King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
Hello. I've uploaded the file sol.kingsquest6 to be included in /pub/game_solutions. This is a walk-through I created for King's Quest 6. I purchased the game a week ago, and have been able to get 100 % of all points possible, and was able to find at least two distinct story lines available to the gamer, which I have included in my walk-through. In the few instances where answers to the puzzles were spelled out in the game manual, I referred the reader to their manual (So I wouldn't be violating any copyright protection.) I believe that the walk-through I have written will be useful to others playing King's Quest 6.
Ben Stephenson
stephens@plains.nodak.edu
Following is the entire walk-through of King's Quest VI, Do not read any further unless you want the entire solution in detail for both of the two major endings.
Several months after meeting Princess Cassima in Mordack's Castle, Alexander is plagued by her memory. One day, he sees her image in his family's magic mirror. She is calling for him. And he can see the stars behind the tower where she is, so he can navigate to where she is. Three months later, he sets out to reach the Green Isles. As he nears the shore, his vessel is caught in a violent storm, which wrecks his ship. Alexander floats on a piece of the wreckage, and comes to on a beach.
As our adventure begins, Alexander finds himself on the coast of an island. He looks and sees his signet ring in the sand, as well as a prominent plank from his ship. He picks up the ring, and then moves the plank, revealing a chest. He opens the chest, and finds a coin, which he takes. Then he closes the chest and covers it again with the plank.
As Alexander travels inland, he notices a castle in the distance. He goes to the guards at the gate and asks them where he is. They answer that he is in the land of the Green Isles. He then asks to be allowed to see Cassima, and shows them his ring. Saladin, the captain of the canine guard, ushers him into the presence of the vizier and his page (note the flash of gold in the page's eyes). The vizier tells him to leave the island, that Cassima is in seclusion mourning for her recently deceased parents, and that she desires to marry the vizier.
Alexander walks back to the village. He enters the pawn shop, and talks to the owner. He then gives his coin to the owner, who gives him his choice of a paintbrush, a mechanical nightingale, a flute, or a tinder box. Alexander takes the nightingale, and then leaves the store.
Going next door to the book shop, Alexander talks to the owner about the Green Isles. The owner refers him to the ferry pilot, who can answer more of his questions about the Isles. He then points to the book of magic on the counter. The owner replies that Alexander must bring him another rare book to exchange for it. Alexander notices the poetry section of the store on the right side of the wall of books, and reads a book of love poetry. As he returns it to the shelf, the page he was reading falls out. When he reaches to pick it up, the owner says he may keep that page. Alexander then looks at the book table by the door, and takes the last free book, which, when he reads it, turns out to be very boring.
Alexander leaves the book shop and goes to the docks, where he sees a boy inviting him to go for a swim. Alexander notices the golden glint in the boy's eyes, and decides not to risk certain death in the sea. He knocks on the door of the ferry, and talks to the ferryman, who tells Alexander about the Isles, and about the magic map that the pawn shop owner has. Alexander points to the ferryman's rabbit's foot, which the ferryman lets him keep.
Alexander then returns to the pawn shop, and asks the owner about the magic map. Alexander trades his ring for the map, and takes a mint from the jar on the counter.
Alexander then returns to the forest, stopping by the nightingale to play the mechanical nightingale for it. He then returns to the village, in time to see the pawn shop owner dumping some old "junk" in the jar outside his door. Alexander searches through the junk, and finds an apparently empty bottle that interests him. He then goes to the beach, and uses the magic map to take him to the Isle of the Sacred Mountain, where he picks up a black feather and a stench flower. He uses the magic map to go to the Isle of Wonder.
On the Isle of Wonder, Alexander sees an oyster who can't sleep because of a pain in its mouth. He talks to it several times, and then reads to it from the boring book. As the oyster yawns, Alexander quickly grabs the pearl in its mouth. As he tries to walk further inland, he is met by the five sensory gnomes, who try to determine whether Alexander is human or not. Alexander fools them by using the stench flower on the smelling gnome, the nightingale on the hearing gnome, the mint on the tasting gnome, the rabbit's foot on the feeling gnome, and the disappearing ink on himself, which makes him invisible to the seeing gnome.
After the gnomes leave, Alexander notices a partial sentence floating at the edge of the shore, which he retrieves. He then goes to the realm of bookworm and the spelling bees. When he tries to get a book, he is met by Bookworm, who refuses to give him a book until he can offer something "interesting" in exchange. Alexander then walks to the amazing garden (beyond the swamp,) where he takes an iceberg lettuce, and journeys on until he is at the entrance to Chessboard Land. Two feuding queens ask for his advice on the matter of which queen shall have the "privilege" of presenting Cassima with a lump of coal at her wedding, and which will be left with the spoiled egg. As the red queen leaves, she drops a scarf, which Alexander collects.
Alexander then returns to the shore, and uses the map to go to the Isle of the Beast. Near the shore, he sees a creature that is half opossum and half dragon, and who talks strangely. Alexander talks to the creature, and then offers his partial sentence to it. The creature decides to travel with Alexander. As he journeys on, he encounters a boiling pond, which cools when he tosses an iceberg lettuce unto it. On the other side he sees an old lamp, which he takes. As he journeys further, he sees a man working on a garden, and a stone archer which follows his movements. Although the man invites Alexander to come into the garden, Alex sees the gold glint in his eyes, and decides not to trust the man. Alex also notices a brick lying on the ground, which he takes.
Back on the Isle of Wonder (use map) Alexander returns the creature from the Isle of the Beast (the creature turns out to be a Dangling Participle) to the Bookworm, who gives Alexander a rare book in exchange. Alex reads the book, and notices that a page is missing. He turns and looks at the spider's web. Alex sees a loose thread, which he pulls. While the spider's attention is diverted, he gets the scrap of paper, and sees the word "Love" on what appears to be part of the missing page from his riddle book. Alexander then returns to the Isle of the Crown.
Back in the pawn shop, Alexander exchanges the nightingale for the flute, and exchanges the pearl he has found for his royal ring. Going next door, Alexander gives the riddle book to the shop owner, who gives him the book of spells, which he reads to find out the ingredients he will need. Alex then show his ring to the jester, who turns out to be a helpful friend.
Back on the Isle of Wonder, Alex gets a milk bottle from the swamp and gives it to one of the Baby's Tears plants in the garden. When the others see the gift, they will start crying, and Alex collects their tears in his lamp. Alex then looks at the Hole-in-the-Wall, and starts playing his flute for the wallflowers and snapdragons. When they are absorbed in the music, Alex quickly grabs the hole-in-the-wall. He also notices a teacup on the chair there, and he picks it up. He also takes the rotten tomato,
In the swamp region, Alexander tries to get some swamp ooze in his teacup, but is informed by stick-in-the-mud that the only swamp "ooze" is right beside the stick, which is out of Alexander's reach. Alex talks to the Bump-On-A-Log a couple of times about Bump's brother, Stick, and gives the rotten tomato to Bump. Bump throws the tomato at Stick, who returns fire with a volley of swamp ooze. Alexander gets the swamp ooze.
Back on the Isle of the crown, Alexander exchanges his flute for the tinder box at the pawn shop.
He then goes to the isle of the Sacred Mountain, where he succeeds in answering five puzzles [answers are in the game manual; not answered here because of game copyright security.] When he arrives at the top of the cliffs of logic, he talks to an old woman, who wants him to eat poisonous berries. Is there a glint of gold in her eyes? Alexander wisely refuses. After the old woman finally disappears, he enters the small cave. Once inside, he can see nothing, so he lights the candle in his tinder box. In the next room of the cave, he sees a peppermint plant, and takes several leaves. As he re-enters the first room of the cave, he must use his tinder box again to see the way out.
Once outside, he journeys inland to the entrance to the city of the Winged Ones. Azure and Aeriel say that their daughter has been bound in the catacombs to be sacrificed to the minotaur, and so Alexander is thrown into the catacombs in the event that he might be able to save her.
Once in the catacombs, Alexander finds and takes a skull from one of the rooms. Soon after, he encounters a booby-trapped room with various pictures on the floor. [The solution for this is in the game manual also, and is omitted here for copyright security.] Once he reaches the other side, Alex will search the rooms until he finds a shield and two corroded coins. He will then journey into a room with a descending ceiling, He can jam this trap by throwing his brick into the gears. On the other side of this room, Alex will find a room with a trap floor, which lets him down another floor. He finds himself in the dark, and must use the tinder box to re-light the torch in this room, which has blown out. He searches the rooms in this level until he is informed by the game system that the minotaur is just across the wall from him. Alex will use the Hole-in-the-Wall on the east wall of the room and look through the hole to see the minotaur entering his chamber through a secret entrance activated by a latch behind the tapestry there. Alex hurries to the room with the tapestry and finds the latch behind the tapestry. He then enters the chambers of the Minotaur. As he starts walking toward the minotaur, Celeste, the daughter of Winged Ones Azure and Aeriel, cries out for help, alerting the minotaur to his presence. The minotaur corners Alexander by the fire pit, and his only defense is to try to madden the bull into charging by using the red scarf from the red Chess Queen. It works, and the minotaur falls to his death in the fire pit. Alexander then rescues the Winged One, who gives him her small dagger as a gesture of thanks.
Alexander then is thanked by Azure and Aeriel, and then is escorted to the presence of the Oracle, who tells him of his possible futures, and gives him a vial of sacred water. He is then escorted to the base of the cliffs.
Alexander pulls out his magic map, and sees that a new region, the Isle of the Mists, has been added. He travels there, and takes a coal and a scythe from the village, being careful not to walk in on their ceremony.
After traveling back to the Isle of Wonder, Alexander enters the garden, where he picks up a bottle entitled DRINK ME. He then goes to the entrance to Chessboard Land, where he gives his coal to the white Queen, who gives him a spoiled egg (think "sulfur") in return.
Alexander then journeys to the Isle of the Beast, where he arms himself with his shield and succeeds in thwarting the stone archer. He picks a rose from the hedge, and attempts to enter the gazebo. But then a hedge magically grows over the entrance, blocking him. Alex, however, makes short work of the hedge with his scythe, and enters the courtyard of the beast. In response to the threat by the Beast, Alex promises to try and find the woman who will break the Beast's spell, and accepts the Beast's ring..
On the Isle of the Crown, Alexander talks to Jollo again in the book shop, who devises a plan to substitute a fake lamp for the genie's real lamp, and to try to fool the genie into thinking that Alex is dead. (I bet the genie has golden eyes!)
Alexander goes to the screen with the girl and the roses, and gives her the white rose from Beast's garden. He then gives her the Beast's ring, and helps her decide to come with him to the Isle of the Beast. The Beast will be restored to flesh, and will give Alex a mirror, whereas Beauty will give him the old clothes she no longer needs. When Alex reads the spell book, he notices that he needs a strand of hair from a pure-hearted maiden. So he searches her old clothes, and finds one! He also empties the vial of sacred water into the lamp, and then fills the lamp with water from the fountain, after which he casts the Make Rain spell over the lamp. On his way out of the garden, Alex picks another rose.
ENDING WITH MAXIMUM POINTS:
Alex travels to the Isle of the Mists, where he is captured on the shore by two druids and forced into a cage above a pit of oak embers. Soon the cage is on fire, and Alex beats it out with the old clothes. Then the lamp starts boiling and causes a thunderstorm. The druids are awed by Alexander, and free him, after providing him with information about how to get to the realm of the dead to rescue Cassima's parents.
Alexander doesn't get the oak embers yet, but returns instead to the Isle of the Crown, where he gives his ring to the nightingale, who takes it to Cassima for a romantic scene. She sends the bird back to Alex with a hair ribbon. Alex then sends the love poetry, which causes the bird to return with a letter from Cassima. Finally, Alex sends his white rose. After this gift the nightingale doesn't return.
Alex goes to the pawn shop, where he sees the old man (with the golden eyes?) He uses the DRINK ME potion on himself, causing his heart to stop temporarily, and causing the old man (genie) to believe he is dead. [The scene cuts away to the castle, giving the player a good view of the genie's lamp.] Alex then comes back to life, and exchanges his tinder box for the paintbrush. Outside, he trades his old lamp to the lamp merchant for the appropriate duplicate to the genie's lamp.
After returning to the site of the thunderstorm in the Isles of the Mists, Alexander scoops up an oak ember in the skull he's carrying, and adds the hair and the egg to it. Then he travels to the Isle of the Sacred Mountain, where he climbs the cliffs to find the Night-Mare at the top. Alex casts his Charm spell, and causes the horse to take him to the Realm of the Dead.
Upon arriving in the Realm of the Dead, Alex greets Allaria and Caliphim, Cassima's parents. Upon talking to them Alex learns that the vizier murdered them, and that they aren't able to enter the sea of souls until they are avenged. Allaria will give her ticket to Alexander. Alex has to avoid being touched by any of the other living dead persons in this area. As he continues his quest, Alex will talk to a mother ghost, whose son is lost on earth. Alex will take a handkerchief to remind the young ghost of his mother and where he should go. In the next area, Alexander sees some bones that seem irresistible, He plays a version of "Dem Bones," causing all characters on the screen to dance, and causing the lead skeleton to drop his skeleton key, which Alex quickly collects. Then Alex gives his ticket to the uniformed skeleton, and continues into the Realm of the Dead.
The next thing Alexander sees is the skeleton of a knight who failed in his attempt to challenge the lord of the Dead. Alex takes his gauntlet and reads its inscription. He then takes the path downward to the Styx river. Before boarding Charon's boat, Alex gets some water from the Styx in his teacup (with the swamp ooze.) Alex then gives his two coins to Charon, and slowly crosses to the other side. He finds himself in front of a door that comes to life as he approaches it. Alexander addresses the door and is allowed to answer a riddle to go through it. The riddle is the one that was missing from the riddle book earlier. Alexander remembers seeing the answer in the spider's web: L-O-V-E. He is allowed to pass. Alex then enters the throne room of Samhain, the lord of the Dead, where he talks to a guard to get an audience with the grim lord of the Dead. Once in Samhain's presence, Alex throws down the gauntlet, challenging the lord of the Dead for his life, plus the lives of Caliphim and Allaria. The challenge is to make the lord of the Dead cry. Alexander decides to show Samhain what he has become, using the Beast's mirror. This shatters the mirror and produces a tear on Samhain's cheek. Alex and his friends are allowed to return to the land of the living.
Once back on the Isle of the Crown, Alex goes to the castle and goes around to the side of the castle. Using the feather on the teacup, Alex stirs and drains the color from the black feather into the cup. He then paints a door on the blank wall. Once he casts the Magic Paint Spell, a door appears. Alex enters. and goes right to Jollo's room, and gives him the duplicate lamp.
Alexander leaves Jollo's room and goes into the middle room of the dungeon's cells, and finds a little boy ghost who misses his mother. Alex gives the handkerchief to the ghost, and learns of a secret room by the suit of armor down the hall. Alex goes to the suit of armor and pulls its right arm, triggering a secret door. Alex enters, and watches the guards through a hole in the wall, and learns half of a password to open a door. He then goes upstairs and looks through another hole in the wall for a tearful but romantic scene with Cassima. He ends by giving her the dagger he got from the Winged One in the Catacombs.
Alexander then proceeds down the hall to the next hole in the wall, where he spies the vizier writing a letter to a colleague describing his treachery to Cassima and her family. At the end of the hall is another secret door which leads into the vizier's bedroom. Alex opens a black box on the table which contains a document with the second half of the password for the treasure room in the basement. Alex closes the box and turns his attention to the locked chest, which he unlocks with his skeleton key, revealing an incriminating letter written by the vizier. Alexander takes the letter, and returns to the basement through the secret passage. He speaks the password (A-L-I-Z-E-B-U) to the treasure room door, and it opens, revealing a table covered by a drapery. Removing the drapery, Alexander discovers the chief treasure of each Island, which had apparently been stolen by the vizier's genie to cause distrust between the islands. He looks at each item, then re-covers the table.
Entering the hallway again, he hears wedding music, and the sound of guards approaching. He dashes up the stairs and out into the castle entrance hall. Saladin, the captain of the guard, confronts Alexander, and gives him 5 seconds to convince him to spare Alex's life. Alex shows him the letter from the chest upstairs, and Saladin escorts him into the chapel where the wedding is taking place. Alex hears the princess affirming her allegiance to the vizier, and he approaches the wedding party. The bride (note the golden eyes) gives Saladin orders to kill Alex, but before he can, King Caliphim and Queen Allaria burst into the chapel with a makeshift army and demand to stop the wedding. The bride turns back into a genie (you knew that, RIGHT?) and starts zapping guards, as the vizier runs out of the chapel. Alex pursues the vizier out of the chapel and up two flights of stairs to the tower where Cassima (the real one) is tied up.
The vizier summons Shamir, his genie, and orders him to kill Alexander. But before he can, Jollo the jester runs up to Alexander with the real genie's lamp. Alex commands the genie to obey him and uses the lamp to force the genie back into it. The vizier attacks Alex, who grabs a sword from the wall and joins the duel. By the time Alex is worn out from the weight of the sword, Cassima has freed herself and stabs the vizier in the shoulder with the dagger Alex gave her. Alex uses the diversion to knock the vizier out.
Thus our quest ends with an evil master deposed, an evil genie made good, the islands ready to work at peace, and a big wedding with Cassima's and Alexander's parents in attendance. [And if you've followed these instructions, you should have received 231 out of 231 possible game points. Congratulations!]
And of course, everyone lived happily ever after.
ALTERNATE ENDING:
Instead of going to the Isle of the Mists, Alex returns to the Isle of the Crown, where he gives his ring to the nightingale, who takes it to Cassima for a romantic scene. She sends the bird back to Alex with a hair ribbon. Alex then sends the love poetry, which causes the bird to return with a letter from Cassima. Finally, Alex sends his white rose. After this gift the nightingale doesn't return.
Alex goes to the pawn shop, where he sees the old man (with the golden eyes?) He uses the DRINK ME potion on himself, causing his heart to stop temporarily, and causing the old man (genie) to believe he is dead. [The scene cuts away to the castle, giving the player a good view of the genie's lamp.] Alex then comes back to life, and exchanges his tinder box for the paintbrush. Outside, he trades his old lamp to the lamp merchant for the appropriate duplicate to the genie's lamp.
Alexander goes to the castle, and in the hut out front, changes into Beauty's old clothes. He then enters the castle as one of the servant girls to help with the wedding. As soon as the coast is clear, he dumps the clothes in one of the jars in the main entrance, and goes up the left staircase. When the guard dogs start away from him for the second time, he quickly walks to the alcove, winds up the mechanical nightingale, sets it on the floor, and hides behind the pillar [use the hand icon.] After the guards take the nightingale, Alex takes the picture from the wall, removes the nail it was hanging on, and enters the first room. Opening the chest with the nail, he sees and takes one of the incriminating letters the vizier has written.
Back in the hallway again, Alex quickly replaces the nail in the wall, and the picture on the nail. Then he goes to the end of the hallway, where he hears Cassima crying, He talks to her through the door, and slides the small dagger to her under the door. He then returns to the alcove (where he hid the first time) and hides again [hand icon] as the guards return, and as Cassima is forcibly taken away.
Alex goes downstairs again and encounters Saladin, who gives him 5 seconds to convince him not to kill Alex. Alex gives him the vizier's incriminating letter, and Saladin escorts him into the chapel. As Alexander approaches the wedding party, Saladin is given orders to kill him. But before Saladin can draw his sword, Alex uses his mirror to show the "bride's" real identity (the genie, but you knew that, RIGHT?) Then the genie returns to his natural form and starts zapping guards, as the vizier runs out of the chapel. Alex pursues the vizier out of the chapel and up two flights of stairs to the tower where Cassima (the real one) is tied up.
The vizier summons Shamir, his genie, and orders him to kill Alexander. But before the genie can kill Alex with his fireball, Alex offers him some peppermint (the genie's weakness.) The genie accepts, gets intoxicated on the peppermint, and sends the fireball wild, and it bounces around until it eventually hits the genie, annihilating him. The vizier attacks Alex, who grabs a sword from the wall and joins the duel. By the time Alex is worn out from the weight of the sword, Cassima has freed herself and stabs the vizier in the shoulder with the dagger Alex gave her. Alex uses the diversion to knock the vizier out.
Thus our quest ends with an evil master deposed, an evil genie destroyed, and a small wedding for Cassima and Alexander.
Written by stephens@plains.NoDak.edu (Hope you enjoy playing King's Quest VI!!!)
