Murder in the Monastery
(published by Loadstar for the C64)
Overview
--------
As Claude le Merde of the Sureté your assignment is to solve the murder
of Enos Costello, Abbot of the Abbey of St Isosceles.
Note that the adventure features two single-letter commands, 'i' for
inventory and 'l' for look, while only the first two letters of other
words need to be entered, e.g. 'ex bo' for 'examine book'. To enter a
building simply type 'go' plus the name of the building, e.g. 'go house'
(or 'go ho').
Walkthrough
-----------
I (you have a map and a sheet), read map (and note all the locations),
read sheet (and learn about the details of the murder and the dramatis
personae), look, get clipping, read clipping (and learn about Fr.
Murphy's book How to Change a Light Bulb).
Go house, get diary, read diary (the plot thickens), go stable, examine
gelding, clean stall (and note the dreadful pun), examine trapdoor (a
sound-sensitive lock).
Go church, examine statue ('There is knowledge nil until you fill.'),
examine altar, examine catacomb (empty), go north, get breviary, examine
breviary ('Thrice three and two are the laws of the Holy Tablets.'),
examine ribbon ('Bull in Boar.'), go south (into the other confessional),
examine kneeler (note the initials), get rosary, examine rosary, examine
cross (a key), go belfry (note the first bell you must ring).
Go cloister, go cell, get handbook, read handbook (you are asked to name
a knot, but type anything at this moment), go boudoir, examine ledger (it
would be locked if you lacked the key - note the code), examine waterbed.
Go library (which cannot be entered from this location, but take a note
of its shape), go quarters, examine book, which one?, how to change a
light bulb ('n1 e2 s3 w4 - ups added eq x.' 'x' is a random number, so
note it for future reference).
Go office, examine tub, go tub, get strongbox (chained to the tub), open
strongbox, get receipts, read receipts.
Go barracks, examine cubicle, get memo, read memo ('For Matins do not
ring adjacent bells consecutively.').
Go belfry. The first bell to be rung is number 5, as indicated by the
name of the Saint - think Latin - so the remainder must follow the
instructions provided by the memo. Ring bells, in what order?, 53142 ('a
loud whinny is heard from the stables'). Note that another combinations
of numbers which works is 52413.
Go stables (the trapdoor is now open), go trapdoor (and find yourself in
the Courtyard of the Chimera, the centre of the library).
Examine well, examine inscription (you can't read Latin), examine
chalice, get chalice (whoops!), examine spot (arsenic di-cyanide),
examine bucket (remember the statue's inscription), fill bucket ('pray
the name of the room you wish to enter'), pray otter, examine switch (and
note the instructions and position of the switch), examine message (Latin
again).
Now to enter any adjacent room in the library you only need to type the
name of the animal (or its first two letters). Cat (completely dark),
otter, chimera. Note the position of the four doors and recall the
instructions given in Fr. Murphy's book. Each of the doors and
consequently each of the switches in the rooms inside has a value, so
otter=1, toad=2, giraffe=3 and pig=4. If Fr. Murphy's book had told you
that 'ups eq 7', you would have to raise the switches in the giraffe and
pig rooms. If it say 'ups eq 8', then it would be otter+giraffe+pig.
Savvy?
Let's assume that 'ups eq 7'. Giraffe, up switch, chimera, pig, up switch
('The whole library is lit!'). Now let's explore the pig section.
Bear, get scroll, read scroll ('activated' when you unravel the anagram),
the name?, wombat, inventory (note that you now possess the wombat key).
You can guess the name of the other animal above the door in the bear
room, but cannot progress here without the proper key. So, let's retrace
our steps.
Pig, chimera, otter, cat, get scroll, read scroll, baboon. Again we have
to retrace our steps.
Otter, chimera, toad, deer, get scroll, read scroll, gazelle. This time
we can progress further since we have the wombat key. Wombat, get book,
read book ('Subtract one from code. Find out who stole my perfume
atomizer.'), examine rug (important for later).
Wolf, get cruet, get cruet, read note (you'll need some water too),
wombat, elk (and note that a light is shining elsewhere in the Abbey),
hyena (and discover that the fox room cannot be entered without solving a
puzzle set by St Caliban - aha! The rug-maker), beaver, get candle,
examine candle, dynamite, light dynamite (don't worry, nothing dangerous
will happen). Now retrace your steps to the courtyard.
Giraffe, lion, get scroll, read scroll, elephant, baboon, armadillo, get
missal ('seems to be blank'), baboon, read missal ('If the boar gets
strange, hold your breath.), rat (another light is visible), leopard,
cow, examine summons, get summons, examine rug (slightly different -
remember the name of this room). Head back to the courtyard.
Pig, bear, gazelle, tiger, get cruet, dip note, read note (more clues),
gazelle, rhino (another light), dog, horse, get page, read page. Back to
the courtyard again.
Otter, cat, elephant, boar, hold breath, get bull, elephant, read bull,
read cover, gnu, ox (another light), ram, get pornscroll, read pornscroll
(note the 'word' for future reference), examine rug (different again -
remember the room's name). Now it's time to investigate those four
lights, so head back to the courtyard once more and go tunnel.
Go office, get suitcase, open suitcase, get translator, go boudoir,
examine waterbed, get atomizer, smell perfume. You can now decode the
ledger recalling the instruction to 'subtract one from code'. The first
heading is 'John' and the names listed under it are 'Dr. Dee' (presumably
the '1' signifies a space or full-stop), 'Hoffa' and 'JFK'. The second
heading is 'Nun' and the three names/words are 'Debbie', 'Mine' and
'Ditto'. The final header is 'Fee' and the sums listed are 'Free',
'XL'
and 'CCL'. In other words Hoffa (Jimmy, presumably) paid $40 to sleep
with Mother Puleze, though she charged JFK $250, while Dr. Dee had Debbie
for free.
Go barracks (and note the alcohol smell), go belfry ('someone's been
cutting the bellropes'), go stable, go trapdoor.
Read inscription. Now enter all of the four sections in turn, read the
message in the first room and the clue given at the later intersection.
Return to the courtyard.
Pray pig, bear, rat (remember the strange rug), examine rug and meet the
first puzzle. Solve it (for a clue look at the bottom left and bottom
right corners). Go back to the courtyard, toad, deer, cow. Examine rug -
this one's much easier.
Once you've solved the puzzle head to each of those rooms you were
previously unable to enter, hear the confession of the person you find
there ('hear confession') and don't forget to pick up the knife
discovered by Mother Puleze.
Now head back to the courtyard, go tunnel, go belfry and cut bellrope, go
church, examine catacomb, examine footprint (now you really will need a
dictionary to discover the meaning of 'caduceus' and the resulting
clue!). Go stables, go trapdoor, tie rope, which knot do you prefer?
(well, the only clue you have is on the pornscroll - filling in the gaps
produces 'slipknot'), slipknot, climb rope, go hole and reach the
dénouement.
By now you should be able to work out the identity of the villain (but,
if you want to see both endings and are using an emulator, save the game
here), so take your pick and watch the ending. If you were wrong, just
re-load and try the alternative selection.
A Wibble and Blim production for CASA.
*****************************************************
Displayed on the Classic Adventures Solution Archive:
http://solutionarchive.com
