Key & Compass presents:
Curse of the Garden Isle
by Ryan Veeder

In this game, you play as an employee of the Natural History Museum on the island of Kaua'i. Tourists have this habit of taking rocks from the island, but when they finally realize what curse they've invoked, they mail the rocks back here. Today, it's your job to return the stolen rocks to their proper places on the island. Finding chickens everywhere is completely optional.

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.

Map
Walkthrough
Extras
- Characters, Credits, Inventory
Thank You to my Patreon supporters
Support me on Ko-Fi
External links:
- This game at Homepage, CASA, IFDB, and IFWiki.
- Post about this walkthrough on X.

Map

Walkthrough

Ocean

Something is rising from below the water.

> about.

> x me. x waves. x bubbles. x shape.

> x sky. x lava. x mountain.

FIVE MILLION YEARS LATER

Koloa

> x me. i. x key.

> x tank. x station.

> x dumpster. look in dumpster.

> w.

Fort Elizabeth

> x grasses. x rocks.

> climb rocks. x flagpole. x mound. x gecko.

> follow footpath.

> x sea. x chicken. x highway.

> w.

🐔 🐔 🐔 club wooby 🐔 🐔 🐔

There are three club wooby missions associated with finding chickens in this game:

Chickenfinder Third Class: Look at a certain number of chickens to earn 10 buttons!
Chickenfinder Second Class: Look at even more of those chickens to earn 15 buttons!
Chickenfinder First Class: Look at every single chicken in the game to earn 20 buttons!

Yes, you are very excited and delighted to learn that there are chickens hiding all over the island! Many many chickens! Find them! Look at them! But obviously, I must not tell you where they are without voiding the missions, so this one chicken at Port Elizabeth is the only chicken I'll mention in this walkthrough, okay?

To embark on these missions, use the command WOOBY MODE to activate wooby mode. When you complete a mission, the game tells you a password. Send that code via email to Ryan Veeder, the author, and he'll credit the appropriate number of buttons to your club wooby account.

Waimea

> x people. x lot. look in car. read paperwork.

> n.

Mars

> x stream. x log. move log. look in log.

> x waves. x sea. x red earth. x bushes. x dune.

> n.

Koke'e State Park

> x museum. x porch. x board. x trees.

> enter museum. (locked)

> unlock door with key. in.

Natural History Museum

> x rock. x nut press. x petroglyph.

> x desk. (Six paackages)

It's simplest to deal with the packages one at a time.

> take package. open it.

> x angular rock. read short letter.

This rock belongs at the hole where "the giant lizard lives". That will be Spouting Horn Park, which is south from where you started.

> out.

Koke'e State Park

> close door. lock it.

> sw. s. e. e. s.

Spouting Horn Park

> x park. x market.

> x figurines. x necklaces.

> x horn. ("lizard stuck in the hole")

> x platform.

> x formation. put rock in formation. (no, but...)

> x fence. x gap.

> put rock in gap. (One down!)

> e. w. w. n. n.

Koke'e State Park

> unlock door. in.

Natural History Museum

> take package. open it.

> read typed letter. x red rock.

> x photograph. (of the family outside a saloon)

Obviously, this rock belongs at Mars.

> out.

Koke'e State Park

> close door. lock it.

> sw.

Mars

> put red rock in log.

> n.

Koke'e State Park

> unlock door. in.

Natural History Museum

> take package. open it.

> x notecard. x obsidian shard.

The "Russian fort" is, of course, Fort Elizabeth.

> out.

Koke'e State Park

> close door. lock it.

> sw. s. e.

Fort Elizabeth

> x pole. put shard on mound.

> w. n. n.

Koke'e State Park

> unlock door. in.

Natural History Museum

> take package. open it.

> x notebook page. x white rock.

> drop white rock. (This rock doesn't belong anywhere.)

> take package. open it.

> x rubbing. (Japanese or Chinese)

> x speckled rock.

There's a Japanese cemetery in the middle of the island. Circle around to Wailua and head inland from there.

> out.

Koke'e State Park

> close door. lock it.

> sw. s. e. e. n.

Lihu'e

> x walkway. x facade. read inscription.

> x building. x porch. x bench.

> x doors. look in doors.

> x paintings. x cases. x canoe.

> n.

Wailua

> x resort. (Where they filmed Elvis in Blue Hawaii.)

> enter resort.

> x trees. x fence. x padlock. x lot.

> w.

Holoholoku Heiau

> x sign. x stones. (Where Chief Kaumuali'i was born.)

> x slab. x piko. look in cleft.

> climb stairway.

Cemetery

> x curbs. x tombstones.

> x tokens. x buddha. x river.

> put rock on grave.

> d. e. s. w. w. w. n. n.

Koke'e State Park

> unlock door. in.

Natural History Museum

> take package. open it.

> x postcard. x smooth rock.

Well, head to Ke'e Beach.

> out.

Koke'e State Park

> close door. lock it.

> sw. s. e. e. n. n. n.

Kilauea

> x Paco's. x porch. x counter. x chef.

> x tacos. buy tacos. eat taco. g. g.

> w.

Hanalei Valley Lookout

> x tourists. x fence. x rail. x cavity.

> x bottle. take bottle.

> open bottle. x log.

> close bottle. put bottle in cavity.

> x view. x mountains.

> w.

Ha'ena State Park

> x beach. x cars. x sign. x pool. x cave.

> put rock in pool. (no)

You can't get to Ke'e Beach this way. Perhaps approach it from another direction?

> e. e. e. s. w. w. w. n. n. ne.

Pu'u O Kila Lookout

> x sign. x trail. x valley.

> x trees. x ocean.

> drop rock.

*** You looked at NUMBER chickens. ***

> evaluation

Extras

Characters

People:

Bernard is the chef at Paco's Tacos in Kilauea. The voice inside your head won't let you eat more than three of his delicious tacos.
Many people (mostly tourists) are mostly at Waimea, Spouting Horn Park, Hanalei Valley Lookout, and Ha'ena State Park.

Animals:

Several chickens are hidden all over the island; see the club wooby missions.
A gecko is on the mound that bears the flagpole at Fort Elizabeth until you scare it away.

Found dead:

Several stuffed birds and mounted animal heads are in the Natural History Museum.

Mentioned:

Pele is the Hawaiian volcano goddess who curses rock thieves.
Blake returned the angular rock.
LeAnne Pearl Lawson returned the red rock. Her letter mentions her children Madison and Thomas, her husband Brett, his friend Adrien, and her neighbour Fatima.
Someone returned the obsidian shard. He mentions his wife, his new neighbours, and his bartender.
Ryan sent a white rock from Iowa.
Someone else returned the smooth rock. His wife is Rachel.
The Beach Boys are mentioned when you examine the sea from Fort Elizabeth.
Albert Spencer Wilcox has a memorial building named after him.
Elvis was in Blue Hawaii; some of that was filmed in Wailua.
Looters looted the legendary Coco Palms in 1992.
Several players wrote their names on the cache log.
Kaumuali'i, one of the island's high chiefs, was born on the birthing stones.
Visitors left tokens on the graves.

Credits

From the response to CREDITS:

Thank you very much for playing this game! I hope you're enjoying it. If you have any desire to contact me about this game, I would encourage you to indulge that desire by hitting me up via email (email redacted) or via Twitter (@rcveeder). Huge thanks to the beta testers, listed here in chronological order of testing: Emily Boegheim, Sarah Nerboso, Buster Hudson, Matt Schneider, Yerrik, Heidi, Maiko Nathalie. Also huge thanks to all my Patreon supporters, listed here in alphabetical order: Emily Boegheim, Thomas Bøvith, Simon Carless, Rich Cheng, Alex D'Arata-Newby, Evan Downey, Sammy El-Bahrawy, Jacques Frechet, Zachary Hodgens, Kenneth Hon, Robin Johnson, Janice M. Eisen, "Math Makes Sense," Heidi Mandelin, Cat Manning, Jenelle Marie, Jason McIntosh, Hamish McIntyre, Carl Muckenhoupt, Sarah Nerboso, Doug Orleans, Karl Ove Hufthammer, Jenni Polodna, Ivan R, Matt Schneider, Emily Short, Derek Sotak, Paul Stanley, Allen Tan, Carolyn VanEseltine, Maiko Ziegler, Matthew Zimmermann, Yerrik, and Rapscallion. Good grief. That's a lot of very nice people. You can support my future games, if you wish, by pointing your web browser to patreon.com/rcveeder.

Inventory

The packages and their contents

six packages. They're on the desk in the museum.

I suggest taking just one package at a time; they're heavy.
Open a package and deal with its contents. Every package contains a rock and something to help explain where it was found. After you've properly placed the rock back where it belongs, return to the museum and pick up the next package. When you've properly placed all six rocks, the game is over.
The first package contains a short letter and an angular rock.
The second package contains a typed letter, a photograph, and a red rock.
The third package contains a notecard and an obsidian shard.
The fourth package contains a notebook page and a white rock.
The fifth package contains a rubbing and a speckled rock.
The sixth package contains a postcard and a smooth rock.

a short letter. It's in the first package.

Read it to learn that the angular rock belongs at the hole where "the giant lizard lives".

an angular rock. It's in the first package.

At Spouting Horn Park, examine the platform to find the fence, then examine the fence and note that there's a gap. Put the angular rock into the gap.

a typed letter. It's in the second package.

Read it to learn the red rock was found under an old log on a hillside.

a photograph. It's in the second package.

Examine it: it shows a family outside a saloon.

a red rock. It's in the second package.

At Mars, examine the stream to find the log. Put the red rock under (or inside) the log.

a notecard. It's in the third package.

Read it to learn that the obsidian shard was found by the Russian fort's flagpole.

an obsidian shard. It's in the third package.

At Fort Elizabeth, examine the fort to find the flagpole, then examine the pole to find the mound. Put the shard on the mound.

a notebook page. It's in the fourth package.

Read it to learn that the white rock is some limestone from Iowa.

a white rock. It's in the fourth package.

Just drop it. It doesn't belong anywhere.

a rubbing. It's in the fifth package.

Examine it; its text is in Japanese.

a speckled rock. It's in the fifth package.

At the cemetery, put the speckled rock on a grave.

a postcard. It's in the sixth package.

Examine it to learn the smooth rock is from Ke'e Beach.

a smooth rock. It's in the sixth package.

At Pu'u O Kila Lookout, drop the smooth rock.

Other items

a brass key. You're carrying it.

In Koke'e State Park, the key unlocks the door to the Natural History Museum.
You should lock the door every time you leave the museum, but that's just my opinion. You can leave it unlocked and wide open, I guess.

some tacos. At Kilauea, you can buy some tacos at Paco's.

Eat the tacos, of course.

a magnetized pill bottle. At Hanalei Valley Lookout, examine the fence and its rail. Now examine the cavity to find the bottle hidden inside it.

Open the bottle; it contains the cache log. Examine the log. You needn't remove the log from the bottle; leave it in there.
Close the bottle and put it back into the cavity after you've examined the log.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with

the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, Phil Tatro, and Mitch;
the generous support of Janice M Eisen, Matthew Foxley, and Thomas Insel;
the very generous support of Karl Ove Hufthammer, Lance Campbell, and DrkStarr;
the extremely generous support of Emily Short, Allen Garvin, Jesse McGrew, Jacqueline Ashwell, Jennifer Rexrode, and Durafen;
and the invisible support of several anonymous patrons.

Ko-Fi is a way to send me small one-time donations. Every little bit helps, and thank you!

Key & Compass presents: Curse of the Garden Isle by Ryan Veeder

Map

Walkthrough

Extras

Characters

Credits

Inventory

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

Key & Compass presents:
Curse of the Garden Isle
by Ryan Veeder