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Key & Compass presents:
Mortlake Manor
by Ben Chenoweth

Mortlake Manor is a Z-machine interactive fiction game written with Inform 7 and is © 2012 by Ben Chenoweth. This is a port of a game by Ben Chenoweth (Copyright 1994, 2000 Grinnan Berrit Software). It was adapted to Inform 7 by Ben Chenoweth in 2012.

In this rather dull, sparsely-implemented game, you play as someone who wants to find a treasure hidden somewhere in haunted Mortlake Manor.

This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 1 of the Z-machine port of the game.


Maps

Map 1: Outdoors

GroundFloor Entranceof theHedgemaze d u LonelyRoad Turnin theRoad Dead End T-inter-section East-WestRoad Gate East-WestRoad Middleof a longDriveway Statue Middleof FrontGarden Next ToMortlakeManor NE Cornerof Manor NW Cornerof Manor Near theFrontof Manor FrenchWindows RearGarden Back Door(outside) SE Cornerof Manor North-SouthPath QuietGlade Undera largeOak Tree North-SouthPath Bend inthe Path GardenPagoda Bank of aSlow-Flow-ing River Bend inthe Path T Inter-section DisusedStorageRoom Bank of aSlow-Flow-ing River

Map 2: Ground Floor

d u Bedroom EntryRoom Bedroom Bendin theCorridor East-WestCorridor Inter-section North Endof theLibrary North Endof theBallroom Butler'sQuarters North Endof aCorridor Junctionof TwoCorridors North Endof DiningRoom N-SPassage-way South Endof theLibrary Middleof theBallroom Walk-inRobe N-SCorridorTwo North Endof theKitchen South Endof DiningRoom N-SCorridor SmokingRoom South EndofBallroom PokyLittleBedroom End of aPassageTwo South Endof theKitchen End of anEast-WestCorridor Junction East-WestPassage End of aPassage Bedroom Back Door(inside) Bedroom Next ToMortlakeManor Landing DustyBasement FrenchWindows Back Door(outside) u d put book in space

Map 3: First Floor

u u d d u Attic(entry) N-SPassage-way Landing StylishBedroom Turn IntheHallway East-WestPassage End oftheHallway North EndSumptuousBedroom AbandonedStorageRoom N-SCorridor Hallway StorageCupboard South EndSumptuousBedroom Balcony Black-PaintedBedroom N-SHallway N-SHallway North Endof aCorridor GarishlyPink-FrillyBedroom Artist'sStudio Turn InTheHallway East-WestPassage Turn intheCorridor Walk-InRobe d

Map 4: Attic and Roof

Attic Attic Attic Attic Attic Attic(entry) Attic Attic Attic Attic Attic Attic Attic(centre) Attic Attic Attic Attic Attic Attic Attic Roof ofMortlakeManor u d d u AbandonedStorageRoom

Map 5: Basement

WineCellar DustyBasement DustyBasement BoilerRoom u N-SPassage-way d

Map 6: Hedgemaze

FrenchWindows 2 1 7 6 5 3 6 10 9 x 10 8 1 14 13 12 E 11 13 1 3 6 4 5 4 4 5 6 3 9 2 11 7 8 10 10 9 x 12 x 1 x E 2 x 12 14 2 F 4 3 8 x 7 7 E 11 14 13 💎 H1 Entry H2 H3 Fountain H5 H4 H6 H7 H8 H9 H10 H11 H12 H13 H14

Walkthrough

NOTES:

A Lonely Road

> help. i. (Carrying nothing.)

> e. s. w.

Dead End

> x key. take key. (+5)

> e. e. e. s. s.

Next To Mortlake Manor

> x doorbell. push it. again.

> unlock door with key. (Wrong key.)

> w. w.

Statue

> x statue. x figleaves. take figleaves. (Can't.)

> e. s. w. s. e. s. s. w.

Under a Large Oak Tree

> x branch. ("RED HERRING")

> e. s. e. n. e.

A Garden Pagoda

> d. (+5)

A Disused Storage Area

Ignore the hammer. Just take the saw.

> take saw.

> u. w. s. w. n. n. n.

Back Door (outside)

> unlock door with key. drop key.

> n. n. n. n.

North-South Passageway

This is a good central location where you can drop things to pick up later.

> drop saw.

> n.

Intersection of a North-South Corridor and an East West Passage

> x armour. (Right gauntlet has long claws.)

> hit armour. ("Ouch"; it collapses.)

> look. take gauntlet. x it.

> w. s. s.

South End of the Dining Room

> x chandelier. x cutters. take cutters. (Too high up.)

> w.

North End of the Kitchen

CAUTION: Don't eat the cabbage. Leave it alone.

> x oven. open oven. (can't)

> x cabbage.

> s.

South End of the Kitchen

Leave the knife where it is.

> x knife.

> w. n.

North-South Corridor Two

Note the initial letters E-E-S-S-S-W. That's a list of directions.

> x picture. ("Every eskimo should stay somewhere warm")

> n. w. s.

A Walk-in Robe (south of Butler's Quarters)

> x coathanger. take coathanger. (+5)

> n. e. e. n. e. e. s.

North-South Passageway

Drop the gauntlet and coathanger and let's go up a floor.

> drop all.

> u. u. n. e. e. s. e.

A Balcony

Now we know what and where the treasure is. It's a diamond on a fountain in the hedgemaze, east of the manor.

> x diamond.

> w. n. w. w. s. s. s. e. n. e. s.

A Walk-In Robe (south of A Garishly Pink-Frilly Bedroom)

> x book. take book.

> n. w. s. w. w. n.

A North-South Hallway (outside black bedroom)

Note the small cracks in the floor.

> jump. (A crash below!)

> w. s.

An Artist's Studio

CAUTION: DO NOT take the tube of superglue! You'll never be able to drop it!

> x paintings. x rock. x tube.

Let's go return our book to the library downstairs:

> n. e. n. n. e. s. d. d. n. e. s.

South End of the Library

> x space.

> put book in space. (The bookcase and you revolve to...)

The Smoking Room

> x torch. (It's a really-good, always-on flashlight.)

> take torch. (+10)

> take book. put book in space.

South End of the Library

> n. w. w. s. s.

South End of the Dining Room

The chandelier is smashed and the cutters are on the floor.

> take cutters. (+5)

> e. n.

North-South Passageway

> take coathanger. cut coathanger. (+5; with the cutters.)

> x wire.

Time to tackle the attic and roof:

> drop all. take saw and gauntlet.

> u. u. n. w. w.

A Stylish Bedroom

> open curtains.

> read message. ("Ectoplasmic entities shall silence strong warriors.")

It's that E-E-S-S-S-W clue again.

> s. u.

The Attic (several locations)

If you're carrying the gauntlet, you can scratch messages to make the attic locations distinctive, but you don't have to. Unfortunately, you can't change any message you've scratched, and there's no UNDO, so try to do it right the first time if you're doing it at all.

> scratch kilroy was here. (Already a message here.)

> n. e. e. e. s. e. s.

> w. s. w. w. n. e. u.

The Roof of Mortlake Manor

> x flagpole. cut flagpole. (with saw)

> drop saw. take pipe. (+10)

> d. w. s. e. e. n. e.

> n. w. n. w. w. w. s. d.

Abandoned Storage Room

> n. e. e. s. d. d.

North-South Passageway

Now tackle the basement:

> drop all. take torch, pipe, wire.

> d. e.

The Boiler Room

> push switch. (Water spills out, so you shut it off again.)

> x gap. (A foot long!)

Unfortunately, I think you must use "use" here to solve this puzzle. The game gets confused if you try to "put" the pipe in the gap.

> use pipe. use wire.

> push switch. (You can hear the water flowing.)

> w. n. w.

A Wine Cellar

Leave the screw alone. But note that if you wandered here in the dark, you'd step on this screw and lose points.

> x screw.

> e. s. u.

North-South Passageway

If you want full points, this is your last chance to go find the ghostly apparition and follow her until the game awards you some points. She could be wandering anywhere on the ground and first floors. I'll wait here.

Ready? Let's go get that diamond.

> drop all. take gauntlet.

> s. s. s. s. e. n. e.

Entrance of the Hedgemaze

You've already seen two clues for the route: E-E-S-S-S-W. And you can use the gauntlet to scratch messages here too, if you really need to map this thing. But I imagine you just want to get this over with by now.

> e. e. s. s. s. w.

Fountain

If you hadn't fixed the plumbing earlier, you wouldn't be able to reach the diamond now.

> x fountain. x diamond.

> take diamond. (+50)

Congratulations, you've found the manor's treasure.

*** The End ***


Extras

Characters

Also:


Inventory

Note: You have a carrying capacity of only three items, so don't burden yourself with stuff you don't need.

Honorable mention:


Score

You have so far scored your-score out of a possible 100, in several turns.


Thank You to my Patreon supporters

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