A shame, but softlock us from what? Is there an actual story or something? I thought this was just a little sandbox to do whatever in. And the help command is done without any NPCs, I can get help from the chatlog, even by myself.
You can communicate with the NPCs using "ask <subject>" and they'll give clues or unlocks based on their response (random responses currently). It's still a sandbox but has a smidge of world building.
