Brian Saves the World, Maybe

Chapter 16 - Dale, Text Adventurer

Brian connected the red phone to his computer, using the adapter Phil had provided.

Dale sat in front of the computer, wearing a headset with a microphone. He had a serious look on his face, like he was about to lead a military operation or something.

Brian sighed. "Alright, here goes."

TV, can you make the call?

Calling...

* * *

> Welcome to Zed's Adventure. A game by Zed.

"You there, Dale?" Brian asked.

Apparently, Dale responded.

"And you can see the text?"

Affirmative.

Brian showed Dale what he had discovered so far. They were now at the point where he had left off, before being eaten by a grue.

You actually did better than I would have expected, Brian. I've played text adventures with some puzzles that were nearly impossible to solve. Most people would just look up the solution online, but not me. You often have to think outside the box to solve these puzzles.

And you think waaaay outside the box, Brian thought.

Dale continued, As a kid, I had friends that would try a bunch of crazy and random things to solve text adventure puzzles, but I have found it is best to always think things through before trying something. Now let's go over what we have again. Try saying, "inventory."

Inventory?

> You are carrying:
A glass
A Zed's journal
A navigation device

Brian sat down in one of the chairs. "So, we have a piece of paper the game calls a glass, a blank journal, and a compass that wants us to walk into a wall."

I think we should assume that the game designer knew what he was doing, Dale said, and that would mean every item in the game should serve some purpose. That would also mean the piece of paper that's listed as a glass was intentional.

Brian thought about what a glass could be used for. To hold liquid—but what else?

Eventually, Dale said, If there were two of them, we would call them glasses, like eyeglasses, so maybe a single glass is like an eyeglass.

"But how could that work?" Brian said, "You can't see through a piece of paper. Unless..."

Brian remembered the spike sticking out of the picture frame. He got up from the chair, walked over to the painting, and poked a tiny hole in the paper with the spike.

> You poke a hole in the paper using the sharp point on the painting.

Good, now hold it up to your eye! Dale said, obviously more excited about all this than Brian was.

Feeling a bit foolish, Brian held the paper up to his eye and adjusted it so he could see things through it.

> Your score has increased by 2! (6/10)

"Wow, we got lucky there," Brian said.

Luck had nothing to do with it. We used our brains. Now take a look at that blank wall through the paper.

With his eye still looking through the hole in the paper, he turned to the blank wall and could now see a door!

I knew it! Dale practically screamed.