All this for a map of Paris? Let's play Curses!

Try both of our iron keys on the grating.

Wrench the grating.

I'm out of ideas.

All ideas worth trying. First, let's try our old friend Mr. Goodwrench.

>open grate with wrench
That doesn't seem to fit the lock.

Down below, a wave splashes against the sea front, briefly washing up under the grating.

Maybe using the iron keys we have to unlock it might work...

>unlock grate with long key
That doesn't seem to fit the lock.

Down below, a wave splashes against the sea front, briefly washing up under the grating.

>get gothic key
(putting the Rod of Ice into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

Down below, a wave splashes against the sea front, briefly washing up under the grating.

>unlock grate with gothic key
That doesn't seem to fit the lock.

Down below, a wave splashes against the sea front, briefly washing up under the grating.

...or not. If no one has figured out the solution by Monday, I'll show it off then.

Rod of fire, always, forever.

Can you somehow attach something to the key to make it float, so it'd be accessible when the waves wash up?

Get water and throw on key to make it move? I was also thinking you could freeze the water to maybe break the grating but you say it's more mundane than that.

Since it's not Monday, I won't show off the solution, but I will say that the key is underneath us, but inaccessible. Hope that helps.

Zap the key with the Rod of Returning.

Drop a bunch of useless stuff down the grating until the key is high enough to grab it. Note: this assumes that the iron key floats.

Hold onto the grating in order to avoid falling upwards, temporarily reverse gravity, catch the key as it falls?

No idea how we'd accomplish that, but it's hilarious to visualise.

It's Monday, and you know what that means. Time to show off how to get this bloody key! As I've said, it involves mundane means. Specifically, the smooth stone, which is apparently magnetic, as is seen here.

>get smooth stone
(putting the model of an animal so ugly you can't bear to look at it into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

Down below, a wave splashes against the sea front, briefly washing up under the grating.

>drop it into grating
The strange stone drops through the grating, and falls on the top step. The iron key mysteriously glues itself to the metal in the stone. It's still out of reach, though.

A wave splashes up under the grating, throwing up the strange stone, which bounces back off the grating and washes away down the passage out of sight.

Well, you didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you?


Down below, a wave splashes against the sea front, briefly washing up under the grating.

[Your score has just gone up by three points.]

No. No, I didn't. Now, to head to a place that we haven't seen yet.



>s

Causeway

>se

Crossroads

Behind the front are huge statues on mechanical floats, flanked by giant overflowing pitchers of wine. And the animals are coming!

>ne
The procession happily accommodates another crazily-dressed loon.

Outside the Royal Museum

Behind the front are huge statues on mechanical floats, flanked by giant overflowing pitchers of wine. And the animals are coming!

>n

Outside the Theatre

>w

Warehouses and Port
Down by the sea-front, in the old harbourlands, surrounded by warehouses. The Mediterranean laps darkly against the hard, splashing an occasional wave up the slope. The city, and the party, lie back east.

That iron key seems to have washed up here...

...and there's the strange stone again.

A grizzled sailor sits at a harbourside table.

An inscribed six-sided die lies on the table in front of him.

The sailor hums a sea shanty.

[Your score has just gone up by five points.]

So, it was still pretty easy, just not as easy as I expected.

>get stone
Taken.

The sailor hums a sea shanty.

[Your score has just gone up by four points.]

>get key
(the rusty iron key)
(putting the Rod of Returning into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

The sailor hums a sea shanty.

Where to from here?


Puzzles:
Getting the mascot from old Evans.
Getting into Madame Sorostris' tower.
Finding something to put in the astronomical mounting in the balustrade.
The Oracle's riddle:
Unexplored paths:
Down from The Height of Fashion.

Inventory:
a rusty iron key
a smooth round stone (apparently magnetic)
the Rod of Ice
a cloak of many colours (being worn, has grey lining)
a daisy chain (around your neck, made from yellow daisies and causes certain objects to turn into featureless mahogany rods when waved)
a canvas rucksack (which is open, actually a bag of holding)

• a model of an animal so ugly you can't bear to look at it
• a purple sash
• a mystic scroll
• a tube with a kappa on (which is empty)
• a bird whistle
• the Pan pipes
• a photographer's flash (which is closed, equipped with a timer mechanism)
• a glowing golden orb (misted over, but has images of some sort of crazy chess world)
• a papyrus fragment
• a Tarot box (which is open but empty)
• a croquet mallet
• an antique jewellery box (which is open but empty)
• a cracked medicine bottle (which is open but empty)
• a model golden sceptre
• a bunch of nuts
• a steel wrench
• a silk handkerchief
• a marble rose
• a spade
• a hard wooden ball
• the Rods of Returning, Husbandry (charged), Sacrifice, Luck, Fire, Bronze, Infinity and Stalking
• seven Tarot cards: the Star, Maiden, Castle, Fool, Drowned Sailor, Ace of Cups and Grim Reaper
• a long wrought iron key
• a delicate gold key (unlocks the jewellery box)
• a gothic-looking iron key
• a small brass key (unlocks the door from Dark Passage to Garden Stream and the trapdoor in Priest's Hole)
• a postcard of the Champs-Elysees
• Hobson's classical dictionary
• the History of the Meldrews (vol. II)

an electric torch (providing light and closed)
some old gardeners' gloves (being worn)

Score:
It is some time in the winter of 275 B.C., the reign of Ptolemy II, and you are in ancient Alexandria. You have so far scored 336 out of a possible 550, in 1454 turns, giving you the rank of Voyager.

Maps
Meldrew Hall, attic:
a=Attic (down to game over)
b=Old Winery
c=Aunt Jemima's Lair (wireless)
d=Servant's Room (scarf)
e=Potting Room (Aunt Jemima)
f=Old Furniture (wrapping paper)
g=Over the East Wing
h=Storage Room (wheel with handle, dumbwaiter leading to Cellar)
i=Disused Observatory (glass ball on telescope stand, smoke detector)
j=Airing Cupboard
k=Dark Room
l=East Annexe
m=Dead End (down/east to Beside the Drive)
n=Library Storage
o=Souvenirs Room (slide projector [contains The Castle], ship in a bottle)
p=Inside Cupboard (big iron fireplace, open skylight with crank handle, up to Roof)
q=Chimney (down to Priest's Hole)
r=Alison's Writing Room (bed)
s=Tiny Balcony
X=game over

Meldrew Hall, cellar:
a=Cellars (dumbwaiter to Dark Shaft)
b=Wine Cellars
c=Cellar West (locked door leading northwest, down to Hellish Place)
d=Cellars South (robot mouse, hole in wall)

Meldrew Hall, gardens and shaft area:
a=Garden Stream
b=Family Tree (plane tree, up to Up the Plane Tree)
c=Beside the Wall (potted shrub, one-way path down to Wine Cellar)
d=Lawn Ornaments (dark well too small to enter, miniature, weed killer bottle, prayer book, romantic novel, green branch, gas mask)
e=Mosaic [can be lagach-ed]
f=Clearing
g=Garage (garden roller)
h=Vegetable Garden (runner bean plant)
i=Maze
j=Viewpoint Ledge (plaque)
k=Dark Shaft (dumbwaiter to Storage Room)
l=Dark Passage
m=Patio in Maze (down to Crypt)
n=Sandstone Passage
o=The Octagon (window vent, gilded coffin used to identify rods, scroll)
p=White Hallway (painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe [can be lagach-ed], elephant's foot umbrella stand)
q=Bricked Path
r=Halfway up the Stairs (up to Servant's Room)
s=Hedgery
t=Croquet Lawn (colored peg, wickets)
u=Summer House (gold watch which is visible but unattainable)

Catacombs below the gardens:
a=Crypt (bronze mural [can be lagach-ed], up to Patio in Maze)
b=Jagged Passage
c=Catacombs (down to Universe Maintenance Room)
d=Contraption Room (sheet of dull amber-colored metal forming north wall, iron panel with 3x5 grid, see-saw of leather baskets, metal hand)
e=Charnel Passage
f=Sarcophagus
g=Contraption Reflection (same as in Contraption Room)

Meldrew Hall, roof:
a=Roof (down to Inside Cupboard)
b=Battlements

Meldrew Hall, ???:
a=Priest's Hole (one-way path down to Cellar West)

Northeast of the House:
a=Beside the Drive (up/west to Dead End)
b=Public Footpath (down to Hollow)
c=Stone Cross (Old Evans with his lucky mascot)

Northeast of the House, Hollow:
a=Hollow (up to Public Footpath, one-way northwest path to Mosaic)

Unreal City:
a=Unreal City
b=Shadowy Hallway (up to Consulting Room)
c=Bohemia (mural [can be lagach-ed])
d=Down by River
e=Near Ring Road (down to Chatelet-les-Halles)
f=Chatelet-les-Halles (map salesman)
g=Consulting Room (down to Shadowy Hallway)
h=On board the Phlebas (saying "time" will take the protagonist to Garden Stream)

Tarot box:
a=Cups and Glasses (model ship)
b=Aboard Ship (examine model ship; up to Up the Mast)
c=Prow of the Lady Magdalena
d=Stern
e=Ruined Castle Cafe
f=Sea Shore (Andromeda, up to Cliffs)
g=Cliffs (down to Sea Shore)
h=Clifftop Walk
i=Outside Taverna (fig tree)
j=Eraina Taverna (bartender)
k=Wall of Thorns
l=Cave Mouth (obsidian altar, flaming bronze urn)
m=Sacred Earth (south to death by divine wrath)
n=Temple of Zeus
o=East Cloister
p=Inner Sanctum (Homer)
q=down to Cross Centre
r=Cross Centre (down to Oubliette)
s=up to Inner Sanctum
t=Southwest Cross (statue of Dionysus)
u=Northwest Cross (statue of Demeter)
v=Northeast Cross (statue of Poseidon)
w=Southeast Cross (statue of Ares)
x=Oubliette (crushing wall trap; up to Cross Centre)
y=Lighthouse

Alexandria:
a=Causeway
b=Island of Pharos (grating, rusty iron key behind grating)
c=Crossroads
d=A Tower (door)
e=Necropolis (tombstone with empty socket and word "GALITA", down to The Height of Fashion)
f=XIIth Dynasty Pyramid (writings [can be lagach-ed])
g=Outside the Royal Museum
h=The Birdcage of the Muses (pigeonhole)
i=Oil Room (trough of oil)
j=Reading Corridor
k=Geography Room
l=Librarian's Office
m=Outside the Theatre
n=Stadium
o=Outside the Royal Palace of Alexander
p=Lost inside the Palace
q=Lost inside the Palace (say "anoppe" to reach the Palace Balustrade)
r=Warehouses and Port (sailor, engraved die; you are here)

Alexandria, tomb:
a=The Height of Fashion (up to Necropolis, down to...?)
b=This Is The Death (blocked slope to the west)

Alexandria, palace balustrade:
a=Palace Balustrade (astronomical mounting)

Hamburg by night:
a=Museum of Arcana
b=Revolving Door
c=Hall of Exhibits (still life [can be lagach-ed])
d=Cabinet Room
e=Dark Staircase (down/south to...?)
f=Coven Cell (goat)

Deaths
Missed the point entirely: 5 (irritated Aunt Jemima by trying to steal her gardening gloves, gave up on the search, broke a pipe and had to call a plumber, lectured by Aunt Jemima for four hours, burned down most of the attic)
Spooked: 1 (haunted by the ghost of Sir Joshua Meldrewe)
Died: 8 (jumped off the mast of the Lady Magdalena without a parachute, spontaneous combustion, brutally sacrificed by a druidic coven, blown to bits by a time bomb, incinerated myself with the Rod of Fire, electrocuted by the wrath of Zeus, crushed into a pancake, epic stealth fail)
Disembodied the entire universe: 1 (meddled with the Planck constant)
Total: 15

Roll that sailor's die. If he doesn't like it, sing him a sea shanty.

Challenge him to a shanty-off. You can outshanty him.

Well, there's a die, so let's give it a roll.

>roll die
You throw a "mach", whatever that means.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

I'm not sure if that means he likes it, but since he was singing earlier, might as well also challenge him to a shanty-off.

>sing sea shanty
I only understood you as far as wanting to sing.

All right, then. I'll just do that.

>sing
Your singing is abominable.

The sailor grabs the die and throws a "ca", and sighs.

So I lost the shanty-off, but won the dice game. Apparently, mach beats ca. There doesn't seem to be any ante, so shall we try to figure out the rest of these crazy numbers next time, or try to figure out some other puzzles?

It's been a while since my last update, I know, but that's because I was waiting for suggestions on what to do. If I don't get any by 5:25 PM Eastern Standard Time tomorrow, I'll just go ahead with figuring out the dice. Otherwise, we'll see.

I feel like I've lost track of places we still have to go. (I think this game has overflowed the memory buffers of my brain.) Can we go further done in the tomb? Did we ever determine if the a model golden sceptre was a rod, and if so, which? Can we use the iron key from under the grate to open the grate? Will the sailor accept anything we're carrying as a bet for anything he might be carrying?

Answers to Beowulf's questions.

Yes, although the puzzle there requires either knowledge of the numerical system of this era or a walkthrough.

It is not a rod. In fact, I think that we have all the normal rods in the game.

I'm pretty sure that that's exactly what it's meant for.

No. You may have noticed that there isn't any ante for the dice game. This is because the entire purpose of the sailor is to teach you the numerical system mentioned earlier, although it's one of the most tedious things in the game. In fact, I think I might just show it off in the next post anyway, just to show how tedious it is.

With this in mind, where to go next?

After the dice, spelunking past the grate?

First of all, the tedium that is rolling the die enough to figure out all the numbers and hoping that the RNG gives me what I need.

>roll die
You throw a "si", whatever that means.

The sailor grabs the die and throws a "ca", and grins.

So, mach > ca > si. Again!

>roll die
You throw a "si", whatever that means.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

Now we've got to wait for him to throw again.

>z
Time passes.

The sailor grabs the die and throws a "zal", and sighs.

This is going pretty well. We now know that mach > ca > si > zal. Just two numbers to go, assuming that none of the numbers go both ways.

>roll die
You throw a "zal", whatever that means.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

>z
Time passes.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

>z
Time passes.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

>z
Time passes.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

>z
Time passes.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

>z
Time passes.

The sailor grabs the die and throws a "huth", and grins.

Hmm, so huth beats zal. Shame we haven't seen anything else with huth. Guess we'll have to go again.

>roll die
You throw a "si", whatever that means.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

>wait a ridiculously long time until the sailor stops staring at the die thoughtfully
Time passes.

The sailor grabs the die and throws a "huth", and grins.

This is going pretty well, although the sailor is rapidly rising to the top of my least-favorite interactive fiction NPCs list what with how long he waits between throws. By the way, numbers learned so far: mach > ca > si > zal; huth > si > zal.

>roll die
You throw a "ca", whatever that means.

The sailor grabs the die and throws a "zal", and sighs.

Well, if ca beats si, which beats zal, it would pretty much be a given that ca would beat zal by the transitive property. Looks like we'll have to keep going.

>roll die
You throw a "huth", whatever that means.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

>z
Time passes.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

>z
Time passes.

The sailor grabs the die and throws a "si", and sighs.

Darn...already knew that. Guess we'll have to try again.

>roll die
You throw a "ca", whatever that means.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

>z
Time passes.

The sailor grabs the die and throws a "si", and sighs.

Another thing we already knew. Let's make another throw.

>roll die
You throw a "mach", whatever that means.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

>wait while mentally screaming at the sailor to just throw the tysh die
Time passes.

The sailor grabs the die and throws a "thu", and sighs.

At least there's a new number this time, and that's all six. Starting now, I'm going to cut out throws with no new information.
Numbers learned so far: mach > ca > si > zal; huth > si > zal; mach > thu.

(Skipped throws: 2)

>roll die
You throw a "huth", whatever that means.

The sailor grabs the die and throws a "thu", and sighs.

Numbers learned so far: mach > ca > si > zal; huth > si > zal; mach > thu; huth > thu.

>roll die
You throw a "mach", whatever that means.

The sailor grabs the die and throws a "huth", and grins.

Numbers learned so far: mach > ca > si > zal; huth > si > zal; huth > mach > thu.

(Skipped throws: 9)

>roll die
You throw a "thu", whatever that means.

The sailor grabs the die and throws a "si", and grins.

Finally, some new information! Now all we need is to figure out the order of thu and zal, and we're golden.

Numbers learned so far:
huth > mach > ca > si > zal
huth > mach > thu
huth > mach > ca > si > thu.

(Skipped throws: 17)

>roll die
You throw a "thu", whatever that means.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

>z
Time passes.

The sailor stares at the die thoughtfully.

>z
Time passes.

The sailor grabs the die and throws a "zal", and grins.

And with that, after 40 freakin' dice rolls and innumerable turns of waiting for the sailor to make up his bloody mind, we've figured out the numbers of this strange ancient world.
Huth=6
Mach=5
Ca=4
Si=3
Zal=2
Thu=1

There's no way something this annoying to learn would be included if it weren't useful, so keep it filed in your mind. Now to explore beneath the grate.

>e

Outside the Theatre

>s

Outside the Royal Museum

A lively, very noisy procession pushes through here, and some spectacular floats are approaching fast.

>sw

Crossroads

A lively, very noisy procession pushes through here, and some spectacular floats are approaching fast.

>nw

Causeway

>n

Island of Pharos

In one wall of the wave defences is a rusty seaweed-wreathed iron grating, closed up tight.

>unlock grate with rusty key
You unlock the rusty iron grating.

Down below, a wave splashes against the sea front, briefly washing up under the grating.

>open grate
You open the rusty iron grating.

Down below, a wave splashes against the sea front, briefly washing up under the grating.

>d

Jetty
Down on a dark stone jetty, where the waters of the Alexandrian harbour splash insistently. Rough-hewn steps rise up the island through the grating.

A skiff (a small sail-boat) is moored up here.

[Your score has just gone up by five points.]

Well, my score went up, which is always a good sign. Where to from here?



Puzzles:
Getting the mascot from old Evans.
Getting into Madame Sorostris' tower.
Finding something to put in the astronomical mounting in the balustrade.
The Oracle's riddle:
Unexplored paths:
Down from The Height of Fashion.
Boarding the skiff at Jetty.

Inventory:
a rusty iron key (unlocks the grating on the Island of Pharos)
a smooth round stone (apparently magnetic)
the Rod of Ice
a cloak of many colours (being worn, has grey lining)
a daisy chain (around your neck, made from yellow daisies and causes certain objects to turn into featureless mahogany rods when waved)
a canvas rucksack (which is open, actually a bag of holding)

• a model of an animal so ugly you can't bear to look at it
• a purple sash
• a mystic scroll
• a tube with a kappa on (which is empty)
• a bird whistle
• the Pan pipes
• a photographer's flash (which is closed, equipped with a timer mechanism)
• a glowing golden orb (misted over, but has images of some sort of crazy chess world)
• a papyrus fragment
• a Tarot box (which is open but empty)
• a croquet mallet
• an antique jewellery box (which is open but empty)
• a cracked medicine bottle (which is open but empty)
• a model golden sceptre
• a bunch of nuts
• a steel wrench
• a silk handkerchief
• a marble rose
• a spade
• a hard wooden ball
• the Rods of Returning, Husbandry (charged), Sacrifice, Luck, Fire, Bronze, Infinity and Stalking
• seven Tarot cards: the Star, Maiden, Castle, Fool, Drowned Sailor, Ace of Cups and Grim Reaper
• a long wrought iron key
• a delicate gold key (unlocks the jewellery box)
• a gothic-looking iron key
• a small brass key (unlocks the door from Dark Passage to Garden Stream and the trapdoor in Priest's Hole)
• a postcard of the Champs-Elysees
• Hobson's classical dictionary
• the History of the Meldrews (vol. II)

an electric torch (providing light and closed)
some old gardeners' gloves (being worn)

Score:
It is some time in the winter of 275 B.C., the reign of Ptolemy II, and you are in ancient Alexandria. You have so far scored 341 out of a possible 550, in 1464 turns, giving you the rank of Navigator.

By the way, if you're wondering why the turn count only went up by 10 from the last update despite that absurdly-long gambling session, it's because I actually did that in advance to prepare for this update. Yes, I'm a naughty boy.

Maps
Meldrew Hall, attic:
a=Attic (down to game over)
b=Old Winery
c=Aunt Jemima's Lair (wireless)
d=Servant's Room (scarf)
e=Potting Room (Aunt Jemima)
f=Old Furniture (wrapping paper)
g=Over the East Wing
h=Storage Room (wheel with handle, dumbwaiter leading to Cellar)
i=Disused Observatory (glass ball on telescope stand, smoke detector)
j=Airing Cupboard
k=Dark Room
l=East Annexe
m=Dead End (down/east to Beside the Drive)
n=Library Storage
o=Souvenirs Room (slide projector [contains The Castle], ship in a bottle)
p=Inside Cupboard (big iron fireplace, open skylight with crank handle, up to Roof)
q=Chimney (down to Priest's Hole)
r=Alison's Writing Room (bed)
s=Tiny Balcony
X=game over

Meldrew Hall, cellar:
a=Cellars (dumbwaiter to Dark Shaft)
b=Wine Cellars
c=Cellar West (locked door leading northwest, down to Hellish Place)
d=Cellars South (robot mouse, hole in wall)

Meldrew Hall, gardens and shaft area:
a=Garden Stream
b=Family Tree (plane tree, up to Up the Plane Tree)
c=Beside the Wall (potted shrub, one-way path down to Wine Cellar)
d=Lawn Ornaments (dark well too small to enter, miniature, weed killer bottle, prayer book, romantic novel, green branch, gas mask)
e=Mosaic [can be lagach-ed]
f=Clearing
g=Garage (garden roller)
h=Vegetable Garden (runner bean plant)
i=Maze
j=Viewpoint Ledge (plaque)
k=Dark Shaft (dumbwaiter to Storage Room)
l=Dark Passage
m=Patio in Maze (down to Crypt)
n=Sandstone Passage
o=The Octagon (window vent, gilded coffin used to identify rods, scroll)
p=White Hallway (painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe [can be lagach-ed], elephant's foot umbrella stand)
q=Bricked Path
r=Halfway up the Stairs (up to Servant's Room)
s=Hedgery
t=Croquet Lawn (colored peg, wickets)
u=Summer House (gold watch which is visible but unattainable)

Catacombs below the gardens:
a=Crypt (bronze mural [can be lagach-ed], up to Patio in Maze)
b=Jagged Passage
c=Catacombs (down to Universe Maintenance Room)
d=Contraption Room (sheet of dull amber-colored metal forming north wall, iron panel with 3x5 grid, see-saw of leather baskets, metal hand)
e=Charnel Passage
f=Sarcophagus
g=Contraption Reflection (same as in Contraption Room)

Meldrew Hall, roof:
a=Roof (down to Inside Cupboard)
b=Battlements

Meldrew Hall, ???:
a=Priest's Hole (one-way path down to Cellar West)

Northeast of the House:
a=Beside the Drive (up/west to Dead End)
b=Public Footpath (down to Hollow)
c=Stone Cross (Old Evans with his lucky mascot)

Northeast of the House, Hollow:
a=Hollow (up to Public Footpath, one-way northwest path to Mosaic)

Unreal City:
a=Unreal City
b=Shadowy Hallway (up to Consulting Room)
c=Bohemia (mural [can be lagach-ed])
d=Down by River
e=Near Ring Road (down to Chatelet-les-Halles)
f=Chatelet-les-Halles (map salesman)
g=Consulting Room (down to Shadowy Hallway)
h=On board the Phlebas (saying "time" will take the protagonist to Garden Stream)

Tarot box:
a=Cups and Glasses (model ship)
b=Aboard Ship (examine model ship; up to Up the Mast)
c=Prow of the Lady Magdalena
d=Stern
e=Ruined Castle Cafe
f=Sea Shore (Andromeda, up to Cliffs)
g=Cliffs (down to Sea Shore)
h=Clifftop Walk
i=Outside Taverna (fig tree)
j=Eraina Taverna (bartender)
k=Wall of Thorns
l=Cave Mouth (obsidian altar, flaming bronze urn)
m=Sacred Earth (south to death by divine wrath)
n=Temple of Zeus
o=East Cloister
p=Inner Sanctum (Homer)
q=down to Cross Centre
r=Cross Centre (down to Oubliette)
s=up to Inner Sanctum
t=Southwest Cross (statue of Dionysus)
u=Northwest Cross (statue of Demeter)
v=Northeast Cross (statue of Poseidon)
w=Southeast Cross (statue of Ares)
x=Oubliette (crushing wall trap; up to Cross Centre)
y=Lighthouse

Alexandria:
a=Causeway
b=Island of Pharos (down to Jetty)
c=Crossroads
d=A Tower (door)
e=Necropolis (tombstone with empty socket and word "GALITA", down to The Height of Fashion)
f=XIIth Dynasty Pyramid (writings [can be lagach-ed])
g=Outside the Royal Museum
h=The Birdcage of the Muses (pigeonhole)
i=Oil Room (trough of oil)
j=Reading Corridor
k=Geography Room
l=Librarian's Office
m=Outside the Theatre
n=Stadium
o=Outside the Royal Palace of Alexander
p=Lost inside the Palace
q=Lost inside the Palace (say "anoppe" to reach the Palace Balustrade)
r=Warehouses and Port (sailor, engraved die)

Alexandria, tomb:
a=The Height of Fashion (up to Necropolis, down to...?)
b=This Is The Death (blocked slope to the west)

Alexandria, palace balustrade:
a=Palace Balustrade (astronomical mounting)

Alexandria, Jetty:
a=Jetty (skiff; you are here)

Hamburg by night:
a=Museum of Arcana
b=Revolving Door
c=Hall of Exhibits (still life [can be lagach-ed])
d=Cabinet Room
e=Dark Staircase (down/south to...?)
f=Coven Cell (goat)

Deaths
Missed the point entirely: 5 (irritated Aunt Jemima by trying to steal her gardening gloves, gave up on the search, broke a pipe and had to call a plumber, lectured by Aunt Jemima for four hours, burned down most of the attic)
Spooked: 1 (haunted by the ghost of Sir Joshua Meldrewe)
Died: 8 (jumped off the mast of the Lady Magdalena without a parachute, spontaneous combustion, brutally sacrificed by a druidic coven, blown to bits by a time bomb, incinerated myself with the Rod of Fire, electrocuted by the wrath of Zeus, crushed into a pancake, epic stealth fail)
Disembodied the entire universe: 1 (meddled with the Planck constant)
Total: 15

Sail the boat. Let the wind be your guide.

in Curses
you are the Wind Waker
its you

Get in the skiff! I guess.

We've broken one curse this month, so let's see if we can make some progress on breaking another. The vote is unanimous for boarding the skiff, so let's do that.

>board skiff
You get into the skiff.

An adamantine heart lies in the skiff.

Adamantine? Isn't that mythical? Oh, well. It might just come in handy, so let's do what adventurers do best.

>take heart
(putting the Rod of Ice into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

A wave suddenly rocks the skiff.

Since we're in a boat, I wonder if we can set sail?

>sail
You set sail, and a light breeze propels your skiff...

Harbour Mouth (in the skiff)
As the skiff passes the jaws of the Royal Harbour, beneath the great Pharos light, you have a final view of the receding civilisation of Alexandria: ahead lies the vast, oil-calm Mediterranean and moonlight on the waters.

Now to just sit back and enjoy the ride.

>sail
You set sail, and a light breeze propels your skiff...

Harbour Mouth (in the skiff)
As the skiff passes the jaws of the Royal Harbour, beneath the great Pharos light, you have a final view of the receding civilisation of Alexandria: ahead lies the vast, oil-calm Mediterranean and moonlight on the waters.

>z
Time passes.

The sails billow, then slacken...

Drifting (in the skiff)
You drift in the wide, peaceful Lunar sea. Curious fish, their yellow-green eyes gleaming beneath the silver ripples, brush past your wake: the night zephyr is almost slack but still you drift. Minutes pass like hours in paradise.

>z
Time passes.

Light brightens into day. The skiff drifts, drifts upon...

Garden Stream (in the skiff)
In the lush, verdant (which is to say, under-cared for) gardens of Meldrew House, where a stream gurgles pleasantly as it meanders through reeds. The house rises up high above you to the south and you dare not be seen from the windows by the rest of the family, so you'll have to go northwest, deeper into the gardens, or else east along a path hugging the wall.

On the house wall is a coal bunker, whose door stands open.

Hmm, so it's some sort of magical timeboat. Now that we're back in the present, there are probably some things we can do here...or should that be now? Man, time travel is confusing. :P

Puzzles:
Getting the mascot from old Evans.
Getting into Madame Sorostris' tower.
Finding something to put in the astronomical mounting in the balustrade.
The Oracle's riddle:
Unexplored paths:
Down from The Height of Fashion.

Inventory:
an adamantine heart
a rusty iron key (unlocks the grating on the Island of Pharos)
a smooth round stone (apparently magnetic)
a cloak of many colours (being worn, has grey lining)
a daisy chain (around your neck, made from yellow daisies and causes certain objects to turn into featureless mahogany rods when waved)
a canvas rucksack (which is open, actually a bag of holding)

• a model of an animal so ugly you can't bear to look at it
• a purple sash
• a mystic scroll
• a tube with a kappa on (which is empty)
• a bird whistle
• the Pan pipes
• a photographer's flash (which is closed, equipped with a timer mechanism)
• a glowing golden orb (misted over, but has images of some sort of crazy chess world)
• a papyrus fragment
• a Tarot box (which is open but empty)
• a croquet mallet
• an antique jewellery box (which is open but empty)
• a cracked medicine bottle (which is open but empty)
• a model golden sceptre
• a bunch of nuts
• a steel wrench
• a silk handkerchief
• a marble rose
• a spade
• a hard wooden ball
• the Rods of Ice, Returning, Husbandry (charged), Sacrifice, Luck, Fire, Bronze, Infinity and Stalking
• seven Tarot cards: the Star, Maiden, Castle, Fool, Drowned Sailor, Ace of Cups and Grim Reaper
• a long wrought iron key
• a delicate gold key (unlocks the jewellery box)
• a gothic-looking iron key
• a small brass key (unlocks the door from Dark Passage to Garden Stream and the trapdoor in Priest's Hole)
• a postcard of the Champs-Elysees
• Hobson's classical dictionary
• the History of the Meldrews (vol. II)

an electric torch (providing light and closed)
some old gardeners' gloves (being worn)

Score:
It is the afternoon of June 3rd, 1993, and you are in the gardens. You have so far scored 341 out of a possible 550, in 1469 turns, giving you the rank of Navigator.

Maps
Meldrew Hall, attic:
a=Attic (down to game over)
b=Old Winery
c=Aunt Jemima's Lair (wireless)
d=Servant's Room (scarf)
e=Potting Room (Aunt Jemima)
f=Old Furniture (wrapping paper)
g=Over the East Wing
h=Storage Room (wheel with handle, dumbwaiter leading to Cellar)
i=Disused Observatory (glass ball on telescope stand, smoke detector)
j=Airing Cupboard
k=Dark Room
l=East Annexe
m=Dead End (down/east to Beside the Drive)
n=Library Storage
o=Souvenirs Room (slide projector [contains The Castle], ship in a bottle)
p=Inside Cupboard (big iron fireplace, open skylight with crank handle, up to Roof)
q=Chimney (down to Priest's Hole)
r=Alison's Writing Room (bed)
s=Tiny Balcony
X=game over

Meldrew Hall, cellar:
a=Cellars (dumbwaiter to Dark Shaft)
b=Wine Cellars
c=Cellar West (locked door leading northwest, down to Hellish Place)
d=Cellars South (robot mouse, hole in wall)

Meldrew Hall, gardens and shaft area:
a=Garden Stream (you are here)
b=Family Tree (plane tree, up to Up the Plane Tree)
c=Beside the Wall (potted shrub, one-way path down to Wine Cellar)
d=Lawn Ornaments (dark well too small to enter, miniature, weed killer bottle, prayer book, romantic novel, green branch, gas mask)
e=Mosaic [can be lagach-ed]
f=Clearing
g=Garage (garden roller)
h=Vegetable Garden (runner bean plant)
i=Maze
j=Viewpoint Ledge (plaque)
k=Dark Shaft (dumbwaiter to Storage Room)
l=Dark Passage
m=Patio in Maze (down to Crypt)
n=Sandstone Passage
o=The Octagon (window vent, gilded coffin used to identify rods, scroll)
p=White Hallway (painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe [can be lagach-ed], elephant's foot umbrella stand)
q=Bricked Path
r=Halfway up the Stairs (up to Servant's Room)
s=Hedgery
t=Croquet Lawn (colored peg, wickets)
u=Summer House (gold watch which is visible but unattainable)

Catacombs below the gardens:
a=Crypt (bronze mural [can be lagach-ed], up to Patio in Maze)
b=Jagged Passage
c=Catacombs (down to Universe Maintenance Room)
d=Contraption Room (sheet of dull amber-colored metal forming north wall, iron panel with 3x5 grid, see-saw of leather baskets, metal hand)
e=Charnel Passage
f=Sarcophagus
g=Contraption Reflection (same as in Contraption Room)

Meldrew Hall, roof:
a=Roof (down to Inside Cupboard)
b=Battlements

Meldrew Hall, ???:
a=Priest's Hole (one-way path down to Cellar West)

Northeast of the House:
a=Beside the Drive (up/west to Dead End)
b=Public Footpath (down to Hollow)
c=Stone Cross (Old Evans with his lucky mascot)

Northeast of the House, Hollow:
a=Hollow (up to Public Footpath, one-way northwest path to Mosaic)

Unreal City:
a=Unreal City
b=Shadowy Hallway (up to Consulting Room)
c=Bohemia (mural [can be lagach-ed])
d=Down by River
e=Near Ring Road (down to Chatelet-les-Halles)
f=Chatelet-les-Halles (map salesman)
g=Consulting Room (down to Shadowy Hallway)
h=On board the Phlebas (saying "time" will take the protagonist to Garden Stream)

Tarot box:
a=Cups and Glasses (model ship)
b=Aboard Ship (examine model ship; up to Up the Mast)
c=Prow of the Lady Magdalena
d=Stern
e=Ruined Castle Cafe
f=Sea Shore (Andromeda, up to Cliffs)
g=Cliffs (down to Sea Shore)
h=Clifftop Walk
i=Outside Taverna (fig tree)
j=Eraina Taverna (bartender)
k=Wall of Thorns
l=Cave Mouth (obsidian altar, flaming bronze urn)
m=Sacred Earth (south to death by divine wrath)
n=Temple of Zeus
o=East Cloister
p=Inner Sanctum (Homer)
q=down to Cross Centre
r=Cross Centre (down to Oubliette)
s=up to Inner Sanctum
t=Southwest Cross (statue of Dionysus)
u=Northwest Cross (statue of Demeter)
v=Northeast Cross (statue of Poseidon)
w=Southeast Cross (statue of Ares)
x=Oubliette (crushing wall trap; up to Cross Centre)
y=Lighthouse

Alexandria:
a=Causeway
b=Island of Pharos (down to Jetty)
c=Crossroads
d=A Tower (door)
e=Necropolis (tombstone with empty socket and word "GALITA", down to The Height of Fashion)
f=XIIth Dynasty Pyramid (writings [can be lagach-ed])
g=Outside the Royal Museum
h=The Birdcage of the Muses (pigeonhole)
i=Oil Room (trough of oil)
j=Reading Corridor
k=Geography Room
l=Librarian's Office
m=Outside the Theatre
n=Stadium
o=Outside the Royal Palace of Alexander
p=Lost inside the Palace
q=Lost inside the Palace (say "anoppe" to reach the Palace Balustrade)
r=Warehouses and Port (sailor, engraved die)

Alexandria, tomb:
a=The Height of Fashion (up to Necropolis, down to...?)
b=This Is The Death (blocked slope to the west)

Alexandria, palace balustrade:
a=Palace Balustrade (astronomical mounting)

Alexandria, Jetty:
a=Jetty (skiff) [enter skiff, type "sail", and wait 2 turns to go to Garden Stream]

Hamburg by night:
a=Museum of Arcana
b=Revolving Door
c=Hall of Exhibits (still life [can be lagach-ed])
d=Cabinet Room
e=Dark Staircase (down/south to...?)
f=Coven Cell (goat)

Deaths
Missed the point entirely: 5 (irritated Aunt Jemima by trying to steal her gardening gloves, gave up on the search, broke a pipe and had to call a plumber, lectured by Aunt Jemima for four hours, burned down most of the attic)
Spooked: 1 (haunted by the ghost of Sir Joshua Meldrewe)
Died: 8 (jumped off the mast of the Lady Magdalena without a parachute, spontaneous combustion, brutally sacrificed by a druidic coven, blown to bits by a time bomb, incinerated myself with the Rod of Fire, electrocuted by the wrath of Zeus, crushed into a pancake, epic stealth fail)
Disembodied the entire universe: 1 (meddled with the Planck constant)
Total: 15

Are you really expected to roll the die until you figure out all the numbers? Even for this game, that seems excessively tedious.

I believe that you are, indeed. The only other way I can think of to find them without a walkthrough is to hack the game, which I can't imagine most people having the skills for back in '93. Anyway, where to go from here?

NW into the garden? Only seem to have two options at this juncture.

Sounds like as good an option as any.

>stand
You get out of the skiff.

Garden Stream

A skiff (a small sail-boat) is moored up here.

On the house wall is a coal bunker, whose door stands open.

>nw

Family Tree

Not much to do yet. I will say, though, that the solution to one of the puzzles on the puzzle list is in the present, so see if you can figure out which one it is. Until next time!

The Oracle's riddle? I'm just guessing at random here.

You've got it. You see, the six arches mentioned in the riddle aren't necessarily big arches, and could even be about the size of, say, croquet wickets. And since the croquet lawn has been there since the 20's, the six arches have been standing there at least sixty years, although it really should be somewhere between 64 and 73 years since the game is set in 1993. So let's get going!

>se

Garden Stream

A skiff (a small sail-boat) is moored up here.

On the house wall is a coal bunker, whose door stands open.

>s

Dark Passage

A secret passage slants down to the east through a sandstone recess.

At the north end is a metal door, standing open.

>e

Sandstone Passage

>e

The Octagon

There is a little window-vent high in the southwest wall.

A rather morbid gilded model coffin rests open here.

Leaned against one of the eight corners is a ragged white parchment scroll.

>se

White Hallway

Mad Isaac's painting glares at you from the picture hook.

There's an old-fashioned elephant's foot umbrella stand beside the garden doorway.

>ne

Bricked Path

>e

Hedgery

A flock of sparrows crowds around the gutters of the summer house. Every now and then one flits up and lands somewhere else, and they bustle about chirpily.

>e

Croquet Lawn

And now, to follow the directions from the riddle.

>walk 7 paces west

Croquet Lawn (seven paces west of the peg)
One of the most beautiful hedge-enclosed, tree-muffled lawns in England, and just out of sight of the house, this has been a jewel in the gardens for centuries. Since the twenties it has also been a croquet lawn, of the regulation twenty-four yards square, laid out with a central coloured peg and six peripheral hoops.

>walk three paces north

Croquet Lawn (seven paces west and three paces north of the peg)
One of the most beautiful hedge-enclosed, tree-muffled lawns in England, and just out of sight of the house, this has been a jewel in the gardens for centuries. Since the twenties it has also been a croquet lawn, of the regulation twenty-four yards square, laid out with a central coloured peg and six peripheral hoops.

What could lie below?

>get spade
(putting the smooth round stone into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

>dig
You dig an energetic little hole in the superb turf, until your spade bumps into something solid.

[Your score has just gone up by eight points.]

It's solid, which is always a good sign. But what could it be?

>look in hole
In the dug hole is a strongbox.

>get strongbox
(putting the rusty iron key into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

That means that there's probably something inside. But what could it be? You'll have to find out next time on Let's Play Curses.

Puzzles:
Getting the mascot from old Evans.
Getting into Madame Sorostris' tower.
Finding something to put in the astronomical mounting in the balustrade.

Unexplored paths:
Down from The Height of Fashion.

Inventory:
a strongbox (which is closed and locked)
a spade
an adamantine heart
a cloak of many colours (being worn, has grey lining)
a daisy chain (around your neck, made from yellow daisies and causes certain objects to turn into featureless mahogany rods when waved)
a canvas rucksack (which is open, actually a bag of holding)

• a smooth round stone (apparently magnetic)
• a model of an animal so ugly you can't bear to look at it
• a purple sash
• a mystic scroll
• a tube with a kappa on (which is empty)
• a bird whistle
• the Pan pipes
• a photographer's flash (which is closed, equipped with a timer mechanism)
• a glowing golden orb (misted over, but has images of some sort of crazy chess world)
• a papyrus fragment
• a Tarot box (which is open but empty)
• a croquet mallet
• an antique jewellery box (which is open but empty)
• a cracked medicine bottle (which is open but empty)
• a model golden sceptre
• a bunch of nuts
• a steel wrench
• a silk handkerchief
• a marble rose
• a hard wooden ball
• the Rods of Ice, Returning, Husbandry (charged), Sacrifice, Luck, Fire, Bronze, Infinity and Stalking
• seven Tarot cards: the Star, Maiden, Castle, Fool, Drowned Sailor, Ace of Cups and Grim Reaper
• a rusty iron key (unlocks the grating on the Island of Pharos)
• a long wrought iron key
• a delicate gold key (unlocks the jewellery box)
• a gothic-looking iron key
• a small brass key (unlocks the door from Dark Passage to Garden Stream and the trapdoor in Priest's Hole)
• a postcard of the Champs-Elysees
• Hobson's classical dictionary
• the History of the Meldrews (vol. II)

an electric torch (providing light and closed)
some old gardeners' gloves (being worn)

Score:
It is the afternoon of June 3rd, 1993, and you are in the gardens. You have so far scored 349 out of a possible 550, in 1485 turns, giving you the rank of Navigator.

Maps
Meldrew Hall, attic:
a=Attic (down to game over)
b=Old Winery
c=Aunt Jemima's Lair (wireless)
d=Servant's Room (scarf)
e=Potting Room (Aunt Jemima)
f=Old Furniture (wrapping paper)
g=Over the East Wing
h=Storage Room (wheel with handle, dumbwaiter leading to Cellar)
i=Disused Observatory (glass ball on telescope stand, smoke detector)
j=Airing Cupboard
k=Dark Room
l=East Annexe
m=Dead End (down/east to Beside the Drive)
n=Library Storage
o=Souvenirs Room (slide projector [contains The Castle], ship in a bottle)
p=Inside Cupboard (big iron fireplace, open skylight with crank handle, up to Roof)
q=Chimney (down to Priest's Hole)
r=Alison's Writing Room (bed)
s=Tiny Balcony
X=game over

Meldrew Hall, cellar:
a=Cellars (dumbwaiter to Dark Shaft)
b=Wine Cellars
c=Cellar West (locked door leading northwest, down to Hellish Place)
d=Cellars South (robot mouse, hole in wall)

Meldrew Hall, gardens and shaft area:
a=Garden Stream (skiff)
b=Family Tree (plane tree, up to Up the Plane Tree)
c=Beside the Wall (potted shrub, one-way path down to Wine Cellar)
d=Lawn Ornaments (dark well too small to enter, miniature, weed killer bottle, prayer book, romantic novel, green branch, gas mask)
e=Mosaic [can be lagach-ed]
f=Clearing
g=Garage (garden roller)
h=Vegetable Garden (runner bean plant)
i=Maze
j=Viewpoint Ledge (plaque)
k=Dark Shaft (dumbwaiter to Storage Room)
l=Dark Passage
m=Patio in Maze (down to Crypt)
n=Sandstone Passage
o=The Octagon (window vent, gilded coffin used to identify rods, scroll)
p=White Hallway (painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe [can be lagach-ed], elephant's foot umbrella stand)
q=Bricked Path
r=Halfway up the Stairs (up to Servant's Room)
s=Hedgery
t=Croquet Lawn (colored peg, wickets; you are here)
u=Summer House (gold watch which is visible but unattainable)

Catacombs below the gardens:
a=Crypt (bronze mural [can be lagach-ed], up to Patio in Maze)
b=Jagged Passage
c=Catacombs (down to Universe Maintenance Room)
d=Contraption Room (sheet of dull amber-colored metal forming north wall, iron panel with 3x5 grid, see-saw of leather baskets, metal hand)
e=Charnel Passage
f=Sarcophagus
g=Contraption Reflection (same as in Contraption Room)

Meldrew Hall, roof:
a=Roof (down to Inside Cupboard)
b=Battlements

Meldrew Hall, ???:
a=Priest's Hole (one-way path down to Cellar West)

Northeast of the House:
a=Beside the Drive (up/west to Dead End)
b=Public Footpath (down to Hollow)
c=Stone Cross (Old Evans with his lucky mascot)

Northeast of the House, Hollow:
a=Hollow (up to Public Footpath, one-way northwest path to Mosaic)

Unreal City:
a=Unreal City
b=Shadowy Hallway (up to Consulting Room)
c=Bohemia (mural [can be lagach-ed])
d=Down by River
e=Near Ring Road (down to Chatelet-les-Halles)
f=Chatelet-les-Halles (map salesman)
g=Consulting Room (down to Shadowy Hallway)
h=On board the Phlebas (saying "time" will take the protagonist to Garden Stream)

Tarot box:
a=Cups and Glasses (model ship)
b=Aboard Ship (examine model ship; up to Up the Mast)
c=Prow of the Lady Magdalena
d=Stern
e=Ruined Castle Cafe
f=Sea Shore (Andromeda, up to Cliffs)
g=Cliffs (down to Sea Shore)
h=Clifftop Walk
i=Outside Taverna (fig tree)
j=Eraina Taverna (bartender)
k=Wall of Thorns
l=Cave Mouth (obsidian altar, flaming bronze urn)
m=Sacred Earth (south to death by divine wrath)
n=Temple of Zeus
o=East Cloister
p=Inner Sanctum (Homer)
q=down to Cross Centre
r=Cross Centre (down to Oubliette)
s=up to Inner Sanctum
t=Southwest Cross (statue of Dionysus)
u=Northwest Cross (statue of Demeter)
v=Northeast Cross (statue of Poseidon)
w=Southeast Cross (statue of Ares)
x=Oubliette (crushing wall trap; up to Cross Centre)
y=Lighthouse

Alexandria:
a=Causeway
b=Island of Pharos (down to Jetty)
c=Crossroads
d=A Tower (door)
e=Necropolis (tombstone with empty socket and word "GALITA", down to The Height of Fashion)
f=XIIth Dynasty Pyramid (writings [can be lagach-ed])
g=Outside the Royal Museum
h=The Birdcage of the Muses (pigeonhole)
i=Oil Room (trough of oil)
j=Reading Corridor
k=Geography Room
l=Librarian's Office
m=Outside the Theatre
n=Stadium
o=Outside the Royal Palace of Alexander
p=Lost inside the Palace
q=Lost inside the Palace (say "anoppe" to reach the Palace Balustrade)
r=Warehouses and Port (sailor, engraved die)

Alexandria, tomb:
a=The Height of Fashion (up to Necropolis, down to...?)
b=This Is The Death (blocked slope to the west)

Alexandria, palace balustrade:
a=Palace Balustrade (astronomical mounting)

Alexandria, Jetty:
a=Jetty (skiff) [enter skiff, type "sail", and wait 2 turns to go to Garden Stream]

Hamburg by night:
a=Museum of Arcana
b=Revolving Door
c=Hall of Exhibits (still life [can be lagach-ed])
d=Cabinet Room
e=Dark Staircase (down/south to...?)
f=Coven Cell (goat)

Deaths
Missed the point entirely: 5 (irritated Aunt Jemima by trying to steal her gardening gloves, gave up on the search, broke a pipe and had to call a plumber, lectured by Aunt Jemima for four hours, burned down most of the attic)
Spooked: 1 (haunted by the ghost of Sir Joshua Meldrewe)
Died: 8 (jumped off the mast of the Lady Magdalena without a parachute, spontaneous combustion, brutally sacrificed by a druidic coven, blown to bits by a time bomb, incinerated myself with the Rod of Fire, electrocuted by the wrath of Zeus, crushed into a pancake, epic stealth fail)
Disembodied the entire universe: 1 (meddled with the Planck constant)
Total: 15

As promised, today I'll be showing off the contents of the strongbox. Unfortunately, it's locked, so let's try using one of our unused keys on it.

>get gothic key
(putting the adamantine heart into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

>unlock strongbox with gothic key
You unlock the strongbox.

And now, to find out what lies within.

>open strongbox
You open the strongbox, revealing a golden astrolabe.

And this leaves us with a question: What to do with this thing? Until next time.

Do some golden navigatin'

That sounds like just thing thing to put in the astronomical mounting in the balustrade.

Indeed, it does. And we can get there pretty quickly on the magic time skiff. Let's go!

>w

Hedgery

A flock of sparrows crowds around the gutters of the summer house. Every now and then one flits up and lands somewhere else, and they bustle about chirpily.

>w

Bricked Path

>sw

White Hallway

Mad Isaac's painting glares at you from the picture hook.

There's an old-fashioned elephant's foot umbrella stand beside the garden doorway.

>nw

The Octagon

There is a little window-vent high in the southwest wall.

A rather morbid gilded model coffin rests open here.

Leaned against one of the eight corners is a ragged white parchment scroll.

>w

Sandstone Passage

>w

Dark Passage

A secret passage slants down to the east through a sandstone recess.

At the north end is a metal door, standing open.

>n

Garden Stream

A skiff (a small sail-boat) is moored up here.

On the house wall is a coal bunker, whose door stands open.

>enter skiff
You get into the skiff.

>sail
The skiff gathers wind from somewhere, which whistles past you until your eyes are blurred and watery. When you look around, you find that you are moored once again...

Warehouses and Port (in the skiff)
Down by the sea-front, in the old harbourlands, surrounded by warehouses. The Mediterranean laps darkly against the hard, splashing an occasional wave up the slope. The city, and the party, lie back east.

A grizzled sailor sits at a harbourside table.

An inscribed six-sided die lies on the table in front of him.

The sailor hums a sea shanty.

Well, it's not quite what I was expecting, but it's closer to the palace than the Jetty was, so I'm not complaining.

>stand
You get out of the skiff.

Warehouses and Port

A skiff (a small sail-boat) is moored up here.

A grizzled sailor sits at a harbourside table.

An inscribed six-sided die lies on the table in front of him.

The sailor hums a sea shanty.

>e

Outside the Theatre

>n

Outside the Royal Palace of Alexander

>remove cloak
You take off the cloak of many colours.

>wear sash
(first taking the purple sash)
(putting the cloak of many colours into the canvas rucksack to make room)
You put on the purple sash.

>n

You tiptoe into the palace, and immediately dart away from view of the many clerks and civil servants manning the machinery of government even at this late hour. Within seconds, you realise you are...

Lost inside the Palace
Scholars are divided on the origin of the "maze" legend: some hold that to a primitive culture, the Knossos palace was so complex as to seem a maze, and the king so fearsome as to seem a Minotaur.

Others say the early palaces really were labyrinths to protect sacred altars.

And you think it's because this is a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.

A slave stands impassively by one wall.

[Your score has just gone up by five points.]

>n

Lost inside the Palace

A slave stands impassively by one wall.

>n

Lost inside the Palace

A slave stands impassively by one wall.

>ne

Lost inside the Palace

A slave stands impassively by one wall.

>e

Lost inside the Palace

A slave stands impassively by one wall.

>s

Lost inside the Palace

A slave stands impassively by one wall.

>anoppe
The slave here, a senior adviser merely disguised as a deaf mute, reacts at once, taking you by the arm and leading you on a convoluted path through the Palace to the...

Palace Balustrade
The magnificent balcony overlooking the Royal harbour of Alexandria. In two hundred years' time, Julius Caesar will be besieged here, and will hold the palace with a tiny force of men against an entire army: and will lose his heart to Cleopatra...

For the mean time, this is a broad stone balustraded balcony. The coin-bright moon, low in the sky, reflects off the black waters far below.

An impressive astronomical mounting stands on a tripod here. But there is no telescope.

[Your score has just gone up by five points.]


Now that we've got something to put in this mounting, let's do it.

Quote:

Then for as moche as a philosofre saith, "he wrappith him in his friend, that condescendith to the rightfulle praiers of his frend," therefore have I yeven the a suffisant Astrolabie as for our orizonte, compowned after the latitude of Oxenforde; --Geoffrey Chaucer, "A Treatise on the Astrolabe"

>get astrolabe
(putting the spade into the canvas rucksack to make room)
Taken.

[Your score has just gone up by four points.]

>put it on mounting
It fits beautifully, as if designed to go there.

Now to put the thing to use.

>look in eyepiece
Through the golden eyepiece you see, not the moon (for the astrolabe is tilted too low), but a curious, sunlit, grey triangle.

Fascinated, you strain closer to the vision... closer...

Out on the Spire
There is a beautiful view over the green parceled farmlands and hills surrounding the village, and you feel a certain pride to see Meldrew Hall sitting amongst it. It's also windy and dangerous up here on the grey lead spire of the parish church, beside the old clock: fortunately an opening leads down into the clerestory.

Mounted loosely on the end of the weathervane, an adamantine hand points the way the wind blows.

And we're back in the present. What to do next time...like I need to ask?

Puzzles:
Getting the mascot from old Evans.
Getting into Madame Sorostris' tower.
Getting the gold watch.

Unexplored paths:
Down from The Height of Fashion.
Down from Out on the Spire.

Inventory:
a purple sash (being worn)
a gothic-looking iron key (opens the strongbox)
a strongbox (which is open but empty)
a daisy chain (around your neck, made from yellow daisies and causes certain objects to turn into featureless mahogany rods when waved)
a canvas rucksack (which is open, actually a bag of holding)

• a spade
• a cloak of many colours (has grey lining)
• an adamantine heart
• a smooth round stone (apparently magnetic)
• a model of an animal so ugly you can't bear to look at it
• a mystic scroll
• a tube with a kappa on (which is empty)
• a bird whistle
• the Pan pipes
• a photographer's flash (which is closed, equipped with a timer mechanism)
• a glowing golden orb (misted over, but has images of some sort of crazy chess world)
• a papyrus fragment
• a Tarot box (which is open but empty)
• a croquet mallet
• an antique jewellery box (which is open but empty)
• a cracked medicine bottle (which is open but empty)
• a model golden sceptre
• a bunch of nuts
• a steel wrench
• a silk handkerchief
• a marble rose
• a hard wooden ball
• the Rods of Ice, Returning, Husbandry (charged), Sacrifice, Luck, Fire, Bronze, Infinity and Stalking
• seven Tarot cards: the Star, Maiden, Castle, Fool, Drowned Sailor, Ace of Cups and Grim Reaper
• a rusty iron key (unlocks the grating on the Island of Pharos)
• a long wrought iron key
• a delicate gold key (unlocks the jewellery box)
• a small brass key (unlocks the door from Dark Passage to Garden Stream and the trapdoor in Priest's Hole)
• a postcard of the Champs-Elysees
• Hobson's classical dictionary
• the History of the Meldrews (vol. II)

an electric torch (providing light and closed)
some old gardeners' gloves (being worn)

Score:
It is the afternoon of June 3rd, 1993, and you are northeast of Meldrew Hall. You have so far scored 363 out of a possible 550, in 1512 turns, giving you the rank of Navigator.

Maps
Meldrew Hall, attic:
a=Attic (down to game over)
b=Old Winery
c=Aunt Jemima's Lair (wireless)
d=Servant's Room (scarf)
e=Potting Room (Aunt Jemima)
f=Old Furniture (wrapping paper)
g=Over the East Wing
h=Storage Room (wheel with handle, dumbwaiter leading to Cellar)
i=Disused Observatory (glass ball on telescope stand, smoke detector)
j=Airing Cupboard
k=Dark Room
l=East Annexe
m=Dead End (down/east to Beside the Drive)
n=Library Storage
o=Souvenirs Room (slide projector [contains The Castle], ship in a bottle)
p=Inside Cupboard (big iron fireplace, open skylight with crank handle, up to Roof)
q=Chimney (down to Priest's Hole)
r=Alison's Writing Room (bed)
s=Tiny Balcony
X=game over

Meldrew Hall, cellar:
a=Cellars (dumbwaiter to Dark Shaft)
b=Wine Cellars
c=Cellar West (locked door leading northwest, down to Hellish Place)
d=Cellars South (robot mouse, hole in wall)

Meldrew Hall, gardens and shaft area:
a=Garden Stream
b=Family Tree (plane tree, up to Up the Plane Tree)
c=Beside the Wall (potted shrub, one-way path down to Wine Cellar)
d=Lawn Ornaments (dark well too small to enter, miniature, weed killer bottle, prayer book, romantic novel, green branch, gas mask)
e=Mosaic [can be lagach-ed]
f=Clearing
g=Garage (garden roller)
h=Vegetable Garden (runner bean plant)
i=Maze
j=Viewpoint Ledge (plaque)
k=Dark Shaft (dumbwaiter to Storage Room)
l=Dark Passage
m=Patio in Maze (down to Crypt)
n=Sandstone Passage
o=The Octagon (window vent, gilded coffin used to identify rods, scroll)
p=White Hallway (painting of Mad Isaac Meldrewe [can be lagach-ed], elephant's foot umbrella stand)
q=Bricked Path
r=Halfway up the Stairs (up to Servant's Room)
s=Hedgery
t=Croquet Lawn (colored peg, wickets)
u=Summer House (gold watch which is visible but unattainable)

Catacombs below the gardens:
a=Crypt (bronze mural [can be lagach-ed], up to Patio in Maze)
b=Jagged Passage
c=Catacombs (down to Universe Maintenance Room)
d=Contraption Room (sheet of dull amber-colored metal forming north wall, iron panel with 3x5 grid, see-saw of leather baskets, metal hand)
e=Charnel Passage
f=Sarcophagus
g=Contraption Reflection (same as in Contraption Room)

Meldrew Hall, roof:
a=Roof (down to Inside Cupboard)
b=Battlements

Meldrew Hall, ???:
a=Priest's Hole (one-way path down to Cellar West)

Northeast of the House:
a=Beside the Drive (up/west to Dead End)
b=Public Footpath (down to Hollow)
c=Stone Cross (Old Evans with his lucky mascot)

Northeast of the House, Hollow:
a=Hollow (up to Public Footpath, one-way northwest path to Mosaic)

Northeast of the House, spire:
a=Out on the Spire (adamantine hand; you are here)

Unreal City:
a=Unreal City
b=Shadowy Hallway (up to Consulting Room)
c=Bohemia (mural [can be lagach-ed])
d=Down by River
e=Near Ring Road (down to Chatelet-les-Halles)
f=Chatelet-les-Halles (map salesman)
g=Consulting Room (down to Shadowy Hallway)
h=On board the Phlebas (saying "time" will take the protagonist to Garden Stream)

Tarot box:
a=Cups and Glasses (model ship)
b=Aboard Ship (examine model ship; up to Up the Mast)
c=Prow of the Lady Magdalena
d=Stern
e=Ruined Castle Cafe
f=Sea Shore (Andromeda, up to Cliffs)
g=Cliffs (down to Sea Shore)
h=Clifftop Walk
i=Outside Taverna (fig tree)
j=Eraina Taverna (bartender)
k=Wall of Thorns
l=Cave Mouth (obsidian altar, flaming bronze urn)
m=Sacred Earth (south to death by divine wrath)
n=Temple of Zeus
o=East Cloister
p=Inner Sanctum (Homer)
q=down to Cross Centre
r=Cross Centre (down to Oubliette)
s=up to Inner Sanctum
t=Southwest Cross (statue of Dionysus)
u=Northwest Cross (statue of Demeter)
v=Northeast Cross (statue of Poseidon)
w=Southeast Cross (statue of Ares)
x=Oubliette (crushing wall trap; up to Cross Centre)
y=Lighthouse

Alexandria:
a=Causeway
b=Island of Pharos (down to Jetty)
c=Crossroads
d=A Tower (door)
e=Necropolis (tombstone with empty socket and word "GALITA", down to The Height of Fashion)
f=XIIth Dynasty Pyramid (writings [can be lagach-ed])
g=Outside the Royal Museum
h=The Birdcage of the Muses (pigeonhole)
i=Oil Room (trough of oil)
j=Reading Corridor
k=Geography Room
l=Librarian's Office
m=Outside the Theatre
n=Stadium
o=Outside the Royal Palace of Alexander
p=Lost inside the Palace
q=Lost inside the Palace (say "anoppe" to reach the Palace Balustrade)
r=Warehouses and Port (sailor, engraved die, skiff; enter skiff and type "sail" to go to Garden Stream)

Alexandria, tomb:
a=The Height of Fashion (up to Necropolis, down to...?)
b=This Is The Death (blocked slope to the west)

Alexandria, palace balustrade:
a=Palace Balustrade (astronomical mounting, astrolabe; type "look through eyepiece" to go to Out on the Spire)

Alexandria, Jetty:
a=Jetty

Hamburg by night:
a=Museum of Arcana
b=Revolving Door
c=Hall of Exhibits (still life [can be lagach-ed])
d=Cabinet Room
e=Dark Staircase (down/south to...?)
f=Coven Cell (goat)

Deaths
Missed the point entirely: 5 (irritated Aunt Jemima by trying to steal her gardening gloves, gave up on the search, broke a pipe and had to call a plumber, lectured by Aunt Jemima for four hours, burned down most of the attic)
Spooked: 1 (haunted by the ghost of Sir Joshua Meldrewe)
Died: 8 (jumped off the mast of the Lady Magdalena without a parachute, spontaneous combustion, brutally sacrificed by a druidic coven, blown to bits by a time bomb, incinerated myself with the Rod of Fire, electrocuted by the wrath of Zeus, crushed into a pancake, epic stealth fail)
Disembodied the entire universe: 1 (meddled with the Planck constant)
Total: 15