Key & Compass presents:
The End Means Escape
by Steve Kodat

The End Means Escape is a TADS 2 interactive fiction game and is © 2000 by Steve Kodat (as "D.O."). It was an entry in IF Comp 2000 where it took 21st place. At the 2000 XYZZY Awards, it was a finalist in the Best Puzzles category.

In this short but exceedingly surreal game, you start in a room where everything moves and talks on their own. Later on in this adventure, you'll escape from a dictionary, meet people who don't move or talk at all, and orbit a sun.

This solution is by David Welbourn.

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.

Maps
- Map 1: Full game
- Map 2: Atomic Weight of Breath and Doubt
Walkthrough
Extras
- Characters, Credits, Inventory, Score
Thank You to my Patreon supporters
Support me on Ko-Fi
External links:
- This game at CASA, IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
- Follow me at Bluesky, Ko-Fi, Mastodon, Patreon, and Wordpress.

Maps

Map 1: Full game

Map 2: Atomic Weight of Breath and Doubt

Walkthrough

Chamber Music

> about.

Look around carefully at everything. All of it is sentient.

> x me. i.

> x door. x finish. x wood cracks.

> x frame. x hinges. x knob. x keyhole.

> x balloon. x table. x table legs.

> x book. (It slams shut!)

> x book. x cover. x leather cracks.

> x letters. read letters. x pages.

> x scissors. x blades.

> x note. x emperor. x numbers. x corners.

> x lamp. x pedestal. x shade. x bulb. x enamel.

> x floor. x carpet. x scuffs.

> x ceiling. x walls. x gray paint.

This room is kinda finnicky. Here's what you must do in this room, and in this order:

> balloon, rub carpet. (Its skin gains a static electric charge.)

> balloon, take bill. (The bill now feels safe from you.)

> ask bill about scissors. (The scissors open and now feel safe from you.)

> ask scissors about book. (The book opens, and invites you to enter.)

> enter book.

The Inner Dictionary

While inside the dictionary, all the individual words in both the room and in your inventory can be moved around.

Initally, the room says "their turn comes hard". Your inventory says "nothing remains for you". Those are eight words, eight things for you to take, drop, push, and pull.
You want "nothing comes for their remains" and "you turn hard" in the room and inventory respectively.
You can TAKE any word from the room as long as at least three words will remain there. When you take a word, it goes to the front of your inventory.
You can DROP any word (except "you") from your inventory into the room. When you drop a word, it goes to the front of the room's words.
You can PUSH any word to swap with the word to its right.
You can PULL any word to swap with the word to its left.

> i.

> drop remains. drop for. drop nothing.

> take hard. take turn.

> push remains. push remains.

> pull comes. pull comes.

> pull you. pull you.

When you make sense of your surroundings, you leave and arrive at...

A Landscape of Rigor

> x hills. x fields. x plateau.

> x old man. x woman. x young man.

> x mark. talk to young man.

> remove shirt. x tattoo. x dragon.

These three people are as immobile as statues. You are at liberty to pick them up, undress them, and inspect all their body parts.

For example, before and after undressing the young man, you may examine his tattoo, head, hands, skin, torso, arms, legs, hips, feet, head of hair, forehead, eyebrows, eyes, eyelashes, ears, nose, mouth, chin, neck, fingers, thumbs, shoulders, armpits, nipples, pectorals, navel, upper arms, elbows, forearms, wrists, thighs, knees, calves, ankles, anus, and genitals. Use "throat" to refer to his neck specifically.

The other two people have similar long lists of body parts, but your own person has just your hands, body, and head implemented.

Feel free to try to explore everyone in whichever ways please you, but this walkthrough will now focus on what you need to do here.

> take gown. x cut.

> pull staples. (You can't with your fat translucent fingers.)

> take woman. pull staples with woman. drop woman.

> open cut.

The Atomic Weight of Breath and Doubt

> x me. i. (nothing)

> x weight. x breath. x doubt.

There's not much to do here beyond traversing the exits in the directions given.

> down right. up right.

> down right. up right. right.

> down. right.

> up. down right. up.

This is a dead end, but you've just walked a path that looks like the word "WIN" (see map 2).

> win.

A Seismic Void

> x sun. x blackness. x line. x force.

> break force.

(You become a secret of the void...

It looks like the game ends here, but there's actually a smidge more to see...

? cancel

emptiness

There's no prompt any more, but pretend there is one.

> z

** ******** ****************** ***... ...

You're now in another solar system.

> z

(The game has ended.)

And if you're wondering what any of that game was supposed to mean, I'm sure your guess is as good as mine. I have no espacial insight here for you. Sorry.

Extras

Characters

The folding scissors are on the floor of "Chamber Music". They hold their blades closed tight. They don't trust you. Until they feel safe, they won't open.
The bill is on the floor of "Chamber Music". It has corners, an emperor portrait, and numbers. It needs to feel safe before it will convince the scissors that you are safe.
The table is in "Chamber Music". It has a tabletop, table legs, and the book. The table protects the book, won't let you on itself, and won't obey any of your orders.
The book is on the table in "Chamber Music". This dictionary has a leather cover, a leather spine, embossed letters, and pages. The book doesn't trust you and won't open for you until the scissors convince it to give you ingress.
The balloon floats within "Chamber Music". It has a balloon skin, but no knot or string.
The lamp is in "Chamber Music". It has a bulb, a pedestal, a shade, a base, and enamel. Don't trust anything it says. It deliberately misleads you.
The door is in "Chamber Music". It has a frame, a panel, a depression, some brass hinges, a knob, a faceplate, and a keyhole. It's depressed because there's only more wall on its other side, so it's utterly without any purpose here.
The floor in "Chamber Music" has a carpet.
The walls in "Chamber Music" have gray paint.
The ceiling is in "Chamber Music".
The old man, the woman, and the young man are in "A Landscape of Rigor". Although they are completely inanimate, they appear to be actual living people, albeit in stasis.

Mentioned:

Travelers went through the door. You assume it meant other people, and also when it was somewhere else, not here.

Credits

This is the response to ABOUT:

This game was developed with TADS, the Text Adventure Development System. Many thanks to Mike Roberts for his continuing work on this excellent set of tools. If need be, you can enter "HINT" repeatedly to get more and more explicit help on progressing farther in the game. Permission is given to the Sixth Annual Interactive Fiction Competition and to Stephen Granade to include this game on the distribution CD. D.O.

Inventory

Note that inventory items and even your own body parts (if any) are limited to the locations you find them in; they are not carried from one location to another.

a pair of folded scissors. They're on the floor in "Chamber Music".

Once you take them, you cannot drop them.
You may not open them.
When the balloon is carrying the bill, ask the bill about the scissors. If you have the scissors, they jump from your hand onto the floor. Regardless, the scissors open and stay open. It is no longer safe for you to take the scissors.
When the scissors are open, ask the scissors about the book to make the book friendly. If the book is closed, the book opens and stays open.

their, turn, comes, hard, nothing, remains, for, and you. The first four words are in the "Inner Dictionary"; the last four words are in your inventory when you arrive in the "Inner Dictionary".

To escape the dictionary, you must TAKE, DROP, PUSH, and PULL the words until the room says "nothing comes for their remains" and your inventory says "you turn hard".
NOTE: The room must always have at least three words in it. If there's only three words there, you can't take any of them.
NOTE: You can never drop "you".

the old man, the woman, and the young man. They are in "A Landscape of Rigor". You can only carry one of the three at a time.

While carrying the woman, pull the staples (from the old man's cut) with the woman (using her fingernails).

the hospital gown and the boxer shorts. The old man is wearing them.

The cut and the boxer shorts are revealed when you take the gown.
Note that you cannot wear any of the trio's garments. None of them fit, not even the hospital gown.

the shirtwaist dress, the bra, the panties, and the high heel shoes. The woman is wearing them.

The bra and panties are revealed when you take the dress.

the white shirt, the pants, the leather shoes, the socks, and the briefs. The young man is wearing them.

The briefs are revealed when you take the pants.
The socks are revealed when you take the leather shoes.
If you wish to see all of the young man's tattoo, you must remove his shirt, pants, and briefs.

Honorable mention:

your hands, your body, and your head. These are parts of yourself when at "Chamber Music" and at "A Landscape of Rigor".
the white sheet. You're wearing it when at "Chamber Music". Examine your body to notice it. You won't remove it.
your position and your speed. These are attributes of yourself when at "A Seismic Void".

Score

This is the response to SCORE:

You're doing better than some, worse than others.

Yeah, there's no score in this game.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough is provided free of charge since the work it's based on has less than fifteen locations. Please consider it a thank you for your support!

I create larger walkthroughs 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.

Ko-Fi is a way to send me small one-time donations. Every little bit helps, and thank you!

Key & Compass presents: The End Means Escape by Steve Kodat