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From: forbes@marconi.ih.att.com (Scott Forbes)
Subject: Re: Scariest moment in an Infocom game? (Possible spoilers)
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References: <owls-2810951228070001@owls.port.net> <478cho$1q0@nova.avid.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 1995 05:07:21 GMT
Lines: 69

Hey, it's Dave Lebling!  [bow]  [scrape]


+-- david_lebling@avid.com (Dave Lebling) writes:
|owls@interport.net (J. I. Drasner) wrote:
|
|>[about the Topiary in Zork II and its resemblance to "The Shining"]
|
|That's where I got the idea from, all right.  The topiary was a
|(small) homage to King.  There is more than one message you can get in
|there, if I recall correctly.  I don't remember if it made it into the
|release version, but at one time there was a very small chance the
|topiary animals would _get_ you.


It's in there -- if you wait around long enough, they'll attack.


>SCRIPT
Here begins a transcript of interaction with
ZORK II: The Wizard of Frobozz
Copyright (c) 1981, 1982, 1983 Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
ZORK is a registered trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Version 48 / Serial number 840904

>LOOK
Topiary
This is the southern end of a formal garden. Hedges hide the cavern
walls and mosses provide dim illumination. Fantastically shaped hedges
and bushes are arrayed with geometric precision. They have not recently
been clipped, but you can discern creatures in the shapes of the bushes:
There is a dragon, a unicorn, a great serpent, a huge misshapen dog, and
several human figures. On the west side of the garden the path leads
through a rose arbor into a tunnel.

>[wait several turns]
Time passes...
You look around, and strangely, the topiary animals seem to have changed
position slightly.

>[wait several turns]
Time passes...
The topiary animals seem to close in on you. You turn and they are very
close. They seem to be leering at you.

>[wait several turns]
Time passes...
The topiary animals attack! You are crushed by their branches and clawed
by their thorns.
 
    ****  You have died  **** 

Now, let's take a look here... Well, you probably deserve another
chance. I can't quite fix you up completely, but you can't have
everything.

Room of Red Mist
You are inside a huge crystalline sphere filled with thin red mist.  The
mist becomes blue to the west.
You strain to look out through the mist... 
You see a small room with a sign on the wall, but it is too blurry to
read.

>UNSCRIPT
Here ends a transcript of interaction with
ZORK II: The Wizard of Frobozz
Copyright (c) 1981, 1982, 1983 Infocom, Inc. All rights reserved.
ZORK is a registered trademark of Infocom, Inc.
Version 48 / Serial number 840904
