In this interactive fiction text adventure computer game, you are an alchemy student at G.U.E. Tech, and you have summoned the Eldest Horror, Ynf-Okh-Omm, in the basement tunnels. You thought it would be cool. But pretty soon, Ynf-Okh-Omm will awaken, and consume the universe.

You have nine turns to correct this, which isn’t really enough time. Fortunately, when nine turns are up, you can travel back in time (restart the game) and try again. You’ll have to try to collect data on each loop that you can apply in the next. Specifically, you’ll have to learn 13 eldritch spells.

Each spell has a one-letter abbreviation (just like the movement directions North, East, South, West, Up, and Down), but to refer to a spell by its abbreviation in a given loop, you must first enter the full name of the spell. Just keeping you honest!

Some spells can only be discovered with the use of other spells. The progression is fairly nonlinear, but this is one possible order:

• RAENFIDHRE—The spell that banishes Elder Horrors. This is on a poster in the Alchemy building:
  • UP
  • X POSTER
• KULEHRIF—The spell that lets you see in the dark. A hacker will teach it to you:
  • NORTH
  • NORTH
  • EAST
  • EAST
  • X HACKER
• JILXUBE—The spell that summons a mass of slime. An Elder Horror in the tunnels is holding some lecture notes with this spell:
  • NORTH
  • NORTH
  • RAENFIDHRE
  • X NOTES
• BHEISHAUPH—The spell that summons frigid air. This is written in a textbook someone left in a dark corner of the tunnels:
  • NORTH
  • NORTH
  • EAST
  • EAST
  • SOUTH
  • SOUTH
  • WEST
  • KULEHRIF
  • X TEXTBOOK
• HTERWERBSET—The spell that resurrects the dead. This is on a note in the Necromancy building (the note doesn’t explain what the spell does, but a little bit of experimentation will reanimate a nearby cockroach):
  • UP
  • EAST
  • EAST
  • KULEHRIF
  • NORTH
  • X SCRAP
• VAADIGNEPHOD—The spell that straightens out non-Euclidean geometry. This is referred to on a grant application in the basement of a building that’s under construction. You have to fill the pit with slime, then freeze the slime. Kinda complicated:
  • UP
  • NORTH
  • JILXUBE
  • BHEISHAUPH
  • GET ENVELOPE
  • OPEN ENVELOPE
  • READ GRANT APPLICATION
• CAERLAEV—A spell that lets you switch bodies with other people. A gross blob in the sub-basement knows this spell, but it is stuck in a dead end beyond a non-Euclidean tunnel, and it is very thirsty (for slime):
  • NORTH
  • NORTH
  • EAST
  • DOWN
  • EAST
  • VAADIGNEPHOD
  • SOUTH
  • JILXUBE
• PHEIMMEB—A spell that lets you travel to the Dusky Threshold, the dark space behind our universe. You find this spell by reanimating a rat:
  • NORTH
  • NORTH
  • EAST
  • DOWN
  • SOUTH
  • SOUTH
  • EAST
  • HTERWERBSET
  • X NOTE
• YZAWNZAG—A spell that steels your mind and increases your willpower. This is on a statuette, guarded by an Elder Thing, in a dark room, in the sub-basement.
  • NORTH
  • NORTH
  • EAST
  • DOWN
  • SOUTH
  • SOUTH
  • KULEHRIF
  • RAENFIDHRE
  • X STATUETTE
• MNYMNSWST—A spell that lets you travel away from the Dusky Threshold. This spell is taught to you by a spectre who lives in the Dusky Threshold, in a room beyond a waterfall of slime:
  • NORTH
  • NORTH
  • EAST
  • DOWN
  • WEST
  • BHEISHAUPH
  • SOUTH
  • PHEIMMEB
  • X SPECTRE
• THOSSOTH—A spell that cuts stuff up. It’s written on a piece of paper that is lying around in the Dusky Threshold:
  • NORTH
  • NORTH
  • EAST
  • EAST
  • SOUTH
  • SOUTH
  • PHEIMMEB
  • X PAPER
• FICKORDBOK—A spell that lets you speak Swedish. It’s in a tome guarded by an Elder Horror in the Linguistics building that truly exists in the Dusky Threshold but invisibly blocks your progress in the Normal World:
  • UP
  • EAST
  • NORTH
  • PHEIMMEB
  • RAENFIDHRE
  • MNYMNSWST
  • X TOME
• AVITHSKELT—A spell that lets you move up and down through ceilings and floors. This is in a book in the Sorcery department head’s office. It’s written in Swedish, and the department head won’t let you in the office unless you switch bodies with his assistant, and even if you do switch bodies with his assistant, he’ll hypnotize you and let a monster eat you unless you’re immune to hypnotism. As such, this is the last spell you can discover:
  • UP
  • NORTH
  • NORTH
  • EAST
  • CAERLAEV
  • YZAWNZAG
  • EAST
  • FICKORDBOK
  • X BOOK

Only with Avithskelt is it possible to banish Ynf-Okh-Omm within the time limit. You just have to activate the final spell’s physics-defying powers, descend to the sub-basement, untangle a non-Euclidean hallway, reach the power station where the Eldest Horror is drawing its power, sever its connection, float up to face Ynf-Okh-Omm itself, banish it, and use your last turn to avoid being sucked into non-space yourself. Thus this is the only winning solution:

• AVITHSKELT
• DOWN
• VAADIGNEPHOD
• EAST
• NORTH
• THOSSOTH
• UP
• RAENFIDHRE
• EAST

Which spells ADVENTURE.