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Key & Compass presents:
Baluthar
by Chris Molloy Wischer

Baluthar is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 6 and is © 2003 by Chris Molloy Wischer. It was an entry in IF Comp 2003 where it took 8th place.

In this game of horror, you play as an old man of a tribal culture. For months, you've been weary of life and kept to your bed. But when you learn that your adult son, Rykhard, has foolishly gone into the cursed cave in the well, you are finally motivated to act. You lost his mother. You will not lose him too.

This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.


Map

in d out u The Hut Forest Bottomof Well ArtificialTunnel Lab-oratory Naturalcavern NarrowPassage Gallery Fissure Ledge ShortPassage Monster'sLair Hallway AbandonedBedroom Dungeon

Walkthrough

The Hut (on the large bed)

Until you read the note, you won't be willing to leave your bed.

> x me. i. (Carrying nothing.)

> x roof.

> take all from table. read note.

Rykhard has gone to the cave in the well, despite the curse.

> x jar. x my bed. x smaller bed. x door.

> out. out.

Forest

> x statue. (Baluthar, with reptile head, God of Vengeance)

> pray. x well. x trees.

> x boulder. x insect. take insect. put insect in jar.

> d.

Bottom of Well

Wearing the mud may seem a weird thing to do, but it'll be useful later.

> take mud. wear mud. sw.

Artificial Tunnel

This area is dark. You need the glowing insect to see down here.

> x creature. (It's a ghoul.)

> x beetles.

> s. (The ghoul follows you.)

Natural cavern

> worse. (The creature stops you from progressing either way.)

> n. ne.

Bottom of Well

> take mud. sw.

Artificial Tunnel

> drop mud. (This makes the ground slippery.)

> push ghoul ne. (You push the creature into the light, and it's burnt away.)

> s. w.

Laboratory

> x cup. take it. x table. x shards.

> x skull. x pipes. take skull. (No.)

> x stone. x liquid. fill cup with liquid.

> pour liquid in funnel. ("Beware the Necrimera!" It smells living flesh!)

> sw.

Narrow Passage

> se.

Fissure

> x bridge. x pit. x staircase. n.

Gallery

> x images. (Three images, somehow from Rykhard.)

> x first image. (About first arrival of the Ivarns.)

> x second image. (About Ivarns at your home, killing your wife.)

> x third image. (About Rykhard meeting a skeleton king.)

You note an ornate hammer on a chain from the king's sleeve.

> take hammer. (No, the images are like mirages, untouchable.)

> s. s.

Ledge

> x door. open door.

Before you can open it, a guardian presses a sword against your neck, demanding that you say its name.

> x guardian.

> say Rykhard to guardian. (Wrong. You're flung back to Fissure.)

Fissure

> nw. ne.

Laboratory

> fill cup with liquid. pour liquid in funnel. ("Ambrosio was the name of the guard!")

> fill cup with liquid. pour liquid in funnel. (It just screams now.)

> sw. se. s.

Ledge

> open door. say Ambrosio to guardian. (The ghostly guardian leaves.)

> open door. (You hear a monstrous sniffing and shut the door.)

You must be wearing the mud on your body, covering your scent, before going through this door.

> open door. s.

Monster's Lair

> x necrimera. (A necrotic chimera; a chaotic interspecies zombie.)

> w.

Short Passage

You may hear Rykhard's voice calling out. You can "say yes to Rykhard" if you like, but it won't help much.

> x archway. x designs.

> s. (Burning pain! You retreat.)

> e. e. s.

Abandoned Bedroom

> x table. x carvings. open drawers.

> destroy table. x book. take it.

> x bed.

> n. w. w.

Short Passage

The book mentioned "magic runes" and "fragile marks", and you'll be unwilling to erase the designs unless you've read the book.

> erase designs. s.

Dungeon

> x skeleton. x Rykhard. ask Rykhard about cage.

> x throne. x hammer.

> take hammer. x skeleton's fist. take key. (Can't.)

> break skeleton's fist with hammer. (Futile.)

> break beetles with hammer. (The skeleton drops the key.)

> take key. unlock cage with key.

> ask Rykhard about skeleton. (He calls it the Warlock.)

> ask Rykhard about curse. ask Rykhard about necrimera.

> ask Rykhard about images. ask Rykhard about hammer.

> ask Rykhard about liquid. ask Rykhard about skull.

> ask Rykhard about dungeon. ask Rykhard about Baluthar.

> n. e.

Monster's Lair

The Necrimera ignores Rykhard; the Warlock give it a drop of his blood.

> n.

Ledge

Rykhard tells you that the Warlock's zombie army is down below.

> close door. ask Rykhard about army.

> n. n. nw. n. ne. u.

Forest

Rykhard tries to push the boulder but his strength alone isn't enough.

> push boulder.

The cave is now blocked and Baluthar's statue is smashed.

*** The End ***


Extras

Characters

Also mentioned:


Endings


Inventory


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