 Wizard of Frobozz (front) / (back) Wizard of Frobozz (B) Wizard of Frobozz (C) Wizard of Frobozz (D) Wizard of Frobozz House (A) / (B) book cover |
The esteemed Wizard of Frobozz was a strange little man, usually wearing a long cloak, a high pointed hat embroidered with astrological signs, bushy eyebrows, and a long, stringy, and unkempt white beard. He received his D.T. (Doctor of Thaumaturgy) degree from G.U.E. Tech. In the years to follow, the Wizard of Frobozz became a respected member of the influential Accardi chapter of the Enchanters' Guild, then was promoted to a seat on the Circle of Enchanters. He was later removed from his position for forgetfulness bordering on senility. Among his other failings, the lively wit of his youth had been replaced by a semisadistic mischievousness coupled with an inability to pronounce spells other than those beginning with other than the letter "F" (he had forgotten all the other spells he used to know).
Despite this, in the 770s or early 80s, he was appointed by Dimwit Flathead as the official court wizard at Flatheadia. If fate turns as a wheel, then the Wizard of Frobozz represented a low point for the excessive king. In 785 GUE, havoc struck Quendor when he accidentally transformed the entire West Wing of Dimwit's famed castle into a mountain of fudge. Thus in one errant stroke of wayward magic, the Wizard's blunder simultaneously destroyed it with one word, "Fudge."
To see the West Wing of his beloved Castle Flatheadia transformed into a pile of fudge was too much for anyone to bear. Lord Dimwit, without giving so much as a written reprimand first, fired the Wizard. And without another thought, he ordered everyone everywhere to help rebuild the west wing. Of course, the new wing would be 25 times larger than the previous one because Dimwit wanted it that way. It took more than a year for it to be rebult, and yet the faint smell of fudge would always be hanging in the air.
The Wizard of Frobozz was "retired" to a small, obscure, and unoccupied corner of the Great Underground Empire which would later be referred to as the second level of the Dungeon of Zork. Here he constructed for himself a home amongst the caverns (see below for details regarding his home), amongst other mysteries, such as capturing a baby sea serpent, and capturing a demon in a black crystal ball which he interlinked with the three Palantirs of Zork.
In the last years before the fall of the Empire (881-883), when nearly the entire population had already been fleeing with fear from the dreaded Curse Day and the barbarian invasions, thousands more abandoned the once-thriving underground caverns near the capital, driven away, at least in part, by the rude and mischievous pranks of the dangerously senile Wizard of Frobozz, still living in the bowels of the empire over a century after he had accidentally turned Dimwit's castle into a warm pile of chocolate.
In the ninth century, when the Dungeon of Zork saw an influx in the number of adventurers seeking rumored treasure amongst the hills, the befuddled Wizard of Frobozz sought to protect his long hidden domain. Though his powers had diminished and he had acquired a bat or two in the belfry over the years, he was still a force to be reckoned with, capable of putting his sorcery to evil use against the mere human intruder. The frivolous aged wizard, began to amuse himself by harassing these passing adventurers. Materializing at odd moments and casting bothersome spells, he would constantly endeavor to confound adventurers with his capricious powers. (Though sometimes he would work in bizarre ways, such as when an adventurer's light source ran out, he would aide them by incanting a fluoresce spell to return light.)
In the year 948, the adventurers who would eventually become the Second Dungeon Master entered the domain of the Wizard of Frobozz. This insidious gent intended to undo this adventurer as he explored the huge and long hidden region of the Great Underground Empire, by randomly throwing all sorts of spells his way, more in an amusing attempt to incessantly discourage and annoy rather than to murder. This adventurer, after bypassing the Wizard's guard lizard by feeding it candy, entered his home. It was here where that adventurer gathered together the three palantirs, placed them on their respective stands (which transformed them into the black sphere), and released the Wizard's demon when he placed the sphere into the center of the pentagram. The Wizard of Frobozz was unable to do anything now that the demon was freed, and after the adventurer had relinquished ten treasures as payment, he ordered the demon to give him the Wizard's wand. The demon obeyed, plucking the wand out of his hand and laid it before the adventurer before fading into smoke. The Wizard, without the source of his powers, ran from the room in terror.
In the years to follow, the Wizard of Frobozz ran an ad in the New Zork Times, seeking an authentic working enchanter's wand as a replacement for the one that had been stolen by the upstart adventurer. Some soul must have heeded his request, as by 957 GUE the Wizard was again molesting adventurers that dared to infiltrate his domain. Shortly before the end of the First Age of Magic (966 GUE), the Wizard was no longer occupying this region. Thus, it remains a mystery as to how the life of this confused and befuddled soul who had confounded other adventurers for years met his end.
It is also of interest, that a portrait of the Wizard of Frobozz, in a typical pose of anguished bewilderment, was found in Largoneth Castle in 956 GUE, undoubtedly painted before his exile.
FLOAT, FLUORESCE AND FREEZE: MY LIFE IN MAGIC
During the days of his exile, before the mid-tenth century, the Wizard of Frobozz authored an incoherent book entitled, "Float, Fluoresce and Freeze: My Life in Magic" which was published by Burloni Books. In the following excerpt, one can observe how senile the wizard had become:
The
Work of Wizard is not as easy as commonly thought. You must
understand,
as I'm sure you do or soon will in the event that you refuse to now,
which is
not, as it were, a judgment on my part, insomuch as it is a kind of
paranoia on
yours, which is not to say that you are, I believe, in possession of a
suspicious
nature, of which you may or may not be, in either case, and needless to
say,
that is your affair, rather than mine, but I digress from the original
point,
being, and I mean, at this juncture, “original” in the sense of
“original to my
thesis,” a disclaimer that I hasten to add in the slight yet
problematic
possibility that one would mistruefully and woefully assume that I
understood
the original point of this whole business, this whole affair, this
whole
empire, you know, since the dawning of man, the threshold of time, the
creation
of Zork, etc. etc. and so forth and so you see, there are, in
actuality,
Rigors.
Well,
I use the term loosely. There
are, of
course, the old stand-bys -- the general education, the stuff of
freshman year
coursework at any accredited Thaumaturgical College.
Speaking of which, you must have a care never
to employ the Fifmia -- or was it Zifmia? -- spells, unless you are
attempting
to, or are just ambivalent in the event that you would indeed, halt
time, or
was it magically summon a being? -- on which occasion you would also
want to
invoke the whole group of Firgol Fumzo incantations -- or was it Girgol
Mumzo?
-- which will in
any case accomplish
either of the above and quite possibly also destroy a mongoose.
Now
that you've mentioned mongoose, or perhaps, mongeese, I am recalling an
incident in my early apprenticeship that involves a wizard, a platypus,
and too
much Accardian cordial. And,
I suppose a
mongoose, which is why I am recalling it, but I cannot for all Zork
remember
what that poor creature has to do with the unraveling of my tale,
except for
that it is at once very witty and also very informative. Which is why I am called
Wizard, meaning at
its root, "one who is wise," or perhaps "wiz," I forget
now, but in either case, that is what I am called.
THE WIZARD OF FROBOZZ'S HOME
The underground house of the Wizard of Frobozz lay at the southwestern corner of the second level of the Dungeon of Zork. Entry to the home was protected by a guard lizard. The first room to enter was the workshop, which connected to the trophy room and the workroom. There was the pentagram room, the aquarium room (holding a massive baby sea serpent), and in the southwest sector was the wizard's personal quarters.
TROPHY ROOM
The Wizard's trophy room was filled with memorabilia of various sorts which were the fruits of diligent labor and study over many years. Framed diplomas and several old magic wands were mounted on wand racks adorned the walls. A collection of dull and nicked swords testified to the fate of many foolhardy adventurers. Small bottles contained discarded homunculi (a few preserved in alcohol). There was a stuffed owl on a perch above an ornate trophy case which was imbedded into the wall. The Wizard protected his memorabilia with a powerful and fearful spell which was very difficult to break.
WORKROOM
The wizard's workroom contained many shelves and racks on the walls, but the Wizard's workbench dominated the room. It was made of dark, heavy wood bound with iron. The workbench was stained from many years of use, and was deeply gouged as though some huge clawed animal had been imprisoned on it. There were burn marks and even notes written in a crabbed hand. Many arcane items were scattered about the bench; alembics, mortar and pestle, small knives of various sizes, odd scraps of vellum, wax candles, and much more. In the center of a relatively clear area of the bench was affixed three stands - ruby, sapphire, and diamond - which formed a triangle.
WIZARD'S QUARTERS
This was where the Wizard of Frobozz lived. The room continously shifted it form:
- sparsely furnished and almost monkish in its austerity
- an opulently furnished seraglio out of some unknown culture's folktale
- decorated in the style of a great king
- overhung with palm-trees and lianas; the only furniture is a hammock
- constructed of delicate and wispy cloud-stuffs
- furnished in plastic and metal and looks like the control deck of a spaceship
- a suburban bedroom complete with bunk beds
- a dank and dimly lighted cave, its floor piled with furs and old bones
THE WIZARD OF FROBOZZ'S WAND
The wand of the Wizard of Frobozz seemed to be the only source of his power in the days that his magical knowledge had faded, and even then, he seemed to have random blunders in which he was unable to properly unleash the spell he wished. These include blue smoke rising out of his sleeve, or absolutely nothing happening.
To work the wand, the wielder had to wave it at the object to be ensorcelled, then incant the spell (a safety interlock prevented the fatal feedback loop that using the wand on one's self would cause). Most effects are temporary. After each spell, the wand required to be recharged from its last use. It used during that time, it was said to short-circuit, discharging magic all over everything, turn the wielder into a toad, fill the room with a fetid smell, as well as all sorts of other grubby things, before the wand would explode.
The spells contained in the wand are as follows, with their effects, though not all of the spells have been researched in their entirety:
| FALL | The subject is throw off a flying object (such as flipping over hot-air balloons) or off a cliff ledge. |
| FANTASIZE | The subject will see a bizarre object that is not in the room. These include a pile of jewels, a gold ingot, a bulging chest, a yellow sphere, a basilisk, a grue, or a convention of wizards. |
| FEAR | Tremendous fear is instilled in the subject, forcing him to be afraid of the caster. This spell has no effect on demons. |
| FEEBLE | This subject is burdened by extreme weariness, to the point that he is unable even to carry his own belongings. |
| FENCE | An invisible cord is stretched around the subject, usually causing him to trip. |
| FERMENT | The subject is cursed with the same effects as a heavy drunkard. |
| FERTILIZE | The subject is turned into a pile of bat guano. |
| FIERCE | The subject is maddened with an overwhelming ferocity to tear anything in sight limb from limb. |
| FIREPROOF | The subject is made immune to fire, even dragon fire. |
| FLITCH | One of the subject's objects magically disappears. |
| FLOAT | The subject and all of his belongings rise into the air about five feet. When the spells effect wears off, the subject sinks quietly down again. This spell is known to instantly destroy Frobozz Magic Robots, as their lack of a floating-point processor does not enable them to divide most fractions. |
| FLUORESCE | An object begins to glow, becoming a light source. |
| FREE | unknown effect |
| FREEZE | The subject is unable to move a muscle, and feels limbs feel like he has been turned to stone |
| FROBIZZ | unknown effect |
| FROBOZZLE | unknown effect |
| FROBNOID | unknown effect |
| FRY | A massive bolt of lightning reduces the subject to a pile of smoking ashes. |
| FUDGE | This spell turns the subject into a mountain of fudge. |
| FUMBLE | This spell causes the subject to become clumsy and drop objects they are carrying. |
| SOURCE(S): Zork II, Enchanter, Sorcerer, Zork: Nemesis, Zork: Grand Inquisitor, The New Zork Times 3.1 |