In this game, you play as Jim, a tavern worker who wakes up in the broom closet. You soon learn that, years ago, the pirate captain, Cutter, had his former crewmates (including your boss, Harold) hide a treasure for him, and now he wants it back. Return the treasure by sunset or else Harold's daughter, Brenda, will suffer the consequences.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
> ask Harold about treasure.(He says ask Samuel and Isaac.)
> ask Harold about Brenda.(Get her back. Also, she's Harold's only daughter.)
> ask Harold about Samuel. ask Harold about Isaac.
> x broom.(You won't need it.)
> s.
Storeroom
> take bottle. x it.
> n. e.
Outside The Red Anchor
> x sign. read it.
> n. w.
Alley
> x Samuel. talk to Sam.
> ask Sam about treasure.(He wants rum first.)
> give bottle to Sam.
> ask Sam about treasure.
He produces a parchment and says they gave it to Jerome to hide and Jerome gave a parchment to each of them with clues to where it is. Then he passes out and drops the bottle.
> take parchment. x it. read it.(ASCII art)
> e. n.
Outside Warehouse
> x Jerome.
> ask Jerome about Cutter. ask Jerome about Brenda.
> ask Jerome about Harold. ask Jerome about Isaac.
> ask Jerome about Samuel. ask Jerome about pirates.
> ask Jerome about treasure. ask Jerome about parchment.
> ask Jerome about warehouse.(No entry without business in there.)
> ask Jerome about lighthouse.
> ne.
Outside Lighthouse
> x hut. x lighthouse.
> knock on door.(Isaac invites you in.)
> n.
Inside Lighthouse
> x Isaac. x lamp.(no fuel and off.)
> talk to Isaac.
> ask Isaac about pirates. ask Isaac about Cutter.
> ask Isaac about Brenda. ask Isaac about Harold.
> ask Isaac about Samuel. ask Isaac about Jerome.
> ask Isaac about treasure.(He tells the same story that Sam did, and puts an opaque parchment on the table for you.)
> take opaque parchment. read it.
> put translucent on opaque.
> read parchments.(It says "WAREHOUSE".)
> take lamp.(Isaac says there's oil upstairs.)
> u.
Top of Lighthouse
> x lantern. x lens. x cupola. x windows.
> x barrels. fill lamp with oil.
> d. s. sw.
Outside Warehouse
> show parchments to Jerome.
> give parchments to Jerome.(He'll now let you in.)
> ask Jerome about treasure.(You still need to find it.)
> w. w.
Warehouse C3
You want to get on the other side of that crate and push it here, under the trapdoor. Yes, there's only one crate.
> n. n. w. w. s.
Warehouse B1
> push crate.(East to...)
Warehouse B2
Note the "Code: 34" written in chalk.
> n. e.
Warehouse A3
> push crate.(South to...)
Warehouse B3
> climb crate.
Warehouse C3 (on the crate)
> open trapdoor. u.
Darkness / Warehouse Attic
> light lamp(with tinderbox).
> x scale.(brass pan and sliding weight)
> open box. x box. x dragons.
> take box.(too heavy)
> x lock.(buttons 1 to 6)
More ASCII art. Each button has O or hyphen settings. Whenever you push a button, it is unchanged, but all the other five buttons change states.
Remembering the chalk message in B2, you want buttons 3 and 4 to be on. So from the start position, just push all the other buttons:
> push 1. push 2. push 4. push 6.(click!)
> open box. open chest.(It's locked.)
Take the chest out of the box but leave it here for now.
> take chest. drop chest.
> d. d. e. s. e. s. s. w. w.
Broom Closet
> x hole.(using lamp light, you find a key.)
> take key.
The key doesn't unlock the chest, by the way.
> e. e. n. n. e.
Dock
The game won't let you enter the rowboat the first time unless you have the key.
> s.
Rowboat
> row boat.(You're now moored to the ship.)
> u.
Aft Deck
Barnaby grabs you and takes you to...
Captain's Cabin
If you had brought the chest here with you, Cutter takes it, frees Brenda, and all you can do is escort her back to the tavern. It's a good ending, but you can do better and keep the treasure too. Here's how:
Go to ship without the chest at all. Cutter orders you put into the brig and declares he'll take a nap.
Cell
You still have your inventory.
> x Brenda. x straw. search it. take bone. x it.
> talk to Brenda.
> ask Brenda about idea.(She suggests replacing captain's key with another key and replacing treasure with something of the same weight.)
> ask Brenda about key. ask Brenda about captain.
> ask Brenda about treasure. ask Brenda about cell.
> unlock door with bone.(wrong verb!)
> pick lock with bone.(This works; the bone is gone.)
> open door. w.
Brig
> s.(Too dangerous.)
> n.
Aft Hold
> n.
Fore Hold
> n.(Too dangerous.)
> u.
Fore Deck
> n. x figurehead. x bowsprit.
> x fore mast. x main mast. x ropes.
> climb ropes.(You can't or won't.)
> s.(Barnaby is on the aft deck. You need a diversion.)
> d. s. s. e.
Cell
> take straw. w. n.
Aft Hold
> drop straw.
> light straw(with tinderbox).
> n. u.
Fore Deck
You hear Barnaby going down into the aft hold.
> s.
Aft Deck
> open door. s.
Captain's Cabin
> x Cutter.
> swap gold key with brass key.
> n.
Aft Deck
> close door. w. row boat. u. w. s. s. s.
Path to Town
> x pebbles. put pebbles in bag.
> i.(You have 48 pebbles in your bag.)
Return to the warehouse attic.
> n. n. n. w. climb crate. u.
Warehouse Attic
> unlock chest with gold key.
> open chest. x coins.
> weigh coins.(45.0 ounces)
> put coins in box.
> weigh pebbles.(48 pebbles is 60.0 ounces)
> remove 12 pebbles.(It now weighs 45.0 ounces)
> put pebbles in chest.
> put coins in bag.
> close chest. lock it with gold key.
> take bag. take chest.
It may seem very risky to carry the coins in the calico bag to the ship, but you get away with it.
> d. d. e. e. s. row boat. u.
Aft Deck
Again, Barnaby takes you to...
Captain's Cabin
Cutter immediately takes the chest and shakes it and tests its weight. Barnaby produces Brenda and she now follows you.
> x Barnaby.(This is your only chance to examine him.)
Note that Brenda will insist which way to go until you reach the outside of the warehouse. After that, she'll stop objecting to non-direct paths to her father.
> n. w. row boat. u. w. s. s.
Outside The Red Anchor
Enter the tavern with both Brenda and the coins to win.
Jim is the player-character. You're a tavern employee who lives in the nearby town.
Harold is the owner of the Red Anchor tavern. He used to be one of Cutter's crew.
Samuel is a tavern regular who used to work for Cutter. All he wants these days is more rum.
Isaac is the custodian of the lighthouse and he used to work for Cutter.
Jerome owns and operates the warehouse. When Samuel and Isaac couldn't agree on how to hide Cutter's treasure, they passed the job to Jerome who actually did hide it.
Cutter is the captain of the pirate ship. He wants his treasure back and kidnapped Brenda to force the issue.
Brenda is Harold's adult daughter and works at his tavern as a waitress. Cutter has her locked in his ship's brig, but he'll release her once he gets his treasure back.
Barnaby is Cutter's second-in-command on the ship.
Mentioned:
Your mum gave you the tinderbox.
Early morning patrons were expected to arrive at the tavern.
Other pirates can be seen on the ship from a distance.
Credits
This is the response to ABOUT:
This game was written for PunyJam #1, 9 April - 3 May 2021. Under the rules of the jam, the description of the first room (the broom closet) was fixed and everything else was open slather. See https://itch.io/jam/punyjam1 for further details.
Game design and coding by Garry Francis.
Play testing by Dee Cooke, Tristin Grizel Dean, Christopher Merriner and Joshua Wilson. Thanks guys and gals.
Endings
You have died
if you arrive at the ship twice without the treasure chest.
if you arrive at the ship with the chest, but it's empty, too light, or too heavy.
You could have done better
if you return to the tavern with Brenda, but without the bag of coins in your inventory.
You have won
if you return to the tavern with both Brenda and the bag of coins.
Inventory
a tinderbox. You're carrying it.
You're unwilling to drop your tinderbox.
Light the (filled) oil lamp with the tinderbox. You'll now be able to see in the warehouse attic and see better in the tavern's broom closet.
In the aft hold, light the pile of straw with the tinderbox. Barnaby will leave the aft deck to investigate the fire, giving you a way around him and to the captain's cabin.
a knife. It's in the wall of the broom closet.
Take it, but surprisingly, you don't need it.
a note. It's pinned to the wall of the broom closet with a knife.
Read it to learn what your main task is, but you don't need to carry the note anywhere.
a calico bag. Find it by searching the pile of fabric in the broom closet.
The bag is used only for carrying either the pebbles or the coins. You can't put anything else into the bag.
In the warehouse attic, assume the bag itself weighs nothing when weighing a bagful of pebbles on the scale.
a broom. It's in the Red Anchor's main room.
You dropped it there when you were knocked out. Leave it there.
a bottle of rum. It's in the pub's storeroom.
In the Alley, give the bottle to Samuel. He will now answer your questions.
When you ask Samuel about the treasure, he drops the bottle and the translucent parchment before he passes out. Although you can take back the bottle then, you don't need to.
a translucent parchment. In the Alley, Samuel drops it when you ask him about the treasure, but only after you've given him the bottle of rum.
Read the parchments to learn that the treasure is inside the warehouse.
Outside the warehouse, give the parchments to Joseph. He'll now let you inside, but he won't tell you exactly where the treasure is inside the warehouse.
an oil lamp. It's inside the lighthouse. You can just take it; Isaac makes no objection.
At the top of the lighthouse, fill the lamp with oil from the barrels there.
In the warehouse attic, light the lamp with your tinderbox so you can see up there.
In the broom closet, examine the mouse hole while holding a lit oil lamp. You find the brass key.
a treasure chest. It's inside the wooden box in the warehouse attic.
To unlock the wooden box, push buttons 1, 2, 5, and 6. This leaves buttons 3 and 4 on, as clued by the chalk message on the floor of Warehouse B2.
Weigh the chest of coins on the scale in the attic. Also weigh a bag of pebbles. Remove pebbles until the pebbles weigh the same as the coins. Swap the coins and pebbles, using the ornate box as an intermediary container.
Keep the bag of coins. Close and lock the chest of pebbles with the gold key.
Return to Captain Cutter and give him the chest. Assuming the chest weighs the same as it originally did, he'll release Brenda into your custody.
a brass key. Find it in the broom closet by examining the mouse hole while holding a lit oil lamp.
In the captain's cabin, while Cutter sleeps (which he will do after you're imprisoned in the cell), take the gold key from his neck. You'll automatically put the brass key in its place.
You never learn what the brass key unlocks.
a bone. Find it by searching the pile of straw in the cell.
Pick the lock with the bone to unlock the cell door. The bone breaks in the process.
In the aft hold, drop the straw and light it with your tinderbox. Barnaby will soon be there to investigate. Go immediately fore to the fore hold, up to fore deck, aft to aft deck, and aft again into the captain's cabin.
numberpebbles. Many loose pebbles are on the path to town.
Take some; you'll need a container such as the calico bag to carry them in.
In the warehouse attic, weigh both the bag of pebbles and the chest of coins. Remove pebbles until the pebbles weigh the same as the coins. Swap the pebbles and coins, using the ornate box as a temporary container for one of them.
Keep the bag of coins for yourself, but close and lock the chest of pebbles with the gold key, then return to the ship and give the chest to Captain Cutter.
Assuming the chest weighs the same as it originally did, Cutter will release Brenda into your custody. Return to the tavern with both Brenda and the bag of coins to win the game.
a gold key. Captain Cutter wears it on his neck.
In the captain's cabin, while Cutter sleeps (which he will do after you're imprisoned in the cell), take the gold key. You'll automatically put the brass key in its place if you have it. Otherwise, you won't obtain the gold key.
some silver coins. They're inside the locked treasure chest; unlock the chest with the gold key.
The coins cannot be carried loosely or left loose. They must always be inside a container, such as the chest, the bag, or the ornate box.
In the warehouse attic, weigh both a bag of pebbles and the chest of coins. Remove pebbles until the pebbles weigh the same as the coins. Swap the pebbles and coins, using the ornate box as a temporary container for one of them.
Keep the bag of coins for yourself, but close and lock the chest of pebbles with the gold key, then return to the ship and give the chest to Captain Cutter.
Assuming the chest weighs the same as it originally did, Cutter will release Brenda into your custody. Return to the tavern with both Brenda and the bag of coins to win the game.
