Puzzle Solutions to Karma: Curse of the 12 Caves (Quest for Karma) General Notes * Game does not contain DISCISCC.DLL, must have in Windows directory for installation! Shift-click here to download * Occasionally get video artifacts (a typical problem from Director middleware) * No warning about overwriting a save-game file * Esc crashes out of the game * See game manual for maps Puzzles * The Cryptic Gate * The Coded Portal * The Red Pearl and the Golden Frog * Rage of the Eyeless Dragons * Sun and Moon * Soaring Dragons * The Last Pedestal of Buddha * Oil Pipes * Rhythms in the Wind * Floating Pairs * Turtles of Ruby and Emerald * The Magic Rope * The Arrows of Noor * The Three Pearls of Buddha * Restoration/Endgame * Cheats The Cryptic Gate Move clockwise from top center for solution: The Coded Portal This crucial puzzle may have been changed when the original Karma: Curse of the 12 Caves game was re-released as Quest for Karma. Here's the solution for Karma: Curse of the 12 Caves: The Red Pearl and the Golden Frog Gravity feed only Work backward from golden (left-hand) frog's mouth Bell required in inventory in order to move to right into inner cave Rage of the Eyeless Dragons Targets for pearls: Red Green Blue Pearls stay fixed in holes Place one pearl at a time; be careful for incorrect sticking of the other free ones Sun and Moon Rows are numbered from top to bottom; columns from left to right: Row Column Move 6 8 Left 7 6 Up 1 3 Down 4 1 Right 3 2 Right 6 2 Up Right Up Right Down Left Down 6 3 Right 8 4 Up Right Up Right Nice music on this one Soaring Dragons (Towers of Hanoi puzzle) Drag rings between towers A, B and C A -> B A -> C B -> C A -> B C -> A C -> B A -> B A -> C B -> C B -> A C -> A B -> C A -> B A -> C B -> C The Last Pedestal of Buddha This sliding-piece puzzle is the same as the doll-furniture one in The 11th Hour, with a slightly-different starting arrangement. (R,C) below refers to row,column when ambiguous Sequence 1 of 4 Sequence 2 of 4 S Left H Down V Down (3,2) S Down Left H Right V Left S Down V Left V Right V Down Down S Up B Right S Left V Right V Down S Up Up H Left Left S Up Up S Up Right V Left S Up Up V Down Down V Right B Left (4,1) S Right Down V Up Up H Down V Right S Left Left S Up Up S Left Left S Left Up Both V's Up H Right Right S Right Right Both V's Down S Right Right S Left Left Sequence 3 of 4 Sequence 4 of 4 B Down V Down Down S Right Right V Right S Up Right (1,2) S Right S Up Up S Right V Up Up V Right V Left V Up Up S Left Down B Left B Down S Down Down (1,3) S Down Left S Down Down V Left V Left V Up Up V Up Up B Right (4,3) S Right Up S Down Down H Up S Down S Right Right S Right S Right Right V Up B Down V Up S Left Left S Left S Left Left (4,2) S Down H Up B Left (5,3) S Up Right B Right Oil Pipes Cause each piece to be flipped. Press each piece marked with an X: Rhythms in the Wind Wait for gong after sound identification Note sequence of sounds Puzzle randomizes each time played 1 Flute/strings 2 Russian balalaika 4 Drums 3 Japanese 6 Strummed bass zither, 5 Thumped bass strings slur up at end Numbers represent order in initial sound identification Click on instruments in correct order to remove face, immediately listen to and write down next sound sequence Floating Pairs Puzzle randomizes each time played Display may be too fast to pick out pairs - under Windows 95, wait for gong to sound and pieces to turn over, then press PrintScrn button, switch control to Paint and select Edit | Paste (thanks to Beatriz Fiadeiro). Turtles of Ruby and Emerald Layout: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Make moves symmetrically: Red: 8 -> 2 Green: 1 -> 7 Red: 3 -> 4 Green: 6 -> 5 Result: Rotated counterclockwise 3/8, repeat 3 more times for 12/8=1/2 Red: 2 -> 6 Green: 7 -> 3 Red: 4 -> 8 Green: 5 -> 1 Red: 6 -> 5 Green: 3 -> 4 Red: 8 -> 2 Green: 1 -> 7 Red: 5 -> 1 Green: 4 -> 8 Red: 2 -> 6 Green: 7 -> 3 The Magic Rope To win the competitive Magic Rope game, you must use black line segments to block your opponent from creating a continuous path of green rope between the top and bottom of the screen. All plays are made on a square area in the center of the screen consisting of an interlaced grid of diamond-shaped regions in which a single black or green line segment can be placed either horizontally or vertically. You always get to move first, and should be able to force a win. The orientation of your black line segments is determined by a position-sensitive mouse cursor. Along the outer edges of the gameplay area, there are six rows and six columns in which line segments can be placed. Now if you were to create an unbroken path of black line segments connecting the left and right sides of the gameplay area, you would prevent any path of green rope from top to bottom, so your objective is analogous to that of your computer opponent, as is indicated by the game hint. Because of these symmetric objectives for the two players of the game, you will find that your opponent usually plays his green rope segments quite close to black line segments you've already placed. Here is a solution for winning the game in 21 moves, all except the last one using horizontal black line segments: * Start by placing your first black line segment horizontally as far to the upper left as possible. This may require a little hunting around with the mouse cursor to find the exact spot, which is somewhat more to the right than downwards from the upper-left corner of the colored background. * If your opponent plays a vertical rope segment, block it from immediately below if possible with a horizontal black line segment. * If your opponent plays a horizontal rope segment connected to a previous segment, block its free end from below with a horizontal black line segment. * After 20 moves, your opponent will eventually attempt to place a disconnected vertical green rope segment at the bottom of the screen: This is easily blocked by placing a vertical black line segment in the single space separating the green rope segments, at which point a continuous black path from left to right is created and you've won the game. The Arrows of Noor Dumb -- arrow stops responding! Arcade-type shoot-em-up Disappearing cursor -- can't exit or get help! (see modification in next puzzle) The Three Pearls of Buddha Help says white pearl, but pearl is blue, one of three?? Hand/eye coordination type game Mouse insufficiently responsive! Modify save-game file: Lotus Copper Coin The Arrows of Noor puzzle The Three Pearls of Buddha puzzle Restoration/Endgame To access the endgame, make sure you've obtained all twelve icons, then return to the main room on the lower level. Zoom in on the location identified as "Return of the Six Treasures" on your map, directly opposite the six-armed figure and between the Caves of Earth and the Caves of Wind. Put the six animating objects on the octagon in the following pattern: Lotus Bow Silver Hammer Cauldron Chisel Copper Coin Move forward twice and click the lotus icon in the open chest. Watch the endgame sequence describing "the glorious fountain of Kuan-yin", etc. Click on the Discis logo to return to the game control menu. Cheats Balmoral Software's KARMSOLV.EXE program (24 KB) modifies a Karma save-game file to have any puzzle marked as solved and the corresponding inventory/treasure item added. It can be used for any of the cave puzzles: Index Item Puzzle 1 Battle Axe The Red Pearl and the Golden Frog 2 Diamond Pestle Rage of the Eyeless Dragons 3 Bell Floating Pairs 4 Fiery Wheel Oil Pipes 5 Divine Pearl Sun and Moon 6 Conch Horn Rhythms in the Wind 7 Cauldron Soaring Dragons 8 Chisel The Last Pedestal of Buddha 9 Silver Hammer The Magic Rope 10 Lotus The Arrows of Noor 11 Copper Coin The Three Pearls of Buddha 12 Bow Turtles of Ruby and Emerald To use the program, make a copy of your saved game file, call it STUCK.DAT for example. From a Command Prompt under Windows, use CD commands to change to the directory where you saved STUCK.DAT. Then just run KARMSOLV STUCK.DAT to change the file. You'll be able to pick which puzzle to modify from a displayed menu. Then load the modified STUCK.DAT into your game. Copyright (c) 1999 Balmoral Software (http://www.balmoralsoftware.com). All rights reserved. Republication, redistribution or conversion is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Balmoral Software. Contents subject to change! For the latest information, see http://www.balmoralsoftware.com.