Part 10

Hello everyone, and welcome back to King's Quest IV. We just have a few puzzles left until we're locked in the end sequence, so the end of the game is in sight! A worse fate yet awaits us still.

So let's see what this young boy wants.



A trapdoor has opened and a ladder has lowered in this smaller bedroom.



Rather than deal with the ladder four times, we'll just go dig up his grave.

: Rosella digs a small hole at the little boy ghost's grave. Aha! She has uncovered a toy horse!



That's a pretty rad toy, not gonna lie. A miniature version of the Trojan Horse and all.



I was gonna make a joke about Rosella being super slow at climbing the ladder, but it does make sense. There's no telling just how old it is, and if it will even support her weight. So good on her for being careful.



>look ghost

: The little boy ghost laughs, and refuses to budge from his seat on top of the chest. It might help if he had a toy to play with.

>give toy to ghost

: Rosella gives the toy horse to the little boy ghost in hopes that he will vanish like the others before him. For a moment, she fears that he will not, as he takes time to examine it carefully. Suddenly, he grins at her, and in a twinkling, disappears.

>look

: After adjusting her eyes to the gloom, Rosella soon sees that she has stumbled upon the musty attic of the old house. The trapdoor in the floor is open, and from it, a ladder leads down to the room below. Useless junk and boxes clutter the room. There is an interesting chest near the open trapdoor.

>open chest
>look in chest

: Rosella peeks into the old open chest, and finds... an old set of sheet music! She takes it and carries it with her.





To get back down, we have to approach the edge of the trapdoor and type >climb down. Be careful on the right edge of the trapdoor. Everywhere else won't let you walk off, but you can there.



Anyway, the sheet music was the whole reason we've been running errands for ghosts. I mentioned way back in one of the first updates that the only thing in the tower above the manor was an old pipe organ. So guess where we're going...



I want to preface this next section by saying that I actually like this game. I know in all the nitpicking and complaining that I do that it can be easy to lose sight of that. I'm not gonna claim it's a good game, but I like it regardless. It's markedly less bullshit than previous "wait 16 minutes on a pirate ship" entries "put bridle on snake" in the "Ifnkovhgroghprm" series.

I say all of that to give context to my next complaint.





After 3 games of spiral staircases working one way, Sierra changed it for no particularly good reason. Do you see where the stairs start approaching the screen again?



It's right around where Rosella is now. When you disappear behind the stairs, the up and down controls are reversed. Pressing down to make Rosella move toward the camera will have her moving back down the stairs instead.



It's not so bad going up, because you can just mash your face against the tower wall and slowly creep your way up. But when going down the stairs? You will die and you will die over and over and over again. Even knowing that the up and down controls are reversed, you will be caught off guard by it every fucking time it happens.

It's not limited to this staircase, either. Lolotte's castle is infested with spiral staircases, and the control reversing happens on every one of them. I can't even begin to guess why someone would program the controls to work this way. It makes absolutely no sense. The only reasons that come to mind all involve the developers having antipathy for the players. That's a dangerous road to start down before King's Quest 5.



When you get up here, be very sure to type the right command.

>play music is not the same as >play sheet music

: Rosella finds it difficult to read the old sheet music, but she attempts it anyway.

The sheet music is the right command, as it will actually progress things along. I'm also kind of amazed that the sheet music wasn't just reusing Toccata and Fugue in D-minor.

: What is this? A small drawer has opened in the organ! Rosella peers inside and sees a skeleton key. She takes it.





We're over on this screen again. I've mentioned a crypt a few times, and you can see it just in front of Rosella here.

>look crypt

: The stone crypt is built into the mountainside.

>open door

: The crypt door is locked.

>unlock door

: Rosella places the skeleton key in the lock of the crypt door. Slowly, she turns it. Click. It unlocked!



You ever get the feeling that you weren't supposed to be somewhere? This crypt gives me that feeling.

>look

: What an incredible place! This looks like an ancient burial tomb, with hieroglyphics written on the walls, and an old coffin against the far wall. A pile of rope is at the edge of the upper platform. Rosella sees an odd-looking, little chest here. It must be Pandora's Box.

>get rope

: Rosella reaches down to get the pile of rope. To her happy surprise, she finds that the rope is actually a rope ladder attached to the end of the platform! Gladly, she throws it over the edge of the platform, where it falls to the floor below.



>climb down

: Look out for the mummy!

>look mummy

: This mummy appears to be at least a thousand years old! Its' wrappings are loose and ecayed... and it stinks!

>look box

: Pandora's Box is on the floor of the crypt. Rosella, reluctantly, picks it up.

Alright, while Rosella walks out, I want to show off a very special death that you will never see in normal play. To even get to this point, you have to have the scarab. I've been informed that if you don't have it, you will be killed when entering or leaving the mansion. A zombie will jump out of the hedges and condemn Rosella to wander eternally as one of the damned.

So what happens if you somehow get into the crypt without the scarab?



Here we are way back at the start of the game. I've called in some help for this one. Goombella and Professor, if you wouldn't mind...

>overtime nosleep

: You see nothing special.



: These options are somewhat treacherous to mess with, especially the bottom three. We're only interested in the "Show Room" item, which tells the room ID. Pandora's Crypt is room 69. Armed with this knowledge...

>TP

: A box will pop up asking us where we want to teleport to. Just type in the ID and off you go!





: We're back in the crypt! Look at our score. We've got 0 points. If we walked outside, it would be broad daylight. So, not armed with the scarab, let's try to loot Pandora's Box...



: How did you get here without the scarab? You will be the next victim of the mummy!
: Boy, these guys are sometimes fast for their age!



Thanks to those friendly archaeologists for coming out of retirement to help me show that off. Back to the game already in progress...

Going to cut the update here, but let's leave off on doing something monumentally stupid.

>open pandora's box

: OK, but you'll be sorry...



NEXT TIME: The endgame of King's Quest IV.

List of Points

+3 - Exhumed a toy horse
+2 - Made a dead little boy happy
+2 - Got some old sheet music
+4 - Played creepy music
+2 - Looted skeleton key
+3 - Entered the forbidden crypt
+2 - Lowered the ladder
+4 - Legendary source of all evil

Total

176/230

Register of Deaths

Taking a Shortcut from the Attic
Cheating
Opening Pandora's Box. You moron.