About Cragne Manor
Cragne Manor is a text adventure commemorating the twentieth anniversary of Michael
Gentry’s Anchorhead. It’s also a huge, ridiculous experimental collaboration.
Your name is Naomi Cragne. Your husband is missing. That’s why you’re taking the train to
Vermont, to look for him in his family’s old mansion. You’ll explore creepy environments,
consult eldritch tomes, and solve bizarre puzzles as you search for Peter, but your surroundings,
your past, and even your identity seem to change subtly—or dramatically—as you make your
way through the town of Backwater and approach Cragne Manor.
Each location is a different author’s take on a tribute to Anchorhead, or an original work
of Lovecraftian cosmic horror, or a deconstruction of cosmic horror, or a gonzo parody of
cosmic horror, or a parody of some other thing, or a portrait of life in Vermont, or a pure
experiment in writing with Inform 7, or something else entirely. There are tons of puzzles.
The puzzles get very weird.
About this guide
This guide is intended to be a handy reference manual for solving the puzzles required to
complete the game. As such, it is full of spoilers. It is not intended to be a walkthrough, and
therefore does not provide a suggested route through the game. It also does not cover the
many non-essential puzzles, interactions and easter eggs in the game. You can find further
information about these on the Cragne Manor page of the Interactive Fiction Database.
This guide does include maps in the Appendix showing how the rooms are connected and
the location of trolley stops.
Key
Requirements A list of items or information needed to solve the room
Objectives A list of items or information to find in the room
The description shown when you first enter the room.
1. A list of steps to solve the room.
Items that you can take are highlighted in bold.
Text commands are shown in monotype font.
“Text from the game is shown in serif font within quotation marks.”
When a Room Name is shown in the text, click on it to go to the entry for that room.
Acknowledgements
With thanks to the generous contributors to the Cragne Manor hint thread on the Interactive
Fiction Community Forum.
Version 1.0, December 2019
1
Contents
I Backwater Town 6
Railway Platform (Naomi Hinchen) 7
Train Station Lobby (Shin) 9
Train Station Restroom (David Petrocco) 10
Station Security Room (Monique Padelis) 11
Exterior of Train Station (Emily Short with additions from Graham Nelson) 12
Milkweed (Caleb Wilson) 13
Church Exterior (Andy Holloway) 14
Narthex (Hanon Ondricek) 15
Steeple (Michael D. Hilborn) 18
Chapel (s. hammack) 19
Church Office (Llew Mason) 20
Church Basement (Sean M. Shore) 22
The Churchyard (David Jose) 24
Mausoleum (Gary Butterfield) 25
The Dim Recesses of the Forest (Jacqueline A. Lott Ashwell) 26
The Old Well (Reed Lockwood) 27
Circular Room (JP) 30
Shack Exterior (Michael Lin) 31
Inside the Shack (Daniel Ravipinto) 32
Outside the Library (Gavin Inglis) 33
Backwater Public Library (Carl Muckenhoupt) 34
2
CONTENTS CONTENTS
Estate Agent’s Office (Jenni Polodna) 36
Town Square, Backwater, VT (Marco Innocenti) 39
Drinking Fountain (Lucian Smith) 41
River Walk (Adam Whybray) 42
Under the Bridge (Tenth) 43
Bridge (Daniel Stelzer and Jemma Briggeman) 44
Outside Pub (Jason Lautzenheiser) 46
The Invisible Worm (Sam Kabo Ashwell) 47
Constabulary Road (Harkness Munt) 48
Backwater Jail (Marshal Tenner Winter) 49
Padded Cell (Marius M¨uller) 51
Tunnel Entrance (Grueslayer) 53
Subterranean Tunnel (Drew M) 56
Narrow Straits (Mathbrush) 57
Amorphous Tunnel (Bill Maya) 58
Courtyard (Finn Rosenloev) 59
Curiosity Shop (Rachel Spitler) 60
Hillside Path (Jack Welch) 61
Outside the Plant (Chandler Groover) 63
The Meatpacking Plant (Kenneth Pedersen) 64
Bathroom of the Meatpacking Plant (Chris Jones) 65
Dusty Office (Matthew Korson) 69
II The Manor 70
Front Walk (Matt Weiner) 71
Outside the Greenhouse (James Eagle) 72
Greenhouse (Petter Sj¨olund) 73
The Cragne Manor’s Back Garden (Austin Auclair) 75
3
CONTENTS CONTENTS
The Shambolic Shack (Michael Fessler) 77
Cragne Family Plot (Mark Britton) 78
Family Crypt (Justin Melvin) 80
Mudroom (Matt Weiner) 81
Foyer (Greg Frost) 82
Court (Ryan Veeder) 83
Gallery (YerrikTRB/Erica Newman) 88
Rec Room (Zack Johnson) 89
The Music Room (Wade Clarke) 91
Landing at the Bottom of Stairs (Mark Sample) 96
Dining Room (Roberto Colnaghi) 97
Sitting Room (Buster Hudson) 98
The Kitchen (Edward B) 99
Basement (Ivan Roth) 100
Cold Storage Room (Jeremy Freese) 103
Wine Cellar (Nathaniel Edwards) 105
Laboratory (Michael Gentry) 106
Pantry (Chris Conley) 107
Workroom (Andrew Plotkin) 108
Boiler Room (Eric W. Brown) 114
Malign Tunnel (Damon L. Wakes) 117
Top of Stairs (Q. Pheevr) 118
Upstairs Hall, North End (Jason Love) 119
Carol’s Room (Ben Collins-Sussman) 120
Hallway South (Matt Schneider) 122
Study (Ian Holmes) 123
Library (Mike Spivey) 124
Balcony (Reina Adair) 126
4
CONTENTS CONTENTS
Master Bedroom (Rowan Lipkovits) 127
A Shadowy Closet (Molly Ying) 128
Attic (Lane Puetz) 129
Disheveled Studio (Katherine Morayati) 130
Abandoned Nursery (Harrison Gerard) 132
Invasive Library (Justin de Vesine) 133
Science Tower (Riff Conner) 134
Branching Corridor (Zachary Hodgens) 136
The Observatory (Joey Jones) 137
The Great Purple Unknown (Adri) 139
Appendix: Maps 140
5
Part I
Backwater Town
6
Railway Platform
Requirements Get the employee ID card from River Walk
Objectives Find the golden eyepiece
The cold autumn wind makes you shiver. The train station is eerily deserted: no
staff, no other passengers. Even the train you arrived on has disappeared into the
distance as if it had never been here. Your memory of the trip already seems faded
and unreal, like a dream.
The sign hanging overhead catches your eye: “Backwater Station.” Yes: Backwater,
Vermont. This is where you need to be. You need to find Peter.
The platform is open to the outdoors, but has an overhanging roof with a rusted
sign hanging from it. At the back of the platform, to the south, is the entrance to
the lobby. Train tracks stretch off into the distance to the east and west; on the
other side of the track is a graffitied brick wall. The only other living creature in
sight is a rat fixing you with its beady black eyes.
The clock overhead gives the time as 6:20 pm; beneath the clock is a schedule board
listing train arrival times. On the platform itself are a wooden bench, a storage
locker, and a vending machine.
1. Find a familiar gold wristwatch on the bench.
>look at bench
2. Read the inscription on the wristwatch.
>read inscription
“On the back of the watch is engraved
N + P
March 19th”
3. Get the brass winding key from the rat.
>look at rat
>take key
4. Check the schedule board.
>look at schedule
7
RAILWAY PLATFORM (NAOMI HINCHEN)
“The board lists a schedule of train times:
Providence CANCELLED
Dunwich CANCELLED
Innsmouth CANCELLED
Anchorhead 13:37
Arkham CANCELLED”
5. Open the storage locker to find a suitcase.
>swipe employee id card
6.
Unlock the suitcase using the date from the wristwatch to find a
mysterious silver
box.
>set lock to 0319
>open suitcase
7. Summon the 13:37 train to Anchorhead to unlock the box, revealing a bronze coin.
>put box on tracks
>stand on bench
>insert key in clock
>set clock to 13:37
8. Use the coin to dispense a plastic bubble from the vending machine.
>get off bench
>put coin in vending machine
9. Open the plastic bubble to find the golden eyepiece.
>open plastic bubble
>take golden eyepiece
8
Train Station Lobby
Requirements Get the slimy key from the Disheveled Studio
Objectives Unlock the door to the Station Security Room
The evening light trickles through the dirty, cobweb-covered windows on either side
of the station exit to the south, dimly illuminating your surroundings. To the north
is the platform on which you arrived. To the east, a large mirror decorates the wall
next to a green door. To the west, there is a brown door. The overall appearance is
one of general neglect and decay. You regard your surroundings with a deep sense of
foreboding.
A styrofoam coffee cup sits on the floor next to the entrance to the bathroom.
1. Unlock the green door.
>unlock green door with slimy key
9
Train Station Restroom
Requirements None
Objectives Find the glass jar containing an insect
As you enter the restroom you hear creak of a faucet being turned off and the rough
scraping of metal upon metal from the far end of the restroom. Finally the
automatic lights kick on revealing the restroom but there’s no sign of who, or what,
could have caused the noise.
A harshly lit pay restroom. Dust and grime mar the once white tiles and marble of
the facilities: A small shower stall with the curtain closed, a bathroom stall with a
single dirty toilet (there are mounts for a door, but it is nowhere to be seen), a small
storage closet for janitorial supplies, a four by four row of small lockers, and an
extremely dirty dual basin sink.
The train station is EAST.
1. Find the code to open the locker.
>open storage closet
“A small note taped to the wall says Locker 3 7113.”
2. Unlock the locker to find the glass jar containing an insect.
>set lock to 7113
>take glass jar
10
Station Security Room
Requirements None
Objectives Find the tarnished brass key
As you step into the room you breathe out deeply and relax your shoulders. You
realise your body has felt constricted ever since you arrived in Backwater.
The compact room smells earthy, as if you’ve stepped into a forest just after the dew
has settled. A framed article hangs on the moss green walls alongside a window that
lets in a little light. Your eyes are drawn to the two glowing CRT monitors on a desk
that runs the length of the east wall. A leather chair sits in front of the desk and
most of the south wall is taken up by shelves with labelled VHS tapes. The door to
the station is to your west.
1. Read the framed article.
>read framed article
“The article is dated 17th October 1995 and has a photo of a man and a woman in
high-vis jackets smiling outside the entrance to the train station. The headline
reads: SECURITY GUARD KILLED IN TRAGIC ACCIDENT:
A security guard was killed yesterday after being run over by a train passing through
Backwater train station. Bran Cragne, 34 (pictured with colleague Nadia) was
patrolling the platform when he slipped and fell onto the tracks. His wife Barbara
calls him a “kind and lovely husband” and his friends at the station say he will be
sorely missed.”
2.
Watch the
Security tape labelled 16-10-95
, the day of the accident, to see Bran
hiding something under monitor 1.
>watch tape 16-10-95
3. Find the tarnished brass key in a nook under monitor 1.
>look under monitor 1
>look at nook
>take tarnished brass key
11
Exterior of Train Station
Requirements Get the glass jar containing an insect from the Train Station Restroom
Objectives Clear the route across the bridge
To the north is the cyclopean windowless bulk of the train station. A metal trash
can squats beneath its carved facade. The town itself is downhill, on the other side
of a ravine. Somewhere down there, you can get a bath and a meal.
A woman stands in the center of the bridge, preventing traffic in both directions.
1. Find the pull-string doll in the trash can.
>open trash can
>take doll
2. Use the doll to alarm the woman.
>rotate head
>pull string [Repeat until the doll mentions the glass jar containing an insect]
3. Use the jar to scare the woman away.
>show glass jar to woman
12
Milkweed
Requirements None
Objectives Find the postcard of Big Ben
Find the diary of Phyllis Cragne
It is possible to feel claustrophobia out of doors. Sunlight fills the sky but somehow
doesn’t reach you here. Steep banks of bramble rise to the east and west, trapping
you within a gloomy trough a dozen yards wide. A poorly-surfaced road leads north
and south along the trough’s nadir. Just west of it, camouflaged with rust, is the
train track.
A tremendous patch of milkweed, the stems abnormally thick and tall, grows on the
east side of the road beneath the thorn bank.
A giant milkweed leaf dangles just within reach from the mass of stems.
Almost hidden within the milkweed is a dilapidated shack built more of splinters
than of planks.
1. Put the giant milkweed leaf over your face.
>wear milkweed leaf
2. Push over the dilapidated shack to reveal an altar.
>push shack
3.
Lie down on the altar to find a shelf with the
postcard of Big Ben
and the
diary of
Phyllis Cragne.
>get on altar
>look at shelf
>take postcard
>take diary
13
Church Exterior
Requirements Get the long wooden key from the Family Crypt
Objectives Unlock the doors to the Narthex
The gravel road curves here past the doors of an old stone church, which squats
defeatedly amid a few straggly trees. Behind it, to the northeast, you can see the
first few stones of a modest graveyard. To the east the road narrows to cross a small
bridge into the village proper; to the north, it crests the hill toward the train station.
1. Unlock the church doors.
>unlock door with long wooden key
14
Narthex*
*Note: When you first encounter this room it is called the Church Lobby-Space
Requirements None
Objectives Find the slim hardback manual
This shallow space extends the width of the church. What do you call this? The
church-lobby? Surely there’s a better name for it... Despite the gloominess, it’s not
that unwelcoming. You’d guess renovations happened mid-1980s–the color scheme is
that sponge-painted beigy-peach which goes great with industrial linoleum floor tiles.
They checkerboard underfoot in grayish green and grayish white squares with dark
speckles. A stamped powder-blue accent border provides a homey feel for
church-lady potlucks.
The chapel proper opens to the west and a set of double doors leads out of the
building.
Also good to note: two side by side openings lead
in
to restrooms. Now’s probably a
good time to go–this place is quite a bit tidier than many of the locations you’ve
visited, and who knows when you might next encounter a clean bathroom that isn’t
filled with skeletons, or making scary noises, or holding a contraption that dispenses
a key, or a portal to a pocket dimension full of snakes with baby-faces or something
worse...
A collection of framed photos is arranged on one wall, and a woodstained ladder
bolted nearby leads up through a square opening in the ceiling.
1. Enter the women’s restroom and find some Saucy Siren lipstick.
>go in
2. Put on the lipstick and look in the mirror.
>put on lipstick
>look at mirror
You’re now in the past, in the body of a schoolgirl named Jessica.
3.
Try to leave the restroom to encounter three other schoolgirls: Dawn, Thelma, and
Meredith.
>go out
15
NARTHEX (HANON ONDRICEK)
4.
Keep trying to leave as the girls talk to Jessica. When Meredith asks if she has a date
to the Maple Harvest dance, answer
>no
5. Give the lipstick to Sister Mary Marcia when she finds you in the restroom.
>give lipstick to sister
You’re transported back to the present.
6. Find the red high heel shoes in the bathroom stall.
>open stall
7. Put on the shoes to be transported back into the past.
>put on red shoes
8. Try to leave the restroom to encounter the other schoolgirls again.
9. When Thelma shoves you over, push her back to get the girls to leave.
>push thelma
10. Leave the restroom.
11. Go into the school hallway to find Brandon Cragne.
>go e
12. Talk to Brandon to get a scrap of paper.
>talk to brandon
13. Go to the library.
>go s
14. Get the slim hardback manual from the librarian.
>take tome
15. Go back to Brandon and try to give him the manual.
>go n
>give manual to brandon
16. When Brandon asks if you know where the black tile in the narthex is, say
>yes
17. When Brandon asks you to the dance, say
>yes
18. Try to go back to the narthex to encounter Sister Mary Marcia again.
>go w
19. Push Sister Mary when she tries to take your shoes.
>push sister
20. After Sister Mary leaves, go back to the narthex.
16
NARTHEX (HANON ONDRICEK)
21. Hide the manual under the black tile.
>open black tile
>hide manual under black tile
You’re transported back to the women’s restroom, in the present.
22. Leave the restroom.
23. Find the manual under the black tile.
>open black tile
>look at dark space
>take manual
24. Try to climb up to the Steeple to trigger the final scene with Jessica and Brandon.
>go up
25. When Jessica asks if the two of them can go to Canada, say
>yes
Then let the rest of the scene play out.
17
Steeple
Requirements Hear the poem recited in the Pantry
Objectives Take the nasty-looking key
Find the ‘‘true’’ astrological sign
Disjointed and decaying pillars of wood form the arches that make up the walls of
the church’s steeple. The arches, open to the sky, tower over you, ending in a
webwork of thick rafters which support the belfry above and ultimately the church’s
spire. A series of ropes slither down from those rafters, centered over a square hole
in the floor that leads down into the bowels of the church.
Teetering on the edge of the hole is a nasty-looking key.
A misshapen mass slumps in one corner of the steeple.
1. Take the nasty-looking key.
>take nasty-looking key
2. Find a corpse holding a celestial tome and a leather cord and pendant.
>look at mass
3. Put on the leather cord and pendant.
>take leather cord
>wear leather cord
4.
Pull the ropes in the order they were mentioned in the poem in the Pantry (‘‘A song
of copper and iron, A song of silver and gold’’).
>pull copper rope
>pull iron rope
>pull silver rope
>pull gold rope
5. Check the astrological sign displayed in the tome.
>read celestial tome
The sign is randomised, but will be in this format:
“The astrological sign is the [1] [2] [3] the [4].“
e.g. ‘‘the Toad ascending opposing the Nemesis.’’
18
Chapel
Requirements Get the wad of cash from the Circular Room
Get the long wooden key from the Family Crypt (optional)
Objectives Find the crooked dagger
Unlock the door to the Church Office (optional)
You are in the main worship area of the church. Whom or what this chapel is used
to worship is not immediately apparent. The accommodations are fairly modest:
several rows of pews face toward the west end of the room, where a pulpit stands in
front of an altar. In the corner of the room is a cheap-looking electric organ. The
one lavish decoration is an elaborate stained glass window taking up most of the
wall behind the altar.
The vestibule is to the east. On the southern wall is a wooden door, which is closed.
On the altar are a collection plate (in which are some assorted teeth), a lockbox
(closed), a box of Nilla Wafers (in which are some Nilla wafers) and a wine bottle
(empty).
1. Read the note on the collection plate.
>look at collection plate
“CASH ONLY! (please no more teeth)”
2. Unlock the lockbox to find the crooked dagger.
>put wad of cash on collection plate
>take teeth
>open lockbox
>take dagger
3. Unlock the nondescript door (optional).
>unlock door with long wooden key
If you don’t do this, you can still reach the Church Office from the Church Basement.
Unlocking the door opens up a shortcut.
19
Church Office*
*Note: When you encounter this room before unlocking the door from the Chapel, it is called
the Tiny Windowless Office
Requirements None
Objectives Find the large brass key
Find the tiny leather journal
You emerge into a tiny windowless office. Stark whitewashed brick walls close in on
all sides beneath a low vaulted ceiling. There is something fundamentally wrong
with the architecture in here. Lines that should be parallel or perpendicular seem
ever so slightly off, making you feel distinctly uneasy.
An enormous desk overflowing with stacked papers takes up most of one side of the
room. A package in brown wrapping paper is nestled amongst the stacks with a note
resting on top of it. Besides the stairs that you came up, the only exit lies through a
door at the north end of the room.
1. Find the large brass key amongst the papers on the desk.
>look at papers
>take brass key
2. Open the brown wrapped package to find an ornate metallic box.
>unwrap package
3. Look at the painted panels on the box.
>look at box
>look at panels
“There are four separate images painted on the top of the box, arranged from one
end to the other. The first is a bird. The second is a camel. The third is a strange
three-legged toad. The fourth is a snake.”
4. Look at the buttons on the box.
>look at buttons
“There are six buttons on the box. One button is large and flat. The five remaining
buttons are smaller and are each engraved with a different symbol - a circle, a
vertical line, a V-shape, a Y-shape, and an X-shape.”
The symbols on the buttons represent the numbers 0 (circle), 1 (vertical line), 2
(V-shape), 3 (Y-shape), and 4 (X-shape).
20
CHURCH OFFICE (LLEW MASON)
5.
Unlock the box by pressing the buttons that match the number of legs belonging to
the animals painted on it, revealing the tiny leather journal.
>press v button [bird: 2 legs]
>press x button [camel: 4 legs]
>press y button [three-legged toad: 3 legs]
>press circle button [snake: 0 legs]
>press flat button
>open box
>take leather book
21
Church Basement*
*Note: When you encounter this room before unlocking the door from the Chapel, it is called
the Basement
Requirements Get the copper amulet from the Town Square, Backwater, VT
Objectives Listen to Edmund’s recording
You emerge from the tunnel and step onto a filthy rug. Instantly, your foot gives
way as the rug slides with it. There’s an unsettling rattle. You turn to find a
headless, ocher horror lurching directly at you! You throw your hands up to protect
yourself, but it’s too late.
It crashes into you, both of you tumble to the floor, and then – nothing. You open
your eyes. It’s a mannequin, wearing a gold jacket. Jesus Christ. OK, getting your
bearings now:
A small wall-mounted sodium lamp bathes this area in a sickly yellow light, and
produces a faint buzz that reverberates off the close, mildewed walls. This is an
unfinished, spidery basement, damp and dank and one might even say disused, but
on further inspection, that may not be the case. Some obviously dangerous wooden
stairs ascend grudgingly, and an opening in the floor gives way to the tunnel below.
In one corner is a huge Panasonic TV/VCR combo, probably from about five years
ago. Next to it is a stack of VHS tapes. Some discarded clothes litter the floor.
1. Find a red eye painted on the mannequin.
>look at mannequin
>look at red eye
2. Cut your finger and bleed on the eye to turn it into a bloody socket.
>push sharp edge
3. Find the TV/VCR controls.
>look at vcr
“It has all the features of a TV and a VCR, including a four-digit counter that tells
you where you are on a tape. A single power button controls the whole thing, and
the counter has a reset pin you can push. With a tape in, you can PLAY, EJECT,
REWIND, or FAST-FORWARD TO (FF TO) a specific spot.”
22
CHURCH BASEMENT (SEAN M. SHORE)
4. Turn the TV/VCR on.
>plug power cord into socket
>switch vcr on
5. Read the inscription on the copper amulet.
>look at copper amulet
“T11 C1996 ”
6. Listen to the recording on VHS tape 11 at position 1996.
>insert tape 11 in vcr
>rewind
>push reset
>ff to 1996
“My dearest Salona:” There’s a rustling noise, followed by a crash. “Apologies, I
have still not yet familiarized myself with this phonographic contraption. I hope
this message finds you well, or, as well can be expected given the circumstances. I
must be brief, as I am not certain to tarry long in this fearful place. I have
instructed my man to send you with this missive your most favorite varietal of
peaches, newly pickled in a jar with a most singular reagent that, I am told, shall
restore to you life and vitality. I only pray this does not reach you too late.
“Until next we rejoin, I remain, Edmund–”
23
The Churchyard
Requirements None
Objectives Take the waterproof flashlight
Open the door to the Mausoleum
A neglected and long forgotten cemetery stretches out below you, surrounded by a
rusted wrought iron fence. Lopsided gravemarkers, slowly succumbing to the
elements, topple downhill like a congregation bent low in prayer. At the very center
of the graveyard, set into a low valley, a squat, stone mausoleum crouches
menacingly.
To the southwest a dilapidated, stave church rises up obscenely against the night sky.
A dark pine forest crowds against the wrought iron fence to the northeast. You
might be able to forge a path between its trees.
A discarded flashlight sits amidst the weeds behind an overturned gravestone.
1. Take the waterproof flashlight.
>take flashlight
2. Find the cast iron spire protruding from the fence.
>look at fence
3. Use the spire to pry open the mausoleum door.
>open door with iron spire
24
Mausoleum
Requirements None
Objectives Take the shabby journal
Immediately upon entering, you feel hot. This is a square chamber, made of stone.
Dust is suspended in the air, clearly visible in the bright purple light eminating from
the center of the room. The dust does not seem to fall. There is a plinth in the
center of the room with a tome on it. Each corner has a full length mirror.
On the plinth is a shabby journal.
1. Take the shabby journal.
>take shabby journal [Repeat until you receive the journal]
25
The Dim Recesses of the Forest
Requirements None
Objectives Find the antique locket
Branches scramble overhead, straining toward one another in a bid to blot out the
sky. Mercifully, light manages to filter down through an opening in the canopy above
a small pond. Paths slither away into the forest to the north, southwest, and
southeast.
You pause a moment to let the hushed peacefulness of this place soak in – a welcome
relief from the unsettling events of the day.
1. Wait until you see some dead leaves blow past.
>wait [Repeat if necessary]
2. Find a flat stone under the leaves.
>move leaves
3. Throw the stone into the pond.
>throw stone
4. Wait until you encounter a kraken who gives you the antique locket.
>wait [Repeat until the kraken carries you to shore]
26
The Old Well
Requirements Get the golden eyepiece from the Railway Platform
Objectives Open the well
The trees here gather, black with wet; glimmering fingers hung with ragged matter,
huddling beneath a cold and gently weeping sky. Beneath your feet, the damp red
felt of rotting leaves slopes down toward a still, murky puddle. Nearby is a well,
capped off with crumbling cement. A broken-down section of brick wall waits for
raindrops to fall along its spine, and an old, half-dead oak straddles an angular
boulder studded with quartz. A path through the forest leads south.
You can see a wooden sigil here.
1. Find an old oilcloth parcel inside the oak tree.
>look at oak
>look at knothole
2.
Open the parcel to find a
moldy, waterlogged journal
and a
small, rectangular
battery.
>open oilcloth parcel
3. Power up the golden eyepiece and put it on.
>put battery in eyepiece
>turn on eyepiece
>press triangular button
>wear eyepiece
4.
Read the journal. The excerpts with CAPITAL LETTERS provide information for using
the golden eyepiece.
>read moldy journal
“... Mabel spends long hours examining stumps and rocks in the woods ... and I are
most concerned. Mabel’s stories of fairies and HIDDEN LANDS seem more than
childish fancy”
“... very concerned but there is no body ... up to seven successful SUMMONINGS
that have remained docile ... we will never know, and quite frankly these studies
are more important than that ... Each creature must process through three
ARCHES, through three HABITATS and stages of development before finally
maturing through the ARCH and SIGIL ... special GLUE created by that one
created via the sequence ->FOREST->(illegible)->CLIFFS ...”
27
THE OLD WELL (REED LOCKWOOD)
“... only Tall Pete is left ... lay Mabel in a grave beside Moppy ... TERRIBLE
LIZARD-BIRD was raised up from the OCEAN - is still out there somewhere ...”
“... now I wear the PROSTHESIS; now I can see everything. ... breached the
walls of perception ... I am PRODDING the EGG MACHINE on the QUARTZ
OUTCROPPING ... dozens of them GATHER to PROTECT me from the LIZARD
BIRD ... PULLED the ROOF clear off my SHELTER ...”
5. Find the four HABITATS, the ARCHES, and the EGG MACHINE.
>look at puddle
Reveals the OCEAN habitat with a WOODEN arch, TEAL arch, VIOLET arch, and
SKY BLUE arch.
>look at brick wall
Reveals the CLIFFS habitat with a WOODEN arch, MARIGOLD arch, VIOLET arch,
and PINK arch.
>look at root
Reveals the FOREST habitat with a WOODEN arch, MARIGOLD arch, TEAL arch,
and MINT GREEN arch.
>look at quartz
Reveals the PLAIN habitat with a WOODEN arch, MINT GREEN arch, PINK arch,
SKY BLUE arch, and the EGG MACHINE.
The habitats and the SIGIL are connected via the arches in the following configuration:
6. PROD the egg machine to hatch a blob creature.
>prod machine
7.
Move the blob through the FOREST, PLAIN, and CLIFFS habitats via the arches to
develop it into a ‘‘slime ape’’.
28
THE OLD WELL (REED LOCKWOOD)
>prod mint green
>prod mint green
>prod pink
8. SUMMON the slime ape through the sigil.
>prod wood
The slime ape runs off and leaves gobs of GLUE behind on the well cap.
“(For future reference, you can use the command “birth” to lay another egg; “forest”,
“plain”, “cliffs”, and “ocean” to switch the creature between microcosms you’ve
discovered; and “summon” to summon a mature creature into the sigil.)”
9. Summon three other creatures to PROTECT you.
>birth
>cliffs
>ocean
>forest
>summon
Summons a ‘‘hallucinogenic worm’’.
>birth
>cliffs
>plain
>forest
>summon
Summons a ‘‘comfy snake’’.
>birth
>ocean
>cliffs
>forest
>summon
Summons a ‘‘perfumed land octopus’’.
10. Summon the LIZARD BIRD.
>birth
>forest
>cliffs
>ocean
>summon
The other summoned creatures scare off the lizard bird, which gets stuck to the glue
on the well cap and breaks off the cap as it flies off.
29
Circular Room
Requirements None
Objectives Take the wad of cash
You walk into a circular, high-ceilinged room made of roughly-shaped gray stones.
This room really looks like a capped well, but its location in the building suggests
otherwise.
There appears to be a small wad of cash just inside the sunken area.
1. Take the wad of cash.
>take cash
30
Shack Exterior
Requirements Get the tarnished brass key from the Station Security Room
Objectives Find The Dollmaker’s Journal
Unlock the door to Inside the Shack
You enter a clearing, the earth barren and the air heavy with mist. A low
windowless wooden shack dominates the area. Sitting by the shack is a wooden
painted doll, clockwork mechanisms visible in its joints. It’s startlingly lifelike.
The woods are to the northwest, while that godforsaken town is to the southeast.
On the ground, just out of the doll’s reach, lie some loose scraps of paper.
1. Assemble the scraps of paper into a repaired page.
>take scraps
>reassemble scraps
2. Give the page to the doll to get The Dollmaker’s Journal.
>give repaired page to doll
>take book
3. Unlock the shack door.
>unlock shack with tarnished brass key
31
Inside the Shack
Requirements Get the strange chime from the Sitting Room
Objectives Find the photograph of a memory
The shadows pool in strange shapes along the earthen floor of the shack, the only
light coming from the cracks in the surprisingly high ceiling and through the opened
door. Piles of accumulated junk that Peter’s family must have stored here over the
decades lie against the inner walls, which have turned grey with either dust or the
mere passage of time.
One of the shadows at the shack’s far end moves, then separates into a distinct
shape, slumped against a supporting pillar. There’s something in here with you.
1. Notice that the thing in the shack is Peter.
>wait
2. Play the strange chime to go to the Prism.
>play strange chime
3. Wait as thousands of mirror prisms appear containing duplicate Peters and Naomis.
>wait
Repeat until you turn into a spider-entity in the Book of All Your Days.
4. Pull a thread in the book to go back to the shack.
>pull thread
5. Take the photograph of a memory.
>take photograph
32
Outside the Library
Requirements None
Objectives None
A short street terminates here. To the south it opens into the town square. To the
east, a few worn steps rise to the entrance of the public library, and to the west you
can see a real estate office. A gloomy path leads northwest, towards the woods.
You can see a notice board here.
33
Backwater Public Library
Requirements Get the slim hardback manual from the Narthex
Get the shabby journal from the Mausoleum
Get The Dollmaker’s Journal from the Shack Exterior
Get Twin Hearts Between the Planes from the Estate Agent’s Office
Get
Backwater Personalities (1915-1925 edition)
from the Drinking
Fountain
Get Tolerating an Asinine God from Backwater Jail
Get The Lives of the Roman Emperors from the Cragne Family Plot
Get
De Zeven Testamenten van de Krijsende Zeeworm
from the Landing
at the Bottom of Stairs
Get the pink-bound book from the Top of Stairs
Get
’Pataphysical Approaches to Quantum Superfluids
from Hallway
South
Get
Legends of Lake Champlain and the Hudson River Valley
from the
Library
Get
A Rudimentary Taxonomy of Known Scent and Grotesque Reactions
from the Disheveled Studio
Get Life Beneath Nightmares from the Invasive Library
Get the library book from the Basement
Get The Seven Gaunts from the Workroom
Get New England and the Bavarian Illuminati from the Boiler Room
Get the old paperback book from the Tunnel Entrance
Objectives Find De Vermibus Laceris
This is unusually spacious for a small-town library. You think you remember
something about it being a national historical site? That would explain the decor, at
least. It’s half rustic colonial, half modern budget-strapped public service, with a
meager collection of creaky shelves standing in the middle of an old plank floor. A
small display case stands prominently near the entrance, and some weird chairs are
scattered around for the comfort of the patrons, none of whom are here at the
moment. The sole exit is back to the west.
A fleece jacket is draped over the back of one of the chairs.
A librarian stands behind a counter.
34
BACKWATER PUBLIC LIBRARY (CARL MUCKENHOUPT)
1. Find Peter’s library card in his jacket.
>take jacket
2.
Show the library card to the librarian to get a
book list
of Peter’s checked out books.
>show library card to librarian
>read book list
“To Have, and To Have Knots: An Illustrated Guide
LVPB
The Dollmaker’s Journal
Twin Hearts Between the Planes
Backwater Personalities (1915-1925 edition)
Tolerating An Asinine God
The Lives of the Roman Emperors
De Zeven Testamenten van de Krijsende Zeeworm
Venator in Tenebris
’Pataphysical Approaches to Quantum Superfluids
Legends of Lake Champlain and the Hudson River Valley
A Rudimentary Taxonomy of Known Scent and Grotesque Reactions
Life Beneath Nightmares
[Library book from the Basement, e.g. The Conservative’s Cookbook]
The Seven Gaunts
New England and the Bavarian Illuminati
ANCHORHEAD. A What-do-I-do-now Book Based on the Works of MICHAEL
GENTRY ”
3. Return Peter’s library books.
>give librarian slim hardback manual [To Have, and To Have Knots]
>give librarian shabby journal [LVPB]
>give librarian dollmaker’s journal
>give librarian twin hearts between the planes
>give librarian backwater personalities
>give librarian tolerating an asinine god
>give librarian lives of the roman emperors
>give librarian de zeven testamenten
>give librarian pink-bound book [Venator in Tenebris]
>give librarian pataphysical approaches
>give librarian legends of lake champlain
>give librarian rudimentary taxonomy
>give librarian life beneath nightmares
>give librarian conservative’s cookbook
>give librarian seven gaunts
>give librarian new england and the bavarian illuminati
>give librarian old paperback book [ANCHORHEAD]
4. Get the librarian to unlock the display case.
>open display case
5. Take De Vermibus Laceris from the case.
>take big black book
35
Estate Agent’s Office
Requirements None
Objectives Find Twin Hearts Between the Planes
Find the trolley pass
You pause at the entrance of the real estate office to reread the telegram in your
pocket, scanning the curt missive for any additional clues as to what the hell your
husband hosed up this time. No dice. A wave of sheer black terror washes up into
your pharynx, and you fight it back down.
It’s fine. It’ll be fine. You saved his ass that time with the vampire yacht (stupid),
you got him and yourself out of the sentient wax museum (so careless), you even... it
is not worth thinking about the guy with the drill hands right now. It is never
worth thinking about the guy with the drill hands. It’s fine. It’ll be fine.
Your solid gold instincts have led you to this office, which means there’s something
you need to steal from inside of it, so you tell your brain to shut its trap, adjust
your backpack on your shoulder, and push firmly through the door into the stale
chill of the air conditioning.
The woman behind the desk jerks her head up from a pile of papers as you enter,
clearly surprised to have a customer. “Oh, hello!” she says. “Can I facts you about a
house? Ugh, I mean, are you interested in a Forthright & Rotier property? I mean,
they’re all our – we’re the only realtor in – hello!”
The space is dominated by the unexpectedly symbiotic combination of a giant desk
and a tiny woman, who together give the impression of being one complete single
entity, like a centaur. The surface of the desk is invisible underneath a loose pile of
glossy architectural magazines, manila folders, and real estate listings pamphlets.
Behind it, a gunmetal-grey filing cabinet lurks unattractively in the far corner. The
exit back out to the street is east.
A tiny woman is here waiting to answer all of your Backwater real estate questions.
The first time you enter the Estate Agent’s Office you receive the Jansport backpack.
1. Get the woman to clear the desk, revealing Twin Hearts Between the Planes.
>ask woman about cragne manor
2.
Get the woman to start covering the book in property folders so that you can steal it
without her noticing.
36
ESTATE AGENT’S OFFICE (JENNI POLODNA)
>ask about train station
>wait
>ask about church
>wait
>ask about library
>wait
>ask about office
>wait
3.
Find details of more properties that you can ask about in the
pamphlet of home
listings.
>take pamphlet
>read pamphlet
“18 F’tagn Court
||
8 BR 1 BA
||
Quiet neighborhood! Completely redone with brand new floors and
concrete-sealed basement. Hardly any muttering!
36 River Walk Drive
|| 3 BR 2 BA || Great river views and convenient for boating! Trawl for crayfish
from the comfort of your living room. Entire upstairs still mostly above water!
23 Euclid Street
||
2 BR 5 BA
||
An obelisk lover’s dream! Extensive yard boasts a true infinity
pool and an impressive collection of garden statuary, including twin sphinxes.
Paradoxically nearby to everything!”
4. Ask the woman about more properties to completely hide the book.
>ask about 18 f’tagn court
>wait
>ask about 36 river walk drive
>wait
5. Get the woman to turn around so that you can steal the book.
>ask about 23 euclid street
>take paperback book
6. Leave the Estate Agent’s Office so that you can read the stolen book.
>go e
>read twin hearts
7. Continue until the end of the book to find a coded message inside the back cover:
“BJIYO – SIX TIF J MOXXMD NIYDXLOBS WHIY XLD CFHOI NLIG. CLDCE
XLD LOKKDB GICEDX IW TIFH AJCEGJCE. BIU SI SDX TIFH YJB, SOHM!
O SIX YOBD JBK UD’HD KIOBS SHDJX. (LD NJTN LO & SIIK MFCE.)
MIQD, JFBXOD NXDMMJ”
The message uses a substitution cypher where each letter of the alphabet has been
assigned to a different letter:
A=B, B=N, C=C, D=E, E=K, F=U, G=P, H=R, I=O, J=A, K=D, L=H, M=L,
N=S, O=I, P=N/A, Q=V, R=N/A, S=G, T=Y, U=W, V=N/A, W=F, X=T, Y=M,
Z=N/A
37
ESTATE AGENT’S OFFICE (JENNI POLODNA)
Decrypted, the message reads:
‘‘NAOMI -- GOT YOU A LITTLE SOMETHING FROM THE CURIO SHOP. CHECK
THE HIDDEN POCKET OF YOUR BACKPACK. NOW GO GET YOUR MAN, GIRL!
I GOT MINE AND WE’RE DOING GREAT. (HE SAYS HI & GOOD LUCK.) LOVE,
AUNTIE STELLA’’
8.
Check the hidden pocket of the Jansport backpack to find the
trolley pass
and
trolley
schedule.
>open hidden pocket
9. Find out how to use the trolley pass.
>read trolley schedule
“It’s unlike any public transit schedule you’ve ever seen, in that there are no times
listed. A cheerfully phrased block of introduction text instructs riders to hang their
passes around their necks, proceed to a trolley stop, and WAIT FOR whatever
color LINE corresponds with their choice of destination. Well okay then.”
10. Put on the trolley pass.
>wear trolley pass
The map at the end of this guide shows the locations of all the trolley stops. Use the
trolley system to quickly move around the map.
38
Town Square, Backwater, VT
Requirements Get the worn out, decaying picture from Carol’s Room
Objectives Find the copper amulet
The first thing you notice, when entering the open yards of the town square, is the
soft breeze that relentlessly caresses the buildings. It is so unlike the warm, salty air
you were used to back home that you finally realize how long your trip has been,
and how far removed you are now from everything you once knew.
The large, hexagonal-shaped square is paved with big, white stones, polished by rain
and wind over the decades; around it, low red-brick buildings look like watching
peasants. One single street leaves the square to the north, while less accommodating
paths lead west, in the direction of a towering church, and southwest.
Due east, an iron bridge crosses the river, and southeast, a walkway leads down to
its bank.
The swollen, slate-colored clouds that blanket the sky are reflected in the shiny,
circular shape embellishing the center of the square, muttering ominous portents
amongst themselves.
Ominous portents, you murmur to yourself.
Since that day, twenty years ago, when you first read them in a Lovecraftian novel
during that uneventful summer vacation, you’ve been waiting for the occasion to use
these words yourself. Another cold, harsh gust of wind interrupts you before you can
decide whether this was a coincidence worth being happy... or scared about.
A man is leaning on the bridge rail, staring intensely at you with his only eye.
1. Look at the symbols on the circular shape.
>look at circular shape
“The big emblem, one yard wide, is embedded in the center of the square like a
manhole. The surface looks golden, although you seriously doubt it is anything
more than pyrite. Its three rings surround a central circle tightened by bird claws
with a single triangular mark pointing northeast. The rings themselves are
bedecked by a series of symbols (outer to inner, then clockwise from north):
BLACKBIRD TREE SPARROW CUBE WOMAN FEATHER
DAAN SHI AAK’EE HAI TL
`
E
`
E JI
PIG EYE WOODPECKER CROSS FISH EAGLE.”
39
TOWN SQUARE, BACKWATER, VT (MARCO INNOCENTI)
2. Check the worn out, decaying picture to find out how to arrange the symbols.
>look at decaying picture
“Point the mark towards the cross
Find the eagle a perch
Put its gift over daan
And you’ll soon end your search.
“Don’t forget to say ahe’hee!”.”
3.
Position the CROSS symbol above the triangular mark pointing northeast (‘‘Point the
mark towards the cross’’).
>turn inner ring
>turn inner ring
>turn inner ring
>turn inner ring
4. Position the TREE symbol above the EAGLE symbol (‘‘Find the eagle a perch’’).
>turn outer ring
>turn outer ring
5.
Position the DAAN symbol beneath the FEATHER symbol (‘‘Put its gift over daan’’).
>turn middle ring
The symbols should now look like this:
WOMAN FEATHER BLACKBIRD TREE SPARROW CUBE
JI DAAN SHI AAK’EE HAI TL
`
E
`
E
WOODPECKER CROSS FISH EAGLE PIG EYE.
6. Say the magic word to open the circle, revealing the copper amulet.
>say ahe’hee
>look at hole
>take copper amulet
40
Drinking Fountain
Requirements
Find and read nine library books to summon the well-dressed ghost (See the
Backwater Public Library page for a list of library books)
Objectives Find Backwater Personalities (1915-1925 edition)
A public drinking fountain is placed in a nook here, nearly overgrown with ivy. You
can return to the town square to the northeast.
You can see a well-dressed ghost here.
1. Move the ivy to find a second drinking fountain.
>move ivy
2.
Read the sign on the second fountain to get a
ghostly sledgehammer
from the
well-dressed ghost.
>look at second fountain
>look at sign
“COLORED”
3.
Destroy the second fountain to get a
pair of reading glasses
from the well-dressed
ghost which alert you if you’re in a room with an undiscovered library book.
>hit second fountain with sledgehammer
4.
Find
Backwater Personalities (1915-1925 edition)
in a hole where the fountain
used to be.
>look at hole
>take backwater personalities
41
River Walk
Requirements None
Objectives Find the employee ID card
A dirt path along the west bank of the Makaskuta - or Blackgourd - River. The air
is motionless and sweltry, the urticariate heat drawing sweat profusely from your
prickling glands.
Just below you, to your side, the river burbles in vainglorious stupor, foaming in
bright patches from the surfacants released from the rotting deposits of the red
maples and poplars that line its banks. A single black ash, denuded of leaves, its
corky bark blighted with the telltale signs of parasitic infection, quietly interrupts
the Autumnal foliage of its deciduous cousins.
The river’s waters slith over rocks as lustrous-gray as seal skin, rending them freshly
burnished for the mid-September sun, which casts Her rays in refulgent slats
through the rust-honey colored trees. It is though Nature, in celebration of Her own
fecundity, has chosen to offer Herself up in Equinoxical sacrifice - the rocks laid out
before the blazing altar of the sun.
There is a forbidding sign on the bank of the river.
The way up to Backwater town square is northwest. Following the path north leads
under the bridge.
On the Makaskuta river is a buoy.
You can also see a grimy rock, a long hooked pole, a dying crawfish and a soggy
tome here.
1. Kill the dying crawfish to get a shard of shattered carapace.
>hit dying crawfish with grimy rock
>take shard
2. Fish a lobster trap out of the river.
>put pole in river
3.
Open the lobster trap by cutting through the twine holding it closed and take the
employee ID card.
>cut twine with shard
>take id card
42
Under the Bridge
Requirements Get the hefty, rust-streaked iron key from The Shambolic Shack
Objectives Find the mural underneath the bridge
Open the hatch
The path along the river gives way to a crumbling stone embankment as it passes
below the arch of the old stone bridge. A rusty metal hatch is set into the ground
opposite from the river, and towards the end of the embankment, a derelict
payphone squats, forgotten, under the shadow of the bridge. To the south, the path
continues to follow the river.
1. Find a phone number graffitied on the payphone.
>look at graffiti [Repeat until:]
“Trying to make sense of a knot of graffiti, you follow a trail of scribbled stars to
the number 258-0987, flanked by loosely drawn stars.”
2. Find an old quarter in the phone’s coin return slot.
>push coin return
3. Call the phone number.
>insert quarter in coin slot
>pick up receiver
>dial 2580987
4. Look at the reflection of the bridge in the river.
>look at water
“The bridge in the reflection is sound and whole, new as the day it was built, and
instead of rotting patches of concrete, the underside is covered in a colorful painted
mural. Roughly oval in shape, it features a vivid green, eel-like creature with a
wavy frill, curled around as though ready to bite its own tail. You don’t totally
follow the motto encircling it... Something about the commission of an officer? Or
an office? But the words “Croceate” and “Variegated Court” stand out.”
5. Unlock the hatch.
>unlock hatch with iron key
43
Bridge
Requirements Get the waterproof flashlight from The Churchyard
Objectives Get across the bridge
Your feet finally touch down on some blackened shore and into some large
subterrane. The slick black stone of the cavern arcs high above your head with
strange formations that grow downwards and then out in oddly perpendicular
angles. The damp rock moves in and out of focus as some pulsing green light
illuminates the space.
Taking a step, you feel the sand pulling at your shoes as though it were thick mud or
quicksand. Your feet sink with every step, settling on some solid stone platform just
beneath this layer of cloying sand that prevents you from being entirely swallowed.
You pass between two monolithic pillars: oily green-black stone of a height that
makes you dizzy to comprehend. Between them, a skeletal bridge stretches out
across the chasm.
The crossing spans a ravine of tumultuous water that roars like some uncaged beast
and echoes around the cavern. Its Stygian call chills you and draws you in by equal
measures as you take the first step onto the slats that form the bridge.
You are standing on a bridge spanning east to west in the middle of an echoing
cavern. In the center of the bridge is a large sallow sculpture constructed of pipes
that climb up to a cauldron filled with an eerily glowing green moss, the only light
source in the room. Beneath your feet you can hear the crashing of the river below.
Ahead of you, to your horror, there are slats missing on the bridge - you’ll never
make it across without replacing them.
What appears to be a rope is tied around one of the beams of the bridge. A ragged
knot ties the other end to some misshapen piece of polished, almost pristine, metal
while the rest of the rope is coiled neatly on the planks.
1. Empty the waterproof flashlight.
>open waterproof flashlight
>take small light bulb, dead battery
2. Find a pool of glowing liquid and some desiccated plant matter.
>look at sculpture
44
BRIDGE (DANIEL STELZER AND JEMMA BRIGGEMAN)
3. Power the flashlight using the glowing liquid and the plant matter.
>dip flashlight in pool
>take material
>put flakes in flashlight
>close flashlight
4. Climb down the rope to hang underneath the bridge.
>throw rope in river
>climb rope
5. Eat some fungal powder growing under the bridge to be able to breathe underwater.
>take weed
>eat powder
6. Climb down the rope into the water.
>climb down
7. Swim into the jaws of the colossal skeleton at the bottom of the river.
>enter skeleton
8. Break off some flat bones from inside the skeleton.
>break bones
9. Put the bones in the claw-trap at the end of the rope.
>open metal
>put bones in metal
>close metal
10. Swim out of the skeleton and climb back up to the bridge.
>exit
>climb up
>climb up
11. Pull up and open the claw-trap.
>pull rope
>open metal
12. Use the bones to fill the gaps in the bridge.
>put bones on bridge
45
Outside Pub
Requirements None
Objectives Find the yellowed newspapers
As the street runs east through this side of town, it narrows as the jagged rooftops
on either side of the road reach out to each other. To the north is the pub. You can
continue to the west where you see a bridge. As you pause on the narrow brick
sidewalk which lays unevenly along the ugly, half-crumbling brick walls, you hear a
train whistle in the distance. A sign hangs loosely above the pub entrance and to
the side is a murky window.
You can see a newspaper box and a rusty piece of metal here.
1. Use the rusty piece of metal to pry open the newspaper box.
>insert piece of metal in handle
>pull handle
2. Take the yellowed newspapers.
>take newspapers
46
The Invisible Worm
Requirements Get the secret menu from The Meatpacking Plant
Objectives Find the dark grey whetstone
A dimly-lit tavern, old enough that all its straight lines have worn or warped slightly
out of shape, and everything feels cluttered and a little too small; you’ve had
apartments with living-rooms bigger than this. Heavy, dark beams support a low
ceiling, and the walls are crowded with ancient farm tools and yellowing
photographs. A cramped doorway, south, leads back outside.
The bartender impassively surveys the room. He might have raised his eyebrows
slightly in acknowledgement as you entered, but you wouldn’t swear to it.
Old-timers monopolize the fireplace nook; a straggle of teenagers hunch in a corner.
1. Find the dark grey whetstone hanging on the wall.
>look at tools
2. Read the secret menu.
>read secret menu
“A low-quality photocopy of a hand-lettered original, slightly dog-eared. The title,
Friends to the Worm Secret Menu, seems to have been written with a
calligraphy pen in crude imitation of a fancy letterhead, but the rest is roughly
printed in Sharpie:
Eternal Chowder
Drunken Goat of the Woods
Ancestor Sandwich
Fiddleheads Three Ways (SPRING)
Shivering Hill Special Reserve”
3. Distract the bartender by ordering an Ancestor Sandwich.
>order ancestor sandwich
4. Take the whetstone.
>take whetstone
47
Constabulary Road
Requirements None
Objectives Open the gate to Backwater Jail
The road phases into little more than a wide dirt track winding from the west
towards the edge of town to the northeast. A paved walk wanders through an iron
gate which interrupts a high stone wall looming to the north. A memorial bench sits
just outside its shadow. A tangled rampart of trees and dense undergrowth
obstructs passage to the south.
A barricade spans the road to the northeast, and beyond it a large shallow pit is
being excavated. If you’re careful, you could skirt the edges of the pit and continue
along the northeast road.
A man stands near the barricade. He appears to be contemplating the contents of
the dig site.
A grad student works fastidiously on the fossilized bones in the pit.
1. Open the iron gate.
>open gate
48
Backwater Jail
Requirements None
Objectives Find Tolerating An Asinine God
The air is stale in this wood-paneled sheriff’s office. You feel as if you’ve stepped
back in time maybe twenty years as the office furnishings in here are simple and
utilitarian. A desk, generic in style but wide enough for an outdated-looking
computer, is near the window. A swivel chair is behind it and a wooden visitors
chair is on the other side. Despite the meager light that creeps in the window,
there’s still a bleak glow from fluorescent bulbs overhead. Other furnishings include
a file cabinet and, what appears to be, a locker that was literally ripped out of a
high school and placed against the wall in here.
Otherwise, a cheap door with a unisex bathroom sign on it is to the west and a
secure door, obviously the lock-up, is to the north. The exit is south.
On the desk is a clipboard holding some paperwork.
1. Find a Post-it note attached to the computer monitor.
>look at monitor
>read post-it
“Rookies-
Keep the evidence key in the last arrestee’s file. It’s usually the active file.
-Sarge.”
2. Find out who the last arrestee was.
>read paperwork
“This is a list of the day’s arrestees. The date is a week old with no further entries
beyond it. The entries are:
Jeff Moore - public intoxication.
Alana Cook - possession of cannabis.
Matthew Grobe - discharging a firearm within city limits.
Tony Overton - disorderly conduct.
Robert Morales - reckless driving.
Eugene Kunkle - petty theft.”
3. Find Kunkle’s arrest file in the file cabinet.
>open file cabinet
49
BACKWATER JAIL (MARSHAL TENNER WINTER)
4. Find the aluminum key in Kunkle’s file.
>read kunkle file
5. Unlock the locker and collapse in shock when a corpse falls on you.
>unlock locker with aluminum key
>open locker
You wake up in the Padded Cell.
6. When you escape the Padded Cell, find Tolerating An Asinine God in the locker.
>look at locker
>take tolerating an asinine god
50
Padded Cell
Requirements None
Objectives Find the trophy for a dog race
Get out of the cell
The overhead lightbulb in its wire-mesh cage barely lights the room. Everything
here seems a colorless beige - the cracked floor tiles, the thick cloth padding on the
walls. A padded door leads south.
A metal chest stands in a corner of the room.
When you first wake up here, you have lost all the items in your inventory and are in a
strait
jacket.
1. Tear down the wire-mesh cage.
>push chest
>stand on chest
>break mesh
2. Break the lightbulb to create a glass shard.
>stand on chest
>break lightbulb
3. Find a crack in the lid of the metal chest.
>look at chest
4. Use the shard to cut through your strait jacket.
>put shard in crack
>cut strait jacket
5. Get all your items out of the chest.
>open chest
>take all
>put on trolley pass
6. Find a brass knob set into the wall.
>look at walls
>look at brass
51
PADDED CELL (MARIUS M
¨
ULLER)
7. Open a secret compartment to find a switch and the trophy for a dog race.
>turn knob
>take trophy
8. Turn the switch off to unlock the door.
>turn switch off
52
Tunnel Entrance
Requirements None
Objectives Turn on the lights in the Subterranean Tunnel
Find the old paperback book
The ladder leading down the funnel ends here at a brick wall with one or two
interesting features. Only a little light shines through the funnel and bathes the
surroundings in eerie shadows. The ground seems to be made up of treaded down
dirt. A masoned, semi-circular tunnel leads southeast, the walls made up from the
same musty red bricks as the wall marking its end. The tunnel is about six feet high
and leads into total, ominously silent darkness. Rolled up on the ground in the
southwestern corner is a pile of rags.
1. Find a man.
>look at rags
2.
Find a metal hatch and an altar with seven protruding bricks, a candleholder with eight
sockets, a picture of a girl, and a metal flask.
>look at wall
>look at opening
3. Give the flask to the man to get him to drop the Allen key.
>take flask
>open flask
>give flask to man
4. Take the key after the man falls back to sleep.
>wait [Repeat three times]
>take allen key
5.
Open the metal hatch to find a fuse box, a
first candle
, a
second candle
, and a
mallet.
>open hatch
>take all
6.
Check the fuse box to find old fuses in two randomised holes (e.g. middle right and
bottom right).
>look at fuse box
The fuse box also contains a switch labeled ‘‘Southeast Tunnel.’’
53
TUNNEL ENTRANCE (GRUESLAYER)
7.
Complete a circuit by putting the candles in the candleholder sockets that match the
fuse box holes.
>put first candle in middle right socket
>put second candle in bottom right socket
8. Turn on the switch to light up the Subterranean Tunnel.
>turn switch on
9. Look at the picture of a girl.
>look at picture
“The candles in the sockets illuminate the word someone has painted on the wall
under the poster: “CEECEE”. Obviously her name was Cecilia.”
10.
Play the protruding bricks like a xylophone, hitting the notes ‘C’, ‘E’, ‘E’, ‘C’, ‘E’, ‘E’
to open a hole in the wall.
>hit first brick with mallet
>hit third brick with mallet
>hit third brick with mallet
>hit first brick with mallet
>hit third brick with mallet
>hit third brick with mallet
11. Go through the hole to a small chamber.
>go ne
12. Find an old newspaper in a crate.
>open medium crate
13. Find the date of the newspaper.
>look at old newspaper
“It is an old issue of the Backwater Chronicle, a local newspaper that ceased to be
decades ago. This issue is dated July 31, 1920. The local museum should see this!
It’s a pain with this dim light, but if you holded the newspaper into that little
light shining in from the entrance, you might be able to read it.”
14. Read the article in the newspaper about Cecelia’s death.
>read old newspaper [Repeat until you find the article ANOTHER MURDER?]
“Police confirmed yesterday that missing Carola Parris, 22, is dead. Her body was
found on Wednesday in the woods near Copper’s Mill. The body of the popular
bank clerk is said to have been battered by animals, but according to a source who
wishes to remain anonymous, the cause of death was a cut to the throat.
Yesterday, a small crowd gathered in front of the Backwater Police station,
demanding vociferously an end to the series of killings of young women that
started with the death of Cecilia “Ceecee” Pickman almost a year ago. Deputy
Chief of police promised a “wholehearted” investigation.
The words “almost a year ago” have been underlined so heavily that they’re nearly
crossed out. “10 months 24 days” is scrawled in the margin with fading ink.”
10 months and 24 days before the date of the newspaper (July 31 1920) is September
7 1919.
54
TUNNEL ENTRANCE (GRUESLAYER)
15.
Unlock another crate using the date of Cecelia’s death to find the
old paperback
book.
>set knob to 9
>set knob to 7
>set knob to 1
>set knob to 9
>open small crate
>take paperback book
16. Leave the small chamber.
>go sw
55
Subterranean Tunnel*
*Note: The first time you enter this room from Under the Bridge it does not have a name,
you cannot see anything, and you lose all the items in your inventory.
Requirements Turn on the lights in the Tunnel Entrance
Get the nasty-looking key from the Steeple (optional)
Objectives Retrieve your lost items
Open the door to the Narrow Straits (optional)
Your light reflects off the cold, shin-deep water. Tiny shadows jump and skitter
away from you, making it hard to tell where the walls end and the wildlife begins.
The tunnel continues off to the northwest. To the east lies a door. The way back to
the surface lies above. To the north, the stones have recessed to form an alcove a few
feet deep.
“BOO!” The apparent source of the voice you’ve been hearing stands before you: a
woman about your height, smiling and waving at you from a small niche in the wall
to the north.
You can also see all of the items you lost earlier.
1. Take your items.
>take all
2. Unlock the door (optional).
>unlock door with nasty-looking key
If you don’t do this, you can also reach the Narrow Straits from the Amorphous Tunnel
on the other side.
56
Narrow Straits
Requirements Get the ancient key from the Curiosity Shop
Objectives Find the Cyst
Open the other door out of the room (optional)
A smell like a used kitchen sponge assaults your nose as you pass through the door.
You can feel your breath rattle in your lungs. There’s something wrong with the air.
You find yourself in a dark, narrow space between two stone walls. Moisture
condenses from the ceiling and drips down the stone bricks to the floor. Doors are
east and west.
A foul sarcophagus occupies almost all of the space, leaving you cramped against the
walls.
1. Unlock the sarcophagus to find the Cyst.
>unlock sarcophagus with ancient key
>open sarcophagus
>take cyst
2.
You can enter the room from either the Subterranean Tunnel or the Amorphous Tunnel.
You can also unlock the other door out of the room from here, opening up a shortcut
(optional).
If you entered from the Subterranean Tunnel:
>unlock east door with nasty-looking key
If you entered from the Amorphous Tunnel:
>unlock west door with nasty-looking key
57
Amorphous Tunnel
Requirements Get the nasty-looking key from the Steeple (optional)
Objectives Open the door to the Narrow Straits (optional)
This tunnel bends to the northeast. The walls shimmer slightly, gently undulating in
the spectral darkness. To the west, set into the wall, almost invisible in the mortal
dimness, is an antediluvian door. Daylight and a slight breeze wafts down some
non-euclidean steps that lead up.
1. Unlock the antediluvian door (optional).
>unlock door with nasty-looking key
If you don’t do this, you can also reach the Narrow Straits from t he Subterranean
Tunnel on the other side.
58
Courtyard
Requirements None
Objectives Open a shortcut to Constabulary Road (optional)
As you walk cross the square courtyard, you are repeatedly twisting your legs, and
you cannot help but wonder how many broken legs these cobblestones have caused
over time.
A beautifully decorated well built by blocks of granite dominates the courtyard.
Opposite it, to the east, is the entrance to the curiosity store.
To the north, a high portal, the only apparent exit from the courtyard, is blocked by
a heavy metal portcullis. Not too far from the well is the way down to the tunnel.
Above you, two guard towers rise majestically on either side of the drawbridge, and
a parapet connects them so that soldiers of those days were able to quickly move
from one side to the other.
You can’t help but feel that the castle is watching you with expressionless eyes
through the empty windows.
1. Find the well’s winch handle.
>look at well
>look at hoist
2. Find a statue of a knight.
>look at portal
>look at knight
3. Put the winch handle in the knight’s hand.
>put winch handle in hand
4. Use the winch handle to unscrew the knight’s head.
>turn winch handle
>look at knight
5. Turn the knight’s head to open a crack in the wall.
>screw head
>push crack
59
Curiosity Shop
Requirements Get the red herring from the Science Tower
Objectives Find the ancient key
A mingling of comfortable scents welcomes you to the small shop – coffee, apples,
cedar, soap, peppercorn – and below it, just a hint of something metallic you can’t
quite recognize. The large windows behind you cast a dappled sort of light over the
rug-strewn floors, the cheerful back counter with its display case underneath, the
walls crowded with goods for sale. The courtyard lies back out to the west.
Jessenia seems to be getting ready to close for the day.
1.
Interact with items in the shop until Jessenia asks you if you want to become a
customer.
>take apples [Repeat 3 times]
>y
Jessenia asks you to bring her a curiosity for the shop.
2. Give Jessenia the red herring to get the ancient key.
>give red herring to jessenia
>y
60
Hillside Path
Requirements Speak to Carol in Carol’s Room
Objectives Speak to Christabelle
You follow a mud-trampled trail, which leads you blindly through a narrow trench
bordered by overgrown brambles and shrubs, once smartly trimmed hedges around
the Cragne property. The intimidating thorn-studded walls arch over you, all but
obscuring the grey marbled clouds overhead.
Turning the corner, you feel the ground beneath your feet suddenly harden.
Although the shrubs recede behind you, the shadows deepen as you walk towards a
clearing set into the hillside, surrounded on three sides by black cliffs.
As you advance, sound is conspicuous by its absence – gone is the squealchy sound
of the muddy trail, the cracking of branches underfoot, and the rustling sounds of
trailside wilderness. You are left contemplating the rocky bowl cut into the cliffside,
a natural amphitheater.
Or is it? Could this hollow have been worked by the hand of man in some earlier
time? How much labor and what dedication would have been required in an earlier
era to work the ageless Vermont granite into such a perfect shape?
Your eye is drawn to a raised, brown mass centered before the cliffs; you muse that
if the rockface formed a parabola, that mass would be at its focus, like an altar in a
cathedral. The earthen lump grows in your vision and you realize that you must
have walked towards it, lost in your thoughts. It has already been a long day, and it
has barely started.
Up close, you realize that it is not an earthen mound, but a pile of long, rusted iron
railway tracks. Tons of them. Stacked taller than you in this remote corner of the
estate and forgotten.
You move your head in just the right way and light glances sharply off a glistening
corner of track, momentarily blinding you. You rub your eyes reflexively, and when
your vision clears, you realize with some embarrassment that a woman sits not even
an arm’s length from your face atop the pile.
Three trailheads hold out some chance of respite: north, southwest, and southeast.
You can see a bonnet-clad woman here.
61
HILLSIDE PATH (JACK WELCH)
The woman looks into the distance and sighs.
1. Return here after speaking to Carol for the first time. Ask Christabell about her.
>ask christabell about carol
Words in bold in Christabell’s reply are other topics you can speak to her about.
2. Ask Christabell about the Louminance she sees around you.
>ask christabell about louminance
3. Ask Christabell about the Bestowance she asks you to consider.
>ask christabell about bestowance
Christabell places her mark on you and tells you that you can say the magic word
‘‘xizzi’’ to convey some of your potence to her.
4. Say the magic word.
>say xizzi
Christabell asks you to go back to Carol’s room and destroy her book of runes. The
magic words to destroy the book are ‘‘kwisatz haderach’’. You can also say ‘‘ploughver’’
to teleport between the Hillside Path and Carol’s Room.
5. Teleport back into Carol’s Room.
>say ploughver
6.
Return here after speaking to Carol in her room for the second time. Ask Christabell
about the mark Carol said she’d put on your baby.
>ask christabell about mark
7. Ask Christabell about the resentment Carol feels towards her.
>ask christabell about resentment
8. Ask Christabell about the Disruption of Carol’s haunting.
>ask christabell about disruption
Christabell tells you to distract Carol and then open the window in her bedroom so
Christabell’s spirit can enter and work a spell on her.
62
Outside the Plant
Requirements None
Objectives Clear the monster out of the hole to The Meatpacking Plant
Smoke pours into a bruised sky, rising from chimneys that crowd the Cragne
Meatpacking Plant. Its bricks are soot-stained, its stenciled walls weathered by acid
rain, and its perimeter circled by dead pigs and cows in buzzing heaps.
A hole is smashed into its side.
To the northwest, a hill begins to climb toward Cragne Manor.
1. Move the dead animals to find a sheep with a bloated belly.
>move animals
2. Tear out the sheep’s intestines to attract flies.
>open belly
>look at intestines
3. Listen to the flies buzzing.
>listen
“All this buzzing, buzzing, buzzing is like an old woman rasping, rasping, rasping:
What the guts say is what they don’t. What isn’t here, that’s what’s really here.
That’s why the suckling came, because its name’s not here. Not anymore. Speak
what isn’t here, and it will rise. Yes, we will rise.”
4. Look at the sign on the meatpacking plant.
>look at plant
It should read CRAGNE MEATS INCORPORATED, but because of some missing
letters it reads C GN ME TS CO PO ED.
The letters missing from the sign are ‘R’, ‘A’, ‘E’, ‘A’, ‘I’, ‘N’, ‘R’, ‘R’, ‘A’, ‘T’.
5.
Say the missing letters to exorcise an entity from the hole in the wall (‘‘Speak what
isn’t here, and it will rise’’).
>say raeainrrat
63
The Meatpacking Plant
Requirements Get the rusty meat cleaver from the Rec Room
Objectives Find the secret menu
You are standing in the center of the main room of the meatpacking plant. An open
doorway leads west from this huge room to somewhere darker, while some rickety
stairs lead up. A long row of meat hooks are hanging from the ceiling parallel to a
bloodstained table. It is not too late to leave yet, by going out the front door.
1. Find a dead dog hanging from the meat hooks.
>look at meat hooks
>look at animal
2. Cut open the dog’s stomach to find the secret menu inside it.
>cut stomach
64
Bathroom of the Meatpacking Plant
Requirements None
Objectives Find Konstantin Cragne’s journal
Banish the boneless horse
This is a perfectly normal bathroom. There’s a bathroom stall (which has some
graffiti written on it), a urinal, a sink with a mirror over it, and even a shower for
those days at work when meat debris happens. Perfectly normal bathroom.
You can see a pentagram on the floor here.
1. Take the sink handle.
>look at sink
>turn handle
2. Wait for a boneless horse to burst through the wall of the bathroom.
>wait [Repeat]
The boneless horse is now blocking the exit.
3.
Go into the bathroom stall to find a
candle shaped like a human hand
and a
vintage
issue of Juggs Magazine.
>enter stall
4. Close the door to shut out the horse.
>close door
5.
Open the medicine cabinet to find a
cheap lighter
, a
bottle of Pepto-Bismol
, and
a bloodstained witch-knife.
>open medicine cabinet
6.
Take all the items, revealing a
handwritten note you found in the back of a vintage
issue of Juggs Magazine.
>take all
7. Look at the magazine cover to see that it’s the Virgin Alewives of the Midwest issue.
>look at juggs magazine
65
BATHROOM OF THE MEATPACKING PLANT (CHRIS JONES)
8. Read the note.
>read handwritten note
“Edward! Stop leaving the damn candle on the pentagram when you’re not using the
toilet-portal.”
“Also, it is absolutely imperative that you get that demonic monster out of the
bathroom pipes before it kills again, lest we be caught. Since it is an unliving
abomination that cannot die, I recommend banishment: use the [ketchup stain] spell
on the vellum [more ketchup] scroll; it’s on my bookshelf.”
9. Light the candle and put it on the pentagram.
>light candle
>put candle on pentagram
10. Replace the toilet’s missing flush handle with the sink handle.
>put handle on toilet
11. Use the toilet-portal to teleport to a bathroom stall in space.
>sit on toilet
>flush toilet
12.
Find Edward’s corpse and take
Ed’s coveralls
, which have a set of janitor’s keys on
them.
>look at corpses
>take coveralls
13. Take Konstantin Cragne’s journal from the bookshelf.
>take blue journal
14. Read the banishment spell on the mysterious scroll on the bookshelf.
>read scroll
“1: Lite thee a hande of glory and place it upon the pentagram to activate a portal.
Use thee a hande or foote or other extremity; a torso of glory or an ass of glory
will cause thine spell to fail and possibly thine life to end
2: Fasion thee a mannikin, poppet or figurine of wax, resembling the being to be
sent by the Translocation and placeth it on the pentagrame.
3:Wave a stoat or ermine to focus the majickal energies. A live stoat or ermine
must be used or else the spell will fail most dysaterously. Edward, I discovered that
waving a dead one will do just fine, although you’ll need to drink a Potion of
Fortitude first or else your organs will end up outside your body. Yes, even the
good organs. To make the potion, mix bismuth and carbonated corn syrup with a
small amount of trilobyte milk. - Konstantin
4: Place a virgin on thine pentagram and sacrifice her most vigorously with an
athame. It says “her” but honestly either gender will work fine as long as they’re a
virgin. Look for people buying Cure albums at the local record store, perhaps. -
Konstantin
66
BATHROOM OF THE MEATPACKING PLANT (CHRIS JONES)
5: Shout the majick werd “OUTERICA”. The thinge that has been representated
with the wax mannikin shalle be most forcifully banishede to the other side of the
thy active pentagrame.”
You’ve already done step 1, so start on step 2.
15.
Start a fire in the hearth using the
book of Unfortunate Baby Names
from the
bookshelf.
>light baby names
>put baby names in fireplace
16. Find a wax cylinder in the phonograph.
>look at phonograph
17. Melt the wax cylinder into a lump of wax.
>put wax cylinder on hearth
18. Sculpt the wax into a lump of wax shaped like a horse.
>take wax
>sculpt wax into horse
19. Teleport back to the bathroom stall on earth.
>flush toilet
20.
Unlock the janitor’s closet to find a
fur coat
and a
candle shaped like a human
foot.
>unlock closet with coveralls
>open closet
>take foot candle, fur coat
21. Look at the fur coat to see that it’s made of genuine ermine.
>look at fur coat
You can use the dead ermine for step 3 of the spell, but you need to drink a Potion of
Fortitude first.
22. Swap the candle of a hand on the pentagram with the candle of a foot.
>take hand candle
>light foot candle
>put foot candle on pentagram
23.
Use the toilet-portal to teleport to a bathroom on a beach in the Lower Cambrian Era.
>flush toilet
24. Milk a trilobite into the half-full can of Dew.
>milk trilobite into can of dew
25. Mix in some bismuth.
>put pepto-bismol in can of dew
26. Drink the Potion of Fortitude.
>drink potion
67
BATHROOM OF THE MEATPACKING PLANT (CHRIS JONES)
27. Unlock Konstantin’s journal using Konstantin’s keys.
>unlock konstantin’s journal with konstantin’s keys
28. Teleport back to the bathroom stall in the present.
>flush toilet
29. Put the wax figurine on the pentagram.
>put wax horse on pentagram
30. Wave the dead ermine to focus the majickal energies.
>wave fur coat
31. Place a virgin on the pentagram and sacrifice her with an athame.
>put juggs magazine on pentagram
>attack juggs magazine with knife
32. Shout the majick word and flush the toilet to banish the boneless horse.
>shout outerica
>flush toilet
68
Dusty Office
Requirements None
Objectives Find the piece of yellowed newsprint
Find the torn notebook
This must be the boss’s office. A large window overlooks the factory floor. Some
shards around the edge suggest that it contained glass once. Pushed against one wall
is a small table that might have served as a desk, and next to it stands a metal filing
cabinet. Anonymous detritus is scattered at the edges of the room.
Everything is covered in a thick layer of dust.
1. Find the thin steel key and the piece of yellowed newsprint in the detritus.
>search detritus [Repeat until you’ve found both the key and the newsprint]
>take steel key
>take yellowed newsprint
2. Unlock the filing cabinet to find the torn notebook.
>unlock filing cabinet with thin steel key
>open filing cabinet
>take notebook
69
Part II
The Manor
70
Front Walk
Requirements None
Objectives None
Cragne Manor looms to the north. Its light gray marble front is marred by a
screened-in wooden porch, clearly tacked on well after the manor was built. A gravel
path bends around the manor to the northeast and northwest, and the driveway
leads south back to town.
By the porch steps is a post with a placard reading “31.” A strange little manikin is
affixed to it.
71
Outside the Greenhouse
Requirements None
Objectives None
The damp brick path that led you here bends around the squat porch of an old
greenhouse half-swallowed by a tangle of bramble and ivy. Water drips from the thick
branches overhead; in the undergrowth something - somethings? - creep and rustle.
The path curves away to northeast and southeast. You can also go in to the
greenhouse from here.
72
Greenhouse
Requirements Get the dark grey whetstone from The Invisible Worm
Objectives Find the vacuum component
Nothing should be growing here anymore — the heating and irrigation have been off
for years — but roots seem to have covered everything.
The walls curve inward, forming a huge dome, with a mesh of roots covering it from
the floor up to about halfway to the ceiling. Sunlight still breaks through in places,
throwing a pattern of bright spots across the room. The roots grow from an
enormous tropical tree at the center of the greenhouse, towering all the way up to
the ceiling, which it hides behind a thick crown of leaves.
A spiral staircase, seemingly woven of roots, leads to a circular mesh walkway higher
up along the wall.
Something vaguely sculpture-like protrudes from the roots near the exit.
1. Climb up the staircase to a mesh walkway.
>climb staircase
2. Find the dull machete hidden in some roots.
>pull handle
3. Sharpen the machete.
>sharpen machete
4. Go back down to the sculpture and cut the roots away from it.
>go down
>look at sculpture
>cut roots
5. Scrape the statue clean using the machete.
>clean statue with machete
6. Climb up to the top of the tree.
>climb staircase
>climb branches [Repeat until you get to the top of the tree near the ceiling]
73
GREENHOUSE (PETTER SJ
¨
OLUND)
7. Cut away the branches to reveal a human-size birdcage.
>cut branches
8. Open the birdcage to find a cardboard box.
>open birdcage
9. Open the box to find the vacuum component.
>open cardboard box
A flock of parrots also appear and carry you down to the ground.
74
The Cragne Manor’s Back Garden
Requirements None
Objectives Unlock the door to The Shambolic Shack
You make your way to the rear of the manor house toward its back garden, playfully
keeping to a trail of broken flagstones leading the way. Your simple amusement fades
as you turn a corner to see a distant gate with an incredible amount of overgrowth
choking the forward path. Knee-high grass blankets the ground while thick, thorny
bushes crowd the way. You plow ahead, fighting through the hairy grass as it grasps
and wraps itself around the fabric of your jeans, making every step a struggle. The
slog is made worse by the overgrown bushes which seem to lean in further to assail
you with their wicked, long thorns. You finally reach the gate with torn and
deeply-itchy skin. Using the momemtum you’d built charging through the
overgrowth you forcefully open the gate, snapping the vines draped over it which
were holding it shut. The now-broken vines dangle downward from an arch over the
gate, forming a swaying curtain of thorns which you delicately part and step
through.
You nearly jump back at the sight of the writhing scene before you.
Vines splay across the landscape, every direction they shoot, seemingly racing to the
tops of trees to pull them down. The vines wind up and around every structure,
overrunning them with sheer, sinister mass. The vines grow in hypnotic tracks across
the yard, almost to suggest that they were woven, braided, and arranged with care.
It’s both unnerving and unusually pretty. If there are windows or a door on the back
of the manor house they’re utterly smothered by the vines that clamber up the wall
and onto the roof, and nothing less than a chainsaw could crack open that tomb.
In the center of the yard is a large, vine-strangled structure that’s most likely a
fountain. On the left side of the garden is something with the suggested shape of a
birdbath, neatly wrapped up in thorny coils. And there’s one rather large,
building-shaped hill of vines just in front of the southeast corner. Paths out of here
lead southwest and southeast.
You can see a large patch of poison ivy (in which is a pair of garden shears) here.
1. Look at the building-shaped hill to see that it’s actually a shed.
>look at building
2. Find a gallon jug of white vinegar on a shelf next to the shed.
75
THE CRAGNE MANOR’S BACK GARDEN (AUSTIN AUCLAIR)
>look at shelf
3. Use the vinegar to kill the poison ivy and take the pair of garden shears.
>pour vinegar on poison ivy
>take shears
4. Knock over the birdbath to reveal a pond.
>look at birdbath
5. Cut away the vines covering the pond.
>cut pond vines
6. Find a rotted skeleton in the pond holding a rusty flathead screwdriver.
>look at water
>look at remains
7. Find a statue of a cherub pointing at its feet.
>look at fountain
8. Look at the statue’s feet to find the bronze key green from age in a drain.
>look at feet
9. Unscrew the drain cover and take the key.
>open drain with screwdriver
10. Unlock the door to the shed.
>unlock padlock with bronze key
76
The Shambolic Shack
Requirements Get the desiccated sausage from the Attic
Objectives Find the hefty, rust-streaked iron key
Find the tiny brass key
A dimly-lit shack with crude plywood walls. An octagonal window set high on one
wall admits a feeble shaft of moonlight. Rickety wire shelving sits precariously in
one dimly lit corner, and a battered metal wheelbarrow rests in the opposite corner.
A rough doorway leads back out.
1. Find some mildewed leather gloves on the wire shelving.
>look at shelving
2. Take the gloves, revealing the hefty, rust-streaked iron key.
>take gloves
>take iron key
3. Look at the wheelbarrow to see that it’s full of soil.
>look at wheelbarrow
4. Put on the gloves and put your hands in the soil to reveal a giant centipede.
>put on gloves
>put hands in soil
The gloves start to spread deadly fungus up your arms.
5. Take off the gloves and put the desiccated sausage in them to cover it in fungus.
>take off gloves
>put sausage in gloves
6. Feed the sausage to the centipede to kill it.
>give sausage to centipede
>wait
7. Search the soil to find a spray bottle of fungicide.
>search soil
8. Spray your hands with the fungicide to kill the deadly fungus.
>spray hands
9. Search the soil again to find the tiny brass key.
>search soil
77
Cragne Family Plot
Requirements Get the white key from the Court
Objectives Find The Lives of the Roman Emperors
Unlock the door to the Family Crypt
A cramped and neglected place on unwholesome yellow soil. Over the years the
gravestones have shifted like teeth in an overcrowded mouth, collapsing one atop the
other. Crabgrass pokes up limply between them, urine-yellow and parched-looking.
The earth mounds up around the shabby crypt, as if it’s sunk over the years into the
Vermont topsoil. You wonder who would want to be buried here–and who would
willingly consign their ancestors to this brutal place. Perhaps that’s why it’s been so
neglected.
Four squat columbariums stand north, east, south, and west of here. A winding and
uncertain path leads southwest. By stepping over collapsed gravestones and bleached
obelisks you can go northwest. Carefully. You could also enter the crypt from here, if
you were able to open it.
Three graves nearby draw your eye. One headstone teeters drunkenly, half overrun
by lichen. One headstone has collapsed entirely. An adjacent plot stands open,
overlooked by a blank headstone. The grave within is flooded almost to the top with
bubbling rainwater.
You can see some rotten flowers and a china urn here.
1. Find a bronze urn, a silver urn and a copper urn in the columbariums.
>open northern columbarium
>open eastern columbarium
>open western columbarium
2. Find the key from an urn in one of the random urns.
>open bronze urn [Repeat with the other urns until you find the key]
3. Use the copper urn to bail water out of the flooded grave.
>take copper urn
>empty flooded grave [Repeat]
4. Climb into the empty grave to see something poking out of the west wall.
>enter grave
78
CRAGNE FAMILY PLOT (MARK BRITTON)
5. Dig a pewter box out of the grave wall.
>dig west
>take pewter box
6. Climb out of the grave before it fills up with water again.
>get out of grave
7. Unlock the box to find The Lives of the Roman Emperors.
>unlock pewter box with key from an urn
>open pewter box
8. Unlock the crypt door.
>unlock crypt with white key
79
Family Crypt
Requirements None
Objectives Read the inscription on the coffin
Find the mummified weasel
Find the long wooden key
You are in a long-neglected, dusty, and surprisingly cold crypt, about the size of a
garage. The walls are covered with a dark mold creeping from the floor, and the
whole place smells unsettlingly like cured meat and leather. There are numerous
plaques on the floor, and it is difficult to navigate the room without stepping on one
of them. Your eyes are drawn to the only other object in the room: a large ornately
decorated stone coffin. The only exit is the door you came in through leading back
outside.
1. Read the inscription on the stone coffin.
>look at coffin
>read inscription
“HAR?AWELL CRAG?E, Icterine Al?erman of the Va?ieg?ted Cou?t.”
2. Open the coffin to find Uncle Harvawell’s skull and a mummified weasel.
>open coffin [Repeat until the coffin opens]
3. Find the long wooden key inside the skull.
>look at skull
>take long wooden key
80
Mudroom
Requirements Get the large brass key from the Church Office
Objectives Take the teapot
Unlock the door to the Foyer
The porch is a mudroom, a place for taking off coats and muddy shoes–though
you’re not eager to change into any strange shoes. The marble front wall seems like
a sheer cliff face, the porch like a flimsy shelter built onto it. The front door leads
inside to the north.
In one corner of the porch a strangely shaped hook is fastened to the wall. A
calfskin coat hangs beside it.
In the other corner of the porch, a teapot sits on a small wooden table.
A slightly muddy welcome mat sticks out partway from under the front door.
Against the front wall are a pair of blue cloth slippers and a single brown leather
boot.
1. Take the teapot.
>take teapot
2. Unlock the front door.
>unlock door with large brass key
81
Foyer
Requirements None
Objectives None
Standing in the narrow entry hall is like being at the mouth of a cave. The only
light comes in through tall windows on either side of the door and a half-round
window above. All of the furniture has been removed from the foyer, leaving tracks
in the heavy dust. This house must have been abandoned for years. It’s empty, and
silent, and cold.
“Peter!” you shout. There’s no reply. Not even an echo comes back to you.
Of course he’s not here. You expected that; he wouldn’t have locked you out. But
whatever happened to him, this house is at the dark heart of it.
Morning light slants across the floor. Hallways lead west and east into other parts of
the house. A doorway leads north; the front door is to the south.
82
Court
Requirements Hear Francine talking to the Aldermen in The Music Room
Get the police report (‘‘Francine Cragne’’) from The Music Room
Get the torn notebook from the Dusty Office
Get the piece of yellowed newsprint from the Dusty Office
Read the glyphs in the Cold Storage Room
Read the inscription on the coffin in the Family Crypt
Find the mummified weasel in the Family Crypt
Get the pocket-sized notebook from the Upstairs Hall, North End
Get the tiny leather journal from the Church Office
Get the postcard of Big Ben from Milkweed
Get the diary of Phyllis Cragne from Milkweed
Get
Konstantin Cragne’s journal
from the Bathroom of the Meatpacking
Plant
Get the antique locket from The Dim Recesses of the Forest
Find the mural in Under the Bridge
Get the trophy for a dog race from the Padded Cell
Get the yellowed newspapers from Outside Pub
Objectives Take the white key
Find the black horn
Walls paneled with elaborate boiseries curl slowly around this ovular hall. The
western vertex of the ellipse is dominated by an enormous window; at the opposite
end, a low archway leads east to the foyer. A glass display case is set into the north
wall.
In the center of the room, an irregular circle of twelve pedestals surrounds a black
monolith.
A white key lies on the floor.
Rain rattles impatiently against the stained glass.
1. Take the white key.
>take white key
83
COURT (RYAN VEEDER)
2.
Look at the display case to find a
figurine of a weasel
, a
figurine of a peregrine
falcon
, a
figurine of a greyhound
, a
figurine of a rat
, a
figurine of a cat
, a
figurine
of a Pontiac Firebird
, a
figurine of a silverfish
, a
figurine of a white antelope
, a
figurine of a kraken
, a
figurine of a wolverine
, a
figurine of an eel
, and a
figurine
of a duck.
>look at display case
3. Look at the pedestals.
>look at pedestals
“Each pedestal is a different color (although several are barely-distinguishable shades
of yellow): xanthic, rufous, griseous, icterine, fuscous, niveous, cesious, mazarine,
eburnean, croceate, puce and fulvous.”
The pedestals represent the different coloured Aldermen of the Variegated Court. You
need to match them up with their familiars, represented by the figurines.
4. Find the familiar of the Xanthic Alderman.
•
In The Music Room you overheard Francine talking with the Aldermen of the
Variegated Court:
“Francine, today we admit you to the station of
Xanthic
Alderman of the
Variegated Court.”
•
Read the details of Francine’s murder in the
police report (‘‘Francine Cragne’’)
:
>read police report
“In the early morning of August 5, 1998, two Vermont fishermen called police
after finding the body of a woman in forestland in Waterville. They had been
walking along a nature trail when a bird flew across their path and startled
them. (They say the bird turned out to be a peregrine.)”
• Put the peregrine falcon figurine on the xanthic pedestal.
>open display case
>put peregrine on xanthic pedestal
5. Find the familiar of the Rufous Alderman.
•
Read the
torn notebook
from the Dusty Office to find fragments of a letter to
the Rufous Alderman.
>read torn notebook
•
Read the
piece of yellowed newsprint
which also came from the Dusty Office:
>read yellowed newsprint
“In a section describing the vermin infesting the plant, the writer mentions a
superstition held by the workers concerning a “Boss
Rat
”. Apparently this rat
was three times the size of the usual pests and would direct the other rodents
where they may forage.”
• Put the rat figurine on the rufous pedestal.
>put rat on rufous pedestal
6. Find the familiar of the Griseous Alderman.
84
COURT (RYAN VEEDER)
• In the Cold Storage Room you read the glyphs on the wall:
“The
Griseous
Alderman of the Variegated Court has a familiar, and that
familiar is sometimes a
cat
and sometimes a bat and sometimes goes by the
name Little Nifty.”
• Put the cat figurine on the griseous pedestal.
>put cat on griseous pedestal
7. Find the familiar of the Icterine Alderman.
• In the Family Crypt you found an inscription on a coffin:
“HAR?AWELL CRAG?E, Icterine Al?erman of the Va?ieg?ted Cou?t.”
• The coffin also contained a mummified weasel.
• Put the weasel figurine on the icterine pedestal.
>put weasel on icterine pedestal
8. Find the familiar of the Fuscous Alderman.
• Read the pocket-sized notebook:
>read pocket-sized notebook [Repeat until you find:]
“I KNOW that Theodorus Cragne, my uncle Roger’s first cousin, is the
Fuscous
Alderman of the Variegated Court.”
• Continue reading the notebook:
>read pocket-sized notebook
“A long-legged ungulate has been drawn with heavy pen-strokes on the inside
of the back cover of the notebook. It has been captioned in block letters:
THE
WHITE ANTELOPE.”
• Put the white antelope figurine on the fuscous pedestal.
>put antelope on fuscous pedestal
9. Find the familiar of the Niveous Alderman.
• Read the tiny leather journal:
>read tiny leather journal [Repeat until you find:]
“September 16th, 1932.
Continuing my research. Looking for a secondary translation as Mathers’ is
widely known to contain many errors and omissions. My position as
Niveous
Alderman is at stake.”
• Find a wolverine design embossed on the cover of the journal:
>look at tiny leather journal
>look at design
• Put the wolverine figurine on the niveous pedestal.
>put figurine of a wolverine on niveous pedestal
10. Find the familiar of the Cesious Alderman.
85
COURT (RYAN VEEDER)
• Read the postcard of Big Ben written by Phyllis Cragne:
>read postcard
“If only you were allowed to know about such things, I would tell you that I
am now a member of the Variegated Court, and that I have been granted the
position of Cesious Alderman in this ‘august order’.”
• Read the diary of Phyllis Cragne:
>read diary of phyllis cragne [Repeat until you find:]
“Throughout the 1960s she wrote frequently of Bristletail, her cunning familiar,
which (who?) apparently took the form of an unusually large silverfish.”
• Put the silverfish figurine on the cesious pedestal.
>put silverfish on cesious pedestal
11. Find the familiar of the Mazarine Alderman.
• Read Konstantin Cragne’s journal:
>read konstantin’s journal [Repeat until you find:]
“This is my fourth year as the
Mazarine
Alderman on the Council and I’m still
angry about it.”
•
Continue reading the journal to hear about Konstantin making a familiar out of
his 1976 cherry red Pontiac Firebird.
• Put the Pontiac Firebird figurine on the mazarine pedestal.
>put firebird on mazarine pedestal
12. Find the familiar of the Eburnean Alderman.
• Open the antique locket to reveal a tintype:
>open locket
• Read the inscription on the tintype:
>take tintype
“To my Eliakim,
Eburnean Alderman of
the Variegated Court.
I would follow thee
to the depths of Hell.
- Faythe”
• The locket was given to you by a kraken.
• Put the kraken figurine on the eburnean pedestal.
>put figurine of a kraken on eburnean pedestal
13. Find the familiar of the Croceate Alderman.
• In Under the Bridge you saw a mural:
“Roughly oval in shape, it features a vivid green,
eel
-like creature with a wavy
frill, curled around as though ready to bite its own tail. You don’t totally
follow the motto encircling it... Something about the commission of an officer?
Or an office? But the words “
Croceate
” and “Variegated Court” stand out.”
86
COURT (RYAN VEEDER)
• Put the eel figurine on the croceate pedestal.
>put eel on croceate pedestal
14. Find the familiar of the Puce Alderman.
• Look at the trophy for a dog race:
>look at trophy
“It’s a trophy, depicting of a
greyhound
in mid-jump. The plague reads: To
“Jonathan B. Cragne,
Puce
Alderman of the Variegated Court, for winning
the Cragne Village Dog Race with Bloodfang.””
• Put the greyhound figurine on the puce pedestal.
>put figurine of a greyhound on puce pedestal
15. Find the familiar of the Fulvous Alderman.
• Read the yellowed newspapers:
>drop newsprint
>read yellowed newspapers
“The headline reads “Fulvous Alderman of the Variegated Court
Found Dead.”
Below the headline is a photo of someone you assume is Fulvous dressed in
all black with black tie and black top hat. He is standing in front of an old
church and strangely enough, there’s a duck at his feet, almost posing.”
• Put the duck figurine on the fulvous pedestal to open the black monolith.
>put duck on fulvous pedestal
16. Look in the monolith to find the black horn.
>look at monolith
>take black horn
87
Gallery
Requirements None
Objectives Clear the doorway to the Rec Room
A long and narrow room, with a satin wallcovering in rich, patterned green above
the creamy wainscot paneling. The room is overcrowded with paintings and
furniture. The door behind you exits to the west, and a door at the end of the
gallery on the left wall leads to the north.
This gallery is quite narrow for displaying large paintings; perhaps the width of two
people laid end to end. Its narrowness and clutter only feel more claustrophobic
when set against the high ceilings. The slim path through the room’s center makes
you apprehensive about walking through. There are at least three large paintings
and an abstract photograph that particularly catch your attention.
Various hulking pieces of furniture are pressed into four dark corners and distributed
sporadically along the walls. Tacky bric-a-brac crowds every flat surface. Someone
may have hoarded these misfit objects here to keep them from fouling the rest of the
house.
An oversized mirror in a heavy wooden frame is casually propped against the door
to the north, and you don’t see another way through.
1. Look at the mirror to find a shard of a mirror.
>look at mirror
You can also see the reflection of a painting of a child.
2.
Rip the painting with the shard, causing a Rube Goldberg effect which destroys the
mirror and the rest of the stuff in the room.
>cut child painting with mirror shard
88
Rec Room
Requirements Get the tiny brass key from The Shambolic Shack
Objectives Find the rusty meat cleaver
The manor’s rec room is short for the manor’s recreation room. Even though it’s as
old as the manor itself, it looks, as all rec rooms do, like it’s stuck in the 1970s.
The room is dominated by a pool table. Or maybe a billiards table, you were never
really sure what the difference is. An old television sits atop a little wooden stand in
front of a comfy-looking easy chair.
Doors lead south and east, and the north wall is covered entirely in built-in cabinets,
whose glass doors lead, predictably, into their interiors.
1. Sit in the easy chair and watch the television.
>sit in chair
>watch tv
Repeat until you see a commercial for a board game called Marble Blasters.
2. Unlock the board games cabinet.
>unlock cabinet with tiny brass key
>open cabinet
3. Find the Marble Blasters game in the cabinet.
>look at marble blasters
It contains a card from a different game, Moonbase Bravo.
4. Find Moonbase Bravo in the cabinet.
>look at moonbase bravo
It contains a domino from Domino Destruction Derby.
5. Find Domino Destruction Derby.
>look at domino destruction derby
It contains a card from The Haunting of Haunt House.
6. Find The Haunting of Haunt House.
>look at the haunting of haunt house
It contains a motorcycle from Evil Knievel’s Canyon Jump.
89
REC ROOM (ZACK JOHNSON)
7. Find Evil Knievel’s Canyon Jump.
>look at evil knievel’s canyon jump
It contains a card from Murder Kitchen.
8. Find Murder Kitchen.
>look at murder kitchen
It contains a card from Space Actuary.
9. Find Space Actuary.
>look at space actuary
It contains a plaque from Suburban Safari.
10. Find Suburban Safari.
>look at suburban safari
It contains an eyepatch from Pirate Hospital.
11. Find Pirate Hospital.
>look at pirate hospital
It contains a fin from Shark Shark Shark Shark Shark.
12. Find Shark Shark Shark Shark Shark.
>look at shark shark shark shark shark
It contains a bottle of sunscreen from San Tropez Tanners.
13. Find San Tropez Tanners.
>look at san tropez tanners
It contains the rusty meat cleaver.
90
The Music Room
Requirements None
Objectives Get the police report (‘‘Francine Cragne’’)
Hear Francine talking to the Aldermen
You are in a large modern studio space, not unlike a concert hall but without any
seating. Dark, golden-hued wooden paneling lines the floor and walls, imbuing the
area with an intimate atmosphere in spite of its size. The walls curve inwards in
what appears to be a carefully designed asymmetrical fashion (some kind of acoustic
treatment?) and electric-bulbed faux chandeliers fill the place with ruddy light.
A doorway leads out of the music room to the west.
Standing against the center of the eastern wall, facing you, is a mahogany podium
with four push-buttons on it.
A woman’s voice suddenly makes you jump: “Are you interested in the future? I am.
It’s where I’m going.”
You look around, see no-one, but the voice fills the air. Where is it coming from?
“Welcome. I am Francine Cragne, and you are privileged to be able to learn
something about me and my work here in the music room. A room that I built, I
might add, and a room where only people welcomed by me are allowed. This rules out
almost everyone in the old Vermont family from which I spurted and crawled. You
got over the threshold, so I know you’re not one of them.”
Glancing back towards the entry, you now perceive a faint symbol on the floor.
The Francine voice continues: “My work is music. At least that’s what I tell people
when they ask, because everyone thinks they know something about music. But in the
case of any one thing that you think you know about, there are still a million things
about that thing that you don’t know, right?”
The voice could be a woman in her twenties or thirties. It’s a little harsh, a little
breathy, with a confrontational quality. You suddenly wonder: Is this live or a
recording?
“Well, what if the part of something that you didn’t know about was as deep and as
dark as a black hole in space?”
91
THE MUSIC ROOM (WADE CLARKE)
- this last bit said in a strangely drawn-out way. You’re already tired of this
Francine’s indulgences, but you sense that you’re going to have to keep indulging
them if you want to find your husband.
1. Look at the podium to find out how to operate it.
>look at podium
““The crimson button starts and stops my music. The plus button toggles my
additive synthesis process. The minus button toggles my subtractive synthesis
process. The LFO button toggles my frequency-modulating process.”
(You can use these commands for short:
c or crimson = Press crimson
+ or plus = Press plus
- or minus = Press minus
lfo = press LFO)”
You can use the buttons to teleport between different areas in space and time. The
areas are connected in the following configuration:
2. Press the crimson button to start the music.
>press c
3. Go to the Living Room.
>press +
4. Wait for the telephone to ring, then answer it.
>wait
>pick up phone
92
THE MUSIC ROOM (WADE CLARKE)
5. Go to the Playground.
>press lfo
6. Find a piece of chalk on the seesaw.
>look at seesaw
>look at hinge
>take chalk
7. Find a note from a seesaw stuck to the seesaw.
>look at t-bar
>look at handles
>read note
“The note says: THE TREES”
8. Look at the trees to see a boy.
>look at trees
9. Listen to the boy.
>listen
“We are carrying the circle you asked for from the far place. It will take 5113 days
to carry it. On that day you will see mountain-climbers. They keep the circle inside
their symbol.
We are carrying the ears you asked for from the far place. It will take 381 days to
carry them. Whenever you need them, say your name, then pick up three times. Do
it at night.”
10. Go back to the Living Room. It’s now night time.
>press lfo
11.
Say ”Francine”, then pick up the phone three times (‘‘say your name, then pick up
three times. Do it at night’’).
>say francine
>pick up phone [Repeat three times]
A black box falls out of the telephone.
12. Open the box to find a pair of green stone earrings.
>open black box
13. Try to put on the earrings to find they’re actually a pair of stone earplugs.
>put on earrings
14. Go to the Club Backstage.
>press -
15. Look at the gig poster to see it features a band called Bread Loaf Mountaineers.
>look at gig poster
16.
Look at the band’s logo to receive the
far place ring
(‘‘On that day you will see
mountain-climbers. They keep the circle inside their symbol’’).
>look at mountaineers
93
THE MUSIC ROOM (WADE CLARKE)
17. Go to Francine’s Bedroom.
>press +
18. Watch a young Francine perform a spell.
>wait [Repeat until you are teleported back to The Music Room]
19. Go to L’oreille.
>press c
>press lfo
20. Look through the kaleidoscope to find it’s pointed at a particular spot on the wall.
>look at kaleidoscope
>look at eyehole
21. Look at the wall to hear a voice.
>look at wall
22.
Listen to the wall to hear Francine talking with the Aldermen of the Variegated Court.
>listen to wall [Repeat until you hear:]
“Francine,” intones a deep, old male voice, “today we admit you to the station of
Xanthic Alderman of the Variegated Court.”
23. Go to the Basement.
>press -
24. Open the freezer chest to find an object wrapped in trash bags.
>open freezer chest
25. Unwrap the object to find a severed head inside.
>unwrap object
26. Find another ring stuck to the trash bags.
>look at object
>look at something
27. Go back to Francine’s Bedroom.
>press lfo
Francine is casting another spell with a boy, but her chalk circle has been broken.
28. Throw Francine the piece of chalk so she can fix it.
>throw chalk
After the spell, Francine and the boy leave.
29. Get out of the closet.
>leave
30. Open the bedroom window to let a paper plane fly in.
>open window
94
THE MUSIC ROOM (WADE CLARKE)
31. Unfold the paper plane to find a drawing of a corpse.
>open paper plane
>look at drawing
“This primitive, colored marker drawing is of a female corpse. The body lies straight
out in repose, the eyes are crosses and the tongue lolls over an upside down U of
an unhappy mouth. A circle has been drawn around the whole body, and two rings
have been drawn with more than stick figure care on the stick figure fingers.”
32. Pick up the dropped piece of chalk.
>take chalk
33. Go to the Forestland.
>press lfo
>press +
34. Draw a circle around the corpse.
>draw circle with chalk
35. Put the two rings on the corpse’s fingers.
>put far place ring on corpse
>put ring on corpse
The spell brings Francine back to life and teleports you back to The Music Room,
where another paper plane flies in through the doorway.
36. Unfold the paper plane to find the police report (‘‘Francine Cragne’’).
>open paper plane
95
Landing at the Bottom of Stairs
Requirements None
Objectives Find De Zeven Testamenten van de Krijsende Zeeworm
This is a dark alcove with a narrow stairway rising into the gloom upstairs. The
landing feels unwanted, neglected, as if its sole purpose were to get you somewhere
else more important. You know that feeling well. You touch your wedding ring in an
offhand way.
Shadows lurch over a doorway to the south. Opposite those shadows lies another
doorway, in even darker shadows. What little light there is seeps in from a small
elliptical window high on the wall. A ramshackle bookshelf squats under the window
like a sunken chest on a murky seafloor.
1. Knock the bookshelf over to break a hole in the floor.
>look at bookshelf
>stand on bookshelf
>get off bookshelf
2. Find an oozing tentacle hidden in an alcove under the floorboards.
>look at floor
>look at alcove
>take thing
3. Find De Zeven Testamenten van de Krijsende Zeeworm under the tentacle.
>look at alcove
>take leather volume
96
Dining Room
Requirements None
Objectives Get out of the room
As you walk through the doorway, you realize you’ve stumbled onto a dinner.
Three men are sitting at a long table, intently sipping coffee at the end of a formal
dinner and conversing about serious-sounding matters. They don’t seem to be aware
of your presence. You notice a calendar on the wall.
The man at the head of the table says: “I hope you enjoyed my hospitality. As you
know, I’m interested in the new developments of science. Particularly, I think the
acknowledgement of a fourth dimension, together with that of non-Euclidian
geometry applied to space-time, is a big step towards the understanding of reality,
on a cosmic scale.“
1. Listen to the conversation of the dinner party guests.
>wait
Repeat until the guests disappear.
97
Sitting Room
Requirements Get the letter opener from the Abandoned Nursery
Objectives Find the strange chime
The floorboards groan against your footsteps as you enter the dusty sitting room.
Light struggles to penetrate the grimy bay window, hinting at the space around you.
Various pieces of furniture are covered by moldy, moth-bitten sheets. The remains of
a portrait hang above the fireplace. Leaning against a wall is a large mirror.
Seems like no one has used this room in some time.
1. Look at your reflection in the mirror.
>look at mirror
You’re now in the past, in the body of a woman named Lillian. Your husband, Eustace,
asks you to ring for your serving woman.
2. Ring the bell to receive a formal letter to Eustace.
>pull bell pull
3. Give Eustace his letter and the letter opener.
>give letter to eustace
>give letter opener to eustace
4. When Eustace attacks you, kill him with the letter opener.
>take letter opener
5. Look at the mirror to return to the present with the strange chime.
>look at mirror
98
The Kitchen
Requirements Get the small rusty iron key from the Study
Objectives Unlock the door to the Basement
The Cragne family kitchen. Light from a naked bulb feeds shadow down the spaces
between old cabinets, counters and bookshelves. A dusty, doorless fridge overlooks
an oven just as worse for wear. You’d guess it’s been a minute since anyone’s used
this room to cook. A doorway leads east, and a wooden door set in the floor appears
to lead to a cellar or basement.
1. Unlock the wooden door.
>unlock wooden door with small rusty iron key
99
Basement
Requirements None
Objectives Find a library book
Carefully, you descend the creaking steps.
It’s dark and chilly down here. Something squelches under your feet. Looking down,
you realize why: a damp, mildewy carpet of dimly visible design covers half the floor.
It must have been luxuriously soft before it started rotting.
An old, rusted toolbox sits nearby. A rickety staircase leads back up towards the
heavy wooden door to the kitchen. A flimsy plywood door leads north, presumably
to more storage. The dimly-lit basement extends in every other direction, south, east
and west.
1. Open the toolbox to find a jar of old keys.
>open toolbox
2. Open the jar of keys to find the sinister iron key.
>open jar of old keys
>take sinister iron key
3. Move the carpet to reveal a hatch in the floor.
>move carpet
4. Go through the hatch to the Cragne library’s forbidden annex.
>open hatch
>go down
5.
Unlock an iron cage to rele ase a vampire bat, which the ghost of Fedwick Baines chases
out of the room.
>unlock cage with sinister iron key
>open cage
“I won’t be back before I catch this little rat—unless you
ring
for me, of course.
And don’t touch my books!”
6. Open a cabinet to find a collection of books.
>open cabinet
“In Defense of Reason,
100
BASEMENT (IVAN ROTH)
The Reign of Reason,
The History of the End, or, Last Men,
The Broken Tongue,
Mysteries of the Red City,
Beyond the Dream of Moons,
The Ant That Breeds,
The Liquid Sky,
Out of the Infinite,
Roceau’s Dictionary of Crime and Criminality - Centennial edition,
Across Black Oceans,
The Searcher in Darkness,
Between God and Madness,
Out of the Screaming Planet,
The Imagined Worm,
The Doctrine of the Long Stick,
Reading the Sky and
The Monolith.”
7.
Read one of the books, then read a second book twice to find a name written in the
inside cover.
>take in defense of reason
>read in defense of reason
>take the reign of reason
>read the reign of reason [Repeat]
“As you close the book, something on the inside cover catches your eye. In faint,
wabbling pencil marks, someone has scrawled a name: Barach’speroth Arguule. You
wonder if the ghost knows his book has been defaced with these strange words...”
8. Call Fedwick back and ask him about Barach’speroth Arguule.
>ring
>ask fedwick about barach’speroth arguule
He tells you that the incantation of Arguule is hidden somewhere in the books.
9.
Read a third book, then read a fourth book twice to find instructions for the incantation.
>take the history of the end
>read the history of the end
>take the broken tongue
>read the broken tongue [Repeat]
“You shut the book, but one page catches your eye and you quickly flip it open
again. In the margin, someone has scribbled: “It must be said three times, in the
presence of the carved seal... that is the only way to banish the spirit and secure
what he has stolen... he is covetous, it is the only way... but it is so dangerous that
I am afraid to do it, even to retrieve my precious and defiled memory... the god’s
first servant will be summoned... but I will mark the word, the incantation, before
he kills me... it is the only way...””
10. Read a fifth book, then read a sixth book twice to find the word to say.
>take mysteries of the red city
>read mysteries of the red city
101
BASEMENT (IVAN ROTH)
>take beyond the dream of moons
>read beyond the dream of moons [Repeat]
“On the back cover, you notice a blemish, and you realize it’s a smear of blood —
but when you tilt your head you see that there are dozens of blood smears on the
cover, spelling out a single word: ANGARITHEP. The P trails off, as if the one
who scrawled it was being dragged away...”
11. Call Fedwick back.
>ring
12. Say ANGARITHEP three times to summon a tentacle monster.
>say angarithep [Repeat three times]
13. Move two rooms away to avoid the monster.
>go up
>go up
14.
Go back to the forbidden annex to find one of a random set of library books on the
floor (e.g. The Conservative’s Cookbook).
>go down
>go down
>take conservative’s cookbook
15. Go back up to the basement.
>go up
102
Cold Storage Room
Requirements None
Objectives Read the glyphs
Aunt Mavis used to keep her peaches in a room just like this. Except that room had
chirpy yellow wallpaper, and this one’s walls are covered with strange glyphs written
in blood.
Also: no peaches. The room is empty except for the thing on the floor.
You can see a thing here.
1. Take the thing to teleport to your Aunt Mavis’s cold storage room.
>take thing
2. Touch a giant eyeball in the wall to release a tiny squid-like creature.
>touch eyeball
The creature hits the opposite wall and burns a hole through it.
3. Find a rusty nail in the wall above the hole.
>look at hole
4. Open a satchel on the floor to find a long black robe.
>open satchel
5.
Hang the robe on the nail, revealing a
lobster bib from The Codfather restaurant
and some charred newspaper clippings inside the satchel.
>hang robe on nail
6. Release another squid creature.
>touch eyeball
It slides down the robe onto the floor and burns a rift through it.
7. Cover the rift with the lobster bib.
>put bib on rift
8. Release another squid creature.
>touch eyeball
It lands on the bib, but is then grabbed by a cat that escapes through a catflap.
103
COLD STORAGE ROOM (JEREMY FREESE)
9. Cover the catflap with the satchel and put the newspaper clippings on top.
>put satchel on catflap
>put clippings on satchel
10. Release another squid creature.
>touch eyeball
When the cat tries to escape it sends the newspaper clippings flying and drops the
squid. The squid hits you in the eye and burrows its way into your face, teleporting
you back to the original cold storage room.
11. You can now read the glyphs.
>read glyphs
“The Griseous Alderman of the Variegated Court has a familiar,” the glyphs say,
“and that familiar is sometimes a cat and sometimes a bat and sometimes goes by
the name Little Nifty.”
12. Try to leave to recall the summer you spent at Aunt Mavis’s.
>go s
104
Wine Cellar
Requirements None
Objectives Find the Red Triangle Key
Clear the doorway to the Laboratory
You feel cool air swirling around you as you stand in the manor’s wine cellar. Stone
floors, stone walls, and dim lighting keep the household’s dwindling wine collection
fresh and oaky.
A large wooden wine rack covers one entire wall of the room, but with only a few
bottles left on it. You can see a door to the west, but a large wine cask is standing
right in front of it, blocking your way. Another exit leads east.
You count five bottles of wine lingering on the wine rack. Each bottle has a different
name, all either Italian or faux Italian: the Piccoli Uomini Blu, the Prurito
Notturno, the Lettera Segreta, the Isole Perdute and the Testa D’Ancora.
1. Drink the bottle of Testa D’Ancora.
>drink testa d’ancora
2. Smash the bottle to find the Red Triangle Key.
>smash testa d’ancora
>take red triangle key
3. Empty the wine cask.
>open tap [Repeat]
4. Move the wine cask out of the doorway.
>move wine cask
105
Laboratory
Requirements Get the crooked dagger from the Chapel
Objectives Find the silver mirror
Your ears pop and you stumble as you step across the threshold, reeling in a
momentary gravitational slippage.
Hard, white light reflected from steel walls pricks painfully at your eyes. Through
the glare you can make out the implements of some sort of laboratory, squirming
sculptures of metal and glass dripping curdled fluids and spurting foul-smelling puffs
of steam. A way out lies east, but otherwise there seem to be no other exits from
this place.
The author is here, hunched over and fidgeting intently with a roiling knot of
impossible space that floats in the middle of the room.
1. Kill the author to find the silver mirror.
>attack author with crooked dagger
>take mirror
106
Pantry
Requirements Listen to Edmund’s recording in the Church Basement
Objectives Hear the poem
You are in a pantry lined with metal shelves stretching the entire length of both
walls. Most of the metal shelves’ contents lie deep in shadow, as the room is lit by
only a single bare bulb hanging three feet above your head. The flat dark stones
echo as you walk, and the air down here is cold and damp.
The rest of the basement lies off to the west. A dark doorway beckons to the east.
Pale roots of some unknown plant have broken through the ceiling in one corner,
dangling halfway to the floor.
You can also see a disgusting rotting pumpkin here.
1. Find the jar of peaches mentioned in Edmund’s message.
>look at shelves
>take jars
2. Get into the jar to find something flitting around inside.
>open jar
>get in jar
3. Ask the thing about Edmund to hear a recording of a poem.
>ask thing about edmund
“Under the crescent moons,
Beneath the starlit skies,
The bells lament with their songs,
The bells lament with their cries.
A song of copper and iron,
A song of silver and gold,
The bells sing of the One’s true sign,
The bells sing of the Ones of old.”
4. Get out of the jar.
>get out
107
Workroom
Requirements None
Objectives Find The Seven Gaunts
You have entered a circular chamber, walled in the same decaying brickwork which
runs all through the manor’s basement. The only exit is west.
This might once have been a private altar room or chapel. Now it seems to have
been repurposed as a ritual workroom. Oddly-angled runes are carved around the
perimeter of the floor.
A majestic filing cabinet stands in one corner, stuffed to overflowing with antique
journals. Next to it is a full-length, badly fogged mirror.
A large disk, half black and half white, is mounted on the south wall.
1. Find a faded delivery note behind the mirror.
>look at mirror
>read delivery note
“Delivery: for Anax Cragne – one mirror, iron frame – shipped from St Croix via
Boston – May of 1919.” Then in smaller letters on the back: “The item has been
delivered as it was deposited. The condition of the glass is none of our doing.
Warranted by the hand of: Ladoro Feraud.”
2. Research Anax Cragne in the journals in the filing cabinet.
>research anax
You learn IA, the Word of Sealing.
You learn ZOK, the Word of Unsealing.
3. Research Ladoro Feraud in the filing cabinet.
>research ladoro
You learn KHION, the Word of Enlightenment.
4. Speak the Word of Sealing to start a ritual.
>say ia
5.
Speak the Word of Enlightenment to notice the name ‘‘Francois Cragne’’ on a bit of
paper in the filing cabinet.
>say khion
>look at filing cabinet
108
WORKROOM (ANDREW PLOTKIN)
6. Speak the Word of Unsealing to end the ritual.
>say zok
7.
Research Francois Cragne in the filing cabinet. His entry contains some ritual instructions
for later on in this room.
>research francois
“Seek the Temple of the Flame, and beneath a Blood Moon speak the Unnameable
Name...”
You learn IRNATH, the Word of Winter.
8.
Start a ritual and speak the Word of Winter then the Word of Enlightenment to see
Gretel Aschar in the mirror.
>say ia
>say irnath
>say khion
>look at mirror
9.
End the ritual and research Gretel Aschar. Her entry contains another name to look
up, ‘‘Morovor’’.
>say zok
>research gretel
You learn ULNUR, the Word of Invocation.
10. Research Morovor.
>research morovor
You learn MALETH, the Word of Summer.
11.
Start a ritual and speak the Word of Invocation then the Word of Enlightenment to
hear the name ‘‘Jennever’’ being whispered.
>say ia
>say ulnur
>say khion
>listen
12. End the ritual and research Jennever. Her entry contains some ritual instructions.
>say zok
>research jennever
“High Summer and the full moon are noted for invoking nurturing spirits. “And the
Oppositte, if one wishes a Spirit of Intellecte””
13.
The disk on the wall is a representation of the moon, currently in half moon phase.
Find a wooden ring you can move to change the phases.
>look at disk
14. Move the ring to show a full moon.
>pull ring
>pull ring
109
WORKROOM (ANDREW PLOTKIN)
15.
Invoke a nurturing spirit with high summer and the full moon to notice the name
‘‘Margreth Cragne’’ on a journal in the filing cabinet.
>say ia
>say ulnur
>say maleth
>smell filing cabinet
16.
End the ritual and research Margreth Cragne. Her entry contains some ritual instructions.
>say zok
>research margreth
“Bring forth an ice-covered mirror under the full moon. Speak the Word of Enlightenment;
then polish the glass with your hand. Then wait until the moon is new and allow
the ice to melt. Your will shall penetrate the glass and reveal that which you
seek.”
17.
Invoke a spirit of intellect with winter and the new moon to hear the name ‘‘Kteh
Nyare’’.
>push ring
>push ring
>push ring
>push ring
>say ia
>say ulnur
>say irnath
>look at spirit
18. End the ritual and research Kteh Nyare.
>say zok
>research kteh
You learn that you can repeat Words to intensify their effect.
19.
Follow Margreth’s instructions to see Gretel in the mirror again. She gives you the
name ‘‘Ersebet’’.
>pull ring
>pull ring
>pull ring
>pull ring
>say ia
>say irnath
>say irnath
>say khion
>polish glass
>push ring
>push ring
>push ring
>push ring
>say maleth
>look at mirror
110
WORKROOM (ANDREW PLOTKIN)
20. End the ritual and research Ersebet.
>say zok
>research ersebet
You learn VULLE, the Word of Trance.
21.
Use the Word of Trance with the Word of Winter to enter the Glacial Cirque visionary
realm.
>say ia
>say irnath
>say vulle
22.
Speak the Word of Enlightenment to see the name ‘‘Shireen Vega’’ form on a wall of
ice.
>say khion
>look at ice
23.
End the ritual and research Shireen Vega. Her entry contains some ritual instructions.
>say zok
>research shireen
“‘Summer trance, gibbous moon, invocation&enlightenment’ and ‘Winter trance,
crescent moon, redoubled invocation’.”
24.
Follow Shireen’s winter trance instructions to memorise a glyph formed by the stars in
the Glacial Cirque.
>pull ring
>say ia
>say irnath
>say vulle
>say ulnur
>say ulnur
>look at constellation
25. Melt the wall of ice to memorise a second glyph on a stone slab inside it.
>say maleth
>look at slab
26. End the ritual and start a new one following Shireen’s summer trance instructions.
>say zok
>pull ring
>pull ring
>say ia
>say maleth
>say vulle
You enter the Jungle Ruin visionary realm.
>say ulnur
>say khion
>look at moon
You memorise a third glyph on the surface of the moon.
111
WORKROOM (ANDREW PLOTKIN)
27. End the ritual then use the Word of Trance to enter the Garden visionary realm.
>say zok
>say ia
>say vulle
28.
Speak the Word of Invocation then the Word of Enlightenment to hear the name
‘‘Malford’’ being muttered.
>say ulnur
>say khion
>listen
29. End the ritual and research Malford.
>say zok
>research malford
You learn OGGOTH, the Word of Chaos.
30. Speak the Word of Chaos to reveal a brass knob beneath the lunar sphere.
>say ia
>say oggoth
31. Turn the knob to turn the lunar sphere red.
>turn knob
32. Use the Word of Trance to enter the Ruined Garden visionary realm.
>say vulle
33. Use the Word of Winter to freeze the lake.
>say irnath
34. Walk across the frozen lake to an island.
>go s
>go s
35. Use the Word of Summer to thaw and then boil away the lake.
>say maleth
>say maleth
36. Go down the stairway to the Lakebed Temple.
>go e
37. Find the name ‘‘Arne Cragnessum’’ on a scrap of green leather.
>look at scrap of leather
38.
End the ritual and research Arne Cragnessum. His entry contains instructions for finding
the Unnameable Name mentioned by Francois.
>say zok
>research arne
“...the Summerlands, in which the Unnameable King lies entombed in stone...”
112
WORKROOM (ANDREW PLOTKIN)
39. Go to the ‘‘Summerlands’’ (the Jungle Ruin).
>say ia
>say maleth
>say vulle
40. Use the Word of Chaos to collapse the stone wall, revealing a stone coffin.
>say oggoth
41. Find the Unnameable Name enscribed on the coffin.
>look at coffin
42. End the ritual, then go back to the Lakebed Temple.
>say zok
>say ia
>say oggoth
>say vulle
>say irnath
>go s
>go s
>say maleth
>say maleth
>go e
43. Speak the Unnameable Name.
>say name
44. Speak the Word of Trance to go to a stairway.
>say vulle
45. Continue to the bottom of the stairs.
>go e
46. Unlock the gateway and go through it to an alternate version of the workroom.
>unlock portal
>open portal
>enter portal
The Seven Gaunts is lying on the floor.
47. Put the book in the filing cabinet. You file it under G for Galtmice.
>open filing cabinet
>put book in filing cabinet
48. End the ritual twice to go back to the real workroom.
>say zok
>say zok
49. Research Galtmice to find The Seven Gaunts in the filing cabinet.
>research galtmice
113
Boiler Room
Requirements None
Objectives Find book New England and the Bavarian Illuminati
The western side of this windowless brick room is dominated by a huge boiler
connected to a confusing network of pipes that eventually delivers heat to the rest of
the manor. Between the unpleasant humming, the smell of fuel oil, and the heat
leaking out, the boiler is leaving you feeling a little lightheaded.
As noticeable as it is, the boiler is hardly the only item of interest. Crammed around
it are many devices, at least four of which are clearly bigger and heavier than you.
Next to the open doorway leading north there is a keypunch of some kind. There’s a
support column in the middle of the room with a framed diagram of some sort on it,
and lashed to the column there is something that looks like a wardrobe that
someone decided to wrap in copper wire. To make it even odder, there is a little
window near the top of its door. Next to it is a mechanism that is a little bit
reminiscent of a truck engine, and behind it a machine contained in a casing made
from wood. Beyond a heavy-duty table near the southwest corner there is a rough
hole in the floor, and the surface of the table is dominated by some manner of
control panel. There is a small steel shelf high on the wall way above the table, and
a fluorescent work light above that. On the wall opposite the wardrobe there is a
painting hanging from a chain.
It looks like the room has hardly been disturbed in decades, and your presence has
kicked up a sizable amount of dust. Although there are some cobwebs, you don’t see
any spiders. Maybe they got fed up with some combination of the loud noises, bad
smells, choking dust, and miserable heat and went someplace nicer.
1.
Check the framed diagram to find out what the devices are and how to connect them.
>look at framed diagram
“The heavy keypunch near the doorway is purely mechanical. It doesn’t need to be
connected to anything.
The control panel on the table runs the whole system and needs to be both plugged
into an outlet for power and connected to the large engine mechanism, which is
apparently the overlay engine. The control panel has a slot for punch cards.
The overlay engine needs to be connected to the wardrobe, which is apparently
called the faraday cage.
114
BOILER ROOM (ERIC W. BROWN)
The big machine with the wooden casing is identified on the diagram as the
dimensional stabilizer, and it also needs to be connected to the faraday cage.
The faraday cage needs to be plugged into an outlet for power.”
2. Connect the devices.
>plug control panel into power outlet
>connect control panel to overlay engine
>connect overlay engine to faraday cage
>connect dimensional stabilizer to faraday cage
>plug faraday cage into power outlet
3. Find a checklist on the table.
>look at table
>read list
“1. Ensure the system is properly connected.
2. Ensure the door is closed.
3. Plug in units that need electricity.
4. Insert desired card and turn on control panel.
5. Turn on dimensional stabilizer before opening door.
6. Check status lights before opening door.
7. Take any other precautions before opening door.”
4. Find the Journal of Edwin Cragne and a blank punch card in the table drawer.
>open drawer
5. Read about Edwin’s search for other Men of Power to assist him with his work.
>read edwin cragne
6. Consult the journal about Men of Power to read about Edwin’s secret cache.
>consult edwin cragne about men of power
7. Consult the journal about the secret cache.
>consult edwin cragne about secret cache
“It is in an overlaid reality of course. I won’t write out the hex code plainly here,
but know brother that your methods of experimentation inspired my choice of it.
How felicitous that your inanimate cow flesh could be thus translated!”
8.
Create a
DEADBEEF punch card
(from Edwin’s mention of ‘‘inanimate cow flesh’’).
>insert blank punch card in keypunch
>set keypunch to deadbeef
>pull handle
9. Insert the DEADBEEF punch card and turn on the control panel.
>insert deadbeef punch card in control panel
>turn on control panel
115
BOILER ROOM (ERIC W. BROWN)
10. Turn on the dimensional stabilizer.
>turn on dimensional stabilizer
11. Enter the faraday cage to find book New England and the Bavarian Illuminati.
>open faraday cage
>enter faraday cage
>take new england
12. Leave the faraday cage.
>leave
116
Malign Tunnel
Requirements None
Objectives None
The space beneath the boiler room is damp and narrow, little more than a dogleg
corridor set into the earth. Something about its shape, its proportions, is deeply
unsettling to you. There is a rusting iron ladder leading to the floor above, and a
green door leading to the southwest, its paint flaking onto the uneven stone floor.
The curving brick walls on either side of you arc gracefully inwards to form a
vaulted ceiling. You would be able to stand comfortably were it not for the pipes
that stretch like tendons above your head.
117
Top of Stairs
Requirements None
Objectives Find the pink-bound book
You are at the top of a staircase, which leads down to Landing at the Bottom of
Stairs (Mark Sample). An archway leads east.
On the north wall is a round white wall clock.
For some reason, there is a dilapidated kitchen sink standing against the west wall.
1. Find a pine cabinet below the kitchen sink.
>look at sink
2. Open the cabinet to find the pink-bound book.
>open cabinet
>take pink-bound book
118
Upstairs Hall, North End
Requirements Get the sturdy key from the Balcony
Objectives Unlock the door to the Master Bedroom
Find the pocket-sized notebook
Despite all the irregularities of Cragne Manor, the inconsistencies, the
unaccountable changes, to say nothing of the disparate and clashing architecture
and d´ecor, you have at least attained a certain expectation regarding its hallways:
close walls and high ceilings, wreathed in shadow, with the occasional door looming
obelisk-like through the gloom. Its architects must have had crooked rulers, as you
can never quite make out the end of a hallway until you’ve nearly reached it–and
just such a hallway winds away to the south.
In this section of the hall, the eastern wall flares out into a wider space resembling a
waiting-room; there’s even a little bench against that wall to the south-east. A
massive black armoire occupying the wall opposite strikes you as a less deliberate
inclusion, if the boards sealing it shut are any indication; perhaps the movers
abandoned it here after they couldn’t fit it through the archway to the west. Beyond
these minimal furnishings, the hall contains only a pair of imposing doors to the east
and to the north; a third doorway between them has been closed off with bricks.
1. Unlock the east door.
>unlock east door with sturdy key
2.
Return here later in the game to find that the doors of the armoire have been torn off,
revealing the pocket-sized notebook.
>take pocket-sized notebook
119
Carol’s Room*
*Note: When you first encounter this room it is called the Nursery
Requirements Get the teapot from the Mudroom
Speak to Christabell on the Hillside Path
Objectives Speak to Carol
Find the worn out, decaying picture
“Oh, we’re all so happy! And it is just about tea time too! Come right in.” Carol
turns to face a sock puppet monkey and scolds him, “You just stay in your seat,
Young Master Sweetpaws – mother says we will have manners in this house!”
Much bustling ensues: sounds of porcelain being laid, clinking of utensils, and the
heavy thunk of a chair being put in place.
“Ready! Come in, Naomi”, sings Carol as she ushers you inward.
Perhaps against your better judgement, you follow her.
“Here, let me take that for you,” offers Carol as she accepts the teapot and walks to a
table at the center of the room.
You would have killed to have this charming room when you were yourself five years
old: a fluffy pink and white dotted comforter covers a bed overflowing with stuffed
animals. Beside it, a play kitchen replete with pots, pans, and a very realistic
looking oven. On the far wall, a large bay window trimmed in lacy curtains matching
the bedspread. To the left of the window, a small writing desk and tiny lamp, and
nearer to the entrance, a an old-fashioned record player rests on wooden stand.
Your eye is quickly drawn, however, to one discordant item: a framed black and
white photo of a bald man smiles down towards the center of the room. The
exquisitely carved heavy gilded frame obviously predates photography by centuries,
and you are hard pressed to guess how this odd portrait fits into the decor.
In the center of the room, the tea party itself is already underway. Seated on each
side of the table in toy chairs are several stuffed animals. Carol stands just opposite
you with teapot in hand.
1. Speak to Carol to find the magic words to start the tea party.
120
CAROL’S ROOM (BEN COLLINS-SUSSMAN)
>talk to carol
“Carol glances around the table at her stuffed
animals
. “I don’t know about any
of you, but I sure am getting thirsty. Yes sir, some nice hot
tea
would really
hit the spot, don’t you think so,
Sweetpaws
? You do? Me too. I wish
Naomi
would say the magic words and let us get going. What’s that
Mister Snortles
?
Maybe she forgot what to say? I’m sure she remembers that she is supposed to say
‘bottoms-up’ so we can start.””
2. Say the magic words and drink some tea.
>say bottoms-up
Repeat until the tea runs out and you get ejected back into the hallway.
3.
Go and speak to Christabell on the Hillside Path to learn a magic word that teleports
you back into Carol’s room.
4. Try to leave and the older Carol asks you to bear her mark.
>go s
>yes
Because you already have Christabell’s mark on you, Carol puts her mark on your baby
instead.
5.
Return here after speaking to Christabell again and say the magic words to destroy
Carol’s book of runes.
>say kwisatz haderach
6.
Speak to Carol to distract her while you open the window to let Christabell’s spirit in.
>ask carol about christabell
>open window
>ask carol about mark
>open window
7. Let the fight between Carol and Christabell play out.
>wait
Repeat until Carol is banished and the Tome of Naomi appears on the floor.
8. Find the worn out, decaying picture inside the tome.
>look at tome of naomi
>take photograph
121
Hallway South
Requirements Get the Red Triangle Key from the Wine Cellar
Objectives Find ’Pataphysical Approaches to Quantum Superfluids
Unlock the door to the Balcony
The threadbare carpet holds only the vaguest hints of its original hue, and the
yellowing wallpaper is crisscrossed with a web of cracks.
The hallway feels narrow—no, that’s not right. The hallway is wide enough for two
people to pass one another easily. It doesn’t feel narrow: it feels thin. The hallway
continues to the north, and there are doors leading to the west, south, and east.
Partway down the hall, a black pen floats a couple feet off the ground, as if resting
on a table or desk. It does not, however, appear to be sitting on anything.
1. Find a hole in the wallpaper.
>look at wallpaper
2. Tear open the hole and go through it to enter a liminal space.
>tear hole
>enter void
The description of the liminal space is almost exactly the same as the description of
the south hallway, except it also mentions a desk with a drawer.
3. Leave the liminal space.
>exit
4. Open the drawer to find ’Pataphysical Approaches to Quantum Superfluids.
>open drawer
>take typescript
5. Unlock the wooden door.
>unlock door with red triangle key
122
Study
Requirements None
Objectives Find the small rusty iron key
“Kind people call them sunbeams,” your mother told you, as a child, when you
asked about the dust particles catching the light in your living room. Later, you
read that much of it was arthropod waste: shredded cobwebs, insect corpses, mites
fed on human skin.
Barely a sunbeam reaches this study. Dust cakes the desk, drapes, and book-lined
shelves like a bug mass grave. More insect bodies litter the carpet in earlier states of
decay. The exit is east.
Even now, being in a study makes you feel vaguely guilty. Like an impostor.
1. Look at the dust to notice the small rusty iron key on the bookshelf.
>look at dust
>take rusty iron key
123
Library
Requirements None
Objectives Find Legends of Lake Champlain and the Hudson River Valley
This library features dark paneling, polished hardwood floors, and thousands of
books. A mahogany desk sits against the one part of the walls not lined with books.
Above the desk hangs an ominous-looking painting. An antique wingback chair
provides a place for quiet study, while in the center of the room is a reading podium.
The only exit is west, back to the hallway.
A massive tome sits on the podium.
1. Find a collection of cheap paperback books.
>look at books
2. Find Tatooine 1: Anchorhead.
>look at cheap paperbacks
3. Find the small desk key hidden in the book.
>read tatooine 1
>take small key
4. Unlock the desk to find a scrap of paper.
>unlock desk with small key
>open desk
>read scrap of paper
The scrap of paper has the letters ‘‘ABRD’’ and three sets of randomised digits written
on it (e.g. ‘‘348-6-11’’).
5. Find the title of the massive tome.
>look at massive tome
“This massive tome is a copy of A Billion Random Digits with 100,000 Normal
Deviates, by the Rand Corporation.”
6.
Study the pages in ABRD that match the three sets of digits on the scrap of paper.
The pages each have a number circled on them.
>study page 348 [Number 49 is circled]
>study page 6 [Number 7 is circled]
>study page 11 [ Number 42 is circled]
124
LIBRARY (MIKE SPIVEY)
7. Take down the ominous-looking painting to find a safe.
>take painting
8.
Unlock the safe using the three numbers from ABRD to find
Legends of Lake
Champlain and the Hudson River Valley.
>set dial to 49
>set dial to 7
>set dial to 42
>open safe
>take legends of lake champlain
125
Balcony
Requirements None
Objectives Find the sturdy key
The balcony has definitely seen better days. Once it was more than likely a fine
place to sit and look out over the skyline or whatever one desired to do out here.
However, its charm has been lost with the passage of time. The wood, once more
than likely shiny and well polished, is now rotten and peeling in various spots.
Somehow, despite the way the architecture has aged, the railing at the end of the
balcony itself is still somewhat sturdy. All around, the view of the scenery is
breathtaking, albeit somewhat unsettling for some reason. Occasionally, a slight
breeze blows past you, but you can’t tell if its supposed to be warm or cool. The
only exit from here is to the north.
A statue with a very strange appearance to it is standing here, almost as if it is
watching the area.
1. Find the sturdy key in the statue’s hand.
>look at statue
126
Master Bedroom
Requirements None
Objectives None
Et voila!
Here we have the master bedroom of Cragne Manor, which is by turns
contradictorily capacious and cramped. Though you can’t put your finger on it,
something about this windowless chamber sucks the very air out of your lungs and
puts you on edge. One would have to be a master indeed to achieve any rest in this
offputting room.
Though it is relatively sparsely furnished, it wouldn’t be much of a bedoom without
a bed – and there it is, a four-poster tall, dingy, imposing and unsettling. Next to it
is a bedside table, on which resides some torturously elongated lamp – apparently
the dim room’s only light source, currently turned off.
To the west is the hallway door through which you first arrived, and to the east
there is also a door to what is most likely a walk-in closet.
127
A Shadowy Closet
Requirements Get the silver mirror from the Laboratory
Objectives Clear the trapdoor to the Attic
This large closet, illuminated only by the light coming through the door, is so filled
with a jumble of clothes that your head spins as you contemplate the mess. In fact,
it’s so untidy that it’s difficult to look at the disorder directly. Squinting through the
chaos, you see shelves leading up to the ceiling on one side and a cabinet on the
other.
1. Find an empty frame on the top of the cabinet.
>look at cabinet
2. Put the silver mirror in the frame.
>put silver mirror in frame
3. Look in the mirror to magically tidy up the closet.
>look at mirror
4. You can now see a trapdoor in the ceiling.
>look at shelves
128
Attic
Requirements None
Objectives Take the desiccated sausage
You emerge from the rickety staircase into Cragne Manor’s attic, a cavernous black
womb.
Far below, the ground shakes, and the Manor sways around you.
From this corner of the attic, paths lead south and west, or you can head back down
the rickety staircase. A damp wind flows through a gash in the exterior wall.
You can see a walkie-talkie and a desiccated sausage here.
1. Take the desiccated sausage.
>take sausage
129
Disheveled Studio
Requirements None
Objectives
Find
A Rudimentary Taxonomy of Known Scent and Grotesque Reactions
Find the slimy key
Even in half-light, you can tell the studio must have been abandoned in a hurry. The
bookshelves are ransacked, the easel in pieces on the floor, bulbs torn out of two of
the ceiling lights. The only thing undisturbed is a table, solid like a slab, precisely in
the center of the room. Several layers of heavy curtain block off crawlspaces to the
north and southeast.
The very existence of this room puzzles you. Peter had never expressed an interest
in painting, or any arts really. It was hard enough just convincing him that the
bedroom needed more than bare walls. But the room unmistakably smells like him.
Specifically, it smells like the cologne he’d bought you on your 18-month anniversary,
the kind he’d douse you in every night before bed, every morning after your shower,
and really every time he saw you, regular and often enough that you associate it
with him, not you. It used to be a comforting presence.
A half-finished canvas slumps like a torso across the table.
1. Find a used piece of charcoal and a box of vials on the table.
>look at table
2.
Find
A Rudimentary Taxonomy of Known Scent and Grotesque Reactions
on
the bookshelves.
>look at bookshelves [Repeat]
3. Read the book to find out how to use the vials.
>read rudimentary taxonomy
“Scent is our closest link to the unknown, particularly when applied to other means
of divination. When a scent is bound to an individual, and applied to a
sympathetic object, it is known to have a sympathetic effect upon that individual.
Several common substances are also known to have sympathetic effects:
Cedar: Enhances visions.
Frankincense: Induces holiness.
Tuberose: Inflames passions.
Petrichor: Promotes rot.
130
DISHEVELED STUDIO (KATHERINE MORAYATI)
Animalic musk (castoreum, civet): Promotes depravity.
Blood: Binds an object to the one who bled.
Through my study I have discovered certain compounds with grotesque properties.
Savior’s breath: A by-product of holy water. Colorless and curiously insubstantial,
apparitional even. Used for purification.
Peat venom: Extracted from cadavers, submerged in deep river mud, as close as
possible to the ninth month of rot. Opens one up to forces beyond this earth.
Dispulsichor: Extracted from the air just after a sound has ended, or a scent has
dispersed; takes on the appearance of the sky. Undoes the effect of past scent-based
divination.”
>read rudimentary taxonomy
“Sympathetic objects are traditionally keepsakes, though most trinkets are too
small and insufficiently porous for scent-based divination. What seems to work
best is a combination of blood and some physical likeness, usually an image of the
face. A large, detailed image and close resemblance seem ideal.
I presume an object or image only functions as a sympathetic object if it is activated;
otherwise, our world would be composed entirely of conjurers and fainters. My
studies suggest the key is intimacy. Looking at a sympathetic object produces
little but unease. Touching it begins to produce results, more if by hand than by
paintbrush. The strongest sympathetic effect comes from kissing.”
4. Look at the canvas to see that it’s an outline of your face.
>look at canvas
5. Prick your finger and bleed on the canvas.
>move easel
>bleed on canvas
6. Fill in the outline of your face with the piece of charcoal
>draw on canvas
7. Apply oils from the box of vials to the canvas.
>put frankincense on canvas [Induces holiness]
>put cedar on canvas [Enhances visions]
>put clear on canvas [Savior’s breath: Used for purification]
>put teal on canvas [Peat venom: Opens one up to forces beyond this earth]
8. Kiss the image to activate it, revealing the slimy key.
>kiss canvas
131
Abandoned Nursery
Requirements Get the vacuum component from the Greenhouse
Objectives Find the letter opener
An octagonal room. Dust coats the walls. In one corner, a crib. In the other, a
dollhouse. Exits lead northwest, north, and northeast.
You can see a “Gossipin’ Gertie” doll and a vacuum cleaner here.
1. Insert the missing component into the vacuum cleaner.
>insert vacuum component
2. Use the vacuum to suck the cobwebs out of the dollhouse.
>turn vacuum cleaner on
3. Find the letter opener in the dollhouse.
>search rooms
132
Invasive Library
Requirements None
Objectives Find Life Beneath Nightmares
Once a study or a small sitting room, a particularly invasive species of library has
taken over this space. Walls obscured by stacks of books. Ceiling hidden by stacks of
books. The floor might as well be tiled with books. There’s a path of sorts from a
small doorway to the south to a desk amidst the overgrown collection, and to the
southeast, a bookshelf has been shoved aside to reveal a passage through the wall.
A sussuration of paper rustling fills the still air.
1. Listen to the rustling paper.
>listen
Repeat until you find Life Beneath Nightmares.
>take book
133
Science Tower
Requirements None
Objectives Find the red herring
This round, tall room must be a tower. I don’t know if you were given a description
of the manor from the outside, or if it mentioned a tower if you were, but if you
were and it did, this is probably that tower. At a guess it’s around fifty feet tall,
although it’s very shadowy up at the top so it’s difficult to estimate it accurately.
It appears to be some kind of science lab, although you would expect a science lab
to have more stuff in it; perhaps all the stuff that was easily moveable has already
been taken away. There’s a large table in the center of the room, and everything else
is up against the walls: a complex-looking control console, a large chalkboard, a
metal cabinet, an old iron ashtray stand, and a wooden barstool with a hamster
cage on top of it.
The whole place has a thick smell of science throughout it (assuming science smells
like chalk dust, hamster, cigarettes, and electricity), and rain is pounding at the
windows. There are exits to the east and southwest.
On the chalkboard is a yellow sticky-note.
1. Find a pen thingy in the metal cabinet.
>open metal cabinet
>take pen
2. Look at the pen to see it’s actually an extendable pointer thingy.
>look at pen
3. Put the ashtray stand on the table.
>put ashtray on table
4. Look at the control console to find out how to operate it.
>look at console
“The front panel has a huge array of dials and switches and gauges, none of which
are labelled in a way that makes sense to you. That is, apart from three large
central buttons: a blue one, a green one, and a yellow one, labelled “SKYLIGHT”,
“LIFT”, and “ANTENNA”, respectively.”
134
SCIENCE TOWER (RIFF CONNER)
5. Get on the table.
>get on table
6. Use the pointer to press the LIFT button.
>extend pointer
>press green button with pointer
The table rises up to the ceiling.
7. Take the bat egg from the nest on the ceiling.
>take egg
The egg eventually hatches into the red herring.
8. Wait for the operating table to lower itself to the ground.
>wait [Repeat]
135
Branching Corridor
Requirements None
Objectives Clear the corridor to The Observatory
A trace amount of sunlight filters in impossibly through imperceivable cracks in the
ceiling, illuminating the barren wooden walls and floorboards of this narrow
passageway. A short distance away you find yourself in a crossroads of sorts.
Corridors leading elsewhere go off toward the northwest, west, and east. Another
corridor to the southeast dead-ends suddenly, blocked by a pair of large potted cacti.
You can see a gold cactus and a fuzzy cactus here.
The trace rays of sunlight beaming down from above get in your eyes.
1. Push the gold cactus out of the way.
>move gold cactus
2. Push the fuzzy cactus out of the way, revealing a tall cactus and a flowering cactus.
>move fuzzy cactus
3. Pull the flowering cactus out of the way.
>pull flowering cactus
4. Move the tall cactus out of the way.
>move tall cactus
136
The Observatory
Requirements Get De Vermibus Laceris from the Backwater Public Library
Find the ‘‘true’’ astrological sign in the Steeple
Get the photograph of a memory from Inside the Shack
Get the Cyst from the Narrow Straits
Get the black horn from the Court
Objectives Open the portal to The Great Purple Unknown
The observatory is a cramped domed room cluttered with all manner of mechanical
contrivance. The way out is northwest.
At the top of the dome is a large telescope. Immediately beneath it is a huge device
of brass and gears and dozens of multifaceted lenses.
To one side of the dome is a worn wooden lectern, set before a large chalk circle.
The device is projecting a star sign upon the walls of the dome.
1. Read De Vermibus Laceris to find out how to open a way to your lost husband.
>read de vermibus laceris
“blow the horn of the black goat,
while the stars are reflecting upon the grimoire,
with the stars falling under his true star sign,
and his most treasured memento,
and a divine pustule,
placed in a chalk circle beneath the raised grimoire.”
2.
Place De Vermibus Laceris (the grimoire) on the lectern under the reflection of the
star sign.
>put de vermibus laceris on lectern
3.
Turn the crank on the device until the first part of the star sign projected on the wall
matches the star sign you saw in the Steeple (e.g. ‘‘the Toad’’).
>look at device
>turn crank [Repeat as necessary]
4.
Pull the pulley on the device to match the second part of the star sign (e.g. ‘‘ascending’’).
>pull pulley [Repeat as necessary]
137
THE OBSERVATORY (JOEY JONES)
5.
Pull the lever on the device to match the third part of the star sign (e.g. ‘‘opposing’’).
>pull lever [Repeat as necessary]
6.
Turn the dial on the device to match the fourth part of the star sign (e.g. ‘‘the
Nemesis’’).
>turn dial [Repeat as necessary]
7.
Put the
photograph of a memory
(‘‘his most treasured memento’’) and the
Cyst
(‘‘a divine pustule’’) in the chalk circle.
>put photograph of a memory, cyst in chalk circle
8. Blow the horn of the black goat to open a portal in the center of the room.
>blow black horn
9. Go through the portal to the Gulf of Nehilim.
>enter portal
10. Wait until you are transported to The Great Purple Unknown.
>wait [Repeat six times]
138
The Great Purple Unknown
Requirements None
Objectives Go through the gate with Peter
The world around you is purple. So much purple. The immediate area is bright
enough to see, but you don’t see any obvious light source, and then there is
darkness. Purple darkness. The ground seems to be some sort of dark stone. There
is a gate here, an ornate wrought-iron one with an arch over it, but it doesn’t
connect to any sort of fence. In fact, you can walk around the gate without any
problem, and through it, you see only more purple. Above the gate, secured to the
metal arch, are a set of masks.
In the center of the lit area is Peter. He kneels on the ground, staring off into
nothingness.
1.
Look at the masks hanging over the gate to see they’re a
sock mask
and a
buskin
mask (the theatrical tragedy and comedy masks).
>look at masks
2. Emulate the emotions on the masks to bring Peter over to you.
>cry
>laugh
3. Gesture at the masks to get Peter to retrieve them for you.
>show masks to peter
4. Look inside the masks to find a randomised number between 1-9.
>look in sock mask [e.g. number 4]
>look in buskin mask [e.g. number 1]
5. Look at the gate twice to find a set of dials.
>look at gate [Repeat]
6. Unlock the gate using the numbers from the masks.
>set left dial to 4
>set right dial to 1
7. Enter the gate with Peter to win the game.
>enter gate
139
Appendix
Maps
140
141
142
