Bowling Cricket

Bowling Cricket
Monster ID	277
Locations	The Sorceress' Tower (The Stairs)
Hit Points	99999
Attack	99999
Defense	89999
No-Hit	100009
Initiative	0
Meat	None
Phylum	bug
Elements	None
Resistance	None
Monster Parts	arm, head, leg, torso
Drops None
Manuel Entry
refreshedit data

 You're fighting a Bowling Cricket

By jiminy, this is one big, imposing cricket. It's also holding a bowling ball, which makes it all the more dangerous. Beating him might be a sticky wicket. Maybe you can scare him off somehow...

Hit Message(s):

It leaps forward and lands on you with one if^[sic] its giant claws. Ow! Oof! Ow! Argh! Argh! Eek! Ouch! Oof! Ouch! Ooh!

It tosses its bowling ball at you, hitting you square in the <kidney>. Argh! Ooh! Ouch! Ouch! Eek! Ugh! Ouch! Ooh! Ouch! Ow!

It spits an adventurer-size gob of grasshopper juice at you. Gah! Ooh! Ugh! Ouch! Oof! Ugh! Oof! Argh! Ooh! Argh! Eek!

Miss Message(s):

It tries to you^[sic] in the <arm>, but misses.

	You break open the sonar-in-a-biscuit. As sonar squeaks echo off the walls, the grasshopper looks nervously around for the giant bat that's about to eat it. It leaps out the window and flies away. Looks like this grasshopper has much to learn.

You gain 40 <substat>.

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Formerly occurred at The Sorceress' Tower (The Stairs). Can still be encountered via Wishing.

Notes

• This monster cannot be copied.
• This monster's combat weakness is the sonar-in-a-biscuit.
• If you lose, you will receive a hint as to which item to use.
  • First hint: This guy's pretty tough. If only you could put the fear into him...
  • Second hint: Perhaps you could imitate the cry of some natural predator.
  • Third hint: Bats have been known to prey on small insects like crickets.
  • Fourth hint: How might you simulate the cry of an attacking bat?
  • Fifth hint: A sonar-in-a-biscuit from the Guano Junction ought to scare him off.

References

• The solution to the riddle lies in the ancient art of playing cricket. It's a bowling cricket, i.e. a bowler (whose job is similar to that of the pitcher in baseball). The opponent of the bowler is of course the batter, whose "weapon" is the (cricket) bat. You emulate said bat with the piercing sonar shriek from the biscuit. An alternate theory about the solution is simply that bats are the natural predators of crickets and grasshoppers.
• "You have much to learn, Grasshopper," was a line that David Carradine's character had to listen to in every episode of the television series Kung Fu.
• "By Jiminy" refers to Jiminy Cricket, a character in Pinocchio (1940 film).