In the framing story, you are Harlan Ellison's guest at the 1969 Convocation at Castle Balderstone, where authors of terror tell their tales of horror. Rattlesnake Yates, who specializes in western horror, reads "Like a Sky Full of Locusts", wherein you play as Noah White, an army man who returns to a Fort Hugh occupied by demons and destruction.
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.
> talk to Jim.(He gives you the armory key before running off.)
> x key.
> w. n. w. n.
Gallows
> x gibbet. e.
Road (east of gallows)
> x muck. shoot it.(It's gone.)
> e.
East Battery
> x box. take it.(You now have 11 bullets.)
> x cannons. x door.
> unlock door with key. s.
Armory
> x hornet.("DOMINUS STRAGIUM")
> shoot it. g. g.(It explodes.)
> open case.
> x rifle. take it.
> take bullets.
> x shells. take shells.
> i.
The rifle has 7 cartridges and the pistol has 14 bullets.
> n. w. w. w.
Road (west of gallows)
> x bear. shoot it.(It explodes.)
> x chapel. n.
Chapel
> take bullets. x benches.
> n.
Behind the Chapel
> x lobster. shoot it. g.(It falls.)
> x lobster.
> w.
Rectory
The long poem continues. The chaplain tells you that Levin summoned demons to punish the soldiers for their sins. He also gives you some blessed salt to rub on each point of Levin's Pentagram.
The points of the Pentagram are glyphs. You saw one in the Billiards Room.
> x chaplain. x salt.
> e. s. s. w.
West Battery
> x bat. shoot it. g.(It flies off.)
> x cannons.
> n.
Flagpole
> x rune. put salt on rune.(It's gone.)
> x pole.
> s. e. e. s. w.
Carpenter's Shop
> x demon. x axe. shoot demon.(It's gone.)
> x debris. search it.(You acquire a tintype.)
> x tintype.
> w.
Blacksmith's Shop
> x bones. x leather. x tools.
> take bullets.
> e. s.
Cooper's Shop
> x wreckage. x tick. x symbol.
> put salt on symbol.(It's gone.)
> w.
Storeroom
> x Minette. talk to her.(She tells you Dan didn't make it, tosses her shotgun to you, and runs away.)
> x shotgun. x mess.
> e. n. e. e. s.
Billiard Room
> put salt on glyph.(It's gone.)
> n. w. n. n.
Vegetable Garden
> x shadow. shoot it.(It's gone.)
> x poles.
> n.
Office
> take bullets. take letter. read it.
> x symbol. put salt on it.(It's gone.)
> x desk.
> e.
Stable
> x imp. shoot it. g. g.(It's gone.)
> x stalls.
> e.
Corral
> x Beryl. pet her.(She gallops out of the fort.)
> w. w. s. e.
Mess Hall
> x wreckage. x demon. shoot it. g.(It's gone.)
> e.
Kitchen
> x counter. x glyph. put salt on it.(It's gone.)
When all five symbols are gone, you hear a bang from the center of the fort.
> w. w. s.
Gallows
> x hole. x smoke.
> d. d.
Pallid Field
> x people. x castle. x fields.
> d.
Lake of Fire
> x fire. x folks. x critter.
> d.
Bottom
> x Furtur. x Levin. x slime. x floor.
> talk to Furtur.
> shoot demon. g. g. g. g.
The long poem concludes with you carrying the Colonel back up the stairs to Fort Hugh.
*** The End ***
Yates concludes his story, and the guests discuss it. Yates and Robert Bloch nearly come to blows, but they're interrupted by a shriek, then darkness!
*** THE END. ***
The interpreter closes.
Extras
Characters
Framing story characters:
Harlan Ellison, author of "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream," is the narrator in the framing story. He invited you, an outsider, to this gathering of horror authors.
Rattlesnake Yates, an author of Old West Horror who dresses like he rode a horse here from Tombstone, Arizona, tells the internal story, "Like a Sky Full of Locusts".
Ira Levin bluntly opines that Yates's stories are morally simplistic.
Robert Bloch objects to the rhymes in the story and is willing to fight about it even though he obviously doesn't have the arms for a fight.
The moderator and other audience members are in attendance. The moderator isn't very good at keeping order amongst these highly opinionated luminaries.
Mentioned: Terence Fisher is name-dropped in the prologue.
Monsters:
A dead-eyed thing blocks your way on the south-side road.
A horned demon holding Charlie's axe is in the carpenter's shop.
A rotting bear blocks your way on the west-side road.
A thing with the pinchers (aka the lobster) is behind the chapel.
A bat-winged demon is perched on the cannons in the west battery.
A shambling worm is wheezing in the barracks.
A horse-lich is shaking the bars of the cell in the stockade.
A slimy maw (aka the greenish muck) blocks your way on the east-side road.
A hornet prince stands on top of the munitions case in the armory.
A wraith (aka the shadow) blocks your way in the vegetable garden.
A muscular demon is stomping back and forth in the mess hall.
A goblin (aka the imp) is scampering about the stable.
Furtur, an enormous Great Earl of Hell naturally equipped with both bat's wings and stag's antlers, is waist-deep in the polluted ice that acts as Hell's bottom floor. He holds Colonel Levin in his monstrous jaws.
Living humans and animals:
Noah White is the player character within Yates's story. He's an Army man with prematurely-white hair.
Jim Shaw, a troublemaker, locked himself in the stockade for his own safety. He has the armory key.
The chaplain is hiding in his rectory. He blessed some salt for you to use, but he's too scared to use it himself.
Minette, wielding a shotgun, is in the storeroom. It is strongly implied that she is a prostitute who worked for Dan.
Beryl is a palomino mare in the corral. She hoofs it when you pet her.
Colonel Ashworth Levin is the bearded and apparently insane commander of Fort Hugh. Frustrated with the minor sins of the soldiers under his command, and the fact that the U.S. government won't do anything about it, he summoned demons from Hell to punish them. You find him in Furtur's jaws, by his own choice, at the bottom of the hellpit.
Spirits of the dead:
Pleasance, the spirit of your own sister, silently implores you to carry her out of Hell. She is mentioned in the third part of the poetry.
Shadows of people wander the pallid fields.
Folks are trying to swim in the lake of fire. Occasionally, a critter with a pitchfork pushes them back down.
Faces of damned souls look up at you in the frozen ice at the bottom of the hellpit.
Found dead:
Finch was the fort's blacksmith. You strongly suspect that the bones in his shop are his.
Some horses did not escape from their stalls. No details of their bodies are given.
Mentioned:
Charlie was the fort's carpenter. He abandoned his axe during the demon invasion.
Dan was the fort's cooper. He also rented out a bed (and Minette's services) by the hour. Minette informs you Dan didn't make it.
Bug keeps a clean kitchen.
Carmelita is the lovely woman depicted on the tintype. She may or may not be Charlie's wife and you know nothing about her current status.
Credits
This is the response to CREDITS:
(This entry in ECTOCOMP 2024 is brought to you by the generous support of many wonderful Patreon backers: Zachary Dillon, Evan Hahn, Josh Lawrence, BrettW, Tobias V. Langhoff, Robert Eggleston, Jessica Seidl, Stephen Norris, Julia Ramsey, Jason Love, Magnus Buchanan, Dominia, Jason Farrell, Benjamin Slade, Jeremy P. Wright, Rus Whang, Sarah W, Nils Fagerburg, Jordan Eash, Mark, Grant Veeder, Robert Paloutzian, Greg Frost, Q. Pheevr, Karl Ove Hufthammer, Robin Johnson, Yerrik, Sarah, Ivan R, Allen Tan, Matt Schneider, Jenelle Marie, Sammy El-Bahrawy, Janice M. Eisen, Maiko Ziegler, Jacques Frechet, Zachary Hodgens, Emily Short, Doug Orleans, Matthew Zimmermann, Derek Sotak, Carl Muckenhoupt, Carolyn VanEseltine, Rich Cheng, and Jenni Polodna. SO MANY NAMES GOSH.
If you're interested in my other games or the other stuff I do, my website is rcveeder.net, my email address is email redacted, and my Patreon is patreon.com/rcveeder.
This game was tested by Jason Love, Robert Eggleston, Zachary Dillon, and Sarah Willson.)
Inventory
Shoot monsters with the guns. To change which gun you're using, use the WIELD command; for example: WIELD RIFLE.
Ammo is only listed when you have the appropriate weapon. Don't worry about loading your weapons; that's done automatically.
a pistol. You're carrying it.
The pistol uses bullets; you have 6 bullets in the pistol initially.
Take every box of bullets you find; there are six boxes and each box contains 6 bullets. These boxes are in the barracks (in the footlocker), the east battery, the armory, the chapel, the blacksmith's shop, and the office.
Including the 6 bullets you started with, that's a grand total of 42 bullets in the game.
I finished the game using only the pistol as my weapon. Some monsters require 1, 2, or 3 shots; the final monster, Furtur, requires 5.
a shotgun. Acquire it by talking to Minette in the storeroom.
The shotgun uses shells; you get 2 shells with the shotgun. Four more shells are in the munitions case in the armory.
a rifle. It's in the munitions case in the armory.
The rifle uses cartridges. There's 7 cartridges in the barracks' footlocker.
a tintype. Acquire it by searching the debris in the carpenter's shop.
Just keep it. It does you no good to show it to anyone.
a satchel of blessed salt. The chaplain gives it to you when you first enter his rectory.
At the flagpole, put salt on the rune.
In the cooper's shop, put salt on the symbol (inscribed on the feather tick).
In the billiard room, put salt on the glyph (painted on the pool table).
In the kitchen, put salt on the symbol (carved into the countertop).
In the office, put salt on the symbol (inscribed in melted wax on the floor).
When all five symbols are salted and gone, a pit opens up beside the gallows.
a letter. It's on the desk in the office.
Read it to learn why Levin summoned demons to punish the soldiers in his command.
a heavy iron key. Jim gives this key to you when you talk to him after you defeat the horse-lich in the stockade.
The key unlocks the armory door in the East Battery.
the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, Phil Tatro, Allyson Gray, Daniel Stelzer, and Tabitha;
the generous support of Janice M Eisen, Matthew Foxley, Thomas Insel, Brian Long, and Andy Volk;
