Chapter 30: Free Bird (Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1973)

Check yourself! You need the canary. Use the inventory command to see what you are carrying and then take accordingly.

>east

Kitchen

>east

Behind House

>east

Clearing

There is a pile of leaves on the ground.

>west

Forest

One particularly large tree with some low branches stands here.

>wind canary

The canary chirps, slightly off key, an aria from a forgotten opera. From out of the greenery flies a lovely song bird. It perches on a limb just over your head and opens its beak to sing. As it does so, a beautiful brass bauble drops from its mouth, bounces off the top of your head, and lands glimmering in the grass. As the canary winds down, the song bird flies away.

>take bauble

Taken.

>west

North of House

>west

West of House

There is a small mailbox here.

In the mailbox is a large brochure.

The free brochure contains:

A Don Woods stamp.

Don Woods is an American perennial hacker and computer programmer, probably best known for his role in the development of the Colossal Cave Adventure game.

>read brochure

Taken.

The mailing label on this glossy brochure from MIT Tech reads

Intrepid Adventurer
c/o Local Dungeon Master
White House, GUE
 
From the Introduction:

The brochure describes, for the edification of the prospective student, the stringent but wide-ranging curriculum of MIT Tech. Required courses are offered in Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision. The Humanities are not slighted at this institution, as the student may register for Reeling and Writhing, Mystery (Ancient and Modern), Seaography, and Drawling (which includes Stretching and Fainting in Coils). Advanced students are expected to learn Laughing and Grief.

William Barton Flathead, Founder

(The brochure continues in this vein for a few hundred more pages.)

Affixed loosely to the brochure is a small stamp.

Despite the fact the stamp is visible, you cannot take it without taking the brochure. By default, reading the brochure means you took it, so now you can take the stamp.

>take stamp

Taken.

>look at stamp

+--v----v----v----v----v--+

|         _______         |

>  One   /       \     G  <

| Lousy /         \    U  |

> Point |   ___   |    E  <

|       |  (___)  |       |

>       <--)___(-->    P  <

|       / /     \\     o  |

>      / /       \\    s  <

|     |-|---------|-|  t  |

>     | |  \ _ /  | |  a  <

|     | | --(_)-- | |  g  |

>     | |  /| |\  | |  e  <

|     |-|---|_|---|-|     |

>      \ \__/_\__/ /      <

|       _/_______\_       |

>      |  f.m.i.c. |      <

|      -------------      |

>                         <

|   Donald Woods, Editor  |

>     Spelunker Today     <

|                         |

+--^----^----^----^----^--+

Donald "Don" Woods is an American perennial hacker and computer programmer, probably best known for his role in the development of the Colossal Cave Adventure game.

>south

South of House

>east

Behind House

>west

Kitchen

>west

Living Room

>put treasures in case

>drop all

>save

Saved.