I just started the test of fire in Gothic 2 (in the mage path, at the Innos monastery). A few things seemed straightforward, such as what the living stone is (a golem), how to defeat said golem (the hammer of innos), and how to make a rune (ask someone in the library).

However, I can't figure out how a person is supposed to figure out where everything is. Where are the signs of Innos? Where is the path it speaks of? Where is the golem? Where do you obtain a blank runestone? I had to look up a walkthrough to figure it out. I assumed that the blank runestone and golem would be found along the way to solving the riddle about the path, which turned out to be correct, but there are no clues that this is the case.

Did the developers really expect the player to wander aimlessly across the map until they came across these things by chance? Or are there clues that I missed? I expected some npc to maybe mention offhand, "oh there is an old temple to the north", or "there is a path that pilgrims used to follow", or something. But there's literally nothing to go on.

Honestly, without a walkthrough, I have no idea how I'd ever figure this out, and I'd probably just give up. Has anyone ever solved these riddles without looking it up or spending hours wandering around?

Thanks!