from: the Asimov collection S P E L L B R E A K E R (Infocom) Notes. (1) It's a good idea to learn all spells more than once since they don't always work! (2) Whenever a spell is mentioned in this solution, you must cast it until it works - this is not a problem with the 'Blorple' spell or when you have the "Magic Cube". (3) It is essential to keep track of where each cube takes you, which you do by writing on them with the Burin. (4) The Zipper is used for storage......if you're told that you're carrying too much to pick up another item, then place a few things inside the zipper. (5) Unless you are in imminent danger, sleep almost anywhere EXCEPT the Bazaar! (6) SAVE GAME VERY OFTEN!!! THE SOLUTION You start in the Council Chamber carrying a Spell Book, Burin and a Knife. The Spell Book contains some spells as follows: LESOCH............Gust of wind YOMIN.............Mind probe REZROV............Open locked or enchanted objects FROTZ.............Cause something to give off light GNUSTO............Write spell into your Spell Book MALYON............Animate an inanimate object JINDAK............Detect magic After a couple of moves the BLORPLE spell will automatically be added to the Spell Book. It is used to explore an object's mystic connections. You start by having permanently committed to memory the GNUSTO, REZROV and FROTZ spells. All others will need to be learned and re-learned as they are required. Also remember that you will not be able to keep as many in your head at one time if you are tired. If you are tired you will need to SLEEP. This refreshes you but also makes you forget any temporary spells. When you awake you will need to re-learn whatever spells you think you are about to need. DO NOT GO TO SLEEP UNLESS YOU HAVE THE SPELL BOOK! From the Council Chamber go SOUTH to the Guild Hall and TAKE the BREAD and the FISH, then go SOUTH again into Belwit Square. If there is a lot of smoke around, either LESOCH the smoke - which, like all other spells may only work at random - or simply WAIT until it clears. You will then discover a WHITE CUBE. TAKE the CUBE and to identify it - do the same with ALL other cubes you find - WRITE "EARTH" ON CUBE. You will only be able to write on the cubes if you are holding the Burin. This is a good way of being able to identify the cubes later when you may be carrying quite a few at one time and will need to select a particular one in a hurry. By now the BLORPLE SPELL will have appeared in your Spell Book. LEARN BLORPLE then BLORPLE "EARTH" CUBE - you may need the inverted commas here always! You will now be transported to the Packed Earth Room. FROTZ the KNIFE to get a source of light. Go EAST to the Hall Of Stone. TAKE and then OPEN ZIPPER. REACH INSIDE ZIPPER to discover a SCROLL. TAKE SCROLL then EXAMINE IT. This is the GIRGOL SCROLL. It cannot be GNUSTO'd and therefore can be used ONLY ONCE! Be careful where you use it. BLORPLE "EARTH" CUBE - remember you will need to constantly re-learn these spells - to return to the Packed Earth Room. Go DOWN twice. Don't worry about falling, you will soon be rescued. WAIT until you are in the Roc's Nest then TAKE the CASKLY SCROLL. BLORPLE "EARTH" CUBE to get back to the Packed Earth Room. Don't worry about the cube in the Roc's Nest at this time. Go SOUTH to the Cliff Middle. TAKE the THROCK SCROLL and go UP. Go UP a couple of more times until you are told on screen that you'd better do something quickly or die, then CAST GIRGOL. This time-stopping spell will halt the avalanche. Now go UP again until you reach the Top of the Mountain. TAKE the GOLD COIN and go INTO the Hut. ASK the Old Man about the cube/hut/whatever, but then to get the CUBE you must CASKLY THE HUT. This repairs the Hut so that the Old Man no longer needs the CUBE and you can now TAKE it. Mark this one with the Burin "SOFT". BLORPLE "EARTH" CUBE again to go back to the Packed Earth Room. Leave the Packed Earth Room - NOT DOWN!! - WEST (for instance) - then BLORPLE "SOFT" CUBE. From the Soft Room go SOUTH and TAKE the SHEARS. PULL WEED - twice - to get it and then it is time to get back to the Packed Earth Room by the usual method. Go WEST again then NORTH. You should now be in the Ogre's Cave. PLANT THE WEED and then THROCK THE WEED to make it grow. The Ogre has hay fever and will now be sneezing so much that you can go DOWN past him without any trouble. TAKE the GOLD BOX and OPEN it to reveal another CUBE. Mark this one "WATER". The SCROLL is the ESPNIS and should be GNUSTO'd at once as should ALL scrolls you find. Back now to the Packed Earth Room. Go EAST (for instance) and get the "EARTH" CUBE again. Learn the BLORPLE Spell a couple of times and FROTZ the ZIPPER. Put everything but the "WATER" CUBE, the "EARTH" CUBE and the piece of BREAD into the ZIPPER then CLOSE the ZIPPER. BLORPLE THE "WATER" CUBE. You will now be in the Water Room. Go SOUTH and you should be in some water. The ZIPPER is waterproof and will keep things such as your Spell Book safe as long as the ZIPPER is CLOSED. You will now be confronted by a GROUPER which is hungry. You will also see a BOTTLE and the "WATER" cube which you will have dropped and which you will need again. Unless you are careful the GROUPER will swallow one of the things you are going to need, so quickly DROP THE BREAD! The GROUPER will go after this enabling you to GET BOTTLE THEN GET "WATER" CUBE. Now back to the Packed Earth Room yet again! The BOTTLE contains a damp SCROLL. Once you have re-opened the ZIPPER and taken the Spell Book, you can GNUSTO the new SCROLL (LISKON). Now go EAST and then NORTH. You need to have memorised the LISKON, MALYON and ESPNIS spells here. When you find the SERPENT, LISKON SERPENT. This shrinks it and you can go NORTH past it. Go NORTH again to the Room of the Idol. There is a CUBE in it's mouth. The mouth is not open enough to let you take the CUBE. The only answer is to bring the idol to life with MALYON THE IDOL. WAIT until you are told that it is definately looking for you then ESPNIS THE IDOL. This makes it fall asleep. If all goes well it will yawn and then fall over asleep and then turn back to basalt with it's mouth wide open! If not, you may have to do the spell-casting again. Once you succeed you can TAKE and mark the "AIR" CUBE. BLORPLE THE "AIR" CUBE then go NORTH. TAKE the TINSOT SCROLL and BLORPLE THE "AIR" CUBE again. GNUSTO TINSOT then go WEST to the Bazaar. Go EAST into the Shop where there are TWO CARPETS for sale. Eventually you want the BLUE one. ASK the Merchant about the carpets. HAGGLE! When he asks for 800 Zorkmids, offer 100. When he asks for 700, offer 200, etc. When he asks for 500 Zorkmids and holds out his hand, GIVE him the GOLD COIN. He will then give you a carpet. Check your INVENTORY before you leave the Shop. If you have the RED CARPET, ASK MERCHANT FOR BLUE CARPET. He will apologise and exchange it! Once you have left the Shop it will be too late! Now you can leave. LOOK UNDER THE CARPET and READ the LABEL you find there. This magic flying carpet can now be used if and when required. You now need to learn the LISKON spell and the BLORPLE spell a couple of times. Now go to the Packed Earth Room again and then go EAST to the Hall Of Stone. DROP ALL here EXCEPT for the "WATER" CUBE and FROTZ SELF to get a source of light. BLORPLE "WATER" CUBE and go UP when you get to the Water Room. You are now in the Oubliette. LISKON SELF to make yourself small enough to be able to ENTER OUTFLOW PIPE. Go WEST and TAKE the CUBE you find. Go WEST again and then UP into the Ruins Room. NORTH back to the Hall Of Stone. Take your belongings again and EXTINGUISH SELF to stop glowing. WRITE "CHANGE" on the new CUBE. Now you need to learn the TINSOT spell THREE TIMES and then BLORPLE at least ONCE. Put the perishables, such as the Spell Book, back into the Zipper and CLOSE it. BLORPLE "WATER" CUBE then go UP into the Oubliette again. Above you, but out of reach, is a Trap Door. REZROV the TRAPDOOR to open it. TINSOT THE WATER to freeze the outflow pipe. TINSOT THE WATER again since once was not enough to fully freeze the pipe. When the chamber is full you will still be a little short of thr Trap Door. TINSOT THE WATER a third time to create an ice floe. CLIMB ONTO ICE and you will then be able to go UP through the Trap Door. TAKE and MARK the "BONE" CUBE and then go EAST and NORTH to the Dungeon Cell. REZROV THE CABINET and get the MOLDY BOOK. If you CASKLY THE MOLDY BOOK it will become somewhat repaired. READ IT and you will find the SNAVIG spell. Get it GNUSTO'd right away. Now go SOUTH then EAST then UP to the Top of the Guard Tower. Drop the CARPET and SIT ON CARPET. A small speck in the distance will turn out to be Mother Roc approaching. Once you are on the CARPET, go UP and then carpet should fly. If not, you couldn't have READ the LABEL! Once airborne go WEST until you are above the Roc's Nest then go DOWN. DON'T GET LOST!! Now, quickly, get off the carpet, take the CUBE, SIT ON THE CARPET and then go UP. You have very little time to do this. Iff the EGG cracks and you are confronted by the Baby Roc, you are going to DIE!! Once in the air, go EAST until you are over the Guard Tower and go DOWN, GET OFF THE CARPET. TAKE CARPET then go DOWN into the Tower to escape the Mother Roc. Now is a good time to MARK the latest CUBE "STRING". See, aren't there a lot of cubes?! Good thing we decided to use the Burin to mark them, eh?!! Learn the SNAVIG spell once and the BLORPLE a couple of times and put everything but the "WATER" and "EARTH" cubes into the Zipper. CLOSE the ZIPPER and BLORPLE "WATER" CUBE. This time go SOUTH from the Water Room and firstly TAKE THE CUBE which drops from your hand. Then SNAVIG THE GROUPER. You will now turn into a Grouper. Go DOWN to the Grouper's Nest. WAIT a couple of times until you regain your own form then TAKE ALL. Go UP and BLORPLE THE "EARTH" CUBE once more. You know where you are now. OPEN THE ZIPPER, TAKE THE BURIN and WRITE "LIGHT" on the new CUBE. Leave the Packed Earth Room and BLORPLE THE "CHANGE" CUBE. This is the Changing Room. Go NORTH and TAKE THE COMPASS you find there. BLORPLE THE "CHANGE" CUBE again. The COMPASS is needed in the next section but may require 'charging'. To do this go WEST and PUT COMPASS IN CARVING that you see in the North Wall. A hole now opens in this Wall. Go NORTH but don't forget to take the compass first. If you do forget you will have to BLORPLE THE "CHANGE" CUBE again to get out. In the area you have noe entered there are RUNES on the wall. Some are lead and some silver. Apart from the North Wall, if you TOUCH THE ROSE TO THE (Direction) WALL, if that wall has silver runes on it, then another hole will appear through which you can go. SEARCH through this area until you are in a room with an ALABASTER PLUG in the WEST wall. When you find this room, IGNORE the GOLD RUNE. REZROV the PLUG and go WEST. TAKE THE CUBE you will find and WRITE "NOPLACE" on it, although it will only show "NOPLAC" as the program only uses the first SIX letters of inputs! BLORPLE THE "LIGHT" CUBE to put yourself into the Light Room. Go WEST to the Volcano Base. WAIT until the LAVA FRAGMENT lands near you then TINSOT THE FRAGMENT. Now it is cool enough to take. BLORPLE THE "NOPLAC" CUBE. From the Noplace Room go SOUTH onto the Plain. You will see TWO ROCKS. One near and one further away. Try to CLIMB onto the nearer rock. No? It wants feeding! GIVE LAVA FRAGMENT TO ROCK. Now you can climb onto the rock. The idea here is to trap the other rock in the way that a checkmate is made in chess. Map the Plain to find an oddity. One corner (Northwest) is different! Using the command: ROCK, WEST or ROCK, SOUTH, etc., make the Green-Eyed Rock carry you about the Plain. Once you go through the odd Northwest diagonal you will be able to close in on the Brown-Eyed Rock. When the two rocks are near each other, the Brown-Eyed Rock will become mesmerised. You can now CLIMB ONTO THE BROWN-EYED ROCK and TAKE the CUBE. MARK it "DARK" and then BLORPLE THE "DARK" CUBE. Learn the SNAVIG spell and go DOWN to the Dark Cave from the Dark Room. Make sure that you are NOT a Light Source, but ensure that something else is such a source, e.g., the Zipper. Drop everything here and go DOWN to the Grue Cave. SNAVIG A GRUE and go DOWN to the Light Pool. CLIMB THE PILLAR and take the CUBE from the TOP. CLIMB DOWN PILLAR and return UP and UP again to the Dark Cave. Take all and WRITE "FIRE" on the CUBE. When you return to your own self again, BLORPLE THE "FIRE" CUBE. You need to increase your magical ability to get much further. To do this you need to choose a CUBE. For instance, the "EARTH" CUBE. Put this chosen cube into the GOLD BOX. The BOX changes slightly. TAKE THE CUBE OUT AGAIN. Go NORTH from the Fire Room where you should be now, and THROW THE GOLD BOX onto the Outcropping that you can see. Now BLORPLE (the name of the cube that you put in and then out of the box). From the location you are now in you will be able to go through the exit that was magically blocked earlier. For example, from the Packed Earth Room you can now go NORTH. This will put you beside the GOLD BOX! TAKE THE BOX AND THE CUBE and re-BLORPLE yourself away. WRITE "MAGIC" on this CUBE. BLORPLE "STRING" CUBE. From the String Room go SOUTH to the Enchanter's Retreat. Here you will meet good old Belboz again. Ask him about various things to show you need help and he will ask you a question. The answer is IN THE CARDS THAT CAME WITH THE ORIGINAL GAME PACKAGING! Answer correctly and he will give you a WROUGHT IRON KEY. Now BLORPLE "NOPLAC" CUBE again. Learn the JINDAK spell THREE TIMES and the BLORPLE ONCE. Go EAST to the Inner Vault and REZROV the DOOR. Go NORTH. You now hava a major problem to solve and only three spells may be cast before the Guards are alerted and come to drag you away!! Also NO SAVE POSITIONS ARE POSSIBLE IN HERE!!! The problem MUST be solved in ONE GO!! You will see two piles of cubes marked 'x1' to 'x10'. If the piles are JINDAK'd they will GLOW. There is only ONE REAL CUBE and that will make its pile glow BRIGHTER than the other. To find the REAL CUBE carefully follow these instructions: Put all your bits and pieces in the Zipper to make moving the cubes around a bit easier. 1. Take x1, x2, x7, x8 cubes from the piles. JINDAK. If the piles glow evenly then go to step 2. If the glow is uneven then make a note which is the brighter one and go to step 5. 2. Take x3, x4. Put x1, x2 on the first pile. JINDAK. If the piles glow evenly then go to step 3. If they are uneven then go to step 4. 3. Take x1. Put x7 on the first pile. JINDAK. If the piles are even then BLORPLE x8, if uneven then take x7 and BLORPLE IT. Now go to step 9. 4. Take x1. Put x7 on the first pile. JINDAK. If the piles are even then BLORPLE x1. If the piles are uneven then take x7. BLORPLE IT. Now go to step 9. 5. Put x1, x2, x7 on the second pile. Get x9, x10, x11, x12. Put x9 on the first pile. Get x6. Put x6 on the second pile. JINDAK. If the piles are even then go to step 6. If uneven in the same way as in step 1, then go to step 7. If the piles are uneven in the opposite way then go to step 8. 6. Take all the cubes off each pile, in turn and drop them all. Take and put x10 on the first pile, then take and put all on the second pile. JINDAK. If the piles are even get x12 and then BLORPLE IT. If the piles are uneven as in step 1, then get x11 and BLORPLE IT. If the piles are uneven in the opposite way, then get x10 then BLORPLE IT. Go to step 9. 7. Take and drop all the cubes from both piles. Take cubes x3, x4. Put x3 on the first pile and x4 on the second pile. JINDAK. If the piles are even take x5 and BLORPLE IT. If the piles are uneven as in step 1 then take x3 and BLORPLE IT. If the piles are uneven in the opposite way then get x4 and BLORPLE IT. Go to step 9. 8. Take and drop all the cubes from both piles. Take x6, x1. Put x6 on the first pile and x1 on the second pile. JINDAK. If the piles are even get x9 and BLORPLE IT. If the piles are uneven then get x6 and BLORPLE IT. Go to step 9. 9. If you are now in the Nondescript Room, you've done something wrong. If you are in the Sand Room then CONGRATULATIONS!! The areas up and down from the Sand Room are actually places in the past. Places you have been to before. UP goes to the Ruins where you found the Zipper, and DOWN goes to the Dungeon Cell where you found the MOLDY BOOK in the cupboard. Of course things look different because you are now quite some time in your own past. The problems in these two areas must be solved correctly and fully or you will be unable to leave here alive! The basic idea is to leave things in such a way that they will be just as you found them earlier in the game when time has passed by. Going DOWN first. UNLOCK the CABINET with the IRON KEY you got from Belboz. If the key explodes and kills you, then you must have answered Belboz's questions incorrectly! (ALL the answers are in the set of cards that come with the original Infocom game!) OPEN the CABINET to discover a VELLUM SCROLL which is blank. Now make sure that you have the BLORPLE SPELL memorised a couple of times because you are about to lose your Spell Book. Put the Spell Book in the cabinet. Obviously this will later become the MOLDY book you found! CLOSE and then LOCK the CABINET. Remember.....it was LOCKED when you found it! TAKE the KEY with you. Remember what the Cell Door was like? O.K. then......REZROV the DOOR and then, before the Guards arrive, BLORPLE THE "SAND" CUBE. Now go UP to the Ruins Room. This is where you will later find the Zipper. At the moment there is just a SACK here. Right! TAKE and OPEN the SACK. It contains a FLIMSY SCROLL.....seem familiar? EXAMINE IT. It has the GIRGOL SPELL on it which, as you know, you could only use ONCE........But!....if you had a BLANK scroll on which to COPY the GIRGOL SPELL?!! WRITE GIRGOL ON VELLUM SCROLL (with the Burin). Now EMPTY THE ZIPPER INTO THE SACK. PUT THE FLIMSY SCROLL IN THE ZIPPER and then CLOSE ZIPPER. DROP the ZIPPER. This is how you found the room originally wasn't it?! All that was here was a Zipper containing a Flimsy Scroll! TAKE the SACK and BLORPLE THE "MAGIC" CUBE. From the Magic Room go EAST to the Castle where you will be confronted by your shadowy enemy at last! If left to his own pace, the figure will eventually freeze you to enable him to have enough time to complete certain deeds. However, since he is now aware of your increased magical abilities, he does not realise that after a few moves you will shake off the spell. Unfortunately, if you let him freeze you when HE wants to, there is not enough time to shake off the spell. You need to annoy the figure enough so that he will notice and freeze you much sooner. As soon as you can see the figure try ATTACK FIGURE. He will freeze you. Now just WAIT for a while. If you do anything else, you will be noticed and re-frozen. Do nothing but WAIT until the freeze spell wears off. Keep WAITing until the figure IGNORES YOU!! Now, as long as you remembered to bring the VELLUM SCROLL with the copy of the GIRGOL SPELL on it with you, you will be able to defeat him. WAIT until the figure is just about to leap into the Hypercube he has built and then CAST GIRGOL. Time will stop and you have a couple of moves in which to win or lose! Remove the "MAGIC" CUBE from the Hypercube and replace it with the SMOKED FISH. The Hypercube is being built to rearrange the Universe in the manner that the shadowy figure wants. It is based on the item in the centre of the Hypercube. The figure wants MAGIC hence the "MAGIC" cube is in the middle. If you remove the "MAGIC" cube then do not put anything else in there, then the new Universe will be built around nothing! (DESTROYED!!!). If you put any magical item there the figure will get what he wants. So by using a NON-MAGICAL item, such as the SMOKED FISH, a totally new Universe will be created. As time starts again, the figure will enter the Hypercube and you will have WON THE GAME!!!! You should now have scored 600/600 and achieved the class of SCIENTIST!! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *