infocom/hints/solutions/moonmist.txt

                    Moonmist - Yellow Version
 
 
This is the final, and perhaps saddest, of the four scenarios. After all, it's
not going to be fun to arrest your friend Tamara. But we'll come to that in due
time.
 
This is the 'Edgar Allan Poe' version; all the clues are taken from his poems
and stories. Fortunately, since you're reading this walkthru, you don't have to
be familiar with any of them.
 
Under the punchbowl (bet you peeked already before the tape played!) is the
first clue, as always; a picture of Pearl Bailey. The treasure this time is
a necklace of (hehe) black pearls. Jack again has the second clue; this is a
quotation from Poe's poem, 'The Bells'. And that, in fact, is the answer to
fill in the blank: bell.
 
What else could this be but the bell on the fighting deck? Up the stairs you
go, to check it out. Sure enough, there's the third clue. This time, it's a
quote from 'Annabelle Lee', and the missing word is 'tomb'. Of course, there
aren't any tombs around...or are there?
 
Now you can go to the dungeon (stop off in the kitchen first for the brass
lamp), and step into the iron maiden. Look at that! It's actually a sort of
elevator, which brings you down to...a secret tomb! Complete with coffin! Gulp!
 
Well, you'll just have to open that coffin. Whew! Nothing in there but the
fourth clue, which is a reference to 'A Cask of Amontillado'. One of the
characters in that story suffered, alas, the same fate as the White Lady,
namely being walled up alive in a cellar.
 
That's where you go to next, and examine the walls. Oho! The bricks are loose.
Moving them reveals a spooky hole. In you go! Gosh, you found the remains of
the poor White Lady! And around her bones is the pearl necklace!
 
Sorry to say, there's not much you can do about the skeleton (would have been
nice to lay those bones to rest in the secret tomb, but you can't do that. Ho
hum). So, now it's off to deal with the ghost.
 
Make for the secret passage, and walk around it until you're outside Iris's
room (that's right, Iris's room). Here you find the ghost costume, and a
blowgun. Examining the costume reveals a strand of Tamara's hair in it. Oh
dear.
 
Now go to her room, and snoop under her bed. First you find a journal, but
that's not too important. Look again, and you'll find a receipt from the
local pet shop for....an adder! No, things don't look too good for Tamara,
at all.
 
Round about now she'll come into the room. Even tho she's your friend, you do
have a job to do <sniff>. Arrest Tamara. A little downbeat, but you've now
solved all four cases in Moonmist. Nice going!
 
 
Moonmist is copyrighted 1986 by Infocom, Inc.
This walkthru is copyrighted 1986 by Scorpia, all rights reserved.


                      Moonmist - Red Version
 
 
Back for more, eh? This time around, tho, you may find a surprise or two! In
fact, the first one comes right after dinner. It's not Jack who has the second
clue, but Vivien! Hmm...just a little suspicious, don't you think?
 
This clue is somewhat Biblical in nature, but actually not hard at all. Up to
the chapel you go, to examine the apple in the stained glass window. Yup,
there's the third clue, all right. So, do we know of any gardens around here?
 
Sure, there's one in the middle of the (urp) hedge maze. Fortunately, this one
is really not much of a maze at all (remember, this is an introductory-level
game). Go to the hedge maze, and head east; you should be in the garden pretty
quickly.
 
Search the garden, and there's the fourth clue. Pretty bizarre, isn't it? Then
again, maybe not. Sir Lionel obviously liked word games. Let's think this one
out. What do you need in the rain? An umbrella, naturally. Where would you be
likely to find one? In an umbrella stand. But you haven't seen one around
anywhere, have you?
 
This is tricky. Flip through the brochure, and you'll see that in the room
description of the Foyer, an elephant's-foot stand is mentioned. Aha!! Now,
that's sneaky, since it's not in the room description in the game itself! So
it's off to the Foyer for a peek into the stand.
 
Well, what have we here? A funny-looking cane (cain/cane). In fact, as you find
when you take it out, this isn't a cane at all, but a club. Clean it off, and
the club is studded with diamonds! Wow! Now, THAT'S a treasure!
 
However, there is still the ghost to take care of. Only this time, it's not
who you think. Oh, our boy Jack is guilty, all right, but of something far
worse than playing ghost, as you're about to see.
 
Head along to his room, and peep through the keyhole (you DID read the maid's
note, right?). Hmmm. Wires. Wonder where they lead to? Take a look at the crest
on the door. It seems to be a bit loose. Move the crest, and you reveal a
hidden tape recorder!
 
Play the tape, and you hear Jack murdering his uncle! Gosh! Poor Tamara. That's
the end of her engagement to Jack. But, Jack isn't the ghost! How puzzling.
There's only one thing to do: wait for the ghost to show up.
 
It's going to be a long wait, too. You might want to wander around the house
for awhile, or change into your exercise suit, or whatever. The ghost won't be
appearing until after midnight. Around that time, go to the secret passage
outside Tamara's room, and wait for the ghost.
 
Pretty scary, standing in this dark place, with only your trusty brass lamp for
light. Oooh! Look! There's the ghost! But there's no need to be frightened. Ask
the ghost about Jack. Ah! It's really Deirdre, alive and well. Jack tried to
kill her, but she managed to survive. Now you have the whole story, so you can
go to Jack's room and arrest him. Once again, the American Sherlock saves the
day!
 
 
Moonmist is copyrighted 1986 by Infocom Inc.
 
This walkthru is copyrighted 1986 by Scorpia, all rights reserved.


                      Moonmist - Blue Version
 
 
Ok, time for a new treasure and a new ghost. Everything is the same here as
in the Green version, up to the time the tape plays. As before, the first
clue is under the punchbowl. This time, however, the treasure is a rare fossil
skull (try not to drop it when you find it!).
 
Jack again has the second clue, and this one is complex..it has three parts to
it. The missing words are pretty simple to figure out: song, maidens, and wine.
Now, let's see where they lead us.
 
Song. Hmm. Well, checking our handy brochure, we find that there is one room in
the house that qualifies: the sitting room, which has a piano in it (this is
also handy, since you can read the maid's note at the same time). Head over
there and examine the piano. There's some sheet music sitting on it.
 
Look at the sheet music, and you'll see that someone has drawn a star over the
letters SUIT. Ah, the first part of the real clue! Now let's think about
'maidens'. Whoa! Hold on there, it's NOT the iron maiden in the dungeon (fooled
ya, huh?).
 
Referring again to that invaluable brochure, you see that in the Drawing Room
is a tapestry depicting a maiden and a unicorn. Aha! Zip over there and examine
that tapestry. There's a star on the girl's arm! All right, you have two parts
of the clue, let's get the third one.
 
Wine is pretty easy; there's a wine cellar in the basement. Get a bottle and
examine it. This time, there's a star over the word 'our'. Putting all three
words together, we get 'Suit Armour'. Where can you find a suit of armor?
According to the brochure (a veritable encyclopedia of information!), there's
one in the New Great Hall. Off to the New Great Hall!
 
Yep, there it is, all right. A careful search brings forth the third and last
clue (this is the only variation with three clues; all the others have four).
This one is a puzzler. But there aren't too many words that can fill in those
blanks. Bet the first one is 'alarm'. And the last one can only be 'clamour'.
The middle one could just be 'base'.
 
So, does that (ahem) ring any bells? Why not check out that huge bell up on
the fighting deck? Ta-da! There's the fossil skull! Good show! And it's off
to expose the ghost.
 
Of course, you probably have an idea by now who that is. So, hike on to
Vivien's room, and have a look-see in her paint box. My my! Seems like you just
found the ghost costume. And here comes Vivien herself. Too bad for Vivien!
With your trusty aerosol device, you out her out of action, and bring another
case to a successful conclusion!
 
Moonmist is copyrightes 1986 by Infocom, Inc.
This walkthru is copyrighted 1986 by Scorpia, all rights reserved.


                          Moonmist - Green Version
 
 
Moonmist, while it has four separate versions, is pretty much the same up to
the time the tape plays after dinner. Of course, you may hear different things
in each scenario when you talk to the guests, and most especially Bolitho, a
very informative fellow. In all of them, the guilty person is always easy to
spot; it's whoever you find wandering around the house with you after dinner.
You can, however, make this person go away by showing him or her the treasure
after you've found it.
 
You begin at the gate to the castle. Get out of the car and push the wyvern,
which activates an intercom. Here is where you give your name and state your
color preference (note also that your 'little British sports car' will later
take on that same color). The gate opens, you walk through, and Tamara comes
running to meet you.
 
Chat with her awhile, then she'll take you into the house to meet everyone
else. The best phrases to use are either "Ask <someone> about ghost", as in
"Ask Tamara about ghost" and "Ask <someone> about Deirdre". You can also ask
about secret passages, or anything else, although you won't get too much
information.
 
Eventually Tamara will take you up to your room, tastefully decorated in the
color of your choice. Wait until she leaves, then wait a little more, and
Bolitho will speak to you. In each variation, he has something to tell you
about the ghost, and it's always slightly different, so do pay attention to
what he says.
 
After he's gone, freshen up in the bathroom, and change from your tweed outfit
into your dinner outfit (make sure you drop the tweed, or you'll be lugging it
around with for the rest of the game). Go downstairs, and wait (talking to
anyone you may have missed before), until everyone goes to the dining room.
 
In the dining room, you'll see Bolitho put a note on the table by Jack's
place. Now, while it's not really cricket to read other people's mail, you
ARE a detective. So, since no one seems to be watching you (maybe they're all
admiring that pretty punchbowl), get the note and read it. Hmmm. This is
something to investigate later, all right. Drop the note (it will go back to
where you found it).
 
After a little more waiting, dinner is more or less served, and when it's over,
the voice of the late Sir Lionel suddenly fills the room! Lifting the bust of
the dear departed reveals a tape machine hooked up to a timer. You're listening
to a recording Lionel made before his death.
 
Now you're getting into the heart of the game. Lionel tells of a treasure he's
hidden somewhere in the castle. There are four clues to what it is and where it
is. Peeking under the punchbowl, you find the first one. Now, what could this
mean? Well, there's mist, and a moon....could it be Moonmist? That's it, all
right! A secret drug from Africa (you DID read the brochure thoroughly, didn't
you?).
 
But that doesn't help much in finding it. However, the thoughtful Lionel gave
the second clue to his son Jack. Take the clue from him. This is interesting.
An eye that doesn't see. Well, well. But first, let's nip over to the Sitting
Room and take a look at the maid's note.
 
It seems the maid knows more than she's telling, eh? We'll come back to this
later. Right now, we're hunting clues. Go to the Game Room. Neat place, isn't
it? And there on the wall are two stuffed animal heads. Take a good look at
the rhino. Something seems funny about one of its eyes. Move the eye, and now
you have the third clue!
 
This one sure sounds strange. And where you're going, you'll need some light,
so hop along to the kitchen, and pick up the brass lantern. Now go back to
your own room. Remember what Bolitho said about the mirrors? If you touch the
wall mirror, you'll find a hidden switch. Press that, and a secret passage
opens!
 
Turn the brass lamp on, then step into the passage. Spooky stuff! Walk north,
then west, until you come to the passage branching south. Go south, and at
the dead end (aha!), you'll find the fourth clue. This one isn't too hard.
Now you have to get out of the passage. You can go back to your room, or slip
into someone else's and leave by the door (just don't linger if you're not
in your own room).
 
It's off to the office you go, and there you find the inkwell. Look inside,
and there's Moonmist, the hidden treasure! All right! Now, all you have to do
is take care of the ghost business.
 
Maybe we can find a clue to the ghost. Head for the library, and examine the
bookcase. What's this? It looks like a lab notebook. Oho! It seems that the
good Dr. Wendish is, perhaps, not quite so good after all! Move on to his
room for some snooping around.
 
Try the medical kit. What's this? A plastic box? Why, I'll bet that this is
just the sort of box that you keep contact lenses in. Is there anything else
to find? Check the kit again, and out comes the ghost costume!
 
Suddenly the door opens and Wendish walks in! Ask him about the costume, and
he'll try to tell you he's being framed. But that lab notebook will cook his
goose for sure. Spray him with the aerosol, then arrest him (sometimes, Wendish
will arrive before you've finished searching; in that case, spray him and keep
looking till you find the costume, you'll have enough time for that). Congrats,
Sherlock! You've found the missing treasure, and put the ghost to rest!
 
 
Moonmist is copyrighted 1986 by Infocom, Inc.
 
This walkthru is copyrighted 1986 by Scorpia, all rights reserved.