Key & Compass presents:
The Prize
by Simon Vigonski

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

Map

Walkthrough

Note: This game is told in the third-person, and for a good reason.

Maze of Passages

> listen. (wailing sounds fake)

> x walls —or— x valley.

> x maze.

> n.

Windy Cave

> x hole. x wind. x outcropping. x building.

> enter hole. (out of reach)

> get on outcropping. (out of reach)

> climb wall. (can't)

> n.

Valley Entrance

> x bird. (red; a tireless guardian)

> x statues. (have spears; not stopping intruders)

> x building. x trees. (No two the same.)

> x field. x waterfall.

> n.

Tomb Entrance

> x vines. x plaque. x bolts.

> e.

Shore of the Waterfall

> x pool —or— x cliff —or— x bottom —or— x waterfall.

> touch water. (cold)

> w. w.

Open Field

> x shoot. (An inch tall, with two tiny leaves.)

> e. n.

Chamber of Alchemy

> x slab. x book.

> look up essences in book. look up catalysts in book.

> look up alchemist in book. (nothing)

> look up holy bird in book. look up holy tree in book.

> look up growth in book. look up movement in book.

> look up breath in book. look up breath of ages in book.

> look up flow in book. look up strength in book.

> look up seals in book.

> take book. x pedestal.

There are five side chambers, one per essence. Let's start with the western one and go clockwise.

> w.

Chamber of Breath

> x battle. e. nw.

Chamber of Strength

> x battle. se. n.

Chamber of Growth

> x battle. s. ne.

Chamber of Movement

> x battle. sw. e.

Chamber of Flow

> x battle. w. d.

Corridor

> x torches. touch flames. (not hot)

> x door. (Blocked by all five essences.)

> look up barrier in book. (Different from seals.)

> x field battle. x city battle.

> u. s.

Tomb Entrance

> draw growth from vines.

> w.

Note that drawn essences dissipate when you leave a location. You must use them where you drew them.

Open Field / Under the Holy Tree

> draw growth from tree.

> transmute shoot.

The tree grows huge. It has an acorn. The bird lands on the branch. A feather falls.

Because the bird has landed, the Movement barrier on the crypt door is gone.

> take feather. x it.

> x tree. x acorn.

> se.

Valley Entrance

> draw movement from feather.

> transmute statue. (One statue is now a golem.)

> golem, hit statue.

The other statue is broken, as is its spear. Because both statues are gone, the Strength barrier on the crypt door is also gone.

> x spearhead. take it.

> golem, nw.

> nw.

Under the Holy Tree

> golem, take acorn.

> golem, give acorn to me.

> golem, e.

> e.

Tomb Entrance

> draw strength from spearhead.

> transmute vines. (They are now stone.)

Because the vines no longer grow, the Growth barrier on the crypt door is gone.

> golem, take plaque. (It can't unfasten the bolts.)

> golem, hit plaque. (It starts to ring.)

Alas, the golem can't really help you any further.

> s. s.

Windy Cave

> cut me with head. (Blood drips.)

> draw flow from blood.

> transmute outcropping. (It falls, leaving a humming pebble.)

Because the wind no longer sings, the Breath barrier on the crypt door is gone.

> take pebble.

> n. n.

Tomb Entrance

> draw breath from pebble.

> transmute bolts. (The plaque falls.)

> take plaque. hit plaque.

> draw breath from plaque.

> draw strength from plaque.

> transmute blood. (It freezes; he's no longer bleeding.)

> e.

Shore of the Waterfall

> hit plaque.

> draw breath from plaque.

> draw strength from plaque.

> transmute water. (It freezes, leaving an ice shard.)

Because the waterfall no longer flows, the Flow barrier on the crypt door is gone. And that was the final barrier.

> take shard. x it.

> w. n. d. n.

Crypt

> x orb. take orb.

> look up black orb in book. (The sixth essence is Lies.)

> x sarcophagus.

Make notes on which essences the bowls are sealed with; it's randomized!

> x nw bowl. x ne bowl. x sw bowl. x se bowl.

Note: The plaque is too large to fit into a bowl, and blood won't count as Flow when put into a bowl, but you can and must use all your other catalysts.

Place all the catalysts in the bowls that represent opposing forces for the seals. Assume that the wheel of essences is as arranged by the chambers upstairs; see Essences.

When all your sources are placed correctly:

> transmute sarcophagus. (The seals are gone. Everything in the bowls is gone too.)

> open sarcophagus.

*** You have been resurrected. ***

Extras

Characters

• A red bird is circling endlessly over the crypt. Look it up in the book to learn it's a holy bird, a strong catalyst of Movement that only lands on a holy tree.
• A golem will do whatever you order it to do. Create a golem by transmuting a statue with Movement drawn from the feather.
• The Alchemist is in his sarcophagus in his crypt.

Credits

The response to CREDITS is the same as VERSION:

The Prize
An Interactive Fiction by Simon Vigonski
Release 1 / Serial number 120827 / Inform 7 build 6G60 (I6/v6.32 lib 6/12N)
Identification number: //BA883774-4EF2-4485-9B9C-F8F826E58AC3//
Standard interpreter 1.1 (4F) / Library serial number 080126
Standard Rules version 2/090402 by Graham Nelson
Custom Library Messages version 4/120212 by Ron Newcomb (with special thanks to David Fisher)
Pronouns version 4 by Ron Newcomb

Essences

Breath

• Breath allies with Strength and Flow.
• Breath opposes Movement, Growth, and Lies.
• Breath can be drawn from the waterfall (when noisy), the singing stone, and the golden plaque (when ringing and near).

Flow

• Flow allies with Breath and Movement.
• Flow opposes Growth, Strength, and Lies.
• Flow can be drawn from the waterfall (when flowing), the shard, and your dripping blood.

Growth

• Growth allies with Strength and Movement.
• Growth opposes Breath, Flow, and Lies.
• Growth can be drawn from the shoot, the holy tree, the acorn, and the vines (when not petrified).

Movement

• Movement allies with Flow and Growth.
• Movement opposes Breath, Strength, and Lies.
• Movement can be drawn from the feather. The holy bird is always too far away.

Strength

• Strength allies with Breath and Growth.
• Strength opposes Flow, Movement, and Lies.
• Strength can be drawn from the statues (but not the golem), the golden plaque (when near), and the spearhead.

Lies

• Lies opposes Breath, Flow, Growth, Movement, and Strength.
• Lies can be drawn from the orb.

Inventory

• some clothes on his back. He's wearing them.
• You can ignore his clothes.
• an old book. It's on the pedestal in the Chamber of Alchemy.
• Read it and look up topics in it. Known topics include: alchemy, barrier, black orb, Breath, Breath of Ages, catalysts, essences, Flow, Growth, holy bird, holy tree, Movement, seals, Strength.
• a feather. It falls from the holy bird when it lands on the holy tree. To grow the holy tree in the open field, transmute the shoot with Growth drawn from the shoot.
• It's a Movement catalyst.
• At the valley entrance, transmute a statue with Movement drawn from the feather to animate it into a golem. The golem will obey all your orders to the best of its ability, but it is no longer a catalyst for Strength.
• In the crypt, put the feather in the northeast bowl.
• an acorn. It's on the lowest branch of the holy tree.
• Order your golem to take the acorn then give it to you.
• It's a Growth catalyst.
• In the crypt, put the acorn into the southeast bowl.
• a spearhead. It's in the valley entrance after you order the golem to attack the statue.
• It's a Strength catalyst. It's also very sharp.
• At the tomb entrance, transmute the vines with Strength drawn from the spearhead to petrify them. The vines are no longer a Growth catalyst, and the Growth barrier is no longer on the crypt door.
• In the windy cave, cut yourself with spearhead to start bleeding. Use the dripping blood as a Flow catalyst.
• In the crypt, put the spearhead in the southwest bowl.
• a singing stone. It falls into the windy cave when the outcropping falls; see blood.
• It's a Breath catalyst.
• At the tomb entrance, transmute the bolts with Breath drawn from the singing stone to age the bolts into rust, freeing the golden plaque.
• In the crypt, put the singing stone in the southwest bowl.
• a golden plaque. It's bolted to the tomb, high above the tomb entrance.
• To free the plaque, transmute the bolts with Breath drawn from the singing stone to age the bolts into rust.
• It's a Strength catalyst.
• If you hit the plaque, it rings, briefly. While it's ringing, the plaque is also a Breath catalyst.
• Transmute your dripping blood with Breath and Strength both drawn from the golden plaque to freeze it, stopping the blood flow.
• Transmute the waterfall with Breath and Strength both drawn from the golden plaque to freeze it. This removes the Flow barrier from the crypt door, and produces the shard.
• Note that the plaque is too big to fit into any of the bowls in the crypt.
• It's difficult to be certain, but I believe the symbols on the plaque correspond to the essences as arranged by the chambers. That is, going clockwise from the top, the circle-in-circle means Growth, the V-shape means Movement, the three vertical lines means Flow, the three horizontal lines means Breath, and the rectangle with the missing bottom line means Strength.
• a shard. It falls from the waterfall when you freeze it; see golden plaque.
• It's a Flow catalyst.
• Although made of ice, it will never melt.
• In the crypt, put the shard into the northwest bowl.
• an orb. It's on the sarcophagus in the crypt.
• Look up black orb in the book to learn it's a Lies catalyst and that Lies are in opposition to all other essences.
• I found nothing I could transmute with Lies.
• In the crypt, put the orb into the southeast bowl.

Honorable mention:

• dripping blood. Cut yourself with the spearhead to start bleeding.
• Dripping blood is a Flow catalyst.
• In the windy cave, transmute the outcropping with Flow drawn from your blood to make the outcropping fall. This stops the hole from wailing, removes the Breath barrier from the crypt door, and produces the singing stone.
• Transmute the blood with Breath and Strength both drawn from the golden plaque to freeze it, stopping the blood flow.

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