Start by searching outside the walls of
the Portal Fortress. In the Southeast corner there's a Cursed Large
Shield. You'd be best off just leaving it there. In the Northeast
corner are some rats and a Stone Dagger. The Northwest corner has a
secret passage. It's on the dark section of wall, just push against all
the sections until you find it. The secret passage leads down to the
Southwest. Whatever you do, DON'T PUSH THE BUTTON. Pushing the button
results in instant death and the end of the game. There isn't anything
in the chests there, either.
Now enter the Portal Fortress through
the Northern Gate. If you to the west you'll enter a small area with
four rooms. The first room to the north is empty. The first room to the
south lets you rest.
The second room on the south has Carol
in it. Carol sells you the First Aid skill up to Level 5. I personally
find this to be a pretty useless skill, since I've never played without
a Priest in my party, and Healing Potions work better anyway, but if
you want to get it, this is the place. Carol will also heal your
characters and uncurse cursed items. Uncursing items lets you unequip
any cursed items you might have accidentally equipped, and it also lets
you sell cursed items in your inventory.
The second room to the North has Denise
in it. She'll give you a quest to get her amulet that she forgot in her
room in the Tower of the Magi.
Go back into the courtyard and enter the
building to the Northeast. Assuming you've entered from near the North
Gate, the first room the north is the library. Check out the
bookshelves, and one of them will have a scroll on it. Try to read the
scroll; you won't be able to read it yet, but you need to have tried
before you can learn how. The next room to the north has Walner in it.
Walner is a sage and can identify your items for a small fee. Ask him
about the library now. First mention the scroll you couldn't read, and
he'll tell you how to read it. Also ask him about needing more books
and he'll give you a quest to bring him any Research Tomes you across.
You get a small amount of money and a small amount of experience for
each book you bring him. Now go back to the library and read the scroll
again to get Light Level 3.
Now go to the southwest corner of the
building and you'll see a small platform and a lever. Go talk to Kelner
in the southeast room and if your reputation is high enough he'll let
you use it to augment one of your items. Talk to him again after you've
used the platform and he'll reset it for you once.
Across the courtyard from this building
is the storage area for the Portal Fortress. There's some decent items
in some of the side rooms, but unfortunately you can't steal any of
them, since the rooms are all guarded.
The last room leading off the main
courtyard is the barracks for the Portal Fortress. There's a couple
soldiers in here, and nothing much else. Now go into the Portal
Chamber. Standing by the stairs up to the Portal is Seles. Once you've
completed the first of the surface quests she'll let you use the portal
to return to the Tower of Magi for some magic training.
The room leading off of the Portal
Chamber to the southeast is a crystal shaping chamber. There's two
storage rooms leading off here. The first one requires Unlock Doors Lv.
3 to get through, and once inside you need either Dispel Barrier Lv. 2
or a Piercing Crystal. There's an Unshackling Crystal and the Healing
Spellshard guarded by two Guardians in there. Guardians are
invisible, so it's best to go in fighting. They start in the corner
beside the bench. One in the nook beside the bench itself, and one
right beside the first. The second storage area only needs Unlock Doors
Lv. 1, but you still need Dispel Barrier Lv. 2 or a Piercing Crystal.
There's a Recall Crystal in here, guarded by one Guardian.
The only thing left to see in the Portal Fortress is the water reservoir in the far southeast corner.