Scratches
“ S C R A T C H E S ”
Walkthrough
Len Green
29th January 2006
PREFACE
This walkthrough is at present ‘provisional’ and although written in
English should be applicable to the already released German version.
It’s doubtful that any updates will be necessary for the English
version.If however any are actually
needed, they will be incorporated as soon as that version is released.
FOREWORD
{A}
This walkthrough describes ALL the actions which you must take in
order to succeed, together with some (though not all) which are not essential
to completing the game.
However, please don’t use this
walkthrough unless you absolutely have to. Some aspects which are not
absolutely imperative have been omitted. A lot of these are interesting
and provide much of the background story to the game, and particularly to the
apparently genuine deserted English mansion.
{B}
“Warning” :- If you simply take this walkthrough in
your hand and follow exactly what to do and what not to do, you can probably
finish the game very quickly. This however would
completely defeat its whole purpose!
{C}
The walkthrough definitely does not do ANY justice to “Scratches”!
The most important aspect is the
spooky scary narrative.I have
deliberately refrained from giving away ANY of the actual story.
In addition, a great part of the fascination of the
game is wandering around through the different locations in and around this
old-world decaying Blackwood Manor.
{D}
Suggested Advice:-
So as not to gratuitously spoil the
game by seeing unnecessary hints, you can pinpoint the ‘area’ needed to a great
degree through looking only at the date, day and time where you are stuck!
Also, instead of scanning the whole
walkthrough, I recommend usinga “Find”
command-option, and inserting a relevant key word to greatly reduce the
superfluous hints!
{E}
This is a first-person game and much of the intricacy and pleasure lies
in browsing around … and as aforementioned there is a lot of
that. I personally frequently ‘got lost’ looking for some location or
object (even occasionally inside the mansion itself!), and sometimes after
finding it, lost my way again on returning.
Due to the above fact I have frequently
(but not always) given exact ‘direction-instructions’ in this walkthrough e.g.
“Go forward twice”, “Swing a little to the right”, etc.
Often, where exploring is not too
difficult (but sometimes not all that easy either), the player will only
be told where to go, but not exactly how to get there, or even how to
move around when actually there!
{F}
On entering every new location, it is pretty well essential
to browse around and DO as much as allowable in every one.
However, the walkthrough
never tells you explicitly to do this … it assumes you will ALWAYS automatically
explore and expedite, and so it simply says … “Look around the study”, etc.
{G}
You should NOT have to follow the
identical order of accessing locations as described in this walkthrough.
Some locations of course will not be available or accessible until you have
completed certain previoustasks, and
so a particular order is sometimes
obligatory. Other than this, you are free to visit (&/or revisit) as
you wish !
{H}
Although the game is very spooky and sometimes scary, there
are absolutely no action sequences, and you never get killed. There is no
overt violence and absolutely no so called ‘bad language’ or ‘adult material’.
It is all first-person and mouse
driven point & click. There are full English subtitles for ALL speech, and
a veritable abundance of texts for all hints and comments.
{I}
Some items in inventory can be used one upon another.
As far as I am aware, if any item X
can be combined with item Y, then the reverse is always true … i.e.item Y can always be used on item X instead!
{J} As
in most games, it is easy to make a wrong or redundant move! So it is
advisable to save frequently.
There are 10 save-slots. If
you like, you can save batches of up to 10 ‘permanently’ (zipping if you like)
before overwriting … for the next batch of 10.
WALKTHROUGH
D A Y – 1 (Saturday, October
12th)
Watch
all the introductory scenes :-
Saturday 9 am
Walk forwards to the front door of
the mansion
Try opening the front door.You can’t it’s locked
Take the key from inventory, and
use it on the keyhole
Open the front door and enter the
mansion
Start looking around the reception
hall
The telephone starts ringing.Answer it
Talk to Jerry
Enter the living room
Look around the living room
Read the diary on the table
Enter the study
Look around the study
Look at the desk
Read the diary on the desk
Open the 2nd drawer down on the
left side
Take the empty envelope
Close the drawer
Open the 3rd drawer down on the
left side
Take the tool for boring holes (an awl)
Close the drawer
Enter the dining room
Look around the dining room
Exit the dining room and into the
small hallway
Go up the back stairs (2 flights … from the ground floor to the 1stfloor)
Go 1 step forward and then swing to
the right
Walk the length
of the 1st floor lower hallway
Enter the guest room … “I quickly realized that this had to be my room.”
Look around the guest room
Look in the waste paper basket
Read the single hand written page
there
Look at the doctor’s medical bag
Open the doctor’s medical bag
Take the stethoscope
From inventory, take Michael’s
(heavy) suitcase and place it on the corner table
Open the suitcase and examine all
the contents
Look at the calling card belonging
to Jerry (P. Carter)
Take the pen
Look at the scribble on the scratch
pad
Look at the book … “Vanishing Town”
by Michael Arthate
See the book’s frontispiece
Look at the 4 page letter from
Jerry to Michael
Take the matchbook (with only a few
matches)
Close the suitcase
From inventory, take the typewriter
case and place it on the desk
Open the typewriter case
Take out the papers in the case …
they appear on the desk
Take out the typewriter … it also
goes onto the desk
Close the typewriter case
Place the typewriter case on the
floor (beneath the table)
Look at the typewriter
Attempt to write something …
Michael prefers to continue exploring
Read the page already typed
Saturday 10 am
Exit the guest room
Walk along
the 1st floor lower hallway
Enter the
room on your left … it is the master bedroom
Look around
the master bedroom
Exit the
master bedroom
Enter the
room opposite … it is the African gallery
Look around
the African gallery
Exit the
African gallery
Walk to the
other end of the lower hallway
Enter the
room with the stained glass panel … it is the 1st floor bathroom
Look at the
built-in cabinet below the sink
Open the 3rd
drawer down (the bottom long drawer, in the middle)
Take the
relatively clean rag
Exit the
bathroom
Walk back
along the length of the 1st floor lower hallway
Go downstairs
to the ground floor again
Go to the
reception hall
Phone Jerry
Keep phoning
him until he repeats the phrase “If you don’t mind, I have work to do”
Press the
light switch in the main hall (or anywhere else)
The light
doesn’t go on … there is no electric power
Press the
light switch again to make sure … still no electricity
Phone Jerry
and inform him about the electricity and learn that he has ordered an
electrician
Saturday 11 am
Phone Barbara
and talk to her
Continue
phoning her until Michael says “Ah … never mind”
Go to the
front door and open it
Exit the
mansion
Walk down the
length of the garden to the main gates … no electrician
Look at the
mailbox
Open the
mailbox
Read the
letter from the electrician (take it … although it doesn’t appear in inventory)
Close the
mailbox
Saturday 12 pm
Look at the
boot of the car … which “I hoped I would never need to open.”
Open the car
door and enter the car
Look at the
car’s starter
Open the
glove compartment
Take the car
key
Close the
glove compartment
Get the car
key from inventory, and put it into the car’s starter
Start the car
… Michael decides not to travel anywhere at present
Return to the
mansion and enter
Phone Jerry
and tell him that you missed the electrician
{{{ The following depends upon what actions you performed
(and didn’t perform) previously, and hence may be somewhat different … but this
should not affect anything!
Phone Jerry again and obtain 2 blue
(‘unusual’) captions at the bottom of the screen … the top blue caption
reads “I wondered about the previous inhabitants…” and the bottom blue caption
reads “I asked about that safe”
Click on the
top blue caption and Jerry mentions a murder committed there in May 1963, etc.
Phone Jerry
yet again … “I found a safe box in a room upstairs.” }}}
Walk to the
back of the mansion
Look around
the small hallway … notice the African jars
Open the door
to the kitchen
Look around
the kitchen … notice the key holder without any keys, and the table beneath it
Look at the
one kitchen wall where there are 2 doors very close together
Open the
right door.You can’t … “The door to
what I assumed was the basement was locked.”
Open the left
door … the maid’s (servant’s) room
Look around
the maid’s room
Take the
topmost paper (with markings on it) from those lying on the desk
Open the
right drawer
Take the
pencil
Look at the
photograph (near the left corner and half hidden)
Close the
right drawer
Open the door
with the 6 rectangular glass panels
Look around
that room … the maid’s bathroom which was once apparently used as a dark room
Open the tap
… “Apparently, the water wasn’t running.”
Exit the
bathroom/dark room
Exit the
maid’s room
Exit the
kitchen
Open the
curtains in the small hallway
Look into the
African jars
Take the key from
inside one of the jars
Return to the
kitchen
Using the key
from inventory, open the door to the basement
Go down the
stairs
Look all
around the basement
Open the fuse
box
Check the 2
fuses and the 2 old fashioned double-pole switches … they seem OK
Exit the
basement
Exit the kitchen
Return to the
front reception hall
Phone Jerry
to tell him that the fuses seem all right … “Make sure you find some candles
before it’s too dark.”
Phone Jerry
again to tell him that he hasn’t yet found any candles … “Well… keep looking!”
Saturday 2 pm
In inventory,
look at the paper … it “had several markings on it.”
In inventory, use the pencil on the
sheet of paper with markings … “I managed to reveal what appeared to be a
letter in Italian.”
Phone Barbara and ask her if she
can translate an Italian letter … “Yes! Mail it!”
In inventory,
put the letter into the empty envelope
In inventory,
use the pen on the envelope to write the correct address
Exit the
front door
Walk down the
length of the garden towards the main gates
Look at the
mailbox
Open the mailbox
From
inventory, take the (Italian) letter and post it to Barbara
Close the
mailbox
Saturday 3 pm
Return to the
front door of the mansion
Open the
front door and enter
Phone Jerry …
he tells Michael to keep on looking for candles
Walk to the
back of the mansion
Enter the kitchen
Notice the
back door with a colored glass panels and to the right of it a cupboard with
crockery on top
Open the
cupboard
Open the
bottom drawer
Take the
kitchen knife
Close the
bottom drawer
Open the top
drawer — it’s empty … apparently it was once used to hold candles
Close the top drawer
Exit the
kitchen
Go to the
dining room
Look at the
is a nice piece of furniture (with a candelabra on top of it and also a
painting of a house and flowers)
Open the
drawer there … “Tablecloths, napkins… etc.”
Go up to the 2nd floor :- Go
up the stairs … (if necessary) along the first floor lower hallway to the
bathroom door … turn right … go up the stairs from the 1st floor to the 2nd
[top] floor … You are in the upper hallway
Swing left
Walk forwards
and notice the wooden ladder-stairs (brown steps)
Climb up the
stairs and see the door to the attic
Enter the
attic
Open the
trunk to look for candles … none there
Take the old
fashioned lamp
Look through the pile of assorted
photos, papers, etc., which were underneath the lamp on the left side of the
trunk
Look through the pile of assorted
photos, papers, etc., on the right side of the trunk
Look at the pile of newspapers
Read the caption at the bottom of
the screen “I looked for any worthwhile news in May, 1963…”
Click on this blue
(‘unusual’) caption at the bottom of the screen
Read the “Journal” of Tuesday, 25th
May, 1963
Saturday 4 pm
Leave the newspapers
[[ Whilst you’re in the attic, open
the music box
Click on the
object inside the box
Click on the key
Close the box ]]
Exit the attic
Return down to the 2nd floor, then
down to the 1st floor, and finally down to the ground floor
Go to the
reception hall
Phone Jerry …
no candles anywhere in the house.Jerry suggests buying some … “Calm down!Drive to town before it gets dark.”
Saturday 6 pm
Exit the front door
Walk down the length of the garden
towards the main gates
Enter the car
The key is in the starter (ignition)
… turn it on
The engine turns over once only,
and the red warning light comes on:“The car would not start!It was
only then that I realized I had left the lights on…” … “The car battery was
dead.’
Exit the car
Return to the front door of the
mansion
Open the
front door and enter
Phone Jerry … He can’t do anything
at present
Saturday 7 pm
Look around
the lower hallway just a little … “It was getting late.Perhaps it was now a good time to go to
sleep.”
Go up the
stairs from the ground floor to the 1st floor
Walk to the
end of the lower hallway
Enter the
guest room … “I was getting very
tired”
Lie down on
the bed and go to sleep
D A Y – 2 (Sunday)
Michael has a nightmare
He hears
banging noises
[[ During his nightmare, Michael is ONLY ‘allowed’ to move as follows :-
]]
(In this
nightmare) he can only walk to the door of the guest room
Then open the
guest room door and leave the room
Then he can only walk along the
lower hallway and open the double doors into the African gallery
In the place
where the display cabinet stood there is now (in Michael’s nightmare) a boarded
up door and a hammer on the floor
All you can
do is to look at the hammer … and ………
Pick up the hammer (it’s only a
‘dream-hammer’ and not real, and hence it doesn’t go into inventory)
The nightmare ends and Michael is
back in the guest bedroom
Sunday 12 am
Michael wakes
up from his nightmare,“I was awakened
from my strange dream by some odd noises reverberating around the room”
Move around the guest room just a
little … ‘The scratching was starting to make me feel very nervous…’
Walk towards
the fireplace in the guest room … “The noises seemed to grow louder as I
approached the fireplace.”
Look at the
fireplace
From
inventory use the stethoscope on the fireplace and move it around
Yes!Michael can now hear the noises coming from
the fireplace …… “but I still couldn’t determine their source.”
Leave the
fireplace
Go to the
guest room door
Exit the
guest room
[[ Since Michael is now awake, he can move around freely
… although it’s midnight ]]
Go down the main staircase from the
lst floor to the ground floor
Enter the living room
Examine the
fireplace there
From
inventory use the stethoscope on the fireplace
Conclusion
:-About those noises … “I concluded
they had to be coming from below”
Sunday 1 am
Go to the kitchen
Open the door
to the basement … you can’t; it is very late at night and the basement would be
pitch black since there is no electric power and you wouldn’t see a thing … “I
couldn’t go down there without some light.”
From
inventory, use the old fashioned lamp on the basement door. Impossible! …“The lamp didn’t have any oil in it.”
Return
upstairs from the ground floor to the 1st floor and walk to the end of the
lower hallway
Re-enter the
guest room … “Just as they had begun out of nowhere, the scratching noises
stopped”
Lie down on
the bed and go to sleep (properly!)
Sunday, October 13th
Sunday 9 am
Wake up next
morning … a fierce storm is raging; very heavy rain, thunder and lightning. Michael abandons hope of getting the power
fixed
Return
downstairs and go to the reception hall
The phone is
ringing
Talk to Jerry about the terrible
weather making it impossible for him to drive
Michael informs Jerry that “I
happened to hear some odd sounds last night.Kind of… ‘scratching’ noises down in the basement.”
Go up to the
1st floor
Enter
the main bedroom
Swing to the
right, go 1 step forward, and swing to the right again
Look at the
painting of the very tall woman in red …
Click on the
orb in her hand revealing a safe with a rotary dial combination lock
Click on the
dial … “I didn’t know the combination and safe-cracking certainly isn’t my
expertise.”
Return
downstairs to the reception hall
Phone Jerry …
ask and receive the combination of the safe
Return to the 1st floor
Enter the main bedroom
Again look at
the painting of the tall woman in red
Click on the
orb and once again view the safe
Click on the
combination-dial
The dial
rotates automatically back and forth to the correct combination, (presumably:- 03211) and the safe
opens
View the
contractor’s tender for work to be done on Blackwood Manor
See the key
inside the open safe
Take the blue
key
Go up the
stairs from the 1st floor to the upper hallway in the 2nd (top) floor … as
previously.
Swing round to your left and
go to the single door
Open
the door.You can’t since … “The door
seemed to be stuck…”
Swing to the right, go forwards
twice, and swing to the left … you are facing another single door (close to and
‘behind’ the wooden stairs you visited previously)
Open the door.You can’t … “The door was locked but I could
see a key on the other side through the keyhole.”
Observe the bottom of the door …
“There was quite a bit of light coming from below the door.”
Look to the left of that door …
there is a tin on the floor with a newspaper underneath it
Take the
newspaper
From
inventory, take the newspaper and slide it under the door
In inventory
take the boring tool (an awl) and poke the keyhole of the door
Inside that
room, the key falls onto the newspaper
Pull the newspaper back … but the key does not slide
out from the gap under the door; it gets ‘caught’ … “ ……… the key had gotten
stuck behind the door.Whoever said
that dumb technique worked?”
The keyhole is now ‘clear’
From inventory, use the blue key on the keyhole …
the door opens and you are in the “room with paintings”
Sunday 10 am
Look at the stool in the room and on it a hammer
Take the hammer
There is a table in the room covered
with painting materials and accessories … Look at the desk in close up
Look at the
blueprint on the left side of the table
Click on it …
“It was a schematic blue print of the ground floor of the house.”
Using the
magnifying glass, examine each of the rooms (and their descriptions) on the
ground floor
Click on the
top left corner of the blueprint
Look at all
the rooms (and their descriptions) on the first floor
To the left
of the main bedroom is a ‘mysterious’ room … “That was odd, I didn’t remember
seeing that room.”
Take another
look at it … “I had to find some way to get into that room…”
Click again
on the top left corner of the blueprint
Look at the
rooms (and their descriptions) on the second (top) floor
Near the
middle of the table is an empty drinking glass holding 3 pencils;to the right of it is a key (not too easily
visible!)
Pick up the
silver key
Beneath the
key was a round gray-white object … “It was the lid of a can ……”
Pick up the
lid
There is a large bizarre painting
of a man with his mouth wide open, with one door to the left of it and another
to the right … Open the door on the right
Enter the “room in construction”
Climb the
ladder twice
Notice that
“A large rope was hanging from a railing above”
From
inventory, take the knife and cut the rope
Climb down
the ladder
Look for the
remaining coil of rope on the floor [[ swing right round … move once forwards,
facing the door … then swing back again facing the ladder … move back a little
(if necessary) … the rope is now easily visible on the floor ]]
Pick up the
rope
Climb the
ladder 3 times to get to the very top … “Several dusty cans were resting on the
shelf, one of them in particular was more dusty than the rest.”
Examine the
rectangular can … “A very dirty can.”
From
inventory, take the rag “a quick cleaning revealed that it was a can of oil.”
Look at the can “There
appeared to be oil in that can.”
From
inventory, take the boring tool (an awl) and use it on the can … “I managed to
pierce a hole in the can…”
From
inventory, drag the old fashioned lamp onto the can of oil … it tips and “I
poured some oil inside the lamp” ……”;but it was limited by the very small amount of oil there!
To the right
of the can of oil look at a small oil can
Take the oil
can
Climb down
the ladder again
Exit the room … not via the door
you entered through, but through the door onto the upper hallway (i.e. the door
which was originally stuck on the other [ entrance ] side!)
Turn right
around and go to the very end of the upper hallway
Climb up ONE
flight only of the stone spiral staircase
Notice a window on the left
Open the window
Look out … and see the roof(s) of
the mansion (and very heavy rain)
Climb up the second (final) flight
of stairs to the tower
Look around
the tower and see another window
Open that window
Again look out … and see a nice
verdant view of tree tops (and extremely heavy rain)
Look at the walls … “There was a
large crack in one of the walls in the tower”
From inventory, use the hammer on
the crack in the wall … “The wall had a wider crack now” (You can see light
coming through from outside)
Look at the old rusty lamp above the crack
From inventory, tie the rope to the
rusty lamp
Click the bottom of the rope … it
goes through the enlarged crack … “The rope was hanging from the hole in the
wall”
Return to the lower
window and open it (if not already left open)
Look through the open window and see a small portion of the rope at the
top right corner of the window (not too noticeable!)
Click on this piece of rope … and
the rope now hangs vertically straight downwards near the middle of the open
part of the window
Michael ponders the situation …
obsessed with the ‘mystery room’, even though endangering his life … “I decided
that climbing down through the window was the only way to get inside the
mysterious room…”
Sunday 11 am
Climb down the rope (in 2 or 3
stages)
Enter the window into the mystery
room
Explore the room … it was
apparently a nursery
Look at the chest of drawers
Open the top drawer
Examine the birth certificate …
note ALL the details, dates, etc.
Close the drawer
Sunday 1 pm
Exit the nursery window
Return up the rope and back to the
tower (again in 2 or 3 stages)
Enter the window back into the
tower
Go down the stone spiral staircase to the upper
hallway
Climb up the wooden ladder-stairs again
Enter the attic
Look at the newspapers
Grab a newspaper
There is now an additional
blue caption at the bottom of the screen
“I checked if there was anything of
interest in August, 1961…
Read the newspaper … Michael has
serious and sinister doubts about past events in the Blackwood Mansion
Sunday 2 pm
Return
down to the 2nd floor and then down to the 1st floor
Walk along
the lower hallway
Enter the
African Gallery
Walk to the
display case and examine it … “A pair of huge carved tusks were occupying a
corner of the gallery.”
There
is a horizontal bar about a quarter way up the case.Pull the bar … “It wouldn’t move…”
Look at the bottom of the display
case … it “seemed to have some kind of panel”
Remove the panel … no luck;“It was firmly stuck in place.”
From inventory, use the knife to
prize off the panel
Look just behind where the panel
had been … it “had been concealing a couple of wheels.”
From inventory, use the oilcan to
oil BOTH of the two wheels (one at each end)
Again pull the bar on the display
case
The display case swivels away from
the wall
Sunday 3 pm
Now that the
display case has been moved, go to the wall behind it.“The door was heavily barred…” … nailed up
with wooden planks
“There was no
way I could remove those boards with my bare hands.”
From inventory, use the hammer to
remove the boards
Open the mysterious hidden door
Enter the room.Impossible! … “The room was too dark to see
anything.”
In inventory, use the matches to
light the old fashioned lamp
From inventory, use the old
fashioned lamp on the dark opening.You
can now see inside in the flickering lamp light.
Sunday 4 pm
In the middle of the
storeroom inspect “An odd looking African mask ……”
There appear to be several bamboo
poles covering the window of the store room.Move them away … “Now that there was enough light, I extinguished the
lamp to save the oil.”
Look at and read the 3 pages of
notes
Look at and read the 3-page letter
to Christopher from James
Exit the storeroom
Exit the African Gallery
Walk along the lower hallway
Enter the guest room
Look at the typewriter
Click on it to insert a sheet of
paper
Click on it again to type out a
page of Michael’s novel
Extract the typewritten page
Look at the
page … read it if you like!
Sunday 5 pm
Exit the guest room
Go downstairs to the main hall
Phone Jerry and tell
him about your suspicions … “James Blackwood was into some very weird stuff…
and possibly dangerous.”
Sunday 6 pm
Michael is feeling “unusually tired” from all “the events of this day” … “A
good time to go to bed…”
Return from
the ground floor up to the 1st floor
Enter the guest room
Lie down on the bed and go to sleep
D A Y – 3 (Monday)
Monday 12 am
Michael wakes up at midnight … “Something didn’t feel right…”!
Exit the
guest room
Enter the African Gallery
Enter the storeroom … the Mask is
no longer there
Exit the storeroom … see what
happens
You are automatically transported back to the guest
room!… “Once again, I was awakened
during a bizarre dream by those scratching noises…”
Go to the fireplace and look at it
From inventory, use the stethoscope
on the fireplace … “I had to find out their source…”
Exit the guest room
Go down from the 1st floor to the
ground floor
Enter the kitchen
Open the basement door
Enter the basement. …Impossible!“The room was too dark to see anything.”
In inventory, use the matches to
light the old fashioned lamp
From inventory, use the old
fashioned lamp on the dark opening to the basement … it lights up but the old
fashioned lamp is flickering (maybe its oil is running out?)
Enter the basement
Open the furnace
Walk into the (unlit!) furnace
itself
Move forward another 4 times … see
what happens
Exit the furnace
Proceed (OUT of the furnace) 3
times … complete darkness!Then
continue twice more.
Monday 1 am
Go forward one last time to finally
exit the furnace
Exit the basement … “Finally, the
last drop of oil inside the lamp had been consumed.”
Exit the kitchen
Go up from the ground floor to the
1st floor
Enter the guest room
Lie down on the bed and go to sleep
(properly!)
Monday, October 14th
Monday 9 am
Wake up!It is now the 3rd day.The storm is over … there is no rain, thunder or lightning, and it is
light outside
Exit the guest room … “It was
incredibly cold inside the house now.”
Go down from the 1st floor to the
ground floor … “I seriously considered warming up the place”
Exit the front door … No go!“…… it would be better to do something about
the cold atmosphere before leaving the house.”
Enter the living room
Examine the fireplace … “I decided
it was a good time to make use of that wood”
From inventory, use the matches to
light the fire … “The wood was now burning nicely in the fireplace”
Monday 10 am
Exit the front door (again) … Not
yet!“I decided to tell Jerry about my
experience during the previous night before leaving the house”
Phone Jerry and tell him as much as
you know about the bizarre situation
Exit the front door … finally
* * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
General instructions for
traveling to the garage, greenhouse, and chapel.
(Instructions for traveling to the crypt, since
somewhat different, are described later!).
[[ The easiest and least
confusing way to outline the above is to start the description from just inside
the mansion … even though it is not actually necessary to
enter the mansion in order to travel to these locations. ]]
***
From just inside the mansion exit the front door
***
Click on the fountain
To the garage :-
Go forward and
left
Turn left
Go forward
twice to the garage
To the greenhouse :-
Swing a little
to the right and notice a path
Click twice on
the path
Swingto the
right
There is a
fork*** in the paths here (the origin of the fork is actually just below the
bottom of the screen and hence can’t be seen properly!)
Click the left branch of the fork
Move
forward 3 times to arrive at the greenhouse
To the chapel :-
From the abovementioned fork***
Click the right branch of the
fork
Move forward 3 times to arrive at the
chapel
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Go to the garage (see the
directions/instructions above)
Inspect the door handles … “A hefty
lock was preventing my entry to the garage.”
Open the padlock … “There was no
way I could open it with my bare hands…”
From
inventory, take the silver key and open the padlock
Open the
garage door and enter
Look around
the garage (( you may want to operate the pedals of the old bicycle and watch
its wheel-dynamo light up the bike’s headlamp?! ))
Move over to
the corner … there is a corner work table there
Take the
sturdy crowbar (on the floor, leaning against the right end of the work table)
Look closely
at the tool box on the work table
Take a
screwdriver
Take the pair
of pliers
Leave the
tool box
Exit the
garage
Go to the
greenhouse (see the directions/instructions above)
Enter the greenhouse.You can’t! …“The door to the greenhouse was stuck …… ”probably due to rust
From
inventory , take the oil can … “I poured some oil onto the hinges of the door
…… ”
Open the
greenhouse door and enter
Walk forward … “An imposing but
dead tree adorned the center of the greenhouse”
Walk to the
right and skirt the pedestal with the large tree
Swing to the
left
Climb the
stairs to the upper floor
Go forward,
swing to the right, go forward again, and again swing to the right
Look at the
corner work table
Open the
drawer on the left
Read the 2
pages of notes dated February 7th
Close the
drawer
Open the
drawer on the right
Take the
shears “tailored for trimming plants”
Close the
drawer on the right
Examine the
plant … “The plant on the top of the table was strangely attractive”
From
inventory, use the shears on the plant … “I took a few leaves with me.”
Leave the
table
Walk round
the upper floor walkway in an anti-clockwise direction
Take the
spade … “There was a shovel in the planter but it was stuck in the soil.”
Look at the
large hose lying on the walkway (you must approach it from the ‘correct
direction’ otherwise it will not react!)
Grasp the
upper free end … it embedded itself in the soil, near to the shovel
Grab the
lower free end … it is now looped over the railing and stretches down to the
ground floor below
Go downstairs
Swing to the
right of the tree pedestal
Look at the
tap … and notice the end of the hose
Examine the tap
… “Apparently, the water wasn’t running.”
Leave the tap
(and hose)
Exit the
greenhouse
Go forward 5
times, swing to the left, and again go forward twice
Enter the
mansion
Go to the
kitchen
Enter the
basement
Look around
the basement walls and see a wheel on one of the large pipes
Examine the
wheel more closely … “Try as I might, the valve was stuck and wouldn’t budge.”
… “I couldn’t move the valve with my bare hands.”
From
inventory, take your crowbar and insert it into the spokes of the wheel-valve
Try to lever the wheel open … no
go!!
From
inventory, take the hammer and bang the wheel (with the crowbar still in it) …
the wheel turns
“I
retrieved the crowbar as it could be needed elsewhere.”
Exit the
basement
Exit the kitchen
Return to the
front door
Exit the
front door
Return to the
greenhouse (see the directions/instructions above)
Enter
the greenhouse door
Go to the tap again
Turn it on …
the water is running now
Click on the
end of the hose… it attaches itself to
the tap
Go up the
stairs
Go to the
shovel … the water has softened the soil and the shovel has now been loosened
Grab the
shovel
Go downstairs
again
You probably
noticed a glittering spot near to the tree pedestal and opposite the greenhouse
door … approach and examine it
Notice that “There was some kind of
shiny object beneath the grating.”
Look at it more closely
Try to grab the shiny object
“Whatever it
was there was no way I could reach it.”
Go to the tap
Examine the
tap again
Disconnect
the hose
Turn the water on (it is quite
likely to be running already!) … maybe it will flush out the shiny object??
Look at the
location of the shiny object.No! It’s
still there … maybe one of the drainage channels is blocked
Go to the
overturned large pot with a bush … “A huge pot containing a bush had fallen,
blocking the drain”
From
inventory, take the shears and clip the bush … “I removed a few branches and
leaves, clearing that corner of the drain.”
Look at the
location of the shiny object.It has
now gone … where to??
Exit the
greenhouse
Go forward
twice (as though you were going back to the mansion)
Swing round a
little to the right and go forward twice again
Look at the
pool in front of the large tree
Examine the
pool … see the shiny object
Pick it up …
it’s a small key
Monday 11 am
Return
to the mansion (you may find it easier to return to the greenhouse first,
although this is far from essential)
Enter the
mansion
Go to the
study
Look at the
desk … and particularly at the drawer on the right
Open the drawer.You can’t … “It was locked.”
From
inventory, use the small key to open the locked drawer
Read the
3-page letter to Catherine from Christopher
Look at the
closed box in detail
It has a 5
figure combination lock on it.Unless
and until you know the combination of this lock you can’t open it … so leave it
for the moment!
Leave the box
and close the drawer
Exit the study
Walk up from the ground floor to
the lst floor
Enter the master bedroom
Look at the round mirror on the
bedside table
Click a few
times on the round mirror and watch it swivel up and down
From inventory, use the screwdriver
to remove the round mirror from its framework
Take just the mirror itself
Exit the master bedroom
Go downstairs and into the kitchen
Walk to the crypt
* * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
General instructions for
traveling to the crypt.
[[ The easiest and least confusing way to outline the above is to
start the description from inside the kitchen of the mansion … even though it
is not actually necessary to enter the mansion in order to
travel to that location. ]]
Exit the back
door
Go forward
Swing to the
right until you are at the beginning of the ornate covered walkway
Go forward
twice
Towards the
left side of the screen go forward
Swing left a
little (between 2 banks of brown earth)
Go forward 3
times
Go forward to
the crypt
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Enter the
crypt.Impossible! … “A thick wire was
tied between both handles ……”.This
makes it impossible to manipulate with bare hands
From
inventory use the pliers on the wire
Open the
crypt door and enter
Go forward
Look at and
open the lower coffin … “A corpse in advanced stages of decomposition was
inside the coffin…”
Close the
coffin
Look at and
open the upper coffin … “Curiously enough, this coffin was completely empty”
Look at the
plaques beneath these 2 coffins … James T. Blackwood and Catherine Blackwood
Examine the
plaques … “According to the plaques, both Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood had died the
same year”
On the
floor immediately below Catherine’s plaque is an ordinary rock
Pick it up
Look upwards
… the “Large windows in the dome above barely allowed sunlight to enter the
crypt”
From
inventory, throw the stone at the window in the dome (N.B. If you are
not in the right position you cannot do this… you need to be close to the door
of the crypt) … “I hurled the stone at the window but sadly, it missed it and
bounced off the ceiling, flying out of sight”
Look at your
inventory … indeed, the rock is no longer there
Go down the
stepsto the floor below
Examine
everything there
Look at the
tiny coffin … could it be a baby … “the dead child of James Blackwood.”?
Open this
little coffin … No!Enough sights of
decaying bodies
Look at the
plaque beneath the very small coffin … it’s too dark “to make out what the
plaque read.”
In the corner
notice the stone which had finished up there
Pick it up
Go upstairs
again
Look at your
inventory … the rock is back there again
From inventory, again throw the
rock at the window (N.B. If you are not in the right position you cannot
do this… you need to be close to the door of the crypt) … this time the glass
smashes into very small shards … letting in more light
Go downstairs
again
There is a little
more light now
Look again at the plaque beneath
the small coffin … it’s still too dark to read it
Return upstairs
In inventory, attach the piece of
wire to the mirror (or vice versa)
From inventory, fix the mirror with
the wire to the candle holder which is to the right of the door of the
crypt … the bright sunlight light is now reflected downstairs
Go downstairs again
Look at the
plaque underneath the baby’s coffin … “The inscription was too eroded, but it
seemed the name began with the letter ‘R’”
Return upstairs
Exit the crypt
Swing just a little to the right
Go forward 5 times
Swing to the right
Go forward along the ornate covered
walkway
Walk up the steps to the back door
of the mansion
Enter the back door of the mansion
Go right through the kitchen
Go up from the ground floor to the
1st floor, up again to the 2nd floor Go up the stone steps towards the tower
(as previously)
Go up ONE flight only
Stop at the
open window (if not left opened, then open it ), look out onto the rooftops,
and see the rope still hanging down
Climb down the rope 4 times
Enter the window of the nursery
Look at the 6 bricks scattered on
the floor beside the wheelbarrow
The 4 bricks on the left side spell
out the letters ‘O’;‘B’;‘I’;‘N’;
This would appear to be the last 4
letters of the baby’s name … i.e.“(R)obin”
Note the numbers on the tops of the
blocks … 6
(or 9), 0, 9 (or 6), 7
Leave those blocks and examine the
blocks inside the wheelbarrow … Remember the first letter of the child’s name? … “R”!
Indeed, the 2nd block from the left
on the 3rd row down (partly hidden by the handle of a toy) IS the letter
“R”,
and its number is 5
Leave the blocks and the
wheelbarrow
Exit the nursery through the window, climb back up
the rope, and enter the window to the tower (as previously)
Go down from the tower to the 2nd
floor, and then to the 1st floor, and then down to the ground floor
Enter the study
Look at the desk and open the
drawer on the right side
Click on the box and look at the
combination
Assume that the combination IS
the numbers associated with the name of the child … i.e. the numbers associated
with the word “Robin”
To enter the combination, position the
‘forefinger-icon’ onto each of the 5 tumbler-wheels in succession and keep
clicking to rotate them.View the incrementing
combination number for that tumbler-wheel at the bottom of the screen
As deduced from the blocks in the
nursery, the correct combination to enter from left to right is … 5;9;0;9;7(but either or both of
the “9”s could be upside down … i.e. not a “9” but a “6”)
When you arrange the final correct
number, the view of the combination suddenly automatically changes to a view of
the box
Monday 12 pm
Click on the combination lock and
the box opens
[[ To
‘deal’ with this box carry out the following steps :- ]]
Notice a ‘gate’ in the middle, and a
small block at each end
Click once on the gate in the middle
Click on the block on the left side
Click twice more on the gate in the
middle
Click on the block on the right side
Click on the bottom of the box itself …
it opens
Take the heavily adorned key
Leave the box
Exit the study
Exit the mansion
Go to the
chapel (see the directions/instructions above)
Enter the chapel.You cannot enter! … “The massive double
doors leading to the interior of the chapel were locked.”
Open the door … they are locked
From inventory, use the heavily
adorned key to open the chapel door and enter
Look around the chapel
Walk up the spiral staircase
Look at the cabinet
Open the cabinet
Open the fairly small drawer
Take the bible inside the drawer
Open the bible
Click 4 times on the pages … and
reveal a heavy nail
Take the nail
Close the bible
Close the drawer
Close the cabinet
Go down the stairs
Go forward towards the mottled red
carpet and the statue at the end of the chapel
Swing to the right
Go forward to the 3 chairs
Swing round to the left
Look at the ring on the gray-white
(large tiled) floor … “It was some kind of small metal ring…”
Go forward
Swing right, and look at the top of
the “large wooden statue of Christ”
Look at the board behind the head
of the statue … “I’ve always wondered INRI means…”
Look down at the very bottom of the
statue … there is a noticeable hole in the feet
From inventory take the heavy nail
and insert it into the hole
Look again behind the head of the
statue … “Something was curiously different about the INRI sign now.”
Deal with the sign … No!“I couldn’t reach it!”
Return to the ring in the floor
From inventory, use
the crowbar to pull the small metal ring.See what happens to the floor … Interesting, eh?
Return to the INRI sign behind the
head of the statue
From inventory, use the crowbar on
the sign.WOW! … observe the surprising
effect on the statue
Monday 1 pm
Go to and look at the floor…
observe the square opened area
Enter
the square opened area … down a ladder and into a secret room
Look around the secret room even
though it is almost completely dark Observe a candlestick … “It was nearly
impossible to discern anything in the secret room, but that seemed to be… a
candle.”
From inventory, use the 2 remaining matches to light
the candle. … it is very bright (but understandably flickers somewhat)
Examine the wooden table in one
corner of the room
Take the piece of wood on the table
… “The branch was very odd looking.”
Look at the 2 sets of papers on the
table
Read the top set … a 3-page letter
dated march 26th from Christopher to James
Read the bottom set … 6+ pages of
notes about the African tribe Dhalmaar, and instructions for exorcising the
cursed evil vicious god, etc.
MAKING THE AMULET (to be used
on/against the malevolent mask) :- ……“Two main elements were required to perform the exorcising of this evil
and they had to be strictly related to each other; one representing the
“victim” and the other representing the “victimizer.”” …… These 2 elements have
to be mixed with a rare medicinal plant native to the region …… Then they must
be blended together ……
Finally the resulting substance must be inserted as a holder into
the branch of a particular tree …… It is on this item that a mysterious
blessing was performed” …… “It should be noted that all elements have to be
organic”
Go to the ladder and exit the
secret room
Exit the chapel
Return to the mansion
Enter the front door
Phone
Jerry.Talk to him about the worrying
and maybe serious apprehensions concerning the previous owner of the house …
but “James Blackwood passed away on June, 1963.”
Walk from the ground floor to the
lst floor, up to the 2nd floor, up the wooden stairs, to the attic (as
previously)
Look at the newspapers
A 3rd line has been added (below
the previous 2 captions) to the sentences in blue at the bottom of the screen …
“I went through the news during June, 1963…”
Click on this line to continue (as
previously)
Read the accusations made by Mrs.
Eva MARIANI (former maid of the Blackwood family)
Note the written scrawl at the end
of the newspaper article … “BAILEY0166565217”
Return down to the 2nd floor, then down to the 1st floor, and finally
down to the ground floor
Go to the
main hall
Access the phone and click on the
third (blue) line down … “I dialed another number…”
Phone Bailey … 0166565217
Have a long
conversation with Mr. William Bailey, the former police chief of Rothbury,
regarding the Blackwood’s subject.Mention James and Catherine Blackwood, Eva Mariani, Dr. Christopher
Milton, etc.
Monday 2 pm
Phone Jerry … explain the situation
to him.He warns Michael of potential
dangers if he remains in the house!
Exit the mansion
Walk all the way down the garden
towards the gates
Open the post box
Look inside and see the envelope
Open and read the 3-page letter
dated April 28th. 1963 from Eva Mariani (former maid of the family) to her
mother … translated from the Italian and mailed by Barbara!
Return to the mansion
Open the front door and enter
Go to the kitchen, and then through
it to the maid’s room
Go to the bedside table close to
the top of the bed
Look underneath the table
Notice a small floorboard (a bit
different from the others)
Open the floor board
Examine the photograph hidden
inside
Exit the maid’s room
Exit the kitchen
Walk through the ground floor to
the front main hall
Phone Jerry.He warns Christopher again … “I’ve been
thinking about what you told me…”
Exit the front door
Again walk the length of the garden
to the front gates
Go to the post box
Open the post box
Look at the ‘scroll’ (lying partly
on top of the letter observed earlier … and still there!)
Read the notice of eviction dated
Oct. 12. 1976
Monday 3 pm
Go to the boot of the car and open
it
Take the discharged battery
Walk to the garage (see the
directions/instructions above)
Open the door of the garage and
enter
Look at the bicycle … “There was an
old and dusty bicycle in the garage.It
seemed to have some sort of device attached to it.”
Look at the
‘object’ pressing on the rear wheel of the bike … “I realized that the device
had to be a dynamo”
Operate the pedals of the bike,
thereby rotating the shaft of the dynamo and generating a current of
electricity … See the headlamp light up
“A small
crate was sitting near the bicycle.” … From inventory, place the discharged
battery onto the crate
Try to operate the pedals of the
bike again, but this doesn’t work … “Having the cables connected first was
probably a good idea…”
If you look carefully, there are
electric wires going from the dynamo to the headlamp (these are rather
difficult to see!)
Look at the dynamo
Use the dynamo … i.e. attach the
wires from the dynamo to the battery (these are also rather difficult to see!)
Operate the pedals again …Generatinga small current of electricity which partially charges up the battery
(note that the headlamp no longer lights up since its leads are now
disconnected!)
Take the battery (now with “a small
charge”)
Leave the bicycle
Exit the garage
Return to the car
Open the boot of the car
Replace the (charged) battery to
“the spot where the car’s battery was…”
Enter the car
Operate the ignition key …But Michael’s conscience won’t let him leave
until he has dealt with the strange occurrences at Blackwood Manor
Monday 4 pm
Return towards the house
Start walking towards the chapel
and go to the previously mentioned fork*** (see the directions/instructions
above)
Click once
only on the right fork (the one that leads to the chapel)
Very carefully swing just
a tiny bit to the left and observe the shadow of the tower on the ground
(it is not too easy to see this due to the relative lack of contrast … it is
just immediately to the left of the path to the chapel and VERY
close to that path!)
From inventory take the
shovel.If you dig anywhere near this
shadow but not EXACTLY ON IT you will simply get the
statement “The soil in this area of the garden was devoid of life”!
However, from inventory, take the
shovel and dig in the ground at the very top of the shadow of the tower
(You must ensure that the mid-point of the shovel is on the top
of the aforementioned shadow.If it is
NOT, then you’ll just dig an empty hole in the ground, and may have to repeat 2
or 3 times!)
Uncover the “dead body of
Catherine Blackwood ……… in this improvised tomb.”
Look at her
poor skeleton.Something is wrong with
her teeth;they jut out “at disturbing
angles…”
Try to remove
one of her teeth … “I tried to pull out a tooth without success.”
From inventory, take the pliers and
extract one of her teeth
Monday 5 pm
Use the shovel which is stuck upright in the ground to
fill in the earth back into Catherine’s crude grave … “I quietly left,burying Mrs. Blackwood back to her dead,
cold dreams…”
Return to the mansion
Open the door
and enter
Go up from
the ground floor to the first floor
Enter the
African Gallery
Look at the black statue with no
head
Observe it closely … “something
that looked like a lion’s claw was firmly attached to a necklace.”
Take the lion’s claw
Exit the African Gallery
Return downstairs from the 1st
floor to the ground floor
Enter
the kitchen
Look at the table … on it is “a
nice, rustic, old-fashioned grinder.”
Open the grinder
From inventory take “the tooth that
I shamelessly took from the cadaver of Catherine Blackwood”, and place it into
the grinder
Close the
grinder
Turn the
handle
Open the
drawer at the bottom of the grinder
Take “the
remains of the tooth I ground…”
Close the
drawer
Open the grinder again
From inventory take the lion’s
claw, and place it into the grinder
Close the
grinder
Turn the handle
Open the
drawer at the bottom of the grinder
Take “the
remains of the claw I took from the gallery…”
Close the
drawer
In inventory,
look at the 2 ‘remains (dusts)’ and mix them together
In inventory,
put the 2 ‘remains (dusts)’ onto the ‘African plant leaves’ … “the leaves were
now mixed with dust from a tooth and a lion’s claw”
Exit the
kitchen
Go upstairs
from the ground floor to the 1st floor, and again up from the 1st floor to the
2nd floor
Walk
a little way along the upper hallway, and on the right see 2 doors close
together
Face these 2
doors
Open the door
on the right … it is the 2nd(upper)
floor bathroom (under construction)
Look at the
bricks in the right corner … “just a pile of old bricks”
Examine the
bricks nearer to the toilet
See the small
metal rod
Pick up the
small metal rod
Go through the connecting door to
the left of the stained glass window
Look around
the workroom
Look
closely at the (primus) stove on the bench
Note that one
of the 3 metal supports is missing.
From
inventory, fix the metal rod into the stove
From
inventory, fix the lid of a can onto the 3 supports … this ‘completes’ the
stove
Put the
mixture (of leaves and 2 types of dust) onto the top of the stove
From
inventory, take the (single) remaining match and light the stove … you obtain a
‘stone’ … “it was almost organic.”
Take the resulting stone …
In inventory,
use the branch as a holder for the stone.“I attached the stone to the branch” making an amulet … “The amulet was
complete now.”
Exit the
workroom into the upper hallway
Descend from
the 2nd floor to the 1st floor
Go to the African gallery
Enter the
storeroom
From
inventory take the amulet and use it on the mask … in order to exorcise its
demons !!!
Exit
the storeroom
Exit the African
Gallery
Go down from
the 1st floor to the ground floor
Go to the
living room.OUCH … “I heard
those horrible noises again.They just
wouldn’t… stop…”
Examine
the living room fireplace … the wood has been moved exposing a grating
Open the
grating
Enter the
opening
Go down into
a “forbidden zone” … a hidden passage!
Look all
around the hidden passage … there is nothing much that can be done there
However there
is a heavy door there … go to it
Open the
heavy door and enter “the lair”
Continue
forward twice.
Look at and examine the ‘black
opening’ (which isapparently the other side
of the basement’s oven) … “Several bricks had been removed from this wall,
resulting in a large hole.”
Look around
the lair and examine the various items there … In particular examine the teddy
bear
Return to the
large hole
In close-up
,click on this black opening
WATCH THE SINISTER PROCEEDINGS, AND OBSERVE THE END SCENES OF
THE GAME …E N J O Y:~ ))
A D D E N D U
M.
This may seem like an Easter Egg but it is not.It is a small addition to the game itself
which adds some minor details … but it is not essential to finishing the game
:-
(( You can perform the following any time, but
only after 9 am on Day-3, Monday Oct 14th ))
If you have
not already done so look very carefully at the General Contractors’ renovation
statement inside the safe, in the master bedroom
Did you
notice the telephone number at the bottom?
It is from
the National Bank of Northumberland … contact number (01912) 94144
Go to the
main hall ( it’s wise to save here, since otherwise you can’t
participate in all of the branching options! )
Use the phone
and go to “I dialed another number…”
Phone the
National Bank of Northumberland … i.e. phone number (01912) 94144 … “Good day,
the National Bank of Northumberland.Robert Blake speaking.”
There are two
options in blue at the bottom of the screen as follows:-
“I asked
about Dr. Christopher Milton…”
(Reload your
save-game)
“I asked
about James Blackwood…”
Follow all
the various branching options (not elaborated here … in order to avoid
disclosing some items of the narrative)