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Key & Compass presents:
The Crystal Palace
by Peter Orme

The Crystal Palace is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2011 by Peter Orme. It was a participant in the Thanksgiving Speed-IF event in 2011.

In this small fantasy game, you play as a young man named David Claré. You have decided to spend the weekend at the family country cabin owned by your second cousin Rebecca who disappeared over a year ago.

This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 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.


Map

look through tubeat bismuth crystal d u in out u enter circle u d out in d in attic bedroom terrace frontroom kitchen hutinterior city gate frontlawn garden hut swamp mountain-side cave (win!)

Walkthrough

front hall

> x me. x trap door. (has keyhole)

> open trap door. (can't reach it.)

> open cupboard.

> x hat. x bowtie. x guard. x bow. (nothing special about any)

I plan to bring everything you need here, so I'm leaving everything in the cupboard for later.

> e.

kitchen

You don't need the jug, just the key inside it.

> x jug. open jug. take iron key.

> x key. read label. ("attic")

> n.

bedroom

Start with the desk:

> x desk. open drawer. take all from drawer.

> x crystal. x page. (The page mentions a metopticon, a Grimoire, a crystal city, and N.G. Also, you must be the bard, warrior, or mage, but only one at a time.)

Now the bed and bookshelves:

> x bed. x bookshelves. ("fetch [book-name]")

> fetch grimoire. x grimoire. (+1; you learn how to make a metopticon from a tube, two triangular blocks, and a sphere.)

Let's head outside for one more item:

> s. w. out. e.

garden

> take ladder. w. in.

front hall

> drop ladder. (+1)

> unlock trap door. (with key)

> u. (+1)

attic

> open chest. take all from chest.

> x tube. (The other three items are uninteresting.)

> d.

front hall

Let's build the metopticon:

> put pink in tube. (+1)

> put blue in tube. (+1)

> put ball in tube. (+1)

> x tube. ('Tube' is easier to type than 'metopticon'.)

> look at bismuth through tube. (Your clothing isn't right.)

To dress up as a "warrior", wear the arm guard and carry the bow and you must not be wearing either the hat or the bowtie.

> wear guard. take bow.

> look through tube at bismuth.

terrace

Note that the bow and armguard have descriptions now. I think the items you had in the cabin were just costume props. But here, wherever here is, you have actual weapons.

> x me. i. x outfit. x bow. x armguard.

> x circle. x city.

> d.

city gate

You cannot enter the city. Sorry.

> s.

swamp

> x troll.

> w. (Troll blocks you.)

> shoot troll. (+1)

> w. in.

hut interior

> x crate. x pouch. open pouch. x scroll.

> take pouch. out. s. u.

cave

> x dragon. shoot dragon. (No, your bow needs a blessing.)

> d. n. e. n. u. enter circle.

front hall

Your cabin inventory is restored. Change your outfit from "warrior" to "mage":

> drop guard and bow.

> wear hat. wear bowtie.

> look through tube at bismuth.

terrace

All of the warrior's gear is here.

> x me. i. (You have a mage outfit on now.)

> take scroll and bow.

> x scroll. (+1; you put a blessing on the bow.)

> i. (The bow is now a magic archer's bow. The scroll is gone.)

> enter circle.

front hall

Change back to "warrior":

> drop hat and bowtie.

> wear guard. take bow.

> look through tube at bismuth.

terrace

> i. (Yes, you have all the warrior's stuff again.)

Leave the pouch and mage outfit here. You don't need them.

> d. s. w. s. u.

cave

> shoot dragon. (+1)

> in. (+1)

The inner cave contains treasure and Rebecca.

*** You have won. ***


Extras

Characters

Mentioned:


Inventory

Cabin inventory
Crystal-realm inventory

Note that whenever you travel to the crystal realm, all your inventory from the cabin stays behind, and your new character in the realm will be appropriately attired and equipped. When you return to the cabin by entering the magic circle, you leave all of your crystal-realm inventory behind on the terrace, and your original inventory in the cabin is restored.


Score

The response to SCORE is:

You have so far scored your-score out of a possible 10, in 16 turns.

Points are awarded as follows:


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