How to use or drop a particular item

This guide shows you how to pick out one item when you carry several of the same kind, such as two keys. The game doesn't take the newest or the best one; it takes the first that matches, so to use another you say which.

The examples use two keys:

> inventory
You are carrying the following objects:
An iron key, a brass key and a short sword.

Find the word the game knows the item by

The game knows each item by one word, usually its noun: key, sword, scroll. The other words you see, such as "iron" or "brass", are description only, and the game doesn't match them:

> drop iron key
You aren't carrying that!

If the noun doesn't work, try the item's other words. Gold coins, for example, answer to gold, not coins. You can shorten the word, as long as nothing else you carry starts the same way: k for key.

Count which one you want

Count along your inventory list, counting only the items with that word. Here the iron key is key 1 and the brass key is key 2.

Things you pick up go to the end of the list, so the item you have had longest usually comes first. Things you steal or are given in a trade go to the front.

Don't use the numbers information shows beside each item: they count every item you carry, not just those with the same word. With two keys and two swords, information lists the second sword as item 4, but it is sword#2.

Add the number to the word

Put # and the number straight after the word, with no space:

> unlock chest with key
The iron key doesn't work!
> unlock chest with key#2
Ok.
> drop key#2
Ok.

The same works with any command that takes an item you carry:

Without a number, the game uses the first one: drop key drops key 1.

Count again after a change

Dropping, selling or using up an item moves the others up the list. After drop key#2 above, only the iron key is left, so drop key#2 would get "You aren't carrying that!". Check inventory before you count again.