Those who entered the portal found themselves on a platform above a lava pool with no way out except a ladder leading up. The next floor would not provide any alternative paths as you would be standing on a wooden platform with a wooden bridge leading only to the west. This would take you through a series of millstones though I don't know what these were supposed to represent. You would be in a large underground cavern which was dark.
Navigating west took you to a split almost right away which led north. This was a huge undead cave filled with Skeletons, Ghouls, and a couple of Demon Skeletons which were dangerous. The large quantities of monsters were unusual, and it was secluded enough that hunting here was worthwhile. However, the incredibly long walk out sucked which often meant only the most dedicated hunted the spawn.
To get out of Hellgate you continued walking west, ignoring the first two dead end paths. Along the way you would also pass a room filled with poison fields, but nothing of interest inside. At the end was a dropdown hole which took you to another room that headed east. Snaking around this path led to a bridge which opened to some lava below. Dropping down the hole would push you to head back west and over a bridge in the lava. Heading straight east took you to a dropdown hole which led to an underground lake with a dock which spawned some normal elves and a scout. The three dropdown holes led to smaller underground rooms, two of which had tons of white mushrooms and one of which was a bug dungeon. This was a great place to grab food for the long walk out, but you had to keep at least one white shroom for the quick way out which we will talk about later. Those who didn't would need to wait for them to respawn.
Heading back out and going north would lead to a split where if you went west, you would find a dropdown hole and a long path which led west, up and down, until you found a large stone ringed house which couldn't be accessed. Poison Spiders would attack you on the way on the path and your final confrontation at the house would be with the Giant Spider which you could run around the perimeter of the walled in house. Though the house was locked, no magic wall existed at this time so there was plenty of speculation as to how to get inside. With the leaked game files we discovered that key 3015 would open the door but the key was not anywhere in Tibia so the place has continued to retain its secrets.
Back out at the split, keep going east, which led the long way around to what looked like the top of the map at the time. The area just beyond the wall was black and looking at maps it seems that this was the edge of the Tibian world. Though the path continued south and east, only the east path led out with the other being a dead end. This floor led south to a huge rot room which was a decent place to level at.
In the middle of the dungeon was a dropdown hole which led to two Ghouls and a rope spot to the floor above which continued south. Rots and Ghouls would attack you along the route. You could head north at the intersection and back down to find a very small spider and slime dungeon that led to a pool of slime. Heading south instead would take you to a drop-down hole with more Ghouls and a long passage south which led to another drop down hole. Walking down this path you would see a black platform and red brick house like structure to the west which would be your first clue of what was inside the dungeon. Down the hole you would take a long twisting path that led west through Skeletons and a Beholder and into a massive open room.
This huge room spawned many Beholders, Ghouls, and Demon Skeletons and was an excellent place to level. Heading straight north you would find a large black and red building that sprawled two floors though you couldn’t access the floor above. You could see inside, and it looked like a cage with skeleton bodies. Going north led to a white pillar area with many dead human bodies and blood. DS and Ghouls spawned in the area and the whole place looked like a sacrificial area. I think there was a book here but I don't know what it said if anything.
Heading east into the room, you would see a lava pit with skulls and further along a red brick building which sprawled two floors. A staircase led up and down into a small room of Slimes, Ghouls, DS, and Beholders which was quite a lot. Continuing east led to pillared and gravel area which had a staircase leading up to an unexpectedly huge library. This library was staffed by NPC A Wrinkled Beholder who was, unsurprisingly, a Beholder. If you spoke with him, he would remark that he would kill you, but only after he had investigated you and wrote down his findings. The ocularly abundant NPC would tell you about the Beholder language 469 which used a mathematical numbered system to communicate. From speaking with him we know that Tibia was called 1 and the NPC was called 486486, though people called him "Blinky”. If you called him that he would hit you with a burn creature rune as punishment for being rude. Similarly rude was the number 0 though how wasn't very clear.
The 469 language is one of Tibia's greatest mysteries and players have spent all kinds of time trying to find a codex to unlock it. Players believe that the language, which there are hints about the in the Hellgate library, lead to some unspecified quest or reward. Despite players providing the clues to cryptologists, none of them have been able to crack the code. I personally think the language is just flavor and has no decipherable meaning.
Going east from the platformed library led you to a smaller version of the red brick house which was the one you saw on the way down. Stairs led up and down into a room which you could hunt the same type of undead and Beholder monsters in. Five more of these house style dungeons where north of this. There was also a lava pit with skulls on rocks which gave off a red glow and was guarded by slimes to the north.
Heading west at the initial entrance to the area led to two more of the red brick house spawns. South of these were a small trail which led to a dropdown hole. The massive room it dropped you in was the lowest floor in Tibia and was filled with lava. From here there was two ways out of the dungeon, but only if you came prepared.
The easiest way out was to head northwest around either side of the island in the lava. At the end of the paths were a large stone structure with a path in the middle. Though you could see a drop-down hole on the second floor, there was no ladder or rope up spot so the only way to climb the structure was with parcels/crates which you would have had to have carried with you. The levitate spell didn't exist yet so you would have been prepared for this to take advantage of it. If you did have something to climb, (you would need 6 parcels to climb the two floors) you would find yourself on a stone platform with a ladder leading up.
Up the ladder was a path leading east and west in a dirt tunnel like area. Heading east took you to a series of dropdown holes which took you to the lava area again, this time on a small island. Another series of rope up holes led you to an area with DS and Ghouls. This lava like area had one other surprise, a huge treasure room in the form of five fingers which were blocked by a large rock and lava.
Behind the westernmost finger was a Dark Helmet, Spike Sword, Dark Armor. The next one had a Devil Helmet, Demon Shield, and Serpent Sword. Beside this one had some real Tibian rares consisting of a Crown, Blessed Shield, Crystal Wand, and I think a Studded Armor under it. Next over was a Strange Helmet, DSM, and Ice Rapier and beside that was a HotS, Double Axe, Dwarven Shield, and I think Golden Armor. Many players would make a pilgrimage over the years to this treasure room and though very few seemed to think this room was lootable, some did wonder why the room was here. Who were the dead bodies inside and how did their equipment end up there?
Once you had finished burning the sight into your mind you could return to where you came up and head west and down a long path which led up to a small room. This is a video of the journey. Once you roped yourself into this room there was no way back as the lose stonepile was a small hole. A switch on this floor by the rope up would open the bridge on the next floor which was a huge wasp cave. Once up you would see that you were on an island underground which was surrounded by water and could only be traveled by retractable bridge by the switch below. This spot was a well-known PK hiding place as they would keep a char at the switch and flip it open and closed to let their PK char inside. Many players battled inside the switch room to get at those who tried to hide in there, but only if you had a char logged out there yourself as the walk to get to the room was too long to beat the PZ lock.
Heading up a floor led to more Wasps in an open maze-like passage and the next floor up was a more narrow and smaller maze with more wasps. Heading out of this passage led you back to the surface inside a small stone hill that was well hidden as the exit was to the north and not easily seen from the other side. The lose stonepile would let you back inside if you came here to kill wasps which was reasonable experience. This put you just south of the Abby temple maze outside the city.
If this were your first visit to Hellgate you probably didn't have parcels and would now have to go the long way around. Back at the huge lava room you originally entered you could instead head west and go up a rope spot and over a long grey stone tiled bridge. A DS guarded the bridge, and more DS guarded the room on the other side. This was the lava island from earlier and had Ghouls, DS, and Skeletons which were decent to hunt. There was a sign which said "Redbone Castle. Damnation to all who dare to enter!" The red walled tower was blocked by two DS but only the one to the north could be killed as the other was an unkillable NPC which wouldn't answer you. Stairs inside led up to a platform which had a rope spot and some more DS and Ghouls. Above that was a very long path which took you northwest through several types of basic monsters which would take you up to the surface and onto the large island of Draconia which had a massive black pyramid, lava pools, dead trees, Rots, and tons of dead Dragons. This was the place the update teaser warned you of.
You could scale the massive 7 floors of the pyramid, but you would have to had brought a ton of parcels to do so and nothing useful was there. Several open stonepiles allowed access to a couple of dungeons below the surface which had a Dragon and some Rots. North on the surface was a huge tower with Dragons and a Dragon Lord up several flights of stairs.
The six-story dragon tower was the famous place that Wurzel leveled at as it was peaceful and nearly always available. You would generally wait for the spawn down below or up top. The very top of the structure had no monsters and was inhabited by a blind Dragon Lord, NPC An Old Dragonlord. If you spoke with him, he would sense if you had a White Mushroom, which was used to manage his pain and would give you a Mysterious Fetish in exchange which could be used to escape the dungeon.
Whether you wanted to leave the island or explore the pyramid you would need to head to the open stonepile to the east and drop down inside. The path opened north and south, but the south path led to a ramp which had a Dragon, a sign, and a portal. If you clicked on the sign, it would provide you with a clue to solving the mystery, stating : "Sacrifice is the key!" This is where you needed to place the Mysterious Fetish you got, and walk through the portal. It is noted that the fetish would be sacrificed once someone went through the portal, even if someone else placed it there. Once you went through the portal, you would be dumped you off in Abby by the sacrificial stone.
Heading north and up instead took you inside the black pyramid which had several puzzels to reach the top. The first floor was guarded by Scorpions and Skeletons which were pretty easy to kill. To proceed you needed to find key 3001 which was in the northwest room inside one of the dead Skeletons. I think you had to move a couple of the bodies around around to find the one which had the key inside. Once you had the key you would need to head back to the hole and south, using the key to open the first door there. If you walked north through the door to the carpet area you could find key 3002 in a coffin on the otherside. Though the key was a short distance away, you had to be careful while crossing the carpet as you would be electricuted and burnt, and if you chose to walk on the two spaces without fields, you would drop to a pit with 8 Scorpions below which you could rope yourself out of. Once you had the key you would head back to where you found key 3001 and go south to unlock the door and flick the switch inside. This would remove the beige wall to the north which had another switch. Flicking this one removed the rock back at the first switch, allowing you to grab key 3003. With key 3003 you could open the last door on the floor which was by the 3001 door and head up the stairs.
Each floor would become progressively smaller as you made your way up and the second floor had Ghouls and Skeletons guarding its grounds. Heading east took you to a large room filled with energy fields. Key 3004 was hidden under a field on the top row, three squares from the west. Players would have to use destroy fields to uncover the key as you couldn't see what was on a tile other than visually or removing items from it. If you hadn't brought enough destroy fields to find the key, you would have to leave and come back with more as you couldn't even remove the key until the field was extinguished.
With key in tow you would now head straight south and use your new key to unlock the door. Following the maze would take you to a room with statues, which if you carefully looked, could see a key poking out from behind the farthest statue. This was key 3005 which you would need to unlock the northwest more door by the stairs. After moving the statue by pushing it and heading through the door unlocked by the key, you would again need to use destroy fields on the fire and energy fields to reveal the key which was hidden in the southeast corner. This key would unlock the last door, just after where you used 3004, which led to a ladder that would take you to the next floor.
Floor three was guarded by Ghouls and a couple of DS and the passage to the next floor was already unlocked for you as you could take the stairs up but wasn't any reason to do so as the way forward was locked by a door. There was a treasure room in the middle of the fourth floor which held the rare Silver Necklace, the Might Ring, Golden Ring, and some other more common rares.
The locked door required key 3007 which could be found in the northeast room on the 3rd floor. To get the key you had to do a tricky puzzle which required two players. One would need to stand on the southern floor tile in the middle south room which would open the wall to the west where the second player would have to stand on the switch. This switch opened a wall with the teleport to the north which the first player would have to enter. They would be teleported to the room with the key which they could pick up and head back through the teleporter to stand again on the first switch, which lets the second player out of the room. The room with four switches and the portals behind the large stones appear to be red herrings in this quest.
Heading to the fourth floor allowed players to open the door and test out their skills on the DS and the new Mummy monster there. The Mummy didn't paralyze at this time as the mechanic didn't exist yet but did drop a nice amount of gold when killed.
Taking the stairs to the floor above led to more Mummies and some Slimes. No puzzles were here so you just had to make your way up the stairs in the middle. Upon the next floor you would be attacked by more DS and Mummies which guarded this floor. Also on this floor was a door with two chests which contained the reward for the pyramid: Ice Rapier, Serpent Sword, Stone Skin Amulet and Energy Ring. The Serpent Sword was a decent weapon and I recall an email from my friend buying one for 6k, so it was like looting a Knight Armor which was a good treasure to loot.
To escape the pyramid, you could backtrack through the pyramid and take one of the other exits or search the bookshelves to find key 3008 which was in the northwest more shelf. Heading up the ladder, you would see a locked door and no way out. Opening the locked door allowed you to access four switches which if arranged to be a \/\/ pattern, would summon a portal. Taking this portal would drop you back to the Abby at the sacrificial stones, allowing you to skill all the other exits. As long as you had these keys while traveling to the area you could escape without the need for parcels or Mysterious Fetishes.
