It's 1630, outside a cottage near Florence, Italy. You play as Andrea Sarti, a former student of Galileo. Galileo is currently under house arrest for blasphemy; your first task is to check on his health.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.
You can't explicitly knock on the door, but fortunately you do so in the story.
> n.
Antechamber
Conversation in this game is best done with TALK TO. Although ASK ABOUT is supported, everyone has at best only one topic of conversation, which I personally found more frustrating.
> x Virginia. x monk.
> talk to Virginia. talk to monk.
> e.
Main Room
Er, a coffee table in 1630? A quick Google search tells me that coffee itself arrived in Venice in 1615, but coffee tables as such didn't get invented until 1920.
> x Galileo. x chair. x table.
> x bible. take paper. x it. show paper to monk.
Scene 2: Key to the World
Main Room
The monk runs off and Galileo quickly tells you that he has something for you that the church must not get.
But before he can tell you what, the monk returns, and Galileo instead asks for a spoon from the cupboard.
> x transcript. x globe.
> w. w.
Kitchen
Although alone with Virginia here, she seems to have no conversation topics available.
> x table. x geese. x vegetables.
> x cupboard. read lettering.("The garden holds the key.")
> x ramp.
> w.
Garden
> x potato. take metal.
> i. x key.("I am the key to unlocking the world.")
> x carrot. x apple. e.
Kitchen
> open cupboard. take spoon.
> e. n.
Chamber
> x Galileo's bed. x Virginia's bed.
> x holy water.("Holius Waterus Inc."? Are you kidding me?)
> s. e.
Main Room
> unlock globe with key. open globe.
Inside, you discover a manuscript which you automatically take. Galileo bids you leave for Florence and gives you a note of credit. You return the key.
Scene 3: Hiding a Book By Its Cover
Main Room
> i. x Discoursi. x note.(Your full name is mentioned here.)
You learn you need to find a bank and that the person at the winery is named Vincenzo. This game has a weird 'where is the bank' plot point that it would you to hit by finding the winery and the barber shop before you find the bank, which is a bit silly since it's quite likely you'll find the bank on your own before you find all of those other places.
> x bookbinder. x table. x scroll. x tools. x works.
> n. w.
Tailors
> x tailor. talk to tailor.
> e. e.
Milliners
> x assistant. talk to assistant.
> w. n. n. w.
Winery
If you didn't visit the bookbinder earlier, Vincenzo is instead listed here as the "shop assistant". Unfortunately, you can't refer to him as "assistant", only by his name.
> x wine. x Vincenzo. x tables. x bottles.
> talk to Vincenzo.
> e. e.
Trinket Shop
Although you can buy some of these items, I suggest you don't. If you overspend buying this stuff, you'll put the game into an unwinnable state because you won't be able to afford your supplies in scene 4.
> x engraving. x marble. x figurine.
> w. ne. e.
Barber
> x owner. x customer. x staff.
> talk to owner.
> u.
Barber's attic
> x box. open box.
> x parchment. x scales. x logbook.
> d. w. sw. s. s.
Alley
Getting down to business:
> se. w.
Florence Bank
> x counter. x teller.
> talk to teller. i. x sack.
> e. nw. s.
Bookbinders
> talk to bookbinder.
You hand the sack and book over and the bookbinder gives the book a new cover.
Scene 4: Shopping
Bookbinders
> open case. x Analogies.
> n. n. n. n.
Market
> open bag. x list.
You need: a water vessel, 3 vegetables, 2 fruits, 1 meat.
> x vessel. buy it.(It costs F0.2.)
> x carrot.(F0.1)x norange.(F0.2)x coriander(F0.2)
> x pumpkin.(F0.3)x apple.(F0.1)
> x lamb.(costs F0.5.)x veal.(costs F0.4)
> x cow. x sundial.
> buy carrot. buy norange. buy coriander.
> buy pumpkin. buy apple. buy lamb.
That's all you need, and your coach will be arriving soon.
> s. s. w.
Alighieri street
> x driver. talk to driver. enter coach.
You're taken to the Boatman's Inn in Amsterdam.
Scene 5: Holland
Your room
It's not immediately clear what you're expected to do here.
> x desk. open desk. x pencil. x scraps.
> out. w. d.
Main Inn
> x landlord. x resident.
> talk to landlord. talk to resident.
> n. e.
foyer
> x gentleman. x desk.
> put Discoursi on desk. n.
Typesetting room
The job will take a month.
> x type.
> s. w. s. u. e.
Your room
A month passes. A package has arrived. Somewhere.
Oddly, you seem to have the same amount of money as before, even though the room costs a half Florin every day. Also, all the food you bought in Florence is still fresh and uneaten, but ignore all that.
Unfortunately, the next story trigger happens by opening your door, and if the door's already open (and it might be), you'll be wandering around wondering where the package is.
> close door. open door.(The landlord gives you a box, although not into your inventory.)
> take package. open it.
> x Discoursi.
*** The End ***
Extras
Characters
Andrea Sarti is the player-character. As a former student of Galileo's, you will do your best to preserve his legacy.
Virginia is Galileo's daughter.
Monk is Brother Nicolaus, and effectively, Galileo's jailer.
Galileo is the famous Italian scientist, Galileo Galilei. He is pretending to comply with the monk's directives.
A bookbinder is in the Bookbinders.
Some bank tellers are in the Florence Bank.
Vincenzo, the shop assistant, is in the Winery.
A Tailor is in the Tailors.
A shop assistant is the Milliners.
A crowd of people is in the Market.
Seven customers, three staffs and an Owner are in the Barber shop.
A driver is in the coach that arrives on Alighieri street.
A landlord and a resident are in the Main Inn in Holland.
A gentleman is in the foyer of the publishing company in Holland.
Also:
Presumably there is some salesperson in both the Market and the Trinket Shop, but they're not mentioned at all.
Inventory
Useful items
money purse. You're carrying it. It contains some Florins and Denari.
F6.0's worth of Florins and Denari. Found inside the money purse. You'll need to buy the items on your list at the Market with this money.
a bag. You're carrying it. It contains a list. You'll put your market purchases in this bag.
list. Found inside the bag. It tells you want you need to buy at the Market. Buying everything on your list summons the coach to Holland.
travel case. You're carrying it. It contains some clothes and a few books. Hide the Discoursi in it when leaving Galileo's home.
paper. Found by examining the bible in the Main Room. Take it, read it, and give it to the monk.
a key. Found in the Garden after you look at a potato plant. Unlock the globe in the main room with it. You'll return the key to Galileo when you open the globe.
Discoursi. You acquire it when you open the globe in Galileo's main room. Hide the book by putting it in your travel case. The book will be restyled as Analogies (Discoursi) when you give the sack of coins to the bookbinder and it has a new cover. Take the book to Van Rossum's Publishing in Amsterdam and put it on the desk in their foyer.
Galileo's note. Galileo gives it to you at the same time you acquire the Discoursi manuscript. Give the note to the tellers in the Florence Bank.
sack of coins. Received in the Florence Bank when you give Galileo's note to the tellers there. Now go to the bookbinders and give the sack to the bookbinder; he'll give the Discoursi manuscript a new cover.
a lamb chunk. You can buy a lamb chunk at the Market for F0.5. You only need one meat chunk.
a veal chunk. You can buy a veal chunk at the Market for F0.4. You only need one meat chunk.
an apple. You can buy an apple at the Market for F0.1. You need two fruits.
a Norange. You can buy a norange at the Market for F0.2. You need two fruits.
a pumpkin. You can buy a pumpkin at the Market for F0.3. You need three vegetables.
a coriander. You can buy a coriander at the Market for F0.2. You need three vegetables.
a carrot. You can buy a carrot at the Market for F0.1. You need three vegetables.
a water vessel. Buy it at the Market for F0.2.
package. It's delivered to your room after you've given the Discoursi to the printer; opening your door is the trigger event for the package's arrival. Open the package.
a brand new printed copy of the Discoursi. It's inside the package. Read it to end the story.
Unuseful items
some clothes and a few books. Found inside the travel case. Ignore them.
a spoon. Found inside the cupboard in the Kitchen. Although Galileo asks for it, he doesn't need it and neither do you.
some wine and some more wine bottles. They're in the winery. Nothing in the game stops you from taking them.
an engraving. You can buy an engraving for F0.3 in the trinket shop, but you don't need it.
a marble. You can buy marbles for F0.1 each in the trinket shop, but you don't need any.
a figurine. You can buy figurines for F0.3 each in the trinket shop, but you don't need any.
a box. It's in the barber's attic. You don't need it. By the way, it makes more sense to talk to the owner in the barber shop first, then go up to the attic to look at the box.
parchment, scales, and logbook. These are all in a box in the barber's attic. You don't need any of these.
pencil and scraps of paper. They're in the desk drawer in your room in Holland. Ignore them.
type. It's in the typesetting room. You probably shouldn't be able to take it. Ignore it.