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Dave wrote:A grue is a monster from the Zork series of text-based single-player computer games. In the original Zork (don't know about the successors) grues were never seen, but you were warned that they frequented dark places. If you ever found yourself in a completely dark place (e.g. your lantern or flashlight went dead) there was a high chance that you would be eaten by a grue.
In the original Zork, I was never eaten by a grue when there wasn't a light source.
On the other hand, me + grue + light source in the same place and I was eaten 100% of the time.
(Of course, if there is no light source you can't actually see the grue even when it's in the room with you; if there is, you can. Thus, nobody has ever seen the grue and lived.)
That's why the room with the refrigerator is dangerous - the grue may open the refrigerator, creating a light source.
Warrl wrote:In the original Zork, I was never eaten by a grue when there wasn't a light source.
On the other hand, me + grue + light source in the same place and I was eaten 100% of the time.
Hunh! I must have that backwards... maybe I'm conflating it with the "You'll fall into a pit and die, if you walk around in the dark" rule in Adventure. It's been enough decades since I actually played Zork that I've probably forgotten the gruesome details.
Dave wrote: . . . Spigeons? Never heard of them before this thread, but given the context I'd guess that they're a cross between snakes and pigeons. Someone more knowledgeable may be able to fill in the details - e.g. whether they poop on you before, or after they bite/strangle you.
TazManiac wrote:I haven't looked it up yet but I was assuming a 'spigeon' would be part Pigeon and part Spider...
Yep . . . Spider pigeons . . . they were mentioned in this thread.
We never did know what the creator (Kuara, IIRC) was indulging in when he created those horrors . . . but it was potent stuff!
For the record, WeirdSci didn't create them . . . that time. (There's a reason the oldbies flrrd when anyone in WeirdSci ritually intones "For Science!") WeirdSci does have the records, however . . . which might be worse.
I do miss the paper golem hunts in the Department of Scary PaperWork . . . those were fun. (And I found DoSPW overrated . . . especially since I got to use a plasma cannon if I wanted to!)
--FreeFlier
Last edited by FreeFlier on Sun Nov 29, 2015 2:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
Dave wrote:A grue is a monster from the Zork series of text-based single-player computer games. In the original Zork (don't know about the successors) grues were never seen, but you were warned that they frequented dark places. If you ever found yourself in a completely dark place (e.g. your lantern or flashlight went dead) there was a high chance that you would be eaten by a grue.
In the original Zork, I was never eaten by a grue when there wasn't a light source.
On the other hand, me + grue + light source in the same place and I was eaten 100% of the time.
(Of course, if there is no light source you can't actually see the grue even when it's in the room with you; if there is, you can. Thus, nobody has ever seen the grue and lived.)
That's why the room with the refrigerator is dangerous - the grue may open the refrigerator, creating a light source.
I never played the original Zork; however, in later games, grues definitely attack in the dark and fear the light. Quoting Wikipedia:
A grue is a term for a fictional predatory monster that dwells in the dark. The word was first used as a fictional predator in Jack Vance's Dying Earth[1] universe (described as being part "ocular bat", part "unusual hoon", and part man).[2]
Actually, the word gru is Danish for horror. Sir Walter Scott used the word gruesome in the 16th century. It comes from a Scottish word meaning to feel horror or to shudder. This word and its uses are far older than Vance's work or Zork.
Dave Lebling introduced a similar monster, whose name was borrowed from Vance's grues, into the interactive fiction computer game Zork, published by Infocom. Zork 's grues fear light and devour human adventurers, making it impossible to explore the game's dark areas without a light source.[3] The grue subsequently appeared in other Infocom games.
Due to Zork 's prominent position in hacker history and lore, grues have served as models for monsters in many subsequent games, such as roguelike games and MUDs.
A common catchphrase associated with grues is the line that displays whenever players in Zork and related Infocom games enter a dark area without a light source: "It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue."
Proof Positive the world is not flat: If it were, cats would have pushed everything off the edge by now.
The Grue is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of the earth with insatiable appetite. Its favorite diet is either adventurers or enchanters. Its appetite is only tempered by its fear of light.
"It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue."
—Zork I
Description
They are famous for their horrible fear of light: No grues have ever been seen by the light of day, and only a few have been observed in their underground lairs. Of those who have seen grues, few ever survived to tell the tale. Grues have sharp claws and fangs, and an uncontrollable tendency to slaver and gurgle. They are certainly the most evil-tempered of all creatures; to say they are touchy is a dangerous understatement. "Sour as a grue" is a common expression, even among themselves.
Proof Positive the world is not flat: If it were, cats would have pushed everything off the edge by now.
Yeah, text-based games are before my time. Thanks!
(Heh, this forum and its forumites are awesome... I can ask just about any question and have it answered to within an inch of its life )
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
Dave wrote:A grue is a monster from the Zork series of text-based single-player computer games. In the original Zork (don't know about the successors) grues were never seen, but you were warned that they frequented dark places. If you ever found yourself in a completely dark place (e.g. your lantern or flashlight went dead) there was a high chance that you would be eaten by a grue.
In the original Zork, I was never eaten by a grue when there wasn't a light source.
On the other hand, me + grue + light source in the same place and I was eaten 100% of the time.
(Of course, if there is no light source you can't actually see the grue even when it's in the room with you; if there is, you can. Thus, nobody has ever seen the grue and lived.)
That's why the room with the refrigerator is dangerous - the grue may open the refrigerator, creating a light source.
I never played the original Zork; however, in later games, grues definitely attack in the dark and fear the light. Quoting Wikipedia:
A grue is a term for a fictional predatory monster that dwells in the dark. The word was first used as a fictional predator in Jack Vance's Dying Earth[1] universe (described as being part "ocular bat", part "unusual hoon", and part man).[2]
Actually, the word gru is Danish for horror. Sir Walter Scott used the word gruesome in the 16th century. It comes from a Scottish word meaning to feel horror or to shudder. This word and its uses are far older than Vance's work or Zork.
Dave Lebling introduced a similar monster, whose name was borrowed from Vance's grues, into the interactive fiction computer game Zork, published by Infocom. Zork 's grues fear light and devour human adventurers, making it impossible to explore the game's dark areas without a light source.[3] The grue subsequently appeared in other Infocom games.
Due to Zork 's prominent position in hacker history and lore, grues have served as models for monsters in many subsequent games, such as roguelike games and MUDs.
A common catchphrase associated with grues is the line that displays whenever players in Zork and related Infocom games enter a dark area without a light source: "It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue."
It varies in both Nemesis and Grand Inquisitor. Not every grue reacted the same to light the eleventybillion times I had to play it(no thanks to my kid brother, who just couldn't quit messing with my game saves!) Zork 95 the dark definitely was a factor in grue related death in the two times I got the compatiblity mode to work on it.
Wikipedia is a case of too many cooks spoiling the stew, and I end up going to the gamers mags for info.
Still, Zork is in my top five list of creepy. Nightmare Creatures beat it out only because my siblings plotted against me when asking me to "make sure they didn't die before they came back".
My brother put a surround sound setup in my room prior to my coming home from work. It was pitch black, my sister was playing the game(one of six) before launch day so she could recommend or pan them to nerds. She set this game up last so I could be a "crash test victim" of how well it worked in stereo surround.
I'm sitting here holding a controller sitting doing nothing for about five minutes when out of nowhere this beauty
Jumps out at me through a wall. Cue me screaming like a banshee and my Mother, sister, and brother come in laughing. Jerkfaces. I so need to get that game again...
I wonder which definition Felonious Gru was named after...
Yanno how some people have Angels/Devils for a conscience? I have a Dark Elf ShadowKnight and a Half Elf Ranger for mine. The really bad part is when they agree on something.
Brasten wrote:I kinda wonder what would happen if Atsali started singing at Devyn.
Might depend on what she was singing. "The Teddybears' Picnic" might be appropriate.
Akeche wrote:Where exactly does the MIB fall into place for something like this I wonder, it's a major possible danger for other kids at the school if she's truly this unstable.
This might fall more under the heading of "scary" rather than "dangerous". The school officials might see it as a useful learning experience, even.
I wonder about the significance of the locale. Both times that we've seen this place, it has been the same greenhouse setting. This makes it unlikely that the victims influence the setting that much. Is the greenhouse a creation of Devyn's own psyche, having some special significance to her (perhaps built on a memory of someplace where something bad happened to her)?
Or is it some physical location that exists independent of Devyn and she has no influence on its appearance, it looking the way that it does simply because that's what it looks like? That would open the possibility of other people being able to go there on their own, meaning that there's no telling who or what we could meet there.
TheDOCTOR wrote:Just like in the movies, Cheerleaders are always victims.
Though given what school this is, these cheerleaders may possibly be more capable of taking care of themselves than is the average human cheerleader.
An offshoot of the underworld, perhaps? On our side of the Styx, but still very close to the river's banks?
He's mister GlytchMeister, he's mister code
He's mister exploiter, he's mister ones and zeros
They call me GlytchMeister, whatever I touch
Starts to glitch in my clutch!
I'm too much!
Yeah, text-based games are before my time. Thanks!
(Heh, this forum and its forumites are awesome... I can ask just about any question and have it answered to within an inch of its life )
Yeah, this gang will answer the hell out of a question...
I think i mentioned elsewhere that SF fans have a saying, usually shortened to its initials, "AKICIF" - "All Knowledge is Contained in Fandom".
I know nuclear physicists, NASA engineers, IRS auditors, actors, writers (lost of SF pros began as fans and most of them still are), filmmakers (i used to share an amateur press association with an aspiring filmmaker who was a producer on the new Battlestar: Galactica), songwriters, singers, carpenters, and almost any other occupation you can think of through fandom.
Proof Positive the world is not flat: If it were, cats would have pushed everything off the edge by now.
Yeah, text-based games are before my time. Thanks!
(Heh, this forum and its forumites are awesome... I can ask just about any question and have it answered to within an inch of its life )
Yeah, this gang will answer the hell out of a question...
Kinda like how Texans are 99.9999% of the time sweet as sugar cane...and generally take the rude one out back for the board of education to meet the seat of knowledge, right?
Yanno how some people have Angels/Devils for a conscience? I have a Dark Elf ShadowKnight and a Half Elf Ranger for mine. The really bad part is when they agree on something.
Catawampu wrote:
This might fall more under the heading of "scary" rather than "dangerous". The school officials might see it as a useful learning experience, even.
Perhaps, it's hard to say. Even if it doesn't turn out completely dangerous, I know I'd not be very happy to hear about such an incident happening. Devyn may be semi-related to a greek god, but people often don't give a damn if they feel their kids could have been in danger and I couldn't blame them.
DinkyInky wrote:Kinda like how Texans are 99.9999% of the time sweet as sugar cane...and generally take the rude one out back for the board of education to meet the seat of knowledge, right?
Stealing!
"Just open your eyes
And see that life is beautiful."
DinkyInky wrote:Kinda like how Texans are 99.9999% of the time sweet as sugar cane...and generally take the rude one out back for the board of education to meet the seat of knowledge, right?
Stealing!
Freely given.
Yanno how some people have Angels/Devils for a conscience? I have a Dark Elf ShadowKnight and a Half Elf Ranger for mine. The really bad part is when they agree on something.
)
