The Light: Shelby's Addendum is a TADS 2 text adventure game and is © 1995-1996 Illusory Mental Images. It was written by C.A. McCarthy. The game is also known as Quest Adventure #3. At the 1996 XYZZY Awards, it was a finalist for both Best Game and Best Setting.
You play as Maurice L. Shelby, a laboratory apprentice employed by Commission Research Station 12B. The station is rather important: it houses one of several beacons placed around the world that generate the dimensional field that prevents total disaster. (It's a long story.) Unfortunately, you'll learn that one of the researchers has gone mad and stolen the beacon's phase modulator! The entire planet is doomed unless you can retrieve the modulator and restore the field.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Version 2.1, Release 19960901 of the game.
NOTE: Inventory management in this game seems to be governed by the total weight of the items you're carrying instead of how many items you have. In practice, this doesn't make much difference to the usual strategy of dropping items that you no longer need, but you might sometimes experience some confusion why you can't pick up some items at various times. Item weight is also a factor in three puzzles.
The Courtyard
You'll be constantly reminded how weak you are at the beginning of the game. Although this is alarming, you can mostly ignore your weakness for now. You should reach the cure in this walkthrough in barely enough time before you succumb.
> x me. i.
> x lighthouse. x window. x seawall.
> open door. n.
The EntryWay
> x noticeboard. x memo. (Summary: Barclay is away; don't let any Commission rep in; feed the chickens.)
Normally, I'd close the door before moving on, but doors are just a nuisance in this game. Leave doors open.
> w.
The Kitchen
The bag is important; the sandwich is not.
> x bag. take it. x sandwich. (Made two weeks ago and still fresh.)
> open bag. take sandwich. smell sandwich.
> eat sandwich —or— drop sandwich.
> x opener. take it.
> x stove. x grease. smell grease. take grease.
> sw.
Kitchen Alcove
We don't need the mophead.
> take broomstick. x mophead. x substance. (Dried blood.)
> ne. e. n.
The Living-Room
> x mosaic —or— x fireplace.
> push eye. (+5; a wall safe is revealed.)
> x safe. (Uses a digital display and numeric keypad.)
> x display. (Looks like a 3-digit code is wanted.)
> x rug. (Can't be moved. This isn't Zork.)
> x paintings. x plaque. ("... Royal Steam Lines # 836 ...")
> type 836 on keyboard. (+5; the safe opens.)
> look in safe. take bracelet. wear it. (Your weakness goes away.)
> x bracelet. (Made to protect the wearer in "unlikely" event of a failure in Earth's dimensional phase barrier. Uhh, okay?)
> x bureau. open drawer. take all from drawer.
> read notepaper. ("....ulty wirin.... / ....call is bl.... / ....on't use r....")
> x matchbook. (There's no phone in this game; we won't be calling Tim for bacon and cigarettes.)
> open matchbook. x match. (There's only one match; don't waste it!)
> x magazine. (Article on the Shetland Singing Stone.)
> drop notepaper. drop magazine.
> nw. n.
Holcroft's Room
> take report. read it. (Holcroft's review of you is very positive; mentions Project EUNICE.)
> take diary. read it.
> drop report. drop diary.
The diary gives us more backstory about Project EUNICE and Barclay going mad. The main points to note are: one, Barclay took the phase modulator to The Rocks; and two, a crystal is in "the secret chamber behind my quarters".
> x scale. x right plate. x left plate. x container. (It contains mercury.)
> x closet. x clothes.
> x dresser. x mirror. open drawers. (Empty.)
I see no obvious secret chamber from here. Yet.
> s. e.
Shelby's Room
You don't need anything from this room, except maybe a bit more backstory.
> take all from bed.
> read blue. (From Barclay, you're fired and asked to leave, but also, please feed the chickens.)
> x ticket. (One-way back to the capital, dated today.)
> drop blue. drop ticket.
> w. w. s.
Barclay's Room
The backstory we get from this room is mostly focused on Barclay's love for his late wife, Madeline.
> x recorder. push play. push reverse. (A Beatles reference: "Paul is dead...")
> x photograph. x writing. ("To My Darling Bunny, All My Love, Madeline")
> x painting. (I'm guessing that the amateur painting of Madeline is by Barclay himself.)
> x blankets. move blankets. (+5; find a small silver key)
> take key.
> x cabinet. open drawer. (It's stuck.)
We'll need a prying tool for the drawer; neither the bottle opener nor the broomstick work for it. Let's move on.
> n. w.
Junction in Corridor
> x door. x bathroom door. (This is the door that Holcroft had to kick open, as per the diary entries.)
> x partition door. x device.
> s.
Bathroom
Nothing important in here.
> n. n. n.
North-South Corridor (midway)
> x sign. (Communications Center)
> x metal door. (Narrow slot in it.)
> smell. e.
Guest Bedroom
> x candle. take candle.
> x bed. look under bed. (Storage trunk.)
> pull trunk. unlock trunk with key. drop key.
> open trunk. x body. (Dead for weeks, wearing inspector uniform.)
Crackle. The body becomes transparent and vanishes.
> look in trunk. take passcard. x it.
There's not much else to see in here.
> x closet. open it. look in it. x dresser. x floor.
> x window. (Intermittent glow of light, far out to sea.)
> w.
North-South Corridor (midway)
> put card in slot. (+5; door opens)
> w.
Communications Center
> x radio. x speaker.
> turn on radio. turn dial. (static)
> turn off radio.
> e. n. n.
The Library
NOTE: Hold onto the red book; you'll be using it elsewhere.
> x red book. ("Domesticated Fowl And The Art Of Hypnosis")
> take it. read it.
> x blue book. ("I Made Almost Twenty Dollars Writing Text Adventure Games And You Can Too")
> take it. read it. drop it.
> x black book. ("Manual For The Protection Of The Species")
> take it. read it.
The black book gives us the fullest explanation of what's going on with the world, and I can't quite puzzle it all out. But here it is:
Somehow, the Moon was destroyed, and that event in turn destroyed Earth's habitability. Somehow, before anyone died, physicists erected many many beacons around the planet to generate a dimensional field barrier that somehow moved every person, every animal, and every plant to an alternate Earth. Except everyone is all still kinda-sorta on the old ruined Earth? And nobody but scientists really know any of this happened? Does that make any sense at all?
Whether it makes sense or not, it also seems the scientists never built any redundancies into their field generator system, which means that if one station stops working, all life is in danger of extinction. All organic matter, like the dead body we found, is doomed to eventually fall back to its original dimension where the Earth really is. This is the crisis that's been dropped into your lap.
There seems to be some acknowledgment that the dimensional field is a stopgap measure, that someday the scientists need to find a way to restore the original Earth's eco-system so that every lifeform on Earth isn't dependent on who-knows-how-many lighthouses.
> drop it.
I'd rather not go upstairs at this time since there's little to see and nothing to do up there just yet. Instead, head back outside and start exploring there.
> drop broomstick. (We'll need it much later, and our inventory's getting full.)
> s. s. s. s. e. e. s. s. s. e.
Seawall
> x wall. x ocean. x fog.
> s.
Storage Shed
Barclay wants two soft-boiled eggs every morning.
> x chickenfeed. take it.
> n. n.
Further Along Seawall
The antenna is takeable, but you don't need it. I suspect it's why the radio doesn't work.
> x antenna. (It's broken in two.)
> n.
End of Seawall
> x light.
Heading for the dock:
> s. s. w. w. s. e. d. d. d.
The Dock
Examining the individual controls tells you nothing.
> x panel. x pedestal.
> d.
Steps To Water
Going further down would be into the water. Let's explore elsewhere.
> u. u. u. u. w. s.
The Lower Garden
> x dandelions. s. (The mist makes that way too uncertain.)
> n. ne.
Corner Of Upper Garden
> x door. put card in slot. (+5; the door opens)
> drop card. n.
The Research Laboratory
Used for EUNICE, a sonar device to study anomalies in plate tectonics.
> x blueprint. (For a wrist-worn comm device.)
> e.
The Pump Room
> x machine. (On-off button. Air-intake valve.)
> x hole. (Elevator shaft. Up button. Down button. Flywheel. Cables.)
> x flywheel. (It's rusted.)
> push up. (The elevator doesn't move; grinding noise.)
> put grease on flywheel. (+5)
> push up. (Dumbwaiter appears.)
> x dumbwaiter (Nothing on it.)
We cannot enter the dumbwaiter, so let's go elsewhere.
> w. s. sw. n. w.
West Of Driveway
> x door. sw.
Southwest Driveway
Amusingly, you don't have to open the gate, but you'll do a pratfall over it if you try to go through the gate without opening it.
> x gate. open gate. e.
Chicken Coop
> hypnotise chicken. (As per the red book's instructions.)
> feed chicken.
The chicken vanishes much like the dead body did. This will happen either when you feed it or three turns after you enter the coop, whichever comes first.
> x hen house. (glint under straw)
> move straw. (+5; find a small copper key)
> take copper key.
> w. sw.
Drum Shed
> x stains. w.
Helipad
> x weeds. x circle.
> w.
The land beyond the gate is being consumed in ash and fire and death; you retreat to the helipad. Head back to the garage:
> e. ne. ne.
West Of Driveway
> unlock door with copper key. drop key.
> open door. w.
Front Of Garage
> x jaguar. x tires. x engine.
> enter car.
Interior Of Holcroft's Car
The steering wheel is missing, but the fuel gauge is full.
> x gauge. out. w.
Rear Of Garage
The fuel tank cover is here. Guess we'll need a siphon tube.
> open cover. x hole.
> e. e. e.
The Driveway
> x gravel. (Someone's been collecting it?)
> take gravel. (+5)
> e. n. n. nw. n.
Holcroft's Room
Make sure you have the red book before fiddling with the scales!
Note: Putting gravel directly on either plate just falls off. Also, if you take the bag of gravel back, the secret door closes.
> put gravel in bag. close bag.
> put bag on right plate. (+5; secret door in north wall opens)
> n.
Barclay knocks you out and the secret door closes behind you. Time has passed.
Secret Chamber
> x crystal. take it.
> x circles.
> x table. read inscription. ("[...] being in two places at once.")
> stand in circles. (not BOTH at once!)
> stand on left circle. (Sinks slightly; right circle glows red.)
> stand. (You leave the left circle.)
> stand on right circle. (Sinks slightly; left circle glows green.)
> stand.
This seems to be a weight issue, that we need sufficient weight in both circles? I don't understand this puzzle very well, but I know that this works:
> put red book on right. stand on left. (+5; door opens.)
> stand. s.
Holcroft's Room
> take crowbar. x it. s. w. s.
Barclay's Room
> open drawer with crowbar. (+5)
> drop crowbar. (Yes, this is the only place it's good for.)
> look in drawer. (old letters and page of blue notepaper)
> x letters. take page.
> read page. ("CLASS B ROTATION: One half; One full; Two quarters; One full.")
> n. w.
Junction in Corridor
> drop page. (I'll pick this up again much later, when it's more relevant.)
> put crystal in depression. (+5; the device vanishes; the crystal falls to the floor.)
> take crystal. open partition door. w.
Workmen's Section
> n.
Workmen's Rec Room
> x workman.
> ask workman about screwdriver. ask workman about barclay.
> ask workman about holcroft. ask workman about me.
> ask workman about commission.
After three turns of getting no useful info, he will vanish too.
> ask workman about chicken. ask workman about hose.
> take hose.
+5. The workman disappears the way the chicken and corpse did.
> take screwdriver. x it. x hose.
> s. d.
Musty Underground Passage
> smell. e. d.
The Cellar
> x glass. (from beer and whiskey bottles)
> x barrel. x bottle. take it. read label. (Guinness Extra Stout)
> look in bottle. (It's empty? No, the game said there was liquid in it a second ago.)
> x liquid.
> x hole. (Bottom of the dumbwaiter; up and down buttons.)
> x cylinder. (Oxygen) x valve. (closed)
> x door. read sign. (Maze closed.)
> push down. put cylinder in dumbwaiter. push up.
> u. w. u.
Workman's Section
> s. x front door. (Another device.)
> put crystal in depression. (Both device and crystal vanish.)
> open door.
> s. w. w. w.
Rear Of Garage
Just as the bag was more important than the sandwich, the bottle is more important than the beer.
> put hose in hole.
> open bottle with opener. (+5) drop opener.
> drink beer —or— pour guinness on ground. (to empty the bottle)
Unfortunately, the command "suck hose" isn't understood. Nor can you ever explicitly put the hose into the bottle.
> siphon gas. (+5; you fill the bottle with gasoline.)
> take hose.
Head back to the library:
> e. e. e. n. e.
Junction in Corridor
> take page. n. n. n. n.
The Library
> take broomstick. u. u. u. u. u.
Midsection Of Light Tower
> unscrew hook with screwdriver. (+5; you take the hook.)
> put hook on broomstick. drop screwdriver.
> u. u. u. u. u. u.
The Ante-Chamber
> open trapdoor with hook. (+5; a wooden ladder drops into place.)
> drop broomstick. u.
The Light
> drop page. x housing. (Nothing in it, but you knew that.)
> x terminal. read monitor. (Wants the phase modulator first.)
> open metal door. nw.
The Viewing Platform
> x railing. x cable. (Goes all the way down the tower.)
> x box. x hole. (round, empty)
> x tripod. x telescope.
> look through telescope. (You see a beacon on the tower at The Rocks.)
> x ladder. u.
The Dome
> x conductor. take it. d.
The Viewing Platform
> put conductor in hole. (+5)
Head down to the radio in the comm center:
> e. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. d. s. s. w.
Communications Center
The radio will only receive static until the conductor is placed in the Viewing Platform box.
> turn on radio. turn dial. (+5)
Whenever I played, the coordinates were 63° 15' N, 30° 26' W.
Now back outside to the lab and pump room:
> e. s. s. w. s. s. ne. n.
The Research Laboratory
> x generator. x crank. x hole.
> pour gasoline in hole. turn crank. (+5; the generator starts up.)
> drop bottle. e.
The Pump Room
> drop hose. (To make room for the heavy cylinder.)
> take cylinder. (from dumbwaiter) drop it.
> take hose.
> put hose on air-intake valve. put hose on cylinder valve.
> push on-off button. (Denied: Submersible has not docked.)
Head for the dock:
> w. s. sw. e. d. d. d.
The Dock
> switch on-off. (Not "push on-off".)
Remember from the yellow paper that "...call is bl..."?
> push blue button. (+5; Submersible recalled, ETA 9 minutes.)
> u. u. u. w. ne. n. e.
The Pump Room
> x hose. (It's slighty too large for the cylinder's valve.)
I couldn't melt/heat/shrink the tube with the match/candle to get it to fit. What's needed is a blob of wax, which I found very difficult to guess, particularly if I was saving the candle and match until I was sure I needed them.
> take match. light match. light candle with match.
> drop matchbook.
> z. z. z. z. z. z. z. z. (You should now have a blob of wax.)
> x blob. put wax on hose. (+5; you seal the gap.)
> open cylinder valve. push on-off. (+5; water pumped from dock.)
> w. s. sw. e. d. d. d. d.
Steps To Water
The submersible is now here.
> x submersible. x rudder. x propeller. x dome. x hatch.
> open hatch. d.
Inside The Submersible
> close hatch. x panel.
> x monitor. x keyboard. x button.
> push button. (It wants the latitudinal coords, format "NN.NNA")
> type "63.15N" (And the longitudinal.)
> type "30.26W" (Next, the initial depth; this is from the diary.)
> type "70" (Next, the travel speed?)
> type "40" (+5; the sub launches.)
> x dome. z. z. z. z. z. z. z. z. z. z. z. z. z.
You approach something glowing a bright white.
When you get close, the sub shakes, and you're warned of imminent hull breach.
A few turns later, the sub docks somewhere?
> look through dome. open hatch. u.
If you try to push the button again, you're told that you need to recover the phase modulator first.
The Rocks (South Shore)
There's six "The Rocks" locations, but only the north and south shores are interesting in any way.
Note: "enter hatch", not "d" to get back in the sub.
> x dock. close hatch. n.
The Rocks (North Shore)
> x door. (Welded shut.)
> x wall. x lighthouse. x sea. x light.
> save.
Okay, this action is really counter-intuitive, but...
> remove bracelet. z. z. z. (You become transparent... and intangible!)
> n. (+5)
You walk through the door! And although it's not immediately obvious, you drop all your inventory, including the bracelet, on the North Shore. Fortunately, while inside the environs of this tower, you somehow won't need the bracelet and you're completely tangible again.
That means you can't walk back through the door.
Inside The Tower Base
> x sandbags. take sandbag. x staircase. x supports.
> x pool. x moss. x door.
> u. (The staircase collapses into the pool.)
> d.
The Cellar
> x driftwood. take it. x hole.
> d —or— enter hole.
Cavern
> x cables. x stream. x door. ("ELEVATOR")
> w.
The Water Clock
> x clock. x symbols. x markers. x hand.
> x googles. take them. (Your brain gets confused when you try?)
> e. (You can't do this either.)
> x layer.
The trick is to do the opposite action! You may see the clock go backwards if you're here long enough.
> drop goggles. (+5. You take them!)
> w.
Cavern
> wear googles. ne.
The Chasm
> x bridge. x floodlights. x cables.
> e.
Storage Room
> untie Holcroft. (+5)
Holcroft puts something on your wrist so he can contact you if needed, and tells you to retrieve the phase modulator. He plans to deal with Barclay.
> i. x communicator. (has screen and button)
> ask holcroft about barclay. ask holcroft about modulator.
> ask holcroft about holcroft. ask holcroft about madeline.
> ask holcroft about sub.
> x rope. take rope. (The game tells you that oddly, you don't need it.)
> x blackboards. (There's more than one.)
> x north blackboard. ("62.13")
> x west blackboard. ("30.24")
> x east blackboard. (complex math)
> x south blackboard. (drawing of two large pillars, an egg-shaped object, and the modulator.)
> x equipment. ask holcroft about eunice.
> n.
Side Cave
Holcroft follows you.
> x desk. open drawer. take key. (+5)
Barclay arrives, pointing a revolver at Holcroft. They argue to no avail.
Barclay escorts you both to Gateway Cave, where he's been busy with computers and the gateway.
Gateway Cave
Barclay puts you both into a cage, and puts all your inventory (except the communicator), his keys, and the revolver onto a table. He soon ignores you as he goes back to his work.
> x gate. (There's definitely images of other places in there.)
> x cage. x table. x computers. x eunice.
> x barclay. x holcroft.
> ask barclay about madeline. ask barclay about eunice.
> ask barclay about modulator. ask barclay about holcroft.
> ask barclay about me.
> ask holcroft about commission. ask barclay about commission.
> take driftwood. (+5. It's the only thing on the table you can reach without aid.)
> take keys with wood. (+10)
> unlock door with keys. open door.
Naturally, Holcroft follows you out the cage and he grabs the revolver. Holcroft orders Barclay to shut everything down but Barclay claims he can't because the signal to open the gateway has already been sent, and the gateway is opened from the other side.
Holcroft shoots the equipment. Barclay rushes him and they grapple. The vortex in the gateway engulfs the two men and you're thrown to the floor.
When you awaken, vortex and the men are gone. An explosion below you shakes the cave.
> take all from table.
> w. n.
Side Cave
You don't need the photo; it's just a reminder of Barclay's wife's name: Madeline.
> x papers. look under papers. x photograph.
> s. w.
The Chasm
> sw.
Cavern
> unlock door with bronze key. open door. s.
In The Elevator
If you don't wear the goggles, you'll have to retreat into the elevator to put them on upstairs.
> x buttons. (red button up; green, down)
> x plate.
> wear goggles.
> push red button. stand on plate. (The elevator rises.)
> stand. n.
Top Of The Light Tower
> take modulator. (Can't, electric shock.)
> x computer. x monitor.
> type "madeline" (+5; modulator dims)
> take modulator. d.
Iron Staircase
> d. (Can't. You'd die.)
Go back to the elevator.
> u. s.
In The Elevator
> push green button. stand on plate. (Descending weight doesn't correspond with ascending weight!)
> stand. n. drop sandbag. s.
> push green button. stand on plate. (+5. The elevator descends.)
> stand. n.
Cavern
> u. u.
Inside The Tower Base
A gaping hole now exists in the wall.
> drop all but modulator and communicator.
> s.
The Rocks (North Shore)
You feel weak again. You old inventory is here, though; wear the bracelet and leave the rest.
> take bracelet. wear it.
> s. open hatch. enter sub.
Inside The Submersible
> close hatch. push autopilot button.
Latitude? And longitude? (Remember the coords from the blackboards.)
> type "62.13N"
> type "30.24W"
Depth? And speed?
> type "70"
> type "40" (+5)
The island explodes behind you as the sub leaves.
> z. z. z. z. z. (Temperature spike! Hull breach imminent!)
> z. z. z. (Dome collapse in 25 seconds...)
> z. z. z. (Dome collapse in 6 seconds...)
> z. z. z. (Dome breaks and the sub is sinking!)
> open hatch. u.
Secret Cave
The sub sinks away.
> x skeleton. x cutlass. x graffiti. ("YOHO")
> x hole. (3" dia. and 15' up.)
> yoho.
Copyright Violation Island
> any-command.
Your command is ignored. An irate copyright holder approaches and sends you back to the cave.
Secret Cave
> take cutlass. (+5. You don't get it, but something falls out the hole instead.)
> look. x stone. x pebbles. x milky stone. take it.
> x lights. ne. n.
End Of Passage
> x hole. put milky stone in hole. (+5; secret door opens.)
> e.
The Library
The bookcase shuts behind you.
> u. u. u. u.
> u. u. u. u.
> u. u. u. u.
The Light
> put modulator in housing. (+5)
> x monitor. take page. read it.
Remember the page of blue notepaper in Barclay's cabinet drawer? If you make a mistake, you have to start the entire sequence from the beginning. Note that the "two quarters" clue should be interpreted as two 90's, not as 180.
> type 180. type 360. type 90. type 90. type 360. (+10)
The modulator locks into place and lights up. The sun returns and banishes the mist. The surrounding landscape, however, is charred desolation.
Hope returns as you hear a whispering from the wrist communicator, and see Commission helicopters approaching. You smile before you pass out.
THE END OF THE BEGINNING...
*** Thanks for playing THE LIGHT: SHELBY'S ADDENDUM ***
The author lists the credits here, at the end.
The player character:
Non-player characters:
Other characters mentioned:
Here is a copy of the closing credits as they appear at the end of the game:
The author wishes to thank the following for their past and present assistance:
Volker Blasius for his colossal cave.
Keith Campbell of Computer & Video Games Magazine.
Celtic Software for publishing the first two games.
Neil deMause for his invaluable help with the Macintosh versions.
Special thanks to Paul David Doherty for his patience and excellent beta test.
"Gamma" testers: Marc Frank, David Gilbert, David London, Giovanni Maga, Andrew Plotkin, and everybody who offered their constructive criticism and bug reports.
Arthur Guinness and Joseph Huber for their spiritual guidance.
Martha Kuehl for her tireless account.
Mike Roberts for his wonderful TADS system and his instructions module.
SPAG Magazine.
XYZZY News Magazine.
CAUTION: Don't remove the bracelet at any other time in the game. Once you become transparent, you're unable to pick up the bracelet and wear it again. And after 10 more turns, you'll vanish and be reassembled in a world of extreme heat and flame, and you'll die.
In a total of turn-count turns, you have scored your-total-score points out of a possible 200, which promotes Shelby to the position of rank.
Ranks:
This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with