solutions/Mindwheel.sol

                                 MINDWHEEL
                               (Broderbund)

Mindwheel,  although it looks formidable at first glance, is not really all
that  hard  a game. The primary difficulty is answering the various riddles
and  obtaining the words for the sonnets; the other puzzles in the game are
almost trivial by comparison.

With  that said, let's get started. After entering the word of the day, you
find  yourself  in Virgil's laboratory. No preliminaries are really needed,
just get started (anything he can tell you can you also find out by reading
the  book). So, now you're onstage in the mind of Bobby Clemon. Pick up the
rose,  then  go over to the keyboard and play it. The ghost of Bobby Clemon
will  appear  and sing a song. Pay attention to the words of the song; some
of  them  will  be  useful later. Also open the keyboard and get the brooch
that's inside. Read the plate, too.

Now,  you've  probably seen a thug running around. If he isn't near you, go
find him. Since he's such an obnoxious person, belt him one with your fist.
You will both be drawn upward into a strange vortex, where you and the thug
must  now  duel.  You  can safely ignore the bizarre things that float past
you; they are simply there as window dresssing.

Ask  the  thug  for the rules of the duel, and then choose the disc when he
asks  you  to pick your weapon. Note that you may have to do this more than
once;  on one occasion, opening the disc box revealed a pizza! In any case,
when  you  have  the  real disc, the thug will become alarmed, and offer to
tell you something important in exchange for his life.

What  he  has  to  tell  you  is  the last two words of the Fear Sonnet, so
pretend  to  agree,  and  then throw the disc at him after he gives you the
words.  Since  he  was planning to go back on his word and kill you anyway,
it's important that you get in your blow first.

With  the  thug  taken care of, you are lifted to the top of the Vortex, to
the  fringes of the Poet's mind. Here you encounter the delightful (?) Spaw
and his friends, along with a toad. Pick up the toad, he will come in handy
later  on. Spaw will tell you that you must complete the Fear Sonnet before
you  can  actually  enter the Poet's mind via the Love Room. If you ask the
toad  about  Spaw,  he  will give you one of the needed words to finish the
Sonnet, and at this point, you actually have all the words you need.

In fact, the six words are: Night, Cast, Sense, Tyranny, Diverting, Images.
Write  each  of  these in the appropriate blank, and hand the paper to Spaw
(or,  you  can  write  them in and show them to Spaw one at a time for some
amusing  responses).  The  devil will step aside, and as you enter the Love
Room, will hand you a book.

In  the  Love  Room,  you will find a variety of strange insects engaged in
bizarre  acts  of love-making. Ignore them all, and walk north to the table
where  the  glass  woman  sits. She will tell you she can help you, but you
must  give her a flower first. Give her the rose (NOTE: in all transactions
here, you must refer to this woman as "lady" or else the parser will become
confused).

Now  she asks you to complete the Love Sonnet, which, fortunately, requires
only  two  words.  If  you  examine the book, you will note that it bears a
resemblance  to  a  book  mentioned  in the book/manual that comes with the
game;  in  fact,  the title of that book, History of My Heart, contains the
two words you need to finish the sonnet.

The lady now transforms into a flesh and blood woman, unlocks the drawer in
the  table,  and leaves. Open the drawer and get the bottle of pills. Leave
the  Love  Room (this is all you need to do in the Poet's mind), and return
via the Vortex to Bobby Clemon's mind.

When  you  return  to  Bobby's  mind,  you  will  notice that the stage and
environs  are  now  deserted. Which is fine, because you couldn't have gone
down  the  ramp  while  people were there. So, hop along down the ramp, and
then go East to the Exit sign. Open the door and go out.

You  are now in a courtyard, inhabited by bums wearing the rags of baseball
uniforms.  As  you  might  suspect, these "bums" are actually the "Brooklyn
Bums",  or  "Brooklyn  Dodgers". Only one is awake; he wears a number 14 on
his  back.  If you ask him who he is, he will tell you only his first name,
Gil.  For  those  who  are not baseball fans, Number 14 is Gil Hodges. Make
note of that name, as you will need it later when you reach the end game.

After  chatting  with  Gil, take a look at the oil drum. You'll see a small
wooden  object in there. It's actually a toy bat, and you may be needing it
later,  so  take that, and then go back to the stage. You have finished now
with the mind of Bobby Clemon.

On  stage,  go North to the door, open it, and go through to the staircase.
These  stairs lead to the mind of the Generalissimo. Go up, and at the top,
you  will  see  a  giant cage, inside of which is a winged woman being held
captive.  Talk  to  her.  She  will  tell you that she can be freed only by
someone  answering  the riddle on the cage. This riddle is rather easy, and
the answer is "Rooster" (you could have gotten a hint about it by examining
your harmonica). As she leaves, she will give you some helpful hints.

Go  North  then  West  and  you'll come to a room with a door and a weeping
soldier,  petrified  from the waist down, who is blocking a staircase going
up.  Talk  to  the soldier, who will tell you what needs to be done to free
him (the stairs, by the way, lead to Eva Fein's mind).

You  need to get further into the General's mind, and that can only be done
by passing the door, which has a riddle of sorts written on it. The missing
word in this case is "Eternity". Say that, and the door will open, allowing
you to go out into the freeezing cold and snow.

Once outside, go either East or West, where the Lizard officer will capture
you.  He  will offer a trade for you disc; accept that, and ask him for his
baton  and helmet, then give him your disc (don't worry, you'll get it back
soon  enough).  After  that,  go either West or East to the front, and from
there, South to the fountain.

Along  the way, you will run into some animal-headed children. Ignore them;
you  can't afford to let yourself be "captured" by them right now. Continue
on  to  the fountain, which you notice is full of blood. If you examine the
baton, you will see that it has some special powers. Touch the baton to the
fountain,  and  the  blood changes to water. Fill the helmet with the water
and return to the soldier.

Give  him  the  helmet.  He will become unpetrified, and then suddenly melt
away,  rather  painfully,  as  though the water acted as an acid on him. If
you've  been  here  before,  you  know  that  the soldier is really Spaw in
disguise,  and he was hoping you'd bring him blood in the helmet instead of
water. What a surprise for Spaw!

With  the  stairs open now, you can go up. Floating above you see an island
in  the  clouds.  That is Eva's mind, but it's not time for that quite yet.
Look  around,  and  you  will  see  a  couple  of objects on the floor. The
description here is not all that clear; there are two items, the disc and a
key.  Get  them  both, then go back downstairs. You are ready for the great
escape.

Of course, you can't escape unless you're captured, so go out into the cold
again  and surrender to the animal children. They will take you to the back
where  the  Lizard  will order you to be imprisoned with the winged people.
Freeing  them  is  fairly simple; just throw the disc at the gate. The disc
will cut through the barbed wire, and the winged people will begin climbing
the tall pine tree and flying away.

As  it's  pretty  cold  here, you better get away, too. Climb the tree, and
take  the  strange pine cone that you find on top. Now eat one of the pills
from  the  bottle. Aha! You've grown a pair of wings. Now one of the winged
people  will take you in tow, and drop you off on the island in the clouds,
just outside the mind of Eva Fein.

You stand at the door to the mind of Eva Fein. If you examine the door, you
will  see that it not only has a lock, but a strange indentation that looks
something  like  a  pine  cone.  Put the pine cone in the indentation, then
unlock the door with the key.

At  this point, SAVE THE GAME!!! Once you go through the door, you WILL NOT
be able to do any saving (don't ask why they wanted it this way, but that's
how  it is). So it's best to save now, in case you need to restore the game
later on.

Once  through  the  door,  you will be in a strange garden, laid out like a
chessboard.  There is a plaque on the wall with the rules of the game; it's
a  good idea to read them. The shed holds a ladder; you may or may not need
it, depending on which way you start out.

Throughout  the game, you will be running into characters you've met before
in  other  minds,  dressed as chesspieces. Sometimes, you capture them, and
sometimes, they capture you. If you get captured, you will lose some or all
of  the items you are carrying, and may only get back a few of them. If you
get  caught before or after reaching the bank, make sure you get the brooch
back, since that is the only necessary item at this point.

In  one sense, it doesn't matter all that much which in which direction you
start,  since  all  paths  will  evetually end up at the same place anyway.
However,  the easiest way is to go NE on the first move. This brings you to
a  room with a frog doorkeeper. He will be happy to open any of the forward
doors, so long as you tell him in Froggish.

Fortunately,  since you have the toad with you, that's really not much of a
problem.  Ask  your  toad  friend  to tell the frog to open the North door.
Passing  through  that  brings  you  into an orchard. Get the apple you see
here, and continue on North to the bank.

Here  you  find  yourself  on  line  behind a robot. The robot will ask for
something to write with; hand him the brooch. He will finish writing on his
check  and leave. This will allow you to go North out of the bank, into the
pasture.

This  is  the  square that all other paths end at. In the pasture you see a
long-tailed horse with saddlebags on his back. If you still have the apple,
give  it to the horse. If you don't have it, or after you've fed the horse,
hang  around and wait, doing nothing. The woman you helped back in the Love
Room will appear and capture you.

Now you must quote a line from the Love Sonnet. This is absurdly easy; just
pick any line from the Sonnet. You will be freed, although most of what you
had  with  you will be taken away. However, she will leave you the book and
the toy bat.

If  you've  already  fed  the  horse  the  apple,  you  don't need the bat.
Otherwise,  examine  it  carefully, and you will see that it can be opened.
Opening the bat will reveal a small, but edible, jujube, which you can give
to the horse to make it stand still.

In any case, once the horse is standing still, and the woman has left, open
the  saddle  bags  and  get everything inside. Also pick up all the objects
lying  around  the  pasture.  You  have  all  the items necessary to make a
fiddle.  Begin by putting the pegs in the holes, then tying the cord to the
fiddle.  Cut  some hair from the horse's tail with the scissors, and attach
it to the wooden handle (this is the bow).

Play  the  fiddle,  and  you will be able to exit the pasture to the north.
This  square  is  an  unpleasant  one,  as  it is populated by rather nasty
zombies.  There  is  only one way to get through safely: you must sacrifice
the  toad  to  them.  (If you wait long enough, the toad will tell you that
himself).  So,  throw the toad into the trench, and continue on north. Open
the hatch and go through.

You are almost to the Cave Master. However, before you can pass through the
ultimate  portal, you have another fill-in to do. Talk to the Red King, who
will  quote  something,  leaving one word blank. That is the word you need,
and  it's "transfigured". When you say that, the portal leading to the Cave
Master will open.

However,  you  can't  go  through  without  a  talisman.  Examine  the door
carefully,  and you will see the familiar disc stuck to it. Also there is a
picture  of Number 14, and an inscription telling you that you must say the
player's name to obtain the disc.

Since  you  know  the name, say it. The disc will come off the door and you
can  pick  it up, then go through the portal. At last you have reached your
goal,  the  all-knowing Cave Master. He gives you a wheel, and tells you to
fit  it  around  the  disc.  Don't bother examining it; you have only a few
moves  to  spare here (and if you blow it, remember, you have to start from
your last save position, outside Eva's door!). So, fit the wheel around the
disc.

Ta-da!  You've  successfully  completed your mission and saved mankind from
destruction  (although  I  must  say,  I  thought  the ending a bit feeble,
myself).


   * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *