The Abandoned Temple is a dungeon in Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer. It is located in the Dagger Wound Islands region. The party must pass through the temple to leave the region and continue to the remainder of the game.
Chests in this dungeon require Level 2 Disarm Trap to open safely
The following numbered areas correspond to the numbers on the map.
1. Entrance[]
The party enters the temple here at the top of a winding staircase. Simon Templar can be found just inside the entrance and is willing to immediately join the party. At the bottom of the staircase is a group of Young couatls, Couatls, and Winged serpents. Nothing else is in the room and the only egress, aside from the stairway back to the entrance, is another set of stairs set into the floor.
2. Sinking Platform Room[]
This room contains raised platforms in the floor that will sink as soon as a character steps on them. It is possible, but not easy, to jump across the room. Whether the party gets to the lower floor by accident, or just walks down there, four compartments in the side walls will open up and let out more Young couatls, Couatls, and Winged serpents.
Once on the lower floor, the party must find the buttons to activate a staircase in order to get out at the far end of the room. These buttons are inside the previously hidden compartments (where the coatls were stored). They must be pressed in the correct order to activate the staircase. The order is (facing into the room from the entrance) far left (A), far right (B), near left (C), near right (D).
Just inside the next corridor, are two secret doors, one on each side of the hallway. Behind each door is a trapped stone chest. Inside one of the chests is the Prophecies of the Snake (E). In the other (F) is an Old Scroll with some cryptic writing. Both chests also contain varying amounts of low-level armor, weapons, potions and/or reagents, and gold.
3. Illusory Floor Room[]
The floor in this room is an illusion, except for a winding path to the far door and a small area in each corner. The location of this path is reflected in a red-glowing section of the ceiling.
If the party steps off the solid part of the floor and falls to the room below, they will take a very minor amount of fall damage, but they will also have to battle another group of Young couatls, Couatls, and Winged serpents. A staircase, ending in a secret door, leads back up to where the party entered the room. If the party falls in three times, the floor will begin to glow red the same as a ceiling.
In each corner of this room is a trapped stone chest, which can be reached by jumping (using the X key, not the spell) from the nearest point on the path. Two of the nearest points are right next to the doorways (one by each) and the others are on the curves nearest the chests. The chests contain low-level armor, weapons, potions, and/or reagents.
4. The Pit[]
This room appears to be completely empty, with a closed door directly across from the entrance. The party will be allowed to walk across the floor unhindered, however as soon as they try to open the far door, the floor in the room will begin to slide open, lights will come on in tiles set into the wall, and the door they entered through will close. Beneath the floor is a pit lined with long, sharp spikes. The only way to stop the floor from opening completely (which will result in the automatic death of the party), is to turn off the lights in each glowing tile (clicking on them will turn them off). Once they are all off, the floor will stop opening and the exit door will open.
5. The Maze[]
As the name implies, this area is a labyrinth of corridors and dead ends. The party will have some hint of how to proceed, however, since the location map shows a slight bit more of the correct pathway than it does of the false ones.
Just behind the door is a crowd of Young couatls, Couatls, Winged serpents, Serpentmen, Serpentman elders, and Serpentmen warriors. Doors in the maze open by pushing the button corresponding to their position on the wall, and work in a toggle fashion (opening one door will close another in the same wall). More Serpentmen, Serpentman elders, and Serpentman warriors will be behind each door.
The "center" of the maze (not the true geometric center) is a large oval room with a stone bridge spanning water in the lower part of the floor. This water is not deep and may be walked on by the party. At the end of the bridge is a giant diamond (G). Guarding this diamond is a large group of Young couatls, Couatls, Winged serpents, Serpentmen, Serpentman elders, and Serpentman warriors.
On one of the long walls of the room is a secret door. Behind it is the Prophecies of the Sun (H).
6. Flaming Tile Room[]
More Young couatls, Couatls, and Winged serpents guard this room. In addition, it has some glowing red rectangles on the floor which denote traps. In this case, characters stepping on one of the rectangles will take fire damage. Despite their somewhat sinister appearance, the pillars in the four quadrants of the room and the odd stacked block pillar in the center are for decoration only and serve no function.
In one wall is a tile which looks different from the rest of the wall (I). Behind it is a trapped safe which holds the Idol of the Snake, however the party will not be able to access the safe at all without first moving the tile. One of the red sections of the floor is not in fact a trap, but is instead the trigger to slide the tile away from the safe (J). It can be activated by walking on it. A clue about which section of floor is the correct section is on the Old Scroll found in a chest just past the Sinking Platform room earlier.
7. Exit[]
At the top of the stair is a small group of Serpentmen, Serpentman elders, and Serpentman warriors. The black area at the far end of the room is the exit from the temple.
Gallery[]
