Walkthrough for Acheton by Jon Thackray, David Seal and Jonathan Partington Written by Richard Bos A few notes, first. One, and most importantly, this is a rotten hard and often unfair game. You can die easily. You can lose or destroy a necessary tool just as easily. This should not be seen as a fault, as such, in one of the earliest adventures ever written, by mathematicians for mathematicians; but Acheton is not only larger than nearly all other games, it also does take harshness to extremes at times. Making a typo does nothing, but in the Topologika version _does_ cost a move, and this can cost you dearly at certain points in the game. Save often, and keep _all_ your save files until you've finished the game. And choose carefully where and when you save, because saving itself costs a move in the Topologika game, as well. Two, the parser is limited, but good. I have not found any place where using prepositions or indirect objects ("hit tree with axe") is necessary or even possible. By contrast, the game is good at giving you less to type. If there is only one object, simply "get" will take it; if there are several, it will assume the first one listed. Ditto for "drop", which will drop the first object in your inventory; and ditto for several other verbs. Turning your lamp on and off can be done using more elaborate phrases, but a plain "on" or "off" also works. "Get all" is provided; in the Topologika version, even "drop all but lamp" is. Third, if you're playing the Topologika game, before you resort to reading this walkthrough you might want to consult the in-game hints. There is a zip file which contains documentation for all the Topologika adventures, including Acheton. The main part of these is an index of hints available in the game. You look up the problem you're stuck at, find a number, type "help" and that number, and you get a (varyingly subtle) hint. What that file doesn't tell you is that you can also ask for hint 166, which tells you the purpose (or purposes!) of an object, or for 167, which can tell you in which direction you should explore next. If that is not enough, you can also try Marco Cavagna's most excellent, illustrated and annotated maps of the game. Both of these resources can be found at the Interactive Fiction Archive (as can the game itself). Finally, these notes are for the Topologika MS-DOS version which is available at the IF Archive, and for the ZCode version generated from the original Phoenix source, now also to be found there. I do not know whether it works for other versions, as well, or even if any exist. However, I _do_ know that, while they're mostly the same, there are some subtle differences between these two versions - and a few not so subtle ones. For example, you will need to collect all the endgame weapons in the Topologika versions; in the Phoenix version you get them once you're there. Where these differences occur, I will annotate them using remarks between [square brackets], often for either the [TO: Topologika] or the [PH: Phoenix] version, sometimes for both. So, let's be off, then. Go north into the farmhouse, get all. [TO: Go northwest. Light your lamp, get the axe, turn off your lamp, go southeast.] Go south. You might as well go south now, unlock the grate, and go north again. Go east twice. You are in an enchanted forest, and no normal movement will get you out. Climb a tree. You are asked which tree to climb. Later on, we will climb another tree, but now choose the southern one, and go back down. You are now at a hole in the ground. Go down it. Well done, you're inside the cave. Go east twice, turn on the lamp, east another time, get, west, off, w, n. [PH: turn your lamp on again.] You will notice that we're trying to conserve our lamp as much as possible. I do not know whether this is strictly necessary, but given the size of the game, I'm not going to risk finding out that it is... Anyway, open the casket and immediately get the coat. [PH: turn your lamp off.] Drop the casket. Go s, e; on; s. Fill your bottle, and go south to the Slab Room. We'll make this our base of exploration, since it's more or less central to the other areas. Empty your pocket, then drop all except the lamp. [PH: That command doesn't work in the original version. You'll have to "drop all", then "get lamp" instead. Ditto passim.] Go north thrice to "J4". Do _not_ go northwest and take the idol's eye right now. Instead, go ne, n, sw. Note the magic word on the wall. We'll use that later, but we had to see it here or it won't work. Go south, get the sapphire, [go n for TO, nw for PH], n, nw, w. Get all, and go east twice, south twice, west, south twice. There is already a list of objects here, and we'll gather more. To reduce the clutter a bit, we'll keep everything which we'll only need in the end game somewhere else. [TO: Take the axe.] Go northwest. Notice the star. You'll see more of them. For reasons that will become clear then, this is where we'll drop our end game treasures and weapons. Drop the sapphire [TO: and the axe]. Back se, and drop all but lamp again. Take your keys. Go south and southwest... or try to. Unlock the manacles and get them. Go north, drop your keys, and back south. _Now_ go sw, then s. Dig here, and get all. Throw the manacles. Go se, e, get, w, s, get, n, w, u. Turn off your lamp, and go west. Drop everything. Jump. You can make this jump carrying just one object, but that would be of no use, because you want to get the violin at the other end and jump back. That done, get everything, go south, and turn your lamp on again. Get the matches, and go back to the Slab Room: d, ne, n, ne, n. Go nw, drop the [TO: mace, dagger,] statuette, and pearls, back se, and drop all but lamp. Note that the violin _is_ a treasure, but it's also a useful object that we'll be needing later. Next, we'll take a trip to the sea, a rather tricky area where you'll need exact timing, and one which we'll visit twice, once swimming and once sailing. We're off for our swim first. Go ne, e, and s to the ningy room. No, I didn't remember what a ningy was, either, until I did a websearch. Climb the ningy. Go north and northwest. Leave the scissors for now; you can take only one object on your swim, and we need it to be the lamp. You'd think that it wouldn't survive a swim in strong sea currents, but it does. However, turn it off now. Then go east twice. Here comes the first tricky bit. We are about to enter the sea, but there's a current there which drives us steadily west. From the West End of the Beach, go northwest three times. _Do not_ dawdle on the way - any lost turn will run you into the maws of Scylla or Charybdis, and unless you're very careful, a move in any other direction runs the risk of dashing you onto the rocks. [TO: And take care, because any typo does, unlike in most adventure games, waste a move.] You arrive in a cave. Go north, and turn your miraculously preserved lamp on. Now e, take the tiara, w, nw [TO: sw, take the spear, back ne,] and go w, n, n. Take the fish. Go up, s, and sw. Throw the fish, and go south. You are now back in the main dungeon. Go s, s, sw, s, w, w and w; you're back in the Slab Room. As usual: nw, drop all but lamp, se. Now we go sailing. Take the cloth and the matches. Go back ne, e, s to the ningy room, climb, and go north. This time we take the other fork: ne and e. Get the pot, and go back west twice to the fork, then northwest, and this time we do take the scissors. Turn off your lamp, and go east three times to the other end of the beach. It says "Middle", but don't be tempted - to the east is nothing but quicksand. Enter the dinghy, and sail it. Now sit back and wait, until you see white water. Then jump. If you jump early, you end up in the sea; jump late, and you crash. Jump at the right moment, and you'll end up on the south beach of a coral island. First go northeast, then get the driftwood and drop it again. This creates a pile, which will come in useful later. Go west. We're at the centre of the island, with caves in four directions. While you're here, you may see a ship sail by. When, precisely, depends on the timing of your moves, so keep your eyes peeled. If this ship bears a white flag, ignore it for now. However, if its flag is black, guess whose it is? Right, pirates! They're bad news, and if they catch you they'll kill you; but in the Topologika version, they also bring another treasure. If you see their ship, immediately go back to the centre of the island, climb the tree, and wait there until they leave before climbing down and going back to what you were doing. We're going to visit some [in TO: all] of the caves, but the order is somewhat important. The cave northeast must be done early [and in TO the southeast one late]. So: go ne, on, dig, get the doubloons, off, n; nw, on, get emerald, n. [TO: sw, on, get the keg, off, n. By now the pirates should have landed and left again; if not, wait up the tree until they do. Then go southeast, on, dig, get the coins, off, and go north.] Now go east, and there wait until you see the white-flagged ship approach - if it happens to be sailing off right now, wait until it returns (not forgetting to hide up the tree if the pirates appear again). Once it does, light a match and then light the fire. (Use the word "light". "Burn match" won't work.) This will attract the ship; unlike the pirates, its crew won't land unless you attract it. The ship will deposit you in a harbour cave with a single exit, so go northeast and turn your lamp on, and what do you know? You're back in the Slab room! Drop your matches, scissors and pot, and then do the usual tour of nw, drop all but lamp, se. Two detours, now. Go east (you've been here already) and get the marble. Last time we came from the northeast; this time we're taking the southeast route. You can get where we're going both ways, but this is one move shorter. So, go se, leave the orb here, se again, e, ne, n (and no, that exit isn't listed) and e. Get the crown and turn your lamp off. Go north. You are now in the giant's prison, and if you're not careful he will, quite accidentally, crush you. Wait until the giant is in the southeast corner, and then go east three times. [TO: turn your lamp on.] Get everything. Wait (although you may not have to) until the giant is near the south wall of the prison, then throw the marble. [TO: turn your lamp off.] Go west, retrieve your marble, and go west twice and south. Turn your lamp on again, and go w, s, sw, w, w. Drop the crown here; we'll be back later to use it. Go nw, w, nw, drop the beryl, se, and drop the plate (not just the salt - use the word "plate"). The second detour is not to retrieve something we need, but to use something we're going to lose later. Get the pillow, the keys, the matches and the bottle (which should be full of water). Go west three times, then north; don't worry about the door. Go east and down, get the wine, go up and drop your pillow. Go west twice. Something may chime nearby. If not, it will if you wait a while (but don't bother doing so). There must be a clock nearby, even though we can't see it. Take it. Go up and nw twice, then turn off your lamp. Go west. This is a maze, but not a normal one. You won't get through it on your own. Listen to the clock. It chimes, apparently randomly, each turn. If you picture a clock face and a compass rose superimposed, with 12 being north, you'll see that each chime is such that the hour hand would point precisely at a compass point. Go in that direction. For example, if it chimes half past seven, go southwest. Repeat this until you find a horn, floating in mid air. The latter is important: you can find the horn at other times, even stumbing about randomly, but it will be an illusion. You can only take it when it is floating. Do so. To leave the Hall of Mirrors, now go in the opposite direction of that indicated by the clock (so, if it chimes half past seven, go northeast). Turn your lamp on, and go southeast. Notice the star. Drop your horn, clock and wine here. I'll explain why in a couple of paragraphs. Go northwest and north, turn your lamp off, and go southwest. Ignore the gnome. Instead, go south twice. Another maze, but this is (for now) a normal one. Go west (or east; it's symmetrical), south twice, and north. Get the turban. Go e, e, n, n. There's another treasure in the maze, but we're going to have to resort to vandalistic pyromania to get it. Light a match, then light the maze. Go s, s; get the fleece; then n four times back to the lawn. Go east twice, then south and east. Water the plant. Go north, west, and east to the greenhouse. Get the spices. Go west three times. We can't visit the western branch of the garden safely right now, so go north, turn your lamp on, go s and se - you should be at the magenta star. This is where I tell you what that magic word meant, and what all those stars are for: they transport your treasure. In fact, they transport everything that lies on the ground. There's another hint, which I haven't taken you past yet, which says that you need darkness for this. What you do is drop your treasure where there is a star, turn off your lamp, and type "zooge". Anything which is on the ground (except you, of course) will be moved to a safe. Why am I telling you this? Because you won't be able to carry all the treasure you've collected here. So turn your lamp off and drop the spices, fleece and turban; and then enter "zooge". There should be a >>SNAP<<. You'd think that all treasures have been transported, but not so: that clock keeps being a pest. We'll come back for it later, though. For now, turn the lamp on, go se, d, e, open the door, go s, e, e, e. Drop the matches and keys. Next stop, the desert. Get the pot, thread and can (and you should still be carrying the marble, bottle and lamp). Go ne, e, s to the ningy room. This time, try and get the ningy. You won't succeed, but you'll open another passage east. Go east, take the rod, and go e, d, and nw. The portrait you find here won't fit out the door. You'll have to magic it out. But there's no star here, you'll say. Correct, but we can make one: we have a can of paint. Paint a star, turn off your lamp, zooge, drop your can, and turn your lamp back on. Go se and up, then east twice. This is the time to consider your pot. If you don't know what "London Dry" means: it's a type of gin. If you try to jump off the cliff, you'll break your neck, but being drunk will make you miraculously elastic. So: drink gin, jump, and jump again. Go north (notice another star), turn your lamp off, and go west. Drop the lamp, pot and rod here. Going into the desert unprepared is never wise, and it's no different in Acheton. We need to establish a water supply. Drink some water from the spring, then fill your bottle. Now go north, northeast and northwest; fill the barrel; go back se, sw, s; drink some water, and refill your bottle. You'll have to do those two in that order! Well prepared, we now go into the desert. Make sure your bottle is filled, and that you've just drunk some water. Go n, ne, n, nw, and w. Drink. Go sw, w, nw and n. Drink, fill your bottle, and take the rug. Go s twice, e, ne, and s. Drink again. Go east, get [TO: all], and go n, d, se, s and nw. Good thing we prepared that barrel - you wouldn't have made the spring without it. Drink, then go back se, sw, s. Go east, drop the [TO: vial,] flask and rug, and go back west. Drink and fill your bottle again, then go back to the oasis just as we did above: n, ne, n, nw, w, drink, sw, w, nw, n. Drink one last time, and drop your bottle. Go east twice. Check your inventory: you must not be carrying anything except the marble and the thread. Read the inscription around the cactus - it actually says: "I am edible". Do so: eat the cactus. Note the change in your possessions. Go down. Your palantir will be glowing. Go east, and continue to go east as long as it glows dimly. If it starts glowing brightly, wait; if very brightly, go west. Meanwhile, note the letters on the south wall. When you reach the letter "Q", go east even though your palantir is bright. Take the scarab, and say the letters you found on the wall, in the correct order (they were on the south wall!): QYWINROL. You're back at the stalactite room. Go down, and get the helmet. Go south twice. Wait here, if necessary, until you see a mummy leave to the northeast. Then go south four times. You are now in a maze full of snakes. This section is rather differently laid out in the two versions of the game, although the essence is the same. We will find an altar, and we're going to sacrifice some treasure - but don't worry, we'll get it back. This serves two purposes: it frees our hands, and it wakes the snakes. If that sounds dangerous, that's because it is. In the next paragraphs, timing is of the essence. One missed turn [TO: and in this game, that means one typo], and you're probably dead. So be careful. [TO: Get the bracelet, go west and south, get the carbuncle, and go w, n, e, n. Sacrifice the carbuncle, the bracelet, the scarab, and the palantir. You'll notice that the walls have started changing colour. This is important. Wait until the wall is yellow. Then go s, e, s, wait, w, e, s, get the silk, and go n. The wall should be red, now. Go w and e again, then e, w, w, n, e, n. We're back at the altar. Wait (two turns) until the wall is red, then go s and e, get the candlestick, and go w, w, n, n.] [PH: Go east five times, then north. Get the carbuncle, then go west, north, and west twice. Sacrifice the carbuncle, scarab and the palantir. You'll notice that the walls have started changing colour. This is important. Keep entering "look" - unlike in the TO version, you won't be told the change in colour if you merely "wait" - until the wall is violet. Then go e, n, n, n, take the candlestick, wait, n, w, get bracelet, s, wait, e. The wall should be blue. Go e, e, w, e, w, e, w, e - the walls should be indigo - get the silk, and go w, s, w, s, w, w, n.] Whew! We survived the snakes. And both versions of the game are together again. But we need some more precise timing. Remember that mummy? Go north. Wait until he appears and leaves again, then go after him straight away. North once, then northeast and southeast. Get the torque. Go southwest, northwest and north - just in time to evade him. Ok, _now_ we can relax for a while. Go north and west, get [TO: all], and go east thrice. You are at a mushroom. Go north and back south, and eat mushroom. Note letters. Go e, w, eat mushroom. And go s, n, eat mushroom. You must do all three, or Isis will not be pleased. Go west twice, back to the gate, and type the word that was revealed to you: first the single letter, then two, then four [PH: or three]. In the TO version, that is always ULIMOGA. In the original game, it varies. You're back in the desert. You might as well drop your helmet here. To get down, tie the rope (you don't have to say what to), and then go down. Go north, east and south to find yourself back at the spring. Take a swig. Go east, drop everything you carry, and go west. Go north and southeast - there are your treasures! Retrieve the lot, then go back nw and s and take your final drink of water. Get your lamp and the rod, and go east. We can't carry all those treasures - the ones we're carrying plus the ones we dropped here previously - to our base, but of course we don't have to. Drop the [TO: bracelet,] carbuncle, and scarab, but _not_ the palantir, as we'll need that for the next bit. Zooge. Now turn your lamp on. Go north and west to find yourself back in the ningy room, so go n, w, sw for the slab room and drop the rod and palantir. If you've been taking more turns than necessary, you may have noticed that your lamp is growing dim. If not, it is still quite close to running out of power. Don't worry: we're going to do something about that now. There is one obvious exit from the Slab room we haven't taken yet, and that is the southeast one. Make sure that you're carrying nothing except your lamp, and go se, s - don't worry about the boulder - sw, se, s, se, e, e. You should be in the Timeless Cavern. For some reason, your lamp is recharged here. Wait until it starts shining "very brightly" (i.e. not "with its usual brightness"), then immediately go east. Don't wait one turn longer, because your lamp's bulb will burst if you do, and it can't be repaired. Get the ornament, then go east, up twice, [TO: up once more, get the crucifix, and go down] and west. If you read the writing on the wall, it says "OFF", [PH: "MOAN"] "WAIT", "EXAKCIP". As far as I can tell, you only need the latter, but let's play it by the book: enter those three [PH: four] words, in that order. Something is "Done!", but we can't tell what. In fact, a treasure has appeared quite a distance away. We'll get it later; for now, just turn your lamp back on. Go e, d, d, w, s, sw, get the chess pieces, go ne, w, w, and nw to the pillar maze. This is a small but normal maze. Go west and up. [TO: go south, get the stake, go north.] Go east and northeast. We're back in the colossal cave. It really is colossal, but it isn't a maze in the proper sense - it's all consistently and logically arranged, there's just a lot of it. Go southeast twice, get the pendant, go northwest, then west and southwest (or southwest and west), and southwest again to a room full of stars. This is very convenient, because we need out hands free for the next bit. Turn your lamp off, drop everything but the lamp, and say zooge. Turn your lamp back on, then go ne, e, n; nw, e, se; e, s, s. Make sure you are carrying nothing except your lamp, then go down the slide. You are now in another maze, this one very real and rather large. The trickiest bit is that there are seven objects [six in the Phoenix version] spread through the maze, but at random places. Even if you map it, you will know what the maze looks like, but if you play the game again, the objects in it will be in other rooms. The only way to make sure you get them all is to visit every room in the maze. Luckily, it is a well-constructed maze, and there is in fact a path that visits all rooms exactly once. (Even more luckily, it appears to be the same maze in both versions; in any case, the same route does work for both, saving yours truly a lot of tedious mapping.) Therefore, take the following tour, and when you find any object along the way, pick it up. There should be seven of them: four treasures, one weapon, and two seemingly worthless objects that we'll turn into treasures later. Starting from the bottom of the slide: n, s, e, se, n, e, s, ne, n, w, n, sw, d, n to a dead end, back s, s again, e, sw, u and back d for another dead end, e, sw, nw, and finally s. That's it: you should be carrying eight [PH: seven] objects, counting your lamp. Go sw to the infamous lodestone room. This is one of those rooms where your compass doesn't work and any exit leaves you in a random choice of a set of rooms, like the Round Room of Dungeon or the Carousel Room of Zork II. Unlike those, however, the lodestone room cannot be stopped or remedied. Just go in any random direction. If you wind up back in the lodestone room, try again; otherwise, follow these directions back to the slab room: Crystalline chamber w, w Long wide chamber s, w, w, w Cavern with glossy walls w, sw, w, w, w Secret east-west canyon w, w, sw, w, w, w Nondescript cave w, nw, w Large chamber e, w, nw, w Sponge room sw, w, w, nw, w Bend in the passage n, sw, w, w, nw, w Go northwest, and drop the brooch, [TO: broadsword,] opals and earrings; go back southeast, and drop the lead, amulet and quartz. Keep your lamp. We suffered extreme heat; now we visit the extreme cold. Take your mink coat, violin, tongs, palantir, and the plate of salt (not just the salt - the entire plate). Go up and north. Play the violin, then go east. Get the salver and drop the tongs. Go west, and north four times. You are now on a melting ice floe. Moving here without knowing where to will eventually land you in the water, but you are carrying the solution. Type "look". Your palantir should grant you a vision. Go in the direction whose scent track corresponds to the course the banqueters are eating - for example, if they're eating the fish course, move in the direction that smells of sea, which is southeast. Get the necklace, and move in any direction, then back south off the ice floe. The floe melts, but we have what we wanted, so go east. Drop the salt - just the salt, this time. Go down and se, get the ring, and go back nw, u, nw, then s, se, s, s, d. Go nw, drop the ring, necklace, salver, plate, violin and palantir, but keep the coat (and lamp, of course), and go se. Get the thermometer. Go up, north three times, then west. The next part is a bit picky, but at least it's a matter of paying attention rather than single-move timing. You can afford to make a typo here. Each of the following rooms has one exit back north, and two exits forward - southeast and southwest. One of these, in each case, leads to a room where your thermometer indicates four degrees below zero, and one at ten degrees below. If you are in a -4 room, any step forward is lethal, and you can only safely go back north. In a -10 room, you can go in any direction. However, one of the -4 rooms contains a treasure, so you should visit them all until you find it; and which exit leads to which temperature room is randomised per game. You could also count them, since it's always in the same room - the sixth room at minus four degrees - but what with all the back and forth, I found it less confusing to just be methodical. So what you do is, go southwest. If you're at -4, get the sceptre if you've found it, and in any case go back north and then southeast. However, if you are in a -10 room, go north, southeast, get the sceptre if found, and then go back north and southwest. Repeat this, moving south only from -10 rooms, but inspecting each -4 room as well, until you do find the sceptre. After that, just follow the -10 rooms al the way to the end. Get the gloves, and go back north to the fork, and north once more to the ice junction. You can drop your thermometer here. Go west and take the habergeon; then go e, s, se, s, s, d. Drop the sceptre; store the gloves and coat in the purple star room. Let's go rob the wizard of his last treasures. Take your keys and the amulet, then go west three times. [TO: Open the door.] Go n, w, u, nw, nw, n; off; sw, w, w. Get the moonstone, go east, turn your lamp on. Now we need to get a move on. Go n, e, n. Don't be tempted to explore, because those roc eggs will hatch and it won't be safe out there. We can't kill the roc fledglings, but we can have something else kill them. See those creatures in the cage? They're quite deadly to us, but also to the rocs. Open the cage, turn your lamp off, then wait at least ten turns to let nature take its course. Turn the lamp back on. Go west, west, south and east. Get the diadem. Go west and south - note along the way how our enemies have disposed of one another for us - then s, e, e; off; d, e, e, e, n; on; s, se. Remember that clock? Wave the amulet. There it is! The amulet makes visible objects on the floor visible, and vice versa. We'll make use of this again. Turn your lamp off. Drop the diadem, moonstone, and habergeon. Zooge. On. Go se, d, e, n, n. Remember the word the wizard speaks; we will use it shortly. You are now in a cell, and a magical cell, at that. You'll get out, but you will end up in a maze. This is another maze with a difference: you are about to create it yourself. In this cell, you can move in any direction, but for some time you'll get nowhere. The directions you try will be remembered, though, and when you end up in the dungeon maze, those will be the right way out of there. As an added complication, you can use each direction only once, so you can't just go north until you're out. You can try any route you find convenient, but my suggestion would be to just follow the compass rose until something happens. Therefore, go n, ne, e, se, s, sw - remember _that_ magic word, as well - and w. Now you're in the maze, so start over: n, ne, e, se, s, sw. Here is another treasure: a scroll. We won't be able to take it out as it is. Wave your amulet, then get the scroll. Go east. From here, the games diverge again for a bit; the original Phoenix version has an extra maze. [PH: Go down, east and up. Wave the amulet, then take the coins. Go d, e, u again. Wave amulet, get stamp. Go down, west and up.] Go east twice. If you'd been carrying that treasure while it was visible, those lions would have killed you. Unfortunately, if you leave the house while it's invisible, you die as well. So we do a bit of an object dance, which, because of the differences we've just had, is different in detail as well for both versions, though identical in intent: [PH: drop stamp, drop scroll, drop coins, wave amulet, get all.] [TO: get the stamp, drop the scroll, wave amulet, get scroll.] You can't open this door normally, but the magic words you heard before will work here. We need them both: enter "nerku ukren" (or "ukren nerku"). You are now in a large chamber; in fact, it is the same large chamber in which you could have ended up from the lodestone room, so go e, w, nw, w, nw to the purple star room. Drop the [PH: coins,] scroll, stamp and amulet here, and go back se to our slab room base. It's time to tie up a couple of final loose ends. And yes, that means that we're getting near the end - hurrah! Take the rod and the scissors. Go north twice, turn off your lamp, and go west twice, then up. We're back in the forest. Climb a tree, and this time choose the northern one. Go down to find yourself in the field, and go west thrice. Remember that magic word "exakcip" in the mines, which did something but we couldn't see what? It deposited a diamond here. Get it. It is a great treasure, but we can make it even greater, using the scissors. Cut the diamond. Miraculous scissors, aren't they? You ain't seen nothing yet. Cut the diamond a second time. Now _that's_ a miracle! Get the sculpture, then go east twice and south. Here's something else unusual: in Acheton, you _must_ die once to get all the treasures. Well, this is as good a time as any. If you haven't unlocked the grate, right at the beginning, do so now. Go down the well. You will die. When asked if you want to be reincarnated, say no. You end up in Hades. Wander around in random directions, taking in the scenery, until you come across a crystal skull. Take this, then say "anon" [TO: or "dante"]. You're back at the well, with your possessions lying about - and you're still carrying the skull. Retrieve everything except the keys. Wave the rod, then go down again. Go east, turn your lamp on, north, get the sovereigns, off, up. You end up in the forest. This time it's normal forest, not enchanted, but it is confusing. Go in any direction, and continue to do so until you reach somewhere that is either the enchanted forest, or not a forest at all. If you end up outside the forest, find your way back to the field and then the enchanted forest. Climb a tree again, choose s, go d twice, e twice, on, s twice, nw, drop the diamond, sculpture, skull and sovereigns, and go se. Take the sceptre and the lump of lead. Go e, ne, e, n, w. Drop the lead and take the stone. Note that it's described as the Philosopher's stone - and if you don't know what the Philosopher's stone is supposed to do, there's a clue in the book that's sitting on the shelf. (You can't read the book, by the way. It will disintegrate. The title is the entire clue.) The stone will transmute lead into gold, but only if you're holding the stone and the lead is on the ground. As that is the case now, enter "transmute". Drop the stone and get the gold nugget. Go e, s, w, w, se. Get everything. Note that you're now holding the full regalia. Go south twice. A treasure chest has appeared here; if you had been here before, without the "King's Combination", the room would have been empty then. Take the chest, then go n, n, nw, w. Get the quartz crystals, go southeast to the toll hole (but no further!), and drop them there. Get the ankh that appears. Go northwest twice, and drop the ankh, chest, orb, crown, sceptre, and gold. Now is the grand moment you've been waiting for. Well, the first grand moment, anyway. All that treasure which we've been collecting so meticulously, near this star: it's all going to the safe. Turn your lamp off. [TO: Look at your score, in the status line above the main text area.] Zooge. [TO: Look at your score again. If that isn't a lot of points for a single turn, I don't know what is. The difference is less spectacular in the Phoenix version; we will soon see why.] And so, at last, we come to the end game. Turn your lamp on. Go se, n, n, n. [PH: Go ne, n, nw, w, u. See all that treasure? In the Topologika version, those would all be inside the safe. We have to do all the grunt work ourselves. Enter "score" now. Get all, e, drop all, w. Get all (this works fine in the dark), e, drop all, w. Repeat until there is nothing left to get. Ask for your score again, for an even greater difference than in the TO version, but we deserve it: we've had to work harder for it. Go east, get the rod and the lamp, then go w, d, e, e, s, s.] Go northwest. Take the idol's eye. It will now start searching for you. I don't know how it finds you, but I do know that the later in the game you take the eye, the less chance that you'll be caught. In fact, the chance is not quite zero even this late, but it's very small. Go se, ne, n, nw, w, u - you can read the inscription if you wish, but it tells you something I've already revealed - and e. [TO: So that's where all your treasures went!] Drop the eye [TO: and take the cane]. Go west, close the safe, and sit back to listen to the counting. [TO: The objects thrown out of the safe are all the end game weapons. Because the cane is tipped with silver, if you'd left it in there, it would have counted as half a treasure, and been lost. Since we're going to need it in the end game, it was necessary to remove it ourselves. Get everything except the lamp and the axe.] Wave the rod. [TO: Common sense would tell us to drop the rod and get the axe now, but we're going for the Last Lousy Point, so don't do that. Instead, go east twice.] [PH: Go east, obey the notice by dropping everything, and go east again.] Notice two stone discs. Go north. Another stone disc, of another size. North again, and we find yet another stone disc, of yet another size. Could it be? Yup, it _is_ a Tower of Hanoi. Luckily, it's only a four disc one, and you don't even need to move the whole thing. Get the small disc. S. Drop the disc. S. Get disc. S. Drop disc. S. Get disc. S. Drop disc. N. Get disc. N. Drop disc. N. Get disc. S. Drop disc. N. Get disc. Hey, a hole! We can't go down carrying the disc, so go north, drop it, and go back south, save your game one last time, and go down. You're now in a gladiator fight with several monsters and fighters. [PH: you will be presented with the same weapons as in the TO game, without having had to collect them yourself.] To defeat them, you need to use the correct weapon on each. The order in which they appear is random, except that, as far as I can tell, the dragon is always last in the TO version and the orc in the PH one. Obviously, when asked if you want to quit when you've killed a monster, answer no. You want to get the whole lot. The weapons to use against each monster are: Cyclops spear Knight axe... oops, we left that behind. Well, none, then. As it happens, if you kill the knight with the axe, you do get to the end alive, but with only 997 of the 1000 points. Using your bare hands bags you the full score, and the win. [PH: we _do_ have the axe in this version, but you should still choose "none", for the full score.] Minotaur mace Orc dagger Scorpion vial of gas Serpent sword Spectre crucifix Vampire stake (what else?) Wolf cane [TO: told you we'd need it!] Dragon keg And that's it! You've won Acheton, with the full 1500 points in the original version or 1000 points in the Topologika one, and are declared Grandmaster Supreme and elected to the Ruling Council of Acheton. (This means that you're now part of a mysterious body - whether that is an honour is a judgement I leave to you...) Hope you enjoyed yourself - I know I did.