Part 8

Hello everyone, and welcome back to King's Quest IV. Today's update is gonna be longer by necessity, but by the time we're finished, we'll be in the final stretch of the game. So let's not waste any time, yeah?



There was nothing stopping us from going in here last time, but it feels more correct to go in now that we have our third quest from Lolotte.



Inside, we find three green ladies who share a single eye.

>look

: This is a dismal and dreary cave. Within it, reside three one-eyed old witches. In the center of the cave, over a hot fire, boils a foul-smelling brew inside a large black cauldron.

I'm sure these three are meant to recall the three witches from Macbeth, but I grew up in the 90s and watched a lot of Disney movies as a kid. So all I can see are the Fates from Hercules.

>look witches

: Three, old one-eyed crones inhabit this dreary cave. They possess a glass eye, which they pass from one to another, that enables them to see. Through the glass eye, they each in turn peer at Rosella with a frightening mixture of curiosity and malice.



One of the witches starts to chase you a second after you enter, so you have to play a deadly game of keep-away.



And naturally, this wouldn't be an AGI/SCI engine Sierra game without the game pausing every second you're near a source of fire to go OUCH.



Gonna be honest, I thought I was dead here.



>get eye

: Rosella just manages to snatch the glass eye from the grasp of the old witches! Now they are totally blind and helpless.

A guide for this game that I looked at before recording suggested that you need to time your grab for when they pass the eye back and forth. I've always managed to get the eye by taking what I need.

: Give us back our eye!



Rosella doesn't give a fuck.



Well, it was mean to steal these poor old women's only means of seeing.



When we re-enter, the one on the left throws a beetle at us.

: As Rosella re-enters the dismal cave, the three, one-eyed witches throw something toward her.
: Here, take it. It'll ward off the undead. You'll need it. Now, PLEASE give us back our eye!
: Rosella thinks about it and glances at the floor. She sees that the witches threw a black scarab at her.






>give eye back

: Rosella throws the glass eye to the three old hags, who once again take turns peering at her.
: Come closer, dear. We'd like to give a little gift to you.



The same death happens if you let any of the witches touch you at any time. They're not exactly friendly. So instead of taking a bath in a bubbling cauldron, let's just get the hell out of there.

>wear scarab

: You can't wear the scarab. Just carry it with you.



Now that we have the obsidian scarab, we're as prepared as we're ever going to be.

>wear crown



So strap yourselves in. We're going into the fucking caves.



The caves have a couple of a gimmicks. They're four screens long and dark as hell. We saw it last time we were in here to grab a bone, but mysterious growls can randomly appear on any screen. If that happens, then you have to reload or you will die. There's no escaping.

If you recall, the dwarves gave us a lantern way back at the start of the LP. Let's light it now.

>light lantern

: Using a flint attached to the oil lantern, Rosella lights it. The lantern burns with a bright glow.



Bright my ass. This is all the illumination we ever fucking get. A single ancient candle, 17 years ago in Kolyma, illuminated more than this miner's lantern. Oh, and just to keep things interesting, I'm going to keep track of each reload it takes to get through this cave.



If you're, for some reason, playing along with this, then you will want to save at the edge of each screen you successfully navigate without dying.



Second cave screen. It looks black, but there's a bunch of stalagmites forming a path you can't see until you run right into it. You see, the tiny bit of illumination we have actually does something.



This is what it looks like at the start of the screen. So it's an invisible maze in the dark where each time you transition screen, there's a random chance you will just fucking die for no reason.



Edge of the second screen.



Third screen, the troll that lives in these caves comes out to play at random.



When I say you can't run, I mean that. The troll is faster and he knows his way around in the dark. If you transition screen, he just spawns directly behind you and kills you.

: Oh no! Rosella has been caught by the vicious trolll! Fate be what it may, she is dragged off to meet it.

+1

Gonna keep track of reloads in bold.



Third screen, this time with no troll.



A straight shot across an otherwise uneventful screen.



Fourth screen, and we can see light at the end of the tunnel.



The fourth screen has a chasm you can't see until you're right on top of it.

+6



Do you see that tiny bit of black on the very edge of Rosella's lamp? That's the edge of the chasm. When you see that, you're either already dead or right on the edge.

>put board across chasm

: Feeling in the dark, Rosella manages to place the board across the crevice. Now, can she cross it safely?



When you get to the other side, the game mercifully does the following automatically:

: Feeling in the dark again, Rosella manages to pick up the baord without dropping it into the crevice.



From there it's a straight shot north.



I don't believe the troll can appear on this last screen. It's never happened to me in all the times I've played.





These are the Death Bogs of Tamir. But we actually know this land by a better name: Llewdor. This massive swamp is on the far western edge of that infinite desert from the previous game.

By the way, still keeping track of reloads. The swamp is only two screens long, and we still have to go back through the cave again.

>look

: From here, a huge muddy swamp spreads eastward. Large moss-covered swamp trees tower overhead, while grass tufts and reedy plants poke up from the mire. Rosella can hear the many chirps and croaks of unseen swamp creatures.



: Don't you know that some swamps are quagmires that will suck you under?! As she takes her last breath, Rosella contemplates this final information.

+0 (intentional deaths don't count)

Let's try this, then...

>wear crown



+0



The correct way to proceed is to stand here and

>jump
>jump
>jump
>jump
>jump
>jump
>jump
>jump
>jump



>jump
>jump
>jump
>jump
>jump

Fifteen jumps across the swamp.



We can't walk across from here, and we can't jump across a pit this wide. So we have to think back two whole minutes and

>set board down



You probably won't see it very well, but there's a snake in front of the tree. A cobra, to be specific.



Getting close has Rosella die from "poisoning."

+1 (I died once offscreen the exact same way a second later)

>play flute



The cobra doesn't stay charmed for long. So we have to act very quickly or it'll wake up and bite again.

>get fruit



This death was too funny. Accidentally walked off the island while super triumphant music plays.

+2



Don't forget to >get board while you're here and then >jump back to shore.



Between the two screens of the swamp, if you've done absolutely everything up to this point, night will fall. It will not do this unless you have the obsidian scarab. (Or if you somehow waste 12 hours.)



The stars are now out.

>look sky

: It's easy to see by the light of a full moon.

And now we go back through the cave. I'm not cutting out the journey back.



This is the fourth screen, the one with the chasm.

+1



Third screen.



Second screen.

+3



+1



And finally that brings us to the end of the update. We're firmly in the final stretch of the game from here on out, so buckle up!

NEXT TIME: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46nc3eJuq5U

Total Reloads in the Cave (and Swamp) Section

1 + 6 + 0 + 0 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 3 + 1 = 15

List of Points

+3 - Robbed 3 old women literally blind
+2 - Profited from robbing 3 old women
+3 - Throwing a glass ball at 3 old women
+2 - Crossed the Chasm
+2 - Crossed onto the Island
+4 - Snake Charmer
+10 - Got the magic fruit!
+2 - Crossing the Chasm (again)

Total

134/210

Register of Deaths

Taking a nice, hot bath
Feeding a troll x2
Falling into an invisible bottomless pit x7
Swimming in the Swamp x4
Universal Cameo
Snake Poison x2

Total Deaths in Cave (and Swamp) Section

16