Return To Zork (Walkthrough)
Return To Zork is full of illogical points and obscure puzzles. While there is much information in the game, with vague hints on what to do in some situations, there is also a lot that isn't very clear at all. This walkthru should help you finish the game without too much frustration.
Save often as you venture through Zork, and take pictures of everyone and every place that you can. Some of those pics are important. I will be mentioning key items thoughout this file, but remember to show all the items and pictures to everyone.
Also, when you're finished with an item, keep it in your inventory. You'll need everything that doesn't get used up for the endgame.
RTZ isn't exactly non-linear, but there are many things you can do in different order and still reach the end game. For instance, you can easily map your way through the Whispering Woods without the bats, and thus visit Canuk before you see Witch Itah. You would still have to release the bats there later, though, in order to get the bat guano (the bats can only be let out at the Whispering Woods).
So, if you are playing the game a little differently than detailed here, it's probably not a cause for worry. Simply check the walkthru for those places where you're stuck.
Okay, you start at the Mountain Pass. Pick up the rock at heave it at the vulture, so you can use your knife to dig up the bonding plant. You must dig it up, not just pull it up, as a living plant is needed later on.
From there, move along forward to the lighthouse. Talk to the keeper, then go back outside and around to the vines and planks. Cut up the vines and use them on the planks to make a rickety raft. Ride the raft downriver, and be ready to turn right when you see the broken bridge. This will land you in Old West Shanbar.
Drop in the the mayor, talk to him, and read all the stuff in his files. Then trek over to the schoolhouse and ring the bell with your knife. Ms. Peepers will let you in, and give you a pop quiz. This is part of the game's copy protection, and the questions are random. Whatever she asks, you can find in the Encyclopedia Frobozzica.
She'll give you a notebook that takes some automatic notes as the game progresses. That's all you can do here for now, so continue on to the hardware store. Pick up the box and crank. The mice are not important, so don't take them (besides, they're diseased; you could carry them safely in the box, but as you don't need them, why bother?).
Go back to the bridge and down to have a brief chat with the Waif. Climb up and go left to visit Boos Miller. Here's where the info in the Mayor's files comes in handy. Boos offers you a drink (he does this every time you enter his shack). Follow the toasting ritual, being sure to dump your liquor into the potted (haha) plant each time, and also pretend to drink each time after the stuff has been poured out.
Afte he's had his third shot, ask for his keys. Before this, he's not drunk enough to give them up, and on the fourth he conks out, so it has to be done now. Finish up the ritual. Get the silver flask from the floor and step out the other door to pick up the key for the gift shop. Also pull the chock out of the water wheel so the trap door will open inside the mill.
Go to the gift shop. Take the money and tickets from the cash register, and the battery from the shelf. Put the battery in the Teleglobe. Return to the Waif and give him the tickets. He will give you a "gift". At this time, fill the silver flask with water from the river (just there at the right edge of the screen).
You're pretty much done here for now, so go back to the mill and down the trap door. Use Boos' bunch of key to unlock the door at the bottom. Go through that and you'll be in East/West Shanbar (the New West Shanbar).
Stop in at Moodock's first, and play Survivor with him. After you win, he'll give you a rusty sword and a coin. Go to the Blacksmith's and give him the sword to clean up. While he's doing that, go talk to Molly at the Inn. By now the sword should be ready, so pay the two zorkmids for it. Don't worry about money too much; you won't need a lot of it, and this walkthru will show you how to get the most from it.
Cross the bridge, and go left from the Hero's Memorial to the Fool's Memorial. Pick up the book. This is a joke book. You can't read it, but several others in the game can, and you need to collect four jokes for your stint at the Comedy Club later on.
Go right to Pugney's Farm. Do NOT touch the box on the lawn. Talk to Pugney, being sure that you use the "apologetic" expression while he goes into his diatribe. He will then let you take the box. Back up to the Fool's Memorial, and this time go right to Snoot's Farm.
Enter via the window (no one will answer the door). Step through the far door left to surprise Rebecca while she brushes her teeth. Then she surprises you with a hefty right. Ouch! Sorry, no way to avoid that. While you're sprawled on the floor, under a shotgun barrel, you get to answer another copy protection question, again from the Encyclopedia. This, fortunately, is the last one you have to answer.
Rebecca gives you permission to take what you need, and vanishes for the time being. After this, she will pop up along the different roads around the Shanbars. You'll be running into her now and then, so she hasn't gone for good. For the moment, raid the refrigerator for the meat, and pick up the Thermofrozz on the table.
Put the soap in the sink and turn on the water. Wash the Waif's gift in the soap suds. Ta-da! You have the first of six pieces of the Flying Disk of Frobozz. Then go to the bedroom and help yourself to the mirror on the table.
There is no way past Alexis, the poodle/hellhound. However, it IS important that you make him growl once, so you have it on tape. You will need this recording near the end, so don't forget it.
On your way out, go left to the silo. Use the crank from the warehouse, clockwise, to break the thing open. Snarf some carrots. Then head back to town, and visit the incinerator. Pull lever 1 and throw the box of brassieres into the incinerator. Pull lever 1 to close the furnace.
Now pull lever 2 and look in the box. A single hot wire resides within. Pour out the water in the flask on it. Use this wire to pick the lock on the door of the general store.
Shake the cereal box two times to bring the vulture whistle to the top. Take that, and then catch the rats running around. Put them in the crate you got back at the warehouse.
Go out of town past the incinerator. Take a picture of the Whispering Woods. Then go the other way to the ruins. Pick up the tiles, then step into the woods and come out again. This time, you see a frame on the ground. Take that, and put the tiles into it to create the sliding-block puzzle.
When the tiles are properly arranged, they spell out the following message:
"Water unseen at falls Mix with bat dropping Yields potion for invisibility"
The last tile will appear when the others are in the proper positions. You must do this puzzle, because the second message (the large letters) tells you to look again at the ground around the ruins. This time, you will find two pieces of illuminite, and the second piece of the Flying Disk. These don't appear until after the puzzle is complete.
Okay, visit Ben Fyshin off the left of the bridge. Show him a picture of any woman. He will ask you to take a letter for him to Witch Itah. Click on the knot so he shows you how to make a cow-hitch knot. Now rent a boat from him.
At the close-up of the motor, take the rats from the box and put them into the motor. Ride forward to the swamp and Itah's hut. By this time, the meat is pretty rank, so drop it outside her door before you enter, or she won't talk to you.
Show Itah the book and get your first joke. Then give her Ben's letter. She hightails it out of there, allowing you to take her stick. Do NOT touch the bat cage at this time, or you'll be in big trouble. Go out the back door, and make your way through the bogs, using the stick to test the earth along the way.
As soon as you're back, go to the Spirit Forest (not the Whispering Woods). After you step inside, go north, east, east, and south to the Zorkmid Tree. Hit the tree with the stick. This will shake down some money for you (you could also use the sword, but that breaks, and we don't need extra complications here).
Then rent another boat from Ben for a second trip to Itah. This time, show her your picture of the Whispering Woods, and she will allow you to take the bats. Pick up your rotting meat, and make a second trip through the bogs. Luckily, you won't have to visit the dear lady again.
Return to Pugney's Farm, and head over to the barn. Pick up a clump of hay, then drop it. Light a match to burn the hay, then warm your cold little hands over it. Get the Thermo from your inventory, hold it over the cow, and milk the darling for all she's worth.
Trek back to the Spirit Woods. After you step inside, go north, north, west, south, west. Here you see a blind archer trying to shoot a fairy. At the first opportunity, give him the Thermo of milk. Now that he can see, he's a trifle embarrassed, and after making apologies, drops his bow and arrows before taking off, probably for some quest or other (what a kingly gesture ;).
Grab all the stuff. From here, go north twice. Face west, light a match, and walk west to have a chat with the fairy. Be sure to use the friendly face so you get the fairy dust. That's all you can do in the forest for now, so make another trip to Pugney's barn.
This time, move off northwest to the Vulture Pits. Standing carefully outside, sprinkle the fairy dust on the meat, then throw the meat. After the vultures wolf it down and flap off into dreamland, nip inside the pit and grab the talon (there's nothing else in here to grab).
It's been awhile since we've seen our friends in Old West Shanbar, so now is a good time to revisit. Show the book to the mayor to get your second joke. Also show it to Ms. Peepers. She can't read it, but she tells you that Rebecca might help with this. Also show her the pic of Moodock, so you know about that little extra move (or non-move, actually) in Survivor. You must have this information for the endgame.
Okay, head over to New West Shanbar, and the Whispering Woods. On this occasion, simply walk straight in for a few screens, then turn around and walk out again. When your peripheral vision fails, drink some milk. This won't be enough, though. Altogether, you need three sips, and the Thermo only holds two at most. Since the archer had a slug, yours empties the Thermo.
You guessed it, it's cow-milking time again. Been wondering about those carrots, eh? This is when you feed em to Bossy....and of course, you have to warm up those frigid digits of yours again, too.
With a now-full Thermo, return to the Whispering Woods (stop off at Snoots farm along the way to grab some more carrots). After you step in, free the bats. They helpfully leave a trail of guano for you to follow. Remember to pick up one piece of it. Then just go along in the wake of the bats, drinking milk when necessary. Eventually, you emerge at the ferry dock.
Ring the bell three times ("three rings begins"). As you expected, the skeletal ferryman appears. Show him the coin you got from Moodock. You *must* SHOW it, only! If you give it to him, you'll be in trouble (actually, not too much trouble, since you have the talon, but life is easier and you do need that coin later for something else).
When you arrive, walk up the path to Canuck's hut. Use the sword to pry off the magnet door knocker. The sword will break, but that's okay. Go inside. Pick up the scroll, and read it to the duck to restore Canuk to his rightful form.
Show him the book to pick up your third joke. Ask him about various inventory items (he IS informative), especially the disk pieces. Then click on the bottle in back and ask him about it. He'll tell you there's a disk piece inside it and shrink you down so you can get the piece.
Once inside the bottle, go straight forward to the room (just outside the room, you can go up to read the safe combination, if you wanted to). Pick up the rag, then set the tumblers to 9427 and open the safe. Take the disk piece and rusty metal. Close the safe, and back out to where you arrived.
Before going further, get the mirror from your inventory. If by any chance you don't have that, wipe the rusty metal with the rag to get a reflective surface, and hold the shiny metal in your hand.
Whichever, one of those two items must be ready before you leave the bottle. As you likely figured out, Canuk is possessed at times by Morphius and as soon as you emerge from the bottle, Canuck will cast a Duck spell at you. If you don't reflect it back, the game will end somewhat abruptly.
Once Canuk is a duck again, pick up the scroll and feed it to him. He will lay an egg. In this form, you can take the scroll out of the hut with you. That finishes up this segment, and you can return to Shanbar by ringing the ferry bell twice ("two rings return"). As before, show the coin to the ferryman to gain passage.
Now it's time to have a little showdown with Mr. Blacksmith. Show him the sword, and use the threatening expression several times. He admits he made a little goof with the sword (ie, the one he gave you wasn't the one you gave him), and hands you a voucher to give to Ben. So do that little thing, and now you have the real Elvish (NOT Dwarven; it was *never* a Dwarven sword!!!) artifact.
Walk around until Rebecca turns up and show her the book to obtain the fourth joke. Go to the Cliffs of Depression, pick up the rope, and tie it to the tree. Get out your tape recorder, and set it for the four jokes. Doing this now saves you time later. Just scroll through to the four people, and set the tape at the beginning of each track with a joke on it.
Okay, climb down the rope and enter the comedy club. Play the tapes. Let each track run through to completion. After the fourth one, Cliff will give you another piece of the Flying Disk. Your bonding plant is almost dead by now, so don't stick around. Climb back up, and remember to take the rope with you.
There's a little segment here that doesn't do much for advancing the action, but you do get some points for it. Rent a room from Molly. Once in your room, put the illuminite on the night stand, and turn off the light. After the dream, turn on the light, take back the rocks, and leave. Kinda disappointing, but that's all there is to it.
Go to some open place (for instance, the ruins). Hold the magnet and use it with the whistle. A vulture will fly up and carry you off. You can go anywhere on the map, and the place you want is the lighthouse.
After you land, visit the keeper. Give him one of your illuminite rocks. Then have a little chat with him. The first thing is to show him your pieces of the disk. Amazingly, he has one, also, and hands it over to you. You now have five pieces, and the disk is almost complete.
All right, upstairs you go. Tie the rope to the rail with the cow-hitch knot. Tie the talon to the rope, then toss the rope. Thanks to the talon, you have a double rope bridge that is safe to cross.
Just outside the temple, take the shield from the statue. When you meet the Holy Woman, be sure to use the "fascinated" expression several times, as only this will get her to tell you anything about the disk (oddly, showing her the pieces will not evoke any reaction at all!).
At this time, you get a special gift. Your map has become a magical map, and you can travel instantly to any spot on it, merely by clicking on the location (bet you were wondering how to get back down river, eh? ;).
Now give her the sword so she can bless it. That takes care of the temple. On your way out, go NE (right) from the courtyard to the Dwarf mines. One of the Dwarfs will give you a miner's helmet. Use your map to get to the Troll Cave.
Wear your helmet and ready your sword. You must defeat three Troll Guards before you reach the Troll Chief. Use a Left stroke for the first guard, an Up stroke for the second one, and a Down stroke for the third.
Okay, when you walk in on the chief, you MUST use the "threaten" expression repeatedly while he talks. He'll go from bluster to whining, and finally hand over the necklace before running away in shame. Just showing him the sword won't help; he'll whine and cringe, but he won't do anything else.
The end game isn't far off now, but you still have a few things to do here and there, such as in the Spirit Forest. Make your way back to the spot where you got the fairy dust. From there, go west, north, north, north, east five times, south, and east again. At this spot, you see a pile of leaves on the ground.
This is a trap. Throw anything at it to set it off (I used the shiny metal piece myself). Once that's out of the way, go east once, and then due north to the Hungry Board Memorial. Strike it three times with your sword for the sixth and final piece of the disk. Back up one step.
Go west, north, west four times, south, west, west, north, west, west. You should now be at the nasty spider. Show it the necklace, and off it goes. Some fearless spider ;). Break the web with your sword. Go forward to flood control dam number 3, then forward again to the back side of the falls. Fill the silver flask from the backside of the water, then drop the piece of guano in it. Your invisibility potion is now complete.
Use the map to return to the Dwarf mines. Since you have the sword, another Dwarf shows up, and the byplay between the two of them is supposed to tell you the directions to maneuver the mine car to reach the statues. But as you have this walkthru, though, you don't have to take any notes (heh).
Mine car directions: Left, Right, Straight, Right, Left, Right, Straight, Right, Left, Left, Right, Straight.
(The "straight" means pass by a branch without turning)
The car should end at the seven statues. First, put the disk pieces into the trencher. Now put the following items on the statues, from left to right: Witch Stick, Talon, Thermo, Box & Helmet (these go on the same statue), Shield, Orb.
Then push the green button. The statues should start to move, tossing the orb around until it ends up in the hands of the seventh statue. The one wearing the helmet shines light on the orb, and that reforges the disk into a whole, functional one. Whew!
Take the disk from the trencher, and use the map to travel to the Cliffs. Go to the left of the Cliffs, where the path is apparently blocked by rocks. This, of course, is the Wall of Illusion. Throw the disk. Smash! That takes care of the illusion, and you can approach the Citadel.
Use the bow with the arrows (NOT the other way around) to shoot the hand and open the door. Get your tape recorder with the Alexis track ready. Pick up the silver flask. Walk in on the Orc guard. Take a sip from the flask, then play the tape to scare him off (it would have made more sense to walk in already invisible, but....)
In the next room, you have to shed ALL your inventory items. Doesn't matter much, since you don't need any of them after this. Just keep chucking stuff at the bridge until you get the message it's safe to cross over. Before doing that, however, save the game.
When you cross the bridge, you finally meet Morphius, and must play a game of Survivor with him (you get the Trembyle piece). During this segment, you are NOT able to save or restore the game. So, in case you lose, or get yourself into a corner where you can't win, you want a save position handy.
The game itself is just what you played with Moodock, but since you have the Wizard this time, you have to be a bit more careful with your moves. And keep in mind the ability to pass, as this is what will win the game for you.
Winning the game causes Morphius such anguish he pretty much explodes (sorta like being in a transporter beam set to maximum dispersal). After that, you can sit back and enjoy the ending sequences.
This walkthru is copyrighted 1993 by Scorpia, all rights reserved.
Return To Zork is copyighted 1993 by Activision.
