TauReaver's spiderproof minigames guide

[TinyReaver]

Sections:

1: Thanks
2: Introduction
3: Minigames
4: Other useful guides made by the community
5: Best of Community Reactions

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1: Thanks:

Before starting the guide i want to thank Cathbald, Micbran, Kruz, Dado, Bpat, and Orange for their awesome support and coaching, would not be here if it weren't for you.
I also want to thank every person in the ToME Discord Channel and everyone in the Roguelike Discord.
Plus a big thank you to DarkGod, Shibari, and Razakai for their awesome work (there are others I know but I don't know the names :D)

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2: Introduction

Hello i'm TauReaver, aka Trevor for friends, and I'm an addicted Tales of Maj'Eyal player with over 240 hours of game and three wins, one in Normal and one in Nightmare
and one on Insane. I made this guide because I always find people struggle for the unlocks where playing a minigame is required.
I am fairly good at those so here I am. Let's start with the most natural question:

Why should you play ToME minigames: (SPOILER)
Playing certain minigames is required for unlocking certain classes, such as Solipsist and Brawler.
Plus a well-executed minigame can save your life (in Caldera) or save a bunch of gold (in Slavemaster area).
Additionally, playing those minigames work as a good stress reliever. Personally, I really like playing the mouse one.

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3: Minigames: (SPOILER)

There are three relevant minigames in the Eyal campaign, these are Slaver Arena, Mouse Run, and Lost Wife.

- Slaver Arena: Located in the final level of Slaver Compound. The area is safe, so you will not lose health passively or by mobs (Slavemaster is neutral),
means that you can safely concentrate on the minigame. Go to the red orb and pay the fee (150 gold). Good, you are now a slave forced to fight enemies.
Before doing anything, press P and put points in DEXERTY, this will help your survival chances.
You will have a lot of useful skills like two grapples, heal and regen infusions, spinning backhand etc. just like a normal brawler.
Don't forget to activate your Striking Stance before going into combat and engage your enemies with Spinning Backhands.
The enemies spawned will be snakes, orcs, bears, and thieves (plus some random enemy).
In case of danger use the infusions accordingly and don't waste them;
You can also run away to reduce some cooldown, they don't have range skills but the snakes can outspeed you so be careful!

- Mouse Run: Located in Drogoth Caldera, will trigger if the countdown (under your resource bars) reaches zero,
be careful because if you lose you will start losing HP per turns! (unless the area boss is dead, otherwise you are free to go, see below)
Be extremely careful about any nearby enemy if you lose the minigame because they can finish you quickly.
This minigame is the hardest but the most fun; as soon as you spawn as a little mouse, press P and put all your points into CONSTITUTION, this will prevent cats from one-shotting you.
Activate stealth and start to go east carefully. Now there are two things you should get in mind:
First: When a cat spots you and start chasing you, don't even try to fight, because you can't;
Run, and if you get caught in a narrow spot, pop your Evasion skill and/or Tumble away.
Second: You may find some "Mouseholes", they are hard to spot cause of the dream distortion effects,
those are really important because they are a lifesaver; your success on this minigame depends on the correct use of those mouseholes.
Use them to flee from cats and reset your cooldown/stealth. The exit should be on the right part of the map, at the lower-middle or at the bottom.

- Lost Wife: Located in Drogoth Caldera, see the Mouse Run minigame for more info.
You are a "lost man" in a yeek resort, you have to find.. your wife.
Before starting put all your points into STRENGHT to increase your damage output.
This minigame is pretty straightforward: talk with every yeek you find, all but one will morph into a ghoul, kill those by bumping them to death,
to heal you must find Dreamstones (they are impossible to miss!), those, when touched, heals for 100HP.
The objective of this mini-game is to find your wife; eventually, when talking to a yeek, one will morph into an Orc Broodmother.
You must kill this boss to complete the minigame.
Be very careful to this enemy, as "she" can hit in range and deal a ton of damage, always run when low!

A little note on the Caldera Dreams: if you are trying to get the solip unlock, note that you can't unlock it if the area boss is dead, so complete the dreams
in the area before the boss one, clear every enemy to be as safe as possible.

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4: Other useful guides made by the community:
Cathbald's inscription guide: http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=48659
Cathbald's zone order guide: http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=48660
Micbran's new players guide: http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=46389
Micbran's great contribution to lore dump: http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=48293
Bpat's intense guides collection: https://te4.org/wiki/User:Bpat

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5: Best of Community Reactions: (tba)

"This guide is epic, it even has spider" - Kruz
"I still can't believe any finds the caldera dreams fun" - Micbran, before the guide was even finished.
"I wish I could do the ring of blood as a mouse" - Cathbald trying to say something dumb.
"Be careful, because 1 wrong move and you can be a deadmau5." - Shesfakingit asking me to put this here.
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END. [Ascii Art by Joan Stark.]