The Vampyre Caves

The Vampyre Caves
◄SwordThrust adventure #2►
Author	Donald Brown
Released	1981
EAG number	SW2
EDX number	02-11
EDX set	The Donald Brown Adventures
Native format	Apple DOS 3.3

The Vampyre Caves is a SwordThrust adventure written by Donald Brown.

Premise

From the introduction:

You had been sitting at the bar of the Main Hall when an old man with several companions had approached you. They had wanted to hire you to help them kill a vampire in some nearby caverns.

When you asked why, the old main said with a surprised voice, "That's what one does with them, isn't it?"

In spite of your doubts about the old man's sanity, you took the job.

You met the group at midnight and hiked out to the caves. You had just barely entered the mouth of the cavern when a dark shape jumped upon you. You remember seeing a leering face, two long fangs, a velvet cloak, and then darkness.

You regained consciousness several hours later, alone in a cold cave that somehow felt very comfortable.

Walkthrough

You awaken alone in your tomb with exits leading north, east, and south.

1. Take the south passage and follow it to where it bends east. Examine the room and you'll discover a secret door leading west.
2. Follow the hidden tunnel west to a chamber filled with holy symbols; ignore them and step west through the glowing portal.
3. You find yourself floating in limbo in the presence of the Great Spirit. It asks if you wish to rid yourself of the curse of vampyrism; if you answer yes, it says it will cure you but you must first prove yourself by performing some tasks.

First task

The first task the Great Spirit assigns you is to find the vampyre who changed you, kill it, and return with its body.

1. Return to your tomb.
2. Follow the east tunnel to find the vampyre's chambers. Slay the vampyre and pick up its body.
3. Return to the domain of the Great Spirit.

Second task

Next the Great Spirit instructs you to find the temple of the Death Goddess Kali and desecrate it.

1. Leave the Great Spirit and follow the tunnel east until you reach a T-intersection.
2. Check the room to the north where you'll find a large wolf. It may be hostile, so try fleeing immediately, but if friendly you've gained a valuable ally.
3. Exit and follow the tunnel south to the next T.
4. Take the east branch, follow it to where it bends south, then look for the first exit to the west.
5. Through the west exit waits a hostile cult worshipper; dispatch him and move on.
6. Further along the corridor are two side chambers north and south, but they only contain more violent cultists so ignore them.
7. Continue west until you reach the outer chamber of the temple where more worshippers and priests await, preparing to sacrifice the friendly Zara. If you're feeling sufficiently strong and lucky, kill the worshippers and priests and collect the loot (a golden death mask and some rare spices, plus weapons and armour you can find by examining the prists' bodies); otherwise flee west.
8. In the temple's inner chamber stands a stone idol and a large, dangerous guardian. Rather than attack the guardian directly, hit the idol and both it and the guardian will disintegrate. Collect the idol's eye.
9. Return to the Great Spirit.

Third task

The Great Spirit tells you that the goddess of victory has been captured and is being held somewhere in the caves. Your final task is to find the goddess and bring her back to the spirit.

This one involves some challenging combat so you may want to stock up on allies.

To find the goddess of victory:

1. From the Great Spirit's chambers, take the tunnel east to the T, south to the next T, east around the bend, and south. Go past the entrance to the Temple of Kali and farther south you'll find a side-tunnel heading east.
2. Follow the east tunnel to a north/south T. The south branch is blocked by running water, so take the north tunnel.
3. You'll arrive in a seemingly empty chamber, but examining it reveals a hidden button. Hit the button.
4. Return to the T and go south — the water is now gone and you can continue south along the long tunnel. You may experience an odd flash of light but ignore it and press onward.
5. After several sections of tunnel you arrive in a cloning chamber when an exact duplicate of you awaits, created when you saw the flash. Either defeat your clone or try to flee south.
6. The next chamber is occupied by a pair of lions; again either defeat them or try to flee southward.
7. At least you've reached the final chamber! It's occupied by an unconscious old woman, a statue of victory, and a personification of victory herself, along with two beefy guards.

For a different walkthrough of the adventure, see the SwordThrust Walkthrough by Chester Bolingbroke.

Trivia

• Kali is the name of a ferocious and powerful Hindu goddess. A temple dedicated to Kali features in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).

Gallery

• 
  The adventure's cover
• 
  Title text

External links

• Eamon Adventurer's Guild: SwordThrust
• SwordThrust – Guide and Walkthrough by The CRPG Addict