top

Key & Compass presents:
Only After Dark
by Gunther Schmidl

Only After Dark is a Z-machine interactive fiction story written with Inform 6 and is © 1999, 2000 by Gunther Schmidl. It was an entry in IF Comp 1999 where it took 17th place. Ranil Kuami's story continues in And the Waves Choke the Wind, an incomplete sequel which was entered in IF Comp 2000.

In this short horror story, you play as Ranil Kuami, a young black sailor enjoying some shore leave on a small island. The villagers are friendly, and you plan on getting some action tonight. Instead, you'll find something evil that must be destroyed.

This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 2 of the story.

SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction story. Please make an honest effort to play the story before reading this walkthrough.


Map

Lyca's Hut Jail Hut VillageCenter Runningthroughthe Woods Clearing Fork inthe Path Beach The Dagon throw talismanat wolf sleep (as wolf) enter hut bite guard run (×5) follow scent howl

Because this game is heavily plot-driven, a map isn't very useful. Still, you get one anyway. I like maps.


Walkthrough

Day One

> SPACE

Village Center

> about.

> x me. i. x clothes. x knife. x ring. x talisman.

> x tree. x platform. x rope.

> x circle. x huts.

> n. (A beautiful woman named Lyca arrives, and pulls you towards a hut.)

> x Lyca. enter hut.

Lyca's Hut

> remove clothes. enter hammock. (Lyca joins you.)

> kiss Lyca. x Lyca.

She turns into a wolf! Your talisman repels her when she tries to bite your throat! You both fall out of the hammock and you pull out your knife.

CAUTION: If you try to kill the wolf with the knife or throw the knife at the wolf, you die.

> throw talisman at wolf.

The wolf catches fire! You stab her in the eye. She dies. You're knocked out.

> SPACE

When you wake, two angry villagers haul you to their jail, but not before you see the human Lyca with your knife in her eye. Oddly, you have the talisman again.

Jail Hut

> x me. (naked)

> i. wear talisman.

> x bed. x door.

> open door. (A guard yells at you.)

> open door. (They tie you to the bed.)

> yell. (They gag you.)

> sleep. SPACE


Day Two

> SPACE

Village Center

You are woken, restrained, given your trousers, and taken to the gallows. They tie the rope around your neck. Gerhardsen and Aten arrive and argue with the Elder. You see the shaman wearing a wolf fur! A guard smothers your mouth and nose before you can say anything.

> bite guard.

You fall, but Aten cuts you free. The villagers become wolves. They tear Gerhardsen apart as you and Aten flee!

Running through the Woods

> run.

> run.

> run. (Aten falls! But you dare not stop.)

> run. (You can see the Dagon.)

> run.

You make it onto the Dagon. You tell Captain Davids everything. He says he can make a salve that can turn you into a wolf for a time. He orders you to sleep.

> SPACE


Day Three

> SPACE

(The Dagon)

After midnight, Davids applies the salve. When the pain of transformation fades, sight has paled greatly but you can smell everything much better.

> SPACE

Davids quickly drops you off the boat and tells you to kill the shaman and be back in two hours or else.

Beach

> smell evil. follow evil. (You head northeast to...)

Fork in the Path

> nw. (You lose the trail and return to the fork.)

> ne.

Clearing

> x shaman. x altar.

CAUTION: If you try to kill the shaman now, you'll get caught in a net trap and held until you're stuck as a wolf. You also cannot leave.

> jump at shaman. (He curses, and ten villagers arrive.)

> kill shaman. (His blood spills, and the villagers collapse.)

It takes a huge effort to ignore the blood smell.

> sw. sw. sw.

Beach

> e. (Can't enter the water.)

> howl. (Davids arrives and shoots you!)

> SPACE

The Dagon

You wake, human. Davids apologizes for the "silver treatment". You ask if you were successful. He nods.

*** You have won ***


Extras

Characters

Crew of the Dagon:

The villagers:


Credits

This is the response to ABOUT:

You will want to play this game on an interpreter that supports full color for the original experience.

Thanks to Jon Blask, Jason Dyer, Simon Stapleton and Dan Shiovitz for testing!


Endings


Inventory

Honorable mention:


Score

The response to SCORE is:

Life doesn't work that way.


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.


Support me on Ko-fi

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