I’m all down for a long dungeon. I was just not expecting it to be across nine zones. At least it was a great way for them to break up the almost maze-like mines of the dwarfs. At one point I was not sure if it would ever end.

After talking with the mayor, I ended up finding out the dwarfs were having some issues with their mines being overrun. Not knowing anything better to do. I thought why not see what kind of trouble I could go get myself into.

Funny enough at first, I thought the dungeon was rather small. I also would have just been happy with it. A nice easy dungeon to break your way into the game. The game however had other plans for me instead.

It ended up being a good thing I learned where everything was in town. Along with it just being down the road from the Dwarf Mines. I'd end up taking many trips back to revive dead party members to get levels and new skills.

The first mine I was in ended up just having a couple of chambers in it. There was one room off to the right that had some loot in it. Nothing crazy but enough to get me wondering what I'd find in this place.

The biggest issue I'd face was trying to open the boxes in this mine. They had a higher strength requirement more times than not than my strongest character. Even when I had enough strength, I'd open up a box and find nothing in it.

At first, I thought I'd just return later to this mine and go over all the boxes again to make sure I had them all opened. I’d later quickly change that though once I realized just how massive this place was.

Once I had the right side cleared, I went over to the left side of mine 1. There was a decently sized chamber with a couple of stat boost barrels in it. Thankfully this is when Might and Magic started to put names to what kind of liquid boost was inside. That way I'd no longer be wasting might or luck on the wrong characters. I just have to remember red for might, white for luck, purple for speed, and so on.

I then headed down a north tunnel that had a couple of chambers in it. Once I had the place cleared, I thought it was quite a small place. I guess it would hold me over till I found a real dungeon. How wrong I was.

As I had two unanswered answers. First, I was sent in here to take someone out and never found them. Second, I found some bones that had a note from someone who tried to rob the dwarfs that the first letter of a password was A.

I also happened to have found a mine cart. It was asking where I like to go. Well, I was missing quite a few letters for the rest of it. I ended up exploring the area a couple of times over. Then I realized I was in mine one. Why not tell the cart to take me to mine two?

Sure enough that worked. Now I was starting to understand I was my system of sorts. I also had no idea just how long it would keep going on. At the very least I was getting some experience and having a good fun time at that as well.

After a while I ended up looting enough ranged attack items from bows to slings that all my melee now had ranged damage. As long as I got the jump on something first. It would be dead or just about dead before it got to me.

The biggest damage dealers to me now were cave-ins and running into traps I could not see and had no way of avoiding. A jump would not work in here when I attempted to cast that spell over a spot where I had run into a trap before.

As far as the cave-in damage I was getting. That was from mining the massive amount of gold veins I was finding all over the dwarf mines. In a couple of cases, I'd hit a gold vein for 5k gold, then 1k gold, then 400 gold, then like 10 gold. All from a single gold vein. Other times I'd just get like 300 gold together. I’d end up making a small fortune off this place.

Mine two ended up being about the same level of complexity. It had a few stat boots that I gave to different characters as well. I also found another pile of bones that gave me the second letter in the password I'd need. However, once I was done clearing mine 2 I was yet again missing a few letters to the password.

So, I ran back to the minecart. This time I told it mine 3 and sure enough it took me to such a location. This one seemed a little more involved. To the southwest, there were five or so chambers around a tunnel heading south. With quite a few things to take out.

There were then quite a few tunnels on the east side of the dungeon. Along with almost a dozen or so gold veins. I ended up looting and killing so much. By the time I was done with mine 3, I told the mine cart to take me back to mine 1 so I could exit and go make a town run.

All my characters had gained one or two levels. On top of that, I swamp out some gear for upgrades. I picked up some spells. Along with getting some cures at the temple for poison. As I had yet to acquire a cure poison. This would end up causing a couple of my characters to get killed if I did not make a town run soon enough.

Mine 4 and yes even mine 5 were quite a lot smaller. They both also rewarded me with further letters. I thought for sure this must be the end. How wrong I ended up being.

After clearing the fifth mine I walked up to the mine cart with the answer “alpha.” I was now in the deep mines and these were quite a lot longer than the first five. Thankfully I did not have to then go and explore a bunch of alpha mines.

Each mine I was now able to discover the full password to the next. It also was not “beta” either. It ended up being the mine of kappa, Theta, and finally the last one omega.

There got to a point where I was considering taking a break from my dungeon run. I kind of wanted to explore more of the outdoor zones as well. I however knew the reward for finishing this place must be decent. That I kept at it.

The last mine ended up being quite the challenge. Lots of traps. Lots of walls to break down. Lots of turns and twists in the tunnels. I more than once lost my way back to the mine cart.

There was even a point where all but one of my members of the party was dead. I had a feeling since I took a left instead of a right that I could take a shortcut coming back out right and to the starting area. That is when I hit a door that the only remaining character left could not open. He almost died in the process of trying to open the door.

So, I ended up having to make a massive and long run back through the last dwarf mine. Then I ran up to the town and paid to get everyone revived. Sure, enough when I got back into the mine and told the mine craft the final password for a second time. I discovered the door keeping me from exiting with ease was quite close to the room with the mine craft in it.

I then started clearing in the other direction. As a lot of these deeper mines were giant loops. That needed up taking me into a party of three. With there being two clan sargent and the king that I needed to take out.

It was quite a long and bitter fight. All my casters ended up running out of mana. They were also starting to drop like flies. Even more so since the king had a spell to make people fall asleep. Sometimes I'd just have one member awake getting one hit in per round.

At least I was able to kill the king in the end. I ended up working out he must have been worth about 10k experience. I had some characters that were killed during the fight. They were about 10k experience behind the rest of my party.

I was overcome with greed once I walked into the room the king was guarding. There was the final chest of the dungeon with another gold vein to mine as well. I ended up looting six or so items out of the chest. Some of them upgrades and most I quickly sold for even more gold.

Final Thoughts

This ended up being quite a fun one. From thinking that it was going to be a short dungeon run to wondering when it would ever end. I also acquired a lot of gold out of this one. I feel set on gold for quite a while.

Even better yet. When I went to turn in the quest for taking out the king. I got a nice 50k experience for aiding the dwarfs. I was expecting to get a few levels out of this. At most one of my characters leveled twice while the rest once. I guess levels in this one are going to take a bit longer to get. I’m more than fine with that, however.

It was now time to go find another adventure. I ended up speaking with the mayor again. This time he did not have any further quests for me. I was kind of hoping there would be some kind of quest arc to lead me a little more than the last Might and Magic. That is fine however I'm sure I'll find my way after lots of killing and getting killed.

Information

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