Walkthrough for PIRATESHIP (This walkthrough omits some optional points and alternative solutions. You do not have to get all available points to reach a winning ending.) THE REGULAR ENDING If you examine the rock pool at the "rocky shore", one square south of the west dock, you'll find a pouch that contains a bit of blank paper. Of course, no bit of blank paper is really just a bit of blank paper. Hold on to it for now. Leave your cabin and climb the ladder. Talk to the captain. She'll give you a goal and have the gangplank deployed. Cross it to reach the island. Let's start with the mermaid. She lives in a tranquil cove two steps south of the west dock, but you can't speak her language. When you try to talk to her, she points at the conch - but you can't pick it up. From her cove, go N N N NE to the palm-fringed lagoon. Get the sea urchin shell. Take it southwest, south, south, and south again to the tranquil cove where the mermaid lives. Examine the conch and the sea urchin shell. Drop the sea urchin shell at the same location and the hermit crab will move house. You can now pick up the conch. When you are holding it, it will act as a universal translator. Talk to the mermaid. While you're here, head SE then E to Old Bob's camp and talk to him. He won't let you enter his cave, but if you ask him about it he'll give away that there is a secret back entrance through a berry bush. (That entrance is concealed so you can't use it unless Bob has told you about it.) The mermaid's sister Persilla is in the British fort. (From the mermaid's cove: N N N NE SE.) To get in there, you'll need to get past Private Cobb, who is sitting outside cooking bacon but really wants an egg and mushrooms to go with it. The egg is in the swamp two steps south of Cobb. Go there and pick it up. Go another step south to get to the swamp, where you can both pick some berries from the bush (they'll be handy shortly), and "enter" the bush to get into Bob's cave, where the mushrooms grow... ...but he'll come in and chomp you on the leg. As happens whenever you 'die', you'll be found by your crewmates and taken to your ship's sick bay. Dr Deadsey will ask you if anything hurts. Say your leg, and he'll give you a wooden one (fortunately, you don't need to have any of your existing legs amputated.) Go back to the swamp (leave the ship, then from the dock go E S E -- picking up your scattered belongings along the way). Wear the wooden leg, and enter the cave through the bush again. This time when Bob tries to bite you he'll hurt his teeth and run away. You can now safely enter the cave (from either entrance - this will be important later) and pick the fungus that is growing there. There's also a greatcoat, which presents an alternative solution for getting past Private Cobb. (If you fancy another visit to sick bay, you can eat one of the mushrooms.) From the cave, go N N N to get back to Cobb. Give him the egg and the fungus. He'll try to fry them, the egg will hatch and the baby crocodile will scare him away. You can now enter the fort. Enter the fancy tent and talk to the colonel. The fish on his wall is Persilla the mermaid -- her sister may have mentioned that in this universe, some mermaids look fully human; well, others look fully fish. To get rid of the colonel, slip the berries into his tea and wait till he takes a sip. Take Persilla off the wall. While you're here, the army fort contains what you need to make your bit of blank paper into a treasure map. It needs to be coloured to reduce the contrast - you do this by dipping it in the Colonel's tea. Then you need to iron it using the ironing board in the shabby tent. It's now a treasure map with an X over the swamp! (There's also a cryptic message, which relates to the super secret special ending; more on that later.) Back to Persilla. You can either put her back in the sea from anywhere on the coast, or carry her back to her sister (from the colonel's tent: OUT OUT W S S SW.) You can now visit the Mermaid King for a reward, but you need to be able to go underwater for this. For that, you need to figure out the machine by the shipwreck on the south coast, just southeast of the mermaid's cove. The helmet is a diving helmet, but it won't work unless you wind up the machine a few times - each turn of the windlass gives you five turns of air, to a maximum of 25. The helmet is tethered to the machine by an airhose so you can only go so far away from the machine. The windlass on the machine becomes accessible when you examine it. Wind it up till it won't go any further, then go back to the mermaid cove (NW from the machine) and enter the sea. Then go west and down to reach the Mermaid King's palace. She'll let you take the silver key. As is traditional, the key opens a treasure chest. The chest is buried in the swamp -- to find it, you'll need to enter the swamp with the diving helmet on, but because of the hose you can only do that by going through the cave, which is why it's handy that you've got rid of Bob. From the mermaid's palace, go UP E E (back to dry land) then SE, give the machine a few more turns, then E, into the cave and N back to the swamp. If your air supply is still good you can enter the swamp and retrieve the treasure chest. Opening the chest will reveal a gold bar, which you can take back and give to Cap'n for a good ending. SUPER SECRET SPECIAL ENDING In the bottom right of the map is a message saying that if you free your mind you can shift your perspective. This points to the southeast corner of the island (the bottom right of the map). If you've been on the hill (from the dock: E S SE) and looked at the view, you may have noticed that the Spanish treasure fleet - the greatest prize in piracy - happens to be becalmed a long way south of the island. Unfortunately they are an enormous and heavily armed fleet and you are just a lowly crew member on one ship, so winning this prize will take a change of perspective. (You need to have been to the hill and seen the fleet from there to get this ending, by the way. You can see the ships from the southeastern peninsula, but if you haven't seen them from the hill you won't know what they are, and you'll lack the ambition to get the magic to work.) The mushrooms are hallucinogenic and, in the right circumstances, magical. (If you gave them to Cobb earlier, they'll still be there.) For a shift in perspective, you'll need an eyepatch -- to get this, you need to visit Dr Deadsey in sickbay, and the only way to get to him is by needing medical attention. There are various ways to do this, including eating berries or fungus, or entering the sea and then taking your diving helmet off. Tell him your eyes are sore and he'll give you a patch. Go to the peninsula - from the dock, S E E N E S S S S. (If you've just been to sick bay, you might need to find your belongings first, though.) When you're there, wear the eyepatch, eat the fungus, and take the ships... You'll be taken back to sickbay and your belongings, including the miniaturised ships, will be scattered in the forest, so you'll need to go back there and find them. Give them to the captain -- and that's Ending 2.