Zork III walkthrough

 ZORK III
  Part 1

 Before you lies the final chapter of your elevation in the Great
Underground Empire.  You have explored the GUE in ZORK I; mastered
Frobozz in ZORK II; what lies ahead remains to be seen.  But you do see
your old friend, the lamp, laying at your feet.  So pick it up and let
us begin.
 Turn the lamp on and go south to the Junction.  Before you is a great
rock and imbedded in it is your trusty sword...held fast!  You can't
remove the sword, but rest assured, should the need arise, it will come
to you!  Go south three times to the lake shore, and drop your lamp.
You won't need it anymore.  Enter the lake and dive immediately!
There's a huge fish swimming around the area and you'd make him a tasty
meal!  On the lake bottom, randomly, you may or may not see a glittering
object out of the corner of your eye.  But whether you do or not, just
get the object.  If you drop it, just keep getting it until you've got
it and go back up to the surface of the lake.
 Now swim west to the Western Shore and go south to the Scenic Vista.
This amazing table is actually a teleporter that will take you to
various places that you may have seen before!  Take the torch that's on
the wall and wait for the table to display the number "II".  When "II"
is displayed, touch the table. As you do, you find yourself in Room 8
from ZORK II!  And look!  There's the can of Grue Repellent!  Get the
can and wait.  Soon, you find yourself back in the Scenic Vista room
again.  This is fun!
 Wait for the table to display "III" and touch the table again.  This
time you find yourself a Damp Passage.  You haven't visited here yet,
but it's another area of ZORK III!  Drop the torch and wait.  Again,
you're transported back to the Scenic Vista.  If you have the urge to
touch the table when it displays "IV", you'd better save your game for
only death awaits you there!
 Now go north and enter the lake again.  The shock of the cold water
makes you drop your possessions, but don't worry.  Just dive down and
get the can of repellent.  (You're wearing the amulet so you don't drop
it!)  Swim up and south to the Southern Shore and check your inventory.
You should have the Amulet and the can of Grue Repellent.  This next
part is dangerous and success depends on the number of move you take.
So don't do anything extraneous!
 Go south into the dark and spray the Grue Repellent on yourself.  Don't
drop the can, though, just press onward by going south and east to the
Key Room. You can drop the can here because it's empty anyway.  Get the
key and open the manhole cover and go down into the darkness.
 You find yourself on an old dried-up Aqueduct!  Go north twice and
down.  My, my!  Here you are back in the Damp Passage and the torch is
laying here right where you dropped it!  Get the torch, go west back to
the Junction, south twice and west four times to the Flathead Ocean.

 ZORK III
  Part 2

 You may or may not see an old Viking Ship sailing past at this point,
but if you do, be sure to say "Hello Sailor" to the old man!  You'll be
rewarded for your kindness by the small vial he throws to you!  Take the
vial then go north, northeast, southeast and west to the cliff.  Get the
waybread from under the tree and go down the rope that you see tied to
the tree.  On the Cliff Ledge you see a huge chest, but you can't open
it yourself!  You'll have to wait until someone offers to help you!
When the offer comes, tie the rope to the chest.  Uh-oh...does this
fellow mean to rob and strand you?  No, if you wait long enough, he'll
come back and dangle the rope back down to you. When he does, grab the
rope and he'll haul you back up.
 When you finally get back up to the top of the cliff, you see he has
opened the chest and taken the valuables from it.  Seeing that he has no
need of a simple wooden staff he gives it to you!  Don't begrudge him
his new found wealth, though, you have more important things to do!
 Go east, southwest, north, east and south to the Creepy Crawl.  Now go
east twice then south twice to the Great Door.  Somehwere along the
line, you should've heard or felt the rumblings of a great underground
disturbance. This earthquake has caused a hole to appear next to the
door!  Go east through the hole to the Museum Entrance.
 Inside these doors you will find several terrific puzzles to solve!
The first one we're going to take care of is behind the wooden door.  Go
north through the wooden door to the Technology Museum.  Inside you find
all sorts of bizarre machinery from various eras of ZORK!  Only the gold
machine is still working now.  If you examine it closely, you'll see
that it reminds you of the time machine from the H. G. Wells story!
That's right, you're going to go time travelling, but you'll need to
move the machine to the room you want to visit in a previous time.  So
push the machine south, open the Stone Door and push the machine east.
 This is the Jewel Room and if you read the plaque you'll see the year
that this wing of the museum was dedicated (777).  What you have to do
is to get here *before* the dedication ceremonies because you'll need
one of the Crown Jewels to complete ZORK III!  Get in the machine and
read the dial.  Remember th year "948".  This is the year that you're in
right now and you'll need to reset the dial to get back here!
 Set the dial to "776" and push the button.  Suddenly everything is
completely different!  You're still in the Jewel Room, but the gold
machine and everything you were holding has disappeared!  As you get
your bearings back, you notice two things immediately:  One is that the
Crown Jewels are no longer locked inside the cage; and, two, you can
hear guards' voices on the other side of the Stone Door, which
(thankfully!) is closed!  Take the Ring ONLY!  Greed is not part of ZORK
III!  As you take the ring, you automatically slip it on your finger.
Now wait until the guards leave the area.  When they do, open the door
and go west, then open the wooden door and go north back to the
Technology Museum.
 Amazingly, the Golden Time Machine is right where you found it in the
first place.  But what of your other possessions?  We'll find them!  In
order to take the ring back into the future, you'll have to hide it in
the Time Machine somewhere and if you look, you'll see a compartment
beneath the seat.  Put the Ring under the seat, get in the machine and
set the dial back to "948".  Now push the button and *WHOOSH*!  You're
back in your own time again!  Get out of the machine and look under the
seat.  You see the ring and put it back on your finger again.  Now to go
retrieve your other items.  Open the wooden door and go south, then open
the Stone Door and go east.  Here's everything you were holding before!
But, there's something different about this room.  Wait!  The steel cage
is gone and there's only a plaque here now!  Reading the plaque tells
you that one of the jewels was stolen before the dedication ceremony
could take place and that to protect the other jewels, they were locked
inside a hollowed-out volcano!  Amazing!  You saw that place in ZORK II!
Now go west and south to the Royal Puzzle Entrance.
 Take a deep breath here, because you're about to enter one of the
toughest puzzles in ZORK III...the "Royal Puzzle"!  I strongly suggest
that you save your game here.  One wrong move and it's curtains!  'Nuff
said!

 ZORK III
  Part 3

 Leave the piece of paper here.  It's just a warning about the
complexity of the Royal Puzzle.  Enter the puzzle by going down into the
hole.  There are two types of walls inside the puzzle: Marble and
Sandstone.  The Marble walls cannot be moved, but the Sandstone Walls
can be pushed to form new arrangements.  Please, oh please, follow the
following directions exactly!  If you don't, you'll get hopelessly lost
and nothing will get you out of here without restoring your game!
Ready?  Okay, here we go!
 Push the East Wall.  Go south, then southwest.  Push the South Wall,
then go east twice and push the South Wall.
 Go north twice then east and push the South Wall.  Pushing this wall
has uncovered a dusty old book!  Get the book (that's really what we're
here for!) and push the South Wall again.  Go east, then northeast, and
push the West Wall four times.
 Go northeast twice, north and push the East Wall.  Go southwest, south,
southeast, northeast, north and push the West Wall.
 Go northwest and push the South Wall twice.  Go west, northwest twice
and push the South Wall.  Go southeast three times, northeast and push
the West Wall twice.
 Go southwest and push the North Wall three times.  Now go northwest.
There, attached firmly to the  east wall is a ladder.  And directly
above your head is the hole you came in through!  Go up the ladder
and...you're out!
 Well, your first two puzzle adventures are over with and it's time to
leave the Museum.  Hope you had fun pushing all those walls around!
 Go north, west and north twice to the Crystal Grotto, then go west
twice and south to the Foggy Room.  Soon, you will meet a puzzling
adversary.  When you do, your compassion will play a large part in the
battle.
 Go west twice, north and east into the Land of Shadow.  Somewhere
around here you will be confronted by a cloaked and hooded figure.  When
you see him, your Elven Sword appears in your hand, glowing wildly!
 The trick here is to continue trying to kill the figure with your sword
until the message "The hooded figure is badly hurt and cannot defend
himself" appears.  At this point, get his hood.  As you slowly remove
the hood, you are shocked to see...your own face!  The figure smiles
sadly, grimly at you and disappears!  How strange!  No time to wonder
further about it, though.  Take the cloak that was left behind.  It is
time to finish the puzzle....
 Depending on where you fight with the hooded figure, you'll have to
make your way back to the Junction.  Once at the Junction, go east and
northeast to the Engravings Room.
 You should find an old man asleep here.  If you don't, keep leaving and
re-entering the room until he appears.  Seeing that he's very frail,
take pity on him and wake him up.  As he wakes up he looks at you as
though he's expecting something from you.  Give the waybread to him.
After he has eaten the bread, he tells you that what you seek may be
through there, and points at a carved wall.  You turn to look and see
the faint outline of a secret door!  When you turn back to thank the old
man, though, you see he has disappeared!
 Open the door, and go down to the button room.  You can't do anything
with the button until the beam in the next room has been broken.  So go
north to the Beam Room.  The thin red beam across the doorway must be
interrupted by an article.  The only thing you can spare right now is
your sword.  So break the beam with the sword and go back south.  Now go
back south and push the button. As you push the button, you hear a click
and then a snap!  Go north three times past the Guardians of ZORK and
the Mirror to the inside of the Box.
 What a strange room this is!  The ceiling is blue like the sky, panels
to the left and right are of mahogany and pine.  Surrounding you are
panels in red, black, yellow and white.  The "box" has two odd poles and
a compass rose on the floor.  We're going to move this box to bypass the
Guardians of ZORK that you saw earlier!  Begin by lifting the short pole
out of the hole.  Push the red panel until the compass rose is pointing
south.  Push the short pole back into the hole and push the mahogany
panel until it won't go any further.  Now it's time to exit the box, so
push the pine panel.  As it swings open go out into the Hallway.
 Go north once.  Now it's time to use the vial.  The vial is actually an
invisibility potion.  Open the vial and drink the contents.  Although
you don't feel any different, you've now beome invisible!  Go north
three times past the Guardians of ZORK to the Dungeon Entrance.  Now is
a good time to check your inventory.  You should be carrying or wearing:
The Hood, the Cloak, the Ancient Book, the Wooden Staff, the Torch, the
Key, the Amulet and the Golden Ring.  You can drop the vial here.  If
you're missing any of these items, you won't be allowed to enter the
Dungeon.
 All set?  Right!  Knock on the door.  After what seems an awfully long
time, a small panel opens and you find yourself looking into the face of
a wizened old man!  He greats you and you feel drawn to him!  As he
speaks, you look deeply into his face and see...the old man by the
secret door, the man at the cliff, the hooded figure!  Impressed by your
compassion, trust and patience, he will now help you complete your quest
if you'll only direct him!
 Upon entering the Dungeon you find yourself in a Narrow Corridor.  Go
north, east, and north twice to the Parapet.  The Master has followed
you to this point.  Before you, you see a sort of sundial with numbers
from 1 to 8 and one button.  The arrow is sitting at the numeral "1"
right now.  Set the dial to "4", push the button and go south to the
cell door.  Open the cell door and go south into the featureless Prison
Cell.  Inside the Prison Cell on the south wall is a closed Bronze Door.
If you try to unlock the Bronze Door, though, you find that it is
impossible!
 Tell the Master to close the door.  He does so and awaits your next
command. Now tell the Master to go north and to turn the dial to "6".
Finally, tell the Master to push the button.  As he does your biding,
you note that the Prison Cell only seems to be bare and not featureless
any longer!  What's this?  The Bronze Door only seems to be closed now!
Could it have been an illusion before?  Now you can unlock the door with
the strange key!  It seems to mold itself to the shape of the lock
magically!  With a small twist of the key, the huge bolt unlocks!
 With shaking hand, you open the door and going south, you find yourself
inside the Treasury of ZORK, the ultimate storehouse of the wealth of
the Great Underground Empire!  As you look upon these fabulous riches,
the Dungeon Master appears beside you and says that you have solved all
the mysteries of the Dungeon!  He has awaited your coming for many ages
and is tired.  Thus saying, he taps you on your head with his staff,
mumbles a few spells and disapears from sight!
 As you sit there, you feel yourself growing older, stooped, wiser until
you resemble all the characters you met in all the other ZORK
adventures!
 All hail the new Ruler of ZORK!
 ZORK III is copyrighted by
    Infocom, Inc., 1982.
 This walkthru is copyrighted
    by Barbara Baser, 1985.
     All rights reserved.