After spending a decent chunk of time above ground I decided it was time to run another dungeon. I had hopes unlike the couple of others I had checked out. I now had enough levels and the gear to fully clear the place out.

I ended up running the Slithercult Stronghold. While the name sounds impressive. The place was mainly filled with some strange creatures like candle creeps which looked like candles. Along with rangers and cobras. After all, you can’t have a dungeon with a snake name and not have some kind of snake hitting you all the time with poison.

Things like poison ended up being a bigger issue than I had hoped for. At least it was not like Might and Magic II where poison could kill you rather quickly. Still, the best I could do at the start of running this dungeon was cast poison suppression on my cleric and then run over to a town after a while and pay to be cured.

Slithercult Stronghold also ended up creating and being a solution to a rather annoying inventory issue. Inside this dungeon and other parts of the game, you get something called Quatloo coins. Up to this point, I had one of these sitting in my inventory taking up a space for a while.

During this dungeon run I'd end up finding a location where I could spend five coins for increases to different stats such as endurance, accuracy, and might. I would also earn some tokens while in this dungeon getting a couple of characters some further endurance and might.

I then would also go to earn a few more Quatloo coins outside of this dungeon. Where one can only guess as one should. They sat in my inventory taking up space that I would much rather have. Till I had another five of the coins and could bother running all the way out to this dungeon. It’s a shame you can’t just toss items into the bank.

This place ended up having these strange pools of what looked like liquid gold on the ground. It was kind of a gamble what would happen if you looked inside one which I sent my robber to do every time I noticed one.

It turns out these pools were some kind of acid. While they would cause a decent amount of damage to my robber. I often find items and coins by interacting with them. What is a couple of runs to the nearest town for healing between party members? It’s all about the glory and treasure, right? Thankfully he is a robber so he more than understood.

There were also quite a few crystal heads all over the place. They would often give out hints. Closer to the end of the dungeon there would be a crystal head that required a password to get past every time I got near it. This game sure loves its puzzles. Thankfully most of them were not that challenging to work out.

I ended up making it to a part where you are supposed to kill the dungeon boss. Let’s just say that did not happen. My party fully got wiped. Ending that little dungeon run and my desire to explore the rest of it.

Might And Magic games have always been the type of game where maybe you don’t end up fully clearly a dungeon the first time around. Where it can just be best to move on. It also tends to be a sign that you are not where you should be. It was clear I needed some further levels before I could take on the boss of that place. I’d later return and put it into a grave.

I however had not had my fill of dungeons just yet. I ended up heading back to the Cyclops Cavern to do battle with evil mushroom-looking things. This time I chopped them up fine enough that I could have put them into a mushroom soup.

While inside one of my party members ended up getting killed. Not the first time this has happened. There was just one massive issue. I lacked the funds to pay to have him revived. Not my proudest moment in this game. I could also kind of tell that Cyclops Cavern would be yet another dungeon I'd have to return to at a later point in time.

After all, I now had a dead member. I had no idea where I could go get the over 1k gold I needed. To make matters even worse. The longer he was dead the higher the cost to revive him would become. Creating quite an issue for me.

At one point I was even tempted to start selling off gear I was using. Everywhere I went I was just not finding anything worth close to what I needed to pay to revive the character who got killed.

I ended up in all of the places Dark Warrior Keep. Not an easy place. I however had already cleared out a lot of dungeons of anything easy. Dungeons also don’t respawn. This was more or less the only dungeon I knew of that I also could enter.

Needless to say, I did not belong in that dungeon either. This would end up being one I'd return to a couple of times ending with the same result. The only good news is I did end up finding enough gold in here before getting wiped and having to start from my last save. That I was able to just go back to where I had looted some gold.

By the time I had made it to a healer, the price had increased from around 1k to 1,400 gold to get my character revived. I was around two hundred gold short. I ended up having to wait till it was daytime for the blacksmith to open. I thankfully had looted a couple of items along that way that sold for just enough gold.

Final Thoughts

Other than some experience gained. Along with some stat increases from the coins I spent. It all kind of felt like a bit of a wash. I at least have a better understanding of how I would fair in a couple of different dungeons now.

It seems I need to find a way into some above-ground zones that I have not found a path into yet. There also might be another dungeon or two I've overlooked that would treat me a bit better than the ones I've attempted to run.

At the very least. Outside of some broken chest pieces of armor that I lacked the gold to repair. At least my group is mostly back in the position I started in. From here I no longer have the looming death of a party member over me. I can find some way to progress forward. Perhaps with a little less risk-taking on my part if that was even possible.

Information

Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Might And Magic III.