Dark Lord

Dark Lord

 START TO ALCHEMIST
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 DARK LORD is an introductory-level animated graphics adventure game that
offers three levels of difficulty: Easy, Normal, and Random. The difference
between Easy and Normal levels is the ease with which items can be found;
the Random level scatters game items in different places each time it is
invoked. This walkthru, as it concerns the actual items and puzzles, can be
applied to any level.

 The plot concerns a hidden room in a mansion you´ve inherited from your
grandfather. In the hidden room are his journal and a mirror. The journal
tells of granddad´s trip through the looking glass to Alterworld, where he
participated in the defeat of Nequam, the Evil One. A few moves beyond the
mirror, you learn that a mistake was made -- the villagers who killed
Nequam buried with him the amulet that was the source of his power. Nequam
lives and he´s just as nasty as ever!

 Since a picture is displayed after each directional move, keep the (C64)
"F7 keystroke in mind. It removes the picture to show only text. At the top
of the all-text screen is the direction you are facing, which doesn´t
necessarily coincide with the direction you last took.

 Certain moves must be made within the time limit of screen animation
routines. For example, on the Island (in Part 2), using a certain item
opens and closes a sliding door. The time it takes for the door to open and
close is the amount of time you have to enter the move that gets you beyond
the door.

 The LOOK command is handy in DARK LORD, and not only to redescribe your
surroundings. Objects you might see on entering a new location won´t be
described in the text. You must ask the game to do so. Type LOOK GROUND to
learn what the object is, and LOOK (object) to get a description of the
object.

 A note about the amulet: The amulet, the source of Nequam´s power, was
buried with him. You need this item for a certain puzzle. The logical place
for it to appear is where it was left. Sometimes it appeared there and
sometimes it didn´t. I will comment on this again at the appropriate time.

 The opening screen is the hidden room in the mansion. There is a mirror
here, some books, and a ticking clock. You have no possessions. ENTER
MIRROR and you´ll be pulled through it to another room. A multi-faceted
scarab will appear in the mirror and fall to the floor. The text won´t
remark on the scarab, so LOOK GROUND.

 TAKE the SCARAB. Then go north through the curtain. In this room is an old
geezer sitting on a crate. ASK MAN ABOUT EVIL ONE and he´ll tell you to
find his brother Krin. A stick, which you must give to Krin, appears on the
groun TAKE the STICK, then go west through the doorway.

 Go west again and you´ll see a bridge in the distance. Go north twice and
the picture of Nequam´s castle appears. North three more times will put you
in a village. Go East through the doorway into the deserted storehouse and
TAKE the OIL LAMP. West to the village, north to the beach, then west to
where a man is repairing a boat.

 ASK ABOUT KRIN, and the man will tell you that Krin is a mighty alchemist
who lives in the great chasm. ASK ABOUT the CHASM, and the man will tell
you it i off to the south, beyond the village. A chasm? I smell a puzzle,
Go east twice from the man to reach the dock where a strong breeze ruffles
the flag. LOOK DOCK reveals some rope. TAKE the ROPE.

 Go west to the beach then head south six times until you reach the edge of
a cliff. There is a large tree here. TIE ROPE TO TREE. Down takes you to a
ledge in the chasm. Go west three times and you´ll find Krin sitting at his
desk. GIVE STICK TO KRIN. He will say he can help but first you must find a
pearl blossom. No, don´t leave right away. First LOOK GROUND then TAKE the
EMPTY FLASK.

 East three times and up returns you to the cliff. Now to find a pearl
blossom. Go south to the suspension bridge. West twice puts you in a sparse
forest, and west again puts you in an east/west trench. There is a tree
here. LOOK TREE reveals a pearl blossom within reach. TAKE PEARL BLOSSOM.
East three times and north returns you to the cliff. Down then west three
times brings you to Krin once again.

 ASK KRIN ABOUT BLOSSOM. He´ll tell you to eat it. EAT the BLOSSOM and
energy surges through you. ASK KRIN ABOUT NEQUAM. Krin will tell you that
you can fly, and that your grandfather´s journal will be of assistance.

 That´s it with Krin. He´s now useless, and the rest of the adventure must
be completed without him. So head east three times then up to the cliff.
We´re going to get in some flight time, but not until we´ve gone fishing.

 ISLAND TO VOLCANO

 From the tree by the cliff go north twice then east where you see a fish in
the stream. TAKE the FISH and go west back to the bridge. Go north five
times to the beach and west to the man repairing the boat. ASK ABOUT ISLAND.
The man will tell you it is the burial place of Lord Nequam, who swore he
would return from the grave. ASK ABOUT NEQUAM, and you´ll learn that Nequam
killed this man´s father.

 Sometimes the man notices the fish you are carrying, sometimes he doesn´t.
If he hasn´t by now, GIVE FISH TO MAN. This guy´s hungry! He devours the
fish whole, thanks you for your kindness, then offers to you a scroll which
had been given to him by an enemy of Lord Nequam. TAKE the SCROLL then READ
the SCROLL. Nequam thinks he has somehow cheated death, but there is a way
to defeat him.

 Head east then south five times, back to the bridge. Go east back to the
stream to get another fish. Go west to the bridge then north five times to
th beach, and west to the dock.

 Make sure you have the scarab and the fish. FLY will send you soaring over
the water. FLY a second time puts you above the island, and LAND sets you
down. North twice gets you to the top of the island where you´ll see a
square hole in the ground. Down takes you to an underground chamber.

 There is a blue door here. LOOK DOOR tells of an indentation. LOOK
INDENTATION says it has a familiar shape -- that of the scarab.

 This is one of the timed puzzles. Check the all-text screen ("F7") to be
sure of the direction you´re facing. It should be north. Type PUT SCARAB IN
DOOR. The door will slide open then slide closed. There is enough time to
get the scarab and go north before the door closes, but once we´re beyond
this door, we won´t need the scarab and will have to find another exit. So
as soon as the door starts to open (by way of PUT SCARAB IN DOOR) enter N
for north. The next picture, an underground corridor, will appear, the door
will close, and that´s that.

 Go North. In this room is a cat, a skull, a headless figure on the wall,
and an exit west. We need the skull, but the cat won´t let us take it until
we GIVE FISH TO CAT. The cat is as hungry as the fisherman. TAKE the SKULL.
LOOK SKULL reveals that it is lined with lead. Go west into the burial
chamber.

 Here is the scene that was described in your grandfather´s journal. LOOK
COFFIN tells us that a powerful force blew it open from the inside. LOOK
GROUND to find the amulet.

 (See Part 1. This is the only "logical" place for the amulet to be. If it
isn´t here, return to your last save, make sure you have all the items
you´ve found thus far, including the rope and the scarab, and try going
back to the island again. If that doesn´t work, you might have to restart
the game on Easy level. The amulet appeared in the burial chamber every
time, and the remainder of the walkthru will apply in any case.)

 TAKE the AMULET, then MOVE the DEBRIS to find a secret exit, and go west
into the darkened passage. Up takes you to the peak of the island, and FLY
twice returns you to the beach on the mainland.

 From the beach, go south three times to the corridor carved out of the rock
(you´ll be looking west). Go west twice to the steps. Something is circling
overhead. Do a save here, then go west to the entrance to the castle. You
won´t be able to get in because whatever it was that was circling overhead
will grab you in its claws and drop you off somewhere.

 If you backtrack to the fisherman and ask about the monster, he´ll tell you
that it lives inside the volcano and is summoned by Nequam. So we have to
get rid of the monster if we ever hope to enter the castle. At the moment,
however, we don´t have any weapons.

 Go east twice from the steps then south five times to the suspension bridge.
Go west twice to the path and north twice to the end of the path. When you
FLY, the winds will blow you into a cave. TAKE the AXE. FLY to reach the
westernmost part of the beach.

 We need to fill the flask with water, and we need the oil lamp the axe.
Make sure you have these items then, from the beach, go west twice. Go
south five times, FILL FLASK WITH WATER, then south three more times to the
suspension bridge. Go west twice to the path.

 Go west three times through the trench and you´ll arrive at a "Beware Of
Volcano" message. Paths lead north, south, and east. East leads back where
we came, and north and south eventually lead back to this message. Go north
once, west twice and south twice. Here you´ll find a thorny bush. Since all
paths lead back to the message, and since the thorny bush is visible but
not described, we have a puzzle.

 BURN BUSH WITH LAMP and the bush will disappear to reveal a new path, one
that leads into the volcano. Make sure you have the flask filled with water
and the axe: we´re going to meet the winged monster.

 MONSTER TO CASTLE

 Go west twice through the newly-created passage to reach the lava stream.
Go north to find plants thriving in the lava. Go north again to find the
next puzzle. A small stream of lava separates you from a ledge. LOOK LEDGE
tells you that getting to it is going to be a problem. LOOK PLANT says
there is a large waxy leaf within reach. TAKE the LEAF. LOOK LAVA reveals a
small rock protruding above the surface of the lava stream.

 None of this has anything to do with getting across to the ledge. This is
another timed puzzle. POUR WATER IN STREAM (this cools off the lava) then
enter W for west before the lava heats up. At this point you´ll be on a
treacherous path above a sea of lava.

 You´re facing west. Go in that direction and the tremendous heat will push
you back. RUB SKIN WITH LEAF. Whatever factor protects the plants from the
heat of the lava will do the same for you. Go west again and you will be
deep inside the volcano.

 Go west to find the winged monster, who is sleeping. HIT MONSTER WITH AXE
and our way into the castle will be clear.

 Go east three times, south twice, and east twice to the trench. Then go
north twice, east twice, and south to the message. Go east three times and
you´ll be in the forest near the suspension bridge.

 We´re just about ready to enter the castle and meet Nequam, but first we
need one more item -- a rat.

 Go east twice past the suspension bridge, north to the cliff, and east to
the burning village. LOOK GROUND tells us we see a rat. TAKE the RAT. It is
warm, friendly, and intelligent, and not at all hungry.

 Go west to the cliff and north four times to the corridor in the rock. Go
west three times to the castle entrance.

 It´s time to meet the Evil One!

 ENDGAME

 We can´t get in through this entrance, so we´ll have to find another. North
is a dead end, so go south and east to the stream. SWIM in the slimy green
water. Go west twice and you´ll be on the dock of the castle.

 Go west to the eerie hall and west again to an intersection. There are bars
to the left, stairs to the right, and a door ahead. The door is locked from
the inside. We´ll see the bars soon enough, so go north up the stairs to
the top of the stairway, north again to the balcony, and north a third time
to the door of Nequam´s room.

 There is a skeletal guard here. He´s waving a knife, and in the corner
behind him is a key. RUB the AMULET and the guard will be become even more
skeletal. TAKE the KEY. OPENing the DOOR pulls us through into Nequam´s
chambers, and he promptly puts us into a cell, whose bars we saw at the
intersection.

 MOVE the TORCH and the stones slide away to reveal a new passage to the
west. Go west to a room with hallways to the north and west. Go north to a
door on the right and and an open doorway on the left. We can´t get in
through the doorway, and the door leads back to the intersection, which
we´ll get to shortly.

 Go south back to the hallway and west to a massive stone door. OPEN the
DOOR then go north into the power room. LOOK through the WINDOW and you see
an array of mirrors and lenses. We can´t get through to them so our
intelligent and friendly rodent will have to do it. PUT RAT IN WINDOW and
it will scurry through, disable the power flow, and return. TAKE RAT (you
wouldn´t want to abandon it).

 Go south, east, north, and west into Nequam´s crystal room. There is a
crystal on a pedestal. TAKE the CRYSTAL (vibrations come from deep within
the castle) then BREAK the CRYSTAL. It will shatter into a zillion
fragments.

 Go east, OPEN the DOOR, and then east again to the intersection. Go north
three times to the door of Nequam´s chambers. OPEN the DOOR to again be
pulled in, but this time we can confront the Evil One.

 He looks like a shadow with blinking dots, except for the eyes. You can try
all kinds of things here, such as rubbing the amulet or rubbing the skull
or hitting Nequam with the rat or whatever. When you rub the amulet, Nequam
gets nervous, but no matter what you do he doesn´t do anything except make
idle threats. All his power is gone.

 To rid Alterworld of him once and for all, THROW SKULL AT NEQUAM. It will
attach itself to Nequam´s neck, thus completing the picture in the burial
chamber, and destroy him.

 All the villagers will return to their homes, and celebrate your victory
with song and dance. The final screen shows the villagers having a party on
the beach. Your score and the number of moves you needed to complete the
game is displayed.