Key & Compass presents:
Captivity
by Jim Aikin

• Maps
  • Map 1: Main map
  • Map 2: Upstairs
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters, Credits, Inventory
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• Support me on Ko-Fi
• External links:
  • This game at IFDB, and IFWiki.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Maps

Map 1: Main map

Map 2: Upstairs

Walkthrough

The game begins with a content warning about how the topic of abduction and rape in this game is treated in a whimsical way.

I'd also like to mention that you cannot make the game unwinnable. If you do do something that would normally result in failure, the game graciously either rewinds events back to before your mistake or moves objects to where they need to be.

> SPACE

In the Tower

> x me. x necklace. (magical choker.)

> search bed. x hairpin.

> look under bed. take reticule.

> look through window. (You see Duke Esteban fell Otiocoso.)

> x garden. x dogs. x spiked wall. x forest. x river.

> x door. x keyhole. unlock door with hairpin.

> s. d.

At the Bottom of the Tower Stairs

> x panel. look through grille.

> x armor. x banner. (falcon, snake, and axe)

> push falcon. push snake. push axe.

> nw.

South End of the Entry Hall

> s. (locked)

> w.

Front Parlor

The duchess is quite willing to answer your questions.

> x chairs. x tables. x duchess. x hoop.

> x thread. x box.

> a hoop. (She accepts compliments, hint hint.)

> a box. a Porfiru. a Ulia.

> a herself. (She'd like you to admire the embroidery, hint hint.)

> a duke. a dogs. a necklace. a Thibon.

> admire hoop —or— compliment hoop.

The duchess runs off to fetch more embroidery for you to look at. She'll be back in five turns. While she's gone, swipe her box of sleeping powder and hide it in your reticule.

> put box in reticule. z. z. z. z. (She's back.)

> e. n.

North End of the Entry Hall

Thibon blocks the stairs as you enter.

> x Thibon. x dagger.

> a himself. (If you can find his ruby ring, he'll be nicer to you.)

> a dagger. a duke. a duchess.

> a wizard. a dogs. a necklace. a armor.

> w.

Library

> x books. x dust. x harpsichord.

> x sheet. take it.

> play music. tune harpsichord. (can't)

> n. (The rosewood door is locked.)

> e. e.

Great Dining Hall

> x table. x chairs. x fireplace. x window.

> x chandelier.

Experimenting with the chandelier's chain seems warranted.

> take chain. climb chain. unhook chain.

> stand on table. (You can't reach the chandelier.)

> n.

Kitchen

The ferryman tells you that Otiocoso lives and was taken to the monastery to fix his wounds.

> x ferryman. (His name is Gorlick.)

> x cook. ask ferryman about cook. (Bibbidgy hates rats and fire.)

> x stove. x boots. x bucket.

> ask cook about stove. a bucket. a boots.

> a Gorlick. (Duke took away his hurdy-gurdy.)

> ask Gorlick about hurdy-gurdy. (Duke has it in his room.)

> n. (Dogs rush at you if you try.)

> ask cook about dogs. a Thibon.

> e.

Pantry

> listen. x shelves. x onions. x bags.

> w.

Kitchen

There's now a wooden platter of raw steaks and a bowl of cherries. Gorlick says goodbye and leaves.

> x cherries. x steaks.

Get the powder ready to use.

> take box. open it.

> tell cook about rats. (She takes a pan into the pantry.)

Work quickly. You need to put sleeping powder on the steaks and take both the steaks and the cherries and go north with them before the cook returns. If you don't get it right, the game rewinds back to just before you told the cook about the rats.

> put powder on steaks.

> take platter and bowl.

> n.

Stable Yard

The dogs eat the steaks and fall asleep. Leave the platter where it is; you don't need it again.

> x dogs. x chickens. x stable.

> e.

Untended Garden

> x tree. x sundial. x weeds. x grave. dig grave.

> climb tree.

On a Tree Branch

> x spikes. x nest. x ring. take it.

> e. (No, you'd be chopped up.)

> d. s.

Front Yard

> x gate. x padlock.

> unlock padlock with hairpin. (Nope.)

> n. (front door is still locked)

> e. n. s. s.

North End of the Entry Hall

> give ring to Thibon. (He wanders off with it.)

> u.

North End of the Upstairs Hall

> e.

Porfiru stops you from bringing cherries in; he says Hermione is getting too fat to fly. Who's Hermione?

> drop bowl. e.

A Wizard's Workshop

> x wizard. x mustache. x spectacles.

> x desk. x teacup. x drawer. x brazier. x pallet.

> a necklace.

He whistles, takes a silver key from Hermoine the bat, unlocks the drawer, and shows you a blank scroll that he claims tells how to remove the necklace. Scroll, drawer, key, and bat return to their places.

> a bat. a duke. a duchess. a himself. a Ulia.

> a cook. a tea. sip tea.

Before putting Porfiru to sleep, you need him to first fetch his mirror. It's difficult to read the author's mind here. You don't know you need a mirror or that this is the way to get one, nor are you motivated to kiss anyone in this castle.

> kiss wizard. (He fetches a mirror.)

> put powder in tea. (He's now asleep.)

> close box. put it in reticule.

> take mirror.

> whistle. (No, it would wake him.)

> w. take bowl. e.

> put cherries on desk. (The bat arrives.)

> take key. unlock drawer with key.

> open drawer. take scroll.

> take specs. wear specs.

> read scroll. (You can't make sense of it.)

It's difficult to guess the correct syntax for this action:

> read scroll in mirror.

You learn that to remove the necklace, you need to burn a lock of your hair, a holy relic, and some dragon scales.

> w. w.

The Chambers of the Dowager Duchess

> x rugs. look under rug.

> look in hole. (You see the cook stuff a small metal box into one of the boots.)

> x basket. search it. take scissors.

> e. s. e.

The Lavatory

Hm. Nothing helpful here.

> x basin. x pitcher. x tub.

> w. s.

Duke Esteban's Bedchamber

The maid gives you a pamphlet when you enter.

> read pamphlet. (Ulia now wants you to follow her to the chapel.)

You must "follow Ulia" now. You'll come back here later.

> x Ulia. follow Ulia. g. g. g.

Library

Ulia unlocks the rosewood door using a key from her satchel.

> x satchel. follow Ulia.

Chapel

> x sack. x altar. x candlesticks. x bench.

> look in sack. ("mustn't touch!")

> a sack. (Contains a shoelace from Saint Giselda.)

> a shoelace.

Leave Ulia to her devotions for now.

> s. e. n.

Kitchen

> look in boots. take metal box. s.

North End of the Entry Hall

> open metal box. x match.

> u. s. s.

Duke Esteban's Bedchamber

> x bed. x cabinet. x hurdy-gurdy.

> open cabinet. (locked)

> play hurdy. (You need both hands free.)

> drop all. play hurdy.

> play music. (The cabinet opens, revealing a book.)

> drop hurdy. take all but hurdy.

> x book. read book. (How naughty.)

> close cabinet.

> n. n. d. w. n.

Chapel

> give book to Ulia. (She rushes off with it.)

> open sack. x shoelace. take it.

> s. e. n. d.

Cellar

> listen. x casks. n.

Cramped Space

Nothing here? But while wearing the specs, you can see a little dragon here!

> wear specs. x dragon. touch dragon.

> look. x scales. take scales.

> s. u. s. u. e.

A Wizard's Workshop

Reminder: Burn a lock of your hair, a holy relic, and dragon scales.

> cut hair. (using scissors)

> put strands in brazier.

> put shoelace in brazier.

> put scales in brazier.

> light match. put match in brazier. (The necklace falls off.)

This next action is unclued, but you'll be chided later if you "forget" to do it:

> put scissors in reticule.

> x necklace.

> w. w.

The Chambers of the Dowager Duchess

> take rug.

> e. d.

North End of the Entry Hall

The Duke catches you and drags you into the Great Dining Hall. You drop everything you were carrying, but not what you were wearing.

Great Dining Hall

If the scissors weren't in your reticule before, they are now.

> i. x duke.

> take scissors. stab duke. (He lets go.)

> unhook chain. (The chandelier falls on the duke. He's dead.)

> w.

North End of the Entry Hall

> take all. (or just take the rug)

> n. n. e. u.

On a Tree Branch

> put rug on spikes. e.

Oh, Happy Day! You've Escaped!

*** Your virtue is intact. ***

Extras

Characters

• Duke Esteban is the villian who kidnapped you, imprisoned you, and intends to ravish you. You must escape from his manor house before you suffer such a horrific fate.
• Otiocoso is a red-headed man who attempts to rescue you, but fails. You see the duke fell poor Coso from the tower window. You learn later from Gorlick that Otiocoso was not killed, but is now recovering in a monastery.
• The Dowager Duchess Dorolinda is the Duke's mother. Her main concern is her dreadful embroidery. She thinks her son is just going through a phase.
• Porfiru is a sub-standard wizard in the Duke's employ. He's also a vain man who wants a woman's attention. He crafted the magical necklace you wear.
• Ulia is the maid. Her devotion to a holy shoelace is only matched by her obsession over lurid depictions of sexuality.
• Thibon is a blackguard in the Duke's employ. He's the one who'll bury your body if you die.
• Gorlick the ferryman is friendly, but he doesn't dare help you escape unless you can get to the river on your own.
• Bibidgy the cook is actually quite a poor cook since she hates fire and undercooks everything. She also hates rats, but she's not afraid of them.
• Three mastiffs inhabit the stable yard. Thibon trained the dogs to attack by scent and they're always hungry for raw meat.
• Hermoione is Porfiru's pet fruit bat. She wears a key on a ribbon.
• An invisible baby dragon is in a cramped space under the house. Why is it there?

Also:

• A rat is hiding in the pantry. You can hear it squeaking.
• Some chickens are pecking the ground and each other in the stable yard.
• The duke's horse is in the stable.
• Birds can sometimes be heard, and a bird's nest is in a tree.
• Wolves may be in the forest.
• The girls who were the duke's previous victims are likely buried in the untended garden.
• Your parents sent Otiocoso to rescue you.
• Saint Giselda used to own the holy shoelace.

Credits

The response to CREDITS is:

Captivity is copyright (c) 2020 by Jim Aikin. You may distribute this game freely, but may not make derivative works.

Captivity sprang from the idle mind of Jim Aikin. It was written using the muscular TADS 3 programming language created by Michael J. Roberts and the streamlined adv3Lite library created by Eric Eve. Thanks to Eric for supplying a couple of library tweaks and to RealNC for solving a problem with the web-browser-hosted version. Thanks also, and especially, to dedicated testers Marco Alpert, Peter M.J. Gross, Jessica Knoth, Nathan Simpson, Daniel Worm, and JimB for hunting down a plague of pesky bugs! (Shine that gold-tinted spotlight on Nathan and Daniel for a moment, please.) Without the unstinting efforts of the entire testing team, this game would have been a real mess.

Bug reports should be emailed to the author at email redacted.

Inventory

• a necklace. You're wearing it.
• Porfiru, the wizard, enchanted it to strangle you if you somehow venture past the spiked wall.
• While wearing the wizard's specs, read the scroll in the mirror to learn how to remove the necklace: burn the a lock of your hair, a holy relic (shoelace), and some dragon scales and say a particular French phrase. Put all three items and a lit match into the wizard's brazier and the deed is done.
• You will not be willing to pick up the necklace afterwards.
• a hairpin. Acquire it by searching the bed in the tower.
• Unlock the door in the tower with the hairpin.
• a reticule. It's under the bed in the tower.
• When the duchess leaves the parlor, put the enamel box in the reticule.
• After you get rid of the necklace, put the scissors into the reticule.
• a little enamel box containing white powder. It's on a table in the front parlor.
• Ask the duchess about the box to learn it contains sleeping powder.
• To get the box, admire the duchess's embroidery, then put the box in your reticule while she's gone to get more of her work for you to admire.
• In the kitchen, while the cook is busy in the pantry, put some powder on the steaks. Take the platter of steaks to the dogs. They'll eat them and sleep.
• In the wizard's workshop, after the wizard has fetched the mirror, put some powder in the wizard's teacup. The wizard will sip the tea and sleep.
• a sheet of music notation. It's on the harpsichord in the library.
• In the duke's bedchamber, drop everything, pick up the hurdy-gurdy, and play the music to open the cabinet there.
• a wooden platter containing some raw steaks. It's in the kitchen after you visit the pantry.
• While the cook is busy in the pantry, put the white powder on the steaks then take the platter north to the dogs in the stable yard. The dogs will eat the steaks and sleep.
• Leave the platter in the yard; you don't need it again.
• a bowl of cherries. It's in the kitchen after you visit the pantry.
• While the cook is busy in the pantry, take the cherries.
• You can't take the cherries into the wizard's workshop while the wizard is awake; see white powder.
• Put the cherries on the wizard's desk. The bat will fly down to eat them, and you can now take the silver key from it.
• a little hand mirror. Porfiru fetches it when you kiss him.
• While wearing the specs, read the scroll in the mirror.
• some wire-rimmed spectacles. They're on the wizard's desk after he falls asleep; see white powder.
• Wear the specs to see invisible things: the writing on the scroll and the baby dragon (and its scales) in the cramped space north of the cellar.
• a little silver key. The wizard's bat is carrying it. You'll know this if you ask the wizard about the necklace.
• After the wizard is asleep (see white powder), put the cherries on the wizard's desk. The bat flies down to eat them, and you can now take the silver key from it.
• The silver key unlocks the wizard's desk drawer.
• an apparently blank scroll. It's inside the wizard's desk drawer; unlock it with the silver key.
• The writing on the scroll is both invisible and backwards. To read the scroll, wear the specs and read the scroll in the mirror.
• The scroll explains how to remove the necklace.
• some scissors. Find them by searching the sewing basket in the duchess's chamber.
• Cut your hair with the scissors; see strands.
• Put the scissors in your reticule afterwards.
• Later, in the dining room, stab the duke with the scissors.
• a religious pamphlet. The maid offers it to you when you first meet her in the duke's bedchamber.
• Read it. The maid now wants you follow her to the chapel. Do so. The chapel is now unlocked and the maid is now praying there.
• a metal box containing a match. You see the cook put it into a boot in the kitchen by looking through a hole in the floor in the duchess's chamber. Move the rug to find the hole.
• The match helps you remove the necklace; see necklace.
• a hurdy-gurdy. It's in the duke's bedchamber.
• Talking to the ferryman reveals that the hurdy-gurdy is his.
• Take the music sheet to the bedchamber, drop everything, pick up the hurdy-gurdy, and play the music to unlock and open the cabinet.
• a well-thumbed book. It's in the locked cabinet in the duke's bedchamber.
• Take the music sheet to the bedchamber, drop everything, pick up the hurdy-gurdy, and play the music to unlock and open the cabinet.
• The book is pornographic. Give it to Ulia in the chapel who runs away with it.
• a cloth sack containing a holy shoelace. It's on the altar in the chapel.
• To get into the chapel, take the pamphlet that Ulia offers in the duke's bedchamber and read it, then follow her repeatedly to get there.
• Now give the well-thumbed book to Ulia to get rid of her. Now you can take the sack and shoelace.
• The shoelace helps you remove the necklace; see necklace.
• a handful of dragon scales. They're in the cramped space north of the cellar, but they're invisible.
• Wear the specs in the cramped space north of the cellar to see both the baby dragon and its discarded scales. Take some of the scales.
• The scales help you remove the necklace; see necklace.
• some strands of hair. Cut your hair with the scissors to get some strands.
• The strands help you remove the necklace; see necklace.
• a lion rug. It's in the duchess's chamber.
• Look under the rug to find a hole in the floor. Look in the hole to see the cook hide a metal box in one of the boots.
• Take the rug out to the garden, climb up the tree and put the rug on the spiked wall. If you've also removed the necklace, simply head east to escape the manor house and win the game!

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with

• the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Carl Muckenhoupt, Mark Musante, Phil Tatro, Mitch, Astringer, and Vivienne Dunstan;
• the generous support of Janice M Eisen and Matthew Foxley;
• the very generous support of Karl Ove Hufthammer and Lance Campbell;
• the extremely generous support of Emily Short, Allen Garvin, Jesse McGrew, Jacqueline Ashwell, Marius Müller, Jennifer Rexrode, and Durafen;
• and the invisible support of several anonymous patrons.

Ko-Fi is a way to send me small one-time donations. Every little bit helps, and thank you!