Key & Compass presents:
Return to the Castle
by John Wilson

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters, Endings, Inventory, Score
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• Support me on Ko-Fi
• External links:
  • This game at CASA, Google Drive, IFDB, and IFWiki.
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Map

Walkthrough

Forecourt

Note 1: Whenever you examine yourself or almost any other creature, stats for power, strength, agility, and wisdom are displayed. The number of X's after a stat name shows you how strong that stat is. But ignore all the stats. There's no combat in this game, and if you even try to fight the goblin, you'll put the game into an unwinnable state.

Note 2: A spider wanders around randomly. Feel free to examine it when it's near you, but you don't need to interact with it.

Note 3: Eat your food items now or later, but do eat them for the points.

> x me. i. x mint. x bap.

> eat mint. (+1)

> eat bap. (+1)

> x jacket. x pants. x boots. x laces.

> x castle. x towers. x drawbridge. read sign.

> x moat. x ladder. ("Secret Entrance")

> x rock. look under rock. (no cockroach)

> x pouch. take it. open it.

> look in pouch. x button.

> x tentacle.

> d.

Ladder

> x goblin. (his jacket is missing a button)

> talk to goblin. g. g. (You learn about needing a lantern and how he lost his button.)

> ask goblin about barrel. (no: ask the Dwarf)

> open barrel. look in barrel.

> x fish. take it. close barrel.

> move barrel. (+1)

> look. x lever.

The lever turns the lights on and off in a storage room in the castle. You want the lights on.

> push lever. (Castle lights go out.)

> pull lever. (Castle lights go on.)

> n. (no: darkness)

> x darkness.

> u. n.

Door

> x timbers. x lintel. ("Nardo")

> x hinges. x handle.

The boot scraper isn't implemented but you can still try to use it:

> scrape boots. (no need)

> n.

Castle

> x dragon.

> talk to dragon. g. g. (You learn about Vlad, missing gold, and that there are two lanterns.)

> give fish to dragon.

> x opening. ("Help - Information - Ask The Dwarf")

> x walls. x ring. pull ring. (+2)

> w.

Attic

The dwarf is the only character in the game that answers questions.

> x dwarf. ("I Luv Books")

> x book. (in dwarvish)

> ask dwarf about dragon. (lost its teeth and its fire)

> ask dwarf about spider. (hates them)

> ask dwarf about book.

> ask dwarf about goblin. (he'd sell his granny for a silver groat)

> ask dwarf about tentacle. (they tend to live forever)

> ask dwarf about pouch. (used to be magical until Small Daniels passed away)

> ask dwarf about button. (goblins favour three-holers)

> take book. (might swap it for a cockroach)

> ask dwarf about cockroach. (both he and the dragon love them.)

> ask dwarf about darkness. (need to shine a lantern)

> ask dwarf about lantern. (goblin has one)

> smell. ask dwarf about eagle.

> e. e.

Storage

Sometimes an elf enters here, but leaves before you can react to them.

If you're here long enough, the pixie will ask you for an eraser.

> x pixie. x clipboard. x pencil.

> x rubbish.

> x boxes. x wrappers. x packets. x bottles.

> search rubbish. (+1. sword found; cockroach runs off)

> x sword. take it. turn it on. (+1)

The stuff in the cabinet is junk, but take it anyway.

> x cabinet. open it. look in it.

> x lantern. take it.

> x phial. take it.

> w. n.

Alcove

Note: If you're here long enough, a beetle may crawl out from under the bed. Examine it when you can, but you can't do anything else with it.

> x bed. look under bed. (+1; found straw)

> x straw. search straw. (+1; something rolls out and an elf enters.)

CAUTION: Do not try to take the coin. If you try, the elf grabs it first, making the game unwinnable.

> look. x coin. x elf. (smells of straw)

> x floor. x walls. x fungus.

I would never have guessed this:

> push coin. (You nudge it out of the alcove with your foot.)

> s.

Castle

> take coin. n.

Alcove

> give coin to elf. (+3. He gives you something.)

> i. x eraser.

> s. e.

Storage

> give eraser to pixie. (+2. She gives you something.)

> i. x penny.

> w. s. s.

Forecourt

The cockroach is only here after you disturbed the rubbish pile and found the sword.

> look under rock. (+3; cockroach found)

> take cockroach. x it.

> n. n. w.

Attic

> give cockroach to dwarf. (+2; you get his book)

You can't open the book, and searching the book does nothing useful, but this works:

> drop book. (+2. Something flutters out?)

> take paper. x it. (silver wrapper)

> ask dwarf about groat. (size of a two-holer button)

> wrap button. (+3; it's now a silver groat)

> e. s. s. d.

Ladder

> give groat to goblin. (+3; you get the brass lantern and he leaves.)

> shine brass. (+5)

Cellar

> x gold.

> s. (no: there's a door)

> x door. open door. (no)

> x walls. x hole.

> take gold.

The tentacle grabs you, but offers you your freedom for a copper penny. You hand it over and the tentacle withdraws.

You return the gold to the dragon and it lets you take a full pouch home with you.

*** You have won. ***

Extras

Characters

• Algy is the player-character, an ordinary chap who likes the occasional adventure.
• A goblin with a brass lantern hangs out at the base of the ladder.
• A tentacle lives in the moat, as strong as it ever was.
• A dragon looking worse for wear lives in the center of the castle. It's lost its teeth, its fire, and its gold.
• A dwarf is reading a book in the attic. He's the information specialist; ask him all your questions.
• A pixie is conducting a survey in the storage room.
• An elf smelling of damp straw complains about rubbish and collects farthings.
• A spider wanders about nearly everywhere.
• A cockroach is hiding in the storage room's rubbish pile.
• A beetle sometimes crawls out from under the elf's bed.

Cameos:

• Bert and Bob are wandering about, looking for the pensioners' party.
• Something sometimes scurries across the forecourt.
• Something sometimes flies overhead and blocks the sun.

Mentioned:

• Nardo is named on the lintel.
• Vlad was in the Puddlesoft adventure.
• Small Daniels passed away.
• The King and a Balrog are featured on the sides of the penny.
• An eagle from a previous adventure is remembered when you smell in the attic.

Endings

• You have died.
• if you don't have a penny for the tentacle when you try to take the gold.
• You have won.
• if you do have a penny for the tentacle when you try to take the gold.

Note that you can put the game into an unwinnable state. Here are some ways to do that:

• if you give the cockroach to the dragon, he eats it, and now you don't have the cockroach to give to the dwarf.
• if you try to take the coin in the alcove, the elf grabs it first, and now you can never get the eraser.
• if you try to kill the goblin, he turns off his lantern, and you can no longer interact with him to get his lantern.

Inventory

Items are listed in the order you acquire them in this walkthrough.

• a jacket, a pair of pants, and a pair of boots with yellow laces. You're wearing them.
• The boots are tied with yellow laces, but you won't remove the laces or any of your clothing.
• a fluffy mint and a half-eaten cheese bap. You're carrying them.
• Eat them for a point each.
• Honorable mention: some loaded dice. They're not implemented, but you keep them in your left boot.
• If you attempt to attack the dragon or elf, you take the dice out of your boot, but they tell you that they already know you have loaded dice, so you put the dice back into your boot.
• If you attempt to attack the dwarf, you accidentally drop the dice down the stairs, and you abort your attack to retrieve them.
• a pouch. It's in the forecourt.
• Open it and look in it; there's a button inside.
• Feel free to put small items into it during your adventure.
• Make sure you keep the pouch until the end. You need it to carry some gold home with you.
• a button. It's in the pouch.
• Note: The goblin is missing a button, but this button only has two holes, and goblins only use three-holed buttons. You cannot make a third hole.
• Wrap the button with the silver wrapper to make a silver groat.
• a salted fish. This red herring is in the barrel found at the bottom of the ladder.
• You don't need the fish. Feel free to eat it, give it to the dragon, or ignore it.
• a sword. Find it by searching the rubbish in the storage room.
• Turn it on and leave it on for a point. This plastic sword won't cut anything or appear to be a threat to anyone.
• a bronze lantern and a small phial. They're both in the storage room's cabinet.
• Unhappily, both items are junk. The bronze lantern is missing a candle, and the phial is empty and you don't need to carry liquids.
• a cockroach. First seen when you search the rubbish in the storage room, you find it again by looking under the rock in the forecourt.
• In the attic, give the cockroach to the dwarf. He gives you his book in exchange.
• a book. The dwarf in the attic has it. Give the cockroach to him. He gives you the book in exchange.
• Drop the book to find a bit of paper that falls out.
• a bit of paper. It falls out of the book when you drop it.
• Examine it; it's a silver wrapper. Wrap the button with it to make a silver groat.
• a small copper coin. Find it by searching the straw under the alcove's bed.
• CAUTION: Don't take the coin! The elf grabs it first.
• Push the coin (out of the room). In the castle, take the coin and return to the alcove. Give the coin to the elf. He gives you an eraser in exchange.
• a small eraser. In the alcove, give the coin to the elf. He gives you the eraser in exchange.
• In the storage, give the eraser to the pixie. She gives you a penny in exchange.
• a copper penny. In the storage, give the eraser to the pixie. She gives you the penny in exchange.
• Keep the penny. In the cellar, when you try to take the gold, the tentacle grabs you and demands a penny as a release fee. If you have the penny, you give it automatically; if you don't, you die.
• a silver groat. Create it by wrapping the button in the silver paper.
• At the base of the ladder, give the groat to the goblin. He gives you his brass lantern in exchange.
• a brass lantern. The goblin at the base of the ladder has it. Give him a silver groat for it.
• At the base of the ladder, shine the brass lantern to penetrate the darkness to the north. You know to do this if you asked the dwarf about darkness.

Score

This is the response to SCORE:

You have so far scored N out of a possible 32, in T turns.

Points are awarded as follows:

• 1 point for finding the lever as the bottom of the ladder.
• 1 point for finding the sword in the storage room's pile of rubbish.
• 1 point for finding a pile of straw under the alcove's bed.
• 1 point for finding the coin in the straw.
• 1 point for turning on the sword.
• 1 point for eating the mint.
• 1 point for eating the bap.
• 3 points for finding the cockroach.
• 2 points for acquiring the dwarf's book.
• 2 points for pulling the iron ring in the castle.
• 3 points for acquiring an eraser.
• 2 points for acquiring a copper penny.
• 2 points for finding a silver wrapper.
• 3 points for making a silver groat.
• 3 points for acquiring the brass lantern.
• 5 points for entering the cellar.

Points are deducted as follows:

• −1 point for turning off the sword.

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