Death in the Caribbean - I Believe this Motel Will Be Standing Until I Pay My Bill

Written by Michael

In the introduction, I started to explore the game world and landed in the afterworld.  So let’s start again.  I start out on the same path and go exploring.

I eventually come across a tree with a swing hanging from the branches.  When I look at it, I’m told, “The swing is made of a rope and a seat.”  Let’s test the parser.  

USE SWING

“You cannot USE SWING here.”

SWING

“That was fun!!  Now what?”

Well, ok.  How about TAKE SWING?

“The swing is made of two parts.”

That means I have to take each separately, so I TAKE ROPE and TAKE SEAT.

I hope I’m not late.

Some more exploring, and I come upon a church. I can walk in front of or behind it.  Again, the game sometimes is lacking.  

LOOK CHURCH

“Do not bother looking at the church.”

But it’s okay, because if I try to ENTER CHURCH I am taken to the doors with some beautiful stained glass windows.  It seems, however, that the doors are locked, and the game didn’t understand KNOCK DOOR, so I won’t be able to do anything here yet.

Some more exploring, and I find a wagon left abandoned at the end of a dead-end path.  It looks like the joints and seams of the wagon are covered with tar.  Still, I take it.  I can always wash my hands later, I suppose.

You don’t think I maybe could use the wagon to get down the cliff?

Some more exploring finds me overlooking a cliff, and when I try to go in that direction, the game is direct: “You must figure out how to get down the cliff.”  So, that will definitely be a puzzle to solve.  After all, I’m not really able to explore outside this general area yet.  

So you know what a jungle needs?  An ant hole.  Oh, wait, it’s the same one that killed me in the last post.

“And no one's gonna drag you up to get into the light where you belong.”

Okay, so I'll go south.  I continue down the path where there is a box.  It looks like an oversized cigar box to me, but let’s see.  I cannot take it, but I can look inside, and I find a key.  The game makes a point of telling me the lining of the box is beautiful, but I try to interact with it, and no luck.  I was thinking, maybe something hiding behind it, or I just need to take it, or I don’t know... even LOOK LINING fails.  Huh?

Let’s go back north,

Ugh.

Restoring, I try to cover the hole with the wagon, without luck, so I just get the heck out of there.  After all, I have a key, what did I see before that was locked?

Since we have a Church Key, I hope we find some sacrificial wine in there.

Inside the main room of the church, we’re told there is a trap door, which I suppose could be mistaken for a carpet, so thank you, game..  There’s a rope hanging from above, could that be for the door?  Nah, it’s for the bell.

Wait, did this game kill me again?

Trying again, I LOOK WALL.  “If you are really frustrated, try climbing the walls.”  Well, this game IS getting to me.  CLIMB WALL.  “Climbing the walls is a sign of great frustration.  Take a break.”

Well, this game knows itself, I suppose.  I open the “trap-door” but the game won’t let me down without a lit lantern.  So, instead, I head south (remember, game tosses the pictures around!) and find a room with an old pipe organ.  Um, more specifically, by going south I find the organ on the west wall of the church.

I haven’t decided to give up on this game yet, but wow, it’s tempting.

On the organ, which hasn’t been played for years, there is some music.  When I look or read it, I’m told it’s dusty, but in the artwork, I can see it is Mozart’s Concerto #1.  I remember very little about reading music, even though I had to when I was in choir, back in high school, but I think the first note is a G and it looks like there’s a sharp notation next to the clef, but I don’t know if I’ll need to know any of this.  But who knows, anymore.  They’re giving this such a prominent display...

Oh, and DUST MUSIC has no effect.PLAY MUSIC doesn’t work either, so I guess we don’t know how to play the piano.  Oh, wait, check the parser.  PLAY ORGAN tells me the organ doesn’t work, so can I FIX ORGAN?  “You cannot fix it.”

Okay, so this game is making me very angry already, but this joke did make me smile.

So, I’m stumped right now.  I think I’m going to take a break, and I’ll come back with a fresh mind another day.

Progress so far

Session Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes