GRIM OAK MANOR
Solution Key
By Cleveland M. Blakemore
The first step is to go north to the Kitchen. Once there, be sure to pick up the flashlight and the
bucket on the table.
Since the power company shut off all the electricity after your Uncle Nigel died, you'll need
the flashlight to find your way around.
Turn on the flashlight once you have it and go to the East Aquarium Room. Fill the bucket with the
water in the fish tank, and then go back outside.
Enter the Teepee in the Forest. You can't speak to the Indian because of the acrid smoke coming
from his fire in the tent, so douse it with the water in the bucket. Drop the bucket - it has served
its purpose.
Now go back to the Kitchen and get the shovel. Go out to the Forest and use it to dig with it: your
Uncle has something buried out there. Look and you'll find a cigarcase in the hole you've
uncovered. Open the cigarcase. Inside you'll find a quarter and a little fishnet. Drop the net
and cigar-case, they're useless.
Go back inside the Manor and find the Reading Room. There is a pair of spectacles on the couch. Wear
the spectacles. If you read the newspaper, you'll discover that Uncle Nigel was a
marble-shooting champion. Drop the newspaper after reading it, you won't be needing it any
more.
Back to the Kitchen! If you look under the table, you'll find a dime there. Take it.
Go over to the Vending Room and insert both the dime and the quarter into the novelty machine that
rests against the wall. Suntan lotion and a pair of Alka-Seltzer tablets will slide into the
dispenser tray. Leave them there, we'll come back and get them later.
Go to the Lavatory. If you examine the mirror above the sink, you'll see that your hair is a
bit unkempt. Get the comb and comb your hair. Not only will you look more presentable, but the comb
will become charged with static electricity. If you take the comb and use it in the West Aquarium
Room, you'll be able to get that mysterious paper strip out of the grate in the floor. Once you
have it, you can read the word "UMGALAH" scrawled on it by Nigel. This is a secret Indian
term for friendship. Drop both the comb and the paper strip, assuming you can remember the word.
Go back to the Reading Room. If you read the sign on the door to the northwest, you'll see that
it's a "DARKROOM", so be sure to turn off your flashlight before entering - otherwise
you'll spoil all the photographs hanging around. Once inside, get the photograph and develop it
in the tank of silver nitrate. If you look closely, you'll see that Nigel was good buddies with
the Indian camping out in the woods. Drop the picture if you make the connection, and turn the
flashlight back on.
Go back to the Kitchen (a lot of running around, right?) and get under the Table again. Examine the
Table and then look around, you'll find a skeleton key taped beneath it.
Take the skeleton key and go to the top of the Staircase. Unlock the door, drop the key and go
inside the Attic.
Most of the stuff up here is just junk, but that rope is very important. You might want to read that
strange black book closely before you get the rope and head downstairs. Read it, open it and read it
again. If you know what "Nosferatu" means in German, it will help explain our actions
later on.
In the Den you'll find a bottle of champagne in that bottle rack on the north wall. It's
capped but don't try to use the bottle opener to open it. Shake the bottle furiously and the
cap will pop off from carbonation. Chuck the bottle (drinking from it will put you under the Table
in the Kitchen) and pick up the bottle cap. Push the bottle rack to one side, and you'll find a
Closet hidden behind it. Open it and enter it. Move the pile of rubbish and then look, you'll
have discovered Nigel's secret trapdoor to the Cellar. Drop the rope there and pick and wear
the Nehru jacket.
Go out to the Forest and enter the Teepee. With Uncle Nigel's Nehru jacket on, his spectacles,
and your hair slicked back, the old Indian's rheumy smoke-reddened eyes mistake you for Nigel
himself. If you say their secret word, "UMGALAH", the Indian will give you the combination
to the safe on the second floor that Nigel entrusted the Indian with before he passed on.
Drop the jacket, thank the Indian, and go inside the Manor again, to the Vending Room. Stomp on that
bottlecap you have been carrying around. We don't want to encourage criminal behaviour, but the
circumstances warrant creating a slug the size of a silver dollar. Insert the smashed bottlecap into
the vending machine. A pack of crackers falls into the tray. Grab it and the suntan oil and go to
the Study upstairs.
If you unlock the safe with the combination, you'll find that you're unable to open it
because the hinges are rusted over from the dampness. Squirt some of that suntan oil on them to
loosen them up. With a creaking groan, the safe door opens to reveal a golden key. It's okay
right where it is - we'll be back for it. Drop the suntan oil too.
Go to the Vending Room. It's time to pick up the Alka-Seltzer we bought a while back.
Take these to the East Aquarium Room. Give those hungry fish the whole packet of crackers. Fish are
notorious for overeating, and these have not had a bite since Nigel died. In fact, they will eat
themselves queasy. Give the Alka-Seltzer to the fish to ease that bloated "after dinner"
feeling.
There is still something useful in the Lavatory. If you go back inside and examine the shower, the
iron curtain rod will fall down. Get the rod and strike it sharply against the floor. If you know a
little bit about magnetism, you should know you can magnetize almost anything made of iron
temporarily by pounding it at one end. This drives the electrons in parallel lines for a short time.
Some will gravitate to different ends, giving the metal a magnetic field. This is why hammers and
other tools sometimes need to be demagnetized.
Take the rod back to the East Aquarium Room. The fish has swallowed the Alka-Seltzer and burped up
something he gulped down a long time ago, a steel walleye marble that Nigel accidentally dropped
into the tank. Use the iron rod to get the marble off the bottom of the fish tank, then drop the
rod.
Back upstairs now to the Study, to the safe. If you look under the safe, you'll see something
shiny down there. Shoot the steel marble under the edge of the safe to knock the diamond out from
beneath it. This was Nigel's idea of a safe place to put his jewels. Little did he realize that
marble-shooting prowess ran in the family.
Get the diamond and the gold key, and go out to the Teepee one final time. If you trade the Indian
the diamond, he'll give you his tomahawk in return. He figures he's getting the best of
you, but maybe he doesn't remember the Louisiana Purchase.
Take the tomahawk to the Darkroom and dip it in the pan of silver nitrate. We're preparing
ourselves for any "Nosferatu" we might encounter as we prepare to descend to the cellar.
Go to the Closet in the Den and open the trapdoor. Get the rope and tie it to the hook on the wall.
Climb down to the Cellar. Once there, go northeast to the Coffin Room. You've discovered
Nigel's best-kept secret... he has a pet vampire living underneath Grim Oak Manor.
Unlock the coffin with the gold key. The vampire leaps out, very menacing and guarding the coffin
fiercely, but unfortunately for him we toss the silver-coated tomahawk and he goes up in a puff of
smoke.
Nigel's stock portfolio rests inside the coffin, enough assets to buy a small country. You,
acting as his legal heir, now own everything your Uncle did. The portfolio, with its numbers and
records, is all you need to become the owner of the Manor.
Drop the gold key and get the envelope. Climb out of the Cellar and head for the Kitchen.
Incredibly enough, you'll notice a phone there for the first time. If you use the telephone to
call the collection firm, you'll be able to save Grim Oak Manor!!
