Eschalon II Pacifist Run - Talushorn Stronghold & Conclusion

Talushorn is the final stronghold in the game. While formidable, it's also a place that you can usually egress from and return to again, until you reach the fourth and final upper floor.

There is one warning to be aware of in advance, however: You will find some high-level locks on the upper floors that we found immune to our highest casting level of the Elemental "Lock Melt" spell, so you will ideally want to have as much skill in lock picking as you can manage in your final run into Talushorn. (If you haven't invested enough points in lock picking, there is a pair of gloves called "Burglar's Gloves" available in some shops: These won't force you to burgle anyone, but will add +2 to your Pick Locks skill level, so we recommend picking them up if you see them in shops.)

Finally, also make sure you bring the Crux of Fire and the Strange Viewing Glass with you, in order to complete the final chapter.

Talushorn, Ground Floor

The Taurax warriors honor their dead by mounting their heads along the wall

After entering Talushorn, you'll find yourself in a large indoor courtyard with columns, and a switch in the eastern corner that will open the central gates leading southeast. To enter, you'll have to step on a pressure plate that will cause the gate to slam shut behind you, but just stepping on this same plate again will enable you to open it again and leave, if you need to.

The Taurax have a large salt-lick block in this central chamber on the ground floor.

Deeper into the ground floor of the stronghold, you'll have to evade more Taurax, throw a switch in the southeast chamber, through a lever down a side passage in the west to unlock the gate blocking the stairs to the second floor (which you'll find at the end of the lower southwestern passage), and go open the chests in the northeast chamber if you also want to get some potions and treasures.

After throwing the series of levers, these stairs lead up to the second floor of Talushorn...

Talushorn, Second Floor
From the top of the stairs in Talushorn, you will soon come to a large gated arena where a Taurax warrior is battling some Brimstone Spiders. If you head up around the outer passages, you'll encounter a few points with some black powder kegs, and will probably need at least one of these to clear an obstruction a short way ahead.
As you circle all the way around north and northeast (where you'll pass a southern passage obstructed by a closed gate if you turn off), the passage will eventually turn back around south and then southwest, and place you in a chamber where some Taurax Spearmasters have a practice range.

The Taurax spearmasters have a practice range where you'll need to use a black-powder keg to blow up the fence in the southwest in order to get past.

Here you'll also need to blow up part of the fence obstructing the passage in order to continue, so will have to make sure not to accidentally blow up and kill one of the Taurax spearmasters, but that probably won't be too difficult if you have either some form of stealth or invisibility, or a substitute like Dense Nimbus or various potions. Most Taurax are also susceptible for at least a short time to the Sparkling Wonder spell cast at a high level.

A mage with Haste cast on himself runs through the gap blown in the fence...

There are some more levers to open gates into the arena and a chest near there, but the passage you'll need to eventually take is the one heading southwest of the Spearmaster's practice range, leading into a fenced prison enclosure. A strange being is visible in the interior of the enclosure, and you'll be able to speak with it after opening the outer gate:

You will meet a dying Orakur named Shina in this chamber, and can speak to him from outside the cell.

Here you'll finally meet one of the creatures known as "Orakur." This one will tell you that his name is Shina, and he does not have long to live. Before he dies, he will tell you many things about the core plot, including the true intentions of the being known as "The One," and a warning that it is dangerous to destroy a Crux stone, as it could upset the balance of all life in Eschalon.

After Shina dies, you'll have to evade some more Taurax who open up a nearby gate in the south in order to attack you, but you'll then be able to continue south, pull another lever to open another gate, and then optionally explore the southern chambers to raid some treasure chests before exiting in the northeast passage stairwell.

An invisible mage slips past the Taurax warriors, after they open the gate to attack him...

Talushorn, Third Floor
Having ascended to the third floor, you'll face a puzzle in a room with rows of levers and a pressure plate. You'll find a clue on a plaque nearby, in which the small arrow stands for the exit, and some lines between equally spaced nodes clue you in about which levers to throw in the two rows.

If you make a mistake, the gates will slam shut and release a swarm of dragonels, so it might be best to save your game here. (Assuming the puzzle and diagram are the same in your version, the solution is probably to throw levers #1 and #3 in the first row, and numbers #2, #3 and #4 in the second row, and then step on the plate to open the gate.)

If you release the dragonels: We don't remember if you'd be forced to fight the creatures to get the gates back open, or if you could just use invisibility to bypass them, and just throw another lever to open back up the gates. However, if you solve the puzzle, it will just open up the exit and let you pass without being attacked.
The chambers ahead aren't as much of a challenge to get through, and the ones in the lower passages northeast of the dragonel room have some chests containing potions and a magic sword, Hellrime (which is worth quite a bit of gold if you egressed from Talushorn to sell it).

In the chambers ahead, there's another chest, but opening it will cause some Taurax to attack you. (However, if you've got the invisibility spell, they won't be able to harm you even if they catch you opening the chest.)

The Taurax who ambush you here still can't attack you if you're using invisibility spells or potion to raid the chests.

Further ahead, there are some more Taurax near a room containing more treasure, and finally: A fairly long passageway leading to a locked door with a high-level lock.

Talushorn's Toughest Locks 
This is one of the tough locks we warned about earlier, and the other is just ahead on the next floor. Anyone relying on Lock Melt spell up until now might hit a snag here on a pacifist run, since the only other way to get a key to this door is to kill the Taurax carrying the key. Fortunately, it's also possible to pick the lock instead, as long as you have enough skill points in lock picking, and enough lock picks to last through multiple attempts.

This lock leading to General Ghorr's chamber is immune to the lockmelt spell, and requires some skill in Pick Locks to open.

As an aside, just in case it helps plan ahead and avoid frustration: One player who had the most trouble with the level 10 "lock of wondrous design" didn't record their exact skill level in the pick lock skill, but believed it was only a few points. Another who had a very high lock pick skill level of 23 received a 27% chance to pick the lock. This sounds low, but is probably actually more than enough, since there is no penalty for trying repeatedly to pick a lock (other than to risk breaking some lock picks).

"Chance to pick: 1%": An example of what you don't want to see if you arrive with only a few skill points in the Pick Locks skill.

Once you get the door open, you'll only have a short distance to go before finding the stairs to  the third and final level of the complex.

Talushorn, Fourth Floor
At the top of the stairs, you'll find yourself in a narrow passage leading northwest. Be warned: There are some gates at the end of the passage that will shut behind you after you pass through and trap you inside, unless you backtrack before it's too late.

These gates will slam shut and trap you inside Talushorn so that there is no turning back...

If you're ready to forge on: You'll come to a junction with two side passages, as well as a larger gate ahead of you leading into General Ghorr's war chamber. Down either side passage at this point,  there are strange Orakur devices next to alcoves or passages, and if you destroy the devices you'll be able to claim some valuable potions.

Destroy these technological Orakur devices to open chambers nearby

General Ghorr's War Chamber
When you enter General Ghorr's chamber, you'll hear a ferocious roar echo into the room, and will hear stamping hooves as both Ghorr and his other Taurax minions bear down on you.

General Ghorr (shown highlighted) is nearly twice the size of the other Taurax, but still can't attack you if you're invisible.

The easiest way to deal with this situation is to use invisibility, but even if you don't have that, the only thing you'll have to do to escape this chamber is to get to the level 10 "lock of wondrous design" at the central north end of the main chamber. (This is the door shown in the northwest just upper left of General Ghorr in the screenshot above.)
You also have the option of approaching the western side chamber and examining the door on the northern wall, where you'll find a combination lock. The combination comes from counting the number of water-filled floor tiles starting from the group closest to the door: 2514. This will open a chamber letting you claim a hoard of treasures including gold and mithril bars, gemstones, potions, and some other oddities such as goblin dice and a skull.

To exit the chamber, you'll need to attend to the level 10 lock at the rear of the chamber.

General Ghorr & The Lava Squares
If for some reason you couldn't manage to invest enough points in lock picking to manage the very last door and its "lock of wondrous design," but still want to finish a zero kill run, there is an indirect option that at least won't require you to use violence yourself: With enough patience, you'd actually just need to either hide with stealth or invisibility, or run around the room while General Ghorr rampages around the chamber. While he does this, he will periodically stampede through his own lava-filled floor pits and sustain fire damage.

General Ghorr sustains 20 points of fire damage rampaging through his own lava tiles...

It would take a long time, but you could theoretically wait for Ghorr to do this often enough that he will run out of hit points and expire through his own recklessness, rather than through any direct action of yours. (If you want to avoid being even indirectly related to Ghorr's death, however, you'll just need to be sure you're capable of picking that lock by the time you arrive here and get trapped inside Ghorr's battle chamber.)

The Conclusion to Eschalon Book II
After you get past the level 10 lock in Ghorr's battle arena, you can enter the narrow passageway beyond and find another chamber containing the Crux of Ages at the other end. You'll receive a message stating that "You can feel the gemstone that you have in your possession, the Crux of Fire, being pulled toward this stone." When you approach the pedestal, this will complete the quest "Destroy the Crux, Part 3: Locate the Crux of Ages."

Khorren teleports into the chamber for the conclusion of Eschalon: Book II

Your only remaining task is to summon Korren by using the secret Guild's Strange Viewing Glass inside this chamber: When you do, Korren will step through a portal and insist that you destroy the Crux of Fire immediately.

Whether you agree with Khorren without question, or try to tell him about the Orakur's warning against destroying the Crux, the game will end in the dramatic same way a few moments later, as the ending sequence is triggered by the arrival of "The One," setting the stage for Eschalon Book III.

There is a lot more of the Eschalon trilogy's story to come in Book III, but this concludes Eschalon Book II.

Eschalon Book III picks up seamlessly at the exact point where Book II ends here...

If you chose to avoid making any exceptions to your self-imposed zero kill run rules, you can also now congratulate yourself, as you've just finished Eschalon Book II without killing anyone or anything!

(After the ending sequence plays, you'll also be rewarded with your player score and statistics sheet, which will say "Total number of Kills: 0", and award you the in-game achievement "The Pacifist," among other possible in-game achievements.)