17
edits
Changes
m
minor copyediting
[[File:Equus Oils.png|thumb|right|''An old hound in a straw hat. Both have seen better days.'']]
[[Conway]], a truck driver, works as a deliveryman for an antique shop owned by a woman named [[Lysette]]. Conway's last job before retirement is to make a delivery to [[5 Dogwood Drive]]. The game opens with Conway, together with [[Conway's dog|his dog]], pulling into the parking lot of [[Equus Oils]], a dimly-lit gas station, [[Equus Oils]]. He meets [[Joseph Wheattree|Joseph]], the owner, sitting outside in a Queen Anne armchair. Joseph and Conway talk about a nearby truck accident with whiskey bottles broken all over the highway, and gives Conway's [[Conway's dog|dog]] some jerky, who he optionally names either Blue or Homer.
Conway mentions his delivery to make on [[Dogwood Drive]], to which Joseph says he must take the mysterious [[Route Zero|Route {{Zero}}]]. Joseph tasks Conway to fix the circuit breaker to restore power to the station so that he may use the computer to locate directions. In the basement of the horse-shaped station, Conway encounters [[Emily, Ben, and Bob]] who are playing a tabletop game and inadvertently blocking his path. They ignore him, apparently unable to see or hear him. Overhearing that they've lost a glow-in-the-dark [[D20|twenty-sided die]], Conway manages to find it with the lantern turned off. When he returns, the three players have disappeared. Conway reaches the breaker box, restores the gas station's electricity, and returns outside. When he asks Joseph about the strange people, Joseph suggests Conway may have been hallucinating. Conway uses the computer to find directions to the [[Márquez Farmhouse]], where he is told he can talk to [[Weaver Márquez]] who has a better understanding of the roads. He also reads an email from [[Consolidated Power Company|Consolidated Power Co.]] who has sent Equus Oils a 14-day overdue notice. As Conway leaves, Joseph tells him that he loaded Weaver's old TV into the back of his truck to take to her.
After exploring, they reach the exit. Shannon tells Conway she wants to investigate a tunnel with broken track from before, and has him wait for her. In the dark depths she discovers piles upon piles of helmets of the deceased miners. While waiting, Conway can choose to investigate various objects, such as a birdcage and tape reels, before limping out of the mine and into a wooden shack where he encounters notebooks written by archivists labeled "Márquez." Conway asks if Shannon's parents were the archivists, to which she says that Weaver's parents were; hers were miners who died in the flood.
Conway and Shannon travel to [[Shannon's workshop]], located at the back of a small [[bait shop|bait and tackle shop]] at the corner of [[Wax Road|Wax]] and [[Peonia Road]], where Shannon recently saw Weaver's image on TV. However, Weaver is not there. On the way back to the farmhouse, Conway can choose to stop at Equus Oils where he and Shannon meet [[Carrington]], Joseph's friend who is looking for a venue for his [[Death of the Of The Hired Man|play]]. Carrington describes his play as "a grand, broadly experimental theatrical adaptation of 'The Death of the Of The Hired Man' by Robert Frost," and asks Conway to keep an eye out for venues for him. [[File:Onramp.png|thumb|right|''SHANNON: There, just gotta turn it north/south, and —'']]
Back at the [[Márquez Farmhouse]], Shannon reveals that Weaver fled after learning of her family's debts, along with her own due to university tuition, and that tonight was the first time she had seen her since then. As Shannon attempts to fix the old TV, she notices moss growing on the vacuum tubes. After she cleans and recalibrates the TV, Conway looks in again. This time, both the picture on the screen and the barn behind the house begin to warp and separate, forming an . The barn transposes onto the television's picture and the image of the opening to the {{Zero}} and the appears in real life; Conway's truck is seen driving into itthe opening. BlackCut to black.
<br>
* [[Museum]]
* [[Airplane]]
* [[Barren River RECC]]* [[Buffalo Creek RECC]]
* [[Light of the Last Great Awakening Baptist Church]]
* Dragonflies (x3) <!-- one at 2880 Beaker Blvd -->
* Guitar player
* [[Diner]]
[[Category:Act I|*]]