Walkthrough for

                              Realm of Darkness

                              by Jack Lockerby

                           Written by Richard Bos


  First, a few notes.

  To start with, this is a PAWed game for the ZX Spectrum. Therefore, words
are significant to five letters rather than the more usual Quill's four.
  Obviously, since this is a walkthrough, spoilers are rife below. I'm not
taking you past every single clue and sight, but I do provide some commands
which give some hints while not being strictly necessary to get to the end.
Examining objects is often helpful for providing clues. And of course there is
the HELP command, such as it is. Also, this is not a full-points walkthrough,
but getting 100% is trivially simple if you pay attention to all text.
  One word of warning for those willing to experiment on their own: be wary of
dropping anything. The intro to the game states that there is a thief about.
When you drop something in almost all locations, this thief will come and steal
it. You can get these objects back, but only if you've advanced far enough. If
you haven't, or you've dropped the wrong object, your game has just become
unwinnable. Dropping the tea chest is safe - the thief won't steal it - and you
can put anything you like in it. Get this chest as quickly as you can (follow
the first paragraph of the walkthrough, for example), then use it as your
carry-all. You can only carry five objects, so this is quite necessary. Worn
objects do not count towards this limit, so wear whatever you can.

With that warning, let's be on our quest.


  From the start, go south, south and east. Get the net and wear it. Go west,
north twice, east, north, ne, east, se and east. Ignore the necklace for now.
Go down four times (never mind the dog) and sw twice. Look under the bush and
take the spade. Go north and up, examine the branch and get the knife.
  Go all the way back down, south, ne twice, up four times, west, nw and west.
dig here and take the carrot. Go sw and drop it. Take the staff. Go south, west
and south, and dig again. Get the bottle. Go north, east and up, and get the
bees. Now go down, west and north and drop the bottle full of bees.
  Go north and jump. Search the flotsam (which isn't shown in the description,
because I've left out a command which would have made it appear. It's still
here, though, apparently). Take the chest and look in it. Leave its contents
where it is; we'll use it later. Jump back.

  Put spade in chest. Put staff in chest. Make sure that you type that in two
whole, separate commands. The PAW parser is smart enough to understand either
"put spade, staff" or "put spade in chest", but not both at the same time. If
you "put spade and staff in chest", the spade will be stolen by the thief. At
this point, that would be a problem - so be careful.
  Go south four times, then east and ne. Examine the skeleton. What skeleton?
The skeleton you should not be able to see in the dark! There is, of course, a
way to do this properly, first getting light and then coming back here, but
that would take rather longer; because this is a walkthrough I'm taking the
shorter route, even if it was unintended. Cut the strap and retrieve the key.
  Go east, up, east and in. Unlock the safe and look in it. Take and wear the
bracelet. Put the key in the chest. We probably won't need it again, but at
this point I'm not taking risks. Switch on the monitor and look at it. Search
the hut, then get and wear the boots.
  Go out, then east, ne, east, ne three times and up. Examine the split. Prise
the amethyst and take it, then put it in chest. Go all the way down, sw, west
twice to a place we've seen before (the geometry doesn't quite work out, if you
ask me), then up four times, west and nw. Search the grass and get the bean.
Now go se and east.

  Take the necklace. Oops... but never mind, it's the pearl we want, not the
string. Go down twice. Eat the bean, _then_ take the tusk. Go east, take the
shield and go back w, then down twice more. Get the pearl, and put it in the
chest. Put the shield in the chest as well.
  Search the reeds. Get the ring, and wear it. Cut a reed, take it and put it
in the chest. Go back up four times, then west, nw, w, sw, s, s. Take the coin
(note that in this game, unlike in many PAWed games, you do not have to specify
"from chest" - kudos to Mr. Lockerby) and give it to the gypsy. Now go east and
cut the roots. Go sw, south and up.
  Insert the tusk. Go north twice and nw. Kneel and go in. Get and wear the
robes. Go back out and se. Turn the ring. (Yes, it's possible to discover why.)
Go down and take the sunstone. Now go up, ne and north. Take the box and put it
in your chest. Go all the way back s, sw, s, s, d, n, ne. Cut the roots again.
Go west, then put the axe in the chest.

  Go n, w, s, s, e, ne (there's that skeleton!), e, u, e, e, ne. Listen here,
then shout. Go east and north. Open the trap and examine the poacher. Put the
card in the chest - we won't be needing it in this walkthrough, but it may come
in handy if you start exploring on your own. Do in any case make a note of the
password he told you, though.
  Go south, west, sw and west. Take the spade and dig. Go down, east and north.
Dig again and get the diamond. Put it in the chest, then put the spade in the
chest. Go south, east, ne, north, up and in. Search the leaves. Get the hammer
and put it in the chest. Go out and up.
  Get your shield, then go out, then east twice, up twice and east. Search the
rubbish, and take the opener. Go west, north, west and up. Examine the suit of
armour. Take and wear the gloves. Go east twice, down, north and east. Press
("PUSH" won't work here) the palm.

  Go east. Examine the plants, then ask percy. That must be one of the most
irrelevant puzzles I've ever seen in an adventure game! Never mind - take that
bone. Move the boulder, then go down and east.
  Push the bell (and here, "PRESS won't work). Give the password you got from
the poacher: two words, one command, no need for "say" or anything like that.
Go inside. Put shield in chest, put opener in chest. Get the hammer and hit the
urn with it. Take the orb and put it in the chest.
  Go out, east, se and sw thrice. Hit a boulder and get the emerald. Put it in
the chest, then put the hammer in the chest. Go ne twice, west, up twice. Drop
bone. Go east, north, nw, east twice. Sift ashes (and no complaints about that
one - you were told of that verb at the very start of the game!) and get the
screwdriver.
  Now take out the box, unscrew its screw, get the elfstone and put everything
in the chest. And yes, _that_ command does work. Go up to the roof. Search the
straw; take the gold bar and put it in the chest. Now go all the way back d, w,
w, se, s, w, d, d, e, ne, then north and nw.

  Take the reed and elfstone. Go down twice. Get the sapphire and put it in
the chest. Go up, west, up and west. Search the nest and get the can. Go back
east, down, east and up. Put the reed in the chest.
  Go se,ne. Take the opener, open the can and drop it. Now go in. Examine the
altar, push the altar. Examine the slab, take the sword and hit here. Yes, "HIT
HERE". Ahem. Drop the sword, get opal and ruby, put all in chest.
  And now for some magic - again, there's a hint for this, which I haven't
shown you but is very easy to find: drop the chest and climb in the chest.
That's a big chest! Take the sunstone, staff, orb and elfstone. Go south, sw
and nw. Remove your bracelet. Drop everything. Finally, pull the cord.


And that's your quest done. I don't think Realm of Darkness is Jack Lockerby's
best game, but still, apart from a few daft puzzles it's pleasant enough.