Part 30: Day Two- Page 30

In my excitement of playing on the railroad tracks, there are some things I forgot to look at.

Railroad Tracks
The trail heads up a short embankment and emerges from the thicket alongside the railroad tracks. The tracks run down from the northeast and past the mill, continuing southwest but slowly curving westward until they cross the Miskaton River some miles outside of town. From the embankment you can look out over the entire heath: jagged, shadowy rooftops to the south; the oily ribbon of the Miskaton to the west; and to the east, the lighthouse sentinel and the leaden waters of the Atlantic beyond.

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

>look at lighthouse
The lighthouse stands tall against the horizon, a dingy white tower amidst a gray sky and a grayer sea. Despite the ominous cast to the weather, no beacon is shining from the tower's top.

Ooo, that looks neat. We need to visit that.

>look at atlantic
The great, gray ocean stretches out as far as you can see, merging with the clouds on the horizon.

The cold wind blows harder, tugging at the hem of your trenchcoat.

>nw

Bare Foundations

>look

Bare Foundations
The foundations of an older structure lie crumbling in a sunken square of ground, hidden away behind the imposing shadow of the mill wall. Weeds push up through cracked and buckling slabs of concrete; twisted rebar and rusting pipes poke up like the legs of dead insects. The ruins are surrounded on all sides by dense thickets, although narrow, overgrown trails lead northeast and southeast through the underbrush.

>look at pipes
The broken rubble is all that remains of whatever building once stood here.

Alright, behold, one of the bigger dick moves of the game.
It's the reason I started the Noun game previously mentioned.

>look at thicket
The thickets are full of painful thorns and appear quite impenetrable. They are also very deep; there's no telling what could be hidden -- or what could be hiding -- in their brambly depths.

That's not a clue. That's barely a hint.

>search thicket
Carefully pushing the prickly branches aside, you find a rusty metal hatch set into the base of the wall.

>look at hatch
It's just an ordinary-looking metal hatch.

>open hatch
It seems to be locked.

>unlock hatch
(first taking the keyring)
You go through all the keys on your keyring, trying each one in turn, but none of the keys seem to fit.

>put keys in coat
You slip the keyring into the pocket of your trenchcoat.

Yup. An important entrence hidden quite well in the back wall of the Mill.
Makes you want to search everything else in the game, doesn't it?


I said that there's no need to brute force this, seeing as we've seen which of the shacks in important.

Ghostwood found it.

>read news
The front page story is about Jeffrey Greer, 8 years old, who was abducted from his home at #11 Mill Town Road last night. Little Jeffrey is the latest victim in a series of abductions that stretches back for years, one every six months or so, and that authorities believe is the work of a single perpetrator. Local police had hoped to prove that Edward Verlac had been behind the kidnappings, but were unable to obtain a confession or any hard proof. Edward Verlac was convicted of murdering his wife and two daughters, one of whom was 15 months old, in January of this year; he was found not guilty by reason of insanity and incarcerated in Danvers Asylum, where he remained until committing suicide last March. This latest kidnapping, occurring after Edward's death, seems to have cleared up any lingering suspicions that he might have been the culprit.

Anyone possessing information regarding the whereabouts of Jeffrey Greer is strongly urged to speak to the authorities as soon as possible.

>ne
The path curves to the north, leading you around to the front of the mill.

Entrance to the Paper Mill

>n

Shanty Town

Flakes of ash drift gently down from the sky like gray snow, coating everything with a thin layer of soot.

>enter Shack 11
It wouldn't be polite to just walk in.

>knock on shack 11
After a moment or two of silence, you hear a furtive rattling, and the door opens a crack to reveal a woman's pale and haggard face. She stares out you with a mixture of trepidation and mistrust.



"Uh, hi! You don't know me but... would you tell me about this Mill?"

>ask woman about mill
The woman mutely shakes her head.

"Uh... Hi! Would you tell me about the terrible tragidy that destroyed your family?"

>ask woman about Jeffrey
The woman grows even paler, and draws back from the door with a look of horrified loss.

Suddenly the woman slams the door shut, and you hear the rattle of a bolt being drawn.

>Uh...
That's not a verb I recognise.

Well, that didn't work. Maybe we should come back when we have a more tangible approach.


>s
Entrance to the Paper Mill

>e
As you cross the railroad tracks, the air seems to lift slightly, becoming more breathable once again.

Mill Road

>look at tracks
The tracks run down from the northeast and pass by the paper mill before bending west. They cross the Miskaton river some miles out of town.

>e
The road heads out over a narrow breakwater jutting out into the ocean.

Breakwater
You are picking your way across the breakwater's bare, rocky spine, where the road has diminished to little more than a pair of dusty ruts. A hundred yards to the northeast, at the breakwater's far end, the lonely stone tower of Anchorhead's lighthouse stands vigil against the ocean.

Well, Miranda is here. She might as well check out the lighthouse.

>Northeast

At the Foot of the Lighthouse
You stand in a circular clearing among the stones, surrounded on nearly every side by the sea. Before you looms the ancient, massive lighthouse, a vertiginous pillar of pale brick jabbing defiantly up at the sky. The road from the southwest ends here, although it looks as though you could pick your way down the rocks to the southeast, around the structure's base.

The great bronze door of the lighthouse is closed.

>look at door
A monstrous slab of solid bronze set into the thick stone wall of the lighthouse base. Age and seawater have covered its once gleaming surface with an unhealthy green crust of verdigris.

Huh. What IS verdigris?

I learned something today.


>look at lighthouse
Its towering shadow seems to lean menacingly over you, eclipsing half the sky. It is an old and brooding thing, heavy with the weight of centuries of dark memories. Craning your neck to see the top of it, you can't help but make the comparison with a lightning rod, as if this building were the focus for whatever restless forces seem to be stirring through the turbid atmosphere above.

Despite the ominous cast to the weather, no beacon can be seen from the top of the lighthouse.

Another wave crashes against the rocks, sending a cloud of spray into the air.

The cold wind blows harder, tugging at the hem of your trenchcoat.

>open door
It seems to be locked.

>unlock door
(first taking the keyring)
You go through all the keys on your keyring, trying each one in turn, but none of the keys seem to fit.

The cold wind blows harder, tugging at the hem of your trenchcoat.

>put keys in coat
You slip the keyring into the pocket of your trenchcoat.

>se
Carefully, you climb down the rocks. The path bends northeast, following the curve of the lighthouse wall.

Rocky Spur
A small outcropping of stone, just large enough for you to stand on, sticks out from the end of the breakwater. The hungry sea laps at your feet, surging over the rocks and then trickling down into crevices. To the southwest, an uneven trail leads back up the rocks, around the side of the lighthouse.

Beyond the breakwater's tip, a turbulent patch of water bubbles and seethes, as if something were lurking just beneath the surface -- turning, perhaps, in uneasy sleep.

In the distance, you can hear the lonesome keening of a train whistle drifting on the wind.

That patch of water is a bit unnerving.

>look at water
Which do you mean, the sea or the patch of turbulent water?

>patch
It looks... unnatural.

It looks dangerous, as if it could swallow Miranda's very soul....

>dive in water
Which do you mean, the sea or the patch of turbulent water?

>patch
Not on your life.

I tried.

>look at sea
The sea is the color of old pewter, surging and chopping restlessly beneath the clouds.

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

At the Foot of the Lighthouse

The great bronze door of the lighthouse is closed.

>sw

Breakwater

>w

Mill Road

>

Welp, we're running out of places to explore. There's just the south of Verlac Manor left, actually.
Next update, Miranda will head that way.
Does anyone else have ideas of places we might want to revisit?

Items


In Trenchcoat