Key & Compass presents:
Dragon Flies Like Labradorite
by Troy Jones III

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Amusing, Characters, Credits, Inventory
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• Support me on Ko-Fi
• External links:
  • This game at IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Map

Walkthrough

Village Square

Note for Release 1: If you examine the village or the square itself, you will see a misleading message: "Her tracks seem to lead to the southeast." Ignore that. You don't see any tracks yet. This bug was fixed in Release 2.

> x me. i. x hat. x tie. x coat. x farthing.

> x shop. x inn. (The inn is closed.)

> x fields. x highway. x way. x sun.

> n. e. s. w.

> ne.

Merchant Guy's Specialty Minerals and Archery Supplies

So, let's look at everything:

> x Guy. x counter. x shelves. x basket.

> x labradorite. (blue-green shimmer, like a dragonfly)

> x ball. x bismuth. x glass prism. x calcite.

> x lens. (could be useful for tracking)

> x silica. x arrow. (the toy reminds you of a poem)

> x guard. x bow.

Try asking about some stuff?

> ask Guy about dragonfly.

> ask Guy about labradorite. (It costs too much.)

> ask Guy about lens. (It costs too much.)

> ask Guy about farthing. (You don't dare.)

> ask Guy about arrow.

All the archery toys cost one farthing each.

> buy arrow. (You haggle and get the basket and everything in it.)

> take all from basket. x basket.

> put basket on Guy. (Now he can't see what you're doing.)

Time to steal what you need! You can take everything but the basket, but the only things you need to steal are the magnifying lens and the labradorite.

> take all. out.

Village Square

> look through lens. (Emma went southeast.)

Now you can follow her tracks.

> se.

Deep Within Fae Forest

> x flies. throw arrow at flies. (They start eating it.)

> s.

Clearing

> x Emma. x doctor. (bowler, cravat, waistcoat, beard, dagger)

> x bowler. x cravat. x waistcoat. x beard. x dagger.

> x altar. x censer.

Examining the censer triggers this next bit: You've seen enough and demand satisfaction. The doctor finds a pair of swords and offers you your choice of brass or bronze hilt.

But note that he also knocked the censer off the altar while fetching the swords.

> x Emma. (She's starting to wake up.)

> take brass —or— take bronze. (The duel begins!)

> SPACE

You are now playing as Emma, waking up to see Charlie and Magnusson swordfighting.

> x altar. x Charlie. x Doctor.

> i. (You have one readied spell: BURN.)

> burn doctor. (Forced to drop his sword, he yields and flees.)

> talk to Charlie. SPACE

He frees you from the altar. (If he has the labradorite, he then shows it to you, which pleases you greatly.) After a few hours of rest, you say you're ready to go. He picks you up and you cast the spell.

*** You have won ***

In release 2, you may:

> amusing

> amusing (Yes, do AMUSING twice.)

Extras

Amusing

This is the response to AMUSING in Release 2:

Here are a few peculiar things to try, some of which you may find slightly amusing...

• Singing... Bonus: Charlie sings several random things
• Dancing as both Emma and Charlie... Bonus: Dr M reacts to C's dancing
• "Swearing" obscenely as both E and C... Bonus: Dr M reacts to C "swearing" obscenely
• "Swearing" mildly (both E and C "swear" mildly the same way)
• Attempting to sell C's clothes to Merchant Guy
• The description of Dr Magnusson's bowler hat contains an easter egg, the nature of which might be hinted at by his name
• And speaking of easter eggs! As of Release 2, several of the "required" items from the event now have easter eggs associated with the other Thanksgiving Speed-IF entries that made use of the corresponding "requried" item: to see the spoilers for these easter eggs, type AMUSING one more time.

If you do AMUSING a second time, the final item expands to this:

• And speaking of easter eggs! As of Release 2, several of the "required" items from the event now have easter eggs associated with the other Thanksgiving Speed-IF entries that made use of the corresponding "requried" item: to see them, examine the bismuth crystal twice ("The Crystal Palace"), examine the magnifying glass twice ("The Extraordinary Events of the Last Day"), examine Charlie's top hat or bowtie when playing as Emma ("Yours is the Earth"), turn the glass prism ("To Catch a Dragonfly")... no easter egg for "You Are a Turkey!" since I didn't find any of the special items in that game.

Characters

• Charlie is the main player-character, although he isn't named until he arrives in the clearing. He's some sort of adventurist, perhaps a thief by trade.
• Merchant Guy owns and operates a shop that sells minerals and archery supplies. Yes, that's probably his actual name.
• A swarm of venemous time flies block your way in the fae forest. They're quite dangerous.
• Emma is Charlie's sister, his adventuring companion, a practitioner of the Uncanny Arts, and missing. And she's also currently a dragonfly.
• Doctor Magnusson is an evil villain and up to no good as usual. He's tied Emma to an infernal obsidian altar, the fiend!

Mentioned:

• Most of the villagers of Skry Im are working in the farm fields.
• A king built the King's Highway back when there was a king and a kingdom.

Credits

This is the response to CREDITS in Release 1:

(This game was created by Troy Jones III in Inform between Tuesday, November 22 and Saturday, November 26, for the 2011 Thanksgiving Speed-IF competition. The author had a lot of time on his hands...).

And this is the response to CREDITS in Release 2:

(Release 1 of this game was created by Troy Jones III in Inform7 between Tuesday, November 22 and Saturday, November 26, for the 2011 Thanksgiving Speed-IF competition. The author had a lot of time on his hands, you see...)

(Release 2 was inflicted upon the world on Nov. 30 of that year, and adds cover art, a couple of fun responses to things Club Floyd tried in their run-through of the game, an AMUSING list, a bunch of bug fixes, some easter eggs related to the other Thanksgiving Speed-IF entries, a large-ish handful of typo-corrections and description-tweaks, and a basic help system. And speaking of CF, I'd like to extend special thanks to Club Floyd for playing my game and the kind words they had to say about it!).

Inventory

• your top hat, your bowtie, and your double-breasted greatcoat. You're wearing all three.
• Leave them on. It's bother too chilly and improper to disrobe.
• your last farthing. You're carrying it.
• In the shop, buy the arrow with your last farthing.
• You may, alternatively, instead buy the arm-guard or the bow. The result is the same: you now have the basket and everything in it.
• a basket. It's in the shop.
• You automatically acquire the basket when you buy the arrow.
• The basket contains the arrow, the arm-guard, and the bow. When you own the basket, remove everything from the basket and put it on Guy's head. Now that he can't see what you're doing, you can steal everything else from his shop!
• a short arrow. It's in the basket in the shop.
• Buy the arrow with your last farthing.
• In the fae forest, throw the arrow at the time flies. The flies will attack the arrow, and you'll be free to continue south past them.
• an archer's arm-guard. It's in the basket in the shop.
• You don't need the arm-guard, but you get it when you acquire the basket, which you do need. Take the arm-guard out of the basket.
• You can wear the arm-guard, if you like.
• a bow. It's in the basket in the shop.
• You don't need the bow, but you get it when you acquire the basket, which you do need. Take the bow out of the basket.
• The bow is a useless toy. You cannot shoot the arrow with it.
• a magnifying glass lens. It's on the shelves in the shop.
• After putting the basket on Merchant Guy, take the lens. Yes, you need to steal it.
• In the village square, look through the lens. You'll find Emma's tracks going southeast and you'll now be willing and able to go that way from the square.
• a polished piece of labradorite. It's on the counter in the shop.
• After putting the basket on Merchant Guy, take the labradorite. Yes, you need to steal it.
• Charlie will show the labradorite to Emma at game's end if he has it. Emma will be delighted. It's not made explicit what use they intend for the labradorite, but most likely, they intend to restore Emma's true form with it so she's no longer a dragonfly.
• You can still win the game if you don't have the labradorite. The ending text will only be slightly different.
• a small crystal ball and a bismuth crystal. They're on the counter in the shop.
• You don't need either of these, but you may steal them when you steal the lens and labradorite.
• a glass prism, a calcite prism, and a jar of silica. They're on the shelves in the shop.
• You don't need any of these, but you may steal them when you steal the lens and labradorite.

Honorable Mention:

• a swarm of venemous time flies. They're in the fae forest.
• Thanks to a BUG, Charlie can just take the flies and leave the forest that way, without using the arrow! Purloined!
• a brass sword or a bronze sword. In the clearing, the doctor offers you your choice of swords. Take one. It doesn't matter which sword you choose.
• The game's focus switches to Emma when you take a sword, so it's not actually ever listed in your inventory.
• a BURN spell. This is not a carried item, but Emma has this spell ready to cast and it is mentioned when the player-character, as Emma, takes inventory.
• Burn the doctor. This ends the duel in Charlie's favor.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

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