Ruined Temple is a TADS 3 interactive fiction game and is © 2026 by Alex Crossley. It was an entry in IF Comp 2026, placement to be determined.
In this colorless slightly-buggy adventure, you control a party of adventurers tasked to root out a ruined temple of uppity goblins. Your party consists of Aedron (fighter), Lossdant (multi-talented elf), Kyra (magicienne), and Thadivus (dwarf).
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Version 3 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.
Ruined Temple
Spend a few moments trying to figure out who's who, and who can do what. Inaction makes everyone cranky, but you need this information, and there's nothing in the game that adequately summarizes this for you before the game starts.
> x party.
> x Aedron. Aedron, i.
> x Aelvir.
> x Lossdant. Lossdant, i.
> x Alustras. x sapphire.
> x Kyra. Kyra, i.
> x Thadivus. Thadivus, i.
I'm not going to remember all those names. From now on, they're Fighter, Elf, Kyra, and Dwarf.
In summary, your party is a walking talking swiss-army knife. For every problem you encounter, you need to decide not only what to do about it, but also which party member is best capable of the feat. Sometimes party members offer tidbits of information on their own, but they have no agency otherwise. You must direct them explicitly quite often.
Note that whoever you last gave an explicit order to is now the de facto leader, and all implicit orders go through him or her until the next explicit order changes who the leader is.
At least they move together as a group from one room to the next. You don't have to worry about the party splitting up!
> d.
Landing
Fortunately, the arrow slits are inactive, probably because the thief who was supposed to be in the party to disarm traps was given the pink slip.
> x slits. d.
Entrance
> x counter. x book. read book.
> e.
Storeroom
> search barrels —or— search crates.
You found a cowering goblin. Pump it for information. Don't forget to ask the same topic more than once, just in case!
> x goblin.
> talk to goblin. (It forswears banditry.)
> ask it about itself. (Grusk, a mercenary)
> ask it about temple.
> ask it about goblins.
> ask it about boss. (Grelik went mad when he found something.)
> ask it about ceremonies.
> ask it about boss. ("He took the chief priest's quarters." "He turns the sconce and disappears.")
> ask it about priest. (had quarters above everyone else; something evil is in there)
Grusk stays here in case you have more questions to ask it, but the bit about the sconce is its only real contribution to the game.
> e. (no: door)
> open door. (no: locked)
> dwarf, pick lock. (done)
> e. e.
Dormitory
The elf has the best hearing, so she needs to take the lead here.
> x beds.
> elf, listen.
> elf, talk to woman. (A female ghost arrives.)
> x ghost. talk to ghost.
> ask ghost about murder.
> ask ghost about jealousy. (She asks for a blade.)
> ask ghost about betrayal.
> ask ghost about priest.
> ask ghost about blade.
Return here later.
> w. w. w. s.
Guardroom
The exits from this room are north, west, and metal doors south which don't open from this side.
> x cots. x rusted weapons.
> fighter, w.
Armory
> x corpse. x bone dagger.
> Kyra, take bone.
> fighter, n.
Long corridor
When you first enter this corridor, the current leader sees movement to the southwest.
> sw.
Adorned corridor
Let the fighter and dwarf kill these two off. There's only room for two of your party to battle them anyway.
> fighter, kill goblins.
> dwarf, kill goblins. g.
> x corpses. x arms.
Don't forget the door to the west. You'll return here later.
> se. s.
Flooded passage
> elf, move water.
> s.
Flooded room
The furniture is missing its description, and the water isn't implemented.
> search furniture. (necklace found)
> elf, take necklace. x it.
> n.
Wet corridor
The "Flooded passage" is gone, replaced entirely by the "Flooded room".
> e.
Dining hall
Don't fight a dozen goblins if you don't have to. Seriously.
> Kyra, fireball goblins.
> look. x corpses. x benches.
> n. (To open the metal doors.)
Guardroom
> s. s.
Vestibule
If you attempt to go south, the doors slam shut! Only Kyra can read the text on the door.
> x statues. x doors.
> Kyra, read text. ("only initiates may enter the temple")
> n. u.
Quarters
> x figure. talk to figure. (another appears)
> elf, x figure.
Kyra says they can only be killed under moonlight.
> z. (A third and fourth appear.)
> elf, wish for moonlight.
Because the wraiths drain life energy, each party member has only enough gas in the tank to defeat one wraith before they're pooped. So everyone needs to fight twice, including Kyra who won't join the fight until everyone else is fighting.
And it must be done in parallel, not serial. Get all four of your party fighting, and only then can anyone defeat a foe.
> fighter, kill wraiths.
> dwarf, kill wraiths.
> elf, kill wraiths.
> Kyra, kill wraiths.
> fighter, kill wraiths.
> dwarf, kill wraiths.
> elf, kill wraiths.
> Kyra, kill wraiths.
All that's left of the wraiths is their robes.
> x robes. take robes. wear robes.
> open chest. search chest. (nothing of value left)
> d. (Kyra is unwilling to go.)
Actually, no one wants to leave, and the more you try, everyone starts complaining about the dark heaviness in their hearts or souls, or similar sentiments.
The remedy is some flute music. Note that you must try to leave the room first to note the problem. Lossdant won't play her flute until some disquiet or melancholy has been been expressed.
> elf, play flute. (Everyone feels a renewed joy.)
> e.
Bedroom
> x bed. x curtains. x sconces.
> turn sconces. (A passage opens east.)
> e.
Secret room
You can try to kill the masked goblin, but all attacks fail:
> dwarf, kill goblin.
> fighter, kill goblin.
> elf, kill goblin.
> Kyra, fireball goblin. (His staff absorbs it.)
Politely, you can look around in mid-battle. The goblin never initiates attacks, he only counterattacks.
> x mirror. x desk. x goblin.
> x mask. x gnarled staff. x scimitar.
> talk to goblin. (That doesn't help.)
Breaking the mask is the secret to defeating this goblin.
> fighter, break mask. (The goblin is no longer invincible.)
> fighter, kill goblin. (done)
> x corpse. search it. (strange key taken)
> x key.
Check out that mirror. It has backstories!
> fighter, look in mirror.
> Kyra, look in mirror.
> elf, look in mirror.
> dwarf, look in mirror.
That's one bad mirror.
> dwarf, break mirror. (It's now an empty frame.)
> w. w. d. s.
Vestibule
With the black robes on, the party can enter the heart of the temple.
> s.
Temple
> x pews. x altar. (Thadivus finds a small hole on the far side.)
> x hole. push hole. (It's a keyhole.)
> put key in hole. (The altar slides, revealing a gap below.)
> x gap. d.
Dark tunnel
> x mass.
> fighter, kill mass. (The mass now looks like him.)
Everyone must now fight their own double, in turn. No one is willing to fight the image of a beloved companion, which seems really weird to me.
> fighter, kill mass. (It's wounded, and reshapes to look like Lossdant.)
> elf, shoot mass. (It takes more damage and takes Thadivus's shape.)
> dwarf, kill mass. (Now it wears Kyra's shape.)
> Kyra, kill mass. (It's dead, finally.)
> s.
Ritual chamber
> x pedestal. x orb. (Lossdant says the orb must be destroyed.)
> dwarf, smash orb. (doesn't work)
> elf, shoot orb. (can't)
> elf, smash orb. (doesn't know the magic necessary)
> Kyra, destroy orb. (needs more info about it)
> Kyra, take orb. (It doesn't move.)
Let's go get that information.
> n. u. n. n. w. nw. w.
Lounge
Fighting the wolf is more dangerous than you'd expect. Instead, let Lossdant pacify it with gentle words.
> elf, talk to wolf. (It's now calm.)
> x couches. x armchairs. x wolf. x stairs.
> u.
Library
> Kyra, x books. read books.
> x book. take book. (which?)
> take evil book.
Make use you say "read book" and not "read evil book", which won't help you.
> read book. (A secret word was used during the ceremonies.)
Return to the dormitory:
> d. e. ne. e. e. e. e.
Dormitory
The dormitory ghost knows the word, but you must pacify her first.
> Kyra, give bone dagger to ghost.
> ask ghost about bone dagger. (She now mentions a beloved and a necklace.)
> ask ghost about necklace.
> elf, give necklace to ghost.
> talk to ghost. (happier)
> ask ghost about word. (The ghost whispers it to Kyra.)
Return to the orb. If you ever opened the door to the guardroom from the dining hall, you can go through there directly, otherwise you'll have go around via the adorned corridor.
> w. w. w. s. s. s. s. d. s.
Ritual chamber
> Kyra, destroy orb.
*** For the time being, the companions needed rest. But there would surely be many adventures to come. ***
Party members:
Temple occupants:
Found dead:
Mentioned:
Also, a text dump reveals that there are also spiders, zombies, and a chamberlain in this game somewhere, but uh, I didn't encounter them? If you do find them, do the best you can, I guess?
Inventory is split between the four party members. No one is willing to give or discard any of their initial items.
Most of these won't be listed in anyone's inventory, a serious programming error. You're just going to have to remember you have them, okay?
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