Part 14: The Maze of Mordack

King's Quest V - The Labyrinth

Hello everyone and welcome back to King's Quest V. We're very nearly done with this game, but before we can claim victory first we have to navigate an actual maze.



Even better, we have to navigate a maze where the perspective changes to always be behind Graham. There's no point in even showing screenshots of traversing it, because there's a unique angle for every possible way you could be turned.



Image courtesy of the KQ Omnipedia wiki.

We start under the HOLE square, and the exit is DOOR in the top middle. However, first we need to visit a DINK square, so we're going to go to the lower left corner first. Dink can also show up in the upper left dead end of the maze, for what it's worth. He's always been in the first location that I checked, but something tells me he could just randomly not show up at any given location. This is King's Quest V, after all.





King's Quest V - The Dink

Uh... hey there.

beast

: A huge beast, sporting a fluffy topknot bound in a crude hairpin on top of his head, skulks in one dark corner of the labyrinth.

beast

: Dink.



: Duh... Dink! Dink! Duh... duh... duh... Dink!

Let's try to get closer.







: Shouldn't play around with Dink, Graham!



Dink looks like he might want something to play with. So...





I'm actually not sure what the thought process behind giving him the tambourine is supposed to be. My "giving him a toy" idea is the one that makes the most sense to me. The whole puzzle doesn't even really register on the KQ5 scale, to be honest. Let's move on, there's a lot more we have to cover today before we're done.

Also let's not forget Dink's hairpin before we go.

hairpin

: Graham reaches down and grabs the hairpin off the labyrinth floor.

: The hairpin is made of a carved piece of bone with a sharp metal clip attached to it.



We're in the lower left corner. We gotta get to the top middle. It's a fairly straightforward path, but remember that the perspective always changes to be behind Graham. This maze sucks.



Just to make it that much more annoying to traverse, you have to click on the tiny border of the interior view instead of the edge of the screen like the other 99% of the game.



door

: There is a wooden door here! Perhaps it will lead into the castle.

door

: Graham tries to open the wooden door, but to no avail as it's securely locked.

We had to go visit Dink first, as we can't unlock the door without first having visited him. Now that I've said that, you can probably guess what to do here.

door

: Graham inserts the hairpin into the door's large keyhole and discovers, to his amazement, that it fits perfectly! Turning it ever so gently, he soon hears a soft click and the door is unlocked!



King's Quest V - Mordack's Pantry

The last several times we found ourselves in a pantry, we've needed to loot it for goods. So there's no reason to suspect this will be any different.

cupboard



: Inside the cupboard, Graham's eyes fall upon a bag of dried peas.



The peas are the only object we can interact with here. Plus the narrator did specifically call out the peas, so...

peas

: Reaching into the open cupboard, Graham retrieves the bag of dried peas.

north



King's Quest V - Princess Cassima *Recommended listening*

Do yourself a favor and click on that link. The theme that plays in here is a breath of fresh air. The girl in here, Cassima, is one of the main characters in King's Quest VI and her theme is part of the game's main theme. We'll cover that much more later, but for now... just enjoy this first glimpse of KQ6.

cassima

: A lovely young girl with long black hair, olive skin, and flashing green eyes laboriously scrubs the cold stone floor. Though wearing rags, her beauty nevertheless shines through.





: Don't come near me! Leave me alone!
: I would never hurt you. I'd like to help you.
: I don't believe you! You're probably one of... THEM!
: I'm not; believe me.
: Just go away... please! I don't want to talk to you anymore.

If you didn't pick up the locket, this is all that she will ever say to you. We have no way of knowing that it's her locket, and I have no idea how the hell it wound up in a Roc's nest many miles away but...





Click here for video



: Wherever did you find my gold locket? I thought it was gone for good. I lost it on the island just after I was brought here by Mordack.
: You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Tell me, who are you... and how did you come to be here?
: My name is Princess Cassima from the Kingdom of the Green Isles. My father, the King, employs a horrible Vizier who befriended Mordack. When Mordack saw me, he immediately wished to marry me and bring me here.
: Naturally I refused and my father agreed with me. But our refusal angered him so much that he stole me here anyway, and put me to work as a scullery girl.
: He says he will never let me go... that a scullery girl I will remain until I agree to marry him. But the thought revolts me! What am I to do?!



: Don't worry. I'm here to save my family from the wizard. He's got them here someplace imprisoned inside a glass bottle. If I can manage to rescue them then of course I wouldn't forget you, either.
: I know the glass bottle you're talking about! It's in Mordack's laboratory upstairs!
: Keep quiet about my presence. I think this will be the most difficult part of my journey. I may not... survive it.
: I would NEVER give you away. And I will help you in any way I can, kind sir.



: By the way, who are you?
: I'm King Graham of Daventry.
: I think I know where that is! It's very far from my home, though.
: Don't worry. Somehow... I'll get you home again. But first, I've got to save my family.
: Yes, well... I'll stand by you, King Graham. I'll help if I can.
: Thanks. I may need it.
: Well, I'd better get back to work. And you should keep out of sight!
: Aye, aye, m'lady.

Well, meeting an ally in here wasn't expected. But it is welcome! So let's not get Cassima in any trouble and move on.

east



Neat. A pipe organ.

organ

: hideous, yet fascinating pipe organ commands attention as Graham walks through a downstairs hallway.

organ

: Graham watches in horrified fascination as the grotesque organ begins to magically play a weird tune all by itself.





: Goodbye, King Graham of Daventry.





: Poor Graham. Mordack shows no mercy.



The organ is a gigantic trap. The last thing we want to do is attract Mordack's attention, so just ignore it and it won't summon him by playing a 90 second long clip of upbeat music in a minor key.



The dining room consists of two screens. We can randomly find a black cat hanging out here, as well as...



A weird blue alien creature that abducts us and tosses us in an oubliette.



That's a good stopping point for now.

The DMW from the locket terminates here. It may be possible to get past the alien creature and up to the top floor, but in which case it terminates at the final puzzle. Either way, you're still a dead man walking for not grabbing a single pixel in 15 seconds.

NEXT TIME: Hoggle helps us escape the oubliette, and then we go on to confront the Goblin King and get Toby back


List of Points

+3 - Friends with Dink
+2 - Borrowed Dink's hair pin
+4 - Lockpicking
+2 - I want peas
+4 - Befriended Cassima
+2 - Dropped in a cell with no exit

Total

212/260

Register of Deaths

Very expensive, Graham
Force choke