Castle of the Red Prince is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2013 by C.E.J. Pacian. At the 2013 XYZZY Awards, it was finalist in the Best Use of Innovation category.
In this short game, you are a student of the arcane who's been having nightmares. As you dreamwalk, you see the land of Amaranth, the tyrant prince who rules it, and the growing corruption that surrounds him like a malignant aura. You finally understand. The Red Prince must die.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Version 7 of the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
Amaranth
In this game, everything is in scope. That is, you can interact with anything anywhere, as long as you know where it is, and as long as it still exists in Amaranth. You never use travel-commands to go anywhere.
Also, the time-of-day, seen in the status bar, changes relatively quickly as you interact with the game. Every sunset, you always return to the inn to rest, and the Red Prince claims a new victim.
Note that whenever you sleep, whatever you dream is a hint on something you can try to do. But, of course, since you're reading a walkthrough, you won't be using the game's hints.
Village / Inn
> x village. x inn.
> talk to innkeeper.
> talk to carouser.
> attack him with fists. (You get his lighter instead.)
Church / Graveyard / Mausoleum
> x church. x graveyard. x mausoleum.
A revenant wielding a sword shrieks at you and you flee from the graveyard.
> x sword. (It's silver.)
> talk to lady. (She gives you the sword, ordering you to slay the Prince.)
Castle / Watchtower
> x castle.
> x watchtower. (it slants)
> x gong.
Great Hall / Library
> x great hall.
The Red Prince invites you to explore his library.
> x library.
> take lantern.
> read treatise. (Fairy rings are realm passages.)
> read evil. (Evil power wanes in daylight and vs silver.)
> x black book. take it.
Forest / Shack / Mine shaft
> x forestland. x shack.
> light lantern. x shaft. take dynamite.
Shrine / Glade
> x shrine. (A horned skeleton lies near it.)
> x skeleton. take it.
> x glade. x ring.
> enter ring. (You see a strange world with horned figures.)
> put skeleton in ring. (A maw swallows it whole.)
The maw remains, open wide.
> put book in maw. (The book is gone forever.)
Cliff / Waterfall / Cave
You must have a lit lantern to see in the cave.
> x cliff. x river. x waterfall.
> x cave. x foundation.
> put dynamite in foundation.
Watchtower / Cave
Moving quickly:
> hit gong. (The soldiers enter the watchtower.)
> light dynamite. (The soldiers and watchtower are gone.)
Great Hall / Glade
Do this during daytime; you don't want sunset to interfere:
> kill prince. (using the sword)
Unfortunately, the prince's death isn't permanent unless you quickly dispose of his corpse.
> take corpse. put corpse in maw.
*** The Red Prince has died ***
Found dead:
Mentioned:
This is the response to CREDITS:
Castle of the Red Prince is an interactive grimoire by the mad Englishman C.E.J. Pacian - said to have been inscribed during a series of terrible rites in which George Oliver, Konstantinos "Gnome" Dimopoulos, Emily Boegheim and Stephen Lavelle served as human sacrifices (or "beta testers" as they are known to students of the occult). Helpful prayers were also offered by Anna Anthropy and Robert Yang.
The author can reputedly be summoned by reciting the correct incantations towards
email redacted
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