Character Creation
I always select "Create your own character", so I can't give any advice about the preset characters.
You can gain enough Compassion during the story to be able to finish, so you don't need to put any points into Compassion at the start. Similarly, there are a number of opportunities to gain Luck, so while Luck can be helpful, it's quite possible to finish without allocating any points to it either. The various scrolls require certain amounts of Intelligence to read; 10% is enough to read the first one, the scroll of Refreshment, but I'm not sure how much less you might be able to get away with. So you might put 9 points into Intelligence and divide the remaining 51 among Endurance, Strength, and Dexterity.
Your gender doesn't matter for the main gameplay, but there are a few items in the For Your Amusement sections where you will get different results based on your character's gender. (Curious default name, eh?)
Increasing Stats
Endurance: Increases gradually as your level increases
Strength: Eat the morgia root in the Royal garden, 3%; drink the potion of Might, 16%
Dexterity: Squeeze the moss of Mareilon in the Wine Cellar, inside the idol in the Jungle, and in the Underground area, 8% each
Intelligence: Eat the fish cake in the market in Gurth, 20%; drink the potion of Enlightenment, 20%; wear the helmet, 30%
Compassion: Free the unicorn from the stall, get the baby hungus out of the quicksand in the Jungle, and erase the minx's tracks, 15% each
Luck: Rub the rabbit's foot, 10%; kiss the unicorn's horn, 15%; touch the coating in the Implementors' goblet, 15%
Armor class: Cloak, 5% and can be worn over other armor; helmet, 5%; leather tunic, 10%; scale mail, 20%; plate mail, 60%; scroll of Protection, adds 31% to the armor it is used on
Random Areas
There are eight areas of the game whose maps are randomly generated the first time you enter them: the wine cellar, the lighthouse, the Mizniaport moors, the Fields of Frotzen, the forest, the jungle, the ruins of Pheebor, and the caverns. Precise directions cannot be given for these areas, but none of them is very complex, so I just instruct you to "Explore the area" and point out which items and monsters will be encountered.
Combat
I suggest saving a game before walking into an area where there are monsters, and again if you defeat the monster. (You can't save while you're actually in the same location as a monster.) If you are getting your butt kicked in a fight, you can run away just by leaving the room in any unblocked direction. Either keep moving (you gain back an endurance point per turn), or retreat to an area where the creature won't follow, and rest there.
In terms of damage done, calibrated on the dornbeast in the lighthouse, the weapons worst to best are: dagger, shillelagh, spade (not used in this walkthrough), battle axe (not used in this walkthrough), and longsword. See CJ's Apocalyptech for some reference numbers investigating this.
I don't know whether keeping as many objects as possible in your pack instead of in your hands affects the combat calculations. (Oddly, the lantern will still light a room even from within your pack! Maybe we should picture it as hanging from a loop on the outside of the pack.)
Magical Items
Most magic items in this game are randomized as to their location and description. When I say a room has a scroll, potion, or wand, one will be present, but exactly which one it is will vary, except: The scroll of Refreshment is always in the Wine Cellar and the scroll of Gating (palimpsest) is always in the sea chest. The Wand of Dispel is always in the Guild Hall.
Scrolls: Fireworks, Gating, Honing, Mischief, Protection, Recall, Refreshment (six found, one for sale)
Potions: Death, Enlightenment, Forgetfulness, Healing, Might (two found, three for sale)
Wand/Rod/Staff/Stave/Stick/Cane: Anesthesia, Annihilation, Dispel, Eversion, Levitation, Sayonara (five found, one for sale) -- There is one wand, one rod, one staff, etc. in each game, but for simplicity's sake I will always refer to them all as "wands".
Before you can use scrolls (other than Refreshment), wands, and potions, you must have them identified by showing them to the woman in the Magick Shoppe in Gurth. To use a potion, read it, shake it, then drink it. To use a scroll, read it, then say its word of power. To use a wand, simply point it at your desired target.
The following magic items are needed to solve puzzles, so hang onto them once you find them: scroll of Gating (which can only be used five times), wand of Eversion, wand of Levitation, wand of Dispel.
The scrolls of Fireworks, Mischief, and Recall can be sold or used at your discretion. The Recall scroll allows you to teleport back to the room where you said its word of power, so can be used as a shortcut or as an escape hatch. I don't make use of it in this walkthrough, but you might find it handy to, say, be able to just teleport to the Magick Shoppe from wherever you are. Fireworks and Mischief are merely amusing. Hold on to the scroll of Honing to use on the longsword and the scroll of Protection to use on the plate mail.
Drink the potions of Might and Enlightenment whenever you come across them. The potion of Healing may be useful to purchase, or hang on to when found, in case you take a lot of combat damage in a single turn. The potion of Forgetfulness is not actually harmful (see the last section of For Your Amusement), but if you want to try it, I suggest saving a game first, then restoring and selling the potion instead. The potion of Death has a predictable effect and should be sold if found, or ignored if offered for sale.
The wand of Anesthesia can be used as an alternate solution for the pterodactyl's wound; otherwise, you can sell it. The wands of Sayonara and Annihilation make quick work of monsters if you're getting beaten, but again, you can sell them if you prefer. (Keep in mind that your pack does have a volume limit and you have a weight limit dependent on your Strength.) Each wand can be used three times.
All that said, let's begin the game.
Grubbo-by-the-Sea
You begin at a Hilltop. Go northwest to Edge of Storms. Read the billboard. Examine the weeds. (Uh... thanks, Better Homes and Underground Empires?) These are spenseweeds, which have healing properties. Get a weed. Go southeast and east twice to the Wharf. Examine the water. Get the driftwood (shillelagh). Examine the sailor's painting. Go west and south and get the rusty lantern. Open the door and go west twice. Get the thrown dagger and wield it. Go west. Examine the onion. Open the cellar door. Turn on the lantern. Save the game and go down to the Wine Cellar.
Monsters: rat-ant, discipline crab
Magic items: crinkly scroll (Refreshment), amulet, wand
Treasures: tiny crown, doubloon
Other items: wine bottle
If the rat-ant immediately scurries in and attacks you (it can attack anywhere in the cellar), try to hold out for a couple of moves, since you stand a better chance against it with a better weapon. Get the crinkly scroll. Read the scroll. Say the word written on it and the lantern and dagger will be "refreshed". (Hmm, I wonder why the limp weed isn't refreshed...) The cellar door will lock in front of you if you try to go back upstairs, but if you need to get out of immediate danger you should be able to run into and out of the adjacent rooms so long as the rat-ant doesn't block your exit.
Explore the cellar. In the Musty Corridor, squeeze the moss. In the Shadowy Stacks, try to take the amulet from the skeleton. Kick the skeleton, then take the amulet again. Wear the amulet. At Bottom of Stack, go up to Top of Stack and get the wine bottle. (You need at least 15% dexterity to make the climb.) In the Reeking Room, get the wand. In the Throne Room, attack the discipline crab. If you need to rest, Top of Stack is a location it can't follow you to. When you defeat the crab, take its crown, then search the nest and get the doubloon.
Once you have done everything, return to the Wine Cellar location. Try to go up. Read the amulet through the wine bottle. (Now that you've read it, the word of power will appear in the item name and description, so there's no need to write it down to remember it.) Say the word on the amulet. Break the cellar door. Go up. Turn off the lantern. Give the bottle to the cook. Put everything but the dagger in your pack. (You can just type put all in pack; items you are wielding or wearing are not affected.) Roll the onion east. Get the bearskin rug. Continue rolling the onion east, north, and northeast to the Ledge.
For Your Amusement:
At the Wharf, repeatedly say hello sailor around the old sailor.
In the Kitchen, ask the cook about himself.
Examine the wine bottle, and open the mailbox on the bottle.
Try to pick up the onion, both with and without the power of the amulet.
Walk across the bear rug and then touch someone.
Accardi
Read the cliff. Say lightning to answer the riddle. (Yikes!) Go northwest to the Tidal Flats and get some salt from the brine patch. Return southeast and roll the onion west into the lighthouse. Save the game. Leave the onion here for the time being, and go up. Explore the lighthouse.
Monsters: giant spider (1st floor), slug (2nd floor), dust bunny (3rd floor), dorn beast (4th floor)
Magic items: wand (1st floor), scroll (3rd floor)
Treasures: bubblegum card (2nd floor), sextant (4th floor)
Other items: sea chest (4th floor)
In the lighthouse, it is to your advantage to draw the monsters into the stairway locations (rooms with arrows) to fight, because they won't follow you up or down if you need to escape to rest. Get the wand on the first floor, the bubblegum card on the second floor, and the scroll on the third floor. If you find the slug too tedious or too difficult to defeat, throw the salt at it instead. On the third floor, in the Dusty Corner, drop the rug, walk across it, then touch the dust bunny. Get the ring and wear it. You can now leave the rug here (unless you care to experiment with shoving things under the rug, which exhibits lots of odd behaviors).
From the third floor, go back down to the bottom of the lighthouse, then roll the onion all the way up to the fourth floor Lamp Room. Search the debris and get the sextant. Put everything in your pack. Save the game. Try to get the chest. Cut the onion and get the chest while the dorn beast is disabled. You can also use the wand of Annihilation, if you have it, although in this walkthrough you won't have identified either of your wands yet. (If you wish to attempt to kill the dorn beast for experience points: Each time you cut the onion, you have three turns to attack the dorn beast while it is disabled, until "the dorn sniffs away the last of its tears". However, you might want to come back later with the sword, because the dorn beast has a lot of hit points, and at this point in the game you have a hard time even hitting it in the first place. If you don't ever defeat it, you can't reach the highest rank of Level 9, but it's not necessary to do so to finish the game.)
Sea chest in hand, go all the way back down the lighthouse and exist east to the Ledge. Drop the chest and open it. No, go on, open the chest. On the Plane of Transinfinite Splendor, wait two turns. Once back on the Ledge, get the outline and the palimpsest from the chest. Close the chest and pick it up again.
Go northwest and northeast to Accardi-by-the-Sea. Open the door of the weapon shop and go west. Examine the case. Ask the woman about the scabbard, the axe, and the sword. Unwield the dagger and sell it. Get the crown, sextant, bubblegum card, doubloon, and shillelagh out of the pack and sell them as well. (This will give you just enough zorkmids to buy the sword.) Buy the sword, get it, and wield it.
Go east twice to Outside Guild Hall. Try to go north. Wait three turns. When the monkey grinder manifests (yep, you read that right), go west, then return east and try to go north again. The monkey grinder will squish the warning nymph. Give the chest to the monkey grinder. Get the hurdy-gurdy (you can refer to it as "hurdy" or "gurdy") and put it in your pack. Close the sea chest and pick it up. Go north to the Lobby, get the wand (you may need to drop the chest to do so), and put it in your pack. Go south, west, southwest, southeast, southwest, and south twice, to Moor's Edge.
For Your Amusement:
After returning from the Plane of Transinfinite Splendor, open the sea chest a second time. (save first)
Mizniaport
Monsters: guttersnipe, eldritch vapor
Magic items: scroll, wand, potion
Treasures: none
Other items: pterodactyl, horseshoe, saddle
Explore the moors. If the vapor steals any of your items, you will find them in other Moors locations. Get the scroll, wand, and potion. (You may find yourself struggling with weight limits at this point; make sure you keep everything in your pack as much as you can. The sea chest is both heavy and bulky, so drop it temporarily if you need to to get other items so you can put them in your pack, but remember to pick the chest up again.)
When you find the pterodactyl, drop the chest and get the hurdy-gurdy and weed from your pack. Turn the dial on the hurdy-gurdy to the ear, then turn the crank to the right. While the pterodactyl is asleep, get the arrow, then rub the weed on the wound. Drop the arrow. When the pterodactyl wakes up, he will now be well-disposed to you. Pet him if you like. Take the whistle and wear it. We'll be doing more with the pterodactyl later. Put the hurdy-gurdy back in your pack and get the chest again.
Head to wherever "the mist thins out a bit to the southwest". Go southwest, west, northeast and north to a Stablehouse. Kiss the unicorn's horn for luck. Give the sea chest to the unicorn. Get the horseshoe. Say the word on the amulet again and break the stall. Go into the stall and get the saddle. (You can also get the saddle without breaking the stall by using the wand of Levitation, if you have it.) Go south, southwest, and northwest to the Intersection.
For Your Amusement:
Play all 12 settings of the hurdy-gurdy in front of the pterodactyl and in front of the old woman in the shop.
Gurth
Go north to the South Market in Gurth, then go north again. After you bump into the hawker, get the fish cake and eat it. Go north to North Market. Open the door and go west into the Magick Shoppe. Show the four wands, three scrolls (including the palimpsest), and the potion you've collected to the old woman. Drink or sell whatever you have, as appropriate; don't forget to shake potions before drinking them. (Remember that these are not essential: Fireworks, Mischief, and Recall scrolls; Annihilation, Sayonara, Anesthesia wands; Healing, Forgetfulness, Death potions -- although the Healing potion can obviously be useful. You can also sell the amulet, since you don't strictly need it anymore.)
Examine the case and ask the woman about each of the potions in the case. Buy the rabbit's foot, take it, rub it, and put it in your pack. Buy whatever potions you can afford. Go east out of the shop to North Market. Get the scroll of Gating (palimpsest) out of your pack and read it. Say the word on it.
Ethereal Plain of Atrii
Notice the curtain hanging in the air at Above City. If you walk through it, you will return to the Magick Shoppe. There are two other curtains on the Plain; the one at Above Seaport goes to the Boutique (Armour Shop) in Mizniaport and the one Above Town goes to the Weapon Shop in Accardi.
Try to go southeast. Hm, a "vague outline" is blocking your path? Examine your inventory. Notice that the "vague outline" you had before has turned into a "phase blade". ("What on earth do I do with a vague outline?" "Nothing... on earth.") Get the phase blade and cut the outline with it. Then go southeast to Above Fields. Wait here for three turns. When the Implementors drop the coconut and it "skitters across the plane", try to get it. An ur-grue will appear and slurp up the coconut. Keep waiting. When an Implementor holds out a goblet to you, take it. You will be transported to Edge of Storms. Taste the coating in the goblet to gain luck.
For Your Amusement:
When the Implementor asks you to take the coconut, don't take it.
Have a full inventory in your hands when the Implementor tries to give you the goblet.
The Gray Fields of Frotzen
Go west into the Gray Fields of Frotzen. Explore the area. (Every room in here is named "The Gray Fields of Frotzen".)
Monsters: none
Magic items: scroll
Treasures: none
Other items: four-leaf clover, butterfly, key, compass rose
Get the four-leaf clover and the scroll when you come across them. When you spot the butterfly, wait while it finds the sweet coating on the goblet and alights on the rim.
There are three scarecrows in this area, but only the third one you find actually scares the corbies (they squawk with "fear", "terror", or "anxiety", as opposed to "anger", "rage", or "fury"). When you find it, turn the dial on the hurdy-gurdy to the eye and turn the crank to the right. Now that your color vision has been improved, note the color of the rags on this scarecrow in the room description -- mauve, puce, or lavender.
After "a movement overhead catches your eye", one of the Fields rooms will have changed names to Farmyard and gained a new exit. Find the Farmyard and enter the crashed Farm House. Close the door. Soon, a storm will brew and pick up the farm house, Wizard of Oz style ("Kerblam! Lightning heralds the approach of a deadly funnel!", then "Thwack! The farm house jerks violently upward..."); don't be concerned when this happens. While you wait, open the hurdy-gurdy, put the goblet in it, and close it. Turn the dial to the clock and then turn the crank to the left. Open the gurdy, get the goblet, and examine it. You've "turned back the clock" on the butterfly and now have a caterpillar! (You don't need this caterpillar until some way further on, but shortly you're going to be selling the hurdy-gurdy for money, so need to do this transformation now.) Put everything you can in your pack.
When the house crash-lands again, open the door and go north to Froon. Look under the house. Look at the flowers. Wait while Mayor Grope arrives, has a jewel box brought, and opens it. Examine the keys. Take the one that is the color the corbies were afraid of. You will be immediately transported back to the Fields of Frotzen.
Make your way to the Fields location where "corbies are circling a point on the ground," where you previously couldn't pass them. Now that you are carrying something of the color that scares them (have you noticed that they are now always screeching with fear, anxiety, or terror?), you will be able to pass by into the Gray Grotto. Examine the rosebush and take the compass rose. Leave the Grotto. Make your way to the western exit of the Fields of Frotzen, to the Intersection. You can now drop the key.
Go north twice and west to the Magick Shoppe. Show the woman the scroll you found in the Fields. (If it is the scroll of Honing, read it and say the word of power to use it on your sword.) Sell the outline and hurdy-gurdy. Buy any potions if you are still missing some of the useful ones. Leave the shop. Go northeast and north to the Forest.
The Forest
Explore the Forest area.
Monsters: cruel puppet, hellhound
Magic items: scroll, wand
Treasures: none
Other items: none
Defeat the puppet and hellhound and get the scroll and wand. In the Clearing, read the boulder; the answer to the riddle on is youth. Drop the saddle at South Chasm, which is out of the Forest to the north or northeast. Return southward out of the forest to Outskirts, then southwest and west to the Magick Shoppe. Show the woman the wand and scroll.
For Your Amusement:
Insult the cruel puppet.
The Jungle
Leave the shop. Go south twice, southeast, and west to the Skyway Entrance. Wait for a gondola to appear, and for the conductor to say "all aboard". Enter the gondola. Wait three turns until "the gondola is gliding just a few feet from the top of the support tower". Jump to the tower. Go down from the Maintenance Platform. Save the game. Explore the Jungle area.
Monsters: mossy rock/bloodworm, crocodile
Magic items: wand, scroll
Treasures: ivory tusk, crocodile tear
Other items:
When you've collected the wand, tusk, and scroll, dealt with the bloodworm and crocodile, and found the Idol, save the game. Go to Quicksand. Try to hit the baby hungus to tick off its mother. Go to the Idol, waiting once after each move while the mother hungus catches up. Get into the maw. The mother hungus will climb onto the bottom of the maw. Get the jewel. Inside the idol, turn on your lantern. Squeeze the moss. Point the wand of Eversion at the idol. Turn off the lantern. Return to the Quicksand. Point the wand of Eversion at the mother hungus. Point the wand of Levitation at the baby hungus. Your strength is now greatly depleted from all this Magick, so rest until it returns. Get the jewel. Put everything in your pack.
Speak the word on the palimpsest. Go northeast, north, and west to Above City and go through the curtain to return to the Magick Shoppe. (This Trizbort map may help you navigate the Plane, since you can't see much of the in-game map on screen at the same time. Does the layout remind anyone else of a slightly cockeyed Tree of Life?) Show the new wand and scroll to the woman. Sell the tusk. Trade (not sell) the tear for the hourglass. Get the hourglass. You can now sell most of your magic items since you no longer need them, except for the scrolls of Gating (palimpsest) and Protection and the wand of Dispel. Leave the shop and go south twice, southeast, open the door, and go north to the Boutique (armor shop). Buy the scale mail and cloak, get them, and wear them.
Thriff
Go south and west. Wait for a gondola to arrive and ride it as before. Jump off at any support tower and go down. In the Jungle, make your way to the Waterfall at the southerly end of the map. Go southwest, northwest and west to the Rock Wall. Notice the castle up on the mountain. Return east. Erase the footprints. Wait for the hunters to leave. Get the minx. Pet her if you like. Don't worry when she jumps out of your arms; she'll follow you, although you may have to wait a turn for her to catch up.
Go southeast and west into the Chapel. Sit in the pew. Look under the pew, get the vial, and stand up. Go east and south to the Snowy Clearing. Examine the glyph. Try to go west. Get the caterpillar from the goblet. Show the caterpillar to the Christmas tree monsters. Get the silver ornament. Go west. Open the mailbox. Get the leaflet and read it; it will turn into a parcel in your hands. Open the parcel; you now have a burin. Go south into the cabin Laboratory. Read the book. (Some of the entries may amuse players of the Enchanter trilogy.) Search the bench. Get the black hemisphere. Go north and west. Attack the wight. When you have won, get the snowflake that fell at your feet (it's actually a diamond).
Go west. Point the wand of Dispel at the dome. Hurry back east twice and then north to Thriff. With the burin in your hand (and the dust bunny ring on your finger), return south and write the glyph in the lava. Return north. Wait until the Cardinal asks what you would like as a reward. Ask the Cardinal for the reliquary. Open it and get the white hemisphere. Examine the black and white hemispheres. Put the peg in the hole and you will get a gray sphere.
Go northeast and north to the jungle. Make sure the minx has followed you. Go to a gondola support tower. Pick up the minx, then climb the tower. Wait. (The minx won't jump out of your arms while you're up the tower.) When the gondola passes, jump into it, and wait to return to Skyway Entrance. Pick up the minx again before exiting the gondola into Mizniaport.
For Your Amusement:
Point the wand of Levitation at the reliquary.
Point the wand of Sayonara at the snow wight.
Ruins of Pheebor
Get the palimpsest out of your pack. Get the minx if she's jumped out of your grip. Say the word on the palimpsest. From Above Seaport, go northwest, north, and north to Above Forest. Say the word again. Find the oak tree at the Twilight location. Wait for the minx to dig up a truffle (this may take several turns). Get the truffle. Go to the Clearing. Enter the pool of radiance while holding the truffle in your hands. Put the truffle in your pack. (If there isn't room, shuffle things around; you need to get the truffle into the pack to keep it away from the minx when you pick her up.)
Go northwards to South Chasm. Blow the whistle to summon the pterodactyl. Get the saddle and put it on the pterodactyl. Get the minx, mount the pterodactyl, and go up. The pterodactyl can't fly against the wind, but luckily, you have something with you that can control the direction of the wind: the compass rose. Point the compass rose to the southwest to make the wind come from that direction. Go northeast twice to Over Ruins, then land. (If the wind changes mid-flight, just point the compass rose to the southwest again.)
Dismount the pterodactyl (or you may not need to, if the ghoul scared him away). Explore the Ruins area.
Monsters: ghoul, undead warrior
Magic items: potion
Treasures: none
Other items: none
The ghoul in the Glare can be killed with physical combat. The undead warrior can rise anywhere; throw the vial of holy water at it to take care of it. When you've been everywhere and gotten the potion, stand under the arch in the Plaza. Get the hourglass from your pack. Save the game.
Turn the hourglass. Go south twice to the Battleground and examine the trench. Wait and watch for two turns. When the sand runs out, turn the hourglass again. Wait another turn while the two riders fight and one is killed. Get the truffle from your pack and put it in the trench. (Make sure you specify the trench; if you simply drop it, the minx will eat it.) Go north two times to the Plaza, turn the hourglass once more, and go north four more times to Desolation. Wait here for the minx to dig up the truffle. She can have it this time -- you're after the helmet. (She certainly seems to enjoy it!) Get the helmet and wear it. Turn the hourglass and return south four times to the Plaza. Exit the arch.
Go to North Chasm and south onto the bridge. Get the umbrella and open it. Jump down off the bridge. Get everything you dropped (miraculously unbroken!), except the broken umbrella. Go to the Boutique (armor shop) by going southeast, southeast, southwest, south three times, through the Moors, southwest, west, and north. Sell the hourglass, ornament, diamond, burin, caterpillar, goblet, and wand of Dispel. (Not that you need all this cash when the plate mail only costs 200 zorkmids, but it's nice not to be carrying it all around.) Remove your scale mail and sell it. Buy the plate mail, get it, and wear it. Get out the scroll of Protection, read it, and say the word on it.
Leave the shop and go northwest, north, north, and west to the Magick Shoppe. Check the last potion that you got from the Ruins. Sell it, keep it (if it's Healing), or drink it, as appropriate. Return east, south, and south to the Intersection.
For Your Amusement:
Eat the truffle in front of the minx. (you may wish to save first; eating a truffle costs 1% compassion.)
Read the notice at either end of the bridge.
Walk across the bridge. (I suggest doing this from the north end after getting the umbrella, so you can just jump whenever you get bored. If you try this from the south, save first, because then the only way to escape is to fly on the pterodactyl, and you need to save that summoning for another purpose.)
Open the umbrella while flying on the pterodactyl.
Open the umbrella indoors.
While wearing the helmet, repeatedly look into the gray sphere.
The Castle
Blow the whistle. Get on the pterodactyl and go up. Point the rose to the northeast and fly southwest. Land from Over Castle into the Royal Garden. Dismount and hide behind the morgia bush. Get a root and eat it. Drop the root. Wait and watch for six turns. (The name of the fairer platypus may be familiar if you've played Wishbringer.) When the platypus leaves, get out of the bush and examine the statue. (...Rude!) Open the compartment and take the jar. Blow the whistle again and ride the pterodactyl. Go up. Point the rose northwest and fly southeast. Land from Over Mountainside into Thriff.
Dismount. Go northwest and west to Rock Wall. Look into the gray sphere. Make a note of the word the warlock speaks. Put everything in your pack except your sword, the jar, and your three luck charms (horseshoe, clover, rabbit's foot). Open the crystal jar and take the circlet. Say the word of power that the warlock in the vision spoke. (Unlike every other word of power, in this case you need to put it in quotes.) Open the door. Save the game.
Underground
Monsters: grues, lucksuckers
Magic items: none
Treasures: The Coconut of Quendor
Other items: none
Go in and blow a bubble. This mirror reflects at a 90-degree angle. Turn the mirror so that it reflects the incoming light into the direction of the exit passageway. (E.g., if you entered by going northwest, thus coming into the room from the southeast, turn the mirror to face south, so that it will reflect the light from southeast to southwest.) Explore the underground using this light, blowing bubbles in each room to keep reflecting it onwards. You may need to backtrack and make new mirrors, because they don't last forever, and can also be popped by the creatures wandering about.
The "lurking presences" are grues. You should be able to defeat them in a fight since you have the honed sword and the protected plate mail, but you can also usually just avoid them by keeping on the move. The umbrellas, number 13s, stepladders, and black cats are "lucksuckers". They can't actually harm you, only drain your luck down to 1% after they have drained and destroyed all your good-luck charms (horseshoe, four-leaf clover, rabbit's foot). If you proactively hit a lucksucker with a charm, you will defeat it and gain experience, although you can also simply run away.
When you find the Treasure Chamber with the shadow, notice in the room description window what corner of the room it is sitting in. Blow a bubble and turn it so that the sunlight is reflected directly onto the shadow. Its attack drains 44% compassion; since you gained 45% during the story, you have enough to survive (and not be forced to strangle baby grues). Search the treasure and take the coconut. You can't make it out of the passage before it caves in -- but don't worry. Goodbye, sailor!
For Your Amusement at various times:
Refer to the old woman in the shops as "Y'Gael" (the name of the old woman in the introduction).
Ask the old woman about anything you can think
of. (For some objects you will get different responses depending on your character's gender, so try playing as both male and female.)
Get a monster to attack you while the pterodactyl is present.
Drink the potion of Forgetfulness. (The effect is subtle.)
Drink the potion of Death. (save first, obviously)
Sell a truffle to Y'Gael.
Drink a potion in front of Y'Gael without shaking it. (save first)
Examine the vague outline.
Use all the wands on yourself. (save first)
Attack Y'Gael.
Use all the wands on Y'Gael. (save first)
Attack a friendly character.
Insult a friendly character, or a monster (other than the cruel puppet).
Read the scrolls of Mischief or Fireworks, then speak their words of power.
Swear repeatedly. Keep going. (save first)
Kill yourself. (You don't need to save first. No, really.)
Extras
For further entertainment, you may be interested in:
Lsts of bugs in Beyond Zork: Nathan Simpson, Graeme Cree, XyzzyNews
Shove "Beyond Zork" under rug - a blog post about bugs and oddities in Beyond Zork, including many things you can shove under the bearskin rug for strange effects
Posts about this game at The Digital Antiquarian and SPAG
Source code
Last updated: 4?28/2021