Solution for Spellcaster (anonymous).
This is a GACed adventure for the ZX Spectrum, and it looks like it was never
published. There is no loading screen, no instructions survive if they ever
existed, and no advertisements for it have been found. The reason is probably
that it is a good idea, inadequately executed; with a good deal more debugging
Spellcaster could've been a reasonable game, but the version available on World
of Spectrum, at least, is an unpolished attempt.
One result of this unfinished status is that you are never told what your
goal is in the game. Presumably the instructions would have made this clear. It
turns, however, out that you must recreate the spell brewn by the Three Witches
in Macbeth, Act IV, Scene I - the "toil and trouble" scene. Getting all the
ingredients, though, requires a bit more lateral thinking than Shakespeare
envisioned...
You start in your dormitory, carrying your spellbook. Examine your wardrobe
and take the hanger. Go west, north twice and east. Sell the spellbook to the
idiot. Yes, there's a good reason to do that, but as a walkthrough writer I'm
not required to divulge all. Go south and buy some sweets - that's your first
ingredient!
Go north, west and north, take the paper, examine it, and take the form;
south twice, west and south. Take the stocking and attach it to the hanger.
Examine the dressing table (you have to use its full name here, just "table"
won't work) and take the tweezers and pincers. Go north, east, south six times
and west.
Take the rock. Go east thrice and take the toad. Now west twice, north seven
times, east twice, south, east and south. Put the toad in the hole(!), then
drop the rock on the hole. It needs to swelt'r here for a while, so we're off
to do some other things.
North, take the bat, west, south, take the whetstone, north twice and west
twice, south three times and east. Get the broom. Go west, south and east;
give the form and take the handkerchief. East twice and north. Fly, take the
trowel, and fly back. West, remove the pin, east, and take the badge.
South twice, remove the molar, go north and west. A boy should drop a parcel
at your feet; take it. Go west twice. Untie the thether, then take it; untie
the thread. (By the way, all these objects I mention before telling you where
they are can easily be discovered by examining other objects.)
Go south and dampen the whetstone, then north four times. Fly, take the
picture, and fly again. West and north, take the phial, south, east, north,
east twice, south, east and south. Take the rock, then take the toad. (If you
spent more time wandering around than I did, it'll escape; if so, you can get
it where you first found it.)
And now for a bit of dog-Latin (or rather, spotty Latin and dog-Greek). Go
north and west. Conium Maculatum is the Linnaean name for hemlock; Cynoglossum
is bad Greek for dog's tongue. The hemlock needs to be digg'd i'the dark. Well,
you've probably noticed eclipses occur with a disturbing frequency. Wait for
the next one to happen, then dig up the conium. Also dig up the cynoglossum.
(You can take that first to save one whole move, if the eclipse isn't on at
this very moment.) Then go north and west.
Examine the table. Take the jug, drop it, and take the spout. Take the knife,
sharpen it, and give it to the idiot. Clean up the blood, and take back the
knife. Go west, south six times, and west. Take the straw and cut it. East, get
bucket and mend it. North twice and west; get the guts.
Next go east, south twice and east, take the hatchet, west and north. Fish,
then take the boot. Go east twice. Chop the tree and take the twig; now wait
for another eclipse, then cut it and take the splinters.
Go west twice and south three times. Fish again, and take the flipper. North,
east and south. Hire the boat, enter it, go to the ship, and leave the boat.
Go up, take the sail and go down. Buy and take the shark parts (And note the
inconsistency between buying fish and sweets: no beta testing...) Enter the
boat again, go to the beach, leave the boat, and give it back.
Go north, west, north twice and west. Buy the steak and the offal; take them
both. (There's a bug with the printing of the offal, but you've taken it all
right.) Go east, south twice, west and south twice. Dig, and take the stone. Go
north, chop the tree, and take the branch. And now for our final ingredient:
untie the net and take the stocking.
Right. Time to brew our charm. I don't think the order matters, but let's do
it in the same order Shakespeare had it: put the entrails in the cauldron, then
put toad in cauldron, put fillet in cauldron (yes, you have to specify "in
cauldron" every time), put eye in cauldron, put toe in cauldron, put wool in
cauldron, put tongue in cauldron, put fork in cauldron, put sting in cauldron,
put leg in cauldron, put wing in cauldron, put scale in dragon, put tooth in
cauldron, put mummy in cauldron, put maw in cauldron, put hemlock in cauldron,
put liver in cauldron, put gall in cauldron, put slips in cauldron, put nose
in cauldron, put lips in cauldron, put finger in cauldron, put chaudron in
cauldron, put blood in cauldron. And finally, recite the spell. Well done, you
secret, black and midnight hag!
