The Colour of Magic Quiz for Experts | Pratchett, Terry

Answer: Eight

As the story begins, a fire rages in the city-state of Ankh-Morpork. The fire, which began on the Morpork side, is easily spreading to Ankh via wind and other means. A short distance outside of the city, Bravd the Hublander and his magical sidekick, The Weasel, watch as the failed wizard Rincewind heads away from the destruction with a man named Twoflower in tow. When Twoflower arrived in Ankh-Morpork earlier (with his large treasure chest, moving on its own many legs) he did not know he would be the one to inadvertently set the blaze.

The narrator takes the time to note the importance of the number eight in Discworld early on. There are eight seasons (marked by the turning of the disc) and a full rotation of the world takes eight hundred days. There are also eight colours in the rainbow, the eighth being the colour of magic.

Answer: Rhinu

Rincewind first spotted Twoflower in the Broken Drum, a small tavern and inn in Ankh-Morpork. That is to say he spotted his walking treasure box, crafted from the magical wood of sapient pear trees. Seizing the opportunity, he offered to speak to the man who, upon recognizing the Trob language, decided to hire him on as a tour guide for the healthy price of one and a half rhinu per day. Rincewind found this astonishing as any denomination of rhinu is pure gold. This didn't escape the innkeeper either.

Rincewind was called to the chambers of the Patrician who, discovering Rincewind's role in all of this, convinced him to keep up the charade as a tour guide in order to prolong good relations with the kingdom of the Agatean Empire on the Counterbalance Continent from which Twoflower hailed. Rincewind had no real choice.

When he returned to the Broken Drum, a fight had broken out and he had to head upstairs to find Twoflower sleeping through it. When the tourist awakened he was disappointed that he'd missed the action; he wanted to see everything authentic the city had to offer. As such they headed out with his iconograph to take pictures and enjoy the day.

Answer: A homunculus

During Rincewind's tour of the city, stopping at many points of interest in Twoflower's itinerary, he was able to use the iconograph to take several pictures. When it ran out of pink ink and distracted him from the goings-on around him, Rincewind was shocked to find that Twoflower has been kidnapped and he was being held at the point of a sword. He managed to flee and, after some persuasion from the homunculus inside the iconograph, he took the luggage and headed off to find his tourist.

Twoflower was actually in the care of the Broken Drum tavern owner, several thieves, the leader of the Assassin's Guild, and a representative of the newly-formed Merchant's Guild, organized to prolong the influx of cash provided by the tourist. As they argued over killing Twoflower (or not), a letter from the empire was sent to the Patrician urging for the traveler to die.

Out in the streets, Rincewind accidentally walked into the grim specter of Death and fled the other way...while Death headed to the Broken Drum.

Rincewind arrived shortly thereafter in the middle of a brawl. Fortunately he found Twoflower, safe in the rafters, and the two headed out the back door only to get attacked by the leader of the Assassin's Guild. They got out of this scenario efficiently (helped by the fires starting from within the bar, a ploy to cash in on the new insurance policy) and headed out of the city. That's where they encountered the heroes, Bravd and Weasel.

Answer: A troll

Little do Rincewind and Twoflower know, their lives are but mere formalities in a game played by the Gods. While they navigate their way away from the fires of Ankh-Morpork, dice are being rolled and their own God, 'The Lady', is forced to go head to head against those who bet against her. This comes in the form of a troll, sent through space and time in an instant. Surprisingly, Rincewind fells the great beast but Twoflower is pulled away by his horse who flees into the forest. He ends up reaching the Temple of Bel-Shamharoth but, unwarily, he ends up heading inside.

The game comes down to no more than 'The Lady' and 'Blind Io' who, ready to win, places down a giant, deformed creature with many mandibles and one eye. The game is on, and Rincewind has to avoid Death yet again.

Answer: Kring

Rincewind ends up in the care of the Dryads of the forest, but only as a prisoner. They inform him that Twoflower has reached the corridors of the Temple of Be-Shamharoth and, in an attempt to flee their tree palace, he ends up traveling through a magical portal to the same room.

Twoflower is surprised to see the wizard appear from next to nothing and, after being told of the untold evils of the temple, they start to try to make their way out, all the while avoiding the word 'eight', as the evil Be-Shamharoth retrieved its power from the banned number. When Hrun the Barbarian comes across them (while hunting down the Luggage), his sword, Kring, speaks the forbidden word and brings power to a large, tentacled creature in the depths of the temple. The creature nearly takes them all, but Twoflower, using his pearwood tripod to take a photograph of the event, triggers the salamander flash and destroys it in a burst of light. After they flee from the quickly-crumbling, eight-sided structure on Hrun's majestic horse, Twoflower and Rincewind convince Hrun to guard them in their travels.

Answer: An inverted mountain of distinct magical properties

Rincewind, Twoflower, and Hrun continue onward until they find themselves in an area of distinct magical properties, a discovery that troubles both locals enough that they make an attempt to leave immediately. It's too late though; the local dragon riders decide to fly out and claim their prey-- the daughter of the leader of Wyrmberg, Liessa, seeks out Hrun to be her dumb but effective husband, but she is able to claim everyone except Rincewind and Kring, who Hrun dropped after being captured. The sword virtually forces Rincewind to be a hero and, after taking a dragonrider hostage, he takes a quick flight to the inverted mountain that is Wyrmberg. Once there he is, unsurprisingly, held hostage and forced to fight one of their leaders, Lio!rt, in mortal combat.

The battle ends with Rincewind plummeting off the large cavern's suspended rings to what can only be considered certain death.

Answer: Ninereeds

Twoflower and Hrun end up in a cell only to be visited by Liessa who, in an attempt to wed Hrun and make him the Lord of Wyrmberg, subjects him to three tests, one of which involves killing her brothers. Twoflower, meanwhile, is certain that there will be a civil discourse and they will be freed.

It doesn't take long, however, before a green dragon, not unlike those in Twoflower's imagination, appears from the magic in the room and allows him to escape. Naming him Ninereeds he leads him through the corridors of Wyrmberg until they reach the hall of the current Lord, Greicha the First, who commends Twoflower on having 'The Power' which, when combined with his imagination and the magic of the city, can spawn powerful creatures, but only if he believes in them. He takes Ninereeds and promptly saves Rincewind from a perilous fall.

Hrun, meanwhile, fights Liessa's two brothers, leaving them unconscious and banishing them to the land beyond Wyrmberg's power. This completes the second test leaving only the third. He's unable to partake in the final task, however, as Ninereeds swoops in and grabs him, ascending with all three travelers higher into the sky...that is until Twoflower loses consciousness in the thin air and he poofs out of existence. Hrun is saved by Liessa while Twoflower and Rincewind are saved in their own right, but only after the realignment of space and time sends them through other dimensions, ultimately plunging them relatively unharmed into the waters of Discworld's Great Sea.

Answer: Circumfence

In the city of Krull, a master architect finishes what may be his greatest work-- a fish that could swim through space and lie between worlds-- before he's killed by the Arch-astronomer. Elsewhere, Rincewind and Twoflower, both still in the Great Sea, find themselves hurtling toward the Rimfall, powerless to fight the current after accidentally striking a reef the night before. Rincewind nearly drowns as they near the edge but, when he regains consciousness, he finds that he and his companion have been saved by a sea troll named Tethis who paddles his way along the Circumfence of the rim.

They're brought back to his rim-side island where he claims that he is a slave for the Kingdom of Krull and allows Rincewind and Twoflower to take a look over the edge of the disc at the elephants and turtle below. That's when he claims that he's only there because he, at one time, fell off the edge and ended up in Discworld.

Answer: The body of a frog

Word of Rincewind and Twoflower's arrival at the sea troll's island results in a speedy retrieval from Krull. A flyer is sent to pick them up and transport them to the Kingdom for what they can only assume is enslavement. Despite this, the wizard in charge of bringing them back looks frightened (even though she knows that Rincewind is not all-powerful) and, upon their arrival they're placed in a lavish room filled with riches and delicacies.

They're soon told by the Guestmaster, Garhartra, that they're to be sacrificed.

This doesn't go over well with the duo. While Rincewind frets, Twoflower is convinced that they'll be fine. As it turns out, they have a chance. A frog Rincewind saved from the current of the rim earlier on is revealed to contain The Lady, who stowed away to help them win in a battle against Fate. Fate wishes to have the pair stowed away in the spaceship to send over the edge of the Disc, but The Lady wishes the opposite. With her help, they start to make their escape.

Answer: Octarine

Considered by Rincewind to be a greenish-purple, octarine is not visible to most people on the Discworld, mainly because only ardent magic-users are able to see it. Since octarine is the eighth colour it has a special importance (simply because it is the eighth) and it is usually indicative of unrestrained and untapped magic powers found throughout the story.

Twoflower and Rincewind have no real choice but to follow through with the plan to an extent. Donning protective 'spacesuits' and heading out to the amphitheater overlooking the edge of the disc, they proceed to the Potent Voyager and ascend the tower with the intent of holding it hostage. The plan is interrupted though, as the Luggage bounds into the arena, spurring the magical attacks of all of the magic-users in the vicinity and harming the charges of octarine in the area. The sapient pearwood box reaches the duo and opens up to reveal Tethis hidden inside, having been eaten up during the chest's journey to find them. Realizing that the ship can send him back over the edge he boards and Twoflower and Rincewind, eager to avoid getting captured by the oncoming mob, join. Before they know it, the ship careens over the side of the disc...and the Luggage follows. Rincewind really doesn't have a choice but to follow along.