SureAI

Part 8: "Brave Old World, Part I"

Today we are going to look back at the very beginning of the order: A time where "The Holy Order" was still called "The Paladin Order" and didn't reside in the suntemple but the paladin fortress. The first concept arts of the suntemple were posted in 2013, so one can assume that the fortress was already discarded at that point, as the fortress is obviously the previous residence of the Order.
But I should probably present the fortress first, so you know what I'm talking about: The Palading Fortress is a huge stronghold, that is not only inaccessible ingame but not even in the game files anymore. At Enderals release though, it was still there and saved in a cell as a backup. That of course means that the fortress is no longer part of the landscape it was once surrounded by, but is floating on a few big rocks and cliffs.

[+] Fortress

Despite its impressing size, the fortress seems a little depressing and not very welcoming, which fits the theme of a military organisation like the paladin order much better than the suntemple. Some of the assets that were used for the walls and towers have been recycled for the fortifications of Ark, like the corridors inside the walls.

The inside of the fortress reminds a lot more of the suntemple and the structure and naming of the rooms offers some parallels as well.

[+] The Main Hall

A place for important meetingsSneaking below the ceiling

[+] The Chronicum

Pretty conspicuous: The Holy Order's symbol (eye and sword) in stone, that can be found at different locations throughout the fortress but not anywhere in the game as far as I know.

[+] The Emporium

The emporium apparently serves as a place to train combat skills

[+] The Classrooms

Intact: And one after Yero went nuts:

[+] The Silencium

[+] The Dining Room

Here the prophet has actually got a room for himself:

[+] Prophets Room

Besides there are a few more simple rooms that are not furnished and a castle keep, that mainly consists of a lot of stairs that probably lead on top of the large central tower.

Definitely interesting to see what the residence of the Order was before the suntemple was created, even though I'm glad that they chose the suntemple, which is in my opinion a lot more interesting and fits the order better. Besides that I wondered where the Paladinfortress would have been located, but I am not really sure about it. The mountains next to Ark would fit more or less, but looking at old screenshots I couldn't find anything that looked like such a big fortress to me.
Talking about old screenshots of Ark, I have a little bonus for you: There is a cell, where an old version of Ark was stored, that I find very reminiscent of Solitude (probably because of the assets). Despite all buildings floating, you can see the structure of the city pretty well.

[+] Ark

And while I'm at it: There also is a very old and beautiful version of the undercity as well

[+] Undercity

[+] Cell-IDs

Only the old Undercity is accessible in the current version of the game:

• LowerCityStart

Very nice. You asked the same question I had, speculation on where the Paladin Forest and its fortress might have been located.

I actually did find something, but forgot to add it: The cell to the northwest of Old Uskasarak is called 'PaladinCastle' so that would probably be the former location of the castle. On the screenshot it would be somewhere in these dense clouds above Ark, which could explain why it is not visible.

Thanks, probably in the vicinity of the back door out of Grel's Grave?

I just had a stray thought; I wonder how much space on my hard drive is being taken up by all these cells that were never used but are still there. I know absolutely nothing about the technical side of all this, but is there some reason all these unused cells weren't purged?

The hard disk space required is very small (usually in the kb range), the main part of the gamesize needs textures, meshes and audio. Of these, however, nothing is extra in these cells, but mainly skyrim content
(Compare pure house mods)
And in some patches, some of those cells were deleted, I suppose.
(Even Skyrim has some unused cells)

Yeah, it looks like about 85% of the space are just the textures, meshes and audio files in vanilla Enderal (mostly in .bsa). With all of the replacer mods I have (meshes and textures), it can reach 90%.

Neat! I haven't found any correlation between crystal colors yet, beyond the thing all crystals share as indicators of Pyrean ruins. That looks rad!

Was the giant rock one of those weird-ass small gods that keep turning humans into brainwashed followers? Like the crazy mage hiding in the grotto in the Powder Desert down the beach from the fruit ship, or Kor.

Wow, all of these are amazing and fascinating!

Welcome back! As I was pretty occupied with my bachelor thesis lately and was on vacation afterwards, I did not find the time to continue the series. But after almost two months, the next chapter is finally here

Part 9: "Manual of Trailers and Visions"
Spoilers for the story of Enderal!

Remember the first videos and teasers for Enderal? The older they get, the more often you see landscapes and dungeons that cannot be found in the game. Especially for landscapes it is mostly impossible to find their remains, as the world space was most likely just altered and thus there are no backups of them. For some dungeons it is possible though...

The as far as I know first video, that was ever released about Enderal showed a few places that can be identified as older versions of still existing locations. But there are also two rather distinctive ones that cannot be found in the game: A cave and directly afterwards a large room containing a magic fire, where a scripted scene takes place. As it turns out, both belong to the same temple complex, that seems to have played a central role in the intro of Enderal:

We enter the temple via an entrance in the water an end up in a small cave. From there a circular shaft leads upwards to a larger room, that we already know from the video. There are more shafts ending here that feed a small creek, which flows through the small cavern and disappears on the other side.

[+] Entrance And First Room

Jumping on platforms, boards, ledges and pillars, we reach the highest shaft right beneath the ceiling, leading to a small hall deeper in the temple. There we meet some spiders and stumble upon a tabled with an old inscription.

[+] Second Room

"There is still hope. We have done everything and hope that it will suffice. Nevertheless, this is part of our message to everything that is yet to come.
The pattern was never broken. The society grew, civilization consolidated, surpassing even its gods and vain rulers, and passed without leaving anybody behind, or even a message where whole nations disappeared."
I just used Google Translator for the Inscriptions, so they may sound a little odd, but if anyone wants to provide me with the screenshots of the english version, I'll be happy to include them

Apparently a message from an old civilization, that is just trying to understand the cycle. In the following corridors we find to more tablets, that analyse the events surrounding the cycle and speculate on its causes and consequences:

[+] Inscriptions

Inscription 1:
"There do not seem to be any global signs of war, disease or annihilation. They were just ... gone. It is the shadow of existence. A dominant constant. Always the same pattern. The patterns are too similar to be coincidental. Hope is part of the pattern. Where there are high hopes are always great fears. Hope is an ideal reflective surface for the fears of a whole nation. This fear inevitably leads to the power struggles typical of our society. For gods or against them. For rulers or against them. To be able to endure the fear ... control is needed."
Inscription 2:
"This is the reason for the recurring power struggles of our world, which must draw in the old patterns. Using, manipulating and controlling people to maintain their own hopes. The pattern is passed on to societies, religions or whole nations. The restrictive behavior under which one civilization has suffered is passed on to others. Breaking this pattern could change everything, creating a whole new society. There is still hope..."

We finally reach the large hall we saw in the video: In the middle of the room surrounded by columns there are four golden chairs arranged around a blue fire.

[+] Hall

Unlike in the video, nothing happens when we approach the fire. Even though the triggers and characters still seem to exist, the necessary scripts probably vanished together with the quest that took place here.
According to the Creation Kit, the two characters you were supposed to meet are called 'the emissary' and 'the leader'. Those names remind me quite a lot of the roles, that are created shortly before the cleansing, even though 'emissary' doesn't seem to describe all those people, but rather appears to be an old term for the prophet. Whereas the leader exists in the cycle of Enderal and is embodied by Tealor Arantheal. The non-existing quest here has the name 'MQ00', which suggests that it was the very first of the game. It is of course impossible to say if something was supposed to happen before that point and it would e.g. take place after the scene on the ship, but I find it remarkable that the player apparently was provided with a lot of information about the cycle right at the beginning of the game and was supposed to meet two protagonists of a past (?) cycle (probably in a vision).
Another question I was asking myself is, if the fire in the centre of the room was maybe even a beacon, that still looked very different in this version, because in the intro of the final game you find one in the first temple as well... But I haven't found anything to support this theory, so it is pure speculation.

I'm getting lost in details though, we haven't even reached the end of the temple
We continue at the other end of the room: We roam through a few halls, find the sword "Klassenwahl" (german for class choice) and end up in a part of the temple that is completetly overrun by spiders.
Walking is hardly possible due to all the cobwebs and besides a few smaller spiders we also meet a huge spider with no name. As it turns out, the spider is more or less immortal because it is revived every time it dies

[+] Spiders

We leave the monstrosity behind and flee further into the spider infested cave, until we reach a dead end at a raging underground river.

[+] The River

As we jump into the cold water though, the dead end turns into our way out, because we end up in some kind of sewer system of the temple, which actually leads us back to the room that marked our entrance to the temple. This time we follow the creek to the other side of the small cavern and reach an underground lake, where the exit takes us back to the surface.

[+] To The Exit

This is actually a very interesting and in some parts beautiful dungeon, it is almost a pity that it is not in the game anymore, even though I do quite like the temple of the intro right now. The inscriptions give some interesting insights as well, despite the phrasing being a little stiff in some parts, which is probably due to the dungeon being cut out at some point and the text not being revised.

A little later in the development of the game (2014) the story teaser "Ashes" was released. It was meant to transport the mood and theme of the story and shows gloomy scenes in caves filled with victims of the cleansing. All those apparently cannot be found in the game any more, although the corpses are reminiscent of those in the city of a thousand floods. In the release version of Enderal, the dungeon was still there, despite being in an earlier stadium than shown in the teaser, because some of the places look either different, unfinished or are not findable at all:

[+] Victims of the Cleansing

[+] Entrance

[+] The Old City

Another interesting detail I came across here is this SureAI logo:

[+] Logo

I really think I have seen it somewhere before, but I could not find the logo in any trailer or video... The style reminded me of the logo that you see in the intro of the nehrim's menu, so maybe there was a similar ingame intro planned for Enderal.

[+] Cell-IDs

Only for the temple, the old city only exists in the release version.

• 00temple

Part 10: "Brave Old World, Part II"
Minor Spoilers for the main quest and 'The brotherhood of Kor'!

First of all we pay a visit to the wonderful Thalgard, that can be seen in early discarded versions on old screenshots (here and there). None of those versions is still in the game, but in the release-version of the game, there are a cell and a worldspace, that contain another variant of the place:
We enter the 'Caves of Thalgard' either through a big gate or a small door in a tower and follow a rather large cave until we enter the main cavern through another gate.

[+] The Entrance

Tha path leads us on a ledge around the huge rocky cavern, whose walls are studded with fortifications and columns. With the help of stairs and catwalks we reach the large gorge in the center of the cavern, that was eroded by a stream at its bottom.

[+] The Cavern

Depending of the version, there is either a stone or wooden bridge leading over the gorge to the golden entrance of the fortress, that was built in the rock.

[+] The Bridge

As there is nothing to be found behind the door, we leave Thalgard behind and head straight for the deeps of the Living Temple, to look for an alternative station of the undertrain.
Surprisingly the station does not look as old as we expected it to be, being a remain of the pyreans. Because after entering the waiting area from an icy cave, we realize that it is indeed completely abandoned, but still in a pretty good condition.

[+] Waiting Area

So we enter through the door next to the deserted ticket counter and follow the hallway to the train platforms. Everything seems, as if people had just left and would return any second (nobody shows up though). A train seems to be ready for departure at platform 2, the room is lit by bright lights below the ceiling, there is a notice board with various notes and the balustrades on the upper floor are decorated with colourful cloth.

[+] The Platforms

At last we visit the idyllic island of the Kor and examine an alternative cave beneath the village. The cave turns out to be a lot smaller than the one, we can actually find, because after entering it underwater and swimming around two corners, we already find ourselves in the occult chamber containing the huge demon statue, we know from the game.

[+] Cave of the Kor

This marks the end of our small trip into a parallel universe of Enderal today, but you can look forward to the next chapter, where we are going to explore one of the most mysterious places of this series...

Part 11: "A Gloomy Adventure"

So after a long break this series is back with hopefully more regular updates than every few months But as I was pretty occupied with work and uni, I did not really find the time to write something or play FS at all and was keeping away from the forum to avoid spoilers.

This trip takes us for one last time into a larger area that only existed in the release-version of the game and was removed from the game shortly after. It is maybe one of the most interesting and mysterious unfinished dungeons of the game...
We start our journey in the Gloomstonecave, a completely overgrown cave system, where we follow dim hallways full of bushes, moss and fern. Here and there we have to walk over rock bridges and ledges to move forward through the mist.

[+] The Gloomstonecave

After hurrying through the green cave for some time and almost getting lost at some junctions, we end up in a larger room. There are huge moss curtains hanging from the ceiling, the ground is covered in puddles and there are several stone pillars spread around the cavern. At the other end we spot a wide staircase, lined with fires, that leads to an archway. On the other side of it behind a water curtain, we discover the corpse of a bandit and a few skeletons, that seemed to have had some form of quarrel with the former.

[+] The Room

We continue around a few more corners and suddenly find ourselves at a dilapidated wooden bridge, leading over a deep pit. On the other side the path leads us further down until we end up below the bridge, that we can still spot above our head in the fog.

[+] The pit

We follow a ledge down until we reach the bottom, where an archway in the wall leads us deeper through the caves to the "Valley of eternal Imprisonment".

The view is not much better here and the trees we can spot in the huge cavern start disappearing into a green-brown mist after a few meters. A wide stairway leads us down to a small creek, running around trees and rocks. Using some boards as a walkway we follow the course of the water to the left. After a few meters we end up at a small lake, where we see a small camp on the other shore. Having a closer look we discover that besides a simple tent, a few crates and a fireplace a safe chest is waiting for us to store our belongings in.

[+] In the Valley

As the path seems to end here, we turn around and return to the entrance where we follow the trail to the right. We slowly reach more open terrain, that is dominated by bare trees. After a few steps, the way forks up and we decide to take the right path, that leads us into some sort of small village. A village is almost an overstatement, as it only consists of two houses, one seemingly inhabitated the other one just being a ruin, a well and a field.

[+] Settlement

But as we do not find anything of interest there, we leave the small settlement and cross a small bridge to follow the path deeper into the mist. We almost miss a small path to the right, that we can hardly see because it is very overgrown, but decide to follow it. We pass though a coniferous forest and reach a stairway that feels reminiscent of the one at the valley's entrance. But the gateway on top is filled with rubble and not passable, so we return to the path and keep following it.

[+] Unpassable exit

Soon there is another path on our right that we take and after a few meters a fortress slowly appears out of the fog. The gate is locked though and the drawbridge is pulled up. Luckily we find a weird sphere in front of the entrance that fits on a pedestal and opens the gate for us. Inside the walls we are welcomed by impaled skulls on spears.

[+] Fortress

After unsuccessfully trying to open the gate to the castle's interior, we head back and hurry to leave this place behind.
The path continues through a dreary field until we spot some sort of camp to our right. Inside of it, there is nothing of interest besides a few secure chests and tents that seem to belong to us, as they are labeled 'My tent'. Supposedly the remains of the planned camping-system (Ch. 3.13), that was cut out before the release.

[+] Camp

Moving on we discover a small graveyard with a few tombstones and an inscription saying "Cover the graves with large stones, so that the undead remain forever under the earth."

[+] Graves

Next we find some sort of construction with four fire bowls and a grating on top of a shaft leading deep down.

[+] Altar

Every bowl has a lever beneath it and after making sure, we stand on the bars (what could go wrong?) we activate each lever. The ground gives way and we fall into the depths of the 'temple of solitude'...


*Splat!* We dive into an underground lake and are lucky not to be impaled by some spears beneath the surface. Just like in the cave, moss and fern have conquered the area completely. In the adjacent chamber we stumble upon a few skewed archways, that lead the way through the cave.

[+] Underground Lake

Leaving the last archway behind, we find ourselves on a ledge, above the gate to an old temple. The rooms and hallways we pass through on the other side could not stop the moss either and it seems at if it has been a long time since someone was here. Suddenly we find ourselves swimming underwater after entering through some sort of invisible wall. (Probably just a bug in a script that was never fixed, as there is a lot of torches and fires burning under water)

[+] The temple of Solitude

We keep swimming and eventually reach a large hall with a locked gate. There is a passage on each side, where we find pressure plates that can be activated by placing an item on them. (At least in theory, as this puzzle relying on gravity is rather awkward under water ) But after a few tries, we can get to the other site where we can enter a shaft directly below the ceiling.

[+] Flooded area

It leads us into an unbelievably large canal system in some sort of cavern. Unfortunately this is where our journey ends as this part of the dungeon was never completed.

[+] Canals

(Minor spoilers for the main quest ahead)
As there is another water surface underwater I assume that the water was actually meant to rise after activating the pressure plates, but the scripts for that did not work in this version which resulted in both versions of the water being there from the beginning.
The whole place including cave, valley and the temple looks really promising and atmospheric and I really wonder what quest or story was supposed to take place here. The naming ("temple of solitude", "valley of eternal imprisonment") kind of reminds me of some sort of trial, that takes place in the player's mind, just like the one before the consecration. But this is merely speculation and unfortunately I did not find any real clue, that would explain what the purpose of the dungeon really was.
So we are pretty much done with the whole dungeon complex, even though there is still a few paths in the valley that we did not take. But all those are either dead ends or lead back to another part of the path, which makes the whole place really confusing in the beginning and one can get lost in the fog pretty easily. If anyone is interested in where which location was, I created a small map of the valley:

[+] Map of the valley

As the dungeon only exists in the very first release version of Enderal, there are no Cell-Ids today.

This is incredible. Even more so if I think that all these locations were thoroughly designed even though they didn't reach the final stage to be added to the game.

I absolutely admire the devs work and love this thread, it's so amazing to be able to discover every secret buried in Enderal's world. Keep 'em coming!

Sadly, these 'easter eggs' have been removed in the updated Steam version of Forgotten Stories. My old Shards of Order install still has them though.

I wish Enderal had some of the easter eggs similar to Nehrim. I'm thinking of Sven's Disco, The SureAI rooms under that dam and the German rock band in the theatre specifically. I liked that artistic touch.

Part 12: "The city below the desert"


The next installment of our journey leads us once again beneath the desert. Through a natural passage that is half-filled with sand, we enter an initially quite small and narrow cave, but after a few meters it leads us into some kind of big crater, covered in rubble and with some columns, towers and arcades in the walls. On the opposing side we enter a corridor that leads us up and repeatedely allows us a view down into the crater.

[+] Entrance and Crater

Once we reach the top, the sunlight does not reach us anymore and we are standing in a dark cave, which is only sparsely illuminated by some blue crystal lanterns suspended from trees. All around us we see the ruins of old impressive buildings, which could be either from the starlings or the pyreans.

[+] Dark hall

But none of the buildings can be entered anymore and a few stairs that lead up to a wooden construction are the only way that allows us to continue. We get back to the edge of the crater and get a nice overview from some sort of large balcony.

[+] The balcony

From here on we follow a narrow stone staircase that leads us to a deserted town (probably called 'Alt Jormungrad'), which is not very big, but whose buildings carved into the rock look quite impressive.

[+] Old Jormungrad

While it is also very gloomy in large parts of the city, we repeatedly notice that we are only just below the surface when sunlight and plants enter through an artificial shaft in the ceiling.

[+] The City

Through narrow alleys we pass some empty or unfinished houses and even come across the quite spacious but sparsely furnished tavern 'The weary Marauder'.

[+] Alleys and Tavern

The weary Marauder:

In another alley we come across another door that leads us to the so-called 'rat farm'. After only a few meters we come across barred cells in which rats were probably kept.

[+] The rat farm

For the fact that we are in a 'rat farm', we encounter surprisingly few rodents. The only ones we meet are roasting on sticks and probably tell us the purpose of the facility: food.

[+] Rats

The farm illuminated by crystal lamps is not very large, but in the end we come across a breakthrough in a wall that leads us into a kind of canal system that contains even very unhealthy looking brackish water.

[+] In the canal

Interestingly, the canal also seems to function as a connection between some scientific institutions or similar. The first passage we find takes us into a laboratory full of pipes, machines, switches and displays. The purpose of the construction is not quite clear to us, but in the following room we find the working and living space of the researcher living here, including a bed and a fully functional toilet.

[+] The laboratory

The second branch of the now dried up canal leads us into a huge room, which is almost completely filled by a huge metal sphere with rings and crystals. Below the sphere there is a control unit with a control panel and an energy column leading from the floor to the sphere.

[+] Metallic Sphere

The rest of the canal unfortunately turns out to be either a dead end or not finished.


Again, the dungeon simply seems to lack completion. Interestingly enough, Old Jormungrad is from the same designer as the Glass Fist (part 6) or the Tanks (part 5) and some more that are still on my list. In fact, not a single dungeon marked with its abbreviation is in the game (except the modified tavern "The hollow Hand"). So either they dropped out at some point during development or the finished dungeons have simply been renamed.

[+] Cell-ID

• FFAltJormungrad

Part 13: The shards of the forest"

Now that I've finally played through FS after ages, I can say that I was very happy to find some formerly not included dungeons in the game (like the "Forgotten Temple" from part 9 or the Theater of the Lower City)!

Today we take a look at and into a few dungeons, which all probably would be located in the Dark Valley, as one can conclude from some parallels in the naming (see the end).

Somewhere deep in the Dark Valley we first come across an abandoned battery tower, which looks quite inconspicuous at first. The way up to the roof is filled up and guarded by an undead and one floor below we only come across hanging laundry.

[+] tower

At the foot of the tower, however, we realize that we are probably in a larger fortified complex that seems to be buried or at least overgrown by now. Through the collapsed ceiling, light shines into a big hall, at the end of which we stand in front of a closed door. In order to get deeper into it, we first have to push some buttons in the right order. We descend further down a narrow corridor fastened with wooden planks and after a short while we come across another vault supported by columns and arches. Unfortunately, the path doesn't really lead any further here and we have to turn to the next remnant of the forest.

[+] old structure

Starting from the monastery Westgard we come across some ancient caves whose entrance was lost over time. The underground passages, which were built either by the Pyraeans or the Starlings, are mostly illuminated by huge metal chandeliers, giving off an almost violet light and emiting steam.

[+] The first halls

Guided by the unusual light sources, we pass a vast number of pipes and walk through natural and artificially constructed passages, until a wide cavern opens up in front of us. This one too is illuminated by a chandelier of enormous dimensions, hanging diagonally from the ceiling on a long pole and looks as if it would start swinging like a big pendulum at any moment.

[+] Cavern

The next two large caves are also dominated by similar light sources, and wooden platforms above the abyss allow us to admire the intricate mechanics of the machines on the walls. After that we slowly return to more natural underground areas and possibly closer to the surface, as we slowly ascend again over wooden walkways.

[+] More lights

(The dungeon doesn't really have any design similarities to the monastery (except for the end), but due to the naming of the cells 'WaldKlosterUebergang' (= Forest-monastery-transition) and 'WaldKloster1' (= Forest-monastery) for Westgard, a connection is quite likely. Alternatively, it could refer to another monastery, e.g. the lost Academy of Apothecaries in the North Wind Mountains.



At last we turn to the largest undiscovered complex, that we start to discover by entering the glimmershaft. We can easily see where its name stems from, as many blue crystals subtly illuminate the entrance of the cave. After a few metres, we are already standing in a bigger partially collapsed cave, with beams and pieces of wall scattered all over the floor. On the other side of the cave, which probably once served as a storage area, is the buried entrance of some kind of tower, to our right is an old loading crane and in a large rock niche to the left we find green crystals.

[+] Glimmershaft

Over a few steps we climb up to a door that leads us into the so-called connecting shaft. Some green crystals light our way through dark corridors and again we find ourselves in a small cave that resembles the previous one a bit.

[+] Connecting Shaft

We go on and pass through some rooms with low hanging ceilings that look as if the rotten beams can't really hold them anymore and their collapse seems to be only a matter of time.

[+] Hurry up

So we do not stay long at all but hurry to get further and finally reach a bigger hall in the middle of which there is a hole in the ground leading further into the deep. Through a barred shaft in the ceiling, supported by columns, a little light falls in and next to an old cart with a barrel there is an artfully made statue. It seems that the way down is our only option and so we start to descend into the shaft.

[+] Deeper down

(At this point there is no real connection between the dungeons, but the cave with the statue just described can be found almost identically both at the end of the Glimmershaft and the beginning of the Dark Water Cave)
After a few meters in the dark water cave we are at a fork in the road. The right passage quickly turns out to be a dead end with a crucified skeleton and some raw meat. It seems that we are now in the ruins of an old branched temple of the Pyreans.

[+] Ruine in the dark water cave

The narrow corridors bifurcate again and again, but most of the times, the path merges again after a few metres or ends in a room marking a dead end. The ruin is partly rock-hewn and partly made out of bricks and reinforced by columns and arches. From the walls of the temple, huge stone faces are staring at us, which are painted with curious patterns and forms.

[+] Narrow passages

We eventually enter a larger cave room where a waterfall falls from an opening in the ceiling where some light shines through. After walking up a wide stone staircase we enter the next part of the temple complex through a massive wooden gate. After passing through a few more rooms, we reach a rocky gorge that is spanned by a bridge.

[+] Deeper inside

On the other side we are standing in front of three corridors: The middle one is blocked by several lattice doors, the other two lead into a room with a metal chain. If you pull on both of them several times in the right order, the path in the middle opens up and we descend a little deeper, leaving the temple to end up in an old mine.

[+] Puzzle

The rock on the walls and ceiling is secured by massive beams and we approach a large cavern where the path spectacularly leads over some planks and rock needles that are protruding out of the abyss below. We continue to follow the rails of the mine railway and finally enter a small natural cave where a ladder in the ground seemingly leads us further. As this is not connected to anything, the exploration of the cave ends at this point. (Not quite true, just wait for the next part )

[+] The Mine

There is another part that belongs to the same complex, but is also not connected, and consists only of a huge hall with columns, as we are familiar with from some other pyraeic ruins. I suspect that this is an old version of the second part, as the entrance seems to be optically the exact counterpart of the gate at the waterfall.

[+] The cloister

What almost all of today's locations have in common is the lighting mood that prevails here, which makes the dungeons look much darker than most in the game due to a much higher contrast and sometimes stronger bloom. Since such high-contrast locations don't really fit the rather pale current state of the Dark Valley, I suspect that they may have been designed at a time, when the forest itself had a different name and design. I don't have any real proof of this, but I suspect these two old screenshots of the "Dark Forest" and the "Forest of the Lost Ones" to be possible predecessors, both looking much darker.
Why of all places so many ruins are unfinished at this place, I can't quite explain either. Maybe it's just another designer who's dropped out. In any case, they look interesting and are all beautifully designed. Maybe some of them are also connected to the abandoned alchemist camp in the Dark Valley (german link :/ ). At least the last dungeon I can imagine is the ruin mentioned in the mysterious note (at the bottom) and a monastery is also mentioned that may be related to the monastery crossing. Ultimately, however, the purpose of the dungeons remains unclear and it is difficult to say exactly what they were about.

[+] Cell-IDs

(No longer accessible in the current version)

• WaldBanditenTurm
• WaldKlosterUebergang
• WaldGlimmerschacht
• WaldOldTempleRuin

Chapter 14: "The shards of the forest, part 2"

We pick up where we left off last time, as the large but incomplete Darkwater Cave we discovered a while back has actually been continued for Forgotten Stories. The dungeon is even visually almost finished (but alas, only almost...) and has a backstory and a unique final boss.

But first things first: After climbing down the ladder, we now stand in a larger cave from which several tunnels lead in different directions. On a stack of crates we discover a note:

[+] Note and entrance area

Guys, how many times do I have to repeat myself? Remember that I can't protect you from our backers in Ark forever - One day they'll get tired of all the fuss, and then we'll be knee-deep in shit.

Remember. The energy stones must not be stolen under any circumstances.
The technology used here is beyond advanced - you wouldn't understand if I tried to explain it to you.

For all you newcomers, good luck! We all had a hard time finding our way around this mine at first! You'll find your quarters right here, up the middle corridor. The quarters of the old-timers are down the left corridor, turn right at the fork in the road and then always down, and you're there.
Olek will explain the rest!

IMPORTANT
If you want to use the mine elevator, keep to the right, through the cave with the blue crystals, and there it is waiting for you, in all its glory. Please don't forget - by Malphas' will, don't drain the energy stones needed to keep the apperature (and most importantly: the mechanical door) working. That's really all!

We decide to take the right corridor first, and after just a few meters a large cavern opens up before our eyes, crammed with generators and pipes. A path made of wooden planks winds its way just below the ceiling and in the middle we come across the aforementioned mine elevator, which takes us down into the depths. Unfortunately, there is no trace of the mentioned apparatus, we only come to an unfinished area here and therefore make our way back to the entrance hall.

[+] The mine elevator

As expected, the middle corridor leads us right into the sleeping quarters of the resident miners, however, we don't meet a soul and only discover bloody cloth rags on a bed - not a good sign... but since we don't find anything else interesting, we turn back and turn to the left corridor.

[+] The sleeping quarters

There, the gallery forks after only a few meters. One of the tunnels quickly turns out to be a dead end, the next one digs deeper into the mountain and behind an old wooden door transforms into a narrow passage lined with wooden slats, which branches out similar to a labyrinth, but then ends in nothingness.

[+] The tunnels

To the left, behind a heavy iron grate, we come across a sort of break room, where we find the first miner ... or at least what's left of him. By his corpse we find the foreman's key and on the table a suicide note in which the now deceased warns of a mysterious disease that is spreading in the deeper areas of the mine together with a crystal plague and has already affected one worker.

[+] The first worker with the suicide note

There is no escape. I've got Olek locked in the lower mine shaft, along with that damn crystal plague that will be the downfall of us all. I don't know what else I can do. Those rocks are doing something to Olek, he was always so good-natured and gentle, and now I don't recognize him. Whenever his madness subsides, he begs me to set him free, and it breaks my heart. But it must not be. Any rescue for him comes too late.
I have torn one of the energy crystals installed by that accursed archeologist out of the machine; nothing can go down, and nothing can go up.

I don't know how exactly the disease is transmitted. Those who only came to visit the mine seem to get away with it; it only affects us who do our day's work here, underground, sealed off from the rest of the world.
Who cares if we die down here like animals.
Now that there is no hope for Olek, I really have no choice. There is only one thing left for me to do.

Whoever reads these words - Be warned. This mine is doomed, and an abysmal darkness lurks in its depths. Turn back while you can.

My work ends here.

So, despite the insistent warning, we decide to follow the mine cart tracks deeper down. As we follow a narrow passage here, a metal grate suddenly rattles down in front of us, blocking the way. Fortunately, we are standing right next to a door hidden in the rock wall, which allows us to bypass the grate and enter the room behind it. A "Lost Miner" awaits us here with his pickaxe.

[+] Deeper down

A sliding door leads into the adjoining room, but was barricaded from the other side with boards and a closet, probably to keep the lost one out. It didn't do the worker much good there, though, because he's not particularly alive anymore, either. Blue crystals are growing out of the head and abdomen of his skeleton, just like the corpse lying on the table. Is this the mysterious disease the letter warned us about?

[+] The crystal disease

Unfortunately, we don't find any more answers here either, so we turn back and towards the last remaining passage, where crystals are already growing out of the walls, telling of the crystal plague.

[+] The crystal plague

We eventually get to a large cave where we finally meet Olek. The crystal disease has apparently not only cost him his mind, but also completely transformed his body. He is not particularly pleased about our sudden appearance, as he demonstrates with the help of his crystal claws.

[+] Olek introduces himself

Our encounter with Olek also brings today's adventure to an end, before we get a little closer to the lost city of Anku next time....


I find it really interesting that the whole cave was expanded in such detail and even given a small backstory, yet never completed. I'm not quite clear if the crystals are in any way connected to Enderals story and the red madness or if it is just a small independent tale. Where the crystals come from or what exactly they are also remains a bit in the dark, except that they were probably brought by some unnamed archaeologist...
If anyone here has an idea, feel free to share it!

[+] Cell-IDs

(Only accessible with an old Steam version of Enderal.)

• ForestOldTempleRuin4

Wow, what a thread! Can't believe I've missed it for so long. It was really cool to find out about all these locations, and a bit of a shame to see that many had come so far in development but weren't finished. Then again, the game is quite long and it sure takes a lot of time to explore anything even without these dungeons. Makes me want to install the SE version of the game and replay it again.