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Hints for Adam Cadre's Lock and Key
written by Billy Harris
After the prolog, this is simply one big puzzle, so the hints follow an
unusual progression -- rather than being listed from vague to specific
in the order you encounter things in the game, they are organized into
sections; the first clarifies your goals. The second explains your
tools. The third contains increasingly explicit clues to the solution.
As a last resort, I have included the solution and a walkthough.
Part 1: Your Goals
Once you complete the prolog, you will see the main interface. Your goal
is to create a dungeon that Boldo [a skilled adventurer] can not escape
from. You'll need to play several games to discover the right design.
Some of the constraints should have been much better explained in the
documentation:
- You must create a closed path that goes from the stairs to the cell
and back to the stairs. This means that each room will have two
doors.
- The guards are amazingly inept. If there are any traps on the path
from the stairs to the cell, then the guards die and Boldo escapes.
- The easiest way to build your path is to start in cell A1, use the
command "JohnHenry" and 'move' along the path. Don't forget to use
"JohnHenry" again to turn off the tunneling. You can also use
"open south" or "close north" or similar.
So, to rephrase, you need to create a short, untrapped path from the
stairs to the cell, then a longer path full of traps from the cell
back to the stairs. You can use a variety of verbs to place traps,
such as "drop elephant" for the current room, "put blade in a3",
"move blade to b2", etc.
When you think you have a nifty design, actually purchase the traps.
It is worth reading the text of "buy" at least once per trap, but after
playing a few designs, you may prefer "qbuy" which skips the text.
You can also use "qbuy all".
Once you have the design and traps, give the blue prints to your intern,
enjoy the brief interlude, and then bite your nails as Boldo waltzes
through your traps. Reload, improve your design, and repeat until you
win.
Part 2: The Tools
Boldo starts his escape with these inventory items:
Silver key
Chain Mail
Crowbar
Torch (providing light)
Several pounds of juicy raw steak
Magical pan pipes
LUXIPHEROS spell (summon light)
PROLEPTON spell (teleport across room)
You will quickly discover that not one of the traps will kill Boldo by
itself. You will also quickly discover that the Gladiator is Boldo's
friend and will actually help him try to escape if you use this trap.
Finally, you will quickly discover that the idiot guards have overfed
the dogs [if you use this trap] and they are sleeping soundly.
Here I have given a description of how Boldo will solve each trap if he
is fully equiped. Hopefully this will get you curious about how he will
solve them with missing equipment and thus lead to productive
experimentation. Each trap has been divided into two lines: One if Boldo
is alone and one if Boldo is with the Gladiator.
ELEPHANT, RED DRAGON, GREEN DRAGON:
Red herring; can not buy
LION:
alone: Sets fire to mane with torch.
Glad : Lion kills Musculo; Boldo saunters out.
MIST:
Note that the mist, if used, must be placed in one of the four center
rooms.
alone: Mist eats chainmail and crowbar
Glad : Mist also eats Musculo's sword.
BELLS:
This trap is more complicated than the others {HINT, HINT}. You actually
control it with a lever and switches while Boldo is moving around the
dungeon, so you can actually time when this trap goes off.
Unfortunately, the bells are so loud that they can cause the whole
castle to shake, which in turn breaks the lever and prevents you from
using them again. There is a smallish spoiler about the bells furthur
down this trap list.
alone: No effect on Boldo
Glad : Doesn't like the bells, but no long-term impact.
WALLS:
Note that the walls must be opposite each other and can't have
doors in them. That is, if you use this trap, it must be in a
room with N-S doors OR E-W doors.
You can augment this trap with spikes, but this doesn't change
the behavior of a fully-equipted Boldo.
alone: Uses crowbar (iron bar) to wedge walls open
Glad : Uses crowbar (iron bar) to wedge walls open
FIRE:
Note that the King thoughtfully built a fire-supression system
throughout the dungeon.
alone: Fire extinguisher extinguishes torch
Glad : Fire kills Musculo; extinuguisher exiinguishes torch.
GAS:
Note that the gas, if used, must be placed in one of the four center
rooms.
alone: Holds breath, walks out unharmed.
Glad : Gas kills Musculo; Boldo holds breath and escapes unharmed.
SAND:
alone: Relaxes, floats to surface.
Glad : Quicksand kills Musculo; Boldo relaxes and floats across.
DOOR:
Note that you can augment this trap with piranha or a shark,
but this doesn't change the behavior of a fully-equipted Boldo.
alone: Notices seam, kicks door open and jumps across.
Glad : Gladiator falls in and dies; Boldo jumps across.
ROCK:
alone: Rock misses Boldo
Glad : Rock hits Musculo and kills him
MAZE:
alone: Boldo finds his way out
Glad : Boldo finds his way out, takes a bit longer
DART:
alone: Boldo catches dart, gets new inventory item
Glad : Dart kills Musculo. Note that Boldo will NOT get the dart.
BUGS:
alone: Buldo steps on poisions critters, escapes with minor damage.
Glad : Buldo steps on poisonous criters, both escape with minor
damage.
DOGS:
Note that the idiot guards will overfeed the dogs, causing them to
fall asleep and become useless. You can wake them up if you have the
BELLS
by flipping any of the switches on and pulling the lever. Note that
you should wake the dogs BEFORE Boldo reaches them.
This section gives increasingly explict clues about how the traps
fit together. But I'll start with a spoiler giving the correct
layout for the doors, just in case you're still stumbling on that
one. Note that the mirror-image arrangement will work just as well.
X A1. JOHNHENRY. S. S. S. E. E. E. N. W. W. N. E. E. N. W. W. W.
JOHNHENRY
[Now put your traps in the 3x3 section from A2 to C4].
You need to start winnowing away Boldo's inventory items.
Good intial traps:
FIRE [puts out the torch and uses the LUXIPHEROS spell],
MIST [gets the bar and the armour. Possibly Musculo's sword].
Without the iron bar, Boldo will use the PROLEPTON spell
on the closing wall if he is alone, or Musculo's sword if it
is available.
If Boldo faces the dogs or the lion alone with no torch,
he will use the steak to get past them.
In the worst case, Boldo can fend of a pack of rabid dogs bare handed.
If Boldo is alone and has already lost the torch and the steak, he
will use the pan pipes to sooth the savage lion.
If you figure out how to use the bells properly, you wake the dogs
and also block the pan pipes.
Spoiler for bells:
Flip experimental. Pull lever. Flip low. Flip medium. Flip high.
[when Boldo pulls out pipes] Pull lever.
You have now found a very valuable trap sequence:
FIRE, MIST, DOGS, LION; make correct use of the BELLS, and you have
wounded Boldo. He is bleeding and will become weaker over time.
The Maze takes time. If you also provide a dumb Gladiator, it takes
even more time. If you put the gladiator and maze after the above,
Boldo will become very weak indeed.
Final clue: One of the traps which Boldo can easily avoid when in top
shape will cause him difficulties when badly wounded. Unless, of course,
the trap gets Musculo instead of Boldo.
Part 4: SPOILERS
The Correct Door Sequence
[or a mirror image]
X A1. JOHNHENRY. S. S. S. E. E. E. N. W. W. N. E. E. N. W. W. W.
JOHNHENRY
The Correct Trap Sequence
This is in the order Boldo will encounter them; you also need the BELLS:
FIRE. MIST. DOGS. LION. GLADIATOR. MAZE. DART. WALLS. DOOR WITH PIRANHA.
Complete Walkthrough
>x floor
>get metal
>show it to guard
[prologue ends, you are in your office]
>johnhenry.s.s.s.e.e.e.n.w.w.n.e.e.n.w.w.w.johnhenry
>put fire in c4
>drop bells
>put mist in c3
>put dogs in c2
>put lion in b2
>put gladiator in b3
>put maze in b4
>put dart in a4
>put walls in a3
>put door in a2
>put piranha in a2
[if you don't want to read the witty proze, use 'qbuy all']
>buy fire
>buy mist
>buy dogs
>buy lion
>buy gladiator
>buy maze
>buy dart
>buy walls
>buy door
>buy piranha
>buy bells
>give print to intern
[intermission. You can 'z' several times, or x Boldo, guards, king].
[you end up in the command center. In there, you can x the console,
the lever, the switches, the mirror, the king, the banana.
Note that the timing of the bells is important]
>flip experimental
[AFTER guard tells you dogs are sleeping]
> pull lever
> flip low
> flip medium
> flip high
[wait 2-3 turns, until Boldo pulls out the pan pipes]
