Key & Compass presents:
Baluthar
by Chris Molloy Wischer

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters
  • Endings
  • Inventory
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• External links:
  • This game at IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Map

Walkthrough

The Hut (on the large bed)

Until you read the note, you won't be willing to leave your bed.

> x me. i. (Carrying nothing.)

> x roof.

> take all from table. read note.

Rykhard has gone to the cave in the well, despite the curse.

> x jar. x my bed. x smaller bed. x door.

> out. out.

Forest

> x statue. (Baluthar, with reptile head, God of Vengeance)

> pray. x well. x trees.

> x boulder. x insect. take insect. put insect in jar.

> d.

Bottom of Well

Wearing the mud may seem a weird thing to do, but it'll be useful later.

> take mud. wear mud. sw.

Artificial Tunnel

This area is dark. You need the glowing insect to see down here.

> x creature. (It's a ghoul.)

> x beetles.

> s. (The ghoul follows you.)

Natural cavern

> w —or— se. (The creature stops you from progressing either way.)

> n. ne.

Bottom of Well

> take mud. sw.

Artificial Tunnel

> drop mud. (This makes the ground slippery.)

> push ghoul ne. (You push the creature into the light, and it's burnt away.)

> s. w.

Laboratory

> x cup. take it. x table. x shards.

> x skull. x pipes. take skull. (No.)

> x stone. x liquid. fill cup with liquid.

> pour liquid in funnel. ("Beware the Necrimera!" It smells living flesh!)

> sw.

Narrow Passage

> se.

Fissure

> x bridge. x pit. x staircase. n.

Gallery

> x images. (Three images, somehow from Rykhard.)

> x first image. (About first arrival of the Ivarns.)

> x second image. (About Ivarns at your home, killing your wife.)

> x third image. (About Rykhard meeting a skeleton king.)

You note an ornate hammer on a chain from the king's sleeve.

> take hammer. (No, the images are like mirages, untouchable.)

> s. s.

Ledge

> x door. open door.

Before you can open it, a guardian presses a sword against your neck, demanding that you say its name.

> x guardian.

> say Rykhard to guardian. (Wrong. You're flung back to Fissure.)

Fissure

> nw. ne.

Laboratory

> fill cup with liquid. pour liquid in funnel. ("Ambrosio was the name of the guard!")

> fill cup with liquid. pour liquid in funnel. (It just screams now.)

> sw. se. s.

Ledge

> open door. say Ambrosio to guardian. (The ghostly guardian leaves.)

> open door. (You hear a monstrous sniffing and shut the door.)

You must be wearing the mud on your body, covering your scent, before going through this door.

> open door. s.

Monster's Lair

> x necrimera. (A necrotic chimera; a chaotic interspecies zombie.)

> w.

Short Passage

You may hear Rykhard's voice calling out. You can "say yes to Rykhard" if you like, but it won't help much.

> x archway. x designs.

> s. (Burning pain! You retreat.)

> e. e. s.

Abandoned Bedroom

> x table. x carvings. open drawers.

> destroy table. x book. take it.

> x bed.

> n. w. w.

Short Passage

The book mentioned "magic runes" and "fragile marks", and you'll be unwilling to erase the designs unless you've read the book.

> erase designs. s.

Dungeon

> x skeleton. x Rykhard. ask Rykhard about cage.

> x throne. x hammer.

> take hammer. x skeleton's fist. take key. (Can't.)

> break skeleton's fist with hammer. (Futile.)

> break beetles with hammer. (The skeleton drops the key.)

> take key. unlock cage with key.

> ask Rykhard about skeleton. (He calls it the Warlock.)

> ask Rykhard about curse. ask Rykhard about necrimera.

> ask Rykhard about images. ask Rykhard about hammer.

> ask Rykhard about liquid. ask Rykhard about skull.

> ask Rykhard about dungeon. ask Rykhard about Baluthar.

> n. e.

Monster's Lair

The Necrimera ignores Rykhard; the Warlock give it a drop of his blood.

> n.

Ledge

Rykhard tells you that the Warlock's zombie army is down below.

> close door. ask Rykhard about army.

> n. n. nw. n. ne. u.

Forest

Rykhard tries to push the boulder but his strength alone isn't enough.

> push boulder.

The cave is now blocked and Baluthar's statue is smashed.

*** The End ***

Extras

Characters

• The creature in the Artificial Tunnel is a ghoul. It hates and fears light.
• The beetles are everywhere in the dark caverns.
• The skull in the Laboratory can be briefly brought back to a semblance of life. It warns you about the Necrimera and its guardian.
• The guardian is a ghost warrior who guards the door on the Ledge. His name is Ambrosio; this fact you learn from the skull.
• The Necrimera is a horrifying zombie in the Monster's Lair. It detects prey by smell.
• Rykhard is your son. He's trapped in a locked cage in the Dungeon.
• The skeleton sits on a throne in the Dungeon. Rykhard calls it the Warlock. It drinks life through its hammer.

Also mentioned:

• Your father and his father built your hut.
• Your wife, Rykhard's mother, was killed by the Ivarns.
• The Ivarns are invaders. They are also called the Curse.
• Yachvee was your previous god, the God Who Saves.
• Baluthar is your new god, the God of Vengeance.
• The Warlock's zombie army waits deep in the chasm.

Endings

• You have died
• if you jump into the fissure,
• or if you force yourself into the Monster's Lair without wearing a layer of mud to conceal your smell.
• The End if you and Rykhard push the boulder into the well.

Inventory

• a glass jar. It's on the table in The Hut. It's tiny. Put the glowing insect in it.
• a handwritten note. It's on the table in The Hut. Read it. You must read the note before you can leave your bed.
• a glowing insect. Examine the boulder in the Forest to spot it. Take it and put it in the jar; you now have a light-source for the underground caves.
• a handful of mud. Found in quantity at the bottom of the well. Note that it's both oily and odorless. Wear one handful to mask your scent. Drop a second handful in the Artificial Tunnel to make the ground slippery there.
• a cup. It's on a table in the Laboratory. Fill it with the liquid there to make some liquid in a cup. Pour the liquid into the funnel twice to learn about the Necrimera and its guardian, Ambrosio.
• an ancient book. It's in a drawer of the dressing-table in the Abandoned Bedroom, but you'll have to destroy the table to get it. Read it to learn about magic runes.
• a hammer. It's connected to the arm bone of the skeleton in the Dungeon. Take it and kill some beetles with it; this will give a small bit of life to the skeleton, and it'll drop the key in its fist.
• a silver key. It's held tightly in the skeleton's fist; kill beetles with the hammer to get the skeleton to drop it. Unlock Rykhard's cage with the key.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with

• the support of Thomas Bøvith, Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Jason McIntosh, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, and Phil Tatro;
• the generous support of Janice M Eisen and Amelia;
• the very generous support of Karl Ove Hufthammer;
• the extremely generous support of Emily Short, Allen Garvin, Jesse McGrew, Jacqueline Ashwell, Marius Müller, and Jennifer Rexrode;
• and the invisible support of several anonymous patrons.