Key & Compass presents:
Murder at the Aero Club
by Penny Wyatt

• Map
• Walkthrough
  • Ending 1: Arson
  • Ending 2: Assault
• Extras
  • Characters
  • Inventory
  • Score
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• External links:
  • This game at IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Walkthrough by the author.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Map

Walkthrough

Car park

This is a rather lightweight game with few locations, characters, or objects. It's a bit too under-implemented for my tastes, but as they say, Your Mileage May Vary.

The best part of the game may be the notebook that updates itself with any clues you've found. It's an affordance that many games would benefit from.

Another positive feature of note is the game's unusual location, the aero club itself. It's surprising how few works of interactive fiction take place at airports of any kind.

Please answer yes or no.> i. x notebook. x car. x vehicles.

Please answer yes or no.> enter car.

Inside your car

I totally missed this location when I first played this game.

Please answer yes or no.> open glove box. look in it. (We find a packet of cigarettes.)

Please answer yes or no.> x packet. (This is the only time the PC's male gender is mentioned.)

Please answer yes or no.> out. n. e.

Murder Scene

The body's still here? The prologue told us that we took 8 hours to drive here! They just left a dead body here unattended all this time? Ew.

By the way, we never learn the victim's name. We're not that good an investigator, are we?

Please answer yes or no.> x corpse. (Back of head struck with blunt object.)

Please answer yes or no.> x insignia. (Noted: Man is an ASAC inspector.)

Please answer yes or no.> take phone. x phone. push sms. (Noted: No battery.)

Please answer yes or no.> take logbook. x logbook.

Please answer yes or no.> x slip. (Noted: TAF-ELK didn't pay a bribe.)

Please answer yes or no.> x bushes. search bushes. x battery.

Please answer yes or no.> put battery in phone. push sms. (SIM card missing.)

Please answer yes or no.> w. n. n.

Office

Please answer yes or no.> x posters. x fuel poster. (Fuel for light aircraft should be pale blue.)

Please answer yes or no.> x fire poster. (The local Fire Safety Officer is Brad.)

Please answer yes or no.> x bin. search bin. x sim card.

Please answer yes or no.> put card in phone.

Please answer yes or no.> push sms. (Noted: Victim received a threatening message.)

Please answer yes or no.> x noticeboard. x notice. (Noted: ASAC inspector can confiscate aircraft.)

Please answer yes or no.> s. w.

Lounge Room

Only the people are implemented in this room.

Please answer yes or no.> x cecil. (tall; planning for a flight)

Please answer yes or no.> x haagen. (large; beer drinker and a smoker)

Please answer yes or no.> x das clan. (avoid them)

Please answer yes or no.> ask Cecil about murder. ("It'd be a shame to bother him"? What sort of detective are we?)

Please answer yes or no.> ask Haagen about murder. (He makes a joke; this seems to be a default response.)

Is "murder" not an implemented conversation topic in this game? Seriously?

Please answer yes or no.> e. s. w.

Tie-Down Area

Please answer yes or no.> x warrior. (Noted: Warrior's reg is TAF-LMY.)

Please answer yes or no.> x pacer. (Noted: Pacer's reg is TAF-ELK.)

Please answer yes or no.> x aircraft. (Noted: Cessna is TAF-WYZ; Cherokee is TAF-PBG.)

Please answer yes or no.> x pump. s.

Workshop

Please answer yes or no.> x centrefold. x bench. search bench.

Please answer yes or no.> x parts. x papers. x letter. (Recent confiscation notice.)

Please answer yes or no.> x tools. x wrench. (Blood on one end.)

Please answer yes or no.> x Brad. x barrel.

Please answer yes or no.> x drink. smell drink. (Seems he's drinking aviation fuel?)

We can ask Brad about a few things.

Please answer yes or no.> ask brad about murder. ask brad about asac.

Please answer yes or no.> ask brad about cecil. (He refused to... what?)

Please answer yes or no.> ask brad about fire safety. ask brad about club.

Please answer yes or no.> ask brad about barrel. ask brad about haagen.

Please answer yes or no.> ask brad about warrior. (That's Penny's.)

Please answer yes or no.> ask brad about penny.

Please answer yes or no.> ask brad about pacer. (He sniggers.)

Please answer yes or no.> ask brad about bribe. ("I always paid mine. Oops.")

Please answer yes or no.> ask brad about phone.

Please answer yes or no.> ask brad about drink.

Please answer yes or no.> n.

Tie-Down Area

Please answer yes or no.> z. (Wait repeatedly until the Warrior is parked, then enter it.)

Please answer yes or no.> enter warrior.

Inside the Warrior

Please answer yes or no.> x penny. x checklist.

Please answer yes or no.> ask penny about fuel. (Close to running out.)

Please answer yes or no.> ask penny about pacer. (Noted: It's Cecil's.)

Please answer yes or no.> ask penny about inspector.

Please answer yes or no.> ask penny about bribe.

Please answer yes or no.> ask penny about brad. (He drinks fuel? Really?)

Please answer yes or no.> ask penny about haagen.

Please answer yes or no.> ask penny about warrior.

Please answer yes or no.> ask penny about club.

Please answer yes or no.> ask penny about murder.

Please answer yes or no.> out.

Tie-Down Area

Please answer yes or no.> e. n. w.

Lounge Room

Please answer yes or no.> push ring. (+5; Noted: Cecil's phone rings.)

We now have enough evidence to prove who committed the crime.

Please answer yes or no.> x notebook.

Please answer yes or no.> accuse cecil. (+10; He runs off!)

Please answer yes or no.> e. s. w.

Tie-Down Area

The fuel pump is damaged, and the Pacer takes off.

Please answer yes or no.> x pump. (Broken to prevent anyone following him.)

Please answer yes or no.> x puddle. enter warrior.

Inside the Warrior

Penny tells us she's out of fuel and can't go after him.

Please answer yes or no.> ask penny about fuel. out.

Tie-down Area

At this point we have a choice. Brad won't give us his drink or the barrel no matter what we say. We must resort to drastic measures. Do you like arson or assault?

Ending 1: Arson

Tie-down Area

Please answer yes or no.> e. n. w.

Lounge Room

Did you remember that Haagen is a smoker?

Please answer yes or no.> give packet to haagen. x cigarette.

Please answer yes or no.> e. s. w.

Tie-Down Area

This is an incredibly reckless thing to do; it's hard to believe this action is rewarded.

Please answer yes or no.> put cigarette in puddle. (+5; Brad arrives to put out the fire.)

Please answer yes or no.> s.

Workshop

Please answer yes or no.> take barrel.

Please answer yes or no.> n. enter warrior.

Inside the Warrior

Please answer yes or no.> give barrel to penny. (+10)

The game jumps forward a week where we're back at headquarters.

I note that the game deftly omits any description of how we catch Cecil afterwards. I think we can safely assume that Penny doesn't shoot down Cecil's Pacer with machine gun fire. But exactly what we do do instead is literally left up in the air.

*** You have won ***

Our boss is so pleased, he's recommended us for a promotion.

Ending 2: Assault

Tie-down Area

Please answer yes or no.> s.

Workshop

Please answer yes or no.> hit brad. (Really? This is what we're doing? Isn't this what the murderer did to his victim? At least we didn't kill Brad.)

Please answer yes or no.> take barrel.

Please answer yes or no.> n. enter warrior.

Inside the Warrior

Please answer yes or no.> give barrel to penny. (+10)

*** You have won ***

However, because we attacked an innocent civilian, we're also out of a job.

Extras

Characters

In order of appearance in this walkthrough:

• An ASAC inspector is the murder victim; his corpse is at the Murder Scene. Our investigations never give us his name.
• Cecil is busy in the Lounge Room with his flight plans.
• Haagen Das is in the Lounge Room. He's useless for conversation, but he can give us a lit cigarette.
• The Das clan are Haagen's relatives, also in the Lounge Room. Ignore them.
• Brad is in the Workshop, drinking something unusual. He's also the Fire Safety Officer of the club.
• Penny is in the Warrior aircraft — she's the pilot — and very likely represents the game's author.

Inventory

In order of acquisition in this walkthrough:

• notebook. We start the game with this. It'll update itself automatically with notes about the evidence we've found.
• packet of cigarettes. They're in the glove box inside our car. Give them to Haagen to get a lit cigarette.
• mobile phone. Found at the Murder Scene. It belongs to the victim, but we'll need to find and insert the battery and SIM card to get it fully working. Push the SMS button to read a threatening message, then push the Ring button in the Lounge Room to determine that Cecil sent that message.
• logbook. Found at the Murder Scene. Read it and read the slip of paper in it.
• phone battery. Search the bushes at the Murder Scene to find it. Put it into the mobile phone.
• SIM card. Search the bin in the Office to find it. Put it into the mobile phone.
• letter. Examine the papers on the workshop bench to find it. Read it.
• torque wrench. Examine the tools on the workshop bench to find it. Examine it; it's the murder weapon. We can also use it to hit Brad, to get him off the barrel, but it's not without consequences.
• lit cigarette. Give the packet of cigarettes to Haagen Das to get a lit cigarette. After the suspect flees, put the cig in the puddle of fuel at the Tie-down Area to start a fire. This will summon Brad, leaving the barrel free for us to take.
• barrel. Brad's sitting on it in the Workshop; it's full of aviation fuel. After the suspect flees, we'll need to resort to either arson (see lit cigarette) or assault (see torque wrench) to get Brad off the barrel. Give the barrel to Penny.

Score

You have so far scored this-many out of a possible 30, in several turns.

• 5 points for determining the source of the SMS.
• 10 points for accusing the correct person.
• 5 points for distracting Brad.
• 10 points for saving the day.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough is provided free of charge since the work it's based on has less than fifteen locations. Please consider it a thank you for your support!

I create larger walkthroughs too! Please visit my Patreon account if you're interested in helping me create more interactive fiction walkthroughs. I appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks again.