Key & Compass presents:
Where There's A Will
by Dan Shiovitz

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Characters, Credits, Inventory
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• External links:
  • This game at IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Mystery House Taken Over at Homepage, IFDB, IFWiki, and ifwizz.
  • Tweet about this walkthrough on Twitter.

Map

Note regarding the bedrooms and bathrooms:

• If you enter the west hallway first, then the small bedroom and small bathroom will be on the west side.
• If you enter the east hallway first, then the small bedroom and small bathroom will be on the east side.
• The large bedroom and bathroom will be on the opposite side.

Walkthrough

Front Yard

> x path. x forest. x house.

> s.

Front Porch

> x door. s. (The door's unlocked?)

> s.

Entry Hall

The seven other relatives who are supposed to wait their turn have got in through a window and offer to help you find the necklace. Then they scatter to other parts of the house.

> w.

Kitchen

Dr. Green drops something into the sink when you enter.

> x Green. look in sink. take knife. x knife.

> open cupboards. (China and a string inside.)

> x string. (Green pulls it and dishes crash.)

> x fridge. open it. x jug. take jug. (Green makes you drop the jug.)

Green says he'll be in the dining room.

> close fridge.

> x oven. open it. look in it. close it.

> w.

Side Yard

> x mosaic. (It's of Oscar riding a rearing horse.)

You'll automatically put the knife back in the sink en route.

> e. e. e.

Library

You auto-search this room on entry: no necklace.

> x matches. take matches. x books.

> w. s.

Dining Room

You auto-search this room on entry: no necklace.

> x candelabra. light candles. (Green puts your glass on the table.)

> take glass.

Hijinks ensue as Green catches on fire. He uses a key to unlock the back door.

> s.

Back Yard

Joe has been digging holes with a shovel.

> x Joe. enter hole. x ground. (Joe's gone.)

> u. (You see movement in a second-floor window.)

> n. n. u. e.

As you enter the east hallway, Sally steers you into the bedroom.

Small Bedroom

> x Sam. x Sally.

> look under bed. (A spear barely misses you, but you have a nickel.)

> open window. (A dagger misses your ear.)

> look in table. (Sal's club opens the drawer. It's empty.)

Sam and Sally leave.

> x cases. n. n.

You stumble over something when you enter the bathroom.

Small Bathroom

Sam asks for a wrench on the floor.

> take wrench. (The lamp falls into the water harmlessly.)

Sam wants you to scram. You plug the lamp in as you go. Zap, thump.

> s. w. w. s.

Large Bedroom

> look under blankets.

Under the Covers

A weight is on top of you.

> u. u.

There's a tinkling sound, and Sally is dead with a dagger in her chest.

Large Bedroom

> look under bed. x dresser. x table. x Sally. x dagger.

> look. x glass.

> n. n.

Large Bathroom

Nothing of interest here, but you can't skip a visit here.

> s. e. n. n.

Study

> x desk. x bookcase. x painting.

> move painting. g. (You find a button.)

> push button. (Secret door and staircase down.)

Note you won't be willing to go down these stairs until you've searched everywhere else on this floor.

> d. d.

Basement

> x Tom. x bricks. x floor.

Tom has a heart attack? You find a secret note and go.

Side Yard

> x note. ("THE PRIZE IS ON THE ROOF")

> x mosaic. (It now has a large hole in it.)

> e. (Bill's knife misses you and he falls into the hole.)

> e. e. u. n. u.

Attic

> x blankets. open chest. x trapdoor.

> open trapdoor. (You go up to...)

Roof

Daisy greets you.

> x Daisy. (It's really Uncle Oscar!)

Oops. He falls through the trapdoor and then down the stairs.

*** You have inherited Uncle Oscar's estate ***

> ending

*** Okay, so Daisy has inherited the estate ***

> ending

*** Okay, so there's no estate left to inherit ***

> ending

*** And, heck, there's no universe left to inherit it in ***

> ending

*** No, actually, you don't luck out of this one ***

> ending

*** No, actually, you don't luck out of this one ***

> ending

*** You have won, forever and ever, no takebacks ***

Extras

Characters

• Dr. Green is your family physician and an older cousin of Uncle Oscar. His first name is Frank.
• Joe is a member of your family, but you don't know how he's related. He dresses like an undertaker.
• Sally is one of your cousins and Sam's sister. She's a short stylish redhead in the New York fashion-design business.
• Sam is one of your cousins and Sally's brother. He's got short brown hair and a wiry body.
• Tom is a cousin of Uncle Oscar. He's a ratty blond and dressed as a plumber.
• Bill is presumably another cousin of Uncle Oscar. He charges at you with a knife.
• Daisy is a cousin of Uncle Oscar. She's a tall blonde woman and visited Oscar the most often. It's unexplained why Oscar was dressed as Daisy, but the real Daisy shows up for the second ending.
• Uncle Oscar is the owner of the estate. It turns out he faked his death for tax purposes then hid on the roof dressed as his cousin Daisy.
• A univeristy president asks you to turn on a supercollider in the fourth ending.

Mentioned:

• Mrs. Wilkins is a woman on your newspaper route. She's mentioned in the prologue; you mowed her lawn yesterday on Tuesday.
• A burglar is referenced when you open the chest in the attic.
• Three helicopter crews perish in the attempt to save you when the estate burns down in the fourth ending.
• Unicorn puppies appear in the final ending. Yay!

Credits

From the response to CREDITS:

Where There's A Will was written as part of the Mystery House Taken Over project, http://www.turbulence.org/Works/mystery/

Thanks is due to Nick Montfort for being the lead organizer for the project; to Emily Short for additional organizing and moral support at the eleventh hour; to Andrew MacKinnon for EasyDoors.h; and Admiral Jota, Gunther Schmidl, and J. Robinson Wheeler for beta-testing.

Where There's A Will is released into the public domain; feel free to fold, spindle, and mutilate. If you'd like to get in touch with me for some reason, try email redacted

–Dan Shiovitz (3/1/05)

Inventory

• a long steak knife. It's in the kitchen sink. Dr. Green claims it's for a steak later. You can't actually do anything with the knife, and you'll automatically return it to the sink when you leave the kitchen for the entry hall.
• a pack of matches. It's on a table in the library. Light the candelabra in the dining room with the matches.
• a shiny nickel. Acquire it by looking under the bed of the first bedroom you enter. You don't need the nickel itself, but the act of finding it saves your life.
• a note. Acquire it by spending three turns in the basement with Tom swinging his sledgehammer around. Read the note to learn the prize is on the roof.

Honorable mention:

• a big jug. It's in the kitchen's refrigerator. But when you take it, Dr. Green immediately grabs at it, and the jug falls and shatters.
• a glass of gin. It's in the dining room. But when you take it, you accidentally knock it over, spilling it over Dr. Green's shirt.
• a wrench. You trip over it when you enter the first bathroom. When you take it, you automatically give it to Sam who keeps it.

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with

• the support of Robin Johnson, Ville Lavonius, Andrew Schultz, Kenneth Hon, Jason McIntosh, 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.