Ye Flask

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Revision as of 10:04, 5 May 2006

Ye Flask in Thy Dungeon.

Ye Flask is a Florence flask (or round-bottomed flask) that appears as a very important item in each Thy Dungeonman game and is referenced in nearly every text adventure in the Homestar Runner world.

Ye Flask's history

Graphics schmaphics... for sooth!

Ye Flask is introduced in the Strong Bad Email video games, an email where Strong Bad is explaining what he would be like in several different types of video games, one of which is a text adventure. Ye flask is mentioned as an example of the quirks of the text adventure genre – attempts to get ye flask resulted only in the message "You can't get ye flask", even though ye flask is explicitly mentioned as part of the surroundings by the game, leaving the player wondering why on earth they can't get Ye Flask.

Ye Flask later becomes part of the Thy Dungeonman games. Ye flask is something of an obsessive fixation for Thy Dungeonman, as he has been searching for it his entire thy dungeonlife through years of searching and hundreds of dungeons.

Thy Dungeonman I

You can't get ye flask

Thy Dungeonman first meets Ye Flask in the first Thy Dungeonman game. In it, Ye Flask looks as if it can "quaff some serious mead". Just like in video games, ye flask is (at least at first) impossible to obtain. However, there is at least an explanation for why the player can't get ye flask, so the player isn't left wondering why on earth he can't get ye flask; ye flask is firmly bolted onto to a wall (which is bolted to the rest of the dungeon which is probably bolted to a castle). However, upon trying the third time to get Ye Flask Thy Dungeonman is able to unbolt, which results in the collapse of the dungeon because it was a "Load-bearing flask". Oddly enough, Ye Flask in this game is never actually referred to as "Ye Flask". However, it is called "a FLASK", "the FLASK", "yon FLASK", and "a load-bearing FLASK"

Thy Dungeonman II

HEY WAIT! Give us that back!

Ye Flask plays a very minor role in Thy Dungeonman II. Every time the command "GET YE FLASK" is used, you earn several points, whether or not you've already gotten ye Flask. However, the first time you get ye flask you must be in the Magistate's office.

Thy Dungeonman 3

You unbolt Ye Flask and hold it aloft.

In Thy Dungeonman 3, the entire game is based around trying to get Ye Flask, which resides in a mysterious dungeon. It is impossible to grab Ye Flask without a proper Flask-grabbing glove, because otherwise Thy Dungeonman is simply transported back to the crossroads in the beginning of the game.

Upon getting Ye Flask and winning the game, it becomes Thy Dungeonman's favorite companion and drinking flask. He ends up choosing it over maidens several times, and lives a fulfilling life with his Ye Flask friend by his side.

Other References

"I hope I find some scrolls. Or maybe a flask."

In the bonus sbemail for strongbad email.exe, E-mail Birds, Strong Bad begins playing a text adventure game similar to the Thy Dungeonman games called Text Quest after answering three emails in a row. Before playing, Strong Bad says "I hope I find some scrolls. Or maybe a flask". Also, although the game makes specific mention of not one, but two daggers, when Strong Bad types "get dagger" the game asks "What is 'dagger'?", a forerunner to the original ye flask joke in video games.

Trivia

• In Early Modern English, "ye flask", as Strong Bad pronounces it in video games, would actually mean "you flask". "Ye" was occasionally used to mean "the", representing the word þe using the letters availiable to printers, however this was still pronounced as "the".