Key & Compass presents:
Sentencing Mr Liddell
by I-K. Huuhtanen

• Maps
  • Map 1: From Hat Shop to Train
  • Map 2: The Train
• Walkthrough
  • Ending 1: Both you and Liz die
  • Ending 2: You live, but Liz dies
  • Ending 3: Liz lives, but you die
  • Ending 4: Both you and Liz live
• Extras
  • Characters, Credits, Inventory
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• External links:
  • This story at IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Maps

Map 1: From Hat Shop to Train

Map 2: The Train

Walkthrough

The Liddell Hat Shop

> x me. (Carrying nothing.)

> x uncle. x Dermot. x hats. x counter.

> take keys. x samples. x invoices. x register.

> x bin. take ticket. x ticket.

> x crumpled papers. w.

The Street (in front of the Hat Shop)

> lock door. x Cat. x Liz.

> look. x wheel.

If you just go "south", Cat complains about how pushing the stroller is always her job.

> push stroller south.

River Walk (three locations)

As you go west, you and Cat will have a spat about your Sunday plans.

> push stroller west.

> push stroller west.

Cat grabs the stroller and pushes it back all the way east.

> e. e.

Cat is crying on the bench. Any attempt to do anything with the stroller only hastens its fate.

> sit on bench. (The stroller is beginning to move towards the river!)

> grab stroller. (It disappears under the water!)

> d —or— dive. (Even though you can't swim...)

Underwater (two locations)

Interestingly, you can't drown nor return to Catherine.

> e. u.

Overflow Chamber

> n. (You're now on the platform.)

> x guard. enter train.

Vestibule (west end of train)

> show ticket to guard. (He leaves.)

> e. s.

Private Compartment

Your old school teacher Mr Larvington is here and wants to see your paper.

> i. show ticket to teacher. i.

You now have a pen and school assignment; he suggests you listen.

> x pen. x assignment.

> ask Larvington about Liz. n. e.

Passenger Compartment

Note that during this scene, if you try to go west from here with the pig, it will escape you and you'll have to pick it up again.

> take pig. ("Now, make it shut up.")

> x Mother. x pig. again.

Your brother Leo enters. He wants you to hit the pig. You can delay a little.

> x Leo.

> take sweater. x sweater. knit sweater. (Mother grabs it from you.)

To end this scene, you must actually hit either the piglet or Mother. If you want to hit the pig, you must be carrying it and Leo must be present. If you want to hit Mother, take the pig (so she can't shield herself with it) and hit Leo first so he doesn't stop you.

• > hit pig.
• > hit Leo. hit Mother.

The piglet, frightened, becomes Liz, who runs east.

> e.

Vestibule (middle of train)

> x placard. ("Private Party")

> ask Cat about Liz. ask Cat about Mother. ask Cat about Leo.

> ask Cat about assignment. show paper to Cat. ("What is the Object?")

A queue of people in black enter to the east. Cat is fading.

> write we.

> x queue. w. w. w.

Vestibule (west end of train)

> enter queue. e. e. e.

Vestibule (middle of train)

Cat fades away fully, saying "you'll be late."

> e.

Funeral Car

Funeral Director wants to see some identification.

> show paper to director.

You're admitted fully into the funeral car.

> x poppies. (The flowers are speaking! The word "us" is emphasized.)

> z. z. z. (The word "we" is emphasized.)

> take flowers. ("No, not us! Let us live!")

> write live. read paper.

> ask flowers about Mother. ask flowers about Leo.

> ask flowers about Father. ask flowers about Liz.

> w. (Can't leave.)

> x director. ask director about flowers. ("They live here.")

> ask flowers about deceased. ("That is what we live on")

> search flowers. (You find your father.)

> sit. x Father. (Several things happen; duck!)

> duck.

During the fight, Father may grab items from you before you have a chance to give them to him. This is fine.

> x tarts. take tarts. (Marty won't let you.)

> look. take tray.

> give tray to Father. x table.

> x Dermot. take teacup. give cup to Father.

> search poppies. take saucer. give it to Father.

> z. z. (The Director offers you an Egg.)

There's some evidence that you may be able to throw a tart instead of the Egg at this point, but I never found a way to convince Marty to give me a tart.

> x egg. take egg. throw egg.

> x egg. (It's Liz.)

> e. e. (Leo has grabbed the Egg and escapes east.)

Vestibule (near east end of train)

> e.

Luggage Van

> take Leo. ("I'll play you for it.")

He wants to play rock-paper-scissors? It's not explicitly clear that's what's happening.

> show paper to Leo.

He plays scissors. Then he sics the Guard on you before escaping. Guard wants to see your luggage before you can leave to the south

> x luggage. (It's your inventory.)

> s. (Guard points to plaque: "Leave Your Baggage")

> drop all. s.

Unfinished Tunnel (South of Train) (middle)

> x tender. w.

Unfinished Tunnel (South of Train) (west end)

> x pile. x headstone.

> x carving. ("h! such a n" and "You woke me out of o".)

> x smaller piece. ("ice dream")

> take it. x roots.

> nw. ne. e.

Unfinished Tunnel (North of train) (middle)

> take scissors. e. se. sw.

Unfinished Tunnel (South of Train) (east end)

> n. (Larvington wants to see your court documents.)

> w. n.

Luggage Van

Note: "Take all" doesn't work in this game.

> take paper. take pen.

> write dream. (Clued from the rock.)

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

Private Compartment

> x skylight. stand on desk.

> open skylight. break skylight with rock.

> u. e. e. e.

Roof above the Tender

> d. e. se. sw.

Unfinished Tunnel (South of Train)

After you show the paper, they become "the court documents".

> show paper to Larvington.

> n.

Locomotive Cab

> show paper to teacher. (You haven't collected all the words.)

Sadly, Liz won't talk to you, nor let you take her.

> x Liz. x shovel. x coal. x furnace.

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

Vestibule (middle of train)

Catherine is back. "Having trouble?" Note which words are in italics.

> ask Cat about Liz. ask Cat about paper. ask Cat about Catherine.

> ask Cat about Leo. ask Cat about Mother. ask Cat about Father.

> ask Cat about Marty. wake.

> write life.

Return to the locomotive cab...

> w. w. s. stand on desk. u. e. e. e. d. e. se. sw. n.

Locomotive Cab

"Now we leave." The door is shut and the train starts moving.

> save.

> show paper to teacher. SPACE

You must now write a three-word sentence using your collected words. Your sentence determines your final options in the boat and what they mean.

When the story ends, you may SENTENCE yourself again to see another ending, but it's a little buggy. I suggest you RESTORE the story from a saved position instead.

Ending 1: Both you and Liz die

Locomotive Cab

YOUR SENTENCE > we live dream

> yes. SPACE

(back underwater)

> u.

Drifting down the stream

> stay. (You both stay on the boat.)

The game ends here.

Ending 2: You live, but Liz dies

Locomotive Cab

YOUR SENTENCE > we live dream

> yes. SPACE

(back underwater)

> u.

Drifting down the stream

> swim. (You swim to shore, leaving Liz on the boat.)

River Walk

The game ends here.

Ending 3: Liz lives, but you die

Locomotive Cab

YOUR SENTENCE > dream us life

> yes. SPACE

(back underwater)

> u.

Drifting down the stream

> stay. (Liz swims to shore. You stay on the boat.)

The game ends here.

Ending 4: Both you and Liz live

Locomotive Cab

YOUR SENTENCE > dream us life

> yes. SPACE

(back underwater)

> u.

Drifting down the stream

> swim. (Both you and Liz swim to shore.)

River Walk

The game ends here.

Extras

Characters

• Alistair Liddell is the player-character. Note that the name is a male version of Alice Liddell, the protagonist of Lewis Carroll's Alice books.
• Uncle Marty is closing the hat shop. He's based on the March Hare.
• Cousin Dermot is asleep in the hat shop. He's based on the Dormouse.
• Catherine, aka Cat, is your wife; she's waiting for you in the street outside the hat shop. She's based on the Cheshire Cat.
• Liz is your daughter in the stroller.
• A guard is at Overflow Chamber, then the Vestibule. He's based on the White Rabbit.
• Mr Larvington is in the Private Compartment. He's your teacher and he's based on the Caterpillar.
• Your mother is in the Passenger Compartment. She's based on the Duchess and she's trying to quiet a Piglet.
• Leo is your older brother and a bully who torments you. You first see him in when trying to deal with Mother and the piglet.
• Funeral Director is in the Funeral Car.
• Your father is found in the Funeral Car after you search the poppies for the first time. He's based on the Mad Hatter.
• A queue of mourners will line up outside the Funeral Car soon after you show Cat the school assignment.
• Some divers and someone from an ambulance may be mentioned in the epilogue.

Credits

From the MENU options:

About the game

Sentencing Mr Liddell is an interactive fiction by I-K. Huuhtanen. First public release is for 17th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition, 2011.

The game is loosely based on the Alice books by Lewis Carroll and often quotes them, but is not an adaptation of those novels. Knowing your Alices will enhance your reading experience, but is in no way required to play the game.

Some useful commands:

• MENU access the Main Menu
• HINT access the Hint Menu
• WALKTHRU see a straightforward walkthrough for the game

If you are new to IF, you might want to take a look at the 'Introduction to interactive fiction' in the Main Menu.

Sentencing Mr Liddell is written in Inform 7. The following extensions are included:

• Glulx Text Effects by Emily Short
• Undo Output Control by Erik Temple
• Default Messages by Ron Newcomb
• Disambiguation Control by Jon Ingold
• Also: the text of "Introduction to interactive fiction" is taken from Basic Help Menu by Emily Short.

A great many thanks to the beta testers:

• Pekka Oilinki
• Anna Back
• Elis P.
• Mia Jonse

For any feedback, please do email the author at email redacted

Inventory

• shop keys. They're on the counter in the hat shop.
• They lock the door to the shop.
• The keys leave the game when you dive underwater.
• funfair ticket. It's in the bin in the hat shop; you must examine the bin first.
• Show the ticket to the guard in the first vestibule of the train. The funfair ticket is now the train ticket.
• Show the train ticket to Mr Larvington in the private compartment and it will become the school assignment.
• Show the school assignment to the funeral director when he wants to see identification.
• Show the assignment to Leo to "play paper" when you're playing Rock-Paper-Scissors with him.
• You'll need to drop the assignment before leaving the train. When you return to it, it's now the paper.
• In the unfinished tunnel south of the train, show the paper to Mr Larvington. The paper is now the court documents.
• Using the pen, you'll need to write four words on the paper: dream, life, live, and we.
• In the locomotive cab, show the documents to the teacher.
• pen. In the private compartment, Mr Larvington gives it to you when you show the train ticket to him.
• You need the pen to write these words onto your paper: "dream", "life", "live", and "we". These four words are often italicized in the story's text as a clue.
• Piglet. Take it from Mother in the passenger compartment.
• Leo wants you to hit the pig. You may do so, but you may prefer to hit him and Mother instead. After your attack, the pig (now Liz) will run away.
• sweater. You can take it from Mother in the passenger compartment.
• You may try to put the sweater on the piglet, but it squirms too much to let you do that.
• If you try to knit the sweater, your mother takes it back if she's there.
• You cannot wear the sweater. It's too small for you.
• You may ignore the sweater.
• your cup and saucer. Your father gives them to you in the funeral car before the fight begins.
• Feel free to try drinking the tea from your cup while you have the chance.
• Father will automatically take them from you, one at a time, during the fight. You might miss you even had them.
• teapot. It's in the funeral car when you first see Father.
• Give the teapot to Father. More likely, he'll grab it himself before you even realize it's there.
• tea tray. It's in the funeral car, during the fight.
• Give the tray to Father.
• Dermot's cup. In the funeral car, find it by examining Dermot during the fight.
• Give the cup to Father.
• Father's saucer. In the funeral car, find it by searching the poppies during the fight.
• Give the saucer to Father.
• Egg. It is offered to you by the Funeral Director when you've run out of ammunition to give to Father.
• Throw it when you're told to. Unhappily, the egg is also Liz.
• rock. It's the "smaller piece" of the split headstone in the unfinished tunnel.
• Examine the rock for a "dream" clue.
• In the passenger car, stay on the desk and break the skylight with the rock.
• Alternatively, when on the roof above the passenger car, break the skylight with the rock.
• You may show the rock to Leo to "play rock" when you're playing Rock-Paper-Scissors with him.
• If either you or Leo played rock, Leo will drop it north of the train where he normally drops the scissors. To manage this, you'll have to run away from Leo's game, get the rock from outside the train, then return to him. Take care not to drop the paper at his feet, else he'll grab it and use the paper against you! Unfortunately, Leo doesn't care if you win his game; he'll still leave with the Egg regardless.
• scissors. They're originally in Mother's knitting basket.
• Leo takes the scissors from the basket after you enter the queue of mourners. Unless you took them first, of course.
• Leo usually has them during the Rock-Paper-Scissors game, then drops them in the tunnel north of the train.
• You can show them to Leo in the Rock-Paper-Scissors game if you have them. Oddly, he may have the rock then, if you try that.

Honorable mention:

• luggage. It's another name for your inventory. You'll need to drop everything before you're allowed to leave the train.

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, and Phil Tatro;
• the generous support of Janice M Eisen and Matthew Foxley;
• the very generous support of Karl Ove Hufthammer;
• the extremely generous support of Emily Short, Allen Garvin, Jesse McGrew, Jacqueline Ashwell, Marius Müller, and Jennifer Rexrode;
• and the invisible support of several anonymous patrons.