maps and walkthrough
Castronegro Blues is a Glulx text adventure game written with Inform 7 and is © 2013 by Marshal Tenner Winter. It is the second game in his Ghastly Gumshoe Tales, featuring an American private eye of the 1920's who specializes in solving occult crimes. This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.
Walkthrough: Prologue • Silver City • Castronegro • Casa de Diaz • Epilogue
Extras: Who's Who.
SUMMARY: Wait several turns while today's dish, er, client, Claudine Lane, tells you that she wants you to find her brother, David Lane, last seen in Silver City, New Mexico. Although you can ask her a few questions, you don't have to talk to her; she'll spill out her tale on her own. When she leaves, take everything she left on your desk, examine it all, then leave.
OPTIONAL: If you dare to turn the phonograph on, you'll have difficulty turning it off. But if you keep trying to turn it off, after between 10 to 20 attempts, you'll finally succeed.
Your Office
> x desk. open drawer. (A beautiful woman enters.)
> x woman. x window. ask Claudine about David. ask Claudine about Castronegro.
> ask Claudine about reverse evolution. ask Claudine about Adam Little. (She leaves.)
> look. take ticket, Herald, Times. x ticket. x Herald. x Times.
> x your chair. x client's chair.
> x cabinet. open cabinet. x phonograph. x record. x ashtray. x telephone.
> x me. i. x fedora. x clothes. x coat. x holster. x revolver.
> take ashtray. throw ashtray at window.
> s.
Are you ready to leave? yes
Sadly, neither Adam Little nor reverse evolution is ever mentioned again. Note that your trenchcoat acts like a bag of holding, capable of holding almost anything you pick up in your investigations.
SUMMARY: Investigate David's disappearance at the sheriff's office, the local newspaper office, and the hotel where he was last seen. Once you've found everything you're supposed to find, you'll hear the bus horn in the distance. You can then take the bus to Castronegro.
Town Square
> n.
Sheriff's Office
As with Claudine, the sheriff will monologue all by himself without needing any assistance from you. Don't bother trying to interrupt him.
> x seargent. talk to seargent.
"You wanna talk to the sherf?" yes
> x sheriff. z. z. z. z. z. z. z. z. z.
> s. se.
Silver City Press
No explanation is ever given why the newspaper office is completely empty of people.
> x desks. x telephones. x typewriters. x percolator. x fan.
> turn on fan. x papers. take key. d.
Archives
> x trunk. unlock it with key. open trunk. take scrapbook.
> read scrapbook. u. nw. w.
Hyde Street
> s.
Porch
> s.
Entry
> x mrs. x counter. x cats. x cubes.
> ask mrs about David. ask mrs about cats.
"Oh, do you like cats?" yes
> u.
Landing
> w.
David's Room
> x bed. x desk. x chair. x window. x paperback.
> take paperback. (Something falls out.)
> look. take envelope. x it.
The bus horn you heard when you took the envelope informs you that the bus is ready to leave. Be on it.
> e. d. n. n. e. s.
SUMMARY: Continue your investigations in the town of Castronegro, where they don't like strangers asking questions. (Go figure.) Ask your questions anyway. The game will tell you when you've found enough evidence before you can confront the town's leading citizen, Bernardo Diaz.
Note: Because several of the townsfolk wander, this walkthrough can't tell you when and where to interact with everyone. Feel free to deviate from the walkthrough to examine or talk to the townsfolk when they're present. TALK TO and SHOW seem to be the preferred commands to use with characters; ASK ABOUT doesn't yield much.
Bus Stop
> x sign. s.
Lobby
You'll want to check out the hotel first, I think, and grab the stuff from its kitchen. There seems to be no way to rent a room for the night.
> x Juan. talk to Juan. x desk. x vase. u.
> w. break private door. w.
Proprietor's Bedroom
Sorry, but you just broke into a room that's completely useless to you. Better luck with the next locked door.
> x bed. x table. e. e.
Lounge
> x furniture. s.
Dining Room
> x table. w.
Kitchen
> x island. take all from it. x cleaver. x jar. open jar.
> x appliances. x ingredients.
> e. n. w.
Lobby
> show jar to Juan. show cleaver to Juan. n. e.
Street Corner (southwest of Park)
After the hotel, I suggest checking out the library next to get some background.
> e.
Library Courtyard
> se.
The Library
> x Efraim. talk to Efraim. show envelope to Efraim.
> x books. search books.
> nw. n.
Park
> x cacti. x tumbleweed. x bench. x fountain.
> e.
The Chapel
> x father. talk to father. x statue. ask father about statue.
If you've talked to Liana, or noticed that the chapel statue's pointing southeast, you should feel pushed by now to explore the southeast roads out of town. But before doing that, we'll want something from the north end of the map.
> w. n.
Sidewalk (north of Park)
> n.
Road to the Hills
> n.
Steep Hill
You can't break open the vault door with the cleaver, but the game does let you try.
> x mausoleum. x vault door. break door with cleaver.
> n.
The Hills
> ne.
Garden de Diaz
> x grate. x house. x flowerpots. x vines.
> x flashlight. take it.
Head all the way back to the Park and then southeast into the gorge.
> sw. s. s. s. s. se.
Road to Gorge
> e.
Dust-Choked Gorge
> x obelisk. x sand. x debris. g. g.
> x watch. x spectacles. x tracks. s.
Hidden Crevice
> sw.
Rocky Path
> w.
Old Farm
You can try shooting the padlock with your revolver, but the padlock doesn't break that way.
> x barn. se. x padlock. x door.
> break padlock with cleaver.
Take a few moments to cram your extra stuff into your coat.
> put all in coat. take padlock.
> se.
Shepherd's Barn
DANGER: Don't go below the trap door until you have both the flashlight and the jar of chili powder. There's no UNDO in this game, so remember to SAVE first.
> listen. x straw. x crates. look in crates. look.
> take robe and sickle. x robe. x sickle. x trap door.
> save. turn on flashlight. d.
Pit
The servitor's flute music prevents you from leaving, examining anything, or picking up anything. Shooting the servitor doesn't help. Attempting to kill it with the cleaver or the sickle will kill you instead.
> throw jar at servitor. (CAUTION: Use the full command. If you just THROW JAR, it just drops and you can't pick it up or UNDO.)
> x altar. x bones. x chalice. take it.
> u. turn off flashlight. nw. n.
Road to the Old Farms
> nw. n.
Sidewalk (west of Park)
Apart from the mausoleum and Casa de Diaz, exploring the rest of Castronegro is optional. Go directly to the vault if the rest of the town doesn't interest you.
> w.
The Changeling
One of the few bars in IF where one can't get a drink.
> x Gilberto. talk to Gilberto. show envelope to Gilberto.
> x bar. x radio. turn off radio.
> x James. talk to James. e.
Street Corner (northwest of Park)
> x door. n.
The Tomb
> x table. x statuette. x sign.
> x Filipo. talk to Filipo.
> x artifacts. search artifacts. read paper. show paper to Filipo.
> show sickle to Filipo. show chalice to Filipo. show envelope to Filipo.
> s. e. e.
Street Corner (northeast of Park)
> ne.
Vilheila-Pareira Tobacco Shop
> x Philip. talk to him.
> x barrels. search barrels. x pipe. show pipe to Philip. give pipe to Philip.
> sw. sw. e.
The Chapel
> show robe to father. show sickle to father.
> w. n. n. n.
Steep Hill
> break door with sickle. (Father Alfonso and Filipo can tell you more about magical sickles if you show the sickle to them.)
> nw.
Diaz Family Vault
> turn on flashlight. x empty. x closed.
> se. n. ne. n.
SUMMARY: Find Bernardo and destroy him, not letting his doors or creatures bar your way. Then destroy his house.
Entrance Hall
Leave your flashlight on; almost every room in this place is unlit. As you'll discover, the main floor and upper floor are deserted and safe, but the cellars are both inhabited and quite dangerous. If you attempt to leave to the south, the iron door slams shut, trapping you inside.
> x portraits. x rug. search rug. x old key.
> unlock study door with old key. e.
Storage Room
A useless room.
> x furniture. x cobwebs. w. w.
Living Room
The ruby ring on the portrait is a vital clue. The portrait suggests to me that he uses rats to spy on people. Possibly some of his followers are wererats, which might explain why his accomplice in kidnapping was barefoot.
> x portrait. n.
Downstairs Hall
The library has two "study doors" leading into it; they're impossible to disambiguate from the inside the library, so unlock them from the outside.
> e. unlock study door with old key. e.
Bernardo's Library
> x carpet. search it. x skeleton key
> x books. search books. x walls. w. u.
Upstairs Hall
There isn't much of interest upstairs, but since we're here, let's see it.
> s.
Master Bedroom
We can confirm Bernardo was one of the kidnappers by finding his boots here. You must refer to them as "pair of boots" or "pair"; somehow "x boots" fails. Also, why isn't he wearing these boots now? You don't need any of these things, except maybe the red robe and only if you don't already have the black robe. But it doesn't hurt to take 'em anyway.
> x bed. x dresser. open it.
> x red robe. x old clothes. x pair of boots.
> put all in coat. take all from dresser.
> wear old clothes. wear boots. (Both are too small.)
> wear red robe. n. w.
Guest Bedroom
Another useless room. One has to wonder when, if ever, an evil xenophobic misanthrophic immortal sorcerer and mass murderer entertains an overnight houseguest in his decrepit home in the middle of nowhere America. And even if the Queen of the Damned did drop by to exchange blood of infants pie recipes, she'd demand his room and tell Bernardo to sleep it off somewhere else.
> x cot. e. d. n.
Dining Room
The kitchen has two identically named "kitchen doors"; unlock them from outside the kitchen.
> x table. x tablecloth. x tracks. unlock door with skeleton key. e.
Kitchen
DANGER lurks in the cellars. SAVE and be prepared.
> x cabinets. x stove. open it. x sideboard.
> save. take revolver. d.
Cellar
> se.
Wood Room
This is your freebie kill; something you can shoot. If you run away, you die.
> shoot madman. x dead. take log. x it. nw. s.
Labyrinth Room
Careful. You must be wearing either robe (black or red) for the cannibal to think you're not a threat. Any attempts to kill her will be noisy and attract the murderous horde beneath you, who will kill you. For now, let her live and pretend to be a cultist. The wide hole isn't implemented.
> x cannibal. x new key. take it. n.
Cellar
> e. unlock laboratory door with new key. e.
Lab
Bernardo, confident in his power, won't kill you unless you attack and fail or you run away. When he's dead and you leave, you'll suddenly realize that the house needs to burn to finish off the cult.
> x Bernardo. x ring. x bulbs. x tables.
> x contraptions. search contraptions. x lighter.
> show chalice to Bernardo.
> shoot ring. x corpse. w. u.
Kitchen
If necessary, TAKE LIGHTER from your coat before lighting the log.
> put log in stove. light log.
SUMMARY: Claudine meets you at the train station where you bluntly and brutally tell her the fate of her brother.
Train Station
Note: You can try showing the broken pocket watch to Claudine, but she doesn't appear to recognize it as her brother's.
> x Claudine. z. z. z.
The player-character:
Non-player characters:
Other characters mentioned or referenced:
Other walkthroughs for games by Marshal Tenner Winter