Old Strange Leaflet Quest

This page is here for historical interest only. See Strange Leaflet Quest and Strange Leaflet Walkthrough for the current quest.

Description

• After reaching level 9, you will receive the strange leaflet on your first visit to The Council of Loathing.
• You will see the following text after the initial visit:

Your name is <name>, right? This came in the mail for you.

You acquire an item: strange leaflet

• After you have received the strange leaflet, reading it yields the following message:

You read the leaflet, and things become less... illustrated.

You are standing in an open field west of a white house. The house's front door is closed. You hear a gurgling stream to the south, and a path leads north into a dense forest.

Task

Enter in these words in order to finish the quest. NOTE that this walkthrough does NOT include any "secret words"!

• Open Door

You open the front door of the house.

You are standing in an open field west of a white house. The front door of the house is standing open. You hear a gurgling stream to the south, and a path leads north into a dense forest.

• East

You enter the house.

You're in the house. The house's only furnishings are a plain wooden table, a single chair, and a fireplace on the north wall. The fireplace is cold and empty.

An ornate sword hangs above the mantel.

• Take Sword

You take the sword.

• West

You leave the house.

• North

You walk north from the field.

You are on a forest path north of the field. A cave leads into a granite butte to the north.

A thick hedge blocks the way to the west.

A hefty stick lies on the ground.

• Cut Hedge

Thwickety thwack, you cut down the hedge with your sword.

• Pick Up Stick

You pick up the stick.

• West

You go west.

You're in a clearing west of the forest path. There is a huge, crackling bonfire here.

• Light Stick

You hold the stick in the flames until it lights. Voila! A torch!

• East

You leave the clearing.

• North

You walk into the cave, your torch aloft.

You're in a dark and dank cave.

A treasure chest sits near the rear wall, with a dangerous-looking serpent coiled around it.

• Kill Serpent

Your sword makes quick work of the serpent.

You're in a dark and dank cave.

A treasure chest sits near the rear wall, surrounded by hacked-up serpent bits.

• Open Chest

You open the chest, and remove the glorious treasure from within.

You acquire an item: Frobozz Real-Estate Company Instant House (TM)

You're in a dark and dank cave.

An empty treasure chest sits near the rear wall.

• Look Behind Chest

You discover a tiny hole in the wall behind the chest.

• Look In Hole

You find a grue egg in the hole!

You acquire an item: grue egg

Rewards

• Frobozz Real-Estate Company Instant House (TM)
• Grue egg
• An accomplishment: "You have found everything there is to find in the Strange Leaflet."

Notes

• You may type Inventory at any time to see what items you have managed to pick up inside of the leaflet.
• You may type Exit to return to your KoL inventory; you can also just click on a link in the top pane.
• Rather than typing North, you can type N as a shortcut. Similar shortcuts exist for the three other cardinal directions.
• There are several easter eggs hidden in the strange leaflet, but none are necessary to complete the quest. For example, fans of Homestar Runner can try typing in the phrase DENNIS. Consult Guide gives interesting results as well.
• There is also a special easter egg, which gives a healthy bonus to all stats. It is a reference to the oldest computer adventure game of all, the Colossal Cave Adventure, originally known simply as Adventure. You can find this game's homepage here. There are a few magic words from the game that have become famous, and one that was less famous, but still a major spoiler, used to appear in the strange leaflet.
• The special easter egg used to be Xyzzy; when typed in, the message There is nobody named Xyzzy here. appeared. The secret code was changed then to Plugh, and remained this way until the quest's revamp on February 13, 2006.

References

• This majority of this quest, namely the grue, is a reference to the game Zork I. At the beginning of the game, you will also receive a leaflet. Zork I is considered to be the game that started the text-adventure craze.
• If an unrecognized command is made, the parser will return one of several possible replies, such as Do what with the what, now?. One of the messages is You don't know what words mean, do you?, a reference to an oft-quoted line from Mr. Show with Bob and David. It comes from the eighth episode of season four, Like Chickens, Delicious Chickens, in which David's character says the aforementioned line in response to the unbelievable anatomy claims that Bob's character makes.
• When you type Consult Guide, the resulting text is a reference to one of the most famous guides of all, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (itself made into a text adventure).