RETURN TO ZORK
INTRODUCTION
This walkthrough gives explicit instructions on playing RETURN TO ZORK to a
successful conclusion. It does, however, assume you have read the Game
Manual and are familiar with the various methods of controlling your
actions.
You may need a map of the Forest of the Spirits in addition to this
walkthrough. The map, FOREST.GIF, in the Gamers Forum Adventure Library (LIB
2) is very good.
The walkthrough assumes that everything you are instructed to pick up, you
put in your inventory, unless stated otherwise.
Many of the puzzles can be solved in any order so this walkthrough is only
one way of playing the game through successfully.
OPENING SCENES
Can this be a text based adventure?...No! That's Rooper telling you you're
a sweepstakes winner for an all expenses paid vacation to the Valley of
Sparrows! Wow, this is just like a Comanche, soaring over hills and dales
to...
MOUNTAIN PASS
Huh! There's Wizard Trembyle yelling at you from a tele-orb about needing a
new battery!. And there is a nasty looking vulture sitting on the sign.
First, frighten away the vulture. Pick up the rock on the left and throw it
at the vulture. Now look at the sign. Trembyle tells you that this used to
be the Valley of the Sparrows. It is now called the Valley of the Vultures.
Dig (yes, _dig_) up the bonding plant with the knife. Leave the mountain
pass.
LIGHTHOUSE
Go toward the lighthouse. Trembyle tells you to ask the lighthouse keeper
about the road to the south. Go toward the lighthouse door and talk with the
lighthouse keeper. Ask him, using the map, about the road to the south and
the lighthouse. Leave the lighthouse, knowing that the keeper wants some
illumynite, that you better find a battery for the tele-orb, and that the
road to the south is impassable.
Walk round the lighthouse to the broken down fence. Cut the vines with the
knife and tie them on to the wood planks to make a raft. Use the raft to
travel down the river to...
WEST SHANBAR
SCHOOLHOUSE
Visit the schoolhouse to the right. Strike the bell with the knife. Ms.
Peepers ask you a question. Look up the answer in the game manual and type
in it in. Ms. Peepers gives you her notebook and asks you to find out what
has happened to East Shanbar. Leave the schoolhouse.
MAYOR'S OFFICE
From the bridge go to the left to the town hall. Enter the building. Take a
good look at the filing cabinet. There is a wealth of information in the
mayor's office! Leave the town hall.
HARDWARE STORE
From the bridge go further down the road to the right. Enter the hardware
store. Pick up the crank and wooden box. _Do not_ touch the mice. They are
diseased. Leave the hardware store.
OLD MILL.
At the bridge, turn around, then go left to the old mill. Here you will
meet Boos. Ignore him for now and go left through the back door. Pick up the
key and operate the chock on the left. Enter the back door of the mill and
leave through the front door. Return to the bridge.
GIFT SHOP.
From the bridge go further down the road to the left. Open the gift shop
door using the key. Look at the cash register. Take the money and Dizzy
World tickets. Take the battery from the shelf and put it in the tele-orb.
Leave the gift shop.
BRIDGE
Turn around and go down so you end up underneath the bridge. Talk with the
waif. Give him the Dizzy World tickets. In return, he gives you a gift.
Leave the waif and go back up.
OLD MILL
Go left to the old mill. This time you should interact with Boos. Boos will
pour you a drink. Make a toast, then pour the drink into the plant. Then
drink! Do this three times. Each time Boos will make a different toast.
Before the fourth drink ask Boos about the keys. He will give you the keys.
Continue this drinking ritual, leaving and re-entering if necessary, until
Boos fall down drunk. Pick up the flask. You now have access to the trap
door in the floor. Go down to the basement and use Boos' keys on the locked
door.
NEW MILL
You find yourself in another mill. Leave by the front door.
EAST SHANBAR
You have found East Shanbar...Underground!
MOODOCK'S ARMORY
Go into the town and go to Moodock's Armory to the left. Talk to Moodock
about the Survivor Game. The rules of the game are in the Mayor's files at
the town hall in West Shanbar, but Moodock explains them well. You should
win the game easily. When you win, Moodock gives you a rusty sword and a
coin.
BLACKSMITH'S SHOP
Give the sword to the Blacksmith and leave.
RUINS
Head to the end of town, past the incinerator and to the ruins to the left.
Pick up the tiles. Turn around and pick up the frame. Put the tiles in the
frame and rearrange them so that they read:
Water unseen at falls mix with bat dropping yields potion for ...
SEARCH FOR THREE MORE PIECES ON THE GROUND WHERE THIS ...
When you have arranged the tiles correctly, the missing words will be
revealed:
invisibility
WAS FOUND
Turn around, and pick up the illumynite rocks and disk piece. Return to
town.
BLACKSMITH'S SHOP
Give the smith some money and he will give you a shiny sword.
FOREST OF THE SPIRITS
Head out of town past the incinerator again. This time continue past the
ruins to the Spirit Forest to the left.
From the forest entrance go north, east, then south to the money tree.
Strike the branches of the tree with your shiny sword. Your sword has
broken! Pick up the coins. Leave the forest by going north, west then south.
Head back to town.
BLACKSMITH'S SHOP
Ask the smith about the broken sword by threatening him. He will give you a
voucher for another sword.
BRIDGE
Go to the bridge and go left to Ben. Give the voucher to Ben and he will
give you the Dwarven sword. Have Ben show you the knot. Play the recording
of Ms. Peepers to Ben. He will give you a letter for his old girlfriend, a
witch.
FOOL'S MEMORIAL
Go over the bridge to New West Shanbar and the Hero's Memorial. Head left
to the Fool's Memorial. Take the book.
PUGNEY'S RANCH
Go right to Pugney's Ranch. Talk to Pugney at the window, apologetically.
Take the Bra Box when you leave.
SNOOT'S FARM
Go straight on from the fool's memorial to Snoot's Farm. Look at the silo.
Use the crank on the Silo latch. Crank clockwise. Pick up some carrots.
Go into the farm house through the window. Head left and you will encounter
Alexis. All you have to do here is listen to Alexis bark. Your tape recorder
will automatically record this. You will use this recording later. Go into
the bathroom, via the other door on the left. Rebecca Snoot will punch you.
Answer her question. The answer will be in the game manual.
Go straight on into the kitchen. Turn on the sink taps then fill the flask
with water. Put the soap in the sink. Turn on the taps and wash the waif's
gift in the soapy water. Put the disk piece with the other disk pieces. Take
the thermozz.
Go through the door on the right and pick up the mirror from the chest of
drawers.
INCINERATOR
Return to town and go to the incinerator. Operate lever 1 and throw the bra
box into the incinerator. Operate lever 1 again. Operate lever 2. Examine
the drawer. Pour the water in the flask on the hot wire. Take the wire and
go the General Store.
GENERAL STORE
Open the door to the door lock with the wire. Shake the cereal box _twice_
and take the whistle. Take the rats! Put them in the wooden box. Careful
now...rats carry diseases!
BRIDGE
Return to Ben, and hire a boat by handing over some money. Power the boat
with the rats! Take the rats out of the box and place them in the motor.
Take the boat to the Witch's Hut.
WITCH'S HUT
Smile at the witch, then ask her about the book. She will tell you a joke.
Hand over the letter from Ben. The witch gives you a stick with which to
navigate the bogs.
CREEPING BOGS
Use the stick to find out which patches are firm. Walk only on the firm
patches. I found this route got me out of the bogs: East, North, West, North
three times and West, but it does vary slightly!
BLACKSMITH'S SHOP
Return to the Blacksmith and show him the book. He will tell you half a
joke if you hand over some money!
WEST SHANBAR
Go to the bridge then go right to the new mill. Go though the back door to
the rungs up to the old mill. Return to West Shanbar.
SCHOOLHOUSE
Go to the school house and show Ms. Peepers the book. She recommends
Rebecca Snoot to help you translate the book.
MAYOR'S OFFICE
Go into the town hall and show the book to the mayor. You have now
collected two and a half jokes!
EAST SHANBAR
CHUCKLE'S COMEDY CLUB
Return to the old mill, go down to the new mill and return to East Shanbar.
Next time you bump into Rebecca Snoot, ask her about the book. When you have
three and a half jokes recorded (Witch Itah, Blacksmith, Mayor, Rebecca)
review which tracks they are. (Canuk will supply you with another joke, but
you shouldn't need it.)
Go out of town to Snoot's Farm. Go left to the Cliffs of Depression. Take
the rope and tie it to the tree. Go down the cliff. Go into the cave, your
live bonding plant getting you into the comedy club.
Play each of the four jokes (the half joke counts as a whole joke) and
Cliff will give you another piece of disk.
Return back up the cliff and take the rope.
INN OF ISENOUGH
Time to call it a night. Return to town and check in at the Inn of
Isenough. Pay Molly for a room and take the elevator. Put the illumynite
rocks on the night stand, then operate the light switch on the monitor.
Sweet dreams!...or may be not! When you wake up. Turn on the lights with the
light switch. You can re-fill the flask of water here but you shouldn't need
to. Pick up the illumynite rocks. Leave the room and leave the inn.
If you want more points, sleep at the inn for three nights. But it is not
necessary to complete the game.
PUGNEY'S RANCH
Go to Pugney's Ranch. Enter the barn. Pick up a clump of hay, drop it and
burn it with a lighted match. Warm your hands above the fire. Use the
thermozz and milk the cow. If you return for more milk, you will have to
feed the cow the carrots as well as warm your hands again.
FOREST OF THE SPIRITS
Return to the Spirit Forest on the other side of town. When you encounter
the bowman and fairy give the thermozz of milk to the bowman. The milk will
improve his eyesight. Pick up the dropped items: the thermozz, the bow and
the arrows. Go north and west and you will be in the dark. Strike a match
_quickly_ and you will see the fairy. Talk to the fairy and she will give
you some fairy dust.
Go north and east to the pile of leaves. Throw something into the leaves
and that will spring a trap. Strike the leaves and what ever you used to
spring the trap will fall out. Continue east then north until you find the
Hungry Boar Memorial. Strike the memorial until you have found the disk
piece. Take the disk piece. Retrace your steps out of the forest.
WITCH'S HUT
Go to Ben and pay for use of the boat again and go to the witch's hut. Ask
Witch Itah about the thermozz of milk. Take the bat cage. Return to town via
the creeping bog.
VULTURE PITS
Return to Snoot's Farm and take the meat out of the refrigerator in the
kitchen. Wander around for a while and wait for the meat to thaw and then
start rotting. Sprinkle fairy dust on the meat. Go to Pugney's Ranch and go
left past the barn. Throw the meat into the vulture pit. The vultures will
grab the meat, eat it and fall asleep. Go into the pit and pick up the
vulture talon.
If you want more points, feed the vultures some more times. You will need
to fetch more meat from the Snoot's refrigerator and sprinkle it with fairy
dust. It not necessary to do this to complete the game.
WHISPERING FOREST.
Head out of town past the ruins to the Whispering Forest to the right.
Enter the forest. Take the bat out of the cage. Pick up some bat guano.
Follow the bats through the forest. When you vision gets _very_ bad (i.e.
worse than tunnel vision) drink some milk from the thermozz.
FERRYMAN'S DOCK
Eventually you will arrive at the ferry dock. Summon the ferry by striking
the bell three times. _Show_ the coin, that Moodock gave you, to the
ferryman. The ferry takes you to Ferryman's Isle.
CANUK'S SHACK
Turn around at the ferry dock on the island and go down the path on the
left. Use the sword to pry the magnet off the door knocker. Go into the
shack. Pick up the scroll and read it to the duck. _Do not_ ask about the
ship in the bottle until you have talked to Canuk about everything you want
to. _Do not_ ask about the scroll. Finally, ask about the ship in the
bottle.
Canuk may have attempted to give you twenty minutes, but Morphius is trying
to kill you. _Hurry!_ Once inside the ship in the bottle, climb up the mast
and look at the sail. Climb down and go into the cabin, on the left. Open
the safe, to the right, using the numbers on the sail: 9 4 2 7. Turn the
handle and take the disk piece. Get the mirror out of your inventory ready
to use _immediately_ you leave the bottle. (If you don't have the mirror,
use the piece of metal in the safe, polished with the rag on the bed.) Leave
the cabin, to the left, and get out of the bottle by going down until you
are out. Morphius tries to turn you into a duck but click the mirror on
Canuk and the spell will be reflected, turning Canuk back into a duck.
Leave the shack. Use the magnet on the whistle and blow the whistle. From
now on, you can go effortlessly anywhere on the map you want to, via
"Vulture Airlines". Just click on the location on the map. Note that the map
has two pages and each page has two screens.
LIGHTHOUSE
Go to the lighthouse. Give the illumynite rocks to the lighthouse keeper.
Show him the disk pieces. He will give you the final piece of the disk. Go
upstairs to the rail. Tie the rope to the rail with a cow-hitch knot. Attach
the talon to the rope. Throw the rope over to the tree. Use the rope bridge.
BEL NAIRE TEMPLE
Walk over to the temple. Take the shield on the statue outside the temple.
Go into the temple and present your sword to the holy woman. She will bless
your sword giving it it's full powers.
Return to the lighthouse and collect the rope and talon. Return to the
temple. Turn around and head right to the Dwarven mines.
DWARVEN MINES
The dwarves will give you a helmet and be impressed by your sword! Their
comic conversation is actually giving you directions to navigate the mine!
Power the helmet with the illumynite rock. Head over to the left, put the
helmet on. Jump on the trolley and go into the mine. This is the way
through: Left, Right, Straight, Right, Left, Right, Straight, Right, Left,
Left, Right, Straight.
ANCIENT RUINS
From the left, _missing out_ the statue in the middle put the following
items on the statues: Witch's Stick, Talon, Thermozz, Box and Helmet,
Shield, Tele-Orb. Put the disk pieces in the trencher and press either the
red or green button. Pick up the re-forged Flying Disk of Frobbozz from the
trencher. Reclaim the items you put on the statues.
TROLL CAVERN
Go to the troll cavern, right from the Hero's Memorial. Look at the
skeleton. His finger has traced the letters L U D. These are instructions
for fighting the troll guards inside the cavern. Put the helmet on. Enter
the cavern.
The first troll guard is swinging from the right. Attack him with your
sword swinging from the left. The second troll guard is swinging down, so
swing your sword up. The third troll guard is swinging up, so swing down.
Threaten the troll leader and he will give you his necklace.
FOREST OF THE SPIRITS
Go the Spirit Forest and visit the spider in the north west corner. Show
the troll's necklace of fear to the spider. Break through the web with
the sword. Go to the falls and walk behind them. Fill the flask with the
'unseen' water and drop the bat guano into the flask. You now have a potion
of invisibility.
WALL OF ILLUSION
Go to the Cliffs of Depression and turn around. Go left. You will be
blocked by an invisible wall. Throw the flying disk of Frobozz at the wall
of illusion. Walk toward the Citadel of Zork.
CITADEL OF ZORK
Shoot the hand with the bow and arrows to make the gate open. When you see
the Orc, drink the potion of invisibility and play the Alexis track on the
tape recorder.
Go over to the citadel bridge. Throw your inventory items at the bridge
until the bridge has lowered and risen to a new position and is safe to
cross.
Cross the bridge to your final confrontation with Morphius. You have to
play Survivor with him and now you are playing the difficult role of Wizard
Trembyle.
You start out on square A1. Move as follows:
B3, D4, C2, A3, C4, D2, B1, C3, D1, B2, D3, B4, A2. When Canuk moves to
occupy the square you need to go to, _pass_ using the knob on the lower left
or right. Canuk will then move to another square allowing you to move to the
correct position. Ignore Morphius' jibes!
Congratulations you have defeated Morphius! Your friends of the Good Magic
are restored and you finally get to meet Rooper.
RETURN TO ZORK is published and distributed by INFOCOM, an Activision
Company.
This walkthrough is copyright (c) 1994 by Diana Griffiths and the Gamers
Forum Adventure Library. All rights reserved.
