Key & Compass presents:
Our Lady of Thorns
by Joel Burton

• Map
• Walkthrough
• Extras
  • Artwork, Characters, Credits, Endings, Inventory, Offices, Score
• Thank You to my Patreon supporters
• Support me on Ko-Fi
• External links:
  • This game at Homepage, IFDB, and IFWiki.
  • Follow me at Bluesky, Ko-Fi, Mastodon, Patreon, and Wordpress.

Map

Walkthrough

Read the help?

>> Y

Help menu

• Start here
• ABOUT, CREDITS, HINTS.
• Special commands
• HINTS, MAP, OBJECTS, PLACES, EXITS, QUOTES ON/OFF, WHO (for all monks in game), HERE (for all monks here), TIME, WAIT UNTIL hh:mm, WAIT n HOURS/MINUTES.
• Actions to note
• CLIMB UP thing; CONFESS TO someone; DIG IN thing WITH thing; EXTINGUISH thing; FOLLOW someone; HIDE BEHIND thing; KNEEL ON thing; KNOCK ON thing; LISTEN; LOOK UNDER thing; LOOK UP topic IN book; PRAY; READ thing; SEARCH thing; SING; SMELL thing; TASTE thing.
• Monastic knowledge
• priory; prior; office; Quire; Slype; Necessarium; lay monk; choir monk; Sacristy; Lauds, Prime, Sext, etc; Scriptorium; Refectory; Dorter; Undercroft

You

Dorter

> stand. d.

Night Stairs

> x candle. d.

Quire

> sit on stalls.

> x altar. x screen. x stalls.

> here. x Aelred.

Anselm starts singing and the others join in.

> sing. (+1)

> x Benedict. x Cuthbert. x Hugh.

> x Martin. x Oswald. x Remigio. x Wilfred.

> x me. i. x my robe.

> z.

WAIT until end of the service?

>> Y

Aelred asks you to find him in the gardens after he talks to another brother.

> e.

Sanctuary

> x altar. x cross. pray.

> x crypt gate. (has heavy lock)

> w. s. s.

Garth

> x sundial. x well. (It once ran dry in '31 or '32.)

> s. e.

Cloister Southeast

Remigio is frantic about Aelred in the Slype.

> e.

Slype

Aelred is on the stone floor, clearly unwell.

> x Aelred. (sweating, strange pupils, grabbing at his habit)

Aelred: "Gathering... he was always gathering... I wanted to know why..."

> x eyes. (+1; his eyes are unnaturally dilated and black)

Aelred (gesturing north): "The letter... the letter told me everything..."

> ask Aelred about letter.

Aelred (points north): "They're not alive."

> ask Aelred about who.

Aelred (holding your hand strongly): "One life for two, my friend." Then he dies.

> search Aelred. (+2. You take an iron key from an inner pocket.)

Prior Oswald arrives and whispers a prayer. Benedict affirms that Aelred is dead. Wilfred offers consolation and friendship.

Soon, everyone gathers in the Chapter House for a meeting.

Chapter House

> sit on bench.

> x panel. (+1; you learn when the offices are)

Oswald thinks Aelred died of a heart attack.

> listen.

Today will be a day of fasting. The body is in the Infirmary Chapel. Everyone may pay their final respects there.

> listen.

Your task today is to catalogue the gardens. Oswald will meet with you after the burial tomorrow on how they'll proceed without Aelred.

> listen.

Divine Offices will continue, but he gives his blessing for any who may be absent.

> x statue. (of Brother Gordian, the founder of the priory; his scroll, III: SAPIENTIA, represents one of his three creeds: wisdom)

The meeting ends.

> stand.

> w. (You're not quite ready to leave.)

You vow to discover what happened to Aelred and why, and it must be done before the end of Compline and without interference by the prior Oswald.

> w. s. s.

Cloister Southeast

You sense it's now about 4 AM.

> e. e.

Infirmary

> x mirror.

> x cabinet. (Needs a four-digit number; "Historia nostra, fides nostra"; Aelred says he guessed the number years ago, any brother would know.)

The motto is Latin for "Our history, our faith".

> x beds.

> ask Benedict about mirror. (It helps him examine the eyes, tongue, and throat of his patients.)

> ask Benedict about cabinet. (for medicines)

> s.

Infirmary Chapel

> pray. x statue. (of St Roch as a pilgrim with a leg sore)

> x body. (still dressed, eyes open, hands folded)

> x mouth. smell mouth. (like alcohol and urine)

> open mouth. (You find nothing)

> n. w. s.

Herbarium

> x table. take gloves and book.

> x herbs. (You can't make out what they are from here.)

> stand on table. x herbs. (Still out of reach, but you can tell they're thyme, rosemary, and feverfew.)

> x pot. (for repotting a large plant)

> x jars. (labelled, nothing missing)

> s.

Garden

> x beds. x basil.

> look up basil in book. (+1)

> x rosemary.

You remember Aelred telling you he's growing the basil for a brother to remind him of home.

> look up rosemary in book.

> x thyme. smell it. (earthy with note of mint)

> look up thyme in book.

> x feverfew

> look up feverfew in book.

> wear gloves. unlock gate with key.

> w.

Restricted Garden

> x mandrake. look up mandrake in book.

> x plants. (monkshood, foxglove, and henbane)

> x henbane. look up henbane in book. (+1; Aelred died of henbane poisoning.)

> e.

Garden

> lock gate with key.

> n. n. w. n. e.

Scriptorium

> ask Wilfred about cat. (He named her "Pax".)

> x table. (has breviary and a silver key)

> x breviary.

The bell rings for the Lauds office.

> ask Wilfred about breviary.

> ask Wilfred about Gordian. (before his time, did amazing clockwork-like work in brass)

Wilfred takes the silver key and leaves.

Extras

Artwork

This game uses ASCII art in response to the MAP command. Which map you see depends on where your character currently is. A graphical map is available at https://lady-of-thorns.netlify.app/map.

    Night    |------------------| 
   Stairs  __D                  | 
 to Quire /  |      Dorter      | 
             |                  | 
             |----   -----|-----| 
      Day  __D    Hall      Nec | 
   Stairs /  |----   -----|-----| 
       to    |   Lay Dorter     | 
  Cloister   |------------------|

     to Tower    to Dorter      to Crypt 
  |--/-------------/---------------/----------| 
  | U        .   U       .        D    | Fitz | 
  |          .           .             |--  --| 
 -:   Nave   .   Quire   .  Sanctuary    Lady | 
  |          .           .   ____..____|--  --| 
  |          .           .  | Sacristy | Jude | 
  |----------------  -------------------------| 
               to Cloister 
                    |

              to Quire    Up to Day Stairs 
 Prior's          |      / 
   Solar -- NW == N == NE -- Chapter House 
            ||    |    || 
 Locutory - W-  Garth  -E -- Scriptorium -- Library 
            ||    |    || 
    West -- SW == S == SE -- Slype -- Infirmary 
    Gate     |    |            |          | 
           Lav  Refectory   to Herb &   Chapel 
                  |          Gardens 
                Kitchen

 |----------------------------------| 
          Slype         -           | 
 |----+-----  ----+-----| Infirmary | 
      | Herbarium |     |           | 
 |----+----   ----+-----+-----  ----| 
 |      |               |  Chapel   | 
 | Rest :     Main      |-----------| 
 | Gard |    Garden     | 
 |      |               | 
 |----------------------|

             |------------ 
   Porch ----:- Nave 
     |       |------------ 
     | 
 Passage N --:- West -- Cloister 
     |          Gate 
     | 
 Passage S --:- Undercroft

Characters

• You, the novice, are the youngest monk. You have yet to take your final vows.
• Aelred, the herbalist, in his 60's, is your broad-shouldered mentor.
• Anselm, the cantor, barely 30, has a strong voice and an easy smile. He enjoys conversation when permitted.
• Benedict, the infirmarer, in his 40's, is a friendly heavyset man.
• Cuthbert, the sacrist, in his 40's, is a dark-haired man who rarely smiles.
• Hugh, the cellarer, barely 30, is a lean blond worry-worn man.
• Martin, the kitchener, is a short, round, quick-to-laugh man.
• Oswald, the prior, in his 50's, is a stern, lean, grey-haired man.
• Remigio, the lay kitchen assistant, in his 30's, is from Tuscany and has poor English.
• Wilfred, the librarian, over 70, is a lean, wiry, white-haired, venerated man who often has orange fluff on his habit.
• Pax is an orange cat who wanders about the cloister (and maybe other areas?). She looks hungry.

Mentioned:

• Brother Gordian, the founder of the priory, has three creeds. A statue of him is in the chapter house.
• St. Roch is represented in the infirmary as a statue of a pilgrim with a leg sore.

Credits

This is the response to CREDITS:

Like most projects, this was possible only with much help from others. Handles are usernames on intfiction.org.

PLAYTESTERS:

• Allyson Gray (@Ally)
• Daniel Stelzer (@Draconis)
• Rovarsson (@Rovarsson)
• Robert Eggleston (@AERobert)
• Garry Francis (@Warrigal)
• Andy Galilee (@AndyG)
• Doug Egan (@Doug_Egan)
• Melissa "Moth" Higuchi
• Thomas Mack (@tmack)
• rh (@rh)
• Hellzon (@Hellzon)
• Andrew (@andrewj)
• Deborah (@dsherwood)
• Javier Garza (@Jade)
• Hannah (@Hannah31415)

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE:

• Fredrick Ramsberg (@fredrik)
• Daniel Stelzer (@Draconis)
• Andrew (@andrewj)
• Garry Francis (@Warrigal)
• Dannii (@Dannii)
• Giger Kitty (@Giger_Kitty)
• Andrew Plotkin (@zarf)
• Pontus I (@pontusi)
• Tara McGrew (@vaporware)

Endings

TODO

Inventory

• your robe. You're wearing it.
• It's black and has a hood, but no pockets.
• an iron key. Acquire it by searching Aelred's dead body, either in the slype or infirmary chapel.
• It unlocks the gate to the restricted garden.
• some gloves. It's on the herbarium's worktable.
• TODO
• Aelred's Herbal. It's on the herbarium's worktable.
• Look up plant names in the book to learn more about the plants. Known topics are basil, feverfew, foxglove, henbane, mandrake, monkshood, rose, rosemary, and thyme.

Offices

The OFFICES command lists the offices of the day:

• Matins 2 AM
• Lauds 5 AM
• Prime 7 AM
• Terce 9 AM
• Sext Noon
• None 3 PM
• Vespers 5 PM
• Compline 7 PM

Score

This is the response to SCORE:

You have so far scored N out of a possible 55, in T turns.

Points are awarded as follows:

• 2 points for finding the key to the Restricted Garden (by searching Aelred's body).
• 1 point for participating in an office (by singing in the quire).
• 1 point for matching the symptoms of the poison (by looking up henbane in the Herbal).
• 1 point for consulting Aelred's Herbal.
• 1 point for noticing suspicious symptoms (by examining Aelred's eyes).
• 1 point for learning the schedule of offices (by examining the panel in the Chapter House).

Thank You to my Patreon supporters

This walkthrough was funded via Patreon with

• the support of TODO;
• 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!