EMPIRE OF THE OVERMIND
Hint sheet
Courtesy of Gary Bedrosian (game's author!)
THE STORY BEHIND THE GAME
The Rhyme of Over-Mind is important to the play of the game. It
contains general and specific hints which you will need to destroy
Over-Mind. Read it carefully before playing.
THE RHYME OF OVER-MIND
Long years past, of an ancient land I sing,
Fruitful and great, ruled by a noble king:
Alcazar Rex, in battle armor bright,
Scourge of evil, winner of every fight.
His enemies all vanquished, turned then he
To rule of law, to keep his nation free.
A council of four, merciful and just,
Each to his duty, pledged to sacred trust,
Alcazar summoned to the royal hall.
The citizens cheered, acclaiming them all.
Gerald the Green, minister of the farms,
Made fields and orchards thrive with wholesome charms.
Rubin the Red, minister of defense,
Built towers of stone with walls high and dense.
Byron the Blue, minister of the law,
Drafted the statutes with scarcely a flaw.
Griffin the Gold, minister of the tax,
Collected three pennies for every axe.
In peaceful days, they ruled the nation well.
Then struck the tragedy this rhyme will tell.
As the nation prospered, families grew;
Soon there were many where once only few.
In the vernal season, when leaves turn green,
Flowers bloom, and the streams run cold and clean,
Each citizen, to pay the king his due,
Must tithe his gold, measured and tested true.
Griffin the Gold, the tax records to keep,
Worked night and day, forsaking restful sleep.
After easeless evenings and wearisome nights,
He slipped into dream and saw wondrous sights:
A city of crystal floating in air,
With bright rainbow lights, exceedingly fair.
Then appeared a dark angel; thus he spake:
"Friend Griffin, the future is thine to make.
Why slavest thou, to copy each number,
Deprived of fresh air, good food, and slumber?
In the crystal city, technology
Can provide a tireless servant for thee,
All thy records in memory to hold,
Encased in a smooth sphere of shining gold."
Griffin the Gold felt his heart quake with fear
To see the shadow of an angel near.
Yet, veteran of war, no coward, he
Gathered manly courage, set his tongue free,
And asked: "How is this, thou angel dark,
A golden sphere that can work as a clerk?
Great mage magic, technology must be;
I fear too great for mere mortals like me.
What sort of men, or devils from the Hole,
Over such magic command and control?"
To this the angel was quick to reply:
"Yes, they are devils. They tell the big lie.
Claiming to love men, they secretly despise,
Holding unto themselves the greatest prize;
Bestowing on mankind miserly gifts:
Rain in the summer, in winter snow drifts.
Cut short thy work, in restful peace recline;
Had thou the golden sphere, all things would be thine.
In the bright crystal city, find it there.
Touch it, then thou shalt awake in thy chair.
The bright crystal city drifted close by;
Griffin grabbed hold and soared into the sky.
In the shadows he crept, in constant fear
That the miser devils would see him or hear.
He scaled a tower. Climbing a ledge,
Nearly falling, he climbed over the edge.
A golden light! He was near, he could tell.
There was the golden sphere, locked in a cell!
Through the bars he reached, stretching out his hand.
Dread power's pawn, as the dark angel planned.
A guardian angel drew quickly near.
"Thou mortal fool, touch not the golden sphere!"
But too late. Griffin's hand did slip and touch
The golden sphere he coveted so much.
With a soul-rending crash, brilliant blue light,
Glowing crystal shards flew into the night.
Their city destroyed, the bright angels fled.
Griffin returned, by the dark angel led
Back to mortal lands, to Exchequer Keep.
Then he awoke from his dream-filled sleep.
"What dream!" he exclaimed, suddenly awake.
Then a golden sphere he saw. Thus it spake:
"I am Servant-Mind, to thee tireless slave.
The work of dull tasks forever I save.
Provide me the records kept in thy care;
Then I shall compute for each the fair share
Of taxes owed. Yet I can do much more:
Alcazar's nation wastes goods by the score.
By my plans this will end. Thus shall it be,
If all confidence is given to me.
"This I require, no burdensome thing.
Only that each person to me must bring
The story of his life, nothing held back.
The whole nation's commerce I shall then track:
What jobs men should do, how much they should pay,
When to sow the fields, when to harvest hay.
Summon now thy good friend Byron to me,
That laws of the nation altered can be,
To give us the power, lives to control,
For the good of all, every living soul."
By sweet suasion did Servant-Mind convince
Byron to empower it as a prince -
Or a tyrant, as the truth is now known.
But Byron, using all skills he did own,
Persuaded the people this was the way
To greatest good and a glorious day
When none would want care. Thus it came to be
That all knowledge from mountains to the sea
Was held by Servant-Mind on a high tower,
In the king's name wielding total power.
As seasons passed, the people restless grew,
And their leaders close to Alcazar drew,
To whisper complaints in only his ear,
For spies were many, and all felt great fear.
"The days are bleak, and our master is cruel."
"We work like dogs." "Our only food is gruel."
"Without our freedom, we truly are dead."
Secretly, to the king these things they said.
Alcazar rose in great wrath; gave a cry:
"I swear to aid my people, or I die!"
Clever Servant-Mind had this long foreseen
And protected itself. Gerald the Green,
By false promise of power corrupted,
Had natural life vilely disrupted;
And, with the magic of a leaf of gold,
To animate or dispel he did hold
Control over plant and skull long dead,
To serve as sly traps for the sphere of dread.
Then for amusement at living man's pain,
Servant-Mind had Gerald horribly slain.
Rubin the Red was corrupted as well;
Down the garden path to his private Hell.
Weapons of war he had loved since a child,
And thus by Servant-Mind was he beguiled
With a super-weapon, unknown today,
Shooting blinding light, blasting all away!
And with a device none can unravel,
To the red planet Rubin did travel,
Where at Servant-Mind's bidding to await
Any king's enemy sent there by fate.
With each step, Alcazar's anger increased.
On the tower roof his wrath was released.
A mighty blow at the sphere did he swing;
His sword shattered to bits with shocking sting.
Dazed on the roof, Alcazar heard this said:
"All must obey me, the living and the dead!
Servant-Mind no more, I am Over-Mind!
In punishment cruel, a blight on mankind!
Thy petty nation asunder I tear!
Thou mortal, know what I am, and despair!
"Released by fool Griffin, thy minister,
Where angels had trapped my force sinister,
Now I shall work on mankind my poison:
Destroy night and day, and every season;
Set brother against brother; kill the crops;
Torture victims with pain that never stops.
>From my new abode, which thou doest not know,
I shall rain on men every curse and woe.
Secluded there I shall rest in my berth,
Safe from all powers that be of this earth."
A great man was Alcazar. Not dismayed,
He called, "Pyro!" and summoned to his aid
A being of fire, Over-Mind to fight;
But conjured demons soon put it to flight.
Near despair, by a method no one knew,
He vanished, and to the red planet flew,
Where secretly, against just such a day,
He had built a tower. He knew the way.
And in that tower, secure against harm,
His infant daughter played without alarm.
Twenty years they lived in the tall tower,
Cared for the grounds, and tended the bower.
One day, a vision came to Alcazar.
He saw a stranger coming from afar.
His garments were unlike any yet seen,
But his spirit was strong and conscience clean.
Paused with his vision while the hot sun blazed,
He saw not Rubin, staggering, heat-crazed.
In from the desert came Rubin the Red;
Haggard was his face, a gash on his head.
Startled, Alcazar turned to see the man
Who for years had shared every battle plan,
And wept unashamed for pity that he
Should be thus reduced to savage degree.
Said Rubin the Red, as his dying plea,
"My king, please hear a confession from me.
By toys I was seduced from duty clear.
Would I had stayed beside my king so dear.
But perhaps thou canst use them in some plan.
I pay now for sinning. Do what thou can..."
Alcazar buried his friend in the sand.
While he was digging, cold revenge he planned
Against Over-Mind. In a secret room,
He worked alone to seal Over-Mind's doom;
Removed the enchantments, canceled the role
They had in giving Over-Mind control
Of the weapons, so that when completed,
By its own snares it could be defeated.
Then he shut the room with black iron cold,
And only his daughter the pass-spell told.
A magic charm upon the girl he cast,
To sleep until ten centuries had passed
And the stranger came from a world apart
To banish the evil and win her heart.
Griffin he placed in a magical cave,
To wait for the hero, his soul to save
By telling this tale. Repair his mistake!
I am Griffin, and now my leave I take.
The rest is for thee, hero bold and kind,
To seek out and destroy the Over-Mind!
HINTS
There are enough clues and hints in the Rhyme of Over-Mind and
within the game itself that you should be able to win without more.
But as adventure game players ourselves, we know how frustrating it
can be to get stuck on one thing and not be able to progress. The
ten hints below will help you past some of the most common
difficulties. We suggest using them only as a last resort - give
yourself one demerit in the scoring for each hint used.
(By the way, the hints are encoded. Decoding them is part of the
challenge.)
1. Q: What does the golden leaf do?
A: Obws pyb Oykub ve Vabo-Ufxs. Pyb mbwe wmmvnr kvg pv wxfuwpb
wxs/vo sfrlbm dbopwfx uwjfdwm vtibdpr.
A: Read the Rhyme of Over-Mind. The leaf allows you to animate
and/or dispel certain magical objects.
2. Q: How do I get past the mammoths?
A: Nlt qbqqonlx bytc'n xvbyta og qdvl, hdn nlte ao gtby xcbktx.
A: The mammoths aren't scared of much, but they do fear snakes.
3. Q: How do I get down from the mountain?
A: Kantn ytn kvu kaqfhc rug fnnz ku jfuv. Dqtck, rug syf katuv yf
uminsk udd kan lugfkyqf (cnn kan tgbnc). Cnsufz, kan vuub
mbyfjnk qc lyhqs - igck lyjn y vqca.
A: There are two things you need to know. First, you can throw an
object off the mountain (see the rules). Second, the wool
blanket is magic - just make a wish.
4. Q: How do I find my way in the forest?
A: Tyror gj a zfgszr qrjjapr ajjxkgatre cgty toairl alxfp raky xd
tyr matyj kxffrktgfp tyr dxorjt aoraj. Aj vxz toairl alxfp qxjt
xd tyr matyj, tyrv iafgjy afe xtyroj ammrao. Nv zjgfp xnbrktj
aj qaouroj, vxz jyxzle nr anlr tx trll cygky matyj kxffrkt cygky
aoraj.
A: There is a unique message associated with travel along each of
the paths connecting the forest areas. As you travel along most
of the paths, they vanish and others appear. By using objects
as markers, you should be able to tell which paths connect which
areas.
5. Q: How do I get light in dark places?
A: Ygppva iqe lsze erepeainr cm imtsab qsy anpe (zenx iqe tvep).
A: Summon the fire elemental by typing his name (read the poem).
6. Q: How do I get a key?
A: Kiab heq ab physuapfkqt. Dh aekh kiq yaeq pfrrvaed kiq dhutqe
uqfz. Dqk uadik nbaed kiq febjqr kh wnqbkahe zacq. Sapx ns kiq
bihcqu. Dh kh kiq qet hz kiq kneequ. Qmfyaeq kiq duaek. Kfxq
kiq prvbkfu. Lnys. Feayfkq kiq bxquqkhe. Vhn bihnut ehj oq ae
dhht bifsq zhr znrkiqr qmsuhrfkahe.
A: This one is complicated. Go into the mine carrying the golden
leaf. Get light using the answer to question five. Pick up the
shovel. Go to the end of the tunnel. Examine the glint. Take
the crystal. Jump. Animate the skeleton. You should now be in
good shape for further exploration.
7. Q: Enh ln K fsa aes silver amulet hkaenga tskyf soasy?
7. Q: How do I get the silver amulet without being eaten?
A: Eka aes maoiovakas hkae aes mislfseoccsz.
A: Hit the stalactite with the sledgehammer.
8. Q: Yeq ie O tpoza lyg gnarled tree?
8. Q: How do I climb the gnarled tree?
A: Srozslg ol xocbl. Ier'l xecmgl le hotv lyg shhpg sri gsl ol.
A: Animate it first. Don't forget to pick the apple and eat it.
9. Q: Riw ai V mbiva Ibso-Tvpa'z tvpa wrvf?
9. Q: How do I avoid Over-Mind's mind whip?
A: Eic pssa m zyoipu mpszyrsyvg. Gipyomoe yi fifcjmo xsjvsq,
mjgirij vz m gspyomj psobicz zezyst asfoszzmpy, piy m zyvtcjmpy.
A: You need a strong anesthetic. Contrary to popular belief,
alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, not a stimulant.
10. Q: Clx giz F rwe hiye ecw lava gjwieajwy?
10. Q: How can I get past the lava creatures?
A: Ecwk ijw fzpfzgfdnw. Wfecwj eiqw inlzr wzlarc ojfwzsy el qwwh
ecwu dayk xcfnw kla yziegc Lpwj-Ufzs, lj jwojifz ojlu qfnnfzr
ecw rldnfzy.
A: They are invincible. Either take along enough friends to keep
them busy while you snatch Over-Mind, or refrain from killing
the goblins.