The tale of the cursed eagle is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2013 by "Slat Leering" (anagram of Taleslinger). It was an entry in Ectocomp 2013 where it took 14th place.
In this short escape game, you play as an eagle cursed into a man's shape, pursued by a black beast created from your own siphoned despair. Run! Run and find safety somewhere soon before the beast catches you and indifferently tears you apart. Multiple endings.
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.
There are five different winning endings where you can find some sort of safety or other accomplishment. Because a deadly beast is after you, don't stop and sightsee. You don't have time for that. Also, whenever you enter the fairy ring, you teleport to a random location, and you might die no matter what I tell you to do.
Wizard's Tower
Run to the camp:
> n. w. n. n. nw.
Camp
> in. (Guards grab you. A man in blue asks if you need their protection.)
? yes
*** You found protection. ***
Wizard's Tower
This time, run to the monastery, circling the village:
> n. w. n. n. e. e.
Monastery
> in. (Old monk asks if you seek shelter.)
? yes
*** You found faith. ***
Wizard's Tower
This time, run directly to the harbor:
> n. w. n. e. e.
Harbor
> in. (You become a sailor.)
*** You found distraction. ***
Wizard's Tower
The first step is to get the dead rabbit at the fairy ring.
> n. w. n. e. e. s.
Fairy Ring
> take rabbit.
If necessary, wait until you sense the beast is near the harbor. You don't dare go north. You must enter the fairy ring and hope you teleport to somewhere near the mountains, like the field or monastery.
> in.
(wherever you are now)
If you aren't close to the mountains, you probably should UNDO and try again.
Assuming you aren't dead, get to the mountains, see the map. There's no guarantee you can get there alive.
By the way, if you teleported directly to the mountains, sorry, but that's not good enough. Do you expect authors to think of everything? Leave and return in that case.
> APPROPRIATE DIRECTIONS.
Mountains
*** You found determination. ***
By the way, bringing the fledgling to the rabbit doesn't work.
Wizard's Tower
The first step is to get your fledgling in the mountains.
> n. w. n. n. e.
Mountains
> take fledgling.
Now you need to get back to the wizard's tower. This is tricky. Feint east to the monastery.
> e.
Monastery
Wait, if necessary, until you sense the beast is near the harbor.
> z. (wait until beast at harbor)
Now run around the village back to the tower!
> w. w. s. s. e. s.
Wizard's Tower
> in. (You sacrifice the fledgling to regain your true body.)
*** You found freedom. ***
From the response to ABOUT:
Slat Leering is totally not an anagram for Taleslinger and has totally not been used before. You can contact Slat at
email redacted, Marius will pass the info on. The tale of the cursed eagle was written for the 2013 Ectocomp when I was very tired. But I really wanted to write it. I hope it doesn't contain to many bugs.
Note that the man at the bridge wants a coin to let you cross. Unfortunately, you don't have a coin and you never will.
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