YAGWAD is a Z-machine 5 interactive fiction game written with Inform 6 and is © 2000 by John Kean (as Digby McWiggle). The game is also known as Yes, Another Game With A Dragon! It was entered in IF Comp 2000 where it took 9th place.
In this game, you play as a brawny adventurer heroically rescuing a fair maiden from a fire-breathing dragon. Oops, sorry, no, that was just a dream. You're actually an out-of-shape drunken lout. But then King Alfie proclaims that Princess Rosebud has been abducted by a dastardly dragon and that whoever rescues her will gain half the kingdom and her hand in marriage! Wow. Will you make the attempt to win the princess? Or will you go have another pint in the tavern? It's a tough choice.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 2, the post-competition release of the game.
WARNING: This game contains mild off-scene violence and some adult innuendo.
Do you wish to continue?
> yes
WARNING: This game contains dragons.
Do you still wish to continue?
> yes
Treasure Cave
You begin the game with a score of 10 points.
> about. (The menu system includes game information, credits, hints, and a walkthrough.)
> x me. i.
A dragon flies in.
> x dragon. x stalagmite. (The dragon prepares to strike...)
> kill dragon. (It's out of reach.)
> x saltpetre. ask woman about saltpetre.
> take saltpetre. x woman.
The dragon opens its jaws. This is when you need to sling the saltpetre, when its jaws are open! If you miss your chance the first time, you'll be given plenty of extra chances, and the woman's hints will become more explicit.
Note: You don't need to explicitly put anything into the sling.
> sling saltpetre at jaws. (The dragon explodes!)
Enjoy the ASCII graphic of a dragon; it's animated in the game!
Y A G W A D
\||/ Yes, Another Game
| @@__oo With A Dragon
/\ /\ / (___,,)
) /^\) ^\/ _)
) /^\/ _) by Digby McWiggle
) _ / / _)
/\ )/\/ |\ \ )_)
< > | (,,))__) [Press any key]
|| / \)___)\
| \____( )___) )___
\______(_______;;; __;;;
You wake up in the gutter and learn that the king is about to make a speech.
Outside "The Hairy Horseman"
Everyone is rushing south.
> x me. i. x tunic.
> s.
Below The Castle
The king's speech lasts two turns. Just wait or look at what's nearby.
> x king. x balcony.
The speech ends. The crowd shoves you back north.
Outside "The Hairy Horseman"
CAUTION: If you go into the tavern, the game ends. And you can't go south without the princess.
> n.
Village Gate
Old Thom is here, and taunts you, asking if you think you're Sir Wesley.
> x man. ask man about Wesley.
> ask man about king. ask man about Marmaduke.
> ask man about Avelyn. ask man about Rosebud.
> ask man about me. ask man about himself.
Attempts to go east will fail; Old Thom says the dragon won't be in the farms.
> nw.
Forest Fringe
> take net. x it.
> n.
Crosspaths
> x leaves. search leaves. (+5; you find an ornate hilt.)
> x hilt. (Has a ruby, sapphire, white opal, and empty fourth socket.)
> n.
Beneath A Huge Tree
We'll climb this tree later, don't worry.
> x gum. take it. x magpie. x oak.
> w.
Sunny Clearing
Entering here with the ornate hilt when the magpie is here makes you lose the hilt to it. Don't worry if that happens; you'll get it back later.
> x snake. x rock. take snake.
> take snake with net. (+1)
> s.
Old Well
> x well. listen. turn crank. (You raise an adventure who yells at you.)
> x adventurer. (He has a sword and a scrap of parchment.)
> x bucket. turn crank. (The battle is concluded.)
> turn crank. (+2, severed arm and scrap of paper in the bucket.)
> take all from bucket. x arm. x paper. (Tells you stuff about some machine.)
The described machine seems to create "essence spheres" from some non-magical sources, which you'd throw at non-magical targets. Some target/essence combos are permanent. Some sources are incinerated!
> s.
Abandoned Garden
> x garden. w.
Monastery Hall
> x altar. pray. (Several visions rush through your mind.)
> u.
Cells
> x book. x hole. u.
Lookout
> x view. x specs. take them. wear specs.
> d. d. d.
Basement
While wearing the spectacles, you'll see a rosy aura around magical things, such as this machine.
> x objects. x machine.
> x drawer. x tray. x axle. (Needs a lever.)
> put net in axle. (You can now use the net as a lever.)
> put gum in drawer. pull lever. (+5; amber in drawer, sphere in tray)
> x amber. take it. x sphere. take it.
> take snake. put snake in drawer.
> pull lever. (+5; lizard and green sphere.)
> x lizard. x green sphere. take it.
> take lizard. (It escapes but leaves its wiggling tail behind.)
> x tail. put tail in drawer.
> pull lever. (+5; lifeless tail and red sphere.)
> x tail. take it. (It's gone.)
> x red sphere. take it.
> take net.
> u. n.
Common Room
> x rubble. x books. ("Encyclopedia Gigantica")
> x teapot. take it.
> x book. take it. (Can't reach it.)
> take book with arm. (The fingers just slide off.)
> throw red sphere at arm. (+4; the arm now grabs.)
> take book with arm. (+3)
> x book. (Diary dated near the end of King Alfie's great-grandfather, Errol.)
> read book. (This opens a menu of several entries.)
You learn that brother Simon became Lord SOREO, that he has a dragon in a cave whose entrance is concealed by magic, that Wes was peddling encyclopedias, that Wes stole the silver candlestick, and that there's an interesting fact about diamonds in the encyclopedias.
> look up diamonds in books. (They're too jumbled.)
> s. e. n. e. e. ne.
An Unusual Cottage
> x fish. x table. look under table. (Too dark to see.)
> x cottage. x message. (Hagmar is on holiday.)
> eat cottage. eat door. (Nope and nope.)
> take fish. (Fail: a green arm under the table stops you.)
> throw green sphere at table. (+8; the table loses its legs, killing whatever was underneath.)
> take fish. unlock door with fish. (+3)
> in.
Inside The Cottage
> x shelves. x encyclopedias.
Note that looking up unknown topics in the index will direct you to look up a randomized nonsense topic such as corfable, frobulae, pneumyp, rostible, schmiff, threep, quetzism, wazbib, etc. -- all of which aren't listed either, so you'll just get another randomized redirect.
> look up dragons in index. (Their weak spot is their hidden heart.)
> look up diamond in index. (Formed by hearts of dead dragons.)
> look up troll in index. look up grue in index.
> look up halibut in index. look up halitosis in index.
> look up encyclopedia in index. look up gigantica in index.
> look up witch in index. look up subjugation in index.
> look up magpie in index. look up soreo in index.
> look up monastery in index.
> look up snake in index. look up lizard in index.
> look up swamp in index. look up firefly in index.
> look up wizard in index.
> x crystal ball. read message. ("3 messages")
> x button. push button. (Skummella reminds Hagmar to bring a bathing costume.)
> again. (Hagmar's son, Simon/Soreo, is angry about the encyclopedia salesman.)
> again. (Soreo says Wes stole the silver casket with the You-Know-What in it. Also, pressing the jewels on the hilt correctly creates the dagger. Note the jewel colours: red, blue, green, and white.)
> x teeth. (Magical.) take teeth. (They hop away from you.)
> look up teeth in index. look up mastication in index.
> take teeth with net. (That entertainingly does not work.)
> out. (The teeth follow you.)
An Unusual Cottage
Discarding some inventory you don't need any more:
> put fish, amber, book, scrap, arm on slab.
> n.
Swamp Shallows
Note: The mud will leak out of your hands if you don't put it in the teapot.
> x firefly. x mud. smell mud. x moss.
> take mud. put mud in pot.
> w.
Cliff Top
> x view.
> w.
Waterfall
> x bridge. x waterfall.
The magpie may steal the teeth when you go through the sunny clearing. That's okay.
> s. e. n.
Chasm Edge
> x troll. (It casually beheads another adventurer.)
> x log. push log. (You can't dislodge him that way.)
There's actually two ways to defeat the troll. You need the teeth for the first way, and the mud and yellow sphere for the second way
Now cross the log:
> n.
Ruins
Make sure you're wearing the spectacles when examining the bed:
> x bed. (+3; you take a piece of parchment)
> x parchment. (Diagram of dagger with instructions, which refer to it as a "key".)
> smell bed.
> s. s. e. ne. e.
Swamp Shallows
> empty pot. (if you didn't use the mud.)
> take fly with net. take fly. put fly in teapot. (+2)
> s. sw. w. w. s. w. d.
Basement
> put net in axle. open teapot. take fly.
> put fly in drawer.
> pull lever. (+5; blowfly flies away; blue sphere.)
> x blue sphere. take it.
You can leave the net here.
> u. e. n. nw.
Mine Entrance
> x mine. throw blue sphere at teapot. (+5, pot now glows blue)
> w.
Old Mine
> x tailings. search tailings. (+3; you find gems!)
> x topaz. x emerald. x diamond.
> e. e.
Sunny Clearing
If the magpie has already stolen the teeth, you don't need to wait here. Also, don't worry if the magpie steals any of your gems. Just make sure the bird takes those teeth.
> wait. (Repeat until the magpie steals the false teeth.)
> e.
Beneath A Huge Tree
Follow the chattering to the magpie's nest:
> u. u. u. u. u. sw. (+5 for finding the nest)
Out On A Limb (level 5, southwest branch)
> x nest. take hilt. x hilt.
The hilt contains a red ruby, blue sapphire, and white opal. From the crystal ball's third message, you know that the missing fourth colour is green. Therefore:
> put emerald in socket.
The combination for the hilt is the name SOREO; for each letter in SOREO, push the jewel that begins with that letter:
> push sapphire. push opal. push ruby.
> push emerald. push opal. (+5)
> x dagger.
You don't need the topaz and diamond, so you might as well let the magpie (or the teeth) have them:
> put topaz, diamond in nest.
It's up to you if you want to take the teeth or leave them stuck up here.
> ne. d. d. d. d. d. ne.
Cliff Top
Remember that according to the monk's diary entry for 30 Jolly, he believed the cave entrance was on the mountainside, hidden by magic. Follow the directions from the parchment:
> throw dagger. turn it. g. g. (+10; you fall into a fissure that closes behind you.)
Underground
The teeth didn't follow you here, if they were with you before your fall.
> x quartz. w.
Armour Chamber
> x suit. x doors. (Both are magical.)
> s.
Well Bottom
This is a dead end for you. You can't do anything useful with the crocodiles.
> x lake —or— x crocodiles.
> swim. (You decide not to.)
> n.
Armour Chamber
> wear suit. (You need to drop your stuff first.)
> drop all. drop specs.
> wear suit. (Um, doff the tunic too.)
> drop tunic. x underwear.
> wear armour. (Instead, a pit opens, all your stuff is gone, and the doors open.)
> wear armour. (You can't budge it.)
> n.
Dragon's Lair
The doors slam shut when you enter.
> save.
> x stalagmites. (The dragon welcomes you.)
> x dragon. (He's painting his nails blue.)
> x waterfall.
At this point the dragon asks you a riddle, and to feel free to ask him about anything.
> ask dragon about dragon. ask dragon about nails. ("Slaughterhouse Blue")
> ask dragon about Soreo. ask dragon about Hagmar.
> ask dragon about armour. (She brought it from the castle.)
> ask dragon about princess. ask dragon about heart.
> ask dragon about me. ask dragon about rabbits.
> answer heart to dragon. (+2)
> answer diamond to dragon. (+1)
After your second answer, regardless if your answers were correct, the princess enters from an unnoticed door.
> x princess. (She's not pleased, and you step on a pebble.)
> take pebble. (She orders the dragon to fry you.)
Interesting role-reversal, no? The dragon is our friend and the princess is the mutual threat.
> remove underwear. (She threatens the dragon with a bean-like object from her locket. It's the dragon's heart.)
> sling pebble at princess.
The princess drops the bean and the dragon swallows it. He then gives you her gold key and tells you to let yourself and the other adventurers out while he takes the princess to the Fens.
And next thing you know, you're in the tavern telling Maegwyn the barmaid all about it.
*** You are interesting ***
> amusing
The AMUSING text from the game:
Have you tried...
> Showing your sword to the woman in the treasure cave?
> Or your sling?
> Doing nothing at all at the start of the game?
> Viewing your FULL score in the prologue?
> Smelling the crowd outside the castle?
> Praying at the altar?
> Or in the leafy cathedral?
> Throwing the green sphere at the troll?
> Looking up various subjects in the encyclopedia?
> Like halibut?
> Or naughty words?
> Catching the teeth in the net?
> Introducing the teeth to Old Thom?
> Getting the teeth to attack the troll?
In the prologue:
In the game proper:
Cameoes and mentions:
From the ABOUT menu item Credits:
Many thanks to:
- Shona Lamoureaux & Adam Jeffries for beta-testing;
- Andrew Plotkin, Craxton, Mark J. Tilford, & Aaron Winborn for bug reports;
- all those involved in Comp2000, but especially Stephen Granade it's organiser, and those who donated prizes;
- and, of course, Graham Nelson for Inform.
Special thanks to Oscar The Inflatable Shark for being there when I needed something to throw across the room.
In the prologue:
In the game proper:
During the prologue, the response to FULL SCORE is:
You are a perfect 10.
Your main points are:
- Bulging biceps
- Abdominals that make a washboard jealous
- Can waggle pectorals at will
- Butt can crack walnuts
- What a tan!
- Long blonde hair
- Perfect teeth in impressively oversized jaw
- Deep, gravelly voice
- Look great in a thong
- Look great out of a thong
In the main game, the response to SCORE is:
You have so far scored your-points out of a possible 100, in X turns, making you ranking.
The scoring is as follows:
Rankings:
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