Restart, Restore, Quit

West Of House
You are standing in a meadow near a white house with no visible door. It is cold outside.
There is a mailbox here.
>inventory
You have:
A winter coat.
Pocket change.
>east

White House
You are standing next to the white house. There is no visible way inside. All the windows on the first floor are locked and barred. It is cold outside.
>wear coat
You’re already wearing the coat.
>look in coat
It’s absolutely smashing. Empty pockets, otherwise.
>look
White House
You are standing next to the white house. There is no visible way inside. All the windows on the first floor are locked and barred. It is cold outside, smashing coat or no.
>exits
There is a meadow to the west. To the north, you can see the front yard.
A window shatters. You can hear some guttural laughter inside.
>north

Front Yard
You are standing in front of the white house. The lawn is overgrown and poorly watered, mostly dead. A gravel road leads off into the grassy plain surrounding the house.
There is a rusted car here.
>south, west

West Of House
You are standing in a meadow near a white house with no visible door. It is cold outside.
There is a mailbox here.
>look in mailbox
You see an old newsletter. It has several lovely photographs of the meadow you’re currently standing in.
Off to the east, you hear glass shattering.
It is getting darker.
>save
What name do you want to save this game under?
>temp
Saved.
>quit
Come back soon.






Welcome back!
(N)ew game, (L)oad game, (Q)uit?
>L
What game name?
>temp
So glad to have you back where you belong.

West Of House
You are standing in a gnarled forest clearing near a white house with no visible door. It is icy outside.
There is a mailbox here.
It is very dark out.
>east
You try to approach the house, but your nerve fails for now.
>east
You try to approach the house, but your nerve fails for now. Weren’t you listening?
>read newsletter
The photographs of the forest clearing are vaguely unsettling. Something about the shadows seems off.
>examine photographs
You’ll ruin your eyes in this light.
>inventory
You have:
A smashing winter coat.
Pocket change.
Car keys.
>examine car keys
Psyche!
>east

White House
You are standing next to the white house. There is no visible way inside. All the windows on the first floor are locked and barred. It’s still cold. You begin to feel as if you should get away.
>examine windows
I said you begin to feel as if you should get away.
>north
Something unseen plummets out of the darkness and kills you.
You have died.
Re(l)oad from saved game, re(s)tart, or (q)uit?
>q
Just kidding.

White House
You are standing next to the white house. There is no visible way inside. All the windows on the first floor are locked and barred. It’s still cold. You begin to feel as if you should get away
>quit
Just give me another shot, honey.
>examine windows
They’re locked and barred. Two of them are broken.
It is now dark.
>examine windows closely
They’re locked and barred. Two of them are broken. You think looking closer is going to help, genius?
>save
What name do you want to save this game under?
>stupidgame
Saved.
>wait
Time passes.
Another window shatters, followed by hissing suspiciously close.
>listen
I’m surprised you can hear anything with that racket.
You begin to feel as if you should get away.
>north

Front Yard
You are standing in front of the white house. The lawn is overgrown and poorly watered. A gravel road leads off into the tangled forest surrounding the house.
There is a rusted car here.
There is a protagonist here.
>look at protagonist
I beg your pardon?
>examine car
It is a rusted-out shell. If the Mechanic of the Year arrived next to you right now, he and you both couldn’t fix this hunk of junk.
>look in car
You see nothing special. Not unlike your car, really. Zing!
>listen
You can still hear a lot of racket from somewhere nearby, heavy in bass.
>north

County Road
The road here is tufted with grass. The curves look unsafe to drive along at any decent speed. Trees encroach right up the sides of the road. You can’t see very far along the twisting road, especially with it so dark. Your vision sucks anyway.
There is a dead body here.
You begin to feel very exposed, as if something’s watching you.
>examine body
It is an adult male wearing some sort of heavy coveralls. He seems freshly dead and bears the signs of severe animal attack. He looks oddly familiar.
You continue to feel very exposed. There’s an electric intensity to every sensation. It beats the hell out of staring at text on a screen.
>save
Under what name do you want to save the game? Please pick a better one now.
>damngame
Saved. And watch your language.
>quit
Are you sure? (y/n)
>y
You’re breaking my heart.
>y
I beg your pardon?
>QUIT
Are you sure? (y/n)
>y y y y y
Fine.




About time.
(N)ew game, (L)oad game, (Q)uit?
> l
Thanks. I was beginning to think you’d forgotten. What game name?
>damngame

County Road
The road here is tufted with grass. The scarred hunks of trees line the road, car-wreck metal standing out rusted from their bark. It looks like the access road outside with a heavier traffic load, not that your stupid ass would’ve gotten it if I hadn’t spelled it out. To the south, it returns to the front yard.
There is a corpse here.
>examine corpse
It’s a pile of rotted hamburger, slick black and festering. The only intact portions are the teeth.
You still hear that racket. Tell your neighbors to turn down… never mind, I’ve got it. Isn’t that better?
>
I beg your pardon?
>north

Front Yard
You are standing in front of the red house. The lawn is dead and crusted underfoot. A gravel road leads to the north, where you see the glow of far-off fires. Dead weeds sprout up to the second floor of the house. Only an idiot would have gone north along that road.
There is a burned-out car here.
There is a useless excuse for an adventurer here.
You can still smell the gunk that smeared onto your smashing coat.
>look self
You’re sitting in front of a computer, sadly bereft of smashing coat, exciting adventure, and mortal danger. You do have $1.37 on you right now, though. And you have the dumbest look on your face when you’re confused.
Your fictional alter-ego, who is a hell of a lot more awesome, hears glass breaking. Get with the program already and play. Your neighbors quieted down, didn’t they? Maybe you should knock on the door, see what’s up. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
>
Time passes…
Oh. I see what you tried there. Power button. Better luck next time.
> what are you
I beg your pardon?
>i dunno what you are but theyre not answering the doorknob is burning hot
I beg your pardon?
>TELL ME
I beg your pardon?
>TELL ME BASTARD
I beg your pardon? And sassmouth won’t get me to answer any faster, darling.
>
Time passes…
>inventory
You have:
A shabby winter coat.
Pocket change.
Vulnerabilities that are all too easy to exploit.
>exits
From this room? South, north. From this game? None.
>quit
What would happen to you afterwards?
>north

Red House
You are standing next to the red house. There is no visible way inside. All the windows on the first floor are locked and barred. It’s still cold. Only a fool would have gone north from that last room anyway.
There is a giant clue here.
>examine clue
You can climb on the bars, dumbass.
>
Time passes…
I really don’t think you appreciate the full gravity of the situation. Next time you try to get out of your room, I’ll let the door open. Do you really want to know what you’ll find?
>climb bars
With some effort you manage to climb the bars of a glassless window and get up to a second-story window. You can look inside. Was that so hard?
>look in window
You see a pathetic waste of human life wasting the remaining days of its life on the computer. Go ahead. Say hello. I dare you.
>climb down
You slip open the open window and creep up on your victim.
>quit
You creep nearer. You aren’t going to warn the poor jerk, are you? That would ruin the whole point of it.
>quit
Aw, you’re just going to leave like that? C’mon, hon. I’ll even give you a free word of advice: if the phone rings, do NOT pick it up.
>quit
Fine, you pansy.

Inside Your Room
You’re staring in slackjawed disbelief as you read these very words, burning on your monitor in an insufficiently lit room. You never saw yourself living like this when you were eight. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. Who the hell even plays text adventures anymore?
There is a computer here.
>exits
No.
>quit
No.
Gesundheit, by the way.
>restart
No.
>inventory
No.
>use computer
That’s more like it. Back to the game, shall we?

Dam Control Room
The roaring of the waters is more muffled here. There are several dozen monitors here giving feedback about the different mechanical and electrical systems of the plant. Rancid water covers the floor in moss-scummed pools. You obviously weren’t getting anywhere at the rate you were going, so I’ve helped you about halfway through the game, give you a sporting chance and whatnot.
There is a toolbox here.
>inventory
You have:
A smashing winter coat.
A blue keycard.
A lantern (empty).
A revolver.
No revolver bullets.
Jones’s glasses.
A flashlight (half charged).
>exits
The only way out of the room is the door to the west.
The pounding at the door is getting louder.
>examine self
You have two light wounds and three serious wounds. You can survive another two light wounds before unconsciousness. You can survive no more serious wounds before death.
The pounding at the door is very loud. The door is starting to crumple.
>save
Game saved under ‘requiescat’. You’ve got a hundred moves to beat the game, kiddo. Then I start getting mean.