The Lurking Horror Transcript

The Transcript that follows is not from Lurking Horror, but it does show many of the common interactions you will use in the course of the story. It contains several simple puzzles and their solutions, and will give you a good idea of how Infocom's interactive fiction works. The player's sentences appear in capital letters after each prompt (>).

Top of Stairs

You are standing on a landing overlooking a crude but spectacular laboratory. Rough stone steps curve down to the laboratory floor, and a closed wooden door leads east.

>GO DOWN

Laboratory

This stone laboratory is full of shelves and tables, all cluttered with bubbling beakers, strange machines, and moldy books. Two large wooden cranks are connected to pulleys and ropes that lead up. A stone stairway leads up, and an exit leads west. On a nearby operating table, a sheet covers something large. A computer is here, currently turned off.

>TURN ON THE COMPUTER

The computer beeps once, then the screen flickers to life with the unfriendly message: "Login please:"

>INVENTORY

You are carrying a gold key and some biscuits. In your pocket is a note.

>READ THE NOTE

(taking the note from your pocket first)

In your own scrawl you read "Login Shelley Password Byron."

>LOGIN SHELLEY

The computer whirs a moment, then the message changes to "Password please."

>PASSWORD BYRON

The computer seems to shudder, either in anticipation or fear. The screen blanks momentarily, then displays a lengthy menu of files. Highlighted by a box is a file called "Life."

>CLICK THE BOX

The screen displays the message:

1. Get body [done]
2. Get brain [done]
3. Put brain ln body [done]
4. Attach apparatus to body
5. Electrify body
6. LIFE !!

From the west a wretched, hunchbacked man enters the laboratory, wheeling before him a cart. "Master!" he says to you. "The apparatus is ready!"

>LOOK AT THE MAN

Igor (for indeed it is he) is not much to look at.

"Master, the apparatus is ready! You promised me a biscuit when I finished!"

>GIVE A BISCUIT TO IGOR

Igor devours the biscuit greedily.

>LOOK AT THE CART

This is a stainless-steel cart with wheels. Sitting on it is a complex tangle of wires, electrodes, needles, dials, valves, bags, pumps, spigots, and levers. The apparatus is turned off. Except for one end of a long green wire, everything seems to be connected to everything else. Igor fidgets nervously.

>LOOK AT THE OPERATING TABLE

A sheet covers something large.

>TAKE THE SHEET FROM THE TABLE

You roll up the sheet, revealing a monstrously large dead man with scars at every joint. A screw is set into the monster's neck.

Igor cowers behind you. "Master, I'm frightened!"

>ATTACH THE GREEN WIRE TO THE SCREW

The screw is tightened shut.

>UNSCREW THE SCREW

(with your hands)

The screw is too tight to loosen with your bare hands.

Igor cocks his head as if to listen. "Master! I heard thunder! Hurry!"

>IGOR, GIVE ME A SCREWDRIVER

"Master, I don't have one, but I saw one a moment ago."

>WEST

Workshop

This small workshop looks like a hardware store after an earthquake. Amongst the many tools on a bench, you see a screwdriver.

>TAKE THE SCREWDRIVER

Taken.

>E

Laboratory

A monstrously large dead man lies on the operating table. Next to the table is a cart. A computer is here, currently turned on.

Igor is here, fidgeting nervously.

>UNSCREW THE SCREW WITH THE SCREWDRIVER

You loosen the screw in the monster's neck. It creaks like a nail being pulled from wood with a crowbar.

>ATTACH GREEN WIRE TO SCREW

As you wrap the wire around the screw, you can't help noticing that the monster's neck is as cold and hard as the stone floor.

>TIGHTEN THE SCRW

[I don't know the word "scrw."]

>OOPS SCREW

You tighten the screw into the monster's neck, securing the green wire.

You hear a clap of thunder. "Master!" cries Igor, frightened.

>LOOK

Laboratory

This stone laboratory is full of shelves and tables, all cluttered with bubbling beakers, strange machines, and moldy books. Two large wooden cranks are connected to pulleys and ropes that lead up. A stone stairway leads up, and an exit leads west. A monstrously large dead man lies on the operating table. Next to the table is a cart. A computer is here, currently turned on.

Igor is here, fidgeting nervously.

>TURN THE WOODEN CRANK

[Which wooden crank do you mean, the roof wooden crank or the lift wooden crank?]

>ROOF

You pull with all your weight on the roof crank but you are unable to move it alone.

>IGOR. TURN THE ROOF CRANK

Igor cowers nervously behind you.

>SHOW A BISCUIT TO IGOR

Igor eyes the biscuit greedily.

>IGOR, TURN THE ROOF CRANK

Igor pushes on the roof crank -- all 95 pounds of him -- and you pull. Nothing happens for several strainful seconds. Then the crank moves a little bit, and a little more, and slowly a crack in the ceiling widens. Inch by inch the ceiling opens, until it completely disappears. Rain pours into the laboratory.

Igor looks at you expectantly.

>GIVE BISCUIT TO IGOR

Igor devours the biscuit greedily. Igor nimbly climbs the rope and crawls outside. Over the rumbling thunder you hear him shout down to you, "Master! The storm is here! Hurry! Hurry!"

>TURN ON THE APPARATUS

The apparatus drones to life with a rhythmic heartbeat of zap ... zap ... zap ...

>TURN THE LIFT CRANK

You spit on our hands, take a deep breath, grit your teeth and heave on the crank. It grudges a little bit.

>AGAIN

As you pull on the crank a sharp CRACK! of lightning illuminates the laboratory like a strobe, and at the same time gives you a jolt of adrenalin which helps you lift the operating table a few inches, a few feet, up high, finally, into the raging storm.

>WAIT

Time passes ...

Another crack of lightning, directly overhead, shakes the entire building.

Igor, soaking wet, tumbles off the roof and lands in a heap beside you.

>TURN THE LIFT CRANK

You can turn the lift crank easily, and the operating table lowers to the floor.

>LOOK AT THE MONSTER

Lying on the operating table is a monstrously large man, soaking wet, with scars at every joint. A screw is set into the monster's neck, and a green wire is attached to the screw.

>TOUCH IT

The monster feels warm to your touch, and you can feel blood coursing through its veins in time to the zaps of the apparatus. The monster's hand grips the side of the table.

>DETACH THE WIRE WITH THE SCREWDRIVER

As you lean over the monster its eyes open and stare at you coldly. It reaches for you and you jump back. Clumsily but determinedly, the monster pulls itself to its feet, rips the wire out of its neck, smashes the apparatus with a wave of its arm, and shuffles toward you, growling.

>UP

Top of Stairs

The monster looks up at you from the bottom of the stairs and growls at you.

>EAST

The wooden door is closed.

The monster begins to climb the stairs.

>OPEN THE DOOR

The wooden door is locked.

The monster continues its ascent.

>I

You are carrying a gold key, a note, a sheet, and a screwdriver.

The monster is nearing the top of the stairs.

>UNLOCK THE DOOR WITH THE KEY

Okay, the wooden door is now unlocked. The monster reaches the last step and towers over you. It looks at you with hideous contempt and roars at you.

>OPEN THE DOOR

You swing the door open, revealing a sitting room to the east, a fire ablaze in the fireplace. The monster lifts you with ease. It raises you over its head and throws you 30 feet onto the hard stone laboratory floor.

***You have died.***

Your score is 50 out of a possible 100. This gives you the rank of Lab Assistant.

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This page was freely adapted from Peter Scheyen's excellent Infocom Site