Shadowgate

Welcome to Shadowgate, and particularly  this  walkthru.  This  walkthru
is designed to ease you through whatever stumps you in Shadowgate. Keep
in mind that this walkthru contains not just hints, but explicit
directions as well. Don't come back unless you're absolutely stuck.
Having said that, before we begin let me touch on three major issues in
Shadowgate. First of all, you die often.  Really  often. (Even more than
in Uninvited, for those who have played it.) Save a lot (but use the
Save  As  command,  otherwise  you  will overwrite your  last  save.)
The next issue is light. This game takes place well before Edison, so to
see where  you're  going  you'll  need  a  flaming torch. However,  each
torch  has  a limited life. Torches are stuck in the walls of most of
the rooms, and you can  pick  them  up  and  bring  them  with you, but
you can't carry ALL of them, so knowing where another torch can be found
is crucial. Also note that a torch will flicker  momentarily  6  turns
before going  out  (except  the  torch you start out with, which only
lasts about ten turns), so when you get the flicker, light another
torch. The last issue  is secret doors. Not all entrances in this game
are apparent, or even shown in the Exits window. Sometimes a passage is
hidden  in  a  scene,  or moving  a loose brick will uncover a hidden
passage. Keep your eyes out for them.  Okay, let's go! Here we are, at
the entrance to Castle Shadowgate.

But  before  you open the door, take a look at that skull. Well, there's
no welcome mat to hide a key under, so maybe  the  skull  holds  it.
Open  the skull.  Voila! Pick up the key. Now open the door (you won't
need the key to do it). And wouldn't you know it, it  creaks  (shades
of  Uninvited  here). Let's  go  inside.  Now, the first thing to do
here is light one of those torches before yours goes out (that's OPERATE
the lit  torch  on  the  unlit one).  You  can  now drop your torch and
pick up the one in the wall. If you like, go ahead and set fire to the
rug (people who  went  through  Uninvited hitting  every window with the
battle axe will have fun here). The key won't open the side door, but it
will unlock the double doors, so unlock those and go  through.    Here
we  are  at another hallway. Grab the funny-looking torch, and save
here. We're going to do a couple of interesting things  now. First,
light the funny looking torch and examine it. Greenish tint, eh? That
might come in handy soon, but we don't need it now, so don't save here.
Now pick  up  one  of  the candles, or the book. Whoops! Enjoy the
funeral dirge (soon it will start to drive you insane). Now open your
saved  game  (funny how  the  default  is to start from the beginning,
and not from a save file) and don't pick up anything from the shelf. But
just because  we  can't  take the book doesn't mean we can't read it...
Open up the book. Aha! A key! Grab that, and go back to the first
hallway.  Now we have the  key  to  unlock the  other  door.  Do that,
and go through (you can drop both keys now). You now should be in a
closet,  and  two  nice armaments  are  sitting  on  the shelves-a
sword and a slingshot. Grab both (note that you can click on one, and
then hold down Shift and click on the other, and you will  select  both;
but  release  Shift before dragging them) and go back to the second
hallway.

 Look at the far wall. Something fishy about that stone there... open
it. A  secret  passage!  Head  through  it. Now we are in a chamber with
a large exit. You can't get through that (go ahead and try it), but
there is another exit  from  this  room.  First  pick  up  the arrow,
and note which way it's pointing. Hmm... that torch on the left wall
won't come out.  Perhaps  it's attached to something? Maybe if we pull
it... Operate the torch (on itself). Ta-dah! Another hidden entrance! Go
down there now.  Two bridges,  but which  to  take? For now, don't try
to cross the rickety skull bridge. Stick with the sturdy one.  Uh-oh.
Good time for a save. That wraith won't kill you  immediately  (unlike
everything  else  in this game), but will instead curse you. This is to
be avoided. There is a way to destroy the wraith. Like many  mystical
creatures,  the  key to victory lies in the occult. In other words, try
some smoke. If you operate your torch on him, he shudders. Maybe some
particular  kind  of smoke? Green smoke? Fire up the oddball torch and
fry him with it. Now you can pick up the cloak and go  thru  the  door
(the exit  in  the  upper-right  of  the  exit  window  is  totally
useless). Cages? (More shades of Uninvited here) Don't bother trying to
open them;  it can't  be  done.  Instead,  read the scroll on the shelf
(you don't need the scroll itself, just the information). This little
rhyme basically states the object  of  the  game:  to find the bladed
sun, the silver orb, the staff of ages, the golden thorn, and the
platinum horn. We will be coming  back  here later,  but  now let's
leave through the top exit. Wait! You can't reach it? Try climbing. The
rope, in particular. But how to get it up there? Read  the sign.
"EPOR"?  What does that spell backwards? "ROPE"! Perhaps it's a magic
word... Say "EPOR" to the  rope.  Now  we  can  climb  it.    Mirrors,
mirrors, on  the wall, who's the bravest of them all? Anyway, right now
you can leave this room alone. Just open the back door and go through.
Here we  have  a bunch  of  coffins.  Actually,  most of them are safe
to open. The only one to avoid is the middle one on the left side. But
the others, we can open.  Try the left front. Close call, there! Now the
back right. Nothing... the back middle, now. Those coins are useless;
leave them  alone.  Now,  the right  front.  Ah, now things are getting
interesting! That mummy is holding something useful. But how to get it?
Maybe we can remove the  mummy's  rags. Don't  bother  trying to unravel
them; burn them off with your trusty torch. Now grab that scepter (it's
not the Staff of Ages,  by  the  way)  and  head through the back door.
Go through the right door.  Theres a shark in the lake! Don't worry
about that yet. Go through the door on the far wall. Those stones would
be good ammo for the slingshot. Grab one and load it (either operate it
on the slingshot, or open the slingshot and put it in). For a chuckle,
try putting in something else while the stone is in the sling. Now comes
one of the nastiest parts of Shadowgate: a secret door. See the black
space under the waterfall (right of the rockslide, which is for all
practical purposes impassable)? Go through it. A secret room, and a
rock. Take a look at the rock. Try whacking it. Grab the bag revealed
and open it. Gems! (Uninvited players have a slight advantage here-the
gems look like the Blothney gem, and are used the same way.) Go back to
the fork now; we can't do much here yet.  At the fork, take the left
door. Ignore the rat; we have better things to do than chase rodents.
See the gem-shaped hole in the door? A gem would fit in that nicely,
wouldn't it? Put the lightest-shaded gem in the hole (you can drag the
gem over the hole, or operate it on the hole). That sphere is not the
silver orb, but is useful anyway. Examine it. Brrrr! Pick it up and
return to the lake (don't try the trapdoor).  Now we have to try to grab
that object (a skeleton key, in fact) from the skeleton. Swimming is
suicidal (try it, if you desire and have a save handy). Time to think
here... the shark can swim in the water, but if the water weren't
water... Maybe if it were ice, he would be stuck. But how can we freeze
the water? The sphere! Operate it on the lake. Now how do we get it
back? Melt the ice a bit. Your torch will do nicely. Now take the sphere
and the key, and return to the pedestal room. Open the door and go
through.  Oh boy. Time to save your place, because one false step and
you're fried adventurer. If you were to take something, the dragon at
the far end of the room would roast you. You need some way of blocking
his fire. What's here that can do that? The shield. Snatch it up (if
it's too big, go back out, drop some stuff, and come back; don't drop
anything in here). Now grab the hammer, the spear, and the helmet. We
can't get any more here, so leave (you can drop the shield now it's
totally useless for any other purpose). You can get more room in your
inventory by wearing the helmet and the cloak. Now it's time to head for
the mirror room, where your adventure really begins.  One of these
mirrors holds a surprise. But which one? The middle one. Smash it with
the hammer (nothing else will do it). Don't worry about seven years of
bad luck; you won't last that long if you don't do it. The hammer will
do you no good anymore, so drop it. Open the door and go through. Whoa!
It's locked, so use the skeleton key to get it open. If you can't take
the heat, get out of the kitchen--or find something protective. If you
aren't already, wear the cloak. That will enable you to tolerate the
flames. Now open the door. Uh-oh... it's a firedrake! This creature
feeds on fire. But if there's no fire... put out the fire with the
chilling ball. Whew! Now you can take off the cloak, and drop it too.
Oh, well, so much for that, but no time to waste, go through the door.
Cross the bridge. Wouldn't you know it, there's a troll guarding this
bridge. Don't worry about the toll (for a laugh, get the coins from the
coffin and pay the toll); instead, dispatch him with your trusty spear.
That will take care of him... for now. In any case, head on down the
bridge. Another nastie! This time it's a cyclops. Thirteen feet tall...
kinda reminds you of Goliath, doesn't he? So treat him the same way.
Nail him with the slingshot. Bull's-eye! He's out cold, but he's not
dead. If you really want to kill him, stab him with the sword. Neither
the sword nor the sling will be useful anymore, so drop them.There's a
well here, too. Anything inside? Operate the well on itself and find
out? A bucket, but what's inside? Open it up and find out. A metal glove
(technically a gauntlet). Hang on to that, but now open the door and
enter another area of the castle.

 This hallway, judging by the rug stretching across the hall, is the
entrance to the main area of the castle. Leave the broom here-you may or
may not need it, but if you do you can always come back for it. Go ahead
and burn the rug if you please, but don't waste too much time; let's
head down the front left passage.  This library is pretty well stocked.
The most important book, though, is the one on the desk, so grab that.
Also look inside the desk. Take everything in there you'll need all of
it. Now it's time for a little light reading. The only book of interest
to us is the thick book on the bottom left shelf, third from the left.
(However, go ahead and read them all; there's some interesting and funny
stuff in there.) Open that book up and copy down the stuff about scrolls
and books (a text editor DA would be great for this, as well as for
reading this walkthru). Incidentally, while you're at it, read the
scrolls and the big book. Terra Terrakk and Instantum Illuminaris (yet
another item borrowed from Uninvited) are easy enough to decipher, but
what about that book? You can't read it right now, but don't trash that
item yet. In any case, there's a gem-shaped hole in the wall. Just slide
in the medium-shade gem and go inside. Here's another rug to burn, but
that's not the important thing here. Look at that globe. Try to open it.
If we can't open it with our mortal powers, maybe some more power would
help... Remember "the key to the world"? Use the Terra Terrakk scroll on
the globe (brace yourself for some nasty puns, too). Pick up the key
(the bottle is a cure for the wraith's curse, which is there so that
people wouldn't have to know the obscure bit about the green smoke) and
close the globe. The rest of the stuff you can leave here, so go back to
the main hallway and take the far left passage.  Welcome to the
laboratory. If you want to die, open the cage or drink some of the jars
on the shelf. If not, examine the stone on the floor. Doesn't that look
like a handle? Indeed, you can pull it. Operate the stone on itself
(although Open should work, it doesn't) and take the holy water. Now
head downstairs into the garden.

Examine the fountain. There's a flute in there. But the fountain is
gushing acid, so we can't get it or drink it (go ahead and try it, if
you dare). Maybe if our hand was protected from the acid, we could grab
the flute. Put the glove on and take the flute. Now it's time to
remember one of the minor rules of adventuring: "Use it where you found
it." Play the flute (operate it on itself) and pick up the ring. The
flute and the gauntlet can both be dropped, and there's nothing more
here, so return to the main hallway. Now let's explore the right
doorway. Lots of nice stuff here, so pick up whatever you like... uh-oh.
I guess that wasn't such a good idea. Get out of here before those
hobgoblins rip you apart (there is no way to get the stuff, which may be
just as well). Instead, open the door and enter the banquet hall.  What
could that be under the rug? Probably something useful. We can't move
the rug, so we have to remove it. This particular spot is fun for the
belligerent, because guess what-you have to burn the rug. Do so, but
don't bother taking the key-unlock the lower door (in the center of the
picture) with it. The other two keys you picked up here unlock the other
two doors, so get those open and get rid of those two keys. Now take the
door on the right.  The picture of this room is very important. Either
save here, and use a distinctive name like "Sphinx", or take a screen
dump, and keep either one handy. In any case, this is a Sphinx, and (you
guessed it) it will ask you some riddles. There are a total of six
riddles, and which one is chosen is totally random. Try to figure them
out yourself, but if you're stuck, the answers to the riddles are listed
below: "Eyeless tho' that I may be...": Skull (from the library) "It has
towns, but no houses;" Map (from the library) "First I was burnt..."
Horseshoe (from the laboratory) "If you look at me..." Mirror (from the
banquet hall) "I at fires attend..." Bellows (from the study) "Long neck
and no hands..." Broom (from the mirror room)  Once you know what the
answer to the riddle is, go back and get that object, and give it to the
Sphinx (dropping it will suffice). You may now go up the stairs into the
observatory.  The scroll is useless, but the map is not so. Examine the
shooting star. It's not part of the map, so you can remove it. Take
that, and then open the map. That rod will be of use to you, so take it.
Now let's go up into the turret.  That odd-shaped object on the floor is
indeed the golden thorn, but getting it is not so simple. Save here, and
then pick it up. Gee, I guess that beautiful lady isn't so beautiful
after all... well, there is a surefire way to kill a werewolf, and that
is with a silver object (usually a bullet). We don't have a bullet, but
we have got that arrow, so operate the sucker on the lady/werewolf. Now
take the spike and return to the banquet hall.  Take the left passage
now. This chamber seems innocent enough, but... there's the platinum
horn, there on the floor. Pick that up. Maybe that wasn't so smart. This
hellhound definitely will not let you get near the horn while it's
around. We ought to send it back to the devilish place where it came
from. And what better way to destroy a hell-spawned creature than with
holy water? Use that on the hellhound, then get rid of it and get the
horn. That's two out of five-not bad, but there's still a ways to go.
Climb the stairs.  Another artifact! This time it's the bladed sun, and
this time a wyvern (a close relative of the dragon) is guarding it. The
solution to this puzzle is sort of a throwaway, so don't feel low if you
don't get it. Operate the shooting star on the wyvern. Now you can pick
up the bladed sun and go back to the banquet hall.  Now take the middle
passage, and from there take the left doorway. The lightning is awfully
menacing, but we can control it. What better way to control lightning
than with a lightning rod! Typically such things are made of metals,
such as iron. We do indeed have an iron rod, so stick that in the hole.
Blammo! The hand seems to have something for you. Take the wand, and
have a look at it. A serpent on the side, huh? That may serve us well
eventually. Take the stairs down, but DON'T take the pot of gold; that's
the oldest trick in the book. The bag is safe, so you can get it. Now go
up the stairs, back to the hallway, and through the right doorway.  Sir
Doogan is quite dead, so you don't have to worry about him. However,
there are some neat things here. Look at that panel on the right.
Perhaps it's movable. Open it, and admire the small hole. What would fit
in the hole? Not a gem, but something a bit smaller. Like a ring. Stick
the ring in the hole. Now look at Sir Doogan. He looks a little plain
without a kingly object in his hand. What of yours befits a man of such
greatness? Try the scepter. Give it to Doogan. Aha! A secret tunnel...
head down it.

In the secret hallway under Doogan, watch out for the passage on the
left; going that way makes for a crushing experience. Instead, take the
passage straight ahead. The gargoyles will leave you alone as long as
you don't try to get past them, but that's fine for now; just take the
side path. Now we really need some magic. Remember the book? The book on
magic stated that books come with extra protections. What would help us
read anything, the book in particular? Maybe we need our eyes checked...
but that's not necessary; just put on the glasses and read the book. The
stuff in the book is important to keep, so copy that down. But "A bridge
to form amidst burning death, a demon to guard"? The lava seems pretty
deadly to me. The book is for this particular location. Use it on the
demon, then drop the book and the glasses and cross the bridge
(toll-free, even).  The switches here will open the cylinder, but if you
throw them in the wrong combination the beastie in the hole will have
you for breakfast, so think before you flip. Now is the time for the
saved game or screen dump of the Sphinx' chamber. See those little lines
on the staircase? Those lines are a diagram of which switches to throw.
Flip the right switch, the middle, then the right again to open the
cylinder. Take the silver orb. That makes four out of five.
Unfortunately, the fifth of the five is on the other side of the troll's
bridge, so we have to do some major backtracking here. Head back all the
way to the second hallway by double-clicking the back exit (the one on
the bottom of the exits window) and return to the bridge room. What we
seek lies across the rickety bridge, but it will fall under too much
weight, so drop everything but your lit torch and go across. The snake
is merely a statue, so don't panic. However, we have seen a snake
before-on the wand. Go back and get that, and go back across. Operate
the wand on the snake. Aha! The staff of ages! Take that, ditch the
wand, and go back across. Once on the other side, grab everything and go
back to the "EPOR" room.  Look at the back wall closely. See the loose
stone in the center. Open it and go through. Here's the third gem-shaped
hole, so stick your last gem in it. The wizard's words are important, so
keep a record of those. Take the scroll as well, and read it. If you're
puzzled, "Ulterior Humana" translates to "Hidden Human". The scroll is
an invisibility spell! That will be really useful soon. Now go out, go
up the rope and back to the troll bridge. Cross the bridge. Well, the
troll doesn't want you to cross. But if he can't see you, he can't stop
you! Use Ulterior Humana on yourself, and stride past him.  If you
didn't kill the Cyclops before, he will be aroused again, but you're
still invisible, so no matter. Just pass him and go back to the room
with the gargoyles. An interesting fact about gargoyles: they are
extremely irritable to light. This gives you a good weapon against them:
Instantum Illuminaris. Use it on them, then go straight past them. The
door on the left is impossible to open, so don't worry about it.
Instead, turn the crank to open the well. Guess what? This is a wishing
well. Got any coins? Check the bag. Look at that big coin. Got a picture
of a well on it, eh? Toss that into the well. The wind means you may now
jump in the well, so do so.  Here's the River Styx (yet another cliche;
this game thrives on them). Perhaps the gong is a service gong. Try
banging it with the mallet. That ferryman is Charon (the game calls it
Kros), for you mythology buffs. He wants a fare of one coin, so give him
one of the coins from the bag.  Almost done! This is a good time for a
save; dying is none too difficult. The bladed sun looks like it would
fit in one of those niches. But which one? Remember the message in the
book? "Where the sword is hung, thou shalt put the key" or something to
that effect. Stuff the bladed sun in the left hole. Now about the staff.
Recall the scroll: "Five to find, three are one." Also recall "Three for
the staff, one to be the key, and one to be thy pathway." We need to put
together some stuff, the staff being one of the three items in question.
Stick the orb and the staff together, then add the spike to that.
Ta-dah! The staff is now ready for action. Now how to get inside. "One
to be thy pathway." The only one of the five we haven't used is the
horn. Blow it. Besides a few eerie notes, you may now enter the
skeleton, and have a rendezvous with your destiny.  Oh boy. Here's the
Warlock Lord, and there's the Behemoth (sounds kinda like a piece of
heavy machinery, doesn't it?) Now, annihilate the Behemoth by zapping
him with the staff. Kerblam! You've saved the world from a horrible
fate. Enjoy the winning music (I preferred the music for Uninvited, but
to each his own) and the princess (the game assumes you're male-one
final cliche). Also don't forget to print out a certificate of
achievement, acknowledging your heroic feat.

--<eof>

