Back again. First,
Here goes…
Belboz stops you with a word of power.
“Ah! Now I have you, charlatan! Fool me twice? Never!” He rises to his feet, makes a threatening gesture, and you find yourself transported to a tiny cell deep beneath the earth, all belongings stripped from you. In time, though it takes years and you are mad long since, you starve.
**** You have died ****
You are floating in a dark, silent realm of nothingness. You don’t know how much time passes, but eventually you hear the sound of soft footsteps. A figure in a dark cloak comes near. In a voice like ashes, it speaks: “You’re obviously not the right choice. What a waste. I’ll have to start all over with someone else. All this effort, too.”
You find yourself falling down a deep well of darkness, as the figure recedes into infinite distances, and mocking laughter haunts you for eternity.
The Belboz thing is startling enough, but the death message is new, too. This is a permadeath. The shadow gives up on the enchanter as a… well, whatever it is the shadow has in mind. This is the character’s first death, so there must be a trigger after the player reaches a certain point. Very interesting!
Let’s review the to-do list:
- Cube from the grue cave.
- Cube from the dungeon.
- Open the door in the vault (“nwhere” cube)
- Solve the mystery of the box.
- Solve the mystery of the impassable exits.
I’m fairly certain the box is next. Which means this will be a short play session with some metacommentary. We’ll start by using the cave from the grue cave.
Fire Room
In this room, the walls are brick and glow a deep red. The floor itself radiates heat, and in fact the entire room is hot, oppressive and smokey. Searing heat radiates from openings in the north, east and south walls.
Two valid exits. As always, I’ll try north first.
Volcano
You are at the edge of a lava vent in an active volcano. The lava glows red and yellow, and there is a stench of sulphur in the air. A lake of lava bubbles and steams before you, molten rock roiling from unseen disturbances. To the west, in the middle of the tumult, is a small outcropping of something with a higher melting point than rock. It is undisturbed by the heat.
What a curious outcropping!
->examine outcropping
The outcropping is made of some hard, heat-resistant substance. It sticks up about three feet out of the lava about twenty feet from you. It has a flat top about four feet across which is roughly square. Sitting in the very center of the outcropping is something small, white, and cubical.
Another cube. There can’t be many more left, can there? How will we get there?
_>sit on rug
You are now sitting on the beautiful blue carpet. At first nothing happens. Then the fringe of the carpet starts to ruffle expectantly.
_>u
You begin to rise, but you notice that the fringe of the carpet is starting to singe and turn brown from the heat. Just as you are about to turn back, the label catches fire and burns to a crisp. You plummet into the lava and are seen no more.
No, that’s not it.
_>tinsot lava
A small patch of lava cools, but it is swept away.
Shoot. How are we supposed to get past that lava?
My Spell Book
The snavig spell (shape change).
The tinsot spell (freeze).
The liskon spell (shrink a living thing).
The espnis spell (sleep).
The caskly spell (cause perfection).
The throck spell (cause plants to grow).
The blorple spell (explore an object’s mystic connections).
The yomin spell (mind probe).
The rezrov spell (open even locked or enchanted objects).
The frotz spell (cause something to give off light).
The gnusto spell (write a magic spell into a spell book).
The malyon spell (animate).
The jindak spell (detect magic).
The lesoch spell (gust of wind).
Perhaps wind could cool the lava. I think I’ve seen that done on Saturday morning cartoons.
_>lesoch lava
Slowly, teasingly, a small puff of wind begins to blow. It quickly builds to gale force, then hurricane force, and just as you feel you are about to be swept away, it subsides.
No. I could go fill the bottle with water and come back, but I don’t see that accomplishing anything. I’ll go back to the cube for now. There’s another working exit there.
Cliff Top
This is the upper end of a narrow, winding path up a sheer cliff. From here you can see that any further extension of the path was destroyed by a rock slide at some relatively recent time. There are many rocks precariously balanced above you. It looks like the slightest disturbance could bring them down on you. The hermit’s hut is above.
Something you’ve done has disturbed the rocks above! Dirt and small stones are trickling down. It looks like the whole dike is about to give way!
What? We’re back on the cliff top, seconds before a landslide. That’s not going to work. Restoring.
How about the dungeon cube, which I have rather appropriately named the “dung” cube?
Boneyard
This is a room of bones. Shoulder blades make up the floor, skulls the walls and leg bones the door frames. The west exit leads into darkness, but the doorway to the north opens onto a seemingly normal street scene.
That’s the repawn location following a player death. The only working exit leads back to Belwit Square, in front of the Guild Hall. Returning to the newts and such, I see no apparent thing to do. Let’s look at our updated to-do list:
- Find a way to the volcano outcropping.
- Open the door in the vault (“nwhere” cube)
- Solve the mystery of the box.
- Solve the mystery of the impassable exits.
We haven’t made progress on the vault problem–there’s no apparent way to strengthen our magic as of yet. That leaves the volcano, the box, and the impassable exits. Imagine me during my first playthrough, a sophomore in college. I’m doubtlessly pleased with myself for making it so far in the infamously difficult Spellbreaker without consulting the hint booklet included with my copy of The Lost Treasures of Infocom.
And then this. Casting every spell, no matter how ridiculous. Attempting to use every item, no matter how illogical. Nothing. What is the secret of the outcropping? I decided to be patient. Spellbreaker was the first game I played in the collection. I played Planetfall, then came back afterward.
Nothing.
Lurking Horror, Planetfall, Starcross.
Still no ideas. Since the Lost Treasures hint book isn’t invisiclues, I used a strip of paper to prevent me from seeing more than one hint at a time.
Q: How do I get to the outcropping?
A1: You do have a magic carpet; you could try to fly there.
I already tried that, so I’ll look again.
A2: But be sure to SAVE before you try it.
I already knew that, too.
A3: The magic carpet isn’t the answer.
I think we’ve covered that!
A4: Have you tried to build a bridge from all the cubes you’ve collected? You might be able to freeze them together…
Oh, come on.
A5: It won’t work! You’re a magician, not an engineer! Bridges aren’t the answer!
That wasn’t a great experience! Maybe there’s another helpful question.
Q: How do I avoid the heat of the lava?
A1: Any sufficiently arcane magic is indistinguishable from technology.
0_o
A2: There must be a magic item or spell that would help.
Probably so! I toss aside my cover sheet and just read.
A3: Have you ever wondered about those exits from the cube rooms that don’t seem to be open?
A4: You should figure out how you can use the gold box. It does have an interesting property that you might be able to use. Try leaving it behind.
A5: Try this sequence: Get your favorite cube. Put it into the box. Remove the cube from the box.
A6: Toss the box onto the outcropping. Now BLORPLE the cube you just removed from the box. Try something different: go through the cube room exit that you couldn’t go through before. (For example, the East exit is the magical exit from the Water Room.)
Mind you, this isn’t the first portable teleportation device that Lebling has written about. Starcross featured those perfectly sensible disks. I don’t know what about the box would have clued me in on its ability to act as a transporter. I’m trying to imagine it working. Do I emerge, growing, from inside the box? Am I really throwing a gold box at a ledge?
Collegiate Drew sighed. I don’t think I ever would have figured that out. I think Lebling must have realized I wouldn’t, too, because instead of incremental hints, the Invisiclues just blurts out the solution as if it were an embarrassing secret. I remain confused over this bit of the game. Lebling is an experienced developer at his peak (in my opinion), and he does this. I think about Infocom’s testing team, who famously convinced Steve Meretzky to spare Floyd’s life. Did they all figure out the box? This is just a very strange thing to find in a game of this caliber. At least the Bank of Zork could be solved by accident.
Very well, we have our answer, now:
_>put “earth” in box
When you insert the “earth” cube into the box, there is a brief burst of light, and the decorations on the box change subtly. They now depict moles.
_>get “earth”
Taken.
throw box at outcropping
The gold box sails smoothly through the air, bounces on the outcropping and ends up perched on the very edge of the far side.
_>blorple “earth”
Abruptly, your surroundings shift.
Packed Earth
This is a small room crudely constructed of packed earth, mud, and sod. Crudely framed openings of wood tied with leather thongs lead off in each of the four cardinal directions, and a muddy hole leads down.
_>n
As you leave, the “earth” cube reappears in your hand.
Outcropping
You are on a very small outcropping of some material that is impervious to heat. All around you lava bubbles and steams, flowing down the side of the mountain in a relentless stream. There is solid ground out of reach to the east.
There is a gold box here.
A white cube is here.
And there it is. However…
_>get cube
As you take the cube, you are nearly blinded by a blast of power. It rolls out from the cube, up your arm and all over your body. Every hair stands on end, every muscle is tense. You feel more powerful, as though a weight had been lifted from your body and a veil drawn from before you. The very stuff of magic crackles from your fingertips.
Wow! This cube seems different from the rest. We have gained considerable power! I wonder if that means we can now REZROV the vault?
_>rezrov door
The mechanisms whirr madly for a few moments, and then the door swings ponderously open. That’s some cube!
I can’t believe how easy that is, with this new cube.
_>n
As you enter the outer vault, the vault door swings inexorably shut.
Uh-oh.
Outer Vault
You are in a large, bare concrete room. There are two piles on the floor. The first contains the “x1” cube, the “x2” cube, the “x3” cube, the “x4” cube, the “x5” cube and the “x6” cube. The second contains the “x7” cube, the “x8” cube, the “x9” cube, the “x10” cube, the “x11” cube and the “x12” cube. An exit is to the north. It is a closed iron door. To the south is the inner vault. Its steel door is closed.
What in the world is this? We’ve got twelve cubes on two piles. Let’s do a JINDAK.
_>jindak
Both piles of cubes glow with a faint blue glow. However, the first pile is glowing more brightly.
Nothing else is glowing.
While it’s possible that the brighter pile could be composed of cubes that are, collectively, more magical than those in the other pile, it is probably most reasonable to assume that one of these cubes in one of these piles is different. Let’s experiment further. I’ll cut the number of cubes in half, then Jindak again.
_>jindak
Both piles of cubes glow with a faint blue glow. However, the first pile is glowing more brightly.
The “x7” cube is glowing with a faint blue glow.
The “x8” cube is glowing with a faint blue glow.
The “x9” cube is glowing with a faint blue glow.
The “x10” cube is glowing with a faint blue glow.
The “x11” cube is glowing with a faint blue glow.
The “x12” cube is glowing with a faint blue glow.
Suddenly an alarm fairy appears in the Treasury. It carries a big gong which it begins to pound incessantly, and it yells at the top of its lungs.
“There’s a thief here! Hey, guards! Thief! Nasty thieving thief’s here! Come capture the thief!” The din is tremendous.
That doesn’t sound so good. I’ve got a recent save, though, so let’s keep at it. I’ll leave the first pile alone, and put inert cubes on the second. Or that’s the plan, anyway. I get interrupted.
_>drop x4,x5,x6
the “x4” cube: Dropped.
the “x5” cube: Dropped.
the “x6” cube: Dropped.
All at once the door bursts in and five burly guards crowd into the Treasury. They look at you with extreme disapproval, tinged with a certain sadistic anticipation of what is to come. The alarm fairy twitters about near the ceiling, jeering at you. “Told you so, nyaah, nyaah!” it chants. In the interest of taste, we will gloss over what happens next, but at the end of it you are dead.
I must have tipped them off too early. I had to frotz up a light source after closing the zipper. That must be it. OK, I’ll fix that and go back.
I’m back. This puzzle seems familiar, doesn’t it? It’s a puzzle so old and well-known that it has its own Wikipedia article: Balance puzzle - Wikipedia. The goal is to figure out which cube is different from all the others. There are two gimmicks here. The first is that we don’t know whether our cube will be brighter or softer when JINDAK’d. The second is that I think we have three casts before the guards show up, so we have to be very efficient.
I’m going to start by only weighing half of the cubes. I’ll put three on one pile and three on the other.
_>jindak
Both piles of cubes glow with a faint blue glow. However, the first pile is glowing more brightly.
So we know the cube is among 1-6. To determine which pile has the cube, I’ll take 4, 5, and 6, then replace them with cubes that I know aren’t the right ones.
_>jindak
Both piles of cubes glow with a faint blue glow. Both piles seem to glow with identical brightness.
OK. Since these are equal, we know that the cube is either 4, 5, or 6. Since 1, 2, and 3 glowed more brightly, we know that we will want the least bright out of 4, 5, and 6. I’ll put 4 on the first pile and 5 on the second. If either is less bright, I’ll take it and blorple it. I’ll hold 6 in my hand. If 4 and 5 are equal, I’ll blorple 6. Let’s see if I got it right!
_>jindak
Both piles of cubes glow with a faint blue glow. However, the second pile is glowing more brightly.
Suddenly an alarm fairy appears in the Treasury. It carries a big gong which it begins to pound incessantly, and it yells at the top of its lungs.
“There’s a thief here! Hey, guards! Thief! Nasty thieving thief’s here! Come capture the thief!” The din is tremendous.
_>get x4
Taken.
You can hear a key being inserted in the lock from outside. The alarm fairy thumbs its nose at you derisively.
“There’s a thief here! Hey, guards! Thief! Nasty thieving thief’s here! Come capture the thief!” The din is tremendous.
_>blorple x4
Abruptly, your surroundings shift.
Sand Room
A thin trickle of sand flows down from an exit in the ceiling of this circular room to a pile of sand on the floor. The walls of the room are glass, but you can see nothing through them. In the sand is a hole through which, oddly enough, no sand is pouring out.
While this puzzle is a bit tired, the tension at the end makes for an exciting escape. Like the box puzzle, it’s a step or two below Spellbreaker’s best moments, but I can at least solve this one myself. After decades, I still don’t get the box puzzle. I know people who have solved it themselves, so obviously it isn’t impossible, but I’m really bothered by it.
We’re in the endgame now, with two utterly classic puzzle sequences ahead of us. I count both among Infocom’s very best and look forward to discussing them!
Here’s the new to-do list:
- Explore the x4 cube
- Explore the cube of magic power
A very short list. Let me know if you have questions about the game to this point, think I’m wrong about the box, etc.
I orginally planned to use Frotz’s alt-U “undo” to bypass Lebling’s disabled undo in the vault. I changed my mind because I haven’t solved the vault puzzle in a while. It sounded like fun.
Spellbreaker Day 10 Transcript.txt (35.9 KB)
Spellbreaker Day 10 for Sharing.sav (1.9 KB)