Uncle Zebulon's Will
Magnus Olsson
basic difficulty devil entertainment haunted house IF Competition 1995 IFComp Game IFComp Winner Included on Activison Masterpieces CD short length TADS TADS 2 TADS2 source available wacky uncle walkthrough
Your eccentric Uncle Zebulon considered himself a wizard, and was rumoured to be very wealthy. But when he died, he only left you one single object in his will...
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' at every line of Floyd's output? That is very annoying as a speech synthesizer user." GlkTADS - A text-only TADS 2.5.3 Interpreter.

Maintained by Stephen Granade <sgranade@phy.duke.edu>

Uncle Zebulon's Will by Magnus Olsson (mol@df.lth.se)

The news of your uncle Zebulon's death came as a shock. You've been
out of touch lately, and since you left for college a year ago you
haven't heard a word from him. During your childhood, however, your
eccentric uncle - once the black sheep of the family, an unsuccessful
alchemist and self-proclaimed wizard, reputed to be a very wealthy man
- was your favourite relative. Perhaps you were his favourite nephew
as well. You miss his stories of distant realms and the magic gadgets
he loved to demonstrate...

You leave for home immediately on receiving the message, but the
trip is long and you're delayed by the inevitable train strikes. When
you finally arrive, you find your family in a state of frustrated
confusion. Not only is your uncle's will written in a quite unsuitably
sarcastic tone, seriously insulting most of your relatives, but it
turns out there isn't much of an inheritance to fight over; despite a
thorough search of your uncle's house, no fabulous treasures are found.
The bequests for you and your cousins are almost pathetic: one small
memento each, to be selected after everybody else have made their
choices. Yet what is there to lose? At least you'd like to have one
last look at uncle Zeb's house; maybe you'll find some treasure
overlooked by the others, perhaps something magical...

First Annual IF Competition, 1995

You are standing just inside the gate of uncle Zebulon's garden, on
the weed-infested gravel path that leads east up to the porch of the
house. On the north side of the lawn, almost hidden behind the huge,
unkempt rosebushes, is the garden shed. The bright summer sun glistens
on the wet grass, and the air, fresh from the recent rain, is alive
with the buzzing of insects and filled with sweet fragrances.
You look around
You are standing just inside the gate of uncle Zebulon's garden, on
the weed-infested gravel path that leads east up to the porch of the
house. On the north side of the lawn, almost hidden behind the huge,
unkempt rosebushes, is the garden shed. The bright summer sun glistens
on the wet grass, and the air, fresh from the recent rain, is alive
with the buzzing of insects and filled with sweet fragrances.
You examine the rosebushes
Uncle Zebulon wasn't very much of a gardener, so the garden isn't
exactly a showpiece: the lawn is shaggy, the flower beds full of
weeds, the rose bushes would need some trimming. Still, it's a
pleasant place on a summer morning like this.
Inventory
You are empty-handed.
Xyzzy
Are you sure you're playing the right game?
About yourself
You look about the same as always.
You look at the shed
There's nothing unusual about Uncle Zebulon's garden shed: it's a
windowless, ramshackle building that could do with a new coat of paint.
Go north
The shed door opens only reluctantly, with a creaking sound from the
rusty hinges.

This shed was used by uncle Zebulon for his goldmaking: strange
experiments that could often be smelt from across town, even occasional
explosions. Your uncle spoke very little of his experiments, and never
showed any signs of making money out of them, yet people generally
assumed that they were successful and a source of great wealth. In all
other matters, your family regarded uncle Zebulon as a useless dreamer,
even an embarrassment, but they took a certain reluctant pride in his
reputation as a goldmaker.

As a consequence of your relatives' frantic search for valuables,
the place is in an even greater mess than you remember. The workbench
has been cleared of the usual odds and ends, and all even remotely
useful tools or utensils have been removed. Large heaps of junk and
broken glass remain in the corners, and in the centre of the room is a
large, hideous statue of a three-eyed dog - probably some exotic idol
brought home from your uncle's travels. You can't remember ever seeing
it before.

On the workbench you see a scrap of paper.
You look at the paper
It seems to be a torn-out page from a notebook, with a few lines of
writing on it.
You examine the dog
The statue is made of some dark, hard wood that must once have been
nicely polished but is now rather scratched and dented. It depicts a
huge, hideous dog - even though it's sitting on its haunches, it's
still taller than you are - that seems to be staring in a slightly
melancholy way at the workbench, as if lamenting the mess. It looks
very much out of place in this shed.
Apart from its general ugliness, one thing about the dog immediately
catches your attention: for some unfathomable reason, it has three
eyes - two in the normal places, and one in the centre of its forehead.
There is also something very strange about its ears.

The centre eye socket contains a blue glass lens.
You take the lens
However much you try, you can't pry it loose from the statue's eye
socket.
You examine the ears
You can only look at one thing at a time.
You examine the ear
Which ear do you mean, the dog's left ear, or the dog's right ear?
Left ear
The dog's ears look as if they don't really belong to the statue, but
were added as an afterthought - and in a rather curious way as well.
In fact, it seems as if both ears are fastened so that they can turn
around their own axes. Curious indeed.
You take the scrap
Taken.
You read it
"I'm a great step closer to the goal: I have discovered an acid
that actually transmutes noble metals into base ones. If only the
process could be reversed!"
You turn the left ear
As you turn the ear there is a distinct click. A loud humming noise
comes from inside the statue, and a beam of blue light shoots out from
its centre eye, illuminating a circle in the centre of the workbench.
After a while, however, the light flickers and goes out, and the
humming sound stops.
You turn the right ear
Nothing happens.
You examine workbench
The marble surface of the workbench is pitted by acids, discoloured by
strange chemicals and still sooty in places from the explosions that
all too often ended uncle Zeb's experiments. In the exact centre of
the workbench, a small bronze stand has been fastened to the surface.
You put the scrap on the bench
Done.
You examine the junk
You search through the junk for a while, but find nothing interesting,
just lots of broken glassware, old newspapers, fragments of burned
wood, large clumps of slag, you name it.
Go east
On this rickety porch, uncle Zebulon used to spend the long summer
evenings, relaxing in his rocking chair and smoking his pipe. Your
parents used to sneer at his laziness; why couldn't he use all that
spare time to make his garden look a little more respectable?
The rocking chair is still there, right outside the front door of
the house. It is not occupied by uncle Zebulon, though, but by a
sneering, rather mean-looking demon.
The demon is picking his claws with a rather nasty-looking dagger.
You look at the demon
If you remember your Basic Demonology classes correctly, he must be a
member of one of the lower castes of familiar demons, usually employed
as servants by wizards. As demons go, this one isn't very big or
dangerous-looking. Indeed, he looks positively benign (for a demon,
that is: he still looks pretty mean by human standards). Of course,
all this still doesn't mean that he's to be messed with.
Hi
The demon quite pointedly ignores you, apparently preferring to study
some interesting spots on the floor.
You ask demon about the demon
"Oh, don't mind me. Just pretend I'm the milkman or something."
You ask the demon about yourself
The demon looks at you a bit quizzically and starts to say something,
but changes his mind and just shrugs instead.
You ask the demon about the gold
The demon starts humming a merry little demon song, pretending not to
hear you.
You ask the demon about the dagger
The demon puts his dagger away (seemingly into thin air), pulls out a
newspaper (also out of thin air) and opens it. "Sorry, did you say
something?"
You ask the demon about the newspaper
shoulder, where it disappears with a loud pop, and instead pulls out a
dagger out of thin air and starts picking his claws. He gives no sign
of having heard you.
You look at the door
It's closed.
You open it
Opened.
Go east
As you walk past the demon (slightly apprehensively, of course, you
never know with demons), he nods at you. "Let's see, you must be
Richard, right? My late master hasn't treated you very generously in
his will, has he?" He quickly checks a list.
"Let's see. You're allowed to take one thing - not more - from the
house through this door. Of course, your relatives have pretty much
scoured the place for valuables, so I'm afraid there's not very much
left for you." For a moment, you imagine you can trace some genuine
pity in the demon's expression; however, it soon returns to his usual
sneer. "Not that they found very much of value, either. You should
have seen their faces when they realized the house wasn't filled with
gold..."
The demon starts to wave you past, when he suddenly seems to
remember something. "Ah, yes, this is for you," he says off-handedly,
holding out a letter towards you.
You take the letter
Taken.
You read it
The letter is written in uncle Zebulon's familiar hand.
"My dear Richard,
When you read this, I'm afraid I'll have left this world for good. By
now you should have heard of my will and of the little jokes I have
played on your relatives. I am sure they are all furious; they had
hoped for far more. Perhaps you too are angry with me, perhaps you
think I should have been more generous towards you?
Well, let me tell you this: you've always been my favourite nephew,
because we share (I hope) the same basic outlook on life: it's all a
rather cruel game, with rules that are there to be circumvented.
Playing fair doesn't mean you shouldn't do the unexpected! I don't
want to openly favour you before your cousins, but I think you're far
more likely than they are to exploit the advantages of the situation.
You may call it a little test, or game, or whatever. My final advice
to you is: follow the rules by the letter and you may find that new
possibilities open up.

Your affectionate uncle, Zeb."

[Your score just went up 5 points]
You drop all
letter: Dropped.
Go east
The demon lets you past with a slightly amused sneer.

hall, but at least there is this small room, with just enough space for
a coathanger and a narrow staircase up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
Wooden doors lead north, east, west and south.
You see a lead coin here.

As soon as you enter you realize, with a sinking feeling, just how
thoroughly your relatives have searched the house for valuables -
basically everything of value has been removed. The coin on the floor
must have been dropped there by oversight.
You examine the coin
Lead may not the most practical of materials for coinmaking, but this
coin is actually made of grey, soft lead. Not only the metal, but also
the shape, of the coin is unusual: it's octagonal. It bears the image
of a trident, surrounded by curious letters you can't read.
(In fact, this coin happens to be a genuine quarter-frob piece from
the country of Frobnizzia. The Frobnizzian coins are notable for the
great variety of materials used in making them; especially notable is
the one-gnark coin (one gnark being equal to 27 2/3 frobs), which was a
granite disk two feet in diameter. The size and weight of this coin
were intended to deter purse-snatchers; unfortunately, they had other
effects as well, such as being the major cause of the collapse of the
Frobnizzian economy.)
You go north
(Opening the kitchen door)
Kitchen
The kitchen is probably tidier now than it ever was during uncle
Zebulon's lifetime. The well-worn pine table and the large cupboard
are still there, but all traces of atmosphere seem to have vanished
along with the piles of unwashed dishes. Your relatives have evidently
been hard at work, removing all the kitchenware and utensils, even the
iron stove. They've left the kitchen sink behind, though - probably by
oversight.
You see a large carrot here.
You eat it
The large carrot looks rather dry and doesn't seem very appetizing. It
doesn't smell very appetizing either. Come to think of it, you're not
very hungry.
You look at the sink
It's just an old, rather dirty, kitchen sink of galvanized iron. There
are no taps - uncle Zebulon never bothered to install running water,
but used to fetch his from the village well.
You open cupboard
Opening the cupboard reveals a blue bottle.
You look at it
diameter - and is made of thick glass of a beautiful, deep blue colour.
You estimate that it will hold about half a litre of liquid. It seems
to contain a silver coin.
You examine it
This coin, a Frobnizzian nineteen-frob piece, is hexagonal and made of
silver. It bears the picture of a crescent.
You go to the north
The only exit is the door back to the hall, to the south.
You go to the south
hall, but at least there is this small room, with just enough space for
a coathanger and a narrow staircase up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
Wooden doors lead north, east, west and south.
Go south
(Opening the south door)
Study
You are in what uncle Zebulon used to call his study, but which also
doubled as his bedroom. You remember this room as being full of books:
bookshelves crammed with them, books on the overflowing desk, stacks of
books on the floor.
Now, the bookshelves gape empty; the narrow, rickety bed is gone, as
are the soft carpets. Only your uncle's desk remains, along with the
smell of old books and stale tobacco smoke. The only door leads north,
back into the hall.
On the desk you see a book and a crystal ball.
You take book
As you open the book and flip through the pages, you find that it's a

the entire story changes in response to choices made by the reader.
This particular one happens to be one of the great classics of the
genre: 'Dork', the story of a young man entering a great underground
computing centre, vanquishing the evil Hacker of Foobar, and finally
becoming System Manager. Of course, the story may sound a bit childish
- everyone knows that computers only exist in fairytales and that
hackers are purely mythical creatures - but it's still immensely
popular.

As you close the book again, a sheet of paper falls out of it and
flutters to the ground.

[Your score just went up 5 points]

Taken.
You look at it
On the paper, the following text is written in uncle Zebulon's neat,
regular hand:

A perfect match! Yet all illusion
A total likeness! And yet
As different as left from right
Forever kept apart by glass
Until the touch of magic stars
Turns glass to air
And image to reality

Then open will the SECOND PORTAL
A dark, forbidding one, that scares
And rightly so! Yet victory
Awaits the one who enters it

Gateway to great adventures
Guarded by Gods of Time and War and Love
An offering for each, and you may pass
Each gift should match one guardian.

You can't help thinking that while Uncle Zebulon may have been a great
storyteller, he was clearly an inferior poet.
You look at the ball
It's about fifteen centimetres in diameter. Unlike ordinary crystal,
it doesn't sparkle in the light; instead, it seems to glow with a misty
radiance. You feel an almost irresistible urge to gaze into it, as if
you were some common fortune-teller.
You look in the ball
The interior of the crystal ball is surprisingly cloudy, almost as if
you were looking into murky water. Soon, however, the mist seems to
clear, giving place to an image of uncle Zebulon putting coins into a
bottle.
Presently, the vision fades away, and the crystal gets cloudy again.
You look in the ball
The interior of the crystal ball is surprisingly cloudy, almost as if
you were looking into murky water. Soon, however, the mist seems to
clear, giving place to an image of yourself searching through a large
packing crate.
Presently, the vision fades away, and the crystal gets cloudy again.
You look in the ball
The interior of the crystal ball is surprisingly cloudy, almost as if
you were looking into murky water. Soon, however, the mist seems to
clear, giving place to an image of a young girl throwing a coin into a
well, making a wish with her eyes closed.
Presently, the vision fades away, and the crystal gets cloudy again.
You look in the ball
The interior of the crystal ball is surprisingly cloudy, almost as if
you were looking into murky water. Soon, however, the mist seems to
clear, giving place to an image of uncle Zebulon aiming a wand at a
large carrot. The carrot turns into a very surprised-looking rabbit.
Uncle Zebulon chuckles.
Presently, the vision fades away, and the crystal gets cloudy again.
You look in the ball
The interior of the crystal ball is surprisingly cloudy, almost as if
you were looking into murky water. Soon, however, the mist seems to
clear, giving place to an image of yourself looking into a crystal
ball.
Presently, the vision fades away, and the crystal gets cloudy again.
You examine the desk
that used to cover it (uncle Zebulon always had to clear off part of it
when he wanted to write). It is made of oak and has a single drawer,
which is closed.
On the desk you see a crystal ball.
You open the drawer
Opening the drawer reveals a green glass lens.
You look at the lens
It's about ten millimetres in diameter.
Search desk
that used to cover it (uncle Zebulon always had to clear off part of it
when he wanted to write). It is made of oak and has a single drawer,
which is open.
On the desk you see a crystal ball.
You put the coins in the bottle
You can only do that to one thing at a time.
You put the silver coin in the bottle
Done.
You examine the door
It's open.
Go north
hall, but at least there is this small room, with just enough space for
a coathanger and a narrow staircase up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
Wooden doors lead north, east, west and south.
You go east
(Opening the east door)
Sitting room
After your relatives have gone over it, uncle Zebulon's sitting room
looks curiously empty. Most of the furniture has been removed. Of all
the things that used to give the room its atmosphere, just a few,
obviously not very valuable ones, remain: the old armchair where you
used to sit and watch uncle Zebulon entertain you with his magic (or
"conjuring tricks", as your down-to-earth parents preferred to call
it), your uncle's pipe rack, the large mirror on the north wall.
You see a green bottle here.
You examine rack
It's empty. Apparently, there's a keen smoker among your relatives.
You examine the green
Which green do you mean, the green glass lens, or the green bottle?
Bottle
diameter - and is made of thick glass of a beautiful, sea-green colour.
You estimate that it will hold about half a litre of liquid. A neatly
handwritten label says 'FILL ME'. The bottle is empty.
You look at the chair
It may not be a great looker, but this battered old armchair has always
been your fave piece of furniture. On stormy autumn nights you'd relax
in its comfy depths, cosy in front of the roaring fire, while your
uncle would tell you the most hair-raising ghost stories or entertain
you with some magic tricks (which you steadfastly insisted were real
magic, even though your parents tried hard to convince you they were
just sleight of hand).
Even today, a decade later, you feel an almost irresistible urge to
sit in that armchair once more, just to recall the feeling of those
long-gone days.
You sit in the chair
sigh. However, it doesn't seem as comfortable as you recall it.
Strange...
After a while, you realize that you're sitting on something hard.
There seems to be something hidden within the armchair.
Search chair
You find a magic wand hidden deep inside the armchair.

(Don't feel too smug about it, though; I suppose nobody could have sat
in the armchair without feeling the wand.)
You examine the wand
around the country: a narrow, tapering rod, about thirty centimetres
long, and made of some dark wood, probably ebony. Your uncle used to
have several, and you've often seen him point them at things, with
various interesting results.
You point the wand at the carrot
The wand sputters, emitting a stream of brilliantly shining stars. The
stars collect in a cloud around the carrot, which starts to undergo a
curious transformation, growing smaller and rounder and redder and...
When the stars gradually fade away, you see that the carrot has turned
into a big, succulent tomato. Amazing - you must have found a wand of
Vegetable Polymorphism!
You point the wand at the tomato
The wand sputters, emitting a stream of brilliantly shining stars that
strike the tomato and explode with little popping noises. The tomato
starts to elongate, its colour changing into orange, and has sooned
turned back into a carrot. Those wands of Vegetable Polymorphism may
be pretty useless, but they are great fun, aren't they?
You examine the mirror
You're a bit surprised that your relatives left this mirror behind,
since it's probably quite valuable, or at least old. Perhaps its size
has something to do with it: it's almost a metre wide and taller than
you are. When you were a kid you used to fantasize about this being a
magic mirror, and you imagined that when looking into it you could see
into another world.
You look in the mirror
The glass is old and slightly flawed, so the image isn't as crisp as
you'd expect from a newer mirror. Your reflection looks like you, yet
somehow like a different person, more cynical, with a slightly cunning
look. The old glass makes it hard to make out all the detail, but the
reflection of the room behind you looks slightly different, too.
You point the wand at the mirror
The wand sputters, emitting a stream of brilliantly shining stars.
Amazingly, the stars seem to pass straight through the mirror. They
strike your mirror image, which is standing there with a wand in its
hand, looking at you with a slightly silly expression. With a strange,
tearing sound, your mirror image wavers and disappears.
Shocked, you look again. Sure, you can see the mirror image of the
room, and everything in it, but not your own image. You take a quick
look down at yourself, just to check - yes, you're still visible.
Running up to check the mirror, you realize that the glass is gone; the
empty frame forms a portal into a room behind, where no room ought to
be.

[Your score just went up 10 points]
Go inside
(the mirror)
Feeling like Alice in Wonderland, you step through the empty mirror
frame. A curious wrenching sensation passes through your body, as if
you've been disassembled into atoms and then rapidly put together
again.

Well, what do you call a perfect mirror image of a sitting room?
Superficially, this room looks exactly like its counterpart on the
other side of the mirror, except for the eerie fact that everything's
inverted, of course; there's an armchair, and a pipe rack, an empty
mirror frame on the south wall, and a wooden door leading west.
You see a small glass flask here.

This room shouldn't be here at all. After all, you've seen your
uncle's house from the outside many times, and it simply isn't large
enough to accommodate one more room...
You look at the flask
This is a small glass flask, of the type often found in alchemistry
labs. It contains a quantity of greenish liquid.
You look at rack
It looks exactly like its counterpart on the other side of the mirror.
You look at the chair
It looks exactly as its counterpart on the other side of the mirror,
only inverted. For example, the large stain on the right armrest is on
the left one - or is it the other way round?
Go west
mirror image of the hall, but to a narrow spiral staircase that leads
up a circular stairwell with stone walls, and through a hole in the
ceiling.

You are in a rather small, circular room that seems to be the top
floor of a high tower. Four large windows, one in each compass
direction, give you a panoramic view of a wild and marvellous
landscape: a mountain range of impossibly steep crags to the north; to
the west, the sea; to the south and east a wide, sandy desert. Far
away to the southwest, where the sea meets the desert, stands a
fantastic fairy-tale city of marble and shimmering gold, needle-sharp
spires and bulbous crystal domes. The scene is illuminated not by the
sun, but by cold starlight from a sky like black velvet studded with
diamonds; nameless stars in constellations you don't recognize.

a curious mechanism. A spiral staircase leads down.
You see a scroll here.
You examine the mechanism
This beautiful piece of intricate machinery seems to be a model of the
solar system. On a large disk of black marble, studded with silver
stars, the orbits of the planets are laid out as narrow tracks. The
planets are represented by small disks of precious stones that move,
ever so slowly, along their tracks, driven by some hidden clockwork.
In the centre of the disk is the sun: a golden ball, resting on a
small bronze stand.
You look at the ball
Which ball do you mean, the crystal ball, or the gold ball?
Gold
It's the size of a large marble - about a centimetre and a half in
diameter - and surprisingly heavy. Surely it can't be made of solid
gold?
You examine the city
The city is too far away for you to see very much detail, but it
doesn't resemble any city you've ever seen. Despite its breathtaking
beauty, something about it seems wrong; it's brightly lit, yet seems
curiously devoid of life. If only you could get there to
investigate...
You examine the scroll
The scroll is a rolled-up piece of rather thick paper. To your
amazement, you notice that there's something written on it, and in
uncle Zebulon's handwriting (what a surprise!).
You read it
My dear nephew,

I'm glad that you've discovered the way through the mirror, and into
my secret tower. It's here, in the realm you can see from the windows,
that I've spent most of my time the last few years, the time you and
your relatives thought I was just pent up inside my house. I may not
have collected much gold and belongings in your world, but in the world
of Vhyl and the city of Cyr-Dhool are treasures beyond belief and
adventures that surpass your wildest dreams.

The portal to Vhyl is hidden, but I have no doubt that you will find
it. Once you've opened it, and passed the portal that's beyond it,
your true inheritance awaits you, at the end of a quest I shall never
have the time to finish. Your relatives have no doubt already removed
what little there is of value in my house; what they have left behind,
however, may be of more use to you.

With hope of your success,
your affectionate uncle,
Zebulon
You examine the pedestal
The pedestal is about a metre high and not very interesting; the
mechanism that's resting on top of it is, though.
You examine the stars
You don't recognize the constellations. You must be very far indeed
from home.
Go east
The only way out is via the stairs.
You go downwards
Well, what do you call a perfect mirror image of a sitting room?
Superficially, this room looks exactly like its counterpart on the
other side of the mirror, except for the eerie fact that everything's
inverted, of course; there's an armchair, and a pipe rack, an empty
mirror frame on the south wall, and a wooden door leading west.
You look at rack
It looks exactly like its counterpart on the other side of the mirror.
You go to the west
You are in a rather small, circular room that seems to be the top
floor of a high tower. Four large windows, one in each compass
direction, give you a panoramic view of a wild and marvellous
landscape: a mountain range of impossibly steep crags to the north; to
the west, the sea; to the south and east a wide, sandy desert. Far
away to the southwest, where the sea meets the desert, stands a
fantastic fairy-tale city of marble and shimmering gold, needle-sharp
spires and bulbous crystal domes. The scene is illuminated not by the
sun, but by cold starlight from a sky like black velvet studded with
diamonds; nameless stars in constellations you don't recognize.

a curious mechanism. A spiral staircase leads down.
Go south
Feeling like Alice in Wonderland, you step through the empty mirror
frame. A curious wrenching sensation passes through your body, as if
you've been disassembled into atoms and then rapidly put together
again.

After your relatives have gone over it, uncle Zebulon's sitting room
looks curiously empty. Most of the furniture has been removed. Of all
the things that used to give the room its atmosphere, just a few,
obviously not very valuable ones, remain: the old armchair where you
used to sit and watch uncle Zebulon entertain you with his magic (or
"conjuring tricks", as your down-to-earth parents preferred to call
it), your uncle's pipe rack, the large mirror on the north wall.
Go up
(Opening the trapdoor)
Attic
You remember spending long hours as a child exploring the mysterious
treasures of uncle Zebulon's attic: looking through old sea-chests
full of exotic souvenirs from your uncle's travels, trying on curious
old clothes, hiding under strange pieces of furniture - and upsetting
your mother when returning home covered in dust and with cobwebs in
your hair. That was long ago, however; now, the attic just seems like
a depressingly untidy storage space full of old junk and devoid of any
mystery. Besides, it seems as if anything even remotely interesting or
valuable has been carried away. A trapdoor in the floor leads down.
You see a packing crate and an old brass plate here.

As your head emerges through the trapdoor, you are greeted by a cloud
of dust that makes you sneeze.
You look at the crate
The packing crate is closed.
You open it
Opening the packing crate reveals some wood shavings.
Search shavings
You burrow through the wood shavings, raising a lot of dust in the
process, when your hand touches something hard. It seems you've found
a small teak box.
You look at it
This small box is made of exquisitely crafted teak wood, with a highly
polished surface. It is closed.
You open it
Opening the small teak box reveals a red glass lens.
You examine the plate
It's an old, rather thin plate of Indian brass, slightly dented and
probably not worth very much. On the tarnished surface you can just
barely make out a rather clumsy depiction of a scorpion and some stars
- probably an astrological reference, since the following text is
engraved on the back side:

GOLD    The Sun, Ruler of the Daylit Sky
SILVER  Luna, Mistress of the Night
MERCURY Wing-footed Messenger of the Gods
COPPER  Venus, Carnal Love
IRON    Mars, Blood-red Bringer of War
TIN     Jupiter, Ruler of the Gods
LEAD    Saturn, Lord of Time Itself
You look at what you're carrying with you
You have a blue bottle, a book, a sheet of writing paper, a green glass
lens, a crystal ball, a green bottle, a magic wand, a large carrot, a
small glass flask, a gold ball, a scroll, and a small teak box. The
blue bottle seems to contain a silver coin and a lead coin. The small
teak box seems to contain a red glass lens.
You take the plate
You've already got your hands full.
You examine the liquid
The liquid is rather thick, faintly greenish, and has a decidedly
unpleasant smell.
You put the silver in the liquid
The silver coin falls into the greenish liquid, which begins to foam
and bubble with a hissing sound. Acrid green fumes billow out of the
flask, making your eyes water. The reaction doesn't stop until all the
liquid has boiled away. The silver coin seems to have grown darker and
duller. In fact, it doesn't look like silver at all any more, but more
like iron.
You look at the iron coin
This coin, a Frobnizzian two-frob piece, is hexagonal and made of iron.
It bears the picture of a sword.
You check what you're carrying
You have a blue bottle, a book, a sheet of writing paper, a green glass
lens, a crystal ball, a green bottle, a magic wand, a large carrot, a
small glass flask, a gold ball, a scroll, a small teak box, and an iron
coin. The blue bottle seems to contain a lead coin. The small teak
box seems to contain a red glass lens.
You put the green lens in the box
Which box do you mean, the small teak box, or the packing crate?
You look at the teak
This small box is made of exquisitely crafted teak wood, with a highly
polished surface. It is open. Inside it, you see a red glass lens and
a green glass lens.
Small
Closed.
Go down
hall, but at least there is this small room, with just enough space for
a coathanger and a narrow staircase up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
Wooden doors lead north, east, west and south.
You drop all but the teak
blue bottle: Dropped.
book: Dropped.
sheet of writing paper: Dropped.
crystal ball: Dropped.
green bottle: Dropped.
magic wand: Dropped.
large carrot: Dropped.
small glass flask: Dropped.
gold ball: Dropped.
scroll: Dropped.
iron coin: Dropped.
You go west
On this rickety porch, uncle Zebulon used to spend the long summer
evenings, relaxing in his rocking chair and smoking his pipe. Your
parents used to sneer at his laziness; why couldn't he use all that
spare time to make his garden look a little more respectable?
The rocking chair is still there, right outside the front door of
the house. It is not occupied by uncle Zebulon, though, but by a
sneering, rather mean-looking demon.
You see a letter here.
The demon is reading a newspaper, occasionally keeping an eye on the
door.
Go west
The demon looks hard at what you're carrying. "Hey, there's something
hidden inside that small teak box! You're not trying to cheat, are
you?" With a scaly arm, he blocks your passage. "I'm only going to
let you carry one thing through this door!"
Go east
The demon lets you past with a slightly amused sneer.

hall, but at least there is this small room, with just enough space for
a coathanger and a narrow staircase up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
Wooden doors lead north, east, west and south.
You see a blue bottle, a book, a sheet of writing paper, a crystal
ball, a green bottle, a magic wand, a large carrot, a small glass
flask, a gold ball, a scroll, and an iron coin here. The blue bottle
seems to contain a lead coin.
Empty blue bottle
You will have to remove things from the blue bottle one at a time.
You open teak
lens.
You take green lens
Taken.

Taken.
You put red lens in the green bottle
As soon as it hits the bottom of the bottle, the red glass lens
vanishes with a popping sound. The bottle is now empty. A split
second later, you hear a pinging noise from the blue bottle.

[Your score just went up 5 points]
You look in the blue bottle
diameter - and is made of thick glass of a beautiful, deep blue colour.
You estimate that it will hold about half a litre of liquid. It seems
to contain a red glass lens.
You drop all but the blue bottle
small teak box: Dropped.
lead coin: Dropped.
green glass lens: Dropped.
red glass lens: Dropped.
Go west
On this rickety porch, uncle Zebulon used to spend the long summer
evenings, relaxing in his rocking chair and smoking his pipe. Your
parents used to sneer at his laziness; why couldn't he use all that
spare time to make his garden look a little more respectable?
The rocking chair is still there, right outside the front door of
the house. It is not occupied by uncle Zebulon, though, but by a
sneering, rather mean-looking demon.
You see a letter here.
The demon is picking his claws with a rather nasty-looking dagger.
You go to the west
The demon gives you a penetrating glance, but lets you pass without
comment.

You are standing just inside the gate of uncle Zebulon's garden, on
the weed-infested gravel path that leads east up to the porch of the
house. On the north side of the lawn, almost hidden behind the huge,
unkempt rosebushes, is the garden shed. The bright summer sun glistens
on the wet grass, and the air, fresh from the recent rain, is alive
with the buzzing of insects and filled with sweet fragrances.
You go north
This shed was used by uncle Zebulon for his goldmaking: strange
experiments that could often be smelt from across town, even occasional
explosions. Your uncle spoke very little of his experiments, and never
showed any signs of making money out of them, yet people generally
assumed that they were successful and a source of great wealth. In all
other matters, your family regarded uncle Zebulon as a useless dreamer,
even an embarrassment, but they took a certain reluctant pride in his
reputation as a goldmaker.

As a consequence of your relatives' frantic search for valuables,
the place is in an even greater mess than you remember. The workbench
has been cleared of the usual odds and ends, and all even remotely
useful tools or utensils have been removed. Large heaps of junk and
broken glass remain in the corners, and in the centre of the room is a
large, hideous statue of a three-eyed dog - probably some exotic idol
brought home from your uncle's travels. You can't remember ever seeing
it before.
On the bronze stand you see a scrap of paper.
Go east
The demon lets you past with a slightly amused sneer.

hall, but at least there is this small room, with just enough space for
a coathanger and a narrow staircase up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
Wooden doors lead north, east, west and south.
You see a blue bottle, a book, a sheet of writing paper, a crystal
ball, a green bottle, a magic wand, a large carrot, a small glass
flask, a gold ball, a scroll, an iron coin, a small teak box, a lead
coin, a green glass lens, and a red glass lens here.
Go west
The demon gives you an amused look. "So, you've made your choice, have
you?" Producing a clipboard out of thin air, he proceeds to tick off
your name. "Let's see... Richard: a blue bottle. Well, I suppose
that might prove useful some day. Or perhaps not. But who am I to
question your choice?" With an air of seriously doubting your
judgement, he lets you pass. "Have a nice day."

You are standing just inside the gate of uncle Zebulon's garden, on
the weed-infested gravel path that leads east up to the porch of the
house. On the north side of the lawn, almost hidden behind the huge,
unkempt rosebushes, is the garden shed. The bright summer sun glistens
on the wet grass, and the air, fresh from the recent rain, is alive
with the buzzing of insects and filled with sweet fragrances.
You go north
This shed was used by uncle Zebulon for his goldmaking: strange
experiments that could often be smelt from across town, even occasional
explosions. Your uncle spoke very little of his experiments, and never
showed any signs of making money out of them, yet people generally
assumed that they were successful and a source of great wealth. In all
other matters, your family regarded uncle Zebulon as a useless dreamer,
even an embarrassment, but they took a certain reluctant pride in his
reputation as a goldmaker.

As a consequence of your relatives' frantic search for valuables,
the place is in an even greater mess than you remember. The workbench
has been cleared of the usual odds and ends, and all even remotely
useful tools or utensils have been removed. Large heaps of junk and
broken glass remain in the corners, and in the centre of the room is a
large, hideous statue of a three-eyed dog - probably some exotic idol
brought home from your uncle's travels. You can't remember ever seeing
it before.
On the bronze stand you see a scrap of paper.
You drop the blue bottle
Dropped.
Go east
As you step onto the porch, the demon looks pointedly at you. "What?
Back already? Aren't you satisfied with your blue bottle? Remember
that you're not allowed to change your mind!"

On this rickety porch, uncle Zebulon used to spend the long summer
evenings, relaxing in his rocking chair and smoking his pipe. Your
parents used to sneer at his laziness; why couldn't he use all that
spare time to make his garden look a little more respectable?
The rocking chair is still there, right outside the front door of
the house. It is not occupied by uncle Zebulon, though, but by a
sneering, rather mean-looking demon.
You see a letter here.
The demon is reading a newspaper, occasionally keeping an eye on the
door.
Go east
The demon shrugs and lets you past.

hall, but at least there is this small room, with just enough space for
a coathanger and a narrow staircase up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
Wooden doors lead north, east, west and south.
You see a book, a sheet of writing paper, a crystal ball, a green
bottle, a magic wand, a large carrot, a small glass flask, a gold ball,
a scroll, an iron coin, a small teak box, a lead coin, a green glass
lens, and a red glass lens here.
You put it in the green bottle
As soon as it hits the bottom of the bottle, the red glass lens
vanishes with a popping sound. The bottle is now empty.
You put it in the bottle
Which bottle do you mean, the green bottle, or the small glass flask?
Green
As soon as it hits the bottom of the bottle, the green glass lens
vanishes with a popping sound. The bottle is now empty.
You examine flask
This is a small glass flask, of the type often found in alchemistry
labs.
Go north
This shed was used by uncle Zebulon for his goldmaking: strange
experiments that could often be smelt from across town, even occasional
explosions. Your uncle spoke very little of his experiments, and never
showed any signs of making money out of them, yet people generally
assumed that they were successful and a source of great wealth. In all
other matters, your family regarded uncle Zebulon as a useless dreamer,
even an embarrassment, but they took a certain reluctant pride in his
reputation as a goldmaker.

As a consequence of your relatives' frantic search for valuables,
the place is in an even greater mess than you remember. The workbench
has been cleared of the usual odds and ends, and all even remotely
useful tools or utensils have been removed. Large heaps of junk and
broken glass remain in the corners, and in the centre of the room is a
large, hideous statue of a three-eyed dog - probably some exotic idol
brought home from your uncle's travels. You can't remember ever seeing
it before.
You see a blue bottle here. On the bronze stand you see a scrap of
paper. The blue bottle seems to contain a red glass lens and a green
glass lens.
You put red lens in the left socket
As you move the red glass lens close to the statue's eye socket, you
notice that it seems attracted to it with a surprising force, like a
piece of iron to a magnet. It fits perfectly and stays put - in fact,
you doubt that you could remove it again.

[Your score just went up 5 points]
You put green lens in the right socket
As you move the green glass lens close to the statue's eye socket, you
notice that it seems attracted to it with a surprising force, like a
piece of iron to a magnet. It fits perfectly and stays put - in fact,
you doubt that you could remove it again.
You turn the left ear
As you turn the ear there is a distinct click. A loud humming noise
comes from inside the statue, and a beam of blue light shoots out from
its centre eye, illuminating a circle in the centre of the workbench.
The blue beam is immediately joined by a red one from the dog's left
eye socket and a green one from the third eye, all focusing on the same
area.

The beams flicker for a few moments, and then seem to gain in
brightness. To your great astonishment, a clear, sharp image of your
uncle Zebulon forms in the centre of the illuminated circle. This must
surely be some powerful magic at work!

[Your score just went up 5 points]
You look at image
Zebulon, crowned by the caption TEST PICTURE.
You turn the right ear
To your great astonishment, the image of your uncle disappears, and is
replaced by one of fishes in an aquarium. To your even greater
astonishment, the image comes to life, showing the fishes swimming back
and forth.
You look at image
The image on the workbench shows colourful fish swimming placidly back
and forth in an aquarium. It's all very beautiful, but it strikes you
as being rather pointless.
You turn right ear
The image changes into one of a lone adventurer, carrying a sword, a
brass lantern and a curious collection of sundry items, exploring a
great cave system of twisting passages all alike. You recognize the
scene as one from a popular historic novel called 'Zork'.
You continue
The image changes into one of a field of stars on a totally black sky.
Suddenly, a strange-looking contraption appears in the middle of the
image: it looks almost, but not quite, like a flattened ellipsoid
joined to a flashlight. The scene changes to what is apparently the
inside of the contraption, where people in ugly red and blue jumpsuits
are running around.
Continue
The image changes into one of again, a field of stars. This time,
however, nothing more happens. You recognize the constellation of
Gemini, with the twin stars Castor and Pollux.
You look at the image
The image on the workbench shows again, a field of stars. This time,
however, nothing more happens. You recognize the constellation of
Gemini, with the twin stars Castor and Pollux.
You turn the right ear
The image changes into one of a huge, purple, dinosaur (or, rather, an
actor dressed up in a shockingly ugly dinosaur suit) walking around
with an insipid smile on his face, surrounded by singing children.
Curiouser and curiouser, indeed!
You turn the right ear
The image changes into one of the full moon, shining like a giant
cheese in the middle of a dark, star-studded sky. The moon's image
falls just on the bronze stand on the workbench, illuminating the scrap
of paper.
You take the ball
Which ball do you mean, the crystal ball, or the gold ball?
You put the gold ball in the green bottle
As soon as it hits the bottom of the bottle, the gold ball vanishes
with a popping sound. The bottle is now empty.
You examine the image
The image on the workbench shows the full moon, shining like a giant
cheese in the middle of a dark, star-studded sky. The moon's image
falls just on the bronze stand on the workbench.
You put the ball on the stand
You place the gold ball right in the middle of the image of the moon,
whose light reflects off it with a weird glitter.

You notice a sudden, cold draught, and a gust of wind slams the door
shut.
You open the door
Opened.

The light from the image of the moon seems to have a strange effect on
the gold ball: it's almost as if it had started to glow by itself.
You go to the south
You start moving towards the door, but the strange things happening to
the gold ball are too hard to ignore.

The gold ball is most definitely glowing, with a warm, golden, slightly
pulsating light.
You close the door
Closed.

The light from the gold ball has reached an almost painful intensity,
and continues to grow stronger and stronger. Suddenly, there's a small
explosion, and you're temporarily blinded. When you can see again, the
dog has stopped shining, the gold ball is gone, and in the centre of
the workbench there's a large hole.

[Your score just went up 15 points]
You look at the hole
The hole is almost a metre in diameter and seems very deep. Inside is
just darkness; you try to look down into it but can't see a thing.
What's even stranger is that the hole doesn't extend through the
workbench - the lower surface of the workbench is intact. You've read
of gateways into other universes, but only in fantasy books. For a
moment, you get a crazy notion that you should enter the hole to see
where it leads...
Go downward
As you enter the hole, you are engulfed by total darkness. For what
seems like an eternity, you sink through a dark void, until, finally,
your feet touch solid ground. The darkness is replaced by greyish
light, and you find yourself in a strange place...

Around you, a seemingly limitless expanse of flat, greyish ground,
stretching away in all directions, uninterrupted by any mountains or
even hills, unadorned by any tree, flower or even a blade of grass.
Above you, the uniformly overcast sky, like the inside of a perfect
leaden bowl, merging with the plain at the curiously indistinct
horizon, a horizon that could be a mile away or a million. The air is
still and dry, almost dead, with a faint smell of timeless dust. Not
even the faintest breath of wind breaks the absolute silence. Nothing
moves, nothing changes, nothing happens.
In front of you, seemingly in the exact centre of this dismal world,
is a perfectly round, marble basin, filled with still, clear water. In
the centre of the basin three colossal Greek statues stand looking out
over the plain with their unseeing eyes, backs together, faces forever
fixed in expressions of serene detachment.
You look at the statues
The three statues stand with their backs together, forever looking out
over the desolate plain with unseeing eyes. Letters chiseled into the
pedestal give their names: Venus, with robes flowing in an imagined
breeze, long hair held together by a copper circlet; Mars, stony-faced,
muscular, dressed in armour, an iron spear in his hand; Saturn, older
than time, grim-faced under a dull leaden crown.
You look at the basin
water. At its centre there is a low pedestal with three marble
statues. The surface of the water is perfectly still, like a sheet of
glass through which you can see a gold coin resting on the bottom.
There is an inscription on the rim of the basin.
You read it
"IN THIS BASIN, O STRANGER, IS BOTH OBLIVION AND ADVENTURE; DRINK MY
WATER AND THY QUEST SHALL END IN SAFETY; SACRIFICE AND THOU SHALT
CONQUER."
Drink water
You scoop up some water in your hand and drink it. It's quite
tasteless. After a short while, your head starts to spin. Reeling,
you grasp for support, but find yourself sinking through an endless,
grey void, recalling the last day's happenings backwards, realizing
that your memories are being erased...

uncle Zebulon's house. Just as you suspected, there was nothing worth
having in the house; your parents were right after all, and your uncle
was just an ordinary old man with a vivid imagination.

After attending your uncle's funeral, you go back to college and
complete your education as an accountant, embarking on a successful and
satisfying career. Sometimes, your thoughts go flashing back to uncle
Zebulon, and you have a nagging sense that you've missed something
important. Those feelings soon pass; after all, you have more
important things to deal with.

 You have failed 

In a total of 236 turns, you have achieved a score of 50 points out of
a possible 75, and visited 11 locations out of 12.

You may restore a saved game, start over, quit, or undo the current
command.
You get the gold coin
An invisible force prevents you from touching the water.
You examine the sky
The sky is uniformly grey, like the inside of a great leaden bowl.
You examine the gold coin
Through the clear water, you can see it shimmering on the bottom of the
basin. Have there been other visitors before you to this place? Has
somebody thrown in the coin to have a wish granted?
You enter the basin
An invisible force stops you from entering the water.
You put it in the green bottle
As soon as it hits the bottom of the bottle, the lead coin vanishes
with a popping sound. The bottle is now empty.
You put it in the green bottle
That's too large to fit in the green bottle.
You drop the wand
Dropped.
You put the coin in green bottle
As soon as it hits the bottom of the bottle, the iron coin vanishes
with a popping sound. The bottle is now empty.
You look around
hall, but at least there is this small room, with just enough space for
a coathanger and a narrow staircase up to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
Wooden doors lead north, east, west and south.
You see a book, a sheet of writing paper, a crystal ball, a green
bottle, a large carrot, a small glass flask, a scroll, a small teak
box, and a magic wand here.
You eat it
The tomato is just as delicious as it looks. As you take the last bite
out of it, you feel something hard between your teeth. Surprised, you
remove a copper coin from your mouth. How on earth did that get into
the tomato?

[Your score just went up 5 points]
You look at the copper coin
Even though it's from Frobnizzia, a country that's renowned for its
curious currency, there's nothing remarkable whatsoever about this coin
(in fact, it's remarkable for being the only non-remarkable Frobnizzian
coin). It's small, round, made of copper, and bears the picture of a
heart.
You put the coin in the green bottle
As soon as it hits the bottom of the bottle, the copper coin vanishes
with a popping sound. The bottle is now empty.
You drop all
scrap of paper: Dropped.
magic wand: Dropped.
Go north
This shed was used by uncle Zebulon for his goldmaking: strange
experiments that could often be smelt from across town, even occasional
explosions. Your uncle spoke very little of his experiments, and never
showed any signs of making money out of them, yet people generally
assumed that they were successful and a source of great wealth. In all
other matters, your family regarded uncle Zebulon as a useless dreamer,
even an embarrassment, but they took a certain reluctant pride in his
reputation as a goldmaker.

As a consequence of your relatives' frantic search for valuables,
the place is in an even greater mess than you remember. The workbench
has been cleared of the usual odds and ends, and all even remotely
useful tools or utensils have been removed. Large heaps of junk and
broken glass remain in the corners, and in the centre of the room is a
large, hideous statue of a three-eyed dog - probably some exotic idol
brought home from your uncle's travels. You can't remember ever seeing
it before.

There is a mysterious dark hole in the middle of the workbench.
You see a blue bottle here. The blue bottle seems to contain a lead
coin, an iron coin, and a copper coin.
You put the LEAD in the basin
The lead coin falls into the water with a faint splash and sinks to the
bottom.

As soon as the coin has come to rest on the bottom, something
strange happens: the statue of Saturn comes to life. The marble seems
to soften somewhat; the aged head turns towards you, and Saturn speaks
in a deep, hoarse voice. "Welcome, stranger, to the Portal between
Worlds. A long way hast thou come, and yet the way that lies before
thee is even longer."
He makes a gesture with one hand, and a sound like a whisper is
heard; a faint breeze sets the still air in motion, carrying a smell of
salt to your nostrils. For a moment you imagine hearing booming surf
in the distance.

[Your score just went up 10 points]

The statue returns to its previous form, flesh hardening into stone
again, the colour draining away.
You put the IRON in basin
The iron coin falls into the water with a faint splash and sinks to the
bottom.

The statue of Mars comes to life with a clanging of armour. Mars'
gaze remains as hard as before as he looks at you, saying in an
incredibly powerful voice: "Thou hast come to claim thy inheritance,
and claim it thou shalt; but know that thy quest has barely begun."
Raising both arms towards the leaden sky, he brings them down again
in a motion that somehow seems to tear the sky down as a curtain. The
leaden overcast is gone, replaced by a glorious night sky, sprinkled
with thousands of stars bright enough to read by.

The statue returns to its previous form, flesh hardening into stone
again, the colour draining away.
You put COPPER in the basin
the bottom.

The statue of Venus undergoes a startling transformation: hard,
white marble turning into soft, pale-olive flesh, frozen stone hair
starting to flow like a waterfall, white, unseeing eyes suddenly filled
with life. "The end of the beginning has come. The land of Vhyl
awaits thee!"
She makes a sweeping gesture with one arm. Around you, the plain
starts to fade away, as when a painting is washed from a glass pane.
Gradually, another landscape takes shape in front of your eyes: the
greyish plain is replaced by sand dunes, the featureless horizon
becomes dotted with palms...

You find yourself standing on a desert road under a magnificent,
star-studded night sky. Your hair is ruffled by a cold wind that
smells of sand and salt; in the distance you hear the booming sound of
surf. You recognize the view from uncle Zebulon's tower. Not a trace
remains of your previous surroundings.

You let your gaze wander around the distant horizon, where palm
trees are outlined against the starry sky. It is drawn to the
silhouette of the fabulous city of Cyr-Dhool, a dreamlike mirage at the
far end of a narrow road that winds across the desert of Noori. Drawn
by a strong feeling that your inheritance awaits you inside the city,
you start walking along the road, through the strange country of Vhyl.

You walk for an hour or so, feeling the cold, invigorating breeze
against your face, letting the dry smells of the desert and the salty
tang of the distant sea fill your nostrils. In front of you, now and
then obscured by intervening dunes, steadily growing larger, you see
the city of Cyr-Dhool, its many spires and cupolas glittering in the
starlight like some gigantic piece of jewelry. As you get closer, you
begin to wonder about the total stillness of Cyr-Dhool; not a single
light shows in its windows, not a single movement is seen. Yet the
city somehow doesn't seem dead, but rather asleep.

Finally, you reach the end of the road, in an open place just in
front of the city's gates. The polished marble walls tower above you,
gleaming coolly with reflected starlight. Not a single sentry hails
you. As you approach the tall bronze gates, they swing open to leave
the passage open into a broad, empty street. With a feeling of elation
you enter the city to claim your inheritance.

[Your score just went up 10 points]

And thus ends the story of uncle Zebulon's will. Many adventures
await you in the city of Cyr-Dhool, but they belong to a different
game.

 You have won 

In a total of 260 turns, you have achieved a score of 75 points out of
a possible 75, and visited 12 locations out of 12.

You may restore a saved game, start over, quit, or undo the current
command.