Shukumei
[Written by Magnos]

(Download Hunter for graphical maps)

Shukumei, the jungle land of the AG, was quite a mysterious land. Not much of it was mentioned in the replay files but it was home of a very vital quest Critter, the Makon and was the location of the end of the Knight's Quest. Shukumei was considered the hardest AG land, for good reasons.

Upon portalling from the portal complex in Torii, you would find yourself in the middle of a portal complex with no portal leading out. That's right, you were stuck there... for now. A short stroll east would reveal 4 seperate stairways. All of them lead to the town nestled above in the caverns. If you continued east, you would come to a locked doorway and beyond that a great valley loaded with critters dubbed the "Valley of Doom". Along the zig-zagging nature of the valley you would come across a fork in the road, the southern path lead to a wyrm lair, and the nothern path continued onward. At the end of a trail are two rope climbs up the cliff.

The southern-most rope leads to the Makon Gauntlet maker, a tanner and the portal back to Torii. The northern-most rope leads to the deadly Makon, a Martial Artist's worse nightmare.

Inside the town, you will find the usual amenities of a town. Pawn, Weaponry, Apothecary, assortment of trainers and merchants. Thieves would take note to look carefully around the tailor's shop ;-). Directly east from the town gym and along a path beside the cliff is a stairway leading up to a Knight trainer and a Knight Quest NPC along with another portal back to Torii.

Hidden in some caverns in the southeastern part of town is a wizard trainer and two sets of stairs. Going downstairs would take you to the Shukumei Gorges, a quite unpleasant place indeed.

The gorge extended for miles to the east, filled with baddies, until eventually you can across Panumbra. She needs to be returned to town as part of a quest. Save your empty balm bottles however, there is a balm fountain at Panumbra's so you can have half a chance to make it back alive. Hidden inside a tower along the way is a stairwell leading up to the cliffs.

Taking the stairs up from town also lead up to the cliffs, but a little ways further west. Fighting your way east along the cliffs you will run into some nasty worms, bats, griffins and a few golems. At some point you will come to a gate with some stairs behind it. Those stairs lead to the Knight Quest area, also known as Happy Valley. Continuing east, you arrive at a large tower. Inside the tower is another prisoner who needs to be rescued.

The Knight Quest area, aka Happy Valley, was one of the most dreaded areas in the game. Upon climbing the stairs, a long hallway with a closed door appeared infront of you. The door required a key to open it and behind this door was the Lyndwyrm, a semi-nasty lair critter. On the eastern wall of the Lyndwyrm's lair, 2 more locked doors and a Quest NPC who would give you a key to unlock the last door, resided.

Opening the last locked door presented a winding valley with griffins and giants waiting to thirst on your blood. Around the corner to the south, you will find a wall with scattered ruins. In the middle of that wall is a secret door leading to the most frightening part of this journey... the wyrms! Inside are 6 wyrms, each one is like Mama, the Axe Ice Dragon!

Once you get by those monsters, a fairly clear route lies ahead and then you take the portal hex to Gwron, where you drop your +Scythe to finish the Knight's Quest.