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Beyond Zork
Part IV
Trek off to the northwest, where hunters are combing the area for something or
other. In fact, it's a poor little Minx they're looking for. Just wait where
you are, and the Minx will come bounding along to hide behind a tree. You can't
get the Minx just yet, but you do have to protect her from her cruel owner.
Notice the tracks in the snow? They lead right to the Minx's hiding place. All
you need to do is "hide footprints" (nothing fancy, and don't say "hide
footprints with snow" or anything similar).
A nasty-looking young man will come along, and ask if you've seen the Minx. Lie
and say no, then just wait until he leaves. Give the Minx a rub on the head,
and you have a friend for life. If you wait some more, she'll dig up a truffle.
There are three in the game, and since you need only one, it's ok to let her
eat it.
With the Minx in tow (she'll follow you anywhere), make your way back to Gurth
City and the Magic Shoppe, where you can trade the Tear for the hourglass, if
you haven't already. Then hike off to the Forest area.
You'll have to dispose of the cruel puppet and the hellhound, if you didn't do
that earlier in the game (the hellhound is tough, and a good candidate for the
rod of Annihilation). When they're both removed from the scene, go to the
oak tree in the Twilight area, and wait until the Minx digs up a truffle.
This time, don't let the Minx eat it. Take the truffle, and walk over to the
Clearing, where a second riddle awaits you. The answer to this one is as simple
as the first: Youth. When you say that, a pool of eternal youth appears! It
won't do you much good, but it will do wonders for the truffle, namely keep it
preserved for all time. Step into the pool with the truffle.
Now call Terry for the last time, and have him fly you over to the Ruins across
the river (make sure you have the Minx in your arms before boarding Terry!).
You can't cross by Zeno's Bridge, which is just a trap. When you arrive, a
ghoul is sure to pop up from somewhere, and Terry, as usual, won't hang around.
No sooner have you dealt with the ghoul, then an Undead Warrior appears. He's
tough, but easy to get rid of: just hit him with the holy water, and that will
be the end of him.
You'll find a potion somewhere in the ruins, but what you really want is the
archway in the plaza. Its most obvious feature is an hour-glass shape, a sure
tipoff that the hourglass you have is needed here (this is a good time to
define a macro for TURN HOURGLASS).
Stand under the arch and turn the hourglass. ZOOM! You've created a magical
timeline, that allows you to move forward and backward in time, and see the
events, past and future, that occured or will occur in the plaza area. Of
these, only two are of interest to you.
The first is in the past, where a prince wearing a remarkably gaudy helmet has
his head cut off. The helmet rolls into a trench, but before you can do
anything, the prince's horse is killed and falls partway into the ditch. There
is no way to stop this, or enter the trench beforehand, or move the horse (in
fact, a bug in the game causes the program not to recognize the horse after
it's dead).
However...you CAN still throw things into the trench! So, pop the truffle into
it. Because it's been in the pool of eternal youth, it will not decay, but
stay fresh and palatable through all the eons to come.
Now, move forward in time, noting how the plaza area becomes covered with
rubble, a new ice age sets in, a new race emerges, and finally, all things end
in Desolation, where the work of time, having first covered all, now reverses
itself, and uncovers.
Not enough for you to find anything, but the instincts of the Minx are
something else. Sure enough, she sniffs out the presence of the truffle, and
digs it up from the loose earth. And in the hole...the helmet! Whew!
It's that time: time to pay a visit to your friendly neighborhood Ur-Grue.
First, of course, return to the present and step out from the arch. Gather
up the Minx (it really wouldn't be nice to leave her behind in a place like
this) and leave the Ruins (with the word of Recall or through the plane of
Atrii).
Now, put on the helmet (which gives your Intelligence a boost), and join the
black hemisphere and the white one. Together, they spin rapidly and become a
gray sphere, which gives you a vision of a secret door in a wall, and the magic
word needed to open the door.
Now you know where the Ur-Grue is and how to get there, so hop along, Cassidy,
because there isn't much more left to do in the game. Of course, you're
wondering how to deal with the Ur-Grue, since it isn't afraid of any kind of
light except sunlight, and the sword Grueslayer doesn't happen to be available
in the game (make sure you have the rabbit's foot, clover, and horseshoe before
entering the lair).
Don't worry; you'll be able to get along quite nicely, thanks to the jar you
lifted back in Queenie's garden. Once inside the secret door (DO NOT turn on
your lantern here!), open the jar and blow a mirror. Now, position the mirror
so that the light will reflect off it from this room to the next (Physics
students will easily recognize the principle involved here).
Walk into the next room, and do the same thing. In essence, you are setting
up a chain of reflected sunlight through the caves (as you may have guessed,
the position of the caves is random). Try not to waste any moves as you go
through the rooms; the mirrors have only limited lifespans, after which they
will pop and disappear. If the mirror in the first one pops out before you're
through, you'll be in BIG trouble.
Somewhere about now, the Lucksucker will show up. It has various appearances:
a black cat, an umbrella, a ladder, a number 13, etc. This is where your lucky
charms come into their own. Use one (any one) and hit the sucker (grin). It
will run off...for awhile. Then it comes back again, so use another of your
charms. All told, the Lucksucker will make three tries at you, so you do need
all three lucky charms to get past it.
Eventually you will come to a junction of rooms, and there is no way of knowing
for sure which one the Ur-Grue is in. Explore each of them, and hope you're
lucky. You'll know you've found the right one, as it will have a mound of
treasure in it, and a creepy shadow in one corner.
You have no time to waste here; create another mirror, and angle the shaft of
light at the shadow in the corner. THAT did the trick! Or did it? As you
approach the Ur-Grue, it grabs you tight! Oh-oh! After all this work, are you
going to fail in the end?
Well, maybe not! As you strangle in the Grue's grip, it begins to absorb all
that compassion you've built up through the game! Filled with remorse, the
Ur-Grue releases you, and goes off to who knows where. But he does allow you to
take whatever you want from his treasure horde.
As you might expect, the only thing you can really take is the Coconut of
Quendor. So grab that and start making tracks (if the mirrors have popped by
now, it's ok to use your lantern...there are regular grues lurking here),
because an earthquake is about to commence.
Ooops! You didn't quite make it out, but you're saved anyway! (Although being
buried under fettucini is still not the most fun experience in the world). The
old woman from the shop (see? it really was one old woman after all) and the
sailor rescue you, and take you for a voyage on board the magical ship. Where
to? Who knows? We'll have to wait for Beyond Beyond Zork for that! (grin)..
Beyond Zork is copyrighted 1987 by Infocom Inc.
This walkthru is copyrighted 1987 by Scorpia, all rights reserved.