# Nowheresville — 6 of 60

## Morpheus Kitami & Cody Gaisser

Release 1

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Chapter 4 - Help & Hints

[HELP]

A thing can be examined or unexamined. A thing is usually unexamined. Carry out examining something: now the noun is examined.

Taking inventory is acting confused. Looking is acting confused. Examining an examined thing is acting confused.

After acting confused for the sixth turn:

say "If you need help, type HELP for assistance."

When play begins:

choose row 1 in Table of Basic Help Options;

now description entry is "[i]Nowheresville[/i] is a weird fiction text adventure.[paragraph break]You are stuck in an oddly perfect town that might be Hell. Are you going to try to escape again?[paragraph break]Implemented by Morpheus Kitami & Cody Gaisser.[line break]Tested by Robinson Nox.[line break]Thanks to everyone at INTFICTION.ORG for the invaluable advice."

Table of Basic Help Options (continued)

title | subtable | description
"Hints" | Table of Hints | --
["Settings" | Table of Setting Options | -- ]

Table of Hints

title | subtable | description | toggle
"What's going on here?" | Table of Basic Hints | "" | hint toggle rule
"What do I do with this toy gun?" | Table of Gun Hints | "" | hint toggle rule
"What do I do in the junkyard?" | Table of Junk Hints | "" | hint toggle rule
"What do I do with the hammer?" | Table of Hammer Hints | "" | hint toggle rule
"What are these numbers on this card?" | Table of Combo Hints | "" | hint toggle rule
"How do I get into the mysterious house?" | Table of Mystery Hints | "" | hint toggle rule
"How do I get into the nice house?" | Table of Nice Hints | "" | hint toggle rule
"I've found a bullet, what do I do with it?" | Table of Bullet Hints | "" | hint toggle rule

Table of Basic Hints

hint | used
"You've found yourself trapped in an oddly perfect town that might be Hell. Will you try to escape again?" | a number
"You'll need to explore the town and examine your surroundings carefully if you're going to find a way out." |
"You may need to find some tools to help you access hard-to-reach places." |

Table of Gun Hints

hint | used
"What do you usually do with a gun?" | a number
"You shoot things with it." |
"It looks like the gun isn't loaded." |
"You're going to need some ammunition." |
"Surely there's some ammo hidden somewhere." |

Table of Junk Hints

hint | used
"If you're going to accomplish much in the junkyard, you're going to need to get past that pesky guard dog." | a number
"Do you have anything the dog might want?" |
"Take a trip to the butcher." |
"Try feeding the beef to the dog." |
"If the dog eats the raw beef, maybe you can still get more?" |
"Maybe there's a way to incapacitate the dog?" |
"Try drugging the beef." |
"Is there anything in the junkyard you can take?" |
"Is there anything else in the junkyard you can examine?" |
"The old fridge looks suspicious." |
"Can you open the old fridge?" |
"The latch on the old fridge looks rusty." |
"Maybe you can clean or lubricate it somehow?" |
"Have you found a rag anywhere?" |
"There's a clean rag in the garage." |
"Does the clean rag work on the fridge?" |
"Maybe you need some lubricant?" |
"Have you seen any oil anywhere?" |
"Does anything seem out of place on Main Street?" |
"You're going to need what's inside that balloon." |
"How to get the balloon?" |
"You can't seem to reach the balloon..." |
"Maybe you can pop the balloon without actually reaching it." |
"Does poking it achieve anything?" |
"Maybe there's another way to pop the balloon?" |
"Have you found anything sharp and pointy that might pop the balloon?" |
"There should be a pin lying around somewhere..." |
"The pin is in the dressmaker's." |
"Is there a way to reach the balloon with the pin?" |
"Try throwing the pin at the balloon." |
"Now there's a puddle of oil on Main Street." |
"Can you get the oil somehow?" |
"Have you found a rag somewhere?" |
"The rag is in the garage." |
"Try getting the rag oily." |
"Does the oily rag work on the fridge?" |
"After lubricating the latch with the oily rag, you should be able to open the old fridge." |
"What's in the fridge? Could this be useful somehow?" |

Table of Hammer Hints

hint | used
"You can hit or pry things with the clawhammer." | a number |
"The hammer has several uses, some more crucial to your escape than others." |
"Is anything stuck shut that might become openable with some hitting or prying?" |
"Is your attention drawn to anything in the apartment building?" |
"Try using the hammer to open the mailboxes." |

Table of Combo Hints

hint | used
"Maybe these numbers are some kind of clue." | a number |
"Maybe they're some sort of address or password?" |
"Or a combination?" |
"Have you seen anything that needs a combination to open?" |
"Try the lockers in the school." |
"The cobination to locker 5151 is 666." |

Table of Bullet Hints

hint | used
"What do you usually do with a bullet?" | a number
"Bullets go in guns." |
"Put the bullet in the toy gun." |
"Will the gun fire?" |
"Did you lose your bullet?" |
"Be careful what you shoot." |
"What sorts of things might you need to shoot?" |
"People?!" |
"Do you always lose your bullet after shooting the gun?" |
"The bullet is only expended when you shoot the 'wrong' things." |
"What are the 'right' things to shoot?!" |
"Does anything in town look like it has been shot before?" |
"Does any place in town stand out from the rest?" |
"Have you explored the houses in town?" |
"Have you explored the mysterious house?" |
"Have you been to the basement?" |
"Have you examined the wall in the basement?" |
"The wall in the basement has cracks emanating from a hole that looks like it was put there by a bullet." |
"Shoot the hole in the basement in the mysterious house." |

Table of Mystery Hints

hint | used
"Have you tried the door?" | a number
"The door seems to be locked, so you might need a key." |
"Have you explored the other house in town?" |
"Focus on the nice house first." |
"Does anything unusual grab your attention inside the nice house?" |
"Try examining the display cases." |
"Try examining the figurine cabinet." |
"Why is there a figurine that looks like you inside the cabinet?" |
"Can you get the figurine?" |
"Try opening the cabinet." |
"It looks like the cabinet is locked. You'll have to find a way to open it." |
"What are the cabinet doors made of?" |
"Break the cabinet." |
"Now you can take the figurine of yourself." |
"Have you examined the figurine?" |
"Have you examined the figurine while holding it?" |
"It sounds like there's something rattling around inside the figurine." |
"Break the figurine." |
"There's an ornate key inside." |
"The ornate key unlocks the mysterious house."

Table of Nice Hints

hint | used
"Have you tried the door?" | a number
"The door seems to be locked, so you might need a key." |
"Have you examined the door?" |
"Do you notice anything unusual about the door?" |
"The door has a keyhole, maybe you can examine that?" |
"There's a gap under ths door, maybe you can examine that?" |
"The key is in the keyhole, but you're on the wrong side of the door." |
"There are a couple of ways to go about this." |
"You can probably knock the key out of the hole somehow, but you'll still need a way to retrieve it." |
"What could possibly fit through the keyhole?" |
"Have you found any sort of stiff wire in town?" |
"There's a coathanger at the clothing store." |
"Will the coathanger fit in the keyhole?" |
"Maybe if you bent the coathanger?" |
"Put the straightened hanger in the keyhole." |
"The straightened hanger will knock the key to the floor. Did you have a plan for retrieving it?" |
"Do you have anything that will fit under the gap in the door?" |
"Paper or the straightened coathanger should fit under the door." |
"There's paper in the office block if you know where to look." |
"If you put the paper in the gap before putting the hanger in the keyhole, the paper will catch the key when it falls." |
"You can then take the paper and get the key, unless you already knocked the key to the floor." |
"If you already knocked the key on the floor, you can still fish it out." |
"Try using the straightened hanger to fish the key from under the door." |
"The brass key unlocks the nice house." |