You play as the young enchanter from the previous games Enchanter and Sorcerer, but more powerful and respected than before. An unexpected crisis with magic itself leads you on a quest into hidden parts of the land of Zork to find the legendary Cubes of Foundation, powerful items which can alter the laws of reality. And what if you succeed? Will you be known as the Mage who restored magic or as the Spellbreaker?
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 87 of the game. This version of the game was available on the Masterpieces of Infocom CD. SPELLBREAKER is a trademark of Infocom, Inc.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of a commercial interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
Not shown on the map: that the street from Belwit Square goes west and east, or that the mayor's manse is south of the Square. You cannot travel to those areas.
Map 2: Packed Earth
Map 3: Temple Ruins, Oubliette, and Dungeon
Map 4: Mountain (Ogre and Hermit)
Map 5: Soft Room, Meadow, Magic Room, and Castle
You must have all 12 cubes other than the "magic" cube before you can go east from Magic Room into the Castle.
Map 6: Water Room
All compass directions from Mid-Ocean lead to Open Ocean.
Map 7: Air Room
Map 8: Changing Room and Octagonal Rooms
On this map, the red sides of the octagons indicate walls with lead runes; grey sides indicate walls with silver runes, and that one yellow side indicates the wall with a golden rune.
You want to follow the black arrows on my map, not the red arrows. There's actually three ways to get from the Carving Room to the northwest Octagon Room: 1) north, west, northwest, northeast, west; 2) north, west, northeast, northwest, west; or 3) north, northwest, west, northeast, west.
Map 9: Midair and Roc Nest
You must use the flying carpet to navigate in midair. You can launch the carpet from Bazaar, Meadow, Enchanters' Retreat, Glacier, Cave Entrance, or the Cliff and reach In Thick Clouds; or you can go up from In Roc Nest or Guard Tower to reach Midair directly.
When lost In Thick Clouds, you must either wander at random for several turns or cast lesoch to get to Midair. Exactly where in Midair is randomized, but you're usually south-ish of the nest, so head east or west towards the mountains (whichever is appropriate), then northward to find the nest.
Midair is a three-dimensional grid. You see a single column of mountains running north to south, and trackless wilderness on either side. The roc nest is on a mountain. The guard tower, if and only if you've previously visited it, is four moves east of the nest.
Going down from Packed Earth or south from Air Room means you're falling in Midair, not flying. The entry point is always dizzingly high above an abandoned guard tower (or trackless wilderness east of jagged mountains if you haven't visited the guard tower yet). The giant roc will (usually) catch you in mid-fall and deliver you to her nest.
If you land in the Wilderness, you die.
Although you can see the distant volcano from Guard Tower itself, there's no sign of the volcano from Midair. You cannot fly there.
Map 10: String Room and Enchanters' Retreat
Map 11: Light Room
Map 12: No Place, the Plain, and the Vaults
The north exit from the Outer Vault is omitted since trying to use that exit is deadly.
The coordinate names for positions on the Plain are just for my map; they aren't in the game itself. The green eyed rock begins at B2, and the brown eyed rock begins at B4.
WATER/N: Learn tinsot thrice. Put all in zipper. Close zipper. Rezrov trap door. Tinsot outflow twice. Tinsot water; get on floe. Get "death" cube. Rezrov cabinet. Casklymoldy book. Get snavig. Fly carpet west to roc's nest; get "fate" cube.
MIND/E: Rezrov vault door while holding "magic" cube. Solve three weighings puzzle using jindak three times; get "time" cube.
TIME/D: Unlock cabinet with key. Get vellum. Learn blorple twice. Put spell book in cabinet. Lock cabinet with key. Rezrov door.
TIME/U: Get and open sack. Empty zipper into sack. Enter and close zipper. Get flimsy scroll. While holding "magic" cube, copy girgol on vellum. Drop flimsy scroll.
MAGIC/E: Attack shadow. Wait until shadow is about to leap. Girgol. Take "magic" cube. Put key in hypercube.
Walkthrough
Before we begin, please note:
EXAMINE must be spelt out in full; the standard abbreviation X didn't exist when this game was published.
UNDO doesn't exist either. Save often.
On spell failure: Sometimes spells will fail not because you did anything wrong but because magic itself is failing. If a spell fails, you'll just have to try it again. As your score increases, spell failure will happen less often.
On sleeping: You will need to sleep every so often. You won't need a bed, but you can't sleep everywhere either. Some places are just too dangerous, for example: roc's nest, glacier, and mid-ocean. If you sleep in the bazaar, you get robbed! But most places are deserted and peaceful and safe, and you can even sleep in midair on top of the flying carpet! Note that death doesn't negate the need to sleep. If you die while sleepy and are resurrected, you'll still need to sleep. Also, you will forget your memorized spells when you sleep, except, of course, for gnusto, rezrov, and frotz which you will never forget.
On death: If you die in this game, you will usually be resurrected with your inventory in the Boneyard. However, you will lose the flying carpet if you were sitting on it at the time. Also, some deaths are permanent if you made a mistake that can't easily be fixed.
Council Chamber
The game begins with various guildmasters presenting their complaints about recent failures of magic. They do this for four turns, just long enough for you to check out your inventory:
> i. examine spell book. examine knife. examine burin.
In the middle of Ardis's presentation, everyone changes into amphibians! That is, everyone except you and a cloaked figure who slips quietly out the door. Chase them!
> s. s.
Belwit Square
The figure disappears in a cloud of orange smoke. And you seem unable to find your way out of the smoke.
> examine smoke. read book.(+15. The blorple spell is new.)
> spells.(Gnusto, rezrov, and frotz are yours forever; no other spells memorized.)
> learn blorple. blorple burin.
Nondescript Room
It's dark, but we can easily fix that:
> frotz knife.(Your knife will now be a light source for the rest of the game.)
This location is where "blorple" takes you when cast on any normal object. This location isn't very useful.
> s.
Belwit Square
The burin reappears in your hand. If the smoke is still here, you could either bunder around for several turns, and the smoke will dissipate on its own. But you have another option:
> learn lesoch. lesoch.
Assuming your spell didn't randomly fail, the wind blows the smoke away and you find a cube. If the spell did fail. re-learn and re-cast the spell until it does work.
> take cube.(+25)
> examine cube. n.
Guild Hall
> take all.(Fish and bread taken.)
> verbose. n.
Council Chamber
> learn yomin. yomin Sneffle.
The transformed guildmasters aren't thinking human thoughts at the moment and aren't going to be helpful.
> s. s.
Belwit Square
> w. e.(Going west or east is unhelpful.)
> s.(Your way is blocked by a guard.)
> examine guard. ask guard about manse.(He ignores you. Idiot.)
So, it comes down to this. The blorple spell is new. The cube is new. What happens if you blorple the cube?
> learn blorple. blorple cube.
Packed Earth
> look in hole.(You see clouds!)
> n.(Can't go through that exit?)
> e.
Hall of Stone
You get the cube back. Since the cube took you to Packed Earth, do this, using the burin:
> write "earth" on cube.
You'll be finding more cubes later, and writing words on them will help you tell them apart. And since it's my walkthrough, I get to choose which words to write on the cubes, okay?
> examine blocks. smell.
> s.
Ruins Room
The zipper is a bag of holding. Curiously, we can enter it while holding it.
> examine statues.
> take zipper. examine it. open it. look in it.(It's dark.)
> enter zipper. look.(You see the flimsy scroll.)
> take scroll.(+10)
> read it.(girgol: stop time. It's complicated.)
> leave zipper.
> gnusto girgol.(This spell is too complicated to record with gnusto.)
> put fish and bread in zipper.
> n. n.
Smooth Room
> examine serpent. learn yomin. yomin serpent.
Hm. We'll deal with the serpent later.
> learn blorple. blorple "earth".
Packed Earth
There's a chance you might randomly die during this next bit of business, so please save first.
> save.
> d.(You hesitate.)
> d.(Go for it!)
Midair
You will fall for a couple turns and luckily be caught by a giant roc, who will then carry you to her nest. You can't do anything much during either the fall or the flight except wait.
> z.(Repeat waiting until you die or reach the nest.)
If you are unlucky, you'll just die when you crash into the ground. If that happens you'll be resurrected into an odd place called the Boneyard. Head north into Belwit Square and blorple the "earth" cube from there and try this stunt again. Or just restore from your save point.
In Roc Nest
At long as you don't threaten the roc or the egg, you'll be fine.
However, if you start to get tired, learn blorple and blorple the "earth" cube immediately. You don't want to get too tired to learn the spell, and you definitely don't want to sleep here!
> examine bird. examine egg.(Will hatch soon.)
> take scroll.(+10)
> examine it.("caskly spell: cause perfection")
> gnusto caskly.
> take cube.(The roc won't let you near it.)
You can't take the new cube while the roc is here. You'll have to return for it later.
> learn blorple. blorple "earth".
Packed Earth
> s.
Cliff Middle
> take scroll.(+10)read it. gnusto throck.
> u.
Cliff Top
CAUTION: If the rocks start falling on their own early, skip down to where you cast girgol!
> save.(Sometimes the timing of events here can be a bit off and you might need to try again.)
> examine rocks. examine building.
> push rocks.(The rocks should be falling.)
> girgol.(The rocks stop falling and you can use them like a ladder.)
> u.
Boulder (three locations)
Don't dilly-dally; the effect of girgol doesn't last forever.
> u. u. u.
Mountain Top
If you're tired, and you probably are by now, you can safely sleep here.
NOTE: I won't be including explicit instructions when to sleep since random spell failures and other factors make it impossible for me to know exactly when your character is tired.
> take coin. examine it.(500 zorkmids!)
> w.
Stone Hut
CAUTION: Don't malyon the cube here; the hut will collapse and you'll die.
> examine hermit. examine cube.
> take cube.(The hermit claims it's the hut's keystone and stops you.)
> ask hermit about hermit. ask hermit for cube.(He won't do it.)
> learn yomin. yomin hermit.(He's suspicious. He thinks you'll rob him.)
> learn caskly. caskly hut.(The cube is no longer needed in the wall.)
> take cube. write "life" on cube.
> learn blorple. blorple "life".
Soft Room
This is also a fine place to sleep.
> s.
Meadow
You don't need the shears and you don't want to use them. Just pull the weed twice.
> put "life" in zipper.
> examine weed.(It's ragweed.)examine shears.
> take weed. again.(It comes out with a ball of earth.)
> learn blorple. blorple "earth".
Packed Earth
> w. n.
Cave
The ogre blocks your way down.
> examine ogre. learn yomin. yomin ogre.(He's got hay fever.)
> plant weed. learn throck. throck weed.(The ogre is overcome with sneezing.)
> d.
Ogre Lair
Be quick, grab his stuff, and get out of there. Examine your new treasures elsewhere. The ogre will kill you if he recovers and finds you in his lair.
> take box.(+10)take scroll.(+10)
> learn blorple. blorple "earth".
Packed Earth
> read scroll. gnusto espnis.
> examine box.(Decorated with dolphins.)
> open box. take cube.(+25)
> write "water" on cube.
> e.
Hall of Stone
Pause a moment to fiddle with the gold box:
> put "earth" in box.(The box now displays moles.)
> take "earth".
> take "life". put "life" in box.(Now it's rabbits.)
> put "life" in zipper.
> put coin in box.(It won't go in. Huh.)
Seems only cubes go into the box, and every cube has its own representative creatures. Moving on.
> learn blorple. blorple "water".
Water Room
Okay, you're about to head south into the middle of the ocean, and the only way you know that and what you need to do is by learning through failure. And that's not fair, but that's how games used to be written. So just let me tell you outright what you need to do.
First, falling into the ocean is going to destroy your spell book. You need to either leave the book here and come back for it later or put it into something waterproof. As it happens, the zipper when closed will keep everything inside it perfectly dry.
Second, if you don't have your spell book available, you better pre-learn any spells you're likely to need. And you will need blorple to get back, so learn that spell first.
Third, there's a big hungry fish called a grouper in the bit of ocean we're about to visit, and it will help if we have a morsel of food for him. So take the smoked fish out of the zipper. And take your frotzed knife so you've got light to see by.
Got all that? So let's do this:
> learn blorple. put all in zipper.
> take fish and knife. close zipper.
> save.(Just in case you make a mistake, eh?)
> s.
Mid-Ocean
You drop the "water" cube here on entry. The danger here is that the grouper will swallow either the cube or the bottle and you need both. Make sure you throw the smoked fish at the cube and not at the grouper or anything else. Also note that "take all" does not work as you'd hope in this location.
> throw smoked fish at cube.(Grouper swallows the fish and leaves.)
You can't reach the trap door in the ceiling just yet, but you can use your new shrinking spell to enter the channel. Zip up the spell book again to waterproof it and I suggest learning liskon twice in case it fails the first time:
> learn liskon. again. put all in zipper.
> take knife. close zipper. save.
> liskon me. enter channel. w. w.
In Pipe (western)
You won't stay shrunken forever, so just grab the cube and go.
> take cube.(+25)
> w.
Ruined Pipe
CAUTION: Going west from here is deadly.
> out.
Ruins Room
Huh. Back here again? That's handy.
> open zipper. take box, burin, book.
> put cube in box.(Butterflies.)
> take cube. write "change" on cube. put "change" in zipper.
> n. n.
Smooth Room
> learn liskon. liskon snake.
> learn yomin. yomin snake.(It's much happier now.)
> n.
North of Serpent
> w.(You follow a circle, ending up back here.)
> n.
Temple
> examine idol. examine eye. examine mouth.
> climb idol. examine mouth.(Cube on its tongue.)
> examine fangs. examine eye.(It's an opal.)
> pry eye with knife. take opal. put opal in zipper. d.
> learn malyon. learn espnis.
There's a danger in bringing the idol to life. Don't attract its attention; it will kill you if it finds you. Also there's careful timing on this. If you espnis the idol too soon, he'll sleep with his mouth closed. And you might have to try this twice if either of your spells fail because, y'know, magic is failing.
> malyon idol. z. espnis idol. z.
> climb idol. take cube.(+25)d.
> put cube in box.(Eagles.)
> take cube. write "air" on cube.
> learn blorple. blorple "air".
Air Room
> n.
Glacier
CAUTION: Walking any direction is fatal; you walk into a crevasse. You can also freeze if you stay here too long.
> take scroll.(+10.)read scroll.("tinsot spell: freeze")
> gnusto tinsot. learn blorple. blorple "air".
Air Room
> w.
Bazaar
> put "air" in zipper. e.
Emporium
Asking the merchant about either carpet gives the same answer. You want the blue one.
> examine blue carpet. examine red carpet. take coin.
> buy blue carpet.(He says the cost is 800 zm. Time to haggle.)
> offer 200 zm.(His counteroffer is 700 zm.)
> offer 300 zm.(His counteroffer is 600 zm.)
> offer 400 zm.(His counteroffer is 500 zm.)
> give coin to merchant.(He gives you a carpet but it's the red one!)
> take blue carpet.(+10. Finally, you have it.)
> w.
Bazaar
> turn carpet over. read label. put carpet in zipper.
Sorry, but don't try to use the carpet right away. There's nowhere to fly to except to the roc nest, and you're not ready for that yet.
> learn blorple. take "change". blorple "change".
Changing Room
> n.
Bare Room
> examine compass rose. take it.(+10.)
> learn blorple. blorple "change".
Changing Room
> w.
Carving Room
> put "change" in zipper.
> examine carving. put rose in carving.(Hole opens north; also north arm of the rose dulls.)
> take rose. n.
The hole disappears when you go through. If you mess this up and need to return through this way, take the rose and reinsert it to re-open the hole. This will also reset the rose itself.
Octagonal Room (southeastern)
So, uh, this is a mini-maze of octagonal rooms, and you use the compass rose as a key to open holes in the walls to go through.
The main difficulty is figuring out that touching a rune with the rose is useful. You only get an opening when the rune is silver and the corresponding arm on the compass rose is also silver. And since the corresponding arm dulls whenever a hole appears, this means you can only use each direction of the compass at most once.
There are actually three ways through this mini-maze, but you're not missing anything if you just use the route I tell you.
> put rose on west rune. w.
Octagonal Room (southern)
> put rose on northwest rune. nw.
Octagonal Room (western)
> put rose on northeast rune. ne.
Octagonal Room (northern)
> rezrov plug.(The alabaster plug disappears, leaving the hole west.)
> w.
Octagonal Room (northwestern)
> put rose in zipper. take cube.(+25)
> put cube in box.(Owls.)
> take cube. write "mind" on cube.
> put "mind" in zipper. take "water"
> learn blorple. blorple "water".
Water Room
> n.
Oubliette
You can't use the carpet to reach the trap door. Since we're about to flood this room with water and float to the top, make sure your book is safe inside the closed zipper. Also, keep the frotzed knife outside the zipper so you can see what you're doing.
Before heading upstairs, prepare blorple and have the carpet directly in hand.
> learn blorple. take carpet.
> u.
Guard Tower
Act quickly before the roc can grab you!
> drop carpet. sit on carpet. u.(The roc flies away.)
Midair, on the beautiful blue carpet
> w. w. w. w. d.
In Roc Nest
Don't wait around; the egg will hatch and the baby roc will eat you.
> stand. take carpet. take cube.(+25)blorple cube.
String Room
> put carpet in zipper.
> s.
Enchanters' Retreat
> examine Belboz. ask Belboz about Belboz.
He is suspicious since he's seen an impostor of you, so he asks you to prove yourself by answering a question. This is the copy protection portion of the game; you're meant to look up the answer on the trading cards that came with the game.
"In Borphee, who was famed for his skill with fireworks displays?" > answer Dimithio
"Of the necromancers, who other than (harumph) myself is best-known?" > answer Berknip
"Which mage had the motto, 'The hardest trick is making it look easy.'?" > answer Barsap
"Which of our esteemed colleagues was fabled for his skill at Double Fanucci?" > answer Forburn
"Who invented the golmac spell?" > answer Barbel
"Who wrote of the Coconut of Quendor?" > answer Gustar
If he is satisfied with your answer, he gives you a wrought iron key and is open to questioning (+25). Incidentally, it's curious that he thinks you'd need a key when you have the rezrov spell, isn't it?
> ask Belboz about cubes. ask Belboz about key. ask Belboz about figure.
> learn yomin. yomin Belboz.
Guess that's all you can do here.
> put key in zipper.
> put cube in box.(Spiders.)take cube.
> write "fate" on cube. put "fate" in zipper.
> take "water". learn blorple. blorple "water".
Water Room
Prepare to turn into a grouper. Pre-learn the spells you need and leave everything you don't need here. You don't want to get your spell book wet and you can't carry anything when you're a fish anyway.
> learn blorple. learn snavig. learn snavig.
> take bread. drop all but bread.
> save.
> s.
Mid-Ocean
If your first attempt to snavig grouper fails, try again. That's why I had you learn the spell twice.
> throw bread at cube —or— take cube.(Don't let the grouper eat the cube!)
> snavig grouper.(You'll drop the cube if you were holding it.)
> d.
Ocean Floor
Don't be tempted into eating a cube just because the grouper does it. You'll just lose the cube and gain a tummyache.
> z.(Continue to wait until you return to human form.)
> take "water". take cube.(+25)u.
Mid-Ocean
> blorple "water".
Water Room
> take all.
> put cube in box.(Fireflies.)
> take cube. write "light" on cube.
> n.
Oubliette
> put "water" in zipper.
> learn blorple. blorple "light".
Light Room
> w.
Volcano Base
> put "light" in zipper.
After one turn here, a fragment of lava lands beside you.
> learn tinsot. tinsot fragment. take it. examine it.
> take "mind". learn blorple. blorple "mind".
No Place
> s.
Plain (several locations, beginning at B2 on my map)
> put "mind" in zipper.
> examine green rock. e.(You can't walk on this too-smooth surface.)
> learn yomin. yomin green rock.(It fails like a burst balloon; the rock talks.)
Virtually all spells except blorple will fail miserably here. The flying carpet doesn't work here either. You can't even walk. You must play by the local rules.
> green rock, hello.(It would like some crunchy food.)
> give fragment to green rock. get on green rock.
> examine lines. ask green rock about brown rock.
Direct the green rock around, going through the diagonal at the northwest corner of the plain once, then head directly to the brown rock. Coordinates are not in the game; see Map 12 to understand what I mean by "A2" or "C4".
> Green, n.(Green now at A2; Brown now at C4.)
> Green, sw.(Green now at B1; Brown now at D4.)
> Green, e.(Green now at B2; Brown now at C4 or D3.)
There is some randomness in how the brown-eyed rock moves:
if Brown just moved north: > Green, e.(Green now at B3.)
if Brown just moved west: > Green, s.(Green now at C2.)
Brown probably reversed its previous move and is back at D4. Move green into C3:
if Green is at B3: > Green, s.(Green is now at C3.)
if Green is at C2: > Green, e.(Green is now at C3.)
Brown moved either north to C4 or west to D3. Go directly to whichever it's at:
if Brown is at C4: > Green, e.(Both rocks are at C4.)
if Brown is at D3: > Green, s.(Both rocks are at D3.)
When the both rocks are together:
> jump to brown rock. take cube.(+25)
> put cube in box.(Grues are displayed.)
> write "dark" on cube. take "dark".
> put box and burin in zipper.
> learn blorple. blorple "dark".
Dark Room
> d.
Dark Cave
Frotz isn't working well here.
> examine pile.
> learn snavig. learn blorple. drop knife.
> save.
> d.
Grue Cave
Don't stop to admire the scenery; turn into a grue immediately and hurry with your task before it wears off.
> snavig grue.(Your view of the Grue Cave changes too.)
> d.
Light Pool / On Pillar
> climb pillar. take cube.(+25)
> d. u. u.
Dark Cave
> take knife.
> z. z.(Wait until you're human again; grues can't say spells.)
> blorple cube.
Fire Room
> put "dark" in zipper.
> n.
Volcano
The outcropping is too far away to jump to.
> examine outcropping. examine lava.
> take box. put cube in box.(Salamanders.)
> take cube. take burin. write "fire" on cube.
CAUTION: It's important that the box currently depicts salamanders. This opens the Fire Room's east exit to the gold box's location.
> throw box at outcropping.
> learn blorple. blorple "fire".
Fire Room
> e.
Outcropping
> take box. take cube.(You are blasted with magical power.)
> put cube in box. take cube. write "magic" on cube.
> take "mind"
> learn blorple. blorple "mind".
No Place
> e.
Inner Vault
Prepare for the challenge ahead:
> put "mind" and "fire" in zipper.
> learn blorple.(So you can make a quick getaway.)
> learn jindak. g. g.
> save.
You must have previously picked up the "magic" cube and increased your power in order for this usage of rezrov to work.
> rezrov door.(The door opens.)
> n.(The door slams shut behind you.)
Outer Vault
CAUTION: If you rezrov the iron door open, an alarm sounds and guards race towards you. If they reach you, you're dead.
CAUTION: SAVE doesn't work in this room!
CAUTION: Three applications of magic is all you get before an alarm fairy sounds the alarm. This includes using the gold box, which doesn't help anyway since all of these cubes make the box display turtles.
CAUTION: If you try to blorple while carrying more than one of these X cubes, you'll have none of them at your destination. You can't cheat this puzzle that way.
This setup is a classic "three weighings puzzle"; I easily found this Ask Dr Math page that gives several ways to solve this puzzle; I'll borrow the general solution suggested by Lars Prins. But instead of using scales and checking which plate is heavier or lighter, you'll use the jindak spell to see which pile glows brighter than the other. (Cubes not in either pile still glow, just not in any way that helps you.)
For each "weighing", record which pile glows brighter: 1 for the first pile, 2 for the second pile, or 0 if they glow the same.
For the first weighing, arrange the cubes so first pile is [x1, x2, x7, x10], second is [x3, x4, x6, x9].
> take x3. put it in second.
> take x4. put it in second.
> take x5. drop it.
> take x6. put it in second.
> take x7. put it in first.
> take x8. drop it.
> take x10. put it in first.
> take x11. drop it.
> take x12. drop it.
> look. jindak.
For the second weighing, first pile is [x1, x3, x8, x11], second is [x2, x5, x6, x7].
> take x2. put it in second.
> take x3. put it in first.
> take x4. drop it.
> take x5. put it in second.
> take x7. put it in second.
> take x8. put it in first.
> take x9. drop it.
> take x10. drop it.
> take x11. put it in first.
> look. jindak.
For the third weighing, first pile is [x2, x3, x9, x12], second is [x1, x4, x5, x8].
> take x1. put it in second.
> take x2. put it in first.
> take x4. put it in second.
> take x6. drop it.
> take x7. drop it.
> take x8. put it in second.
> take x9. put it in first.
> take x11. drop it.
> take x12. put it in first.
> look. jindak.
With this third use of magic, the alarm fairy appears and sounds the alarm. Look up your code in this table, and quickly grab the correct cube and blorple out of there!
112 or 221 > take x1. blorple x1.
121 or 212 > take x2. blorple x2.
211 or 122 > take x3. blorple x3.
202 or 101 > take x4. blorple x4.
011 or 022 > take x5. blorple x5.
220 or 110 > take x6. blorple x6.
120 or 210 > take x7. blorple x7.
012 or 021 > take x8. blorple x8.
201 or 102 > take x9. blorple x9.
100 or 200 > take x10. blorple x10.
010 or 020 > take x11. blorple x11.
001 or 002 > take x12. blorple x12.
Sand Room
> d.
Dungeon Cell (in the past)
You're back in time! The horrible truth is that you must leave this place the way you originally found it, with your spell book locked inside the cabinet!
> unlock cabinet with key. open cabinet. take vellum. examine it.
> learn blorple. learn blorple.
> put spell book in cabinet. close cabinet. lock cabinet with key.
> rezrov door. blorple "x5"(or whichever one it was)
Sand Room
You should still have the "magic" cube directly in hand, but if not, take it now.
> u.
Ruins Room (in the past)
The area is flooding; you can't go north. You've gone back in time!
Again, you must leave this place the way you originally found it, with the closed zipper containing the flimsy scroll.
> take sack. open it.(It has the flimsy scroll in it.)
> empty zipper into sack.
> enter zipper. close zipper.(Remember, the zipper is waterproof, and we need to leave the zipper here anyway. Unfortunately, we still need to work quickly, since the cold of the water can kill us too.)
> take flimsy scroll.
> copy girgol on vellum.(You need the boost by holding the "magic" cube.)
> drop flimsy. blorple "magic".
Magic Room
> e.
Castle
It's important to attack the shadow relatively early, so it freezes you early too. You need the time for its immobility spell to wear off so you're able to cast girgol when the shadow makes its jump.
Also, it should go without saying that you mustn't do anything that would tip the shadow off that its spell is wearing off. If you try to take a cube too soon, for example, the shadow will simply freeze you a second time.
Time resumes and the shadow completes its leap into the altered hypercube. Shadow, hypercube, the "magic" cube all vanish.
Then you're back in Belwit Square where Belboz declares that the age of magic is over.
Your score is 600 of a possible 600, in several moves. This puts you in the class of Scientist.
Extras
Characters
Humans
Sneffle of the Guild of Bakers speaks first in the Council Chamber. He gets turned into a tree toad.
Hoobly of the Guild of Brewers speaks second; he becomes a salamander.
Gzornenplatz of the Guild of Huntsmen speaks third; he becomes a leopard frog.
Ardis of the Guild of Poets speaks fourth; he becomes a newt.
Orkan of Thriff is a mage in the Council Chamber who is turned into a hellbender. To notice Orkan, try casting yomin at one of the other attendees.
A surly mayoral guard stands outside the manse in Belwit Square and is completely immune to all magicks. How annoying.
A hermit is living in a stone hut at the top of one mountain.
A merchant can be found selling carpets in his Emporium. Be careful not let him swindle you. After you've bought a carpet and left his Emporium, it will be permanently "closed for lunch".
Belboz is a mage resting at the Enchanters' Retreat. Please treat him with respect. He appears again for the epilogue, after you've saved the day.
There are also cameos of more guards both at Outer Vault and Dungeon Cell (in the past).
Abdul el-Flathead is named on the flying carpet's label. I assume he is either the actual maker of the carpet or the CEO of the Frobozz Magic Magic Carpet Company that manufactured it, but not the same person as the merchant.
Animals
A giant serpent encircles the Temple. It's so bored.
A giant roc will carry you to her nest, probably so her almost-born chick can eat you as its first meal.
A baby roc will hatch from its egg. It's very hungry and if it had your burin, it would write "snack" on you. Then eat you.
A grouper swims in the ocean. It's sometimes hungry, sometimes nervous.
There's also all the amphibians that the people in the Council Chamber turned into: toads, frogs, efts, newts, and salamanders. The efts are the really jumpy ones.
Some bats are just hanging around in the Temple's rafters.
Both wild creatures and wild men (difficult to tell apart) can kill you in the Wilderness.
And you can sometimes see a rabbit, birds, and insects in the Meadow.
Other creatures
An ogre, allergic to ragweed, is having a miserable time in its Cave. After you save the universe, you ought to send him a card or something.
A rodent idol in the Temple can be briefly brought to life, thanks to the malyon spell. He's cruel, hungry, and has appalling table manners.
Two living rocks, one green-eyed and one brown-eyed, live on a strange gridded Plain. They have a rocky relationship.
Several grues live in the Grue Cave. Don't associate with them more than you have to.
An alarm fairy will appear in the Outer Vault after your third use of magic there. She loves gratuitous violence.
Your shadow self, who is responsible for the failures of magic, is first seen rushing out the door of the Council Chamber after turning everyone else into amphibians. Yes, your shadow did that. It's very talented. It then leaves the "earth" cube for you and puts the blorple spell into your spell book, knowing that you'll start a quest to find twelve more cubes. It will usually resurrect you if you die. And you'll finally meet it face-to-face in a Castle, where it will Explain All.
Credits
This is Appendix G from the printed manual that was included with the game:
Appendix G
About the Author
Dave Lebling was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in suburban Maryland. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and worked at MIT's Laboratory for Computer Science, where he developed an interest in computer entertainments. He was a co-author of the original mainframe ZORK. He has co-authored ZORK I, ZORK II, ZORK III, and ENCHANTER, and written STARCROSS, SUSPECT, and SPELLBREAKER on his own. He is married and lives in a suburb of Boston, where his appetite for the printed word is restrained only by the volume of his house.
Endings
There are many ways your character can die from which you may be resurrected:
You fall to your death from Midair if the roc doesn't show up to catch you. You're not always caught!
The ogre catches and kills you if he finds you in his lair when his sneezing fit is over. The ogre also kills you if you just stand in his Cave for too long.
You can be crushed by falling boulders on the cliff.
You can be crushed by the collapsing stone hut if you malyon the cube when it's still embedded in the wall.
You fall to your death if you go down from Dungeon into the Oubliette when it's not filled with water.
You fall to your death if you continue west (in shrunken size) from Ruined Pipe.
The animated rodent idol eats you if either he sees you or you give him a way to find you.
You turn into unliving basalt if you cast snavig on the animated rodent idol.
Wild animals and wild men eat you if you land the flying carpet in the wilderness.
You fall to your death if you look under the carpet when you're flying on it. And you lose the carpet, too.
The baby roc eats you if you're there when its egg hatches.
You drown in the ocean if you stay there too long and fall asleep there.
Grues kill you if you bring light into the Grue Cave or if you don't shapechange yourself into a grue.
You fry to a crisp when you shapechange into a grue if you earlier frotzed yourself and are currently a source of light.
Guards kill you if you rezrov the iron door open in the Outer Vault and sound the alarm. Guards also kill you if they're summoned by the alarm fairy and you don't escape the vault in time.
Guards kill you if you rezrov the door of the Dungeon Cell in the past and don't blorple away immediately afterwards.
You fall into the lava if you try to fly the carpet up from Volcano or Volcano Base.
There are also final deaths from which you are not resurrected:
Any normal death after you've already been resurrected three times. The shadowy figure gives up on you and will not resurrect you a fourth time.
You are imprisoned and you starve to death if you dare try to attack Belboz, snavig Belboz, answer his question incorrectly, or take the key from Belboz before he's given it to you.
You are killed by time paradox if you try to blorple away from the past settings of the Dungeon Cell or Ruins Room without setting everything up so they're the way you originally found them years later.
Losing the final challenge in the Castle is fatal, either because the shadow seizes control of the universe or because the universe is destroyed.
You win the game by defeating your shadow self in the Castle and, in the process, end the age of magic.
Inventory
Cubes of Foundation
Each cube is styled as a featureless white cube until you write something on it with the burin. In other games set in Zork, these are also called the Cubes of Foundation. If you ask Belboz about the cubes, he'll tell you a legend about how during the foundation of the world, fundamental forces of nature were bound with cubes, and he speculates that anyone who could control the cubes would have the power to alter reality itself.
Each cube has a distinct blorple destination or foundational space, that is, the location you're transported to when you cast blorple on the cube; these destinations exist outside of normal reality. Or possibly these destinations are inside the cube; when you blorple a cube, the cube disappears, but it returns to you when you leave these foundational spaces. (Although the "death" cube can be inside the Boneyard if you're carrying that cube when you die, a bizarre exception to the rule.)
Each cube also has representative creatures that are displayed on the gold box when you put the cube into the box. Furthermore, Spellbreaker has secret two-letter names for each of the cubes where the second letter is Q; so there's AQ (the A Qube), BQ (the B Qube), and so on.
I'm listing the cubes in the order we acquire them in my walkthrough:
The "earth" cube (AQ) is found in Belwit Square after the orange cloud dissipates. Its blorple destination is Packed Earth and its representative creatures are moles.
The "life" cube (HQ) is in the Stone Hut's wall, but the hermit won't let you take it when it's the hut's keystone. Caskly the hut to free the cube safely, then take the cube. Its blorple destination is the Soft Room and its representative creatures are rabbits.
The "water" cube (BQ) is in the gold box found in the Ogre Lair. Its blorple destination is the Water Room and its representative creatures are dolphins.
The "air" cube (CQ) is in the rodent idol's mouth in the Temple. Its blorple destination is the Air Room and its representative creatures are eagles.
The "change" cube (JQ) is in the western "In Pipe" location between the Oubliette and the the Ruins Room. You'll need to shrink yourself using the liskon spell to enter the channel and pipes. This cube's blorple destination is the Changing Room and its representative creatures are spiders.
The "mind" cube (FQ) is in the northwestern Octagonal Room. You'll need the compass rose to reach it. This cube's blorple destination is the No Place and its representative creatures are owls.
The "fate" cube (LQ) is In Roc's Nest, but the roc won't let you take it. You'll need to fly the blue carpet from the Guard Tower west to the roc's nest when the roc won't be there to stop you. But learn blorple ahead of time so you can escape the nest quickly before the egg hatches. This cube's blorple destination is the String Room and its representative creatures are spiders.
The "death" cube (IQ) is in the Dungeon above the Oubliette. To get there, you'll need to tinsot the outflow pipe twice to block it with ice, flooding the Oubliette; the water carries you upward. Cast tinsot on the water itself to create a floe to stand on, and rezrov the trap door open. This cube's blorple destination is the Boneyard and its representative creatures are worms.
The "light" cube (GQ) is in the grouper nest at Ocean Floor. Shapechange yourself into a grouper, using snavig, to reach it. Its blorple destination is the Light Room and its representative creatures are fireflies.
The "dark" cube (EQ) is on the brown eyed rock in the Plain. To get this cube, give the lava fragment to the green eyed rock, get on the rock, then direct it around so both rocks are in the same place. You'll need to travel on the diagonal at the northwest corner of the grid to manage this because of node parity. When both rocks are in the same place, jump to the brown eyed rock and take its cube. Its blorple destination is the Dark Room and its representative creatures are grues.
The "fire" cube (DQ) is at On Pillar past the Grue Cave. You'll need to leave behind or hide your light sources and snavig a grue in order to reach this cube. Its blorple destination is the Fire Room and its representative creatures are salamanders.
The "magic" cube (MQ) is on an Outcropping in a volcano. You'll need to use the gold box as a teleportation tool to get to the outcropping and take the cube. Its blorple destination is the Magic Room and its representative creatures are unicorns.
Note that holding the "magic" cube increases your magical abilities, such as when you rezrov the vault door, copy girgol onto the vellum scroll, or resisting magical immobility.
The "time" cube (KQ) is one of twelve cubes labelled "x1" to "x12" in the Outer Vault. You'll need to use jindak to solve a variant of the three weighings puzzle to determine which is the true "time" cube. Its blorple destination is the Sand Room and its representative creatures are turtles.
By the way, Spellbreaker does not officially tell us what the foundational forces of Zork are; it only hints at them, so my names for the cubes are just my best guesses. Most of the cubes' natures are clear, but there is some disagreement about what the "fate" and "mind" cubes actually represent.
Scrolls
Each scroll has at most one spell on it. When possible, gnusto these scroll spells in order to copy them into your spell book so you can use these new spells more than once. Casting a spell directly from a scroll or successfully gnusto-ing a scroll's spell destroys that scroll.
dirty scroll. It's at Cliff Middle.
The dirty scroll has the throck spell (cause plants to grow).
flimsy scroll. It's in the zipper in the Ruins Room.
The flimsy scroll has the girgol spell (stop time).
Because girgol is complicated, you won't be able to use gnusto to put girgol into your spell book.
At Cliff Top, cast girgol to stop an avalanche. The flimsy scroll is destroyed.
Much later in the game, you'll re-find the flimsy scroll inside a sack, also at Ruins Room, but in the past. You must copy girgol from the flimsy scroll onto the vellum scroll and leave the flimsy scroll in the closed zipper behind you, just as you originally found them. You'll need both the burin and the "magic" cube in hand for this copying to succeed.
stained scroll. It's in the Roc Nest.
The stained scroll has the caskly spell (cause perfection).
moldy book. It's inside the cabinet in the Dungeon Cell.
Rezrov the cabinet open, then caskly the moldy book to restore its snavig spell (shape change). Then gnusto snavig to copy snavig into your spell book, destroying the moldy book.
Late in the game, you'll find yourself back in the Dungeon Cell in the past and you must then leave your spell book inside the locked cabinet so that years later, it'll become the moldy book!
vellum scroll. It's inside the cabinet in the Dungeon Cell back in the past.
Careful! Don't rezrov the cabinet open! Instead, unlock the cabinet with the key that Belboz gave you. You must duplicate the conditions of the cell the way you originally found them, minus the decay due to time. This means you should take the vellum scroll, but leave your spell book inside an intact locked cabinet, and blow off the dungeon cell door with a rezrov.
Use the vellum scroll to make a copy of girgol when you re-find the flimsy scroll in the past; you must be holding both your burin and the "magic" cube for this copying to work.
Other Magical Items
magic burin. You're carrying it.
It's a writing implement, like a pen. Use it to write on the cubes so you can tell them apart. Use double-quotes around the word you're writing; e.g.: write "earth" on cube.
Late in the game, use the burin to copy girgol from the flimsy scroll onto the vellum scroll. Since girgol is complicated, you must be holding the "magic" cube for this copying to succeed.
spell book. You're carrying it and it contains several spells to start with.
You must be holding the book in order to learn a spell from it.
When you gnusto a spell from a scroll, the spell gets copied into your spell book and destroys the scroll, but gnusto will fail if the scroll's spell is long and complicated.
Be careful not to get the book wet; the ink will run and the book will be useless to you thereafter; put the book into the zipper and close the zipper to protect your spell book from water damage.
Late in the game, you must sacrifice your spell book by locking it into the oak cabinet in the Dungeon Cell in the past so that it will eventually become the moldy book that you originally found in the cabinet.
zipper. It's in the Ruins Room.
The zipper is a bag of holding. You can enter it, but you must hold it in order to do that. It contains the flimsy scroll initially, but that won't be obvious until you enter it with a light source or put a light source inside it.
The zipper is waterproof when closed; use it to protect your spell book and scrolls from water damage.
Late in the game, you must sacrifice the zipper, leaving it in the past so you'll find it years later. Empty everything from the zipper into a sack but leave the flimsy scroll in the zipper because you need to find that too. Don't forget to close the zipper.
Only cubes can go into the box. The decorations on the box change based on which cube was last in it: butterflies ("change"), dolphins ("water"), eagles ("air"), fireflies ("light"), moles ("earth"), owls ("mind"), rabbits ("life"), salamanders ("fire"), spiders ("fate"), turtles ("time"), unicorns ("magic"), and worms ("death"). This is one way to identify a cube's nature without blorple-ing it.
However, the box will not help you in the Outer Vault, all twelve cubes there will alter the box to show turtles.
The box is also a teleportation device. First key the box to a specific cube (except the "time" cube) by inserting that cube. Take the cube back and put the box where you want to teleport to, such as by throwing it to the outcropping seen at Volcano. It doesn't matter if the box is open or not. Blorple the cube you used to key the box, then use the exit from its foundational space that's normally blocked. You'll arrive where the gold box is, within reason.
You cannot teleport to the box if it's in a foundational space (like Packed Earth, etc.), if it's in a protected location (like Emporium), or enclosed (like inside the Dungeon Cell cabinet). The hermit's hut is too far to throw the box at; you can't revisit the hermit that way.
If you drop the box when in Midair, it'll land in the Wilderness, an instant death location. If you put the box into the lava at the Volcano, the box is destroyed.
beautiful blue carpet. It's in the Emporium.
You can buy the blue carpet from the merchant with the gold coin and some haggling. First offer 200 zm then increase your subsequent offers by 100 zorkmid increments until he agrees to a 500 zorkmids price. Make sure to explicitly take the blue carpet after you hand over the coin since he tries to stiff you with the red carpet.
Alternatively, you can buy the blue carpet by giving the opal eye to the merchant. If you use the opal this way, you will not need to haggle.
To use the blue carpet, drop it almost any location with open sky above you, sit on it, then go up. The carpet doesn't work indoors, nor at Belwit Square or on the Plain.
The carpet also stops working if you remove its label; turn the carpet over to find the label and read it. Don't fly up from volcano locations; the label will burn off and you'll die falling into the lava.
The only safe places to land are In Roc Nest (before the egg hatches) and Guard Tower. You will need to use the carpet to fly up from the Guard Tower and west to In Roc Nest as part of the puzzle of getting the "fate" cube from the nest.
compass rose. Found in the Bare Room.
Put the rose into the carving in the Carving Room to open a one-way hole into the southeastern Octagonal Room but make sure you take the compass rose before entering the hole.
In the Octagonal Rooms, touch the compass rose to silver runes; if the matching arm of the compass is also silver, the arm dulls and a one-way passage opens up in that wall. This means you can only use each direction on the compass rose once in this maze. Choose going northwest, west, or northeast whenever possible; your destination is the northwestern Octagonal Room which has the "mind" cube in it.
Note that putting the rose in the Carving Room's carving turns the rose's north arm dull but also restores all its other arms to silver, so it is possible to retry the Octagonal Rooms puzzle without restoring the game from an earlier save position.
Twelve cubes ("x1" cube to "x12" cube). They're in two piles in the Outer Vault.
One of these cubes is the real "time" cube; the other eleven are fakes.
You must solve a variant of the three weighings puzzle, using three castings of jindak to compare the brightness of glows between the two piles of cubes. The gold box is of no help in telling them apart because the box will display turtles for any of them.
Incidentally, these fake cubes also have secret names (AZ, BZ, etc. to KZ) but they're scrambled and re-inscribed with new "x"-number names every time you enter the Outer Vault, so you can't use a cube's secret name to solve this puzzle.
Mundane Items
knife. You're carrying it.
I recommend that you frotz the knife early in the game to use as a light-source, but make sure the grues in Grue Cave don't see it!
You won't ever need to cut anything with the knife.
smoked fish. It's in the Guild Hall.
When in Mid-Ocean, throw the smoked fish at the "water" cube to convince the grouper to eat the smoked fish, leaving both the cube and the bottle for you to take.
chunk of rye bread. It's in the Guild Hall.
You can use the bread instead of the smoked fish to deal with the grouper. When you're planning to snavig the grouper and explore the ocean floor, throw the bread at the "water" cube so the grouper doesn't eat it.
gold coin. It's at Mountain Top.
In the Emporium, after some haggling, use the coin to buy the beautiful blue carpet. Make sure to explicitly take the blue carpet.
weed. It's in the Meadow; pull it twice to take it. It's ragweed.
Plant the weed in the Cave where the ogre is. Cast throck on the weed to incapacitate the ogre for several turns so you can raid its Ogre Lair.
pair of pruning shears. They're in the Meadow.
Ignore them; don't cut the weed with them.
bottle. It's in Mid-Ocean.
See smoked fish on how to get the bottle without sacrificing the "water" cube to the grouper.
The bottle contains the damp scroll. The bottle has no other use after you get the scroll.
opal eye. It's on the rodent idol in the Temple.
To get the eye, climb the idol and pry the eye with your knife. Then take the eye off its nose before it falls; if it falls, it smashes to pieces. The idol cannot see without its eye.
The opal can be used as alternate way of paying for the blue carpet. If you use the opal this way, you will not need to haggle.
scruffy red carpet. It's in the Emporium.
Although you can haggle for it and buy it, you really want the blue carpet instead. The red carpet is worthless to you.
wrought iron key. Belboz gives the key to you at Enchanters' Retreat after you answer his copy protection question.
This key unlocks and locks the cabinet in the Dungeon Cell in the past. You'll need to use the key instead of rezrov in order to duplicate the conditions of the cell when you first found it. So, yes, you'll be locking away your spell book, which over time, will become the moldy book you found there.
lava fragment. It's at Volcano Base.
Use tinsot it to cool the fragment, then take it. Or you can caskly the fragment; either method works.
Give the fragment to the green eyed rock on the Plain, to make it cooperative. It'll eat it.
sack. It's in the Ruins Room, but in the past.
The sack contains the same flimsy scroll that you originally found in the zipper. You must manage things by emptying everything from the zipper into the sack, enter the zipper, close it from inside, copy the girgol spell from the flimsy scroll to the blank vellum scroll, then blorple away, leaving the flimsy scroll in the closed zipper as you originally found it. If you don't, a time paradox kills you permanently.
Score
The response to SCORE is:
Your score is your-score of a possible 600, in several moves. This puts you in the class of ranking.
Points are awarded as follows:
15 points for reading your spell book and discovering the blorple spell has been added to it.
25 points for taking the "earth" cube in Belwit Square.
10 points for taking the moldy book from the cabinet in the Dungeon Cell.
15 points for casting caskly on the moldy book, restoring it somewhat.
25 points for taking the "fate" cube from In Roc Nest.
25 points for correctly answering Belboz's question about enchanters.
25 points for taking the "light" cube from the grouper's nest at Ocean Floor.
25 points for taking the "dark" cube from the brown eyed rock on the Plain.
25 points for taking the "fire" cube at On Pillar.
25 points for taking the "magic" cube from the volcano's Outcropping.
25 points for reaching the Sand Room via the correct "time" cube from the Outer Vault.
10 points for taking the vellum scroll from the Dungeon Cell cabinet in the past.
25 points for successfully leaving the Dungeon Cell in the past as you should.
25 points for successfully leaving the Ruins Room in the past as you should.
50 points for successfully destroying your shadow self's plans.
Also, your total score can be set to −99 points if the shadow takes over the universe or if the universe is destroyed during the finale at the Castle.
The possible rankings are:
Menace to Society.(−99 points)
Charlatan.(0 to 45 points)
Parlor Magician.(50 to 95 points)
Magician.(100 to 145 points)
Novice Enchanter.(150 to 195 points)
Enchanter.(200 to 245 points)
Expert Enchanter.(250 to 295 points)
Novice Sorcerer.(300 to 345 points)
Sorcerer.(350 to 395 points)
Expert Sorcerer.(400 to 445 points)
Novice Mage.(450 to 495 points)
Mage.(500 to 545 points)
Archimage.(550 to 595 points)
Scientist.(600 points)
Spells
Commands for managing your spells:
read spell book lists the spells that have been recorded in your spell book.
spells shows the spells that you've currently memorized; you usually cast spells from your memory.
learn spell copies a spell from your spell book into your memory. You must be holding the spell book and have enough light to read it. You can have multiple copies of the same spell in your memory. Note that you have three spells permanently memorized (gnusto, frotz, and rezrov); you don't need to "learn" these three spells to use them. Not counting these permanently memorized spells, you can have up to four spells stored in your memory. If you try to learn a fifth spell, one of the other four spells is forgotten.
gnusto spell copies a spell from a scroll into your spell book, destroying the scroll. See gnusto.
copy spell to scroll lets you copy a spell from a spell book or scroll onto a blank scroll. You will need light to see, your magic burin to do the actual copying, and you must be holding both the scrolls you're copying from and to.
Other general notes about spellcasting:
On tiredness: You will forget one or more of your learned spells if you get too tired and sleepy. Tiredness also increases the risk of spell failure. And when you sleep, you will forget all your learned spells.
On anti-magic: Some people, places, and things are warded against your spells, and some creatures have ways to defend themselves against your magic even without any magic of their own.
The guildmasters in the Council Chamber are protected from your spells because your fellow enchanter, Orkan of Thriff, will stop you if you try anything.
The guard at Belwit Square, outside the mayor's manse, is immune to your spells.
The giant roc will destroy your concentration for any spell that she thinks is a threat to her or to her egg. If she's carrying you in her claws, all she has to do is squeeze you. If you're in the nest, she just needs to screech to frustrate you. But she has no objection to blorple or yomin, at least.
Belboz will not just stop you if you dare try a spell more potent than yomin against him. He will also imprison you and leave you to die in your cell.
The gridded Plain (where the eyed rocks are) seems to obey slightly different rules of reality; most spells cast there (except for blorple) fail spectacularly. Your attempts at magic appear as the burstings of purple balloons.
The door to the Emporium is locked and magically protected against rezrov after you've bought a carpet.
The save command doesn't work in the Outer Vault. "That spell doesn't work here."
The spells you can acquire and use in this game are:
blorplesomething (explore an object's mystic connections).
Found: In your spell book immediately after everyone in the Council Chamber turns into amphibians during the prologue.
Limitations: You must be holding the thing to blorple. The spell doesn't work in foundational spaces (Packed Earth, Water Room, Boneyard, etc.) which are reached by blorple. The spell is mostly of use with cubes; blorple-ing any other object usually just takes you to Nondescript Room whose only exit returns you to the place you blorpled from.
Limitations: It's too complicated to gnusto into your spellbook, so you can only use it once. The effect is temporary; things held immobile by the spell will start moving again after a few turns.
Do: cast girgol at Cliff Top to make a climbable series of midair boulders so you can reach Mountain Top; note they must already be falling at the time.
Do: cast girgol in the Castle just as your shadow self is about to leap into the hypercube.
gnustospell (write a magic spell into a spell book).
Found: In your spell book. You also have this spell memorized permamently.
Limitations: You must be holding both the scroll you're gnusto-ing from and your spell book. You cannot gnusto long and complicated spells like girgol; those spells will have to used only once directly from their scrolls, destroying those scrolls.
Do: gnusto each spell on every scroll you find; this destroys the scroll but copies the spell into your spell book.
Do: cast lesoch when surrounded by orange smoke in Belwit Square. You can also wait several turns instead for it to dissipate on its own, but lesoch is faster.
Do: cast lesoch when In Thick Clouds to disperse them. You don't actually need to use lesoch, though; it's just faster than flying around randomly.
liskonsomeone (shrink a living thing).
Found: On the damp scroll in the bottle found at Mid-Ocean.
Do: cast liskon on the serpent so you can get past him to the Temple.
Do: cast liskon on yourself so you can enter the water channel in the Oubliette. Inventory items are always the right size for you, regardless of your size in a let's-not-worry-about-that sort of way.
Limitations: The effect is temporary; the shrunken creature will regain its original size after a few turns.
Do: malyon the rodent idol in the Temple, but only when you've pried out its eye and climbed off of it first.
Don't: malyon the cube at Stone Hut when it's still embedded in the wall. You'll die when the hut collapses on top of you.
Note: Most animated items just dance a jig for a short time.
rezrovsomething (open even locked or enchanted objects).
Found: In your spell book. You also have this spell memorized permamently.
Do: rezrov the cabinet in the Dungeon Cell when you first find it.
Do: rezrov the alabaster plug in the west wall of the northern Octagonal Room.
Do: rezrov the vault door at Inner Vault; it helps if you're holding the "magic" cube to boost your strength.
Don't rezrov the north door at Outer Vault; this gets you killed by several guards.
Don't rezrov the cabinet in the Dungeon Cell when you're in the past; unlock and lock it with the wrought iron key.
Do rezrov the Dungeon Cell door in the past when you're completely done there.
Note: Can't rezrov the roc's egg. Can't rezrov the door at the Bazaar; it's locked by powerful magic.
snavigsomeone (shape change).
Found: In the moldy book in the oak cabinet in the Dungeon Cell after casting caskly on the book.
Effect: You can change your shape to copy the shape of some other creature in your immediate vicinity.
Limitations: The creature to copy must be close by; you cannot try to turn into a roc at Guard Tower when it is still far away. You will not be able to cast spells in animal form and may even be forced to drop all your possessions. The effect is temporary; it wears off after several turns.
Do: snavig the grouper in Mid-Ocean; this will let you swim to Ocean Floor where the "light" cube is.
Do: snavig a grue in Grue Cave; this will let you go past them to where the "fire" cube is.
Don't: snavig Belboz. He'll stop you, imprison you, and you'll starve to death. And you'll not be resurrected.
Do: throck the weed after you plant it in the ogre's Cave.
Note: There's scarcely any other plants in the game to even try throck on other than the weed. Throcking the grass in the Meadow does nothing, as if it were any other background scenery.
Do: tinsot the outflow pipe of the Oubliette to block it with ice.
Do: tinsot the rising water in the Oubliette to create an ice floe you can stand on.
Do: tinsot the lava fragment at Volcano Base so it's cool enough to take.
Limitations: Frozen items tend not to stay frozen; ice will melt after several turns. Creatures break out from a thin layer of ice immediately, and a thin layer of ice on most inanimate objects is usually irrevelant.
Limitations: Even when it works, you tend to get only a general impression of what the target creature is thinking or feeling. And it only works on actual creatures; yomin won't work on the roc egg, even though it's about to hatch and there's a thinking creature inside it.
Note: There is no creature in the game that you must use yomin on, but reading the minds of the ogre and serpent do give you a bit more of a clue what to do with them.
Other spells mentioned by the game:
fripple is some sort of ward against wild beasts, according to Gzornenplatz.
gloth folds dough 83 times, according to Sneffle.
golmac is a spell created by Barbel, according to one of the trading card feelies.
Some final thoughts
So who made the Cubes in the first place? My best guess is the Implementors. But it's a little less obvious how the Cubes ended up in all the weird places you find them, although it's pretty clear that the Octagonal Rooms and the Outer Vault exist only to house their Cubes. Held in trust until someone worthy comes to claim them, I guess.
The Zork universe likes some time paradoxes more than others. It has no problem with objects like the zipper or snavig spell having no origin. Think about it: the zipper is either in your possession or waiting for you to pick it up from where you left it. If it was manufactered and bought in Thriff, say, there's no obvious point in the narrative where the older zipper can be replaced with the newer one. And the snavig spell only exists in your spell book or the moldy book it turns into; there's no scroll where it was written down by someone else first.
I note that the Guard Tower is visible from Midair if and only if you've previously visited there, and I think that's to prevent the player from skipping the going-up-the-oubliette puzzle. If the player can always reach the Guard Tower by carpet, there'd be no need to go through the oubliette's trap door at all.
I'm guessing the Fire Room has an exit to Cliff Top and the Magic Room has an exit to Meadow only because it was starting to look odd that the foundational spaces found late in the game were connected to only one location each. So, linking back to previous locations in the game makes some sense, but why those locations? What does the Cliff Top have to do with fire or the Meadow have to do with magic?
Your shadow manages to disrupt the natural order of things with merely five of the Cubes, disrupting magic without control of the "magic" cube, turning people into frogs without either the "life" or "change" cubes, and resurrecting you without either the "time" or "death" cube. And all you can really do with thirteen of the Cubes is teleport to various places? With the mild exception of the "magic" cube making your spells stronger, you yourself never actually control any of the foundational forces using the Cubes. I feel ever so slightly gypped.
It's also a bit sad that even though you get such a cool item as a flying carpet, there's only two places in the game where it's ever safe to land it: In Roc Nest and Guard Tower. And when the roc egg hatches, the nest isn't safe anymore.
You aren't willing to jump into the hypercube and control the universe yourself: Though tempted, you cannot bring yourself to do it.
Although Belboz declares that the Age of Magic is over at the end of the game, and although the final ranking is Scientist, magic continues just fine in subsequent Zork games which makes me wonder what really was accomplished at this game's end. If magic continues without its Cube, perhaps that just means that a control widget was destroyed, not the force of magic itself. And maybe Belboz just didn't know any better.
