Hero’s Quest: So You Want to Be a Hero

The Basic Run-Down

You really need to do one thing to beat the game, and that is to rescue the Baron's daughter Elsa. But there are several other things that you should do to really establish yourself as a hero, two big ones among them. ") and then exploring the valley. Go to every screen and see what is there. You will find many things that you need to take to other places. See if you can find the Healer's ring, which will give you a nice start with 6 gold and 2 healing potions.

Go to the Baron's castle ("open gate") and meet the swordmaster. Meanwhile, or afterwards, it might be a good idea to build up your character, especially if you chose to be a fighter. If you chose to be a thief, then go rob a few people. If you chose to be a magic-user, then make sure you find all the spells. And then you have three main tasks to accomplish. First, you should rescue the Baron's son, the Baronet Barnard.

Then you need to penetrate the brigands' fortress and learn the identity of their leader. Optionally, you can either end the game right there or continue with your final task, which is to rid the valley of the evil witch Baba Yaga.

If you haven't played the game yet, then I would recommend that you go play it now and see what puzzles you can solve, since that's most of the fun of the game. If you got stuck or just want to see if you missed anything, then read on. There are also a few cheats, but my personal opinion is that it takes the fun out of the game to cheat. On the second edition of the game (the VGA edition, Quest for Glory I; not the EGA edition, Hero's Quest I), there is a way to cheat for gold using mushrooms. On either edition, there is a code used by the developers to let them do, basically, whatever they wanted, and that really takes the fun out of the game because you can go wherever or get whatever you want.

Tips for Building your Character

The one way to build up your skills is to practice them. You can build up each skill to a maximum of 100. I find that the abilities (the ones on the left in the Ctrl-S screen) are best built by building up the skills (the ones on the right). For example, intelligence is best built by using magic (and less so by using the other skills). Vitality, agility, and strength are built by doing nearly anything; vitality is even built by resting. Any practice will drain some vigor points, but a "rest" command will gain back 2 or 3 vigor points as well as 2 magic points (and sometimes a health point).

e. about once every three hours, though I haven't confirmed this).

Fighting the weapon master is a good way to build up fighting skill, especially when your fighting skill is low, since it gives you a chance to practice either weapon use (attack), parry, or dodge without risking getting hurt or killed. Have your vigor points full to get your money's worth, since you fight until you run out of vigor points (or you or he wins by pushing the other to the edge of the screen). Thus it is convenient to fight him when you first wake up in the morning (if you had a night's sleep), or perhaps after working in the barn (which, surprisingly, doesn't take any vigor points).

It can, however, be easier to work up your skills with real monsters. e. after resting). So you may want to fight the weapon master a few times until you can fight a goblin without much trouble (or just bring along some healing potions), and then fight a goblin to work up your dodge and parry skill. Hit the goblin until he's almost beaten, and then just keep dodging or parrying until you run out of vigor. Make the fatal blow, take his money, and rest.

Find another goblin. I find the screen with the goblin ambush ideal for this. Building your weapon use is a little harder, since you have to keep looking for more monsters. e. a lot of vigor points), you can get a lot of weapon use skill from the weapon master (again).

A great place to build up your stealth is to try to sneak in the cave where the kobold is. The first time you go there, sneak until you crouch. Then walk and do it again. When your stealth is built up enough that you always sneak on the first try, you can still build it up by typing "sneak" and "walk" alternately, repeatedly. You don't build up your sneak skill very fast by walking around while sneaking (surprisingly).

You can practice picking locks inside the town at night, but a better place is at the Healer's house. No one will come and take you away from there. You'll never get in, but it builds up your skill quite fast. Alternately, after your skill is fairly high, you can actually build it up by picking your nose. I'm serious! Type "pick nose," and it builds up your lock-picking skill. Don't try that when you're a novice, though, or it'll kill you.

The place where I usually build my climbing skill is at the target. You can only climb over the wall at night, but it's a great place to climb over and over, back and forth. In fact, even if you want to sleep in the inn, you can climb back and forth while "the night is still young," and then go into the inn before it closes right at midnight.

The target is, of course, the obvious place to practice your throwing skill. It's less monotonous if you have several daggers (like 5 or 10, depending on your preference). Throw them all, and then take them again. (When throwing daggers at monsters, make sure to pick them up again after you kill the monster. Another trick to throwing daggers at monsters is to "escape," get to the edge of the screen, and then throw a dagger. If you have enough time to hit him with it - some monsters run very fast - then escape again and repeat until you run out of daggers or kill the monster.

) I find this a less-effective way to build throwing skill, just due to the scarcity of magic points, but casting a flame dart actually builds up your throwing skill rather noticeably.

Finally, your magic skill is best built by building your skill in individual spells (which you see on the Ctrl-I screen), and you build skill in each spell simply by casting them. You don't even need to cast them with any use. Just keep casting open or detect or dart or whatever until you run out of magic.

Generally, one practices a skill until he runs out of vigor points, and then rests as much as he can and repeats. Meanwhile, the resting also restores your magic points, so you cast spells amid your practicing other skills so that you never get all of your magic points back. You can get into a routine of this. For example, the (game) days just fly by if you sleep in the inn, work at the stable, practice with the weapon master, cast spells and rest, cast spells and practice picking locks at the Healer's, or throwing daggers at the target, resting and casting spells as you can, and then climbing over the city wall repeatedly when night falls, and returning to the inn just before midnight.

The final section gives an alternate method if you want to try to do it all in little game time.

A More Detailed Run-Down

Here I will describe several of the things that you can or should do in the game, with the intent to describe all ways at a problem (usually there are several, but I might have missed a few).

Look around the town

You automatically get 1 puzzle point when you start the game, apparently for walking into the town. You'll get another for talking to the sheriff. ) A good place to go next is to the Adventurer's Guild to the left. Read the book. Sign the book. ) Look at the board to see what adventures are awaiting you.

Wake up and talk to the guildmaster (ask about the various adventures, for example, or the heads on the walls). Go to the magic shop and talk to Zara, the shopkeeper. Go to the food stand and talk to the centaur, Hilde. Eventually, you'll need 50 apples from her (she sells them 10 at a time). Talk to the man in the dry goods shop. There's not much in the tavern, but you'll find it has more significance later.

In the alley next to the bar, there is a beggar. Give him a coin and talk to him. At night, you will find not a beggar but two thieves, and a thief (or anyone with lock-picking ability) would do well to make himself known to them. Show them the thieves' sign and get the password. (The password is not the same every time you play the game.) They'll tell you whom to tell the password. (He's the goon in the tavern.) At the inn, you'll get points for eating a meal and spending a night. In the evening, you'll find the merchant Abdulla at the table, and you should talk to him. In fact, you should buy him dinner.

Outside of town, to the north, you'll find another centaur, Hilde's father. Talk to him. Specifically, he knows something interesting about the brigands which will come to make more sense later. Go to the castle north of the Healer's house, and talk to the guard, Karl. ) Ask him to open the gate, and he will oblige you. Inside, there are two important things.

You can work at the stable (which the beggar in town will tell you about; ask about work), and this will get you a few points. Also, sometimes the swordmaster will appear in the center square. Anyone should at least talk to him. A fighter should practice with him. Eventually, the fighter should try to beat him. But anyone, for a price, can gain a lot of fighting skill without risking life (or health points) by practicing with him.

Remember that the more vigor points you have when you practice, the longer your practice will be, and the more beneficial.

Finally, there is Bruno. Sometimes Bruno will stand just outside the town gate. He can be a mine of information, but the information is costly, and some of it is faulty. You won't get points immediately for talking to him, but if you get one bit of (paid) information, then you'll get points when you leave the screen. He will play another role later in the game. For now, the most important thing he can tell you is how to get into Baba Yaga's hut.

The Healer's ring

The board in the adventurer's guild says that the Healer lost her ring and is offering a reward for its return. When you meet the Healer and leave her house, she tells you the same thing. So you look for the ring. If you ask about her pet bird, you find that he has a girlfriend outside the Healer's house. You can see the girlfriend bird in its nest in the tree. The big secret is that the ring is embedded in the nest.

There are three ways to get it (that I know of). If you throw a rock at the nest and hit it, you can knock it out of the tree and get the ring that way. If you climb the tree, you can pull the ring right out of the nest. Finally, if you cast the "Fetch" spell, you can reach the ring by magic. However you get it, you'll get 3 points for acquiring the ring and 10 more for returning it to the Healer.

'Enry the 'Ermit

Henry is not vital to the success of the game, though you should talk to him (for a few puzzle points) and he has a spell for those with magical ability. You'll find him by the waterfall, Flying Falls. First you have to reach his door. With enough climbing skill, you can climb up the wall to the platform where his door is, but there is an easier way. If you pick up some rocks, you can throw them at his door. Three knocks, and he will come out and show you how to climb up (even for those with no climbing ability), because there is an invisible ladder against the wall.

Alternately, if you've already found the Detect Magic spell, then you can detect the ladder yourself. Once on the platform, you'll get a point for knocking on the door, but walk out of the way when he tells you or you'll get knocked off. Then you get 5 points for walking inside and 2 more for talking to him. And, as I've mentioned, he has a spell for those with magical ability. He'll also invite you to spend the night for a ration, if you care to.

Erasmus

North-east of town, you'll find a house on a precarious peak, with signs marking it as "Magic Mountain" (in various languages). Climb up the path (you'll be sick at the top if you don't have enough vigor points) and you'll find a gargoyle who reminds you of the keeper of the bridge on Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail. " he will ask. Of course, you chose that at the beginning of the game. " (and it had better be the owner of the house). He might even ask you what the thieves' password is, but he really doesn't want to hear it.

You get 3 points for entering Erasmus' house, but then you really should bide the gargoyle's instructions to go right up the stairs to the tower. You'll find that Erasmus was watching you in that room. Erasmus is quite a character. Talk to him (for a point). If you have magical ability, then when you have enough spells (open, fetch, flame dart, and trigger, Erasmus will explain) and enough magical ability, Erasmus would love to play a game with you. The reward is another spell, dazzle, and some puzzle points if you are a magic-user.

Erana's Peace

Due north of the healer (though you can't get there by going due north) is the famous and peaceful Erana's Peace. Zara and Erasmus will tell you about the good magic-user Erana and her spell of protection over the town (though Erasmus will criticize the spell). The Healer asks you to bring her flowers from Erana's Peace. (She needs 15 of them, and you pick 5 at a time.) You should eat some fruit from the tree. If you have magical ability, then an open spell will yield the calm spell. If you are a magic-user, then you'll get some points for spending the night in Erana's Peace. (I.e. sleep there.)

The Fox

Three screens due east of the town, along the path, a fox may appear in a trap. He's not always there, but he will speak to you if you find him, begging for your help. Free the poor fox, and he will give you a bit of advice. He will tell you of the Dryad.

The Dryad

South-west of the town, you can find a white stag. He will leap away, heading west. Follow, and he will do it again. Follow, and you will find him in the realm of the Dryad. Approach the tree and the Dryad will speak to you. She will ask for a seed from the Spore-Spitting Spirea to the north, in exchange for which she will give you the formula for a dispel potion that you will need to save Elsa (according to what the fox tells you, and the fox is right).

The Spore-Spitting Spirea

North and slightly west of the town, you can find some plants apparently playing catch with a seed. It seems that it is one of their own seeds, and the Dryad wants one. There are several ways to get the seed. You can cast fetch. You can climb up to a plant and catch the seed when they spit it your way. Or you can pick up some rocks, throw them at the seed, and literally knock it out of the air. Nice trick!

The Meeps' Peep

The meeps are a funny race of small, furry animals that live due west of the town. Talk to them. Their spokesman is a green meep. He can give you two things. In case you have magical ability, he has a spell scroll for you with the spell detect magic on it. But the Dryad told you to get green fur. "Fur?" says the meep, "it keeps us warm!" Yes, yes. But ask about green fur, and he will give you some.

The Mushroom Circle

Near the Meep's Peep and the Dryad, slightly east of both, is a circle of mushrooms. It is one of two places to find the mushrooms that the Healer needs for her potions. (She needs 9 of them, and you pick 3 at a time.) More importantly, the Healer will tell you that fairies come out by circles of mushrooms at night. Go to the circle at night and you will see the fairies. They are an interesting group and will remind you of a bunch of giggly girls. Oblige them, and they will be kind enough to give you the fairy dust that the Dryad has sent you to get. But make sure you have an empty flask handy when you do, because you can't carry the dust in your hands.

Flying Falls

You've been here before. This is where the hermit lives. The hermit will tell you about the Flying Falls (and add that he's had some flying falls himself). You might take a hint and suspect that flying water can be found at the Flying Falls, and you would be right. Have an empty flask handy and get some water. "Clever!" the Healer will call you. When you bring all of the ingredients to the Healer, she will tell you to come back later. The next time you enter her house, she will have the dispel potion ready for you.

Mirror Lake (a.k.a. Spiegelsee)

Just south-west of the Flying Falls is Mirror Lake. There isn't much here, but you get a point just for looking. You can see your reflection in the lake. More interestingly, sometimes (at night, I believe), you can catch a submarine heading into the lake and running into the side. Look at the submarine before it submerges again, just for fun.

Brauggi

One screen north of the path, east of the town, you will find a big man with an ax. He wants fruit. More specifically, he wants 50 apples, which you can buy in the city. Give him the apples, and he will give you a glowing gem in exchange. You'll need this gem if you want to see Baba Yaga.

Baba Yaga

North-west of the town, you'll find a fence topped with skulls and a house on chicken legs behind it. The skull on the gate will tell you that he wants glowing eyes like the other skulls, and he will befriend you if you acquire a glowing gem for him. Give him the gem, and he will let you in. Say the magic phrase (taught to you by Bruno outside the town gate), and the house will sit down, allowing you in. Unfortunately, the inside isn't especially friendly, as the witch turns you immediately into a frog.

But she lets to go with a promise to find her a mandrake root by the next morning. The Healer knows where to find a mandrake root. Talk to her. When you bring the root back, Baba Yaga will take the root from you and then, mercifully, if reluctantly, oblige her pets by rewarding you with your life. She'll let you go with a warning never to return. You leave, but you will have one more chance to return at the very end of the game.

The Graveyard

The Healer will tell you that mandrake root can only be picked at midnight. You can find a mandrake root in the graveyard, and if you try to pick it at any other time, it will crumble to dust in your hands. When the time (Ctrl-T) is "The middle of the night," then the mandrake root will not crumble to dust. Unfortunately, when you enter the graveyard at this time, the ghosts attack you and kill you. What can you possibly do? Well, you buy undead unguent from the Healer and apply it ("use unguent") before entering the graveyard. The ghosts will leave you be, and you can take the mandrake root. Bring it to Baba Yaga.

The Bear

Immediately south-east of Erana's Peace, you will find an ogre guarding a cave. He's a push-over for someone who doesn't want to fight him, because he runs so pathetically slow. You can easily just run around him. Alternately, you can run circles around him throwing daggers and/or casting flame darts at him. With enough throwing skill, enough daggers, enough flame dart and magic skill, and enough magic points, you can easily kill him without even engaging in hand-to-hand combat. But, if you'd like, you can just run right up to him and fight him like a man. A fighter gets points for killing him (however he kills him). He carries a treasure chest with money.

Behind the ogre is a cave. Enter the cave and you will find a bear. He is shackled, but still dangerous. Don't approach the bear without taking precautions. Specifically, you can either give him some food or you can cast a calm spell. This will appease the bear for now, and you can walk by him. When you come back the same way, you'll have to appease him again. As you walk by, you might want to try to free him, but you cannot pick the lock on the shackles, and you will need to acquire a magic key.

Behind the bear is another room with three things inside. Most obvious of the three is a kobold sitting cross-legged and asleep in a corner. He has a key around his neck. You can guess what the key unlocks. There are several ways to get the key. A fighter and a magic-user get points for killing the kobold, so they should try that.

The thief doesn't and may prefer an alternate method. If you want to kill the kobold, then you can either do it up close or from a distance. Take a step, cast a spell, make any move, and the kobold will awake, tell you to leave, and attack you with magical spells. If you "fight kobold," then you will enter a fighting mode similar to that with the swordmaster. He's pretty tough, but he can be killed with sword or dagger. He will teleport behind you a few times, but you'll turn automatically to face him again.

Alternately, since he's throwing magic spells at you, you can either throw daggers or flame darts back at him. As before, he's tough, but he can be killed by either way (or the combination of both). ) You needn't kill him, however, to get the key. If you have stealth, then you can sneak. The game may tell you that you cannot, that you need more practice, but you get practice just for trying. So try, try again until you crouch, and then walk up to the kobold and take the key right off his neck.

Alternately, someone with magical ability can cast fetch to get the key and then simply run away. Any way you do it, you'll get 7 points for getting the key and 25 more for freeing the bear back in the first room.

Meanwhile, there is also a table full of mushrooms. This the second place where you can find mushrooms for the Healer. If you got 9 of them at the circle, though, then you won't need these. Lastly, walking to the south or bottom-left end of the room will run you into an invisible chest. Alternately, a detect magic spell will reveal it to you. A good open spell or a good lock-picking skill will be needed to get this chest open without setting off its trap. A fighter might prefer to simply smash the chest ("break chest"), but he'll have to bear the brunt of the trap. It will get you 5 points, however, and a good deal of money.

After you free the bear, a walk back to the castle of the Baron will be rewarded by a hero's welcome, 10 puzzle points, 50 gold coins, a personal audience with the Baron (talk to him for 3 more points), and an (obligatory) free night's stay in the castle.

Bruno and Brutus

Once you've freed the bear (whether or not you've returned to the castle), a few things happen. If you go to the tavern at this time, then you may have to be pretty perceptive to notice a note under the barstool. But take the note and you'll see it's about you, from "B." and written to "B." Hmm.

Now go to the target immediately south of the town, but make sure you enter it from the east, and you will catch two people talking. One is Bruno, the man at the entrance to the town who charges so much for information. The other is obviously a brigand, and his name is Brutus. They are talking about the brigands and they let drop some important information. They speak of a back entrance to the brigands' lair and how to get "Fred" to let you by. Bruno makes certain that Brutus still has his key, and then he walks off.

You get 12 points for listening to this conversation, but be careful how you move afterwards. If you move when Bruno is still there, he'll kill you with two poisoned daggers. If you move south, you'll see him walking away, and he'll kill you there too. You can, however, move south and immediately turn around and re-enter the screen with the target before he sees you. This gives you three options on how to treat Brutus. You can just leave the way you came and let him be.

You get no extra points for killing Brutus. But you can kill him, and you will find his key. You can throw daggers or flame darts at him as soon as Bruno is gone (be warned: you can't get these daggers back), and he will throw daggers back at you. If you go south and re-enter the screen, he will call you a spy and attack you face-to-face. ) If you kill him in either way, then you can take his key.

The Brigands' Lair

When you paid him for the information, Bruno told you where to go to find the front door to the brigands' lair. That way is guarded by brigands with arrows and brigands with swords, so make sure you're up to it. When you get an arrow in the head, it may seem that it is impassable, but you can go through the front door. You'll be hit less if you run through the pass, and then immediately jump over the log to attack the brigands on the other side. Kill them, and you're through.

Alternately, Bruno and Brutus told you how to go in through the back. By the Antwerp is the back door they referred to. If you took Brutus' key, then you can simply unlock the door. If not, a weak open spell will unlock on the door and a strong one will open it. A bit of lock- picking ability will also unlock the door, and a bit of strength and a good push will open it. After you've opened the door, if you walk in, you'll immediately be attacked by Fred, who is a rather powerful troll.

If, instead, you give the password that Bruno and Brutus told you before you enter the door, then Fred will not be there. Note also that you'll get the most points by entering the brigands' lair through the back door and giving the password. Brute force earns you less points. Inside the secret entrance is a cave. Below you is the exit, which will leave you just past the brigands guarding the front entrance. To the left is the back of the cave, where a pile of junk yields some money, but Fred won't let you at it with just the password.

So if you really want to kill the troll, then go for the money and fight down Fred.

When you exit the cave, you'll find yourself hidden behind a bush which rattles when you move. You have to go through the cave if you want to take the thief's solution, but the front entrance will work just as well for the fighter's or the magic-user's solutions. There is a minotaur guarding the main gate. He grumbles about guard duty. Later, you'll learn that his name is "Toro," and he is a friend of Elsa. Nevertheless, the fighter will earn 5 points for killing him.

A hero coming out of the cave can sneak, and Toro will never notice him. A hero with magical abitily can put him to sleep with a calm spell. A more forthright hero, however, will simply attack. He's a tough opponent, but he can be killed.

Then there is the door. Knocking or ringing the bell, of course, is not a wise way to approach the door. A cautious hero will climb the wall on the right. One with magical ability can cast an open spell. And a fighter can actually break down the door and storm in, making me wonder why that's any more discreet than knocking. Oh well.

The next screen is full of traps. The sign on the carpet should not be heeded. Go around it, but be cautious, for one side is guarded by a trip wire. Look for it. Not to be alarmed, however, because "step" or "jump" will get you over it without trouble. The sign on the bridge should be heeded. The unmarked bridge will dump you. Beyond that, there is another trip wire, and you must go over this one (by stepping or jumping over it).

It will lead you to the mess hall. This is a room with great adventure. Brigands come in the way you came. They come in from the door on the right. You can't stop them from the door on the left, and you must fool them. Your goal is to leave out the door at the top.

Close the door behind you. Block the door to the right ("push chair"). Brigands will come out from the left, but they look somehow familiar. Aha! They're the Three Stooges! Knock down the candelabra ("push candle") to block their way.

" Wait until they walk back a bit or they'll catch you when you do this, but you'll want to climb on the table and swing on the rope ("climb table" or "get rope," for example, will do this last step). Watch the action. Watch them get caught. Doesn't that just look like something the Three Stooges would do? Don't walk away from the door or more brigands will come out. Walk out the door to the north.

You'll enter the warlock's maze. You'll recall that there is a price on the warlock's head, 30 gold, in fact. He declares himself as "Me," and invites you to state your case. You can speak only until you start to move, but he doesn't seem to give a lot of information. He guards the way to the brigand leader. But perhaps something he said cues you off, or perhaps it was what the centaur said about the brigand leader.

You ask him about the right people, and you'll find that he's a friend. If you don't, he'll assume you're an enemy and throw things at you while you try to solve the maze. If you do, he'll leave to prepare your way ahead of you, but you still have to solve the maze. There's really only one thing you can do at each step. Several panel will dump you, and you'll find yourself falling out of a door and down another pit, and back again. It hurts and will eventually kill you, but you can stop yourself and stand up after you come out of the door.

Pull the chain to open a door and go through it before it closes again. Open the door drawn on the wall, but move out of the way before it falls on you. Walk through it to enter the office of the brigand leader.

The leader will attack you, but you are no match and will die trying to fight. Dispel the curse, as the warlock suggested, and you have just about won the game already. The leader and the warlock will speak to you, offer you 2 healing potions, tell you to take the magic mirror if you want to beat the enchantress, and direct you to the secret exit. If you delay too long in the room, brigands will enter and kill you. If you don't take the magic mirror, the game will end when you leave the screen. If you take the mirror, you will walk out by the antwerp and you will have a chance to go find Baba Yaga and turn her magic against her (which, of course, will earn you more points).

Tasks specific to one character

There are 450 puzzle points to be earned by any character. The remaining 50 points are different, according to which character class you choose when you start the game. The following things can be done by any hero with the appropriate skills but earn puzzle points for the hero of the appropriate type.

Thieving

A thief should definitely enroll at the thieves' guild and go steal some things. Anyone with lock-picking ability can earn a lot of money doing the same (the worth of 352 silver, I believe, minus 25 silver for membership, and 15 and/or 100 silver if you buy a lock pick and/or a toolkit). I've mentioned the thieves in the alley at night who will tell you the password that will let you into the Thieves' Guild. You need to be a member of the guild (25 silver) to talk to the head thief, buy a pick or toolkit, pawn off anything you steal, or play the head thief a game of darts.

There are two houses you can rob. One is the house of the lady who sleeps outside in the day. Pick the lock and walk in. You can sneak if you'd like, but it's not necessary. Take the silver candlesticks. Search the sewing basket. Search the couch and the hand bag. Open the desk drawer at the left. Meanwhile, the cat will become friendly. Show it you're its friend by petting it. Be careful about the bird in its cage. Then leave.

Next to the dry goods shop is the sheriff's house. Pick the lock. Inside, take the music box. Take the candelabra. Open the drawer. Take the vase. Move the picture to expose a safe. Crack the safe and take the bag of money inside. You can close the safe and replace the picture, but it's not necessary.

Take the stolen items to the thieves' guild to sell them back. If you're a thief, you'll also want to play a game of darts (for 3 points to play and 5 points to win). In any case, if you get the hang of the game, you can earn a lot of money. Just be careful not to win too often or they'll get upset.

Fighting

A fighter should practice with the weapon master, and, when he is good enough, should beat him. He is beaten when you push him back against his side of the screen. A fighter should definitely buy the chain mail. It's heavy, but it's good protection for any hero, and it earns points for the fighter. The fighter also gets points for the first killing of each of various types of monsters: a goblin, a saurus, a saurus rex, a brigand, a manta ray, a cheetaur, a troll, the ogre, the kobold, the minotaur.

Magic

The magic-user gets points for each spell that he acquires, for sleeping at Erana's Peace, for playing and winning at Erasmus' game, and, of all things, for killing the kobold.

Playing in Short Game Time

I think the Baron won't notice, but, in reality, a hero who comes to town one day, saves the Baron's 5-year-lost son the same day, beats the brigands and then saves his 10-year-lost daughter two days later, along with defeating the witch, would be quite impressive! That would certainly get you a name in the land. In fact, it really isn't that hard to do. After you've already beaten the game once, it makes for a fun second quest. The trick is never to rest.

The big secret to never resting is that the only time it really hurts you to have no vigor points is when you're fighting. So you can pick locks, climb trees or walls, and throw daggers until your skills are perfect (or nearly perfect), right there on the first day. It takes very little time if you never rest. The hard part is practicing magic and fighting skills without resting.

On the first day, you can go around the town and solve most of the quests. You can do just about everything short of the brigands except for the fairy dust, the mandrake root (and thus Baba Yaga), and robbing. You can rescue the Baronet on the first day with no problem. You can even catch Bruno and Brutus before you go back to the castle. Do these things and then build up your lock-picking, climbing, and/or throwing skills until night is about to fall. You may also practice some fighting skills (more anon). Only then enter the castle on that first night and spend your obligatory night there.

In the morning, you'll have lots of money. Buy the undead unguent. You can either buy the chain mail or buy a pile of vigor potions and possibly healing potions in order to practice your fighting skills, and/or a pile of magic potions in order to build your magical skills. Since you can't rest, you'll have to drink a lot of vigor potions between battles when you try to build your fighting skills. While you're weak, you'll probably have to drink a lot of healing potions too. Also, the magic potion is just about the only way to get your magic back, since waiting restores it so slowly.

That makes it very quick but very expensive to build up your magical ability. You might want to limit the amount that you do this if you want to finish the game in just a few days, though you'll have to do some if you want to beat Erasmus at his game.

That second night, go see the fairies, and then, at midnight, go get the mandrake root. While waiting for midnight and afterwards, you may practice your climbing skill at the town wall, and then you should do all of your thieving, all in one night. Find the thieves in the alley, rob the old lady and the sheriff, and then go to the thieves' guild (you don't have to go to the guild before morning; and you may want to play darts for a while to earn some money). The night can also be a great time to go fighting exotic monsters if you've built up your fighting skill sufficiently.

The fighter needs to kill several types of monsters to get all of his points, and everyone needs to kill a troll and a cheetaur to give the beard and claws to the Healer for those points. Also, killing cheetaurs and trolls can be financially rewarding.

In the morning, go see Baba Yaga. If you're a magic-user, you might want to wait one more night to sleep at Erana's Peace. If not, head for the brigands' lair, and then defeat Baba Yaga. It can all be done in just about two days (i.e. finish in the morning of the third day).

Of course, if you wanted, you could always skip the return trip to the castle, get the fairy dust on the first night, and save Elsa the next morning, but this won't get you all 500 points.