The game starts with the death of your master and you are to perform a task about which you will find out later.
You're in a hut. There's an oil lamp here. It might come in handy when you're in the dark so take it. Now search the old geezer. He has some loot. A scroll will drop out. Read it. You'll find "the word for the lake". Think you're done here. No! The old geezer has more. You'll find an iron key, (always handy to have keys) and a postcard. The postcard is no joke. It has an uncancelled stamp you'll need later, but for now you can't get it off so pocket the postcard. Now we can go out. north that is.
We arrive at the forest. Nothing interesting here, so go further north. We'll see more forest. Ever climbed the trees when you were young? practice! You'll find an egg and a feather both of which you'll need later. Continue west and arrive at the cliff top. Oh let's go south for a moment and try the "word for the lake". The rod can produce a rainbow like in any good old adventure game. For now it's empty, it needs a recharge. So pocket it and go north, and follow the cliff northeast. There's a lighthouse we'll search through. At the bottom floor there's a cheez key. Leave it. Examine the machine instead. The machine itself is of no use, but there's a bronze plate somewhere we'll need. Look also under the machine. There's a scroll with the formula for gold. Memorize the formulat but don't take the scroll. We've already got enough to carry.
Now go up. There's a lighthouse lamp with a secret container in the brick foot. Pull the loose brick and a pair of oven gloves will drop out. Take them. Go down, sw, and east. We're back at more forest. Now go northeast. You're outside the cheez pig in. Go in.
The bar patrons are of no interest. (Though it's possible to have them killed later on.) Look behind the bar. There's a counterfeit coin and a health notice. The coin is necessary, the health notice can be dropped. While we're here go ne to the back room. The bucket you find there is needed later so take it. Loaded with loot we'll find our way back to the forest, and go ne from there.
We arrive at the peacefull glade. There's an iron grating there that's locked. Which key will fit? Right. Open the grate drop the key and go down (don't forget the lamp!).
Here there's some inscription on the wall which reveals the goal of the game, finally. Now that we know that we might start exploring the caves. First go south. The mountain king who used to dine here forgot to eat some meat. Don't eat it yourself, we need it to kill something. Let's do that first. We'll go north and north to the branching tunnel and then go west. There's a monster in the natural cave. Give it the meat and it will choke on it. Are we done? No! the monster has some loot.
Now we go east and northeast and then to the side cave. Under the rubble you'll find a sword which can provide light. Why take it? We have the lamp. Yes but the lamp may not last forever. Go back to the fork. There's a path south and we might as well take a look in the pillar cave. What's on top of it? Alas it's not the orb of studiosity. It's your job to bring the real orb there. We find our way back to the hall of the mountain king. Let's first go west and read for a while about the great beaver. Now this is not a fake story, so remember the essentials.
Go back to the hall of the mountain king. South of here is the kings treasure room which is guarded by a mean droll. The droll is strong but his eyesight is poor so we can fool him. Wear the collar you took from the beast, and walk south. The troll will not interfere (now) with our opening the chest.
Find a sceptre and a piece of animal skin. They are both needed, but the sceptre is not needed until the very last moves of the game so if the load gets too heavy we might leave it in the hall of the valley king. You can also drop the collar there.
North and se is the way to go to arrive at the curving hallway. There's a guardian of the king suspended in the air. Examine it. It tracks it's pray by heat. You cannot escape it unless you can divert it to another heat source. Got it. Yes. So first try to walk south. The guardian will stop you. Now go back northwest. The guardian will follow you. Drop the lamp. The guardian will kill it (and itself) and the way is clear.
Your load is now light enough to pick up the sceptre again. We can go se again and south, west, and west, and arrive at the entrance to unnkulia. If we go west we'll find a chasm. (Try the rod for fun).
We cannot cross it (yet) but we can climb down and down again to arrive at a particular hot spot. Save the game. The number of moves in hot spots is very limited and you might have to try again. Wear the gloves first. Put the egg on the hot spot. Try holding the postcard in the steam. Take the stamp. Take the fried egg.
Go up again, and up again, east and south. We're at the other shore of the lake. First go west, and up the steep path to arrive at the clearing. There's a mailbox here with an order form. One of the items on the order form we'll need later, so lick the stamp, put it on the order form, put the form in the mailbox and close the mailbox. Now we direct our attention to the hut.
Enter and take the loaf of bread. It's nutrition we'll need later on. (The fried egg is for someone else). The silver key cannot (yet) be obtained so leave it there. Go back to the shore and follow the sw path up to the monastry. The old monk you'll find inside is particularly fond of eggs (ask him about it) When you give him the egg he'll grant your wish to visit the temple. Leave the gloves here, we don't need them any more.
Inside the temple there's an altar with a hole in it. Put something in? No get something out! First put the bronze plate on the altar and then examine. When the stone shoots out, a disc will come loose from the plate, and it's better counterfeit than the other coin. Take it and leave. Outside we'll follow the path once more up the trail. The giant boulder does not only provide a view, but can also be tipped over the edge to destroy either the monastry or the hut. Choose the hut (remember the key).
Now we go down and find our way back to the clearing. Has the mail arrived yet? If it has take the jade elephant. From the cottage ruins we obtain the silver key. Now we're all done here so we find our way back to the chasm. Go down again and down again and enter the rocks through the tunnnel northeast. Through the other exit we arrive in the maze. Sort the maze out for yourself.
Go up and down often to arrive at the tiny cave. Here we find the machine that will recharge our wand. Follow the instructions, but for money use the disc from the bronze plate (it will not accept the Acmid). Be carefull to go sw a lot to find your way back to the fissure and the chasm. Other exits lead into the maze which has nothing of interest. At the top of the chasm we can wave the rod and grow a rainbow. Before we cross it we go back to the entrance to recover the axe there.
Throw the axe from the rainbow bridge at the tunnel mouth you see in the western wall of the chasm below. It will land on a ledge in front of the tunnel mouth; then we can cross the bridge to the west side of the chasm. Down the south end of the hallway we'll find an enourmous door to which a tiny silver key fits and we enter the alchemists alcove. Drop the key.
Here the formula for gold might come in handy. Alas there are no bird's gizzards. At the north end of the hallway we'll find enourmous giant feet. Try to tickle them. Drop the feather. Wait there's a hole in the ground. Down and south we'll find the birds gizzards. We'll make gold later. (or do we?) and south we're in the salesmans office.
The salesman is very cross with you for fooling the machine. Offer him payment. He'll be happy and leave loosing a...credit card! Take the credit card north and ne.
Did you examine the bucket and notice that it's rim is rather sticky? Now put the animal skin on the bucket, and behold: we have a drum! Why not play it a bit? This reveals a hidden passage and behind it (se): lo, our axe! Get the axe and go nw and north.
Now here's a lock we can pick (with the credit card). Enter the east gate and find a giant mouse. Don't try to pat the mouse, it kills you. Instead show the image of its old nemesis and it will flee like hell. In the mouses nesting there's a cubic object we'll need. Take it and leave. It's time to make gold (or is it?) and we'll find our way back to the alchemists alcove. Remember how to make the gold powder? Make it! But do not poor it on the lead. Gold is fine but with gold we'll never reach the gold.
Go sw to the alchemists bedroom and find the formula for the black powder. Now we'll make that instead (the iron ore is in the read vial). Take the black powder and the plant pieces (remember the library?) an go back to the square chamber. There's an enourmous yellow door here. What is it made of? Of course. Cheez. It's eddible (well almost). Eat it and be brave. You'll spill the contents of your stomach and go hungry but that's why we bring the bread.
At the other end of the hall of the deamons we'll go north and find a room of light. The light is deadly but is brought forth by a crystal in the western wall. Put the black powder in the hole and kill the crystall. Now go south and south and arrive in the dungen. There are several objects of interest here, but the one needed for the game is the chopping block. Chop. Some pieces of cedar wood will fall off. Take them. Remember the library?
Now it's time to find the beaver. Eat the plant pieces and arrive in a strange dream. The beaver loves the cedar chips and rewards you with a knob. Wander around and you will invariably end up west of the chasm. Find your way back to the square room and go north.
There's no light to prevent you to enter the vault of unnkulia north. Now this vault has a strange podium. It needs power first so look behind it and plug it. You cannot turn the stem on top of it. But we have a knob to put on the stem, and we can turn the knob. Now put the cube in the hole and push the button. Bingo the vault will open.
Inside we just have to balance the scales. Which object was heavy? Oh yeah, the sceptre. Now that the scales are balanced we can take the orb and run back to the pillar cave. Oh no the unnkulian warrior drops from the ceiling. Shal we fight? Not a chance. Just stay kewl and walk back to the pillar cave. The warrior will follow you but not hurt you. When you take off the basket ball and put the orb in its rightful place the powers that be will take care of the warrior. Congrats. You've won.