SilverSliver's Guide to Ivan

Spoiler Warning: This page contains spoilers which may affect your IVAN experience negatively

Ivan 0.58 Introduces many new areas to traverse through in the game, along with multiple enemies and secrets. This guide aims to explain the region of Aslona. This guide will also not go over new materials, instead focusing on the dungeon generation. The guide will be split into each quest and ensuing side quests, starting with a description, and then mentioning special levels located within them. Enjoy ;p

The dialogue goes as follows: You've braved the Underwater tunnels, barely edging out a hard-earned victory against the monstrously large Genetrix Vesana. You entered the looming cathedral of Attnam, watching it with utmost respect. Trembling, you handed the encrypted scroll to Petrus, expecting-well, whatever you expected. Instead, he shoos you away, telling you to come back later if you want a quest. You could always acquiesce him by talking to him again with 'c'hat, receiving the order to journey into Gloomy Caves, but for some reason you feel like you've done this in a previous life, and want something else to do. What could that be? It certainly wouldn't be going to the dungeon... you hate those smiling faces of the guards.

Aslona

In the Cathedral, multiple people linger about. Besides the numerous guards and frogs, a few unusual faces walk about. The orc representative Khor, the elven ambassador Elianise, the emissary of Aslona, Sir Lancelyn. Sir Lancelyn is the person you will want to talk to, and can be recognized by his large head, silvery armor (compared to the dark gray of the guards), green sword, and black shield. After talking with Petrus once, go up to Lancelyn and chat. He will eye you caculatingly, and you have the option of accepting a quest. Remember that doing so will lock you out of other quests. If you choose yes, he will reveal the location of the castle of Aslona (a castle like structure on the world map) and giving you his ship, allowing you to traverse the ocean without need of levitation or swimming. Once you reach Aslona, enter the gate and go through the door on the left (the right one is lock), move forward past the guards and fountain with dolphins, then talk to the man in the center surrounded by the gold-clad guards, Efra Peredivall. He will tell you he has no need for you, but his servants might, and you should go to assist them. Once you have assisted all of them, the next (and final) step of the quest will be revealed. Below are the three dungeons that his servants set you out to conquer, from easiest to most difficult.

The Fungal Caves

When you entered Aslona, you entered through the room on your left. From there, heading directly to the right will lead you to an alter of Seges, presided over by a priest with a wicked beard, Senex. However, Senex is not a normal priest in curing your diseases and reattaching limbs. Instead, he will make you venture into the fungal cave to retrieve a weeping obsidian shard. On the world map, the entrance to the caves looks the same as the Underwater tunnels entrance and exit. Once inside, the player will go through 5 levels to retrieve the obsidian shard on the deepest level.

Special Levels:

Floor 4: The player faces the giant magical mushroom Sieni Fusanga in a giant level. Fusanga will be located near the center of the giant level, with the stairdown down being right underneath her, and is surrounded by normal mushrooms. She cannot be teleported off, so don't bother trying. Consider her a more dangerous version of Jenny, as she can dump harmful liquids on you, but she shouldn't be too much of a problem otherwise.

Floor 5: The layout is the smallest to compensate the size of the previous level, but also arguably the most dangerous. Make your way around the cramped level, being careful around the dark mage and kamikaze dwarf of Mortifer that are guaranteed to be spawned, and the weeping obsidian shard will be located in the middle of a small pool. The stone cannot be accessed by foot, so you will need to acquire either levitation, swimming, or ethereal to reach the center. Once you have the shard in your hand, simply walk back the way you came from and give the shard to Senex to complete the side quest. Note that the shard does "release torrential rain" around you, which is useful for burning items, but may also cause your equipment to rust, so try to avoid metal weapons while in it's possession.

Special Rooms:

The "I'm so EVIL!!1!" Room:

One of the more evil developers decided to code in a very annoying room in the caves, comprised of early game players most hated enemies, including magpies, bats, a floating eye, and a ton of sirens. There will also be a carnivorous plant spawning in there with some random loot, but it's usually better to just avoid the room or take down the enemies one at a time. Appears anywhere from the 2nd to 4th floor.

The Poison Room:

An annoying room containing spiders, snakes, and skunks, designed to chip your health away with poison. Kill the Areane spider at the center for some loot, but try not to get surrounded and poisoned. Appears anywhere from the 1st to 3rd floor.

The Mommo Room:

The general topic of the Fungal caves seems to be really annoying creatures bunched up in rooms, and the Mommo room is no exception. Comprised of flat, bloated, and conical mommos, their slimes dissolves not only your skin but also plenty of your equipment. You can kill the conical mommo for some loot, but it is highly recommended to avoid getting into trouble, as their sulfuric acid easily destroys weaker armor and limbs, and getting stuck can be a death sentence. Appears anywhere from the 3rd to 5th floor.

The Vault:

The only secret room in the fungal caves, the vault is a 3 by 3 container comprised of 6 shelves surrounding a cauldron. All the shelves contain various helpful liquids and carrots, and the cauldron in the center will also be filled to the brim with another helpful liquid. Very hard to find, but very good rewards for doing so. Appears in any level.

Other notes:

The same evil developer who created the evil room has also hard coded in 2 things of note in the Fungal Caves. One, a giant golden spider, will always appear on one of the top 3 levels and may useful for farming money. The other is a free scroll randomly placed on the bottom 4 levels... with a large mine underneath it. 's'earch around any scroll you find 16 times (8 with a ring of searching) to ensure the safety of your fragile limbs.

Every level in the Fungal caves will contain a pool, which provides a constant source of stamina if you have a can or bottle to dip from.

The Goblin Fort

After entering Aslona from the door on the left, heading directly to the left will lead you into the blacksmith's and tailor's room. Continuing past there and heading downwards to the bottom left room will hold the Field Marshal of Aslona clad in blue, Lord Mittrars. He shall reveal the story of the crown prince, his Highness Artorius, being kidnapped by a gang of goblins. Requesting that you retrieve the prince safely and that you hurry (take your time, how's he going to know?), he makes the player venture through 5 levels of the goblin fort, which is notated on the world map with small, black, and almost rectangle like tower.

Special Levels:

The Hideout: Once you have braved several levels of goblins (or simply dropped down from the salt mines), you'll end up smack in the middle of the goblin hideout, where prince Artorius is locked in a cell, along with a unimportant goblin prisoner and goblin jailor. Chat with him to make him join your team, similar to Ivan, but know that it will make every enemy hostile towards him. Have a plan to evacuate him safely, as if he dies, without a Wand of Resurrection you're screwed.

The Salt Mines: as you continue exploring the fort, on one of the floors you might have noticed not 1, but 2 stairways down. One will lead you 1 level down as usual, but the other will drop you in the biggest dungeon in the game, the salt mines. The sheer size of the level leads to plenty of loot but also plenty of danger, with multiple types of goblins guaranteed to spawn. Most are harmless snacks, but careful around the goblin warlocks and their wands. The exit to the Salt Mines (which will helpfully drop you in the hideout) is always close to the the entrance, but if you dare brave to the ends of the mines, some good loot will be on the other side, almost reminiscent of Dudley's level from IVANT.

Special Rooms:

The resource room:

A room with plenty of good loot, and a guaranteed map to the black market. Kick down the locked doors, eat all the bread (yum), steal the wands, scrolls, and books, and waltz around the goblin warlocks... with acid rain wands. Try not to let things blow up in your face. Only spawns in the hideout

The Invisible Room:

Pretty self intuitive. One of the rooms may appear to have nothing, but if you acquire a source of ESP, you'll find it's a room full of invisible stalkers. They provide little to no threat, but be careful of the invisible slayers a little more. Only spawns in the salt mines

The Imp Room:

An annoying room full of imps. Kill them as soon as possible, as letting them roam around the level may lead to destruction of valuable equipment. Only spawns in the salt mines

The Cat Room:

Who doesn't love cats? You won't, if you're not prepared. With numerous undying cats and 4 lions, they'll annoy you to no end. On the positive side, 2 of the lions have a dead fish, and the others have a scroll of enchant armor and enchant weapon. Will always spawn on the 1st or 2nd level.

The Explosives Room:

A room full of unactivated traps. Mines, backpacks, various grenades, and at least one scroll of fireballs. All will be very useful, but ensure that the kamikaze dwarf of Cleptia is taken care of before you enter the room. Will always spawn on the 3rd or 4th level.

The Vault:

A 5 by 5 room encased in old iron wall without outside access with an Ur-steel chest filled some goodies. It will be hard to find it can spawn in any level, and the mines and beartraps inside can be quite the nuisance, so good luck.

Other Notes:

All levels will spawn some number of goblins, and always in increasing number. They provide a good source of food.

The Pyramid

The final and arguably the most perilous quest giver of Aslona is Myrddin Wyllt, the royal wizard. He is located to the right of the castle in a small chamber of his own filled with bookshelves. To get to him, you could use levitation/swimming to move around the moat, but if you have none of those, simply (depending on your definition and Einstein's theorem) go to the right of Peredivall into the room with four non-artifact magical weapon, then up into a sort of dining area, out into the back of the castle through an unlocked door at the top left of the dining area, then go straight right into the corner, diagonally down, and finally, go straight down and around the building to 'c'hat with him. It's only hard to understand the first time. Anyways, he will reveal the location of the pyramid of a lost civilization, 5 levels of monsters and the thaumic bomb.

Special Levels:

Level 1:

The first level of the pyramid only has 2 rooms, a large maze with the stairway downstairs, but also a locked room filled with many goodies. Good luck getting in.

Level 2:

Nothing much special here other than a guaranteed veteran kamikaze dwarf of Mortifer spawning here. Prepare for it somehow, whether it be resistance or invisibility

The Ancient Bunker:

This room deserves a special mention due to how multiple characteristics are included in the level, and remembering them can prove vitally helpful.

The final level of the pyramid houses the nuke required for you to complete your quest. Although there is no explicit boss guarding it, randomly located across the level are three rooms each containing a mind worm boil, encased within stainless steel walls. Either quickly take them down by teleporting around the level or wear something tin to counteract them. There are also 2 rooms located around randomly that contain a large stash of goodies (20 to be exact) that you can loot. They are easily accessible unlike secret rooms, but can have monsters spawn in them (likely unintended), which can equip some of the goodies if you're too slow.

As for the Thaumic bomb itself, it's encased in lead in a room very simple to the secret rooms of GC, but getting it is not the challenge. Instead, returning it to someone is, as the leg strength required for it is no joke. If you prepare to move the bomb by yourself, have fun. You can lift the thaumic bomb with only 14 leg strength-but you cannot hold anything else. However, holding said nothing is suicidal, so it's best to prepare at least enough leg strength to handle the bomb, your armor, weapons, healing, and emergency wands/scrolls. But why do it yourself if somebody else can? If you acquire a form of taming or a rarer Scroll of Golem Creation, you gained the perfect ally to hold your stuff. One with more that enough strength to hold the bomb, cannot be traced using ESP, and can tank plenty of hits to keep the bomb safe. Taming is more than common enough to get a ally to help you out.

Special Rooms:

The Frog room:

Similar to the notorious 7th floor of the Gloomy Caves, the pyramid houses some dark frogs, greater dark frogs, and a single Mystic dark frog. Only on the 4th floor.

The Quicksand Pool:

Just a random room filled with quicksand. It provides little use unless you acquire levitation/swimming, in which it serves as a room that few monsters can reach, serving almost as a sort of safe haven. Spawns randomly between the 2nd and 4th floor.

The Cactus Room:

Just a random room with red sand and cacti decorations. Sell for some cash if necessary. Spawns randomly between the 2nd and 4th floor.

The Sepulcher:

The only secret room with an enemy inside it a hostile genie is located within some iron walls. If you can take him down, not only will you acquire his scimitar and belt, but also an oil lamp and a very good random item, all of which can be sold for good money or used at your discretion. Spawns randomly between the 2nd and 4th floor.

Minibosses:

On account of my laziness, these rooms have been grouped together due to their common theme of a room of enemies with a small boss scattered randomly across the pyramid floors. They include the following: a room with 2 necromancers and a master necromancer, a room with 3 vampires, a room with 2 to 5 gasghouls, and a room with 2-5 Wraith Bone golems and one acidous blood golem. They provide no extra rewards, just extra challenges.

Rebel Camp

When Sir Lancelyn reveals the location of Aslona, he will also inadvertently reveal the location of the secret rebel base, which looks just like Twerlaif on the world map. Entering will reveal a somewhat disheveled scattering of rebel tents and rebel soldiers. The four most important things to take note of are the two necromancer twins, the shop, which sells some items you might want (and holds a mystic frog), a tent of kamikaze dwarves and a single veteran, and the leader's tent, the location of Harvan Black-cloak, all scattered randomly around the map. Feel free to chat with him and others without causing any hostility, otherwise the camp can be generally ignored until you need to kill something for one of the sacred swords.

The retrieval of the sword

Once you have acquired all three quest items (or not, see miscellaneous), each side will ask you to retrieve the other side's sword. You will then have three options, in which the pros and cons are listed below:

E-numa sa-am

The noble katana named E-numa sa-am is located in the hands of Efra Peredivall in Aslona. Unlike Harvan, Efra also hold a second weapon of a octiron dagger of venom +6. The castle is a far larger and more well equipped area, with its own library and kitchen that you can use to your advantage. However, the number of powerful enemies skyrockets, as even just the royal guards, covered in Djinni Brass armor, provide a serious threat, not to mention that the entire castle is blanketed under the divine master Seges, meaning you can't request help from Dulcis in taming people. Consider it remarkably similar to attempting to take down Attnam itself. If you wish to conquer the castle, this is the less refined, but advised strategy: beforehand, tame as many inhabitants as you can, then start your attack by killing Myrddin Wyllt, who become a nightmare if you let him live too long (you may also ressurect him after this, making him a nightmare for your enemies instead). If you have time, feel free to read some scrolls from the library to buff up your gear just a little more, then teleport and kill the mystic frog, then kill the kamikaze dwarves in one swoop (preferably with a scroll of immolation, but fireballs and striking still work, just with higher risk). This still leaves the veteran kamikaze dwarf near Segex, so take care of him next. With all the magic and explosive power of Aslona eliminated, now you can leisurely take down the rest of the kingdom with little to no issue, with the exceptions of Lord Mittrars and Efra Peredivall himself.

Speaking of Efra, he's cracked. I've personally seen him (in wizard mode) take down two Sherries in a row. His strongest point of contention is his sword, but having a secondary weapon greatly helps his parrying ability. If you are a chaotic character, you probably don't want to get hit by his blade, as you will lose all temporary positive effects (negating things like a zap from a wand of haste or temporary levitation from a fountain), then have it try to panic you, then teleport lock you (which shouldn't matter too much, as you can teleport him). Strong allies are a near must, so prepare accordingly. Once dead, present his blade to Harven to claim victory.

Asa'marum

The wicked katana named Asa'marum is held by Harvan Black-cloak, the leader of the rebel camp. In contrast to the vibrant kingdom of Aslona, the rebel camp is much shoddier in comparison. As mentioned earlier, there are only 4 real threats in the camp: the necromancers, the kamikaze dwarves, the mystic frog, and Harvan himself (in increasing danger level). In fact, harvan is so dangerous compared to the others that they practically don't matter. If you wish to take down the camp, this is the advised strategy: beforehand, tame as many members of the camp as you can, then start by assassinating the frog in the shop (if you haven't tamed it), then teleport as fast as possible as soon as possible near the tent holding the kamikaze dwarves and use a single charge of a Wand of Striking/Wand of Fireballs/Scroll of Immolation to take them out (if you have't tamed them). Take the time to leisurely wipe the rest of the camp along with the master necromancers (if you haven't tamed them), and finally, take down Harven.

Speaking of Harven, his strongest point of contention is his cloak and weapon, as the rest of his items are just average in comparison. If you are a lawful character, you most certainly don't want to hit by his blade, as it can confuse, slow, poison, or give a random disease. Use strong allies and you should win without much issue. Once dead, present his blade to Efra to claim victory.

Both?

If you feel extremely confident or accidently vomited on Efra when trying to give him Asa'marum, you will end up having to kill both sides of the revolution, hopefully using the strategies mentioned above. If you do, your only choice is to present both of their blades to Petrus to claim victory. If you somehow vomit on Petrus too (the hell is wrong with you?), you must defeat all of Attnam and can only receive the Avatar of Chaos ending. This ending is advised if you accidently mess up a quest, which results in a lower score multiplier if you only return one sword, while not advised if you complete all quests successfully.

Miscellaneous

This section just contains details that may or may not prove useful to your adventures.

1. Do note that there a 4th ending to the Aslona chapter, in which you become King of Aslona. It is not included in the above guides due to some possible exploits, but if you truly wish to find it, look into royal characters and see what they all share and spill.

2. It is actually not necessary to complete all or any of the sub quests requested. At any point, you may choose to rise up and acquire one of the swords to end the game. However, you will receive a lower score multiplier as a result of this.

3. It is also not necessary to return the subquest items to the quest givers (i.e. giving the Weeping obsidian shard to Senex). Instead, you may choose instead to give them all to Harvan Black-cloak, which also serves as completing the subquest. This is useful if you've angered one side of the war and still want multiplier points for your final score.

4. Remember, just because you can doesn't mean you should. Although the prince and the thaumic bomb are pretty useless (unless you want a meatshield or to train leg strength, both of which can be easily done outside of them with less risk), the weeping obsidian shard can be used to consistently put out flames on your scrolls and body parts. You should try keeping it to the very end, assuming the benefits of it outweigh the possible negatives (such as rusting equipment).

5. If you want to test stuff out in wizard mode, be wary of Myrddin Wyllt. Spawning monsters near him frequently crash the game.

6. Also in wizard mode, spawning Artorius in Aslona will make him be considered a hostile monster, and everyone will swarm to kill him, regardless of his status.

That's about it. You can always contact me on the forums if you have any further questions. I hope this guide in its whole proves useful to you, and I wish you the best of luck in your conquest of kingdoms. -SilverSliver ;p