MERLIN #19
OCTOBER 1986
Storming the Citadel
As promised, this month sees the Citadel Special. I don't consider it to be an adventure in the strictest sense, but judging from the vast number of questions about it lots of you do - and it is certainly popular.
The object of the game is to collect five crystals. To do this you must solve a series of puzzles.
There are also three crowns to find. It is possible to complete the game without finding them, but if you do manage to find crowns plus crystals you get the maximum score of 99 and a message telling you that you are now the ruler of Citadel.
Crystal 1
This is the easiest one to find. It is situated above the main hall and you should unlock and travel through the freezer by using the cyan/white key found in the west wing.
Crystal 2
This can be found in the witch's house. You must get the trampoline from the west wing, drop it on to the red square next to the house and take the key that you now find there.
Use this to unlock the door into the west tower and then get the green skull.
Next go to the east side of the castle and get the magenta bone. Return to the witch's house and use the trampoline to get down her chimney.
Then jump over the cauldron, dropping the skull and bone into it. Go and get the cyan bone from the pyramid and drop that into the cauldron too.
The witch will attack you but will explode when she reaches the cauldron, revealing an entrance that will lead you to the crystal.
Crystal 3
This is in the pyramid. Take the chicken and drop it in the kitchen. It will slowly turn red as it cooks.
Take it across the ocean and in to the temple and give it to the wolf guardians.
Now get the green man from the east side of the island. Return and, leaving the green man in a convenient location, collect the Egyptian masks from the well and the prison.
Take these to the pyramid and find the secret entrance at the top right hand side of the screen.
Drop the masks when you see the mummies and they will freeze.
Now head for the bottom of the pyramid and climb on to the platform, taking the green man with you and it will be turned into a crystal.
Crystal 4
This is in the laboratory underneath the well. Get the ice crystal from the cellar and go to the east tower.
The water will freeze over allowing you to cross and get the green/white key.
Use the key to get into the well wheel and pull the lever.
Now get the cannonball from the mountain and the gunpowder from the bag from the west wing, above the arena.
Go down into the well and to the lab. Walk over to the cannon and it will fire, revealing an entrance to another location. Enter here and get the crystal.
Crystal 5
Pull the lever in the top of castle location and then go on to the roof via the west tower.
A platform will now be moving up and down. Climb onto it and jump off to the right when it gets to the top.
You will enter the next screen and land high up on the central castle. Go in the door marked with a C and you will find the crystal.
The crowns
The first crown can be found in the well. Leave the ice crystal in the location that you found the Egyptian mask and go in to the room that is revealed to the right.
The second crown is in the witch's house. Enter it and go one location down.
Kill the monk and climb the ladder. Jump when you get to the top of the ladder, and once you start to move press the left movement key.
If you get the timing right a secret passage will be revealed leading to the crown.
The last crown is below the castle near the cellar. Go two locations to the left from the room where you found the ice crystal.
Use the trampoline to jump up and hit the roof, and after you have done so a few times start to move to the left.
Soon you will find you have uncovered yet another secret passage and have found the last crown.
The ice crystal
This is found in the cellar and freezes water, enabling you to stand on it. Use this to get the green/white key for the well wheel.
Also, if dropped at the very bottom of the well it will allow entry to the right to another part of the well where a crown can be found.
The cyan stones
If these are taken to Stonehenge you will be rewarded with large energy bonuses.
The barrel
When filled with water, from any source, it will allow you to douse a fire.
This is mainly used to get past the fire in the east fireplace, allowing entry to the top of castle location. It can also be used to get on to the witch's house.
The chicken
When cooked in the kitchen the chicken will turn red. Taken to the temple, it will appease the wolf guardians, allowing you to enter the temple at any time.
Nothing!
Locations with nothing in them are handy for leaving your possessions.
Trampolines
Used to gain height and enable you to reach otherwise inaccessable locations.
Jewelled figure
If you drop the crystals in the location where you found the trampoline and then go under the radar dish to the starport you will be transported to the alien planet.
Taking the jewelled figure to the starport will destroy the transporter. Does anyone know why this needs to be done?
HALL OF FAME
Robin of Sherwood (continued) - Martin Hanson
Once you have found Siward, GET THIEF. Now wait somewhere along the serf's route through the forest and when he appears AMBUSH SERF. Then GO CART, WAIT, LEAVE CART. You are now inside the castle so GO BATTLEMENTS, GO DOOR, GO LEFT, DROP THIEF, and then KILLTHIEF. EXAMINE CHEST three times, take what you find and then GO DOOR, GO RIGHT, GO WINDOW.
Sphinx Adventure (continued) - M. Alexander
E - S - D - N - E - CROSS BRIDGE - E - S - S - PAY TROLL - CROSS BRIDGE - W - S - S - TAKE SAPPHIRES - N - N - E - E - KILL OGRE - NO - SWORD - N - TAKE CUSHION - E - N - U - TAKE EMERALD - D - D - WAVE WAND - CROSS BRIDGE - DROP BOTTLE - DROP SILVER - DROP RUG - DROP OPALS - DROP CUSHION - DROP COINS - DROP CARROT - DROP BOOK - DROP EMERALD - CROSS BRIDGE - U - S - W - S - W - W - D - TAKE JACK - RUB RING.
Countdown to Doom (continued) - Craig Romans
To get the motor to the cargo hold from the rocky hole: PULL LEVER, U, SW, SE, W, N, SW. To get the reactor you must go into the artifact and move along the corridor, remembering the order in which the shapes appear on the walls. Then push the niche.
After you fall GET PENTAGON, L, GET SQUARE, R, GET TRIANGLE, L, GET HEXAGON. Now you must find the room with the hole in the floor. Then GO DOWN, GET SWORD, E, GET REACTOR, W, N, SAY FLEZZ, N, NW.
Sadim Castle (continued) - The Raven
Mend the farmhouse roof and the farmer's wife will give you a pitcher. Give the pitcher to the monk and he will give you some keys.
Pray in the chapel and you can get the Bible. Use the Bible for protection against the mist. Read it when the mist forms, not when the howling starts. To get into the hunting lodge climb the great oak tree outside the lodge and use the gold key you find there to unlock the lodge door. Inside is a hunting knife. Use the to kill the cheetah.
To get the wheelbarrow through the undergrowth to the gardener go S - S - E - S - W - W - S - S - E - E - E - E - N - NW - SW - S - S - S - W - E - E. Give the wheelbarrow to the gardener and you will receive an amulet.
To lower the drawbridge, ring the bell. To raise the portcullis insert the wooden stake from the crypt into the winch and wind it. You must have the amulet when you go through the portcullis or Lord Sadim will drop it on you.
Go into the wood-panelled room and enter the inglenook fireplace. Climb up the chimney and then go along the passage. At the end is a room containing the bronze key which will unlock the trapdoor in the kitchen.
In the cellars/dungeons below the kitchen you will see Leonara beckoning to you. This is where you must dig with the pickaxe.
FEEDBACK
Geoff Larsen has written in with help for Linda Smith's problems in Ghost Town. Linda should ensure that she is wearing the silver spurs and then SAY GIDDY to make the horse move off.
To get to the mountains she should JUMP RIDGE. The safe must be opened with gunpowder, and don't be distracted by the violin strings.
To return from the canyon or tepee SAY HOW to the Indian ghost.
Geoff can also help with earlier problems: To avoid the gamekeeper in Ten Little Indians, go into the gatehouse up into the tower and tie the rope to an object you will find there. Then climb down the rope.
In The Wizard of Akyrz Russell Blake should return the fox to its home and then FOLLOW FOX. Feed the chickens in the hen house to reveal a trap door.
In Gold Baton the oil-soaked rag should be SQUEEZED above the lamp. To get past the eerie figure WEAR CLOAK. If the matches get wet RUB RING and a genie will appear.
In Time Machine FEED BRONTOSAURUS with the biscuits. To solve the problem with the passage under the Sphinx go to the weapons room, PULL LEVER and then WEDGE (or JAM) LEVER. This stops it sliding back and reveals a hidden door.
To enter the maintenance wagon in Circus you need a bar. This is found after crossing the tightrope using the slippers found in the chest.
In Escape from Pulsar 7 there are two ways out of the first three locations, one of which isn't usable yet! You have to go through the air vent. This really is possible!
Apparently I muddled one of Geoff's answers in a previous Feedback. In Strange Odyssey, PULL ROD, RUB PLASTIC, PUSH ROD, RUB PLASTIC.
LORDS OF ADVENTURE
Geoff Larsen <address removed>
offers help with Gold Baton, Time Machine, Arrow Of Death 1&2,
Circus, Feasibility Experiment, Wizard Akyrz, Perseus and Andromeda,
Ten Little Indians, Waxworks, Adventureland, Pirate Adventure,
Secret Mission, Voodoo Castle, The Count, Strange
Odyssey, Mystery Fun House, Pyramid Of Doom, Ghost Town, Sorcerer
of Claymorge Castle, The Hulk, Spiderman, Gremlins, Stolen Lamp,
Sphinx Adventure, Savage Island 1, The Fantastic Four.
Geoff has also sent in three
adventures that he has written using the Quill. He is considering
marketing them and I would highly recommend them. Please contact
Geoff at the above address for more information. And if you write
to Geoff for help, please remember to enclose an SAE.
Click here for larger image
This article appeared in the October 1986 edition of the "Electron User", published by Database Publications.
Scanned in by dllm@usa.net
http://www.stairwaytohell.com