Key & Compass presents:
The Sacred Shovel of Athenia
by AndyG

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters, Credits, Endings, 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

On a Hill

> x me. x contraption. ("catometer")

> x shovel. take it. (no, must be a proven cat lover first)

> x cat. pet cat. (+1)

> x meter. (Now at orange.)

> x sword. take it.

> x hill. x sun. x path. x birds.

> n.

Top of a Hill

> read post. x castle. x village.

> n. (You won't dare without the shovel.)

> w.

In a Village

> x stand. x newspaper. take it.

> s.

Village Green

> x tin. take it.

> x well. x coin. x grate. open it. (can't)

> take coin. (can't reach)

> n. e. s. s.

In a Meadow

The cat follows you because you have the tin of cat food.

> x shed. open door. (locked)

> x door. (note keyhole and gap underneath)

> look in keyhole. (something's in there)

> put newspaper in gap. (It crumples instead!)

> put sword in keyhole. (If the cat is here, it pulls the key out from the gap!)

> unlock door with key. open door. e.

Inside a Shed

> x window. x opener. x rod. x magnet. x bowl.

> take opener and rod. (The bowl must stay.)

> open tin. (with the opener)

> put food in bowl. (+1. The cat eats the food.)

> w. n. n. w. s.

Village Green

> fish. take coin.

> n.

In a Village

By the way, if you tried to enter the shop while the cat was following you, the shop keeper shoos you out, pointing to a notice.

> x shop. x notice. ("No PETS allowed")

> n.

In a Village Shop

> x mouse. x bed. x cushion. x woman. x counter.

You need bothe the bed and the toy mouse, but your coin can only buy one. So... you need to get one for free. Hide the mouse inside the bed.

> take mouse. take bed. put mouse in bed.

> buy bed. (using the silver coin)

> s.

In a Village

You automatically remove the mouse from the bed.

> e. s. s. e.

Inside a Shed

> drop bed. (The cat enters the bed and sleeps.)

> w. z. z. e. z. (+1. The cat wakes.)

The cat is following you again.

> w. n.

On a Hill

To get the mouse to actively play with the mouse, both the cat and mouse must be on the ground together, and then LOOK. I wasn't expecting LOOK to trigger anything! That's so unusual!

> drop mouse. look. (+1. The cat plays with the mouse.)

The needle is now at green.

> save. (Trust me.)

> take shovel.

Unexpectedly, an enormous ogre grabs the shovel from you and drops you at...

Top of a Hill

CAUTION: If this battle lasts too long, the cat will get injured and may even die!

> kill ogre with sword. (This helps, but now you need another tactic.)

While the ogre is off-balance:

> hit shovel with sword. (The shovel falls.)

> take shovel.

> hit ogre with shovel. (He falls on unbroken ground but gets back up again.)

> dig hill. (You make a small hole.)

> g. g. g. (The hole is now ogre-sized.)

> hit ogre with shovel. (He's dead.)

> x ogre. take cat. pet cat.

> n.

The king thanks you for the shovel. You take the cat home.

*** THE END - And they both lived happily ever after. ***

Extras

Characters

• A black and white cat is doing typical cat things at "On a Hill".
• A shop keeper has a shop in the village. She's willing to sell things to you if you have money, but she doesn't allow pets.
• An enormous ogre steals the shovel from you as soon as you pull it out of the ground.
• King Nebarh is mad that someone stole his shovel and he wants it back.

Mentioned:

• A multitude of men are looking for the shovel too, but they don't appear in the game.

Credits

There are no explicit credits, but in the ABOUT text, the author credits his son and kitten with the basic idea:

About "The Sacred Shovel of Athenia"

A word from the author:

I usually find it difficult to finish writing a game; usually they get so long I lose sight of the plot and never get to the end without either getting bored or making things so complex the end seems too far away. So I tried to come up with a short story, with a beginning, a middle and an end, to attempt to get something of a workable game in inform7. We had recently acquired a kitten and my son was a little wary about stroking it. It gave me the idea of a game in which. to complete it, you needed to befriend a cat. And so, "The Sacred Shovel of Athenia" was born. It's not a very long game and the puzzles are fairly simple, but it is a fully working game, and my son enjoyed playing it.

P.S. He is also happy to play with our cat now (who is no longer a kitten anymore) but it does sometimes swipe at you if he is not wanting attention (the cat, that is; not my son!) -- AG

Endings

• The cat is dead - The game is over.
• if the cat is hurt too many times by the ogre.
• THE END - And they both lived happily ever after.
• if you take both the shovel and the cat to the castle.

Note that you do not have the option to leave the cat behind when you go to the castle. And why would you? You're a cat-lover now.

Inventory

• a catometer. It's strapped to your wrist.
• It measures how cat-friendly you are. Its needle points at red. Every time you do something that pleases the cat, the needle moves a bit to the right. When it gets to green, you can pull the shovel out of the mud.
• As the needle moves to the right, the cat likes you more, and the percentage chance that the cat allows you to pick it up increases.
• The four good deeds you must perform are: pet the cat; feed the cat (see cat food); give the cat a bed, and see the cat play with the toy mouse.
• The catometer never comes off. Sorry!
• CAUTION: If the cat gets injured in your battle with the ogre, the needle goes down!
• a shiny sword. It's at "On a Hill".
• In the meadow, put the sword in the shed door's keyhole to dislodge the key from the other side.
• During your fight with the ogre, first try to kill the ogre with the sword. Then, while the ogre is off-balance, hit the shovel with the sword to get him to drop the shovel.
• a newspaper; later, a crumpled newspaper. It's on the newspaper stand at "In a Village".
• In the meadow, try to put the newspaper in the gap that's under the shed door. Unfortunately, the newspaper snags on the wood and crumples up. Sorry, but the newspaper was a red herring and can't help you get the key!
• a tin of cat food (closed) containing some cat food. It's on the Village Green.
• While the cat food is in the tin, the cat follows you. Bring the cat to the meadow. After you dislodge the key by putting the sword in the keyhole, the cat scoops the key out from the gap for you.
• Open the tin with the can opener.
• Inside the shed, put the cat food into the bowl. (You can't move the bowl.) You have no use for the empty tin.
• a key. In a meadow, the key is in the other side of the shed door's keyhole.
• Put the sword in the keyhole to dislodge the key.
• Bring the cat to the meadow by carrying the cat food there. The cat scoops the key out from the gap under the door.
• The key unlocks the shed door.
• a can opener. It's on a shelf inside a shed.
• Open the tin of cat food with the opener.
• a child's fishing rod. It's inside a shed.
• In the village green, FISH (with the rod) to obtain the coin.
• a silver coin. It's in the well at the village green.
• In the village green, FISH (with the rod) to obtain the coin.
• In the village shop, first put the toy mouse into the pet bed, then buy the bed (with the coin).
• a toy mouse. It's on a stand in the village shop.
• Before buying the pet bed, hide the mouse in the bed. Buy the bed (with the coin) then carry the bed out of the shop. You automatically take the mouse out of the bed when you're outside the shop.
• Drop the mouse in the same room at the cat, and if necessary, drop the cat there as well. Now LOOK to see the cat play with the mouse. Giving or showing the mouse to the cat doesn't help.
• You can also squeeze the mouse, but that doesn't help you either.
• a plush pet bed. It's on a stand in the village shop.
• Hide the toy mouse in the bed, then buy the bed with the coin. Take the bed out of the shop. You remove the mouse automatically once outside.
• In the shed, drop the bed. If the cat is there, it enters the bed and sleeps for about four turns. Your good deed for the bed is complete when the cat ends its cat nap.
• a shovel. It's planted in some mud at "On a Hill".
• You must first do four good deeds to prove you're a cat-lover. This is tracked by the catometer. When the meter points to green, you can take the shovel but not before.
• Unhappily, an enormous ogre immediately steals the shovel from you. Hit the ogre with your sword, then while the ogre is off-balance, hit the shovel with your sword. Take the shovel once more and hit the ogre with the shovel!
• Now, quickly, dig the hill four times to make an ogre-sized hole. Hit the ogre yet again with the shovel. This time, he falls into the hole, bashes his head against a rock, and dies.
• Take the shovel and cat to the castle for your reward.
• a black and white cat. It's initially at "On a Hill"
• See all the other items on how they benefit or interact with the cat.
• After the ogre is dead, pick up the cat. Take both the cat and the shovel to the castle. You're unwilling to leave the cat behind.

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