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Tower of Barad (Tower_of_Barad.txt)

                               Walkthrough for

                             The Tower of Barad

                                by Zakiagatgo

                           Written by Richard Bos


  First, a few notes.

  To start with, this is a PAWed game for the ZX Spectrum. Words are therefore
significant to five letters rather than the more usual four. It doesn't look
like a PAW game at first, because the author has managed to hack the text
printing routine to provide proportional printing, which is rather effective.
I've found one single spot where this exhibits a bug, but nothing serious.
  Also, it's a game for the 128K Spectrum. This means lots of pictures, which
are pretty well done. Unfortunately, it also means lots of rooms which aren't
always there for a purpose, which in turn means quite a bit of walking back and
forth at some points. It also means that it's a long game, much longer than
most Spectrum adventures.
  The game is full of in-jokes (a Balrog on the khazi? Costa Panhandle?), which
aren't always equally effective; the result is a mixture of silliness and
normal low fantasy which doesn't always work but is still enjoyable.
  While the number of objects, rooms and verbs sufficed for the game, the
number of nouns apparently did not: there are a lot of duplications and non-
synonym "synonyms". For example, "SWAMP" and "CABLE" are the same
word; so are
"JEWEL", "CANDLE" and "HANDS". These words are all used in separate
context, so
presumably the author assumed that nobody would notice, let alone care. Nor
should you, except that you may find it amusing to CUT BEDPOLES instead of
TAGTIES, for example. It also seems that a few debugging commands were left
in; on your very first turn, try "T"!
  Obviously, since this is a walkthrough, spoilers are rife below. I'm not
taking you past every single clue and sight, but I do provide some commands
which give some hints while not being strictly necessary to get to the end.
The game does have a HELP command, which is sometimes useful.

  And with that, we're off to find the king.


  Go north twice, east, south, east and south, take the stick, and go north,
west, north, west, north, east twice, sw and west. Jump. Insert the stick in
the crocodile. Swim upstream. Search the reeds, then the yokel. Take the
dagger. Swim downstream and leave.
  Go east twice, west twice, south, east and south. Kick the door; repeat this
until it breaks, then enter the shed. Search the shelf. Kick the shed, take the
weedkiller and leave. Go east, south, east and south. Examine the swamp. Throw
the weedkiller and the dagger across the swamp, then cross the lilypads. Take
back the weedkiller; leave the dagger for now.
  Go north and east. Give the weedkiller to the balrog, _then_ go east. Examine
the different tree twice, then put your hand in the depression. Take the plank
and leave. Go west and south, throw the plank across the swamp, cross the
lilypads and retrieve the plank.
  Go north, west and south, lay the plank across the bridge, cross the bridge,
and enter. Lift the rug. Take the key; unlock the chest with the small key. You
must include the adjective in that command; "with key" doesn't work. Drop the
key. Search the chest and the stove; take the torch and the cakes. Remove the
battery from the torch, put it in the oven, and wait. Then take it and insert
it in the torch.
  Leave, go east, north, east and south, drop the cakes, throw the torch across
the swamp, cross the lilypads and take the torch and the dagger. Go north,
east, north, east and south. Light the torch and point it at the troll.
Extinguish the torch, then go south. Take the petrol. Push the cauldron, untie
Dingo, and cut the tagtie with the dagger. (Note that the game itself says
"tag-tie", but will only accept the word without the hyphen.)

  Leave, north. Search the rubbish and take the bicycle. West, south and west;
search the balrog and take the meat. South; throw the dagger, torch, petrol,
bicycle and meat across the swamp; cross the lilypads and take all. Go north,
west and north twice, pour petrol over the nettles and drop the can. Go south,
west, north, west, north, and east twice.
  Give the meat to the dogs, then enter the farm and talk to the farmer. Leave,
walk the dogs, and go sw, west, south, west and north, and then back south,
east, north and east twice. Enter the farm again. Give the cakes to Piles, then
say to Piles "borrow tractor". Take the key.
  Leave, unlock the barn with the long key (again, adjective obligatory - and
keep this key) and enter the barn. Drive the tractor, and repeat this until you
reach the felled tree. Tie the chain to the tree (chain? Yes, if you hadn't
been reading walkthroughs, you'd have been able to discover where that chain
came from...), then drive the tractor again.
  Leave, and go west twice, north, and enter. First go north, search the wall,
take the matches and go back south. Say "help" to Jethro. Buy a beer and give
it to him; keep doing so until he joins you. Then leave and go south twice,
east, south, east and north.
  Burn the nettles with a match. Go north twice. Give the dagger to Jethro and
retrieve it. Search the elf and take the sword. Go east and north, cross the
bridge, and go east. Put your hand in Tamriel's depression again. Take the
broomstick and leave.

  Go west, cross the bridge, south, west, south thrice, west, north, west,
north, east twice, sw, west, south, west and north twice. Throw the bicycle at
the combine harvester, then go east. Sweep the field with the broom, then
(dreaded adverb alert!) north carefully. Search the straw, take everything and
wear the suit.
  Now go all the way back south, west, south twice, east, north, east twice,
west twice, south, east, south, east, north thrice, east, and north three more
times. Hit the orc with the sword. Go south twice and cross the bridge, then
cut the bridge with the sword.
  Go down three times and cross the river. Search the orc - that holdall will
come in handy. Remove the suit of mail and put everything you're carrying in
the holdall. You'll have to do this one by one, I'm afraid - PUT IN doesn't
accept ALL - but it really will hold all, including the chain mail and the
pitchfork! Take the rope and throw it, then tie it to the holdall. Climb the
rope, pull it up, untie it, and take all.
  Go west, south, enter. Collect the glasses - you'll get some money. Now first
take this back to the other pub: leave, n, e, s thrice, w, s thrice, w, n, w, n
twice, enter, west. Poke money through hole and take the map. Now back to the
Bagley Arms again: e, leave, s, s, e, s, e, n, n, n, e, n, n, n, w, s, enter.
Again buy beers and give them to Jethro until he gets up. Leave and go sw. Read
the map and follow the directions on it. Drop the map.

  Go nw, put your hand in the depression, leave and go back se. Ride the swan.
Take the suit, sword and pitchfork out of the holdall, and wear the suit. Go
up, kill the guard with the pitchfork, search him, and take the spanner. Go
north and west, and kill the Goblin Chief with the sword - you may need several
tries for this. Search him as well, and take the stopcock (and once more you
need that spelling despite the game using another).
  Go west, take the lance, east twice and north twice. Hit the skeleton with
the lance, then drop the lance and pitchfork. Search the bones, and take and
wear the ring. Go up, west and north, take the bread, and go south, east, down,
south twice, west, north (and no, that exit isn't listed) and west.
  Take the torch from the holdall, tie the rope to the well, enter well, light
the torch, north, search the sewage and take the key. South, extinguish the
torch, and climb the rope. Eat the bread to stop the lurgy. Untie and take the
rope. Go east, south, east, north and east.
  Turn the ring, then remove and drop it. Put the stopcock, sword, spanner and
rope into the holdall to make room. Go north, search the doctor and take the
syringe, east, search cabinets, take Largactil and fill the syringe with it.
South, turn the bedposts, east, take the brass key. Leave, north, west, south,
west, south and east.
  Say to Jethro "turn table". Go east and light the torch. Unlock the door with
the silver key, then go east. Throw the syringe at the psycho. Go south,
examine the dungeon, and go south twice more. Take the gold bar yourself, but
say "take barrel" to Jethro. Then go north thrice and west, extinguish the
torch, and drop the silver key.
  Go west twice, north twice, west, unlock door with brass key, north, take and
wear the wellies, south and west, take the towel and wrap it around your face.
East twice, up twice, unlock this door with the brass key as well and drop the
key, then go west and up. Another adverb: go west slowly. Push the Keeper, then
go west, down and east.
  Say to Jethro: "drop blue barrel". Connect the pipe to the blue barrel, then
wait. Go west, sw, up and north. Search the chest and take everything. Wear the
Talisman. Leave and go down, north and up. Turn the dial anticlockwise, go east
twice, down, east, down twice, south thrice and down. Ride the swan. Remove and
drop the wellies and the towel - but not the Talisman.

  Go nw. Move the needle to sunny, then go north twice, east and north. Examine
the pool, take the stopcock from the holdall and insert it in the hole, then
enter, take the notes, go up, south, west and south, and wait. Go north, east,
north and west, take the broomstick from the holdall, and row the raft with the
broomstick.
  Now for some more inventory management. Drop the barometer, Largactil and
broomstick, and put the torch, stopcock and bar of gold in the holdall. Go
north. Turn the dial clockwise this time, then go north. The next bit is a bit
tight where turn count is concerned, so no typos here.
  Buy a beer, give beer. Repeat this twice - no more - then immediately go
north. Take the crates. Turn the dial clockwise again, and go south. Buy and
give two more beers. Play machine, kick machine, go north. Turn dial clockwise,
south. Take apples, examine Finwe, say to Finwe "sell cravat", leave.
  Go up, east and south. Take the string, tie the crates with string, drop the
crates and take the cage. Go north and catch - do not use "take"! - the ferret.
West, down and east twice, free the ferret and drop the cage. Go west three
times, wait, and buy and take some fish. Leave.
  Wear the cravat and go down, sit, put money in garter, and leave. Go east
twice and south. Put your hand in the depression and leave for your next
assignment, then insert money in the machine, take the ticket and go east. Give
the ticket to Feanor.

  Pffff... we're about half way through the game. Make yourself a cuppa.

  Say "south" to Feanor, take the bucket, give the ticket to Feanor again, and
fill the bucket with water. Say "north" to Feanor, go east and back west, give
the ticket to Feanor, and say "north" to Feanor again. Go east twice, take the
torch from your holdall, down, light torch, north. Give the fish and the apples
to Hector and take the file.
  South, extinguish torch, up, north, up. Pick the lock with the file, then go
north. Get your sword and dagger from the holdall; kill the bear with the
sword, then skin him. Put your dagger, sword, string, torch and file in the
holdall. Take the hide; say to Jethro "take carcass".
  Go south, throw the water at the fire, and go up and south twice. Give the
hide to Gollum. Say "help" to Gollum, then follow Gollum and keep doing so
until you reach the mine working. Go east, fill the bucket with oil, sw, up,
empty bucket, east. Get all, west, down, north, west. Say "help" to Gollum and
follow him back to the beautiful cave. Go north twice, down and north. Say
extendere (without any quotation marks!). Cross the bridge.
  Go east, south and east. Examine the catwalk, take the spanner from the
holdall, and tighten the nuts with the spanner. Go east, south and up, take the
pistol, down twice and north, fill pistol with acid. Go south twice, and say to
Jethro "tip bridge".
  Take the rope from the holdall, tie it to the bridge, drop it, and climb
rope. Search the miner and take the pass. Climb the rope, untie and take it. Go
south; touch door with pass. East, say to Jethro "drop carcass", north. Search
table. Put the rope, ticket and bucket into the holdall. Take the gold key,
push it into the clay, and drop it.
  Go south and west, touch door with pass, north twice and up, north and west
twice. Put the spanner in the crucible, take the crucible and put it in the
furnace, pour metal in clay, and take the key. Take the long key from your
holdall, put it in the crucible, put the crucible in the furnace again, go
north and west, and pour metal in writing. Drop the crucible and take the
alibi.
  Go east, south, east twice, south, down and south twice, touch door with
pass, and unlock the chest with the iron key. Drop the pass. Search the chest
and take the Scrolls. Go east and north, move the table two times, climb the
table and pull the lever. Go east and up. Spend a few turns until a wagon
appears, then enter it and immediately take the dynamite. Go south, squirt acid
at the eye, put the pistol in your holdall, and put your hand in Tamriel's
depression and leave again.

  Help the police, ok, but first some more inventory management. Put the
pistol, scrolls, key and clay in your holdall. Then go south and give the alibi
to Truly. Go east twice, search the dump and take the carrot, west, sw and
west, wait, buy both a sleeping pill and an indigestion tablet and take them
both, and leave. South, buy and give beers again until Jethro gets up. Leave,
north twice, put hand in depression, leave.
  Go west, north, east and north. Put the sleeping capsule in the carrot, then
give the carrot to the Raybite (and once more you can't use the hyphen). Say to
Jethro "open mouth", go west twice, and drop the indigestion tablet. Take the
disks, then go back east twice and leave. Go south, take and wear the bulbs,
west, south, east, south and west. Give the disks to Jimbo.
  Go east and south twice - ignore Pithrick for now - take the matches from the
holdall, light dynamite with match, throw dynamite at hydra. Now go north twice
and south. Now chase Pithrick all the way into the church and up the bell
tower. This is going to involve a bit of to-ing and fro-ing; I also believe
that the directions he takes are somewhat random. However, he can't escape the
town.
  In any case, these are the directions which worked for me: north again,
south four times, north, west, up, down, up thrice, down, up. He is now at the
top of the bell tower and you are just below it. If this doesn'tt work for you,
you'll just have to keep going back and forth until you are at "close to the
belfry" and he has just escaped; if so, go down once. If Pithrick is there,
chase him back up and go down again. If he isn't there, you're in the same
situation as you should be at the end of the above directions. By the way, in
both cases you can ignore the bat, as long as you're wearing the garlic. Now go
down to the Bell Room and pull the ropes.

  Take the axe. Go east, sw and south. Buy a gin and give it to Lydia. Repeat
this until she, too, joins you. Then leave, north, and south four times. Chop
legs with axe, then drop the axe and alibi and go south. Now first climb the
cobweb - shades of Acheton, here! - take the honey and go down, then burn the
cobweb with a match, and go west. Search the caskets and take the Sceptre.
  Go east, north twice, west, and up four times. Take the cement. Go back down
four times, then east, north twice, east twice and south. Say "help" to Lydia.
Search Ruffles and take the vodka, _then_ go south. Wait until a magpie flies
over, then say "help" to Lydia and take what it drops.
  Go west, south, north and up, throw the honey at the ogre and kick the nest.
Go down, south, east and south twice. Pour the cement in (not on!) the ground,
then go east and enter. Put chain through hole, then leave and go east twice.
Drop the vodka, then go east. Ethel will drink the vodka. Go west three times
and pull the chain. Take the shotgun.
  Go east, south, east twice, south, west, south, east, south twice, east
thrice, enter. Take all, leave and go east thrice. Take the gold bar from your
holdall and give it to the foreman. Cut the ribbon. Go east twice; put hand in
depression and leave. Go east again and enter.
  Give the charcoal to Jethro. Go west, take the ZX81, go east, leave, and
east. Take the torch from the holdall, light it, point it at the troll, and
extinguish it. Take the rope from the holdall, tie it to the troll, and say to
Jethro "pull rope". Drop the scissors. Untie and take the rope, put it and the
matches in the holdall, and go south.

  Enter and go west. Say "seduce goblins" to Lydia; search the sofa and take
the kit. East and south; climb the toilet, search the cistern, take the key.
Down and leave, unlock the door with the pretty key, and drop the key. Go east,
south and east. Take the coathanger, put the ZX81 under the door, and go west
twice.
  Shoot the sniper with the shotgun. Search him, then drop the shotgun and take
the sub. Go west, insert kit in computer, and go east twice, north, west twice
and south twice. Climb the statue, push a wing, and go down twice. Take the
stopcock from the holdall and throw it. Go up, north twice, east and south.
Pull the chain three times.
  Take your dagger from the holdall, leave, and light the torch. Go north, cut
the tagties with the dagger, go south three times, put the coathanger on the
cables and grab the coathanger. Search the coal, take the ruby and put it in
the Sceptre, then climb the coal. Take the coathanger, wave the Sceptre,
extinguish the torch, and go up.
  Go east, north thrice, east twice, south and east. Tie Ivana with the
tagties. Then back to where we left our friends: west, north, west, south, pull
chain three times, leave, light torch, south twice, put coathanger on cable,
grab coathanger, take coathanger. Wave Sceptre, extinguish torch, up. Now wave
the staff and go up again.
  Go east. Drop the tagties and staff. Put the dagger, torch and coathanger in
your holdall, then take the Scrolls from it and give them to Merlin. Go west
twice. Take the string from the holdall, tie it to the candlesticks, then pull
the candlesticks. Go down, take the Crown, and follow the string. Drop the
string. Put the Sceptre on the pillow. Go west.
  Say to everybody "turn stage". Go up and back down, and shoot the goblins
with the gun. Go east twice and north to find Lydia, then back south, west
twice and up twice. Say "(well, anything, really)" to the guard, then say "tell
joke" to Jethro.
  Go north and east, remove the Talisman and put it on the bust, go north and
put the Crown on the plinth. Take the torch from the holdall and light it, then
go up and back down, south and west. Point. Join hands and think hate. Go east,
north and up.

  Hoorah, you've found King Barad and finished the game! For all its faults,
it's still a pretty impressive creation on the Spectrum.