LOCATION: The Cave to Rhone is hidden extremely well. Start by going to the town of Beran, where you should stay at the inn, then save your progress. Once you've done so, go to the town House of Healing and stand in front of the black space at the back. Cast the stepguard spell, then use the Jailer's Key to open a gate. Pass through and step onto the portal. Climb the stairs there to exit the monolith, then head west through the forest and over the plains, to the edge of a swamp. Cross partway over the swamp, so that you stand on the third patch from the left on the top row. Face the mountain there and use the Eye of Malroth. The mountain will split to reveal the Cave to Rhone.
This is the toughest 'standard' dungeon in the game, and it will likely be enough to make you grind your teeth in frustration (particularly if you attempt it without a fine guide such as this one). Before you enter, you should first have your characters at somewhere around level 25. At least, your hero should be to that point. If not, prepare for a lot of short trips inside, then warps back to Beran.
Your visit this first time is going to be short out of necessity. You won't be able to accomplish much without making a quick run to obtain the Life Crest. Even if you were to struggle through the cave, it wouldn't do you any good because only the magic of that wizard can counter the optical illusion Hargon has in mind for you if you manage to actually reach his tower.
With that said, even this short little journey can come to an end much more quickly than you might like. Be sure to bring along a wing of the wyvern, just so you can easily return to Beran if your prince should happen to fall in battle. It also wouldn't hurt to be carrying a fresh leaf from the World Tree. Thus equipped, it's time to get down to business.
From where you first enter the dungeon, head up to the diagonal right along the path. You'll see a descending staircase near the head of that path, which you should go ahead and explore. It leads to a massive chamber of more stairs, and there's a good chance that some Horks will attack you before you even have a chance to get your bearings. As you'll find, these zombified beasts are thicker than flies on manure in this particular portion of the cave. It's ironic, as the undead beasts are guarding the item you most want, the LIFE CREST.
It's located in a treasure chest near the lower right corner of the chamber. As already mentioned, though, you're going to encounter a ton of Horks on your way to get it. There's just no way around them, even if you try to use fairy water or repel magic. The monsters don't hit for a lot of damage by this point, but they do have a good chance of poisoning you or putting you to sleep with their sweet breath. Coupled with their lengthy life meters, this can be a bad combination when battles drag on for too long. You can try taking them out with firebane magic, which will potentially do damage to all of them (even if they're split into separate groups), but the infernos spell seems too weak to be of much use. You'd do better to have the princess working with healing magic or just attacking for whatever pitiful damage she can manage.
One way or another, you should eventually make your way to the treasure chest and the prize it contains. The minute you do, go ahead and warp back to Beran. It's time to pay the famous wizard Rubiss a long-overdue visit. You can come back to this cave soon enough.
| Area Weapons and Items | |||
| Item Name | Cost | Attributes | Used By |
| Life Crest | - | Legendary crest | Hero, Prince, Princess |
