Subterranean

Jaci Conrad, Albert Lin

HINTS:
SOLUTION:

Each of the quotes is a room description from an Infocom text adventure. In each room there is an object whose description (if you type "examine object" into the game) includes a color.

In order from top to bottom, game (location) -- object:

Spellbreaker (Temple) -- BLACK basalt idol
Wishbringer (Museum) -- BLACK sculpture of a cat
Planetfall (Strip Near Relay) -- microrelay in RED plastic
Stationfall (Storage) -- BLACK jammer
Lurking Horror (Tomb) -- PURPLE padlock

The introtext is the room description of the Cellar from Sorcerer. The trunk has five buttons, black, red, purple, white, and gray, and the codes to open the trunk are given on the "infotater", one of the game props (and easily web-searchable).

The color sequence BLACK, BLACK, RED, BLACK, PURPLE is the sequence for a GRUE, which is the answer to the puzzle.

(Not coincidentally, four of the five games have grues in them, and the fifth [Lurking Horror] is about MIT.)

Answer: GRUE