Peasant's Quest FAQ v0.2 By David J. Stein, Esq. (djs10@po.cwru.edu) Written on August 2nd, 2004 =============================================================================== 0. INTRODUCTION Since the dawn of time, his presence has been a black mark on the land of Peasantville, and his name made the peasants cower in terror. When the moon grew full, the simple townfolk huddled together in the darkness of their tiny hovels in anticipation of the impending horror. And the peasants quaked in fear as the shadows grew long across the countryside, and as darkness crept across the land like a pall. First they would hear the steady drumbeat of his approaching footsteps, presaged only by the powerful reek of his sulfurous breath. Their courage left them when they heard the cries of their neighbors as the straw roofs of their thatch huts exploded into massive bonfires. As their panic overcame them, they fled into the cursed evening by the light of the conflagration that engulfed their former homes, driven onward by the bringer of doom and the betrayer of hope, in the form of a hulking mass of rippling, green muscles and singing hunger. He is Trogdor, the Burninator. =============================================================================== 1. OK, THE REAL INTRODUCTION Enough with the petty melodrama. Peasant's Quest is a game written by the good folks at Homestarrunner.com, saddling you, as a simple peasant, with the impossible task of defeating Trogdor, a massive dragon with fiery breath and arms as large as weightlifters or California governors. The game is available here: http://homestarrunner.com/disk4of12.html The game plays in the style of the old Sierra graphical adventure games, like King's Quest and Quest For Glory. You move your character around using the arrow keys (just tap once to start walking, and tap again in the same direction to stop), and you interact with stuff by typing stuff (there's a cursor at the bottom of the screen.) You can tap + (several times) to increase your walking speed, or hit - (several times) if the game's just too dang fast for you. Some examples of stuff you can type: * SAVE (to save your game - must have a browser with cookies enabled) * LOAD (to load a saved game) * GET APPLE (etc.) * INVENTORY (to see what you're carrying, and get descriptions of items) * LOOK (to examine your current location) * LOOK TREE (to, y'know, look at a tree) * GIVE APPLE TO MAN * TALK MAN * XYZZY =============================================================================== 2. YE OLDE MAP(E) Main map **** = unpassable water ======================================================================== | | | | | | | | Archer's | Horse | | Well | *******Waterfall| | tree | | | | ******************| | | | | | ***** | | ====================================================****================ | | | | *** | | | Hay | Mud | Archers | *** | Mountain ==> To | | Puddle | | *** | Entrance Mountain | | | | *** | | =========================================***================= | | | | **** | | | Jhonka | Burned | Lake ******** | Inn | | Cave | Cottage | Edge ******** | | | | | | Fisherman | | ============================================================= | | | | | | | Closed | Wavy | THE | Cottage & | Lantern | | Cottage | Tree | KERREK! | Bushes | Tree | | | | | | | ============================================================= ============= ============= | | | | | Inside | | In the | | Cottage | | Inn | | | | | ============= ============= The Mountain ======================================== | | | | | Cliff | Outer | Trogdor's | | Top | Sanctom | Lair | | | | | ======================================== | | | Cliff | | Middle | | | ============== | | | Cliff | | Middle | | | ============== | | | Cliff | | Bottom | | | ============== =============================================================================== 3. WALKTHROUGH You start out at the Mountain Entrance, where a knight tells you that only peasants can climb the mountain and take on Trogdor. In order to pass the knight, you'll need to rise from your sub-peasant status: * Dress like a peasant, * Stink like a peasant, and * Be on fire like a peasant And off you go. You may as well start by going back to your sad, little shack, or what remains of it ("Burned Cottage" on the map above.) If you go inside and GET PAPER, you will get a map of the whole area (just type MAP to view it.) No points, sadly. Wander around for a bit, see where things are, and get your bearings. The Kerrek is a big, minotaur guy who wanders around several screens on the west part (well, uh, the left side, anyway) of the map. First, go to the Well and look at it (LOOK WELL.) Something floating in it... a bucket, and a crank... nope, not that easy. Try TURN CRANK and you'll see that you need something to weigh down the bucket. (Be sure that you're relatively close to the crank when you try to turn it, of course.) Walk down a screen to the Archer, and TALK ARCHER. He'll mention his brother Dongolev and will tell you to say HALDO to him, if you find him (2 points.) Now go to the lake edge and LOOK - it has a sandy shore. If you LOOK SHORE, you'll also notice that it has some pebbles. GET PEBBLES (1 point). Go back to the well and PUT PEBBLES IN BUCKET (2 points), then TURN CRANK to get a MASK. Look at the mask (type INVENTORY, go down to your mask, and hit Enter) - it's probably pretty obvious what you need to do now. Walk over to the Horse and WEAR MASK. The horse takes of and crashes through the fence (2 points), and you can now go through the fence to the hidden grotto. There's an archer here, shooting arrows at a tree - this must be Dongolev. If you say HALDO, he'll leave and go back to his brother Mendelev (3 points). Now you can look at the tree, and GET ARROW (2 points). Now go talk to the archers - you'll find that you can practice some archery if you get a "super item" - we'll have to go find something that qualifies. Go to the Cottage & Bushes (near the Fisherman) and enter it (OPEN DOOR) to enter. Talk to the woman to find out about the Jhonka robbing her of her... uh... inheritance riches. Notice also that something is on the shelf - LOOK SHELF to find that it's chicken feed, and then GET FEED (1 point) before you leave. As you walk out the door, the woman will mention that her baby lost something outside. Check all four bushes (GET BERRIES); the fourth bush you check will have something in it (2 points.) Check your inventory to find out that it's a SUPER TRINKET! Neato! Go back to the archers and GIVE TRINKET (2 points), and you get to practice archery. You'll probably mess this up, so type PLAY again to, well, play again. Archery game: This is pretty easy. Line up the bow along the horizontal access (taking the wind into account), then tap space. When the first triangle gets to the red mark on the meter, hit Space again, and when the right arrow hits the red mark, hit Space a third time. If you've lined it up right, you'll get a bull's-eye. Lining it up horizontally is tough 'cause the wind changes, so this really bad ASCII art will help: ***** Wind: ********* * = white Hard right - aim at 1 ***#####*** # = blue Weak right - aim at 2 ***###*###*** @ = red Dead - aim at 3 ***###*@*###*** O = yellow (bull's-eye!) Weak left - aim at 4 ***###*@O@*###*** Hard left - aim at 5 ***###*@*###*** ***###*###*** ***#####*** /*********\ /// ***** \\\ 1 2 3 4 5 Basically, if the wind is dead, aim right at the yellow bull's-eye; if it's weak, aim at the inner edge of the blue region (#) on the side opposite the wind; and if it's strong, aim at the outer edge of the blue region on the side opposite the wind. Play as many times as you need to win (three bull's-eyes out of five) to pick up the SuperTime FunBow TM (3 points.) You have a bow, you have an arrow... it's time to kick some Kerrek butt! Go find the Kerrek, and when you're on the same screen as it, SHOOT KERREK (5 points.) After the melodramatic death scene, LOOK KERREK to see that he had a belt buckle, and GET BUCKLE (10 points). Notice the Zelda-esque "Got it!" pose. Oh yeah, as a bonus, you now stink like a peasant. Incidentally, you can now (or any time in the future) go back to the tree in the grotto and pick up another arrow (2 points), though you can't use it for anything. Now it's raining - go check out the Jhonka cave. He's out hopping about - and he's hopping around a pile of loot! Try GET RICHES - no luck; try TALK JHONKA while you're at it. Instead, go the mud puddle a few screens away, and just walk into it now that it's muddy (2 points.) Now go left and ENTER HAY (3 points) - you're now a walking bale of hay. Head back down to the Jhonka and GET RICHES since he can't see you. Uh-oh, your disguise blew away... Well, he's stupid, just say NO when he asks you if you took them. Now you have the riches (7 points), so go back to the woman in the cottage (near the berries) and GIVE RICHES (5 points.) Hmm - you now have a baby... what to do with this? A lot, as it turns out... First, go to the well and PUT BABY IN BUCKET (3 points.) Then TURN CRANK. Surprisingly, you get your baby back, and a meatball sub! (and 2 points.) Next, go to the west end of the lake and, um... THROW BABY. In addition to getting your baby back (again), you'll also get a can of soda (and 5 points.) Yes, this game is very strange. Now head to the fisherman at the east end of the lake and TALK FISHERMAN. What do you have that could be used as bait? Nothing, really, except... GIVE FEED, and see that it's worth a shot. Then THROW FEED, and watch the fisherman pull out... what is that, a squid? (2 points) Anyway, the fisherman goes back to the Inn, and you can now go inside. You may as well try to unload the baby (GIVE BABY) - the old man will give you some pills instead (5 points.) Head to the closed cottage (near the Jhonka) and LOOK COTTAGE. Hmm... shoddy stonework... that looks like a hint. LOOK STONE - hey, there's a stone loose! GET STONE (2 points) to pull it out - that helps a little. Hmm - small hole... baby... USE BABY to have it unlock the door (that's one talented baby!) (2 points) Now enter the hut and open the dresser, and LOOK DRESSER. Hey, that's something else you need - GET ROBE (10 points). Don't forget to CLOSE DRAWER (1 point.) Go back to the Inn and WEAR ROBE (3 points), and now GET A ROOM (3 points.) When you wake up (you are sleeping on a concrete slab after all), the pantry door will be open. LOOK PANTRY to see what's there, and then try GET POT that's on the top shelf. Of course, you'll fumble it and get "Old Man Rub" all over yourself... eeeewww. (and 2 points.) Anyway, fumble around until you leave the Inn (3 points.) Go to the lantern tree, and notice that the lantern is now lit. When you go near it, your head will catch fire (10 points) - and you're now a real peasant! Congratulations, uh, I guess... Now you can walk right by the knight (7 points) and - wait, floppy drives? - just hit Enter a few times. Now you're at the cliff base - CLIMB to start climbing up the cliff, and watch out for the boulders. When you reach the top (3 points), you'll find yourself at the entrance to Trogdor's cave. Go inside to the outer sanctum (hey, nice beaded curtain) and walk through... well, first talk to the Three Keepers of Trogdor and answer their questions (5 points, 5 points, 5 points) to get the Trog-Shield, the Trog-Helmet, and the Trog-Sword. Alternately, you can give them the items they ask for (the meatball sub, the soda, and the pills.) Either way, when you're finished, walk through the beaded curtain... Holy crap, it's Trogdor! He's huge, and you're a tiny brown pixel! Don't walk too close to him - instead, THROW SWORD to wake him up (7 points) and get his attention. TALK TROGDOR (10 points) to declare revenge... and... uh, become toast. That's it - that's the end of the game. Congratulations! =============================================================================== 4. INVENTORY LIST Here is a complete inventory list: arrow robe baby soda kerrek belt meatball sub chicken feed super trinket SuperTime FunBow TM TrogHelmet monster maskus TrogShield pebbles TrogSword pills map riches t-shirt =============================================================================== 5. POINTS LIST Here's a total list of points for the game: TALK ARCHER 2 points GET PEBBLES 1 point PUT PEBBLES IN BUCKET 2 points WEAR MASK 2 points HALDO 3 points GET ARROW 2 points (GET ARROW #2) (2 points) GET FEED 1 point GET BERRIES (find trinket) 2 points GIVE TRINKET 2 points PLAY (and winning the archery game) 3 points SHOOT KERREK 5 points GET BUCKLE 10 points Entering the mud puddle 2 points ENTER HAY 3 points GET RICHES 7 points GIVE RICHES 5 points PUT BABY IN BUCKET 3 points TURN CRANK 2 points THROW BABY 5 points THROW FEED 2 points GIVE BABY (to the innkeeper) 5 points GET STONE 2 points USE BABY 5 points (USE BABY repeatedly) (2 points) GET ROBE 10 points CLOSE DRAWER 1 point WEAR ROBE 3 points GET A ROOM 3 points GET POT 2 points Leaving the inn with pot on head 3 points Getting caught on fire 10 points TALK KNIGHT (with peasant status) 7 points CLIMB (and reaching the mountaintop) 3 points Passing Keeper #1 (trivia or sub) 5 points Passing Keeper #2 (trivia or soda) 5 points Passing Keeper #3 (trivia or pills) 5 points THROW SWORD 7 points TALK TROGDOR 10 points =============================================================================== 6. FAQ Q. Wait, you're kidding, right? You end up toast? A. Nope. That's it. Trogdor is invincible. Tough cookies. Q. So there's no way to kill him? A. Look at him standing there, with a tiny sword sticking out of him. Look at you, the small brown smear on the ground. Did you really think there would be a way to kill him? Q. What kind of an ending is that?! A. I dunno. Don't bitch at me. I didn't write it. Q. What's with the point system? A. You don't have to do everything to finish the game. In fact, you end up with more than 150 points if you do. Q. Maybe there's a way to finish with exactly 150 points AND kill Trodgor! A. Could be. If you find it, let me know. Have fun stormin' the castle. Q. What castle? A. Uh, it's a quote from The Princess Bride. Never mind. Q. What's the deal with the naked weirdo? A. :shrug: Some perverted inside joke from the guys at Homestarrunner.com, I presume. Ask the knight about him. See the "fun stuff" section below. Q. How do I get past the waterfall? A1. The answer should be obvious. A2. Try reading the T-shirt you've been carrying around. A3. Try giving the T-shirt to the Jhonka. A4. If the Jhonka doesn't want it, do some Internet research about Jhonkas - specifically, how they breed. A5. Your research should reveal where to find the peacock feather, and the ball gag, and what to do with them once you find them. Using them properly will get you past the waterfall and into the thief's den. A6. Don't forget to stock up on Old Man Rub for the peacock feather ceremony. A7. (this space intentionally left blank) =============================================================================== 7. Fun Stuff This stuff is pointless and/or will get you killed, but try it if you're really, really bored. The naked guy near the wavy tree: If you stand around the tree long enough, you'll see a guy pop his head out from behind the other tree on the same screen. You can then talk to him - his name is Naked Ned (TALK NED). Oh yeah, the robe belongs to him, apparently (it's embroidered "N.N.") Kick the horse Throw the baby Search the same bush more than once Sleep in the woman's cottage Get the chair or the pillow in the woman's cottage Search haystack Walk up to the Kerrek Walk up to Trogdor Pick up the pebbles more than once Tell the Jhonka that you took his treasure Say "Haldo" to Dongolev before talking to his brother Say "Haldo" to anyone who's not Dongolev Look at the lantern Take the broom in the closed cottage Look at the arrow tree Walk in front of Dongelov as he's practicing his archery Look at the painting in the Inn Look at the footprints Try lighting the lantern Pick up the dresser "Knock until knuckles bleed" on the closed cottage "Cut off arms and legs" (after pulling the stone out of the hut)... and "try" Look in the hole after you've used the baby to open the door "Look sign" and "Kill sign" (by the knight) Ask the knight about Trogdor, the jhonka, the kerrek, and Ned Notice the Dragon's-Lair animation when you die! =============================================================================== 8. Bugs The scoring system is kind of messed up. You can use the baby more than once, getting multiple points for the same action. Finish with a score of 10,000! W00P! You can also wreck your game by walking around the waterfall. You can actually walk into it, and, uh, walk around the frame of the web applet. Sometimes you can escape by just walking downward (you end up near the Inn), but sometimes you can't get back and it's a one-way trip. Saving your game after you've encountered the Kerrek (but before you've killed it) is problematic - even if it's not on the same screen, the game tells you you can't save while the Kerrek is chasing you. =============================================================================== 9. Acknowledgements Thanks to StrongBad and the crew for livening up many boring work days. Thanks to Trogdor for bringing burnination-fu to the world. That's about it. =============================================================================== FAQ copyright (c) David J. Stein, Esq., August 2nd, 2004.