Abandonware DOS title

Below The Root walkthrough

-+Below the Root+-
                      ------------------
                        Commodore 64
		     by KindarSpirit@aol.com
		     -----------------------
----------------------------------------------------------
This FAQ was originally created under the name of
KindarSky@aol.com. This is a revised version of that FAQ.
This FAQ is free to use, just please don't alter it.
-----------------------------------------------------------
                      - - + Contents + - -
		      1. Summary of Game
	              2. Characters
		      3. Items
		      4. Spirit Skills
		      5. Health, Spirit and Food
		      6. D'ol Salaat and D'ol Nekom     
		      7. Walkthrough
		      8. Closing

1. 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------

2. 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
-------------------------------------------------------------------

3. 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 recieved 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 recieved when kidnapped by D'ol Nekom,
                you must use kiniport to get it when in their dwelling.
Spirit Lamp   - Recieved from the Chamber of the Forgotten, this works 
                as a honey lamp, but will never burn out.
D'ol Falla's  - You recieve permission to have the key from D'ol Falla
Key             when you vist her at Vine Palace in the Temple.
Temple Key    - Recieved when you learn to grunspreke, and glide over in
                to the temple walls. You will find it higher up in 
                the temple's branchs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

4. 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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

5. 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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

6.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?

1. They are usually at a place for a period of time then leave. 

2. They are usually yellow, white, or gray.

3. If you pense them in their house it will give you a decieving 
   message.

4. If you walk close, but dont touch and pense them, they will also
   give you a decieving 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.

7. 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.
-----------------------------------------------

8. Closing
----------

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 KindarSpirit@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! =)

(c) KindarSpirit 1999-2001