Walkthrough - Starting Out (Town of Spielburg)

Ah, the Town of Spielburg. This is where it all begins. And look, you get one puzzle point for free just for starting the game! You're now standing in front of the local law enforcement office. The Sherriff will ask for your name as you approach. You can either answer with the default name, the one you gave your character originally, or you can decide to change your name at this point. Whichever you decide, after you gain control, talk to the Sherriff a bit more. Oh, did I say talk? I meant Ask about, of course. You'll be using that a lot on your adventure. You can either type it manually or hit CTRL+A as a convenient shortcut. So what kind of things can you ask the Sherriff about? How about his name, first of all? ask about name will do the trick. You will get one point for asking the Sherriff any question successfully. Other things you can ask him about are: Spielburg, Hero, brigands, treasure, merchant, inn, mountains, guild hall, Wolfgang, monsters, Baron, Otto, prisoners, danger. The Goon, Otto, only expresses himself physically, so don't bother talking to him. Instead, walk to the west to another area. It's time to find this Guild Hall the Sherriff mentioned.

This is the southwest area of the Town of Spielburg. The first thing anybody would be likely to notice is that eye above the magic shop that seems to be following your every move. And is that sign spontaneously bursting into flame every now and then? Hmmm... Well, we'll get back to the magic shop later on. The only person here is a sweet old lady, who always seems to be napping just when you pass by, so she's not much of a conversationalist. When you've been creeped out by that eye enough, head through the Guild Hall doors on the west.

Ah yes, the Adventurer's Guild. The first step on the road to any heroic adventure! The Adventurer's Guild is where heroes go to register their names and exploits in the Adventurer's Log, read the Quest Board, and talk amongst eachother about their heroic deeds. So let's go do these things, shall we? First of all, let's take a look at the log book. Walk up to the desk it rests on and read book. You will learn that the last heroic deed in Spielburg was apparently performed by the Baronet Barnhard von Spielburg, several years ago. Doing this also gives you 4 points. Next, to take care of the formalities, sign book, and gain another point. If you want, you can look at heads to find out what creatures they belonged to, then look at them all individually. Now, look at board, to see what quests are currently available. That's quite a list, and seeing as how you're the only Hero in town, it'll be up to you to fulfill them all! Now you'll be 6 points richer, and you have a list of 6 objectives:

* Find the Healer's lost ring;
* Find spell components for the Healer;
* Find Barnard von Spielburg;
* Find Elsa von Spielburg;
* Capture or kill the Brigand Warlock;
* Capture or kill the Brigand Leader.

The first two shouldn't be too hard, but only the latter four sound like major acts of Heroism... oh well, everyone needs to start out small, right? Well now, before leaving, let's have a little chat with the guildmaster. You have to wake him up first, however. So, wake Guildmaster. If you ask about name, you'll gain 1 point, and learn that this is indeed that Wolfgang fellow the Sherriff mentioned. He has a wealth of information to share which could prove useful to a Hero such as yourself. He'll respond if you ask him about guild hall, adventurers, monsters, brigands, brigand leader, Baron, Baba Yaga, curse, Baronet, Elsa, Yorick, Dragon, Cheetaur, Troll, Gryphon, Antwerp, Schultz, tourists, Andromeda, Saurus, Hans, Ogre, Goon, Moose, hero, thief. You will learn a lot about the monsters in the area, as well as the Ogress Baba Yaga and the curse she placed on the Baron. Getting rid of her sounds like a good seventh objective to add to the list you already had. When you've talked about all those things, it's time to leave. Now, let's pay that Magic Shop we passed earlier a little visit, shall we?

Such an ominous atmosphere... the music doesn't do anything to help that, either. Look around the shop a bit if you want, then step up to the counter, and the proprietor will appear, introducing herself as Zara, and the creature that's been watching you from the shelf as Damiano. Ask her about anything to gain another point. The following topics will work: name, Zara, Faery, Damiano, magic, town, Aura, Erana, valley, Erasmus, Zauberberg, Baba Yaga, Baba Yaga's hut, rhyme, Baron, curse, monsters, Wizard, initiation, potions, healing potion, vigor potion, power potion, scrolls, secret, Flame Dart, Fetch, Open, Zap. Zara's a fountain of information. You will learn about the various things she has for sale, Erana's Aura that protects the town and the final resting place of this spellcaster, Erana's Peace, the Wizard Erasmus, the fact that you need to know a rhyme to get into Baba Yaga's hut, and there's even a little foreshadowing concerning the next game in the series if you ask about initiation. Anyway, you shouldn't buy any potions here, since you can get them cheaper at the Healer's just outside town. The scolls are useless if you don't have any skill in Magic.

However, if you do know Magic, then by all means buy Fetch for 40 Silver. If you are a Magic User, you will also get 2 points for this. You will not have enough money to buy the Open and Flame Dart spell as well right now, so we will come back here again later on.

Well now, this would be a good time to a little bit of looking around outside of town, I think! So leave the Magic Shop, go east, then southeast through the town gate. The Hero's March will play to encourage you on your coming journey, and you will gain another point as you set your first step outside. Your point total right now should be 16, or 18 if you're a Magic User.

Onward!