King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow/Walkthrough

Story
Our story begins several months after the events of King's Quest V, where King Graham saved his family from the evil wizard Mordack, and along the way rescued Princess Cassima of the Land of the Green Isles, whom Mordack had enslaved. Prince Alexander, King Graham's son, was quite taken with Princess Cassima, and asked her permissions to visit the Land of the Green Isles sometimes. It seemed like their romance was off to a fine start.

As the introduction begins, though, Alexander is feeling very desolate. His mother, Queen Valanice, comes in and asks him if he's still pining for Cassima. Alexander replies that he is: despite his best efforts, he's been unable to find any information about the Land of the Green Isles anywhere. It's as if they don't exist. Valanice comforts Alexander the best that she can, but tells him that he may have to just forget about Cassima.

On the very same day, Alexander sees a vision of Cassima in the Magic Mirror of Daventry. She's in a tower somewhere, and appears to be in some distress, but before Alexander can learn more, the vision disappears. Still, the vision has given Alexander a valuable clue: he saw stars in the night sky, which gives him something he can navigate by. Heartened by this information, he prepares his ship and sets off at once for the Land of the Green Isles.

Alexander and his crew sail for nearly three months in search of the Land of the Green Isles. Finally, Alexander sees land through his telescope, and prepares to dock on the island he's seen. But as his ship is sailing to the island, a fierce storm comes up, and the ship runs aground on the rocks and sinks...

A Note on this Walkthrough
King's Quest VI is one of the most open-ended games in the King's Quest series: while many actions are required, a surprising number are optional. Near the endgame, the story breaks off into two paths, each containing related yet very different puzzles. The actions you take during the game and the path you choose to finish the game will affect the ending you get: see the Endings page for details on all the ending variations.

This walkthrough will guide you through a perfect completion of the game (i.e. maximum points and the best ending). This requires that you choose the "long" path through the game. For those of you who want to see all aspects of the game (even though you won't get a 100% Completion trophy: there weren't any such things when this game was released), the walkthrough also includes a section for completing the game on the "short" path. The default will be to follow the long path, though.