The Let's Play Archive

Anchorhead

by Grimwit

Part 10: Day One- Page 9

Drone posted:

Dark foreboding alley. We've got a lantern in our pocket, might as well get some mileage out of it.

So foreboding! In a town like this, we're likely to encounter all manner of terrible mugger or sea-soaked abomination!
Let's do it!

>Southwest



Side Alley
This is a featureless blind alley, a dead end. Through the narrow and heavily shadowed opening to the northeast, you can see the square and the obelisk at its center.


Oh.

Old Grey Guy posted:

If that leads nowhere,

>NE to square
>N across bridge
>W to junction
>N to heath (counter-clockwise)
Fortunatly, Miranda Carter was on the track team in High School, so she has no trouble sprinting back to the edge of town.

>ne
Town Square
In the center of the square, rising from a circular lawn of unhealthy-looking grass and weeds, stands a strange, stone obelisk. It seems to be a monument of some sort, although you can see no plaque or marker anywhere near it.

>n
Whateley Bridge
>n
Narrow Street
>w
Junction

Here we are. If you haven't noticed, Anchorhead has a lot of areas that do nothing but connect one part of town to the rest. The town sprawls, and I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe to give Anchorhead a feeling of placement? Like, I can tell you the Church is on the opposite side of town from the Mill. Also the local pub is across the bridge from the Courthouse. You could give dirrections to a new comer, I guess, but I didn't realize exploration would be such a big part of the let's play here in the beginning.

Good news is this first chapter has the bulk of exploring. The other two chapters are more puzzle heavy.

>North

Mill Road
The road carries you across a desolate heath of gray, windswept grass. To the south, the black, jagged outline of Anchorhead's steep roofs and sharp, leaning gables cuts across the horizon. The road forks here to the west and east, heading across the railroad tracks in one direction, out toward the seashore in the other.


What it doesn't say is the seashore lies East, while the railroad is to the west. Good job, Game.

>look at anchorhead
From this distance, all you can make out of Anchorhead are the leaning shapes of its rooftops, huddled in a thin, jagged line against the base of the hills to the south.

>look at grass
The undulating heath stretches away to the west and northwest, an unending carpet of colorless grass.

I like to play this little game with new Interactive Fiction called "Find the Nouns"
In the old games, like Zork, there would be nouns listed in the descriptions that didn't seem to exist. It annoyed me, so when I made my own game (never finished) I made a note of all nouns in the descriptions of the rooms and of other nouns, creating a nest of "Look at..." opportunities. I like to see who else thought of that.

Well, that's enough of that.

>South

Junction

>look

Junction
To the north, a gap in the crowded press of gloomy buildings opens onto a country lane, heading out over a grassy heath. The main street continues to the east, while to the northwest, over the top of a steep rise, you can just make out the vaulted rooftops of the university.


I think you guys said you want to explore in a counter-clockwise fashion?

>Northwest



University Court
Isolated and serene within its high, ivy-covered walls, Miskaton University represents this benighted town's single, if somewhat dubious, claim to cultural achievement. Founded some time in the early 1800s, the school's reputation and enrollment have diminished somewhat as Anchorhead drifts further and further into the abyss of provincial backwaterism. Still, it is generally recognized for its collection of folklore and esoteric mythology (one of the oldest and most extensive on the east coast). The Board of Deans was also kind enough to offer Michael a full professorship upon hearing of his recently discovered heritage and his plans to move into the estate. Ivory tower, perhaps, but at least they take care of their own.

There are numerous buildings surrounding this cobbled court, but the only one you are interested in is the library to the west, where Michael told you he'd be until he came back to the real estate agent's office to pick you up. Which, incidentally, he has not yet done.

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


Let's find the nouns!

>look at library
The university library is a stately building in the classical style, built of red brick and covered with a thick growth of ivy. The main entrance lies behind a colonnade of white Doric columns.

>look at ivy
The ivy grows thick and healthy over the red brick buildings.

>look at columns
You needn't worry about that.

Bah! At least the game acknowledges the existance of the columns. Unlike...

>look at brick
You can't see any such thing.

Bullcrap! What are the buildings made of?!

>

I think that's enough for today. We have options. We can start a sweep of the Town Square, way back when. We can head to the Mill Road and see what's what up north. Or we can just head into the Library and meet Mr. Carter.

Decide in Bold If you please.

Items