Walkthrough for The Solstice Sovereigns of the North, by Nathanaël Marion
by Andrew Schultz
This is an interesting game that was part of the 2020 Adventuron Christmas Jam. It has a neat story
and in-game hints, but some actions may be tricky to guess.
>GET SHOVEL
>E
>N
>N
You can't go north onto the lake yet. Where is appropriate footwear?
>DIG MOUND
>ENTER
>OPEN TRUNK
(Implicitly unlocked.)
>GET SHOES
>WEAR SHOES
>OUT
>N
>X ALTAR
You need to do this to get an NPC into the picture.
>S
>TALK HER
(shorter than TALK ARCHAEOLOGIST)
The key to her house!
>S
>S
You can't implicitly unlock this door.
>UNLOCK DOOR
>OPEN DOOR
>E
>GET PAPER
>>CLIMB LADDER
Nothing there, and the text description is misleading. It made me wonder if anything was there at
all. However, the picture and >X LADDER tell a different story. As does >HINT. You can move
the ladder to the other side.
>PUSH LADDER
>CLIMB IT
That gets a book, but there's more! The "new" ladder is still useful.
>GET IT
>W
>N
>GET ALL
(Only branches, but it saves keystrokes.)
>DROP LADDER
>X BUSHES
>GET KNIFE
>U
>GET MISTLETOE
>D
>N
>X CAMPFIRE
A new item! Usually coal has a different meaning at the holiday.
>GET COAL
>N
The carvings can't be read on the stone. Is there another way? Yes...
>DROP PAPER
>RUB IT
>GET PAPER
You don't strictly need the decoded paper this way, but it can't stay on the altar.
You don't have to do the below, but I'll explain the logic behind decoding the paper and
finding what you need to do.
>>X PAPER
>>X BOOK
^ = A
< = B
' = C
+ = F
/ = G
] = I
> = J
* = L
& = R
! = V
> = W
[ = Y
Symbol \ is for M or S?
Here is what you need to translate. Note it's tricky to decide whether the colon is an actual
punctuation mark or a code. And some letters are, in fact, other letters. So as we translate,
we'll put solved stuff in lower case.
^>^X: \#*\=]':
<*##H +#& *]+:
8]\=*:=#: +#& *#!:
\#S/ +#& .#[
What does this change to, with the deciphered characters? I put them in lower case.
awaX: \#l\=ic:
bl##H f#r lif:
8i\=l:=#: f#r l#v:
\#Sg f#r j#y
Okay, "lif" isn't a word, and only one four-letter word starts with "lif."
So the colon is e. Then l#ve can't have a/e/i but needs a vowel, so that's o.
awaXe \ol\=ice
blooH for life
8i\=le=oe for love
\oSg for joy
We could also map X to k, as r is already taken. Now there are a few ways to figure everything else
out. The letters left are: DHKMNPQSTXZ. The H in the code could be D or P, though it's probably
D.
The second word may be best to poke at. Perhaps you can guess it from the game name. Also, the
nine-letter word may give an in-game sort of clue. SOLSTICE is the second word, so...
awake solstice
blooH for life
8istletoe for love
soSg for joy
Given there are no references to baseball, BLOOP is probably out. And the so.g has to be song.
awake solstice
blooH for life
8istletoe for love
soSg for joy
>DROP MISTLETOE
This gives you an idea of what's going on.
>>CUT ME
Doesn't quite work. Maybe bring the archaeologist along. How? She needs a pair of shoes, too.
>S
>ENTER
>CUT NET
>TIE BRANCHES
Oh, hey, a pair of used snowshoes!
>OUT
>GIVE SHOES
(you can't type PRISTINE, and I'm too lazy to type two words. Also, you can't give
her the rudimentary ones. They're too small. Also, the number may randomly be 1.)
>2
>WEAR SHOES
>N
>CUT ME
>SING
>S
>S
>S
A long celebration. You win!
