Roots Hints

This file contains all the information you need to finish Roots. To prevent you from spoiling the scenario for yourself when you're only trying to look at one hint, the answers are in white text on a white background. Select them to read them.

Q. What am I supposed to do in my home?
A.
* Take a look at the kitchen in the north. Ominous, huh?
* Check out the garden in the centre. Come back here often; you'll need to make good use out of all of the plants growing here. The shed to the south has a couple of items you might find useful.
* Search your study in the southeast. You need to search the desk to advance the plot, and the bookshelves are worth a look too.
* In the same area, be sure to search your bedroom. There are some useful items there.
* This is the only place in the scenario where you can read books or consume Bloodroot, so you'll need to return home several times to win the scenario.

Q. Okay, I've managed to find my way out of my house. What do I do in town?
A.
* Talk to everyone. Several people can help you work out what's going on in town.
* Visit your wife in the sanatorium. Talk to the inmates while you're there. They're not really helpful, but they have interesting things to say.
* Howard the blacksmith in the northwest of town gives you a hint for an optional task, if you ask about the right things.
* Mungo, the captain of the town guard, just to the north of the town centre, provides useful advice.
* You can encounter a thief in the town market in the southeast of town. If you catch him, Mungo will reward you.
* After you've gained some spells, there's a hotel room you can break into through the stables, using Move Mountains. You can find a spellbook in there.
* To the east of town is the Alchemists' Guild. Most of the interesting things in this scenario happen there.

Q. How do I catch the thief in Lakeside?
A.
* There's a time limit for catching the thief. You have 30 rounds to find him before he gets away.
* He's to the southwest of the market, around the southeast side of the inn.
* Remember to ask Mungo about "thief" or "Esther" after catching the thief.

Q. How do I free the prisoner in Lakeside?
A.
* You can't do this until you've done a fair amount of exploration of the Alchemists' Guild.
* You'll need items from the holding cells on both floors of the Alchemists' Guild (NW of the first floor, NE of the second floor).
* You'll also need to use some machinery found on the first floor of the Alchemists' Guild.
* If you talked to Howard and Nikolai, you should be able to work out what you're supposed to do.
* Make some Serpis Nectar and drop it on the gate of Nikolai's cell.
* A word of warning: freeing Nikolai permanently turns Lakeside hostile, and also has a significant effect on the ending -- especially if he stays alive until the end of the scenario.

Q. What do I do at the Alchemists' Guild?
A.
* At the start of the scenario, you must enter from the main entrance in the southwest and talk to the Guildmaster. Until you do this, you can't progress further in the scenario.
* After you've consumed at least one dose of Bloodroot, you can break into the Guild using Move Mountains. You'll need to enter from the side entrance in the northeast of Lakeside, and follow the Guild's wall to the south until you find a crack.
* Once you've broken in, start looking around. Search the first floor, then the northern half of the second floor, then the southern half of the second floor, then the basement.

Q. Where are all the spellbooks and what spells do they teach?
A.
* Applied Herbal Medicine: found at your study at home. Gives recipes for Weak Healing, Medium Healing, Strong Healing and Graymold Salve.
* Introductory Toxicology: found at your study at home. Gives recipes for Weak Curing, Strong Curing, Weak Poison, Medium Poison, Strong Poison and Killer Poison.
* Advanced Sports Medicine: found at your study at home. Gives recipes for Weak Speed, Medium Speed, Strong Strength and Bliss.
* Alchemical Neurobiology: found at your study at home. Gives recipes for Weak Energy, Medium Energy, Strong Energy and Clarity.
* The Big Book of Pranks: found in a hotel room in Lakeside, reachable by using Move Mountains in the stables. Teaches Spray Fields.
* Living with the Seasons: found in the office in the first floor holding cell area of the Guild. Teaches Ice Bolt.
* Time Management and You: found in your office on the second floor of the Guild. Teaches Slow Group.
* Clerical Secrets: found in the office in the second floor holding cell area of the Guild. Teaches Martyr's Shield.
* The Necronomicon: found in the library on the second floor of the Guild. Teaches Death Arrows.
* Breaking Barriers: found after killing Warren. Teaches Dispel Barrier.
* Your Home, Your Castle: found in the High-Risk Experiment Room in the Guild's basement. Teaches Mass Sanctuary.

Q. I keep getting killed in one of these fights! How can I win them?
A.
* The thief in Lakeside is pretty easy. Just use ahasting potion and a strength potion if you need it, and you should be able to take him down without any trouble. Poison, and any offensive spells you have, might also be helpful.
* You can fight your way through the holding cells on both floors just by hasting and blessing. Weapon poison may help as well, as will any spells you've learned from the various books you may have found. Try not to waste too many potions.
* Lyndon hits hard but dies fast. Haste yourself, and cast Ice Bolt if you have it (the book is found in the first floor holding cells). Weapon poison is useful too. Mungo's reward for catching the thief will help you survive his attacks, as will the Resist Magic spell. If you have Nikolai's help already, just hide around the corner and let him do all the work for you.
* A very effective way to damage Howard is with Martyr's Shield; you can find it in the second floor holding cells. Heal yourself and run away from him with Martyr's Shield on to do a lot of damage. If you don't have it, your options are pretty limited. Nikolai can hold Howard off long enough for you to kill him with Ice Bolts if you're hasted, but he'll probably die in the process. Failing that, you'll probably need to use a Stoneskin Balm or two to protect yourself. Whether you take his hammer when he dies is up to you.
* The fight with Warren is certainly the largest in the game, if not the hardest. Stay hasted, blessed and healed at all times. The book you can find in the library teaches Death Arrows, which isyour most useful weapon in this fight. Nikolai helps a little, but you'll probably be doing most of the work yourself. When Warren gets up again after you defeat him, don't fight; just avoid him for a few rounds and he'll die again. There's also a way to avoid this fight completely if you find it too taxing, but that's discussed elsewhere in this walkthrough..

Q. Is there any way to open the portcullis in the basement?
A.
* If you made some Serpis Nectar, you can drop that on it, if you didn't use it already. This shortcut allows you to continue further into the basement without destroying the incubators and fighting Warren.

Q. I'm in the basement and there's a locked door I can't get past!
A.
* You need a silver key. You get it automatically after the third (and final) Bloodroot dream.

Q. I've had the third dream and now I'm stuck somewhere weird. Help!
A.
* In each section of this area, you have to walk along a specific path. You can tell which are the correct and incorrect spaces to step on by subtle differences between them. If you stepped on an incorrect space at some point on the path, once you reach the end you'll be teleported back and have to start that section over.
* Path for Sight: SE, S, S, S, SE, NE, NE, E, SE, S, SE, NE, N, N, NW, NW, NE, E, E, SE, SE, S, S, S, SW, SW, SW, W, W, NW, SW, NW, SW, NW, W, W, W
* Path for Hearing: E, NE, E, SE, SW, SW, S
* Path for Touch: NE, NE, NW, W, W, SW, SW, SW, SE, S
* Path for Taste: NE, NW, NW, SW, S, SW, SE, S

Q. What am I supposed to do in the High-Risk Experiment Room?
A.
* Summon earth and air elementals and let the air elemental kill the earth elemental; then summon a fire elemental and let it kill the air elemental; then summon a water elemental and let it kill the fire elemental. You can either summon an earth elemental to kill the water elemental, or kill it yourself with Death Arrows. Be sure to stay far away from the elementals when they're fighting each other.

Q. How can I win the final battle?
A.
* Be sure to enter the control room hasted and possibly blessed, but also keep some hasting and strength potions spare. You'll need healing potions as well.
* As soon as you can, cast Slow Group and Dumbfound on Jessica to weaken her. Keep casting Dumbfound whenever you can, until her spells aren't a threat to you any more. If Dumbfound doesn't seem to work, or you want something that works faster, you can try using Spray Fields to cover her in antimagic.
* If you have Nikolai's help, you should let him attack the barrier on the controls. If you chose to wield Howard's hammer, you may also want to attack the barrier, with or without Nikolai -- the barrier's only vulnerable to physical attacks. Otherwise, it's better to attack Jessica; your weapons will do little damage to her, but weapon poison works even if the weapon doesn't do any damage. Ice Bolt and Death Arrows can also damage Jessica.
* When Jessica casts Dispel, make sure you haste and bless yourself again immediately.
* When the crate and barrel appear, push them into the pits as soon as you can. Bad things happen if you leave them around for too long.
* When the drones appear, kill them, preferably with Death Arrows. They're very dangerous if you let them attack.

Q. I hated the ending! Is there a better one?
A.
* There are a number of different ending variations you can get depending on several factors, including the answers you gave in the dream sequences, whether you angered Lakeside, whether Nikolai is alive and free at the end, and of course whether you pulled the lever in the control room. None of the endings are meant to be completely satisfying, though.