In this lighthearted cave exploration game, you play as someone who was sleeping in their bed at home and woke up in a cave and carrying a rucksack. And there's a lantern nearby. You've had dreams about a cave like this. You should go explore it.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 2 of the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
You don't need to ride the horse anywhere, but it's pleasant and you can take the horse everywhere, so why not?
> ride horse.
> n. nw. d. n.
Chamber
> x coins. take coins.(+10)
> s. e.
Mud filled passage
> x candle. take it. e.
White stone cave
> x plant. x key. take it.(+3)
> w. w. u. sw. d.
End of Stone path
Unfortunately, the game fails to mention that you can travel down from here.
> x tree. d. d.
Hellish path
> x golden key. take it.(+5)
This location is a dead end. Head all the way back to the bottom of the pit and go down from there:
> u. u. u. ne. se. s. s. s. d.
Iron Hall
> x mirror.(which?)
> x south mirror. x east mirror.
> x west mirror. x north mirror.
> n.
North end of Iron Hall
> x iron key. take it.(+5)
> x mirror.
Although it's suggested that a magic word can activate this mirror, I don't think that any such word was implemented.
> nw.
Concrete room
The description of the door as a "golden grate" is incorrect; the golden grate is elsewhere in the game.
The shadows seem to hint at some hidden meaning, but if there is one, it remains a mystery.
> x door. x torch. x shadows.
> unlock door with red key. w.
Underground city
You don't need to obey the sign unless you want to. Feel free to leave the door open and unlocked.
> x sign.
> w. n.
Inside of Cottage
> x diamonds. take diamonds.(+10)
> x statue.
> x paper. turn paper. take it.
> x apples. take apples.
> eat apples.(Horse wouldn't like that...)
> give apples to horse.(... but horse isn't interested?)
> x blue candle. take it.
Head back to the "Center Cave Passage" and continue northeast from there:
> s. e. e. se. s. u. n. n. n. ne.
sand path
> x tree. ne.
End of the sand path
> unlock door with iron key. w.
rocky crawl
> x rocks. ne.
The Colorful Room
> take all stone.(+25; five points per stone)
> d.
steep path
> x rails. d.
end of the steep path
> x grate. unlock grate with golden key.
> nw. e.
East end of Hallway
> x door. x shelf. x brass torch.
> x brass key. take it.(+3)
> unlock door with brass key. s.
foyer
> x painting. e.
Sitting Room
> x table. x chair. sit on chair.(can't!)
> take all candle. s.
North end of Hallway
> x holder. x candles. x bolts. take bolts.
> s. w.
West Hallway
> x holder. x wax candle. x shelf.
> x white key. take it.(+3)
> unlock door with white key. nw.
Bedroom
> x bed. x silver blanket. x blue blanket.
> take silver blanket.(+3)
> take blue blanket.(+1)
Let's put candles on stones for no reason except that the colors match.
> put white candle on white stone.
> put black candle on black stone.
> put brown candle on brown stone.
> put green candle on green stone.
> put blue candle on blue stone.(+96)
Finally, here's how the game ends:
> get on bed. sleep.(+15)
*** Well done! You won. You exhausted yourself to sleep. safe and sound back at your home in your bed. Resuming your life before you found yourself in that dimly lit room. ***
Extras
Characters
A horse is contentedly eating grass at the stream side. You may ride it. (You may also kill it, but why?! Amusingly, if you kill the horse while riding it, the living horse stays underneath you while the horse's body appears in your current location. Oops!)
For completeness's sake:
We're never told who lives in the cottage, in the underground city, or in the home on the other side of the golden grate.
The painting is unsigned, but it does show dwarves, horses, sheep, goats, and dogs.
The statue in the cottage looks like a god, in your interpretation.
Credits
The response to INFO is:
This is the second release to Underground. The art is done by: ReapersHorror. The intro track which can be heard while playing on Windows Glulx, in the .glorb file is composed by: Phlegethon. If you have any suggestions, or would like to report an error in the game. Feel free to contact me at: email redacted
Inventory
Candles
Put each candle onto the stone with the same color, but only putting the blue candle on the blue stone earns you any points.
a white candle. It's in the mud filled passage.
a blue candle. It's inside the cottage.
a brown Candle. It's in the sitting room.
a Green Candle. It's in the sitting room.
a black candle. It's in the sitting room.
Keys
a Red metallic Key. It's in the white stone cave.
The red key unlocks the red door in the concrete room.
an Iron key. It's in the north end of Iron Hall.
The iron key unlocks the heavy iron door at the end of the sand path.
a Golden key. It's on the hellish path.
The golden key unlocks the golden grate at the end of the steep path.
a brass key. It's in the east end of the hallway.
The brass key unlocks the wooden door at the east end of the hallway. (The wooden door has a brass knob.)
a White Key. It's on a golden holder in the west hallway.
The white key unlocks the white door also in the west hallway.
Stones
All the stones are in the Colorful Room. Put the appropriate candles on the stones.
a white stone. Put the white candle on the white stone.
a blue stone. Put the blue candle on the blue stone.
a Brown stone. Put the brown candle on the brown stone.
a green stone. Put the green candle on the green stone.
a black stone. Put the black candle on the black stone.
Treasures
Just pick up the treasures and keep them. You don't need to put them anywhere special.
a Golden Sword. It's at the bottom of the pit.
Many Coins. They're in the chamber, north of the end of muddy passage.
some diamonds. They're inside the cottage.
Other items
an old rucksack. You're wearing it.
It's your player's carry-all. Keep it on and ignore it; you'll put excess items into it automatically.
a Lantern. It's in the dimly lit room.
Take it and turn it on for light in all the dark locations.
a empty bucket. It's at stream side.
At the stream side, if you put water into the bucket, it becomes a bucket of water. Oddly, you don't really need to take water anywhere.
a piece of paper. It's inside the cottage.
Read it and turn it. It's a clue that you should place the blue candle last.
some apples. They're inside the cottage.
You can't eat them when the horse is present (and alive). If the horse isn't there or is dead, feel free to eat the apples.
a Red fire torch. It's in the concrete room.
It's a light-source, but you don't need it when you have the lantern.
a Brass torch. It's in the east end of the hallway.
It's a light-source, but you don't need it when you have the lantern.
bolts. They're on the silver iron holder in the north end of the hallway.
You're probably not supposed to take these.
a silver blanket and a light blue blanket. They're both on the bed in the bedroom.
Taking them earns you points, but their descriptions don't change.
Score
The response to SCORE is:
You have so far scored your-score out of a possible 193, in several turns.
Points are awarded as follows:
3 points for taking the lantern.
10 points for taking the golden sword.
1 point for taking the bucket.
10 points for taking the coins.
3 points for taking the red key.
5 points for taking the golden key.
5 points for taking the iron key.
10 points for taking the diamonds.
5 points for taking the brown stone.
5 points for taking the green stone.
5 points for taking the black stone.
5 points for taking the blue stone.
5 points for taking the white stone.
3 points for taking the brass key.
3 points for taking the white key.
3 points for taking the silver blanket.
1 point for taking the blue blanket.
96 points for putting the blue candle on the blue stone.
