Savoir-Faire

Solution

Savoir-Faire was written in Inform, and is © 2002 by Emily Short.

This solution is by David Welbourn, and is based on Release 6 of the game. Note that this is a verbose walkthrough filled with many unessential and false steps, for those players who want to see it all (or close to it). If you prefer a minimal walkthrough, use only the underlined commands.

Related links: the Savoir-Faire homepage, and the Baf's Guide listing for Savoir-Faire.


The Walkthrough

[Kitchen Garden]

A few pre-game commands. INFO is the most important with regards to gameplay, since it tells you about the new verbs for this game: REMEMBER and LINK.

>INFO. LICENSE. CREDITS.

You are Pierre, a Parisian. You are in debt, and have come to the estate of the Count, your adoptive father, to ask for monetary assistance. But he is unaccountably absent. The time period is not exactly stated, but is definitely an era before the advent of electricity. (Since the outer planets are not represented in the solar system model, this is probably set before their discovery. Uranus, in our history, was discovered in 1781.)

First spend a little time examining yourself and your possessions. REMEMBER SNUFFBOX gives you an example of the sort of things that “linking” can do. You also learn that this form of sympathetic magic, known as the lavori d’Aracne, is normally only performed by the nobility.

>INVENTORY. X ME. X HAT. X FEATHER. X SWORDSTICK. X SWORD. X CLOTHES.

>X SNUFFBOX. REMEMBER SNUFFBOX. OPEN SNUFFBOX.

>TAKE SNUFF. AGAIN. CLOSE SNUFFBOX.

>REMEMBER ME. REMEMBER FATHER. REMEMBER MOTHER.

Next: examine the garden, well, sundial, and shed. The sundial is wholly decorative. The roses cannot be cut with the sword, nor any other blade in the game.

>X BAY. X PARSLEY. X MINT. X PIPE. LOOK IN PIPE. X DITCH. LOOK IN DITCH. X MUD.

>X WELL. REMEMBER WELL. X WATER. LOOK IN WATER. DRINK WATER.

>X BAR. CLIMB BAR. SWIM. DOWN.

>X SUNDIAL. X GNOMON. TAKE GNOMON. TOUCH GNOMON. X SUN. X SHED.

>X ROSES. SE. TAKE ROSES. CLIMB ROSES. CUT ROSES WITH SWORD. SHEATHE SWORD.

>WEST.

[Kitchen]

Sorry, but I want to get the sack first, before exploring the Kitchen.

>NORTH.

[Scullery]

You want to pick up the sack as soon as possible. It’s your “rucksack” object. It’s capable of holding every portable object in the game except liquids and powders, or open containers that contain liquids or powders.

Also note, when you first examine one of the dishes, you’ll get another lesson on linking: the more similar things are, the more likely that you can link them together. Finally, you can’t take the Tea Recipe from the drain just yet.

>X COUNTER. X SPONGE. X KNIFE. X SACK. X ONION.

>TAKE ALL FROM COUNTER.

>X CUPBOARD. OPEN CUPBOARD. X CUP. X PLATE. X TEAPOT.

>TAKE ALL FROM CUPBOARD.

>X BASIN. LOOK IN HOLE. X CYLINDER. READ IT. SOUTH.

[Kitchen]

The machine is a mechanical chef. The silver cylinders are recipes. At a later point in the game, you must make and eat either a vegetarian or non-vegetarian meal. If you plan to go vegetarian, you don’t need the sausages.

>X FIREPLACE. TAKE SCRAP. X IT. READ IT.

>X TABLE. LOOK UNDER TABLE. TAKE DUST. SMELL DUST.

>X BREAD. TAKE BREAD.

>X MACHINE. X DIAL. TURN DIAL. (repeat TURN DIAL until you’ve seen all six settings: NONE, LEAF, ROSE, FISH, SHOE, HEART.)

>X SPINDLE. X CYLINDER. READ IT. TAKE CYLINDER.

>OPEN MACHINE. X GARLIC. TAKE GARLIC.

>X ANDOUILLETTES. X CEILING. X OVEN.

>TAKE SAUSAGES. STAND ON TABLE. TAKE SAUSAGES. JUMP. STAND.

>UP.

[Servants’ Dormitory]

>X BED. LOOK UNDER BED. X CYLINDER. READ IT.

>X CRUMPLED PAPER. READ IT. REMEMBER MARIE.

>X FIREPLACE. REMEMBER FIREPLACE. X BRICK. TAKE BRICK.

>REMEMBER ANTON. REMEMBER LEONIE. LOOK IN FIREPLACE.

>X RACK. X HANKY. TAKE HANKY.

>LINK BREAD TO BRICK. BREAK BREAD. CUT BREAD WITH KNIFE. DOWN. EAST.

[Kitchen Garden]

>SOAK BREAD IN WATER. X BREAD. WEST. UP.

[Servants’ Dormitory]

>BREAK BREAD. X BAG. OPEN BAG. X COINS. TAKE COINS. WEAR BAG. DOWN. WEST.

[Kitchen Corridor]

>X DOORS. OPEN DOORS. X CREST. X STONE. TAKE STONE.

>LINK TEAPOT TO DOORS. OPEN TEAPOT. UNLINK TEAPOT. WEST.

[Dining Room]

First, when you first enter the Dining Room, you’ll become hungry. And you’ll continue to get hungrier and hungrier. Unfortunately, you can’t just eat any food lying around; you have standards. You must eat a proper meal. Fortunately, you will never die of your hunger in the meantime.

Second, REMEMBER WALLPAPER is our first lesson on reverse linking. You can REVERSE LINK one object to another, but it’s much harder and less likely to succeed than normal linking.

>X WINDOW. LOOK THROUGH WINDOW.

>X GRASS. X DEBRIS. X PLOTS. X HEDGES. X STATUES.

>X WALLPAPER. REMEMBER WALLPAPER. X QUEEN. X WOMEN. X FOX. X GIRL.

>REMEMBER COUNT. REMEMBER COUNTESS.

>X PANELING. SEARCH PANELING. X COLUMNS. X CHANDELIER. X LIGHT.

>X TABLE. WEST.

[Library]

The model is part of a puzzle; REMEMBER MODEL tells you that the model is linked to something south from here (the clock). The books are useful information sources. The portrait is pure scenery, although REMEMBER PORTRAIT is most interesting.

>X MODEL. REMEMBER MODEL. X JUPITER.

>X EARTH. X MOON. X MERCURY. X VENUS. X MARS. X SATURN.

>X PORTRAIT. REMEMBER PORTRAIT. X CLOTHING. X WIG. LOOK BEHIND PORTRAIT.

>X BOOKSHELVES. X BOOKS. AGAIN.

>X DYES. READ IT. X REPAIR. READ IT.

>X WINES. READ IT. AGAIN. (repeat until you’ve seen all four entries: mead, Sauvignon Blanc, Chateauneuf du Pape, and tainted vines.)

>X LAVORI. READ IT. SOUTH.

[Entrance Hall]

You can’t deal with the hangings or gothic door just yet. Pulling the weights starts the clock (and the model that it’s linked to). You may set the clock’s time, eg: SET CLOCK TO 11:59.

>X HANGINGS. LOOK BEHIND HANGINGS. CUT HANGINGS WITH KNIFE. X DOOR.

>X CLOCK. X FACE. X PENDULUM. X WEIGHTS. PULL WEIGHTS. WAIT. LOOK IN CLOCK.

>X STAIRCASE. X FLOOR. SOUTH. UP.

[Staircase, First Floor]

>NORTH.

[Old Conservatory]

>X SHELF. X BAUBLE. TAKE BAUBLE.

>X PIANO. OPEN PIANO. X STRINGS. X HAMMERS. CLOSE PIANO. X SEAT. PUSH SEAT.

>PLAY PIANO. PLAY ARIA. PLAY CHOPSTICKS. PLAY CHARLESTON. PLAY GAVOTTE. PLAY JAZZ. PLAY MINUETTE. PLAY TANGO. PLAY WALTZ.

This is one way to get the bauble, by making it "soft", then throwing any heavier throwable object at it that you won’t need later. Another way is to PUT RUG UNDER SHELF (the rug’s in the sitting room down the hall), then throw a soft object like the hat at it, so the bauble won’t break against either impact.

>REVERSE LINK SPONGE TO BAUBLE. THROW HAT AT BAUBLE. UNLINK SPONGE.

>TAKE BAUBLE. LOOK IN BAUBLE. X TINY SUN. X STAR. WEST.

[Marie’s Chamber]

Linking the mirrors together lets you see the contents of the box from Marie’s Chamber, or see Marie’s Chamber from the box. It also turns the inset mirror into a light source, since it now reflects the light coming in from Marie’s window instead of the room that the box is in.

>X WALLPAPER. X FLOORBOARDS. X MIRROR. X DESK.

>OPEN TOP DRAWER. X PAPERS. TAKE PAPERS. CLOSE TOP DRAWER.

>X PAPERS. READ PAPERS. AGAIN. (repeat until seen 4 different papers)

>OPEN BOTTOM DRAWER. X DARK BOX. TAKE DARK BOX. CLOSE BOTTOM DRAWER.

>OPEN BOX. SMELL IT. X INSET. TAKE INSET. X NECKLACE. TAKE NECKLACE.

>X LETTER. READ LETTER. OPEN LETTER. READ LETTER.

>LOOK IN GILT. LOOK IN INSET. LINK GILT TO INSET. LOOK IN GILT. LOOK IN INSET.

>EAST. SOUTH. EAST.

[Long Salon]

>X DOOR. OPEN DOOR. TOUCH DOOR.

>X PORTRAIT. LOOK BEHIND IT. TAKE IT. X IT.

>NORTH.

[Countess’ Sitting Room]

Don’t break the case yet; the bee will kill you unless you have a method for trapping it or avoiding it.

>X RUG. REMEMBER RUG. TAKE RUG.

>X CASE. REMEMBER CASE. X DANCERS. X BEE. CUT CASE WITH DIAMOND.

>SOUTH. WEST.

[Staircase, First Floor]

>DOWN. NORTH.

[Library]

You may wish to wait a few turns first, merely to watch the model rotate.

>PUT BAUBLE IN MODEL. LINK BAUBLE TO SUN.

>X HOLLOW. TAKE HOLLOW. READ HOLLOW. TAKE PIN. X PIN. WEAR PIN.

>TAKE BAUBLE. SOUTH. DOWN.

[Root Cellar]

Note that you have two light sources now: the bauble and the inset mirror. Of the foodstuffs you find here, you definitely need the vanilla bean. If you’re going vegetarian, you also need the lentils. You may ignore the apples and salted pork.

>X BARRELS. SEARCH BARRELS. G. G. G. TAKE LENTILS.

>X DOOR. EAST.

[Bottom of Servants’ Staircase]

>X BRASS DOOR. EAST.

[Wine Cellar Antechamber]

Welcome to the cellar maze. Every door here is linked to any other door with the same color as it. The brass door counts as a “yellow” door.

>CLOSE BRASS DOOR. X CHAINS. SOUTH.

[Among Reds]

>X RACKS. X LABELS. CLOSE NORTH DOOR. DOWN.

[Subcellar]

>X BLUE JAR. X SALT. X RED JAR. X SUGAR.

>TAKE BLUE JAR. TAKE RED JAR. UP.

[Among Reds]

>NORTH.

[Wine Cellar Antechamber]

>NORTHEAST.

[Fortified Wines]

>X BOTTLES. SOUTHEAST.

[Desert Wines]

>TAKE MEAD. X IT. LOOK IN HOLE. X WHITE DOOR. SCRAPE IT.

>SOUTHWEST.

[Closet]

>TAKE TIN. X TIN. OPEN TIN. X BEANS. SMELL BEANS. CLOSE TIN.

>TAKE KEY. X KEY.

>NE. NW. SW. S.

[Among Reds]

>UNLOCK EAST DOOR WITH KEY. EAST.

[Among Whites]

>TAKE BLANC. X IT. NORTH.

[Center]

>TAKE CYLINDER. X IT. READ IT. NORTH.

[Fortified Wines]

>EAST.

[Spanish Reds]

To make blue light, you must put the bauble in the blue jar. You don’t have to close the jar.

Note that all the doors in the cellars (and your hanky) change color accordingly in the blue light. Likewise, you can generate red light by using the red jar, or green light by using the green jar (which we haven’t got to yet in this walkthrough).

The light trick doesn’t work with the inset mirror because the wooden box is supposed to be too big to fit in any of the jars.

>X BOTTLES. X BARREL. OPEN BARREL. TAKE BUNDLE.

>X BUNDLE. OPEN BUNDLE. X CLOAK. X DOCUMENTS. READ DOCUMENTS.

>TAKE BLUE JAR. OPEN IT. TAKE CUP. PUT SALT IN CUP.

>PUT BAUBLE IN BLUE JAR. (the bauble now generates blue light)

>CLOSE DARK BOX. (to prevent its white light from interfering)

>LOOK. (the south door should now appear to be blue)

>OPEN SOUTH DOOR. (the real blue door is now open, too.)

>OPEN DARK BOX. TAKE BAUBLE. PUT SALT IN BLUE JAR. CLOSE BLUE JAR.

>W. S. S. E.

[Cheese Corner]

>TAKE SILVER KEY. X IT.

>TAKE GREEN JAR. LOOK IN GREEN JAR. X GOAT CHEESE. X OLIVE OIL.

>X CHEST. OPEN CHEST. X SALERS. SMELL SALERS. TAKE SALERS.

>X BRIE. SMELL BRIE. TAKE BRIE.

>LOOK IN HOLE.

>W. N.

[Center]

>UNLOCK WEST DOOR WITH SILVER KEY. WEST. NORTH.

[Wine Cellar Vault]

You may not open the Chateauneuf du Pape; it’s a treasure.

>TAKE PAPE. X IT.

>X CHEST. OPEN CHEST. TAKE ALL FROM CHEST.

>X FORK. X TABLE KNIFE. X SPOON. X CORKSCREW.

>S. W. U. E.

[Kitchen]

Make a chocolate rose!

>PUT CHOCOLATE RECIPE ON SPINDLE.

>PUT VANILLA IN MACHINE. PUT PLATE IN MACHINE.

>TAKE TIN. OPEN IT. PUT COCOA BEANS IN MACHINE.

>TAKE RED JAR. OPEN IT. PUT SUGAR IN MACHINE.

>TURN DIAL. AGAIN. (If necessary, repeat until the setting is ROSE.)

>SAVE.

>CLOSE MACHINE. TURN ON MACHINE. OPEN MACHINE. TAKE PLATE.

>X ROSE. SMELL ROSE. EAST.

[Kitchen Garden]

>LINK ROSE TO ROSES. EAT ROSE. SOUTHEAST.

[Shed]

>X DIRT. X EVIDENCE. X RUST. X LADDER. TAKE LADDER.

>OUT. W. W. W. SW. U. E. N.

[Countess’ Sitting Room]

If you don’t have the corkscrew, you can open a wine bottle by linking it to a closed glass jar, then opening the jar. Make sure you keep the cork! Since the mead bottle cannot be recorked, you should drop the bottle somewhere, or drink up the remaining mead, or transfer the remaining mead to a closeable container. You cannot put an open container containing liquid in your sack. (There are probably other methods of dealing with the bee, too.)

>DROP TIN. TAKE MEAD.

>OPEN MEAD WITH CORKSCREW. PUT MEAD IN TIN.

>SAVE.

>BREAK CASE WITH STICK. WAIT. CLOSE TIN. TAKE TIN.

>TAKE DANCERS. TURN DANCERS. TASTE MEAD. DROP BOTTLE OF MEAD.

>S. W. N.

[Old Conservatory]

>LINK LETTER TO DANCERS. PLAY PIANO.

>READ LETTER. UNLINK LETTER.

>S. D. NE. E. E.

[Kitchen]

Time to make a meal! Decide now whether to make either the andouillettes or the lentil soup. In any case, start with:

>PEEL ONION. (You need its skin to make a yellow dye later.)

>X PEELED ONION. SMELL IT. X ONION SKIN. SMELL IT.

>TAKE RECIPE FROM SPINDLE.

>SAVE.

If you’re making the Andouillettes Recipe:

>PUT ANDOUILLETTES RECIPE ON SPINDLE. READ IT.

>PUT SAUSAGES IN MACHINE.

>TAKE GREEN JAR. OPEN IT. TAKE GOAT CHEESE. PUT OIL IN MACHINE.

>TAKE BLANC. OPEN IT WITH CORKSCREW. PUT WINE IN MACHINE.

>PUT PEELED ONION IN MACHINE.

>TAKE BLUE JAR. OPEN IT. PUT SALT IN MACHINE.

>PUT PLATE IN MACHINE. (You may now TURN DIAL repeatedly to any setting you like; the sliced sausages in the cooked meal will be arranged on the plate in that shape.)

>TURN ON MACHINE. OPEN MACHINE. TAKE PLATE. X COOKED. SMELL IT.

If you’re making the Lentil Soup Recipe:

>PUT SOUP RECIPE ON SPINDLE. READ IT.

>PUT LENTILS IN MACHINE. PUT PEELED ONION IN MACHINE. PUT GARLIC IN MACHINE.

>TAKE CUP. E. FILL CUP FROM WELL. TAKE BAY. W.

>EMPTY CUP IN MACHINE. PUT BAY IN MACHINE. PUT CUP IN MACHINE.

>TAKE GREEN JAR. OPEN IT. TAKE GOAT CHEESE. PUT OIL IN MACHINE.

>TAKE BLUE JAR. OPEN IT. PUT SALT IN MACHINE. (You may ignore the dial when making the soup.)

>TURN ON MACHINE. OPEN MACHINE. TAKE CUP. X SOUP IN CUP.

In either case, after you’ve picked up your meal:

>TAKE RECIPE FROM SPINDLE. W. W.

[Dining Room]

You must eat your meal here. You must have the fork to eat the sausages, or the spoon to eat the soup. Soon after you’ve eaten, you will become sleepy, and need to find a bed.

>TAKE FORK. EAT SAUSAGES. —or— TAKE SPOON. EAT SOUP.

>E. E. U.

[Servants’ Dormitory]

This isn’t the only bed in the game. You may opt to put off sleeping until you find Marie’s much nicer bed, and sleep on it instead. You cannot sleep on the rug, no matter how soft Marie thought it was.

>GET ON BED. SLEEP. STAND. D. E.

[Kitchen Garden]

We will next retrieve the Tea Recipe from the drain. Since the bend in the pipe makes it unlikely for it to be flushed out the pipe, and we can’t fish it out, we’ll have to float it up to where we can reach it.

The first step is therefore to fill the pipe with water. The sponge is the most obvious object to plug the pipe with, but there may be other items that can plug the pipe. Use whatever non-porous containers you have available to carry water to the scullery, but not the one holding the bee! Make as many* trips as necessary between the well and the scullery. As near as I can tell, the cup, teapot, and glass jars all have equal liquid capacities (6 sips), and you’ll need slightly under 7 cupfuls to fill the pipe.

(*Actually, I've since learned that only one cupful is necessary; the game will assume that you have the right idea and not force you to make repeated trips to the well.)

>PUT SPONGE IN PIPE.

>TAKE CUP. FILL IT FROM WELL. TAKE POT. FILL IT FROM WELL.

>TAKE BLUE JAR. FILL IT FROM WELL. TAKE GREEN JAR. FILL IT FROM WELL.

>TAKE RED JAR. FILL IT FROM WELL. W. N.

[Scullery]

>EMPTY CUP IN BASIN. EMPTY POT IN BASIN.

>EMPTY BLUE JAR IN BASIN. EMPTY GREEN JAR IN BASIN.

>EMPTY RED JAR IN BASIN. S. E.

[Kitchen Garden]

>FILL CUP FROM WELL. FILL POT FROM WELL. W. N.

[Scullery]

>EMPTY CUP IN BASIN. EMPTY POT IN BASIN.

>REVERSE LINK TEA RECIPE TO CORK. TAKE TEA. UNLINK TEA. S. E.

[Kitchen Garden]

>TAKE SPONGE. SQUEEZE SPONGE. FILL POT FROM WELL. W.

[Kitchen]

Time to make yellow dye, using the Tea Recipe. The hint for this was in one of the books in the library. You can later, if you wish, also make mint tea or bay tea with this recipe. Herbal teas have no effect on hunger or sleepiness.

If you're wondering why you can’t just dye the hanky with the mead... well, you can but... the mead is the wrong shade of yellow. Yes, really. Don’t use the mead as a dye.

>PUT TEA RECIPE ON SPINDLE. PUT ONION SKIN IN MACHINE.

>PUT CUP IN MACHINE. EMPTY POT IN MACHINE.

>TURN ON MACHINE. OPEN IT. TAKE CUP. TAKE RECIPE FROM SPINDLE.

>PUT CUP ON TABLE. PUT HANKY IN CUP. TAKE HANKY. SQUEEZE HANKY IN CUP.

>W. W. SW.

[Entrance Hall]

In earlier versions of the game, you could link the hanky to the hangings without dyeing the hanky first. This bug has been fixed. The sword’s hilt is ornate, which makes the sword similar enough to the ornate key. Make sure the sword is in its sheath before you turn it.

>LINK HANKY TO HANGINGS. CUT HANKY WITH BUTCHER KNIFE. X HANGINGS.

>X DOOR. X KEYHOLE. X ORNATE KEY. OPEN DOOR.

>PUSH ORNATE KEY WITH TABLE KNIFE. PUSH ORNATE KEY WITH SILVER KEY.

>LINK SWORD TO ORNATE KEY. TURN SWORD. UNLINK SWORD. OPEN DOOR.

>WEST.

[Narrow Corridor]

>UP.

[Bedchamber of the Count and Countess]

Unhappily, you cannot take the one chair in the entire game back to the conservatory and finally reach the high shelf.

>X BED. LOOK UNDER BED. X CEILING. X WINDOW. X DRAGON.

>X WARDROBE. OPEN IT. X DRESSES. SEARCH THEM. TAKE THEM. CLOSE WARDROBE.

>X CHAIR. X TABLE. X TRUNK.

>X FANCIFUL BOOK. READ IT.

>X UNFINISHED LETTER. READ IT.

>X BRACELET. REMEMBER IT. TAKE BRACELET. WEAR IT.

>X GOWN. WEAR GOWN. PUT GOWN ON BED.

>X SHOES. TAKE SHOES. WEAR SHOES. D. W.

[Chapel]

The Count’s secret message to Marie, hinted at in the old letter, is finally revealed by looking at the rug in the chapel’s green and blue light. You can also see the message in two disjoint parts, by looking at the rug under green and blue light separately in the cellars.

>X WINDOWS. X LIGHT. DROP RUG. X RUG.

>TAKE RUG. X HOLE. X GILDED KEY. X WADDED PAPER. X RAT.

>TAKE GILDED KEY. KICK RAT. KILL RAT WITH SWORD. PRAY.

There’s a few ways to kill the rat. As far as I know, all methods involve luring the rat out of his hole with cheese.

Method 1: Kill the Rat With the Bee!

>TAKE TIN. (or whatever container has the bee and mead in it)

>DROP TIN. (it’s important that the bee’s container is not in your hand)

>OPEN TIN. (releasing the bee, who stays by the mead)

>PUT GOAT CHEESE IN TIN. (the mouse tries to get the cheese, and the bee stings him. One dead rat, and the bee is now harmless.)

>TAKE BEE. CLOSE TIN. TAKE TIN.

Method 2: Kill the Rat With the Sword!

>TAKE GREEN JAR. PUT GOAT CHEESE IN IT. DROP GREEN JAR.

>KILL RAT WITH SWORD. G. (repeat 30 times or so, until you manage to kill him. If you’re persistent, you will eventually kill him, but the lure of cheese must be there.)

After the rat is dead:

>PRAY. STAB RAT WITH SWORD. EAT RAT. SMELL RAT. ENTER HOLE.

>TAKE GILDED KEY. TAKE WADDED PAPER. READ IT.

>E. E. U. E.

[Long Salon]

>UNLOCK DOOR WITH GILDED KEY. OPEN DOOR. EAST.

[Count’s Study]

>X WINDOW. LOOK THROUGH WINDOW. X WRECKAGE. REMEMBER WRECKAGE.

>X FIREPLACE. LOOK IN FIREPLACE. X REMAINS. READ REMAINS.

>NORTH.

[Your Old Bedroom]

Unfortunately, the dead roses are disintegrating and cannot be linked to the tangle of roses guarding the shed. You can only link things that are sufficiently cohesive.

>X WINDOWSILL. X VASE. X ROSES. REMEMBER ROSES.

>TAKE VASE. TAKE ROSES. S. W. W. D. NE.

[Dining Room]

We’re almost at the finale, so we’ll stop here briefly to get the Last Lousy Point, as suggested by the table’s description. Having full points will also slightly change the wording of the game’s epilogue. You may as well eat the cheeses now, too.

>SAVE.

>STAND ON TABLE. DELIVER MONOLOGUE. (repeat to see the variations)

>SWING ON CHANDELIER. (or just STAND to get down)

>EAT GOAT CHEESE. G. G.

>EAT SALERS. G. G.

>EAT BRIE. CUT BRIE WITH TABLE KNIFE. EAT SLICE.

>CUT BRIE WITH TABLE KNIFE. EAT BRIE. EAT BRIE.

>E. E.

[Kitchen]

You may also wish to dally one last time in the kitchen to make mint tea and bay tea. You can also reverse link a pair of recipe cylinders, and then try out one of the pair on the machine for an amusing comment on the combined recipe.

>XYZZY. X CYLINDER. READ IT.

>EAST.

[Kitchen Garden]

The vase must be filled with water before you can link it to the well. Note: Refilling the linked vase with water will not refill the well. Any dreams you had of refilling the well with onion dye, or mead, or whatever just isn’t going to happen, no matter how cool you thought it would be. Not in this version of the game, at any rate. If you simply must destroy things, smash the mirrors or throw something hard at the chapel windows.

>FILL VASE FROM WELL. LINK VASE TO WELL. EMPTY VASE IN DITCH. UNLINK VASE.

>PUT LADDER ON BAR.

>PUT BAUBLE IN BAG. (The wooden box doesn’t fit)

>DROP ALL. INVENTORY. (You need both hands free to climb down the ladder, and a light source. So you can only take wearables with you, or things inside what’s worn. If you throw something into the empty well, then it is lost forever. Make sure you’re wearing the bag, pin, and bracelet before going down into the well.)

>DOWN.

[Deep in the Well]

>DOWN. NORTH.

[Deep Room]

Regarding the mirror’s password: The first mention of this kind of mirror is in the Lavori d’Aracne, but the page is torn. The wadded paper is the missing part of that page, and had a written message about the mirror coming from the Rue des Arbres. This street is also mentioned in the unscrambled old letter, and mentions a M. Couligne on that street. Since the mirror’s mark is a "C", Couligne probably made this mirror.

Once both cuffs and window are dealt with, timing is critical. You have only one chance to reverse-link the stone to the pillow.

>X BOX. OPEN BOX. X PAPER. READ PAPER. X GOLD. TAKE COINS.

>X STONE. TOUCH STONE. MOVE STONE. X MIRROR. TOUCH MIRROR.

>SAY COULIGNE. TOUCH MIRROR.

>X MARIE. X TOWER. X GOWN. X CUFFS. X WINDOW. X COT.

>LINK CUFFS TO BRACELET. REMOVE BRACELET.

>LINK PIN TO WINDOW. REMOVE PIN. WAIT.

>REVERSE LINK STONE TO PILLOW.

>FULL. AMUSING. QUIT.


Putting the story together

Pierre was born to ordinary parents, and was born an ordinary child. His life changed on the day Marie tried to climb the bar and fell into the well. Fearing for Marie’s life, the Count secretly took the dangerous step of reverse-linking Marie and Pierre together. As long as Pierre lived, so would Marie. Pierre’s father descended into the well, and rescued Marie. In debt to Pierre’s father’s act of heroism, the Count offered to bring up Pierre as if he were his own son, and his father agreed.

Pierre and Marie grew up together, as if they were brother and sister. Pierre grew estranged from his natural parents. In time, it was discovered that he could do links, something normally capable only by the nobility. The Countess suspected at first that Pierre was a bastard son of the Count, but the Count revealed his secret to her: that Pierre and Marie were linked. Pierre could do links because Marie could, duplicating her magical ability. Marie, at some point, also began to feel an unsisterly affection for Pierre, as witness the crumpled paper.

As an man, Pierre moved to Paris, moving in the noble courts. Meanwhile, Marie used her mechanical ingenuity and magical aptitude to create the solar system model and the mechanical chef. Both were somewhat innocent of the festering malice of D’Envers, a distant cousin of the Count who coveted the Count’s title and property.

The Count and Countess vanished without notice. Their fate is unknown and D’Envers may have engineered this in some manner. He began to make unwelcome advances to Marie, since Marie’s husband would become the new Count. D’Envers simultaneously endeavoured to put Pierre in monetary debt, in an attempt to remove Pierre as a rival. In Pierre’s case, this strategy misfired, since it prompted Pierre to visit the Count’s estate and thus gained the means to defeat D’Envers once and for all.