How the Little Match Girl Met the Queen of Vampires is a Glulx interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2023 by Ryan Veeder (writing as "Hans Christian Andersen"). It was written for #EnigMarch 2022 (which was in 2023). Within the Little Match Girl series, this game happens after How the Little Match Girl Got Her Colt Paterson Revolver, and Taught a Virtue to a Goblin and before The Little Match Girl 2: Annus Evertens.
Once again, you play as Ebenezabeth Scrooge, the little match girl who transports herself to other places and times just by looking at fire. This story begins in the clouds. The King of Birds has been transfigured into a wet snail, and you must disenchant him with a magic whistle. Which melody will you play?
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.
This question is asking you if it's okay for the game to display a curse word later on, not right now. If you say yes, the Queen of Vampires will utter the curse word; if you say no, she will say "brat" instead.
Would you like to see a curse word?
>> yes —or— no
CloudsThe Sky
The Albatross gives you a magic whistle to restore their king, currently transfigured into a snail. He explains that none of them have lips to blow the whistle.
> i. x revolver. x snail. x throne.
> x albatross. x owl. x stork. x sparrow. x duck.
> x whistle. (You can play the notes A through G on it.)
> blow whistle.
> talk to albatross. (They don't know what melody you should play.)
> play A. (too short)
> play FACADE. (too long)
> play CAB. (no correct notes at all.)
> play EGG.
The spell breaks. The snail becomes the Eagle, the King of Birds. He summons a flame for you so you can help others with the whistle.
🦅 🦅 🦅
I hope it's obvious that the melody will always be an English word that only uses the letters from A through G, and the word is also somehow related to the creature you're trying to restore.
When you play the wrong melody, the game first checks if the melody is too long or too short and tells you so. If the melody is the right length, the game reports how many of the notes were correct and in the right places, and also how many of the notes were correct but in the wrong places.
In short, this is muscial-note wordplay with Mastermind mechanics.
🦅 🦅 🦅
> x eagle. talk to eagle.
> x flame. (You travel to...)
Snowy TrackVisby, Gotland
> x longhouse. u.
Longhouse
> x Philip. talk to Philip.
> x rose. x throne. x runes.
> x skald. x lute. talk to skald. ("Brodr")
> x merchant. x milk. talk to merchant. ("Said")
> x hog. x greens. x table.
> play EDDA.
The spell breaks. The rose becomes the Viking Queen. She rewards you with a golden bracelet, which you wear.
> x queen. talk to queen. x bracelet.
> x torch. (You travel to...)
TunnelNewark, New Jersey
> x brick. x water. x ladder.
> d.
Rectangular Chamber
> x walrus. x throne. x dais. x alligators.
> x boy. x girl. x stick.
> talk to girl. talk to boy.
> play CAGE.
The spell breaks. The walrus becomes the Sewer Queen. She owes you one and lights a cigarette.
> x queen. x cigarette. (You travel to...)
DesertRuined Abydos, Egypt
> x mist. x dunes. x columns. x stars. x pyramid.
> n.
Palace
> x toucan. x throne. x cat. pet cat.
> x Nenut. talk to Nenut.
> x Penenq. talk to Penenq.
> play DEAD.
The spell breaks. The toucan becomes the Djereth, the King of Mummies, who thanks you.
> x king. talk to king. x flames. (You travel to...)
CatacombPrague, in the Kingdom of Bohemia
> w. (Now the light is northwest.)
> nw.
Ossuary
> x turtle. x throne. x scrawny. x burly. x shovel.
> talk to scrawny. (Mordus, footman to the Queen of Vampires)
> talk to burly. (Kozan)
> play FADED.
The spell breaks. The turtle becomes Atë, the Queen of Vampires. She begins to offer Mordus to lead you out safely, but then you apologize for killing Urimedonte, and she's suddenly murderous.
Your next few keystrokes become:
> uh (You look at a random candle and you're now in...)
Throne RoomThe Depths of a Nameless Swamp
> x mushroom. x throne. x tiger. x queen.
> talk to mushroom. talk to queen.
> play EBBED.
The spell breaks. The tiger becomes a rotten stump, the Marsh King.
> x mud. x king. talk to king.
No more flames to follow. Time to wake up.
> wake.
CloudsThe Sky
The Eagle asks if you know what caused the transformations. Play your answer with the whistle. If you were paying attention, you know that the transfiguration victims ate a leafy vegetable.
> play CABBAGE.
*** The End ***
‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said,
‘To talk of many things.
Of shoes — and ships — and sealing wax —
Of cabbages — and kings —’Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
Mentioned:
This is the response to CREDITS:
(Thank you for for playing this game. I wrote it for day eighteen of #EnigMarch 2022 (which I did in July of 2023), but I actually started it on the sixteenth (when the prompt was "Hex"), and I didn't finish writing it until the twentieth. The prompt was "Spell." Learn more about EnigMarch at https://enigmarch.com/, and find my other EnigMarch puzzles at https://rcveeder.net/enigmarch22/.
This game was tested by Emily Boegheim and Sarah Willson.)
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