One thing – after you've found it and closed the chest, be prepared to run like a scalded cat!

Where to go from there is very debatable. There are things in every land you can reach that you can do, and equally, at this stage of your party's development there are things in every land that will get you into deep trouble. I seem to remember that Avlee is one of the less dangerous lands, but there are still areas in there that you will want to avoid. So save often, and keep backup positions!

You will not be able to reach either Celeste or The Pit (The Pit is not the same the The Hall of The Pit) until your party is pretty near being able to cope with them. (I'm putting it like this to avoid spoiling.) Neither one is easy, but I still think that the battle for a Light Path party to get a foothold in the first room of The Pit is one of the finest in the whole MM canon. IMO it's up there with the assault on Castle Darkmoor in MM6.

(Since I'm going so slowly just wandering around, the whole area actually respawned once, so I got to open it for the second time. And after being teleported, I even cleared up all the gogs.)

By the way, I just hired a locksmith to mop up the Haunted House (I cleared all monsters, but I left the chests behind) and go through all Barrows (incidentally, I made a careful graph of the connections between the Barrows which will probably turn utterly useless). And in one of those cabinets, there was a godsend (even without mephistoing)... a belt with Disarm + 12. So I hope that "effective disarming" 31 (or maybe 63? Not sure if it adds to the skill itself (and gets tripled by the Master bonus), or if it adds only to the result) solves the problem for a while.

And I just thought that Celeste was another wizard city somewhere up in the clouds... I wanted to get there mostly to play Arcomage . Now when you say that I need to satisfy some conditions... maybe I already know where the teleporter is. Is it the weird blue tripod-like thing that is right next to one of the teleporters from the "Main Square"? I was clicking it in all possible ways (and I even jumped through the loop on the top!) and nothing ever happened...

You also enquired about stealing. One of the quests on the Dark Path is that you get an item from someone. The obvious and unthinking way to do that is by killing that person and taking it off his/her corpse, but you can also steal it from him/her (no spoilers! ), which I found preferable.

In MM7, I had a good fight when I was traveling to Deyja by foot, and I had some... let's say disagreements with a guy that wanted me to pay "Necromancer Tax". I refused, so one group of zombies emerged in front of me and another group behind. Three of my characters were hacking and slashing at the group in front while the sorcerer was casting fireballs behind, and when the group behind came too close, the group in front was already a bit thin, so I could run right through them and finish them all with another fireball and a couple more swings.

I also managed to do some stealing. Most notably, I was unwilling to pay 500 coins for the lute on Emerald Island, so I just stole it . (I'm also wondering if I could refuse Malwick and steal the wand from him .)

I do remember that one of my parties got down to notorious once (I can't remember what I'd done), and the cost of a stage ride from Harmondale made me wince.

Interestingly, I had to pay the fine in Harmondale.

I didn't perform the burglar trick, but I did hire a locksmith. That increased my disarming to 27, which was apparently enough to do the job. With that, I finished the Barrows (I thought that a lot more barrows would have a barrow key in a heavily trapped chest, but in fact, only the three that lead outside are made like this). It was more of a "sightseeing trip", because the skeletons, bats and zombies aren't much of a threat to me now. I'm just mowing them down in turn-based melee.

Of course I found the Tomb of Zokarr too, so I have an honorary monk promotion now (I seem to be getting promotions for many of the classes that I don't have ), and in total, I got a lot of treasure into my hands. Sadly the items were... hm, unsatisfying (by the way, I love how the characters comment the item identification: "We should just leave it behind!", "It's useless!", "What a piece of junk!" ), but there was an awful lot of money. The situation in the Haunted House was just the same (I had cleared it before, but I had to leave the chests behind). However, in one of the cabinets, there was a gift from the gods: a belt with Disarm Trap + 12.

So, before, I was counting every coin. But now, I'm leaving Barrow Downs with a nicely rounded sum of 100 000 gold. And a couple of wands of fire (these seem to be everywhere). So I can now actually consider a visit of the Red Dwarf Mines in Bracada. The guy that does the archer promotions said that there are monsters that cannot be hurt by swords, and monsters that cannot be hurt with magic in there... and some civilians in Bracada told me that the medusae are immune to magic. They also told me that there are some slimey things in there, so I knew that the other kind of monster was probably the ooze.

And sure enough, it was. I actually depleted the wands on them and it still wasn't enough. Fortunately, my knight has a huge stockpile of junk scrolls, and there was a Fire Aura scroll in there... so he enchanted his cutlass and bashed the last two oozes into the oblivion. And moreover, I could use the anti-stoning elixir on the dwarf statues and rescue all that had been in the upper level. However, when I took the lift downstairs, it was clear that I had to leave (when my sorcerer found that the most basic medusa has 220 HP). I saved and tried to use an invisibility scroll, but the spell was way too short-lived. so I reloaded and went away.

I thought that I would check with the dwarven king in the Stone City now, just to see if I was so lucky that all the dwarves to be rescued were in the upper level. And sure they were, so the dwarven king made a 180° turn and he even started to behave nicely towards me! His engineers fixed up my castle, so I returned there and had a sight-seeing tour. They even cleaned up all those trash heaps! I also found that they restored the castle dungeon. In one of the cells, there was even a secret escape tunnel (I had a good laugh when I followed it for a while and found some bones and junk items at the end .) The only problem is that this of course started the war.

In my throne room, the both ambassadors told me that the audience with the King/Queen will be absolutely great and worth my time. So I visited the both castles and both of the rulers were bored and treated me with contempt, as if I was just a peasant or something. I thought that I can at least have some fun at their expense, and I delivered the false Loren to Catherine and false plans to the Elfking. That serves them right.

Finally I went to Tatalia to see if I could steal the Lord Markham's vase for Bill Lasker (to get a promotion for a class that I actually have). I had to attempt this like 10-15 times before I figured out a way. Firstly I wanted to try to just walk in and grab it, but the guards get angry when I try to open the door. Then I wanted to see if I could just kill the guards, but there was a sizable amount of the guys "of the Sword", and they seem to be ultra-powerful. They casted Heroism and then they were able to kill my characters with a single blow.

So this was perhaps the time for the invisibility scroll? However the scroll was good for only 48 minutes (not much). Fortunately, the spell didn't wear off when I opened the door (the guards have probably some experience with paranormal? ) Then I quickly found that the spell does wear off if someone bumps into me. With Wizard's Eye, I found that there were 5 guards in a tiny room. I tried various things, like waiting for them to randomly walk out of the room (they never do it, at least not in 48 minutes), or jumping onto the table in there (I invariably bumped into someone on the way). So I started to think that I won't be able to do it even with the invisibility.

However, in that last attempt, when I had only 10 minutes of invisibility left, all 5 guards momentarily ended up in one half of the room. I ran into the door and didn't bump into anyone! From there, I quickly got to the next room, and to the vase, with the spell still working. So I grabbed the vase...

...and KABOOM! Of course it was trapped, and I didn't care to pick it up with my thief, so the trap went off and knocked out my sorcerer. And the loud bang made it obvious that there is an intruder in the residence. But I was somehow lucky again and I managed to slip through the guards before they could block my way completely. And what's better, they didn't even hit me once! (I guess they were casting Heroism instead? ) So I made it out, with the vase and still in a pretty good shape.

Now, what to do with the trumpet? I'd been going to Judge Grey occasionally to discuss things, so I went there now as well... and now there's an option "Artifact"? Apparently I can give him the trumpet... so do I give it to Erathia or Elves, who have been equally treating me like the last peasant of all peasants, or do I give to someone who at least looks reasonable? It's a no-brainer, so the trumpet goes to the Judge.

So after some time, the Judge died, and now I had to choose sides. I didn't think about it too much since I already know that I will want to play it for the second time, with the other side. So I chose Light for starters. After some fruitless flying all over Bracada to find Judge Fairweather, I actually looked up that he's in fact in the tavern (probably the only building that I didn't visit). So from now on, hail to the independent Kingdom of Harmondale!

Then I visited Gavin Magnus in Celeste (but not before falling through the holes in the floor — I just had to try what it does. I also like that falling through different holes drops you in different parts of Bracada.) He told me that I have to go through Walls of Mist before he will be willing to talk to me. So there I went... and I must say that I'm totally confused. I get that I have to collect three keys to the three pillars in the central room, and each key is probably hidden somewhere behind one of the archways. However, I found only one, and even after long wandering through the two other sections, I don't have the slightest idea about where the keys could be. I'll have to come back later. (And I like the fact that you need to do it without killing. Another nice way of breaking the repetitive just-kill-the-monsters thing.)

In between of all those things, I also got the first promotion for all the other people, so I assembled the golem (I even did it with the wrong head, but sadly there wasn't anything funny about it, he just went and started bashing me), brought the map to Evenmorn Islands to Dadelus Falk and handed in the vase. And with that, I learnt a couple of master skills, so my wizard now knows spells like Meteor Shower, Inferno, Fly and Invisibility, and the others have something too. I also killed Wromthrax, so sir Quixote finally left my party (but not before instructing me to save a beautiful girl from the hands of a villain ). Presumably he has some windmills to fight.

After going through a general upgrade for some time, I got an extortion letter from Mr. Malwick. I actually did go to Mercenary Guild in Tatalia, but didn't steal anything for them, so after the month, when I came into Harmondale, a band of goblins and other criminals rushed into the town and started killing innocent civilians. This really made the party angry, so they got up Bless, Heroism, Haste and so on and started to punish the raiders. My knight now has Master Spear, Master Armsmaster, and a very nice trident with lots of poison damage, so with all those buffs, he is dealing 60-70 damage. We've been literally swatting them like flies. Sadly a couple of peasants died before we could kill the intruders.

So after killing all of them, I wanted to get my Master Fire training, but the trainer refused to open the door. I scoured the whole landscape and there was no sign of them. However, then I got the idea to visit my castle... Fortunately the golem was on its place, and it did a good job of disposing of the intruders. The funny physics in the game made it actually look cool, because after a mighty punch from the Golem, the goblins and swordsmen would fly through air, drop dead, and then bounce a few times still.

I found those criminals even in the dungeon, so I was happy that the scum actually knew where their place was... until I found that the Dwarves restored my dungeon nicely, but the cell doors couldn't be closed! Such a useless prison... Anyway, I guess that the people of Harmondale wanted some blood spilled, and they wouldn't be satisfied with just putting the offenders behind the bars... So all of them have been put to the sword (I mean, to the spear, flail and 4 daggers, really.)

After this adventure, I wanted to get into Nighon, a place where I haven't been yet. I thought that I would take a short travel from Stone City by a tunnel and then I would emerge there, but I was so wrong. And even when I found the exit into Thunderfist Mountains, I actually thought that I needed another exit to Nighon and passed by... This has been enough aimless wandering for the whole game. After a lot of walking through a lot of tunnels, I however did actually emerge in Nighon, and I even played Arcomage in the local tavern! (That makes it 11 taverns out of 13. I guess I still have to play in the Pit and on Evenmorn Island.)

Slight strategy spoiler (scroll down because I don't know how to do the hide text thing
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It's obviously easier to "kill nobody" if they don't know you're there

First, I finally took a ship to the Evenmorn Island(s). The whole quest with the map is probably supposed to be done way earlier than now, because skeletons and shades die pretty much in one or two hits. (Gargoyles in 2 or 3.) I also got a quest to desecrate the altar in the Temple of the Moon, so I did just that. (However, the first time I came in, I wasn't exactly prepared for being welcomed with Shrapmetals, so I had to run. Then I returned with full spells and cleaned the whole place. And by the way, I quite liked the "telekinesis trap" where you're suddenly dropped into a cell that has a secret compartment in the wall with a telekinesis scroll, which you can use to lift the bars using the lever on the other side.) After this, my priest could be promoted to the Priest of Light and grand-master the Body and Spirit magics (so far). Especially the grandmaster Regeneration is awesomely useful.

(And I also played Arcomage on the island, and visited a stone circle, so there is only one Arcomage left now — The Pit, I believe.)

When we're talking promotions: I also finally cleaned the Red Dwarf Mine and sabotaged the lift, and visited the three stone circles. Moreover, I took my revenge on the Mercenary Guild in Tatalia — now they won't harm anyone any more. They had the Heart of the Forest stashed in one of the chests there. (However, The Oldest Tree wanted the heart only after I got the ranger promotion quest! That cost me quite some wasted time.) And from my wanderings about the Nighon tunnels, I had the Zokarr's skull, so after visiting the stone circles, I just could drop the skull into his tomb. And I visited William Setag and killed him and the two knights that I found in his otherwise pretty empty tower, and of course saved the beautiful girl from the hands of the villain... The experience from these quests made it possible to jump from level 27 to level 36 (great!)

(And by the way, when I was in Tatalia, I also paid the final visit to Lord Markham, depopulated his manor and robbed it blind. That'll teach him, hopefully!) (And by the way, I also looted the Clanker's lab, but I must have missed something in there because the Wizard's Eye was still showing some treasure off the map. I'm not sure that I will return though — I obtained the artifact that seems to be always there (according to some people — I got a Scholar's Hat, which is pretty useless).)

Next, I finally learned about how to get into Arena. (It looks like I never tried to use Harmondale coach on Sunday before...) At last, I could start to fulfill my champion promotion quest. I already have the 5 victories that I need, but all of those were truly some heroic fights. (And some others were good for a reload, for instance one batch of some Lich Kings that first dispelled all my magic and then fried the whole party with I don't even know what, maybe Dragon's Breath. Or a band of Wizards combined with Angels.)

And let's not forget a big achievement: I've finally completed the Walls of Mist. I resorted to Flamestryke's website once more though (that's when I tried various combinations of pushing buttons and pulling levers in the western archway. Then I realized that I was going to brute-force all the combinations on both sides, and then I just determined that I can look it up and spend the time with something better. By the way, is there any way to know what to push and when to pull the levers? Did I miss anything?) I also had to make most of the trips twice because I found only quite late that the keys disappear after use and the Walls of Mist reset every time you enter, so in the end, I was quite glad to finally get rid of it.

This gave me access to some useless Light spells, and of course to the four "advisors" of Gavin Magnus. (Too bad that I didn't play the early games very much. I had to look them up to understand the context a bit better. But I definitely like how this game ties in with maybe all the previous ones. As a MM6 player, I like the Temple of Baa with the same Zenofex that was plotting for the world domination in MM6 (just now in hiding and with an initial X instead of Z).)

In this way, I got also the quest to investigate the Wine Cellar in Tatalia. So I did... and I met a Queen of the Dead. The first time I was fried so fast that I even didn't notice what was it. Reload. I tried again, and there wasn't a queen in the cellar proper, but there was one in the hallway that led further down. So now I could at least make sure that it's she that fries my party. Later I learnt that the spell is Dragon Breath. I wonder if I had such a miserable luck on rolls or what, but it was pretty ridiculous — one Dragon Breath wiped out my priest and wizard, and the second wiped out the knight and the thief too.

Reload. I was determined to try again and maybe devise a way to get rid of her safely... and there was no Queen at all in the whole cellar! The rest of the enemies became mincemeat pretty quickly and the Cellar is clear now. However, I have a bit of a bad feeling. Soon I will need to enter The Pit. As the city of the necromancers, it will be probably full of... ehm, necromancers, and some Queens of the Dead among them. To be able to combat them better, I would like to have my archmage promotion, but I can get that only when I battle through and recover the Divine Intervention book. Looks like a bit of Catch 22...

And by the way, I also found and cleared up the Temple of Baa in Avlee, so that's another promotion up my list. After all those arenas, promotions and quests, I will be able to advance by a sizable amount of levels once more. And of course I will get my Champion promotion, which will make my knight into a real tank. So that will alleviate the problem at least a bit — now the Champion will be able to carry around the three other characters when they're fried dead with Dragon Breath!

Yes, the Queens of the Dead are nasty. you'll find a lot of them in The Pit . . .