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Key & Compass presents:
Beat the Devil
by Robert M. Camisa

Beat the Devil is a Z-machine 5 interactive fiction game written with Inform and is © 1999 by Robert M. Camisa. It was an entry for IF Comp 1999 where it took 9th place.

You are some guy who, after a night of drinking and proclaiming that you'd sell your soul for a chance with the lovely Gwyneth, wakes up in a literal "Mall of Hell". It seems Lucifer overheard you and although he doesn't want your soul, he will give you your chance with the lovely Gwyneth if you can defeat all seven deadly sins all of whom can be found somewhere in the mall.

This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 4 of the game.


Maps

Map 1: Mall of Hell, Ground Level

u d UpperLevel OutsidePets fromHell InsideAcmeNovelties OutsideAcmeNovelties Atrium OutsideWrong AidDrugstore InsideWrong AidDrugstore InsideSnowball'sIce CreamShoppe OutsideSnowball'sIce CreamShoppe FoodCourt

Map 2: Mall of Hell, Upper Level

Yourapartment InsideHell of aWorkout Ticketbooth OutsideHell Of AWorkout Hell'sOctoplex Outside theFirst CircleBank of Hell InsideHell'sHardware OutsideHell'sHardware OutsideHell'sRepublic InsideHell'sRepublic OutsideVeronica'sSecret Outsidethe malloffices OutsideWorld ofTorture andScience! InsideVeronica'sSecret Insidethe malloffices InsideWorld ofTorture andScience! Fittingroom LowerLevel u d

Walkthrough

Food Court

> read note. (It's from Lucifer. Defeat all seven deadly sins or else. Also, there's three bonus items to find. The note burns up.)

> x me. i. (You have nothing.)

> verbose.

> x table. x can. look in it. (Empty.)

> x pile. (It's Gluttony.) x zombies.

> ask Gluttony about Gluttony. ask Gluttony about food.

> ask Gluttony about zombies. ask Gluttony about devil.

> ask Gluttony about mall.

> ne.

Outside Snowball's Ice Cream Shoppe

> x awning. n.

Inside Snowball's Ice Cream Shoppe

> x jacket. take it.

> x shelf. (You find and take a pair of pliers.)

> x pliers.

> x machine. push button. (It makes a sundae.)

> take sundae. x it.

Don't give the sundae to Gluttony just yet.

> s. sw. n.

Atrium

> x garden. x fountain. x window. x lake. x demons.

> x escalators. x hatch. open it.

> x knob. (Broken off and set to "slow".)

> x mass. (It's Sloth.)

> ask Sloth about Sloth. (It's not talkative.)

> turn knob with pliers. (+10; Sloth is flung through the roof.)

> turn knob with pliers. (Back to slow.)

With Sloth gone and the escalators back to slow, it's okay to ruin the pliers:

> put pliers in fountain. (This leaves you with just the handle.)

> e.

Outside Wrong Aid Drugstore

> x windows. e.

Inside Wrong Aid Drugstore

By the way, you can never read what's etched on the fishbowl.

> x counter. x sign. x fishbowl. x seed. take seed.

> w. w. w.

Outside Acme Novelties

> x mural. w.

Inside Acme Novelties

Note that the salesgirl's mutterings are hints about some of the puzzles.

> x banner. x salesgirl. x tape. take it. (World's worst insults.)

> x racks. search racks. x packet. (Stomach Quake pills)

> e. e. u.

Hell's Octoplex

> x demon. (It's Lust.)

> x soul.

> x postersorx marquee.

> ask Lust about Lust. (He ignores you because you're male. Huh.)

> ne. ("No cutting the line!")

> w.

Outside Hell Of A Workout

> x machine. push button. x bottle. (It's unholy water.)

> n.

Inside Hell of a Workout

> smell. x spikes. x demon. (It's Wrath.)

> ask Wrath about Wrath. (He just swings at you.)

> x robot. (Has slot in its head.)

> look in slot. take music. (+10.)

> put insults in slot. (+10. Wrath and robot co-explode.)

> s. s. w.

Inside Hell's Hardware

> x demon. x tools. x counter. read sign.

> ask demon about guarantee. (He'll replace any broken tool with a hammer.)

> give pliers to demon. (Norm gives you a hammer.)

> x hammer.

> e. s.

Outside Veronica's Secret

> x window. s.

Inside Veronica's Secret

> x demon. (It's Pride.)

> s. open door. (Pride stops you.)

> x alarm. pull alarm. (Noisy.)

> ask Pride about Pride. ask Pride about me.

> ask Pride about Devil.

> kiss Pride. (He presents his ring to you. To kiss, I guess. There's no ring there, though.)

> n. e.

Outside the mall offices

> x John. x succubi. x machine. (Has compartment to put things into.)

> ask John about machine. (It's an "un-un" machine. It removes un's.)

> i. (Note that you have unholy water.)

> put bottle in machine. x bottle. (It's now holy water.)

> ask John about succubi.

> ask succubi about John. (They just giggle.)

> s.

Inside the mall offices

> x system. x bin. (Empty.)

> open bottle. pour water in bin. (The bottle vanishes.)

> x mop head. take it. (Wig-like.)

> n. e. s.

Inside World of Torture and Science!

A demon salesgirl gives you a free model plane when you enter.

> x plane. x flier. take it.

> x demon. x counter. x toys.

The salesgirl ignores all attempts at conversation, so nothing much to do here.

> n. w.

Outside the mall offices

> i. (Note that the paper is unimportant.)

> put paper in machine. x paper. (+10. It's a sonnet about Gwyneth!)

> e. n. e.

Inside Hell's Republic

> x salesdemon. (His name is Nolan.)

> x display. x demon mannequin. x dog. x bone.

> take bone. (Nolan ignores you.)

> w. n.

Outside the First Circle Bank of Hell

> x ball. (It's Greed.)

> x ATM. x bills. take bills. (You're too slow.)

> ask Greed about Greed. (He just bounces past you.)

> n. (A demon stops you, requesting you return when you have enough money.)

> w. d. n.

Outside Pets from Hell

> x hellhound. x awning. x window.

> give bone to dog. (It dies and the people give you its collar.)

> x collar. (It's wearable.)

> s. s.

Food Court

> open packet. x pill.

> hit pill with hammer. put powder on sundae.

> wear jacket. (This satisfies the zombies.)

> give sundae to Gluttony. (+10. Gluttony vomits himself entirely into the trash can.)

> remove jacket. drop it.

> search trash. (You find a dollar bill.)

> n. u. e.

Outside the First Circle Bank of Hell

> put dollar in plane.

> throw plane. (+10. Greed chases it over the rail and goes THUD.)

> w. d.

Atrium

> x hole. (Dirt underneath appears to be rich.)

> put seed in hole. x rose. take rose. (+10.)

> u. w. s. s. s.

Inside Veronica's Secret

> pull alarm. (+10. Holy water destroys Pride's outfit. He leaves.)

> open door. s.

Fitting room

> x catsuit. take it. wear it.

> wear collar. wear mop.

> n. n. n. n. e.

Hell's Octoplex

> ask Lust about Lust. (He tries a pickup line.)

> kiss Lust. (+10. Lust spurts and leaves. The soul gives you her ticket.)

> x ticket.

If you feel uncomfortable with the idea of going home in kinky drag, return to the fitting room and remove the wig, collar, and catsuit. Otherwise, you can go straight to the ticket booth:

> ne.

Ticket Booth

> x green demon. (It's Envy.)

> give ticket to Envy. (+10. He disappears. Exit north is revealed.)

> fuck. (+1 for profanity; it's the last lousy point.)

> xyzzy. ("Crowther and Woods, please report to the mall office.")

> n.

Your apartment

You're home with Gwyneth's presents, which you promptly give to her.

*** You have won ***


Extras

Characters

The seven deadly sins that you must defeat:

Other assorted demons:

Other creatures:

Prologue and epilogue characters:


Inventory


Score

You have (so far) scored total-points out of a possible 101, in several turns, meaning that you have rank.

Rankings:


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