Death in the Caribbean - Ghost Robbers in the Sky

Written by Michael

Hey, it’s almost Halloween!

Last time, I left a little grumpy and stuck.  I slept on it and was able to make some progress in the game.

That’s the good news.  The bad news is that I discovered one of the most annoying game mechanics ever, that, to the best of my knowledge so far, is only in the game to lengthen it.  Or, maybe just the author is a sadistic jerk.  I’m hoping it’s the first choice.  But we’ll get there soon enough.

Ironically, that means this rock weighs about 6 stone.

First off, I started re-exploring the world to see if I had missed anything.  Turns out, I missed two screens I could access.  First off, I found a screen with a path blocked by a rockslide.  Looking at the rocks, it tells me that the rock weighs 83 pounds.  That, to me, is a hint that I can take the rock, and I do.  Now, there’s a clear bath from the box I found the key in going west to the screen that can best be described as “path facing east”.

I suppose an immature me would call this a “butte plug”.

Since I have a new inventory item, I’ll try something with it.  I head over to the anthole, and after finessing the parser, I find it asks questions.  If I say PLUG HOLE, it will ask me “With what?”  To that, I can respond ROCK and be rewarded with a lack of man-eating ants trying to consume me.

Was that ring dropped by a giant?

Now that I am able to pass the ant hole, I find a path facing the river, and the description of the scene says that a ring was dropped here.  That’s one hell of a ring.  Looking at the screen, the word that comes to mind is one that I learned from a former music teacher named Al Lowe: incongruous.  I pick it up and look at it, and I’m told it is very valuable to treasure hunters.

If I go west, I end up going down the steep sandy hill that stopped me from going east at Mariel Bay.  So, a one way path.

I check out the ring, trying to figure out what is so valuable about it, since I am, in fact, one of those treasure hunters.  I can’t open the ring, or use it, but by pure luck, I guess that it’s magical, and I try rubbing it, like you would a genie in a lamp.  “Where do you wish to go, master?”  Give it a place (I wonder what the names are for some of the screens we visited) and it takes you.  I take it to the church, and then try again, but it says it needs to regenerate power.

West of the church is another screen I didn’t notice the last time.  It’s the graveyard, focused on the stone of someone named Hood.  There’s a shovel and a rose.  I take the shovel, but the game doesn’t allow me to grab the flower.  (I try both GET ROSE and GET FLOWER, both to no avail.)

Since there’s a shovel on top of a grave, I try something perhaps morbid.  DIG GRAVE.  It’s empty, and when I look at it, I’m told it’s well kept.

So, I’m not about 99% sure there’s nothing left for me to do here at the moment, so there’s still a cliff for me to get down.  The game will end up giving me the solution, thanks in part to my playing with the parser.

At the cliff, I briefly thought I could use the wagon to ride down the cliff, but couldn’t come up with two-word parser commands for that.  So I simply try CLIMB DOWN, which I thought I tried previously, but I suppose not.  Unless the game changed its response based on my inventory, but I’m too lazy to go back and check that.  

So, when I try this, I’m told that, “you cannot climb down with the wagon.”  Well, my first instinct is to get rid of the wagon.  I type DROP WAGON, but instead of discarding an inventory item, I’m told, “The rope is not tied to the wagon.”

Well, thanks, game, you just gave away the solution!  It ends up you need to tie the rope to the wagon, and then to the tree, so this way you can climb down and bring the wagon with you.  Because of the parser, it goes like this:  TIE ROPE.  “To what?”  WAGON.  “Ok.  It is tied to the wagon.”  Then repeat for the tree.

Then, when I type DROP WAGON again, it tells me that the wagon is at the bottom.

And then... a new game feature appears.  I wasn’t able to catch a screenshot of it, it happens fast, but a ghost briefly appears on the screen, and when he disappears, he gives a message:  “I hid your ring.”

Flashback to RPGs like Quest for Glory, I think I’m building up my stamina with all this digging.

I looked around for where he might have hid it, and when I returned to the grave, I found that my unearthing had been, well, re-earthed.  So, I dug again, and found the item stolen from me.  A reverse grave-robbing, I suppose.

In the next 20 minutes of gameplay, this will happen I think 3 more times.  For no reason than to extend gameplay, I suppose.  This, to me, is worse than any maze you want to throw at me, because this is random and has no gameplay value to the adventurer at all.

In the future, if I’m far away, I can use the ring to teleport back to the grave, but can’t go immediately back because the ring needs time to restore power.  This time... he took my damn ring.  Ugh.

Anyways, I’m back at the top of the cliff, and proceed to CLIMB DOWN.  “Climb what?”  CLIFF.  

I then pick up the wagon, and try to travel away... and:  “I hid your key.”

I almost quit playing this game right at that moment.

I don’t think I need to thoroughly inspect the sign to figure this out.  Actually, if you try to READ SIGN the game tells you not to bother.

After retrieving a stolen item, and some exploration through more meaningless paths, I reach a dead end.  And... a life-belt?

It’s like I’m going back in time for my game playthroughs.

Second missed classic I’ve played in a row with an anachronistic floatation device.  Whatever -- I’ll grab it.

I found it, I suppose.

Well, thanks to the color selections of the Apple, I suppose... this screen just looks weird.  Or at least very 1970s.  Anyways, I come upon a bull and a rainbow.  Looking at the rainbow tells me that it is in the western sky, so I try to go there, ke kills me.  Of course.  I’ll have to figure out how to get past him.

Restoring, I try the obvious, like looking at him (he’s very big with large horns... duh) and talking to him (Unintentional smile from this: “You cannot talk bull here.”)  I can’t pet him, or ride him, or feed him (not that I had any food in my inventory).  When I try to GET HORN, I’m told it’s still attached to his head, so I suspect a future puzzle that will make PETA unhappy.  To be fair, though, they’re rarely happy.  I even try playing with the life-belt and putting it on, but no effect with Mr. Bull.

Based on the caption, I suppose this will be as important as the ring will be.

Exploring again, and we find a cannon.  I’m told it’s valuable to people like me, but nothing useful to be done on this screen.  I try to FIRE CANNON and I am told, “It is an old monument.  It cannot be fired.”

I’m hoping it’s easier to solve than this.

If I walk to the west, I see another view of the cannon, which the screen says is “South of the monument”.  I’m a little confused, but there’s a plaque on this side of it, which I can read.  There’s a message here, quite obviously in code.  I guess I need to crack this -- hopefully, I’ll come across a code key, or a hint from an NPC, because I don’t look forward to doing this manually.

And with this, I’ll pause again.  I’ll be back to the treasure hunt soon enough.

Session Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 25 minutes