In this horror game, you play as Murray Shannon. An urgent telegram from your cousin summoned you to Creek Town, Louisiana, but your car had an electrical failure when it entered the edge of town. The smell of death is everywhere. Find Alan, fix your car, and find out what happened here.
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.
> x knob. pull knob.(The hood pops open a little.)
> out. n.
In Front of Your Car
> open hood. x engine. x plug.
> take plug.(no, you need both a replacement and a tool to unscrew it with)
> close hood.
> s. s.
Behind Your Car
> unlock trunk.(with car key)
> open trunk. x can. read label. take can.
> close trunk.
> e.
In Front of Service Station
> x pump. read sign.("Out of order")
> x van. x stalls. x station.
> e.
Service Station
> x man.("Nelson")
> x pit. d.
Vehicle Inspection Pit
> x WD. take it.
> u. w. n.
Town Square
> w.(no: wrecked inn)
> e.
Inside Post Office
> x larva.(creeping to you)
> pour kerosene on larva.(revolver revealed)
> drop kerosene can.
> take sack. x it.(open and has hole)
> take gun. x it.(loaded)
> x dead larva. x papers. x dust.
> w. n.
Road (between funeral home and church)
> shoot dog.(You use one bullet on the dog and five more on the larva that emerges from it.)
> x larva. x slime. x dog.
> w.
Funeral Home
> x coffin. open coffin. x vial.
> x body. search body.(acquired house key and note)
> read note.(something fell into the woods and there's another note somwhere)
> x house key.
> close coffin.
> e. e.
Church
> x door. x brightness.
> hit door.(An energy blast flings you away from it.)
> w. n.
Road (between shop and garage)
> x shop. x garage.
> x shutter. spray it(with WD-40).
We'll return back to the shop and the garage a bit later.
> n.
Outskirts of Town
> x store. x apartment. x underpass.
> w.(no: closed front door)
> unlock door(with house key). open door.
> w.
Living Room
> x furnishings. w.
Bedroom
> take all. x shotgun. x cartridges.
> load shotgun.(A piece of paper falls out.)
> take paper. read it.
> look under bed. x window.
> e. e. e.
Hardware Store
> take all. x axe. x pliers.
> w. s. w.
Small Shop
> x looters.
> shoot looters with shotgun.(You miss them but your second shot hits a shelf that falls on them and knocks them out.)
> look. take battery.
Oddly, you won't take the rifles. You just instinctively know you won't need them.
> e. e.
Small Garage
> take plug.(no: tightly screwed)
> spray plug(with WD-40).
> unscrew plug(with pliers).(It's yours.)
> w. n. n. e.
Underpass
Do not attempt to fight hungry rats. Obviously you should feed them instead.
> w. s. s. s.
Road (between funeral home and church)
> take dog.(using the sack to carry it and avoid touching it)
> n. n. n. e.
Underpass
> drop dog.(The rats start feasting and ignore you.)
> e.
East Entrance to Underpass
> x building. s. e. u.
Small Office
> x woman. search woman.(notice a filing cabinet)
> x cabinet. open it.
> x player. x cassette.
> take all from cabinet.
> put side A in player.
> push play.(needs a battery)
> put battery in player.
> push play.
You learn that Side B makes a sound that disables the aliens' security system. In other words, it's an audio key that unlocks that energy field on the sacristy door in the church.
> push eject.
> put side B in player.
> push play. push rewind.
> d. w. n. w. w. s. s. s. e.
Church
> push play.(The brightness is gone. Now you can "unlock" the door with the axe.)
> hit door.(with the axe)
> e.
Small Sacristy
> x body. take letter. read it.
The guy was a rich traitor and the aliens infected him when he tried to destroy the equipment.
> x equipment.(incubator)
> smash it.(using the axe)
> x equipment. x larvae.
> w. w. s. s. w. w.
In Your Car
> pull knob. e. n.
In Front of Your Car
> open hood.
> unscrew faulty plug.(using the pliers. You auto-discard the faulty plug and insert the working plug in its place.)
> close hood. s. w.
In Your Car
> put car key in ignition.
> turn car key. drive car.
You start considering what to do next.
*** You have won ***
Extras
Characters
A large larva glowing with a phosphorescent light creeps towards you in the post office, slowly, but aggressively.
A small dog with bloodshot eyes and a foaming mouth barks furiously at you on the road.
A huge larva bursts out of the dog's corpse, but you quickly kill it before it can do anything further.
Two looters armed with rifles are scavenging the small shop.
A pack of hungry rats lurk in the underpass.
Background characters:
Monstrous larvae are pulsating inside the alien incubator in the church's sanctity.
In atmospheric messages, you might see a crow fly overhead, or a cloud of insects hover near you, or a bug skittering on the ground.
Found dead:
A man's body, at least two days old, is in the service station. He was probably the mechanic who worked there. His name tag says "Nelson".
The body in the funeral home's coffin was probably the owner of the funeral home. He drank poison rather than carry the alien infection.
The corpse of a woman is sitting on the floor of a small office.
A well-dressed and disfigured dead body is in the church's sacristy. He did the aliens' bidding for wellness and power before they betrayed each other.
Mentioned:
Your cousin Alan sent you an alarming telegram, urging you to come to Creek Town. (Also, if you use a magic word like XYZZY, Alan appears and dances like a puppet before disappearing again. We probably should not count this as a real appearance.)
Credits
This is the response to ABOUT:
This game is an adaptation of the Italian adventure 'Murray Shannon: I Semi del Male' by Bonaventura Di Bello. It was originally written using The Quill and Illustrator and published by Edizioni Hobby S.r.l. on the cover tape of 'Viking', no. 1, January 1987 for ZX Spectrum and C64.
The data was extracted from the C64 version using UnQuill, translated to English and rewritten for a modern audience with the original author's permission. The new version includes many enhancements that weren't in the original. The coding was done using Inform 6 and the PunyInform library.
Original concept, game design and coding by Bonaventura Di Bello.
English translation and game skeleton by Garry Francis.
Game redesign and coding by Gianluca Girelli.
Play testing by Robert Eggleston, Garry Francis, Kozelek+, Piergiorgio d'Errico, Allyson Gray, John Dennis and RJ Kowalski.
Endings
You have died
if the larva in the post office suffocates you.
if the dog bites your throat.
if the looters shoot you.
if the hungry rats bite and overwhelm you.
You have won
if you kill all the larvae in town, then fix and drive your car.
Inventory
Items are listed in the order you acquire them in this walkthrough. I did not encounter any carrying capacity limits.
your car key. It's in the ignition in your car.
Behind your car, unlock the trunk with your car key.
After you've fixed your car (see working spark plug), put the car key back into the ignition, turn the car key, then drive the car to leave Creek Town.
a telegram. It's in your car.
Take and read the telegram; it's from your cousin Alan.
a kerosene can. It's in the trunk of your car.
In the post office, pour the kerosene on the larva to kill it. The kerosene can is now empty; feel free to discard it.
a can of WD-40. It's in the vehicle inspection pit.
Outside the small garage, spray the shutter with WD-40 to loosen it. You automatically open the shutter.
an old sack. It's in the post office but guarded by the larva.
Examine it: it has a hole, so you can't put small items into the sack.
On the road, take the dead dog, using the sack to carry it in (and avoid touching it in any way).
a revolver. Find it inside the post office after you destroy the larva.
Examine the revolver: it's loaded with six bullets.
On the road, shoot the dog with the revolver. To your horror, a larva emerges from the dog's corpse, and you automatically use up the rest of the bullets to shoot that. The revolver is now empty; feel free to discard it.
a house key. Acquire it by searching the body in the funeral home's coffin.
On the outskirts of town, unlock the apartment door with the house key.
a note. Acquire it by searching the body in the funeral home's coffin.
Take and read the note to learn there's another note in town. It's not a helpful note, is it?
a shotgun and two cartridges. They're in the bedroom.
Put the cartridges in the shotgun. A piece of paper falls out.
In the small shop, shoot the looters with the shotgun. You're a poor shot and miss hitting them, but you do hit a shelf which falls on them and knocks them out, which is good enough for your purposes.
a piece of paper. It falls out of the shotgun when you load it with the cartridges.
Take the paper and read it. It confirms your guess that the man in the coffin killed himself with poison to avoid spreading the infection.
a sharp axe. It's in the hardware store.
In the church, after removing the light (see cassette player), hit the door with the axe.
In the sanctity, destroy the incubator with the axe.
a pair of pliers. It's in the hardware store.
In the small garage, after spraying the working spark plug with WD-40, unscrew the plug with the pliers to obtain the plug.
Inside your car, pull the knob to unlock the hood. In front of your car, open the hood then unscrew the faulty spark plug with the pliers. You automatically discard the faulty plug and insert the working plug in its place. Close the hood.
a 9-volt battery. It's in the small shop after you shoot the looters with the shotgun.
a working spark plug. It's in the old car in the small garage.
First spray the plug with WD-40, then unscrew the plug with the pliers to obtain it.
Inside your car, pull the knob to unlock the hood. In front of your car, open the hood then unscrew the faulty spark plug with the pliers. You automatically discard the faulty plug and insert the working plug in its place. Close the hood.
a dead dog. On the road, a dog frothing at the mouth threatens you; shoot it with the revolver.
Take the dog, using the sack to carry it in (and to avoid touching it).
In the underpass, drop the dog. The rats start eating it and, more importantly, now ignore you.
a cassette player and a cassette. They're both in the small office's filing cabinet. Search the woman to find the cabinet in the dark.
When inserting the cassette tape into the player, refer to the tape as either "side A" or "side B".
Insert side A into the player then push PLAY to learn that side B is a recording of an alien sound that disables their security system. Push EJECT to get the tape back.
Put side B into the player then push PLAY to hear the alien sound. Push REWIND to rewind the tape.
In the church, with side B in the player, push PLAY to disable the energy lock on the sacristy door.
a letter. It's in the small sacristy.
Read it to learn that a rich scumbag betrayed humanity, then was killed when he had a change of heart.
