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The cover, and the opening.

The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet is a 1996 Interactive Fiction game by Graham Nelson (under the Pen Name Angela M. Horns).

You play as an ambassador visiting the Northlands as the guest of the Empress. You start the game trapped on a terribly boring elephant ride with your chatterbox tour guide, Lady Amilia, and you're desperate to get away.

The setting is based on the Zork universe.

You can play it here.


Contains examples of:

  • Animorphism: The Ambassador is transformed from a human to a wolfhound at the climax of the game.
  • Beneath the Earth: The game involves discovering the remnants of the underground Old Empire.
  • Bizarre Beverage Use: The glass of sherbet you receive in the beginning of the game is used to wake up the sleepy elephant by pouring it on his head.
  • The Cameo: Casting 'azzev' in the treehouse shows that J. R. R. Tolkien was a visitor there at some point in the past.
  • The Ditz: Asking Amilia about most things will produce the response: "What Amilia doesn't know would fill a whole game in itself." If you hand her the telescope, she'll look through the wrong end.
  • Götterdämmerung: Magic has been gone for a long time... but it's been rediscovered.
  • Epigraph: The story begins by quoting the final paragraph of "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.
  • Evil All Along: Amilia is seeking power, and will dispose of you if you get in her way.
  • Forced Transformation: The Ambassador is forcibly transformed into a wolfhound at the climax of the game, and must find a way to transform back.
  • Hint System: An Infocom-style one that gives you progressively bigger bits of information on a subject.
  • MacGuffin Title: The meteor/stone is a Plot Device that various people are interested in.
  • Multiple Endings: There are four possible endings, depending on what you manage to do about Clotspinner and/or the meteor.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Amilia acts ditzy but is actually sharp-minded.
  • Philosopher's Stone: The titular "Stone" is the Philosopher's Stone. In its presence, pure elements can be transmuted into other elements.
  • Significant Anagram: Not in the game itself, but "Angela M. Horns" is an anagram of Graham Nelson.
  • Spell Book: You use a spell book to perform magic by learning spells from its pages. Simply reading a copy of a spell isn't enough — the magic of the spell book itself is vital to the learning process.
  • Transmutation: The "ruther" spell can transform pure chemical elements into other elements.

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