Belial and Beliebing

One area I really want to do some more in is The Keep of Belial. This is an area that is good to explore, not too large, has some great equipment (a lot with cool sounding Latin names) and not much information is publicly available.

The first room in the area has a little item buried in it. Digging will reveal the following:

>A Path Through the Trees
The path slopes upwards towards the peak of a tall hill overlooking the surrounding forest. Snow lines the sides of the narrow passage between the trees is barely visible, each twist covered with rocks and patches of slick snow. A steep hill rises to the east topped, its edge covered in green and brown shrubbery. The top of the slope is adorned with taller trees, the branches droop downward due to the heavy snow. On the western side of the path are several dark green and brownish orange plants. Hoof prints, frozen forever in the center of the path, lead inward towards a few spires of swirling smoke.
Exits: north northeast

>dig
You begin digging...
Your dig uncovered a rune!

>exam rune
You take a closer look at a rune on the ground...
The rune is a simple yet magical stone with an engraving etched into
its surface:
                           |\
                           |/
                           |\

>get rune
You get a rune.

>c id rune
Object 'a rune' is infused with your magic...
It is a level 1 rune, weight 1.
Special properties:  none
This rune has a gold value of 0.

I'm not certain of the purpose of this rune. There are some other runes scattered through out the Realms but I believe this one is a way for Romani, the creator of this area to leave their mark. Around the early part of the area are shops selling potions and food, but the first challenge is Llwyd.

To get to Llwyd you need to take a hidden northeast exit and then up from just before the bridge. This leads you to here which is tunnelled to 2 characters maximum fitting in the room:

Huw Llwyd's Pulpit
The dark rocks rise jaggedly against the landscape, their pointed tips striking up and splitting apart any living thing that lingers too long. Dripping from the top of the falls are icicles, forming a shivery banner of white which points downwards towards the distant stone bridge. The water turns white as it cascades over the rocks, splashing a dusting of white sparkles to coat the black rocks. A large black rock spreads out over the edge of the falls creating a natural altar. Placed upon the surface of the dark altar is a single standing stone of no more than a meter in height.
Exits: none
A small altar rests on the edge of the stoney pulpit.
(Hide) (Red Aura) A dark cloaked figure stands before the altar chanting.
Llwyd shimmers beneath an aura of dark energy.
Llwyd is engulfed within a blaze of mystical flame.

This is a tricky little mob to kill for the reason being that against certain classes and alignments he heals himself up faster than you can hurt him. It seems that only good aligned sorcerers, shaman and divinity classes will be able to kill him. The first time I killed Llwyd I used a good cleric. It was a long fight because if I was to solo a mob a good cleric is the last class I'd ever choose. The end was this:

Your swat wounds Llwyd!
Llwyd is DEAD!!
A brilliant light casts down from the heavens and embraces you, wrapping around you like an angel's wings. A booming voice fills your head, 'You have done well here. The true test awaits, may your sacrifice be true and worthy."
Llwyd's soul rides a single beam of light towards the heavens; his lifeless body is all that remains. Llwyd gasps his last breath and blood spurts out of his mouth and ears.
You get 40000 gold coins from the corpse of Llwyd.
The corpse of Llwyd holds:
     a cross shaped key
     (Glowing) scapulare aequitas

The scapulare is a half-decent waist item - translated to English aequitas means equity. One good thing about this key is that it is one of the few keys in the game that does not disappear when you log off. The key is needed to enter the keep just after killing a couple of skeletons. Past the entrance to the keep you end up in this room:

The Gate of Crosses
Interwoven crosses make up the large black gates that adorn the wall, barring any chance of passing without gaining access from the guardian. One larger cross is formed as the doors remained closed, the same silver churning with black swirls. A pulsing bead of red light glows within the thin crack of the ominous gates leading to the depths of the keep. The gate latch is made of two large black metal bolts and a keyhole almost large enough for a pixie to fly through. Blasts of cold air rise from the depths causing rivulets of ice to
form on the black moss dripping from the ceiling.
Exits: south
(Red Aura) A massive wall of muscle looms before the blackened gates.
The Gate Keeper shimmers beneath an aura of dark energy.
The Gate Keeper is ensphered by shards of glistening ice.
The Gate Keeper gazes at the assembled mortals pondering which one it will be.
The Gate Keeper says to you 'To progress, I require a sacrifice.'
The Gate Keeper gazes at the assembled mortals pondering which one it will be.

This room is a dead end. The Gate Keeper like Llwyd talks about a sacrifice which is the key to getting beyond. You need to have more than one character in this room with one saying the following:

>say I am the sacrifice

You say 'I am the sacrifice'

The Gate Keeper nods solemnly.
The Gate Keeper says 'Your sacrifice will not go unrewarded.'
The Gate Keeper brings his sword swiftly towards you, striking you dead in your tracks.
The Gate Keeper slays you in cold blood!

..Everything begins to fade to black.
However, before your deity comes to collect your soul, you feel a strange
pulling sensation as strange and colorful mists swirl around you...

You feel yourself leaving your body... rising up into the air, you feel
more free than you have ever felt before...

The Gate Keeper is one of only a handful of mobs in the game with the ability to slay. You will find the character that says the password is killed while the other characters in the room get transed beyond to a maze.

Most mazes in the Realms of Despair annoy me but this one is quite straight forward - just map each room with magical springs until you find the one room where you can't cast spells. After this it won't be long before you get transed through to outside of Belial's room:

The god of lust smiles upon you and has chosen you to face him.
A Dark Passage
The black stone walkway extends over a churning river of silver surrounding the a black throne resting on a raised platform in the far distance. The walkway is a mere two feet wide. The edge is jagged and the surface slightly rounded upwards in the center allowing for smaller rocks fall off into the abyss far below with a splash before being absorbed into the churning mass. The silver rises and falls as it swirls outward in a large circle along the outer edge of the massive cavern in a hall of almost mirrors all exits lead to
one place, the throne of Belial.
Exits: north east south west northeast northwest southeast southwest
(Red Aura) A stunning brunette hovers over the swirling mass of silver and black.
Morrigan shimmers beneath an aura of dark energy.

The down exit leads to a death trap:

 

One thing I noticed when looking at the above screenshot was there is a rare typo. The people running the mud do a good job of spotting most of these errors before they get into the game. However our aim is to take on Belial in his lair. A challenge with Belial is that it only allows certain classes into Belials room. For example if a vampire enters his room:

Lord Belial exclaims to you, 'What a pitiful undead creature. Be gone!'

Belial does something similar with characters of all classes except sorcerer, shaman and divinity genres, plus his room is tunnelled to 4. Belial himself manages to look quite scary:

Two yellowish horns slope upwards in twisted curls out from the top of Belial's slender pointed head. His jaw is strong, sloping towards his fanged mouth. His nose is broad, set low beneath the two large oval sockets containing his blood-red eyes. His lower lip appears to be missing, showing the gums of his teeth and the slope of his pointed jaw which accentuate the points of his ears. His broad shoulders are covered in tattoos of the souls he has claimed through the years. The trail of souls of each now face less name written down through the years in a myriad of slithering lines down his torso and covering his back. His feet are cloven, giving him a powerful gate as he moves within the confines of his prison. At the end of each of his hands are claws, sharpened carefully on the stones within the keep.

Lord Belial is in perfect health.

Lord Belial is using:
<used as light>      Luminarium

His light the Luminarium is a nice light though it's regeneration rate is not quite 100%. When identify is cast on Belial he identifies as a nephandi:

Lord Belial is in perfect health.
Lord belial appears to be between level 50 and 55.
Lord belial looks like a shapeshifter, and follows the ways of the nephandi.

To fight Belial the best classes to use are a druid for tanking (another use for druids - I really need to level one) and augurers or destruction mages to hit. The fight itself takes a while but when done the end result is:

Opposing realities clash and collide, striking Lord Belial with their reverberations.
Your paradox flux wounds Lord Belial!
Lord Belial is DEAD!!
Lord Belial shimmers as he fades back into the swirling silver surrounding his throne cave.
Lord Belial exclaims 'I will return stronger! You will pay for your puny attempts to rid the world of my lust!'

Besides the Luminarium there is a chance to pop two different other items - a mysterious talisman or gnarled wooden staff. Both of these are pieces which can connect together to make Divinitus Corrigo, which in English is "God Correct", a pretty cool name for a very nice cleric weapon.

I need to kill Belial some more to make his weapon. I currently have a mysterious talisman lying around in storage somewhere so if anyone has a gnarled wooden staff they'd like to sell then please send me a tell, though I would prefer to take it from Belial's cold dead claws.