Key & Compass presents:
What Heart Heard Of, Ghost Guessed
by Amanda Walker

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters, Credits, Verbs
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• Support me on Ko-Fi
• External links:
  • This game at IFDB, and IFWiki.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Map

Walkthrough

...read ...information ...?> yes

...new to interactive fiction?> no

Shadowy place / Sunlit Attic

> x me. i.

> x mirror.

Your fear makes the mirror shatter into shards! A locket is revealed.

Important note: FEAR is now an action you can use to break fragile objects.

> x locket. (You EXCITE the locket to open, revealing a braid of hair.)

> x hair. ("Eva")

> x chest. excite chest. (fail: The latch keeps it closed.)

> x latch. (It's brass and needs to be turned.)

> x window. x curtain. excite curtain. (It opens.)

> x window. x garden.

> x door. (Blue with six panels.)

> excite door. w.

Landing

You are unwilling to go down the stairs until the muttering below is gone.

> listen. n.

Closet

> x leather. (You HATE the belt, but it's unclear as yet what the vacuum sensation means.)

> x suitcases. x shelf. x vase. ("Ian")

> s.

Landing

The muttering stops. You can descend now.

> d.

South Hallway

> x painting. (You are "M"; this house is Goldengrove.)

> x paneling. x wallpaper.

> x yellow door. (Has four panels and a bar.)

> x bar. x brackets.

> x violet door. (Has two doves mural.)

> x green door. (Single piece.)

> excite green. w.

Study

> x tin soldier. (You LOVE the soldier.)

> SPACE

Tin Soldier's Perspective

You are stuck here. LOVE got you here; perhaps HATE can get you out?

> hate soldier.

Study

> x furniture. x toys.

> x doll. x train. x marionette. x ballerina.

> e.

South Hallway

> excite violet. e.

Comfortable Bedroom

> x loveseat. (Brief memory of Eva, your sister, upset with you.)

> x dresser. (Has three drawers; Ian made them.)

> excite top. (fail: It needs to be pulled to open.)

> x bed. x quilt. x hairs.

> w. n.

North Hallway

> x red door. (Has nine buttons on a keypad bolt.)

> x keypad. x button 1.

> x orange door. (Has eight rivets.)

> x indigo door. (Has three panes.)

> w.

Alcove

> x picture. (You are Margaret. You DESIRE the picture, pulling it towards you, and it smashes. Your desire is connected to Ian and very strong.)

> x window. x trees. x chairs. x table.

> e. e.

Bathroom

> x bathrobe. (You remember your grandfather.)

> x cabinet.

> fear mirror. (It explodes, revealing a note.)

> x note. (Re: keypad combo with picture of a rainbow.)

> x tub. x sink. x toilet.

> w. s. e.

Comfortable Bedroom

> desire top. x undergarments.

> desire middle. x clothing. x paper. ("triple the dosage")

> desire bottom. x box. x lock.

> w. u. n.

Closet

> desire vase. x key. s.

Landing

You can pull the key to you from an adjacent room.

> desire key. d.

South Hallway

> desire key. e.

Comfortable Bedroom

> love lock.

Lock's Perspective

> desire key. (The box is now unlocked.)

> hate lock.

Comfortable Bedroom

> excite box. x bottle. (morphine)

> x syringe. (You ANGER it, pushing it back.)

> w. n.

North Hallway

> anger 9. anger 8. anger 4. anger 1.

> anger 6. anger 3. anger 2. (The red door unlocks.)

> excite red. n.

The Master Bedroom

> x man. (You REGRET the old man, and he regrets his actions with you, then dies.)

> x bed. x coverlet.

> x nightstand. x letter. x document.

> x table. x book. (You ELATE the book, and it levitates briefly.)

> s.

North Hallway

> d. (Voices below stop you.)

> s.

South Hallway

You must pull the bar while it is levitating.

> elate bar. desire bar. (You feel all desire leave you.)

> excite yellow. s.

Prison Room

> x bed. x table. x photograph. (Last photo of you.)

> x books. x bricks. x canvas.

> elate canvas. (A hole south appears.)

> s.

Dumbwaiter

> anger button. (There's a snap and you fall into...)

Pantry

The dumbwaiter is now broken.

> x shelves. x counter. x button. x dumbwaiter.

> n.

Kitchen

> x housekeeper. (Her name is Martha.)

You don't want to stay while she's here. You retreat.

Pantry

> n.

Kitchen

> regret Martha. (She leaves.)

> x pots. x cabinetry.

> excite cabinetry. x contents.

> n.

Foyer

As you enter, you hear Eva invite Mr. Dooley into the library.

> x drawing. (It's of Alicia Gray, your mother.)

> x front door. (Its handle is like a leaping frog.)

> excite front door. (You can't.)

> x mahogany door. (Its iron handle is curious.)

> x iron handle. (Has sundial shape; must be turned.)

> x molding.

> n.

Living Room

> x portrait. (You CONFUSE it, and it spins upside down.)

> x furniture. x fireplace.

Return to the attic:

> s. u. s. u. e.

Sunlit Attic / Raging Inferno

> confuse latch. excite chest.

> x body. (You RAGE the body, and it bursts into flames.)

You need to leave and find Eva.

> w. d. n. d.

As you approach the foyer, you hear the housekeeper and the lawyer leave the house.

Foyer

You hear Eva and Ian arguing in the library.

> confuse iron handle.

> excite mahogany. w.

Library

As you enter, Ian's sense of regret pulls you into his mind.

> SPACE

You learn Ian plans to suicide. You're ejected from his mind. They smell smoke. Your rage rises.

> regret Ian. rage Eva.

As they burn, your rage fades, then you yourself fade.

> SPACE

The poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins about Margaret is recited.

**** THE END ****

...read the Notes On The Game Section? > yes

*** The End ***

Extras

Characters

• Margaret is the player-character. In life, she suffered from a disfiguring disease and was imprisoned by her family for most of her life. She was also a talented artist. In death, she's an amnesiac ghost whose emotions will help her learn the truth and act on it.
• Eva is Margaret's beautiful red-haired older sister. Eva is also Margaret's co-jailer. Eva is mercurial in nature and hated that her life was tied to Margaret's. She wants to be free of her sister, killed her sister with a morphine overdose, and regrets nothing.
• Ian is Margaret's step-brother, Eva's husband, and the most handsome and desirable man in Margaret's eyes, at least until she fully realizes how culpable he was in her imprisonment and death. For his part, he is sickened by his actions and plans to suicide.
• Your grandfather, Richard Gray, was ashamed of Margaret's disfigurement and he was the one who decreed that she had to be locked up and hidden from society. He'd use a belt on both his granddaughters to enforce his wishes. He does regret his actions just before he dies, and his will leaves his estate to both Eva and Margaret equally.
• The housekeeper, Martha, although kind to Margaret in her way, could never look at Margaret full in the face, and abetted the family in keeping Margaret locked up. She has regrets.
• The lawyer, Mr. Dooley, is visiting the house regarding Richard's estate. He doesn't know his client has just died. He also thinks that Margaret is traveling and doesn't know that she is also dead.

Mentioned:

• Althea Gray is your grandfather's sister. She wrote the letter found in the master bedroom.
• Alicia Gray and Daniel were Eva's and Margaret's parents. A drawing of Alicia is in the foyer. Both of them died when Margaret was quite young.
• Laura was Richard's first wife and, I assume, Daniel's mother. (It's possible that Alicia was Laura's child if Alicia didn't change her surname when she married.)
• Viola was Richard's second wife and Ian's mother.

Credits

This is the response to YES when asked, after you've won the game, if you'd like to read the Notes On The Game Section:

Thanks for playing my first interactive fiction game! This was inspired by some great games: the gothic family horror is homage to Michael Gentry's Anchorhead; the reliance on new and minimal commands was sparked by Arthur DiBianca's The Wand; and the idea for the use of emotions as verbs was seeded by Lynnea Glasser's Coloratura.

But every good IF game I've played since Dad got me Zork in 1980 has contributed to this in some way. Thanks to the great writers of IF for the rich hours they've given me for so long.

Gerard Manley Hopkins was a real poet and an unsurpassed wordsmith, and his poem Spring and Fall was oft quoted in this game as well as providing the title-- the game was built largely around this poem. I encourage you to read his work.

Thanks to Emily Short for her extensions Basic Screen Effects and Glulx Image Centering (and also for being my favorite IF writer), and to Gavin Lambert for his extensions Secret Doors and Exit Lister.

Gratitude to my beta testers for their time and effort: Wade Clarke, Clara Crandall, Nils Fagerburg, Pete Gardner, Matthew George, Josh Grams, Peter Gross, Jade, Andy Joel, Zed Lopez, Daciana Moore, Travis Moy, Hudson Pitalo, Edo Rajh, Mike Russo, Rovarsson, and Andrew Schultz. This game would have been impossible without their help and contributions.

The cover art is my own original artwork.

A big thank you to everyone at the Intfiction.org forums. These folks were incredibly patient and kind to a newbie with a lot of dumb questions.

Thanks to my BFF Eva Radke for helping with names, plot points, beta testing, and for playing IF with me and providing free therapy for over 30 years. She couldn't be more different than her namesake in this game.

And thanks always to my sweetheart Tom, for everything.

Amanda Walker
September 2021

Verbs

In this game, instead of collecting and using physical objects, you collect verbs that express emotions. Each emotion can affect physical objects, usually to move them in a particular way.

Verbs are collected in this order:

• FEAR. Acquired when you examine the mirror in the attic.
• To FEAR something means to BREAK (or SHATTER) it. You can only FEAR glass things, I think.
• You may FEAR the attic window to break it, but you don't need to.
• In the bathrom, FEAR the mirror (of the cabinet) to shatter it, revealing a note that was behind the mirror.
• EXCITE. Acquired when you examine the locket in the attic.
• To EXCITE something means to OPEN it. However, this is limited to opening things that slide or swing open; it does not work on dresser drawers shich need to be pulled. EXCITE also won't work on a door if it's locked or barred in any way.
• EXCITE the curtain in the shadowy place to open it. The additional light reveals the place to be an attic.
• EXCITE any door to try to open it. Note that the red or mahogany doors won't open unless they are unlocked, the yellow door won't open unless it is unbarred, and the front door won't ever open at all.
• In the comfortable bedroom, EXCITE the unlocked box to open it.
• In the kitchen, you may EXCITE the cabinetry to open it, but you don't need to.
• In the attic, after unlocking the chest, EXCITE it to open it.
• HATE. Acquired when you examine the leather belt in the closet.
• To HATE means to LEAVE whatever you're inside of.
• When you're at the Tin Soldier's Perspective, HATE the soldier to leave it.
• When you're at the Lock's Perspective, HATE the lock to leave it.
• LOVE. Acquired when you examine the tin soldier in the study.
• To LOVE something means to ENTER it. This is limited to metal things, like the tin soldier.
• In the comforable bedroom, LOVE the lock (of the box found inside the middle drawer) to enter the lock.
• Note that HATE is the opposite of LOVE.
• DESIRE. Acquired when you examine the picture in the alcove.
• To DESIRE something means to PULL it towards you. This is limited to things associated with Ian. Your desire is so strong, it can pull things from any other room.
• In the comfortable bedroom, DESIRE the top, middle, and bottom drawers of the dresser to pull them open, spilling all their contents.
• In the closet, DESIRE the vase to pull it off the shelf, revealing a key inside.
• In the Lock's Perspective (see LOVE), DESIRE the key to unlock the lock.
• In the south hallway, after ELATE-ing the bar, immediately DESIRE the bar to pull it away from the yellow door so the bar doesn't fall back into its brackets. When the bar breaks, you lose the capacity to DESIRE.
• ANGER. Acquired when you examine the syringe in the comfortable bedroom.
• To ANGER something means to PUSH it.
• In the north hallway, you can ANGER the buttons of the keypad to push them.
• In the dumbwaiter, ANGER its button to push it.
• REGRET. Acquired when you examine the old man in the master bedroom.
• To REGRET someone means you briefly enter the person's mind and cause them to regret. You can only REGRET people.
• In the kitchen, REGRET the housekeeper to force her to regret her actions. She'll leave the kithen, and you can now enter the foyer.
• In the library, you may REGRET Ian, but not Eva. She doesn't regret anything.
• ELATE. Acquired when you examine the book in the master bedroom.
• To ELATE something means to LIFT (or LEVITATE) it.
• In the south hallway, ELATE the bar in the yellow door to levitate the bar.
• In the prison room, ELATE the canvas to lift it upwards.
• CONFUSE. Acquired when you examine the portrait in the living room.
• To CONFUSE something means to TURN it.
• In the attic, CONFUSE the chest's latch to turn it and unlock it.
• In the foyer, CONFUSE the mahogany door's iron handle to turn it and unlock it.
• RAGE. Acquired when you examine the dead body in the attic's chest.
• To RAGE something means to BURN it. Your target will burst into flames.
• You may RAGE almost anything on your way to Eva in the library. Ian is a notable exception.
• In the library, RAGE Eva to destroy her. This will be your final action on Earth.

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

Ko-Fi is a way to send me small one-time donations. Every little bit helps, and thank you!