Part 6: Casting Spells

Hello everyone and welcome back to King's Quest III. We're down on the ground here at the start for a very important reason. Do you see that eagle that's flying by?



>get feather

It drops the other half of that flying spell we cast several updates ago. With that tail feather, we can now turn ourselves into an eagle as well. Anyway, that's the only new thing that happened. So join me now 3 minutes in the future...



Alright, so the vast majority of today's update is going to be dealing with casting more spells. We technically only need to cast one before Manannan returns around the 30 minute mark. But as you can see, we have 10 minutes free still. We made remarkably good time down below.

>get mandrake root

: Gwydion removes the jar labeled "Mandrake Root Powder" from the laboratory shelf and carries it with him.

: The glass jar of mandrake root powder has an earthy, bitter smell to it.

Alright, so this is the only spell we absolutely need to have cast before Manannan returns.



This is why Manannan was not happy to find Gwydion in possession of cat fur, and understandably so.

>put mandrake root powder in bowl
>put cat hair in bowl
>put two spoons of fish oil in bowl

: Gwydion pours the fish oil into the bowl and keeps the empty jar.

There's narrator reactions to each step, but I'm only showing the interesting or pertinent ones.

>stir mixture with spoon

: Gwydion mixes the ingredients together. THe mixture turns into an oily, disagreeable dough with cat hairs sticking out of it.

>put dough on table
>pat dough into cookie



>wave wand

: Gwydion waves the wand over the cookie, then takes it with him. Finished with his spell, he looks up from the book and at the laboratory once more.

Now that we're finished, let's rewind time a bit and try something stupid. By the way, this update is going to bloat our death counter.



>turn to page xxv
>eat cat hair

: A strange feeling comes over Gwydion. He wonders if he could have made a mistake!



: That was a-mew-sing Gwydion.

It's like a soothing balm. An infuriating, awful, terrible soothing balm.

And now it's time to rewind four updates.

>turn to page iv
>eat saffron

: A strange feeling comes over Gwydion. He wonders if he could have made a mistake!



: Oooooooh, Gwydion. What big eyes you have!!



>get fish bone

: Gwydion removes the jar labeled "Powdered Fish Bone" from the laboratory shelf and carries it with him.

: Within the glass jar, you see your white fish bone powder. It emites a faint, fishy smell.

Nothing like the smell of a cracker barrel on Friday.

: The only resemblance to a real cookie is its flat, round shape. It is hard, and has cat hair sticking out of it. Definitely non-appetizing.

Let's continue on and not dwell on the fact that somewhere Gordon Ramsay is having a conniption.

>turn to page ii
>eat feather

: A strange feeling comes over Gwydion. He wonders if he could have made a mistake!



: You're all ears now, Gwydion!

Amusing death aside, let's take a look at our recipe card.



You could also use the cat hair to cast this spell, but if you do it becomes impossible to finish the game. This spell is technically completely optional, as it only unlocks bonus dialogue and some optional points super late in the game.

>put small feather in bowl
>put dog fur in bowl
>put snake skin in bowl
>add spoonful of powdered fish bone
>add dew to bowl
mix with hands

: Gwydion kneads the ingredients in the clay bowl with his hands. It turns into a stiff, dough-like substance.

>separate the mixture into two pieces
>put dough in ears

: Gwydion VERY gently places the two pieces of dough in his ears and pulls his hair down over them. He prepares to recite the magical incantation.



>wave wand

: Gwydion waves the magic wand over his dough-filled ears.



In an inventory full of asterisk items, the dough filled ears are actually one of the few safe items in the game. Also take note that salt, despite being a food additive likely found in Manannan's pantry, it's marked with an asterisk.

: It's difficult to look inside your own ears! But, as best you remember, the pieces of dough have tiny bits of feather, snake scales, and fur sticking out of them.



>get nightshade juice

: Gwydion removes the jar of "Nightshade Juice" from the laboratory shelf and carries it with him.

: The nightshade juice sloshes around inside the glass jar.

>turn to page xiv
>eat bowl

: A strange feeling comes over Gwydion. He wonders if he could have made a mistake!



: Night-night, Gwydion.



So here's our next spell. We'll use this much later on, but I'm not 100% certain it's necessary. We get points for preparing it though, so why not?

>turn to page xiv
>grind acorns in mortar
>put acorn powder in bowl
>put nightshade juice in bowl
>stir mixture with spoon
>light brazier

: Making sure there is fresh charcoal in the brazier, Gwydion lights it with the flint. Soon, the brazier is hot.

>heat mixture on brazier

: Gwydion gingerly places the bowl of ugly brown liquid on the charcoal brazier. Soon, the hot brazier brings the mixture to a bubble, then a boil, releasing a bitter smelling steam. He lets the mixture boil until the nightshade juice is nearly gone, then he removes it from the brazier.

>spread mixture on table

: Gwydion pours the bowl's contents onto the oaken table, then spreads the hot sticky mixture over the table top. In a few minutes, it has dried to a very crumbly, coarse sleeping powder.



>wave wand
>put sleep powder in pouch

It's incredibly important you type sleep powder. I don't want to recount how many times I died in my test run because I typed sleeping powder. The copy protection in this game being such a just-so process is why I have so many frustrations with it.

: Gwydion unties the small leather pouch, scoops the powder from the table, and places it within. He now has a pouch full of sleep powder.

: The leather pouch is securely tied, and filled with the coarse, brown sleep powder you so proudly manufactured.



While we've got plenty of time to cast one last spell, for some reason here I decided that 5 minutes was going to cut it kind of close. So instead let's just head back up and hang out for a bit.



But first, allow me to show this death off again...



: OH, OH!! That darn cat really did it to Gwydion this time! Tripping over the cat, he falls to his death.
: You look mighty funny falling down those stairs, Gwydion.



Anyway, let's cover our tracks.

>pull lever
>move books

: Gwydion moves the big book back where he found it so it again conceals the metal lever. He doesn't want the old wizard growing suspicious of his activities.

>unlock cabinet

: Gwydion carefully replaces the magic wand exactly as he found it. After closing the door, he carefully relocks it.



With our tracks mostly covered, all we have to do is slide our crap under the bed. But you know what? Casting all those spells is hungry-making work. That hair filled cookie is looking awfully tasty...

>eat cookie



: Gwydion purrs contentedly, enjoying his new life as a cat!

So it looks like our cookie works! That's good news. So we'll just reload and...

>drop all
>get porridge



So we're just going to wait here for 4 minutes. See you all on the other side!



Oh! Something to show off...

>kick cat

: Ow! I'll get you for that, Gwydion!

>talk to cat

: Get lost, Gwydion, you creep!

>kill cat

: Good idea, but how? As much as he would love to, Gwydion hasn't the heart to do it.

Anyway, now for real see you all at the 30 minute mark.



Surprisingly punctual for Manannan.

: I have returned, Gwydion, and am ready to eat.



We'll just run in here to make this faster and...

>get cookie



: Manannan is impatiently waiting for his food! His stomach rumbles as he drums his gnarled fingers on the table. Gwydion had better feed him quickly, or dire consequences may result.

So, when people say this game has a hard time limit, this is the reason why. Manannan has a strict schedule, where he will always assign you a chore at xx:00:00, check in on the chore at xx:03:00, and leave on a journey at xx:05:00. He'll return from his journey at xx:30:00, and will have to be fed by xx:33:00, I want to say. At xx:35:00, he'll take a 25 minute nap, and wake up at the top of the hour. At which point, the entire schedule repeats.

There are only four food items in the game. Three of them can be found in the kitchen at the start of the game, and we're carrying the fourth with us now, the porridge. So if you take as much time as possible, you had best know exactly what you're supposed to do after you feed Manannan at 2:30:00.

It is possible to stretch the game out to the 4:30:00 mark. But that also leaves you playing for a full hour in a dead man walking scenario. So functionally, the hard time limit for dealing with the wizard is 3:33:00.

The first part of the game has two goals, the first is to deal with Manannan. The second is to escape from Llewdor and go literally anywhere else. In the next few updates, we'll cover just what leaving Llewdor entails, but not one iota of it will matter if we don't deal with the wizard first. So...



: I have a cookie for you, my lord.
: You've discovered the secrets of 'The Secrets of Old." Never again will you disobey me, Gwydion!!





So let's do it right, instead.

>put cookie in porridge

: The porridge conceals the crumbled cookie; it still looks as appetizing as ever.

: You were careful when you crumbled the cat cookie in the porridge... it looks just like a plain bowl of porridge!



>give wizard porridge

: Gwydion places the food on the dining table before the hungry wizard. Ravenously, he devours every bit of it.



: Gwydion fooled him! Manannan didn't realize the porridge was tainted, and ate the whole bowl!

I cut out 10 seconds of the wizard slowly eating in there.



Normally I'd transcribe the message, but this is one of those super important ones. We did it, guys.

NEXT TIME: As master of his own destiny, Gwydion does whatever the fuck he wants for the first time in his life.

List of Points

+2 - Tail Feather
+1 - Mandrake root essence
+10 - The world's most disgusting cookie
+1 - Powdered fish bone
+10 - WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU
+1 - Deadly nightshade
+10 - Patented sleep powder
+12 - We beat the wizard!

Total: 122/210

Register of Deaths

That was a-mew-sing
Gwydion sees all
The better to hear you with, my dear
Eternal slumber
Amused the cat
Meow meow meow meow
Pissed off the wizard. Again.