I did not even think it was possible to head back into the cloud side of World of Xeen. It turns out answers I seek having been lurking over there this entire time. It sure took me long enough to discover it by accident no less.

So, I spent way too much time on the dark side of the map trying to work out a couple of clues about what I was supposed to be doing. Such as going to the four corners and finding some kind of machine. I even went up on the sky bridge to see if what I needed to do was up there.

After a while and explored where I could use my next set of keys I had. With no luck finding those dungeons either. I decided to return to a place I had left unexplored.

I had quickly been in the Volcano Caves once before. At the time I did not want to get sidetracked and oh man it would have taken me so far off the rails I had. I’m kind of glad despite wasting a lot looking. That I had put this place off until now.

I noticed just how lacking the Volcano Caves were. Outside of some creatures and lots of lava to burn my feet on. There was not much else going on other than a puzzle that put some stepping stones around the map.

I quickly cleared from the third floor to the first like it was nothing. Everything in there I could one hit. I then exited out of the front of the place. I put myself in some strange areas I had not noticed before.

Since I could see lots of lava around me. I hit town teleport. Without even thinking about things, I pressed one like I usually do. I then was in a town. I however could not find the blacksmith!

Was I in Castleview? No, I was not. I opened the map to realize I was in Vertigo. Expect I knew Vertigo was on the cloud side of the map. As it turns out the Volcano Caves was a tunnel from the dark side to the cloud side of the game. I had a way to travel back this entire time and had no idea.

I thought it could not be possible. Could the machines I'm supposed to activate be on the cloud side of the game? It would not take me long to find the answer to that. I ran towards one of the corners of the map.

While it was kind of hidden. I could tell by looking at the map that it seemed there was a tiny little island off the main section of land. While I could not see a clear path to just teleport over there. I decided why not try at worst I'd just get killed.

To my shock, I landed on solid land. There was also this strange machine reflector on it. I hit the switch to turn it on. I then ran to the other corners of the map and found hidden behind trees, mountains, or just barely in sight. Other little islands with the remaining machines I needed to activate.

Along the way, I also found an area on the map that had been covered heavily in lava tiles. It was closer to where I came out of the cave from. Due to all the lava damage, I had never explored much of such areas during my original play on the cloud side before heading over to the dark side.

I ended up finding a dragon cave. In need of gold and a fun time, I decided to see if I had the key for it and I did. I have no clue if this has been here since I started World of Xeen or if it just appeared since I'm now up to that part of the game. I was just thrilled to have another dungeon to run.

Thankfully I did not fully enter into this cave broke. As there were objects that taxed me a few times over for 2k gold. Once for coming into contact with them. Usually again for have to turn since they were placed in corners.

Not what I was expecting. I was the one expecting to be making some gold here. Not losing a bunch of it. Thankfully there were some treasures to be looted in here.

This place had lots of lava. Along with fire and forest dragons. This place had a lot of Dragon kings to take out. I recall back in the early days how much of a struggle running into any kind of dragon was. I smoked these things and if I could have made a nice brisket out of them, I would have.

There were also many of these strange dragon books. They required having enough intelligence stat to even interact with them. They would give out at this point quite tiny amounts of experience like 150k. Along with giving a title for each one I interacted with.

While most of my group would interact with the lower-level ones. There became a point where only my sorcerer could read the dragon books. I have no idea if this is doing much of anything for me. It was at least something different.

After exploring around this single-floor dungeon. I was off exploring again. I had a dragon tower key in my inventory to use. I decided it was time to do some swimming in lava. It’s a good thing I did. I ended up finding the dragon tower.

The first floor was mostly filled with dragons and lava. Along with a guy who wanted to buy a dragon egg. I ended up finding one and giving it to him. Just for him to use it in a potion and get turned into a dragon.

There were then three doors up to the next floor. The next two floors are divided into three sections. I ended up taking the left side first. Both the left and right sides were filled with dragons and phat piles of gold.

Now this is what I was looking for. Gold everywhere I went. I was shoving every piece of gold I could into any space I had left in my pockets, boots, and even hats. I had an insane number of levels to train up and this place was going to be my ticket for paying some of it.

To my shock as I was running down the right side of the tower. I found some bones that gave me 10 million experiences. I don’t know how many more levels of training I would now need from that. I suppose it’s better to have too much experience than not enough. I now needed even more gold.

It was then time to make my way down the middle of the tower floors for the next two floors. While there would not be anything to loot. There was no shortage of dragons needing to be cleared.

This led me to the fourth floor of the tower. It was filled with dragon kings, chests, and books for experience. There were enough dragons in here to give me a bit of a challenge. I’d need a proper rest after a few fights on this floor.

After I cleared out the dragons. I attempted the chests. My robber stood no chance of opening them. I’d later return after finding a temporary +50 level fountain up on the cloud level of the dungeon. The chests were filled with obsidian and other good loot.

I also found two books that each gave ten million experience per character. As if I thought that was insane. I then took the stairs up to the cloud floor of the dungeon. Where I found crystals that would give a single character 3 to 5 levels. No experience worth of levels. Actual levels.

I ended up pumping most of the levels into my cleric and sorcerer since they usually do the heavy lifting anyway. It was insane just how quickly the last thirty or four levels flew by on them.

While up there I also found another ID card. I ended up returning to the basement of Alamar. I however only unlocked a key to another dungeon. The person I was trying to recuse was at least behind another wall that required yet another ID.

Final Thoughts

It was quite thrilling to be back on the cloud side again. After I was done fighting the dragons I went and explored around in some of the harder areas that were no longer so tough. I even went and attempted to resolve a couple of random side quests I had never finished before calling it a night.

Information

Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Might And Magic IV And V World of Xeen.

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