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Key & Compass presents:
Gaucho
by Dave Bernazzani, Steven Robert, and Jason Hanks

Gaucho is a Z-machine text adventure game written with Inform 6 and is © 2012 by Dave Bernazzani, Steven Robert, and Jason Hanks. It was written as a site-wide contest for RPG Geek's third anniversary.

Your dream vacation to a ghost town in Texas took a turn for the worse when your allergies acted up. Forced to take a nap to recover, you wake to hear your tour bus leaving without you. So now your goal is to survive one night in this ghost town until the next tour bus arrives in the morning.

This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 21 of the game.


Map

(parking lot) (via mule) (via mule) AbandonedMiningShaft enterhole entercell GeneralStore OldPost RoadWest OldPost Road OldPost RoadEast PostOffice SecludedAlley Sheriff'sOffice/Jail JailCell Cemetery MainStreetWest MainStreet MainStreetEast StreamBed OldSaloon Stable BarberShop Corral IndianCamp OpenField MiningCamp

Walkthrough

Secluded Alley

> i. (Carrying nothing.)

> x road. x wall. x dirt.

> n.

Old Post Road

> x buildings. x marks. x highway. x lot.

> x wheel. x post.

> n. (No point.)

> w.

Old Post Road - West

> x store. x well. x sign. x chain.

> w.

General Store

> x racks. x cloth. take cloth. (It's a bandana.)

> wear bandana. (This helps vs your allergies.)

> x counter. x box. open box. x cigar. take it.

> x register. x tray. take it.

> e. s.

Main Street - West

> x graffiti. x sign. take horseshoe. (+10)

> x horseshoe. x nails. x gravestones.

> s.

Old Saloon

> x piano. (Playing Clementine by itself; five rings and five animals?)

> x tables. x bar. x shelving. x paper.

> x flask. take it. (+10. "Clementine")

> x plaque. ("Love Spreader of the Week")

> x chandelier. take lighter. x lighter.

> search piano. open lid.

Problem: There's a playing card in the piano, but the piano keeps startling you.

> n. e.

Main Street

> x star. x horses. s.

Stable

> x shovel. take it. x hooks.

> x straw. g. x sharp. x spurs. take spurs. (+10)

> n. w. w.

Cemetery

> x headstones. x Karp. x Monin. x Sol. x Alden.

> x Mann. x drich. x Sarge. x Robino.

> dig Monin. (using the shovel)

> x coffin. open it. x skeleton. take keys. (+10)

> x keys. close coffin. bury coffin.

> dig Alden. (using the shovel)

> x coffin. (The script blames the Gaucho for the town's demise.)

> open coffin. (Piano music plays Clementine.)

> x skeleton. x orb. take orb. (Vision of yaks, etc.)

> put flask in coffin. (Not in the hands or the skeleton itself.)

> close coffin. bury coffin.

> e. s.

Old Saloon

> open lid. take card. (+10)

> x card. (Ace of spades.)

> n. e. e.

Main Street - East

> x statue. x saddle. take it.

> x pole. x structure. x bed.

> s.

Barber Shop

> x bucket. take it. x canister. take it.

> x mirror. x chairs. x sinks.

> n. w. n.

Sheriff's Office / Jail

> x desk. open drawer. (You have a vision.)

> x pistol. take it. (+10)

> x rack. x hanger. x skull. x cot.

> x cell. open door. (locked) x letter.

> unlock cell. (The cell is open, but the keys are now stuck in the lock.)

> enter cell.

Jail Cell

The door slams and the keys fall out!

> x cot. search cot.

> take letter. read it. x envelope.

> x painting. move painting. x hole.

> enter hole. (You crawl to...)

Secluded Alley

> n. e.

Old Post Road - East

> x building. x flagpole. x flag. salute flag. x houses.

> e.

Post Office

> x mailbox. open it. x plates.

> put letter in mailbox. (+10)

> x counter. x dynamite. take dynamite.

> x boxes. take boxes. take hat. x it. wear it. (+1)

> x slots. (You find a letter and read it before it crumbles.)

> g.

> w. w. w.

Old Post Road - West

> put bucket in well. (This ties the bucket to it.)

> turn rod. drink water. turn rod. take bucket.

> e.

Old Post Road

> take wheel.

> e. s. e.

Stream Bed

> x rocks. x machine.

> put wheel on peg. put tray in long-tom.

> put rocks in long-tom. put water in long-tom. (+8; +10 geekgold)

You've found gold, but destroyed the machine in the process.

> w. w. s. s.

Corral

> x Molly. (collar. missing a shoe.)

> x chaps. take chaps. wear chaps.

> put horseshoe on mule. (No hammer needed!)

> put saddle on mule. wear spurs. ride mule. (+10)

> s.

Open Field

You need to be wearing the bandana to protect yourself from the pollen.

> x flowers. x vine.

> w. e. (A coyote blocks both ways.)

> x coyote. shoot coyote. (It runs away.)

> w.

Indian Camp

> x fences. (See vision of the Gaucho with Native Americans.)

> x teepee. (Odd markings.)

> x fire ring. (Stones look like dice?)

> dismount. enter teepee. x blanket. take it.

> ride mule. e. e.

Mining Camp

> dismount. x tents. x pit. x cart. x tracks.

> x mountain. e.

Abandoned Mining Shaft

> touch ground. take brass. w.

Mining Camp

> push cart. (It needs a lubricant.)

> put cream on cart. push cart. (It sails off and returns.)

> put dynamite in cart.

> light dynamite with lighter. (The wind keeps blowing the flame out.)

> light cigar with lighter.

> light dynamite with cigar. (You shove the cart. BOOM! It returns.)

> look in cart. take lantern. (+10)

> x lantern. light lantern with cigar. (It's a non-functional antique.)

> ride mule. w. n.

Corral

> dismount. n. n. n.

Sheriff's Offiice / Jail

> take keys. unlock cell. enter cell.

Jail Cell

> get on cot.

Are you ready to sleep? Yes/No? yes. (+1)

*** Thank you for playing GAUCHO! ***

Normally, the game ends here, but for finishing this game in 250 moves or less, you can now play a bonus area!

Would you like to play this bonus area? (Yes or No): yes

Telegraph Office

> x desk. x key. (KEY message)

> x chair. x window. x headphones.

> wear headphones. put cord in jack. (You hear a string of Morse code.)

Translate the code into English and key it back:

> key what hath god wrought.

The response is "GEEKMAIL WAVEMOTION THE WORD MORSE". I assume this is something you can (or could) do on rpggeek.com, but not here. I think we're done.

> quit.

Are you sure you want to quit? (Yes/No): yes


Extras

Characters

The villian of this story:

The town's community leaders were:

Other named former townspeople:

Also:


Inventory

Honorable mention:


Score

You have completed percentage% of this adventure in several moves.

At this point you have earned the following microbadges:

Your special GEEK CODE at this time would be: geek-code
Paste this code exactly as you see it here to claim your prizes on www.rpggeek.com. You may only claim prizes once - so be sure you're ready to go through the claim process.


Thank You to my Patreon supporters

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