SPELLBREAKER, by Infocom, is one of the most difficult games I've ever played.
As with other Infocom games, there's more than one way to solve it. This
walkthru is one possible solution. Special thanks to Ms. Wiz, Gulliver Foyle
and Deranged Bat, for without their help, this walkthru would not be possible.
SPELLS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM:
(1) BLORPLE - Explores objects' magic - appears in Spell Book after Belwit
Square. (2) LESOCH - Causes gust of wind - in Spell Book at start of game. (3)
YOMIN - Mind probe - in Spell Book at start of game. (4) FROTZ - Causes object
to give off light - in Spell Book at start of game. (5) REZROV - Opens locked
or enchanted objects - in Spell Book at start of game. (6) GNUSTO - Copies
spells into Spell Book - in Spell Book at start of game. (7) MALYON - Animates
objects - in Spell Book at start of game. (8) JINDAK - Detects magic - in Spell
Book at start of game. (9) GIRGOL - Stops time (long and complicated) - found
in zipper on Flimsy Scroll. (10) THROCK - Causes plants to grow - found on Mid
Cliff on Dirty Scroll. (11) CASKLY - Causes perfection - found in Roc's Nest on
Stained Scroll. (12) ESPNIS - Causes sleep - found in Ogre's Cave on Dusty
Scroll. (13) LISKON - Causes living things to shrink - found in bottle in ocean
on Damp Scroll. (14) TINSOT - Freezes things - found in Glacier Room on White
Scroll. (15) SNAVIG - Changes shape - found in Moldy Book in Cell.
CUBES AND WHERE TO FIND THEM:
NOTE: When you find the cubes, write on them with the Magic Burin in order to
identify each. I labeled each cube by the name of the room to which it
transported me. If you have labeled your cubes differently, please make the
necessary changes where I refer to a cube by "my label".
(1) "Earth" cube - Found in Belwit Square. (2) "Soft" cube - Found in Hut. (3)
"Water" cube - Found in Ogre's Cave. (4) "Change" cube - Found in Outflow Pipe.
(5) "Air" cube - Found in Idol's mouth in the Temple. (6) "Spider" cube - Found
in Roc's Nest. (7) "Light" Cube - Found in grouper's Nest. (8) "Bones" cube -
Found in Dungeon. (9) "No Place" cube - Found in Octagonal Rooms. (10) "Dark"
Cube - Found on Brown Eyed Rock. (11) "Fire" cube - Found in Grue's Cave. (12)
"Magic" cube - Found on Volcano Outcropping. (13) "x?" cube - Found in Inner
Vault. (14) Hypercube - Created by the Shadow in the Castle.
SPELLBREAKER
Part Two
COUNCIL CHAMBER/GUILD HALL. When the game starts, you are in the Council
Chamber with the other Guild Members. Wait and listen to the speeches to get an
idea of what is happening to magic. The shadowy figure will appear and turn
everyone (except you) into various amphibians. Follow the shadowy figure to
Belwit Square. Wait for the smoke to clear. Take cube he left there. Don't
waste time with the guard. Go back inside the Guild Hall. Take the bread and
fish. Read your Spell Book. Learn the BLORPLE spell. BLORPLE the cube. This
will take you to the Packed Earth Room.
PACKED EARTH. It's dark. FROTZ some object. I FROTZed the knife. Explore. Go
east to the Hall of Stone then south to the Ruins Room. Get the zipper, open
it, and enter zipper. Find and take the Flimsy Scroll. This is the GIRGOL
spell, which is long and complicated. You can't copy it into your Spell Book so
keep the scroll. Exit the zipper, but keep it because you will need it! While
you're in this territory, go north and explore the Smooth Room. You might YOMIN
the Snake just to get an idea of what it's all about. BLORPLE back to the
Packed Earth Room. Examine the hole in Packed Earth. Go down. The Roc will
catch you and take you to her nest.
ROC'S NEST-FIRST TIME. You'll find a Stained Scroll and a Cube. You can't get
the Cube while Mama Roc is present. You'll have to return later when you have
gained a means of transportation and know Mama is away. Take the Stained
Scroll, which contains the CASKLY Spell. GNUSTO CASKLY. Then BLORPLE back to
the Packed Earth Room and explore some more.
OGRE'S CAVE-FIRST TIME. Exploring the area east and north of Packed Earth will
result in your finding an Ogre sitting in the entrance of a cave. There is a
passage going down but the Ogre prevents you from entering this passage. The
Ogre has the sniffles (perhaps he has an allergy problem). Don't try to help
him. Later, you should look for some means to aggravate his problem; but, for
now, go on to the Cliff.
CLIFF/AVALANCHE. You'll find a Dirty Scroll on the Mid Cliff. This is the
THROCK spell. Take it and GNUSTO THROCK. Go up the mountain. Timing is critical
here. You'll be warned a couple of times that the rocks are about to fall but
continue up. I found it best to wait until the avalanche had started and the
rocks made a "curtain..." then GIRGOL. Time stops and the rocks are frozen in
space. Climb the rocks to top of mountain and follow the trail to the hut.
You'll find a gold zorkmid coin. Take it, then enter the hut.
HERMIT'S HUT. This is the hermit's home. He is very possessive of it and the
Cube which supports it. Simply pointing at the cube will cause the hermit to
become very talkative. He will explain why you cannot take the cube. It's a
good idea to SAVE the game here for I found that my magic often "flickered",
and it's a pain to replay the whole thing because a spell does not work
properly. Now CASKLY the hut and take the Cube. Also, I found that the CASKLY
spell worked better if I cast it before I heard the noise of the avalanche
resume. Once you have taken the Cube from the hut, BLORPLE it to get to the
Soft Room.
SOFT ROOM. Go south to the Meadow. You'll find a ragweed and a pair of pruning
shears here. Take both but be sure to pull up the ragweed - don't cut it.
BLORPLE the "Earth" cube and return to Packed Earth. Go east then north to
reach the entrance to the Ogre's Cave.
OGRE-SECOND TIME. Plant the weed in the Cave and THROCK weed. Go down the
passage and get the Gold Box and the Dusty Scroll. Go back to the Cliff Bottom
to examine them. The Dusty scroll contains the ESPNIS spell. GNUSTO ESPNIS.
Then check out the box (see BOX for details). Open it and take the Cube.
Blorple this cube to reach the Water Room.
BOX. Examine the box. Notice the designs on it. Try putting different Cubes in
it and note how the designs change - the box identifies the Cubes. Try leaving
the box somewhere while you BLORPLE to another location. Then enter one of the
other exits which always says "Oddly, though there appears...". You will find
that you can enter the "Oddly...Exit" and that you are back to where you left
the box. This will be the solution to a problem later in the game.
WATER ROOM. You'll be returning here more than once. I dealt with the south
exit first. Memorize BLORPLE, get bread (or fish), drop all except bread (or
fish) and go south. You will fall into the ocean. A hungry grouper will appear
while the cube and a bottle are floating away. Drop the bread (or fish) for the
grouper and get the Cube. The grouper will eat the food you dropped and swim
away. You should then get the bottle. BLORPLE the "Water" cube and return to
the Water Room. Open the bottle and get the Damp Scroll which contains the
LISKON spell. GNUSTO LISKON. Go north to the Oubliette.
SPELLBREAKER
Part Three
OUBLIETTE-FIRST TIME. You must solve this one twice - both "up" and "down". I
had the spell I needed so I went down first. Memorize LISKON and put ALL but
your light source in the zipper (this is assuming that the Spell Book is not
your light source). Close the zipper then LISKON yourself and enter the outflow
pipe. The current will carry you west. Watch for a white cube in a damaged
section of the pipe. Take the cube and continue west until you reach the Ruins
Room then exit the pipe. You can either BLORPLE the Cube you found in the pipe
and go to the Changing Room, or you can go to the Temple now. I went to the
Temple at this time.
TEMPLE/IDOL. To get to the Temple you must get past the Snake in the Smooth
Room. By YOMIN, you have learned that he is just an over-grown snake which is
swallowing his own tail. Learn the LISKON spell and LISKON the Snake. As soon
as he shrinks enough to allow you to pass, go north twice to reach the Temple.
The Temple contains an Idol which has one large opal eye and holds a Cube in
its mouth. You need both the cube and the opal. To get the opal you must climb
the idol, pry the opal with the shears or the knife and take the opal. Getting
the Cube is a bit more of a challenge. Be sure to climb down from the Idol
before you try anything else. Once you have the opal, the Idol will be "blind"
which will help in what follows. Timing is critical for the next part so a SAVE
GAME would be a wise move. Learn MALYON and ESPNIS. MALYON the Idol, take a
LOOK and then ESPNIS Idol. The objective here is to bring the Idol to life,
then cause him to become sleepy and turn back into stone while in the *MIDDLE*
of a yawn (with his mouth wide open). It might take several tries. After you
accomplish this, take the cube from his mouth and BLORPLE it to reach the Air
Room.
AIR ROOM. Going south from the Air Room I fell through the clouds and was once
again caught by the Roc and taken to the Roc's Nest but one can't depend on
that Roc. She may not catch you this time and there's no reason to go back to
the nest at this particular time; so, may I recommend avoiding the southern
exit. Go north to Glacier Room. Get the White Scroll which contains the TINSOT
spell. GNUSTO TINSOT. Blorple back to the Air Room. Go west to the Bazaar. Here
you must bargain with the merchant to obtain a magic carpet.
MERCHANT/CARPET. I managed to buy the blue carpet with the gold coin but you
can make the same purchase more easily by using the opal. Here's how I did it:
Examine Blue Carpet. Buy Blue Carpet. Merchant will state he wants 800 zorkmids
for the carpet. Offer 300 zorkmids. He will lower his price to 700 zorkmids.
Offer 400 zorkmids. He will come down to 600.
Offer 500 zorkmids. He will take the gold coin and give you the *RED* carpet.
Say, "TAKE BLUE CARPET." The merchant will reply, "That's right, you wanted the
blue carpet." (I found that if I did *ANYTHING ELSE* between his giving me the
*RED* carpet and my taking of the *BLUE* carpet, I was stuck with a *RED*
carpet.) After you obtain the blue carpet, BLORPLE back to the Water Room and
tackle the Oubliette for the second time.
OUBLIETTE-SECOND TIME. Learn TINSOT three time. Put everything in zipper and
close the zipper. TINSOT the Outflow Pipe twice. Wait until the Oubliette is
full then TINSOT the water. Stand on ice floe, open the trap door and go Up.
Get the cube from the Dungeon. You can use the box here. Put the cube in the
Box then take it out. Drop the Box and BLORPLE the cube to the Bones Room.
Finding nothing of interest there, go through the West Exit (an "Oddly,
though..." exit) to return to the Dungeon. Go east from the Dungeon then north
to reach the Cell.
CELL-FIRST TIME. Make notes on how the cell looks and what you do while you
are here for you will need this info later. REZROV the cabinet. Get the Moldy
Book and CASKLY it. Read the Moldy Book and GNUSTO the SNAVIG spell. Go back to
the Dungeon and make preparations to fly on the Magic Carpet to the Roc's Nest.
ROC'S NEST-SECOND TIME. Make preparations while in the Dungeon. Learn BLORPLE
and take carpet from zipper. Go up to the Guard's Tower, drop carpet, sit on
carpet and go up. (You must get up in the air before the Roc grabs you or it
won't work.) Fly west on the carpet until you are above the Roc's Nest. Mama
Rock is at the Guard's Tower but that egg could hatch any minute so don't waste
time. Go down, get off carpet, take cube and carpet, then BLORPLE the cube to
arrive at the String Room.
SPELLBREAKER
Part Four
STRING ROOM. Go south and talk to Belboz. He will ask you a question. I've
been told this is Infocom's copy protection thing. You must answer Belboz's
question using the information supplied on the cards from the game package. If
you do otherwise, Belboz will show up later to kill you.
After you answer the question, Belboz will give you a key. BLORPLE back to the
Water Room and prepare to visit the grouper again.
GROUPER-SECOND TIME. Learn SNAVIG and BLORPLE while in the Water Room. Put all
in the zipper and close the zipper. Go south. You'll fall into the ocean again
and again the grouper will appear. Get the cube and the zipper first then
SNAVIG grouper. You will change into a grouper. Go down and find the grouper's
nest. It contains a cube. The zipper and the "Water" cube should be nearby.
Wait until you change back into yourself then take ALL and go up. BLORPLE the
cube from the grouper's nest to arrive in the Light Room (Volcano).
LIGHT ROOM OR VOLCANO-FIRST TIME. Go west to Volcano Base. When the lava
fragment falls near you, TINSOT it, then take it. BLORPLE to the Changing Room
(the cube you found in the Outflow Pipe will take you to the Changing Room).
CHANGING ROOM. Go north to the Bare Room and get the Compass Rose. BLORPLE
back to the Changing Room. Go west to the Carving Room and solve the puzzle of
the Octagonal Rooms.
OCTAGONAL ROOMS. While in the Carving Room, put the Compass Rose in the
carving of the Compass Rose and an opening will appear in the north wall. Get
the Compass Rose and go north. Map carefully. Notice the color of the Runes.
Touch the compass Rose to the Rune. If either the Rune or the Compass Rose is
lead, that direction is dead. If the Rune is Silver or gold and the Compass
Rose shows the direction as Silver (and you have not already been in this
direction) an opening will appear under the Rune so you can go in that
direction. I believe there is a total of eight rooms. The objective here is to
find the room with a *GOLD* Rune and an Alabaster plug. This is the point where
I went a little bit *CRAZY*. I had read hints saying, "Go for the Gold," "The
gold is found in the 6th or 7th Room." Well, I spent days trying to find that
*GOLD* Rune in the 6th or 7th Room. I thought I had to explore all 8 rooms.
But, I kept finding the *GOLD* Rune too early (I thought), because I was
finding it in the third or fourth Room. Finally, when all else failed, I quit
trying to explore all the rooms and started messing around with the Alabaster
Plug. Lo and behold, that's all I needed to do. Here's my solution - hope it
works for you: Starting in the Carving Room, go N, W, NW, NE. The West Rune
should be *GOLD* with an octagonal hole containing an Alabaster Plug under it.
You can open the hole or REZROV the hole but this accomplishes nothing. REZROV
the Alabaster (it will melt). Then go West and get the cube. BLORPLE this cube
to No Place.
NO PLACE-FIRST TIME. Going east will take you to the Outer Vault. But you
can't do anything here until after you have obtained the "Magic" cube (some
people refer to it as the Power Cube). For now, go south from the No Place Room
to the Rock Grid.
ROCK GRID. Bone up on your chess and chess terms for this is a game of chess
played with two kings. The game board and the tempo have been changed. The
chess players refer to it as ZUGSWANG. Anyway, it's a peculiar grid so map it
*CAREFULLY*. You'll find you can't walk so you must find a means of
transportation. There is a Green Eyed Rock near you and a Brown Eyed Rock a
distance to the east. The Brown Eyed Rock has a cube on his back. Prime
Objective: To corner the Brown Eyed Rock so that you can take the cube off its
back. Try getting within one square of the Brown Eyed Rock on the same line. I
mapped the grid then used a green button and a brown button to represent the
rocks moving on the grid.
Solution: Give the lava fragment to Green Eyed Rock so it will allow you to
ride on its back. The Brown Eyed Rock will not always move in the direction you
anticipate so this solution will not work every time; but, I think it gives you
an idea of how to solve the puzzle. Go W; Brown moves N. Go NE; Brown moves S.
Go S; Brown moves N. Brown is cornered . If you move E, Brown must move either
W or S. Either move will put Brown one move from you on the same line. When you
advance toward Brown, it will freeze in place. The Green Eyed Rock will loom
over the Brown Eyed Rock so you must go down or jump to the Brown Eyed Rock.
Take the cube and BLORPLE to the Dark Place.
SPELLBREAKER
Part Five
DARK PLACE. Memorize SNAVIG and BLORPLE. Go down. Extinguish your light
source. Go down again to the Grue Cave. When you see the Grue Cave, SNAVIG
grue. You will change into a grue but will retain a little of your human self
so you can endure the light a little. Go down to pool of light. Climb the
pillar and get the cube. Wait until you are yourself again then BLORPLE the
cube to arrive in the Fire Room (Volcano-second time).
FIRE ROOM OR VOLCANO-SECOND TIME. If you have left the box anywhere, retrieve
it now for you will need it! Go north to Volcano Top. There is an Outcropping
in sight. Put "Fire" cube in Box then remove it. Throw the box to the
Outcropping. BLORPLE back to the Fire Room and go west through the
"Oddly...exit" which will take you to the Outcropping where the box is. Get the
cube and the box from the Outcropping. BLORPLE this cube to reach the Magic
Room.
MAGIC ROOM-FIRST TIME. You can explore this room now but you aren't ready to
solve it yet. You'll notice a circle of darkness to the east; but, for now, go
north to the Meadow and BLORPLE the "No Place" cube to return to the Inner
Vault.
INNER VAULT. You have the "Magic" (or Power) cube now so you can REZROV the
vault. Before you do this though, you should learn JINDAK three times, REZROV
once and BLORPLE once.
In the vault you will find two piles of cubes, each pile containing 6 cubes.
Twelve cubes in a vault - only one is magical. Since the number of the magical
cube will vary, I will refer to it as the "x?" cube. Objective: find the
magical "x?" cube. You are allowed to use up to three JINDAKs before the Fairy
appears. No, there's nothing you can do about the Fairy.
What can I say? This one stumped me! First Ms. Wiz, then Deranged Bat came to
my aid. Ms. Wiz's solution worked fine while the cube was "brighter"; but,
alas, sometimes it was "dimmer". Deranged Bat's solution seems to cover ALL
possibities; but, it is longer. I'm presenting both solutions here.
MS. WIZ'S SOLUTION: (1) Take "x1", "x2", "x7" and "x8". (2) JINDAK. (3) If
both piles are glowing equally, drop all but zipper. (4) Take "x3", "x4", "x5"
and "x6" and put ALL in zipper. (5) Get ALL. (6) Put "x1" and "x2" in first
pile. (7) Put "x7" and "x8" in second pile. (8) JINDAK. (9) One pile will be
glowing brighter so put dimmer pile in zipper. (10) Get the two cubes from the
brighter pile. (11) Put one cube in first pile and other cube in second pile.
(12) JINDAK. (13) Grab the cube from the pile that's glowing brighter. (14)
BLORPLE this cube and get out before the Fairy appears. Note: Never are the
cubes referred to as glowing brighter - just the piles they are in.
DERANGED BAT'S SOLUTION: Take and drop "x1", "x2", "x7" AND "x8". JINDAK "x3",
"x4", "x5","x6" vs "x9", "x10", "x11", "x12". If they are equal in brightness,
then the cube you want is "x1", "x2", "x7" or "x8". JINDAK "x1", "x3" vs "x7",
"x8". If these are equal brightness, then "x2" is the cube we want.
If these are not equal then we must decide among "x1", "x7" and "x8". Say the
"x7", "x8" pile is brighter. Then the third and last JINDAK is "x7" vs "x8". If
they are equal, "x1" is our cube. If they are unequal, take the brighter one.
Similarly, if the "x7", "x8" pile is dimmer, the third JINDAK is "x7" vs "x8".
If they are equal, "x1" is our cube. If they are unequal, take the less bright
one.
The above fully explores all possibilities given that our first JINDAK showed
"x3", "x4", "x5", "x6" equal to "x9", "x10", "x11", "x12. We were able to
definitely determine which of "x1", "x2", "x7", "x8" was our cube in at most 2
additional JINDAKs.
If "x3", "x4", "x5", "x6" does not equal "x9", "x10", "x11, "x12", we can
assume without loss of generality that "x3", "x4", "x5", "x6" is brighter. This
tells us that our cube is either "x3", "x4", "x5" , "x6" and brighter or "x9",
"x10", "x11", "x12" and dimmer.
Take and drop "x3", "x4", "x5". Move "x9", "x10" to pile one. Add "x1" to pile
two. JINDAK "x6", "x9", "x10" vs "x1", "x11", "x12.
If these are equal, then our cube is "x3", "x4", or "x5" and is brighter. The
third JINDAK is then "x3" vs "x4". If equal, choose "x5"; if unequal choose
brighter. If "x6", "x9", "x10" is not equal to "x1, "x11, "x12" assume first
that "x6", "x9", "x10" are brighter. In this case "x9" and "x10" are not ours,
so ours is either "x6" (brighter) or "x11" or "x12" (dimmer). JINDAKing "x11"
vs "x12" will decide if it is "x6", "x11" or "x12". Now assume that "x6", "x9"
and "x10" are dimmer. In this case "x6", "x11", and "x12" are not ours so ours
is either "x9"or "x10" and is dimmer. JINDAKing "x9" vs "x10" will decide.
That's it!! I sure hope there is a simpler one but I don't have time to look
for it. BLORPLE the "x?" cube to the Sand Room.
SAND ROOM. This is somewhere you've not been before. After you've solved the
Cell and BLORPLEed back to the Sand Room, go up to the Ruins. Don't leave
anything in this room and don't come back to it after you have solved both the
Cell and the Ruins for there's no way out after that.
CELL-SECOND TIME. Objective: Remember how the cell was when you were in it
before and arrange everything the way you found it before. Solution: Unlock the
cabinet with the key. Open the cabinet and take the Vellum scroll (it's blank).
NOTE: If, through trial and error, you discover that you must sleep between now
and the end of the game, ESPNIS self now! Sleep will cause you to forget
*EVERYTHING* you have learned and you won't have your Spell Book. Memorize
BLORPLE at least 2 times then put the Spell Book in the Cabinet. Close the
cabinet and lock it with the key. REZROV the Cell Door and BLORPLE the "x?"
cube to go back to the Sand Room. From the Sand Room, go up to the Ruins.
RUINS/SACK. You can't hold very many objects! While still in the Sand Room,
put everything in the zipper but get the Magic Burin and the Vellum Scroll
(have them in your hands when you leave the Sand Room). You must have the
"Magic" (or Power) cube with you in order to copy the GIRGOL spell; so, if
you've left it somewhere, I hope you can retrieve it now. Go up to the Ruins.
The "x?" cube will appear in your hand - put it in zipper. Open sack. Empty the
zipper into sack. Take sack and enter the zipper. Take the Flimsy scroll and
exit the zipper. (Entering and exiting the zipper may not be necessary but I
found I could pick up an "extra" object by doing this. Copy GIRGOL on VELLUM.
Put the Flimsy scroll in the zipper (making sure the zipper is empty except for
Flimsy Scroll), close zipper and drop it. Take the "Magic" cube from the sack
and BLORPLE it back to the Magic Room. You are ready for your encounter with
the Shadow.
MAGIC ROOM-SECOND TIME OR ENCOUNTER WITH SHADOW. Go east through the circle of
darkness and wait for Shadow to appear. The Shadow has four cubes of his own.
He will take all of your cubes and the four of his own and construct a
Hypercube. Then unless you stop him, he will enter the Hypercube and the Reign
of the Shadow will begin. Your score will be -99. However, you can stop him.
Solution: Enter the Castle. Wait two or three moves until the Shadow appears.
Then take something from your sack. (If you don't have the Vellum in your hand,
take it. If you already have the Vellum, take anything.) This action will cause
the Shadow to *FREEZE* you! You will revive in time to stop him if you cause
him to freeze you SOONER. Then just wait until one move after "...he ignores
you." Then GIRGOL. The objective is to freeze him in mid-air. He will have
taken ALL of your cubes but you can still see one floating in the Hypercube.
Take it out and put some *JUNK* in the Hypercube. I still had the fish, so I
put it in the Hypercube. I also tried the sack and the coin. Any NON-MAGICAL
item will work nicely.
This should give you a total of 600 out of a possible 600 points. Now take the
beautiful poster of ALL INFOCOM GAMES from the game package. Using either tape
or thumb tacks, secure it to a wall. Throw darts at it giving yourself 5 points
each time you hit anything on the bottom row and 10 points each time you hit
SPELLBREAKER. You should feel better soon!
