Crucible (Location)

This article is about the location in Westcliff. For the associated quest, see The Crucible (Quest). For the associated side-quest, see The Crucible Champion.

The Crucible is the replacement for the Witchwood Arena. Contestants come from all over Albion to prove their worth and earn fame and renown in the process.

Background

Built from the living rock of Westcliff, the Crucible was built after the dilapidation and ultimate ruin of the original arena made in Witchwood. Constructed to appeal to the masses who still craved bloodthirsty spectacle, Crucible contestants were originally considered unimpressive riff-raff, usually guards and bandits, none of whom lasted all nine rounds.

Eventually, the Crucible earned a name for itself after a farmer named Thresher Jim fought his way through all nine rounds of the Crucible. This legendary achievement created a new celebrity culture centered around the violence of the arena and the contestants who were brave enough to venture there, and Westcliff grew to accomodate the scores of would-be champions and the audiences that followed them.

Fable II

By Albion's Age of Enlightenment, the champion of the Crucible was a bandit named Mad-dog 'The Strangler' McGraw, who vowed to give up his axe, The Chopper, to anyone who could beat his time. Commentary was offered by Allen Murray, who was said to have the greatest voice in all of Albion.

The Crucible's challenges also proved to be an ample source for would-be recruits to serve in Lucien's army, who required masses of tough and obedient soldiers to oversee the slave labourers who were building The Spire.

On a mission to rescue Garth from the Tattered Spire, the Hero of Bowerstone is forced to enter the Crucible and fight through all eight stages in order to sneak onto the Spire as one of Lucien's guards. Once they earn enough renown to enter the Crucible, the Hero is then forced to defeat scores of enemies, including the first Rock Troll encountered in the game. Unlike the Arena, after every third round, there is a trader stage, allowing players to recuperate and buy potions or new weapons, as well as prepare themselves.

Once the Hero returns from the Spire, they are allowed to participate in the Crucible challenge as many times as they want to earn prizes, including The Chopper itself. This is achieved through completing all eight stages in under the time limit provided, which guarantees the Hero a perfect score.

There are no team rounds in the Crucible, only singles competition, although it is possible to invite a friend to the game and use their help.

The Rounds

Beetles
Hobbes (Melee and Ranged)
Hobbes (Mage, Wizard and Kamikaze)
Hollow Men
Bandits
Highwaymen
Balverines
Rock Troll and randomly spawning Hobbes

Traps

In certain rooms, there are certain traps that can make completing the levels easier.

In the first Hobbe Room, there are buttons on the floor that, when pressed, cause spikes to erupt from a ring near the centre, causing damage to anything in it.
The second Hobbe room contains a pit in the middle, into which Hobbes can be thrown using Force Push, as well as exploding Hobbes that are useful in destroying the rest of their cohorts.
The Hollow Man room contains 3 switches, each next to a lantern. One lantern is lit, and stepping on the switch nearest it will illuminate the torches in the room and make the Hollow Men much weaker.
The Bandit room contains exploding Barrels, making ranged combat easier.
The Highwaymen room contains switches in the floor that, when pressed, cause fire to spew from certain parts of the walls, killing enemies that may be too far to reach if you've got a weak gun (this is needed if you want the perfect round unless you are uncommonly fast).
The Balverine room contains an explosive barrel on top of the wall, and spikes that emerge from the ground in a timed pattern in the alcoves underneath..

Prizes

Gold spawns as long as you stay in a round, you can also get your excitement up to 5x and use the raise dead spell and just use that to stay in a round as long as you want to get the gold bags containing 2000 gold, it takes 10 minutes to get 100,000 gold this way. If the player completes five perfect stages in their run, they are given the highest gold prize, and a perfect Crucible awards the player with a special weapon, The Chopper.

Help

Doing the Crucible in co-op can be very useful it gets it done twice as fast. Having very powerful weapons and max speed makes slow weapons as fast as a normal sword while katanas go very fast this helps speed things up fighting in rounds.
Using a five-star Inferno can be useful in killing multiple enemies.
If you have a force push level of 4 or 5, charge it right before the countdown in the beginning of the round until you can unleash a force push throughout the entire arena (some rounds have larger area so it won't be able to cover the whole arena).

Notes

Unlike the Witchwood Arena, the Crucible is re-playable as many times as you want; however, the first time you beat it (during the Hero of Will quest), you cannot compete again until after the Spire.
The player has to get 8 perfect rounds the second time they fight in the Crucible to receive the Chopper. It cannot be gotten the first time through, even if the player gets eight perfect rounds.
Using the Time Control spell during The Crucible leads to a discrepancy in regards to the target time clock and what is actually registered. The target time clock appears to slow down when the spell is cast, but it still continues at the same speed. This can ultimately lead you to believe you have more time than you really do if you repeatedly use the spell or cast the 5th Tier version of the spell.
A glitch exists in that your excitement modifier (which affects experience gain and money gain) also affects any potions you drink while in the Trader Rooms. For example, drinking a Concentrated Will Potion (which normally offers 12,500 Will XP) while you have an Excitement Modifier of x5 gets you 62,500 Will XP instead. Thus, it is a very good idea to save all your experience potions for a Crucible run, as well as buying all the experience potions on sale in the Trader Rooms themselves.
If you have already won the Chopper weapon, do not make another perfect run again. It will present you with the Chopper chest again, and sometimes, this will make your character freeze completely, unable to move in any way. The only way to fix it is to teleport to an area with dirt at your feet, and dig.
In the lobby is a book on a table called CRUCIBLE RULES. This book states all the rules. At the start of the book it says "All contenders are invited to read the following rules. If you cannot read, please ask another challenger to read them for you. If they cannot read, please refrain from asking the Entrance Keeper to read them for you, as he cannot read either."

Trivia

"The Crucible" is so named because as its name suggests is a place of severe test or trial: "the crucible of combat"
"A hit! A very palpable hit!" is a reference to the Shakespeare drama "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark".
The commentators' humour is loosely based on the Monty Python humour.
In the Beetle round, on rare occasions the announcers will shout, "And that is a hit for the Beetles! Let It Be." A reference to the hit Beatles song, "Let It Be".
The Crucible is the name of the Final Challenge for recruits in the United States Marine Corps; renowned for its physical and mental challenge; similar to the challenge of the Crucible.
When going in the first time, the other opponents will make excuses for why they can't fight. Making the hero the only one who can go in.