Temple of Apshai Trilogy - The Innkeeper's Backyard Map

General Layout

The first level found in the Upper Reaches expansion is a far more relaxed affair. Rather than delving into an underground maze, the player is tasked with tidying up the innkeeper's land. The player has a lot more opportunity here to talk to creatures rather than resorting to violence. In fact, getting carried away can lead one to slay the innkeeper's wife!

The majority of this level is outside, though there is a sizeable barn to the north and a shed to the southeast. There is a large open space made up of twenty-four "rooms" representing a field of berry bushes. All of these spaces hold the fruits as treasures, but some are covered in vicious thorns.

Interestingly, there are some aggressively growing tomatoes in a garden adjoining the main field. Some of these attack you, and some of them even have knives! Feels a lot like a certain 1979 movie...

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Notable Treasures

There is very little to be found on this level. I think this makes the most natural starting point into the trilogy, but it's a little disappointing if the level is explored later on.

Room 41 (a cave in which a bandit hides) holds the only meaningful treasure, presumably the spoils of the bandit's... banditry.

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Full Reference

Treasure Descriptions:

T01 - All that glitters is not gold. In fact, in this case it's copper - a copper piece that someone carelessly dropped. [0.1sp]

T02 - A big cluster of berries hangs in the bush in front of you. [0.2sp]

T03 - There are small eggs in a nest here, and you risk a fowl attack to grab them. [0.5sp?]

T04 - You find a copper ingot, 750 copper pieces, one silver arrow, 23 silver pieces, 14 gold pieces, two small emeralds, and a partridge in a pear tree. [639sp]

T05 - Near a hoe you find some arrows which may be of use.

T06 - In a worn leather purse you find 6 copper pieces, 7 silver pieces, 3 gold piece, and a small diamond. [137.6sp]

T08 - The laundry consists of a few shirts and a pair of pants. They are wet, not in your size, patched, and certainly not worth taking.

T09 - A large piece of stale cheese - the main attraction for the mice.

T11 - Some crockery, mostly broken, now empty but smelling of bad ale.

T20 - A large rock of no value.

Fractional silver piece values may or may not be summed into whole pieces upon returning to the inn. Who knows?

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Trap Descriptions:

FLAME - You stepped right in the bonfire! Watch where you are going!

DUST - Try not to kick up so much dust next time.

NEEDLE - Some of these bushes have needle-like thorns. Be careful.

FLIES - If you insist on walking through garbage, then you should expect to put up with a few flies.

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Room Descriptions:

Room 1 - A wide roadway with a large rock in the center. The inn lies off-stage to the west. To the north and south are picket fences in need of a little paint.

Rooms 2-3 - A small yard choked with weeds and littered with garbage. To the north is a large barn, to the east an alley, and to the south the stable area. To the right of the barn door are stacks of rotting garbage. Just to the left of the door is a small bonfire in which you notice a gleam of something other than flame.

Rooms 4-5 - Once used as a stable, this part of the yard and the roofless enclosure now smell of soap. The weeds are patchy, and there are traces of suds in the grass. Inside (Room 5), wet laundry hangs on a line in the corner.

Rooms 6-7 - The main stable area. The walls of the old building are full of badly patched holes, and many planks are loose. The packed earth shows little sign of recent activity. Inside (Room 7), cobwebs clog the corners, and mice are scurrying about the remains of someone's lunch.

Rooms 8-10 - The barn. The place is obviously ill-kept, and straw and feathers are everywhere. You hear honking to the right and loud clucking to the left.

Room 11 - A narrow alleyway between the barn and the stable. It is thick with weeds, but a narrow path down the center is worn down from the tread of many feet. Ahead is a gate with a low fence - the entrance to the berry patch.

Rooms 12-35 - The innkeeper's berry patch. It must be the right time of the year, because every bush seems laden with luscious, ripe berries. Since the innkeeper has given his permission, and you're hungry, you decide to grab a basket and do some picking. What you don't eat you can always sell in the village for a few copper pieces. While wandering through the bushes, you notice some tomato plants beginning to supplant the berries in some spots. There is, in fact, an entire tomato garden next to an old tool shed on one side of the berry patch. The berries are spread over a low hill that begins to slope steeply near the back hedge.

Rooms 36-39 - A large shed. Tools and debris are scattered about. Signs of recent usage and a sort of rumbling sound coming from somewhere within alert you to the presence of someone - or something - inside. Could it be the thief? Or something more sinister?

Room 40 - You have stumbled across an unknown or long-forgotten passage that seems to lead into the hill.

Room 41 - A large cavern displaying clear signs of habitation. It's dark in here, and you keep stumbling into things, but something on the floor glimmers faintly.

Rooms 42-45 - A vegetable garden. Aside from a few struggling carrots, there seems to be nothing here but tomatoes. Some of these, however, are huge - bigger than pumpkins. Near the gate you discover a dead chicken. Closer inspection shows that it is covered not with blood but with ketchup! What can this mean? And what else may be hidden beneath these strangely menacing vines?

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