In this fantasy quest, your granduncle, the occultist Jumon Hakai, has disappeared. Searching his mansion for clues, you learn he was plagued by a visitor from Nexus Eden, another world whose portal is a pool in the cellar. Jumon entered that portal to find help, and now you must follow him.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
There's only one pool, but which way is up and which way is down depends on which side you entered it from. It's clearer to represent that behaviour with two pools on the map.
Map 2: Nexus Eden
"The slab" is a temporary location between the sleeping chamber and the hall but when you first arrive at the hall, the slab location is removed and the hall connects directly to the sleeping chamber.
The Womb is a deadly dead end that you cannot escape from, and it's the default destination down from the Hall when the dials aren't set correctly for some other destination. If you end up in Womb, restore your game from a saved position.
I did try to map the garden maze, but too many of the connections are randomized, making any sort of map of it more trouble than it's worth.
Map 3: The Sunken City
Map 4: The Prison
Initially, there's an "Entrance" location inbetween "By the prison" and "Prison" until the broken grating is open and you leave Entrance.
The steel grating that leads downward from "Prison" can never be opened.
Map 5: The Vault of Keys
Map 6: The Chapel of Pure Souls
Walkthrough
Chapter I: Arrival
Living room
Every 50 turns, you get a warning that your lantern is getting dim, but don't worry about it.
> verbose. x me. i. x lantern.
> x bookshelves. x books. x chair.
> x papers. search papers.(+2; found diary)
> x diary. read it.(A sheet falls out.)
> read sheet.(Has every other letter of a message.)
> open kitchen door.(locked)
> open front door.(stuck)
> e.
Bedroom
> x bed. x nightstand. open drawer. x accessories.
> x crack.(trapdoor)
> x eiderdown. x pillow.
> look under bed.(+2; found trunk)
The trunk will be your player's carry-all. You definitely want to take it.
> x trunk. take it. open it. x sphere.
> take sphere.(Its paper falls, revealing a crystal ball.)
> x ball. look.
> take opaque sheet. x it. read it.
> put transparent sheet on opaque sheet.(+5)
> i. read message.
You learn several things:
Jumon has a troublesome visitor from Nexus Eden.
Jumon has gone to Nexus Eden to get help.
The portal is a pool in the cellar.
A hidden switch behind a book opens the cellar door.
The portal is unlocked by a trio of plants which you can get in the attic.
Use another book, Of Roots Divine, to identify the plants.
> w.
Living room
> search books.(You find the switch and take Of Roots Divine.)
> e.
Bedroom
> stand on bed. open trapdoor. u.(+3)
Attic
> x herbs. x windows.
> read book. take plants.(You now have a "portal key.")
> d. w.
Living room
> push switch.(+1; small door opens)
> d.
Cellar
> x pool. d.
You automatically put loose items into the trunk and close it before entering the pool.
In the pool
> d. d. d.(+5. The world turns upside down.)
Chapter II: Descending to Eden
By the pool
A dog runs in and out of this initial area randomly. The dog neither helps nor hinders you.
> out. open trunk. s. s.
North of the gate
> x gate. s. s.
Sleeping chamber
> x blankets. w.
Dead end
You can abbreviate "pickaxe" to "axe".
> x tools. take pickaxe.(stuck)
> pull axe. g.(+2; it's free)
> take axe.
> e. s.
Plateau
> x city. x ship. x rock.
> climb rock.(found door into ship)
> open door. in.(+2)
In the ship
I suggest NOT taking the elder mushroom just yet. If you do take it, it turns to dust rather quickly, although another one will grow in due time.
> x elder mushroom. x oil lamp.
> w. e.(You find nothing.)
> out. n. e.
The slab
> x slab. hit slab with axe.(+2)
> e.
Hall
Of the seven doors here, only the yellow and violet ones are ever usable.
CAUTION: Don't head south with the dials in their original configuration. You'll go to a location called the Womb where you can't escape from.
> x loam. x dials.(five dials marked with Zodiac symbols)
> x red door.(missing handle and keyhole filled)
> enter violet door.
Ancient tree
> x dead tree. x pears. take pear. x burrow.
The region around the tree is an unmappable maze, but you do get five points for entering there and returning to the tree. As near as I can tell, going west four times always works, at least the first time.
> w.
Are you sure you wish to leave? y
Forest
> w. w.
End of the forest
> x wall.
> w.(+5; you're back at...)
Ancient tree
> d. enter yellow door.
Moth room
> x pile. search pile.(with pickaxe)
> again.(+3; pyramid found)
> look. x pyramid. x eyes. x hole. x slot.
> take diary. put diary in hole.(+2)
The voice of "the oracle" tells you what they can about whatever you put in the hole.
> take axe. put it in hole.(+1)
> take message. put it in hole.
They'll help you banish Jaaku — that's the name of your granduncle's intruder, don't forget the name — if you agree to help them.
Do you agree? y(+4)
They tell you to go to the Sunken city by setting the dials to Gemini, Pisces, Capricorn, Virgo, and Aries (or just SET DIALS TO CITY for short).
Also, when you no longer need the Oracle's help, you must destroy the pyramid which is their prison.
While the oracle is here, you gain a point for every new item you put into the hole here.
> put lantern in hole.(+1)
> take ball. put it in hole.(+1; too cracked for divinations)
> take green book. put it in hole.(+1)
> take key. put it in hole.(+1)
> take pears. put pears in hole.(+1)
> w.
Hall
> set dials to city.
> d.
slide down into the darkness? y(+5)
Chapter III: Sunken City
Before you do anything else in the city, you must get rid of thieves that appear as sigils, statues, or carvings. Every so often, one of these "little folk" will appear near you. When they or you leave the current location, they steal a random item from your trunk and take it to their shrine hidden in the graveyard.
They can be vanquished by releasing an air elemental from its jail cell, and their shrine can be found by examining some paintings.
Hill over Sunken city
> take axe.(So it's not in the trunk and won't be stolen.)
> x dials. x houses. x stalactites.
> e. s. s.
Graveyard
It's important that you visit this location so you know it exists.
> w. n.
By the house of the painter
> x paintings. in.
House of the painter
> x table. x plate. x mass.
> x easel. x box. x tubes. x brushes. x palette.
> x paintings. g. g. g.(If you get asked if you want to continue watching a picture, you should probably answer no. One of the paintings shows a monolith in a graveyard, but you won't see that painting unless you visited the graveyard earlier.)
> out. n.
By the prison
> x door. open door. in.
Entrance
> x doors. x grating.
> open grating. x lock.(keyhole filled with lead)
Very unfortunately, "hinge" and "hinges" both default to the prison door, which makes it look like you can't refer to the hinges on the grating. But they are there if you refer to them as "upper hinge" and "lower hinge".
I'm assuming you still have the pickaxe.
> x upper hinge. x lower hinge.
> hit lower hinge with axe.(+1)
> in.
Prison
CAUTION: There's a lot of deadly stuff in this prison.
If you open the black door (southwest) or the sea door (west), you die immediately.
If you enter the tower door (northwest), you only find a hive inside.
If you enter the skull door (north), you contract a deadly disease that kills you a few turns later.
If you enter the rainbow door (northeast), you find a grotesque idol. If you touch it, you die four turns later.
If you enter the grey door (east), you find a burrow which is a one-way downward trip to a place called The Womb which you can never escape from.
And when you open the wind door (southeast), you free the sentient wind trapped within.
> x doors.
> x steel grating.(There's stairs leading down beyond it. I don't think there's any way to open this grating.)
> x wind door.(Shows a whirling figure.)
> open it.
are you sure? y
Wind smashes you down, and you drop everything.
> take trunk. take all.
> se.
Cell (southeast)
The cell is empty now. That wind-thing you let loose should destroy the little folk several turns from now, and if you're nearby, you'll hear them scream as they die. You also gain 3 points at the time.
> out. out. s. s. s.
Graveyard
> x graves. search graves.
Assuming you saw the graveyard painting, you find the monolith.
> x monolith. hit it.(hole revealed)
> x hole. d.(+5)
Underground Shrine
This is where all your stolen items are taken to.
CAUTION: It's possibly unsafe to be here if the air elemental is free and the thieves aren't destroyed yet. I never witnessed the battle directly. If you do die here, UNDO, get out of here, and wait elsewhere until you hear the screams.
Oh, and you may need to return here if the thieves steal again from you before the wind-thing finds them. It's impossible to predict when you can stop worrying about the thieves.
> take all. x symbols. x rocks.
> u.
Graveyard
> save.
At this point, the walkthrough splits into three branches, one for each personage you can get help from. Each branch has different puzzles associated with it, but the elder mushroom you saw earlier will be needed regardless.
By the way, none of these branches focuses on getting the highest possible score. Somehow, a high score just doesn't seem very important in this game, so I didn't bother writing the walkthrough that way
CAUTION: Don't offend any of your potential benefactors! Once you've made contact with one of them, you are unable to contact the other two.
In case it's not clear, the glass egg is actually a metal egg encased in very hard transparent glass.
> out. n. e.
Fountain
Bypass the fountain for now. You'll explore it in detail later in this branch.
> e.
Cave
> x opening. e.
Mine
The machine is meant to grind rocks.
> x machine. x funnel. x button.
> x lever.(currently set to left)
> x dial.(with scale around it)
> x rock. x tools.
Sadly, CLEAN MACHINE doesn't work. Instead:
> search machine.(+1; door found)
> open door. x door. x gears. x peg. take peg.
> close door.
CAUTION. With the peg removed, it's now possible to use the machine, but be careful. If you turn on the machine and just let it run empty, it will soon burn out and be unusable.
CAUTION. You just want to use the machine to grind off the egg's glass coating, but if you leave the lever set to the left, the machine will grind up the entire egg.
Oh, and the dial can't be adjusted. I don't know why it's there, to be honest.
> put egg in funnel.
> set lever to right. push button.
> z. z. z. z. z. z.(+4; metal egg falls out)
> take egg.
> w. w. nw.
Library
> x flies. x tome.
> read crystal tome.(You take it, but can't read it.)
> drop metal egg.
The flies surround it and start eating the metal. It can take at least 20, 40, 60 turns for the flies to eat off enough of the egg, so return to the fountain and scope that out instead of just waiting.
> se.
Fountain
> x pool. x fountain. x snakes. x platform.
> search platform.(The front stone is loose.)
> take stone.(+2; cavity revealed)
> x cavity.(black worms inside)
> take worm.(They awaken!)
> x worms.(One coiled worm isn't moving.)
> take coiled worm.(+2)
You stlll need to burn up some turns, so visit the gallery to the north.
> n.
By the gallery
> x paintings. in.
Gallery
CAUTION: The paintings in here are dangerous. You dare not stay in here and look at them too often.
> x paintings.
You are dizzy for two turns, then the paintings start shining.
> x benches. x paintings.
> out. s. nw.
Library
You want the egg to be "heavily corroded". You'll have to wait quite a while yet. If you don't get the amulet when you take the egg, drop it and wait even longer. Sorry, but this does take a lot of turns of waiting.
> x egg. take egg.(+2; you find an amulet)
> x amulet. put worm in amulet.(+2)
> wear amulet.(Make sure you have it!)
Head back to the ship and its mushroom.
> se. w. w. w. w. s. in.
In the ship
Eating the elder mushroom increases spiritual sensitivity, which you might know if you ever took the mushroom to the oracle in a previous session, and it's the only way to contact anyone important other than the oracle.
> eat elder.(+1)
An old man (who is actually a shaman) arrives and asks for the amulet, but don't just give it right away!
> ask man about Jaaku.(He'll help you in exchange for the amulet.)
> give amulet to man.(+5. He tells you to go find Jaaku and say ABRA to summon him there. Then he runs away.)
> out. n. n. n. n. n.
By the pool
> d. d. d. d.
Cellar
> out. u.
Living room
Jaaku is probably right here, but if not, go to the bedroom and back until you see him.
(Jaaku's location)
> abra.
The old man appears and banishes Jaaku.
*** You have won ***
> amusing
Branch 2: Getting aid from the girl
Graveyard
> n. nw.
Library
> x flies. x tome.
> read crystal tome.(You take it, but can't read it.)
Return to the oracle:
> se. w. w. w. enter yellow.
Moth room
> put crystal tome in hole.
leave it? y
It'll take at least 20 turns for the oracle to analyze the tome, so return to the city and get some more stuff.
> w. s. e. e. e. s.
By the house of toy maker
> x dwarves. in.
House of the toy maker
> x table. x boxes. x case. x top. x soldiers.
> search table.(+2; found round box)
> take round box. x it.(has knob)
> turn knob.(The soldiers begin to march.)
> break case with axe.
are you sure? y
> again.(+1; the case is broken open)
> take top. z. take soldiers.
Return to the oracle:
> out. n. w. w. w. w. enter yellow.
Moth room
If the oracle won't let you take the crystal tome back yet, wait a bit more and try again until you succeed.
> take tome.(+3)
The oracle tells you about the Vault of Keys and the Chapel of Pure Souls and their associated dial-combos. Note also that the chapel is guarded by a blind guardian with keen hearing.
> w.
Hall
> set dials to chapel. s.
Chapel entrance
> x face. x statues. n.
Corridor (south end)
The face is the blind guardian you were warned about. If you try to go past it without masking your footsteps, it leaks a poisonous black gas and you'll die.
> x face. open door.
> drop soldiers. turn knob.
While the soldiers are marching, you can get past here.
> n.(+5)
Corridor (north end)
> n.
Chapel of pure souls
> x lanterns. search lanterns.(+1; found lantern)
> look.(It's a glowing lantern.)
Weirdly, you can't refer to it as "lantern", just as "glowing".
> x glowing. take it. s.
Corridor (north end)
You need the soldiers moving again to safely leave. Alternatively, you can spin the top to distract the guardian.
> turn knob. s. s. s. enter yellow.
Moth room
> put glowing in hole.(It's the home of the last few pure souls. You need luck to speak with it.)
> break pyramid with axe.
are you sure? y(+10)
> w. w. s. in.
In the ship
> eat elder.(+1; A girl of mist appears.)
CAUTION: If you leave the girl, you'll lose her. You need to do your business with her wherever you eat the elder mushroom.
Unfortunately, she has only one conversation topic. I hope you remembered the name the oracle mentioned:
> tell girl about Jaaku.(+5; take her to him.)
> out. n. n. n. n. n.
By the pool
> d. d. d. d.
Cellar
> out. u.
Living room
Jaaku is probably right here, but if not, go to the bedroom and back until you find him.
(Jaaku's location)
The girl paralyzes Jaaku then carries him away.
*** You have won ***
> amusing
Branch 3: Getting aid from the priest
Graveyard
> n. nw.
Library
> x flies. x tome.
> read crystal tome.(You take it, but can't read it.)
Return to the oracle:
> se. w. w. w. enter yellow.
Moth room
> put crystal tome in hole.
leave it? y
It'll take at least 20 turns for the oracle to analyze the tome, so return to the city and explore the tower at the north end of town.
> w. s. e. e. n. n.
Tower
> x door. in.
In the tower
> x statues. x patterns. x tiles.
> x spot. take spot. x cavity.
> turn handle.(+3; tunnel down opened)
> d.
Basement
> x coffin. open coffin.(doesn't move)
> hit coffin with axe.(The lid comes off and shatters.)
> x coffin. x flowers. search flowers.
> x corpse. x gown. x spider. take spider.(denied)
> take gown.
are you sure? yes(+3)
> u. u.
By the door
It's important that you see this door.
> x door.(needs a key)
> open door.(locked)
> u.
Top of the tower
CAUTION: If you push the lever, the sphere lights up. The tower is actually a lighthouse. But turning on the sphere is deadly. A few turns later, it wakes up a dragon who then quickly finds you and eats you.
> x town. x apparatus. x lever.
Head back to the oracle:
> d. d. s. s. s. w. w. w. enter yellow.
Moth room
If the oracle won't let you take the crystal tome back yet, wait a bit more and try again until you succeed.
> take crystal tome.(+3)
The oracle tells you about the Vault of Keys and the Chapel of Pure Souls and their associated dial-combos.
> take gown. put gown in hole.(+1)
> break pyramid with axe.
are you sure? yes(+10)
> w.
Hall
> set dials to vault. s.(+5)
Gate of the Vault
> x gate. x hole. n.
Vault of keys
You must have previously examined the door halfway up the tower or you won't find this key.
> x keys. search keys.(+3)
> x wire key.
> s. s.
Hall
Return to the ship.
> w. s. in.
In the ship
Eating the elder mushroom puts you into a spiritually receptive state for many turns. You'll know when it wears off when you vomit much much later.
> eat elder.(+1)
> out. n. e.
Hall
> set dials to city.
> s. e. e. n. n. n. u.
By the door
> unlock door with wire key. in.
Divination room
Note you won't see anything in the unhurt frame unless you're under the mushroom's influence, and the man won't deal with you unless you're wearing the gown.
> x frames.(One is unhurt.)
> x unhurt.(You see black mists through the window.)
> wear gown.
> z.(Repeat waiting many turns until a gowned man appears in the window and greets you.)
> tell man about Jaaku.(+5. He tells you to take the incense burner to Jaaku before it burns out; its scent will banish him.)
> take burner.
> out. d. s. s. s. w. w. w.
Hall
> w. n. n. n. n.
By the pool
> d. d. d. d.
Cellar
> out. u.
Living room
Jaaku is probably right here, but if not, go to the bedroom and back until you find him.
(Jaaku's location)
The burner's smell is intolerable to Jaaku. He's gone.
*** You have won ***
> amusing
Extras
Amusing
This is the response to AMUSING, after you win the game:
The game consists of
442 objects (you may carry 28 of them)
70 rooms (13 of them forms the maze)
7 animate things
13 ways to end the game (apart from QUIT)
3 of them good (you win), and
10 of them deadly (you lose)
more than 145000 characters of text in
30 files (plus library)
written on 2003 july 27-august 2, november 1-6, 2005 june 23-august 23 and september 30 in about 40 sessions
For what it's worth, I counted only 66 rooms, but I counted "In the pool" as one room, and it suppose it could be coded as four rooms.
ASCII art
This game uses optional ASCII art at the beginnings of chapters, but astonishingly, the art is generated to fit your current screen size. I took screenshots of the art in a smaller window, then shrunk the images a bit more for these samples. Of course, you should play the game to see the artwork as it was intended to be seen.
Chapter I: Arrival
Chapter II: Descending to Eden
Chapter III: Sunken City
There's also a map of the Sunken City in the HELP menus:
Map of Sunken city
Tower / | \ ------------ | \ / Gallery \ S Prison | | l | | | i - House of the painter -- Fountain - Mine d | Library | e | | | Storehouse | House of | | toymaker \ | | ------------- | / \ | / Graveyard
Characters
Jaaku appears to be a tall northern man with white hair and white eyes. He's almost certainly a malevolent sorceror of some kind who invaded your grand-uncle's home for unknown reasons. He's enough of a pest that three other powerful entities in the game are willing to help you get rid of him.
An oracle is trapped in a pyramid in the moth room. It will help you by telling you what it knows about any object you bring to it in exchange for the promise that you will free it from its prison when you no longer need its help.
The small folk are thieves who appear to you randomly as sigils, carvings, or statues. When they leave you, they steal a random item from your trunk and leave it in their underground shrine.
Flies that eat metal infest the library. They will gladly feed on anything metallic left there.
A dangerous idol lurks in the northeastern cell of the prison. If you dare to touch it, it will not only deliver a nasty electric shock, it will force you to touch it again and again and again until you die.
An air elemental is locked up the the southeastern cell of the prison. When freed, it destroys the thieving spirits several turns later.
Black worms are lurking inside a cavity of the platform of the fountain.
A dragon can be woken up from its lair in the distant mountains by turning on the sphere at the top of the tower.
A shaman, presented as an old man, shows up if you eat the elder fungus while carrying the repaired worm amulet.
A divine is a foreign priest who may be seen in a glass frame in the divination room.
A girl is one of the last pure souls residing inside a glowing lantern.
Found dead:
Dead insects of all sorts cover the floor of the moth room.
The patriarch lies inside his coffin in the basement of the tower. He is the subject of one of the paintings.
Mentioned:
Jumon Hakai is your missing grand-uncle who owns the secluded mansion that the game starts in. He believed in the occult, and apparently for good reason. You never learn what happened to him.
"Her Holiness" is someone who Jaaku sometimes prays to.
Credits
From the "About the game" section in response to HELP:
4. Thanks This program was written using the Inform compiler of Graham Nelson, and the menu system of Khelwood.
Endings
According to the Amusing text, there are ten losing endings and three winning endings. I think I found all of them:
You have died
if you drown in the pool by staying underwater too long.
if you stay in the gallery too long; you go mad and can no longer think.
if you stay in the womb too long; black insects crawl on you.
if you open the black door in the prison; bat-like things attack you.
if you open the sea door in the prison; salt water floods the room and something drags you underwater.
if you go north from corridor (south end) without using the soldiers; black gas seeps into the room.
if you die from disease, first acquired when entering the northern prison cell with the skull door.
if you touch the idol in the prison; four turns later you expire after being forced to keep touching the idol every turn.
if the dragon eats you; this happens if you light the sphere at the top of the tower and leave it on until the dragon wakes.
if Jaaku kills you; this happens if you attack him first.
You have won
if you bring the girl to Jaaku.
if you bring the incense burner to Jaaku before it burns out.
if you tell the old man (who is actually a shaman) about Jaaku, then give the man the repaired amulet, then find Jaaku and say ABRA to summon the old man to deal with him.
Yes, you win when Jaaku is banished from your grand-uncle's mansion. You never find your grand-uncle or ever learn his fate.
Inventory
Chapter I items
Stuff from your grand-uncle's home.
a paraffine lantern. You're carrying it and it's lit.
You get a warning every 50 turns that it's getting dim, but I never saw it burn out. Just carry it everywhere and ignore it.
a diary. Find it by searching the papers in the living room.
an old trunk. Find it by looking under the bed in the bedroom.
Open it: there's a crystal ball wrapped in an opaque sheet inside.
The trunk is your player's carry-all. Inventory items will automatically be moved into it to make room for new things you pick up.
You will automatically put everything into the trunk and close it whenever you enter the pool. Don't forget to open the trunk later.
When items are stolen from your trunk, you can find them again in the Underground Shrine. Stop the thieving by releasing the air elemental from its southeastern prison cell; the elemental vanquishes the thieves several turns later.
a crystal ball. It's inside the trunk, initially presented as a sphere wrapped in paper. When you take the sphere, the paper falls off, revealing the crystal ball.
In the moth room, if you put the crystal ball in the hole, the oracle tells you that the crystal ball is damaged and unusable for divination.
an opaque sheet. It's initially wrapped around the crystal ball inside the old trunk.
Read the message to learn several things: that Jumon found a small creature in his home that he couldn't contain or control, that Jumon left via a pool to Nexus Eden, that a push-switch to open the way to the pool is hidden behind a specific book, that you need specific plants to unlock the pool, and that the book "Of Roots Divine" can help you identify those plants.
a green book. After reading the message, obtain this book, Of Roots Divine by searching the books in the living room.
Read this book to learn what the plants mentioned in the message look like; see portal key.
portal key. This "key" is nightshde, mandrake root, and hare's ears, as described in the message. First, read the green book (so you know what the plants look like), then in the attic, take the plants to obtain the key.
You merely need to have the "key" with you when traveling downwards in the pool. (At least, that's how it's supposed to work. During one of my replays, I learned that the key isn't actually needed. Oops.)
Chapter II items
an elder fungus. It's in the ship and glows indigo.
The fungus will fall apart into dust after a few turns if you take it and don't eat it. Eventually, another elder fungus will grow in the ship.
In the moth room, if you put the fungus in the hole, the oracle tells you that it enhances your spiritual powers and senses.
There are three ways the fungus can assist you in finding help against Jaaku.
If you eat the fungus while you have the glowing lantern, you summon a girl who's a pure soul. Tell her about Jaaku, and she tells you to take her to him.
If you eat the fungus while you have the repaired worm amulet, an old man arrives and asks for the amulet. Instead, tell him about Jaaku, and now he offers to help you if you give him the amulet. Give it to him, then follow his directions by saying the magic word ABRA in Jaaku's presence.
If you eat the fungus then visit the divination room before its effect wears off, and if you're wearing the gown, you can summon a "divine" in the glass there just by examining the unhurt frame and waiting. Tell him about Jaaku, and he tells you to take the incense burner to Jaaku.
The fungus's spiritual benefit lasts for many many turns, but eventually, you will vomit grunch up and lose this benefit. If this happens, you probably need to eat another fungus.
Note also that if you mess up your interview with any of the three (girl, old man, and divine), the game may now be unwinnable because you may not be able to summon either of the other two.
a pickaxe. Find it by examining the tools in the dead end.
Pull the axe twice to free it from the wall.
At the slab, hit the slab with the axe twice to make a passage through the slab.
In the moth room, search the pile twice (using the axe) to find the pyramid.
In the entrance of the prison, hit the lower hinge with the axe to open the broken grating.
In the house of the toy maker, hit the case with the axe twice to open it.
In the basement, hit the coffin with the axe to open it.
some pears. They're in the ancient tree.
You have no use for the pears. You are unwilling to eat any.
Chapter III general items
a crystal tome. It's in the library.
In the moss room, put the tome in the pyramid's hole. After 20 turns or so, take the tome back to learn the oracle's findings: the dial-combos for the Vault of Keys and for the Chapel of Pure Souls.
some paintings. They're in the house of the painter.
You need not take them, but you should examine them repeatedly to get hints about things you might see in the city.
In particular, you must see the painting with the monolith in the graveyard so you're able to find it when going south in the graveyard.
a plate with organic mass stuck on it. Find it by searching the table in the house of the painter.
You have no use for the plate or the mass.
Shaman path
These items are used in the path towards getting help from an old man, who is a shaman.
a glass egg. Find it by searching the boxes in the storehouse three times.
In the mine, after taking the peg from the gears, set the lever to the right, put the glass egg in the funnel, then push the button. Wait a few turns for the machine to grind off the glass, and the metal egg falls out. Push the button to turn the machine off.
a peg. In the mine, search the machine to find a door. Open the door and examine the gears to find the peg.
Take the peg so the gears can turn when you turn the machine on. You don't need the peg itself.
a metal egg. Free it from the glass egg by correctly using the machine in the mine; see glass egg.
Drop the metal egg in the library and let the flies consume its metal shell for many turns. Eventually, when the egg is "heavily corroded", try to take the egg. It should fall apart and leave you with the worm amulet that was inside.
In the library, drop the metal egg. Leave them with it for 20 turns or so and return. Or you can wait 20 turns or so while the flies slowly eat the egg. When the egg is "heavily corroded" (for several turns), take the egg: you find the amulet. (If the egg doesn't fall apart on its own, you didn't leave it with the flies long enough.)
While holding the repaired amulet, eat the elder fungus to summon a shaman who asks for his amulet back. Don't give it right away. First, ask him about Jaaku, and he will offer his aid in exchange for the amulet. Now give the amulet to him. He tells you to go to Jaaku and use the magic word ABRA to summon him there, and he banishes Jaaku.
a front stone. Find it by searching the platform of the fountain.
Take the stone to reveal a cavity. Examine the cavity to find black worms. Try to take a worm to wake them up. Examine the moving worms to see a coiled worm. Take the coiled worm.
You have no use for the stone itself.
a coiled worm. It's hiding inside the fountain.
First, search the fountain's platform to find a loose front stone. Take the stone, revealing a cavity. Look in the cavity to see several black worms. Try to take one; they all wake up. Examine the worms again: a coiled one isn't moving. Take the coiled worm.
These items are used in the path towards getting help from a girl, who is a pure soul.
a round box. Find it by searching the table in the house of the toy maker.
Turning the knob on the box makes the tin soldiers march.
some tin soldiers. They're in the locked case in the house of the toy maker. Break the case with the pickaxe (twice).
In Corridor (south end), drop the soldiers, then turn the knob of the round box to get the soldiers to march around. While the soldiers are marching, you can safely go north past the bas relief. Otherwise, it spews poisonous gas at you.
Make sure the soldiers are marching when going south past the bas relief as well. Turn the knob again if necessary.
a whirling top. It's in the locked case in the house of the toy maker. Break the case with the pickaxe (twice).
In the Corridor (south end), spin the top. While the top is spinning, you can safely bypass the bas relief and get to the chapel proper.
The top doesn't spin forever, but if you're quick enough, you can get the glowing lantern and return past the bas relief before it does stop.
This is an alternate but riskier way of getting past the bas relief. It's safer to use the tin soldiers and the round box.
a glowing lantern. In the chapel of pure souls, find the glowing lantern by searching the lanterns.
Note: You can't refer to this as a "lantern"; use "glowing" instead.
In the moth room, if you put the glowing lantern in the hole, the oracle tells you that it's the home of the last pure souls, and that you need luck to speak to it.
Eat the elder fungus while you have the glowing lantern to summon a girl. Tell the girl about Jaaku, and she agrees to help you. Take the glowing lantern to wherever Jaaku is, and she banishes him.
Divine path
These items are used in the path towards getting help from a divine, who is a foreign priest.
a golden tile. It's the golden spot in the center of the "tornado of colors" floor in the tower.
Take the spot to reveal a cavity containing a handle. Turn the handle to open a passageway down into the basement. The tile itself is of no use to you.
a black gown. In the basement, the gown is worn by the corpse in the coffin. Hit the coffin with the pickaxe to open it.
Wear the gown in the divination room after eating the elder fungus. Now examine the unhurt frame and wait until the divine arrives. You must eat the fungus before you can see anything (like black mists) in the unhurt frame, and if you're not wearing the gown, the divine asks to see the patriarch and won't answer your questions. By wearing the gown, he assumes that you are the patriarch.
Tell the divine about Jaaku, and he tells you to take the incense burner that's behind you to Jaaku before it burns out. The burner's smell banishes Jaaku.
a wire key. It's found in the vault of keys by searching the keys, but only if you previously examined the door halfway up the tower.
The wire key, of course, unlocks the door halfway up the tower. The door leads to the divination room.
an incense burner. It's in the divination room after you tell the divine about Jaaku.
Quickly, take the burner back to wherever Jaaku is in the mansion before the incense burns out. The incense smell banishes Jaaku.
Score
This is the response to SCORE:
You have so far scored your-score out of a possible 100, in several turns.
More than 100 points are possible. Points are awarded as follows:
2 points for finding the diary.
2 points for finding the trunk.
5 points for finding the message
3 points for entering the attic.
1 point for finding the cellar.
5 points for visiting Nexus Eden.
2 points for disengaging the pickaxe.
2 points for removing the slab.
2 points for entering the bark.
3 points for finding the oracle.
1 point for speaking with oracle.
18 (or more) points for consulting the oracle about items.
5 points for escaping from the garden. (area around Ancient Tree)
1 point for opening the glass cabinet.
5 points for entering the lair of the small folk. (Underground Shrine)
3 points for opening the basement of the lighthouse.
3 points for obtaining the ceremonial gown.
1 point for finding the glass egg.
1 point for finding the door of the mining machine.
4 points for breaking the metal egg.
2 points for finding the worm nest.
2 points for finding the worm idol.
2 points for finding the worm amulet.
1 point for opening the grating in the prison. (Actually, the broken grating in Entrance.)
3 points for banishing the small folk.
5 points for entering Sunken City.
5 points for entering the vault of keys.
5 points for entering the chapel.
5 points for obtaining the incense burner.
5 points for passing by the guardian.
1 point for finding the glowing lantern.
5 points for turning a pure soul to your side.
1 point for eating the fungus. (Note that after many many turns, you will vomit grunch and lose this point.)
2 points for finding the round box.
3 points for finding the wire key.
10 points for releasing the oracle from its imprisonment.
Note that you do not get any points for banishing Jaaku from your grand-uncle's mansion.
Points are deducted as follows:
−5 points for breaking the mining machine.
−10 points for driving away the pure soul. (Leaving, attacking, or kissing the girl.)
−10 points for driving away the shaman. (Attacking him or giving the amulet to him too soon.)
−50 points for falling into the womb.
−50 points for getting the disease. (Entering the prison's skull door)
