Spellbreaker Part I Before we start, a few words here. Throughout the game, you will be using the Blorple spell many times. The walkthru assumes that you are keeping track of the spells you have memorized, and that you will always have a few Blorple spells in your head. This is important, as there are some situations in which not having Blorple ready could be fatal. So, check on that every so often, to ensure that you have a few Blorples memorized and ready. Also, from time to time, you will become tired. When that happens, just go to sleep for awhile. Most places are perfectly safe. You may or may not have a dream. That doesn't matter, as the dreams are not necessary in any way to finishing the game. Finally, remember that when you write a word on a cube, or when you refer to that cube, you must always put the name in double quotes: "WATER", "AIR", etc. Oh yes, and keep in mind that this is not the only way to get through the game. You might want to experiment at certain points (after saving, of course!) to see if you can come up with another way of doing things. Ok, let's get on with it! Just when you thought you would be settling down to a nice, soft job as head of the Enchanter's Guild, something goes wrong. Very wrong. Magic, good old dependable magic, isn't so dependable any more. In fact, spells have been failing or doing strange things all over the place, making for a very unhappy and disgruntled populace. Which is why you find yourself attending a meeting of Guildmasters in the ancient town of Belwit. Listening to the speeches of the various Guild leaders, you begin feeling a trifle uncomfortable. They're looking for a scapegoat, and the trend seems to be towards blaming the magic-users (oops). There's no way to leave the room at the moment, so just stand around and wait awhile. You won't have to wait too long...suddenly everyone but yourself is transformed into an amphibious creature! Well, everyone but you and a mysterious cloaked figure that just slipped out the door. Follow the figure into the Guild Hall. Pick up the bread and fish, then continue south. Hmmm. Belwit Square is now filled with a strange orange smoke. Checking your handy spell book, you decide that Lesoch is what's needed here. So learn Lesoch and then cast it. As you do, keep in mind that this spell, and others, may not work the first time. This happens randomly, so be prepared to learm and cast a spell several times before it does its job. It does make the game tedious at times, but there is no way around it. Once the smoke is gone, you see a small white cube on the ground. This is the first of many such cubes you will be collecting, and it's important that you be able to distinguish between them. Otherwise, you're going to have a very hard time finishing the game! So, after taking the cube, write "EARTH" on it. Now look in your spell book. Blorple? That certainly wasn't there a moment ago. However, since the spell seems to have appeared at the same moment as the cube, there's probably a connection between them. So, learn blorple, then blorple "EARTH". Aha! You have been transported inside the cube to the Packed Earth Room (by the way, don't bother with the Mayor's house or the guard; they are red herrings in the game). The room has several exits, one of which you can't pass through. You will find this to be true of all the cubes; each has an 'impossible' exit. Later, you'll learn how to get through those exits, but for now you have better things to do. First, you'll need some light, so frotz your burin. Then go east into the Hall of Stone, then south to the Ruins Room. Here you will find a zipper, which is more than it seems. Unzipping it reveals a large space inside. Get inside and look around. You'll find a flimsy scroll with the Girgol spell. Take the scroll and get out again. The zipper will come in handy for carrying around a great many objects. Since you won't be needing that knife for quite a while, put it into the zipper now. Then blorple "EARTH" again. It's time to pay your first visit to the Roc's nest. Go down through the hole in the Packed Earth room. This will take more than one attempt. Once through the hole, you'll find yourself in mid-air, falling rapidly towards the earth. Don't panic! (Where have I heard that before?) A giant Roc will come along, grab you in its claws, and fly you to its nest. In the nest you see a stained scroll, a giant egg, and a white cube under the egg. There's no way to get the cube right now, so just leave it be and take the scroll, which has the Caskly spell. Gnusto that into your book, then blorple "EARTH" once again. This time, go out the south exit. Now you're on a ledge of a cliff, where you find a scroll with "Throck" on it. Gnusto that one, too. While you will need the spell only once, remember that magic might fail at any time, and the scroll will disappear once the spell is cast, whether or not the spell succeeded. So, always Gnusto spells when possible. Here is a good spot to save the game. You're about to start an avalanche, and if you don't do it just right, you'll have some problems (maybe a lot of problems!). After saving, climb up to the top of the cliff. Above you are tons of rock, very precariously balanced. The least touch might bring them rumbling down, which, as a matter of fact, is what you want to happen. So, push a rock. As soon as the avalanche begins, cast Girgol. Now, all the rocks should be frozen in mid-air. Keep going up until you reach the mountain top. Whew! Take the coin lying there, learn Caskly, then make your way to the hut. Inside is a grumpy hermit. Also inside, as part of a wall, is another cube. Unfortunately, a chat with the hermit reveals he won't let you have it, as it's supporting the wall. You need that cube, of course. What to do? How about trying the Caskly spell? AH! The spell has transformed the grubby hut into a fine building! The hermit doesn't need the cube any longer, so you're free to take it. Write "SOFT" on the cube, then blorple "SOFT". Here you are in the Soft Room. Go south to the meadow. Ignore the pruning shears (another red herring), and get the weed. It will take a couple of tries, but eventually you will pull the entire plant out of the ground. At this point, you can stick the "SOFT" cube in the zipper, since you won't be using it again. Now blorple "EARTH" and go out the west exit. Here you are in front of the Ogre's cave. The poor thing has a terrible case of hay fever, and you're about to make it worse. Enter the cave, plant the weed, then throck it. Wow, that sure did grow, didn't it? The Ogre is overcome with a powerful sneezing fit, but it won't last forever. So, hop on down that hole, get the box and the scroll, then up and out of the cave (don't worry, the Ogre won't follow you). The scroll has the "Espnis" spell; Gnusto that into your spell book. Then open the box. Inside is another cube. Take that and write "WATER" on it. Look carefully at the box, and you will see it is decorated with dolphins. There is a mystic connection between the box and the cubes. Each time you put a different cube in the box, the design will change to something appropriate for that cube. For instance, if you put the "EARTH" cube in the box, the design would change from dolphins to moles. More about the box later; you still have a few more cubes and scrolls to pick up! "Spellbreaker" is copyrighted 1985 by Infocom. This walkthru is copyrighted 1985 by Scorpia, all rights reserved. Spellbreaker Part Two Ok, let's explore this new cube. Blorple "WATER" (guess where you are now?). You're about to take a dip in the ocean, and you don't want your spell book getting soggy, so put the book in the zipper, and close the zipper. Make sure you are holding the bread (this is another good place to save the game, just in case). Go south. SPLASH! Oops, you dropped your "WATER" cube. And there's a grouper swimming nearby with a hungry look in its eyes. Drop the bread (so it won't eat the cube). As the grouper gobbles your offering, take the cube (before it sinks), then the bottle. Blorple "EARTH", then go east to the Hall of Stone (by the way, you won't need the "EARTH" cube again, so you can tuck that away in the zipper). While you dry off, open the bottle and get the scroll that's inside (you can drop the bottle, which has no use in the game). This has the "Liskon" spell written on it. Get your spell book from the zipper, then Gnusto Liskon and learn it. Go north, and you come to a passage that is simply filled with a giant serpent (try Yomin on the snake some time). Cast Liskon on the serpent, then continue north after it's shrunk a bit. Eventually you will come to the temple, which contains nothing of interest except a giant statue of a rat. If you climb up the statue and look in its mouth, you will see a cube sitting on the tongue. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to get your hand inside the mouth; the opening is just a bit too narrow. What to do? Learn Malyon and Espnis. Save the game (because timing is very important here). Cast Malyon on the statue. The spell sure worked, because the statue is beginning to move. On the other hand, maybe it's not such a good thing, as the statue is looking around for something to nibble. Cast Espnis. This must be done at the right moment; if you wait too long, then when the rat becomes a statue again, it's mouth won't be open wide enough. Ah, the rat is beginning to get sleepy, and just as it turns back into a statue, its mouth is wide open in a tremendous yawn. Just what you wanted! Climb up and get the cube from the mouth. Write "AIR" on the cube. Now, blorple "AIR". Go north to the glacier (Brrr!) and get the scroll (which has the Tinsot spell). Be careful that you don't move at all while here, or you'll have a very nasty accident! Blorple "AIR" again, then Gnusto Tinsot. Leave the room by going west. Aha, you're in a bazaar! That shop with the carpets looks interesting; enter it by going east. The high-pressure salesman will show you two rugs; one is a beautiful blue carpet with a cube design, the other is a raggedy old thing of red material, suitable (maybe) for wrapping fish. It's the blue one that you want here. However, you can't just buy it; you'll have to haggle with the merchant. Be careful to specify that it's the BLUE carpet you want. Now, when you try to buy it, the merchant will tell you it's 800 zorkmids. Not only is that an outrageous price, your gold coin is only good for 500 zorkmids. So you'll have to get him to come down a bit. Start by offering 100 zorkmids, and each round of haggling, raise your offer by 100 until he finally settles for 500. When you hand him the coin, he will give you a carpet. But wait!! Don't go running off just yet! The sneak has tried to pull a fast one on you....he's given you the RED carpet! (The nerve of him!) So, before you leave, take the blue carpet. He'll let you do that, but only if you've made sure to tell him that's the one you wanted during your haggling. Now you can leave the shop and put the "AIR" cube in the zipper. Blorple "WATER". Learn the Tinsot spell at least 3 times. Put your book in the zipper again, save the game (in case of spell failure), then go north to the Oubliette. Here you see a channel of water flowing between two pipes. Far above, you can also see a trap door. No ladder is handy, but there are other ways of getting up there. Tinsot the outflow pipe twice (once isn't enough). As the room becomes filled with water, Tinsot the water. A small ice floe will form. Stand on that and wait until the water stops. Now you can easily reach the trap door (Rezrov not necessary; you can open the trap by hand). Going up takes you to a slimy dungeon and another cube. Write "BONE" on this one and put it in the zipper; you don't really need to use it for anything (it takes you back to Belwit Square). Get your spell book, then saunter along east and north to the cell. The furnishings of the cell have deteriorated with time, but that mahogany cabinet looks interesting. It's locked, so use Rezrov to open it. Well, looky there...a moldy old spell book was inside! Too bad you can't ready anything. But all is not lost! Learn the Caskly spell and cast it on the book. That's a little better, but not much. The only legible spell is the Snavig spell. Still, better than nothing, so Gnusto Snavig before the book falls apart. Now, at last, it's time to deal with that pesky Roc (you've been waiting for this, haven't you?). Go back to the dungeon, then up to the tower. There is a tiny dot approaching from above. This is the roc. Ignore it. Drop the carpet, sit on it, then say "fly". As you ascend from the tower, the Roc is so nonplussed it zooms off! (Now, why doesn't that work if you try it at the nest?) With the Roc out of the way, the rest is simple. Just continue to fly west to the mountains and soon you will be above the nest. Go down until you land. Stand up, get the cube, then write "STRING" on it. Blorple "STRING". You will be in a room full of strands of light. Go south, and you're in the Enchanter's Retreat. And here's Belboz. When you talk to him, you will find him a bit suspicious. Are you *really* you? You'll have to prove it, by answering a question. This is random, and the answer can be found among the six cards that come with the game. Just read through them until you come to the right one, and give the name of the person on the card. Having established your identity, you can now ask Belboz about the cubes. What he has to say is interesting, although perhaps not all that enlightening. However, he does give you a key, so hang on to it, because it's very important. You can also put the "STRING" cube into the zipper, as you won't be needing it again. "Spellbreaker" is copyrighted 1985 by Infocom. This walkthru is copyrighted 1985 by Scorpia, all rights reserved. Spellbreaker Part Three I hope you feel in the mood for a dip, because it's time to do some more splashing around (if nothing else, you are certainly going to be the cleanest Enchanter in the land!). Blorple "WATER". Learn the Snavig spell. To make your life a bit easir, stuff everything but the fish into the zipper and close it. Hmm, a bit dark in here, but not to worry, the Grues won't getcha (they come a little later on...EVIL grin). Save the game. Go south into the ocean. SPLASH! You dropped the cube again! And that grouper is back, too. As a safety precaution, drop the fish, then Snavig the grouper. How about that, it worked! Now you're a grouper, too! Unfortuantely, since you are now a fish, you can't hold the zipper, and it sinks out of sight. Oh well. Still, there may yet be hope. Swim down until you reach the grouper's nest. Aha! There's the "WATER" cube and the zipper, and another cube sitting in the nest. Of course, you can't do very much right now. So, just wait until you turn back into yourself again. Now, quickly get everything and head for the surface. WHEW! You just made it! After getting a few lungfuls of air, blorple "WATER". Don't bother drying off, because you're going to be wet again pretty soon. Open the zipper and get your burin and spell book. Write "LIGHT" on the cube from the nest. Head north to the Oubliette. Learn the Liskon spell, then put your book in the zipper and close it. Liskon yourself. Oooof, what a strange feeling! Now, enter the outflow pipe. You will be swept along west with the flow of water. As this happens, you will pass by a cubical object....yep, it's another cube! Get that and keep going west until you come to a spot where you can climb out. Go up. Sonovagun! You're back in the Ruins Room! Now, at last, you can put the "WATER" cube away. Write "CHANGE" on the cube you just found. Get your spell book and learn Tinsot, then blorple "LIGHT". Go west, and you're on the side of a volcano. Pretty hot around here! And sizzling lava bits are flying about all around you. One lands practically at your feet, but it's too hot to touch. Tinsot the fragment, then take it. Put that and the "LIGHT" cube in the zipper. Blorple "CHANGE". You're in a bizarre room where the exits keep changing on you. Go north to the Bare Room. Here you find a superbly-crafted compass rose. Get that, and blorple "CHANGE" again. This time, go west to the Carving Room. Examining the wall you see a carving there that closely resembles the compass. Could it be...? Put the compass in the carving. Sure enough, a small opening just appeared in the north wall! Don't go running off just yet. First take the compass! Without that, you won't get very far. Now, through the hole and into the next room. Here you see eight walls, each with a direction rune written on it. The trick is to touch the compass to one of the runes, thereby creating a new opening. You can only go in a particular direction once. If you check the compass, you'll see that each time you go in one of the directions, that arm on the compass turns to lead. Also, some of the runes on the wall are in lead, too. Don't touch those. Ok, let's move along here. Touch the compass to the NorthWest rune. Go through the hole that appears. Touch the compass to the West rune, and go through the hole. Now, touch the NorthEast rune and go through that opening. Ah! Here's a room with an opening already created...but it's plugged up! No matter, a quick Rezrov, and that obstacle is gone. Go through the hole on the west wall. Well, well. Here's another cube (what else?). Write "VOID" on that cube (by the way, you can drop the compass, as you don't need it any more). Blorple "VOID", which takes you to a very strange room indeed! Go south, and you will find yourself on a plain, next to a large, green-eyed rock. Here is a good place to save, as you're about to play a little game of tag with that brown-eyed rock yonder, the one with the cube on its back. You can't walk over to it; the surface is much too slippery. Even if you could, that wouldn't help much, as the rock will move away from you. So you're going to need some form of transportation. Get the lava fragment and offer it to the green-eyed rock. After it digests this little tidbit, it will allow you to climb on its back, and will take you wherever you want to go. If you've played this part of the game before, you may be wondering if it really is possible to catch up to the brown-eyed rock. Well, it IS possible, and, in fact, actually quite easy (honest!). The first thing to do is map out the area completely. You'll see that the plain is composed of 15 locations. They almost form a square, except for the upper left-hand corner, which comes down on a diagonal. This is what allows you to catch up to the brown-eyed rock. It's best to make a large diagram of the area, and use two small objects (such as a dime and a penny) to represent yourself and the brown rock, moving each object on the diagram as you and the rock move in the game. OK, now the fun begins. Tell the green-eyed rock to move west. The brown-eyed rock will move randomly either north or south. Don't worry about that; it doesn't matter in the least (just keep track of it on your diagram). Next you move to the northeast. The brown-eyed rock will move randomly again, either north or south. Move east. Once you are in this position, the brown-eyed rock is effectively trapped. Start going south. The brown-eyed rock will also go south (usually) until it reaches the bottom of the diagram. At that point, it will go west (most of the time). However, when it does so, it will be right below you, and you can move south onto the same square! If the rock happens to go north instead of west, no problem; you can catch it by going east. All right, now just jump over to the brown-eyed rock, take the cube from its back, and climb down. Write "BLACK" on the cube, learn Snavig, then blorple "BLACK". Hmm, certainly an appropriate name for THIS cube...you are in total darkness. Trial and error will show you the only way out is down, which takes you to a dark cave, where your burin isn't doing such a great job of providing light. As a matter of fact, you *don't* want any light here, so put the burin in the zipper and close it. Now, go down again. Shudder! You're in a Grue cave, and there are plenty of them lurking in the darkness. You don't want to be noticed, so snavig grue. Whew! Now you can go investigate that strange pool of light. Here you see a pillar with a cube on top. Fortunately, it's not hard to reach. First go down into the pool, then climb the pillar and take the cube. Now climb down, and go up (make sure you DON'T say "climb up", or you'll be back up the pillar again!). Go up again and you're away from the Grues. After that, just hang around until you are yourself again, then get your burin and write "FIRE" on the cube. "Spellbreaker" is copyrighted 1985 by Infocom. This walkthru is copyrighted 1985 by Scorpia, all rights reserved. Spellbreaker Part Four Now it's time to pay a second visit to the volcano, and learn the secret of the gold box. Blorple "FIRE". Here you are in a different spot on the side of the volcano. A little further away, you can see an unmelted outcropping with a cube on it. The distance between is too far to jump, but you just might be able to throw something there. Put the "FIRE" cube in the gold box (the design will change), then take it out again. Throw the gold box onto the outcropping...it will just make it there. Now, blorple "FIRE", and go EAST through the "impossible" exit. AHA! Now you are on the outcropping! And that is the secret of the box. If you leave it behind somewhere (except inside another cube), you can go back to wherever it is by going through the "impossible" exit of whichever cube was last in the box. This will work with any of the cubes. Ok, pick up the cube from the outcropping. WOW! What was that??? As soon as you touch the cube, a surge of power runs through your body. This must be SOME cube...and it sure is. Write "MAGIC" in the cube. As long as you have the "MAGIC" cube, you can learn an unlimited number of spells, and some of them will be more powerful (which will come in handy shortly). Enough dilly-dallying here! Blorple "VOID", and go through the east exit, which brings you to the inner vault. Here is a good place to save the game. For one thing, once you pass through the door into the outer vault, you WILL NOT be able to save the game!! So, learn Jindak several times (four should be enough), save now, then rezrov the door (the spell is more powerful, and the door will open). Go north into the outer vault. Here you see two piles of cubes, labeled "X1" through "X12". Eleven of these cubes are dummies; only one is a real cube. The trick is to determine which one is the right one, in the time allowed before that obnoxious alarm fairy shows up. Also, each time you enter the vault, the right cube is determined randomly; this is why you aren't permitted to save the game here...that would make things much too easy! Now, here is one way of determining the right cube. Remember that your time is limited here, so don't waste a single move! First, cast Jindak. Both piles will glow, but one will glow brighter than the other. That's the one with the real cube. So far, so good. Take 3 cubes from each pile (you can do this with one command), and cast Jindak again. There are two possibilities: either both piles will glow the same (in which case, the right cube is one of the three in your hand), or one pile will still be brighter (in which case, it's one of the three still left in the pile). For purposes of example, suppose the first pile glowed brighter when you originally cast Jindak. This tells you that the right cube must be among X1-X6. So you take X1-X3 from the first pile and X7-X9 from the second (it is crucial to keep the number of cubes in each pile equal when casting Jindak). Now you cast Jindak again. Both piles glow equally bright. Now you know that the right cube must be among X1-X3. What you need to do now is split the cubes up, so one more Jindak will indicate proper one. You also need to keep the piles balanced. So you put (say) X1 and X7 on the first pile, and X2 and X8 on the second pile. Cast Jindak again. If the first pile glows brighter, then X1 is the right cube. If the second pile glows brighter, X2 is it, and if both piles are the same in brightness, then the cube is X3. That was the first case. Now suppose, after you took X1-X3 and X7-X9, the first pile still was brighter. Then the right cube must be among X4-X6. The first thing to do is get rid of the cubes you are currently holding. The easiest way is to just stuff everything into the zipper (all the dummy cubes disappear anyway when you leave the vault) with a "put all in zipper" command. Ok, now you take X4, X5, X10, and X11. You put X4 on the second pile, and X10 on the first pile, and cast Jindak. If the first pile glows brighter, you know the cube must be X6. If the second pile glows brighter, obviously it's X4. And if both glow the same, then the cube is X5. This method will work, regardless of which pile the right cube is in. It does help to keep track of your moves on paper, so you don't become confused as you move the cubes around (which could easily happen). Once you have the right cube, blorple it immediately, because the guards will be coming in the door (there just isn't any way of shutting up that fairy). You will be in the Sand Room. Funny sort of room....kinda reminds you of an hourglass, doesn't it? In fact, the room could be considered a sort of time machine (by the way, this is another good place to save!). There are two exits, up and down. You must go down first, where you will find yourself in a familiar place...the cell where you found the moldy spell book. But...the room isn't a wreck, it looks new! All the furniture is in good condition, and the door is on the cell. And there's the mahogany cabinet, with the lock in working condition. What's up? Well, for those of you who played "Sorcerer", you might remember the incident of the coal mine, where you met yourself coming and going. This is the same sort of situation. Everything must be as you found it when you first blorpled the "water" cube. So, unlock the cabinet with the key you received from Belboz. Inside is a vellum scroll. Take that. Now comes the fun part. You must put your beloved spell book into the cabinet. So, you best memorize some spells before you do that. Actually, all you need to do is learn the blorple spell a few times, because you are getting near the end game, and it's really the only one you need now (well, almost). Ok, the book goes into the cabinet. Lock the door, then rezrov the cell door. WHAM! The door flies open, and you can hear guards coming. Blorple the "X" cube from the vault. If you did anything wrong in the cell, you will die on your way to the cube (in which case, restore and try again), but we'll hope that doesn't happen. Now (save again, just in case) go through the up exit of the Sand Room. Here you are in the Ruins Room...back when it was being flooded. You see a sack on the floor. Get that and open it. Inside is a flimsy scroll with Girgol on it. Take the scroll. And just as you did in the cell, you must see to it that everything here was just as you found it. Empty the zipper into the sack. Now, copy the Girgol scroll onto the vellum scroll. Put the flimsy scroll into the zipper, close it, and drop it. At last, you are ready for the end game and your showdown with the mysterious cloaked figure. "Spellbreaker" is copyrighted 1985 by Infocom. This walkthru is copyrighted 1985 by Scorpia, all rights reserved. Spellbreaker Part Five OK! Blorple the "MAGIC" cube. Once inside, make sure you are holding the vellum scroll with Girgol and the knife. You might also want to save here, in case you make a mistake later on (being branded a "menace to society" is so terribly embarrassing!). Go through the east exit. You will find yourself in an eerie throne room. Just wait a bit and the shadowy figure will appear on the throne. Keep waiting, and the figure will explain what this has all been about. However, you don't want to wait too long. Attack the figure. You will be frozen in place. The figure would have done this to you anyway, but timing is critical here. You must get yourself frozen as soon as possible, so the spell will wear off in time for you to stop your shadow self from completing its grand project. So, there you are, rigid and unmoving. After making its explanations, the figure will take the cubes from you, and begin constructing the Hypercube, the most potent magical force ever. As it does so, the freeze spell slowly begins to wear off. Little by little, your body thaws out. Now you must be careful here. The Girgol spell must be cast at the proper moment, or all is lost. No matter when you thaw out completely (and it absolutely has to be completely), keep waiting until the figure is just about to jump into the Hypercube. NOW, cast Girgol! Time has stopped, but it won't be stopped for very long. Don't waste any moves here, you only have two. First, get the "MAGIC" cube from inside the Hypercube. It will be difficult, but you will manage it. Next, put the knife in the Hypercube. Just as you do that, time resumes...but the figure had already been on its way into the cube, and it can't stop now. It is drawn to the center, but the "MAGIC" cube is no longer there! The whole cube begins to collapse on itself. You have saved the world (indeed, the universe)! However..... However, there was a price for that. You have not only put an end to the nefarious plans of your shadow self, you have also put an end to all magic, as Belboz tells you. And, considering what you learned from your shadow self, perhaps that is really the better way. Congratulations, Scientist.....and Spellbreaker! "Spellbreaker" is copyroghted 1985 by Infocom. This walkthru is copyrighted 1985 by Scorpia, all rights reserved.