How to Complete the Dungeon Serve in the Sands Holiday Hat Challenge 2016

Are you ready to take on the Dungeon Serve in the Sands Holiday Hat Challenge 2016? This challenge involves an elf providing you with a zip file that contains a binary called dungeon. The binary reveals itself as an old text-based game, Zork, which was likely created in 1978. In this article, we will show you how to complete the Dungeon Serve in the Sands Holiday Hat Challenge 2016 by doing a little bit of reversing.

Reversing the Game

Instead of playing the game, we recommend doing some reversing to understand the game mechanics. The first step is to determine if the game is an old game that Sans modified or if they created it from scratch. A quick search on Google will reveal that it is indeed Zork, an old text-based game from 1978.

The next step is to figure out how the game works. You can try using strings on the dungeon binary and using GDB to debug the binary. However, you may not find where the strings are being pulled from within the binary. It is possible that dungeon is simply an engine that pulls all the strings out of a DAT file and decodes it to create the actual map in your game.

To debug Zork, you can try using game debugging techniques. A search on Google will reveal the GDT command, which stands for game debugging technique. Enter GDT in your game to access a hidden menu for game debuggers.

Using GDT Commands

Once you have accessed the game debugger menu, you can change options, such as making the Cyclops boss weaker and preventing yourself from dying. However, what you really want to do is display text. Enter DT to display text on your screen. You can then enter a number, such as DT 3, DT 4, or DT 5, to display specific text.

Instead of going through all the available text, you can write an expect script to automate this process. The expect script will execute the binary and use an infinite loop to increment through all the available text. TurnTools is a useful tool for executing this script and in case an exploit arises, the skeleton of the script will already be done.

Completing the Challenge

Once you have used the expect script to display all the available text, scroll up to find the message from the elf. The elf will be satisfied with the trade and will recommend playing the online version of the game for the true prize. To access the online version of the game, enter the website address: dungeon.NorthportWonderland.com and map it to the sage with port 11111.

Use netcat to access the online game and enter DT 1024 to access the same text that you found in the local version. Enter shy online to access the next level of the game. The game will prompt you to send an email to [email protected].

Send an email to Peppermint and he will email you the audio file as the true prize. Congratulations! You have completed the Dungeon Serve in the Sands Holiday Hat Challenge 2016.

In conclusion, this challenge requires some reversing skills and knowledge of game debugging techniques to complete. With the help of an expect script and TurnTools, you can easily automate the process of displaying all the game text. Good luck with the challenge!