Peasant's Quest
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Peasant's Quest is a Macromedia Flash game published by the fictional company Videlectrix. The player takes the role of Rather Dashing, a peasant who has had his thatched roof cottage "burninated" by Trogdor.[1]
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[edit] Origins
This story is a spin-off from the Homestar Runner internet cartoons, specifically the Strong Bad E-Mails. Trogdor was created when Strong Bad was asked to demonstrate his "skills of an artist" in the e-mail dragon. This later spawned the game Trogdor, in which the player stomps on peasants. Once the required amount of 10 is reached, Trogdor attains the "Burninate!" ability. The player receives the ability to breathe a constant spew of flames to burninate the thatched roofed cottages. Players also have to be wary of being arrowed, sworded, or "swarrowed" (simultaneously sworded and arrowed) by enemy archers and knights. This later grew into a world of its own as shown here.
The game is a parody of King's Quest and other adventure games and text-based adventures, and its humor resembles that of the Space Quest and Monkey Island series.
[edit] Overview
In order to complete the game, the player is required to complete three tasks:
- Dress like a peasant
- Smell like a peasant
- Be on fire like a peasant
After completing these and rendering the player a true peasant, the mountain pass guard will allow the player on the road to Trogdor and ultimately allow the player to attempt to slay him.
Like most Homestar Runner content, the game contains many Easter eggs.
[edit] Plot
The player controls Rather Dashing, a "peasant wearing short pants" who returns from vacation to find his cottage burninated by Trogdor. Rather Dashing swears revenge on him and sets out to kill him. The blue knight guarding his lair will not let Rather Dashing pass because he does not look like a peasant, does not stink like a peasant, and is not on fire like a peasant. He soon receives a bow and arrow from local archers Dongolev and Mendelev, which then allows him to shoot a large beast called a Kerrek. Rather Dashing puts on his belt, and smells horrible. He then gets covered in mud and jumps in a haystack, which allows him to sneak up on a pile of riches guarded by a Jhonka, a troll-like man. Rather Dashing then give the riches to a lady peasant, and she gives Rather Dashing her baby. The baby then allows Rather Dashing to find some pills, soda, and a meatball sub. The baby also crawls through a hole in a house without a doorknob, and gets Rather Dashing a cloak that makes him look like a peasant, and runs away to start a new life. Next, he spends a night in an inn, which ends with Rather Dashing getting burning "horse grease" on his head. A lantern then lights the grease on fire, finally making Rather Dashing on fire like a peasant.
The blue knight will then let Rather Dashing have a perilous climb up the mountainside to get to Trogdor's lair. Before entering Trogdor's lair, Rather Dashing needs to answer three trivia questions to the three keepers of Trogdor, or give them the pills, sub, and soda. Once Rather Dashing enters Trogdor's lair, the player can throw a sword at Trogdor, waking him up. Regardless, the ending is the same. Trogdor wakes up, then realizes that Rather Dashing is attempting to kill him. Trogdor reveals that he is invincible and cannot be killed. However, he is still impressed because Rather Dashing got closer than anyone ever had to killing him. Regardless, Trogdor burninates Rather Dashing, ending the game. Finally, a statue is built in Peasantry honoring Rather Dashing and his bravery.
[edit] Movie trailer
At halftime during Super Bowl Sunday 2005, a video was put on the Homestar Runner website entitled "Peasant's Quest Movie Trailer". The trailer became so popular that it overloaded the site's server; consequently, it was removed the next morning and replaced later that day with three versions with smaller file sizes.
The video is a trailer to an imaginary live action Peasant's Quest movie. The trailer features characters from the actual Peasant's Quest game including Rather Dashing, Dongolev and Mendelev, the peasant lady, the baby, Jhonka, Kerrek, the Blue Knight, and the Keepers of Trogdor, as well as many scenes from the games including throwing the baby into the lake, killing the Kerrek, scaring the horse Gary, and getting the horse grease poured on Dashing's head. The trailer also features a character called The King of Peasantry not included in the original game. Rather Dashing was played by Matt Chapman, the person who does many of the voices on the Homestar Runner site.
[edit] Other Peasant's Quest cartoons
- For the 2004 Holidays, homestarrunner.com featured a cartoon in which Rather Dashing obtains a holiday themed snowglobe for Decemberween, the fictional holiday observed in Free Country, USA.
- On the homestarrunner.com DVD "Everything Else, Vol. 1", there is a cartoon in which the Peasant's Quest movie trailer was done in the same art style as the game. The original movie also plays on the bottom corner of the cartoon.
[edit] References
- ^ Zenko, Darren. "Homestarrunner's master parodists reveal their love of classic games", Ottawa Citizen, CanWest Interactive, 2 September 2006. Retrieved on February 25, 2007.
