Exult Forum

The entrance with the five runes on pedestals, it doesn't work. I had the Hound sniff the medallion, I had the eskimo give me the password, I placed all the runes correctly, I had the Hound sniff the medallion AGAIN, right in front of the gate - it still doesn't work. I click on the first 'I', and the green stars go up, but when I click on the 'S', it just goes puff. I tried to do it with Translation cast, and I tried it without Translation - same thing. I think I had the same problem when I played the game originally, but I've forgotten how I got past it.

Hm, I just tried all combinations; it doesn't take too long

Good solution there WJP

"The entrance to Skullcrusher is at (2N, 1E). Inside is a corpse with a note
telling of how he locked people in the city. Do not cast translation. Put each
stone on the pedestal that has the same letter on its plaque. Then double click
on the runes in this order: I, S, C, G, I. Note that there are 2 different I's,
make sure to click them both." - quote from a serpent isle walkthrough I dug up just for you Willy

WHEW, I thought I had corrupted game files or something. Turns out two of the runes look almost exactly the same (sideways hearts), and I had mixed them up. Apologies for making a fuss.

Anyway, as a general comment, isn't the whole "trigger this, trigger that" system in Serpent Isle really lame? I can understand that the Hound of Doskar had to be made necessary, but couldn't they have made him actually TRACK something rather than point his nose vaguely and magically have red shimmering walls disappear and make people give away "valuable secrets"? I think it would've been much more fun to actually have the dog reveal some secret passages or etc - I couldn't have possibly missed Shamino's HUGE CASTLE on the map, could I? I mean it takes up a third of the shoreline there, and when you get within two screens of it, Shamino starts telling you how to get inside! And when you get inside, you spend hours with those triggers, hoping some of them trigger the red wall - until you happen to read the walkthrough, that is. I guess the programmers were behind the schedule and had to leave the Hound's tracking abilities out, but there's one quite obvious trick they should've used: DON'T have Shamino telling you about the secret passage BEFORE you've had the dog sniff the sword. It makes sense - the landscape could've changed enough for Shamino not to immediately realize that he's standing right before his castle, while the dog pointing towards the castle might make Shamino suspect something. After all, it is quite unlikely that the player would find the secret passage all by himself, without being told of it. This would save the player hours of trying to find a way to remove the magical wall INSIDE THE CASTLE, only to be told (by the walkthrough!) that you have to go through the whole trappers/Forest Master quest first. I wonder whether the honorable Exult developers couldn't actually implement this little trick in the game.