Key & Compass presents:
The Lurking Horror II: The Lurkening
by Ryan Veeder

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Amusing, Characters, Endings, Inventory, Spells
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• External links:
  • This game at Homepage, IFDB, IFWiki, and MIT.
  • Walkthrough by the author at MIT.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Map

Walkthrough

This game involves replaying the game several times to learn different spells which you can then use in subsequent attempts. This walkthrough shows how you learn all those spells before you finally succeed in your main goal, banishing the Eldest Horror, Ynf-Okh-Omm.

Attempt 1: Learn RAENFIDHRE, a banishing spell, from a poster.

Attempt 2: Learn JILXUBE, the slime summoning spell, from the lecture notes.

Attempt 3: Learn KULEHRIF, the night-vision spell, from the hacker.

Attempt 4: Learn why you can't just banish Ynf-Okh-Omm like any other Elder Horror.

Attempt 5: Find a paper (sort of) and a textbook.

Attempt 6: Learn BHEISHAUPH, the freezing wind spell, from a textbook.

Attempt 7: Learn VAADIGNEPHOD, the twisted-space repair spell, from the grant application.

Attempt 8: Learn HTERWERBSET, the resurrection spell, from the Necromancy Lab paper.

Attempt 9: Learn YZAWNZAG from a statuette.

Attempt 10: Learn CAERLAEV from a slime-fed blob.

Attempt 11: Learn PHEIMMEB, the visit Dusky Threshold spell, from a crumpled note.

Attempt 12: Learn that the Confusing Passage is just a dead end.

Attempt 13: Visit the Dusky Threshold for the first time.

Attempt 14: Learn MNYMNSWST, the leave Dusky Threshold spell, from an annoyed spectre.

Attempt 15: Learn what YZAWNZAG and CAERLAEV do.

Attempt 16: Learn THOSSOTH, the cut-things-with-your-mind spell, from a yellowed scrap of paper.

Attempt 17: Learn FICKORDBOK, the understand Swedish spell, from a grimoire.

Attempt 18: Learn that the Book of Eibon is in Swedish!

Attempt 19: Learn AVITHSKELT, the free vertical movement spell.

Attempt 20: Try severing the tentacles, then banishing Ynf-Okh-Omm. Oh, so close!

Attempt 21: Banish the Eldest Horror!

Extras

Amusing

These are my own suggestions for AMUSING actions. Did you try ...

• casting JILXUBE in front of the hacker?
• casting JILXUBE in front of the grad student?
• casting HTERWERBSET near the dead cockroach?
• casting CAERLAEV near the grad student while in the hacker's body?
• casting CAERLAEV near the hacker? while in the grad student's body?
• casting CAERLAEV near the blob? while in someone else's body?
• entering the Department Head's Office through the floor?
• staying in the Ritual Chamber at the very end?

And did you notice that every letter of the alphabet is a valid command in this game?

Characters

• An Elder Horror at Eerie Corner holds some lecture notes.
• A hacker at Well-Lit Corner holds some keys. If you take her body to the grad student, you'll learn that the hacker's name is Paulina.
• A grad student at Inside Department of Sorcery blocks your way further inside. If you take his body to the hacker, you'll learn that the grad student's name is Oswaldo.
• An invisible fungal horror somehow is and isn't at Department of Linguistics.
• Another Elder Horror is wrapped around a statuette in the Dark Intersection.
• A deflated blob groans on the floor of the Lonely Tunnel. It's soooo hungry!
• A department head of the Sorcery Department is in his office. He's not a nice person.
• An annoyed-looking spectre is in the Dusky Threshold via the Hall of Slime.
• Ynf-Okh-Omm, the Eldest Horror, sleeps in the Ritual Chamber — but not for long.

Also:

• Something with a lot of teeth is summoned by the department head if you enter his office without protecting your mind first.
• A dead rat is in the Crumbled Tunnel. You can bring it back to life.
• A dead cockroach is in dark Necromancy Hallway. You can bring it back to life too.

Endings

• You have failed.
• if Ynf-Okh-Omm wakes up and destroys everything,
• or if you enter the Department Head's Office the normal way without protecting your mind first (death by monster),
• or if you enter the Department Head's Office via the floor (death by rapid aging).
• You have become a blob.
• if you switch bodies with the blob in Lonely Tunnel.
• It doesn't have to end this way.
• if you send Ynf-Okh-Omm home but you get pulled along with it. If you must see this ending, do most of the winning sequence but wait instead of going east at the very end.
• You have succeeded!
• if you send Ynf-Okh-Omm home and you escape the chamber.

Inventory

Note that in this game, you shouldn't pick up anything except the envelope so you can open it. With everything else, don't bother to take them. Just examine or read them. Picking things up is usually a waste of time and you can't afford to waste time!

That said, you can acquire the following things in your inventory:

• some lecture notes. Dropped at Eerie Corner by the horror after you cast RAENFIDHRE there. Read the notes to learn JILXUBE.
• the Necronomicon. This is the textbook that's at the Dead End. Read it to learn BHEISHAUPH.
• a manila envelope. It's in the pit at the Construction Site. To make it accessible, cast JILXUBE (to fill the pit with slime) then cast BHEISHAUPH to freeze the slime to ice. Open the envelope to find a grant application.
• a grant application. It's inside the manila envelope. Read it to learn VAADIGNEPHOD.
• a dead rat. It's in the Crumbled Tunnel. Cast HTERWERBSET to bring it back to life.
• a crumpled note. It's in the Crumbled Tunnel after bringing the rat back to life. Read the note to learn PHEIMMEB.
• a scrap of paper. It's in the Necromancy Lab. Read it to learn HTERWEBSET.

Note: You are unwilling to pick up the dead cockroach or the Book of Eibon. Also, you are unable to take the yellowed piece of paper in the Dusky Threshold because the laws of physics act differently there.

Honorable mention:

• your car keys. They're not implemented in any way but everyone mentions your car keys if you switch your body with someone else: the hacker, the grad student, and even the blob. For some reason, the prospect of driving your car is a lure that's irresistable.

Spells

Every spell begins with a unique letter, and after you cast it in full during a given attempt, you can abbreviate that spell to its first letter to recast it. Unfortunately, that affordance is all but useless during normal play.

The spells in alphabetical order are:

• AVITHSKELT. Travel through solid floors and ceilings.
• Learn it by reading the Book of Eibon in the Department Head's Office.
• You can use this everywhere, but in the winning attempt, use it as your first move in Alchemy Basement.
• Note 1: You cannot travel beyond the game map with this spell.
• Note 2: This spell wears off after six turns.
• BHEISHAUPH. Summon a frigid wind.
• Learn it by reading the textbook at Dead End.
• Use it at Construction Site after filling the pit with slime. This will freeze the slime into ice, making it possible to reach the envelope.
• Use it at Circular Tunnel to freeze and destroy the slime waterfall.
• CAERLAEV. Switch bodies with another person.
• Learn it by using JILXUBE at Lonely Tunnel to feed the blob with slime.
• You can switch bodies with the hacker, grad student, and the blob.
• You cannot switch bodies with Elder Horrors, dead creatures, or the spectre.
• FICKORDBOK. Understand Scandinavian Languages.
• Learn it by reading the grimoire in the Department of Linguistics, but you'll need to get rid of the invisible horror first.
• Use it to be able to read the Book of Eibon in the Department Head's Office; that book is in Swedish.
• HTERWERBSET. Resurrect the dead.
• Learn it by reading the paper in the Necromancy Lab.
• Use it in Necromancy Hallway to resurrect the cockroach, but you never actually need to do that. The roach is there so you can try out the spell right away.
• Use it in Crumbled Tunnel to resurrect the rat.
• JILXUBE. Summons some slime.
• Learn it by reading the notes dropped by the horror at Eerie Corner.
• Use it at Construction Site to fill the pit with slime.
• Use it at Lonely Tunnel to feed the sad deflated blob.
• KULEHRIF. Gain night vision.
• Learn it by talking to the hacker at Well-Lit Corner.
• Use it in various dark locations (Necromancer Hallway, Dark Hall, and Dark Intersection) to see what's there.
• MNYMNSWST. Leave the Dusky Threshold.
• Learn it by using PHEIMMEB in the Hall of Slime, then examining the spectre.
• Use it to return from any Dusky Threshold location to the real world.
• PHEIMMEB. Go to the Dusky Threshold.
• Learn it by reading the note left by the rat at Crumbled Tunnel after you ressurrect the rat.
• Use it at Hall of Slime to find the spectre.
• Use it at Department of Linguistics to find the fungal horror.
• Use it at Odd Corner to find the yellowed scrap of paper.
• RAENFIDHRE. Dispels Elder Horrors.
• Learn it by reading the poster in the Alchemy Lobby.
• Use it at Eerie Corner to make its horror drop some notes.
• Use it at Dark Intersection to make its horror leave a statuette.
• Use it at Dusky Threshold (via Department of Linguistics) to make the fungal horror go away.
• THOSSOTH. "Make an edged Weapon of a well-honed Mind."
• Learn it by reading the yellowed scrap of paper at Dusky Threshold via Odd Corner.
• Use it in the Power Station to sever Ynf-Okh-Omm's tentacles from the machinery.
• VAADIGNEPHOD. Repair tangled space.
• Learn it by reading the grant application that's inside the envelope in the pit in the Construction Site. To make the envelope accessible, cast JILXUBE then BHEISHAUPH there.
• Use it at Confusing Tunnel to straighten it to Normal Tunnel.
• Use it at Confusing Passage to straighten it to End of Passage.
• YZAWNZAG. Protect your mind from hypnosis.
• Learn it by examining the statuette dropped by the horror at Dark Intersection.
• Use it in Inside Department of Sorcery just before entering the Department Head's Office.

Also, for what it's worth, xyzzy doesn't work in this game and it also doesn't use any game time.

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.