In this game set in Baltimore, you play as the detective. A dark-haired beauty walks into your office with a case: she thinks her inherited tenement house may be haunted. You need the rent money, so you agree to investigate.
This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the game.
SPOILERS AHEAD. Reading a walkthrough prematurely can sometimes diminish one's enjoyment of an interactive fiction game. Please make an honest effort to play the game before reading this walkthrough.
Note that you can drive from any sidewalk adjacent to your car to any destination that you know about. Use the destinations command to list them. You do not explicitly enter your car.
Map 2: Courthouse
Map 3: Baltimore Herald
Map 4: Baltimore Library
Map 5: Chapel
Map 6: Old Corbitt Place
Walkthrough
There is no preamble, but know that you're a detective in Baltimore. The year is 1925 or a year or two afterwards.
Your OfficeDowntown
> x me.
A dark-haired beauty makes an entrance.
> x woman.(Abigail Baxter, a woman of sophistication and danger)
> talk to woman. topics.
> ask woman about case.(She thinks her inherited tenement house may be *haunted*.)
> ask woman about haunted.(You agree to check it out. She hands you the address and leaves.)
> i. x suit.
> x photographs. x clippings.
> x desk. x files. x typewriter. x chair.
> x windows. x curtains. x door.
There's nothing to take, so head out.
> w. d. n.
Sidewalk (outside your office)
> x pavement. x building. x car.
> n. destinations.
Before heading to the house, do as much research as you can.
> drive to courthouse.
Sidewalk (outside courthouse)
> x columns. n.
Courthouse Lobby
> x benches. x Bennett.
> ask Bennett about case.(Records room is only for lawyers.)
> ask him about haunted.(okay, fine)
> w.
Records Room
> x shelves. x volumes. x files.
> x documents. search documents.
> i. x will record.(New destination: The Chapel of Contemplation.)
> x cabinets. search cabinets.
> i. x raid report.
> e. s.
Sidewalk (outside courthouse)
> drive to Herald.
Sidewalk (outside Baltimore Herald)
> x building. x lampposts. x lettering.
> n.
Reception
> x reporters. x desks.
> x editor's desk. x Clancy.
> ask Clancy about case.("check out the morgue")
> n. d.
"Morgue"
> x bookshelves. search them.
> i. x story.
> x tables. x lamps. x shadows.
> u. s. s.
Sidewalk (outside Baltimore Herald)
> drive to library.
Sidewalk (outside library)
> x library. x carvings. x tower.
> s.
Main Room
> x windows. x books. x tables.
> x readers. x columns. x balconies.
> x portraits. x dome. x catalogs. x librarians.
> search catalogs. search bookshelves.
> i. x 1. x 2. x 3.
> n.
Sidewalk (outside library)
> drive to chapel.
Sidewalk (outside church)
> x shadows. w.
Burnt Church
> x beams. search beams.
After two turns here, you fall to...
Secret Room
> x skeletons. x cabinet. open it.
> x journal.(You read that Corbitt was buried in his basement "in accordance with his wishes and with the wishes of that one who waits in the dark" before the journal disintegates completely.)
> x debris.
> climb cabinet. u. e.
Sidewalk (outside church)
> drive to house.
Sidewalk (in house's neighborhood)
> x houses. x sun.
> n.
Sidewalk (near vendor)
> x cart. x pretzels. x seller. x apron.
> ask seller about case.(New topic: pretzel.)
> ask seller about haunted.
> buy pretzel. x pretzel.
If you eat the pretzel, buy another one for later.
> eat pretzel. buy pretzel.
> n.
Sidewalk (near house)
> x Corbitt house. e.
Front Walk
> x path. x ivy. x door. x mat.
> look under mat.(You acquire the house key.)
> x key. unlock door with key. e.
Lower Hall
> close front door.
> e.(Nothing in the bathroom.)
> se.
Kitchen
> open basement door.(locked)
> x icebox. open it.(empty)
> x stove. open it.(empty)
> x shelves.
> w.
Dining Room
> x table. x sideboard. x chairs. x tureen.
> w.
Living Room
> x radio. x couch. x chair. x shelves.
> x Catholic items.
> x beads. take beads.
> ne. nw.
Storage Room
> x boxes. x treasures.(water tanks and bicycles)
> se. n.
Wood Room
> x wood. x hammer. take it.
> s. ne.
Mud Room
You can never unlock the side door. Note that if you try to go north, you're merely told you can't go that way; there's no mention of the locked door when you try.
> x essentials. x side door.
> x umbrella. take it.
> sw. u. sw.
Master Bedroom
CAUTION: Examining the window may trigger an event: the bed may throw itself at you, and push you through the window! If that happens, you wake up at bit later on the front walk, surrounded by broken glass. Return here and ignore the window.
> x wallpaper. x window. x bed.
> x table. x lamp. x vanity.
> x robe. take it.
> x basement key. take it.
> ne. s.
Large Bedroom
> x beds. x murals. x desk. x shelf.
> n. se.
Small Bedroom
> x bed. x dresser. open it.(empty)
> nw. d. se.
Kitchen
> unlock door with basement key. d.
Basement
CAUTION: The knife starts attacking you soon after you enter here. Feel free to throw the robe right away, but don't forget to take the lid which acts as a shield.
> take lid. x lid. x boxes. x bags.
> throw robe at knife.(It's snagged.)
With the knife neutralized, you can break through the plaster.
> hit plaster with hammer.
> w.
Wall Space
> give pretzel to rats.
> w.
The Hiding Place
The corpse of Mr Corbitt rises from a table and attacks you! He's a vampire, more-or-less.
Don't waste time examining Corbitt or his amulet. Just hit him with the umbrella or take his amulet.
> hit Corbitt with umbrella.(Repeat until you succeed!)
> take amulet.(Repeat until you succeed!)
*** After unraveling the threads of the enigma that shrouded Corbitt House, you stand at the precipice of revelation. The haunting of this macabre residence, once an impenetrable enigma, now yields its sinister secrets to your unrelenting determination and discerning intellect. The cryptic puzzles and eerie apparitions that once tormented the house's occupants now lay bare, their mystique unraveling like an ancient, tattered scroll. In this moment of triumph, you've not only cracked the case but also exorcised the malevolent forces that clung to the very walls of Corbitt House. The mysteries that swirled around its dark history have succumbed to your unwavering resolve, marking your name as a beacon of light in a world steeped in shadows and eldritch horrors. ***
Extras
Characters
The detective is the player-character. He's been in previous games by the author. Examine the clippings in your office to learn where the previous cases took place.
Abigail Baxter is your beautiful dark-haired client. She inherited a tenement house, she thinks it's haunted, and she wants you to investigate it.
Officer Bennett mans the courthouse lobby.
Clancy is the editor-in-chief of the Baltimore Herald.
Reporters are bustling at their desks.
Librarians in the library are unhelpful.
Readers are reading books in the library.
A pretzel seller is selling pretzels on the street near the Corbitt House. He's happy and content.
Several rats block your way in the basement.
Found dead or undead:
Two human skeletons are in a secret room below the ruins of the burnt church.
Walter Corbitt bought the house in 1835. When he died in 1866, he was entombed in the basement of his house in accordance to his will. When you find him, he's a vampire-like corpse who attacks you immediately.
Mentioned:
The family photographer was brought up on charges.
The people in your photographs are strangers to you.
People look at you funny as you examine the pavement.
Only lawyers are allowed in the courthouse's records room.
Michael Thomas was the reverend or pastor of the Chapel of Contemplation until its closure in 1912. He was arrested in the police raid then sentenced to 40 years in prison, but he escaped in 1917.
The Lord Granter of Secrets is an unknown supernatural entity worshipped by the Chapel. He might also be "that one who waits in the dark" mentioned in the journal.
Several children went missing before the police raid.
Three policemen and seventeen cult members died during the raid, and 54 members of the cult were arrested.
A merchant built the house but fell ill.
Corbitt's neighbors disliked him.
Several families lived in the Corbitt House but all suffered illnesses and accidents. The Macarios lived there in 1918.
Credits
This is the response to ABOUT, HELP, or CREDITS:
To talk to other characters, type "ask {person} about {topic}". To see a list of topics that you can ask other characters, type "topics". Any words in bold are new topics you can ask. If your display doesn't show bold characters, just check "topics" periodically to see any additions.
When researching clues, try the Search command.
If you're stuck, examining things usually yields clues.
This story's playtesters were Geoff Moore, Dr. Francesco Tortorici, Neil Butters, and Christopher Merriner.
This one is dedicated to Mez Cook.
Endings
You have died!
if the floating knife kills you.
You have died.
if the rats kill you.
You have died!
if Mr Corbitt kills you.
After unraveling the threads of the enigma that shrouded Corbitt House, you stand at the precipice of revelation. The haunting of this macabre residence, once an impenetrable enigma, now yields its sinister secrets to your unrelenting determination and discerning intellect. The cryptic puzzles and eerie apparitions that once tormented the house's occupants now lay bare, their mystique unraveling like an ancient, tattered scroll. In this moment of triumph, you've not only cracked the case but also exorcised the malevolent forces that clung to the very walls of Corbitt House. The mysteries that swirled around its dark history have succumbed to your unwavering resolve, marking your name as a beacon of light in a world steeped in shadows and eldritch horrors.
if you destroy Corbitt's corpse, either by successfully stabbing it with the umbrella, or by successfully taking his amulet.
Inventory
Items are listed in the order acquired in this walkthrough.
a cheap suit. You're wearing it.
Ignore it. You may not remove it.
a will record. Acquire it by searching the documents in the courthouse's records room.
Read it. You learn that Rev. Thomas was Corbitt's executor, and you gain a new destination: The Chapel of Contemplation.
a raid report. Acquire it by searching the filing cabinets in the courthouse's records room.
Read it. You learn that the Chapel of Contemplation was raided. The cult there was suspected of abducting children.
unpublished story. Acquire it by searching the bookshelves in the Baltimore Herald's "morgue".
Read it. You learn that several unpleasant incidents happened in the house, to different families who lived there, beginning in 1880.
excerpt 1, excerpt 2, and except 3. Acquire them by first searching the card catalogs, then searching the bookshelves in the library's main room.
Read them. You learn that Corbitt bought the house in 1835, he was dispised by his neighbors, and he was possibly buried in his basement after his death in 1866.
a soft pretzel. Buy it from the pretzel seller outside the Corbitt house.
If you like, eat the pretzel, but be sure to buy another one afterwards.
In the wall space, give the pretzel to the rats to make them leave.
a house key. Acquire it by looking under the mat on the front walk of the Corbitt house.
The house key unlocks the front door of the house.
some well-worn rosary beads. They're in the living room of the Corbitt house.
You may take them and wear them, but they won't help you. Feel free to to ignore them.
a sledgehammer. It's in the wood room of the Corbitt house.
In the basement, after you've dealt with the floating knife, hit the plaster with the hammer.
Note that the sledgehammer is an ineffective weapon. It's too slow to use against the knife or Mr Corbitt, and it only kills one or two rats at a time.
a broken umbrella. It's in the mud room of the Corbitt house.
Try to hit Mr Corbitt with the umbrella repeatedly. If the odds are in your favor, you eventually successfully stab him and he expires.
The umbrella can't help you against the floating knife or the rats, but you're free to try to attack them with it.
a pink frilly robe. It's on the bed in the master bedroom of the Corbitt house.
In the basement, throw the robe at the knife. The knife is ensnared and can no longer attack you or hinder you.
a basement key. It's on the vanity in the master bedroom of the Corbitt house.
In the kitchen, unlock the basement door with the basement key.
a trash can lid. It's on the trash can in the basement of the Corbitt house.
Take the lid; you automatically use it as a shield against the knife's and Mr Corbitt's attacks. As near as I can tell, it always blocks the knife, but sometimes Mr Corbitt can get past it.
You can also try to hit the knife, the rats, or Mr Corbitt with the shield, but it's not really an effective weapon against any of them.
