Death in the Caribbean - How Long, How Long to the Point of No Return?

Written by Michael

Well, this post won’t be as long.  I’ve given up on this session after reaching what was almost definitely a dead end.  And that’s after beating the darn ghost!

This will be less of a blow-by-blow of the steps I’ve taken, and more of just a list of failures and frustrations.

First, going back to the grave to dig up stuff that was stolen from me results in death, from what cause I can’t really figure out.  

I used to ring to get back, quickly, to the grave, dug up what was left behind, and then tried to use the ring again to go back, but it takes a while to regain power.  So, I climbed the rope down the cliff again, and unlike before, I slipped and fell all the way down.  What was I carrying to trigger this?  The life-belt?  Nah, that makes no sense, so I’m completely lost here.  So, I restored back, and I’ve just left the item in the grave for now.  It’s the key, which I already used on the church door, so I don’t know if I will need it again.  I’ll ring back there if I need it.

There’s a crevice with a visual crossing of some sort, but I can’t figure out the parser logic I’ll need for this.  I assume I need to cross it.

There’s a path to the river that I did manage to cross, after a few deaths.  Trying to swim across is no good.  With or without the life-belt.

The game gave me a hint when I tried a different command: CROSS RIVER.  “In what?  You do not have a boat.”

First, I thought about rafting, so I answer SEAT.  But I can’t cross the river in that.  So I try something better: WAGON.

Then, the game responds: “You are on your way... by the way... what are you going to paddel with?”  (The typo is in the game)

That was easy for me:  SHOVEL.

“Your wagon smashed on the rocky shore.  You drowned because you were not wearing the life-belt.”

First off, even though I put on the life-belt previously, it apparently doesn’t count unless you do it on this screen.  UGH!

So, I made it across after the next restore, and my wagon smashed on the rocks on the other side, so now I don’t have the wagon any more.  Flipping the disk over, we land on some new screens.

I land on the north bank of the river, and immediately something happens that I think dead ends me.  The ghost comes by and steals my ring!

I can’t go back by way of wagon or swimming.  I strongly suspect this is a dead end, so I restore and from this point on, I’m saving my game state every screen until I solve the ghost problem later in this post.

(Emulation note:  the save game feature was not working properly for me in the game, and I suspect it’s a mistake with my emulation setup or the way I handling disk swapping.  So, I’ve been using save states for this game.  Please forgive me this breach of authenticity, but otherwise I would have abandoned this game long ago.)

Back to the shore, “The alligator is very large and mean!!!  Stay away from him!!!” so I go north.

One screen north, I arrive at a crossroads.  Looking closely at the signs, I have many choices.

The quicksand offers me a hat, but if I get it, I can’t leave.  If I try to RUB RING, the game claims I don’t have time.  So this is a puzzle to sleep on.

The swamp on the sign is just the north bank of the river, apparently.

The fog to the north doesn’t kill me, at least, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here.  

Further exploration nets me yet another windy path with some matches.  Grabbed.

Another screen shows me an inverted pyramid watched over by a parrot.  When I look at him, he tells me to dig for treasure.  Looking at the pyramid, I’m told “it is about 10 feet high and balanced on its point.”

I think this artist needs a lesson about size and perspective... if this pyramid is 10 feet high, that parrot stands about 12 foot with his tail.

DIG TREASURE.

“The pyramid fell on you.”

Restoring again, and more wandering and exploring, and I find something quite useful: an amulet.  Looking at it tells me, “The amulet brings good luck and wards off evil spirits.”  So, I WEAR AMULET.  “That looks good on you!!!”

From this point on, I don’t see the ghost.  That IS good luck.

And somehow, the game is allowing me to carry a fifth item, without the wagon?  I thought I was limited to four previously?  Hmm.

That’s probably how many overseas readers view the United States, so many guns littering the streets.  

And I find a discarded gun to the southwest of where I found the amulet.  I pick it up, no problem.  Then I try to leave.  Oops!  I cannot carry more than four items unless I have the wagon.  So I drop the gun.  I’ll come back for it later, I suppose.  I’ll drop the life-belt over by the crossroads sign, I hope I won’t be needing that again soon.

Hey Boo-Boo!  I hope Ranger Smith isn’t watching us while I make off with this!

I find, in the middle of this jungle path, a picnic table with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk.  Again, I can’t take them, without dropping more things.  So I’ll leave them here until I find a puzzle to fit them into.  (As I write this, I wonder if I can feed them to the bull?  But I wonder if they like milk...)  The flowers cannot be swiped, unfortunately.

In some dense woods, I find a lantern.  I suspect the matches will help with that.  It seems useful, but again, no room in my pockets.

Then, I go a couple of screens north, and...

...probably another dead end.

The matches are ruined, and disappear from my inventory.  I go back to the screen I got them from, and the description still says “Someone left matches here” but when I try to take them, it seems they aren’t there anymore.  

Probably because I took them.

To the east is a dark cave, so I know where I will need the lantern.  But I have to get around the storm.  I guess the ring?  But at this point, I’m so frustrated with this game.  I have to restore, AGAIN, and honestly, I’m exhausted.  This game is just annoying me now.  So I’m putting it off to the side, and my next post will be about a much more enjoyable quest.

Session Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 2 hour 25 minutes