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

Climbing the Logic Cliffs

Cliffs of Copy Protection

The Logic Cliffs serve as the copy protection for this game, as climbing them requires the information contained in the Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles included in the game box. Three of the Logic Cliffs puzzles are riddles, which this walkthrough will give solutions to. The other two are also riddles, but require you to know the "alphabet" of the Winged Ones, i.e. a set of symbols from the guidebook. This walkthrough can not provide that set of symbols for copyright reasons.

Unless you have the Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles or a copy of the relevant information from that guidebook, you will not be able to proceed past this point in the game.

Now that you're back on the Isle of the Sacred Mountain, it's time to climb the Logic Cliffs. No one has climbed them in centuries, but you'll have to give it a try for Cassima's sake.

Save Your Game

A misstep on the Logic Cliffs will kill Alexander, so it's recommended that you save your game before proceeding up the cliffs, and after you solve each puzzle.

Each screen of the Logic Cliffs consists of a puzzle set into the rock: you can LOOK at the puzzles or use the HAND on them to try and solve them. Successful solutions will cause a new set of steps to emerge from the rocks. WALK on each step to ascend the Logic Cliffs, but be careful: one false step will send Alexander plummeting to his death.

Spell out RISE to solve the first puzzle.

The first puzzle is the words "IGNORANCE KILLS WISDOM ELEVATES", and the clue from the Guidebook is "RISE". Click on the R in IGNORANCE, the I in KILLS, the S in WISDOM, and any of the E's in ELEVATES to solve the first puzzle [1]. Go up the stairs to the second puzzle.

The second puzzle is "A MASTER OF LANGUAGES WILL ----", and a set of ideograms corresponding to the Winged One's alphabet. The answer to the riddle is "soar". Using the Guidebook, find the ideograms that correspond to the letters S, O, A, and R, and enter those to solve the second puzzle [1]. Go up the stairs to the third puzzle.

The third puzzle is a set of four circles etched into the stone. The solution comes from the following riddle in the Guidebook:

Click on stones 4, 1, and 2 to solve the third puzzle.

Four men standing in a row,
Third from the left and down you go,
The rest, in order, move you on.
The Youngest, the Oldest, and the Second Son.

Click on the rightmost circle, the leftmost circle, and the second circle from the left to solve the puzzle [1]. See the screenshot if you're confused about which circles to click on. Go up the stairs to the fourth puzzle.

Spell out ASCEND to solve the fifth puzzle.

The fourth puzzle is "SACRED FOUR" and another copy of the Winged One's alphabet. The Sacred Four are the color azure, the emotion tranquility, the animal caterpillar, and the element air. These all correspond to letters of the Winged One's alphabet. Specifically, they correspond to the letters O, D, Q, and G. Use your Guidebook to enter the ideograms corresponding to these letters [1]. Go up the stairs to the fifth puzzle.

The fifth puzzle is the words "ALL SILENT CRY THE NOBLE BOULDERS", and the clue from the Guidebook is ASCEND. Click on the A in ALL, the S in SILENT, the C in CRY, the E in THE, the N in NOBLE, and the D in BOULDERS to solve this final puzzle [1]. Go up the stairs to the top of the Logic Cliffs.

Getting the Peppermint

Ignore the old woman: she's the genie in disguise.

Congratulations: you've made it to the top of the Logic Cliffs! And there seems to be someone here to greet you: there's an old woman up here who's offering you some berries that she claims will give you the power to fly. Those berries look like deadly nightshade, though, and the "old woman" has suspiciously glowing eyes. It's your old friend the genie again, trying to trick you into doing yourself in. Just ignore "her" until she gives up in frustration and disappears.

Now that she's gone, there's a cave by the nightshade that you'll want to explore. Use the HAND on the cave entrance to go in [1], but be very careful not to click on the nightshade by mistake. Doing so will be an immediate game over, as Alexander will eat the deadly berries and die shortly afterwards.

Take the peppermint from the cave.

Enter the cave. It's pretty dark in here: once you get away from the entrance, Alexander won't be able to see anything. There's another room in the cave, but if Alexander can't see it, he can't go in. USE the tinderbox to generate some light [2], and then use the HAND on the small opening on the right side of the screen to move into the next room.

The second room will have some more light due to a naturally occurring window. There's some sort of green plant growing by the window: it's peppermint. Use the HAND on the peppermint to take some [1]. You know that mint is a weakness of the genie's, so this is good to have.

You're all done here: time to explore the rest of the island. Exit the cave and walk north along the path.

Meeting Lord Azure and Lady Aeriel

Alexander meets Lord Azure and Lady Aeriel.

Once you walk north, you'll run into two Winged One guards, who will demand to know what you're doing there. When Alexander says that he climbed the Logic Cliffs, they'll scoff and dismiss such a thing as impossible, especially by a mere human. They'll also mention that the rulers of the Isle of Wonder stole the sacred golden fleece from their island. It seems there's a rash of thefts going on between the islands. The guards will then forcibly escort you to the palace of Lord Azure and Lady Aeriel, king and queen of the Isle of the Sacred Mountain.

A brief cutscene will play as Alexander meets with Lord Azure and Lady Aeriel. The vizier apparently left them orders to have you killed, but they're torn, as you've just fulfilled a prophecy regarding a hero who would come and climb the Logic Cliffs. The rest of the prophecy states that you'll defeat the minotaur, who has taken residence in the Catacombs and demanded sacrifices. Their daughter, Lady Celeste, is the next sacrificial victim, and they're desperate to save their daughter.

In the end, Lord Azure will decide to kill two birds with one stone: the vizier ordered you to be killed, but he didn't say how, and the catacombs should do the trick nicely. So the prophecy is fulfilled, you're out of his way, and he can sleep easily at night. Alexander will boldly say that he's ready to face the catacombs, and the guards will throw you in and shut the door behind you. The only way out now is to find and defeat the minotaur. Good luck: you're going to need it.

A Second Chance

You need the brick, the tinderbox, the hole-in-the-wall, and the scarf to survive being thrown in the catacombs. If you don't have these objects, Lord Azure and Lady Aeriel will let you go when you first meet them. The next time you return, though, you'll be thrown in the catacombs whether or not you have all the required objects.