> 2
It was as you were approaching the outskirts of Morrow that the man emerged from the fog and collapsed at your feet.
...press a key...
The phone had awoken you in the early hours of the morning, at a time when no one called you. Ever. You didn't even recognise the person on the phone to begin with as your old friend Edwin Carter - several months had gone by since you last spoke to him and you were only half awake at the time - but as he spoke (in a frenzied voice, often giving way to bursts of manic hysteria and paranoia), you began to realise something was wrong with him. Very wrong.
...press a key...
"You don't understand!" he cries at one point. "We killed him! We buried him in the graveyard but he wasn't dead! He's turned everyone against each other!"
Despite your best efforts to calm him down, Edwin remained fraught and distressed throughout the whole conversation. He rambled at length about an 'evil' that had overtaken the village where he lived, of a man who had brought death with him, of the dead walking the streets…
It sounded like nothing more than the ramblings of a disturbed mind; but for the sheer terror in Edwin's voice you might have slammed the phone down and gone back to sleep.
"You have to help me, Duffy," he pleaded with you at one point. "If you don't they'll kill me. They've tried once but I… I got away. I won't be lucky again…"
And then, right in the midst of a plea for you to come to the village of Morrow and get him out, the phone went dead.
...press a key...


And without warning, with no indication that anything is even wrong, the car just… stops. Actually 'stops' probably isn't quite the right word. One minute you're driving along at a fair rate, the radio blaring out - and then, the next, the car engine switches itself off, the radio goes dead, and the car grinds to a screeching halt at the side of the road.
You sit there, hardly able to understand what has happened. Certainly you've had car problems before but never anything like this. A quick check under the bonnet reveals nothing wrong as far as you can see. Of course, you're no mechanic and the inner workings of a car engine have always been something you've preferred to leave to the experts.
...press a key...
"Of all the goddamn luck…" you mutter, wishing you'd just let Edwin deal with matters on his own. If you get to him and find out this has all been some elaborate practical joke, you'll… "Kill him."
...press a key...
The road leading into Morrow, Old Mill Road, appears to have changed little in the years since you were last here. You grew up in Morrow but, as with most people, found it to be too enclosed for your liking. A few times over the years you've been back to see old friends but, with the passing of the years, most of these have left Morrow and so your reasons for returning here have dwindled to the extent that you seldom even think about the place these days.
But walking along the Old Mill Road brings back memories. You played here as a kid, you and Edwin and several others. They were happy times. Today, a thick fog hangs over the place, obscuring most of what you would otherwise be able to see: the park, the lake where you went fishing on summer days, the…
And then your thoughts return abruptly to the present with a jolt as a man comes staggering from out of the mist.
"…get… away…"he gasps. "They're… they're…"
He grunts, clutches at his chest, and collapses at your feet.
...press a key...
To see this again at any time during the game, simply type "intro" or "introduction."
Dead Reckoning

by

David Whyld

1) Start playing the game

2) Read the introduction

3) A few notes on playing the game

4) Credits

> 1
A cold mist drifts up the hill towards where you stand, at the beginning of the Old Mill Road. An ancient oak tree, its branches gnarled and twisted by the weight of countless years, stands forlornly off to one side of the road, its branches seemingly reaching for you as to pass by. Below you, the village of Morrow lies spread out, though due to the encroaching fog you can make out little more than the tops of buildings; the road, little more than a path at this stage, descends into the village itself. The end is lost in the fog. At the back, in an easterly direction, stretches the road you travelled along to reach Morrow. The fog has encroached here as well and little is visible beyond the immediate area you're in.
At your feet lies the unmoving figure of the man who approached you.

> i
You are carrying a bottle of water, a small knife, your diary, your car keys and a comb.

> read diary
You flip the diary open and read.

The first thing that catches your attention is a list of names and addresses. Some seem familiar, some don't. A couple are former girlfriends, one is your solicitor (the one who handled the painful break up of your marriage), one your local newsagents, one your mother… but the rest you don't remember. You must have written them down for some reason and then completely forgotten why.

Disturbed at your lack of memory, you close the diary.

> read diary
You flip the diary open, skim through several pages, and come to an entry from four months back:

12th June ****
Edwin called. Has set up shop in Morrow and seems ecstatic about the whole thing. I'm happy for him although I'm sure he didn't sound as overjoyed as he should have been. No doubt he's still having second thoughts about the whole thing (typical Edwin!) but I'm sure he'll be fine in the end.

> read diary
You flip the diary open to Edwin's next entry and read:

2nd July ****
Another call from Edwin. He sounded… disturbed. No. I'm not quite sure that was the right word. Worried certainly. In truth, most of what he said didn't make much sense. He rambled on at some length and despite my best efforts he wouldn't calm down. He mentioned something about a graveyard and someone who had been buried but wasn't dead. I had thought he must be making some kind of prank call to begin with (he did this back when we were at college as I remember; something about a vampire?) but he seemed more convincing this time. From what I could gather, which wasn't a lot given the state he was in, he firmly believed someone had been buried alive in the village graveyard and that most of the villagers seemed aware of it. Apparently the someone in question was an 'evil' man (he used that exact word and I don't think he was joking) and the villagers had decided that burying him alive was the best way to be rid of him.

I don't mind telling you, not much of this made any kind of sense to me. Edwin spent most of the time alternatively yelling down the phone and then whispering as if he firmly believed he was being listened to. My questions were either met with more yelling or paranoid delusions that I was one of 'them'. In the end he hung up on me. Immediately I tried to call him back but the phone rang and rang without being answered.

> read diary
The next page is the final proper diary entry, dated a day after the previous one:

13th June 2003
Another call from Edwin. Have to confess that I'm beginning to wonder if he's either cracked or started embarking on really tasteless practical jokes. He apologised for yesterday's call, said that he'd been under a lot of pressure and had had way too much to drink. He said sorry half a dozen times. I'm not sure what to make of what he told me and my questions got poorer answers than they had on the day before. He rambled at some length about how sorry he was for bothering me, said he wouldn't do that again and I was to ignore everything he had told me. They were the ramblings of a drunk, he said. They didn't mean a thing. He ended the call by wishing me and Maria a good life and hung up before I could mention, quite tersely (I was still sore over our break up), that Maria had moved out a couple of years back. I'm sure he should have known that anyway. He was living a few streets away at the time and had taken me to the pub a few times to console me.

> read diary
No more diary entries. Just odd notes here and there. A reminder to call about getting your car fixed (something you wish, in hindsight, you'd done!), dinner with John and Eva (you remember they tried to set you up with Kathleen who was twelve years your junior and finished every sentence with a high-pitched squeal that was worse than a knife in the guts), your new job… and precious little else.
Well, aside from the final call from Edwin but you're not sure you really want to read that right now.

> read diary
The final note in your diary is one you made just yesterday. Edwin had called, his first call since July, three months back, and he sounded even more disturbed than ever. He was sure someone was out to kill him, that the villagers were 'evil' (that word again) and that if you didn't come and help him he'd be killed for sure. Your best efforts in calming him down failed miserably and as the call progressed, he got more and more distressed. In the end he slammed the phone down after crying that he couldn't leave Morrow because all the roads were 'gone'.
That was the last you heard from him.

> x man
He lies unmoving, face down on the road where he collapsed when you first approached the village. You can hear him breathing so at least he is alive although you doubt from the way he fell that he is at all comfortable.

> give water to man
Lifting the man's head slightly, you dribble some water into his mouth. At first he doesn't respond but then he starts coughing and spluttering. A sudden jerking movement knocks bottle flying out of your hands. It drops to the road and has spilt its entire contents before you're able to retrieve it.
"… thanks…" says the man or, rather, gasps. "Who are… you?"
You tuck the empty bottle away and go over to the man. "My name's Mark Duffy. What happened here?"
The man stares up at you then coughs hideously. "Bad… things, Mr Duffy. Things you wouldn't… wouldn't believe…"

> ask man about what happened
"They… attacked me… never saw them…" The man lies there, gasping, forcing air into his straining lungs. "Don't know… how many of… of them there were…" He coughs painfully. "Recognised one or… one or two of… them… But they were… changed…"

> ask man about morrow
"The town's changed…" says the man, his voice rasping painfully in his lungs. "Not sure… what happened. One day… everything seemed… seemed normal but…" A horrible spasm shoots through him. "Ah! Things changed… Don't know how or why… but they tried… tried to kill… me…"

> ask man about they
"The… villagers. People I've known… my whole… life. Normal one… day. The next…" The man shakes his head, saliva dribbling down the side of his face. "Changed… Don't understand any… any of it… No warning…"

> ask man about changes
"They turn… violent… evil. People I had… had known since I… was a kid. Just… changed."

> ask man about himself
"I'm… finished," the man gasps, his every breath a painful shudder. "Don't know… how long… I've got left. Get out… out of here, strange. This… isn't a town you… want to… come to…"

> ask man about edwin
"Never… heard of him…"

The man suddenly gives a shudder and his eyes close. You try to ask him if he's alright but he fails to answer. His breathing comes in short, ragged gasps and while he's not dead you don't think he's going to be able to speak anymore.

> search man
Feeling uncomfortably like a grave robber, you quickly search through the man's pockets. You find his wallet, though minus anything that might identify him. You put this back, a ghoulish shudder going through you. A few coins you also leave. You doubt they'll prove any use to you. One item you uncover, curled in the man's hand, is a cross. He's clutched it so hard that it has dug into his palm and looks like it could well be causing him quite a bit of pain.

> get cross
It takes a surprising amount of effort to remove the cross from the man's hand, unconscious though he is. Clearly some part of him is aware of what you're doing and does everything it can to prevent you removing the cross. After a second's consideration, you leave the cross where it is.

> get cross
Again you try to take the cross. The man clutches it so tightly in his hand that it's an actual struggle to remove it. But remove it you do. This comprises prying his fingers open one by one and literally forcing the cross out of them.
As soon as you have the cross in your possession, the man gives a shudder and seems to collapse.

> d
Uneasy about abandoning the injured man, you set off at a brisk pace down the hill and into the centre of the village of Merrow. You pass a couple of abandoned cars along the way: one even has its doors wide open and the keys still in the ignition. Weird. You know that crime isn't as widespread in a place like this as it is in the city where you live, but leaving the car doors open and the keys in plain sight is just asking for trouble. Not really sure what to do, you leave the car and stride into the village itself.
...press a key...
Cold fog washes over you as you stand in the seemingly deserted centre of the village: at Morrow Square to be precise. Several roads branch away from here; Church Road to the southwest, Grasboren Road to the south, Marble Street (where Edwin lives) to the east; the road (little more than a path really) that you reached Morrow Square by leads up a hill.
There is no one here. Several stalls stand abandoned, remnants of the usual market that comes to Morrow most weekdays. Overseeing all of this is a stone statue of Jerome Morrow, the village founder: his eyes peer around the marketplace in a manner you find oddly disturbing. There appears to be no one around. Not a living soul for as far as you can see.

> s
You move south.
Grasboren Road splits just ahead of where you stand, branching southwest towards Mill Lane and southeast towards Merrik Wood, a popular place of yours as a kid. The same mist which has been present ever since you arrived in Morrow is present here, lying over every house, every wall, blanketing them and hiding away details. The door to a large, seemingly abandoned house is to the east, blowing to and fro in the light breeze. Little can be seen beyond due to the murky darkness which seems to lurk inside the house. Morrow Square lies a short way back to the north.

Lying by the side of the road, you see a pair of gloves that someone must have dropped.

> get gloves
You take the gloves.

> wear gloves
You put on the gloves.

> n
You move north.
Cold fog washes over you as you stand in the seemingly deserted centre of the village: at Morrow Square to be precise. Several roads branch away from here; Church Road to the southwest, Grasboren Road to the south, Marble Street (where Edwin lives) to the east; the road (little more than a path really) that you reached Morrow Square by leads up a hill.
There is no one here. Several stalls stand abandoned, remnants of the usual market that comes to Morrow most weekdays. Overseeing all of this is a stone statue of Jerome Morrow, the village founder: his eyes peer around the marketplace in a manner you find oddly disturbing. There appears to be no one around. Not a living soul for as far as you can see.

> sw
You move southwest.
The church that gives this road its name looms above you. It has always struck you as a frighteningly large building, particularly in light of the fact that barely a hundred people live in Morrow and at least half of them seldom set foot inside a church. The years have not been kind to this house of God and the windows appear drained of colour. A doorway leads inside and blows to and fro in the light breeze.
A thick fog hangs over everything, obscuring your view in most directions and makes seeing anything more than twenty feet away a struggle. Church Road runs northeast to Morrow Square and west to the corner of Tabard Avenue. The graveyard, a place you used to frequent often as a kid for one dare or another, is a short step to the northwest at the end of a muddy path and looks every bit as forbidding now as it did then.

> x path
The mud looks thick along the path leading to the graveyard and you don't fancy walking along it in your shoes. They're not in especially good condition after your long walk into Morrow but heading along that path would put the final nail in the coffin as far as you're concerned. A short wall, barely two feet tall, runs along the sides of the path and is almost overgrown with thick bushes.

> x wall
The wall itself is unremarkable and looks to have been here for several decades. Thick bushes have overgrown most of it.

> move bushes
The nettles unable to harm you due to the gloves you are wearing, you quickly search through the bushes. Lying just behind the wall, you come across a rusty crowbar which you pick up. From the state of it, you guess it must have been lying here for quite some time.
As you let go of the bushes, a nettle whips across your hand. Fortunately the gloves protect you.

> ne
You move northeast.
Cold fog washes over you as you stand in the seemingly deserted centre of the village: at Morrow Square to be precise. Several roads branch away from here; Church Road to the southwest, Grasboren Road to the south, Marble Street (where Edwin lives) to the east; the road (little more than a path really) that you reached Morrow Square by leads up a hill.
There is no one here. Several stalls stand abandoned, remnants of the usual market that comes to Morrow most weekdays. Overseeing all of this is a stone statue of Jerome Morrow, the village founder: his eyes peer around the marketplace in a manner you find oddly disturbing. There appears to be no one around. Not a living soul for as far as you can see.

> x stalls
When the market is here - an almost daily occurrence in Morrow - these stalls are filled with odd-and-ends and miscellaneous bric-a-brac. As a child you used to buy sweets from one of the stalls and once got a toy pistol from another.
This obviously isn't a market day as the stalls are abandoned, bereft of supplies, although several boxes and a crate stand at the side of one of the stalls; perhaps a leftover from when the stallowners packed up. Several rats, larger than any you have ever seen, dart between the stalls, their beady eyes momentarily glancing at you before loosing interest and running on.

> open second box with crowbar
Jamming the crowbar under the edge of the box, you exert as much pressure as you are able to - and the box comes flying open. Inside you find a locket, surrounded by clumps of moss. Why someone has put these things inside the box you don't know but you take the locket, feeling like a thief as you do. The moss you leave where it is.
Strangely, your struggles in getting the box open have failed to get even a single person's attention. Where is everyone?

> e
Years ago, Marble Street was home to several shops, a number of houses and even a small park where the village kids (yourself included) played during the summer. But that was a long time ago. Marble Street, as it is now, is a location you barely recognise: closed signs hang in every shop window and the shops themselves are boarded up, their interiors dark, as if no one has used them in years. The houses are in a similar condition, and several even have battered down front doors and smashed windows. This is the sort of thing you have seen more than a few times in the city but seldom in a place like Morrow where crime is virtually non-existent. Edwin's house, looking pretty much the same as the others, is a short walk to the northeast. His front garden is little more than a dirt patch and doesn't appear to have been looked out in many a year. The small park, or what remains of it, is to the east while Morrow Square lies back westwards.


You step into Marble Street, the memories of the place flooding back. But this is a Marble Street far changed from what you remember. Gone is the park. Instead, in its place, is a patch of burnt ground. Edwin's house has changed, too, looking more like a bomb blast has torn through it.
"What the hell is going on, Edwin?" you wonder, wishing once more you'd never returned to the village of Morrow.

> e
You move east.
The park is changed from the way you remember it. The climbing frame is gone, as is the sand pit, the roundabout and everything that you normally associate with a park. In their place is just a patch of muddy ground, dotted with lumps that perhaps indicate something is buried here. The park is encircled by a wooden fence; supposedly it deters vandals during the hours of darkness when the park is closed but it stands little more than three feet high and is broken in many places. Marble Street lies back to the west.

> dig lump
You get down on your knees and… hesitate. Are you sure you really want to go digging in the earth? Something tells you it would be a very bad idea.

> dig lump
Pushing aside any reservations you might have, you dig into the lump with your hands. The mud feels disgusting as it squelches between your fingers but you force yourself to continue. You have a feeling that there is something important here and if you-
Without warning, the earth at your feet bursts apart and out of the lump extends a calloused hand! For a second it probes around blindly, almost comic-like in its actions, then a head breaks free of the soil and eyes as cold as death lock onto yours.
Almost beside yourself with terror, you scrabble back away from the thing as it pulls itself free of its earthy prison. Rasping sounds emanate from the thing's throat but if these are words you're unable to decipher them.

> show cross to dead man
As the corpse staggers towards you, you remember the cross you took from the injured man and quickly raise it before you. The effect it has is apparent: the corpse seems to hit an invisible wall and goes bouncing off. It stumbles, falls, seeks to regain its feet. You take a step towards it, holding the cross like a torch in the darkness. A rasping scream tears from the corpse's throat as the presence of the cross burns into it.
And then it collapses at your feet, the unholy power animating its limbs fleeing.
...press a key...

For seconds you stand there, breathless, unable to comprehend what has just happened. But then, gradually, you manage to get a grip on your emotions. You approach the corpse - and this time it is just a corpse - and, bending down, pick up the small red orb it dropped when it died for the second time.
A sudden movement out of the corner of your eye makes you jerk back… but you see nothing. However, you are aware of the other lumps in the ground and know that remaining here is not safe. Clutching the red orb you return to Marble Street.
...press a key...
Years ago, Marble Street was home to several shops, a number of houses and even a small park where the village kids (yourself included) played during the summer. But that was a long time ago. Marble Street, as it is now, is a location you barely recognise: closed signs hang in every shop window and the shops themselves are boarded up, their interiors dark, as if no one has used them in years. The houses are in a similar condition, and several even have battered down front doors and smashed windows. This is the sort of thing you have seen more than a few times in the city but seldom in a place like Morrow where crime is virtually non-existent. Edwin's house, looking pretty much the same as the others, is a short walk to the northeast. His front garden is little more than a dirt patch and doesn't appear to have been looked out in many a year. The small park, or what remains of it, is to the east while Morrow Square lies back westwards.

> x edwin's front garden
Edwin has never struck you as the sort of person who would worry unduly over the state of his garden. Indeed, you can well imagine him running a mile at the very idea of doing anything as energetic as gardening but, even so, his front garden is several times worse than you expected it to be.
There are straggly, sickly weeds pushing up through the choking soil; grass that appears to move of its own accord (surely your imagination playing tricks with your mind); plants that look to have spawned in a nightmare...
You never suspected even Edwin would let his garden go to ruin as badly as this.

> x weeds
The weeds strike you as resembling - vaguely anyway - fingers, clutching and pawing at the surface of the soil...
You shake your head to clear the image.
When you look back at the weeds, you notice something you didn't see before: a bracelet, lying entangled. You reach down and pick it up, a cold wind blowing across your face as you do.

> ne
As you approach the front door of Edwin's house, you hear a noise from within. A kind of scrambling sound, as of someone trying (and not making a very good job of it) to move around furtively. You hesitate, wondering if entering the house right now is a good idea after all…

> call to edwin
"Edwin! It's me! Mark! I got your call! I-" you shout out, and suddenly the front door of Edwin's house is pushed open a few inches.
A figure stands there, half-crouched in the shadows, a baseball bat clutched in one wasted hand.
"Mark?" it says.
It takes you a second to recognise the man as Edwin. But a changed Edwin from the man you once knew.
"Is that really you, Mark?" calls the man who was once your friend.
"It's me, Edwin," you say, trying to get a better look at him as he hunches in the shadows. Surely he can't have lost that much weight? "What the hell's happened here? This place looks like a ghost to-"
"Not now!" Edwin hisses. He glances frantically around as if expecting someone to be lurking on the street corner. "Inside, Mark. Quick! It's not safe being out here."
"Safe? What are you-"
Edwin shakes his head. "Not outside. In. Then we'll talk."
Before you can say anything, Edwin ducks back inside his house, leaving the front door open an inch. Trying to calm your nerves - which are currently climbing the walls - you follow him inside his house.
...press a key...
Only one room in Edwin Carter's house is still habitable and this is the room you're in. Scars - looking like the claws of ferocious beasts - mar the walls, often inches deep; the ceiling is similarly marked and the carpet is ripped and torn. It looks like a pack of wild animals have been chained up in here. Edwin's furniture - comprising a sofa, a couple of chairs and a small coffee table with a missing leg - is likewise battered. The front window is smashed and as a result the floor is littered with broken glass; walking about is treacherous as bloody red stains on the glass attest. A door to the northwest leads to the kitchen and another, in a northerly direction, heads into the hallway and the stairs.


You look around in amazement. "Edwin, what in God's name happened here?" you say.
"It was… necessary," says Edwin, hardly looking at you. He seems to be going around the room, checking the doors and windows are securely fastened or covered with boards. From the way he's acting, you imagine he expects someone to come bursting in at any moment. "They killed everyone else. Or turned them. I seemed to be… immune. I don't understand it myself but I knew that I had to stop them getting inside. If they did…" He shakes his head. "I don't know what would have happened, Mark, but it wouldn't have been nice."
"But this town…" You trail off, not even sure you can start to understand what has gone on here. "There's a seriously ill man on the outskirts of town, Edwin. I need to get an ambulance for him."
"No ambulances in Morrow, Mark. You know that."
"A doctor then-"
"The doctor's one of them."
"One of…" You find yourself beginning to get afraid. Very afraid.

1: "Tell me what happened, Edwin."

> 1
"Things changed here a while ago, Duffy. I don't know all the details. Christ, I wish I didn't know any of the details. It all happened…" He shakes his head. "Are you sure you really want to know?"
You nod.
"A man came into town. He said his name was Shekel and he was here to rid himself of a curse. He said he had been living in torment for years and here, in Morrow, was the salvation from his curse.. Of course, no one knew what to make of him. Most of us thought he was mad and we sat around the pub laughing about him. Shekel often came in and just stood there and stared at us until some of the local toughs started getting mightily pissed with him. After that he stayed well away.
"But then things started happening. Bad things."
"Tell me about them," you say, sure even as you say the words that you don't want to know.
Edwin swallows nervously. "Some of the toughs who had thrown Shekel out of the pub, they… died. Horrible deaths. Farmer Morris found them at the bottom of one of his fields. They'd been… cut apart. Or torn apart maybe. I went down and took a look before the police showed up and cordoned off the whole area. I wished I hadn't. Worst sight I've ever seen and I don't think I've had a decent night's sleep since then. There were… bits thrown all over the place; in trees, in bushes, even draped around a fencepost. I was sick, I don't mind telling you. I was glad when the police showed up and ordered me out of there…" Edwin shakes his head. "It got worse, Duffy. A lot worse. You don't want to know what happened next."

1: "Tell me what happened next."
2: "Tell me about Shekel."
3: "What about the other villagers?"

> 2
"No one really knew what to make of him to begin with. He looked like a wandering beggar, and when he started ranting and raving about us dying we thought he was mad. We didn't think for a second that he could actually do what he claimed he could do."
"What did he do?" you ask.
"Lots of things," whispers Edwin. "Bad things. He killed some local toughs who had insulted him - tore them apart! - and he made Old Lumbly, the guy who runs the farm on the west side of Morrow, he made him kill his own animals and eat them!" Edwin gives a horrified cry and looks around his ruined house as if hoping for some sudden salvation. "But he's gotten worse since then. He's poisoned the village water; he's turned people against each other; he's…" A shake of the head. "I don't know everything he's done, Duffy, but if even some of it is true then he's evil incarnate. He worships a dark god that he makes sacrifices to. And I think the whole village is his sacrifice."

1: "Sacrifices?"

> 1
"I think they're part of some bizarre ritual Shekel's performing: the local toughs, Old Lumbly, and then his turning of people against each other. What he's planning to do in the end I don't know. But it can't be far off now."

1: "What do you mean by a 'bizarre ritual'?"
2: "We have to get out of here, Edwin."

> 2
"The other villagers. The people of Morrow. Hellfire, Duffy, have you met any of them?"
"I met a man as I was coming along the Old Mill Road," you say, remembering the man who collapsed as you approached. You wonder if he is alright. "I never got his name."
"They didn't get all of us," says Edwin. "I don't think they're very well organised. I mean, they seem to be able to kill you by touch, but for all their powers they're not above making mistakes. They don't know I'm here which is the only reason why I'm still alive. If they knew I was here, they'd kill me."

1: "We need to get out of here, Edwin."

Edwin suddenly hesitates, his face drawn. "Do you hear that?" he asks, clutching at your arm.
"Hear what? Edwin, you're not making any sense. Edwin-"
He pulls away from you, goes rushing over to the boarded up windows and peers out between the boards. When he speaks, his voice is hoarse with fear. "I can see one of them. Duffy, he's just standing out there!"
You go over to the window and look out yourself. "I don't see anyone, Edwin. Look, calm down and-"
And then you do see someone out there. A tall figure, wrapped in a long cloak, standing at the corner of the street. The mist swirls about him like a living creature, obscuring his features.
"That's one of them," hisses Edwin. His hands clutch the boards. They are bone white. "I don't know if they have names but he…"
Edwin's nerve breaks and he backs away from the window, almost trips over his own feet, then goes rushing across the room. Ignoring your cries for him to stop, he dashes into a back room. You make to follow him but there comes a hideous scream from the room into which Edwin ran, and then the door slams shut in your face!
...press a key...

"Edwin!" you call, slamming your fist into the door. "Edwin! Open the door! Edwin-"
Edwin screams from beyond the door, the ragged high-pitched roar of an animal in pain. From the other side of the door there is a meaty thud as of something heavy being thrown against it with tremendous force.
"… Edwin…" you say again, your words trailing off as you realise Edwin isn't alone in there.
For the first time in your life, you feel completely helpless, completely without any idea what to do next. Part of you wants to smash the door down and go charging in to Edwin's rescue. But another part of you knows what a terrible idea that would be. There is something in that room. Something that has hurt Edwin, perhaps even killed him. The same would almost certainly happen to you if you were foolish enough to try and rescue him.
Even as you think this, you become aware of the front door beginning to open behind you and a cold wind roaring into the house. You sense a presence flowing through the doorway…
You run. You don't have time to be ashamed of leaving Edwin but know, instinctively, that if you stay you die. You run back into the main room of Edwin's house and throw yourself at the boards covering the front window…
...press a key...
Morrow graveyard is a frightening place even now than it was when you were a child: trees struggle to survive in the black soil; the ground is a stinking quagmire with pools of mud many feet deep ready to claim you if you wander off the known path. Headstones are dotted about at regular intervals, the names carved into their surfaces faded with age. Uneasily, you notice that several graves have recently been dug open; ancient coffins, battered as if by madmen, lie at the bottom. The church lies a short step to your east but the door to it, the only way in as far as you know, is around the other side, along a short path to the southeast. A ladder has been affixed to the wall of the church a short distance from where you stand and this leads up to the church roof.


Why you came here of all places you don't know. But when you fled from Edwin's house you weren't thinking. You're not quite sure of your state of mind at the time but blind panic would be the best way to describe it. What happened to Edwin after he ran into the back room you don't know but you fear the worst.

> remove gloves
You remove the gloves.

> drop all
You drop the empty bottle, the small knife, your diary, your car keys, the comb, the cross, the crowbar, the locket, the gloves, the bracelet and the small red orb.

> climb ladder
You take hold of the ladder and place your foot on the first rung. It creaks and for a moment you think it will give away. But no. It holds. Gingerly you put your full weight on it. It still holds.
Slowly, rung by rung, you make your way to the top of the ladder, making sure you keep hold of the sides at all times in the event of one of the rungs giving way.

The village of Morrow is arrayed before you. It has changed considerably since the last time you stood here, and those changes have not been for the better.
The church roof does not cover a large area; the church is far wider at its base than at its tip, leaving the roof barely ten feet wide by fifteen feet long. The low wall surrounding the roof has suffered badly from the ravages of time and in places has collapsed altogether. The roof itself has fared slightly better, but even so you are wary about moving around here in case it should suddenly give way.
You are pleased to see the 'angel' is still here.

> x puddle
The roof is dotted with them. You look into one, and find yourself staring at something that seems to be lying in the bottom of the pool.

> get something
You reach into the pool and take out the item, which turns out to be a strange piece of rock about two inches wide and vaguely star-shaped. It feels surprisingly heavy for its small size and also, perhaps more worryingly, warm to the touch.

> d
You move down.
Morrow graveyard is a frightening place even now than it was when you were a child: trees struggle to survive in the black soil; the ground is a stinking quagmire with pools of mud many feet deep ready to claim you if you wander off the known path. Headstones are dotted about at regular intervals, the names carved into their surfaces faded with age. Uneasily, you notice that several graves have recently been dug open; ancient coffins, battered as if by madmen, lie at the bottom. The church lies a short step to your east but the door to it, the only way in as far as you know, is around the other side, along a short path to the southeast. A ladder has been affixed to the wall of the church a short distance from where you stand and this leads up to the church roof.
Also here is an empty bottle, a small knife, your diary, your car keys, a comb, a cross, a crowbar, the locket, some gloves, the bracelet and a small red orb.

> get all
You take the empty bottle, the small knife, your diary, your car keys, the comb, the cross, the crowbar, the locket, the gloves, the bracelet and the small red orb.

> x church
Seen from the rear, the church appears smaller than you remember it, shrunken almost, although you guess that, to yourself as a child, it appeared to be a far larger and more forbidding building. The back view does, however, show you one thing you never noticed before: a door, partially concealed behind a tree. You wonder how you missed it as a kid and conclude that, despite its apparent age, it must have been put there sometime during the last twenty years.

> open door
At first, the door appears locked. The handle refuses to turn, and even when you put effort into it, it remains stubbornly closedly closed.
But then you hear a sound from behind you. Nervously, you glance back over your shoulder… and see a corpse walking towards you!
...press a key...

As it moves, pieces of its decaying body fall from it. It approaches you in a lurching manner, dragging one foot behind it. A ghastly moan emanates from its desiccated throat and eyes that are long dead, yet retain a hideous kind of life, lock onto yours.
Frantically you throw yourself against the door. A sharp pain flares in your shoulder yet you barely feel it. Again, you slam into the door, and again, and again…
The corpse reaches out a rotting hand and it is barely an inch from your face when the door, finally, gives way and you tumble into the church beyond.
...press a key...


You fall to the floor of the church, skinning your knees and ripping your palm open on a jagged tile stone. You barely notice this, however, as you struggle to your feet. The corpse is approaching; it stands at the church doorway, either unable to enter, or afraid to. Hesitantly, its lifeless face giving no indication of what thoughts, if any, travel through its decaying brain, it takes a step forward over the threshold-
"Back, undead!" comes a cry.
A man comes lurching past you, a bottle in one hand. As he approaches the doorway, he lifts the bottle and throws it. It crashes into the corpse and explodes. The effect is dramatic to say the least.
The corpse staggers back, its chest and arms burning with acidic fire. It tried frantically to wipe away the flames but this serves to spread them: to its face, its legs, its entire torso…
The man who threw the bottle at the corpse steps forward and slams the door shut. For a moment, everything is dark inside the church. Then you hear a scratching sound and a lamp flares into life.
...press a key...

"What-"
The man waves away what you were going to say. "You're hurt. Come, I have some small skill as a healer. Follow me."
Without waiting for a response, the man turns and shuffles away into the depths of the darkened church. He pauses only to take the lamp with him. You lie where you fell for a moment, your breath rasping in the rapidly darkening room, then pick yourself up and follow him.
...press a key...
Morrow's only church looks far smaller from the inside than it does from the outside. A great age is apparent from a casual glance at the building, from the layers of dust that coat seemingly every surface to the groaning of the architecture all about.
The main body of the church is a lengthy diagonal in shape. Coloured windows, the majority lacking most of their colouring due to the ravages of time, line each of the walls, some depicting the life of Jesus, others blank. A row of pews lead to the podium where the priest stands to deliver his speeches to the masses; at one side of it is a font which is bone dry. Two doors lead out of the church: a small, side door to the west and a larger door to the east. Both are closed.
Father Kadrin stands near to you.

"My name is Father Kadrin," says the man. He has bandaged your hands and put ointment on your knees. Little faith though you have in any medicine that doesn't come with a hospital stamp on it, you have to admit that the stinging pain fades away rapidly. "I was the priest here in Morrow until… the bad things happened."
"The bad things?"
"Lots of bad things. An ancient evil returned to haunt us, to exact revenge for what we did." He shakes his head sadly. "What goes around, comes around. My mother told me that when I was a small boy. I never knew how true her words were…"

> ask kadrin about orb
Kadrin sees the orb and his face goes pale. "You killed..." He shakes his head. "You will suffer for this! You will... SUFFER!!!"
Without warning, he lunges at you, knocking you back across the floor of the church.
"Kadrin, what's come over you, man?" you curse as you come to a rest against a pew.
"Kadrin is DEAD!" roars the thing wearing the guise of the priest. "I killed him! And for what you have done I will kill you as well!"
You struggle to your feet as the Kadrin-thing surges across the church at you, its hands twisted into claws - and then it shies away, roaring in pain as the red orb flares into blinding light.
Taking this opportunity, you run for the church door and flee before the Kadrin-thing can recover.
...press a key...
Under the branches of Merrik Wood everything is still. Several paths lead away from the oasis of calm where you stand: northwest back to the centre of Morrow, south into the very depths of the wood itself, east towards a bright, shining light. The air is heavy with menace; moving around seemly overly difficult as though you were wading through water. The trunks of gargantuan trees crowd you on all sides; their branches seem to move with a life of their own.


You come to a halt, exhausted, your heart thumping painfully with exertion. For a moment you sway and fear you might collapse outright. But you manage to lean against a tree trunk and steady yourself.
What just happened back in the church you have no idea. Was that thing Kadrin, twisted by the evil of this village? Or was it something else entirely? Shekel himself perhaps? You have no way of knowing. But the orb seemed to have some kind of power over him. You would do well to keep a firm hold on it.

> s
The moment you start towards the southern path, something moves in the darkness to one side of the path. Before you can react, rough hands have fastened around your throat and-
"A cross!" gasps a voice. "He's got a friggin' cross on 'im!"
A figure wearing a cloak pushes the other aside and steps up close to you. His expression is impossible to read. "So he has," he says in a voice as old as the hills. "So he has indeed." He nods his head along the path. "Bring him."
...press a key...
Lit by a single lamp affixed to the dusty stone wall, the cave is dark and dank. Water drips in a steady stream from the ceiling, pooling at your feet or dribbling away through the many cracks in the stonework. Garish drawings garnish the walls; faces screaming in torment, instruments of torture, dead bodies walking in line...
At the back of the cave, almost hidden by the deep shadows, is the entrance to a well which plummets into the very depths of the earth itself. The cave entrance, partially concealed by vines and creepers, is just to the north.
Several people clad in dark cloaks are in the cave beside you, their expressions unreadable. Their leader, the man known as Moropeth, regards with a look of distrust bordering on hatred.

"My name is Moropeth," says a voice. You look about in the darkness to see the man who spoke to you outside the cave. "And you..."
"Duffy. Michael Duffy. Look, what the hell-"
Moropeth holds up a hand. "I'll ask the questions, Duffy. You'll answer. Got that. Now...
"Why are you here?"

1: "I'm here to help my friend, Edwin Carter."

> 1
"Really? I have heard the name of Edwin Carter. Father Kadrin, the local priest, mentioned him to me."
"I met Kadrin," you say. "Or something pretending to be Kadrin. It tried to kill me."
Moropeth frowns. "You were lucky to survive. The thing you encountered was either Shekel or one of his minions. They can change their appearance to anything they desire and they are not easily caught out."

1: "I need help."

> 1
"You surely do. My companions and I, we have trekked Shekel for a long time. Perhaps we can help."
"Is this wise?" murmurs a voice in the shadows of the cave. "Bringing in an outsider."
"Kill him now," murmurs another.
Moropeth holds up a hand. "Silence. We do as I say. And I have a... feeling about this one. I sense what he says is true. We will trust him." He glances at you, and adds, "for now anyway."

> ask moropeth for help
"You do indeed need help, my friend," says Moropeth.
"Will you come with me?" you ask.
Moropeth shakes his head. "You must do what you must. I, and my followers, will strike when the time is right. Know this for when you face the evil that Shekel has become: his might is a lie."
"A... lie?"
"A deception you might call it. A mask he has covered himself with to hide his true weakness. There was a man once who was immune to this deception."
"What was so special about him?"
Moropeth seems to reflect on the answer for a long time before answering: "he was blind."

> n
As you head out of the cave, Moropeth clasps your hand in friendship and bids you a fond farewell.

Under the branches of Merrik Wood everything is still. Several paths lead away from the oasis of calm where you stand: northwest back to the centre of Morrow, south into the very depths of the wood itself, east towards a bright, shining light. The air is heavy with menace; moving around seemly overly difficult as though you were wading through water. The trunks of gargantuan trees crowd you on all sides; their branches seem to move with a life of their own.

> e
You move east.
The air is rank with the stench of smoke which drifts on the breeze from ahead: a large field, the grass burnt away to ash. In the centre rises a wooden platform which is aflame. A figure, kicking, screaming, yelling in pain, is tied to a spike at the top of the platform; the flame lick around him. Standing around the funeral pyre are a gathering of figures, some clad in long dark cloaks, the rest naked, their bodies twisted and deformed as if by plague. Some of them are chanting, a dirge rising into the cold night air.
The path you reached this place by leads away to the west; to the east is the ritual field.

> e
A platform rises in the centre of this field; your friend, Edwin Carter, is tied to the platform, his face a mask of abject terror. Figures - bizarre to say the least - stand around the edges of the platform; some carry torches. Some are dead, some still living. Bundles of wood have been placed around the platform, a few are already burning. Edwin's cries rise high over everything else.
Shekel stands amidst the living dead, his emotionless eyes locked onto yours.

As you step into the field, one figure breaks from the other and stops before you. Though you have never seen his true form before, it is obvious from just a glance that this is none other than Shekel.
"You came then," he says, his voice soft and malevolent. "I expected as much. Did that fool Moropeth send you? Or did you find your way here all by yourself? Not that it matters. Nothing matters now."
"I hurt you before, Shekel," you say. "I can do so again."
Shekel shakes his head. "That was then. This is now. Your little wound was as inconsequential as the worms that crawl about this field. The night of my rebirth is at hand and you can do nothing to stop me." He gestures to the living dead standing around him. "Seize the fool. We will have two sacrifices tonight instead of just the one."

> close eyes
Not knowing if you're doing the only thing you can to save the day or committing suicide, you close your eyes.
"Damn you!" comes Shekel's cry. "My powers… they don't… don't…"
It seems what Moropeth told you was true after all. Shekel's powers are unable to affect someone who cannot see him.
But you have to move quickly now for even without his powers, Shekel is not helpless.
...press a key...

You remember the orb you took from the dead man in the park and fumble in your pocket for it. Shekel gives a further cry as he sees it and you hear him come charging towards you. Acting on a hunch, you drop the orb to the ground and crush it beneath your feet. Then you open your eyes to see Shekel lunge for you, his hands twisted into claws ready to choke the very life from you, but the part of his life trapped within the orb dies... and the evil that has plagued Morrow for so long explodes in a cloud of dust...
...press a key...
The diner is crowded: bikers push and jostle each other; waitresses yell; the manager hurls abuse at an inoffensive man sitting at a table in the corner who has complained about the bill.
It is heaven.
"I never thought I'd be pleased to see a place like this," says Edwin, seated opposite you and clutching a cappuccino as if his life depends on it. "I used to shy away from biker diners like the plague in case one of them decided to knife me for some reason. But after what I've seen recently…"
You nod. "We got him, Edwin. Shekel is dead."
"No. You got him, Duffy. I just…" Edwin shakes his head. "I went to pieces. After they killed Kadrin and I couldn't get out of town, I just… lost it. I think I'd have killed myself before too much longer if you hadn't come and rescued me."
You find his words touching, though they are true. You saved your friend's life and put an end to the evil that had arisen in Morrow.
...press a key...
Well done. You have reached the end of Dead Reckoning. There are three possible endings and this is the best of the lot. Well done indeed!
If you wish to try again, type "restart" at any time.