Key & Compass presents:
Old King Nebb
by Caleb Wilson

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters, Credits, Inventory
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• Support me on Ko-Fi
• External links:
  • This work at IFDB, IFWiki, and Ryan Veeder's Expo.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Map

Note: If you wander in a random direction in the anthill, you'll be in a location called "Lost". Just wander again to return to a mapped tunnel location.

Walkthrough

Note: This interactive fiction has no ending, nor are there any puzzles that must be solved. Explore the environment as you wish. This walkthrough is a suggested traversal of the place.

Redfort Road

> about. (No ending to this story.)

> x me. (You are Absalome Pilcrow.)

> i. x hat. x cape. x stick.

> x wall. x greenery. x sky.

> n. (no, that's the way you came)

> s. (maybe later)

> e.

Vine Yard

> x trellises. x vines. x window. x water. (It's an aquarium.)

> climb trellises. (Not your style.)

> n.

Welcome Center

> x tablet. x floor.

> n.

Garden

> x garlic. x palace. ne.

Sun Pool

> x cockodryll. x pool. read tablet.

> ne.

Crumbled Brick Path

> x palace. x road. x trees.

> n.

Foothill

> x lamb. (It's eaten all the grass it can reach.)

> read tablet. x summit. (Looks windy.)

> nw.

Summit

> x flower. (It's a light-source!)

> take flower.

> jump. (You fly for a moment on the wind.)

> se. se.

Shaded Brick Path

> x pod. take it. open pod. (can't)

> shake pod. (It's a rattle.)

> se.

Buckthorn

> x buckthorn. (might be able to get through them to the east.)

> e.

Grove

> x haybale. x mask. take all. wear mask.

> w. sw.

Hollow

> x earth. s.

Statuary Yard

> take coin. x it. x statues.

> w.

Night Pavilion

> x chameleopard. read tablet. x dome. x pillars.

> w. (The cat follows you.)

Cloud Pavilion

> x chameleopard. (Its pelt has changed colors.)

> x pillars. x dome.

NOTE: If you shake the seed pod near the chameleopard, it grabs the pod and runs to another room with it, either the Night or the Cloud Chamber.

> shake pod. e.

Night Pavilion

> take pod. shake pod. w.

Cloud Pavilion

> take pod. s.

Aquarium

> read tablet.

> x water. x waterweed. x mossy stone. x cavity.

> x trireme. (It's a model of a ship.)

> x remora. (It's a green and black fish.)

> x sand. x starfish. x eye.

> n. n.

Old Throne Room

> read tablet. x throne.

> e.

Stairs

> read tablet.

> n.

Nebb's Room

> x king. x dream. g. g.

> x fireplace. x tapestries. x ceiling. touch it.

> s. d.

Anthill Entrance

The sunflower will let you see when inside the anthill tunnels.

> x ribbon. x ant.

Follow the ribbon:

> sw. se. sw.

Queen's Chamber

> x queen. x couch. x ants.

> give coin to queen. (Another ant takes it and glues it to the couch.)

From reading the tablet on the Stairs, you know there's a room opposite the Queen's Chamber.

> ne. ne.

Store Room

> x meat. take meat.

Return to the sun pool:

> sw. nw. ne. u. w. n.

Sun Pool

> shake pod. (The cockodryll wakes.)

> give meat to cockodryll. (It eats your gift, then goes back to sleep.)

Now revisit the lamb:

> ne. n.

Foothill

> give haybale to lamb. (It starts eating it.)

I think we've seen as much as we can, unless you want to play with the chameleopard some more. But this walkthrough is done.

> quit.

Extras

Characters

• A cockodryll sleeps on a plinth in the sun pool. It has green scales.
• A chameleopard is a large cat who watches you curiously. In the Night Pavilion, it's black with white speckles, but in the Cloud Pavilion, its pelt is grey with reddish streaks.
• A vegetable lamb is a plant that mimics the animal it's named after. However, it can't wander to forage, so it depends on others to bring grass or hay to it for its survival.
• A remora and a starfish can be found in the aquarium.
• The Ant Queen is huge. She sits on a throne decorated with gold coins in her chamber.
• Royal ants attend the queen in her chamber.
• Worker ants may be with the queen or in the tunnels.
• A scout ant may be in the tunnels or in the palace. Leave it alone. I assume if you drop anything in any of the palace rooms and if the scout finds it, the scout will carry it away to the ants' store room.
• King Nebb is sleeping in a rocking chair in his room. He dreams so strongly, you can see his dream float over his head. According to the tablets, he once made cruel decisions, but then later changed his ways and became a friend to all living creatures.

Credits

This is the response to CREDITS:

Old King Nebb was written for The Second Quadrennial Ryan Veeder Exposition for Good Interactive Fiction by me. I am Abandoned Pools. A tester tested and I thank them greatly for it.

There is no ending to this fiction.

I would like to recommend the following album for a soundtrack to this piece: No Treasure But Hope by the band Tindersticks.

Inventory

• a wide-brimmed hat. You are wearing it.
• Leave it on.
• a Panzitoum cape. You are wearing it.
• Leave it on.
• a walking stick. You are carrying it.
• Just hold onto it.
• a sunflower. It's on the summit.
• It's a light-source and will let you see your surroundings in dark locations.
• a seed pod. It's on the shaded brick path.
• Shake it; it rattles.
• If you shake the pod near the chameleopard, it grabs the pod and runs to another room with it. You can pick it up again there.
• If you shake the pod near the cockodryll, it wakes up.
• a gold coin. It's in the statuary yard.
• If you give the coin to the queen, she'll accept your gift, and another ant will glue it to her couch for her.
• Or you can just keep the coin, of course.
• a haybale. It's in the grove.
• You may give the haybale to the lamb in the the foothill.
• a bark mask. It's in the grove.
• You can wear it, if you like.
• some cured meat. It's in the store room.
• You cannot eat this meat. It's not prepared suitably for humans.
• You may give the meat to the cockodryll, but wake it first by shaking a seed pod.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with

• the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, and Phil Tatro;
• the generous support of Janice M Eisen and Matthew Foxley;
• the very generous support of Karl Ove Hufthammer;
• the extremely generous support of Emily Short, Allen Garvin, Jesse McGrew, Jacqueline Ashwell, Marius Müller, Jennifer Rexrode, Durafen, and Rus Whang;
• and the invisible support of several anonymous patrons.

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