Heist is a Z-machine text adventure game written with Inform 5 and is © 1997 by Andy Phillips. At the 1997 XYZZY Awards, it was a finalist for both the Best Puzzles and Best Individual Puzzle awards. This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 4 of the game.
This is a cruel game on the Zarfian cruelty scale. Save often.
There's a lot of randomization in the game. I can tell you what to do, but not exact commands in these cases.
There are several timed puzzles in the game.
Several vital clues are only given once, verbally, by various characters in the game, and it's not always obvious that what was said is a clue. This is unfortunate and could've been handled differently to make the game somewhat more fair.
The game is structured into seven chapters. The middle five chapters are independent of each other and may be completed in any order.
We begin our story at the funeral of Henry Lambert, master thief. You are Elaine, his niece. Will you accept his challenge from beyond the grave? Will you become a master thief in your own right? Will you finish his dream and discover the final secret?
In this chapter, Elaine will collect some tools of the trade, collect six photographs, gain access to her late uncle's flat, and practice her new skills of thievery.
Graveyard
The last rites take four turns to complete. When they're over, a strange man hands you an envelope.
> x priest. x hole. z. z. x envelope. open envelope.
The man says it's time to make your choice. If you answer "no", the game ends immediately. So I guess you, Elaine, are going to be a thief. Remember the clue the man says about the box, that "it will open only when surrounded by the essence of life."
> man, yes. x box.
What else are you carrying, by the way? That bag should help with pesky inventory limits.
> x bag. x frame. x photo.
So. Life of crime, eh? Why not start by robbing your uncle's grave? You know he'd want you to.
> d.
Recently Dug Grave
There's two things on the plaque to take note of: Henry's birth year and the "a badge" riddle. Write down the birth year for later; it's random.
The clue in the letter about "One, Two, ..." should suggest the nursery rhyme "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe". And that should suggest checking out our dear uncle's shoes.
> x coffin. x ribbon. take it.
> x plaque. push it. look in coffin. x corpse.
> search corpse. x boy photo. x shoes. untie shoes.
> look in coffin. take cutter. x it. close coffin. u. s. sw.
Industrial District
A thief needs several tools. Let's see what we can scrape up from the town's debris. This machine looks promising, but we're not quite ready for it.
> x machine. x device. x compartment. x balls. x case. x arm. s.
Outside Warehouse
The crate is just scenery.
> x crate. x rope. take it. n. w.
Scrapyard
Alas, we can't play with the crane and its electromagnet.
> x crane. x ladder. pull rung. take it. x it. n.
Rubbish Tip
> x polythene. take it. se.
Industrial District
Time to plunder the machine. Then, the church.
> cut case with cutter. take arm. search balls.
> pry compartment with rung. open it. take sphere. x it.
> ne. n. n.
Church
The A-G label for the keys might remind you of the "a badge" riddle. And the letters ABADGE are all musical notes. Make sure you're carrying the sphere; it resonates with the organ notes. I'm not sure why we have to refer to the keys as first, second, third, etc. instead of the more natural A, B, C, etc.
> x organ. play first key. play second key. play first key.
> play fourth key. play seventh key. play fifth key.
> x steel key. n.
Altar
Okay, I know some of this is rather unmotivated. There's no reason to break a perfectly good cane, even if it is pretty long for a cane. The altar's script is our hint that we want a red eye for the statue in the next room, but that doesn't really translate into "let's cut a piece of red glass from the freakin' centuries-old stained glass window" does it?
> x altar. x cane. take it. break it. i.
> put short stick in groove. x cross.
> x window. cut window with cutter. take red glass. x it.
> w.
Priest's Quarters
> x statue. x eye. put red glass in eye.
> x painting. (Remember the date.)
> x hole. put cross in hole. turn cross. take girl photo. x it.
Let's try to visit Uncle Henry's flat next.
> e. s. s. s. e. n. n.
Lobby
This harridan of a landlady tells us only people here to pay their respects to Henry have any business here. We can't get past her just yet. She doesn't take bribes; we need some token appropriate for a memorial.
> x landlady. ask landlady about uncle. u.
Hmph. What about that alleyway we say to the side of the building?
> s. ne.
Dark Alleyway
Well, that window is obviously the other way in and out of the flat. And we have a rope. But we still need to get up there first some other way so we can tie the rope to something up there.
> x window. x bin. search bin. take gloves. x them. wear them.
Let's visit the park on the outskirts of town next.
> sw. s. e. n. n.
Riverside
You were told that the box would only open when surrounded by the essence of life. That means it has to be submerged in water. Use the river for that.
> take box. put box in river. push box. (The box goes east, downstream.)
> e.
Downstream
There's no need for the box itself, just the card inside.
> take box with arm. open box. take credit card. x it. s.
Flower Beds
Flowers would make an acceptable "token of respect" if assembled nicely. Still, it's hardly obvious this is what you need to do.
> x flowers. take flowers. x bunch.
> take polythene. put bunch in polythene.
> take ribbon. tie ribbon to bunch. x bunch.
Before returning to that horrible landlady, let's take a brief detour to visit that jewellery store we passed by.
> w. s. w. s.
Jewellers
You want to examine the jewel, find out its randomized characteristics (colour, shape, and country of origin), and open the exit door slightly, so you can reenter the place later. Because you're going to steal the gem. Because you're a thief, remember?
> x case. x eye. ask owner about eye. (Remember the country; he only mentions it once!)
Timing puzzle! Wait until the owner is distracted, then open the exit door. If he catches you doing it, you've lost the game.
> z. open door.
When we leave, the owner will leave too and lock the store up.
> n. n.
Estate
Pause here to prepare for a major timing puzzle. We have several actions we need to perform in our late uncle's flat in a limited number of turns. We can't waste time pulling things out of our black bag. Make sure that Elaine is directly holding the following items: bunch of flowers (wrapped in polythene and tied with a black ribbon), key (from the glass sphere), credit card (from the wooden box), iron bar (the rung from the crane ladder), and rope (from Outside Warehouse).
This is the plan: We show the flowers to the landlady so she'll let us upstairs. Deposit our flowers with the other tokens. Get inside the flat. Tie the rope to something so we can climb in the window later. Get back out of the flat, relocking the door, so the landlady has nothing to complain about. Leave and never see that landlady again.
> take flowers. take key. take credit card.
> take iron bar. take rope. i. save. n.
Lobby
> show flowers to landlady.
Landing
"You have three minutes."
> put flowers on tokens. unlock door with key. open door.
> put credit card in gap. e.
Uncle Henry's Flat
Leave the door open. Ignore the armchair and cuckoo clock. You can't waste time! If the landlady catches you in here, you're through. And she has her own key; you can't lock her out.
> e.
Kitchen
Ignore the weird oven for now. And no, you can't tie the rope to it.
> open window. x window. search window. x ledge. (There's a hole in the window ledge.)
> put iron bar in hole. tie rope to iron bar. w. w.
Landing
It's not critical to relock the door, but it must be closed.
> close door. lock door with key. d.
Estate
Whew. How did Uncle Henry put up with that woman? Anyway, let's climb that rope and see the flat at a more leisurely pace.
> save. ne.
Dark Alleyway
You must be wearing the gloves before you can climb the rope. Also, once the gloves are on, you'll never remove them.
> u.
Kitchen
The oven can make a counterfeit jewel for you, but only once, so get it right the first time. We want a fake copy of the Python's Eye you saw in the Jewellers.
> x oven. x dial. x lever. x tray.
The dial selects the gem's shape. So 4 would make a square gem, 5 would make a pentagonal gem, 6 would make a hexagonal gem, and so on. The dial goes from 4 to 20.
> set dial to NUMBER.
The red button selects the gem's color, shown by the color of the text on the oven's display. There are five possible colors: yellow (for a topaz), white (for a diamond), red (for a ruby), green (for an emerald), and blue (for a sapphire).
> push red button. (Repeat until the correct color is shown on the readout.)
The green button selects the gem's country of origin, shown by the three letters of the text display. There are four possible settings: CHI (for China), IND (for India), RUS (for Russia), and JAP (for Japan).
> push green button. (Repeat until the correct code is shown on the readout.)
When the dial and display describe the Python's Eye correctly, pull the lever.
> pull lever. look in tray. take jewel. x it.
I know you want to check out the rest of the flat, but it's probably best to find out now, rather than later, if you made the fake jewel correctly. So let's steal the Eye.
> d. sw. s. se.
Side Street
> open door. w.
Jewellers
There's at least three ways you can botch this job: by opening the case, cutting the case, or closing the case. You can safely OPEN the case if you turn off the hidden switch. You can never safely cut the case with the glass cutter, so don't do that. You can safely CLOSE the case if the Python's Eye is inside it (or a very good imitation of the Eye).
The case lid is hinged so it can't be left open. And you can't prop it open. And the hidden switch doesn't do anything to stop the alarm if the contents of the case are wrong.
> look under case. push switch.
> open case. take eye. put imitation in case. close case.
> e. nw. e.
Town Outskirts
Trade the Python's Eye for another photo.
> x shady man. show eye to man. x medal photo.
> w. n. ne. u. w.
Uncle Henry's Flat
Remember Henry's birthday from the armchair recording. You can only hear the recording once.
> x armchair. x cushion. move cushion. x statue photo.
> sit on armchair. z. z. z. z. z.
> stand. unlock door with key. open door. w.
Landing
> x tokens. search tokens. take musician photo. x it. e.
Uncle Henry's Flat
> close door. lock it with key.
> x clock. x hand. x hour. x minute.
I don't know how we're supposed to know to set Henry's birthdate on the cuckoo clock, but that's what to do next.
You should know the birth day and month from the armchair recording. You should know the birth year from the coffin's plaque.
First, you set the birth day, then the birth month, finally the birth year, each considered as two digits. The hour hand indicates the "tens" digit; the minute hand, the "ones". Use 10 on the clock when you need a zero.
For example, when I played, the birth date was 19th of March, 1933. That's 19/03/33, which becomes (1 and 9), (10 and 3), and (3 and 3) on the clock.
> set hour to NUMBER. set minute to NUMBER.
> set hour to NUMBER. set minute to NUMBER.
> set hour to NUMBER. set minute to NUMBER.
A secret door opens to the north!
> n.
Memorabilia Room
Congrats, you're almost at the end of chapter one. This room contains the portals to rest of the game. Or it will once you've got it set up.
> x Mona Lisa. take it. x hook.
> take frame. put it on hook. x student photo.
> x model. x beam. touch student photo. take it.
Memorabilia Room
Whichever chapter you just finished, you probably want to save the game first.
> save.
Each photo is a portal to a different self-contained chapter of the game. The student's photo must be done last — it depicts a graduation, after all — but you can do the others in any order. The photo portals are activated by kissing them. I think the clue to this was vaguely suggested at the end of the armchair recording, about being one loving family. "Love" is a synonym for "kiss" in this game.
(The first time you find one of the five metallic artefacts, the game will hint that it's time to return to familiar ground. Although it makes neither scientific or magical sense, kissing an artefact will return you to the Memorabilia Room. It's a weird sort of logic; kissing teleports Elaine into the mission, so kissing also teleports her back at its end.)
To start the final mission:
> put all hollow in bag. take student photo. put it in frame. kiss it. (Continue with Chapter Seven: The Jewel in the Crown.)
In this chapter, Elaine must match wits with the dead pirate queen, Merciless Maria, by playing Maria's little game in and around a dilapidated lighthouse. If worthy, Elaine can claim Merciless Maria's treasure: a metal circle.
Elaine has only the gloves on her hands at the start of the chapter. Because of inventory limits, remember to discard items when they're no longer needed.
CAUTION: You must know the date on Maria's painting, found in the Priest's Quarters, to complete this chapter. If you don't know it, UNDO or RESTORE and go look at it again!
Clifftop
> nw.
Narrow Road
> x car. x trunk. open trunk. look in trunk.
> take compass. x it. break it. x needle.
> take rod. x it. (It's a glowstick.)
> x engine. x belt. take it. se. d.
Beach
> x rocks. take rock. u. e. u.
Lamp Tower
> x lamp. put needle in slit. d. d.
Basement
> x generator. put belt on generator. turn on generator. u. u.
Lamp Tower
> block lamp with rock. turn lamp. g.
> d. w. n.
Grasslands
The light beam shows you which patch of grass to dig.
> dig patch. take cutlass. x cutlass.
> x handle. turn it. take skeleton key.
> s. d. e.
Sheltered Cave
Break the rod to get a lightsource for the cave.
> x seaweed. search it. take glass. x glass.
> x formation. break rod. n.
Cavern
> x crack. put cutlass in crack. drop cutlass.
> X chest. unlock chest with key. drop key. open chest.
> look in chest. take all from chest.
> x parchment. drop it.
> x pouch. open it. x gunpowder. x red gem.
> x water. u.
Cramped Space
The stalactite is too far away. The overhanging rock is loose, but not loose enough.
> x stalactites. take stalactite. x overhanging rock. push it.
> d. s. w. u. e. u.
Lamp Tower
No, we can't get another rock from Beach. We must reuse this one.
> take rock. d. w. d. e. n. u.
Cramped Space
CAUTION: You lose the rock forever when you throw it at the stalactites. So if you use the rock for this puzzle first, you won't be able to jam the spining lighthouse lamp later.
> throw rock at stalactite. (A beam of sunlight hits the overhanging rock.)
> take gunpowder. put it on overhanging rock. put glass in light. (Boom. The waterfall is now blocked.)
> drop glass. put red gem in pouch. d. n.
Damp Tunnel
> x door. x skeleton. x leg. take leg. s. s.
Sheltered Cave
Karate chop!
> put leg on formation. break leg. take blue gem. put it in pouch. n. n.
Damp Tunnel
This door is evil, and you will want to save first.
> x door. x wheel. x lever. save.
The wheel is marked with letters, Roman numerals, in fact. Pulling the left lever turns the wheel counterclockwise; pulling the right lever turns the wheel clockwise; pulling the central lever "enters" the current letter, but there's no display to show you which letters you've entered so far.
According to the parchment riddle, you'll want to start with Merciless Maria's initials, MM. You'll also need her "year of pain", which is on the painting way back at the Priest's Quarters. When I played it was 1698; that's MDCXCVIII in Roman numerals. Assuming that year isn't random, you'll want MMMDCXCVIII as the door code.
The wheel starts pointing at "L".
> pull left. pull central. g. g. (MMM...)
> pull left. pull central. (MMMD...)
> pull left. pull central. (MMMDC...)
> pull left. pull left. pull central. (MMMDCX...)
> pull right. pull right. pull central. (MMMDCXC...)
> pull left. pull central. (MMMDCXCV...)
> pull left. pull left. pull central. g. g. (MMMDCXCVIII)
There is no final reassuring clunk to tell you if the door is unlocked or not. Try and hope you don't die.
> open door. n.
Merciless Maria's Tomb
Needless to say, there's one more trap. If you dare to take the circle from the tin pan, you must first pay for it with something of equal weight. Although there's no clues that suggest it, a pouch holding five gems will do the trick.
> x pan. look in pan. x circle.
> x skeleton. x eyepatch. move it. x green gem. put it in pouch.
> x ring. x black gem. take it. put it in pouch.
> x mouth. look in mouth. take white gem. x it. put it in pouch.
Once all five gems are in the pouch, you can use it to claim the metallic circle.
CAUTION: Put the pouch in the pan first, THEN take the circle. Taking the circle first is fatal.
CAUTION: Timing puzzle. Don't hesitate to take the circle once the pan has been disturbed. You only have one turn to take it.
> put pouch in pan. take circle. kiss circle.
This kissing action returns Elaine, her gloves, and the circle to her uncle's Memorabilia Room. All her other inventory from this chapter is lost, and any inventory she had when she kissed the girl's photo is restored. The girl's photo spontaneously burns away, leaving an empty frame.
Return to the Memorabilia Room.
In this deadly chapter, Elaine must evade detection and salvage tools while underwater, then infiltrate a military compound to steal a most top secret artefact: a metal triangle.
She begins with only the gloves on her hands.
Powerboat
Timing puzzle! Move quickly! Don't get caught by the helicopter!
> wear suit. x fish. take net. search fish. take device. d.
Seabed
Timing puzzle! Don't get caught by an underwater drone! Note: You will be caught instantly if you visit Shallows during this puzzle.
> se.
Rocky Territory
> x rocks. move rock. d.
Underwater Cavern
Arriving here is sufficient to throw off the drone's scent. You can relax a bit now.
The crate puzzle here involves repositioning it within the current location and refering to a room feature. This is a very difficult thing to convey properly in pure text without extra clueing that the necessary action is even possible. So, yeah, another not-fair-enough puzzle.
> x suit. x net. x device. (Finally a free moment to examine these.)
> x crate. x passage. take crate. u. put crate under passage. u. n.
Underwater Junkyard
CAUTION: Touching the mine directly will kill you.
It's also difficult to convey relative sizes in pure text games. I never thought the net could possibly carry the mine since I assumed incorrectly that the net was far too small. It didn't occur to me to even try taking the mine with the net.
> x mine. x container. take mine with net. s.
Rocky Territory
As Plucky Duck would say, "bomb go down the hooooole."
> put net in passage. d.
Underwater Cavern
The cutters have two settings but maddeningly don't tell you what their current setting is when you examine them! That's not fair.
> look in crate. take all from crate. x clips.
> x cutters. turn knob. turn knob. u. ne.
Coral Reefs
> x anchor. take it. w.
Underwater Junkyard
> cut container with anchor. drop anchor. take liquid with device. se.
Shallows
> x reeds. take reed. x reed. x ladder. u.
Landing Area
You might as well take off that diving suit now; the rest of this mission is on land.
> remove suit. save. se.
Clearing
The conversation here is a contains a few clues: you'll want something that the guard is carrying and you'll also want his name.
After the conversation is over, a timing puzzle begins! A guard will approach the clearing from the north. If the guard sees you in the clearing, you'll die. Also, HIDE IN BUSHES is different from HIDE UNDER BUSHES. The former works; the latter does not.
> hide in bushes. x bushes. take thorn. put thorn in reed.
If the guard has come and left again, wait until he returns. When the guard is in the clearing:
> blow reed at guard. x guard. take uniform. wear it. x uniform.
> x guard. take watch. x watch. wear watch. push button.
> x shorts. n.
Outer Perimeter
The uniform must be worn to safely enter the compound.
> n. n.
Inner Perimeter
I just want you to see the electrified fence before we mess with the Power Room.
> x fence. s.
Military Compund
> x door. pour acid on door. open door. e.
Power Room
Nothing's labeled here, so you must not only guess from the set-up that pulling the switch will shut off everything including the electrified fence, but also that the black cable conveys power to everything else except the fence.
We want to use the cutters to strip the insulation off the cable without cutting through it, so use the cutters on their wide setting. If you accidentally cut through the cable, UNDO, then TURN KNOB and try again.
> turn knob. cut cable with cutters.
> put clips on battery. put clips on cable.
> pull switch. w. n.
Inner Perimater
Use the cutters on their narrow setting this time.
> turn knob. cut fence with cutters. n.
Centre Of Compound
> x grating. move grating. w.
Ventilation Shaft
> x fan. x piping. pull piping. take dusty pipe. put pipe in fan. w.
Military Arsenal
Just two puzzles left to solve and this mission is over.
> x sign. x drawer. x watch. push button.
The watch shows two numbers separated by a colon, but there's also that +/− marking. Setting the left dial to the first number and the right dial to second number doesn't work. But setting the left dial to the sum of both numbers and the right dial to their difference does work.
For example, when I played, the watch displayed 10:40. So that meant the combo was 50 and 30.
> set left dial to SUM. set right dial to DIFFERENCE.
> open drawer. x box. x sign.
The box is voice-activated, as suggested by the overheard conversation in the clearing. Out loud, spell the guard's surname (on the uniform) using the corresponding Greek letters (as suggested by the sign) to get the box open.
For example, when I played, the guard's name was BATES. So I had to say BOX, BETA. BOX, ALPHA. BOX, TAU, BOX, EPSILON, BOX, SIGMA.
> box, GREEKLETTER. (Repeat for each letter in the guard's name.)
> open box. x triangle. take it. kiss it.
This kissing action returns Elaine, her gloves, and the triangle to her uncle's Memorabilia Room. All her other inventory from this chapter is lost, and any inventory she had when she kissed the medal's photo is restored. The medal's photo spontaneously burns away, leaving an empty frame.
Return to the Memorabilia Room.
In this chapter, Elaine is prowling about on a cruise ship. She'll need to impersonate a waiter to gain entrance to a countess's cabin where she'll steal a fancy dress. Then, in her new finery, she must gain access to the captain's cabin and steal his artefact: a metallic square.
She begins with only the gloves on her hands. Because of inventory limits and timing issues, be sure to discard items when they're no longer necessary.
Observations Deck
> e.
Recreation Deck
> x sunbeds. x wires. take wire.
> x lamppost. e.
Swimming Pool
Assume that we're not in the pool, just walking around it. We can't take the uniform just yet, but feel free to try.
> x dinghy. x uniform. x couple. take uniform. w. w. d. e.
Starboard deck
> x cabinet. open it. pick cabinet with wire. open it.
> take all from cabinet. x oil. x flare. drop wire.
> w. w.
Port Deck
Don't take the pole just yet. Besides, the game won't let you walk all over the ship with a piece of broken railing in your hands because that might look suspicious.
CAUTION: Entering the lifeboat is a dangerous timed puzzle. You may want to save first.
> x railing. take it. look.
> x lifeboat. save. enter lifeboat.
Lifeboat
The item you want is the cloth. That's easy. The hard part is getting out of the lifeboat. It's sunk below the deck level and swinging all over the place. Attempting to climb the rope is fatal. Waiting too long to do anything is also fatal.
> take cloth. swing boat. grab ladder.
Port Deck
I'm gonna use Port Deck as a cache location for, uh, stuff we collect.
> x cloth. drop it. e. s. e.
Bar
> x tray. take it. e.
Dance Floor
Just to add some context, we see that the captain is preoccupied with another woman.
> x captain. x woman. w. w. w.
Lounge
You can win a bottle of champagne by playing a simple card game. Er, by cheating at a simple card game.
> x man. x table. x bottle. look under table.
> sit on chair. ask man about cards. say yes.
> put tray under table.
The suit will be one of hearts, spades, diamonds, or clubs, of course.
> look in tray. say SUIT.
> look in tray. say SUIT.
> look in tray. say SUIT.
> stand. e. d. w.
End Of Corridor
> x memorial. x urn. take urn. e. e.
Outside Cabin
Countess Venina? Sounds important.
> x door. knock on door. w. u. u. w.
Port Deck
> take pole. take cloth. e. u. e.
Recreation Deck
> put cloth on lamp. e.
Swimming Pool
The first take is to bring the uniform within reach. The second take is needed to actually pick it up.
> take uniform with pole. take uniform. w. w. d. w.
Port Deck
> drop pole. wear uniform. put bottle in urn.
> e. d. d. e.
Outside Cabin
Surprisingly, we don't use the tray for this part. If you go in uniform with just the bottle, the Countess will distainfully inform you that champagne must be served in an urn.
> knock on door.
First Class Cabin
Timing puzzle! Hide before the Countess finishes her shower.
> put urn on table. close door. hide under bed.
CAUTION: The Countess is now sleeping, but be very careful not to wake her. The wardrobe door squeaks, and any attempt to leave via the cabin door stirs up an air current that wakes her.
> x wardrobe. oil it. open it. look in it.
> x dress. take it. close wardrobe.
> open door. knock on door. (Ha, she thinks you just entered!)
Outside Cabin
> remove uniform. wear dress. drop uniform. w. u. e. e.
Dance Floor
Now that you're well-dressed, the woman with the captain will soon get an urge to get a drink. Follow her to the bar.
> z. (Repeat waiting, if necessary, for woman to leave.)
> w.
Bar
Make sure the woman has an "accident" with her drink.
> push drink. e.
Dance Floor
Make sure you still have the flare with you; this is a one-way trip.
> i. save. dance with captain.
Captain's Cabin
Stall for a couple turns until the captain's phone rings and he heads southeast. When he does, you head southwest.
> x bed. x captain. sw.
Bathroom
Timing puzzle! Just grab everything from the cabinet and get back before the captain's phone call ends.
> open cabinet. take all from cabinet. ne.
Captain's Cabin
Timing puzzle! Put the pill in the captain's wine when he's too busy kissing you to notice. If he catches you, or if you delay too long, you'll be caught.
> x pill. x syringe.
> z. (Continue waiting until the captain is back and inattentive.)
> put pill in wine. se.
Study Not that it matters, but where did the phone go? Also, if you still have
the wire with you, you'd find out it's not strong enough to pick the safe with. > x desk. look under desk. take pen. x pen. > x portrait. point pen at portrait. push button. > x safe. x keyhole. pick safe with syringe. (The gears aren't loose enough.) > put flare in hole. pull flare. put syringe in hole. > take square. x square. kiss square. This kissing action returns Elaine, her gloves, and the square to
her uncle's Memorabilia Room. All her other inventory from this chapter is lost, and any inventory she had when she kissed the boy's photo
is restored. The boy's photo spontaneously burns away, leaving an empty frame. Return to the Memorabilia Room. In this chapter, Elaine sneaks into a crimelord's country estate and finds out about an artefact to be exchanged at an airfield rendezvous.
She will have to find a way to tag along unseen and steal the artefact, a metal hexagon, for herself. She begins with only the gloves on her hands. Because of inventory limits and timing issues, be sure to discard items when
they're no longer necessary. Country Estate > x gate. open gate. look in keyhole. n. Quiet Glade The acorns are just scenery. Remember the squirrel for later. > x squirrel. x leaves. move leaves. take peg. x peg. sw. Forest Note: The term "evergreen" is not just a synonym for pine trees. Other plants can be evergreens as well,
and some of them do have broad flat leaves. I didn't know that and I was very confused. > x evergreens. take leaves. x leaf. e. Country Estate The classic key-on-the-other-side-of-the-door puzzle. Note: you won't need the key or leaf after
this point, but keep the peg. > put leaf under gate. put peg in keyhole. take leaf. take key. x key. > unlock gate with key. drop key. open gate. save. s. Rear Garden As soon as you enter the garden, a vicious dog will appear. He won't attack immediately, but after enough turns in his
presence, he will attack you and you'll die. So you'll need to get rid of him eventually. > se. Servant's Entrance The dog won't follow you into the house or out past the gate. When he stops following you, he returns to Rear Garden. > s. Kitchen The pot and oven aren't implemented. > x meat. take it. x table. x cheese. take it. > look under table. x peanuts. take peanuts. n. n. Corner Of Garden We shall prepare a trap for the dog here. You might get stuck at this puzzle 1) if you never think
of entering the fountain, 2) if you don't associate cheese with cobras or plugs, and 3) if you can't guess the verb "pry"
for removing the plastic casing. This puzzle ought to have been easier to solve. CAUTION: Remember to leave the fountain before removing the cheese. You don't want to electrocute yourself! > x fountain. x cobra. look in fountain. x water. > put cheese in cobra. enter fountain. look in fountain. > x casing. pry casing with peg. out. > take cheese. eat it. drop peg. w. Rear Garden The dog should be here. You want him to follow you now. Note that he's interested in the meat. > e. Corner Of Garden And we kill a dog. Sad, but it was him or us. > put meat in fountain. x dog. sw. Side Of House The baskets and flowers aren't implemented. If you try throwing stuff at the button, you'll miss,
but don't try it now; take my word for it. CAUTION: Opening the window while the alarm system is on is fatal. > x window. x button. break glass. n. n. n. Quiet Glade The squirrel is real reason the dog had to die. We need the squirrel to push the button for us
and we can lure him there with the peanuts. If the dog was still around, the squirrel would be too frightened to enter the garden. > show peanuts to squirrel. s. s. s. Side Of House Yay helpful squirrel! > save. throw peanuts at button. open window. s. Library The desk is unimportant; it's just somewhere for the button to be on.
The note is our only clue why we're sneaking around this house in the first place. > read note. x books. s. s. Drawing Room Most of this room is unimplemented, including the piano and fireplace. We're only interested in the cane and the box of fingers. > x fingers. x cane. take cane. n. e. Entrance Hall CAUTION: Opening the front door is fatal. Clumsily, "buttons" isn't recognized by the game, and the description of the remote itself doesn't say how
to disambiguate them. The top button changes channels; the middle raises the volume; the bottom lowers the volume. > listen. x sofa. search sofa. look under sofa. put cane under sofa. > take remote. x remote. x button. > x top button. x middle button. x bottom button. > save. n. Security Control Room The monitors aren't implemented, nor is the rack. CAUTION: The guard will kill you if he spots you. > x guard. x television. x iron key. > point remote at television. push middle button. A timing puzzle: Wait until the game says the guard is as distracted as he can possibly be before making your move. > z. (Repeat waiting, if necessary.) > take iron key with cane. s. w. n. Library So, what does this iron key unlock? We've seen the entire house, haven't we? Perhaps we missed something in the library. > x key. search books. point remote at books. push top button. > x door. unlock door with key. open door. w. Front Drive CAUTION: The bodyguard will kill you if she sees you. You need a distraction. You can sacrifice anything you've found in
the house; it doesn't have to be the iron key. The gargoyles aren't implemented. Also, the poisonous berries cannot be taken. Sorry. > x woman. x limo. x shrubbery. throw iron key at shrubbery. s. Limousine Trunk CAUTION: Opening the trunk at the wrong time is fatal. Timing puzzle: You must open the trunk when you hear the woman "is almost right on top of you."
This will knock her out and give you a chance to plan your next moves. Note: The oily rags and earth aren't implemented; ignore them. > x violin. take it. z. (Continue waiting until she's on top of you.) > open trunk. Aircraft Hangar You'll need to tie and gag the woman to be sure she won't interfere later. Weirdly, the verb "gag" isn't implemented.
Also, neither the bandages nor the stethoscope are suitable things to tie up the woman with. > drop remote. drop cane. x woman. take hairpin. take tie. > tie woman with tie. x kit. open it. take all from kit. > x bandages. put bandages in mouth. x stethoscope. > x window. x doors. (The doors are open, just rusted in place.) > unscrew violin with hairpin. drop violin. take rifle. > x rifle. x sight. adjust sight. save. u. Hangar Roof CAUTION: You will die or otherwise fail if the woman isn't tied up, if the woman isn't gagged, if the rifle sight
isn't adjusted, and if you fail to shoot the man in the dark glasses at the appropriate time. Timing puzzle! The sequence of events on the roof has been politely cycling until your arrival. At some point,
possibly the very turn you enter the roof scene, the man with the dark glasses will step away from the other man.
This is when you must shoot. Until it happens, just wait. > shoot man. The man with the dark glasses dies and falls off the roof with his prize; the other man flees. > d. e. Misty Airfield This is a bit painful. You need to use the stethoscope to discover the correct four-digit number that unlocks the briefcase lock.
Unfortunately, this will involve trying a lot of incorrect numbers. The number is randomly chosen, so I can't just tell you what it is. > x corpse. x briefcase. take it. > wear stethoscope. put stethoscope on lock. Start by trying 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, etc. until you hear one click. > set lock to 1000. set lock to 2000. (etc.) Assuming that the correct first digit is 6, change the second digit by trying 6100, 6200, etc. until you hear two clicks. Continue with the third digit, and finally the fourth. Eventually, you will hear four clicks and something slide.
That means the briefcase is now unlocked. > open briefcase. x hexagon. take it. kiss it. This kissing action returns Elaine, her gloves, and the hexagon to
her uncle's Memorabilia Room. All her other inventory from this chapter is lost, and any inventory she had when she kissed the musician's photo
is restored. The musician's photo spontaneously burns away, leaving an empty frame. Return to the Memorabilia Room. In this chapter, Elaine robs a museum of its prize exhibit: a metallic octagon. As usual, Elaine has nothing initially but the gloves on her hands. City Street > x children. n. Foyer > x guard. x alarm point. > z. (Repeat waiting until you've seen the guard look at his thermos.) > w. Exhibition Area > x cannon. e. e. Information Desk Unfortunately, you can only take one sweet at a time. And "candy" isn't a synonym. Note: You can only tell the tourist about the cannon if you've actually seen it. > x tourist. x camera. x sign. x sweets. take sweet. > tell tourist about cannon. w. w. Exhibition Area Take the camera while he's engrossed with the laser cannon. You should also know that
the camera only has film for one more photo, so don't waste it. > take camera. e. s. > show sweet to children. n. Foyer Just TASTE the sweet to make it sticky; don't "eat" it.
Unfortunately, "lick" doesn't work; the game seems to equate licking with kissing. Also, make sure you open the thermos ahead of time. > taste sweet. put sweet on alarm. take thermos. open it. e. Information Desk Yes, we want another sweet. The darn things are useful. > take sweet. w. n. Main Corridor > x pictures. x curtain. open curtain. e. Alcove We want to pre-prepare the alcove so we can use the armour as our hiding spot
when the museum closes. There's a light-sensor under the armour that we don't want to set off.
Weirdly, nothing can block it but a sticky sweet or a suit of armour. > x armour. x bulb. turn bulb. (The bulb is off.) > take armour. x device. taste sweet. put sweet on device. > drop armour. turn bulb. (The bulb is back on.) > w. n. South Balcony Note: Any attempt to go north, down, west, or east starts the tour.
A timer starts once the tour starts, so you probably want to save first. > save. x guide. n. Octagonal Chamber While the tour is happening you can't leave. Note the guide's description of how the exhibit is protected. > x case. look in case. x octagon. South Balcony You have ONE TURN to take the ice cream before you're shooed south. > take ice cream. Main Corridor Two timing puzzles! First, you must stop that ice cream from melting! > put ice cream in thermos. close thermos. Secondly, the museum is closing. Time to hide in the armour! > e. Alcove You must have the armour on, the bulb on, and the curtain closed.
It's okay to hold onto the thermos and camera. > close curtain. take armour. wear armour. > z. (Repeat waiting until the guard stops by and moves on.) > remove armour. drop it. w. Main Corridor > x shutters. save. n. South Balcony You spot someone at East Balcony, but he doesn't spot you. What luck.
Stay away from East Balcony for now. And, of course, avoid going down
to Octagonal Chamber! It's not safe! > w. West Balcony > x table. x gong. x pillar. x cordon. take rope. > tie rope to table. tie rope to pillar. hit gong. If the other guy is coming from the north, head south! If he's approaching from the south, head north! > s. or n. as appropriate. (The guy trips over your rope trap.) South Balcony (or maybe North Balcony) > w. West Balcony > x watchman. take keys. x keys. > untie rope. g. take rope. s. e. East Balcony > take crossbow. x it. tie rope to bolt. n. North Balcony First, fool the video camera. > x video. x case. photograph case. > x box. unlock box with keys. open box. > x yellow button. x blue button. x red button. x meter. > push yellow button. put photograph on video. push yellow button. Second, open the case using the "9X9BIN" clue written on the watchman's arm.
Nine times nine is 81; in BINary, that's 1010001. Push the blue ("ZERO") and red ("ONE") buttons appropriately: > push red button. push blue button. push red button. > push blue button. g. g. push red button. Third, remembering the pressure plates, we'll need another way down. You did tie the rope to the crossbow bolt earlier
like I asked, didn't you? > shoot case. d. Octagonal Chamber One last trap: the black cushion is heat sensative. So quickly put the ice cream on it, grab the octagon, and get out of there
before the ice cream melts! > look in case. x cushion. open thermos. > take ice cream. put it on cushion. take octagon. kiss it. This kissing action returns Elaine, her gloves, and the octagon to
her uncle's Memorabilia Room. All her other inventory from this chapter is lost, and any inventory she had when she kissed the statue's photo
is restored. The statue's photo spontaneously burns away, leaving an empty frame. Return to the Memorabilia Room. In this chapter, Elaine plunders an abandoned toy factory and visits cyberspace before stealing the Crown Jewels of Denario
from the vault in the National Depository. And maybe learning why Uncle Henry wanted her to do all this in the first place. Elaine begins her final mission with all five metal artefacts, her black bag, and her gloves (being worn).
(Or at least, she should. Kissing the student's photo works if Elaine has all five artefacts on her person, but
doesn't check if she has the bag. So it's possible for the bag to be left behind.) Abandoned Toy Factory > u. Supervisor's Office > x desk. x drawer. open drawer. look in it. > x poster. take it. put it in bag. > take drawer. look in socket. take gas. take terminal. > x gas. x terminal. d. w. Production Line With nothing written on the sliders and several items to play with and nothing
saying what the machinery does exactly, this puzzle is almost a guess the author's mind situation,
solvable only by trial and error. I say "almost" because some experimentation can cut down some of the guesswork. Only one item
can fit in the input tray at a time, and only the gas cylinder bypasses the sensors,
so you can safely assume that only the gas cylinder is used. Experimentation with the sliders is less clear, but I think the left slider controls
the belt speed, and the right slider controls the arm speed. > x machines. x glass. x belt. x tray. look in input. look in reject. > x panel. x slider. x first. x second. x button. > put gas in input. set first to 1. set second to 3. push button. > w. Packing Room The booth is a bizarre clumsy interface. It detects which direction you move and how you move as a guide
to how to remotely control a mechanical arm. You can try going north, south, west, or east in the booth.
JUMP or UP to make the arm go up; CROUCH or CRAWL to make the arm go down; SPIN or TURN to make the arm spin. What you are trying to do is not only to put the can on the arm onto the gas cylinder,
but also (much less obviously) screw them together to create a spray can. > x belt. look in output. x gas. x booth. enter booth. I'm assuming the arm begins both left and slightly behind the gas cylinder.
Leaving the booth and re-entering should reset the arm, if necessary. > x arm. s. jump. e. crouch. spin. out. > take can. x it. It'd be nice to know what sort of gas we're carrying, wouldn't it? But although the gas cylinder had
"Kiss me goodbye" written on it, the spray can isn't labeled at all. > e. e. s. Storeroom The shelves and forklift aren't implemented. > x box. open box. take all from box. > x cotton. x ring. x doll. Grr. I have no idea how players are supposed to know they should pull the head off the doll.
Not only is doll's head not mentioned specifically, the command BREAK DOLL is dissuasive,
telling us "The plastic the doll is made from seems very firm." Further, HUG DOLL, THROW DOLL, and PLAY WITH DOLL give
no suitable suggestions. So, I found this puzzle quite unfair. > move box. x manhole cover. open it. > pull doll's head. x spike. pry manhole cover with spike. d. Sewer System Alas, this is a maze. And it can't be mapped by dropping items. The solution is hinted at by the poster
found in the office. I thought the answer was SWEDEN, treating each letter as a direction of travel, but no, that was too straightforward.
The real answer is NUDESWEDEN. Oh, if you want to return back to the Storeroom from anywhere in the sewer, just FOLLOW ARROWS. > save. x arrows. > n. u. d. e. s. w. e. d. e. n. End Of Tunnel > x bricks. move bricks. x socket. u. Car Park Every so often, a car will park in the lot, and its driver will head into the Depository.
A variable number of turns later, the driver returns and drives off. The car type, car color, driver gender,
driver hair color, and a few other variables are random. However, the car is always locked, has
a sticker, window, mirror, and has an identification card and tiny silver key on the seat. Obviously, you need to break into the car and steal the card and key. > z. (Wait until a car appears.) > put spike under car. z. (Wait until the driver returns.) Now the window is partly open and the driver is gone again. > take ring. throw ring at lever. take card. take key. > x mirror. (Make note of your own hair and eye colours.) > x card. (Make note of the card logo's colour and shape.) > d. (Abandon the doll and ring; you don't need them again.) End Of Tunnel The terminal has to be carried to be plugged into the socket. Walking away
will automatically unplug it. > plug terminal into socket. x terminal. push switch. Information Superhighway In this virtual realm, you only have sight and touch. You want to change the spinning
shape so its colour and shape match the logo on the identification card you just stole. Only then can
you enter the glass tubes safely. CAUTION: Entering the tubes when the shape is incorrect is fatal. > take spray can. x it. turn rim. (Repeat turning it until the rim shows the desired colour.) > spray shape. (The shape should now be the desired colour.) > touch shape. (Repeat touching the shape to change its shape until it matches the logo.) The spray can colours are black, red, brown, yellow, green, and blue.
The possible shapes are cube, sphere, tetrahedron, and octahedron.
Make sure you take the spray can with you when you enter the tubes. > enter tubes. Cubical Chamber Here, you are reprogramming the database record for the identification card
so that it describes your features: hair colour, eye colour, and gender.
(It currently shows the features of the car's driver, of course, which was randomized.)
You should know your hair and eye colours by looking at the car's rear view mirror recently. > x bust. x symbol. > turn rim. (Repeat until the rim matches your hair colour.) > spray hair. (The bust's hair should now match your hair.) > turn rim. (Repeat unti the rim matches your eye colour.) > spray eyes. (The bust's eyes should now match your eyes.) The symbol turns between a circle with an arrow (♂), and a circle with a cross (♀);
these are symbols for male and female respectively. If the driver was female, you don't need to change it. > (if the symbol shows male:) turn symbol. When you're done, return to reality through the gray doorway. > enter doorway. End Of Tunnel > u. e. National Depository > x secretary. show card to secretary. Elevator > x manager. spray manager. take gold key. w. Outer Vault Ignore the plants; they're just scenery. > save. x sign. (Remember the deactivation time!) > x door. x slot. > x top slot. x central slot. x bottom slot. > x left slot. x right slot. I expect this is randomized, but the five hollow metallic shapes you collected
in the last five chapters are just keys for this door. Really anti-climactic, if you ask me.
Each slot shows two numbers: the first number changes when you insert a shape; the second
number is the target value. So you want each pair of numbers to match. > take circle. put it in ADJECTIVE slot. > take square. put it in ADJECTIVE slot. > take octagon. put it in ADJECTIVE slot. > take hexagram. put it in ADJECTIVE slot. > take triangle. put it in ADJECTIVE slot. > s. Inner Vault > x jewels. x hatch. x keyhole. > put silver key in left keyhole. put gold key in right keyhole. > take cotton. tie it to silver key. tie it to gold key. pull cotton. > x panel. x stopwatch. x socket. x lever. > plug terminal in socket. save. push switch. Virtual Plane Yes, a second maze in the final chapter! The entire maze is a digital clock display;
four digits where each digit is made from seven possible lit lines. Each location in the maze
corresponds to one of the 28 segments. There's a floating sphere at each location; touch it to change
it from red to green or from green to red. The corresponding segment lights up when its sphere is green. The clock maze's initial configuration will correspond to the stopwatch's time as seen in the
Inner Vault's panel. You want to change it to what the sign in the Outer Vault said,
the security deactivation time. For example, when I played, the deactivation time was 8:41 AM, so I wanted the
maze to show 0841. The first two digits are the hour; the last two digits are the minutes: Note also that maze time uses a 24-hour clock. If you want 8:41 PM instead of AM, then
the correct time code is 2041. Time seems to be at a standstill while you're inside cyberspace,
so you needn't worry that the clock time is continuing to change on its own while you're in there. Also note, there's only one exit from the maze, at the top of the leftmost digit.
> (A lot of walking and touching of spheres, then returning to the maze entrance.) > d. Inner Vault Assuming you set the clock maze correctly, the laser beams will vanish on arrival. > x jewels. take arrow. x it. take mace. x it. > take crown. x it. x diamond. Have we missed anything in the room? Yes, the platform itself.
Suddenly the verb TOUCH becomes significant in the real world too. > x platform. touch platform. pry platform with arrow. > look in compartment. take black crystal. x it. Oh, how are we getting out of here, you ask? Kissing the jewels won't work. > x panel. pull lever. e. Escape Tunnel Okay, you can immediately go east and end the game, but
it'll be a bit lacking and at your funeral, the priest will say unpleasant
things about you. It doesn't have to be that way. Remember that this chapter was called "The Jewel in the Crown"?
Perhaps there's more to these jewels than meets the eye. > x crown. take diamond. put black crystal in mount. > x mace. touch mace. take emerald. push emerald. Didn't expect that, I bet. Or did you? Anyway, now you can go. > e.
*** You have won *** Points awarded in "Chapter One: Happy Family": Points awarded in "Cruising to Success": Points awarded in "Maria's Eye": Points awarded in "A Guarded Tour": Points awarded in "Basic Qualities": Points awarded in "Rendezvous": Points awarded in "Chapter Seven: The Jewel in the Crown": Miscellaneous points: 200 total (out of 200) It would seem, from Uncle Henry's final message, that he was far more than a very accomplished thief.
Somehow he arranged damn near everything as one big test for Elaine. How? How to explain that ancient artefacts are keys for a modern vault door?
Supposedly, Merciless Maria's circle was in that cave for three centuries.
Supposedly, the museum's octagon was found in an ancient Chinese tomb.
But unless Uncle Henry had time travel, the so-called artefacts can't be ancient.
Far more likely that it's a huge scam. We're supposed to think from Merciless Maria's resemblance to Elaine, as seen from
Maria's statue, that Maria was an ancestor of Elaine. But it makes much more sense
that "Merciless Maria" is a complete fiction, made up by Henry to test her.
Those skeletons could've been anyones. The sheer scope of Henry's machinations is bewildering. It's one thing to somehow
create a secret room in one's flat; all you have to do is hide the entrance to a room
that was already there. But how did he manage to convince a captain, the military,
an assassin's associate, a museum, and the National Depository to play along with this hoax?
Where did the "Jewels of Denario" really come from? That's not even counting whatever weird specialized magic that altered photographs
and teleported Elaine in and out of scenarios, or the bizarre virtual worlds provided
by the terminal found in the abandoned toy factory. Was Henry a master magician as well as a master thief
and master manipulator? Maybe Uncle Henry did have time travel. And yet how did the master manipulator decide to manipulate Elaine to risk her life,
her liberty, and her sanity in this deadly testing ground?
With a letter delivered after his death. Just that. And all his hard work could be
nullified on a single "no". Does that make sense, that he would risk failure that way? And wait... he only trains Elaine to be a thief. Shouldn't those magic and manipulation
skills also be passed on? Or should we assume that happens in unwritten sequels? The game is well worth playing; don't get me wrong. But in aggregate, it doesn't really make much sense. Verbal clues, especially if they're not obvious clues, need to be re-echoed: Sometimes vital items can be left behind or lost: Some puzzles suffer from guess-the-verb or similar problems: Some puzzles are too unfair without more clues: Unanswered question:
Chapter Hexagon: Rendezvous
Chapter Octagon: A Guarded Tour
Chapter Seven: The Jewel in the Crown
Scoring
Fridge Logic Time
Let's Chat About Those Puzzles