The Ferryman Awaits
Written by John Nevins for the BBC B and Acorn Electron
This is a complex game in which death (sometimes literally) seems to lurk
at every corner. Indeed the player has to die during the very first
attempt in order to learn how not to make the same mistake second time
around. Most commands and objects require only the first one or two
letters to be typed (though all three are required for 'say'). Directions
can be abbreviated (e.g. N, S, E, W, NE, U, etc.) but note that 'do' must
be entered for 'down' since 'd' is reserved for 'drop' (and
'g' = 'get',
'ex' = 'examine'). Your inventory appears to be unlimited.
Starting from the altar, down, push priest (into the pit making it safe
to enter), down, S, down, E (northwest side of a large chamber), U, S, E,
get rum (ignore the lamp), W, S (a guard throws a net over you and you
are dragged off to a cell).
Look, get pie, ex pie, ex ledge, shout, kill guard, ex guard, N, close
door, N, E, ex poles, shake pole, get skull, ex skull, ex well (which can
be used as a short cut to get to the underground river of mud).
W, open door, get fungus, ex fungus, put skull on ledge, ex skull (now
can be used as a light source), get skull, get guard, ex door, hit door,
get door, N, W (ignore the keys), S, E x 2, ex window, get tricorn ('hat'
is reserved for another object), wear tricorn, W x 2, N, W, NW, get
mirror, ex mirror (this will reveal any changes in your physical state).
E (to waiting room), get hat. The hat is one of the game's magic
transportation devices and will come in handy later. To use it: wear hat;
look; N; look; get hat.
W, ex statue, push statue (we'll return to this part later), S, U, drop
guard (something rolls from the base of the altar).
Down, ex drapes, W, get amulet, ex amulet, E, down, get bottle, ex
bottle, S, down, W, drop door, W, get bar, W x 2, U (whoops!), dig gravel
(whoops again!), E, SE, drop fungus, NW, W x 5, get sulphur, ex sulphur
(note its colour and remember the colour of the priest's disc).
E x 5, SE (note that the weeds have been replaced by mould, making it
safe to cross, but we won't do so yet).
NW, U, S x 2, W, NW x 2, ex hand, throw bar, U x 3, E, S, N, W (now you
know the cause of the rumbling).
Down x 2, get bar, down, NE, N, NW (to balcony - we'll deal with the bird
later), S, down, get ivory box, ex box (this compass will come in very
handy), U, S, throw bar.
N, NE, S, SW, SE, pull statue (closing the gap), SE, E, N x 2 (stairway).
Note that this is now misty. If you'd attempted to go further upwards
earlier in the game then you would have been shot by arrows. We will
return here for the endgame.
Down, W x 5, U (the rope), N, NE, S, E, S, get robe, ex robe, wear robe,
N, W, N, SW, S, get bar, down, E x 5 (NW side of chamber).
SE x 3 (note the cracked roof for later), SE x 3, E (into the desert),
wear hat, look, N, look, get hat, get horn, ex horn (a cryptic clue for
later).
E x 2, get boots, ex boots, wear boots, ex carvings, say eligig, get
sword (your flint is taken in return), ex sword (note the word 'Morvell'
- we'll need that later), NE, NW (hmm, seems we're not ready to meet the
pirates yet).
SW, W x 3 (back to the desert). I'm afraid that I have no idea how to map
the desert area. Any objects dropped are transported to the sandstone
gully location where the horn was found. However, thanks to an old
Electron User magazine cover tape (given away with edition 4.6 and
available from www.acornelectron.co.uk), your escape route is N, S, E, W,
E, E (to the bank of a river of mud).
W, N (don't try to cross the bridge), NW, look (you move further
southwards down the gully), U (onto another stone bridge - here's where
the skull is needed to provide light).
E, ex mist (a vision of a dark tower - we will transport from here
later), W x 2, SW, E (to stone tree). Ex tree, U (we can't do anything
for the unhappy man yet), down x 2, drop horn (try to get it afterwards).
Now, at some point in the game you will almost certainly have died and
been taken to the Underworld (apart by being killed in a variety of ways,
you can also wait in the waiting room). There is one item in your
possession which can also take you there instantly, the meat pie
(although what the game's author has against the Menai Centre, Anglesey
can only be surmised). So, eat the pie now.
Look (the valley of the shadow of death), ex sign (but don't wait for the
ferryman), drink (from the River Styx - 'a cold chill runs through you').
Ex mirror (the living dead!), E, S (windswept plain), wear hat, N, look,
get jerkin, ex jerkin, wear jerkin, get hat, N.
Now it's time to employ the compass. Ex compass, N, ex compass, S, ex
compass, SW, ex compass, E, get mouthpiece, ex mouthpiece. This is part
of the second transportation device and obviously linked to the horn.
However, you need to be carrying the amulet for it to work.
Say Mold (your name, if you paid heed to the introduction - clearly only
a personal device can remove you from the Underworld), look (back in the
rock chamber where you dropped the horn), U, W, S, E x 2 (mist-filled
hollow), wear hat, N, look, get hat.
It's time to cross that bridge. N x 2 (as you're now dead the guards
cannot harm you), get spear, N x 2, W, N, W, NW (back to the statue),
push statue, NW, NE, N, NW (balcony), throw spear, look, get parrot, ex
parrot (shades of Monty Python), S x 2, down (bottom of the gravel
slope).
E x 5, SE x 6, E (desert), wear hat, N (sandstone gully), get hat, E x 2,
NE, NW and receive some tar in exchange for the rum. Note that you need
to be wearing the tricorn hat, jerkin and boots and carrying the parrot
and the keg of rum.
Say Mold (back to the rock chamber), U, W, S, E x 2 (mist-filled hollow),
wear hat, N, look, get hat, N x 4, W, N x 3, down, SE x 3, say Morvell
(the roof collapses), say Mold (back to the rock chamber).
U, W, S, E x 2 (mist-filled hollow), wear hat, N, look, get hat, N x 4,
W, N x 3 (staircase again).
The rockfall has caused the cavern to flood and we can now enter the dark
opening. N x 3 (note the cracked roof - death occurs if the boots are not
being worn), N, get cube, ex cube (hmm, I wonder if it's hallucinogenic).
S x 6 (small room), W, NW, E (try eating the cube, but save the game
first - perhaps there's a way of reducing the drug's effects), lick cube
(and undergo a voluntary course of cold turkey).
Look (the slab has cracked), W (clearly you've been out of it for some
time), get rod, ex rod, wave rod. Oh, well, there's only one thing to do
so say Mold (back to the rock chamber). U x 2 (can't be done, but note
the description of the tree).
Now how you're supposed to guess the next bit is utterly beyond me. Down,
say Death (who appears and drops his scythe, though note the
misspelling), ex sythe [sic], say Time (and all reverts to the past), U x
2 (the man snatches your rod and gives you something in exchange),
inventory (it was a piece of chalk).
Right, that's just about it, so let's go and sort out Agrogorggan.
Down (and you're probably getting sick of typing the next bit), W, S, E x
2 (mist-filled hollow), wear hat, N, look, get hat, N x 4, W, N x 3
(staircase again).
U, W. Note that you could have rendered the game unwinnable by killing
the horned demons with your sword since the weapon vanishes after the
act. Before you face Agrogorggan make sure that you have drunk from the
River Styx, are wearing the robe and carrying the scythe, chalk, tar,
bottle of blood and sulphur.
Let's go. N, draw pentagram, smash bottle, throw tar, say Naggrogorga
(Agorgorggan's enemy according to the game's introduction), say nimlax,
kill Agrogorggan.
You wield the mighty sythe [sic] of death and plunge it into Agrogorggan.
Death sparks from the mystic blade snuffing out Agrogorggan's life force.
Victory is yours!!!!
Congratulations, I think you've been rather clever.
Well, certainly not as clever as Bill Trevelyan who provided the hints
supplied on the Electron User tape without which this game is utterly
impossible to solve, but it's still lots of fun to play and has some
great location and object descriptions.
A Wibble and Blim production for CASA.
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