The Wormbound Catacombs are part of a crypt located beneath the Cemetery on the Isle of Nex. They house members of the Wormbound Family, including Xarant Wormbound, and connect to the crypt of Orul Wormbound.
Walkthrough[]
Upon entering, you will see a bridge leading across a small gap, but the other side only holds a sealed door. The room you're in is circular, and behind the stairs is a Crystal of Life and the switch allowing access to it. Be careful in using it, however: upon stepping into the room, two walls around the nearby inscription will open, releasing packs of Undead Soldiers. At the moment, the only available path is north of the stairs, so open the gate and go through.
The ladder on your right leads to a dead end, but it provides an opportunity to face a new enemy—the Xeloroid. This enemy can fire Lightning Bolts at your party, and up close, it can latch onto a member of your party and inflict Paralysis. Whatever your choice, make sure you're prepared to press onward, because the path ahead requires jumping down the ledge to your left. Two more Undead Soldiers are waiting there, one of them hiding beneath the bridge, waiting to ambush you from behind as soon as you drop down. Don't miss a set of Lock Picks that they're standing on.
Pressure Plate Puzzle[]
After clearing the path ahead, to your right is a room divided down the middle, with five pressure plates on each side. This puzzle is somewhat odd, as it has no bearing on the rest of the game; you can ignore it and progress through the level unimpeded, and solving it does not count as a secret. To access the other side of the room, you must mirror the weighted pressure plates there. From west to east, place items on the second, fourth, and fifth plates. On the other side, you can pick up any of the items weighing down the plates—a Crossbow, a Frost Bomb, and a Full Helmet—but you must replace them in order to leave.
To the left, you'll travel through a tunnel beneath the Crystal of Life, leading to a room with another Undead Soldier. The first ladder brings you to a Windgate leading to a secret, but it's the second ladder that will allow you to progress. Taking the Scroll will open the gate leading back to the first room, but it will also open the door to reveal three Undead Guards. The Scroll reads "Under / and under / and over / and all over again / and over".
The Bridge[]
The strange sequence written in the scroll is in fact the key to opening the sealed door: starting from the west ledge, you must cross the gap by descending the ladder, moving under the bridge, then climbing the other ladder. Cross "under" the bridge again, returning to the west ledge, then cross over the bridge normally. Repeat this, crossing under the bridge twice, then over the bridge. Cross over the bridge one final time, and the door will open.
The room behind it contains another sealed door, this one controlled by a Skull Lock. Four Xeloroids lurk nearby, one of them waiting to drop down and ambush you in the tunnel ahead, so be careful as you cross the northern bridge. You'll end up in a room with two doors along the north hall; the eastern one leads to a small room with some supplies.
Xarant Wormbound[]
The western door is open, but immediately behind it is a pressure plate and a closed gate. It will open when you step onto the plate, but doing so will close the gate behind you, starting the battle with Xarant Wormbound. As soon as you step inside, he will begin summoning three Zombies to aid him in the fight. Don't assume from his dual swords that he's limited to attacking tiles next to him; he's capable of casting Ice Shards, and he can leap to deal melee damage from a distance. Getting cornered by Xarant and his minions is all too easy, so if you can't get rid of them quickly, try to back into the western hall to fight everybody one-on-one. After they've been defeated, pick up the Skull Key from the coffin and bring it back to the sealed door.
The Silver Scepter of Isochronos[]
To your right is a room with this inscription next to it, but the Shovel inside is the only scepter to be found. Beneath it is a Note directing you to the real scepter—a Treasure Chest buried "where there is nowhere to hide from sunlight", the Barren Desert.
A winding tunnel leads east, to a room with a large chasm and fireballs shooting across the top level. Doing so is optional, but once you cross the ledge, you can go through the gate in the south to explore more of the room. Wait for a fireball to shoot in front of you, then follow its path along the ledge. At the end, you'll find two Windgates that leave you unaffected while redirecting projectiles; standing in the second, you can search the wall for a button that disables several of the Windgates around the room. This will allow you to explore with much less concern for the paths of the fireballs. Cross the nearby bridge to reach a small platform with a button on the wall, which forms a temporary Magic Bridge leading to a platform in the east with some items. Throw the switch on the wall to open a gate, allowing you to return to the tunnel without dropping into the chasm—very beneficial, as several Zombies will rise from the ground if you walk around down there.
At the end of the hallway is a puzzle that will put your sense of timing to the test. A Spectral Relay is set up, with the Receptacle directly across from the Demon's Head, but a redirective Windgate stands between them. It will launch any orbs through an open gate into the next room, but then right into a closed gate. You need to press the button on the bridge to begin the Relay, then immediately drop down. A switch beneath the bridge controls both gates, closing one while opening the other. As soon as the orb passes through the open gate, throw the switch to open the gate ahead of it. It will be redirected by a second Windgate, then return; once it passes back through the open gate, throw the switch to open its path ahead, allowing it to be redirected into the Receptacle. This will open the gate to the west, allowing you to proceed.
The path on your right leads to some alchemical supplies, but is otherwise a dead end. The left path greets you with a much less pleasant sight: a large, rectangular pit which is quickly filled with nine rising Zombies. Fighting them from the upper level is practically impossible, even with ranged attacks, forcing you to jump in and take them all on. A Windgate on the north side permits escape, but raised bars block it off. Try to jump in near the northeast corner, as the switch on the wall there will lower the bars.
A switch is found on every side of the pit. The northern one will lower the bars in front of the Windgate; try to jump into the northeastern corner so that you'll land near it, allowing you to quickly make an escape route. An alcove on the other side holds a Power Gem, and the switch next to it opens the bars blocking that. The switches on the eastern and western walls each open one of the gates blocking your path north. Just inside are the stairs leading to Orul's Crypt.
The small room in the north can be accessed by falling down one of the trapdoors in the Cemetery's Button Puzzle. It contains Cheese and a sample of Falconskyre. A Windgate in the southern alcove will teleport you back to the south side of the puzzle, and a Windgate in the northern alcove will teleport you back to the north side of the puzzle, but one of them will be gated off. Initially, the northern alcove is gated off, but pulling the switch at the end of the puzzle will open one alcove while closing the other.
The isolated hallway in the east is accessed by falling down one of the trapdoors in the Cemetery's Plate Puzzle. The top side of the hall is empty; a Wyvern inhabits the lower side, blocking you from a Windgate leading back to the surface. A set of Lock Picks is found there as well.
Monsters[]
- Fire Elemental
- Summon Stone
- Undead Archer
- Undead Soldier
- Wyvern
- Xeloroid
- Zombie
- Boss: Xarant Wormbound
Items[]
Weapons[]
- Bane
- 5 Cannon Balls
- Crossbow
- 4 Crossbow Quarrels
- Flail
- Frost Bomb
- 20 Pellets
- 2 Throwing Axes
- Tribal Spear
Armor[]
- Crystal Helmet
- 2 Full Helmets
- Hardstone Bracelet
- Huntsman Cloak
- Leg Plate
- Meteor Greaves
- Tattered Shirt
Consumable & Ingredients[]
- 6 Blooddrop Caps
- Cheese
- Crystal Flower
- Crystal Shard of Healing
- Energy Potion
- 4 Falconskyre
- Greater Healing Potion
- 2 Mudwort
Miscellaneous[]
- Gear Key
- Ice Guardian Figurine
- 2 Lock Picks
- Note
- Power Gem
- Sack
- Scroll
- Shovel
- Skull Key
- Tome of Water
Secrets[]
- North of the stairs to the Cemetery, drop into the dead end with the Xeloroid. A button on the west wall next to the ladder for a button, which will open a path to the north. At the end is a room with a Tribal Spear, along with a chest holding two Blooddrop Caps and a Hardstone Bracelet.
- After traveling beneath the Crystal of Life, climb the first ladder and go through the Windgate. You will end up in a square room lined with twelve trapdoors, one of them closed. The esoteric room represents a clock face—with the pit between you and the gate corresponding to 12:00, the closed trapdoor represents the in-game hour. Wait until 6:00 so you can obtain the Gear Key, then at 12:00, use it to unlock the gate. Inside, you will find Bane. On picking it up, the corners in each room will open to reveal an enemy; the four in the room with Bane hold Summon Stones, and the four in the clock room hold Fire Elementals.
- One of the items found in the niche that the Magic Bridge leads to is the Ice Guardian Figurine. After you take it, go north and jump into the gap east of the Skull Lock. An inscription reads "With icicles from beneath, / I strike at thee". Place the figurine into the alcove next to it; this will disable the Magic Bridge beneath you, dropping you next to the Tome of Water.
Gold Locks[]
- In Xarant's chamber, a tunnel in the northwest leads to a Gold Lock. Inside are the Meteor Greaves and 10 Pellets.
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