Forbidden Castle

Forbidden Castle

FAQ/walkthrough
version 1.0.0
copyright 2002 by Andrew Schultz schultza@earthlink.net

Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. If you wish to do 
so then please write to me asking for specific games and addressing my 
by my first name. Thanks!

**** AD SPACE ****

My web page:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Exhibit/2762

**** PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT, SORT OF ****

If you are interested in solving an old text adventure you are stuck 
on(i.e. VERY old systems) check gamefaqs.com and Jacob Gunness's site 
first(these sites between them have everything,) search "[game name]" 
walkthrough on Google(put + by common words.)

If you want to write a more in-depth walkthrough(i.e. items, possible 
words, etc.) drop me a line and I'll see if I can help.

Oh yeah--if you want to skip to the walkthrough just search for the 
decimal number 7.1 until you get to the file's end.

================================

  1. INTRODUCTION

    1.1. ABOUT THE GAME

    1.2. ABOUT MY EFFORTS TO SOLVE IT

  2. WORDS AND SYNTAX

  3. MAP

    3.1. BEGINNING AREA

    3.2. ACROSS THE RIVER

    3.3. COLDOR'S CASTLE

    3.4. BY AIR

    3.5. FORBIDDEN CASTLE

    3.6. MISCELLANEOUS SMALL AREAS

    3.7. ANIMAL ROUTES

  4. ITEMS

  5. CHARACTERS

  6. WAYS TO DIE/BE UNABLE TO FINISH THE GAME

  7. WALKTHROUGH

    7.1. GETTING THROUGH

    7.2. LOGICAL/CLUE PROGRESSION

  8. VERSIONS/CREDITS

================================

  1. INTRODUCTION

    1.1. ABOUT THE GAME

    Forbidden Castle is a game set in a fantasy realm, and although it 
does not have a huge number of rooms, it's very hard. Unfortunately much 
of that difficulty is not related to the puzzles but to the parser and 
inaccuracies. It is written(or at least conceived) by Mercer Mayer, 
ostensibly the same Mercer Mayer who illustrated all those kids' books 
including the wonderful Great Brain series and even wrote some 
stuff(www.littlecritter.com for the whole deal.) While the fantasy 
elements that appear in his drawings appear here, and you rely on a lot 
of visual clues to complete the game, the Angelsoft parser causes 
awkwardness some times. The game's complexity outstrips it a bit so it's 
more likely to be remembered as scattered than eponymous. It's a pity 
because the descriptions really give nice foreshadowing and the game 
achieves a sort of internal logic although it tortures the player to 
find it.

    I couldn't find any copies of the Apple rom image, but www.the-
underdogs.org has this game available for download. I suspect there is 
little difference in the Apple to Windows port. After all how much can 
technology really soup up a text adventure?

    1.2. ABOUT MY EFFORTS TO SOLVE IT

    When I saw this promising game title as the only one on the Apple 
GameFAQs request list I tried to track it down. I found it at the-
underdogs.org before the site grew a hyphen. The game had clever 
locations but seemed very hard, and soon I was looking for a walkthrough 
myself only to find others were just as stuck as I was. Eventually I 
gave up trying to figure the game straight up and looked at the files. 
The words aren't directly revealed but VOCAB contains a code that maps 
bytes from 0x01 to 0x40 to letters. The program capitalizes, etc. 
itself. So I had to decode that first, and once I did, I searched the 
MESSAGE file for words compressed to six bytes per letter instead of the 
usual eight. A simple program looked at all possible byte shifts and 
gave me the script. After which I still needed a little help. But I 
think the same method may work for any other unsolved AngelSoft games.

  2. WORDS AND SYNTAX

The game recognizes words or word clumps. Below I've listed its entire 
vocabulary in alphabetical order. Wasn't bothered to separate stuff by 
noun/verb/location/item etc. Maybe later.

A SMALL COURTYARD, ALTAR, A**, BACK HALL, BAG, BANK, BEACH, BEAR, BEARD 
BELT, BEAUTIFUL, BEDROOM, BITCH, BLOCKED ROAD, BLUE FAERIE, BOARD, BOAT, 
BOOK, BREAK, BRIDGE, BRONZE DOOR, BY, CAPE, CAREFULLY, CARVING, CASE, 
CASTLE, CASTLE ENTRANCE, CAVE, CHALICE, CHAPEL, CHEST, CLOSE, CLOSELY, 
COURTYARD, CRATE, CROSS, CROSSROADS, D, DAGGER, DAMN, DAMNIT, DARKNESS, 
DEEP, DESERT ROAD, DESOLATION, DESTROY, DO YOU HAVE, DOG, DOOR, DOWN, 
DRAGON, DRAGON TOOTH, DRAW, DRAWBRIDGE, DRINK, DROP, E, EAST, EDGE, 
ELOWYND, ENCHANTED FOREST, END, ENTER, ENTRANCE, EX, EXAMINE, EXIT, 
FAERIE, FEATHER, FINALE, FINDOLWYR, FLAT MOUNTAIN, FLOOR CARVING, FOG, 
FOOTPATH, FOR, FORBIDDEN HILLS, FOREST, FOREST DEEP, FOREST EDGE, 
FOUNTAIN, FRIDAY, FROG, F***, F***ER, F***ING, GARDEN, GARDEN PATH, 
GATE, GET, GET ON, GIVE, GO, GOLDEN DOOR, GORGE, GRAB, GRASSLAND, GREAT 
HALL, GREETING, GREETINGS, GREY STONE, GRIFFIN, HALL, HAVE YOU, H***, 
HELLO, HI, HIGHNESS, HILLS, HORRIBLE LAND, HOW, IN, INTO, INV, 
INVENTORY, IRON DOOR, IRON GATE, IT, JUMP, KEY, KILL, KING, L, LAND, 
LEATHER BAG, LEATHER BOOK, LEAVE, LID, LIQUID, LOCK, LOCKET, LOOK, LOOK 
AT, LOOK IN, LOOK INTO, MAIN COURTYARD, MAJESTY, MANKIN, METHWYR, 
MONDAY, MOUNT, MOUNTAIN, MURDER, N, NARROW COURTYARD, NORTH, NORTH 
BEDROOM, OAK DOOR, OGRE, ON, OPEN, OVERLOOK, PAGE, PASSAGEWAY, PATH, 
PATH OF THORNS, PATH'S END, PEGASUS, PICK UP, PILLAR, PITCH, PLACE, 
PLEASE, POOL, POUR, PRT, PUT, PUT DOWN, PUT ON, PUT ON TOP, QUIT, RAVEN, 
READ, REMOVE, RESTART, RESTORE, RIDE, RING, RING OF STONES, RIVER PATH, 
ROAD, ROOM, ROSE, S, SANDY BEACH, SATURDAY, SAVE, SCRATCH, S***, SHUT, 
SIR, SMALL BOAT, SMALL CAVE, SMALL POOL, SORRY, SOUTH, SOUTH BEDROOM, 
STAB, STONE, STONE BRIDGE, STONES, SUNDAY, SWAMP, SWAP, SWORD, TAKE, 
TAKE OFF, TAKE OFF OF, TAKE OUT OF, THORN, THORN MOUNTAIN, THORNS, 
THRONE ROOM, THROW, THURSDAY, TO, TOOTH, TOSS, TOWER, TOWER ROOM, TRADE, 
TRAP DOOR, TREASURE ROOM, TUESDAY, TYNWYN, U, UNLOCK, UP, UPPER HALL, 
VALLEY, VASE, W, WAIT, WANT, WASTED LAND, WAY, WEAR, WEDNESDAY, WEST, 
WEST BANK, WEST WAY, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHERE IS, WHITE DRAGON, WHO, 
WHY, WITH, WIZARD, WYR, WYRMOG, X, ZY

  You can throw words together in any old order and even forget 
prepositions but particular tricks to look out for are as follows:

'trade' with NPC's. Don't try to trade items; the NPC's decide what will 
be traded.

If you say 'Open door' and it asks 'with what?' you can't follow up with 
'with key' or whatever. Type the whole sentence out.

TALK GRIFFIN FEATHER is a good way to ask someone about something.

If two NPC's are in the same location you want to type TRADE GRIFFIN or 
TALK FAERIE VASE.

Note that the extra words can make a difference; 'talk raven grey stone' 
gets a different response from 'talk raven stone.'

  3. MAP

?item? = item an NPC may take
*item* = item in the room
<->    = transport between areas
-U-  = up/down to move
&      = special puzzle solving needed to get here

    3.1. BEGINNING AREA
   [to
forbidden
 castle]
   &
   &
  Thorn  Forbidden
 Mountain  Hills
   &         |  -U-
   &         |       -D-       (take boat)
Enchanted--Valley         West Bank<-->[across the river]
  Forest

    3.2. ACROSS THE RIVER

  (via
   boat) Path--Garden   to-West-Cross
   begin End    Path castle Way Roads
    area  |            area     |
         |                     |
 Small  River  Tower  Forest  Foot
 Cave    Path       / Deep   Path
   &      |       d-u   |       |
   &      |             |       |
Wasted--Sandy--Grass--Forest--Gorge
 Land   Beach  Land    Land
?vase?

    3.3. COLDOR'S CASTLE

         ?sword?
         *crate*
          Tower       *book*
           Room       North
                    Bedroom--Darkness
                u-d     &     *feather*
 *locket*              &
  Garden--Back      Upper Hall
          Hall     /    &
            |   u-d     &  *cape*
            |  /       South Bedroom
          Great--Castle
          Hall  Entrance

    3.4. BY AIR

  'By air' refers to the side place you can go via dragon or Pegasus.

   Fog--Path of&&[forbidden castle]
    |    Thorns
    |
Horrible--Desert--Stone --Overlook
  Land     Road   Bridge
{raven}   *stone*

    3.5. FORBIDDEN CASTLE

   Stone      Small
Passageway--

              Small
    [to by--Courtyard
     air]       |
                |
           [to beginning area]

    3.6. MISCELLANEOUS SMALL AREAS

  Ring     Desolation [only via White Dragon]
   of       *chalice*
 Stones
    |
    |      Swamp [only via Pegasus]
  Flat
Mountain

    3.7. ANIMAL ROUTES

The white dragon: gorge -> wasted land -> horrible land -> desolation -> 
gorge

Pegasus: path end -> swamp -> overlook -> [if you are worthy] flat 
mountain -> path end

They seem to take random amounts of time between each move but if you 
stand around and hit Z they always come back.

  4. ITEMS

  I only refer to moveable items here. Actually due to a quirk in the 
programming, you can, by sector editing edit in many items you can't 
carry or even locations(bytes 01-05) or actually wear them(futz with 
bytes 09-0d.) You'll probably want to have a backup copy of your save 
file if you do this though.

  You can carry up to four items, but you can wear as many as you like, 
and that does not count as carrying them, although if you have your 
hands full and remove an item you're wearing, it will fall to the 
ground. The faerie or mankin won't ask for an item you are wearing. They 
also seem to notice some items first such as the treasure chest. 
Asterisks denote wearable items below.

-book: tells you something about the king as well as three important 
items. Watch out; if you try to take it out of the castle, a dog blocks 
your way. (Some hero you are, but I guess bookworms can't really be 
heroes!)
*cape: seems like wool but is really a good cape of protection. Stops 
you from talking to the raven.
-chalice: with tooth, makes the ogre respect you and needed to win the 
game
-chest: small and can only fit worthless items until you figure how to 
grow it
-crate: holds chest inside, but how to open it?
*dragon tooth: magic properties allow access to certain areas(?) and 
also with the chalice gets you by the ogre
*feather: one of the treasures, also allows you to talk to animals. It's 
also needed to go up from the Wasted Land.
-grey stone: reveals magic properties of other items and also can be 
placed somewhere
-key: unlocks castle door
-leather bag: try to see what's in it. It's still useful after that for 
trading.
*locket: allows you to go north of the enchanted forest. There's a thorn 
inside you can't get until very late in the game.
*ring: one of the treasures
*sword: not necessary for fighting and dragons don't like it, but a good 
extra item to barter. When the sword is worn, you cannot use it.
-vase: the faerie may pick it up if you don't get to the right place, 
but it's needed to win the game(thanks to Jason Palopoli for pointing 
out the faerie doesn't always have it)

  5. CHARACTERS

The blue faerie may take an item but may trade as well. Respond 'N/N' to 
complete a trade. You also need to compliment her some times or she 
won't do anything useful.
The frog requires a special item to talk to.
The griffin requires proper introduction but has a critical clue to tell 
you.
The king, King Coldor, may trade with you, or if he hasn't picked up the 
sword yet, you can take it and not worry. You must greet him correctly 
at times if he doesn't want to trade.
The mankin can help you out if you tell him his name. However, he may 
also take items from you.
The ogre will attack you unless you have a certain item. He also holds 
an item for you. He may knock an item out of your hands or steal stuff 
as well.
Pegasus can transport you, but if you aren't worthy, it won't take you 
everywhere.
If you have a special item, the raven will not talk to you.
The white dragon can take you in an impressive loop, but don't bring 
your sword along for the ride.

  Each character has a selection of random phrases he/she will babble. 
Don't worry about that; if they seem uninformative or combative, they 
really are meaningless.

  6. WAYS TO DIE/BE UNABLE TO FINISH THE GAME

--use too much profanity(stopping at your final warning, after nine 
curses, allows a new way to restart easily. The tenth displays some 
magic)
--brained by the ogre
--let the mankin or ogre take an item
--trade the wrong items(chest) to the blue faerie, who won't give it 
back
--walk E or S from the gorge(a particular problem of mine after I get 
off the dragon--I confuse it with the wasted land.)
--jump or go N at the castle bridge
--hang around after Pegasus takes you to the swamp
--walk onto the road east of the horrible land without the cape
--go north of the horrible land without the cape
--destroy the vase or chalice in the chapel[not sure how but it's in the 
game data]
--outlaws south of the grasslands kill you. They also kill you north and 
east of the crossroads.
--drink the liquid in the chalice
--enter the chapel while you still have the sword(Jason Palopoli)

  7. WALKTHROUGH

    7.1. GETTING THROUGH

Note that anywhere you cross bridge, get boat, get pegasus, or get 
dragon, if the entity is not there yet, you just type z(this or any 
unrecognized verb passes a move without you doing anything) until it 
does show up.

There's a bit of randomization here so I tried to put comments where it 
seemed necessary.

West Way is a good place to drop items so they won't get taken. It's 
slightly out of the way, but then this game never tried to be easy.

This is my original walkthrough although I suspect it may not be the 
most efficient one.

Part 1: get inside Coldor's castle

get bag.[you must get the bag right away] e. n. d. open bag. get boat. 
s. w. get vase*. wear tooth. e. e. e. e. n. n. w. cross bridge[note: you 
may have to type 'z' or some nonsense a few times to wait for the bridge 
to come down. I'll assume that in the future.] open door. w

[*Note: the vase should be available--getting it quickly was a finesse 
suggested to me by Jason Palopoli--but if it is not I have a guide on 
how to trade with the faerie, who'd have taken it, below, anyway.]

Along the way you may wish to trade the leather bag for the key with the 
faerie. It's worth muddling around a bit as it will save you a later 
backtrack.

The faerie and mankin are usually on the strip from the wasted land to 
the gorge; don't leave items there, as they get stolen. Rather leave 
them on the west bank or by the frog or in the castle/east of the 
bridge.

To trade successfully with her, answer N for both of her questions. You 
also want to be sure you are only carrying the sword and bag; it's OK to 
wear other items but if you come by with the chest she will try to trade 
for that.

She may not want to trade at first, though. To get her out of her funk 
say 'beautiful faerie' if you see her; just 'beautiful' works if she's 
alone.

Part 2: loot the castle

If you can find the sword, get it. If not, you have a task. When you see 
the king, greet him by saying MAJESTY. Then TRADE. Accept any trade the 
king offers for the sword. Run around for a bit after because he will 
drop the item, so you have a net gain of a sword. You may need a little 
patience. In the meantime there are two side trips you can take from the 
main hall:

n. w. look in pool. get locket. wear locket. e. s

u. s. get cape. wear cape. n. u. open crate with sword. get chest. [drop 
sword if you have the vase; if not you may need to trade it to the 
faerie.]

**detour**

Just in case you didn't get the key.

d. d. e. cross bridge. drop chest. e. s. s. w. [say beard belt if you 
see the mankin anywhere here]

When trading with the blue faerie you want to trade the sword and bag 
for the vase and key. This usually seems to follow the pattern below for 
me:

give sword for vase
give bag for sword
give sword for key

After trading with the faerie go east to the gorge but not further(that 
will kill you,) n. n. w. cross bridge. w. u.

**end detour**

unlock door. open door. n.

[For a break here, get book. open book. read book[a few times.] drop 
book[or you can't leave the castle.] This will provide a few clues.]

e. get feather. wear feather. w. s. d. e. cross bridge. e. s. s. w. w. 
w. w. get dragon. e. get stone. w. [wait until dragon comes back.] get 
dragon. get chalice. get dragon. get dragon. e. n. get boat. u. ogre, 
give ring(move S/W/N/N to scout for him if you have to.) wear ring. d. 
get boat. [if you haven't met the mankin yet, which is highly unlikely, 
n. e. talk frog elowynd. w. s. so you can get in the griffin's cave.] s. 
w. u. greetings griffin. talk griffin elowynd. d. e. e. e. n. u. put 
stone on carving. get stone. d. s. w. w. n. n. get pegasus. get pegasus. 
get pegasus. n. put stone on pillar. s. get pegasus. s. get boat. u. s. 
w. n.

[The part with the fountain may not be necessary; nevertheless it does 
work to win the game. Apparently there are ways in which you can cause a 
pillar to fall on your head when you enter the final room. his should 
get rid of those.]

pour liquid in fountain[not necessary if you scratch the case.] n. open 
door. n. open trap door. d. drop chest. open chest. remove feather. put 
feather in chest. remove ring. put ring in chest. remove cape. put cape 
in chest. u. s. w. open door.

s. put vase on altar. put chalice on altar.

scratch findolwyr case with thorn[this is not necessary if you've poured 
the liquid in the fountain.]

[Jason Palopoli notes that you can achieve an alternate less successful 
ending with these two commands: remove tooth. drop tooth.]

open case 

You win, yay.

    7.2. LOGICAL/CLUE PROGRESSION

  The game actually does make sense although there are a lot of physical 
clues you need to pay attention to.

  The first clues you get are from the book after you've gotten the key. 
The writing talks about the ring, feather and cape. You now have 
something you can ask NPC's about. This also tells you of the treasures 
you need to put in.

  Ask the frog about the ring and he says the ogre doesn't want it. 
That's how you ask the ogre for the ring.

  EXAMINE RING CAREFULLY to see the name of the female dragon ELOWYND so 
you can ask the griffin about her. Is that adverb a low shot or what?

  There's an image by the Ring of Stones telling you what you need to do 
with the vase and chalice. They form a triumvirate.

  The wizard and raven both tell you to return the chest to where it 
came(that would be the treasure room.) Although I haven't been able to 
get the raven to do it.

  You know the cape protects you because 1) not wearing it over the 
desert road gets you killed by scorpions and 2) it looks different when 
you have the grey stone and view it.

  FINDOLWYR, the word of power, appears on the chest.

  TYNWYN's name is revealed by the frog.

  Telling the raven WYR ['of the dragon,' from the word FINDOLWYR on the 
chest and WYRMOG on the sword if you examine carefully] gives you a clue 
to put the chest in the treasure room. Not sure how to ask the raven to 
ask you for the word though.

  TYNWYN and E_____D appear as names on the throne, offering a clue that 
the two should be together.

    7.3. OTHER MISCELLANY

  Jason Palopoli notes some other important things:

    ****

  Pouring the liquid in the fountain has the same effect as scratching 
the case with the thorn and writing 'Findolwyr'

  No swords in the chapel is a logical extension of no swords on 
dragons.

  Liquid can be poured out and wasted from the chalice and you can still 
win the game.

    ****

  I wonder if you can kill the king/frog and still win the game? Too 
lazy to check...

** END OF FAQ PROPER **

================================

  8. VERSIONS/CREDITS

1.0.0 mailed to GameFAQs 9/18/2002 mostly complete, probably missed a 
few ways to die, but the walkthrough should be OK.

Thanks to CJayC and GameFAQs for having this game on the Apple II 
request list. In the end it was worth going through and I hope my 
walkthrough makes the game worth going through for other people who are 
currently frustrated.
Thanks to Jacob Gunness and his 8-bit solution 
archive(http://hjem.get2net.dk/gunn/ and it's at least 300% better than 
most of the 2-bit ones out there) where you can also request help(the 
game was there too) and also for hosting the message board that hooked 
me up with...
Jason Palopoli, who provided some important clues which I have tried to 
annotate in addition to what we both discovered independently.
Thanks too to falsehead for all the proofreading and also 
encouraging/reminding me to take another look at old text adventures.

Also djgpp.com for the hex editor that helped me look into the data 
files.

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