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Quick links:  Basement Key     Hidden Room     Wooden Box Combination     Amulet

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Saturday, October 12th Guest Room Foyer Kitchen Servant's Quarters First Floor Hallway Basement Dining Room Study Parlor Master Bedroom Gallery Bathroom Third Floor Attic Saturday Evening

Sunday, October 13th Master Bedroom Third Floor Tower Secret Room Gallery Guest Room Gallery Guest Room Basement

Monday, October 14th Garage Basement Master Bedroom Gallery Greenhouse Pool of Water Study Crypt Study...Again Chapel Back to the House Garage Making the Amulet Basement

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Scratches Last Visit Walkthrough

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This walkthrough will help you through those moments when doing "things just as you would if you were there", as the manual suggests, leaves you frustrated and angry that you spent your hard-earned cash on this less-than-perfect game and leaves you wondering just what the hell the designers were thinking. (Of course, it's not all bad - read my review for more info.)

Before you even start the game, go to the game directory and delete scream_splash.exe. It's an annoying and unnecessary splash screen that displays when you start the game and when you exit. (Of course, you will then probably want to create a new shortcut to scream.exe, found in the same directory, which is the actual game executable.)

Save often to avoid crashes (especially before using the phone). Those of you with slick new pc's may not have this problem, but my 8-year-old Dell Dimension^TM Desktop really struggled with this game. At times, I wished there were a way to turn the sound off, because that's what really hogged my memory.

Whenever you fire up the game, go to the main menu and make sure hints are turned on. (I was under the impression that they reverted back to the default OFF whenever you exited the game, but I've since discovered that only happens after the game crashes.)

I recommend turning slideshow mode OFF, and leaving the alternate controls ON. I also preferred the gamma correction set to MEDIUM.

Saturday, October 12^th

• You arrive at your new home. Spin around to your car and click on the passenger door (which is the driver's door, as you've landed in England, old boy).
• Click on the glove box (on the left) and take your car key.
• Right-click to bring up inventory, click on the car key, then right-click to close inventory. Click the key on the ignition (right side, lower). The key is placed in the ignition (or "starter" to you Brits). You're not going anywhere.
• Click on the far right side of the screen, on the car door, to exit the vehicle. (Would it be too much to have a door handle in view?).
• Spin around and face the house. Say, isn't this more of a Tudor than a Victorian? In any event, click to the right.
• Click towards the house. Gee, there's a fountain in your way. Try to find a hotspot - there is none. I guess its purpose is merely to impede your progress toward the house. Hmmm.
• If you like, you can go left and explore the heck out of the grounds, but nothing is accessible yet.

In particular (from the fountain) go left then slightly left, then right, then slightly left. Spin around and look at the house. Wouldn't it be nice to walk around to the back of the house from here? Seems like that's what I would do before entering my brand new house for the first time. I guess the game manual was right: I am already surprised at how often my instincts guide me to the right action. :(

Turn slightly right and take the most direct path back to the house...Oh wait! You can't!

Turn all the way right and follow the path past the line of trees back to the fountain. Feel your level of irritation rise.

• Go to the front door. Pan left. Such a nice front porch! This is the most you'll see of it, though.
• Pan down to the front door handle. Get the key from inventory and click it on the door handle. Click on the door handle a second time to open the door.
• Here you have two choices. You can turn right or left and go exploring, or you can go forward (once) and wait for the phone to ring. I decided to explore the second floor of the house first, and started up the stairs when the phone rang and scared the willies out of me. (I felt like I was starting to get my money's worth then.)
• From the front door, go forward once, and pan right. Click on the phone (twice). Talk to Jerry. Seems Michael is like me - hasn't decided if he really likes Blackwood Manor yet. Not sure it's living up to the hype.
• Notice that the clock on the table has stopped at 10:10.
• Go exploring! It's your choice what order you want to proceed, but you'll need to get to the guest room in order to proceed in the game.

Guest Room

• From the foyer, go up the spiral staircase. At the top, go forward, then turn right. Pan down and click on the doorknob (or door wheel, or whatever you call that flat thing). Enter the room and notice the feminine wallpaper. (Personally, I really dig it, but I'm not sure Michael does...)
• Go forward once, then look down. Read the letter in the trash can.
• Pan left, then click on the bed to put your suitcase down. ...Can't! "It's too early to go to bed." !#$@!!$ It would be nice to sit while unpacking, wouldn't it?
• Pan right and click on the desk. Looks like a good second-choice suitcase-rest. Try it. ...You'll probably pick your typewriter instead of your suitcase, having not remembered to click the magnifying glass on them in inventory, which is just as well.
• Place your typewriter on the desk. Click on its handle to open it. Click on the papers, then the typewriter.
• Click on the typed page to the right of the typewriter at the bottom of the stack. Take note of the line "NO DEUS EX MACHINA" which is crossed out. I found that funny. Writers...how they struggle!
• Click on the bottom of the screen to exit the close-up. "I thought it would be better to leave my typewriter and stuff ready..." What the?
• Click on the typewriter case twice to exit the close-up.
• Turn left, and go forward. Pan right. "I had to find a good spot to put my luggage." GRRRRRRR
• Put your suitcase on the little table next to the desk. Click on its handle to open it.
• Click on the book, and note the title ("Vanishing Town" - that would be the "VT" from the typed page you read). Also note the spelling of your (Michael's) name: Arthate. One "r". Keep count of how many times the game refers to you as "Arthrate."
• Click on the business card. Jerry will now be in your telephone menu - no need to memorize his number.
• Read the letter. I suppose its purpose in the game is to help explain how you came to be in a brand new house that you bought sight unseen and decided to move in while carrying no food, flashlight, first aid kit, or supplies of any kind.
• Take the matches and the pen. Read the notebook. "Barbara" will now be in your telephone menu too. Exit the close-up.
• Go around the bed to the fireplace. Click on the black bag on the floor to the right of the fireplace. Take the stethoscope.
• Time to leave. Flick the light switch a couple of times on your way out.

Foyer (a.k.a. Entrance Hall)

• Note the time on the grandfather clock. For me, it took an hour just to unpack without doing any other exploring.
• If you haven't called Jerry to report the electricity not working, then do so now.
• Go to the front gate to meet the electrician. Be sure to follow the stone walkway - it veers to the left - instead of walking straight to the gate like a normal person.
• Click on the mailbox. Click on the note. Read it well now, as it disappears once you exit it. (How did the electrician get the note into the mailbox if he didn't open the gate? And if he did open the gate, why didn't he come to the house? ...How does the mailman open the mailbox?)
• Go back to the house and call Jerry, who tells you to try to find the fuse box. To the basement we must go!
• Call Barbara while you're at the phone. She's studying "tongues" in her spare time. (Either she's manning a kissing booth, or that's the English way of saying she's learning foreign languages.)

Kitchen

• From the phone room, go towards the back of the house (that would be away from the front door, of course). Go through the dining room, into the little hallway, through the door, and enter the kitchen.
• Pan right and click on the empty key holder, then the empty little table below it.
• Go forward and turn right. Click on the shelves full of cans and tins. (Did anyone see that episode of "Antiques Roadshow" where the guy found hundreds of dollars worth of old food cans under a house he was tearing down? I bet these here are worth a mint.)
• Turn left and try the door. It's the basement door, and it's locked.
• Go around the kitchen table, pan down and inspect the grinder sitting on it. "The grinder was open and waiting for anything to be tossed inside to test its blades." Well, isn't that bird seed sitting on the table right next to it? Why no hotspot? If the damn thing is actually waiting for me to test it, then why can't I?
• Turn around and click on the cabinet below and to the left of the sink. Get the kitchen knife.
• Try the kitchen sink - the water's not working either. Lovely! Someone skipped his home inspection, didn't he? Michael obviously didn't get a Federal Housing Authority loan.
• The door next to the basement door, is the servant's quarters. Go there now.

Servant's Quarters (a.k.a. Maid's Room)

• Turn left and go towards the bed. Open the nightstand's drawer and check out the book on photography - specifically stereoscopic pictures. Perhaps the stereoscopic method is the reason why that photo of the couple in the parlor from the intro cutscene looked so weird, eh? Turn around and inspect the dresser. Yup, someone liked photography.
• The desk is in the corner of the room diagonally opposite the bed. Pick up the piece of paper sitting on top.
• Get the pencil from the right-hand drawer. Also pick up the photo laying below the notebook in the drawer (it's very easy to miss). It's a picture of the key holder from the kitchen - it has a key hanging on it, and a little urn on the table below it. (You may be thinking "Why would anyone take a picture of that?" You have good instincts - it's a clue the game developers put in to lead you to...well, we'll get there).
• Open inventory, and click the pencil on the piece of paper (or vice-versa). (Could you tell that you needed to do that? No? Well, play fifty more adventure games, and it will become a reflex, even when the game designers screw up and give you paper with writing on it instead of blank paper with indentations on it.)
• It's a letter written in Italian. Perhaps we can get Barbara to translate it. We'll call her later.
• Finish exploring and leave the Maid's Room.

First Floor Hallway

• Exit the kitchen the way you came in. This is the first floor hallway.
• Turn towards the stairs, and notice the urns on the floor. Go towards them.
• Open the drapes.
• Pan down and click on the small urn on the left. Notice how it looks like the one from the picture? Perhaps the missing basement key fell into it before it was moved. Click on its mouth - the cursor won't change, but when you hit the sweet spot, you'll see a closeup of the vase. Click again and get the key.
• While you're in here, turn around and try to open the drawer in the table over by the settee. "Stuck beyond hope." (Why do this? It will save you time later, when Jerry sends you on a candle-hunt.)
• Go back to the kitchen, and let's check out that basement.

Basement

• The fuse box is at the bottom of the stairs on the left. Check it out - flick both switches a couple of times. There seems to be nothing wrong. (Nothing other than really scary old wiring.)
• Notice the can on the table in the middle of the room. Is that kerosene?
• Leave the basement.
• Go call Jerry. Listen to Michael's British accent falter. Jerry tells Michael to find some candles. At this point you've got to explore enough of the house to be able to tell Jerry that there aren't any.

Dining Room

• There's nothing crucial in this room. Take note of the large collection of booze in the cabinet. Also note that the windows in the round area on the other side of the table look out on the spot where you stopped to wish you could walk around the house earlier.
• Open the drawer in the (what do you call that thing?) sideboard table on the other side of the room from the liquor cabinet. (Again, we're on a candle hunt here.)
• Go through the double doors to the study.

Study

• Explore the room. Try to open the drawer in the side table (the one with cigars on it).
• Go around behind the desk. Read the journal on the desk. Gruesome! Note that the game designers seemed to have used the same font for this journal and Jerry's letter (in your suitcase). Did Jerry plant the journal in the house? Or, are Jerry and James the same person?
• Take the envelope from the second drawer on the left. Were you expecting a letter to read? I was. Remember to use that magnifying glass in inventory! I never did.
• Take the boring tool from the third drawer on the left.
• Spin the globe while standing next to the double doors if you like. (I missed this the first time.)
• Check out the books on the shelves for amusement:
  • "The Novels of Balzac"
  • "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy" by Hawthorne Abdensen
  • "The Necronomicon" by Abdul Alhazred
  • "How to Grow Successful" by John Holmes
  • "At the Mountains of Madness" by HP Lovecraft
  • "Worlds of Myst"
  • "How NOT to Write Interactive Fiction" by H.A.S.
  • "The Aleph" by Jorge Luis Borges
  • "Living in Doom" by Reginald P. Linux
• Check out the glass on the table by the fireplace. It's empty. "Pity, I could have used a drink." Me too, Michael, me too. It's a shame we can't raid the liquor cabinet in the dining room, but the designers didn't code that into the game, only the pointless comment.
• Exit through the single door into the parlor.

Parlor (a.k.a. Living Room)

• Read the diary on the table by the fireplace. Disturbing.
• Note the clock on the table by the piano has stopped at 10:10, just like the clock next to the phone. My first time through, I thought several clocks in the house all stopped at 10:10, but now I believe it's just these two. Oh well.
• Since we're so close to the phone, let's go call Babs. She calls you Mr. Arthrate, but she says she'll translate the letter. What a doll.
• While we're here, let's call Jerry too. Since we read the journal in the study, he'll tell us about a murder in May, 1963. He'll also ask if we've found any candles yet. Since we haven't explored upstairs, we'll probably have to keep looking.
• Let's go mail that letter to Babs now.
• When you get to the mailbox, open your inventory and combine the Italian letter with the envelope. Try to mail it. Have a chuckle. Combine the pen with the letter, then place the letter in the mailbox.
• Go back to the house and check the time on the grandfather clock. It should be about 1pm by now. Wow, you've missed lunch!

Master Bedroom

• From the second floor bathroom, the master bedroom is the first door on the right. From your room, it's the first door on the left.
• Once inside, turn right, go forward, and turn right. Click on the painting of the woman in the red dress. Click on the orb in her hands to reveal a wall safe.
• If you like, click the stethoscope from inventory on the safe. HA! Nothing doing. What a relief; the sound on my poor old pc is choppy at best, and I didn't want to have to listen for the tumblers clicking into place!
• Go call Jerry. He won't have the combination for you until tomorrow.
• It's a good idea to click on all the drawers in this room, as we're still on a candle-hunt.

Gallery

• The gallery is opposite the master bedroom on the second floor, behind double-doors. (The same double doors they used for the study, but why not use the exact same texture in as many places as possible, eh?)
• I rather hated this room. African art is just not my thing. I really liked the wallpaper, though, and thought it was a shame they put all the chunky primitive colors and shapes in the room with the most delicate patterned wallpaper.
• There's nothing to do in here yet. You may want to skip it entirely.

Bathroom

• The bathroom is at the opposite end of the hallway from your room (the Guest Room) - it's the room with the stained glass window in the door.
• Take the white cloth from the bottom drawer of the vanity.

Third Floor

• The steps to the third floor are outside the bathroom door. Click forward twice after you exit the bathroom, turn left, then click twice to go up.
• At the top of the stairs, turn left and try the door. "Stuck." (Fans of Clive Barker's Undying may also hear "Jammed...Won't Budge" echoing around in their heads from all the closed doors they had to try just to find the one that was open.)
• Turn right and enter the door on the right.
• Because this floor is such a pain in the rump, we're going to dispense with this room now. Turn right, pan down, and click on the bricks. "Just a useless pile of bricks." WRONG! Look closely at the one propped up towards the left of the pile. See a metal stick hanging from its midsection? (Crank up the gamma from the main menu options if not.) Click on it. Pick up the small metal rod.
• Go forward, pan right, and click on the toilet. Read the comment. Now you know this was supposed to be a finished bathroom.
• You are done with this room forever. Leave through the door to the left of the beautiful stained glass window.
• Go forward and turn right. Click on the contraption sitting on the boards in front of the window. It's a "neat little stove." You can play around with it, but Michael says you don't need to light it yet.
• Exit the closeup of the stove, turn left and click on the pile of red bricks. Chuckle.
• Exit this room, back to the main hallway.
• Notice the bare bulbs hanging from old wiring all over this floor. Scary!

Attic

• Turn right and go up the wooden stairs. Enter the door at the top of the steps.
• Check out the music box - turn left just inside the door and pan down. Save your game before playing it if you want to hear it more than once.
• Go forward to the window, pan down, and click on the stacks of newspapers. Since Jerry told you about the murder, you will see an article from May, 1963. Read it.
  • Note that the maid said "I was in my room and saw this shadow out in the garden." Makes you kind of want to go back to her room and look out the windows, doesn't it? Well, don't waste your time; you can't.
  • Note that the "incriminating photo is 'in possession of the authorities.'" Rats, I bet Michael would like to see it.
  • Note that Mrs. Blackwood was supposedly on a trip at the time, and that she "would make use of her license to do so." I had to assume that a license was something like a passport, but I didn't really know.
• Click on the green chest to the right of the newspapers. Take the "old-fashioned lamp".
• Flip through the papers, noting the receipt for meat sold to "BE Milton" in January, 1970. You can try to call the number on the receipt, but it always rings busy, no matter which prefix you use.
• Note that the Player Roster card seems to have two number 6's in the middle section. And is that the phrase "p is"? They definitely looked odd to me, but I never found a use for them.
• That's it; leave the attic. At the bottom of the stairs, turn around and head right.
• Click on the door on your left. It's locked, but there's a key in the keyhole on the other side.
• Pan left and down, and pick up the piece of newspaper that's laying under the can of paint.
• Place the newspaper under the door, then bust out your boring tool from inventory.
• Click the boring tool on the keyhole. Very funny. (I'd let you skip this part but you have to go through it to get the door open later.) Did the game designers use the word "dumb"? As in "dumb technique"? That's the pot and the kettle, that is. Ugh!
• You're done on the third floor for now. You can explore more, but you won't be able to accomplish anything. At this point, you have explored enough to know that there are no candles in this house. (In fact, you probably got such a message while you were rooting around in the green chest in the attic.)
• Time to call Jerry.

Saturday Evening

• Go all the way back downstairs. Notice how the first-floor hallway seems pitch black as you descend the stairs, but is well lit when you arrive.
• Call Jerry. He tells you to drive to town before it gets dark and buy candles. Michael will reply "Yeah, I had to buy some food anyway." (Strange use of past tense notwithstanding, I would imagine Michael would be extremely hungry by now.)
• Go to your car, get in, and click on the key in the ignition. Drat!
• Go back to the house. Didn't the designers do a good job creating the feel of twilight, both outside and inside? Kudos.
• Go call Jerry again. If you've explored the house sufficiently, it will be time for bed.
• Go up to the guest room. Notice how your bedroom door is more black and less green now. I think it must be made of Ash, and someone finished it with the wrong varnish.
• Click on the typewriter. "I knew I had to work on my book... but I decided that looking around a bit more wouldn't hurt." Since Jerry and the game hints system have already made it clear that there's nothing to do but go to bed, the game designers obviously neglected to change the typewriter hint. Nice.
• Click on the bed to go to sleep.
• You are soon awakened by strange hammering noises. Go to the gallery. (It's the only place you can go, and you may appreciate not having to wander all over the house in vain. ...This time.)
• You find the cabinet gone and a door in its place. Go towards it.
• Pan down and click on the hammer twice.
• You awake to strange scratching noises. Go over to the fireplace. Click to get the closeup, then click the stethoscope on it.
• Go to the parlor. Click on the fireplace and use the stethoscope on the back of it (the bricks, not the pile of wood).
• You can also try the fireplace in the library, but "oddly enough, you can't hear anything."
• Go to the basement - you can't go down there without any light.
• In inventory, click the matches on the lantern. Rats - no oil!
• You can try to call Jerry or go outside, but the game won't let you.
• Go upstairs to the gallery. Once inside the doors, pan left and click on the left edge of the display case. A door frame is visible.
• Walk over to the display case. Click on the lower portion for a closeup.
• Click on the very bottom of the case.
• Use the knife to pry off the panel.
• Click on the brass handlebar - it won't budge. Perhaps if we oil the wheels....
• Go back to your room. Michael says the noises have suddenly stopped. (The game will let you go back to sleep now.)
• Click on the fireplace. "Oops", someone forgot to change the hint here too.
• Click on the bed to go back to sleep.

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Sunday, October 13^th

• You awake to a rainstorm. Since the electrician's not coming and you have no breakfast, perhaps you should start the day by working on your book. Try clicking on your typewriter.
• Go downstairs. According to the grandfather clock, it's 9am. Since you went to bed at 7pm, you've just slept for 14 hours. My, you must be ravenously hungry! Don't you wish you packed a power bar in your suitcase? ...Or some water to drink?
• The phone rings. It's Jerry. He's not driving to Blackwood Manor today, but he gives you the combination to the safe.

Master Bedroom

• Click on the safe to open it.
• Read the work estimate. Strange, I thought we were on the second floor? Why is the game showing us that the second floor was completed in the early 1960's? So what? ...Then again, it might be that English manors start on the zero^th floor (or the ground floor), because the estimate is actually for the third floor, which was never completed. Apparently things fell apart for the Blackwoods in the early 1960's.
• Make note of the phone number for the Bank of Northumberland at the bottom of the work estimate. At the very least, we can prank call them later.
• Take the key.

Third Floor

• Go up to the third floor, past the attic steps, to the door you tried to open with the newspaper and boring tool yesterday.
• Use the key from the safe to open the door.
• Pan right and go over to the worktable. Click on it for a closeup.
• On the left, click on the blueprints twice.
• Flip through them, noting the "hidden" room to the left of the Master Bedroom. Also note that what I've been calling the parlor is actually the living room. I think it's a parlor. It has a piano.
• Exit the blueprints, and hover over the middle of the table until the cursor changes to the grabbing hand.
• Pick up the key, then the can lid.
• Exit the worktable, pan left, and pick up the hammer sitting atop the stool.
• Exit the room using the other door from the one you used to enter.
• Click forward twice. You're halfway up the ladder.
• Rather than being annoyed that you have to click twice to get up the stupid ladder, pause and ask yourself why the game designers chose this odd spot to have you stop for a closeup.
• Notice the rope in the upper-right hand corner of the screen. You probably won't know why you're doing it, but use the kitchen knife on it to cut it down.
• Click forward to get to the top of the ladder.
• Click on the small oilcan in the center of the shelf.
• In inventory, click the oilcan on the lantern - I guess it's not the right kind of "oil." It may be very dense of me, but I comfort myself with the fact that people generally haven't used oil lamps for decades.
• Click on the other cans. "One of them in particular was dusty than the rest." Oi, the grammar! However, that's your clue as to what to do next: use the rag from the bathroom vanity on the square can on the left. (I know, it's dumb dumb dumb - you could've just as easily brushed the dirt away with your hands, or, for that matter, your pajama sleeve, since you haven't gotten dressed yet.) (I never get dressed without morning coffee, either. But then, I always travel with instant coffee and BOTTLED WATER.) (But I digress.)
• ...Just by the way, though, aren't there tons of cans of "oil" all over the third floor? And what was that square can in the basement? Do you really believe that this is the only can of oil in the whole house?
• Click the lantern from inventory on the can of oil you just cleaned. "How was I going to get that oil from the can?" Oh, freaking tilt it, Michael! For God's sake, just freaking tilt it!
• Wait for a lightning flash, and notice that there's no opening on top of the can. Gee, how did anyone else open it? It must be completely full, then!
• Click the boring tool on the can.
• Click the lamp on the can. It's not full, is it?
• Click twice to go down the ladder.
• Pan down and see the rope on the floor. When you realize you can't grab it from here, save and exit the game, fire off an insulting angry letter to Nucleosys and Got Game Entertainment, then have a drink or run around the block, then come back and load your savegame.
• Click once towards the door you entered by, then turn all the way around and pick up the rope. You still don't know what you need it for, do you?
• Exit by the door opposite the one you entered by. It will become unstuck when you click on the handle.

Tower

• Aren't these things called "turrets", not towers?
• Turn around and go past the attic steps, all the way back.
• Go up the circular stone staircase, to the top (click twice).
• When you arrive, your cursor is just above a crack in the wall. Click on it.
• Pan up and click on the rusty lamp. Do you have any ideas about how to get into that secret room yet? If you could go outside, you might be able to see that it has a window over the dining room, but the game won't let you now. (I suppose this does explain, though, the irritation we had earlier when we wanted to walk around the house. The designers wanted us to stop at that spot and look at the house, and notice the window. Well, it's too late now that we need the information, isn't it? Very nice.)
• Instead of looking for a ladder or a sledgehammer (which, I'm sorry to say, I never travel with), you're going to shimmy down a rope to that window you can't see now. Yes, you're going to shimmy down a rope held by an old rusty lamp bolted into a wall with a crack that's just about to exit all the way to the exterior of the house. Some might call that a serious fault...in the wall. This is beyond dumb, this is asinine.
• Click the rope from inventory on the rusty lamp.
• Click the boring tool on the crack. Oh hell, it won't work! It can punch a hole right through a tin can, but it won't penetrate plaster.
• Click the hammer on the crack.
• Click the pile of rope on the floor.
• Turn and go down the stairs one click.
• Turn all the way around and click on the window handle. Click on the roofing shingles for a closeup.
• Click on the rope in the very top right-hand corner of the screen. Even with the gamma correction on HIGH, it's still way too hard to see.
• Click on the rope three times, then click on the window two times.

Secret Room

• Once inside the room, look right and down and click on the colored blocks in the wagon. Note the numbers on each block. Jot them down to save yourself a trip back here. (Or, don't bother, as I'll tell you when the time comes.)
• Exit the closeup and click on the blocks on the floor. Three of them spell "BIN", don't they? Jot down the numbers associated with the letters here too.
• Look at the birth certificate in the top dresser drawer. You'll want to check that stack of newspapers in the attic for stories from August, 1961.
• Note the doctor's name - Christopher E. Milton. He's probably the one who ordered the meat from that butcher's receipt in the green chest in the attic. ...I said that was "BE Milton", didn't I? Well, go and check the receipt and tell me what it looks like to you.
• After all you went through figuring out how to get here, that's it for this room.
• Go back up the rope to the tower. Listen to Michael's creepy breathing on the way up. That must have been a fun day in the studio for him.
• Go to the attic and read the newspapers.

Gallery

• Go back to the gallery. Click on the bottom of the display case in the corner. Click on the bottom panel to remove it.
• Click the small oilcan on both wheels.
• Click on the brass handlebar to move the display case.
• Go to the door that's revealed. Click on it and read the comments.
• Use the hammer on the door.
• Click on the door handle to go in.
• It's pitch dark; open inventory and click the matches on the lantern.
• Exit inventory, and click the lit lantern in the middle of the screen.
• Click on the mask. Spooky...kind of.
• Pan right and click on the bamboo rods to let light in.
• Turn around and read two sets of papers sitting on the stack of boxes.
• Exit the room and go call Jerry.

Guest Room

• Go to your room and click on the desk, then the typewriter twice.
• Click on the typed page to read it.
• Exit the closeup, turn around, and click on the bed to go to sleep.
• You soon find yourself awake again. "Something isn't right."

Gallery

• Go to the gallery. Enter the closet with the mask. Oh creepy, it's missing!
• Save your game so you can see the next part again.
• Turn around and leave the closet. When you open the door...OOH, very scary! Good stuff! I don't know if it makes up for the whole shimmying down a wet rope thing, but it made me turn around from my computer to see if anything was there.

Guest Room

• Find yourself back in your bedroom with the scratching noises again.
• Exit the bedroom. You can stop at the gallery to make sure the mask is there, but the hint is the same as the first time you saw it. Disappointing.

Basement

• Go down to the basement. Once inside the door, click the matches on the lantern in inventory, then exit inventory and click the lit lantern in the middle of the screen.
• Go down the stairs, turn right, and click towards the right end of the furnace.
• Open the grate, and click to crawl in.
• Click forward four times.
• Wait a moment, then...Yikes! Someone's on the other side of that door!
• Click on the bottom of the screen to turn around, then forward six times to get the heck out of there. (After three clicks, the screen goes dark, and the scratching starts again. Very disorienting.)
• Return to bed.

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Monday, October 14^th

• You awake to a comment that begins "My third and final day inside Blackwood Manor..." You obviously didn't die, as you're here to tell the story, so you must be leaving today. I wonder why they ruined the surprise like that?
• Go downstairs and check the time. Another 14 hours of sleep (minus an hour or so for nightmares), and no food in two days. No water either; maybe last night was just a hallucination brought on by dehydration.
• Call Jerry.
• Call Barbie. She's got the day off, how convenient. If you had a laptop, she could've emailed you the letter translation, but I guess you'll have to wait for the mail. I wonder if it's possible to get a reply the very next day?
• Go to the parlor and click the matches on the logs in the fireplace. They light right up, even without kindling. I guess they're very dry after six years. Perhaps they were covered with dust too.
• Exit the closeup. Marvel at the lame graphics of the fire (is it just my GE Force 4^TM graphics card, or are they really awful - someone please email me.)
• Time to go outside and find the lock that fits the key we picked up in the "room with paintings."

Garage

• Go towards the mailbox, but follow the stone path left to the garage instead of right to the gate.
• Use the key in the lock, and go in.
• Turn left, and click on the bicycle.
• Click on top of the rear wheel. "It seems to have some sort of device attached to it."
• Note the crate on the floor on the right.
• Exit the closeup and turn right. Go forward.
• Pan down and pick up the crowbar leaning against the right side of the workbench.
• Click on the workbench for a closeup.
• Click on the toolbox on the left.
• Pick up the screwdriver and the pliers. (Even with the gamma on HIGH, they're still way too difficult to see.)
• Exit the garage and go back to the fountain. Enjoy the orange and blue sky.

Basement

• I'm going to save you some aggravation by having you get the water running now.
• Go back in the house to the basement.
• At the bottom of the stairs, turn around and go to the drain cover in the floor (to the right of where you crawled into the furnace).
• Click on the drain cover for a closeup.
• Click on the valve wheel, above the drain cover.
• Click the crowbar from inventory on the valve wheel.
• Click the hammer from inventory on the valve wheel. (I had trouble with this. I thought I could loosen the wheel with my bare hands - and the crowbar - and I just kept removing the crowbar instead. I must have been dehydrated or something.)
• Click the valve wheel to take the crowbar back.

Master Bedroom

• Go up to the master bedroom. Once inside, turn right, click forward once, and zoom in on the little table to the right.
• Use the screwdriver on the mirror.

Gallery

• Since we're right here, go to the gallery, turn right, zoom in on the claw necklace, and use the pliers on it.

Greenhouse

• Exit the house through the front door. Click to the right at the fountain, then forward four times to get to the greenhouse.
• Click the doorknob three times and read the comments.
• Click the small oilcan anywhere on the door. Click the doorknob to go in.
• Pan down a bit and notice the shiny spot at the base of the cement thing with the dead tree in it. Go check it out. Hmmm... how are you going to get to it?
• Go around to the other side of the tree. Pan down and click on the faucet.
• Be glad you got the water running already!
• Leave the water running and go back around the tree. Pan down and wait for the shiny object to be dislodged.
• Even though you have no indication that anything is wrong, go to the overturned pot that is to the right side of the tree (if your back is to the door). It seems some dried up orange bush is blocking the drain. The knife and pliers are useless (although I think I could've hacked away the clog with them in real life.)
• Perhaps the game designers have added a "raise the water level to float an object" puzzle here...try to use the pliers to grab the key. Well, there's no hotspot, is there? Damn! Maybe there's some garden shears upstairs.
• Head up the stairs and turn right. Go to the table in the corner.
• Click on the left knob of the drawer on the right. Grab the garden shears.
• Click on the drawer on the left. Read the note. Supernatural plant killers, blah blah blah.
• Click the shears on the plant on the left side of the table. You have no idea what you need it for, but you have some leaves and berries now.
• Exit the closeup and turn left. Go forward twice and turn left. Note the shovel stuck in the dirt.
• Pan down and click on the garden hose. Find the hotspot with the grabbing hand cursor, on the end of the hose just below the coiled up part (this is where the hose goes down through the floor) and click to place that end of the hose up and over the railing. (Couldn't we have just fed it further through the floor?)
• Find the hotspot on the other end of the hose and click to place that end of the hose in the flower bed with the shovel.
• Go to the bottom of the stairs and look down. Click on the faucet for a closeup.
• Click on the end of the hose to attach it to the faucet.
• Go back upstairs, turn left, click forward once, then turn around and click on the shovel handle to place the shovel in inventory. (Open inventory and click the magnifying glass on the shovel. Why are we carrying around half the stuff we have?)
• Go back downstairs, click on the faucet for the closeup, then click on the hose to remove it from the tap. Leave the water running.
• Go back to the overturned plant and use the garden shears on it.
• Leave the greenhouse.

Pool of Water

• From the greenhouse, click forward, then slightly right, then all the way right, then forward.
• Click on the pool of water for a closeup.
• Click on the shiny object at the bottom center of the screen to get the key.
• Open inventory, and click the magnifying glass on the new key. Michael says "I had been through a lot to get that small key." I did not find this funny at all.
• Exit the closeup of the pond. Turn around and go back to the fountain (forward twice, then turn right and go forward twice).

Study

• Go back in the house, to the study.
• Open the locked desk drawer with the key from the greenhouse.
• Read the letter. Disturbing. We're going to have to perform some inane ritual on the mask before this game is over, aren't we?
• Click on the wooden box. Click on the combination latch for a closeup. We don't have the combination yet, but we need five numbers.

Crypt

• Exit the study and go through the kitchen, out the door to the back garden.
• Down the steps, turn right, click forward twice, turn left, then click forward three times to the crypt.
• Click on the door handles three times. Seems we need tools here. Tool, actually...only one will work, unlike real life.
• Click the pliers from inventory on the door handles to cut the wire. (These are obviously pliers with wire cutters built into the blade.) The wire goes in inventory.
• Click on the door handles and enter the crypt.
• Click to the right of the coffins.
• Pan left and click on the nameplates below the coffins. While you're here, pick up the rock at the bottom center of the screen.
• Exit the closeup and click on the lower coffin lid two or three times. Read the comments.
• The coffin opens. Click on the skeleton three times.
• Click on the lid to close the coffin. (Why did we just do that?)
• Exit the closeup. Click on the lid of the upper coffin. Empty.
• Close the coffin and exit the closeup.
• Head downstairs.
• At the bottom of the stairs, turn right and go forward once.
• Turn left and click on the left nameplate that's between the coffins. "It's too dark to read." HOGWASH! Even with the gamma disabled, you can still make out a large "R".
• Since this plaque is "in better shape than the rest" (and since the infant's coffin is just above it), it probably belongs to the dead Blackwood child.
• You could leave the crypt right now and be no worse off than if you do the next part. For completeness' sake, I'll tell you how to shed some light on the plaque.
• Go back upstairs and stand just inside the doors.
• Look up at the skylight.
• Click the rock from inventory on the only windows you can (the semicircular ones in the middle).
• You miss. Click down the stairs once, then pan down to the ground. Pick up the rock on the left.
• Go back upstairs and repeat. The window breaks. Congratulations, it's going to cost a fortune to get that fixed.
• In inventory, click the mirror on the wire. (Aren't you glad you don't have to traipsing all the way back to the master bedroom right now? You would be thinking "I can't freaking believe that out of all the gol'darned mirrors in the house, the little one upstairs is the only one the game designers will let me take!")
• From just inside the front doors of the crypt, turn left and pan up to the sconce. Click the mirror on it.
• Go back downstairs and read the infant's plaque.
• I told you so! Go demand your money back from whoever sold you this game!
• Then go back to the house and call Jerry.

Study...Again

• We now have as much information as we're ever going to about the combination to that wooden box.
• The combination is the Blackwood child's name. How you're supposed to know that without a lot of head-scratching is beyond me. I had to meditate on the number "5" and try to think what information I had that was 5 numbers long...it was hardly worth it, I tell you.

The Blackwood child's name was "Robin" ("R" from the crypt + "OBIN" from the wooden blocks in the nursery). Using the numbers from the wooden blocks, the combination is 59097. (The "O" block on the floor was upside down.) The box opens. To remove the drawer, click on it in the following sequence: Center, Bottom, Right, Left (hear a noise), Center twice, Bottom, Right. Click anywhere on the drawer to lift it out. Voilà. Get the ornate key from inside.

Chapel

• Time to do what Jerry suggested and desecrate the chapel.
• Go out the front door and click right at the fountain.
• Click slightly right of center to follow the path.
• Turn right and take the brown path. Click forward (or slightly left of forward) until you reach the chapel.
• Use the ornate key on the doorknob and go on in.
• Turn right and go up the spiral staircase.
• Pan down a bit and click on the brown cabinet.
• Click on the top area of the cabinet to open a drawer.
• Take out the Bible. Click on it four times and take the spike.
• Back downstairs, click towards the altar.
• Pan right, then click forward.
• Turn left, pan down, and use the crowbar on the metal ring in the floor.
• Pan up and go forward.
• Turn right and click on the crucifix.
• Click on the INRI sign behind Christ's head. (INRI = Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews in old Latin, by the way.)
• Pan down to Christ's feet and click the spike on them. (Yeowch, can you believe you did that? Can you believe the resident priest used to do that?)
• Pan back up to the INRI sign and click on it twice.
• Use the crowbar on the INRI sign.
• Go down into the misty hole in the floor.
• Spin around and find the candle. Click the matches on the candle.
• Click on the table for a closeup.
• Take the branch.
• Read the letter and the journal pages. Yep, we have to perform an inane ritual. The end of the game is coming.
• We need organic matter from the evil entity and a victim. (We just picked up the branch and we already have the medicinal plant from the greenhouse.)

You might like to go to the crypt and take one of James' bones, but you can't. Of course, we're not sure that's James in the coffin, anyway.

You might also want to grab a hair from a hairbrush in the bathroom or master bedroom - after all, isn't everyone who lived in the house a victim, just like all the villagers were victims? But that doesn't work, no hotspots anywhere.

If James really did kill his wife, then she would be a definite victim, and he, the victimizer. But since they didn't leave any damn hairs in their hairbrushes, we're going to have to find Catherine and dig her up.

As for the victimizer's part, take note of what the journal says is the most common incarnation of the evil entity - a "tall feline like figure" with deadly claws. We can use the claw from inventory. I wonder how James got a claw from the foot of the vengeful god, anyway....

• Climb up the ladder and leave the chapel.

Back to the House

• Go to the attic and read the newspaper from June, 1963.
• Note the handwriting on the paper - Bailey 01665 65217. Go call him. (Choose "I dialled another number" then click the dial repeatedly to enter the numbers - a completely unnecessary pain in the ass). When you have a choice of response, choose any one, the result is the same.
• I wonder if that's the same voice actor who's doing Jerry? ...Wait...nope, I heard his accent falter. Never heard Jerry's go bad, must be different guys.
• Go check the mail. Read the maid's letter.
• Go to the Maid's Room and click on the "loose floorboard" under the nightstand next to the bed. (It was there the whole time, but the hotspot just showed up.)
• Note well the position of the body in relation to the Tower's shadow, because for some reason you can't take the damn picture with you.
• Save your game.
• Call the National Bank of Northumberland at 01912 94144.
• Reload your saved game, and explore all the response choices. The information you get changes with your choices.
• Call Jerry.
• Check the mail again. ...Wow, didn't see that coming! ...Also, I noticed that the date on the notice was 1976. I guess Babs couldn't have emailed you the letter translation after all. And I thought Michael was just sentimental, dragging that old typewriter around...

Garage

• Click on the trunk of the car (where the engine is), take the battery, and go to the garage.
• Click on the bike for a closeup.
• Place the battery on the crate, then click on the upper part of the rear wheel to connect the wires.
• Pedal once.
• Remove the battery, and go place it back in the car.
• Get in the car and click on the ignition several times. Read Michael's comments.
• You can try to go back to the guest room and pack up your things (that is what you would do in real life, isn't it?) Well, I guess Michael's not so sentimental after all, cause you can't.

Making the Amulet

• Time to dig up Catherine's body. Strange, I thought the newspaper said the maid was in her room when she saw James burying Catherine, but the place you need to dig is opposite that corner of the house. So much for accurate reporting.
• From the fountain (and facing the house), turn left then click forward. Turn right and click forward twice.
• Pan to the left slightly.
• Click the shovel on the tip of the tower's shadow to reveal Catherine's shallow grave.
• Click the pliers on her teeth. As you exit the closeup you re-bury her.
• (Exactly why are her teeth so bent and twisted? Was she calcium deficient? Or is this a commentary on English dentistry?)
• Go to the kitchen and grind the tooth and the claw from the necklace in the gallery. (The game forces you to do them separately, dumb dumb dumb.)
• In inventory, combine the ground tooth with the ground claw, then combine with the plant clippings from the greenhouse.
• Go to the stove on the third floor.
• Place the small metal rod in the hole in the front, then the can lid on top. The hotspot is a bit lower than where you actually want the lid to go.
• Click the leaves/tooth/claw mixture on the stove to place it on the can lid. Click the matches on the top part of the stove.
• Take the green stone. Enjoy (or cringe at) the scary breathing noises and evil laughing.
• In inventory, combine the stone with the branch.
• Go to the mask in the gallery closet. Click the amulet on the mask. Very anticlimactic.

Basement

• Go downstairs to the parlor. If you pass through the foyer, the scratching noises will start up again.
• Go to the fireplace in the parlor. Go on down the opening.
• At the bottom of the ladder, turn right and click forward.
• Turn right and orient yourself - the furnace is through that opening.
• Turn around and click on the door latch twice.
• Once through the door, click forward, turn left, then click forward.
• Pan down and click on the bear. "It appeared to be bites that had ripped its neck." What?
• Explore the rest of the creepy room, saving the dark opening in the bricks for last.
• Save your game so you can watch the ending scene again.
• Click on the dark opening in the bricks twice.
• Enjoy the ending cutscene.
• Watch the credits and wait for the final score the game manual promised you....

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