The Monkey Island SCUMM Bar: The Curse of Monkey Island Story Document

The Curse of Monkey Island (Main)

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This pitch document was by all accounts submitted by Larry Ahern and Jonathan Ackley on or around August 29th, 1995. You can also download a PDF version of the document that was saved from Aric Wilmunder’s now deleted website.

SUMMARY

THE CLIFF'S NOTES VERSION

Governor Elaine Marley finds Guybrush Threepwood dazed and floating in the middle of the ocean in a bumper car. Although he can't recall exactly what happened to him (at the end of the last game,) he knows LeChuck is to blame. So, they set off with an armada to destroy the zombie-pirate LeChuck once and for all, in an assault on his fortress/summer- home.

Amidst the cannon fire, Guybrush sneaks over to infiltrate the fort, and learns of a treasure hidden in the dungeon. Among the loot is a huge diamond ring, which Guybrush decides to steal and give to Elaine so they can get hitched. He snatches the ring, burns up LeChuck with the evil pirate's own voodoo-flamin' potion in the process, then proposes. Elaine, however, wants to think about the whole idea, but agrees to take the ring with her. A fire breaks out on Guybrush's boat and he is stranded on LeChuck's island. There he learns that the ring was intended for LeChuck's wedding to Elaine. When the nuptials were canceled, LeChuck couldn't bring himself to return it, so he just horribly cursed it instead.

Guybrush catches up to Elaine in time to see her put the ring on and transform into a wooden figurehead on the bow of her ship. The voodoo lady tells Guybrush that, to lift the curse, he must gather together some strange items, all symbolic of destroying LeChuck's hold on Elaine, and make a voodoo potion.

LeChuck, transformed into a demon-pirate by the mojo-fires, returns and hunts for Guybrush and Elaine. Eventually Guybrush revives Elaine. But, when she's restored to her old self, Guybrush is double-crossed by a crewman and taken to LeChuck's new hideout on Monkey Island. There, they learn about life, love, LeChuck's evil plans, Big Whoop, and the true secret of Monkey Island.

LeChuck tells them he built the amusement park on the site of Big Whoop, situated on Dinky Island, a small atoll off Monkey Island. There, he discovered that Big Whoop was a portal to the demon world. The amusement park was a perfect lure for sea-weary pirates. LeChuck could send them through the portal, and transform them into demons for his army--a demon army that he would use to defeat the Governor's forces, and to make her marry him.

Once LeChuck had Elaine back, he would transform her into a demon also, so they could rule the Caribbean together as king and queen of the undead. Guybrush and Elaine, instead, thwart this plan in a climactic battle on a matterhorn-style rollercoaster, which is used to bury LeChuck in an avalanche of snow, permanently dousing the demon-pirate's hellish fires.

SOMEWHERE...DEEP IN THE CARIBBEAN PROLOGUE

Late at night, at the site of the giant monkey head in the deepest, darkest jungles of Monkey Island, a strange glow emanates from the stone beast's nostrils. Smoke and fire belch from the ears and nose, until the giant mouth bursts open revealing the flaming pits of hell, and signaling the dramatic reemergence of our hero, Guybrush Threepwood. He marches triumphantly from the maw of the monkey.....and trips.

We rejoin our hero aboard Governor Elaine Marley's galleon, lead ship in an armada en route to LeChuck's fortress (actually, their destination is his summer home, his regular fortress having been destroyed in an explosion during Monkey 2). Elaine came looking for Guybrush after she feared that LeChuck might have waylaid him on his search for the treasure of Big Whoop. Guybrush, found floating in a carnival bumpercar in the middle of the ocean after escaping his horrible ordeal on Monkey Island, is still a bit dazed, but he vaguely recalls suffering at the hands of LeChuck. Together, they set out to rid the world once and for all of the horrific LeChuck, zombie-pirate and all around mean guy.

Upon seeing Elaine again, Guybrush is instantly entranced. He had forgotten how truly captivating were her beauty and charm. In turn, Elaine had forgotten how truly endearing someone's complete and utter ineffectuality could be. Past differences between them are forgiven. It is at this moment that Guybrush attempts to explain his recent absence.

He tells of being trapped at a demonic carnival, filled with tortures so horrible they could only be born in the mind of a fourth-grader. Somehow, he escaped and found himself inside the monkey head. He fears that LeChuck has had some control over him in the form of a voodoo spell, but his recollection of these events is not good. It probably doesn't matter, though. Nobody seems to be listening anyway.

The ships close in on LeChuck's fortress and begin shelling. Guybrush is pressed into service on one of the cannon crews and blasts away until their combined efforts blow a hole in the outer wall of the fort. While the battle rages on, another gunner mentions to Guybrush that it sure is a shame that they plan to destroy the fortress, seeing as there's so much treasure beneath it.

Guybrush learns that LeChuck had once intended to give the treasure to Marley as an engagement present. Included in the loot is a giant diamond engagement ring, as well as some wedding gifts for the couple. But, legend has it that the treasure is guarded by one of LeChuck's own men, buried with the hoard, and possessed by a demon that forces him to guard it for all eternity.

The battle is at a standstill, so Guybrush decides that it is up to him to infiltrate the fort and defeat LeChuck. Maybe if he can do this and return with the ring, he reasons, Elaine will finally consider marrying him. Guybrush slips over the side, hops into the bumpercar, and rows to the besieged stronghold.

THE CURSED RING

The battle rages all around, while LeChuck defies the armada from the castle ramparts, fuming and shouting as decaying body parts drop off. LeChuck's lieutenant, the voodoo priest, says that he has prepared a voodoo potion for LeChuck that will light the seas on fire and engulf the armada in the flames of hell.

Meanwhile, Guybrush must cross a moat full of pirhanas and other nasty obstacles to reach the door to the treasure room. He finds himself at a locked door. On a high shelf nearby is a key, but it is just out of reach for Guybrush. Guybrush discovers a loose brick in the wall and decides to stand on it to reach the key. When he removes the brick from the wall, LeChuck's entire fort collapses around him. The fort crumbles and LeChuck, who was holding the fiery voodoo potion at the time, goes up in a ball of fire. In the ruins Guybrush finds an entrance to the treasure room.

Guybrush is about to steal the engagement ring when out steps Wally, the cartographer from Monkey 2. Wally survived the explosion of LeChuck's other fort, but was cursed with a demonic possession. An evil spirit inhabits Wally's body and forces him to guard the vault's treasure. This gives him a split personality, one expressing a desire to suck the marrow from Threepwood's bones like soup through a straw, and the other apologizing for the remark.

Guybrush distracts Wally long enough to get the ring and escape.

In the fortress dungeon he meets up with Marley and crew, who have come to make sure that LeChuck is dead (again). Guybrush gets down on bended knee and starts making kissy-talk. Elaine is touched, but wants to think about his proposal, and suggests he return on another ship to give her some time alone. He insists she take the ring with her in case she decides to say yes. They part, and Elaine sails away to her base on Flamingo Island.

As Guybrush prepares to return to his ship, he watches in horror as a huge supernatural flame engulfs his ship. The ship burns and sinks.

Marooned on the island, Guybrush returns to the vault and learns from Wally that LeChuck made him guard the treasure more for punishment than security. In fact, since LeChuck couldn't bring himself to return all the gifts when his wedding to Elaine was canceled, he just put a big ol' nasty curse on everything and stuck Wally down there with the loot. But, Wally says, as long as Guybrush doesn't actually put the ring on, everything will be O.K.

Our young buccaneer now must catch up to Marley and prevent her from putting on the ring, but first, he's got to get his butt off the island. He finds the voodoo guy, who never really liked that blowhard LeChuck anyway, planted in a hammock with an umbrella drink, intending to relax a little. Soon, a boat will show up to take him off the island. It's a small boat that holds only one passenger.

The voodoo priest, however, is a gamblin' man and has a soft spot for croquet. It just so happens that LeChuck has a course set up on the lawn using human skulls. Guybrush wins the boat ticket by coaxing Wally to pop his head up through a grating in the lawn, covering it with a spittoon, and passing it off as the voodoo priest's croquet ball. While the priest whacks away at Wally's head, Guybrush wins the game. Then he gets the ticket and heads for Flamingo Island.

Guybrush arrives too late. He sees Elaine standing on the deck of her ship, and runs toward her, shouting her name. Elaine, seeing Guybrush, begins running and we cut back and forth as they run in slo-mo (he, trying to stop her, and she, thinking it's a romantic love scene). She ends up on the front deck (that's the fo'c's'le, for all you piratey types) and elatedly shoves the huge diamond on her finger. Then she starts to glow, and says "Hey! Where did you get this ring, anyway?" In a poof of smoke she vanishes, and is transformed into a none-too-pleased wooden figurehead of the ship, frozen, trying to yank the ring off her finger.

The wooden Elaine is screaming at Guybrush, but he can't understand her because her mouth is frozen shut. He uses a chisel to carve her a nifty ventriloquist dummy mouth, and learns that the only one who can help him figure out LeChuck's evil curse, is the voodoo lady, conveniently living on the island. She gives him a list of 5 tasks to accomplish, each related to destroying what remains of LeChuck & Elaine's wedding plans. Each task results in the retrieval of an item which, when placed in the mojo bag, will break the spell:

1. Replace the cursed ring with one untainted by demon lust.
2. Get "something" from a theater setting.
3. Retrieve a slice of wedding cake from LeChuck's wedding reception, still in progress four years after the wedding's cancellation.
4. Gather wood chips from the sacred Tree of Life, while crossing out LeChuck & Elaine's initials carved there.
5. Return all the evil wedding gifts.

Upon returning from the voodoo lady's enclave, Guybrush finds that Elaine took out a mortgage on the ship to help finance the attack on LeChuck. An unscrupulous bureaucrat has repossessed Elaine's boat and placed a burly looking bank officer on deck to guard their property. Seeing as she is a figurehead and all, she is now unable to pay the bank. Guybrush can talk to Elaine, but can't get on the boat to leave Flamingo Island. So, he sets off to begin lifting the curse as best he can. As he succeeds in carving away at each of the 5 tasks, we see Elaine become more human.

Guybrush meets "Matchstick" McGhee who tells him that another ship of the armada has been burned. Actually, McGhee was on board when the ship burned. He is charred black and still smoking from the fire. "Unholy flames leapt up from the pits of hell to claim the ship," says McGhee." Either that, or I knocked over a candle." He spins quite a good yarn about the whole event, then tells Guybrush he plans to sign on with another ship from the armada.

THE NEW RING

Guybrush learns of a woman who, left at the altar by her fiancee, died of heartbreak and whose ghost still haunts the cemetery waiting for him to show up. The legend says she was buried with an enormous diamond engagement ring. But Threepwood can't get into the locked crypt, and there are no other rings on the island. However, after collecting some necessary ingredients, the voodoo lady makes Guybrush a potion that simulates his death. The townsfolk, thinking Guybrush has died, throw a party to bury him in the town crypt.

Once inside the crypt, Guybrush escapes from his coffin. He finds catacombs that connect a series of tombs lying underneath the town. He then explores the tombs in search of the haunted bride.

Guybrush finds the hideously decomposing, but fully animated bride. She does indeed have an enormous ring, but vows she will not remove it until there is a wedding ring to replace it. By exploring the crypts, Guybrush learns that her lover was killed in bizarre cummerbund accident on the way to the wedding and had no intention of jilting her. He finds the equally horrific groom and facilitates their marriage. The two corpses exchange vows, engage in a passionate post-mortem kiss and, when the wedding ring is placed on her stick-like finger, go to their final resting place, leaving behind only the diamond engagement ring and some bones.

Guybrush is, however trapped in the crypt. He frees himself by traveling through the catacombs under the town, popping his head up in unexpected places and "haunting" the people of Flamingo Island until they agree to unlock the crypt. The spirit of a true pirate can't rest in peace, he claims, unless buried at sea. That Threepwood character wasn't a true pirate, the townsfolk agree, but they're willing to try anything to shut him up and stop the infernal rattling of chains.

In the crypts, Guybrush finds a familiar-looking coffin. He pries it open, and out pops Stan, the ship and coffin salesman, from the previous games.

Stan tells Guybrush that some character--actually a guy who looked a little bit like him-- locked the fast-talking salesman in a coffin in his previously owned coffins shop. And, wouldn't ya know it, he got buried along with all the other stiffs. But, hey, now that they're on the subject, he says, wouldn't Guybrush like to know that his family is being provided for after he's gone?

Stan slams down the lid of the coffin and whips out a nameplate, diploma, and other office accoutrements, and launches into a life insurance sales spiel. Guybrush declines for the time being, but can return later to find that Stan has transformed the mausoleum into a life insurance office, complete with neon sign, and is trying to coax a few of the corpses and various other undead into purchasing some coverage.

THE THEATER

Meanwhile, a traveling thespian is trying to open a small theater on the island. Governor Marley has been cracking down on the blood-thirsty pirating biz lately, so quite a few sea dogs have shown up for auditions. Wacky hijinx abound as we see pirates taking a "stab" at Shakespeare and other classics.

Guybrush gets to do something neat in this location that involves getting on-stage in a certain production. He can switch scripts around to force the play he wants, feed lines to a forgetful pirate actor to change dialogue, understudy an actor, who must meet with an unfortunate accident, in order to get on-stage, etc. In the end, they stage a horrible version of Romeo and Juliet, with Guybrush pledging his undying devotion to a hook- armed pirate in drag. Somehow, this all relates back to the curse being lifted, although how it does escapes us at the moment.

THE MAP

Meanwhile, in his search for ways to lift the curse while on Flamingo Island, Guybrush learns that LeChuck's wedding consultant is vacationing at the new Flamingo Palace resort. Sources tell him that the consultant is the only man (alive, that is) who knows how to get to Skull Island, and the wedding grotto location of LeChuck's reception. Guybrush then breaks into the exclusive resort, and finds the consultant lounging under a tree on the beach. To get across the hot sands, he swipes some towels from the cabana boy and hops from towel to smoking towel until he ends up under the palm.

The consultant knows how to get to Skull Island, but has no intention of telling Guybrush the way. He learns, however, that the pirate wedding planner actually has the map tattooed on his back. Guybrush then convinces the guy that he'd get more business without such a pasty-white complexion, gives the man some cooking oil as tanning lotion, and gets him to lie on his stomach in the Caribbean sun. Several hours later, our hero peels the map off the bright red pirate's back and heads on his merry way

PAY OFF THE SHIP

Having retrieved the ring, the theater related whatever, and the map, our hero returns to buy Marley's ship out of hock and get a crew bound for Skull Island. Guybrush learns that a great source for money would be one of Stan's life insurance policies, save for the fact that any of the undead trying to cash one in is disqualified because their death certificates predate their policy purchase dates. Guybrush has no luck changing the date on his death certificate at the hall of records either, and can't talk Stan into anything.

However, upon finding the morning's paper, he sees a rather scathing review of his acting performance in the pirate play. He shows the records keeper the story which reads "Last night, Guybrush Threepwood died on stage in one of the worst performances of some strange romance about landlubbers yelling from a balcony that this pirate theater critic has ever seen. Two hooks down." The records keeper, bound by some unreasoning bureaucratic code, is forced to issue a new death certificate. Guybrush then cashes in his policy from a reluctant Stan, and returns to pay off the ship.

As our hero is working his way through the obstacles on Flamingo Island, he continues to hear of more ships from Marley's armada, one by one, falling victim to fire under mysterious circumstances. He learns this information each time from "Matchstick" McGhee, who has been a crew member of each of the doomed ships, and appears to be the only charred survivor willing to hang around and talk about the incidents. Or, rather sing about it, as by this point his tales of hellfire and devils burning the noble boats have turned into hearty pirate ballads that he forces on an unsuspecting audience.

When Guybrush boards Marley's boat to pay the mortgage, a strange fire breaks out down by the waterfront, the crackling flames tearing through the buildings, growing in power, and moaning in an almost demonic voice. The fires sweep down the dock and rise up in an unholy apparition, forming themselves into the demonic shape of the evil LeChuck. He bellows in rage as Guybrush casts off the lines, narrowly escaping his clutches.

From the end of the pier in front of the Flaming(o) Palace, the newly formed LeChuck pledges to hunt down Guybrush and Marley's boat. He swears he will devour them to fuel the fires of his evil soul, just as he devoured the other ships in the armada, each one giving him more strength. He stands there screaming as they sail off, his evil face wreathed in a beard of flames, until his burning feet eat through the dock and he drops into the bay with a surprised "Arrrr!"

THE STORM

Guybrush and Elaine then put out to sea with no crew and only the tattooed markings on a piece of wrinkly skin to guide them. Soon, they run into more trouble than they can handle, and the young pirate finds himself trapped below deck in a storm. Now, undoubtedly thrown off course, he gets up on deck just as they are about to be splintered on the rocks. Guybrush turns the ship around, but the power of the storm is too great and, without a crew, they crash upon a nearby shore.

When he comes to, he finds that Elaine is O.K., but there is a gaping hole in the ship. As Guybrush assesses the new island. He notices a mountain formed in the shape of a gigantic duck. He realizes he must fix his boat, get a crew to prevent further seagoing mishaps, continue on his voyage to Skull Island to shut down LeChuck's reception, as well as find the sacred tree and make it back to the ruins of the summer home to gather up the wedding gifts and return them. All of this to lift the evil curse, but now with LeChuck hot on their trail. Guybrush occasionally returns to the splintered ship to get advice from Elaine, but otherwise he's on his own.

THE SACRED TREE OF LIFE

As luck would have it, his further exploration of the savage island reveals that the cannibals, formerly of Monkey Island, have a village on the slopes of the mountain, and guard the sacred tree that Guybrush has been told to find.

From the cannibals, Guybrush learns that someone has been cutting down forests on Monkey Island and all the monkeys have been disappearing. Strange boats carrying the wood were seen traveling out to an atoll in the bay near the giant monkey head and fires burned there late into the night amid sounds of construction. The neighborhood just wasn't what it used to be, they claimed, and so it seemed like a good time to move. The cannibals will not let him enter the village, however, claiming that several of Guybrush's swashbuckling kind have been stealing their gold and sacred idols.

Our half-baked hero discovers a pirate ship anchored in a nearby bay, riding low in the water under the weight of native gold. The crew are a bloodthirsty lot, and immediately press Guybrush into service on their ship. The minute he even opens his mouth to complain or ask a question, it's a walk on the plank for him. The pirates equitably allow him to choose his torture, although they become more irritable each time he survives and returns for another round.

Eventually, after being tied to the yard arm, walking the plank, being tarred and feathered, and keelhauled, Guybrush gets his hands on a pirates' prosthetic hook. He straps it on his head. As a final request before being keelhauled again, he asks if he may wear his traditional Turkish pirate fez before visiting Davy Jones' locker. As he is keel- hauled, his hook-adorned head shatters the glass-bottomed hull and the pirate ship sinks to the bottom of the bay.

Since the other pirates were unaware that Guybrush could hold his breath for 10 minutes (his only worthwhile skill as a pirate), they assume he's finally dead, and they begin attempting to pull up their sunken treasure into the longboats. Guybrush finds a way to get past the pirates and swims down to retrieve the golden idol from the bottom o f the bay. Interesting things happen with sea creatures, etc., although once again the details elude us.

Finally, young master Threepwood returns the native gold to its rightful owners, and is allowed to visit the sacred tree. He finds LeChuck has carved "LeChuck loves Marley" in the tree with a cutlass. Guybrush scratches the carving out, but discovers that it is a rubber tree and can produce no wood chips needed to dispel the curse. Desperate for a souvenir of his carving to help lift the curse, he stumbles across Lemonhead's Rubber Tree Snack Hut, and notices a bag of Cajun-style, mesquite flavored chips on the rack right next to the taco and sour cream and onion flavored. This will have to do. He acquires a bag chips and then sets off again.

THE FLYING WELSHMAN

The pirates in the bay also provide Guybrush with information about Skull Island. They claim that the only one who can lead him there is "The Flying Welshman." Legend has it that when the myst (sic) comes in, he can be summoned by the light of the ancient lighthouse on the point. The spirit of the Welsh mariner appears out of the fog, his ghost ship flying above the waves, to ferry those few brave souls to the grotto on Skull Island where LeChuck has his wedding reception.

Guybrush fixes the lighthouse and summons the spirit. As he stands at the water's edge, he sees a ghostly form emerge from the fog. It's the Welshman, frantically rowing a small ghost rowboat above the whitecaps. The spirit then takes our pirate-wannabe aboard, rows out about 30 yards, then heads back in to shore on the other side of the lighthouse point. . "Arrr, here it be, mate: Skull Island!" Guybrush, feeling slightly taken, comments that they're still on the same island, the one with the duck shaped mountain. "No," cries the Welshman, 'tis the hideous form of a skull!.. Well,... when you look at it from this angle, and kinda squint, it is. Use your imagination, lad! Arr, the nightmares it gives me!!" Then the Flying skull-seeing Welshman drops Guybrush off at the wedding grotto.

Once inside, Guybrush is faced with LeChuck's horrible wedding reception. At the center of the pirate wedding grotto stands the massive wedding cake, a huge gray-frosted, barbed wire covered monstrosity with figures of a bride and groom on top walking the plank Guybrush is surprised to find that he was invited to the reception, after all. Immediately, the evil maitre d' shows him to his chair, an iron maiden style seat with shackles. Worse than that, he is seated at the kids table.

Guybrush frees himself from his chair and rids the party of LeChuck's undead aunts and cousins with a well-tossed bouquet. Somehow he gets the band fired by the maitre d' before they launch into another refrain of "Walkin' the Plank of Love." The caterers still block his way. So, Guybrush switches the sparkling grog in the punchbowl for a big jar of blue comb disinfectant, found at another location on Skull Island--a barber shop. When the maitre d' tests the punch, the caterers are fired, and Guybrush finally grabs the cake, effectively shutting down the reception.

THE CREW

The final location that Guybrush stumbles across on the otherwise unsettled Skull Island is a strange little barber shop. Perched on the hill above the bay where the pirate ship is anchored, he finds "The Barbery Coast," home to 4 retired pirates cum barbers. It seems that they felt the high seas offered them no more great challenges, and so it came time to stop cutting throats, and start cutting hair. One of them happens to be quite a barber, and the others, feeling that their talents weren't quite as marketable in trades other than buccaneering, agreed to join the business. Besides, what better place than a barber shop-- other than the rollicking high seas--for the quartet to practice their first love: singing.

Given that all the reception guests are gone, the other pirates want to kill him, and the cannibals don't know a thing about boats, it looks like Guybrush has to force the pirate barbershop quartet out of retirement to crew his ship. This is difficult, since they're perfectly happy mutilating the hair of the occasional pirate crewman who wanders in from the bay, and then telling him to try a nice bandanna and tri-corn hat over it for the perfect look. Eventually, our brave little seaman finds that if he can defeat each barber in a test of skill, they can be convinced to sign on with Captain Threepwood, for surely he's someone from whom they can learn.

Two of the pirates have fascinating (although currently unknown) skills. Guybrush bests them at these. The third pirate is a Scotsman, and quite a strong fellow. His skill is the caber toss, and Guybrush attempts to throw logs around the yard with him, but fails miserably. Until he finally thinks to cut down and use the cannibals' sacred rubber tree. When he tosses the rubber tree, it doesn't go as far as the pirate's, but it bounces so many times that Guybrush wins.

The fourth pirate is a duelist, and Guybrush must challenge him to a contest. Each time he tries, he has a choice of weapons laid out in cases on the porch, sabers and pistols among them. The pirate always wins, until Guybrush opens a musical instrument case stacked among the boxes behind the obvious dueling choices, and finds a banjo. The two stand back to back, banjo in hand, walk ten paces, turn, and then play dueling banjos, "Loom Style." Threepwood can't outplay the other pirate either, but eventually beats him by shooting the pirate's banjo during a lengthy solo.

Having bested all the retired pirates, they agree to fix Guybrush's ship and sign on as his crew. The ship heads away from Skull Island towards their final destination: LeChuck's demolished summer home, where Guybrush must retrieve the wedding gifts and return them as the final step in lifting the curse.

Once out to sea, however, he finds that the adventure and romance of being back on the ocean is overwhelming for his pirate crew, and they break into song, as in some bad pirate musical. They sing and they sing, and basically they don't do any work. Somehow they know all the words, and can think of rhymes for anything, but Guybrush just isn't that quick. Every order he barks at them is responded to with a rhyming verse in song. Guybrush is stuck floating in a pirate musical for days, until he finally finds a way to turn the conversation around and end a sentence with the word "orange." The singing pirates, unable to rhyme anything with this, become depressed and grudgingly return to the job of manning the ship.

Guybrush then can sail back to Flamingo Island, (although much of it has been burned down), LeChuck's summer fort, and Skull Island. At the summer fort, he encounters Wally, lounging happily on the hammock, not a sign of the demon in sight. Apparently, he says, a few hundred whacks in the head with a croquet mallet was all it took to drive the spirit from his body, so Wally's in a pretty jovial mood. The voodoo priest hopped the next boat off the island and hasn't come back.

Wally is more than happy to let Guybrush take the wedding gifts from the vault. Once back in the dungeon, he sees that most of the stuff in the vault were gifts from LeChuck to Elaine. Guybrush only has to return the wedding gifts. A small table in the corner has the only stuff that Guybrush must return: 3 presents for Elaine and LeChuck from some of the pirate's "friends." They are, a crock-pot, a toaster, and a Belgian waffle maker, but there are no cards with any of them.

Guybrush then returns to the burnt ruins of the Flaming(o) Palace and searches through the rubble of the pirate wedding consultant's room, until he finds LeChuck's wedding registry. The registry lists who gave what gift, and their addresses--latitude and longitude points on the map, pointing to shipping lanes where they sail.

The only person remaining on Flamingo Island is "Matchstick" McGhee, still smoking, who meets Guybrush at the dock and begins telling some tall tale about his last, ill fated ship. Seeing as how Guybrush happens to be captain of the last remaining ship in the armada, McGhee asks to sign on as crewman. Guybrush, in an uncharacteristically wise move, thinks it better not to allow the smoldering sailor aboard his ship.

THE GIFTS

Now on his last leg of the curse-lifting adventure, Captain Threepwood and crew head out to the shipping lanes to return the 3 presents. Once he finds the appropriate ships, however, he is dismayed to learn that these fierce pirates don't want the gifts back. They only gave them to LeChuck because the gifts already had horrible curses on them. Guybrush can't make them take the stuff back, because he can't even get on board. His only hope, he realizes, is that each of the pirate captains displays a weakness for certain treasures.

Guybrush decides to hide the cursed gifts in a larger pile of treasure that the pirate captains may want, and let them pirate his loot. He must first, however, get the loot, and the other ships in the area aren't very cooperative in this plan. Eventually, he learns that some ships have no worthwhile cargo, but can teach him a thing or two about witty insults (the key to any swordfight). Other ships have the treasure he seeks, but they have larger crews that run him off the boat before he can even face their captain in one-on-one combat.

He discovers that, as Captain Threepwood, he just isn't very intimidating to a pirate crew, and that has a big psychological effect on the battle. Only through creating a menacing new persona, that of the fearsome Blondebeard, can he strike terror in the hearts of his foes, causing them to stand down and let him face their captain. He learns from failed battles what elements of a good pirate are most threatening.

To become Blondebeard, Guybrush gets a cool parrot, a scary jolly roger, a cacophonous pirate band, and a bushy pirate beard (being unable to grow an adequate one himself). The best parrot he can find is a slightly charred flamingo from the hotel, but that'll do. Then he makes a flag out of something funny and interesting that we'll think of later. He hires the band that he got fired from the reception, and makes them switch instruments so their bad pop music sounds like a banshee from hell. With some tree sap and some hair from the floor of the barber shop, Guybrush makes a dandy beard. (Mmmm, we smell puzzles cookin').

Once past the ships' crew, he insult swordfights all the captains until he gets the treasure he seeks. Placing the appropriate cursed gift into the piles of gold, jewels, and spice, he acts helpless and lets slip that he's carrying prized cargo. The first two gift-giving pirate captains fall for this ruse and steal back their cursed gifts. After pirating Guybrush's ship, the pirate captains give him a receipt for everything they have stolen so Guybrush can write off the loss on his taxes. The last captain, however, sees through Threepwood's plan, and refuses to take the bait. Guybrush attacks and, after a heart-stopping round of insult swordfighting, emerges triumphant. He forces the captain to take the gift and gets his receipt.

The receipts are the final ingredients needed to lift the curse. Guybrush drops them in the mojo bag, shakes it up, and sprinkles the voodoo dust over the figurehead of Elaine. She is magically returned to her human form, and joyfully grabs Guybrush in a bone-crushing embrace. The crew cheers and break into song, and there is much rejoicing, until someone asks if they smell anything burning, and the production number ceases. They notice "Matchstick" McGhee has joined the chorus line.

McGhee reveals that he stowed away on the ship, and then pulls out a pistol. He claims he had to get off the island in order to follow Guybrush to track down Governor Marley. Now that the curse is lifted and Marley is revealed, McGhee must take the ship, with all on board as hostages, to Monkey Island by order of his boss--the Demon-Pirate LeChuck!!

McGhee takes the ship to Monkey Island and sails into a cave under the giant monkey head, where the waters mix with lava. Soon, they are navigating the canals of the hellish maze beneath the island, until finally they dock at LeChuck's new fortress...Dinky Island, the location of Big Whoop. The lava tunnels under the monkey head connect with the underground tunnels of Dinky Island, an atoll sitting just off Monkey Island.

MONKEY 2 EXPLAINED!

LeChuck had intended on killing Guybrush, but the tyke had slipped away in the crowds somehow and ended up escaping the island. This time, says LeChuck, Guybrush will not escape. As he spells out the torturous end he has planned for Guybrush, the demon pirate reveals the evil plot that led him back to Monkey Island. LeChuck knew that, as a mortal, Elaine would never marry him. But, if he could make her one of the undead, they could be together. Big Whoop was the answer to LeChuck's ungodly prayers.

Discovered on Dinky Island, Big Whoop is a passage to a demon world. LeChuck would construct a huge carnival on the site, lure unsuspecting pirates there, and transform them into a demon army. Then, with the might of this army of the undead, he would capture Elaine, transform her, and make her his bride.

Plus, it really was the only good place for a pirate to take a date in the Caribbean....a place where they could spin around on wildly rotating machinery at high speeds until they vomited. Elaine would be so taken with the violence and stomach-turning romance of it all, that she would willingly marry LeChuck. Hand in hand, they would climb on the Carousel of the Damned, and be transported to the world of the undead, where Elaine would become queen of the undead. Or else he'd slit her throat.

However, Guybrush discovered this carnival at the end of Monkey 2. The quick-thinking LeChuck laid a curse on Guybrush, intending to play with him for a while, then kill him on one of the rides. But somehow, Guybrush got away.

LeChuck began planning again for a wedding, this one much grander than the last, while sending out spies to find the cursed and weakened Elaine. Finally, McGhee captured them and brought them here.

BACK TO OUR STORY

LeChuck then casts another voodoo spell on Guybrush, returning him to his childlike size, and whisks Elaine away to the carousel. When our swashbuckling lothario attempts to follow, he is not allowed on the ride, because of the sign that says "Ye must be this tall." Remembering how he broke the spell last time, he repeats this and runs back to the carousel just in time to see LeChuck and Elaine spin around behind the merry-go-round, but not come out the other side.

The curse lifted, Guybrush sees the amusement park for what it really is: The Unhappiest Place on Earth M, scattered with torturous rides. And al of the carnival is powered by the slave-labor of poor little wretched monkeys....that's why there aren't very many monkeys on Monkey Island!! LeChuck must pay!

Guybrush jumps on a carousel horse to follow, and finds himself in a surreal world of the undead, in a chase on detached merry-go-round ponies. He somehow cleverly reverses the merry-go-round, sucking LeChuck and Elaine back out, at which point she escapes, and LeChuck chases Guybrush onto the rollercoaster.

They jump from car to car on the matterhorn-style coaster in a bitter sword battle. The ride climbs wildly up from the pits of hell into a massive snowy peak, then winds back down into the lava pits again. They duel until Guybrush cuts loose a low-hanging barrel, which decapitates LeChuck. Though weakened, LeChuck still fights on, grabbing up his flaming head. Guybrush fears that he may never defeat the evil pirate, until he finally realizes that LeChuck's creation will be his own undoing. The snow from the peak of the rollercoaster mountain is one of LeChuck's proudest accomplishments--snow in the Caribbean that never melts!

Guybrush creates a massive avalanche. LeChuck is buried beneath the torrent of powder and encased in an icy coffin made from the only thing cold enough to permanently smother his demonic flames.

LeChuck finally defeated, Guybrush sets all the monkeys free, and is reunited with Elaine. The music swells, they smooch, big romantic musical production number ending. Then, we flash forward to "Matchstick" McGhee, standing at the site of the run down Big Whoop carnival, with a small group of disinterested patrons listening to another tall tale: "and they say that the man who built this amusement park isn't really dead at all. Some claim, in fact, that his body is actually frozen, kept in suspended animation, and hidden somewhere within the tunnels deep below the park.

THE END

Interface

The Pirate Curse of Monkey Island will have a pop-up interface similar to the one used in Full Throttle. The left button executes commands, while the right button toggles the inventory screen on and off. The interface will differ from Full Throttle in that players will be able to execute commands on objects in their inventories.

Monkey Island 1 and 2

We plan to include The Secret of Monkey Island, and LeChuck's Revenge in some creative way on the same CD. This is similar to the inclusion of Maniac Mansion in DOTT.

Technical Requirements

The Pirate Curse of Monkey Island will require an IBM compatible computer, 486/66 or faster running DOS, or Windows95 with a double-speed CD-ROM drive and at least 8 megabytes of RAM.

SCUMM Additions

The Pirate Curse of Monkey Island will be programmed using the current SCUMM system with the following additions.

High-resolution art (640X480 pixels, 256 colors)

Most of the tools we already have running in high-res. Flem and cyst already have high- res versions and preliminary version of high-res sputm is already under development.

Improved "on-the-fly" scaling

A new scaling algorithm will be added to replace the current table based system

Simultaneous SCUMM scripts and INSANE

A modification of "sputm," that will allow SCUMM scripts to run concurrently with the INSANE engine. This will allow us to add the rich graphics streaming video can provide without having to switch to an entirely new engine for interactive programming.

Programming Resources

1 lead programmer
3 full-time scripters
1 systems programmer

Size

About Day of the Tentacle size in terms of game-play and rooms (80 Scumm rooms.) Smush sequences will be about half what they were on Full Throttle.

Art Resources

1 lead animator
5 2d animators
1 3d animator
1 lead artist
1 background artist
3 art techs