I just acciedentally noticed my characters who were good became neutral, and others became evil.

I restored it at a temple, but I'm wandering what could have caused it?? All I finished was sorpigal, sorpigal dungeon, the area outside sorpigal and a bit of erliquin...

Thanks,

When confronted with enemies, choosing attack shifts you towards evil and choosing to bribe shifts you towards good.

Is this universally true? It seemed to me that it depends on what kind of enemies they are. I don't know the full list but I definitely noticed that attacking centaurs (for example) would shift alignment towards evil, whereas attacking undead creatures or many other types would not. I think it may have to do with whether or not the enemies are willing to accept bribes. If it's an enemy that will accept bribes, then choosing to attack instead will shift alignment towards evil, but if the enemy does not accept bribes then it doesn't matter whether or not you offer.

This was all based on observation during play, though, so I may not have it exactly right.

Last thing to note is that shifted alignments don't matter THAT much... the only real issue is that certain items have alignment restrictions. You can see which these are in the cluebook if you don't mind mild item spoilers. If you want to equip such an item but your alignment is wrong, you can intentionally shift your alignment, equip the item, then restore your alignment, and the item will stay equipped. Just don't remove it! Intentionally shifting your alignment towards evil is of course much easier... to shift towards good you have to bribe a lot which can mean doing annoying things like giving up all your gold or all your food.

I'd have to do some more experimentation, but from what I've seen attacking x creatures shifts you towards evil and bribing x creatures shifts you towards good.

Thanks for your replies. And since restoring it is so cheap at the temple I'll just attack whomever I want for the xp...

One more thing, is it possible to buy gems anywhere? I just got fireball and it does more total damage than all the other current cleric+mage damage spells combined. Although normally I loathe parting with limited use items when playing RPGs, fireball and lightning are just too good... will aquiring gems ever be an issue?

Gems should not be an issue. Also, for the most part, when you bribe it will be as if you attacked anyway.

Thanks again.

Next question (hope you don't mind, I'd rather keep one thread for random questions since starting a new thread for every little question might be annoying).

I'm outside Dusk. Soon as I enter into any desert square I can't traverse it normally just get "It's hot, you're lost" and end up outside it. Any way to walk normally in the desert outside the main paths? Levitate didn't work?

What if something is inside the desert, how do I reach it? Or is everything reachable by normal paths...

iirc there is a map you can get in the games, also, walking across the desert will consume food every step you take.

Yes, you can find a map of the desert which will allow you to traverse it. If you search carefully you will stumble upon some hints as to where to find it.

I assume you went to Dusk by warping there from Sorpigal? If so, you may be stuck for a while... I believe the only way back (if you don't have the map) is to use the Sorcerer spell Fly to fly back to a different outdoor area. This is a 3rd-level spell so your sorcerer will need to be level 6 (I think) before he or she will be able to cast it. There are some items you can find that will cast the spell for you though. Also, it might be worth searching the town of Dusk carefully to see if there is another warp-type area that will send you somewhere else and let you escape the desert. I do not remember if such a thing exists. Also search the oasis around the town.

Yes, there is another way out of the area.

All these questions!

Alignment matters for a couple quests; you have to act in accordance with your alignment or you miss out on rewards. This can be rough on mixed-alignment parties. Also, there is one event that requires your party leader (whoever's in spot #1) to be "consistent" - i.e. to have the same alignment that he or she had at the start of the game.

Gems canot be bought directly; there is an area where you can answer trivia questions to get some, and accessing the area costs money. You won't need it, though, if you just keep searching corpses.

Bribing (some?) creatures shifts your alignment towards good; however, they don't have to accept your bribe - and you don't have to accept their offer for it to work.

You'll need a map for the desert, and lots of food. If you run out of food, you can take as many steps in the desert as you have Endurance, at which point your characters start dropping dead. But there is, as Orryyrro says, another way out of the Dusk area.

Great. I just used fly spell to get back to Soprigal. Thanks all!

There are items that can be equipped and have special charges. How can one find out what exactly does each item do? I have the hint book, but it's not explained there... it tells you what the equipping does, but not what the charges...

e.g. flying carpet givees +2 AC when equipped and can cast fly spell. This one is easy just use it and see.

But now I have a book of knowledge. When equipping it gives +2 int. But I have no idea what it does when used. All I get is "Done" ...

Thanks,

The cluebook has a "Spell Power" column that describes what an object does upon use, it will either have the actual description or an abbreviation such as S3/2 the abbreviation refers to whether it is a cleric or sorcerer spell, the spell level and the spell number. Or, in the case of the knowledge book, it just says spell level+14(temp) which is what it does on use.

Thank you! I must have been blind