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Key & Compass presents:
The House
by Owen Parish

The House is a TADS 2 interactive fiction game and is © 2003 by Owen Parish.

In this small escape game, you wake up with a headache in the mysterious Gralow family's house. How much were you drinking? And did you come in through the fireplace? Ugh. Better get out of here fast.

This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Version 2 of the game.


Map

d ? u w d u e d u (win!) SecretRoom ComputerRoom Study SecretLab Library Maze Corridor Corridor FrontHall StairRoom Bathroom Kitchen SittingRoom Passage

Walkthrough

Sitting Room

You don't actually need the bottle. If you drink the liquid from the bottle, your vision becomes too blurry to read anything for a few turns.

> x sofa. x rug. x bottle. x fireplace. x soot. n.

Front Hall

You will not be able to open this door. Another way out must be found.

> x door. open it. x rack. xyzzy. w.

Corridor

> x carpet. s.

Kitchen

None of the taps in the house can be turned on. The larder and cupboard can't ever be unlocked or opened. All you really need from here is the fork, although the basket is quite handy as a general container.

> x sink. x hot. turn it on. x cold. turn it on.

> x board. x larder. read it. x cupboard. read it.

> x basket. x memo. read it. take basket.

> x table. x fork. take it. n. n.

Study

> x desk. x papers. read papers. x crystal. take it.

> x chair. x box. put crystal in box. (+10)

> d.

Secret Room

> smell. x circle. x thing. take it. xyzzy. x devices.

> x bed. look under bed. (+10)

> x cards. x sticks. x scroll. read it.

> put sticks in devices. (+5)

> turn on devices. z. z. z. z. (+10)

> x safe. x small key. take it. u. s. w.

Corridor

> x carpet. s.

Bathroom

You only need the stethoscope from this room. I have no idea what the bandages or pills are for; they might just be red herrings or scenery.

> x toilet. x sink. x hot. x cold. x bath. x cupboard.

> open cupboard. x stethoscope. take it.

> x letter. read it. x bandages.

> x pill bottle. open it. x pills. n. w.

Maze

There's only one maze location, and the available directions are randomly chosen from the four cardinal directions. The trick here is simply to walk through a wall by choosing a cardinal direction not offered.

> west. (+5 on success. If you don't get to the Computer Room right away, just keep going west until you do.)

Computer Room

The robot has little to say, and you can't really do anything with this computer.

There's an Easter Egg of Death here. If you want to kill yourself, make sure that you NEVER look at the canister. Drink the liquid from the bottle in the Sitting Room, then take or hit the canister very soon afterwards.

> x computer. read it. x robot.

> ask robot about robot. ask robot about Gralow.

> x bench. x diary. read it. x canister. x bed.

> x aquarium. drink it. x ornaments. x fish. x octopus. take it. (+5)

> x safe. put stethoscope on safe. (+10)

> x safe. x black key. take it. e. e. e. e.

Stair Room

> x stairs. u.

Library

> x table. x books.

> x west books. read it. (+5)

> x north books. read it. x south books. read it. x east books. read it.

> w.

Secret Lab

> x equipment. x table. x sheet. take sheet.

> x sheet. x dummy. open it. look in it.

> x computer. turn it on. x it.

> type log on computer. type parts on computer.

> put octopus in dummy. put fork in dummy. put thing in dummy.

> close dummy. type activate on computer. (+10)

> x safe. type 123 on safe. dummy, open safe. (+5)

> x safe. x dull key. take it. e. d. d.

Passage

A bug in version 1 lets you go "south" without checking if the door has been unlocked at all.

> x door. unlock door with small key.

> unlock door with black key. unlock door with dull key.

> open door.

*** You have won ***

> amusing. quit.


Extras

Amusing

Have you tried:


Characters


Endings


Inventory


Score

In a total of several turns, you have achieved a score of your-score points out of a possible 75, which gives you the rank of ranking.

Rankings:


Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough is provided free of charge since I wrote this walkthrough prior to January 2015 when I began my Patreon account, and also because the work it's based on has less than fifteen locations (so I wouldn't have charged for it anyway). I've since reformatted this walkthrough to use my currently preferred style. I hope you enjoy it!

I'm still creating new walkthroughs! Larger ones too! Please visit my Patreon account if you're interested in helping me create more interactive fiction walkthroughs. I appreciate all the help I can get! Thanks again.