CONQUESTS OF THE LONGBOW: THE LEGEND OF ROBIN HOOD INTRODUCTION CONQUESTS OF THE LONGBOW: THE LEGEND OF ROBIN HOOD from Sierra (hereinafter denoted as LONGBOW) is the second game from designer Christy Marx. And I must say, she has outdone herself in this game. LONGBOW is a mixture of humor, intelligence, and most of all, just plain fun. One of the interesting aspects to LONGBOW is that there are five different endings to the game! During the game, you will determine Robin Hood's fate by the things that you do or don't do. You can be aggressive as you like and make Robin the outlaw that he is, or you can make Robin Hood a true hero. During the introduction to the game, you will learn that the goal of the LONGBOW is to raise enough ransom money to free King Richard from the evil King Leopold. To accomplish this you will need to complete quite a number of quests to raise your ransom amount. Since LONGBOW is such a large game, I have written this walkthru to take you just through the quickest (but solving all the puzzles) path to get to the endgame. There are many other things you can do besides just following this walkthru, like talking to many of the common folk, doing things out of the order that I mention, etc. I have designed this walkthru to just get you through the game and its most difficult parts, but if you follow it exactly, you will miss a lot of the fun of the game. I encourage you to explore, or you will miss a lot! One last note before we start: LONGBOW does have a few bugs within it that may make the game more difficult (but not unplayable) for you to finish. Most of the bugs have been found and there are patches to fix them available in Sierra's forum here on CompuServe. The version of LONGBOW that I played was V1.000, and this walkthru is based on this version. STARTING OUT When you start LONGBOW, you will be in your cave home. The first thing you should take note of is three important numbers located at the top of the screen. On the left is the amount of ransom money you have obtained so far to free King Richard. In the center is the number of outlaws in your band (this number will increase or decrease depending on how you play the game). And the number on the right is your score so far. In your cave, there are a few things to get before you leave. First, search the money tin located at the bottom left for some pennies. Second, get your bow and arrow hanging on the peg. Leave the cave, and outside you will meet up with your merry men. After a bit of banter, Will and Little John will depart with Will going to the archery range, and John heading towards the overlook. We don't need to go to the archery range yet, so head west from the camp until you get to the overlook. John will meet you and then leave you to the watch. One note about the overlook: This is where many of the quests in LONGBOW start. By intercepting people walking along Waitling Street, you will get ideas about what you need to do next. If you are stuck in LONGBOW, you might want to head to the overlook to see if anything happens. I found that if nothing happens after about a minute of waiting, nothing ever will. With that said, wait here a bit, and you will soon see a peasant woman being chased down the street by one of the sheriff's men. Walk toward the street to intercept them. The sheriff's man (Jack) will demand that you let him pass. Talking to Jack doesn't do much, so I just shot him with the bow and arrow. The peasant woman will be eternally grateful to you, and she will come into play later in the game. For more points, give her some money before she leaves (one farthing will do). After she leaves, click on the map icon to get an overhead view of Nottinghamshire. On the map you will see an oak tree, the overlook, your hidden camp, a widow's hut, a willow grove, the town of Nottingham, and the Fen Monastery. To travel quickly throughout the game, simply click on one of these locations. I first traveled to the widow's hut. You will meet her and her three sons. Talk to them to learn what they are up to. When you are finished talking, click on the map icon again, but this time you will automatically be taken to your campsite to a night scene. The night scenes in LONGBOW are very important. They will inform of what is happening in Nottinghamshire, and more than likely, you will learn what you should do next in the game. During this scene Robin imbibes a bit too much, and has to be put to bed by John. While asleep, Robin has a dream about Marian. At the end of the dream, Robin picks up half of an emerald heart that Marian dropped. MEETING LOBB THE COBBLER When you awaken the next day, walk to the camp, and you will learn from Will that you need to talk to a cobbler in town (Lobb). Will tells you that you will need to bring a slipper to Lobb to prove who you are. Of course, you can't go into town dressed as an outlaw, so you also need to find a disguise. From the camp, click on the map icon, and go to the big oak. Go south one screen, travel east for a few screens and you will soon see Marian being accosted by one of the monks from the Fen Monastery. There isn't much time for talk here, so just shoot the monk. Marian is grateful to you for saving her, and it just so happens that she was looking for you. When she leaves, she will drop a slipper that you should pick up. Click on the map icon, and you will be automatically taken to the camp for a night scene. In camp, Will again stresses that you need to talk to Lobb soon because he has news that will help to free King Richard. You have the slipper to give to Lobb; now all you need is a disguise to get into town. The next day, walk out to camp, click on the map icon, and go to the overlook. Wait for bit, and you will see a peasant walking down Waitling Street. Intercept the peasant and start talking to him. You need his clothes, but he refuses to give them to you. To get the clothes off his back, give him one farthing in exchange for them. Now that you are in disguise, click on the map icon, and go to the town of Nottingham. On the Nottingham overview, there are four places you can go to: the castle, the pub, St. Mary's, and the cobbler. Here is a good spot to save your game before you venture into town in case you do something that gets you into trouble. Again, I would like to stress that you can (and should) explore the town and talk to everyone to learn more, but I will just tell you what you need to complete to get on with the game. Go to the cobbler's hut to talk to Lobb. He will not speak to you unless you give him the lady's slipper. Do so, and he will take you to a back room where he will tell you that there is a treasure of 50,000 marks that will be coming through Sherwood sometime soon. You will need to steal this money to raise the ransom for King Richard. Lobb will give you a silver comb that you will need to give to Lady Marian to prove to her that you have talked to Lobb. Leave Lobb's now, and leave Nottingham. You will be taken to a night scene, but not much is revealed that you don't already know. FREEING THE WIDOW'S SONS The next day, go into camp, click on the map icon, and go the Willow Grove. Marian is waiting for you, but she will not speak until you give her the silver comb. Do so, and she will tell you that she needs a scroll from the Fen Monastery. This will be one of your future quests. After Marian is through telling you what she needs, click on the map icon (don't forget to pick up your bow!), and go to the overlook. On the overlook, you will soon see another peasant being taken prisoner by another of the sheriff's men. Intercept them, and again, a sheriff's man (Hodges this time) will tell you to get lost or face the consequences. Talk some more to Hodges, and he will say that he will be able to kill the poacher before you can kill him. But, being Robin Hood the master archer, you will be able to take out Hodges with no problem. After Hodges is dead, talk to the poacher a bit, and before he leaves, give him a farthing, and he will also be eternally grateful to you. After the poacher leaves, you will be taken back to camp for a night scene. After waking up the next day, exit your cave and Much will talk to you for a bit about nothing of relevance. Click on the map icon and go to the widow's house. She will be there with Tuck, and she will tell you that her three sons have been taken prisoner in Nottingham. You graciously volunteer to save them from the hangman's noose. Head to the overlook now, and you will see an abbey monk and a Fen monk on the street. Walk to the street to intercept them. When you walk to Waitling Street, you will either meet with either the abbey monk or the Fen monk. If you meet the abbey monk, continue from here. But if you meet the Fen monk, skip to the next section of the walkthru (The Fen Monastery), complete that section, and then return here. On Waitling Street you will meet with an abbey monk who is terrified at the sight of you. Talking to him only reveals that he is pretty much of a wimp. Click on the action icon, and then click on the monk. He will think you are trying to harm him, and he will give up his robe to you. After a funny scene involving Tuck and the monk, you will be back out on Waitling Street again. Go back to Nottingham, this time going to the castle. Here you will see Hubert guarding the gate. Talk to him, and then give him three farthings to get into the castle. You will be allowed to talk to the widow's sons for a bit. Also while you are in the guard room, take note of the door leading east; you will be using it soon. You will be led back out of the castle by the guards. Now, go to St. Mary's abbey. Use the action icon on the door of the church to gain entrance. Once inside St. Mary's, you will be presented with an overhead view of the church. Use the look icon to see short descriptions of each section of the church, and use the walk icon to enter various parts of it. There are four places in the church that you will be able to enter and get a full screen view of. These are: the refectory, the Abbot's room, the laundry room, and the Chapel. Your first stop is the laundry room. In here get the three robes hanging on the north wall. That is all you need to do here; exit and go to the Chapel. On both sides of the altar you will see two doors that lead out. Take either door, and you will be in a hedge maze at the back of the church. You need to explore this maze until you find a path to the very back of the maze where you will see a door embedded into the hedges. Go through the door and you will be in the area where the Abbot burns women who he believes to be witches. There is nothing to be done here yet, so leave by using the action icon on the middle ring. It is very important that you find the fastest path possible from the Chapel to the back door: you will return here later in the game, and you will need to get to the back door as fast as possible. Exit the maze now, and go to the refectory in the church. In the refectory, you will see the Abbot playing with a puzzle box. Talk to the Abbot, and he will want you to get him some more ale. He says you won't need the cask on the table in front of him, but take it anyway. Leave St. Mary's and go to the pub. In the pub you will see two people that you need to talk to -- the innkeeper and Harry, who is sitting at the Nine Men's Morris table. First, talk to the innkeeper, and then give him the cask you took from the church. He will replace it with a new one, and then tell you that you can take the short cut back to the church when you need to. Don't leave yet; instead talk to Harry. Harry will want to bet you on a game of Nine Men's Morris. He has an amethyst that he will wager against one farthing. Keep talking to Harry until he accepts your challenge. At the table, you can either give Harry a one farthing bet, or if you wait a while, he will play you without a wager. I recommend not betting on the first game you play: wait until you get the hang of the game, and then play Harry for real. You need to beat Harry to win the amethyst. So, when you feel you are ready, give Harry a farthing, and play begins. There is not much I can do to help you win the game; you are on your own here. All I can recommend is to read the instructions in the manual, and try to use the strategy that I found very useful. The way I beat Harry in both practice and real games was to create a mill where I could move one of the three stones back and forth within the mill. Using this technique, I was finally able to beat Harry and get the amethyst. Good luck! After you have beaten Harry and gotten the amethyst from him, use the action icon on the barred door, and the innkeeper will let you in the back room. Along the east wall, you will see four barrels. If you use the action icon on the tap (not the barrel itself) of the second barrel from the top, you will find a secret passage out this room. You will now be in a sandstone cave with a passage to the left and to the right. Take the left exit first, and you will see a door. In the door, there is a small peephole; use the look icon to look through it. You are now looking into the guard room where you previously talked to the widow's sons through the dungeon door. After Giles and Robert have finished talking, backtrack through the cave and take the other passage. You will come to a opening in the rock that is covered by a tapestry. Use the action icon on the tapestry and you will be back in the refectory in St. Mary's. You can now use this secret passage whenever you want to from now on by using the action icon on the left side of the tapestry. The Abbot will want some wine, so give him the cask, and he will want you to drink with him. Before doing so, he will give the puzzle box to another monk to take back to his room. Sit in the chair next to the Abbot, and he will give you a drink. After taking the first drink, put the amethyst that you won from Harry in your mug. Now, just keep drinking until the Abbot passes out. Leave the refectory and go to the Abbot's room on the east side of the church so you can get the puzzle box. It is hidden under the rightmost pillow on the Abbot's bed: use the action icon on the pillow to retrieve it. Go back to the refectory, and go back into the secret passage. Return to the guard room door, and look through the peephole again. Roger needs a drink in the worst way, but doesn't have enough money for one. He decides to hit on another prisoner for some money, and Giles will follow him. When they have both left, open the guard door, and leave some coins on the table by using the money icon (I left four farthings). Go back through the door, the game will take over, and you will be looking through the peephole again. After a funny exchange between Roger and Giles, they will leave the room. Go into the guard room again, and open the trap door. To get the widow's sons out, try to give them the robes. Amazingly, you will be able to figure out that you can make a rope out of the robe cords. As soon as you have freed the sons, go back through the door, and then back into the back room of the pub. Sounds like someone is having a party in the pub, but since you are freeing some criminals (according to the sheriff), you have no time to join the fun. When the question about leaving is posed, answer AYE, the widow's sons will leave, and you will follow behind. Walk toward the door, but before you can leave, the Sheriff of Nottingham will ask for a blessing. Talk to him and you will give him a blessing that benefits him. Leave the pub now, and the game will take over, first going to the widow's house, where she is so grateful for your having saved her sons that she gives you a golden net; and, second, going to a night scene at your camp. THE FEN MONASTERY The first thing to notice when you wake up the next day is that the monk's robe that you wore to free the widow's sons is laying on the ground. You can change into the monk's clothes at any time from this point on. Second, you now have 34 outlaws in your band since you freed the widow's three sons. Leave the cave, exchange some idle talk with John and Much, and head to the overlook. Almost immediately, you should see a Fen monk on the street. Walk toward the street to intercept him. Now, Fen monks are not real monks, they are soldiers who have sworn to protect Prince John so he can rule. Most are surly, and the one you are now confronting is no exception. After some talk, pull your bow on him. He will call you a coward and challenge you to a duel with a quarterstaff. You can either accept or reject his challenge; however, you want to play. If you accept, you will call your merry men to get John's quarterstaff. Depending on how you have the arcade setting set, the monk will either be easy or very difficult to beat. After killing him, you will change into his clothes, and you are ready to head to the Fen Monastery. When you get to the Fen Monastery, walk toward it, and you will end up on the edge of a murky swamp. Look at your inventory now, and you will notice that you have a bag of stones and a reed whistle that you took from the Fen monk you killed. Use the whistle and a monk in a boat will appear. Get into the boat, and he will take you to the entrance to the monastery. Talk to the monk guarding the gate, and he will want you to prove to him that you are truly a Fen monk. First give him the whistle, and then the bag of stones. He will now ask you three riddles, all of which concern the stones. To answer the riddles, refer to the pages in the game manual where there are descriptions of each stone and what each one can do. When the monk asks the riddles, he will want you to point to three stones from the nine stones displayed. The riddles aren't all that difficult; you should be able to pick out the stones from the clues given by the monk, along with the stones' descriptions in the manual. After a riddle is answered correctly, you can save your game before answering the next riddle, so you won't have to start all over again if you answer incorrectly. After you have completed the riddles, you will be allowed to enter the monastery. As with St. Mary's Abbey, you will be presented with an overhead view of the monastery. The main areas in the monastery are the torture chamber in the upper left tower, the stairs leading to a study in the lower right tower, and the refectory in the center. The rest of the monastery consists of monks' chambers (which are all dead ends), and the Prior's room. Start by entering the refectory where you will see and talk with the Prior. He will leave to go torture a prisoner in the torture chamber. Follow him there, and you will see a jester who has been strung up by the Prior. After talking with the Prior, he will leave, leaving you in charge of the jester. Use the action icon on the ropes on the back wall to let the jester down. You will then learn that he is, in fact, King Richard's court jester, and his name is Fulk. Fulk won't truly believe that you are NOT a Fen monk until you retrieve his verses from the Prior who took them from him. There is no way to talk him out of this, so exit the torture chamber, go up the stairs in the lower right tower, and enter the study. The Prior will be here, studying Fulk's verses. Ignore him for the moment, and look at the scroll case at the back of the room. You will be shown a bunch of scrolls, all of which you can look at and read if you like. The scroll that Marian spoke of is located at the bottom center of the case, get it before you leave the scroll case. Leave the scroll case and go back to the Prior. He doesn't want much to do with you, so use the action icon on his wine glass to get his attention. Being so clumsy, you manage to knock over the wine glass and get the Prior out of the room. Well, I guess that wasn't so clumsy, then, was it? Take Fulk's verses, go back to the torture chamber, and give the verses to Fulk. He will now believe you are Robin Hood and he will show you a secret way out of the monastery. In this secret room, get in the boat and you will automatically go the gate. You can't lift the grate, and Fulk doesn't know how to get out. If you read the scrolls in the study, one gave you a clue how to get out: "Touch the face of wisdom ... Touch the face of hunger... And the fools tongue will be loosened." The faces over the grate are arranged like this: 4 3 5 2 6 1 7 To get out, touch (by using the action icon) in this order: Face 1, Face 5, then Face 3. The grate will open and you are free! You will be taken to shore where Fulk will give you his scroll and the Ring of Water. He also tells you that his verses will help you to unlock the puzzle box that you stole from the Abbot's room in St. Mary's. After Fulk leaves, you will be taken to a night scene at your camp, where you tell your men of your incredible, heroic deeds at the monastery. THE GREEN MAN When you awake the next morning in your cave, you will notice that the Fen monk's robe is on the floor next the abbey robe. Walk outside to the camp, click on the map icon, and go to the willow grove. Marian will be there waiting for you. Talk to her a bit, and then give her the scroll that you took from the Fen Monastery. She will take the scroll and show you the Druid hand code. Don't worry about writing the hand code down, it is located in the LONGBOW manual. She will then tell you about three important tasks to complete. First, she will tell that you need to meet a scholar at the Nottingham Fair and show him a coat of arms. The coat of arms that she will tell you to show to the scholar is also located in the LONGBOW manual. Second, she will inform you about the Queen's knight who will be coming later in the game. And lastly, she will tell you to talk to the Green Man and answer his riddles to gain his help. After Marian has finished talking, leave her, and go to the oak tree. From the tree, go south one screen, and wait. After a few seconds, you will see a pixie running across the meadow. You need to capture him (her?, it?) with the golden net that the widow gave you. To capture the pixie, you need to throw the net in the pixie's path. You need to throw the net before him, not right on him. Don't worry if you miss the pixie: he will keep running past you until you capture him. Once you have captured the pixie, he will take you to the big oak, and he will call the Green Man. The Green Man will appear from the oak tree, and he tells you that he will help you if you answer his riddles. He then merges back with the tree, waiting for your response. It is a good idea to save your game here, as the riddles that the Green Man poses are very difficult. When you are ready, talk to the portion of the tree that the Green Man disappeared into, and he will appear again. This time, he will turn you into a partial tree, and ask you three riddles. You need to answer the riddles in the Druid hand code that Marian gave you. One of the hardest parts about the riddles that I found was that if you made a mistake answering (e.g., pointing at "A" instead of "M"), there was no way to backspace over the bad character and retype the correct character. So, you must be very careful in answering the riddles. But the Green Man will give you three wrong guesses until he turns you into a full tree. Here are the riddles and answers that the Green Man will ask: Riddle 1: "Metal or bone I may be, many teeth I have and always bared, yet my bite harms no one, and ladies delight in my touch." Answer: COMB Riddle 2: "I am the outstretched fingers that seize and hold the wind, wisdom flows from me in other hands, upon me are sweet dreams dreamt, my merest touch brings laughter." Answer: FEATHER Riddle 3: "My first master has four legs, my second master has two legs, my first I serve in life, my second I serve in death. Cure me and I live beyond my death. Tough I am, yet soft beside, 'gainst ladies' cheeks I oft reside." Answer: FUR Riddle 4: "Golden treasures I contain, guarded by hundreds and thousands, stored in a labyrinth where no man walks, yet men come often to seize my gold, by smoke I am overcome and robbed, then left to build my treasure anew." Answer: HIVE Riddle 5: "I am a window, I am a lamp, I am clouded, I am shining, I am colored, set in white, I fill with water and overflow, I say much, but have no words." Answer: EYE Riddle 6: "Not born but from a mother's body drawn, I hang until half of me is gone, I sleep in a cave until I grow old, then valued for my hardened gold." Answer: CHEESE Riddle 7: "I am the heart that does not beat; if cut, I bleed without blood, I can fly, but have no wings, I can float, but have no fins, I can sing, but have no mouth." Answer: WOOD Riddle 8: "I am two-faced but bear only one face, I have no legs but travel widely, men spill much blood over me, kings leave their imprint upon me, I have greatest power when given away, yet lust for me keeps me locked away." Answer: COIN Riddle 9: "High born, my touch is gentle, purest white is my lace, silent, silent is my kingdom, green is the color of my death." Answer: SNOW Whew! When you have finished with the riddles, the Green Man will tell you that you now have the ability to command the Druid trees when you are in trouble. Sounds like a good thing to have. Leave the Green Man now, and the game will take you to a night scene at your camp where again you boast of your heroic deeds. Is it just me, or does Robin sound like a bit of an egoist? THE NOTTINGHAM FAIR When you arise the next morning, go to camp, and your merry men will be wanting to go to the Nottingham Fair. They will go off leaving you to find your own way to the fair, along with finding a disguise. Now, remember at the very start of the game, I mentioned that there was an archery range somewhere in Sherwood? Well, since you will be going to the fair and competing in the archery tournament, now would be a good time to practice your archery skills. To get to the archery range, walk north from camp until you hit it. You will see three targets hung on the trees, and you will also notice a flag which indicates in which direction the wind is blowing. To practice your archery skills, click the bow icon on any target. In the manual is a description of how to load and fire an arrow. You need to practice enough so that you can get all six arrows in the center target without missing one. Once you have mastered the bow, go to the overlook and wait until you see someone walking along the street. Intercept him, and you will find that he is a yeoman heading for the Nottingham Fair to compete in the archery tournament. You need his outfit to disguise yourself so you can compete, so talk to the yeoman a bit, and then offer him some money for his clothes. The game will take over from here, and after some more talking, you will change into the yeoman's outfit and you are ready to head to the fair. Go to Nottingham now, and you will see a sign for the fair. Click on it, and you will enter the fair which is a bustle of people and activities! There is too much going on in the fair for me to tell you everything you can do. I encourage you to talk to the people at the fair as most have something to say, and there are some points to be made if you talk to the right people. I will just tell you what you need to do to continue with the game. The first thing to do is to find the scholar of whom Marian spoke. The scholars are easy to find: they are the only ones who are walking throughout the fairgrounds. When you find one, talk to him (or her) and he will show you a coat of arms from his book. Keep answering NAY until he shows you the right one that Marian told you about. If he doesn't have it, you will need to find another scholar who does: you may need to find two or three. Once the scholar has shown you the correct coat of arms, answer AYE, and then give him the Druid scroll. He will offer you some money; take it if you need it, and leave the scholar. The next thing to do in the fair is to head to the archery tournament to compete. Keep walking west in the fairgrounds until you get to the tournament site. The prize of the tournament is the golden arrow, which will increase your ransom amount if you manage to win it. Before starting the tournament, save your game so you can start over in case you lose. To start the tournament, you need to pay Roger a penny, and you will then be allowed to practice. Click the bow icon on the center target and take your six practice shots. The tournament will begin, you will have to fire three arrows twice, and then one final arrow to win. Once you have won the tournament, you will be given the golden arrow by the sheriff, which increases your ransom amount by 10,000 marks. After this, you will be taken to a night scene in your camp, where you tell of the tournament to your merry men. John also mentions that you may need to steal some money from the sheriff himself to get more ransom money. CLEANING OUT THE SHERIFF When you wake the next day, go out to camp and Will will tell you that the forest sounds strange to him today. Go the widow's hut now, and she will tell you that the sheriff's men are searching Sherwood for you. You need to avoid the sheriff's men for the game to continue, so go to the big oak where you talked with the Green Man. If the next part seems a but confusing, I didn't quite understand why we had to do this either. Anyway, once you are at the oak tree, go east one screen, and north two screens. You will be in a grove of Druid trees: this is the place the Green Man told you about. To avoid and beat the sheriff's men, go east one screen and you should be told that the sheriff's men are crashing through the forest. If it doesn't happen, go back to the Druid grove, and then back to the east until the game tells you that the sheriff's men are coming. When you hear the men, run to the Druid grove to the clearing in the center. Click the action icon on yourself to bring up the Druid hand code. Type out NION, which is the real name of the ancient Druids. You will then be turned into a tree, the sheriff's men will pass, and you will be safe. When you are back to your normal self, go to the overlook and wait. Soon, a jeweler will be walking by. Intercept him, talk to him a while, and click the action icon on him to see what he is carrying. You won't find much the first time, so click the action icon on him again. This time you will find some fake jewels that he was planning to sell to the sheriff's wife. After some more talk, you will change clothes with the jeweler, so you can sell the jewels to the sheriff's wife yourself. After everyone leaves, look at your inventory, click on the jeweler's rouge, and then use it on yourself to complete the disguise. Off to Nottingham to sell the jewels. Go to the castle, talk to Hubert, and you will be taken to the sheriff and his wife. Talk to them both, and then give them the package that contains the fake jewels. The sheriff wife's will agree to buy them, but you will tell them both a very tall tale that convinces them that there is a huge stash of jewels to be had if he gives you 5,000 marks. The sheriff agrees, but wants more proof. Show him the half diamond (you need to show it to him twice) and he will be convinced. The next part of the game is all automated, and after it has finished, you will be 5,000 marks richer, and the sheriff will leave the forest buck naked to the world. You will then be taken to a night scene where Marian joins you. The important part of this scene tells you that you need to meet Marian the next day to get a password so you can prove who you are to the Queen's knight when he arrives. SAVING MARIAN Before we continue, now is a good time to open the puzzle box that you took from the Abbot's room. Look at your inventory, and use the action icon on the box to look at it. You will see 12 different letters that, if pushed in the right order, will open the box. Leave the box for now, go back to your inventory, use the action icon on Fulk's scroll to open it, and use the look icon to read it. When you get to the verses, write down the first character of the name of the person who said the first verse. Continue writing down the first character of each name (in the order they appear on the scroll) for all the other verses. You will now have a word like LIBERO (which was mine, but this is random). Go back to the puzzle box, push each letter in order, (e.g., "L," "I," "B," etc.), and the box will open, revealing the Ring of Fire inside. Put the ring on. After opening the box, go out to camp, and John will be waiting with some distressing news. It seems that the Abbot has decided that Marian is a witch, and he means to burn her at the stake. You, of course, can't let this happen: you must save her! Use your horn to call your men to camp so you can come up with a plan to save Marian. After some discussion between you and your men, you are given an option window with the five different plans that your men came up with. You must choose the one that you think will best help to save Marian. I chose John's plan, but you may want to try others to see what happens. This section of the walkthru is based on choosing John's plan. After you have decided that John's plan is the one to use, you will be taken to Nottingham. Go to the pub, and keep talking to the bartender until he agrees to let you use the secret tunnels. Use the tunnels to get to the refectory in St. Mary's. Go to the chapel, and save your game here. Also, before you go into the maze area, make sure you are wearing the Ring of Fire. Enter the maze and take the quickest path that you previously took to get to the door at the back of the maze. You must be quick about it: too many wrong turns will result in the Abbot burning Marian before you can save her. Once you get to the door, open it, and the game will take over, and after all is said and done, you have saved Marian, and you will end up in the willow grove. Marian is pretty badly hurt though, so use the half diamond that you have on her. Your half and her half will merge, and the healing power contained within will save Marian. When she comes to, she will tell you the password that you will need to tell to the Queen's knight. This word is random (mine was LEIGE). After this, you will be taken to a night scene in camp, where more news about the impending arrival of the treasure will be discussed. THE TREASURE TRAIN Walk out to camp the next day, and Tuck will arrive with the news that the treasure train has finally arrived in Nottinghamshire. Call your men with your horn so you can come up with a plan for the best way to steal the treasure. They will all come up with different plans, and you need to choose the one that you think will be best. The best plan to choose is Tuck's: it will result in the capture of the 50,000 marks with no loss of men. But you should try some of the others to see what happens, especially try Much's plan, which is a riot! After gaining the treasure, you will be taken to a night scene where you are told that the Queen's knight will be coming soon. The next day, walk out to camp, and Will will tell you that the sheriff's men are again in the forest. As you did earlier in the game, you need to avoid them again before the game will continue. Do this exactly as you did before; I will repeat my solution again here: To avoid the sheriff's men, use the map icon and go to the oak tree. From the tree, go east one screen, and north two screens. You will be in a grove of Druid trees: this is the place the Green Man told you about. To avoid and beat the sheriff's men, go east one screen and you should be told that the sheriff's men are crashing through the forest. If it doesn't happen, go back to the Druid grove, and then back to the east until the game tells you that the sheriff's men are coming. When you hear the men, run to the Druid grove to the clearing in the center. Click the action icon on yourself to bring up the Druid hand code. Type out NION, which is the real name of the ancient Druids. You will then be turned into a tree, the sheriff's men will pass, and you are safe. When you are back to yourself again, go to the overlook, and you will see that your men have intercepted the Queen's knight. Walk to them, and talk to the knight. He will want your men to leave before he will talk. Your men will leave; keep talking to the knight, and you will soon find that he is not the real Queen's knight. You have to be quick here: when the icon turns into a bow, shoot the impostor before he can get you. When he is dead, search him, and you will find proof that he is not the Queen's knight. Use your horn to call your men so they can clean up the mess, go to the map icon, and you will be taken to a night scene at camp. SAVING THE QUEEN'S KNIGHT/ENDGAME Go out to camp the next morning, and Will will tell you that it is up to you to save the Queen's knight from the prisoner's tower in the Fen Monastery. Before you leave camp, put on the Ring of Water. Use the map icon and go to the monastery. When you arrive at the monastery, you will see a multitude of Will-o-th'- Wisps floating above the swamp. Talk to any one of them, and they will bring you a boat. Get in the boat, and follow the Wisps to the prisoner's tower. Get out of the boat, and try to climb the vines. They will break under your weight. So, you need to use the Druid hand code and spell out the word GORT to get the vines to strengthen enough so you can climb them. Climb the vines until you see the window. Go into the window to meet the Queen's knight. He won't trust you until you give him the password that Marian gave you (using the Druid hand code). After the knight believes you are trustworthy, you'll be put into an arcade sequence in which you must avoid the monks' rocks. When you have won or bypassed the arcade sequence, the knight will leave with all of the ransom money you have accumulated to free King Richard. The last part of the game is all automated, and the endgame sequence that you will see depends on how you have played the game. Personally, I was taken to trial by King Richard, was acquitted, and finally married the Maid Marian. There are four other endgame sequences, so you may see something different. That's it for Robin in this game. Perhaps we will see him in another story! CONQUESTS OF THE LONGBOW: THE LEGEND OF ROBIN HOOD is published and distributed by Sierra On-Line, Inc. This walkthru is copyright (c) 1992 by Christopher. All rights reserved.