found in Roc's Nest on Stained Scroll. (12) ESPNIS - Causes
sleep - found in Ogre's Cave on Dusty Scroll. (13) LISKON -
Causes living things to shrink - found in bottle in ocean on
Damp Scroll. (14) TINSOT - Freezes things - found in Glacier
Room on White Scroll. (15) SNAVIG - Changes shape - found in
Moldy Book in Cell.
CUBES AND WHERE TO FIND THEM:
NOTE: When you find the cubes, write on them with the Magic
Burin in order to identify each. I labeled each cube by the name
of the room to which it transported me. If you have labeled your
cubes differently, please make the necessary changes where I
refer to a cube by "my label".
(1) "Earth" cube - Found in Belwit Square. (2) "Soft" cube -
Found in Hut. (3) "Water" cube - Found in Ogre's Cave. (4)
"Change" cube - Found in Outflow Pipe. (5) "Air" cube - Found in
Idol's mouth in the Temple. (6) "Spider" cube - Found in Roc's
Nest. (7) "Light" Cube - Found in grouper's Nest. (8) "Bones"
cube - Found in Dungeon. (9) "No Place" cube - Found in
Octagonal Rooms. (10) "Dark" Cube - Found on Brown Eyed Rock.
(11) "Fire" cube - Found in Grue's Cave. (12) "Magic" cube -
Found on Volcano Outcropping. (13) "x?" cube - Found in Inner
Vault. (14) Hypercube - Created by the Shadow in the Castle.
Part Two
COUNCIL CHAMBER/GUILD HALL. When the game starts, you are in
the Council Chamber with the other Guild Members. Wait and
listen to the speeches to get an idea of what is happening to
magic. The shadowy figure will appear and turn everyone (except
you) into various amphibians. Follow the shadowy figure to
Belwit Square. Wait for the smoke to clear. Take cube he left
there. Don't waste time with the guard. Go back inside the Guild
Hall. Take the bread and fish. Read your Spell Book. Learn the
BLORPLE spell. BLORPLE the cube. This will take you to the
Packed Earth Room.
PACKED EARTH. It's dark. FROTZ some object. I FROTZed the
knife. Explore. Go east to the Hall of Stone then south to the
Ruins Room. Get the zipper, open it, and enter zipper. Find and
take the Flimsy Scroll. This is the GIRGOL spell, which is long
and complicated. You can't copy it into your Spell Book so keep
the scroll. Exit the zipper, but keep it because you will need
it! While you're in this territory, go north and explore the
Smooth Room. You might YOMIN the Snake just to get an idea of
what it's all about. BLORPLE back to the Packed Earth Room.
Examine the hole in Packed Earth. Go down. The Roc will catch
you and take you to her nest.
ROC'S NEST-FIRST TIME. You'll find a Stained Scroll and a Cube.
You can't get the Cube while Mama Roc is present. You'll have to
return later when you have gained a means of transportation and
know Mama is away. Take the Stained Scroll, which contains the
CASKLY Spell. GNUSTO CASKLY. Then BLORPLE back to the Packed
Earth Room and explore some more.
OGRE'S CAVE-FIRST TIME. Exploring the area east and north of
Packed Earth will result in your finding an Ogre sitting in the
entrance of a cave. There is a passage going down but the Ogre
prevents you from entering this passage. The Ogre has the
sniffles (perhaps he has an allergy problem). Don't try to help
him. Later, you should look for some means to aggravate his
problem; but, for now, go on to the Cliff.
CLIFF/AVALANCHE. You'll find a Dirty Scroll on the Mid Cliff.
This is the THROCK spell. Take it and GNUSTO THROCK. Go up the
mountain. Timing is critical here. You'll be warned a couple of
times that the rocks are about to fall but continue up. I found
it best to wait until the avalanche had started and the rocks
made a "curtain..." then GIRGOL. Time stops and the rocks are
frozen in space. Climb the rocks to top of mountain and follow
the trail to the hut. You'll find a gold zorkmid coin. Take it,
then enter the hut.
HERMIT'S HUT. This is the hermit's home. He is very possessive
of it and the Cube which supports it. Simply pointing at the
cube will cause the hermit to become very talkative. He will
explain why you cannot take the cube. It's a good idea to SAVE
the game here for I found that my magic often "flickered", and
it's a pain to replay the whole thing because a spell does not
work properly. Now CASKLY the hut and take the Cube. Also, I
found that the CASKLY spell worked better if I cast it before I
heard the noise of the avalanche resume. Once you have taken the
Cube from the hut, BLORPLE it to get to the Soft Room.
SOFT ROOM. Go south to the Meadow. You'll find a ragweed and a
pair of pruning shears here. Take both but be sure to pull up
the ragweed - don't cut it. BLORPLE the "Earth" cube and return
to Packed Earth. Go east then north to reach the entrance to the
Ogre's Cave.
OGRE-SECOND TIME. Plant the weed in the Cave and THROCK weed.
Go down the passage and get the Gold Box and the Dusty Scroll.
Go back to the Cliff Bottom to examine them. The Dusty scroll
contains the ESPNIS spell. GNUSTO ESPNIS. Then check out the box
(see BOX for details). Open it and take the Cube. Blorple this
cube to reach the Water Room.
BOX. Examine the box. Notice the designs on it. Try putting
different Cubes in it and note how the designs change - the box
identifies the Cubes. Try leaving the box somewhere while you
BLORPLE to another location. Then enter one of the other exits
which always says "Oddly, though there appears...". You will
find that you can enter the "Oddly...Exit" and that you are back
to where you left the box. This will be the solution to a
problem later in the game.
WATER ROOM. You'll be returning here more than once. I dealt
withpw! =UQ!*a%Q2%IMQ9j5=)%iBLORPLE, get bread (or
fish), drop all except bread (or fish) and go south. You will
fall into the ocean. A hungry grouper will appear while the cube
and a bottle are floating away. Drop the bread (or fish) for the
grouper and get the Cube. The grouper will eat the food you
dropped and swim away. You should then get the bottle. BLORPLE
the "Water" cube and return to the Water Room. Open the bottle
t(an${@3"!"5AScrollHwhicR contains the LISKON spell. GNUSTO
LISKON. Go north to the Oubliette.
Part Three
OUBLIETTE-FIRST TIME. You must solve this one twice - both "up"
and "down". I had the spell I needed so I went down first.
Memorize LISKON and put ALL but your light source in the zipper
(this is assuming that the Spell Book is not your light source).
Close the zipper then LISKON yourself and enter the outflow
pipe. The current will carry you west. Watch for a white cube in
a damaged section of the pipe. Take the cube and continue west
until you reach the Ruins Room then exit the pipe. You can
either BLORPLE the Cube you found in the pipe and go to the
Changing Room, or you can go to the Temple now. I went to the
Temple at this time.
TEMPLE/IDOL. To get to the Temple you must get past the Snake
in the Smooth Room. By YOMIN, you have learned that he is just
an over-grown snake which is swallowing his own tail. Learn the
LISKON spell and LISKON the Snake. As soon as he shrinks enough
to allow you to pass, go north twice to reach the Temple. The
Temple contains an Idol which has one large opal eye and holds a
Cube in its mouth. You need both the cube and the opal. To get
the opal you must climb the idol, pry the opal with the shears
or the knife and take the opal. Getting the Cube is a bit more
of a challenge. Be sure to climb down from the Idol before you
try anything else. Once you have the opal, the Idol will be
"blind" which will help in what follows. Timing is critical for
the next part so a SAVE GAME would be a wise move. Learn MALYON
and ESPNIS. MALYON the Idol, take a LOOK and then ESPNIS Idol.
The objective here is to bring the Idol to life, then cause him
to become sleepy and turn back into stone while in the *MIDDLE*
of a yawn (with his mouth wide open). It might take several
tries. After you accomplish this, take the cube from his mouth
and BLORPLE it to reach the Air Room. AIR ROOM. Going south from the Air Room I fell through the
clouds and was once again caught by the Roc and taken to the
Roc's Nest but one can't depend on that Roc. She may not catch
you this time and there's no reason to go back to the nest atthis particular time; so, may I recommend avoiding the southern
exit. Go north to Glacier Room. Get the White Scroll which
contains the TINSOT spell. GNUSTO TINSOT. Blorple back to the
Air Room. Go west to the Bazaar. Here you must bargain with themerchant to obtain a magic carpet. MERCHANT/CARPET. I managed to buy the blue carpet with the gold
coin but you can make the same purchase more easily by using the
opal. Here's how I did it: Examine Blue Carpet. Buy Blue Carpet.
Merchant will state he wants 800 zorkmids for the carpet. Offer300 zorkmids. He will lower his price to 700 zorkmids. Offer 400
zorkmids. He will come down to 600.
Offer 500 zorkmids. He will take the gold coin and give you the
*RED* carpet. Say, "TAKE BLUE CARPET." The merchant will reply,
"That's right, you wanted the blue carpet." (I found that if Idid *ANYTHING ELSE* between his giving me the *RED* carpet and
my taking of the *BLUE* carpet, I was stuck with a *RED*
carpet.) After you obtain the blue carpet, BLORPLE back to the
Water Room and tackle the Oubliette for the second time.
OUBLIETTE-SECOND TIME. Learn TINSOT three time. Put everything
in zipper and close the zipper. TINSOT the Outflow Pipe twice.Wait until the Oubliette is full then TINSOT the water. Stand on
ice floe, open the trap door and go Up. Get the cube from the
Dungeon. You can use the box here. Put the cube in the Box then
take it out. Drop the Box and BLORPLE the cube to the Bones
Room. Finding nothing of interest there, go through the West
Exit (an "Oddly, though..." exit) to return to the Dungeon. Go
east from the Dungeon then north to reach the Cell.
CELL-FIRST TIME. Make notes on how the cell looks and what you
do while you are here for you will need this info later. REZROV
the cabinet. Get the Moldy Book and CASKLY it. Read the Moldy
Book and GNUSTO the SNAVIG spell. Go back to the Dungeon and
make preparations to fly on the Magic Carpet to the Roc's Nest.
ROC'S NEST-SECOND TIME. Make preparations while in the Dungeon.
Learn BLORPLE and take carpet from zipper. Go up to the Guard's
Tower, drop carpet, sit on carpet and go up. (You must get up in
the air before the Roc grabs you or it won't work.) Fly west on
the carpet until you are above the Roc's Nest. Mama Rock is at
the Guard's Tower but that egg could hatch any minute so don't
waste time. Go down, get off carpet, take cube and carpet, then
BLORPLE the cube to arrive at the String Room.
Part Four
STRING ROOM. Go south and talk to Belboz. He will ask you a
question. I've been told this is Infocom's copy protection
thing. You must answer Belboz's question using the information
supplied on the cards from the game package. If you do
otherwise, Belboz will show up later to kill you.
After you answer the question, Belboz will give you a key.
BLORPLE back to the Water Room and prepare to visit the grouper
again.
GROUPER-SECOND TIME. Learn SNAVIG and BLORPLE while in the
Water Room. Put all in the zipper and close the zipper. Go
south. You'll fall into the ocean again and again the grouper
will appear. Get the cube and the zipper first then SNAVIG
grouper. You will change into a grouper. Go down and find the
grouper's nest. It contains a cube. The zipper and the "Water"
cube should be nearby. Wait until you change back into yourself
then take ALL and go up. BLORPLE the cube from the grouper's
nest to arrive in the Light Room (Volcano).
LIGHT ROOM OR VOLCANO-FIRST TIME. Go west to Volcano Base. When
the lava fragment falls near you, TINSOT it, then take it.
BLORPLE to the Changing Room (the cube you found in the Outflow
Pipe will take you to the Changing Room).
CHANGING ROOM. Go north to the Bare Room and get the Compass
Rose. BLORPLE back to the Changing Room. Go west to the Carving
Room and solve the puzzle of the Octagonal Rooms.
OCTAGONAL ROOMS. While in the Carving Room, put the Compass
Rose in the carving of the Compass Rose and an opening will
appear in the north wall. Get the Compass Rose and go north. Map
carefully. Notice the color of the Runes. Touch the compass Rose
to the Rune. If either the Rune or the Compass Rose is lead,
that direction is dead. If the Rune is Silver or gold and the
Compass Rose shows the direction as Silver (and you have not
already been in this direction) an opening will appear under the
Rune so you can go in that direction. I believe there is a total
of eight rooms. The objective here is to find the room with a
*GOLD* Rune and an Alabaster plug. This is the point where I
went a little bit *CRAZY*. I had read hints saying, "Go for the
Gold," "The gold is found in the 6th or 7th Room." Well, I spent
days trying to find that *GOLD* Rune in the 6th or 7th Room. I
thought I had to explore all 8 rooms. But, I kept finding the
*GOLD* Rune too early (I thought), because I was finding it in
the third or fourth Room. Finally, when all else failed, I quit
trying to explore all the rooms and started messing around with
the Alabaster Plug. Lo and behold, that's all I needed to do.
Here's my solution - hope it works for you: Starting in the
Carving Room, go N, W, NW, NE. The West Rune should be *GOLD*
with an octagonal hole containing an Alabaster Plug under it.
You can open the hole or REZROV the hole but this accomplishes
nothing. REZROV the Alabaster (it will melt). Then go West and
get the cube. BLORPLE this cube to No Place.
NO PLACE-FIRST TIME. Going east will take you to the Outer
Vault. But you can't do anything here until after you have
obtained the "Magic" cube (some people refer to it as the Power
Cube). For now, go south from the No Place Room to the Rock
Grid.
ROCK GRID. Bone up on your chess and chess terms for this is a
game of chess played with two kings. The game board and the
tempo have been changdd. The chess players refer to it as
ZUGSWANG. Anyway, it's a peculiar grid so map it *CAREFULLY*.
You'll find you can't walk so you must find a means of
transportation. There is a Green Eyed Rock near you and a Brown
Eyed Rock a distance to the east. The Brown Eyed Rock has a cube
on his back. Prime Objective: To corner the Brown Eyed Rock so
that you can take the cube off its back. Try getting within one
square of the Brown Eyed Rock on the same line. I mapped the
grid then used a green button and a brown button to represent
the rocks moving on the grid.
Solution: Give the lava fragment to Green Eyed Rock so it will
allow you to ride on its back. The Brown Eyed Rock will not
always move in the direction you anticipate so this solution
will not work every time; but, I think it gives you an idea of
how to solve the puzzle. Go W; Brown moves N. Go NE; Brown moves
S. Go S; Brown moves N. Brown is cornered . If you move E, Brown
must move either W or S. Either move will put Brown one move
from you on the same line. When you advance toward Brown, it
will freeze in place. The Green Eyed Rock will loom over the
Brown Eyed Rock so you must go down or jump to the Brown Eyed
Rock. Take the cube and BLORPLE to the Dark Place.
Part Five
DARK PLACE. Memorize SNAVIG and BLORPLE. Go down. Extinguish
your light source. Go down again to the Grue Cave. When you see
the Grue Cave, SNAVIG grue. You will change into a grue but will
retain a little of your human self so xou can endure the light a
little. Go down to pool of light. Climb the pillar and get the
cube. Wait until you are yourself again then BLORPLE the cube to
arrive in the Fire Room (Volcano-second time).
FIRE ROOM OR VOLCANO-SECOND TIME. If you have left the box
anywhere, retrieve it now for you will need it! Go north to
Volcano Top. There is an Outcropping in sight. Put "Fire" cube
in Box then remove it. Throw the box to the Outcropping. BLORPLE
back to the Fire Room and go west through the "Oddly...exit"
which will take you to the Outcropping where the box is. Get the
cube and the box from the Outcropping. BLORPLE this cube to
reach the Magic Room.
MAGIC ROOM-FIRST TIME. You can explore this room now but you
aren't ready to solve it yet. You'll notice a circle of darkness
to the east; but, for now, go north to the Meadow and BLORPLE
the "No Place" cube to return to the Inner Vault.
INNER VAULT. You have the "Magic" (or Power) cube now so you
can REZROV the vault. Before you do this though, you should
learn JINDAK three times, REZROV once and BLORPLE once.
In the vault you will find two piles of cubes, each pile
containing 6 cubes. Twelve cubes in a vault - only one is
magical. Since the number of the magical cube will vary, I will
refer to it as the "x?" cube. Objective: find the magical "x?"
cube. You are allowed to use up to three JINDAKs before the
Fairy appears. No, there's nothing you can do about the Fairy.
What can I say? This one stumped me! First Ms. Wiz, then
Deranged Bat came to my aid. Ms. Wiz's solution worked fine
while the cube was "brighter"; but, alas, sometimes it was
"dimmer". Deranged Bat's solution seems to cover ALL
possibities; but, it is longer. I'm presenting both solutions
here.
MS. WIZ'S SOLUTION: (1) Take "x1", "x2", "x7" and "x8". (2)
JINDAK. (3) If both piles are glowing equally, drop all but
zipper. (4) Take "x3", "x4", "x5" and "x6" and put ALL in
zipper. (5) Get ALL. (6) Put "x1" and "x2" in first pile. (7)
Put "x7" and "x8" in second pile. (8) JINDAK. (9) One pile will
be glowing brighter so put dimmer pile in zipper. (10) Get the
two cubes from the brighter pile. (11) Put one cube in first
pile and other cube in second pile. (12) JINDAK. (13) Grab the
cube from the pile that's glowing brighter. (14) BLORPLE this
cube and get out before the Fairy appears. Note: Never are the
cubes referred to as glowing brighter - just the piles they are
in.
DERANGED BAT'S SOLUTION: Take and drop "x1", "x2", "x7" AND
"x8". JINDAK "x3", "x4", "x5","x6" vs "x9", "x10", "x11", "x12".
If they are equal in brightness, then the cube you want is "x1",
"x2", "x7" or "x8". JINDAK "x1", "x3" vs "x7", "x8". If these
are equal brightness, then "x2" is the cube we want.
If these are not equal then we must decide among "x1", "x7" and
"x8". Say the "x7", "x8" pile is brighter. Then the third and
last JINDAK is "x7" vs "x8". If they are equal, "x1" is our
cube. If they are unequal, take the brighter one. Similarly, if
the "x7", "x8" pile is dimmer, the third JINDAK is "x7" vs "x8".
If they are equal, "x1" is our cube. If they are unequal, take
the less bright one.
The above fully explores all possibilities given that our first
JINDAK showed "x3", "x4", "x5", "x6" equal to "x9", "x10",
"x11", "x12. We were able to definitely determine which of "x1",
"x2", "x7", "x8" was our cube in at most 2 additional JINDAKs.
If "x3", "x4", "x5", "x6" does not equal "x9", "x10", "x11,
"x12", we can assume without loss of generality that "x3", "x4",
"x5", "x6" is brighter. This tells us that our cube is either
"x3", "x4", "x5" , "x6" and brighter or "x9", "x10", "x11",
"x12" and dimmer.
Take and drop "x3", "x4", "x5". Move "x9", "x10" to pile one.
Add "x1" to pile two. JINDAK "x6", "x9", "x10" vs "x1", "x11",
"x12.
If these are equal, then our cube is "x3", "x4", or "x5" and is
brighter. The third JINDAK is then "x3" vs "x4". If equal,
choose "x5"; if unequal choose brighter. If "x6", "x9", "x10" is
not equal to "x1, "x11, "x12" assume first that "x6", "x9",
"x10" are brighter. In this case "x9" and "x10" are not ours, so
ours is either "x6" (brighter) or "x11" or "x12" (dimmer).
JINDAKing "x11" vs "x12" will decide if it is "x6", "x11" or
"x12". Now assume that "x6", "x9" and "x10" are dimmer. In this
case "x6", "x11", and "x12" are not ours ro ours is either
"x9"or "x10" and is dimmer. JINDAKing "x9" vs "x10" will decide.
That's it!! I sure hope there is a simpler one but I don't have
time to look for it. BLORPLE the "x?" cube to the Sand Room.
SAND ROOM. This is somewhere you've not been before. After
you've solved the Cell and BLORPLEed back to the Sand Room, go
up to the Ruins. Don't leave anything in this room and don't
come back to it after you have solved both the Cell and the
Ruins for there's no way out after that.
CELL-SECOND TIME. Objective: Remember how the cell was when you
were in it before and arrange everything the way you found it
before. Solution: Unlock the cabinet with the key. Open the
cabinet and take the Vellum scroll (it's blank). NOTE: If,
through trial and error, you discover that you must sleep
between now and the end of the game, ESPNIS self now! Sleep will
cause you to forget *EVERYTHING* you have learned and you won't
have your Spell Book. Memorize BLORPLE at least 2 times then put
the Spell Book in the Cabinet. Close the cabinet and lock it
with the key. REZROV the Cell Door and BLORPLE the "x?" cube to
go back to the Sand Room. From the Sand Room, go up to the
Ruins.
RUINS/SACK. You can't hold very many objects! While still in
the Sand Room, put everything in the zipper but get the Magic
Burin and the Vellum Scroll (have them in your hands when you
leave the Sand Room). You must have the "Magic" (or Power) cube
with you in order to copy the GIRGOL spell; so, if you've left
it somewhere, I hope you can retrieve it now. Go up to the
Ruins. The "x?" cube will appear in your hand - put it in
zipper. Open sack. Empty the zipper into sack. Take sack and
enter the zipper. Take the Flimsy scroll and exit the zipper.
(Entering and exiting the zipper may not be necessary but I
found I could pick up an "extra" object by doing this. Copy
GIRGOL on VELLUM. Put the Flimsy scroll in the zipper (making
sure the zipper is empty except for Flimsy Scroll), close zipper
and drop it. Take the "Magic" cube from the sack and BLORPLE it
back to the Magic Room. You are ready for your encounter with
the Shadow.
MAGIC ROOM-SECOND TIME OR ENCOUNTER WITH SHADOW. Go east
through the circle of darkness and wait for Shadow to appear.
The Shadow has four cubes of his own. He will take all of your
cubes and the four of his own and construct a Hypercube. Then
unless you stop him, he will enter the Hypercube and the Reifn
of the Shadow will begin. Your score will be -99. However, you
can stop him.
Solution: Enter the Castle. Wait two or three moves until the
Shadow appears. Then take something from your sack. (If you
don't have the Vellum in your hand, take it. If you already have
the Vellum, t`ke anything.) This action will cause the Shadow to
*FREEZE* you! You will revive in time to stop him if you cause
him to freeze you SOONER. Then just wait until one move after
"...he ignores you." Then GIRGOL. The objective is to freeze him
in mid-air. He will have taken ALL of your cubes but you can
still see one floating in the Hypercube. Take it out and put
some *JUNK* in the Hypercube. I still had the fish, so I put it
in the Hypercube. I also tried the sack and the coin. Any
NON-MAGICAL item will work nicely.
This should give you a total of 600 out of a possible 600
points. Now take the beautiful poster of ALL INFOCOM GAMES from
the game package. Using either tape or thumb tacks, secure it to
a wall. Throw darts at it giving yourself 5 points each time you
hit anything on the bottom row and 10 points each time you hit
