TWIN KINGDOM VALLEY
Bug-byte, 1983 - Spectrum conversion 1984
=========================================
Spectrum solution by Exemptus - August 2020
Overview and general hints:
---------------------------
Twin Kingdom Valley (TKV) is the name of the game's setting, an area where two
kings live: the Forest King and the Desert King. They don't seem to get along
well, but that is irrelevant to us. We are an adventurer on a treasure quest -
find and store a number of valuables, including the Secret of Life, rumoured to
be hidden somewhere in the valley.
TKV is a non-deterministic adventure in the sense that there are multiple NPCs
around which roam the landscape semi-randomly, picking and dropping objects, and
their behaviour can interfere with any attempt to finish the adventure (and
often does). They can be hostile, friendly or neutral; the hostile ones will
fight the player on sight. Fighting takes away strength, which influences how
well we fight, how many and which objects we can carry, and other matters.
The player also becomes thirsty with time and needs to drink regularly, or else
risk dying of thirst.
Fights require weapons, of which there are plenty. when fighting we can either
HIT <enemy> WITH <weapon> or THROW <weapon> AT <enemy>. The former is
better, as
weapons thrown can be picked up by our opponents. There is a certain probability
with each hit that we drop the weapon anyway, or that it breaks. Some weapons
do more damage than others: the broad sword and the axe are deadlier than puny
daggers or knives. The deadliest weapon, though, is the wooden staff, because of
its magical properties, but it breaks very easily. It is best reserved to deal
with the dragon and/or the Desert King, which are tough cookies.
Managing thirst is easy, since there is plenty of liquid everywhere. Not only
water, but beer (found in two different locations) also quenches thirst. I
haven't noticed any ill effects for drinking beer instead of water, but water
is more easily found anyway. Liquids can be carried in a jug, which is handy.
Managing strength is not as easy. Most of the game's difficulty comes from
having to fight other characters, as it is absolutely necessary in order to
finish the adventure, because some carry treasures we need. Fighting is not
easy, especially when done in succession. There are some characters, in
addition, that we can fight, but are too tough to deal with under normal
circumstances: they are meant as puzzles, as there are specific solutions to
overcome them.
Strength is slowly replenished with time, so WAITing can top it up. The maximum
level of strength is 190 points. You can find it at any time by typing SCORE.
There is a place in the game that restores all our strength at once, but it is
at the edge of the map and away from most of the action.
The list of treasures to be found in the Spectrum version is:
Treasure Points Where is it?
---------------------------------------------------
Jewelled Gold Crown 90 Held by Desert King
Bag of Gold 50 In small chamber within south caves
Bag of Gold 50 In narrow shaft within south caves
Secret of Life 200 In chamber within north caves
Staff of Gold 90 Held by witch in Desert Castle
Bag of Silver 25 Held by Guard in Desert Castle
Bag of Silver 25 Held by Guard in Desert Castle
Bag of Silver 25 Held by Sand Lurker in Desert
Treasure Chest 175 In Desert Castle
Diamond 80 In entrance to north caves
Ball of Gold 65 In Desert King's throne room
Silver Dagger 10 In narrow passage at the east of desert
Diamond Ring 12 Held by dwarf in south caves
Gold Key 15 In small kitchen under Desert Castle
Silver Key 12 Given as present by Forest King
Jug of Gold 100 Filled at River of Gold in north caves
---------------------------------------------------
Total: 1024
Other versions vary this a bit, so the walkthrough may not be good for them. For
instance, in the original BBC version, the value of the Ball of Gold is 100
points, there is no river of gold that can be taken from with the jug, and there
is an additional bag of gold in the east mountains, beyond the log cabin, which
makes visiting that location useful - there is no need to do that in the
Spectrum version. I suspect this is the bit that had made it frustrating for
Spectrum players to follow the existing walkthroughs.
The walkthrough below can only be approximate, not literal, due to the random
aspects mentioned above. Treasures will always be in the same place, but five of
them are held by roaming characters: the Desert King, two guards, a sand lurker
and a dwarf; it is uncertain when you will meet them. They are initially
confined to a certain area, but they can move at will, especially if we open
doors in their way. Therefore if you come across any of them, and are in a
position to fight with advantage, then do. The walkthrough will tell you when it
might be a good idea to seek these characters, but if you find them out of
sequence, it's better to act. The dwarf, in particular, has a bad case of
wanderlust and can be impossible to find later if left to his own devices.
The walkthrough will ignore thirst and fights. You must remember to DRINK
regularly when you come across water. Luckily this is easy as you can stay many
turns without drinking and you get a lot of advance warning if thirsty. It will
also ignore fights. If you are attacked by gorillas, trolls, or other random
roaming NPCs which have the habit of throwing nasty objects at you, my advice is
to ignore them and flee. Only fight when the NPC in question has an object you
need and you have a weapon ready. Just remember that heavier weapons do more
damage, as expected, with the exception of the wooden staff.
There is a giant imprisoned who will, if helped, follow you and help you in
fights, picking up weapons dropped by other NPCs. He is tough and can be an
alternative means to win some otherwise difficult fights, such as the dragon or
the Desert King, but the giant's usefulness is limited as he is slow and it will
be easy to lose. The walkthrough shows how to free him, just in case.
If fights are too much, it is possible to patch the game so strength is never
lost - this helps a lot, as you may not be able to carry as many objects when
weak, but I will not include here the necessary POKEs, as they are not mine.
They can be found easily enough in The Tipshop and other sites. The game is
still rather difficult even with infinite strength.
Darkness is overcome by a lamp, which is the only source of light, but it needs
to be filled with oil regularly. There is a location with a cauldron of oil
which seems to be infinite, so this is less of a problem. In a departure from
adventuring tradition, darkness is not lethal in TKV: we can freely go about our
business in the dark, only certain messages will not appear. This is actually
needed at a certain point in order to solve puzzles.
Treasures have to be stored in the cabin, but they will count for the score the
moment they are picked up. Do not assume that anything stored in the cabin is
free from pilfering - it is rare, but it can happen that an NPC gets into the
cabin and happily absconds with some of your treasures. If this happens then bad
luck, as you have no option but to seek and retrieve the object. It is possible
to ASK <character> FOR <object> if they have it, but rarely they oblige. If
hostile, they certainly won't, so fighting cannot really be avoided.
To properly complete the game you have to:
1. Have found all the treasures.
2. Have a score of 1024 points.
3. Type LOOK AT SECRET as last command.
This means that, strictly speaking, it is not necessary to carry the treasures
back to the cabin, as the score is increased when we get the treasures; but it
is best to do it anyway, because if a NPC takes a treasure, the score is
decreased. The cabin is safer than any other location in this regard, although
not 100% - there is still a small possibility of things being taken from the
cabin. In any case, it is far better than leaving the treasures around.
This also means that, if (as expected) the Secret of Life is the last treasure,
the game can be finished right in the secret chamber where it is found. The
walkthrough will take this shortcut. if it makes you feel better, you can take
the Secret to the cabin as well.
Good luck; you will certainly need it.
Walkthrough:
------------
[Before starting you can customise some user experience options such as the
speed of text display or the modality for pictures. It's somewhat advantageous,
especially if you are mapping the game yourself as opposed to using a ready map,
to choose display option 1, as it will draw pictures only when you arrive to a
location not visited before, but suit yourself with the option that pleases you
most.]
*** FIRST SECTION: KEYS, PRINCESS & GIANT
[We start at a road, south of a cabin. The first steps will be getting some
essential objects before they are taken by wandering NPCs, then getting the
holdall, which allows us to carry many more objects, acquiring the ability to
see hidden exits, paying the diamond as tribute to the Forest King, freeing the
princess to get the gold, silver and bronze keys, and freeing the Giant, which
makes fights far easier.]
N [Into the cabin]
[Take a minute to look at the picture; some pictures actually hold clues. There
is a painting on the wall of a fissure spanned by a bridge. This is a hint that
such a thing needs to be sought later.]
GET JUG [Container for liquids]
GET KEY [This is the brass key, but there are others]
GET LAMP [which has oil already]
ON LAMP [We don't have a flint: we will in a moment]
S
W
W
GET FLINT [If the flint is not here (very rare), then restart the game]
E
N
N [There is a stream here; remember to drink]
DRINK
FILL JUG
N
N
N [We are at the top of a waterfall]
W
W
N
N [Canyon floor]
W
W
W
W
W [At Watersmeet]
SWIM [Swimming here tops up strength]
DRINK
[Drinking from the Watersmeet allows us to see hidden doors by magic. This is
not hinted at within the game but it is mentioned the place is magical as part
of the background story, so it's natural to try.]
E
ON LAMP
N
GET DIAMOND [Score is now 80]
[This diamond is one of the treasures, but we must lose it temporarily to be
retrieved later. This is because we need to trigger certain conditions as early
as possible, which imply getting captured by the Forest King and offering him
the diamond as a gift for him to welcome our presence and send us off to free
the princess.]
N [Into the sloping maze]
[This maze has ten rooms, with identical descriptions, and it is worth mapping
completely as it allows access to three essential places: the Desert Castle
underground rooms, the desert and north mountains region (otherwise unreachable
until much later), and the hidden chamber with the Secret of Life. For the time
being we are just interested in the holdall, which will make our life easier.]
GET HOLDALL
FILL HOLDALL
[FILL HOLDALL is the way to put things in the holdall. Do this regularly as it
frees space in the inventory. Say Yes to all except the lit lamp (never put the
lit lamp in the holdall!) any weapons or keys you may want to use. To get things
out of the holdall and at hand it is best to DROP <object> then GET <object>.]
E
S [Notice the secret door east]
E
S
GET GOLD KEY [Score is now 95]
N [Another hidden door east]
E
OPEN DOOR [For later]
S
S
S [Damp hollow chamber]
GET DAGGER [To use as weapon, but if you find a better one later, do replace it]
U
U
[We are in the south caves now, which are south of the gorge. Both sets of caves
are connected by tunnels. Here the most urgent matter is to get captured by the
Forest King and offer him the diamond so he trusts us. The diamond can be stolen
later.]
W [We are captured]
GIVE DIAMOND [Score is now 15 and we are back to the cave]
[We have just one turn to give a gift - if we do nothing we are freed, but will
be captured again if we come round this way. By offering the diamond we are
given an amulet in return, which will allow us to rescue the princess. She is
held in a dungeon beyond the gold door we opened before, but we need the Bronze
key first. A witch down in the maze of passages below these caves has it, and
she is nearly impossible to beat in single combat, but she will exchange the key
for a crystal ball which is around here.]
OPEN DOOR [The one to our east can be unlocked with the brass key]
E
GET ROD
LOOK AT ROD [We see a bridge - now we know what this is for]
E [Note the bronze door here which we cannot yet open]
S
GET BALL
N
W
S [We are in the maze]
[The south caves maze has sixteen rooms, but is easier to map as the room
descriptions are all different, just as in the Crowther & Woods adventure TKV is
inspired on.]
N
E
W [The witch is here]
GIVE BALL TO WITCH [We have the bronze key now]
E
E
W
S [We are in the Room of Bones; note the silver hidden door west]
U
N [Hall of Forest King again]
E
E
E
[Before we open this door, behind here is the dwarf with the diamond ring. If he
cannot be found in any of the following three rooms then it is best to restart
the game, as he won't probably be found anywhere. This might be a bug, because
the dwarf disappears even if the door is locked again, and it happened to me at
least once - fortunately it looks like this is uncommon. When you come across
the dwarf just hit him with the dagger until dead and get the ring.]
OPEN DOOR
E
D
HIT DWARF WITH DAGGER [Repeat as needed; chase the dwarf if he moves]
GET RING [Score is now 27]
D [Note the grating to the north: this is a secret tunnel to the desert]
GET BAG [Score is now 77]
U
U
W
W
W [Cave again]
D
D
N
N
N
N
E [Another bronze door, which we can open now]
OPEN DOOR [The princess flees and tells us to see her father for a reward]
W
N [Damp hall]
OPEN DOOR
N
[Here is the imprisoned giant. We are told he is ill. The idea is to cure him by
swimming in the Watersmeet. He will follow us but will take one turn longer than
us to move.]
S
WAIT
S
WAIT
W
WAIT
S
WAIT
W
WAIT
W
WAIT
W
WAIT
S
OFF LAMP [Ensure the giant is here; if not, double back and repeat]
W
SWIM
[If we are told the giant swims, he is cured and will now fight with us as
thanks. I will make no more use of the Giant, but he can be very useful in
battles, at the cost of having to slow down so he can follow - it's your choice
to keep him or not. If he loses you he will wander around but can be found again
easily as he is not very mobile.]
E
E
E
E
E
S
S [Cave]
ON LAMP
W [Hall of Forest King; we are given the silver key, score is now 89]
S
D
OPEN DOOR [We retrieve the diamond from the King's strongroom]
W
GET DIAMOND [Score is 169]
E
U
N
E
E
E
S
S [There is a grate up here]
OPEN GRATE
OFF LAMP
U
S
E
N [At the cabin]
DROP DIAMOND
DROP BAG OF GOLD
DROP RING
[First part done.]
*** SECOND SECTION: DRAGON AND CHEST
[The second part will deal with the Desert Castle, the dragon, and the treasure
chest.]
S
W
N
N
W
N
NW
WAVE ROD [A bridge appears, which will be the main way to go to the Desert area]
SE
N
N
W
W
W
W
N
ON LAMP
E
E
E [Long dry passage]
N
N
U [Pokey anteroom]
[This is the area below the Desert Castle, which we have entered through the
north caves. Here two guards with silver bags roam, which are easy to spot, and
it is advised to fight them if possible. The lamp might have started flickering
by now, so refilling it with oil may be more urgent. This can be done upstairs
at the ground level, which is where we are going anyway.]
NW
U
W
W
W
OFF LAMP
U [Castle entrance hall]
W
N
FILL LAMP
S
[I will assume you meet one of the guards here; this of course can vary, so
insert the fight whenever appropriate.]
HIT GUARD WITH DAGGER [Repeat as necessary]
GET BAG [Score is now 194]
E [Get back to the Castle Entrance]
[We climb up to the Castle first floor. There are four towers here, each one
with a turret and something interesting. For the time being what we are after is
the wooden staff.]
U
U
W
OPEN DOOR
W
U
GET STAFF
[The staff is the most powerful weapon in the game, but it will break very
easily, so we have to use it sparingly. Its chief use is dealing with the
dragon in the N turret, who holds the master key.]
D
E
E
N
U
HIT DRAGON WITH STAFF [Should die instantly]
GET KEY
[If the staff has broken, bad luck; things will be more difficult. If not, it is
best put to work against the Desert King, a tough opponent. He walks around the
castle and may show up at any moment, so it will be convenient to dispatch him
as soon as possible.]
D
S
E
SW
OPEN DOOR [For later]
FILL HOLDALL
W [Royal bedroom]
[I will assume the King is here. If not, you know what to do.]
HIT KING WITH STAFF [Or best weapon]
GET CROWN [Score is now 284]
N
E [Landing]
D
D
ON LAMP
D
E
[I am assuming you meet the second bag-of-silver guard around here. If you still
have the staff that would be lucky.]
HIT GUARD WITH DAGGER [Or the best weapon you found]
GET BAG [Score is now 309]
E
E
D
OPEN DOOR [For completeness, since we don't need to enter this room]
W
OPEN DOOR [This is the door to the Armoury; feel free to grab a weapon]
E
SE [Pokey anteroom]
D
W
S
W
W
W [North cave again]
W
W
E [Small cave]
[This cave is important, as it is the entrance to the chamber where the Secret
of Life is held. A voice is heard asking us to bring the treasure chest of the
Desert King here, which will open access to the chamber. However, this is tricky
because if we carry the treasure then we cannot carry anything else; this is the
reason we have not bothered with it yet, as it needs a dedicated expedition.]
S
E
S [Entrance cave again]
OFF LAMP
S
E
E
E
E
S
E
S
S
W
E
E
N [Cabin again]
DROP CROWN
DROP BAG
DROP BAG
DROP GOLD KEY
DROP SILVER KEY
DROP BRONZE KEY
DROP MASTER KEY
DROP LAMP
DROP HOLDALL
[In fact, drop everything you have here. If you have any weapons, drop them as
well. You need to be completely hands-free for the following journey.]
S
W
N
N
W
N
N
N [Canyon floor]
W
W
W
W
N [Cave, and in the dark]
[Since we cannot carry any objects, we have to travel in the dark - luckily we
will have mapped the path by now. We need to go this route because other ways
to the castle (through the crystal bridge and the desert) get us to the
drawbridge, but it is raised. We can only leave the castle by the main entrance
out to the desert, but not enter.]
E
E
E
N
N
U
NW
U
W
W
W
U [Castle entrance and light again]
U
U
E
SW
S
U [South turret]
GET CHEST [Score is 484]
[Now we need to get the chest to the small cave in the north maze where the
voice was heard and enter the Secret of Life chamber. We won't be able to do
anything else but that will ensure the chamber is permanently open to us later.
After that we can take the treasure home.]
D
N
NE
W
D
D
D
E
E
E
D
SE
D
W
S
W
W
W [We should be at the cave entrance]
W
W
E [We should now be at the small chamber, but we can go east now, unlike before]
E
[So this is where the Secret of Life is. There is also a river of gold flowing
here. This can be seen through a crack in the wall from an outside sand slope
three locations north of Watersmeet, which indicated this place existed,
although not how to reach it.]
W
S
E
S
S [We are outside again]
E
E
E
E
S
E
S
S
W
E
E
N [At cabin]
DROP CHEST
[This concludes this section. The most difficult part is done.]
*** THIRD SECTION: CASTLE WITCH
[In the next section we will deal with the Castle Witch, who lives in the East
turret of the Desert Castle. She is impossible to defeat in normal combat as
she has a staff of gold which repels any attack. The key to the witch is another
well hidden treasure which will also allow us the opportunity to collect a few
more goodies.]
GET HOLDALL
GET MASTER KEY
GET LAMP
GET JUG [only if it is not in the holdall, which is just as well]
[Also get any weapon you may have stored here, and even seek the giant if you
wish.]
S
W
N
D
ON LAMP
N
N
E
D
D [At the small chamber where we found the dwarf, but now with the master key]
OPEN GRATE
N
GET BAG [Score is 534]
N
{We are at the end of the shaft. There is a grating here which opens to the
waterfall at the east end of the canyon. That goes into a crocodile pool, but it
is not deadly as we exit that automatically. It is a handy shortcut in case we
wish to use that route for anything, but it is not necessary for this
walkthrough. We are more interested in going up.]
OPEN GRATE
NE
U [Twisty wooden staircase]
[This staircase opens up to the cabin in the east mountains, from which both the
south and the north sides of the valley can be reached. If we spend more than a
single turn here, the staircase will break and access to those locations will be
shut off. But, against expectations, this is exactly what we want to happen,
since there is nothing useful in the cabin and mountains region, and falling
through the staircase is the only way to reach a hidden location we need to
enter.]
WAIT [The stairs break and we drop through a narrow passage]
GET DAGGER [The dagger tries to do us in, but we master it; score is now 544]
[The silver dagger is not very useful as a general weapon, but it is the only
way to defeat the witch. You may have noticed it tries to kill its wielder.]
W [Out to the desert, east of the Castle]
OFF LAMP
NW
N
[We are in the mountains, at the north edge of the map. We are going to have to
enter the castle from below, as always, since we cannot enter it from the desert
as the drawbridge will be raised, and this is the shortest path.]
W
ON LAMP
D [North exit from north caves, unexplored so far]
E
E
S
S [Cave entrance]
E
E
E
N
N [Damp hall]
U
NW
U
W
W
W
U [Castle entrance]
OFF LAMP
W
N
FILL LAMP [Just in case]
S
E
U
U [Landing]
E
E
U [West turret, finally]
GIVE SILVER DAGGER TO WITCH [Best to specify "silver" in case we have another]
[The witch tries to handle the dagger, but fails and dies.]
GET STAFF OF GOLD [Score is 634]
FILL HOLDALL
D
W
N [Throne room]
GET BALL OF GOLD [Score is 699]
[We have all treasures in the castle. We can now leave via the desert, which
will provide an opportunity to meet the sand lurker.]
S
W
D
D
S [Drawbridge]
S
[There are fourteen locations in the desert, along with six other edge locations
which comprise the area north of the canyon, not counting mountains. In any of
the desert locations we may find a sand lurker carrying a bag of silver, which
we desperately want, and I will as always assume we come across it while around,
but you are expected to go looking for it a bit more. If you get dry while in
the desert and your jug is empty, go to the Edge of Fissure, cross the Crystal
Bridge, and you will reach the south side of the canyon where water is
plentiful. Alternatively, just dive to the canyon from the north edge, which
takes you to the water faster, but you will lose strength in the process.]
SW
HIT LURKER WITH SWORD [Or your best weapon]
GET BAG [Score is 724]
S
W
S [Crystal Bridge]
S
S
S
S
E
E
N [Cabin again]
DROP BALL OF GOLD
DROP BAG OF SILVER
DROP BAG OF GOLD
DROP STAFF OF GOLD
DROP SILVER DAGGER
[This finishes the section.]
*** FOURTH SECTION: MOPPING UP
[Only two treasures remain: the Secret of Life and a jug of liquid gold taken
from the river. The rest is straightforward, save the fact that we cannot carry
the Secret of Life and any other objects. So two trips will be needed. We'll go
for the jug first.]
DROP JUG
DROP FLINT
DROP HOLDALL [And in fact all other objects]
DROP LAMP
GET LAMP
GET JUG
GET FLINT
DRINK [In case the jug is full]
S
W
N
N
W
N
N
N [Canyon floor]
W
W
W
W
ON LAMP
N
W
W
E
E [Secret of life chamber]
FILL JUG [Score is 824]
W
S
E
S
S
OFF LAMP
E
E
E
E
S
E
S
S
W
E
E
N [Cabin]
DROP JUG
DROP LAMP
DROP FLINT
[Now for the Secret of Life. Make sure through SCORE that you have 824 points
and strength 190. If not, something has gone wrong - make sure no treasures are
missing, as it is possible that a NPC has purloined something. At this point, it
would be extremely frustrating to have to seek it out, so it may be better to
restore from a saved position and redo some steps instead.]
S
W
N
N
W
N
N
N
W
W
W
W
N [Dark now]
W
W
E
E [Secret chamber, which is lighted]
GET SECRET [Score is 1024; congratulations]
LOOK AT SECRET
[That is it. We are finally shown what the secret looks like, although the
author has decided to keep things cryptic and philosophical. Maybe it is for the
better.]
[End of game.]