Part 66: Last Night- Page 64

I've tried this in another game. He just pulls out the calipers from his jacket/sweater-vest.



To the first, he checks the mirror, then slaps you for giving him the wrong one.
To the second... I don't actually know. I'll put that in a bonus update.

For now, Miranda needs to get off this island of Ick!

>pick cuffs with needle
(first taking the crusty needle)
The metal cuffs bite painfully into your wrists, but with a little bit of excruciating contortion you manage to insert the end of the needle into the keyhole. For what seems like endless minutes, you jiggle the needle fruitlessly around, biting your lip against the cramps that keep trying to seize your painfully bent hands and bitterly reflecting that Linda Hamilton makes it look deceptively easy on the big screen

To you mellinials, Linda Hamilton was a young actress who fought the terminator and survived, but not before becoming finely aged beef jerky.

-- and suddenly the cuff snaps open. Quickly you free your other wrist, and the handcuffs slide free, landing in the muck.

The horrible, fleshy ground shudders beneath you. Bubbles begin to boil up around the island's edges.

"You -- " Michael snarls at you, his voice a barely intelligible choke. The malice pouring out of his expression is almost more than you can bear to look at. "If I had the time I'd gut you right here and now -- " suddenly the ground lurches slightly, and Michael smiles. "But perhaps I won't need to." With a mocking bow he strides past you and hops over to the shore. "I'm sorry I can't stay around to watch you die," he calls over his shoulder, "but I have some rather urgent business to attend to." The next moment he is gone, running down the breakwater toward town.

This is a serious! Miranda needs those cuffs!

>put cuffs in coat
(first taking the handcuffs)
(slipping the umbrella into the pocket of your trenchcoat to get a hand free)
You slip the handcuffs into the pocket of your trenchcoat.

They're not for anything in the game, but Miranda needs them.

>boy, run!
The boy only weeps piteously.

The boiling is becoming more violent. You also notice that the tide seems to be striking the island a bit higher than before, even though the waves themselves aren't getting any taller.

Bah, Mellinials. I'm sure he doesn't know who Linda Hamilton is, either.

>untie boy
(the boy)
Quickly you untie the bonds holding the boy to the stake; as his hands slip free he jumps away from you and eyes you warily. Then, sniffling and rubbing his arms, he runs to the edge of the island, hops over onto the breakwater and starts sprinting home.

The island is definitely sinking now.


Your score has just gone up by five points.

Miranda was brought here without a real frame of reference, so how do you leave when you don't have time to look which dirrection the land is?
Well, the author sort of thought of that.

>leave island
You hop across the water-filled gap.

Rocky Spur

The sea thrashes against the shore with storm-driven fury.

Beyond the breakwater's tip, where before there was only a patch of oddly turbulent water, a small island has risen from the sea. It is quickly sinking back into the churning waters.

Not much time left; the water is lapping up almost to the island's center, and the gap between the island and the rocky spur is nearly too wide to jump across.

I like the attention here.
It's been a while since I tried my hand programing Inform games, but I'm pretty sure giving the option to "leave" isn't built into the language.

>sw
The trail turns northwest, following the curve of the lighthouse wall.

At the Foot of the Lighthouse

The sea thrashes against the shore with storm-driven fury.

The great bronze door of the lighthouse stands slightly ajar, revealing a narrow rectangle of blackness within.

A flurry of dead leaves goes skittering along the ground, swirling past you in the wind.

Overhead, the swollen clouds flicker ominously with a greenish haze of sheet lightning.

Before we head off to stop our husband for good, we need to take care of something.

>sw
Breakwater

The sea thrashes against the shore with storm-driven fury.
>w
Mill Road
>w
As you cross the railroad tracks, the air becomes warmer, more dingy, and slightly more difficult to breathe.

Entrance to the Paper Mill
>north

Shanty Town

The young boy you freed from the island is standing here. He gives you a fearful glance.

The clouds overhead mutter restlessly to themselves.

Miranda won't get points for it, but I think it's important.

>knock on door 11
The door opens a crack and the woman peers fearfully out; but when she sees it is you, she smiles and beckons you inside.

Then she stops. She looks past you, at her little boy standing in the rain just a few feet away. And in that moment, it seems, she becomes a little younger.

"My baby..." you hear her say, and then she is on her knees, and he is running to her, and she folds her son into her arms. She stands, still holding him, and looks over his shoulder at you.

"Thank you," she says. Her eyes speak volumes of gratitude that her words will never be able to express. "Thank you for bringing him home."

And then she goes inside, and the door slowly closes behind her.

>

Where to, goons?
How are we to stop Croseus for good?
Throw them ideas out in BOLD.

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