by Jennifer Miller

Loch Ness

The Cameron Chronicles: Secret at Loch Ness

Also known as simply Loch Ness. I think Dreamcatcher just wanted to make the title more impressive for American gamers. Remember The Forgotten: It Begins? Good, because neither do most gamers. Let's press on.

Basics

We'll start with these technical and operational basics. Loch Ness is a first person, POV graphic adventure. The movement uses the now famous "head-spin" technology that is very familiar if you've played any recent Dreamcatcher title. Loch Ness comes from &wanadoo, the same people that brought us The Messenger and the dreadful Dracula pairing. If you've played any of these previous titles, then don't expect a whole lot of surprises with Loch Ness. The cursors will be identical to those seen in the formerly mentioned three titles (down to the coloring and design) and the inventory and menu screens can be accessed in the same way. But let me tell you how to do that if you haven't subjected yourself to the pain that is Dracula. When navigating, the cursor will be fixed in one spot, located centrally on your screen. When you can move to a location, the arrow becomes visible. If that direction isn't accessible, then you won't see anything. If you can interact with something, a gear with a hand will appear. If you can interact with something by using an inventory item, a pair of gears will appear. To access the inventory, right click your mouse anywhere on the screen and you will be able to access Cameron's bag. Select the needed item, then use it. If an item can be combined with another item in the inventory, the chains you see on the side of the screen will become active. Select that item, then click it over the item to be combined with. If this sounds confusing now, you'll understand what I'm saying later on. Also, in the bag you will see three book-like items at the bottom right hand corner. These will be Cameron's diary, his wallet (which will contain all the paper items you find) and a map of the play-area. The map will become active after you have found it in the attic of the house later on. My advice is to read Cameron's diary after every major event during play, or if you get stuck and don't want to follow my walkthrough. He puts clues in it to help you along. If you would like to save a game, press the ESC key and you will access the game's main menu. You are limited to 8 saved game slots, each game being represented by a snapshot of your last view and a date/time stamp. When loading a game, you will always have to load the first CD before restoring your last position. Now, how cut and dry was that? What, no wisecracks? No smart remarks? Ah children, keep reading.

Well, let me tell you what you can expect with Loch Ness. It's an interesting game, with a neat little mystery plot. However, it has two of the cardinal sins of graphic adventures. (By the way, someday I will post a list to Just Adventure with my cardinal sins of gaming.) The first is useless doors. There are two hallways in the main house that are filled with large doors, just begging to be opened and explored. The sad fact is you will be able to access less than half of these. It's no use pulling on that doorknob friend; it won't open! The second sin is the maze. Oh, and not just any maze, but an underwater timed maze!!!!! Dracula: The Last Sanctuary had a similar sequence in it, and this kept me from finishing the game because it was just so dreadfully bad. To have a decent game like Loch Ness include one of these bad boys was too much. But for the sake of my readers, I braved the murky depths time and time again. That maze is the most difficult of any I've ever had to navigate. Forget Rama and its base eight math, forget Obsidian and its whacked-out inside out navigation: this was the most difficult thing I have ever had to do. Little note to game designers: if you want to give more credit to the adventure world, DON'T INCLUDE TIMED MAZES! That is, unless you include a mapping feature like in the original Journeyman Project game. Go learn something from Presto Studios!

Well, shall we get on with it then? Let's go meet A.P. Cameron and all the creepy people in Loch Ness

Day One

After watching the opening movie (ooo, all creepy and foreboding) you will arrive at the mansion of the McFarley's, one of Loch Ness's most influential families. (A side note, as I so often do: I will say that the graphics crew did a great job texturing the front door of the house.) You will be escorted to the sitting room by their butler, who looks like Punjab from Annie. Take a quick look around, then you will be greeted by Lady McFarley. This old bird is pretty freaky, if I say so myself. She needs to lay off the brandy. The butler will wake her and take her to her room, leaving you to your own devices. Let's sneak around. Go over to the desk and read the paper and examine the books. Light reading, yes no, no yes? Take a look at the chessboard on the coffee table. Hmm, in check with only way to go. But I know my sister hates it when I try to play her chess games for her so let's leave this board alone too, okay?

Go back to the foyer and take the main stairs, left flight, to get to your room. Your door is the second one along the wall. You know you're in the right place if it sounds more like you're on a ship in a storm than a wind blown moor. Go to the desk and take the message that was left for you. Then go to the bed and collect your bag. This will activate your inventory. Right-click, then select the journal. Read all of Cameron's entries (he uses the same pens I used when passing notes in high school!) and get a feel for what is going on. Open his wallet and read the telegram from the missing Lord McFarley. Well, let's get a better feel for this place.

Head back downstairs to the sitting room and take a look at the sofa where Lady McFarley passed out. Lifting up a cushion, you should find her locket. You just came here and you're already stealing? Nice one, Cameron. Open the locket and take the happy pills that are inside. Well, if I get bored, I can always pop a few of these and see if the banshee shows up. Next, go through the double doors that are next to the stairs. Take the first hallway all the way to the end and go through the dirty white door. This will be the ONLY door you can access on this hallway. (Grrrrrr) After passing through the door, you will see a small cabinet to the left of the doorframe. Open it and take the passkey for the house. This will be, like the door, the ONLY key you can take. Across from the cabinet and the row of bells is a table with drawers. Open the drawers and take the matches and candle. Must mean we'll get to some creepy and dark places later. Yes! Go over towards the fire place and take the rag from the sink on your right. This will trigger the ringing of the bells. Sounds like someone wants some service. Go to the dumbwaiter (small cubby hole opposite of the bells) and turn it on. Inside will be a cup of tea for Lady McFarley. The dumbwaiter will be sent to the laundry room directly above you. Go right and take the spiral staircase to get to the laundry. Retrieve the cup of tea and take it to Lady McFarley. Her room is opposite yours on the second floor, to the right of the stairs.

Walk up to the ailing Lady McFarley. Before speaking to her, open your inventory window. Select the pills, then combine them with the tea by clicking the pills icon over the teacup. Stealing the old lady's locket and spiking her tea? Nice! Hand her the tea and she will babble on about her pills, three tears, and the banshee. After she passes out, take a look around the room. In the dresser, you'll find a bottle of chloroform. See why the rag is useful? We're going to have to knock someone out! In the drawer of the make-up table, you'll find a scroll that contains a child's drawing. In the bathroom, use the smaller key on the chest. This will give you the key to the attic.

Exit Lady McFarley's room and go the doors to the immediate right of hers. Using the passkey from the kitchen, you can gain access to Lord McFarley's room. Ack! It's like a leprechaun exploded all over this place! Too much green, must find blue glasses to block out the colors . . . ah, much better. In the glass front bookcase (the one on the left) find the memo from Scotland Yard. This will go to your wallet, so go read it there. This will supply you with codes for a secret message-sending machine. Cool! Now, what is it we do next? Why go through the desk of course! Staple of any adventure game. In the drawers, read the note in McFarley's planner. 15 December 1934, MacGrab distillery. So, the plot thickens. Get a close up of the bottom corner of McFarley's desk. Use the copper oxide powder on it to reveal a set of fingerprints. It appears that the maid hasn't been doing her job. Oh well, her mistake is my gain! Take the ink and cover the prints with it. Take the blank sheet of paper and get a pressing of the prints. Just like falling off a log . . . only there's no log and no falling. Um yeah, so where was I? Ah yes, that pesky attic key. Let's go check that out.

Go out the door, and then go left and down the hall. To make it easy, you will only be able to access one other door besides the bedrooms. Take it. Walk up the stairs until you reached a locked door. Use the attic key from Lady McFarley's room to get inside. Oh nice one! The door closes behind us. Complete darkness, just super. Let's make use of that candle and matches. Go forward once, and then turn left. You will see a large candelabra. This would be one of those things that Liberace would put on his piano before a concert. Place the candles, then light them. Eureka! We have light! On the left wall, near the useless door, you'll see a small cabinet. Open it and take the plans to the house. This will activate the map in your inventory and from there you can jump to any location on it. But we're not finished in the attic yet, so let's keep looking around. Nearby, you'll find a chest on top of a dresser. In it, there's a photo album. Take the picture of Lord McFarley. Nice looking chap! To the left of the door you entered through, you'll find a crowbar in a crate. Take it. Walk towards the turret, look around, then back out of it again. Creepy music will start. Uh oh, what's going on? Go back into the turret, and use the crowbar on the boards blocking the windows. Look out and you'll see the Loch Ness monster appearing below. Grab your camera and snap a shot. I could sell this to the Weekly World News and make a killing! Retire from the private eye business, go to Rio, ah, the life! But let's get out of here first. Go back to the useless door from earlier, and use the crowbar to release the boards barring it. In the hall way beyond the door is a trapdoor. Take this to be dropped into the laundry. All of a sudden, this freaky looking blue chick appears. She's the banshee that Lady McFarley babbled about earlier. Holy drowned Ariel, Batman! (But I thought Ariel was a mermaid?) Before you can speak to her, she disappears. Rats . . . well, let's go back to the sitting room and see if I can figure things out.

Take the flask of bourbon from your inventory once you have reached the sitting room. Pour some into a glass on the drink cart. Ah, some crystal with my bourbon! I mean, I like my drinks on the rocks, but this is ridiculous! Take the crystal into your inventory. Abandon your plans of drunkenness for more exploration.

Go the reception hall, which is opposite the sitting room. Go the cabinet to the left of the fireplace and force it open with the knife from your inventory. Take the Auld Alliance Treaty from the bottom shelf. In the liquor cabinet, red ugly thing by the sofa, you'll find a bottle of mead. Goes great with bourbon! Let's take it. Afterwards, go back to the hallway of useless doors (by the stairs) and go left until you get to a set of stairs. Take the door with the gold stars and red curtain to the right of the stairs to enter into the library. On a table by the sofa, you'll find a book on flowers that belongs to Moira McFarley. Compare the flowers in the book with the one in the drawing you found in Lady McFarley's room. It's a phalaenopsis, or a small pink flower with yellow in the middle. Open up the map of the grounds and jump over to the greenhouse. (If you prefer, you can also access the greenhouse by walking on the paths around the house. The map is just faster and will be my preferred method of transportation.)

Once you have reached the greenhouse, enter in and cut a sample of the pink flower from the center gardening table. Perhaps I should cut another one and stick it in my lapel . . . but there's no time for that. Let's see if I can summon the banshee.

Using the map, jump to the large Celtic cross that is next to the water. Place the pink flower and the bottle of mead at the foot of the cross and the banshee will appear. She will give you plenty of background and advice, my favorite being "beware of whiskey and women." Yes, putting those two together is not smart. I knew this girl in college who would drink a fifth of Jack every weekend . . . but that's for another time.

Day Two

Like the rest of the days from here on out, you'll begin in your room, fully dressed and still packed. Guess we want to be ready to bolt at a moments notice if the old lady finds out we took her locket. Go ahead and leave your room. Time to commence with the day's plundering.

Outside in the hallway, there will be muted voices. Sounds like someone is having a pretty intense discussion in a nearby room. Let's go see what we can over hear. Head to the library (bottom floor, down the left side useless hallway, red curtain) and shut off the phonograph. Go up the spiral stairs until you hit the closed trapdoor. Click on it to eavesdrop on Moira McFarley and Bruce McGrab. After Cameron closes the door, go back down the stairs and head for the alcove on the left side of the room. Examine the stone relief. Mmm, looks like we'll need some sort of key to activate that. Let's snoop some more.

Go back to the main hall of the house and you'll see McGrab's bag sitting on a bench. To access it, you have to walk all the way to the door, then turn. It can't be touched from your initial node in the main hall. Pilfer the letter and the signet ring you find inside. As you go to close the case, McGrab comes downstairs and gives you a warm greeting, inviting you over to the distillery later. Not sure if I should accept, so let's a look at the distillery first.

Since the distillery is across the lake, we'll need to take a boat over. The pier cannot be accessed directly from the map, so here's the closest way to "jump" there. On the map, select the Stonebridge. Once there, turn back towards the house, go once forward, then turn left. Head towards the water and you'll be there. Find the oars, then use them on the rowboat to go across the water to the distillery. I like the Hitchcockian music in the background.

Nice place . . . some curtains, a few flowers in the front, could be pretty cozy. Walk towards the barrels, then turn right and walk up to the window. Look in to see this old pale guy working at a desk. His name is Ipswick and he's reading up on anthropometric studies. (Anthropometry is the use of various techniques for taking measurements of the human body, employed in the study of human growth and variation. You can thank the dictionary for that one!) Go over to the front door and knock. Ipswick will answer and tell you to beat it. Hey! But I want in! Knock again, and Ipswick will again refuse to let you in. Well, if you decide to knock a third time, he'll kill you, so let's not do that. Better to find another way in. Go over to the four barrels near you and you'll find a pair of metal pliers. Add them to your inventory. Go over to the water wheel that is to your right. Oh look! There's another door over there! Let's see where this goes! Cut the chain that locks the door with the pliers. SAVE YOUR GAME HERE! There's a slightly tricky sequence coming up. Now, if you walk across the next room on the wrong side, Ipswick will hear you and come over and shoot you. Game over. Here's where you need to walk. Go straight ahead towards the lamp, then turn right and go through the doors. As long as the floor doesn't creak, you'll be okay. After you've exited here, go up and to the right to the office door. Open the door and you'll see Ipswick has his back to you. In the inventory, combine the chloroform with the rag from the kitchen sink (knew it would come in handy!) and use it on the unsuspecting old buzzard. With ease, Cameron knocks him out. Yes, free to explore! Open up the bag on the floor. Steal the book of Kelia; might make a useful reference later. Lord McFarley's cane is also on the floor. Examine it and you'll see that the design is just like that of the stone relief in the alcove of the library. A key perhaps? Open the top and take the chest key. Then take the cane. Hurry back to the water wheel via the back entrance. Go across the plank to the right side. Once you're at the wheel, use the cane on the cog at left to stop the movement and cut off the flow of water. Go back into the next room to see that the water has disappeared and has revealed a secret door. Curiouser and curiouser! Open the door and take the stairs down.

Oh weird! It's like a torture chamber. What's with the random electric chair? Look at the chest underneath the chair and open it. Inside you'll find two amber disks and two mirrored disks. Take these, could be handy later . . . more like, WILL be handy later. Push the electric chair out of the way to reveal a second door. Use the signet ring from McGrab's bag to open it. Let's check out these creepy catacombs.

Go down the hallway until you get to a room with three tunnels leading from it. One is marked with a shield, one with a Celtic cross, and the last with a raven. Take the tunnel all the way to right, the one with the shield representing the McFarley coat of arms. This will take you back to the cellar of the mansion. We'll explore the other two halls later, I promise!

Once you've made it to the mansion cellar, head out the door to be taken the snow covered grounds of the McFarley's. Go back inside the mansion (you can use the map) and head to the library. Let's test out this cane. Go to the alcove at the back left of the room and use the cane in the stone relief. A door will open to your right, revealing Lord McFarley's secret office. Take a quick look around if you wish. Cozy little place I think. If you look on the bookshelf, you'll see a chest on the bottom. Use the key from McFarley's cane to open it. Open the safe by putting in the Roman numeral code from the Auld Alliance Treaty (in your wallet). If you haven't looked, it's MCCXCV. Inside, you'll find the plans to some sort of strange armchair safe. Take them because we'll be dealing with that later. Head up the steps, noting the strange throne-like chair on your right and the last window on your right before the stairway. These will be VERY important in a bit.

Go through the door to find McFarley's secret lab. On the table, look at the German-type cross and you'll get a close up of the desk. Take the metal glove and the window handle you see lying there. Head back down to the balcony where the chair is.

Open the chair using the directions on the plans. If you numbered the points top to bottom, left to right, this is the sequence you'll need: 1,2, 4, 3, 6, 5. This will reveal a secret chamber under the seat. But there's an ugly needle beneath it. Okay kids, SAVE YOUR GAME HERE! There's another timed sequence coming up. Get the metal glove from the inventory and use it to retrieve the crystal. If you don't use the glove, you'll end up like Sleeping Beauty when she pricked her finger on the spindle, only there will be no handsome prince (princess?) to wake you up. Once you have the crystal, a timed sequence will start. You'll hear someone coming for you. Hurry to the window and use the handle to open it. If you use the handle after the time bar has been spent, Cameron will fall to his death. Hurry out the window. Though the rope will be cut, Cameron will fall safely into the water and will only get wet.

The scene will cut to the sitting room where you'll talk to Fergus Mohr and meet Moira McFarley. They'll tell you about the book of Kelia, the crystal you found, and the locked chapel.

Day Three

Waking up in your room, you'll remember the conversation about the crystals you had with Moira the day before. Let's go back to the lab and take a better look around. Go back to the library and open the secret door using the cane. Let's check out McFarley's desk since we were in such a hurry yesterday. Get a close up of the desk drawer and click on it several times to get it to open. Hmm, another key! We like keys, right? Take that and the Indian dagger. Go up the stairs to the lab. Use your new key to open the door in the center of the lab. More stairs! I wonder where they go?

After checking out the stairs, you'll find McFarley's observatory. From here, you can see all over the grounds of the mansion and out across the Loch Ness. Go over to the cabinet and take the dossier inside that explains the work of McFarley and McGrab. They were working together to create a holographic projector. How interesting! Also, take the statue of the raven. It would look nice in my sparsely decorated room. Head over to the telegraph machine. That's the monstrous looking contraption on the opposite wall. Get a close up of the control panel. Turn it on by flipping the switch at the top right. Punch in the coordinates for Scotland Yard: 75436. You'll get one green light. Then punch in the ID code: 65. After the second light has been lit, you will be ready to transmit. Back out of this view, then get a close up of the rest of the machine. Place the fingerprints, photo of the monster, and the message from McFarley one at a time on the left (transmitting) panel of the machine until all three have been transmitted. Then place a clean sheet on the right (receiving) panel and a message will be sent back to you from Scotland Yard. Once you have that, go back downstairs to the lab.

Go over to the hologram machine. It's the large green thing that looks like a scale. Put the amber disks on it, then the mirrored ones. Next, place the raven statue on the center stand. Lastly, take the McFarley crystal from your inventory and place it on the device. The machine will come alive and give you a small demonstration of what this invention is capable of. Ooo, neat! So this must be how I saw the monster day before yesterday! Man, and here I though I was going to make millions by selling my photo to the papers. But they don't need to know it's a fake! Read the inscription on the base of the projected statue:

If you seize the Celtic Triskel,
only the Raven will know how to open the path.

Take back the statue and the crystal when the demonstration is over and you'll hear the telegraph buzz from upstairs. Let's so see what Scotland Yard says!

You receive three responses from them, one each about the three items you sent to them. Scotland Yard informs you that the fingerprints belong to McGrab. What was he doing in there? Second, they'll tell you about a secret submarine and provide you with a diagram of it. The last message will be from McFarley, telling you where to find the Chapel Key. Thanks guys! Let's go get that key.

Head back to the bottom floor and to McFarley's office. Go to his portrait and push it aside to reveal another safe. Since we have no code for this safe, we'll force it open with the Indian dagger. Why can't we do this in every game? Would make looking for those codes so much easier. Inside you'll find the chapel key, just like McFarley said. Also, take a look at that document with it.

I am the stones of Power
But also the Messenger of the Gods
I will half open the passage
To the one who in the proper order
Will know how to write my name.

Open your map and jump to the Chapel. Use your new key to open the gate. Ack! What happened? I thought this was all cut and dry? The key crumbles in your hand. Great, just great. Guess I need to find another way to get inside.

Jump to the pier via the Stonebridge. There you'll find the chest that you couldn't open earlier. Only now, you can! Take the pliers from your inventory and force it open. Inside you'll find a rope and a grappling hook. How convenient! These will be very useful.

Jump back to the Chapel and walk around to the right side. Look up once you have a reached the intersection of the perpendicular walls and you'll see an action icon. In your inventory, combine the rope and the hook. Use it on the point above your head to get to the roof of the chapel. You'll then be faced with a rune puzzle. Remember the message you read with the key? We must have to write out the name of the Celtic messenger of the Gods using the rune alphabet. I think the book of Kelia will be useful here. The book will tell you that the messenger was named Sirdach and it will give you the spelling of his name in runes. I made a cool little graphic down here for you so you can just copy this one. Aren't I nice?

After you have entered that code, the door will open. Use the grappling hook/rope combo again to climb down and into the church.

This is probably the prettiest location in the whole game. The colors are great, the textures are great; it's just a really nicely done setting! Wish we could spend more time here, but there are things to do. If you go down the right hall, you'll see a plaque with an inscription. Take a look at it:

Risen from ancient times,
King, Queen and Knight will cross
glances and discover the path of
the inexpressible power.

Hmm . . . looks like this is the ticket to finding out where the triskel is hidden. If you head back to where you dropped in, you'll see that there are four statues surrounding the center. Pivot them so that they are all facing the center. Look at that! Another hidden door! Who would have thought? Go down the stairs and you will be in the crypt of the chapel. Okay, we have to act quickly now. See that circular item on the column in front of you? It kind of looks like one of those old radio microphones. That's the triskel, and you'll need it if you're going to finish this game. Go ahead and add it to your inventory. Oh dear, what is that? The door closed! If anyone is having flashbacks to Raiders of the Lost Ark, don't worry. So did I. Take the raven statue from your inventory and place it on the column where the triskel previously was. This will open a door leading you to the tunnels under the mansion grounds. Go back to the cellar (tunnel marked with the shield), then go above ground and into the entrance hall of the mansion. You see a movie between Cameron and the butler, who has just come out of the sitting room. Cameron will then head to his room.

Day Four

Today's the day folks! Today's the day we face the underwater maze! But we have some other things to take care of first, so let's not get too ahead of ourselves here. Like always, you'll start off in Cameron's room. Head downstairs to visit with your hosts. As you enter the sitting room, you'll hear Lady McFarley screaming. Uh oh, that's not good. Run to the window that is to the right of the fireplace. It's that monster again! Where's the camera . . . ack, won't work! Geez, this always happens!

Using the map, jump to the Stonebridge. We'll be able to access the grounds that are beyond it. New places, cool! Walk up the path until you get to the ruins of a Celt well. Pretty pictures . . . that looks like the raven statue I used to have! Take some time and examine it, then go over to the small pile of stones lying nearby. Try picking up one. It just crumbles in your hand! How odd.

Let's go check out the cellar. To jump easily to it, go the greenhouse, then turn 180 degrees. Go straight ahead and you'll see a brown door. That will take you to the cellar. Once inside, take the diving helmet and boots from the chest by the gated door. Inside the wardrobe, you'll find the suit. Looks like we're going to be doing some swimming. Hmm, but it seems that Cameron can't carry all of these to the lake. We'll have to find another way. Hey! There might be a wheelbarrow at the greenhouse!

Jump to the greenhouse and you'll see the abandoned wheelbarrow propped up beside it. Take the hose too while you're at it. You'll need that to breathe under the surface of the lake. Take all this back to the cellar.

Cameron will drop the cart near the door. Go over to it and put all the diving gear inside. Take the filled cart and return to the greenhouse.

Inside, you'll find Fergus Mohr. Go talk to him and ask for his help. You'll need someone to control the air pump for you while you're searching under Loch Ness for clues about McFarley's disappearance.

Ever seen that little plastic diving man in Fox Mulder's fish tank? That's you!

I had to lighten up this next section a little. Even with these directions, you'll need to explore the depths of the Loch Ness a little before you can have a good sense of the geography. I tried to make a map for all of you, but alas, to no avail, twas too difficult. It was only made worse by the "head-spin" interface.

Many thanks for assistance goes to Tally Ho at Gameboomers: http://www.gameboomers.com/wtcheats/pcLl/lochness.htm

And this anonymous Dutch posting: http://members.tripodnet.nl/gamesolves/sol/loch/lochness.htm

So, shall we dance? Time to dive in a get wet. Cameron will start out next to the shore of the McFarley mansion. Turn around and look a little up to see where you will eventually have to exit. Remember, you will have to look up, not straight ahead, to see this arrow. Turn around and look forward. Save your game here. If you get lost, best to have a familiar place to start. My advice is to save often in this part, best advice I can give. I also read tarot cards, but that's for another time. Your goal here is to get to a set of doors that are across the lake. There are many dead ends, but I've been able to map out a turn-by-turn route to get there and get back. You ready? Let's go.

1. From your first position, you will be facing seaweed. Turn slightly left and proceed in this direction.
2. At the next node, keep going straight.
3. There will be a shipwreck behind you at the next point. Remember this for later because it will help you get out. Go left of the shipwreck.
4. Go to the right of the large rocks facing you.
5. Slight left.
6. Right turn.
7. At this point you will be faced with three choices of where to proceed. Take the leftmost point. The other two will lead you to dead ends.
8. The next node will leave you facing the wall of the lake. Don't mess with the bottles behind you; just keep facing forward. Head left towards the wall.
9. You will be look at a large stone. Go to the left of it.
10. Look straight down once you have reached this node. Take the broken bottle you see on the ground. Then go slightly right, towards the wall.
11. Next, go left over the broken boat.
12. Turn slowly to the right at the next node, until you get the second choice. Go between the two growths of seaweed.
13. You'll see the doors in the distance. Go for them.

Okay, now you have safely navigated getting to the doors. That was the easy part. Now, if you would like to skip the next few directions and rehearse your path back to the shore, be my guest. I highly recommend it if don't want to reload your game! Just a subtle hint there. If not, you can keep reading on. In any case, SAVE YOUR GAME HERE!!!!! Time to put on those running boots. Get a close up the doors, then use the broken bottle on them. Once the moss has been scraped away, you'll see the symbol of the raven, the same as the one on the Celt well. Curiouser and curiouser. Back out of this view and turn 180 degrees, facing towards the seaweed with your back to the doors. Your mission, if you choose to accept it will be to get out of the Loch Ness before your air runs out. If you fail, all knowledge of this event will denied by Scotland Yard and you will be forced to reload your game from your previous position. This just causes hate and discontent, so try not to fail. Good luck, Cameron. This walkthrough will self-destruct in three seconds . . . three . . . two . . . one . . .

1. Go straight. You'll hear a crash, and your air will get cut off. Great, sounds like someone got to Fergus. Better move fast!
2. Go slightly right.
3. Go left between the seaweed on your left and the rock on your right.
4. You'll be facing the lake wall again. Go right.
5. Go straight.
6. I know this will be annoying, but turn slowly to the right at the next node. The cursor will flash briefly, transforming from accessible route, to normal, to accessible route. Take this second choice, slightly right.
7. Go right over the crate of bottles.
8. Turn right at the large rock facing you.
9. Next, go left towards the rocks.
10. When you are facing the rocks, go right.
11. Next, you'll be facing a sort of three-fingered rock formation. Go left of it.
12. At the next node, turn until you are facing the shipwreck I mentioned earlier. Go to the right of it.
13. Straight.
14. If you see a bicycle near the bottom of your view, you're in the right place. Turn right and look up. Get the heck out of there!

As you gulp in the cold Scotland air, you'll find Fergus Mohr lying unconscious on the ground next to the air pump. Don't worry: he's not dead. As Cameron looks up, you'll hear a woman's scream. Uh oh, Moira's in trouble. Geez, when is the girl not in trouble? Old Ipswick has gotten her and taken her to a secure place. Guess we should go look for her.

Jump back to the mansion and go to the library. Head for the secret office and you'll find it in complete disarray, like there's been a recent fight. Lady McFarley will fly in and interrupt your investigation. (I jumped here, by the way, cause my room was so quiet. Boo!) She'll disclose some information to you: the location of her pistol. Thanks lady! I'm real sorry I spiked your tea early on! Go to Lady McFarley's room (opposite yours on the second floor incase you don't remember) and open the drawer of the dressing table. This is the same place you found the drawing earlier. Take the small pistol.

Using the map, jump to the distillery on the other side of the water. Since the front door is locked, let's see if we can get access through the waterwheel shed. On the right side of the shed, you'll find a sack of sawdust between two barrels. Take it. Go into the distillery via the doors ahead. Take the same route you did the first time, straight and to the right. You'll hear footsteps and the door will be locked behind you. Such language Cameron! Wonderful, my escape plan has been thwarted. Let's press on. Where is everyone? This place is way too quiet. Exit the distillery through the main doors. Without warning, Sonia will sneak up behind you and knock you out using the butt of her pistol. Ouch! Where's the Advil?

Cameron will wake up in the cellar of the distillery. Open up your inventory and you'll notice that some things are missing, namely the triskel, the signet ring, and your two crystals. Suppose we should find a way out if we want to get those things back from Sonia. If you look ahead, you'll see a long piece of leather hanging from the opposite wall. It looks like a coiled whip. Take it and attach it to the rightmost window and the generator that is opposite of it. After the leather is secured, click on the main housing of the generator and the bars will be pulled from the window. Success!

Save your game before you exit to the courtyard. We have another timed sequence ahead and a quick one at that. Once you are there, go get Cameron's bag. It will be on the ground near you. Once you have done so, Sonia will appear and point her gun at you. And I don't think she means to knock you out this time! Quickly, get your gun and shoot the rope that is holding the back over Sonia's head. The bag will fall and knock Sonia out. It's best not to kill her. We don't like violence, right? Go over to her and pick up the notebook that fell out of her bag. Once you have retrieved it, the Banshee will appear and give more advice.

Day Five

I suppose it just wasn't important enough for Cameron to go find Moira yesterday. What a procrastinator! Suppose we'll have to go find her today since it's the last day our game. Okay, first things first. Open up your wallet and read the notebook you retrieved from Sonia the day before. It's McGrab's journal, containing information about a mysterious fortress he has under the grounds of the mansion and an ancient order that has the power to take over the world. Wow! This is starting to sound like a James Bond movie plot! All I need is the laser shooting watch and the rocket powered wingtips. Anyway, make a note of the access codes you see. Of course you'll need these later!

Jump to the cellar via the greenhouse. Exit through the gate and go the crossroads of the three tunnels. Take the one marked with the Celtic cross. You will come to a dead end. There are two stone circles and a large stone, called a Menhir, which is marked with Celtic designs. Turn back toward the stone circles and get a close up of them. McGrab's journal mentioned something about Alban Arthuan. Perhaps if we place his symbol in the circle of light, that will help unlock the entrance to the fortress. His symbol is the large "N." Turn the circle and place it under the small shaft of sunlight. Next, pivot the second circle until the signs of Sagittarius (arrows) are at the first symbol's left and the sign of the Capricorn is on the right of it. You'll hear a click. Turn back and you'll see the Menhir has shifted, revealing a secret passage. This must be the place!

Welcome to the Tumulus, a confusing little place that will have you walking in circles. Fortunately, there are only three circles to get lost in, and they're all small. So unless you have a terrible sense of direction (like moi) you won't get lost. Save your game here as well because if you get caught within the next few moves, you'll have to reload. The easiest way to get around the thugs hanging out in this place is to always stay on your right, behind each of the three towers. Peek into each one of the portholes you come to. In my game, I got to the movie-triggering porthole first. You'll see McGrab inside, speaking to all the members of his cult. When he finishes, the cult will exit his office. Go to the locked hatch on the floor. It will be in the alcove to your left. Remember this place later because you'll need to find it quickly in a few minutes. Once the crowd noise has died down, you will be free to navigate the tumulus. Go into McGrab's office and flip the switch behind his desk to give you access to the other two towers. Take the box for the triskel that is on McGrab's desk. While you're at it, steal the platinum key and the set of pliers too. Exit the office and you'll be facing the central pillar of the tumulus. On it will be a control panel with three circles, each a different color. There are two open circles within each section, and you will see that one has the openings lined up. That represents McGrab's office. So it would make sense to access the other rooms, we'll have to line them up as well. (Hey wait, didn't I see this puzzle in Myst?) Do so, and the towers will turn, revealing the torture chamber on the right and the laboratory on the left.

Let's check out the torture chamber first. On your left, you'll see a very pale gent, secured tightly in an electric chair. On his right, there will be a generator with an inscription on it. Okay, so I have to shut down the chair in a certain order . . . but how do I know which wires go to which part of the chair? Stupid tangled wires, eyes-getting crossed following them . . .oh bugger, I'll just give you the solution. We're too close to the end anyway. Get a close up on the little generator unit and flip the power off. Then, flip the middle switch, the right switch, and finally the left switch. If you do this in the wrong order, McFarley gets electrocuted and you get a big GAME OVER. So be careful! Once the chair has unlocked, take the bottle of smelling salts from the table and use them on McFarley to wake him up. He'll talk to you briefly about Moira and McGrab, then agrees to meet you in his lab later on. He'll go away, and then please, for the sake of your own sanity, save your game! There's a pretty fun timed sequence coming up.

Step out of the chamber and you'll hear Moira scream. Run back to the locked hatch from earlier and enter 421 for the access code. The hatch will open. Now run down the ladder and into the control room of some wacky looking submarine. Hey wait! That's the sub that Scotland Yard told me about earlier. But let's not dawdle; bigger Loch Ness monsters to fry. There's a control panel on your left, go over to it and you'll see a bucket on your right. Take the starry key you find inside. Go all the way to the right of the pier and you'll see a panel against the right wall. Approach it and place the starry key on the left side to activate the mechanism to raise and lower the cage that Moira is in. Push the lever down (not up as I discovered) to bring Moira to safety. Use the first set of pliers you found (from the dock) to cut the chains and set Moira free. She'll head back to the mansion while Cameron devises a way to destroy the sub.

Go back to the main level and find the alcove with the stairs leading upwards. At the top, you'll find another locked door. Super! Turn to the right and enter 532. This will give you access to the triskel room. Walk around the glass case until you are facing the door. Open it and place the triskel's box inside. Take the second set of pliers, the ones from McGrab's office with the flatter grips and use them to take the triskel. The thing is REALLY hot, so don't touch it with your bare hands. Cause if you do, guess what? GAME OVER! Put the triskel in the box and take the box back into your inventory. Let's go make a bomb. (Big smile.)

Return to the main level of the tumulus and go into the laboratory. In the cabinet over the sink, you'll find bottles of glycerol (C2H8O3), nitric acid (HNO3), and sulfuric acid (H2SO4). They'll be a book on explosives on the bookshelf. Explosives?! Now this is more like it! Copy down the recipe for nitro-glycerin: 120ml of nitric acid, 80ml of sulfuric acid, and 5ml of glycerol. Sounds easy enough, easier than instant brownies I suppose. Take these bottles to the worktable and get a close up of the instruments. First off, open your inventory and check the sizes of each bottle of chemical. You'll have an unlimited number of each bottle; so don't worry about not having enough. First off, we'll need 120 ml of the nitric acid. Simple multiplication kids! Four times 30 is 120, so let's add four bottles of the nitric acid to get our 120ml. Follow this with 4 bottles of the sulfuric acid (4x20=80) and one bottle of the glycerol. Pour this solution into the jar of distilled water on the left side of the table. Find the pipette in your inventory, (which I don't remember taking, but let's not question it) and place it in the beaker with the nitro solution. Take the sawdust from your inventory and put in the beaker on the right side. After you have done this, use the dropper to put one drop of the solution on the sawdust. You now have stabilized nitro-glycerin, otherwise known as dynamite. Good show old boy! Let's get this bottle and go blow up that sub!

Head back down to the sub and climb over the gang plank so that you're standing on the sub's main deck. Look towards the aft (back end) and you'll see a large, gas tank looking object. Place the bottle here for your bomb to be set in place.

Time to head back to the observatory. Go back up to the tumulus and then out into the tunnels. Your map will not allow you to jump to the mansion until you are here. Once you have made it safely to the tunnels, jump to the mansion. Go to the library and open McFarley's office using the cane. SAVE YOUR GAME HERE! As you can guess, there's another timed sequence approaching. Go all the way up the tower until you meet Moira. She'll leave the honors of destroying the sub to you. Move quickly now! Get a close up of the laser. Target the sub in your crosshairs and fire (click your mouse). Pretty explosion! The sub (Loch Ness monster) goes up in smoke, destroying the plans of McGrab's cult.

Epilogue

Return to the Celtic cross and place the box that contains the triskel and the three crystals at the foot, next to the pink flower and bottle of mead. The banshee will appear one last time and foreshadow a future encounter. Do I hear sequel?

The End