The Causes of Chaos - Help

17th July 2003

1. General
2. First Steps
        2.1. How can I get down the waterfall?
        2.2. How can I get across the lake?
        2.3. What's the telescope for?
3. The Cliff Ledge
        3.1. What is the key good for?
        3.2. I keep falling off the slippery path!
        3.3. How can I survive the fiery chamber?
4. The Maze
        4.1. Eh? What maze?
        4.2. How can I find my way through the maze?
        4.3. Just tell me the way through the maze already!
        4.4. I'm through the maze, but struck in a pit.
5. Beyond the Maze
        5.1. How can I get past the troll?
        5.2. Why is the well broken?
        5.3. Is it a wishing well?
6. Up the Steps
        6.1. I can't climb the steps: I keep slipping
        6.2. What's the point of the stone slab?
        6.3. The trapdoor is jammed shut
        6.4. I get cut to pieces when I enter the cave
        6.5. OK, I'm inside the cave. Now what?
7. The Beach
        7.1. What's on the beach?
        7.2. Why can't I read the spell-book?
        7.3. Why is the ruby hollow?
8. The Ship
        8.1. How can I make the ship sail to Ognid
        8.2. The sailors find me stowed away, and throw me overboard.
        8.3. I get eaten by rats while the ship's sailing.
        8.4. The cook won't let me take the cheese.
        8.5. The sailors throw me in the brig when I take the rum.
9. Ognid
        9.1. I'm lost in the forest.
        9.2. Yeah yeah, just tell me the way through.
        9.3. How can I get into the castle?
10. The Castle
        10.1. How can I get into the broom cupboard?
        10.2. What shall I do with the bedding?
        10.3. How can I get through the outline of a door?
        10.4. The Count wakes up and kills me when he hears the door open.
        10.5. I'm not strong enough to open the stone coffin.
        10.6. How do I kill the Count?
        10.7. How can I get back to Ix?
11. Summary: Locations of the Crown Jewels
        11.1. Where is the immensely valuable jewelled Crown?
        11.2. Where is the fine silver Chain?
        11.3. Where is the huge hollow Ruby?
        11.4. Where is the valuable gold Medallion?
        11.5. Where is the delicate crystal Goblet?
        11.6. Where is the jewel-encrusted Sceptre?

1. General

All the usual advice for solving adventure games applies to The Causes of Chaos:

Beyond this standard adventure-solving advice, there is a HELP facility in CoC that in many cases offers advice of real worth. You might like to hold back on asking for HELP until you've had a good stab at solving the problems on your own.

Finally, the path to the goal is smoothed by using abbreviations: besides the usual direction-of-movement abbreviations N, S, E, W, U and D, CoC recognises G as an abbreviation for GET, D for DROP (when used with a noun) and L for LOOK, which, when used with a noun, doubles as EXAMINE.

2. First Steps

2.1. How can I get down the waterfall?

You need to WEAR BARREL, which I admit is a tad oblique. I wish now that this had not been pretty much the first puzzle you had to solve.

2.2. How can I get across the lake?

When you swim the lake, you'll be eaten by the piranha unless you have drunk the invulnerability potion found at the bottom of the waterfall.

2.3. What's the telescope for?

Apart from looking through it, you can climb down to the ledge below if you tie the rope to it first.

3. The Cliff Ledge

3.1. What is the key good for?

It opens the door to the maze (in the rocky outcrop north of the start location), and the brig on the ship. It also has an important word written on it which you'll need to know later.

3.2. I keep falling off the slippery path!

The path is so slippery that you if you're carrying too much, you fall off and die. If you're carrying either the cloak or the headdress, then you can't carry anything else at the same time (apart from the non-existent dagger.) You will need to ferry items back and forth a few at a time.

3.3. How can I survive the fiery chamber?

If you're not wearing the cloak, the heat in the fiery chamber overpowers you, and the demon eats you. If you're wearing it, you'll be able to get the headdress.

4. The Maze

4.1. Eh? What maze?

The maze is on the other side of the door set into the rock-face, just north of where you start the game. You need the key from ledge to open the door to the maze.

4.2. How can I find my way through the maze?

The standard technique for mapping an area in which all the locations look alike is to drop an object in each location so that you can tell them apart. Once you've done that, you should be able to find the optimum routes between the endpoints.

4.3. Just tell me the way through the maze already!

If you really want to know, then starting from the rocky outcrop, you can get to the pit by going N, E, N, U, U, N, W, D, N; and you can get back again by going S, W, S.

4.4. I'm through the maze, but struck in a pit.

To get out of the pit on the far side of the maze, you must tie the rope to the rock, pick up the rock (you'll need to be wearing the gauntlets to protect against the heat) and throw the rock. Then you can climb the hanging rope.

5. Beyond the Maze

5.1. How can I get past the troll?

The troll bars your way across the bridge unless you're wearing the headdress (in which case, presumably, he thinks you're one of the three Billy Goats Gruff.)

5.2. Why is the well broken?

Who knows? Who cares? The important thing is to mend it, which you can only do if you have the bucket. Then you'll be able to use well and obtain the poisonous sausage that you can see at the bottom.

5.3. Is it a wishing well?

Sort of. It's magical, anyway. If you throw the coin (from the troll's chasm) into the well, and then immediately SAY KRINJ (which was written on the crystal key,), then the crown will magically appear. If you delay for even one turn, all is lost.

6. Up the Steps

6.1. I can't climb the steps: I keep slipping

You need to pour the salt (from the end of the ledge) onto the steps by the rocky outcrop before you can climb them.

6.2. What's the point of the stone slab?

If you move it, you will reveal a trapdoor.

6.3. The trapdoor is jammed shut

You must be carrying the iron rod in order to open the trapdoor (using it as a crowbar.)

6.4. I get cut to pieces when I enter the cave

Once you have poisonous sausage (from the bottom of the well on the far side of the maze), you can throw it into the cave; the guards will eat it and die, because it's poisonous (as you'll have found out if you tried to eat it yourself). You're supposed to be able to guess this because in the TV adaptation of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Ford Prefect finds an unsavoury-looking blue sausage in the galley of a spaceship crewed by Dentrassis. Obscure, I know: sorry.

6.5. OK, I'm inside the cave. Now what?

You must search to find the fine silver chain, which is hidden in the cave.

7. The Beach

7.1. What's on the beach?

Nothing; but there's something under. If you have the spade from the maze entrace, you can use it to dig here; you'll find a spell-book. (Digging anywhere else in the game is futile.)

7.2. Why can't I read the spell-book?

You have to open it before you can read it.

7.3. Why is the ruby hollow?

If you examine it, you see a vision of the pieces of a broken rock. This is telling you that when you've finished on the far side of the well, just before dropping back down into the pit, you should break the rock: inside, you'll find the medallion.

8. The Ship

8.1. How can I make the ship sail to Ognid

You don't have to do anything: the ship is going to Ognid anyway. All you have to do is hide in the packing case in the ship's hold, and wait.

8.2. The sailors find me stowed away, and throw me overboard.

They find you because they're looking for the Captain's lost log. You can prevent that search from taking place by ensuring it's where it should be - in his cabin - before the ship sets sail.

8.3. I get eaten by rats while the ship's sailing.

Yes. That's because (duh!) they're hungry. If you satisfy their hunger before the ship sets sail, by giving them the cheese, they will fall asleep and not trouble you.

8.4. The cook won't let me take the cheese.

Bribe him with the rum.

8.5. The sailors throw me in the brig when I take the rum.

Yes - there's no way to avoid this, and there's no way out of the brig once you're in. That is, unless you've already unlocked it from the outside (with the crystal key) before you get shut in, in which case they are too stupid to lock it again and you can just walk free!

9. Ognid

9.1. I'm lost in the forest.

You find your way through the forest maze using the same object-as-markers technique as for the main maze. If your heart quails with despair at the prospect, it may help you to know that the forest maze is less than half the size of the main maze.

9.2. Yeah yeah, just tell me the way through.

If you insist. From the shore, go W, S, W, E, N and FOLLOW PATH to get to the location called End of Path. To return to the shore from there, just go east twice.

9.3. How can I get into the castle?

To break through the portcullis, you must blow up the conveniently placed dynamite. You die too, of course in the explosion: the trick is to tie the rope to the dynamite, light the rope and run away. It will explode very quickly; when you come back, there will be a new route north into the castle.

10. The Castle

10.1. How can I get into the broom cupboard?

You first need to pacify the baby by giving him the doll from the hidden cave under the coal-mine refuse.

10.2. What shall I do with the bedding?

Sweep it up, of course!

10.3. How can I get through the outline of a door?

You need to say a magic word. No, not KRINJ or ZX-81 or VAXLOX or even FROGBALL - another one. Abwahsi will tell you what it is. Got it? It's HMMPH.

10.4. The Count wakes up and kills me when he hears the door open.

You need to gas him, to prevent him from waking. He's inside the coffin, of course.

10.5. I'm not strong enough to open the stone coffin.

You need some help. The surprised servant and Abwahsi are no use, but you can make yourself a slave by carrying the frozen corpse into the sauna and waiting for him to defrost. Thereafter, he'll follow you around - spooky, but not threatening - and help when you try to open the coffin.

10.6. How do I kill the Count?

You can't. That's not the point, is it? You just want to reunite the crown jewels, not leave a trail of dead bodies in your wake. Er, Dentrassi guards excepted, of course.

10.7. How can I get back to Ix?

By magic carpet. If you ring the bell at the top of Abwahsi's tower, a rolled-up carpet falls out. Unroll it, and say the magic word FROGBALL (from the captain's log) to be whisked back to the start location.

11. Summary: Locations of the Crown Jewels

11.1. Where is the immensely valuable jewelled Crown?

It's magically hidden. The only way to get it is by throwing a coin in the well and then saying the magic word KRINJ

11.2. Where is the fine silver Chain?

It's hidden in the cave guarded by the Dentrassis. Having poisoned them with the sausage, you need to search to find it.

11.3. Where is the huge hollow Ruby?

Like the crown, it's hidden by magic: you can bring it back into existence using the magic word from the spell-book buried under the beach.

11.4. Where is the valuable gold Medallion?

It's inside the volcanic rock from the pit on the far side of the maze: break the rock to get it out.

11.5. Where is the delicate crystal Goblet?

It's in the cave whose trap-door is hidden in the coal-mine refuse near the Dentrassi' cave.

11.6. Where is the jewel-encrusted Sceptre?

In Count Vladimir's secret treasury. To get there from the room where he sleeps, say the magic word that Abwahsi tells you, having first gassed the Count so that the noise of the door opening doesn't wake him.

Feedback to <mike@miketaylor.org.uk> is welcome!