Below the Root
Below the Root
Ver 1.0
SUMMARY OF GAME
You choose to be a Kindar, Erdling, Boy, or Girl.
Your leader, Raamo, has disapeared and you are out to save him.
You learn many spirit skills as you advance through the game, and talk to interesting people, but watch out for the D'ol Nekom, and other groups who will kidnap you.
Can you save Raamo? And set out on a quest to fulfill the Green Sky Prophesy, and save Green Sky from destruction? The answer lies below the root.
CHARACTERS
The characters are classified under two groups:
* Kindars - Born above ground in the trees of Green Sky.
- Erdlings - Born below the root in carverns.
*Neric
Young Man, strong, impulsive, moderate spirit skill
*Genaa
Young woman, strong, charismatic, no spirit skill
*Pomma
Girl-child, delicate, greatly spirit gifted
-Charn
Boy-Child
Sturdy, alert, moderate spirit gift
-Herd
Strong, rational, moderate spirit
ITEMS
Most items can usually be bought at stores, or found on branches unless otherwise noted.
- Shuba - The most important item. Helps you glide from tree branches. You cannot die from a fall, but it does do damage to your health. It is best to carry at least two on you, as they do tear.
- Vine Rope - Used to stretch across distances you cannot jump. You cannot walk across standing, you must crawl since it can't support much weight. Gone after one use.
- Pan Bread - Just normal bread, good food for Kindars
- Roast Lapan - (Roast Rabbit) Good food for Erdlings, may disagree with Kindars.
- Trencher Beak - Used to cut sharp or normal bushes in your way. Will break after many uses.
- Honey Lamp - Used to light up dark areas, although they burn out fast.
- Wissenberries - Used to bribe later on in the game. Don't eat these, as they are considered a drug, and will do damaging effects to your health.
- Strange Elixer - Increases stamina by two points, very useful
- Spirit Bell - An item received from , this will ring when you approach an invisible or hard to find door
- Wand of Befal - Is used the way a trencher beak is, however it never breaks. Is received when kidnapped by D'ol Nekom, you must use kiniport to get it when in their dwelling.
- Spirit Lamp - Received from the Chamber of the Forgotten, this works as a honey lamp, but will never burn out.
- D'ol Falla's - You receive permission to have the key from D'ol Falla Key when you vist her at Vine Palace in the Temple.
- Temple Key - Received when you learn to grunspreke, and glide over in to the temple walls. You will find it higher up in the temple's branchs.
SPIRIT SKILLS
Every character has its limitations and special gifts. Pomma is the most greatly spirited gift, but at the same time very weak and fragile, while Genaa is very strong with no spirit skill. Everytime you use spirit, your spirit level will go down (not permanent) until you rest. Try and use them sparingly although as it is very fun to pense. You do not start out with all these skills, but you can obtain them all through pensing with animals and talking with spiritual leaders.
- Pensing - This is used for 'mind touch'. You can communicate with animals and see what people are thinking. Pomma is the only one who possess' this skill. The others will have to talk to Spiritual Leaders so they can learn how to pense.
- Healing - Healing will only raise your rest level, not your food level, and its only by 2 points. A good thing to do is before you pense an animal or Spiritual Leader, heal yourself completely. Then pense with whomever. Your Spirit Skill will go right back up.
- Grunspreking - Very old ancient spirit skill possessed among almost no one in Green Sky. If you stand beside certain branches, and 'grunspreke' the branch will grow. You can walk on it instead of crawling.
- Kiniport - If you are in an akward situation (spider, snake) Tools and can't reach an item you would like to grab, just use kiniport. A yellow box will appear, just drag and click it to what you want, then click where you want to go.
- Kiniport - The ultimate skill. This will allow you to kiniport your body. This is a very useful skill, remember, use your skills sparingly, and this one can suck up major spirit.
HEALTH, SPIRIT, AND FOOD
You health is very important. If your rest is low you will be taken back to your house where 'you were found unconcious time has passed.' Again, use your spirit skill sparingly. A tactic I use, is when you are pensing with an animal or leader, heal yourself completely than either pense or speak with the spirit. After you are done it will be restored.
Some foods are different for Kindar and Erdlings.
Kindar's do not eat meat, there for would not benefit eating a roast lapan, (roast rabbit.) Erdlings can eat about everything. Do not eat wissenberries, they do damage to your stamina.
D'OL SALAAT AND D'OL NEKOM
Through out the game you will encounter tons of people, however, like real people, there are the dishonest ones. Careful about resting or walking near people or their houses. Sometimes if you rest in their house, they will kidnap you, same with if you walk by them. How can you tell?
- They are usually at a place for a period of time then leave.
- They are usually yellow, white, or gray.
- If you pense them in their house it will give you a deceiving message.
- If you walk close, but don't touch and pense them, they will also give you a deceiving message.
When you are kidnappped, you are taken to a house high up, or a house on the forest floor. You will have to renew, or have a trench breaker handy.
WALKTHROUGH
Then ending will be the same with any person you use, but to start off with, I will use Pomma. This is a simple, yet not full detail of the game. I suggest playing around a little or messing around while you are playing, it adds lots more fun and you get a better idea of exactly what you are doing.
You will awake in your house, make sure you take everything. You should have:
- 1 Shuba
- 3 Tokens
- Pan Bread
Then leave your house and walk to the right. You should see a lady, walk by her. You should now be in front of a blue house with a red roof. You can go in there if you wish, the owner of the house will give you a free token, although it is not very important.
Climb up the ladder. You will see a blue house with a blue roof, this is also not important, climb up the ladder again.
Ok, from here you should be on a series of platforms, make your way to the right and pick up the vine rope and head left to pick up the other vine rope. Then proceed up the ladder.
You should see a yellow monkey. First go right and pick up the last vine rope. Make your way to the left, you should see a steep branch. Fall through the gap and glide right to land on the branch with the monkey. Kneel beside the monkey and 'pense.'
Now glide back down to nearest branch and climb up the ladder again. Go left but don't fall down the gap. Continue left. You should now see a branch that looks like a fork. On the right 'prong' use a vine rope. You will have to crawl across. Now continue right (you can come back for the elixer later). You will come across two steps, Pomma is weak and cannot jump them, so you will need to use a vine rope again. Make your way right.
You will see a spider, avoid him as best as you can. When you reach the top, jump over to the left and keep going. You will see a green snake, again try avoiding him and keep going to the left. You should now see a little blue\red house. Enter and you will see a bed. Rest for a second then jump out. Then exit the house. You should be in a cloud like room. Walk up to the elder (D'ol Neshom) and speak with him. He will teach you how to heal yourself and then will grant you the spirit bell. Take the spirit bell and leave.
You will now again be in the room with the bed, you don't need to rest but can if you like. Just exit through the door.
This part may be a little tricky. Make your way to the right without falling. Get to the screen where the snake is, however fall just before you reach the platform he is on. You should be near the spider now, try to glide on a platform it is important you do not fall.
Make your way to the right top again and jump from the platform you are on to the right. Immediately glide left and you should see a white rabbit on a branch, or you will land near the rabbit on the same branch where there is a token and vine rope.
Kneel over to the rabbit and heal yourself, then pense with the rabbit.
Now glide to the left and go back to get the elixer, it will raise your rest and food by 2.
Now go back down to the blue with red roof house where you might have picked up the free token, which is the house next to yours. Go right.
You should see a long blue house, keep going right. Make way to the very last platform you see and jump then glide right.
Climb up the ladder and continue right. You will now see a vine tree to climb, climb up in and go in the little house.
Again, if you need to heal yourself completely, this is the wise child's house and he will raise your spirit skill, and also teach you how to grunspreke - the most important skill.
Make your way to the right and pick up those wissenberries. They will come to big help later. Also make sure you don't spend too many tokens.
Now you will need to head east as far as you can, by climbing up as high as you can and gliding left. However make sure you keep a good eye on your health and food.
Keep going until you reach the silk house. You may have trouble finding it, so be on the look out for it. It is more south east.
Climb up the silk house ladders and continue climbing each one until you reach the top.
You should see a yellow child.
Keep going right. You should finally reach another series of platforms, to the far right there should be a pink house with a vine tree leading down. There might be a yellow man standing on the platform closest to you. Don't go near him! You have come far and it would be a shame to be kidnapped right now. Go left and let time pass. Visit the silk house and talk to the people, heal yourself. Come back and he wont be there.
If you are fortunate of him not being there, you can go in the pink house and get some free fruit and nuts.
Climb down the vine tree and you will see an orange monkey and a trencher beak. Make sure you take the trencher beak! Heal yourself completely leaving enough to pense with, then pense the monkey.
Jump off and glide left until you reach 'Star Grund Shops'. Go in the first one and pick yourself up another shuba. The other shops carry vine ropes and pan bread, which is really not important at this point.
Go right and climb up the ladder. Go left and climb up the other ladder, leep going until you reach a pink house with a purple roof.
Go right where you will see a blue and purple house. There will be a ledge. Don't jump off it. This is a VERY important part. Stand at the edge as close as you can. You will now grunspreke, keep doing it until it says you cannot grunspreke here, it has grown as far as it can. Now take a giant leap and glide immediately.
You need to make it over the temple wall, this is the only way. You are in the temple grounds.
Go up the first ladder you see then the second. You should see the vine palace. Enter the palace and find D'ol Falla, who will grant you possession of the key to the Chamber of Forgotten. You can't get that key just yet, but you can get the temple key so you wont have to grunkspreke next time. Exit the vine palace and go right. You will see a small house, this is the Chamber of Forgotten. You cannot enter here just yet. Make a right still. Find the first ladder you see and climb up it, keep going up and up by ladder. You will see a red spider, use a vine rope to go over him. Then jump from the edge and glide left until you see a door in the trunk of the tree.
Go inside and you will find the temple key. Exit the room and go right. Go south, and you will see The Temple. There is a door you need to unlock when you enter. Use Temple Key then make way to the left and go up the ladders. You should see a woman in a water filled room. This is Raamo's mother. Heal yourself, then speak with her. She will teach you how to kiniport tools. Now exit the temple and go right until you see an edge with a type of pole preventing anyone from falling. Jump over and glide left. Land on the forest floor.
You need to find a tree called 'Temple Grund', (you should be very close). Once you find it climb up the vine trees as far as you can. Then go left as far as you can and jump. Glide left until you see a gray monkey, drop down to him, heal yourself the pense him, you have now learned how to kiniport your body.
Now glide left and continue left. You should see a series of platforms leading up to a vine rope, and a vine tree. Climb up the platforms and grab the rope, then glide to the platform near the tree to climb. If your inventory becomes to full and you cannot carry anymore, dont worry it is not important to take the vine rope.
Climb as high as you can on the vine trees, where you will find you may need to jump back and forth from one to the other since there are holes in some. As you are climbing up, you should see a little part of a gray platform, this is where you need to be. So climb further, glide to it and then enter the door. You now have the key to the Chamber of Forgotten.
Keep going left. There will be a big bush that will hurt you when you touch it, use the trencher beak, or climb up high and glide over it. Go until you see more vine trees, climb up them and you will now be back near the Star Grund Shops. Go to the temple, this time using your temple key. Now enter the chamber of forgotten and use 'D'ol Falla's key twice.' You will find the spirit lamp. Now exit.
If you remember the yellow man being near the pink house that gives out fruit and nuts, that is about the monkey you pensed with the trencher beak, you must go to him. Just as you might have waited for him to leave, you will now have to wait for him to appear, and let him kidnap you.
You were kidnapped by the Nekom. However, that is a good thing for once. You will need to kiniport that sword looking thing from behind the barrier to you, or you can use the temple key. You now have the Wand of Befal and are ready to go Below the Root.
You need to make it back to your house, or as I always do, use the renew option where you will be taken back.
You then need to go right, you will see a gray rabbit. You can climb high and glide down to him, and build up your spirit skill.
When you are done, you will see another bush. Use the Wand of Befal on the bush, jump and let yourself fall. Right before you reach the ground glide to the left, then continue to the left. When you see a green man 'guarding' a rock like room, you are where you should be.
The man says he needs to see your pass, however he feels sympathy for you (pense him) and would settle for some wissenberries. Offer him the wissenberries and you may enter.
Climb down the stairs and you will a yellow man, he wants tokens. Offer him a token and he will let you pass.
You are now Below the Root.
Somewhere in these caves, is Raamo. However, from past
exploring and playing with this game, there are actually
endless tunnels and some if you get caught in can lock the
game, make you renew or get you very lost. It is not as
hard as it looks or sounds however.
This part can be confusing so I will go into detail.
Continue going right. You should walk by a yellow boy and the tokens. Ignore them and all other objects, as you have everything you need now. Carefully avoid the spider, and keep going.
You will see two ladders, don't go down either, just keep going right. You might see a yellow woman, don't go near her, she will kidnap you again. If you don't see one, continue right. If you do see one, go back to the two ladders and take the orange speckled one ONLY. You should see a white spider as you climb down. Climb up the next orange speckled ladder you see and head right. Climb up the next red ladder and you will be where you would have been if that yellow woman was not there and you passed through.
Now continue right. You should now see a giant brown bush, use the Wand of Befal to cut through it, and again continue right. There will be a passage with a tight fit, crawl through it, where you will now take a tunnel semi-down. You should see two tokens and a red ladder. Climb down the red ladder. As you climb down, you will see passage that leads left, and another ladder heading down. Take the ladder down.
When you make it to the bottom, head right. You should now see some platforms above water, with a spider. Be very careful, as if you haven't learned yet you cannot touch water.
Continue right, and climb up the red ladder. You should now see another orange speckled ladder and a passage going left. If you like, you can crawl into the left passage and kiniport yourself an elixer as there is a spider guarding it. But after climb up the orange ladder. Now continue going right. Don't freak out when you are walking to this next part, because you are going to fall. But you need to fall, because that's where you need to be going. So just walk casually for the next two screens until you fall. Now go left, and go down the red ladder, then go right. You should see some green dots outlining a door, when you walk by your spirit bell will ring. Enter the door. Vatar will rise your spirit. Now exit through the same door, and continue going right. You will see another red ladder, climb up it and continue right.
You should now approach yet another white spider. Carefully jump over and walk slowly to the next screen. You will see the bottomless lake. Depending on how strong you have gotten your character, just to be safe, go back to the screen with spider, and jump to the ladder from there. If that is too far, try one step closer and so on. Just don't fall in that water! When you make it up the ladder continue going right.
You will see another orange ladder, climb down it. You should now see a snake guarding some tokens and an orange ladder leading down to another orange ladder. When you reach the bottom, there will be a narrow passage leading left, and another right. The left one is the bottomless lake, which you can carefully crawl out to and take a peak. When you are done continue right.
Walk very slowly the next couple of screens, you will hear your spirit bell ring, enter the door.
You will now see some steps. Go up the steps. You should now see a white bunny and a red ladder. You can take the chance if you like, to go back and pense the bunny, however now there isn't any point. Go up the red ladder.
You will now see a man standing on a rock ledge, you've finally reached Raamo.
Kiniport your body over on to the rock ledge. Speak with Raamo, he will tell you he is afraid of falling. Offer him your shuba.
Congratulations, you have beaten below the root and fulfilled the Green-Sky prophesy.
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Now you have beat the game, try using Neric next, and Genaa when you have gotten really good. Don't forget to explore, it is quite a huge world and very fun! This is the first version of this walkthrough. I will be updating it once in a while with more info. If you are interested in future updates or get stuck in any part of the game you can e-mail me at KindarSky@aol.com and I will be more than happy to help.
What is the story behind Below the Root? Below the Root is based on the Green-Sky Triology by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. The books are wonderful, and if you get the time or luck to pick them up, read them! =)
