Key & Compass presents:
ASCII and the Argonauts: Astral Plane
by Anonymous

• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters, Inventory, Score
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• External links:
  • This game at IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Walkthrough

Astral plane (by Apollo)

The astral plane has 12 locations: two rows of six. The normal navigation rules have been changed; see the spell book. BS takes you one step west, and SPACE takes you one step east. STX moves you from anywhere to the top left corner (where Apollo is). CR moves you from anywhere to the bottom left corner (where Ares is). ETX moves you from anywhere to the bottom right corner (where Prometheus is). The only way to reach Athena is to SPACE five times from Apollo's position.

Also, you can talk to any of the four statues with the ENQ command. Each of them has only one thing to say. From their hints, you should be able to figure out that you need to spell the phrase "GOLDEN FLEECE" by using the stones. Each stone represents the first letter in its name, eg: the lime stone represents the L. When you drop a stone in one of its proper places, the stone disappears, and every location where the corresponding letter ought to be gains that letter.

Finally, you can only carry one stone at a time. They're heavy.

> x me. i. x locket. x book. x apollo. x lime.

> enq apollo. etx.

Astral plane (by Prometheus)

> enq prometheus. stx.

Astral plane (by Apollo)

> take lime. space. g.

Astral plane (top row, third column)

> drop lime. (+2) take emerald. space. g.

Astral plane (top row, fifth column)

> drop emerald. (+4) take ferrous. cr.

Astral plane (by Ares)

> drop ferrous. (+1) enq ares. take ochre. stx. space.

Astral plane (top row, second column)

> drop ochre. (+1) space. g. g. g.

Astral plane (by Athena)

> enq athena. take grey. stx.

Astral plane (by Apollo)

> drop grey. (+1) cr. space.

Astral plane (bottom row, second column)

> take dolomite. stx. space. g. g.

Astral plane (top row, fourth column)

> drop dolomite. (+1) cr. space. g.

Astral plane (bottom row, third column)

> take coal. space. g.

Astral plane (bottom row, fifth column)

> drop coal. (+1) bs.

Astral plane (bottom row, fourth column)

> take nickel. stx. space. g. g. g. g.

Astral plane (by Athena)

> drop nickel. (+1)

*** You have won ***

Closing acknowledgment: This game owes a thematic debt to Cliff Johnson's game Fool's Errand.

Extras

Characters

• Aphrodite turns the stones into giant glowing letters when you drop them in their appropriate places.
• Apollo, Athena, Ares, and Prometheus are represented by statues in the four corners of the plane.

Also:

• Pelias and King AEetes of Colchis are mentioned in the introduction.
• Medea, the Great Dragon, and the Argonauts are mentioned in both the introduction and conclusion.

Inventory

• a magic locket. You're carrying it. It's what saved you from the dragon's spell and sent you to the Astral Plane.
• a spellbook. You're carrying it. Read it. It tells you how to navigate in this game.
• a grey stone. It's by Athena. It represents the letter G. Drop it by Apollo.
• an ochre stone. It's by Ares. It represents the letter O. Drop it at the top row, second column.
• a lime stone. It's by Apollo. It represents the letter L. Drop it at either top row, third column or at bottom row, second column.
• a dolomite stone. It's at bottom row, second column. It represents the letter D. Drop it at the top row, fourth column.
• an emerald stone. It's at top row, third column. It represents the letter E. Drop it at any of four locations: top row, fifth column; bottom row, third column; bottom row, fourth column, or by Prometheus.
• a nickel stone. It's at bottom row, fourth column. It represents the letter N. Drop it by Athena.
• a ferrous stone. It's at top row, fifth column. It represents the letter F. Drop it by Ares.
• a coal stone. It's at bottom row, third column. It represents the letter C. Drop it at bottom row, fifth column.

Note that there is no penalty for dropping a stone at the wrong location.

Score

In a total of several turns, you have achieved a score of your-score points out of a possible 12.

• 1 point for placing the grey stone and the restoring the G.
• 1 point for placing the ochre stone and restoring the O.
• 2 points for placing the lime stone and restoring the L's.
• 1 point for placing the dolomite stone and restoring the D.
• 4 points for placing the emerald stone and restoring the E's.
• 1 point for placing the nickel stone and restoring the N.
• 1 point for placing the ferrous stone and restoring the F.
• 1 point for placing the coal stone and restoring the C.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough is provided free of charge since I wrote this walkthrough prior to January 2015 when I began my Patreon account, and also because the work it's based on has less than fifteen locations (so I wouldn't have charged for it anyway). I've since reformatted this walkthrough to use my currently preferred style. I hope you enjoy it!

I'm still creating new walkthroughs! Larger ones too! Please visit my Patreon account if you're interested in helping me create more interactive fiction walkthroughs. I appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks again.