The Reliques of Tolti-Aph

solution

Map of Tolti-Aph

The Walkthrough

Opening Notes:

• Spell syntax:
  If the spell has no target, use spellname or cast spellname. For example:

  > detect trap
  > cast detect trap

  If the spell has a target, use spellname target or cast spellname at target. For example:

  > know nature jerkin
  > cast know nature at jerkin

• You must memorise a spell before you can cast it. You cannot cast directly from a scroll. Once a spell is memorised, you can cast it again and again, as long as you have the strength, focus items, and targets (as applicable).
• The game will automatically choose which of several objects you're carrying to use as a focus for your spell. If the spell is one that destroys the focus item, you might want to drop the ones you don't want used up. For example, the exorcise undead spell destroys one of your metal objects. Suppose you're carrying a dagger, a sword, and a key. The game will choose what it thinks is the least valuable item—in this case, the dagger— and it will vanish. If you want to make sure the sword is used instead, drop the dagger and key, or put them into a container you're holding.
• Your strength (STR) starts at its maximum value: 14. If your strength goes down to 0 or less, you're dead. You will not be allowed to cast spells that would use up all your strength. Your maximum strength can be decreased by failing to complete your mission in the maze; this is bad.
• Heal yourself by eating food, drinking potions, or resting in a sanctuary. Just typing "wait" won't work. Also, if you find the archivist, try "mend archivist".
• The game will auto-choose which weapon (if any) you have to attack with. Assume that it will choose the best one you have.
• Gain experience by casting spells, killing monsters, and performing heroic deeds. The experience gained from casting a spell is twice its STR cost. However, each spell will only give you experience the first and second times you cast it; afterwards, you gain no experience from that spell. View your current experience with the score command.
• Level up by gaining lots of experience. This will give you bonuses in combat, but you will not gain more strength this way. Also, your goal is to become a Level 5 Magic User.
• UNDO is disabled in this game. (However, some interpreters have a hotkey-UNDO which can't be disabled, eg: Alt-U. Of course, you're completely cheating if you use it, y'know.)
• SAVE is disabled in this game except within a sanctuary. That's tough to get used to, but that's the way it is.

LVL: 1 XP: 0 STR: 14 Longwall Street

First, do all the initial examinations:

> help. i. x jerkin. x dagger. x parchment. x journal.

Note: The stars of Orion are mentioned in the pdf feelie distributed in the game. The following is in chronological order:

> turn journal to rigel. turn journal to hatsya.

> turn journal to betelgeuse. turn journal to thabit.

> turn journal to bellatrix. turn journal to mintaka.

> turn journal to alnitak. turn journal to alnilam.

> turn journal to saiph. turn journal to meissa.

Now, your first objective is to get and use the "make sanctuary" spell. Until you have a sanctuary, you CANNOT SAVE the game. The only ways to restore STR points are by either resting in a sanctuary, or drinking a strength potion. You only have a maximum of 14 STR and the make sanctuary spell costs 8 STR. You can't afford to waste your strength.

The scroll is inside the turret, but there's a 4d4 trap on the archway. OPTION 1: You can opt to just walk in and take the damage, then use the strength potions in the turret to heal you. OPTION 2: There is a way you can trigger the trap safely, but you'll first need to get the mend spell that's inside a pack guarded by a harpy. That's not any easier and far less obvious, but there's a strength potion in the pack as well, so it's not impossible.

> x turret. x archway.

Anyway, let's go for OPTION 2. It's more heroic and clever. First step is to kill Vish, the STR 5 goblin lookout at Gravel Track, and get his spear. There's two reasons you want his spear: first, it's a better weapon than your dagger; and second, it's made of wood so you can cast fashion staff on it. As a staff, the enchanted spear will allow you to cast other spells more cheaply.

> n. n. n.

LVL: 1 XP: 0 STR: 14 Gravel Track

You'll enter combat with Vish immediately on entering this location. You don't need to type in "kill Vish"; use your combat moves to do other things. In this case, just wait.

Combat> z

Continue the combat with Vish until either he or you die. If you lost, or if you took more than 2 damage, restart the game and try again. You should be at worst at STR 12, or STR 14 if you took no damage at all.

> look. x spear. take it. fashion staff. (Now you're at STR 10 to 12.)

> s. s. s. e.

LVL: 1 XP: 9 STR: 9-11 Stone Mound

Walking up the mound costs 1 STR.

> x feather. x rubble.

> detect trap. know nature feather. take feather.

> write anything on parchment. x scroll. memorise scroll. (That cost another 1 STR, but now you know the aerial shield spell.)

> w. n.

LVL: 1 XP: 26 STR: 8-10 Fallen Tree

Touching the pack will trigger the attack by a nasty 15 STR harpy who does 2d6 attacks. Defend yourself with the aerial shield spell. Cast the shield before touching the pack; you don't want to be hit by the harpy at all. The aerial shield only lasts for 3 turns; you'll need to renew it once or twice during the combat.

Also, during the combat, grab the pack, open it and take the contents. You might decide to use the vial to heal yourself if things go badly. And pay attention to the combat! If you make a critical miss, you'll drop your spear, and you may want to pick it up again.

>x skeleton. x pack. x tree. x house.

>detect trap. know nature pack. aerial shield. take pack.

Combat> take pack. open it.

Combat> aerial shield. take all from pack. x scroll. x vial.

I'm going to assume you defeated the harpy by now, but if not, cast the aerial shield again. By the end of the battle, you should be at level 2, experience 57, and strength 7 or 8.

> score. x diary. s. e.

LVL: 2 XP: 57 STR: 6-7 Stone Mound

The restored ball is our damage-free ticket into the turret. Incidently, the ball can't be pushed too far around; you can't get it past the fallen tree.

> memorise scroll. mend rubble. x ball. take ball. push ball w.

LVL: 2 XP: 67 STR: 5-6 Longwall Street

> look. push ball w.

LVL: 2 XP: 67 STR: 5-6 Turret Roundhouse

If we'd just walked in here, we'd have taken 4d4 damage from the trap, minus 1 for wearing the leather jerkin; that is, 3 to 15 damage.

> x scroll. take it.

> x table. x crumbs. mend crumbs. x wafer. take it. u.

LVL: 2 XP: 78 STR: 5-6 Turret Alcove

"Detect trap" doesn't detect the arrow in the arrowslit because that isn't a trap. (PSmith pointed out that the archivist, who you haven't met yet, uses the turret as an archery target.) You get a saving roll of 11 or better on 1d20 + your level. If you get hit, you take 3 damage, less 1 for the jerkin, and you take the arrow out of your shoulder. Otherwise, the arrow ends up downstairs.

The ochre vial is POISON. Do not drink it.

> detect trap. x chest. open chest. detect trap.

> take chest. take all from chest. x green. x ochre. x crimson.

> x arrowslit. d.

LVL: 2 XP: 78 STR: 3-6 Turret Roundhouse

Yes, it's time to heal yourself. You need strength to cast the sanctuary spell.

>take arrow. memorise scroll. eat wafer. push ball e. n. n.

LVL: 2 XP: 78 STR: 12-14 Broken Lane

> x door. x tombstones. mend tombstones. i. x brick. know nature brick.

> make sanctuary. fashion staff. x sanctuary. enter it.

LVL: 2 XP: 98 STR: 6-8 Sanctum Sanctorum

Hooray! You can rest and save! And you're almost at level 3!

> rest. save.

While we're resting, let's talk about your spells so far:

This is a nice central place for your sanctuary. If you cast make sanctuary again, you'll simply move this sanctuary to the new location; you don't get two sanctuaries. So don't waste your clay! Also, don't put your sanctuary in places difficult to reach when you're weak; you don't want monsters lurking between you and your sanctuary.

Now that you have a staff, the cost of casting detect trap, know nature, fashion staff, and mend has been reduced to zero, so feel free to cast them as much as you like.

The mend spell in particular is the most interesting, and even when it doesn't do anything useful (try mending the door or the skeleton), it can still be amusing. However, nothing is completely safe: "mend doorway" at Longwall Street will reset the trap, so be careful!

> out. s. ne.

LVL: 2 XP: 98 STR: 14 Fuller's Town-House

Although "detect trap" claims there's a trap on the loom, there is no trap. When you mend the loom, note that it finds something trapped in the gears. The loom isn't dangerous; the detect trap spell just saw something wrong and misdiagnosed the situation.

You'll also discover that you can't memorise the stretched scroll due to restraints on your training.

> detect trap. x loom. x scroll. take scroll. memorise scroll.

> x loom. x song. sing song. (The verb "turn" is strongly hinted here.)

> turn loom. mend loom. turn loom. x modest scroll. take it. memorise it.

> x picture. take it. turn it. x pipe. know nature pipe.

> out. n. enter sanctuary.

LVL: 3 XP: 101 STR: 13 Sanctum Sanctorum

The next step is to kill off all the goblins at Icefinger Ford. If the battle is going poorly, run back to the sanctuary, rest, then go back to resume the battle. Eventually, they're all be dead and you can take all their stuff.

> rest. save. out. n. n. g.

LVL: 3 XP: 101 STR: 14 Icefinger Ford

Because you're standing waist deep in water, you're fighting at a −3 penalty. You probably want to run away when at STR 5. To run away, you need to make a saving roll of 11 or better on 1d20, +3 for your level, +10 for splashing back out the way you came, so you shouldn't have any problem. Don't forget to pick up your spear if you drop it.

[COMBAT! 4 goblins, each STR 5, each doing 1d4 with their green fists.]

LVL: 3 XP: 121 STR: 14 Icefinger Ford

All rested and saved again? Let's continue...

> take kindling and pot. (The kindling is wood; the pot is clay.)

> se.

LVL: 3 XP: 121 STR: 14 Marshy Hollow

CAUTION: Falling into the swamp is fatal. Also, there's an undead creature coming up. Get ready to cast exorcise undead.

> e.

LVL: 3 XP: 121 STR: 14 Log Pontoon

There's a chance the spectre might kill you as soon as you enter; if that happens, restore and try again. You can try to fight normally with the spear, but considering the damage this creature can do, it's not recommended. The game should sacrifice the dagger (and not the feather) for the exorcise undead spell here.

[COMBAT! marsh spectre, undead, STR 18, doing 4d4+3.]

> exorcise undead. x pyramid. x sigils. pray. write kilroy was here on pyramid.

> x diary. write begone bleak days of drowning time on pyramid. i. (You now have the dragon sleep spell.)

> w. nw. s. s. enter sanctuary.

LVL: 3 XP: 165 STR: 14 Sanctum Sanctorum

> rest. save. out. n. n. nw.

LVL: 3 XP: 165 STR: 14 Divide

It costs 1 STR to try climbing the outcrop, and you need to saving throw of 15 or better on 1d20 plus your level to succeed. Failure means you take 1d6+1 damage by falling.

> x outcrop. u. climb outcrop. g.

LVL: 3 XP: 165 STR: 13 Shrine of the Pinnacle

Here's where you learn magic missile.

> pray. x diary. pray you loose-roaming clouds be with me.

Climbing down will also need a saving throw. Return to sanctuary and rest and save again...

> d. se. s. s. enter sanctuary. rest. save.

LVL: 3 XP: 177 STR: 14 Sanctum Sanctorum

Next up: fight the goblin lord Dronsh.

> out. n. n. nw. w.

LVL: 3 XP: 177 STR: 14 Source of the Icefinger

This is almost an even battle. Your strengths are almost the same, your level bonus is negated by being in water, and your weapons are alike. You could use magic missile, or use potions to heal you, but I suggest just fighting normally, running away when your strength is at 5 or less to heal in the sanctuary. You don't need to waste magic on him.

The grating doesn't open. The key doesn't unlock it, and it can withstand a magic missile.

[COMBAT! goblin lord Dronsh, STR 12, doing 1d6 with a spear.]

> take spear and key. x key. x grating. open grating.

> e. se. s. s. enter sanctuary. rest. save.

LVL: 3 XP: 189 STR: 14 Sanctum Sanctorum

> out.

LVL: 3 XP: 189 STR: 14 Broken Lane

How do you feel about fighting werespiders? They're next...

> unlock door with key. open door. w.

LVL: 3 XP: 189 STR: 14 Sunken Courtyard East

...well, actually, let's NOT fight the werespiders now. They are nasty. You cannot approach the fountain in the center. You need to make a 17 or better on 1d20 plus your level to tiptoe past the werespiders, otherwise you'll be fighting five of them at once, all doing 1d8+1 damage. Use the silence spell to evade them. Much later, you can return here and fight werespiders if you want to.

> w. (10 XP for noticing the werespiders before they notice you.)

> silence. nw.

LVL: 3 XP: 207 STR: 12 Sunken Courtyard North

The ring mail provides 2 damage protection, if you wear it.

> take ring mail. silence. sw.

LVL: 3 XP: 215 STR: 10 Sunken Courtyard West

> s.

LVL: 3 XP: 215 STR: 10 Apothecary's Workshop

You're sorta safe here. But don't open the bottle just yet. The turquoise vial is a 3d4+3 potion.

> detect trap. x bottle. x cobwebbed. x turquoise. take it and bottle.

> x mail. remove jerkin. wear mail. n.

LVL: 3 XP: 215 STR: 10 Sunken Courtyard West

> silence. se.

LVL: 3 XP: 215 STR: 8 Sunken Courtyard South

The sword Bliddforn is only a 1d6 weapon, same as a spear, but it has a +1 bonus to hit. (Unfortunately, the game fails to prefer the sword over a spear.) The sword is also a metal object.

> search goblin. x sword. silence. ne. e. enter sanctuary.

LVL: 3 XP: 215 STR: 6 Sanctum Sanctorum

Break the bottle in the safety of your sanctuary. This will negate a poison bite.

> open bottle. break it. g. take scroll. memorise it.

> rest. save. out. n. n. n.

LVL: 3 XP: 215 STR: 14 Ziggurat

The wyvern won't attack you unless you attack it first or try to go up past it. We'll use the dragon sleep spell, but it's not the only option. You can use the web spell instead, and try to whittle it down, running away to the sanctuary when you need to. If you put the wyvern to sleep, the game won't let you try to kill it later.

> dragon sleep wyvern. (It sleeps, your jerkin vanishes.)

> u.

LVL: 3 XP: 229 STR: 11 Exalted Throne

> x throne. sit on throne. w.

LVL: 3 XP: 229 STR: 11 Dry Channel

> detect trap. x door. x sand. dig sand. x paintings. open door.

The door is holding back a huge amount of sand. The only way to open the door and avoid being smuthered is to create a sanctuary right here and enter it immediately after opening the door:

> make sanctuary. open door. enter sanctuary.

LVL: 3 XP: 245 STR: 5 Sanctum Sanctorum

> rest. save. out.

LVL: 3 XP: 245 STR: 5 Dry Channel

Er, a cure baldness spell? Well, not so fast... A mindsift spell? That sounds more useful.

> x scroll. take it. memorise it. mend it. x it. memorise it. w.

LVL: 3 XP: 245 STR: 13 Temple Plaza

> detect trap. x rune. x statue. x arm. x snake. x dedications.

> mend statue. take snake. mindsift snake. (gain corrode spell; lose the feather)

> e. enter sanctuary.

LVL: 4 XP: 257 STR: 9 Temple Plaza

> rest. save. out. w. n.

LVL: 4 XP: 257 STR: 14 Knotted Room

Note: the mend spell can remove your webbing from the threads. The saving roll for climbing the normal threads is 25 or better on a 1d20 plus your level, which just isn't going to happen any time soon. You lose 1 strength trying to climb normally.

> x threads. u. web threads. u.

LVL: 4 XP: 265 STR: 11 Dim Garret

Be careful with the archivist. He cannot be touched; he is somehow intangible. Even stranger, he acts like a mirror when you cast spells at him; spells cast on him rebound onto you! Don't try to mindsift him; you don't have the metal to spare. Web and magic missile bounce back to you. Silence makes him silent, not you. Aerial sheild puts a shield above him. He will stop you from using memorise, unless you want him to learn the spell instead.

The string isn't there until the archivist asks if you can help him with the light spell, so you're going to have to listen to most of his chat to get it.

> x archivist. ask archivist about time spell.

> x cubbyholes. hit cubbyholes. take box.

> ask archivist about light spell. yes. look. x string. take it.

> mend archivist. show string to archivist. (gain magelight spell)

> show diary to archivist. show scroll to archivist.

> magelight. d. s. e. enter sanctuary.

LVL: 4 XP: 273 STR: 12 Sanctum Sanctorum

> rest. save. out. e. n.

LVL: 4 XP: 273 STR: 14 Old School Yard

> x door. open it. x columns. push columns. aerial sheild. push columns.

> open door. d.

LVL: 4 XP: 287 STR: 13 Archive Chamber

> x spectacles. wear spectacles.

> x coffin. x figure. open coffin.

> drop sword. mindsift figure. (learn summon elemental; key vanishes)

> take sword. u.

You should hear a noise above you before you use the magic missile spell to get the attention of whoever's up there. The web spell won't make a rope for you; it just puts a web across the hole.

> magic missile hole. (kindling vanishes; and you're now out of the hole and fighting.)

LVL: 4 XP: 311 STR: 5 Old School Yard

You may want to use a healing potion early in this fight. The trap door has closed and locked itself; you will never be able to reenter there.

[COMBAT! Glog the Troll, STR 14, does 3d4 with enormous fists.]

> s. w. enter sanctuary. rest. save. out. e. in.

LVL: 4 XP: 325 STR: 14 Darkness

> magelight.

LVL: 4 XP: 333 STR: 12 Robing Room

You must be wearing the spectacles and have the magelight both in order to see the outlines of this other, decaying sanctuary.

> enter sanctuary.

LVL: 4 XP: 333 STR: 12 Mutatis Mutandis

> x red scroll. take it. rest. (you'll lose 6 STR, gain 150 XP, and the skeleton at the Fallen Tree will be gone.)

> memorise red scroll. out.

LVL: 4 XP: 483 STR: 5 Robing Room

> x images. out. w. enter sanctuary. rest. save. out. e. e.

LVL: 4 XP: 483 STR: 14 In the Budless Grove

We're about the enter the maze, the big testing labyrinth of Tolti-Aph. Once you start, you're committed to finish your mission or you'll lose a strength point permanently. You get four chances. If you fail them all, you die.

This is pretty serious stuff. You might prefer just to kill werespiders in the sunken courtyard until you reach level 5 instead, but that's no cakewalk either.

Once you've sat on the bench and had the flower painted on your forehead, head into the maze right away. The never children will hit you for cowardice and you will take damage if you hesitate for more than a turn.

> x children. detect trap. x archway. x bench. dance.

> ask children about archway. e. sit on bench.

> destroy scroll. sit on bench. e.

LVL: 4 XP: 488 STR: 14 Hedge Archway

> i. x flower. x branch. x mauve. x russet. x piebald. x pea-green.

> jump. x leaf. i.

The maze is completely randomized; I cannot possibly write a walkthrough for it. But see the next section on my notes about the maze.

[Complete your mission in the Maze of the Royal Beasts]

Completion of the maze will gain you 100 XP, and you'll probably have to kill a few monsters in the maze as well. This will probably boost your XP to 601 or higher, and you'll be at level 5. If you're not at level 5, you must be close; try casting spells that you've never cast or only cast once to get the spellcasting XP for them. That should be enough to put you over to Level 5.

Assuming you're now at level 5 and at Hedge Archway, just leave the maze, and then the city to win. The flower on your forehead will disappear without comment when you reenter Exalted Throne.

>w. w. s. s. s. s. s. s. s. (win!)

Maze of the Royal Beasts

There are four leaves, each with a different mission or task for you to accomplish. By jumping, you will grab one of the leaves at random; examine it:

At the same time as you obtain a leaf, you also obtain the force labyrinth spell. If you find a location with blocked exits, you may use this spell to temporarily enchant the location. You can now use an exit you thought was blocked; it will no longer be blocked.

Only use the force labyrinth spell at great need, when the labyrinth will no longer open up to new locations. However, this spell CANNOT be used to give you an extension when the maze "runs out".

There is also no hope but to draw your own map of the maze, since it is randomly generated as you traverse it. It is a simple three-dimensional grid; there are no diagonal paths (except at shore locations) and no twisty paths. I suggest using the following codes to crib the names of the rooms on your map. For example, for "South-East Bend", you'd write SEB and "Chamber of North-East-South Ways with Staircase Down" would be ChNESX/D, and so on.

Groves, clearings, and footpaths can only be found on the uppermost level; chambers, caves, and tunnels can only be found on the underground levels.

Some locations in the maze are unique. Here are the ones I've discovered:

The ultimate dimensions of the maze are unknown, but here's what I've found. First, the hedge level (level 1) is the top level; you cannot go up from there, even with the magic carpet. The lowest level is level 8. Attempting to go to level 9 by staircase caused a stack overflow error. Attempting to go to level 9 via carpet was met with a refusal, since that way "lies outwith the labyrinth." There is a hard western edge to the maze; you cannot go any further west than the Hedge Archway. The carpet will not go further south than "south by eleven".

Including the Hedge Archway, the maze will "run out" after 36 locations total. If you attempt to go to a 37th location, the never children will laugh and tell you that the labyrinth has run out. The force labyrinth spell will not work in this case. If you can complete your mission with the locations you've opened, then do so. Otherwise, your only option is to forfeit the mission by tearing the leaf.

(The ASCII art to the right is built from the repeating pattern on the upper and lower edges of the Enchanted Map's display. The edge is different per level of the maze.)

You will find items in the maze. Some items are healing potions; e.g.: yellowish vial (1d8+2) and greenish vial (3d6+6). Other items are artifacts:

All maze artifacts have a nature of "magical essence"; the Flute doesn't count as wood or metal, for instance. Artifacts cannot be concealed inside containers. Artifacts disappear when you leave the maze (except for the Ring of Power when worn, which is probably a bug). Artifacts stay with you when you forfeit a mission by tearing a leaf. Artifacts will only be found in 'major' locations; they will not be found on a Footpath or in a Bend or a Tunnel (unless you drop them there).

Monsters also will be found in the maze. Monsters become more varied and numerous as you go deeper into the maze. Also, when you find monsters, the number of monsters you find will likely be equal to the level of the maze you're on.

The quote on the right is an example from level 8 of the maze.

To solve the "awaken Eurydice", find the Carpet, use it to get to (5,0) on level 3, and turn her. (This will make sense if you mindsift her first.)

In all other cases, I suggest going down to level 3 as soon as possible; although level 3 is more dangerous than level 1, you should find the artifacts and the Temple faster.

When choosing a cardinal direction, choose east first, north or south second, and west last. This is to avoid the western edge and give yourself more possible exits to explore. You want to avoid getting trapped and forced to use either the carpet or force labyrinth spell.

Don't be shy about using the Flute; you have no need to save it against a "worse" monster. Any monster that's dealing damage to you is plenty bad enough.

If you have the Talisman and are wearing the Ring of Power, you have little to fear from monsters. You can potentially stand in a nest of deadly creatures and be unharmed by damage that will easily slay any 35 strength elemental you've conjured up. Expect to fight a few bats and maybe a cave troll early on, but once you've got the artifacts and are wise about when to heal and NOT to heal yourself, you won't need to cast spells at all.

I don't yet know what (if anything) happens if you solve all four missions, or if you solve one, then fail the rest. If you fail them all, the never children tear you to pieces (ouch).

Tables

Spell Table

¹ Game won't let you cast spells that would reduce your STR to 0.

Know Nature of Things

Levels and Experience

Gain Experience

Attack 1d20 + level