So I Was Short Of Cash And Took On A Quest is a Glulx interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2021 by Anssi Räisänen. It was a participant in the Back Garden division of Spring Thing 2021 where it was awarded two Audience Choice ribbons: Best-Smelling Chicken and Most Fun.
In this short game, you play as a new secret agent who, lured by the promise of easy money, agreed to deliver a very confidential envelope to someone in an upper-class house. So far, you've snuck into the kitchen via a side window. You don't know who you're looking for, but you were told further instructions can be found inside the house.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 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.
Kitchen
> x me. i. x envelope.
Around the second turn, you start to smell something burning.
> turn off oven. open oven. look in oven.
> x chicken. smell chicken.
> take chicken. (Too hot to take, but now you see an oven mitt on a high hook.)
> x fridge. open fridge. x sink.
> open cupboards. take mug. (denied)
> x shelf. take knife.
> pour water in sink. turn bucket.
> stand on bucket.
> take mitt. wear mitt.
> take tray. (You move the tray to an unimplemented table.)
> cut chicken. (Using the knife, you get a medallion.)
> x medallion. open it.
> x note. unfold note. ("Different tile. Bulgaria.")
When I first played this, I thought the clue meant that I was to anagram the word TILE with the 2-letter abbreviation for Bulgaria, BG, and the real clue was GIBLET. But I was wrong. This chicken has no giblets. Aren't cryptic clues fun?
> x tile. (One tile is a dark brown, not black.)
> take brown tile. (You acquire an iron key.)
> unlock door with key. w.
You automatically put back everything where you found it except for the white note, which you keep.
Corridor (middle)
CAUTION: If you go into Helen's office now, she will call for Gunther and he'll crush your bones. Don't let anyone see you!
> n.
Corridor (north)
If you know that Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria, then you might be able to guess that entering her office is what the second half of the white note was telling you to do.
> w.
Sofia Hamilton's Office
> x yellow note. (You learn that the budgie's name is Angie, that her food is in the jacket pocket in the wardrobe, and that Helen has the wardrobe key.)
> x Angie. x desk.
> open drawer. (locked, has nine pushkeys marked A to I.)
> x wardrobe.
You hear Helen enter the kitchen and know that this is your chance to get the wardrobe key from her office.
> e. s. w.
Helen Yublyanova's Office
> take key.
> e. n. w.
Sofia Hamilton's Office
> unlock wardrobe with aluminum key. open it.
> look in jacket. (You take cookies.)
> x cookies. (A cookie is in the package.)
Don't GIVE the cookie. FEED it.
> feed cookie to Angie. (She sings C-E-G.)
> press C. press E. press G.
> look in drawer. take remote.
> close drawer. close wardrobe.
> x remote. (Point it at something.)
> e. s. w.
Helen Yublyanova's Office
> put aluminum key on desk.
> e. s.
Corridor (south)
> u. (No, laser beams block that way.)
> s. (No, you see a guard through a window in the door.)
> x portrait. look behind it.
It opens, and you see a red light on, a sensor, and the name "Electracom Security Solutions".
> point remote at sensor. (The laser beams are off.)
> close portrait. u.
Upstairs Landing
> x poster. ("KNOCK ON WOOD"; man in black suit and bowler hat knocking on a tree with a closed umbrella.)
> x north door. ("There's nothing here. Keep out!")
> x south door. ("Guest Room"; hat on suitcase, number keypad.)
> x west door. ("WC"; potty picture.)
> x east door. ("Stationery Storage"; pencil picture.)
> e. (locked)
> knock on east door. (You knock on the pencil and the door opens.)
> e.
Stationery Storage
> take pen knife.
> x sheets. (Note from Susan to Peter re: electronic lock.)
> w. w.
Toilet
> take cup. (The plastic wrapping prevents you.)
> cut wrapping with knife. take cup.
> turn on tap. fill cup with water. (You turn off the tap afterwards.)
> e.
Upstairs Landing
> pour water on keypad. (It short-circuits.)
> s.
Guest Room
> x Winston.
Winston tells you to open the envelope and read it. You passed the entrance test and you are now a full employee of Ace Spies Inc.
And you get a last lousy point for returning the aluminum key to Helen's desk.
*** You have won ***
Mentioned:
This is the response to ABOUT:
This is a short game for Spring Thing 2021. I've entered it in the Back Garden section because it is not very large, it has had insufficient testing and consequently has some rough spots. It should anyway be playable through and hopefully provides some enjoyment along the way. A walkthrough is available in a separate file. Have fun!
This walkthrough is provided free of charge since the work it's based on has less than fifteen locations. Please consider it a thank you for your support!
I create larger walkthroughs too! Please visit my Patreon account if you're interested in helping me create more interactive fiction walkthroughs. I appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks again.
Ko-Fi is a way to send me small one-time donations. Every little bit helps, and thank you!