It's 11:35 p.m. and it's dark. You just parked your rental car at the end of a dead-end dirt road. One of the two houses you passed must be your self check-in rental. You just need to find the key and let yourself in before the approaching thunderstorm gets too bad. Your only tool is a phone with 5% power.
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.
No leisurely exploration in this game! You're racing against an approaching thunderstorm, and hampered by darkness. Your phone can provide light and info, but it only has 5% power, so you must conserve power when you can.
> i. x phone.
Screen
> 1 ("Gallery")
> 5 ("instructions part 1": learn the gate with the rock is at your rental)
> 6 ("instructions part 2": learn about "123" code)
> 4 (close the phone)
Clearing
> n.
Dirt road
This might be the house you rented, but it's hard to tell in the dark.
> e.(no: heavy rock in the way)
> push rock. e.
Green garden
> push rock.(to put it back)
> e.
Patio
> x window. x ashtray. footnote 13.
> take ashtray. take wheel.
> w. s.
Utility area
> turn on torch. look.
With your torch on, you see the lockbox.
> x lockbox. put wheel in lockbox.
> turn wheels.
Lockbox dial
The wheels are missing some of their digits, so for each wheel, you must turn it until you see a digit, then calculate how many turns are necessary to get to the desired digit, then turn the wheel that many times.
The first wheel is at "5", and you want it to be at "1", so turn it six times:
> 1. 1. 1.
> 1. 1. 1.
The second wheel is at an unknown setting.
> 2. 2. 2.
The second wheel is now at "6", and you want it to be at "2", so turn it six more times:
> 2. 2. 2.
> 2. 2. 2.
The third wheel is at an unknown setting.
> 3. 3. 3. 3.
> 3. 3. 3.
The second wheel is now at "4", and you want it to be at "3", so turn it nine more times:
> 3. 3. 3.
> 3. 3. 3.
> 3. 3. 3.
The wheels show "1**", but logically, they're at "123". Open the lockbox:
> 4
Utility area
> look in box. take key.
> turn off torch.
> n. e.
Patio
> unlock door with key.
*** The best end possible. Well done! ***
Extras
Characters
The barman in the bar is getting ready to close. He can help you only a little.
The only customer in the bar is friendly, but he doesn't speak your language.
Mentioned:
The man at the car rental told you that most flights arrive late.
The host of your rental house wrote instructions but with very broken English.
Someone else rented the other house but isn't expected until morning.
Credits
For the in-game credits, type ABOUT then type 3:
To my beloved Ceci. Thank you for running with me through the thunderstorm. I'm so glad we figured out the strangest self check-in together.
To my testers, Tabitha and Gianluca (g0blin70), thank you so much for your valuable input and support!
Endings
These are the endings I found:
Game over. Wet.
if the rain finally gets so heavy, you're forced to take refuge in your car.
Game over. At least you are not that much wet.
if you sleep in your car before the storm gets bad. (Note: You cannot sleep with the gate swinging loose or if it's not late enough.)
The Wild and Free End.
if you swim in the pool.
The end. Good, but wrong.
if you enter the red door of the wrong house.
The one-star review ending.
if you enter the blue door of your rental house, but you both climbed over the rendered wall and pried open the lockbox.
Halfway between good and bad ending: one of two possible damages incurred.
if you enter the blue door of your rental house, but you either climbed over the rendered wall or pried open the lockbox.
You came so close to the good end.
if you enter the blue door of your rental house, and you didn't cause any damage, but you left the wicket gate free to swing noisily in the wind all night.
The best end possible. Well done!
if you not only entered the blue door of your rental house, you also opened the lockbox without breaking it, you didn't climb over the rendered wall, and you pushed the rock back so the wicket gate isn't noisy all night.
Footnotes
There's eight footnotes. The numbers are fixed but not contiguous:
footnote 1(re "Booking a car with 24-hour pickup (1)" in intro.) The man at the desk told you it happens with almost every flight. "The problem of this country" he said "is nobody wants to work anymore."
footnote 2(re "read the footnote (2)" after any ending when you didn't read any footnotes.) Ok, you have now mastered reading footnotes!
footnote 13(re "Freshly cleaned (13)" at Patio when examining the ashtray.) Here it is, in its natural habitat, perfectly matching the local style just like it's supposed to. I remember seeing the same kind of artisanal item as a kid, at a friend's house. Totally mismatched, mixed in with other out-of-place relics from their parents' holidays. Now, traveling without my parents, paying for everything myself, I suddenly realize: I'm an adult.
footnote 33(re "thunderstorm rumbling outside (33)" in sleep-in-car ending.) Internet says it's actually safe to sleep in a car during a thunderstorm; the metal body acts like a Faraday cage, shielding you from lightning. Just avoid touching anything metal connected to the outside. That said, there are risks: shattered windows, electrical damage, and fires are among the reported possibilities.
Anyway, this was a game over, not life advice. You should try again for a better ending.
footnote 37(re "confirm your hunch (37)" from examining the fields in the Clearing with the lit torch.) Kind of a strange crop, really. Each bushy plant has its own little stone wall shielding one side.
footnote 41(re "firmly shut (41)" at Crossroads when trying to enter the locked bar fails.) The barman's gone, probably through the back.
footnote 42(re "house Wi-Fi (42)" in the swimming ending.) What kind of rental has a pool and no Wi-Fi? Come on.
footnote 50(re "welcoming mood (50)" in Bar description when you enter with a lit torch.) A perfectly coherent boomer move in a boomer game: you enter a lit room with your phone's torch still on. Are you still waving it around while talking, or is this one of those shiny pocket situations?
Inventory
Phone. You're carrying it.
The phone begins with 5% battery. You can increase it to 10% by talking to the barman in the bar and choosing "Ask to plug in your phone."
Examine the phone to see its three functions listed: gallery, torch, and translator. Every function you use drains more of your phone's battery. You will need the majority of your phone's power while laboriously turning the wheels of the lockbox, so try not to waste it!
There are four items in the gallery you may examine. "Instructions part 1" lets you know about the rock blocking the gate. "Instructions part 2" tells you in very broken English that the house key is the lockbox, that the missing dial wheel is under the ashtray, and that the combo is "123". The garden picture tells you that the spade exists. The weather forecast tells you that the thunderstorm will start between midnight and 1 a.m.
You must turn the torch on to find either the spade in the green garden or the lockbox in the utility area. Obviously, the torch must stay on while doing anything with the lockbox.
You do not need to examine the phone to turn the torch on or off. The commands LUMOS and NOX also work.
At the crossroads, you can translate the hanging sign ("OPEN") or the shop sign ("The Corner Locksmith").
Number dial wheel. It's hidden underneath the ashtray on the porch's windowsill.
Learn about "123" from your phone's gallery.
In the utility area, put the wheel in the lockbox. Now turn the wheels. You must turn the three wheels individually to "123" then open the lockbox.
Several digits on the wheel have rubbed off. You must turn a wheel until a digit is visible, then carefully count your turns of the wheel until the wheel is logically at the desired digit.
Metal spade. It's in the green garden. You must have the torch on to see the spade.
In the utility area, you can pry the lockbox with the spade to open it, but causing this damage is sub-optimal.
a house key. It's in the lockbox in the utility area. You must have the torch on to see the lockbox.
To open the lockbox, you need either the spade (to pry the lockbox with) or the number dial wheel (so you can unlock the lockbox properly).
On the patio, the house key unlocks the blue door.
a keychain set. In the bar, talk to the barman and ask "Can you help me? I rented an apartment, but the GPS isn't exactly clear on where it is." The barman gives you the keychain.
On the tarmac lane, the keychain unlocks the lattice gate.
In the gravel yard, the keychain unlocks the red door.
Note:
You never acquire the ashtray. If you try to take it, you merely lift it and find the dial wheel and leave the ashtray on the sill.
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