Infocom's Enchanter series is now complete with the release of Spellbreaker. the third and final part.
This story begins in the council chamber of the old Guild Hall in Borphee, d place familiar to players of Sorceror. You are now Leader of the Circle of Enchanters, the ultimate honour, bestowed upon you for your great victory in rescuing Belboz and destroying his captor, the evil Jeearr. You did, didn't you?'
There is unrest in the Land of Frobozz, and in the council chamber sit ten other enchanters – each a guild master in his own right, gathered to discuss the threatened destruction of the Land of Frobozz.
As you listen in the great chambers, Sneflle, ol the Guild of Bakers, rises to speak. He tells of the problems that have beset his bakery. Where once, a simple "gloth" spell would fold his pastry 83 times precisely, the spell now often fails to work, and on those rare occasions when it does, the results are unsatisfactory.
The Chief Enchanter from the Guild of Brewers tells a similar tale, that it takes great practice in sorcery, to turn a mixture of weird vegetables and water into a good Borphee beer. Nowadays, his brew tastes like Grues have been bathing in it.
Worse still, the spells cast by huntsmen to trap and kill wild animals, have also begun to fail. Only the other day a pack of rat-ants somehow managed to slip the bounds set by the "f ripple" spell, and one of the huntsmen was badly wounded.
Again and again, the same story rings out, that the power ol sorcery in the land is failing. Spells are going wrong, or. more often, they do not work at all.
Finally, Ardis ol the Guild of Poets rises to speak. He begins telling about magic rhyming and spelling aids. Suddenly in the middle of his speech, the poet turns even greener than he normally is, his chin grows long, and his skin becomes slimy. In the blink of an eye, there stands at the podium not an orator, but
a rather large orange newt.
As you look around the room in shock, you realise that all present Have turned into frogs, newts, salamanders, or some other small amphibian. But wait! There is one shadowy figure who even now is slipping quietly out of the room,
Like any decent sorceror, I immediately gave chase to the shadowy figure, following him into Belwit Square. No sooner did I approach him, than he disappeared in a cloud of orange smoke.
With my friends back at the hall hopping mad at their transformation, everything around me was vague and misty, so I looked in my spell book for a solution to the problem. In a matter ol moments 1 had blown the orange smoke out ol existence, and there, on the ground, I found a small white cube.
But I had also discovered in the book, a new spell that 1 had never heard ol belore, the "blorple" spell Now was the ideal time to try it out.
Memorising the long and intricate wording, I cast "blorple" at the white cube, and found myself teleported to a strange dark place.
This was to be the start of a strange journey, in which I came across, among other things, 9 serpent so huge that it blocked three of the exits, its body forming a ring with wits tail in its mouth. There was also a strange two-foot long zipper with magical tendencies. Even so, I was unprepared for what it could do. Suffice to say, it made a very unusual sleeping bag.
As yet I don't know the meaning of my strange journey. However I have been to some very strange places, and met more than my fair share of unusual creatures.
If you like magic adventures with greater than usual depth, or have enjoyed playing Enchanter and Sorceror, then Spellbreaker will not disappoint. It follows in the footsteps of its predecessors, and if you like to exercise your grey matter, it is a must' How, how do I cure an ogre of hay fever? Steve Donoghue , C+VG #54 |
