The Basilisk – One piece of the puzzle

This is one of the articles that was submitted to the contest and won the 1st place. It was written by Meadek

The Basilisk – One piece of the puzzle

INTRODUCTION

The most famous mysteries of Tibia are found in ancient times, such as the Basilisk, Serpentine Tower, 469, among others …

Unfortunately, a definitive conclusion has never been reached on how to solve at least one of these mysteries

What’s the logic or the story behind each of them?

Or… What if all these mysteries are actually just one piece of a big puzzle?

In this text, I will present the secrets that connect some of these old mysteries, but to fit the context of the contest, we will focus on one of them: The Basilisk

The document will be written in chapters in order to follow a story. In the same way, to contextualize the entire audience, some events studied by myself and supported by in-game documents will be shown here. Finally, a possible solution will be given according to the clues found.

1. NIGHTMARE KNIGHTS

The history of the Basilisk dates back to the Plains of Havoc, where a big war occurred between the so-called Nightmare Knights and their arch-enemies: the Brotherhood of Bones.

These names probably sound familiar to you, as you can get their outfits in the “Dream Challenge Quest”.

This war occurred in very ancient times in the timeline of Tibia, so we can only learn about its history by reading books in Plains of Havoc and talking to some NPCs around Tibia.

The Nightmare Knights were an order of human knights that dominated the art of „dream walking”, which was taught by their masters: The Teshial Elves.

The Teshial elves are a caste of elves that no longer exist in the world of Tibia, with the exception of one elf of this caste, which we can find in Roshamuul and he can give us interesting answers to this topic, but that’s for another story…

Returning to the Nightmare Knights, as I said before, they learned from these elves the ability of Dreamwalking, that is, to inhabit a different dimension in which future events can be predicted by the ability to be conscious in dreams.

The important thing in this part of the story is to note that this order of knights was not only made up of humans, actually a very special race joined the order: The Dwarves. Proof of this can be found in the bedroom of the „Dream Chamber”, located in „Dream Challenge quest”, where we find a dwarf book and another book about his roommate (a human) who complains about this “snoring dwarf”

Image 1.1. Snoring Dwarf book, Dream Challenge Quest.

But, what does this have to do with the Basilisk?

It is necessary to review this part of the story to contextualize and understand the purpose of the Basilisk’s existence and its location in Kazordoon.  Now let’s move on …

2. THE PRISON ISLE
 

Once the war in Plains of Havoc ended, along with the annihilation of almost all members of the Nightmare Knights at the hands of the Ruthless Seven, the survivors decided to leave these lands as they presented great danger to their survival. Some of them even went to unknown lands at that time: Oramond. There we can find more information about that alliance of dwarves and the Nightmare Knights and some events that are part of the most recent history of Tibia.

But back to the dwarves who had joined the order of the Nightmare Knights, they were accused as treacherous by the emperor and locked up in jail in Kazordoon, as mentioned in the following book:

Image 2.1. “The Prison Isle Book”, Kazordoon.

Those dwarves were imprisoned in „The Prisonisle” or Dwacatra, which is located in the depths of Kazordoon, only 1 level higher than the famous Basilisk.

Image 2.2. Dwacatra (level -7), Basilisk (level -8)

But as the book mentions, not only the dwarves were locked up, but also all the other races that were involved in this war:

The Orcs, Minotaurs, Dwarves, Cyclops and of course, the humans (the Nightmare Knights). For the same reason, we can find the same creatures in Plains of Havoc, since their presence in both places describes exactly the same story.

It is here, when we head to Dwacatra Prison that the surprises begin:

Here I take the opportunity to quote the player „Cony Island” who noticed this particular fact.

So, following the logic of the book I mentioned above, we should (in theory) find the same creatures described in the book: Orcs, Minotaurs, Dwarves, Cyclops and humans in this prison.

And indeed, when entering the prison we can visualize these creatures (separated in clans)

Except for 2 little details that went unnoticed for a long time:

Humans (from the order of the Nightmare Knight) are not found. Rather, instead we find trolls, which are also not described in the book.

Image 2.3. The book doesn’t mention the trolls, and where are the “dishonorfull humans”?

What does this all mean?

To explain this fact we must go to (probably) the most mysterious place in the game:

The Serpentine Tower.

3. THE DARK PAST OF THE DWARVES

Dwarves, like elves, probably hide the most important secrets in the game. Both have a dark past, based on betrayal, ambition and a more important role in the story than you can imagine. Both make up the spinal column that explains the Tibian lore, but to summarize and conclude the main theme of the Basilisk, we will see only the surface of these secrets for now.

For this we must return to the genesis of Tibia, which hints that at the time of the creation of the ancients (dwarves and elves), part of them succumbed to the temptations of the evil God Zathroth:

Image 3.1. Tibia Genesis, ancient races betrayals.

This information can also be backed up with the same NPCs from Kazordoon, such as Isimov, located in the Kazordoon temple, who when asked about the „Gods” answers the following:

-Player: Gods

-Isimov: The gods abandoned us, we abandoned the gods. That’s it, not a big deal I tell ya, jawoll.

Image 3.2. Isimov, Kazordoon Temple.

What kind of betrayal are we talking about?

Basically helping Zathroth, through research aimed at summoning demons and creating undead creatures for his evil plans.

This betrayal of the races was carried out in the mysterious Serpentine Tower, in which we find various Research papers that tell us part of the experiments that were carried out.

It is worth mentioning that not only the dwarves participated in the events in this tower, but also other creatures such as the Necromancers and Warlocks, which were a fundamental piece to carry out these experiments and investigations.

For example, the following research paper hints at the role of the dwarves in this mysterious place:

Image 3.3. Research Paper “Move Earth Spell”, Serpentine Tower, Ankrahmun.

We know that the dwarves are experts in mining and the Dwarf Geomancers have the ability to control the force of earth. Also, in the mines of Kazordoon we find Pickaxes and Shovels, so when learning a new spell to “move earth”, it would not be necessary for the future to see new dwarven cities using these “old” methods (shovels and pick) to mine, as is the case in Farmine:

Image 3.4. : Kazordoon Mines. Image 3.5.: Farmine mines

But what does all this information have to do with the Basilisk?

All this contextualization of the stories was necessary to get to this point… let’s check it out.

There is also a special research paper called „Stoneskin Spell.”

Image 3.5. Research Paper “Stoneskin Spell”. Serpentine Tower, Ankrahmun.

This research paper tells us about an investigation of a protection spell, which probably ends up resulting in a “stone skin amulet”, but at the beginning, as the document says, TEST SUBJECTS were used, which were paralyzed or even PETRIFICATED.

If you still do not know what I mean by this, you surely will understand now.

4. BEWARE OF THE BASILISK!

If you’ve ever wondered why the Basilisk is located in Kazordoon, maybe it does make sense to you now.

The betrayal of the dwarves to the Gods in Ankrahmun involved dark experimentations, among them the creation of the Basilisk, for the same reason we find this snake in the mines of the ancient city.

Those “test subjects” mentioned in the research paper “stoneskin spell” refer to certain prisoners that the book “The Prisonisle” tells us about.

“The 'stoneskin’ spell is still flawed. The test subjects complained about severe problems when moving, and some actually suffered from partial paralysis or even from acute petrification! (…)”

Let’s remember that according to that book, we can find the creatures described in the book as tribes in the prison, except the humans of the order of the Nightmare Knights.

Well, what’s better than a human prisoner to do dangerous tests?

Interestingly, here we find trolls instead of humans, which are known for their ability to dig tunnels.

Image 4.1. Trolls, Dwacatra.

It wouldn’t be strange then, that these humans were sacrificed to see the results of the creation of this dangerous snake… isn’t it?

But that’s not all, let’s see more.

Surely you have visited the basilisk in the depths of Kazordoon and were struck by certain „Knight Statues” that we found in the upper levels of Dwacatra or even next to the Basilisk.

Well, it probably now makes sense why these KNIGHT STATUES are in this place.

In conclusion, the prisoners (members of the Nightmare Knights) were used as test subjects, and as the research paper says, they suffered petrification.

Perhaps others tried to get out of the place and ended up being caught anyway, as we can see in the images.

5. POSSIBLE SOLUTION

Many of these Tibia stories may not have the ending we hope for and many of them only tell us a story. But don’t lose hope, because there is probably a way to reach the Basilisk..

First, I must clarify that very rarely a quest is solved with the knowledge of the lore. Perhaps an exception is Paradox Tower. Be that as it may, personally I prefer to differentiate the word QUEST and SECRETS.

A quest is a mechanical action, which can be exercised by any player by pulling a level (for example) which activates another action that ultimately leads us to a room with a physical reward.

Instead, a secret is a hidden story, in which you need different sources to understand it, like NPCs or books. You probably won’t get a physical reward, but rather an understanding and knowledge of the game.

Anyway, let’s move on to what interests us…

What clues do we have to reach the Basilisk?

The truth is very few, but in my opinion, enough to do some tests. In Dwacatra we will find those tribes that I mentioned at the beginning: Orcs, Minotaurs, Dwarves, etc …

Curiously, each tribe has a „campfire” in their area, where something really curious happens:

-All campfires are in a different „state”, that is, some are lit, others a little unlit, and others are completely unlit, as shown in the following image:

What does this mean?

Most likely it is an order to follow. Also, each „tribe” of creatures has a hole next to them which directs us to a lower level where there are more creatures of its kind.

Interestingly, the only one we don’t find a hole is where humans should be, and instead we find trolls.

And what’s under there…?

The Basilisk.

Are there any more clues?

As I mentioned, very few. We know that the Basilisk is afraid of the light as described in the books in Kazordoon. Torches, light basins, or similar tests are probably needed.

But finally, a small hint from Cipsoft, published in the article „A Night Full of Mysteries” can gives us more clues:

“I recently overheard some adventurers talking about reaching the Basilisk through Dwacatra, the prison isle. One of them even insisted that the Serpentine Tower holds the key to solving all mysteries at once. But this is a story for another night or day. ”

As you can see, these mysteries are not separate…

The Basilisk is just one piece of the puzzle.

Meadek, Nefera.