains.
*First it will tell you about the five stone statues in the room, each one representing some ancient hero that attempted to loot the tower. The five are: Bullrush, Hack, Meiala the Sirine, Moorlock, and Tarnor. They can be brought back to life, without the need for a Stone to Flesh Scroll, by clicking on each of them and they will serve the party for a short while before turning hostile.
*Second it will tell you about the terrible beasts that occupy the room and how you can employ the five heroes to help defeat them.
Note: If you circle around and enter from the Southwest, it is possible to revive one or more of the Five Heroes prior to encountering the Unique Talking Skeleton. Doing so results in the hero(s) attacking Skeleton without it fighting back. Killing Skeleton, before it can talk to you, requires dealing 100 HP, with a Thief in stealth-mode, beyond the Fog of War. Getting any closer, even when successfully hiding in shadows results in Skeleton delivering its monologue followed immediately by its death-scene. Killing Skeleton only gets you 65 XP (divided by up to 6 N/PCs) and no loot; however, the following comparison of each Hero against Skeleton gives the player an estimate of each Hero's worth in Battle:
* Tarnor the Half-Dwarf can only hit Skeleton on a Natural Critical of 20, having no THAC0 adjustments, and so it is slow going. Tarnor might very well turn hostile against the party before he can do any significant damage to Skeleton, or to the other Beasts in the room. "I'm Tarnor. Let's not waste any time with introductions, just show me what needs killin' and I'll get to work on them with my axe."
* Bullrush the Hobgoblin can range-hit Skeleton on a 19 or 20, but only does 1 or 2 HP per hit. Skeleton also suffers a periodic 1 HP of Poison from the arrows. Once Bullrush runs out of arrows, he switches to Sword and can only hit on a Natural Critical (20). "I am Bullrush of the clan Blackmane. There is nothing that can escape the sting of my arrows. Show me your enemies so that I may kill them and drink their blood."
* Moorlock the Human Warrior has a Base THAC0 of 12 augmented by a Long Sword +1, better than Bullrush and doing much more melee damage. "I am Moorlock. All that you need to know about me is that my skill as a warrior is unparalleled. Show me what monsters I might vanquish."
* Meiala the Sirine will first exhaust her four Dire Charm spells on Skeleton, all useless against its Magic Resistance, before attacking with her Bow and Poisoned Arrows, hitting on a 13 or better, only occasionally interrupted by her Sirine Song. Her poisoned arrows inflict more damage per round than Bullrush's. "Greetings manling. I am Meiala, sirine warrior and enchanter. I have no peer among my people, and I will smite any enemy that we might come across."
* Hack the Ogre has the best Base THAC0 of 6, doing the most damage per hit, which makes short work of Skeleton without any need for poison. "Me Hack! Me crush enemies! Show Hack enemies to turn into mush!"
Combat Strategies:
# Click one or more heroes to enlist their help against the beasts.
# Fight and kill the beasts first, then release and battle the heroes for the experience.
# Circle around from another room, and open the doors from the south, as the beasts are too large to enter the hallway. Then release the heroes for battle.
Notable loot from the heroes include Full Plate Mail, Arrows of Biting, and a Long Sword +1.
(If you can defeat the beasts without using the heroes, it is possible activate the heroes and then simply have them walk into the fireball room. This would give you their gear with no fight, but does not give exp.)
==Suspended Platforms Room==
The center door leads to a room of six circular, suspended platforms connected together with wooden walkways. The platforms contain both traps and skeletons (17 total). Unlike typical skeletons, these skeletons come equipped with magical arrows including: arrows of fire, ice, acid, and dispelling. A couple of the platforms also have loot on the floor.
==Garden Maze Room==
The bottom passageway leads a door that opens to the garden maze room. This is the toughest of the three rooms to get through. Hiding within the maze are three Ashirukurus that can deal some serious backstab damage. There are several Greater Ghouls found lurking throughout the maze too. And there are also many traps. In the center is a trapped container with lots of treasure, the most noteworthy of which is Bala's Axe.
==Hallway==
No matter which of the three rooms you explored first, they all exit into a long hallway that contains two greater ghouls and an alcove with stone masks that, when clicking on them, provide hints about the rest of the challenges that await. Beware that a trap is on the floor of this alcove. A few items of loot are also on the floor for the taking. You'll also notice four doors along the hallway. As mentioned previously, these doors lead to elemental challenges that must be completed to advance to the next level of the dungeon.
==Elemental Challenges==
The four challenges below are ordered from top to bottom regarding their location in the hallway. There is no required order to complete all four of the challenges.
 
===Cold Elemental Challenge ===
In this chamber, the chamber of ice, there are four winter wolves and Kaldran the Bear. Kaldran is the only enemy required to be killed here. But this only applies if this challenge area is the last one you attempt. Though good luck escaping without the wolves attacking as well, plus you get four pelts if you kill all of them.
Tactical Note: Send in only one party member that has 100% immunity to cold and either downs a Potion of Freedom or is equipped with Edventar's Gift. If they use ranged attacks, all enemies can be easily dispatched.
===Earth Elemental Challenge ===
In this chamber, the chamber of slime, there is a Fission Slime. It can only be killed by fire, otherwise it will keep splitting and multiplying. Fireball, Flame Arrow, potions dealing fire damage, and arrows of fire are all good methods for eliminating this slime.
Tactical Note: If you buff a strong melee combatant with Protection from Poison as well as a Potion of Freedom and give them one or two Potions of Invisibility on standby for escape if needed, you can have them attack and "intentionally" cause the slime to split. Then have a mage, standing at maximum range, target the extra slime with Agannazar's Scorcher or a couple of blasts from a ring of energy.
After it is hit with fire, the melee character should be able to kill it without it splitting (works about 90% of the time, only a couple times it might split again). Then the melee combatant can make the original slime spit again and, as long as one of the slimes is never hit with fire damage, you should be able to repeat this tactic as needed to raise your party's XP.
===Air Elemental Challenge ===
In this chamber, the chamber of wind, there is an Air Aspect and three invisible stalkers. The air aspect is the only enemy required to be killed here. But this only applies if this challenge area is the last one you attempt. And it can be fairly easy to escape without encountering the invisible stalkers if you don't venture too far into the chamber. Casting Detect Invisibility will reveal the invisible stalkers.
Tactical Note: Drawing the air aspect out of the room and into the hallway will reduce the possibility of the invisible stalkers attacking the party, unless of course you want the additional XP.
===Fire Elemental Challenge ===
In this chamber, the chamber of fire, there are two Phoenix Guards. The male phoenix guard is the only enemy required to be killed here. But this only applies if this challenge area is the last one you attempt.
Tactical Note: Again, drawing the male phoenix guard out of the room and into the hallway will reduce the possibility of the female phoenix guard attacking the party, unless of course you want the additional XP.
Once you have completed the last of all four challenges, the party will be immediately teleported to the chessboard.
==Chessboard ==
You will find your party arranged on a giant chessboard. An ethereal voice will provide basic rules which you should follow closely unless you want to face several lightning attacks. The full rules of the game are as follows:
* Your king (Party member 1) cannot move at all.
* Your queen (Party member 2) can move to any square.
* Your bishops (Party members 3 and 4) can only move to squares the same color as they started on.
* Your knights (Party members 5 and 6) can move to any square, but have a 25% chance of being struck by lightning, regardless of where they move.
* An enemy pawn that reaches your side of the board will be promoted to a queen. This can be a good way to increase your experience, but watch out for the queen's Horror spells, which can cause characters to wander randomly.
* Once the enemy king is dead, all remaining foes will disappear and the entire board becomes safe for the party to cross.
Obviously obeying these rules is quite difficult during the heat of battle. You can ignore the movement rules by using Protection From Lightning scrolls or Potion of Absorption. This really works well if you're playing solo. Just give your character 100% immunity to electricity, go invisible, and stroll right across the board and out the exit door.
One tactic is to ensure you don't travel beyond the squares occupied by the statues and instead make the enemies come to you. Cast Bless, Chant, Protection From Evil and other enchantments, then use ranged weapons and spells, including summoning and area-effect spells to provoke them.
Another tactic is not to move at all and just cast fireballs to the opposite side of the board, potentially wiping out all enemies without ever needing to see them. In any case, kill the pawns, rooks, knights, bishops, queen and king. When you have defeated the enemy king, be sure to loot him for The World's Edge. There is an exit door on the other side of the board that leads to Labyrinth Level 4 which is the final dungeon level below the tower.