Game 34: The Colonel's Bequest - Star-Crossed Lovers

Laura Bow Journal Entry 7: "Things continue to spiral downwards here at the Colonel's estate, and I still remain powerless to stop it. Fifi and Jeeves are now dead, having been poisoned during a late night tryst in the maid's room. I found the bottle of sleeping powder that I'm convinced was used in the double murder, and I also spent some time checking for (and finding) prints on various items I've discovered so far at the scene of each murder. I hope I get an opportunity to use all this evidence, but at this point I'm really just hoping to survive the night! Oh Lillian, please don't let it be you! I have a horrible feeling that my very good friend is behind this massacre, which is a thought too horrible to contemplate!"

 Act VI: Where Laura Finally Decides to Take Action

I have some very exciting news! I actually managed to use an item in my inventory in The Colonel’s Bequest! I know, I didn’t think it would happen either! It happened pretty soon after starting Act VI too, so I won’t keep you in suspense for long. Since I completed Act V by entering Henri’s room and finding his wheelchair empty, it’s from there that I began my search for another body. I didn’t know whose body it would be mind you, as unlike the previous acts, there was no obvious trigger point that hinted at a future victim. After fruitlessly exploring Henri’s room and the connecting study, I made my way out into the hallway and then into the bathroom. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it previously, but each time I’ve been in the bathroom during all the acts, I’ve looked in the wastebasket to see if anyone has left anything of interest. This time it paid off, and I was informed that “a small, empty bottle has been thrown into the wastebasket”. I picked it up and found that the label on it read: “Dr. Milliken’s Miracle-Sleep Powder... with Dr. Milliken’s, you can be sure your dreams will be sweet tonight!”

 This makes me wonder how many other places I've looked in once and then incorrectly assumed I never needed to again.

I was also informed that there was some very small print on the label, and that I couldn’t quite make it out. This immediately brought to mind the monocle I’d found on Wilbur’s body, and I typed “read bottle through monocle”. It worked! “Can be fatal if taken in too large a dose.” This was certainly interesting! Had someone taken the sleeping powder themself or were they planning to use it on another guest? I wasn’t able to hold onto the bottle, so left it in the basket to continue my rounds of the mansion. As soon as I walked into the nearest room, which was mine and Lillian’s, the progress clock appeared and moved to 12:15am. Lillian was doing something in her case, yet as soon as I walked in she closed it and acted like nothing was going on. I tried to talk to her, but she responded with “I know we’re sharing a room, Laura, but I would like to be alone for a little while. I need to do something... privately.” Hmmm...I was already having doubts about Lillian’s sanity, and this behaviour was only increasing that concern. I decided to go into the hidden room to see if I could catch a glimpse of what she might be up to.

 I used an item!!! And I didn't die...yet!!!

 I get it Laura! We all need some "alone" time! But seriously, people are dying here!

When I looked in I could see her on the bed, and I received a message stating that “Lillian is writing in a book which she apparently keeps locked in her suitcase.” I really wanted to know what was in that book, but wasn’t going to be able to look at it while she was in the room. Since I’d missed out on finding out where everyone else was at midnight, I restored my game to the bathroom and instead made my way to Clarence and Rudy’s room. Once again the progress clock appeared and fifteen minutes were added! Clarence was sitting at the writing desk, writing in some sort of notebook. I walked over and tried to see what it was he was writing, but was told that “Clarence is bent over the notebook and you can’t read it.” Man! Earlier in the game these trigger points were revealing lots of events and information, but now they appeared to be merely being used to make sure I knew where certain individuals were before the act was completed. Clarence had no interest in talking to me, so I put his location in my spreadsheet, restored my game back to midnight, and moved on. I made my way upstairs to see if Fifi was in her room. While I was approaching her room, I wondered whether her and Jeeves had managed to get some quality time together. Boy was I in for a surprise!

 It is getting pretty repetitive having to spy on people from the hidden rooms in every act.

Clarence has done his very best to appear a murderer, but I'm not falling for it. I think he's just a prick!

Fifi and Jeeves had indeed met up for a drink and possibly more, but their tryst was ended when both of their lives were ended abruptly! The two lover’s bodies were lying entwined on the floor, and there were cognac glasses next to both of them. It was pretty obvious to me what had happened here, as I remembered the sleeping powder bottle in the wastebasket in the bathroom. There was a possibility that the two of them had committed suicide together, but it seemed more likely that the killer had taken them both out in one foul swoop. I searched their bodies and was told “You thoroughly examine Jeeves and Fifi’s body but cannot see how they might have died. You are very puzzled.” I then looked at the cognac bottle on the table, where the bouquet of flowers I’d seen in Jeeves’ room was also now located. “A strange white powder has collected in the bottom of the cognac decanter.” I tried looking at the powder in more detail, but didn’t appear to be able to collect any further information. Eventually I had no choice but to leave the scene and continue my search for the few remaining house guests.

 Well that certainly lowers the amount of guests I need to locate in each Act.

 Yes, I tried tasting it, but this isn't Tex Murphy apparently

I made my way down to the ground floor and entered the parlor, intending if nothing else to give Polly another cracker. I noticed an empty glass on the counter, which I didn’t think had been there previously. I wasn’t able to pick it up or find anything interesting about it, so I gave Polly the cracker instead. “AWWKK! I can’t find her! AWWKK! Where’s Gloria?” Clearly Polly was reciting the thoughts of Clarence, who was unable to find his wife due to her being strangled by her own feather boa. It did make me even more certain that Clarence wasn’t the killer though, despite the first few acts clearly trying to make him appear that way. Searching the rest of the house only revealed that Henri was now back in his room, but I wasn’t able to locate Celie or Rudy anywhere. Celie had been hanging out in her shack for the last couple of acts, so I made my way there to see if she still was. I was intrigued when I knocked on her door and the progress clock came up, especially when the woman began ranting at me. “What you doin’ here, girl?! Can’t you feel the evil in the air?! There’s something’ real bad ‘round here and I’m stayin’ put in mah cabin behind locked doors. You git yourse’f on back to your room, hear?!” I made further attempts to speak to her, but she simply shouted “Go away!! I’m not unlockin’ this here door anymore!”

 AWWKK! She's dead...wrapped in plastic. AWWKK!

 Um, Celie...the crazy old woman that can "feel" evil generally gets killed in all the horror movies!

This time I didn’t restore, and began systematically crossing off each outside location in search for Rudy. It didn’t take long to find him, sitting on the steps outside the study, patting Beauregard on the head. The progress clock appeared yet again, meaning I now knew where all five remaining family members were and where all four trigger points for Act VI occur. I began questioning Rudy, but as is typical for pretty much everyone left in the game, he refused to talk to me. I began the process of marking down exactly where each character was at each fifteen minute interval, and discovered one seemingly important thing on the way! When back in the parlor, I decided to examine the empty glass on the counter again. It just seemed too conspicuous to be there for no reason! I can’t recall what I did differently to the first time I tried, but this time I received a message stating “As you look at the empty glass, you notice a faint fingerprint on it.” Well that was certainly interesting, but I assumed it was going to be like the footprints I’d found previously and hadn’t been able to do anything with. However, when I typed “look at fingerprints through monocle”, I received the following: “Squinting into the monocle you carefully examine the piece of broken record. Closely situated to each other, you notice two different fingerprints.” WTF?!

 Really? Did anyone ever wear bright red shoes with a black tuxedo?

 I do? Oh yes...ahem...I meant to do that! Been planning to for a while!

Obviously I hadn’t been trying to look at the broken record in my possession (from the scene of Gloria’s murder), but had inadvertently stumbled across a piece of evidence. Was I supposed to think that the “two different fingerprints” meant two different people had touched the record, or that one person had touched it with two different fingers? At least now I knew why I had a piece of broken record in the first place, and began to wonder whether looking at the other bits and pieces I’d collected would result in similar evidence. Firstly though, I typed “look at fingerprint on glass through monocle”, and had some success: “Picking up the glass, you use Wilbur’s monocle as a magnifying glass and notice a faint fingerprint”. This was another success, but what was I supposed to do now? The obvious thing would be to compare the fingerprint on the glass to those found on the record, but since the game didn’t seem to understand the word “compare”, I couldn’t figure out any way of doing that. I thought for a moment that I might have to use the fingerprint document that I’d been using to get past the copy protection screen, but I couldn’t see any of the prints well enough to be able to make that judgement. Was I supposed to have been looking at family member’s actual fingerprints somehow?!

 What good are foot and fingerprints if I can't compare them to anything?

I put these questions aside for the time being and tried looking at each of my inventory items through the monocle. Looking at the rolling pin gave me the following: “You scrutinize the entire rolling pin with Wilbur’s monocle. Aha! You have discovered traces of blood on it!” I assumed this merely proved that the rolling pin was the murder weapon used to take out Ethel. I then looked at the poker: “You examine the entire fireplace poker with the monocle. Oh, oh! There are traces of blood on it!” So I was right in thinking that the poker was the murder weapon used to kill Wilbur. Finally I used the monocle to look at the handkerchief I found outside Gertie’s room: “You carefully examine the white handkerchief using Wilbur’s monocle much like a magnifying glass. Why, what’s this? You see a small “EP” in one corner of the white lace trim.” This information only confirmed that the handkerchief did indeed belong to Ethel, but that was pretty obvious anyway. As good as it felt to finally be doing some proper investigative work, none of this really told me anything I didn’t already know. Perhaps discovering this stuff is only really of importance when finishing the game? Readers have led me to believe that there are different endings, so perhaps what evidence I can find affects what ending I see? It's time to go see whether Act VII  brings any clarity to proceedings.

 Well that would explain why Celie really didn't want the rolling pin back!

This is what I make of Act VI

• Lillian spent the entire hour in her bedroom, writing in a book she keeps in her suitcase.
• Henri spent the majority of the hour in his bedroom, although I was not able to locate him either at the very beginning of the hour or during the last fifteen minutes.
• Clarence spent the entire time in his bedroom, writing in a notebook at the writing desk.
• Celie spent the entire hour locked in her shack.
• Rudy spent the entire hour patting Beauregard outside the study.

 Need I mention that I found yet another way to die during this act. Falling through the railing!

Session Time: 1 hour 00 minutes

Total Time: 9 hours 00 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!