| The land Ilshenar can be reached by stepping
into one of the Britannian moongates. You can then select your destination
by picking one of the eight virtues as seen on the map
below (click the picture to enlarge). Let me take you by the hand,
across the new lands, as we visit each of the eight shrine moongates and
their surroundings. Ilshenar is roughly doughnut shaped, with a recently
added new landmass in the middle and various forms of terrain scattered
around.
Spirituality
Located on the far south-east side of the map. One of the most safe spots to enter
Ilshenar is located here. Walking north a bit leads into a large forest
where wild horses seem to be waiting for their new masters. Also in these
forests a new species, the unicorn, can be found. The unicorn can be controlled
by females only. Also small pixies floated about in this forest, with
names like Xian, Klian, Piku and Liera. Any form of communication failed
and their actual purpose eludes me, although I did notice them attacking
a suspicious looking person on sight. Walk to the east from here to find
the entrance to what I call 'the dungeon of blood'. Skeletons guard the
entrance and you'd better be sure that you want to see the inside of that
dungeon because the exit of the dungeon is not functional at this moment,
leaving you stranded inside... The hell cats, blood elementals, imps and
the collector of souls will have a blast! At the far end of the dungeon
one can find a new monster called 'succubus' that will surely appeal to
the male hormones. Going farther north from the shrine leads to the Twin
Oaks Tavern and beyond that to the spider forest where giant spiders and
trolls await the lone traveller. Twin Oaks Tavern looks out over the large
Termir Ilshen (Ilshen's Lake). In the middle of the lake one can see Reg
Volom (Home of the Spiritual Wings). Reg Volom can be reached by using
the teleporter found in the spider cave north of the Tavern. Going west
from the shrine of Spirituality leads to a sheep farm and beyond that
lies the next shrine.
Sacrifice
Due north of this shrine lies a deserted town called Lakeshire that is occupied
by gazers and elder gazers. North-west of the shrine one can find a ratmen
infested area and a very large dungeon-like cave where ratmen and earth
elementals seem to be guarding a jewel mine. Moving farther north leads
across a healer's forest to a path across the mountains. Tucked away against
the mountains on your right hand lies Bet-Lem Reg (Home of the Small).
The path leads north, then west past Pormir Priin (River of Unity), then
south to the next shrine.
Justice
This area swarms with imps, mongbats and headless ones, and close to the river
the water elementals have their home. If you decide to use this moongate
as destination, prepare for immediate battle upon arrival. Eventually
the path leads south and west to another deserted town called Mistas (Balance).
Without a doubt built by humans but currently occupied by ogres, ratmen
and lizard men. A narrow path leads north from the town into the mountains.
(at this moment the path comes to a halt at a tunnel entrance, but should
lead to a secluded mountain pass that ends with a dungeon entrance) South
from the city a bridge takes the road into a thick forest where imps,
mongbats, corpsers and reapers are plenty. Once over the bridge, going
south through a small mountain pass leads to the next shrine.
Honesty
Located in the south-south-west area of the map. Honesty is another monster infested
shrine, where mongbats, imps and gazers await the non-suspecting adventurer.
Prepare to run north into the thick forest or west across a grassy mountain
path to dodge the monsters. Going west eventually leads into the swamps,
where alligators, large toads and lizardmen dwell. Be aware of the walking
swamp tentacles there. All the way west lies a lizard men camp with an
entrance to a passage that leads to an Ancient Wyrm's lair. Going south
from the camp through a small pass leads to an area where imps, air elementals,
efreets and fire elementals live. In that area another entrance to a swamp
area secluded in the mountains can be found. In that swamp area I found
two impressive beasts (other than the poison elementals that made life
miserable), a nightmare and a horse named 'a ki-rin'. A magnificent beast
that can only be controlled by males. Since the poison elementals got
me first, there's little more I can tell about this special type of horse.
Going north from the lizard camp leads to a large swamp and grassland
area, called Nox Tereg, with the thick forest to the east. Located on
the grassland is an undead shack, where all kind of lesser undead roam.
Tucked away in the thick forest lies a large deserted building. Stairs
on the ground floor lead down into a large dungeon, that has multiple
exits. One exit leads back to the building, another exit leads to another
building a bit more north in the thick forest, a third exit leads to the
area with the poison elementals, nightmare and ki-rin horse and the fourth
exit leads to the secluded mountain pass that eventually leads to the
town Mistas. In that last pass I stumbled upon more pixies that also can
be found near the Spirituality shrine. The dungeon itself is very large
and is home for about all types of ratmen, undead, evil wizards and daemons.
Humility
At the north-west end of the large grass area one can find the shrine of Humility. This is also a reasonable safe entry point to Ilshenar, but rather far away from any form of civilization. Due north of it the undead haunt and to the east and north-east the thick forest extends. Be careful when travelling in that area. gazers, imps, trolls, fire elementals and efreet have been spotted amongst the thick foliage. Walking far north-east one can find the next shrine, which lies close to the 'hole' of the 'doughnut'.
Honor
Another hunting ground for monsters, that is to say... for monsters to hunt you!
The thick undergrowth, verns and other jungle plants make it hard for
you to see where to walk and the Giant Serpents and Wyverns seem to be
able to move much faster than you. My advice: stay on the roads as much
as possible. Going north-west of this shrine leads to a village of brigands,
who *do* attack on sight. Luckily two healer's huts can be found east
and far west of this village. Going north-west you can find Termir Mistas
(Lake of Balance) and the entrance to Terort Skitas (Temple of Knowledge)
which holds the entrance to a dungeon with all kinds of undead and other
tough monsters. Going all the way north-east leads to an area next to
Pormir Felwis (River of Lies) where wyverns, drakes, dragons and elder
gazers roam. Don't go there unless you have to. Going straight north from
the shrine of Honor leads to a place where you can wade across the river
Pormir Harm (River of Harmony) to a regular forest (as opposed to the
jungle before). It felt as if I was walking on water, but it can also
have been the liches and lich lords chasing me there that made it look
like that...
Valor
At the far north end of the forest one can find the Valor shrine, tucked away
in a small mountain pass. Somewhere in the middle of the forest a healer
lives in a hut. Forest ostards live in the forest, as do gazers, elder
gazers, trolls and the occasional wyvern. Moving east you will eventually
bump into some titans and cyclopean warriors that call the north part
of the forest 'home'. Still moving east a narrow mountain path leads up
into the mountains to the Pass of Karnaugh, the domain of the undead.
A huge two-story stone building, about the size of two keeps, contains
about everything a normal traveller would do anything to avoid. Liches,
lich lords, dread spiders, poison elementals, rotting corpses, mummies,
blood elementals, stone gargoyles, elder gazers and giant black widows
will do their best to make your stay there as miserable as possible. Suppose
you make it through the maze-like building, then you still need to work
your way through the next mountain pass that leads down and is home to
wyverns, drakes and a handful of harpies. Close to the exit of that pass
lies the next shrine, so any sane traveller would have used a moongate
to travel there.
Compassion
The final shrine, and possibly the most interesting one. Close by, to
the south and to the east, you can find some settlements of people living
in tents and wagons. Some of the more important shopkeepers can be found
there; a bank, a healer, stables, a smith and a mage shop. Crossing two
bridges to the east (*not* stopping at the undead infested Ancient Citadel
half-way) leads to a desert area where more outposts can be found with
more healers, another bank, an inn, a jeweler, a provisioner, more stables
and even more healers. Going north-east from the shrine leads past a mountain
called "Alexandretta's Bowl" and mountains that hold the nest
of an Ancient Wyrm to a narrow mountain pass into Montor (Mountain of
Passion). Once without a doubt a very pretty town at Termir Flam (The
Lake of Fire), currently infested with creatures such as daemons, stone
harpies, succubii, lava lizards and other fierce creatures. At the far
east side a mountain path leads to the aforementioned desert area. Going
all the way south from the shrine one can find a mountain pass that leads
across a bridge and ends north of the spider forest near the Twin Oaks
Tavern, close to where we started this tour. I hope to find some transportation
across the water soon, so that I can tell you what lies at Lenmir Anfinmotas
(Beginning of Gentle Waters)
The Central area of Ilshenar, which was added during the Gargoyle Scenario, contains a Gargish shrine. Click on the picture below for more details of this area.
Ilshenar
(click to enlarge)
The yellow H on the map indicates a healer, the blue T indicates a town or settlement.
Click on the map to see more detailed information.
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