Walkthrough
for
The Sealed Room
Version 1.2.4
by
Robert DeFord

You begin the game in a sealed room that has no exits. You are carrying nothing. All you have to work with is the room itself and two NPC's, a unicorn and a dragon. While you can examine various scenery items in the room, it seems reasonable to examine the NPC's at this time. 

> x unicorn
Standing about five feet tall at the shoulder, the unicorn is a
dazzling white creature of considerable beauty. However, his
perfection is marred by a wound. Four deep gashes in his left flank
have cut into his flesh almost down to the bone, and there is a red
stain on the floor in front of him. His horn gleams like polished
bronze, except for the tip where the top four inches are covered with
a purple substance. He wears a leather pouch, and he stares at you
with fierce intensity from his corner of the room. By the way he is
looking at you, it looks like you could talk to him.

This description ends with a hint that suggests that the best course of action is to talk to the unicorn, so go ahead and do that.

> talk to unicorn
"I can't possibly tell you everything I know; that would take
years. But I'd love to share my wisdom on these subjects if you ask
about them:" 

    yourself 
    himself 
    help 
    advice 
    four deep gashes 
    dragon 
    round hole wound 
    dragons 
    unicorns 
    our location 
    complex design 
    red stain 
    purple stain

The unicorn responds by listing the topics he can talk about so you don't have to guess about the topics. Being methodical, you examine the dragon before actually talking to the unicorn.

> x dragon
The dragon is quite colorful in zebra stripes of red over a deep,
purple background. Colored, prismatic light flashes emanate from her
scales as she preens. Her wings are a deep shade of indigo, almost
black. There is a slow moving trickle of thick, purple blood oozing
from a round hole in her shoulder. She stops preening when she notices
you watching her. Then she grins widely, which exposes her long
dagger-like teeth. As you watch in fascination, she begins pulling her
claws through her teeth. You can't decide whether she is cleaning her
claws or her teeth. She nods at you in greeting. It looks like an
invitation to talk to her.

The description ends with a hint that you ought to talk to the NPC you just examined, so you do that.

> talk to her
"What do I look like, a flying encyclopedia? I don't go around
dispensing tidbits of my wisdom like a fat man in a red suit passing
out gifts at a Christmas party. Hummm... but then again, you look so
tasty, errr cute, when you pout like that. I guess I could talk about
a few things if you ask me about them:" 

    yourself 
    herself 
    help 
    advice 
    unicorn 
    four deep gashes 
    round hole wound 
    dragons 
    unicorns 
    our location 
    complex design 
    red stain 
    purple stain

You notice that the dragon seems to have a totally different personality than the unicorn. To explore this aspect of the game, you ask both the NPC's about the same topic.

> ask her about me
 "You seem like you don't know your butt from a loaf of bread." 

> ask unicorn about me
"I don't know you very well, but based on what I've seen so far,
you appear to be a intelligent, sensitive person who is a bit confused
by all that's happened."

OK, you begin to see that this game is centered on conversation so you spend some time asking each NPC about the same topic. It is fun to see the different personalities emerge. Eventually, you decide to ask the unicorn for help.

> ask unicorn for help
"I suspect your quest will be impossible if I don't help you. And,
since I do wish you success, I am going to give you some things to
help you along your way. "

 There is a flash of light and and one or more objects flash into
existence in front of you only to vanish an instant later as they
become your possessions: 

    small purse given 
    beef jerky given

If you were to talk to either NPC at this time, you would notice that the purse and the jerky are new topics in what they can talk about, and that conversation is worth doing. However, this is a walkthrough, so you cut to the chase.

> open purse
You open the small purse. The small purse contains a white artifact

> x artifact
Something about this artifact gives the impression of great
antiquity. It was cut from a milky white substance that resembles opal
and shaped into a flattened oval. One side has a polished concave
hollow while the other side is slightly rounded and smooth, but not
polished. Something tells you that you ought to show it to both the
unicorn and the dragon to see if they know anything about it.

You take the hint and show the artifact to both NPC's.

> show it to unicorn
 "Oh dear me, I'm afraid I don't have a clue as to what that is."
He pauses for a moment as if lost in thought before continuing. "You
say it was in the purse I gave you? That's odd. A strange old man gave
me that purse a long time ago, but I could have sworn it was empty. I
gave it to you because it seemed like the right thing to do. That's
odd as well. I think that this place is affecting my mind somehow. If
you haven't done it yet, show it to the dragon to see if she can tell
you more." 

> show it to dragon
 "Humm..." the dragon says as she scratches her head. "There was an
old man that I used to know a long time ago. He carried something he
called a gateway stone that looked exactly like this thing. When he
was in a hurry to get someplace he would take it out of his pocket and
and rub it." 

Now we're getting someplace. You follow the hint.

> rub it
There is a faint, muffled thud from the stone of the north wall and
a crack in shape of a door forms there. The wall within this outline
ripples like water for a moment, then becomes still. What was once a
blank wall now has a dark patch on it extending from the floor to
about six feet up the wall. Neither the dragon nor the unicorn show
any signs of noticing its appearance. It might be a good idea to tell
both of them about the dark patch.

Once again you follow the hint that the game gives you.

> tell dragon about patch
 "I don't use magical doors. They always want a bribe to open. You
go ahead and try it." 

> tell unicorn about patch
 "Personally, I don't trust magical doors, but most unicorns use
them and they say it beats walking. I wonder where this one goes. Hey,
you look like a brave fellow. Maybe you should give it a try. Here is
a coin for the bribe."

 There is a flash of light and you think you see something golden
wink into and out of existence in the air in front of the unicorn as
he gives you the coin.

     gold coin given

You decide to try what the dragon told you to do. Since the dark patch is in the north wall of the room, you simply go north.

> n
Despite appearances, the dark patch is a door and it is not open.

> open door
A mouth materializes in the middle of the dark patch. "I must have
payment!" the mouth says. "Put the right two gold items into my slot
and I will be open." The mouth vanishes.

So, the door wants two gold objects. You take inventory to remind yourself of what you have.
> i
You are carrying a white artifact, beef jerky, a gold coin and a 
mall purse.

You find that you have only one gold item. Where could the other one be? Well, the dragon is the only possible source. After some conversation you end up showing the beef jerky to the dragon.

> show jerky to dragon
 "That looks like a mighty fine chunk of jerky you have there. If
you gave it to me, perhaps I would reciprocate." 

That sounds like a good idea.

> give it to dragon
The dragon gently removes the chunk of jerky from your hand on the
point of one claw, pops it into her mouth, and swallows it whole.
"Thanks human. I knew that damn unicorn was holding out on me."

 Then she does a quick flip with one hand and a gold bar appears
between a pair of her claws. "Here, take this in exchange," she says
as she hands it to you.

Ah ha! The other good item is now in your possession. Time to get that door open.

> put bar into slot
You put the small gold bar into the door slot. 

Poof!

The gold bar vanishes.

> put coin in slot
You put the gold coin into the door slot. 

Poof!

The gold coin vanishes. 

The dark patch emits a loud hissing sound as a gray mist sweeps over
its surface and disappears leaving a featureless black surface behind.

Now you're getting someplace. You examine the patch.

> x patch
When you press your hand against the featureless dark surface, it
feels like there is nothing there.

OK, the door seems to be open. Time to try it out.

> n
Limbo
You are suspended in a white mist. You can see nothing in any
direction except directly south where there is a black rectangle in
the shape of a doorway floating in the mist about ten feet away. You
try a few experiments and find that you can drift slowly south just by
using the command SOUTH. However, movement in the other directions
does not seem possible. 

 The old man's voice echoes in the misty void: "Congratulations! You
have solved my little puzzle and escaped from the sealed room. You've
done me a great service by 'volunteering' to be my test subject. You
can QUIT at this time and I will teleport you back to the park bench.
Or, you can continue talking to my faithful servants by going south,
or even stay here and explore this place for a few minutes before you
QUIT. The choice is yours," he informs you.

At this point in time, you can continue playing, maybe even go south to finish conversing with the NPC's. However, this is a walkthrough, so you simply quit.

> quit
Epilogue... 

The mist begins to glow and wrap itself around you. You feel it
squeeze and contract. There is a feeling of pressure building, then a
moment of vertigo. You wake up with a start to find that you are
sitting on the park bench. You look around in bewilderment. The old
man is gone. Was it all a dream? You realize that you have something
clutched tightly in your right hand. You open your hand and find a
carved ivory charm. It is a miniature statue of you. The image of the
old man's charm bracelet flashes through your mind and the charm
vanishes from your hand. His voice whispers into your ear from an
invisible source:

"Until next time, my faithful servant."

            THE END

Do you want to RESTART, RESTORE, QUIT or UNDO? 

Thanks for playing my short-short game, 

Robert DeFord