The first talisman, provided you're playing Gold, is that of Earth. It is being kept by secretive magi, the Hand Brotherhood, in their compound just outside the city. The compound contains four towers, each devoted to one of the four elements; it is likely that the talisman is in the Earth tower. Knowledge of the grounds is limited as only the magi are allowed in the towers, but you've managed to bribe a servant to draw you a map of what they know. Other than that your big help will be the library, as they just love to write everything down.

Objectives:

• Check out the library...
• ...Find the Earth Talisman...
• ...And steal it.
• (Hard/Expert) Find the jeweled reading glasses.
• (Expert) Steal the Medallion of St. Burringden from the captain.
• Steal (Normal) 400, (Hard) 800, or (Expert) 1800 loot.
• Leave in one piece through the sewers.

It's not in the Earth Tower. It's actually right smack bang in the middle of the whole complex, at the top of the highest tower. Naturally. You'll also need to visit each of the elemental towers and safely navigate them, facing hordes of magi on the way. Darkness and sneakery is therefore essential, so make sure you stock up on water arrows. Whole batches of moss arrows can be found as you go, so there's no real reason to buy that many at the start. There's also a high damage risk in the Fire Tower, so if you've got money to burn you might want a spare healing potion. Don't you wish you were playing the original now?

You start off near the main gate, in the middle of a fully-lit patch of grass. You aren't in any immediate danger, but it's much easier on your conscience if you backpedal into the shadows. First off, a word on the layout. The large areas on the map are external gardens with patrolled hedge mazes. Fortunately they're in almost total darkness, so there's no need to panic. The guards have keys, by the way, and there are two to find. The "stairs" areas are accessed from the gardens, and lead to the interior of the keep. As it would be foolish to barge in through the main entrance, these stairs are well worth considering. 1800 is quite a lot, so take full advantage of the purses found there. Note that armed guards occasionally patrol and even enter the gardens. The rear, near the library, is heavily guarded.

Take the stairs to the second floor, and you'll find yourself in the interior part of your map. Servants and guards abound, so take care. The right (air/water entrance) is bright and chock full of anti-thief types, so go in via fire/earth and through the little area to the Central Tower. The library is one floor down, so head that way. The bottom floor is the dungeon, and you'll be going there later. There are plenty of little rooms to stash bodies on this floor, but they're patrolled by servants. The only safe spot is the one connecting to the stairway.

The central square room contains three expensive wine bottles, but is fully lit and occasionally patrolled. If you want the cash, time it right and make a nick-and-dash of it. Head down to the library next. Check the tables for a poem (it's important) and talk to the statues if you're into that sort of thing. Beware patrols, and make good use of water arrows. As you'd probably expect from magi, their library is huge. Two patrol this floor and the top, and two more patrol the bottom. Nip down the stairs for some goodies (water arrows, yay!) and cash, then head to the top floor. The papyrus tells you exactly how to get the talisman, so hurrah for that.

The obvious-looking secret door on this floor can be opened by using one of the books on the adjacent shelf. The jeweled reading glasses are within. Cross that off your todo list, and head back to the central tower. Go up to the very heavily-guarded third floor. Do whatever it is you need to do to avoid the guards there, and explore all of the rooms. Most can be unlocked using the guard keys from before. There's a gold nugget on the beam closest to the stairs. The locked door at the end leads to the captain of the guard's room, with the Medallion of St. Burringden -- and the sleeping captain himself.

The Towers

Now you know where you have to go, go there. In the Water Tower garden (south-east corner), look out for a usable piece of grass and drop down to a secret room. By now you'll be at 1799 gold... Anyway, climb back out and sneak your way into the tower itself. Swim up the empty tower and grab the Earth key at the top.

The Earth Tower next, then. The guarded link between the water and earth gardens is usable, and contains a little cash to push you over the 1800 target. The floating brick room can be easily solved by climbing onto the entrance and then the patrol ledge. Following that is a series of dark mazes, which shouldn't present a problem. The more open area after that can be navigated by sneaking around the outside edge, and then the Air Key waits for you above. On your way back down keep an eye out for a small hole in one of the maze areas. Crawl through this to find a way back to the central tower, but watch out for the two guards. Go down the central column and make your way to the Air Tower.

This is tough, and I've found no real way to get through it without making my presence known. An important note first: the air magi are immune to the effects of the gas arrow found on the ground floor. Save it for later. For lack of a better tactic, leg it once you reach the next floor. Run through the big blue room and hop onto the moving platform. Continue to run around the next area, and with a bit of luck the mage won't get a shot in. Ride the platforms and, when given a choice, go for the higher exit. With the Fire Key under your belt, take the lower one to get back to the central tower.

The Fire Tower is naturally evil. Brightly lit, filled with lava, and metal platforms everywhere. There are also glowing pads on the floor; these are only safe to tread on when completely black. Moss up as you see fit and maybe use that gas arrow if you're in trouble. Another note: fire magi are immune to lava but can still drown in it, so make sure you're very careful if you knock them out. Near the top is a tall room guarded by two magi in a huge lava pool. Quench the torch near the door and moss up that area a little, then open it and deal with the two guards outside. This'll come in very handy for later. That done, just run like stink all the way to the top of the room. The magi won't hit you if you keep moving. The final room houses the next key, but the chest needs picking while standing on those glowing plates. Don't chance it: when you see them start to change, get off and wait. You can't move from one to the other without taking damage. The bridge over there is just normal metal, by the way. Don't fear it.

The Talisman

Head back down and take the exit to the central tower. This time go up, and visit the very top of the tower. Listen in on the conversation, grab the loot and then collect the correct talisman. Remember the poem? The sword with the hand is the right, so count anticlockwise. Picking the wrong one is definitely not advised.

Time to take your leave. Go all the way down to the dungeons, poorly guarded and full of interesting treasures. There's really not much advice to give here, as there's little choice, little opposition and nothing new. A secret door hides in a dead end, and beyond this is a sewer. Dive in and follow it to the end to escape the compound.