Twilights Ransom 
Brought to you by Belgarath

BACKGROUND 

In Twilight's Ransom, you  assume  the role of Ron Mulligan, 
a hard working, honest but   unextraordinary  young graphic artist, 
employed by a advertising agency in the fictional metropolis of 
Liberty City. Your girlfriend of several months is Maria Chavez,  a 
pretty  Salvadoran immigrant who waits tables at  Corazons, a 
prominent hispanic restaurant in the city. 

Recently youve realized your feelings for Maria are quite 
strong. Youve ever been one to believe in love at first sight, but
you cant deny youve been attracted to Maria from the moment 
you met her. Although you live ear one another, you havent see 
Maria in over a week. Between the both of  you  working and her 
attending evening courses at the community college, finding time 
available for dating is difficult. Thus on this particular Saturday
in September, you are especially looking forward to a night out
with Maria. 

But you arrive at Marias apartment   only  to find it ransacked 
and Maria kidnapped. Your job is to find Maria and  rescue  her 
from her captors. But first you must discover who has kidnapped 
her and why. You trusted Maria completely, but apparently she
was keeping secrets from you. What would a young Salvadoran 
waitress have that somebody would want badly enough to kidnap 
her? You  must  piece together subtle clues to track down the an- 
swers to this question. Once you learn who kidnapped Maria and
why, you must discover where she is being held and devise a   res- 
cue plan. 

Complicating these formidable challenges are the dangers 
lurking on the shadowy streets of Liberty City. According to 
Liberty Mayor Joseph K.  Delvane, the city is undergoing a un- 
precedented economic and social renaissance. He may be right 
during the day, when the city, with its well groomed parks, clean 
streets and friendly people is a pleasant place to live. But when 
the sun sets, the shadows release a collection of freaks, oddballs 
and outcasts that would make a circus side show jealous. Walking 
the streets of Liberty alone at night causes eve the most fearless 
man to look over his shoulder.  Twilights Ransom  occurs in  Mid- 
Town Liberty City, where all the varied neighborhoods and dis- 
tricts meet in the immediate radius of the Tempest River. 

Can you save the life of the woman you love? You have 12 
hours to find out. 


MOVEMENT AND MAPPING

To  move  through Liberty City, you must type the directions you 
wish to   move in: NORTH, NORTHWEST, NORTHEAST, 
SOUTH, SOUTHEAST, SOUTHWEST, EAST, WEST, UP and 
DOWN. You can abbreviate directions to N, NW, NE,   S, SW, SE, 
E, W, U, D. If something in the game blocks your progress in a 
given direction, Twilights Ransom will explain the obstacle and 
ask you to enter a different command. 

Twilights Ransom requires a level of mapping in excess of the 
average adventure game, due to the size of the playing area and
the number of locations.
You will need to map both the city blocks, noting street names
and landmarks,  as well as the interiors of buildings. As you walk 
the streets of the city,   Twilight's   Ransom selects from the sprawl- 
ing city landscape those locations which may be helpful in solving
the mystery. A sample of movement and mapping as it could oc- 
cur in Twilights   Ransom appears below. 

> YOU ARE ON THE CORNER OF MAIN STREET 
WHICH EXTENDS EAST AND WEST AND GARRET
STREET RUNNING NORTH AND SOUTH. 

>E 

YOU ARE ON MAIN STREET WHICH EXTENDS EAST
AND WEST. TO THE NORTH IS FRANKYS TAVERN, A
MODEST SALOON OCCUPYING THE GROUND
FLOOR OF AN AGING STONE FRONTED BUILDING.
FRANKYS HAS NO WINDOWS, EXCEPT FOR TWO
SMALL TINTED WINDOWS IN THE FRONT DOOR.
THE IMPOSING FACADE OF THE SECOND NA-
TIONAL BANK OCCUPIES THE SOUTH. 

To enter  a location from the street simply type the direction the 
location occupies relative to your position. To enter the bank you 
would type: 

>S 

> THE MONOLITHIC GRAY FACADE OF THE   2ND 
NATIONAL BANK BROODS LIKE A MONSTROUS
TOMB. THROUGH A WINDOW YOU SEE THE DARK-
ENED BANK OFFICES, CLOSED FOR THE EVENING. 

>S 

THE BANK IS CLOSED. 

>N 

YOU ARE ON MAIN STREET. 

>N 

YOU ARE IN FRANKYS TAVERN, A SMALL SMOKE
FILLED ROOM, WITH ALUMINUM FRAMED TABLES
AND CHAIRS ARRANGED OPPOSITE A BAR EXTEND-
ING ALONG THE EAST WALL. A GROUP OF MIDDLE
AGED MEN SIT AT THE BAR, MANY WEARING  BALL- 
CAPS AND JACKETS EMBLAZONED WITH THE 
LOGOS OF THE LIBERTY CITY COMPANIES THEY
WORK FOR. A DOOR TO THE SOUTH LEADS TO 
MAIN STREET. 

If the bar had been closed, the response would have read: 

YOU ARE IN FRONT OF FRANKYS TAVERN. THE BAR 
IS CLOSED FOR THE EVENING. MAIN STREET LIES
TO THE SOUTH. 

COMMANDS 

The following points will be helpful in entering commands in 
Twilights  Ransom. 

- Twilight's  Ransom recognizes the   first  six letters of every word. 
  Thus words whose first six characters are identical will be inter-
  preted the same. 

- You can use  the articles THE, A, AN. 

- You must strike the ENTER or RETURN key for  Twilights 
  Ransom    act on your   command. 

- A verb can have   more  than one object. Example: 

  > TAKE THE WATCH AND THE KEYS 
  
  > DROP THE SCARF AND GLOVES 

- You can enter   more  than one sentence per command, provided 
  you separate the sentences with a period or the word THEN. 

  > BREAK THE WINDOW WITH THE BRICK. TAKE THE 
  WATCH, THEN CLIMB UP THE FIRE ESCAPE. 

- Twilights  Ransom   interprets both upper and lower case letters 
  in the   same  fashion. 

- If Twilights Ransom  cant understand your command  or you 
  arent specific enough, it will ask you for   more  information. 

- For convenience and increased playability, Twilights  Ransom 
  allows you to edit a typed line before you press  the ENTER or 
  RETURN button. If you type > DRAT THE KEYS IN THE 
  HALLWAY, you can correct the line to read DROP THE KEYS 
  IN THE HALLWAY before pressing the ENTER or RETURN
  key. (This feature may vary, depending on the version of 
  Twilights  Ransom you own. Consult your users card for  ver- 
  sion specific information.) 

- The word all refers to  every  visible object. Typing  > TAKE 
  ALL would result in your taking   every  visible object from your 
  present location. 

- Twilights Ransom   will recognize the pronoun it. Example: 

  > TAKE THE ROCK THEN THROW IT THROUGH THE 
    WINDOW. 

Below is a sample, but not comprehensive list of commands 
which Twilights   Ransom   will recognize: 

TAKE
OPEN 
LOOK 
WALK 
CLIMB
TIE 
PUT
DROP
UP 
HIT
REMOVE 
UNTIE 
BREAK
LISTEN 
EXAMINE 
UNLOCK 
PUNCH 
SEARCH 
FEED 
SPRAY
DIG
ASK 
TELL
TIME 
SIT 
FIND 
BEAD 
WAIT 
SW 
SHOW 
WEAR 
ANSWER 
SHOOT 
TURN 

COMMUNICATION 

As you prowl through Liberty City you will encounter a variety of
colorful and potentially dangerous people. You can communicate
with these people using a number of commands. Here is a list of 
types  of commands essential to communicating with the citizens 
of Liberty City. 

> SHOW THE PAINTING TO THE POLICEMAN 

> TELL THE POLICEMAN ABOUT THE PAINTING

> ASK THE POLICEMAN ABOUT THE PAINTING 

> ASK THE POLICEMAN FOR HELP 

> ASK THE POLICEMAN WHERE IS THE PAINTING 

> ASK THE POLICEMAN WHO HAS THE PAINTING 

> ASK THE POLICEMAN WHO IS THE ARTIST

> TELL THE POLICEMAN THAT THE PAINTING IS 
  IN THE MUSEUM. 

SPECIAL COMMANDS 

These special  commands are extremely useful and can be used at 
any time during the game. 

INVENTORY (I): This command provides  a  list  of the objects 
you are currently carrying, including the objects in your wallet.

NORMAL:  Twilights Ransom's   normal mode provides a full de- 
scription of the location upon your first entering the area and will 
subsequently only name the location. Enter the LOOK command 
if you require a full description. Twilights Ransom  operates in 
NORMAL unless otherwise specified.

BRIEF: In Brief, Twilights   Ransom   will display only the name of 
the place you have entered. For a description you would need to
enter the LOOK command. 

VERBOSE:  Twilights  Ransom   will provide complete descrip- 
tions each time you enter a location. 

LOOK (L): This command provides you with a full description of 
your location. 

QUIT (Q): This command allows you to exit the game. 

RESTART: This command stops the game in progress and places 
you at the beginning of a new game.

SAVE: This command allows you to save your current position on 
a storage disk. To return to the saved position type RESTORE. 
(See your users card under Starting and Stopping for the restore 
instructions for this version of Twilights   Ransom.) 

WAIT (Z): This command allows you to pause in the game and 
allows a turn to pass without your taking any action.

SPEECH ON: This command activates the speech synthesis option.
Speech synthesis capability varies with each version of
Twilights Ransom. Consult your users card under speech synthesis
for instructions concerning speech and this version of
Twilights Ransom.

SPEECH OFF: This command deactivates the speech synthesis
option. Consult your users card for speech synthesis directions for
this version of Twilights Ransom.

VERSION: The version command displays the version and series
number of the game you are playing. In reporting any problems
you may encounter with the game, please include the version
number. If for some reason you cannot run the program, you can
still access the version information stored in the file, VERSIONDAT.

HELPFUL TIPS

1) Make a map. Mapping is critically important in Twilights
Ransom because as the game progresses you will need to be
aware of your relative position in the city. You should sketch
both the city blocks and location interiors.

2) Examine all objects and locations carefully.

3) Read the descriptions carefully, since they contain clues necessary
for solving the mystery.

4) Save the game frequently. If you get killed during the game
you can return to the identical location rather than start from
the beginning.

PROBLEMS

If you experience any technical problems with Twilights Ransom
you can phone our support line at l-800-521-2488. This line is for
technical problems only and not for help in game play. When
reporting any problem with Twilights Ransom be sure to include
the version of the game you are playing. You can find thii information
by entering the VERSION command. Be sure to return
your registration card upon purchasing Twilights Ransom, as
having your game registered aids our service efforts.

Brought to you by Belgarath