The Adventure International series are somewhat reknown for their wafer-thin plots, and Wizard Of Akyrz is no exception. The lead-in mumbles something about your past success in recovering the Golden Baton and killing the evil Xerdon with the Arrow of Death but then goes on to reveal that Xerdon was in fact only ever a henchman of the even-more-evil Akyrz.

And um, that's it. The game itself starts with the King beseeching you to go and rescue his daughter whilst the instructions indicate that Akyrz has lain the 'trap of all traps' for you. So, you start with absolutely nothing except a vague idea that you need to find a princess.

Go W from the throne room to a dressing room where you will see some strange spectacles. When you GET SPECTACLES you will be told that the sides of them are loose (so they need to be fixed with a chain that you will discover in a few moves). Return E and go E again into a corridor with an old oil painting hanging on the wall. The painting depicts the princess you are searching for which is a handy clue. GET PAINTING and it will tug on a chain that reveals a number of other exits in the corridor.

There is a cunning extra item here because you can GET the fine CHAIN that it is attached to. After this, DROP the PAINTING again and FIT the CHAIN to the glasses. You will be informed the two fit neatly together and they allow you to see in the dark later on in the game.

Now go N, W and U to the Princess' bedroom where you will see a sheepskin rug. This will come in handy so GET RUG and go D again. At the base of the staircase, EXAMINE STAIRCASE and it will reveal that there is a tapestry hanging on the wall. In turn, typing EXAMINE TAPESTRY will now reveal an ornate Elvish sword. GET SWORD. Alright, already your transformation into a knight in shining armour is starting to occur - although the adventure helpfully informs you 'There's something missing'!

Now go E and E again into a corridor with a linen chest in it. This is actually an exit and if you GO CHEST it will snap open and catapult you into a passage leading to a Dark Forest. In this forest you will find a shovel. GET SHOVEL. Now go N and E. Although you may think you are wandering randomly in the forest, in fact the maze is logical and you will now be in the correct location to be able to CLIMB a TREE.

At the top of the tree, EXAMINE the NEST and you will discover it hides a jewelled orb, which is decorated with asterisks much as in the style of the Scott Adams treasures. You will also be told that the treasures are guarded by ravens. Ignore that and GET ORB to continue. Now go D and S to a cave entrance. At this point, your sword will begin to glow fiercely.

Now the next part is controlled by a random number so it is always worth using the SAVE GAME feature at this point.

WEAR the GLASSES then go S into the cave and you will be faced with a repulsive slimy goblin. Type KILL GOBLIN and it will be chopped into sludge. You will see an iron key in this room now - but don't pick it up yet. Go W and N and you will arrive at a dead end.

In this location, you should DIG to uncover a golden sceptre and DIG again to create a narrow tunnel. GET SCEPTRE and you will be told again that 'RAVENS guard the treasures'. There is a clue in this sentence that perhaps you should not be thinking of the little bird ravens. After all this is a game with some magic words involved. Therefore, SAY RAVENS to be magically transported to the Royal Treasure Chamber. Here you can safely leave the treasures you have already collected.

DROP ORB and DROP SCEPTRE before SAYing RAVENS a second time. Now go S and E back to the cavern where you encountered the goblin. Only now GET the iron KEY here. Now go W and N back to the dead-end and the tunnel you created. GO into the TUNNEL.

Now go S and S along the tunnel. Now to uncover a royal crown. GET CROWN. Now go S, S, S along the tunnel and then W to a rocky ledge. You now need to REMOVE SPECTACLES to be able to see properly. Now you have to take a deep breath and JUMP down from the ledge to a mountain path. You don't need the shovel any more so DROP SHOVEL. However, there is a chicken here so GET CHICKEN.

Now go S to a raging torrent where you will see a fox, a bag of corn and a rickety bridge. Well, what do you know it's the whole fox-chicken-corn conundrum ported wholesale to a text adventure! You're already carrying the chicken so GO BRIDGE and DROP CHICKEN then GO BRIDGE again and GET the CORN.

GO BRIDGE again and DROP CORN. GET CHICKEN again and GO BRIDGE again. DROP CHICKEN and GET FOX. Now GO BRIDGE again and DROP FOX. Finally GO BRIDGE and GET CHICKEN before GOing onto the BRIDGE yet again.

Thank God that monotony is over, eh? If all has gone well you've have left the fox and corn on the trail and will now be carrying the chicken. PUSH the ROCK which is blocking the path and it will crash over a nearby ledge. Behind it is a steep path. GO PATH.

You will now be in a farmyard with a farmer counting his chickens. What do you know? There's one missing. The one that you discovered in fact. DROP CHICKEN and it will rush into the henhouse and the happy farmer will give you an ironbound staff in return. (Aren't you lucky?!)

Now go N, DROP the CROWN and GET the CORN before GOing back up the PATH to the farmyard again.

GO HOUSE and feed the chickens. They will calm down and return to their nestboxes allowing you to see that the henhouse contains a trapdoor. EXAMINE NESTBOXES to discover a ruby rod. GET the ROD and FIT ROD to sword.

Now UNLOCK TRAPDOOR and DROP KEY then go back N and N again. GET the CROWN you discarded earlier.

This next bit is best described as bizarre. GET FOX and CONCEAL FOX by stuffing him inside the sheepskin rug. The adventure will inform you that you now have a 'fox in sheep's clothing'. (I always thought the expression was a wolf in sheep's clothing but I digress.)

Now GO PATH and GO HOUSE and GO TRAPDOOR in quick succession. You'll roll right into the middle of a pack of hunters and baying hounds but the fox's disguise will prevent them from ripping him to shreds. Cunning.

Now go E into the woods where you'll find a vixen and foxcubs, the family in fact of the fox you rescued. DROP the FOX here and he will trot away then sit down and look at you. This is an indication to FOLLOW FOX. He will, instinctively, know that he needs to lead you to the princess. How? F**k knows!

After the fox has left you, WAVE WAND to float into a castle chamber. You will need to WEAR the SPECTACLES again. Then go E and you will enter a library where there is an Ancient book. GET BOOK and a piece of paper will magically fly into your hand. READ PAPER but you will be told it is indecipherable. Now, HIDE PAPER in the book.

Go N into a study room presided over by a menacing stone troll. KILL the TROLL with the super-rod-sword. Then type GO DOOR to squeeze past the stone troll to a secret door. (This door is not described in the location description so again there's not really any clue as to how to find it unless you have a solution).

You now enter the 'End Game', interrupting Akyrz 'molesting' the princess. (Ugh! Sometimes you're happy these things are just in text format!) GIVE BOOK to him and, as he seizes it, he will be cursed by a huge demon and flee the scene. The princess will also be freed.

GET PRINCESS and SAY RAVENS to be transported to the Royal Treasure Chamber again. Now DROP CROWN and DROP PRINCESS to complete the game. The King will turn up and congratulate you on your success.

You are also given the password 'QUESTOR', although what use this password actually is, no-one is sure!

Jacob Gunness