So thou wouldst wish there was more to the jolly game of Shadowgate, eh? Something that would test the mettle of even the bravest and most cunning adventurer?
Thy wish has been answered oh gallant knight (knightess?) But thou wouldst fall to thy very knees in cerebral pain if thou knew what stalwart challenge lie ahead.
Fear not oh courageous one! Thy following account of one who has gone before you shall lead you in thy glorious quest.
Go forth and conquer!!!
Enough of the silly stuff. Yes, there is indeed a hidden room in Shadowgate. And yes, it is rather tough to get to. So follow these instructions to a "T" (no matter how bizarre they may seem).
If you've played the game to a reasonable extent then you've probably been to the location of the waterfall and avalanche. You probably noticed the glimmer of what looks like a staircase emerging from beneath the rock fall. And, like me, you probably spent hours trying to move the stones so you could get to it. Sound familiar? Well, I finally gave up on the seemingly immobile rockslide and went on to tackle and eventually solve the rest of the game. Must've been another red herring, right? Wrong! You CAN get past it. However, the room beyond the rocks was put in just as a joke for the Programmers (you'll see what I mean when you get inside).
So enough chatter. Let's get to it!
First of all, let's make sure you have the right items to complete the job properly. You only need four things. Make sure you have the sling, a stone to use in the sling, the bottle that emits a horrible stench in the rising rope room (make sure it's closed!), and enough torches to keep you from dying. I won't tell you exactly where to find these items. Don't want to take away all your fun.
Ready? Okay, here we go.
Find your way to the avalanche room:
Got that? Good. Now, pay attention. Can you see those two stairs in the crevice? I know, they don't look much like stairs but they are. In order to get rid of the rocks, you'll have to blast away a hole in the cliff. This is the tricky part. You need to place the bottle of stench (making absolute sure that it is closed) on the top of the bottom step. It needs to be lined up EXACTLY with the top line of that step. In other words, the line of pixels on the bottom of the bottle should be sitting on top of the line of pixels on the stair. Similarly, the bottle must be lined up FLUSH LEFT with the straight line perpendicular to the bottom stair. Once again, the layer of pixels on the bottle should lay on top of the pixels running perpendicular to the stair. Confusing, huh? But it's necessary. The smartasses made it so the bottle must be lined up ABSOLUTELY EXACTLY PIXEL FOR PIXEL! Not a single dot off or forget it.
Above I have placed the bottle in the exact spot it needs to be in order for this little stunt to work. Use the little white pixel at the upper left of the bottle as a reference point when placing the bottle.
Okay, now for the big test. If you don't already have a stone in the sling, put one there now. Simply operate one of those little round rocks on the ground onto the sling and it will be ready. Those good folks at Icom were kind enough to supply a large amount of the stones -- and you'll probably need them.
Next, operate the torch on the bottle. The text at the bottom of the screen will tell you nothing happens, but don't believe it. The flame warms the bottle which is necessary to make it all work.
Save your game at this point or you'll find yourself in great agony if things don't work out right!
Finally, operate the sling on the bottle. If nothing happens, go back and replace the bottle until it does. It took me about fifteen times, so don't be discouraged.
This is what you're trying to accomplish. Good luck.
I won't show you what's up those stairs and in the room beyond -- that's up to you (look at the credits at the beginning of the game for a partial explanation at what you find). As I stated above, discovery of this room is not necessary in order to solve the game. Besides, it's nearly impossible as you've just found out. But what's in the room is definitely interesting and extremely helpful in solving the game, so it's worth it!
That's it for this session, kids. Hope you enjoyed this inside peak at programming humor. But don't fret, this isn't the end. There's an even more obscure hidden room in Uninvited.
