Return To Zork

                          Almost-Full-Point Solution

                                   v2.0



[ Second note: I used this walk-thru to solve RTZ-CD, but it was riddled with

errors, both spelling and factual. Being the good journalist that I am,

I decided to edit this sucker and re-release it. The original author's

name and everything else is intact. ]



NOTE :  At certain points in the solve I will tell you to use an item, and not

tell you to pick it up again, or just mention the existence of an item in a

certain room.  Make sure you pick up EVERYTHING (with the exception of the

things I tell you NOT to pick up:)).  Anything that you leave behind, you

should go back and get. Make sure to look around a room/area carefully so

you don't miss items.





    Well, you're playing Return to Zork, and are stucker than stuck, and

need some help.  Look no further, here's the solution to the game!  I didn't

get all the points (only 218/225) but the end is there either way, and here's

how to get to it.  I also believe there are a few parts of the game that are

just unsolveable (ie. the oven, and anything relating to hellhounds).



    You start off in a mountain pass.  A quick thing to do is pick up the rock

from the lower left hand part of the screen and throw it at the vulture.

Look at the sign. You'll see a bonding plant. Don't take it, you'll need

it much later. Instead, just mosey down the path to the lighthouse.  Enter

the lighthouse and babble with the lighthouse keeper.  He really doesn't

have very much interesting to say at this point, so what you say doesn't

matter very much. Next go outside the lighthouse again.  Now if you head

down the path, you'll be at the road to the south, which will kill you if

you continue, so instead, go around the back of the lighthouse.  From here,

cut the vines from the fence, and tie the vines to the wood. This will

create a raft for you to ride down the river. You'll automatically get

off at the bridge.

    You are now in the town of West Shanbar, facing into the town. First,

go to the building on the far right. It's a destroyed hardware store. Go

in, and get the box and the crank.  You don't need the mice, so leave them

there.  Next stop should be the house on the right, the school house.  To

get in, bang the bell with the crank or the dagger.  The school teacher

Mrs. Peepers will give you a test: the game's first copy-protection.

Give the  proper answer and she'll give you a notebook in which you can

record all of your travels in the game. Any important facts you come

across, either spoken or read, are recorded here. In other words, it's an

automatic note taker.

   Next stop is the Town Hall, the close building on the left. Go in. The

mayor will give you the re-election routine.  Then read every files in the

cabinet, in all three drawers. It's a lot of reading, but believe me,

the answers to a lot of obstacles are given here. You'll be referring back

to the notebook a lot in the course of the game. Skip the building on the

upper left. It's locked. First you have to get the key, which is the next

step.

   From the center of town, do a 180 turn. You can now go off to the left of

the screen, towards the mill.  Go into the mill, and you'll have your first

encounter with Boos. Go out the left-hand door into the backyard of his

house, and grab the key from the ground. Pull the chock out of the water

wheel (I don't actually know what this accomplishes, but it gives you two

points, so what the heck).  Go back through the house, and back to town,

where you can now go to the building on the far left.  Use the key to unlock

the door.  Go in, grab the battery off the shelves, and the money and tickets

out of the cash register.

   Back at the bridge, do another 180 like you did before, and you'll be

able to go straight down by moving your cursor to the right side of the

screen. Here you meet the waif.  Give him the tickets, and he will give you a gift, it

looks like a piece of lint, but it's very important later in the game.  From

here, go back the old mill. You might want to read up in your notebook on

drinking and toasting, because it will give away everything. Do the

following:

   When Boos pours you a drink, pour the drink out into the plant, then make

a toast with him (glasses clinking icon) then drink the empty glass.  Repeat

this three times. After the third time, ask Boos for his keys (the don't

drink and drive icon). He'll give you his keys. Stash the keys, then exit.

For some reason, the damn game doesn't allow you to resume drinking. You

have to exit and re-enter and start all over again. Boos will be totally

sober, even though you stepped out for only a second. (who tested this

game, anyway?)

   Go through the drinking ritual again four times. Boos will pass out drunk.

Grab a flask at his feet, then go down the opened trap door in the floor.

At the bottom you'll see a locked door. Use Boos's keys to unlock the door.

You're now in a new mill. Exit to the right, and you are now in the Great

Underground Empire.

   Go to your left, and you are in East Shanbar. First building to enter is

the second one on the left.  Go into Moodock's Armoury, and have a chat with

him. Then play a game of Survivor (he'll explain the rules to you).  It's

also impossible for you to lose in this incarnation of Survivor (you will

play a much harder version later on), so just futz around, and once you win

he will give you a sword, and a gold coin (not a Zorkmid, the currency used

down here).  Next, out of the building, turn around from the center of town,

and face the bridge.

   Cross the bridge, and go to the left.  At the Fool's Memorial, pick up

the book off of the floor.  From here, proceed down the left path again,

and follow it into Snoot's Farm.  Enter through the window, as the door

is locked.  Move the cursor around and eventually you'll get a forward

arrow. Enter the door second from the left, and in that room will be

the lovely Rebecca Snoot, brushing her teeth.  She'll knock you out for

breaking and entering, however.  When you wake up, she's pointing a double

barrel at you. She gives you a second copy protection quiz. Don't screw

it up!

   After you get it right, she'll say you can take what you need (but not

her... too bad). From the main room, go into the door on the right side of

the room, zoom in on the dresser, and grab the mirror from the desk.  Then

again, from the main room, go through the center archway, and in the kitchen

take the soap off the sink, the thermozz from the table, and open the

refridgerator and take the meat out.  (The meat will rot, don't worry about

it, you want it to rot.)  From there, put the soap in the sink, and run the

water on it, you will now have soapy water, wash the waif's gift in the soap,

and lo and behold, you have a piece of a mysterious disk.  Neat.  In the

kitchen is also an oven that blows up if you turn it on (Why it does this is

beyond me) and a box of cereal that you can't pick up. Fill the flask with

water from the sink tap.

   Again, from the main room again, go into the door on the far left. In

there is Alexis, the poodle/hellhound. Hellhounds are covered in your

notebook, assuming you did your homework. Click on her and she will growl

at you.  Nothing else is necessary from the dog, but her growling is

necessary for you to win the game. After you leave the building, on random

occasions, Rebecca will come and meet you out on the road.  When you do

see her, take her picture.

    Next stop is the carrot silo.  From the front of Rebecca's house, go up

and to the right, and you will be at the carrot silo.  Take the crank, and put

it on the silo door, and crank it clockwise.  The silo will explode. Take

some of the carrots. You can only carry one load at a time, so you'll have

to go back for more after using the batch you have. From here, again go up

and to the right, and you will be at the Pugney farm.  Go to the red house

first. DON'T take the box off the ground yet. Go to the door, and open the

window and talk to Pugney. Actually, you just stand there and he yells.

Be Apologetic, and he will let you take the box off the front lawn.  Once you

finish with him, grab the box, and now go to the blue barn behind the red

house.

   Go inside with the cow, and take a clump of hay from the ground (left

bottom corner) pick it up, drop it again, and then take the matches and light

the hay on fire.  Now warm your hands by the fire, and milk the cow with the

thermozz. Only use the thermozz. Then feed the cow the carrots.

   Now go back to East Shanbar and go to the last building on the left.

Instructions on how to use the incinerator are in your notebook. Pull lever

1 and the top of the incinerator will open.  Throw the bra box into the

incinerator, and pull lever 1 again to close it.  Then pull lever 2, and

zoom in on the drawer.  Pour the water from the flask onto the hot wire, and

pick the wire up.

    Now take that wire, and enter the first building on the left (the

green one from the center of town) and use the wire to pick the lock.

It's an old store. Shake the cereal box twice. Take the whistle that comes

up.  Next pick up the rats, and IMMEDIATELY put them into the box you

picked up in the old hardware store.  (The meat you picked up, by now,

should have rotted away)  Make SURE you put the rats into the box, or you

will die a quick death.  Next up is go from the center of town, straight out,

to the fork in the road, pick the left one first.  Pick the tiles up off the

floor, and then turn around, and pick the frame up off the floor.  Drop the

tiles into the frame, and you have a lovely word puzzle.  The solution to the

puzzle is



"Water unseen at falls mix with bat dropping yields potion for",



Once you get that far, the last block will fall into place, "invisibility".

Now, in the same place, twirl around once more, and pick up the disk piece and

the two pieces of illuminyte off the ground.  From here, go back to the center

of town, and enter the first building on the right, the inn. (by this point

most people will be telling you that you stink).  Buy a room from Molly

Kettle, and go up to your room in the elevator.  Enter the room, and place

the illuminyte rocks onto the nightstand FIRST!  Then zoom in on the monitor,

and turn the radio on. Then turn the lights off.  You will have a dream about

Morpheus, the head bad-guy of the game.  Next, get up, turn the lights back

on, then take your illuminyte back. Exit this building now.

    Now for the hard parts.  There are now two mazes to deal with.  One is

rather vicious, and one is just annoying because of what you have to do.  The

first woods we will discuss is the Whispering Woods, the right fork in the

road from the path straight out of town.  First things first, however.  Go

back to the silo, grab more carrots.  Go back to the cow, pour the milk

in your thermozz into the flask, and then milk the cow again. You have to

go through the whole burning hay-hand warming routine every time you milk

Bessy.

   Now go to the Whispering Woods.  Once you enter, your vision will start

deteriorating.  Once the comment reads "Can you see the Galactic Milky-Way?"

drink ALL the milk you have, it should say that your vision is now good

enough to break any spell.  If it says this, AND GIVES YOU FIVE POINTS,

you're all set. If you don't get the points, repeat the same process over

again (milking cow, etc), and do it again. I had to do it a total of five

times, which meant milking the damn cow five times.



Once this is accomplished, here is a map of the woods.



TeTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

T   T   T T   T T     e=enter

T TTTTT T T TTT T     T=Tree or rock (wall essentially)

T       T T     T     x=exit

T TTT TTT T TTT T

T   T     T T   T

T TTT T TTT TTT T

T T   T   T T T T     Whispering Woods

T TTT T T T T T T     NOTE : Due to an annoying way that this game's

T T   T T   T   T            creators made the maps, I have to show one

T TTT TTT T T T T            tree as two.   So it is actually only six

T   T T   T T T T            paces from the entrance straight south, not

TTTTTTTTTTTTTxTTT            12 as it may seem.





    Ok, so my map-drawing facilities aren't first class.  But you get the

picture.  While traveling the woods, you'll hear a female voice saying "Three

rings begin, two rings return." That's a hint for what awaits when you leave.

Once out, you will now be standing at a dock with a bell.  Ring it three

times. The ferryman will arrive with his hand extended.  Show him the coin

Moodock gave you, and he will ferry you across the river.  You are now on

Canuk's Island. Go to his house. At the door, you will see a magnet on top

of the knocker. You'll be getting that later.  Once inside, you will see a

duck, a ship in a bottle, a scroll, and blueprints.  Take the scroll and

read it to the duck.

   Whammo, Canuk will appear.  He will tell you some babble about the

history of Zork and whatnot.  Show him the disk pieces, then ask about the

bottle.  He will now transport you into the ship in a bottle.  Go into the

bottle, and move at top speed. He says 20 minutes, but I lasted a lot shorter

than that. Get onto the ship, and go up the stairs, and you will see an

upsidedown number. Write it down.  Now go back downstairs, and down the

into the quarters to the left. Pick up the rag off the cabinet, and zoom in

on the safe.  Enter the number you just wrote down into the safe, and open

it.  Take the disk piece and the rusty metal thing out of it.  Once you've

done this, pick up your mirror and hold it (ie. so it's not in inventory

and you can see it in your cursor)

    By now you should be turning purple. Exit the boat. Canuk, whom you

heard alternating between a normal voice and a deep, evil voice. Ol Canuk

is controlled by Morpheus, and will try to turn you into a duck.  But since

you are holding the mirror, it will reflect back at him, turning him back

into a duck.  For fun, take the scroll, and feed it to the duck. He will

lay an egg. Take the egg, and exit the house.  Now cut the egg open with

your knife.  And you will have the scroll. It doesn't affect the game, but

it is amusing to watch.

    Next thing off, get back onto the dock, ring the bell twice, and show

the ferryman the coin again. You'll be back out of the forest.  Now another

quick thing to do is to go into town and show the blacksmith (second building

on the right) your rusty old sword.  Get him to fix the sword, and pay any

fee he requests.  He may tell you to come back in a little while, just

wander around until it is fixed.



    Next thing is to go into the other forest. Go to where you got the puzzle

and go to the upper left. Once in, the first thing you should do is the

following: go NORTH, EAST, EAST, SOUTH, and you will be at a tree.  Hit the

tree with your sword, and it'll break the sword and drop some coins on

the ground. Take the coins.  Now exit the forest again, via NORTH WEST WEST

SOUTH, and go to the blacksmith.  Ask about inventory, then click on your

broken sword. He'll say it's yours and you don't recognize it. Be threatening

and he'll back down. After more incoherent mumbling (is this guy an idiot

or what?), he'll give you a receipt for a new sword.

    Now go to the center of town again, and turn around, to face the bridge.

Go to the left, and you will be at Ben's boathouse.  Talk to Ben.  Ask him

about the knot he's holding in his hand.  He'll show you how to tie the

cow knot. Show him the picture of Rebecca if you've taken it buy now, and

he will give you a sealed letter (if you don't have the picture yet,

no rush, don't worry). Finally, give him the receipt from the blacksmith,

and he will give you the True Dwarven Sword of Zork.  How nice.  Now back to

the forest where you got the coins from the tree.  This a pretty vicious

forest and has lots of nasty things in it, and is rather big, as well.

Don't go in without filling your thermozz with more milk.



TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

@     T           T$T

TTTTT TTT TTT TTT T T       +=Entrance

T T T     T   T T   T       \=Metallic Tree

T TTT TTT T T T TTT T       -=Bowman

T   T T T   T T   T T       %=Grue/Fairy Area

T T TTT TTTTTTT * T T       &=Tree Spirit

T T               T T       >=Leaf Trap

T TTT * TTT TTT TTT T       $=Boar Statue

T   T     T T T  >  T       @=Spider Web/Exit

T   T TTTTT&TTTTTTT T       *=The two annoying places that force me to map

T     T     T   T   T         this way(you won't notice anything special

TTTTT TTT TTT T TTTTT         unless your used to mapping mazes of this type)

T   T  %  T   T     T

T TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT

T     T   T     T T T

T TTT TTT T T   T T T

T T   T  -  T       T

T TTT TTT T T TTT T T

T   T T   T T   T T T

TTTTTTTTTTTTT+TTT\TTT



    The metallic tree has already been explained.  To get past the bowman,

give him your thermozz full of milk. If you don't, the whole silly routine

with him and the fairy. He will go away, leaving his bow and arrows.  Take

them.  Next go to the Grue/Fairy area.  It will say "It's dark, just like

Grues like it."  Light a match, and the fairy you just rescued will talk

to you, be real friendly with her, and she'll give you fairy dust (you might

have to talk to her once or twice to get the dust from her).

    Next stop, the tree spirit.  Get her to babble her annoying songs. She

really isn't very useful at all.  So just get out of there when you get

bored.  Now the leaf trap.  When you see the leaves, drop something in it

and the trap will be sprung.  Now just use your sword to cut your leaves,

and whatever you threw in will fall to the ground, just pick it up.

Now go to the boar memorial.  Strike the memorial three times with your

sword, and you will get another disk piece. After this, get out.

    Next stop, get your bootie back to Canuk's House (go through the

whispering woods again).  Now at his door, look at the magnet. Pry it off

with you sword.  Now stand there, holding the magnet.  Use magnet with

whistle.  Blow away on the whistle, and a vulture will come swooping down.

But this vulture will carry you to anywhere that you need to go in the

game! Not only that, but from this point on, you can simply click on your

map, pick a location, and be transported there instantly. Note: you have

to visit the location at least once, so it shows up on your map, before

you can use this feature.

    First, go to Pugney's Farm first, go to the barn again, fill up on milk,

and go to the left behind the barn.  You will be at the Vulture Pits. Pour

the fairy dust onto the rotting meat, and throw it.  The vultures will

come out, eat the meat and fall asleep.  Go into the pits and take the

talon.  Next, run over to the Fool's Memorial. Go to the left, and follow

that path to the Cliffs of Depression.  Take the rope from the railing.

Now go back into town, and go back to Ben the boatman.  Give him some

Zorkmids to rent the boat.  Take the rats out of the box and put them into

the motor.  You can only go in one direction, straight. That takes you

to the Witch's house.  Go on inside, she won't bite.  Ok, be careful what

expressions you show to the witch, just be friendly.

     Give her the sealed letter from Ben, and she will give you staff.

You can't take the bats yet. Come back later for them. After reading the

letter, she's outta there.  Now you can either go through the swamp, or

use the vulture to get out.  I recommend going through the swamp, since

you get 5 points for it.  To do so, you must walk one step out of the

witch's house.  Then take her staff, and place it on the ground in front

of you. Simply hold it in your hand and click on the ground. If it sinks

into the ground, that area is not safe. If you get a solid thump and the

stick doesn't move, you're all set.

    I can't map that, as the swamp is different for each person, and

possibly each time.  Just get out by going north and west. East will

eventually trap you. Its usually not more than 7 or 8 steps.  Once out of

the swamp, first stop is going to be west shanbar. That's on the above

ground level of the map.  Go first to the mayor, and show him the Zorkian

book you got it from the Fool's Memorial. He will translate a joke for you.

Now go to Ms. Peepers (the schoolhouse) and show her the book, she will

tell you that Rebecca can translate it.  Next stop is back down below.

Wander around until Rebecca shows up, and play her the quote from Ms. Peepers

about her being able to translate it, then show her the book.  Next off,

go back to Witch Ita, and show her the book (if she's not there, just

wander around until she shows up again), and she will translate one more

joke. At this point, ask her about your map and show her the Whispering

Woods. She'll let you take the bats. Then go to the blacksmith, and pay

his fee, and he will translate the last joke.  Actually, he screws up and

doesn't translate it. Don't worry.

    Now go back to the Mountain Pass, where you start the game (remember,

just click anywhere on the map now, and the vulture will bring you there).

Look closely at the sign, and use the knife to dig up the bonding plant.

Now go back to the Cliffs of Depression. Tie the rope to the tree, and

climb down the side of the cliff and go into the Comedy Club.

    This part is a bitch. Before going in, cycle through your collection

of recordings. For example, Rebecca should have several recordings on your

tape. Cycle through the recordings for the recordings of the Mayor, Rebecca,

the Blacksmith, and the Witch translating the jokes. This way, you can

have all four ready to play. The tape recorder is pretty good about this.

    Once on stage, play back the four jokes that the people just told you

to the audience.  Believe it or not, they will laugh. When you are done,

Cliff will give you a disk piece.

    Now go to the lighthouse (what a way to travel).  Give the keeper a

piece of illuminyte, and show him your disk pieces, he will give you the

final piece.  Go up to the top of the lighthouse and tie the rope onto the

railing using the cow-knot that Ben taught you. Then tie the vulture talon

onto the rope, and throw the rope across the river. The talon will boomerang

back and tie itself around the railing, and you will have a nice rope bridge.

Cross the bridge, then go back, take the rope and talon and put them in

your inventory, and use the vulture to get back. Now follow the path to

the Temple Bel Naire. Take the shield from the statue before going in, and

go into the Temple.  Take your sword from invetory and show it to the Holy

Woman. She will bless it for you.  Now exit the Temple, and turn around once.

There will be a gateway in the right side of the screen, follow that path

to the dwarf camp.  Talk to the Dwarven dudes, and they will give you a

hardhat. Listen closely to the badly stilted conversation they have. They

will say "left," "right," and "straight" in their conversation. That's

directions for the mine.

    After they are done, go up to the top left part of the screen to the

mining cart.  This is very annoying.  The path you must follow to escape

the mining maze is the following, where L is Left, R is Right, and S is

Straight.  Make sure to only click once at each intersection, as the dumb

game buffers your mouse clicks and it will screw you up occasionally.

The path is:



L R S R L R S R L L R S



   Once out, you will be at the temple of the muses.  From left to right,

but the following items on each of the statues :

1) Staff

2) Talon

3) Thermozz

Center) Nothing

4) Helmet AND Box

5) Shield

6) Tele-Orb



    Then place the disk pieces on the bowl in front, and hit the green

button. Watch the ensuing stupidity, and they will reassemble your disk

into a whole again.  The center statue is different, he is not a muse, but

the "Catcher" (detailed in the Mayor's filing cabinets). Make sure to pick

up all the items once you are done.  Now head down to the Hero's Memorial.

Take the right fork in the road, and go into the Troll Cave.  Put your

helmet on and all will be lit up.

    Pull out your sword, since you'll need it. At the first troll, swing

it left. Any other direction and you're dead. At the next, swing up, and

the third, swing down.  Then at the troll king, click on "Threatening" until

he wimps out and gives you the necklace. Now go back to the green forest,

and find your way to the spider.  Show the spider the necklace, and he will

wimp out.  Then go up Flood Control Damn #3 (!), step behind it, and fill

up your flask from the "backside of the water".  Now go to the whispering

woods, go one space in, and release the bats.  Pick up the bat guano, and

drop it into the flask with the clear water (from FCD#3). Remember the

puzzle? "Water unseen at falls" (from behind the falls) mix with bat

droppings yeilds potion for invisibility."

    Now off to the Cliffs of Depression.  From there, turn around and go to

the left.  Throw the Flying Disk of Frobozz, and it will dispel the illusion.

    Go forward into the castle, and shoot the bow and arrow at the hand over

the gates, and the hand will open the door for you.  Once in, an orc will

start attacking you.  Drink the invisibility potion, and then play back the

recording of Alexis the hellhound barking. The orc will run away.  Now, at

the Citadel Bridge, throw *EVERYTHING* that you have at the bridge, until you

have NOTHING left in your inventory.  You cant throw the tape recorder,

camera, map, and I forget what else. Just throw everything you can pick up.

The bridge will come back up.  SAVE THE GAME NOW:)  Go over the bridge for

your final confrontation with Morpheus.  A game of Survivor.  Only now you

play Trembyle instead of Canuk, which makes the game VERY hard.  Here is

the pattern to win, the number represents what order you should make the

moves in.  If he blocks the move, pass your turn, and he will move to

another space. DO NOT deviate from the course I give here, or you will have

to forfeit and will have to start over again. You'll be passing moves a lot,

so don't sweat it.



0   5   12  9    0=Where you start

11  8   1   4    14=Where you will end

6   3   10  13   C=Where Canuk/Morpheus will die

C   14   7  2



Once you complete this, you've won the game!  Congratulations.



    The ending of the game is kinda bad, but the game itself is pretty good, I

enjoyed it a lot.  Some of the puzzles (the bra box) were ridiculous, and some

of the scenes (the Mining Maze, COME ON! Infocom games are NOT coordination

games) really annoyed me, but all in all it was a pretty good game.  I don't

know where to find the remaining 7 points, but obviously it isn't very

important.  Till next time, seeya!



-bYtE

-October 11th, 1993

[ Edited March 1994 ]



Thanks go out to Ozone and wc who played the game concurrently with me on IRC.

Greets go to Magyar and Patch who can now read this and stop bugging me!:)