Sun Darter Hatchling: the Caverns of Consumption

On the northern coast of Winterspring there is a cave that the map doesn't mention: the Caverns of Consumption. Inside, your spells stop working, and every barrier and guardian has to be passed with the right potion, costume or toy. At the end lies an egg with a faerie dragon inside.

Before you start

Inside the cave you get Consuming Silence, which blocks your spells, abilities and toys. Everything has to be done with consumables, so bring all of this:

• One each of the six Major Protection Potions: Fire, Arcane, Frost, Holy, Nature and Shadow.
• About 20 Noggenfogger Elixirs and about 20 Pygmy Oils.
• Scotty's Lucky Coin, Dire Brew, Ethereal Oil, the Gordok Ogre Suit, Winterfall Firewater and a Scroll of Intellect.
• The Perky Pug pet and a "Little Princess" Costume.

Stick to the route below. Wandering off the path can teleport you back to the entrance. You can repeat the cave, but the egg can be looted only once per character.

Step 1: two barriers

Drink the Major Fire Protection Potion to pass the fire barrier. The next barrier is chaos, which contains every school of magic, so drink the other five protection potions to get through.

Step 2: the Diligent Watcher

The gargoyle only notices the living. Drink Noggenfogger Elixirs until one of them turns you into a skeleton, and walk past.

Step 3: the vines and the water

Use Scotty's Lucky Coin to become a forest sprite and pass through the wall of vines. Take a Water Stone from the pool behind it, then use the stone to open the water barrier.

Step 4: the Stone Watcher

The golem lets only dwarves pass. Drink Dire Brew to turn into a Dark Iron dwarf. Behind him the way splits in three: two puzzles upstairs and a sealed gate downstairs that needs both of their buffs.

Step 5: the Wisdom Cube

On the left, a metal fence blocks the way. Drink Pygmy Oil until you shrink, slip through, and talk to the Wisdom Cube. It wants "a most amusing heir": summon the Perky Pug, put the "Little Princess" Costume on it, and talk to the cube again. Place your arm beneath it to receive the Sign of the First.

Step 6: the Strange Stone

On the right, drink Ethereal Oil to pass the translucent barrier. The Strange Stone has a fist-sized hole that your arm is too small for. Put on the Gordok Ogre Suit and drink the Winterfall Firewater, then place your arm in the hole to get the Sign of the Second.

Step 7: the egg

Go downstairs through the gate and read the Tarnished Plaque before you touch the water: "the greatest of achievements begins with the smallest leap of the mind". The smallest intellect buff in the game is the Scroll of Intellect. Cancel the Winterfall Firewater buff first, since both are battle elixirs, read the scroll, then cross the water and loot the Oddly-Colored Egg.

Sun Darter Hatchling, Cave of Consumption · AH SeanR