Uninvited - Mindscape - 1st part
 
              Sent in by John R. Barnsley  
 
What a night to be out driving! How it happened doesn't matter; 
but, boy, are you in a mess. The last thing you remember is that 
something jumped out in front of you while you and your little 
brother were out for an evening drive -- you swerved the car 
smack into a tree. The smell of a ruptured gas tank signals your 
instinct to survive. You OPEN the car door and go out with your 
first move. As soon as you click your mouse to get out of the 
car you hear an explosion -- better get moving. With the car 
gone, you have no choice but to go inside that haunted-looking 
house that looks like it came straight out of a comic book. 
Before you go inside the house, it would only be fitting to find 
out where you are.
 
A good place to check would be the mailbox. OPEN the mailbox. 
Guess what? It looks like you're in luck because there's a 
letter inside. EXAMINE the envelope. Oh, no! You're at the 
Crowley House on 666 (sign of the Devil) Blackwell Road, Loch 
Ness, Scotland. Loch Ness: doesn't that mean monsters? If only 
you could turn around -- well it's too late. If you're in this 
much trouble, you might as well snoop around some more. OPEN the 
envelope. EXAMINE the letter. The letter contains a clue that 
the amulet might be good against the undead. DRAG the amulet 
into your inventory. It might come in handy. Now OPEN the front 
door and go through it.
 
What a creepy house. The door has slammed shut behind you and it 
doesn't want to open up. What kind of trouble are you in now? 
EXAMINE the various pictures and the furniture. After your 
ordeal, why don't you sit down (OPERATE) and rest your feet on 
either of the chairs. Ouch! One of the chairs hurt you! 
(Remember this: You'll want revenge later.) OPEN both doors. 
First, go inside the room to your east (all orientation in this 
game is northern). You're in the Library. Notice the book on the 
table. EXAMINE the book. OPEN the book then EXAMINE the book 
again. There are some definitions that you would be well advised 
to write down in your notebook.
 
Go out of the Library back into the Entrance Hall. Now go out 
the door to the northwest to the Hall. There are five exits, 
including the one you just passed through. Your best bet is to 
go upstairs first. Maybe that's where you'll find your little 
brother. The Upstairs Hallway has six exits, including the 
stairway you just came up. OPEN all the doors. Now to check out 
all of the rooms. First, go through the lower right door into 
the Storage Closet. EXAMINE all the items. Pretty mundane stuff, 
huh? Bet you've never seen a product at the supermarket called 
"No Ghost." DRAG the bottle into your inventory. "Spider Cider" 
looks interesting, too: DRAG that along into your inventory, 
also. By this time, you'll get the first signal that something 
is really wrong in this haunted house -- the evil is starting to 
get to you in very tangible ways.
 
Go back into the Upstairs Hallway. Now go into the middle right 
door. Another stairwell! What's this? A weapon! DRAG the axe 
into your inventory. If you venture upstairs to the Tower ... 
well all I can say is don't open the Prison and don't go inside 
no matter how tempting it looks. It might be the last thing you 
ever do! Go back to the Upstairs Hallway. Go through the door on 
the lower left side into the Master Bedroom. On the nightstand 
is a candle and a book. OPEN the book. DRAG the candle to your 
inventory. EXAMINE the book. Well now you know the name of the 
bad guy -- Dracon, huh? "A key is hidden someplace beyond his 
stare, a chair knows where".
 
Go out of the room back into the Upstairs Hallway. Go down the 
stairs (south exit). Go through the open door (upper right) back 
into the Entrance Hall. Remember the chair that hurt you before? 
Now is the time for revenge! OPERATE the axe on the chair. In 
the rip is a golden skeleton key. DRAG the key into your 
inventory. Take the axe and leave it in the Entrance Hall -- 
it's too large to carry for now. Now go straight back upstairs. 
From the Upstairs Hallway go into the first room on the left. 
OPERATE the key on the large chest behind the bed. Now that the 
chest is unlocked, OPEN the chest. Take everything from the 
chest and put it in your inventory. OPEN and EXAMINE both 

scrolls. They contain clues that will be very important to 
finishing the game.
 
OPEN the door in the upper left corner. Though everything in the 
room looks interesting, there is really nothing inside here that 
is worthwhile. Go back into the Master Bedroom. EXAMINE the 
pictures on the wall. They contain some clues to the Master's 
relationships with others. Go back into the Upstairs Hallway.

Go through the door in the upper left corner into the Bedroom. 
EXAMINE, then OPEN and, once again, EXAMINE the book on the 
nightstand. Reading the egomaniacal rantings of Dracon gives you 
quite a clue into just what you are up against. OPEN the 
nightstand. Aha, another scroll! OPEN and EXAMINE the scroll. 
The scroll contains some important magic spells that use words 
you should be familiar with from the book in the library. Write 
these spells down on your notepad; you will be needing them soon.
 
OPEN the door in the upper right corner and go into the 
Bathroom. OPEN the hamper. A blood stained towel -- yech! Could 
the blood belong to someone near and dear, like your little 
brother? You had better find out soon. Go out of the Bathroom 
through the Bedroom, back into the Upstairs Hallway.

There is one last room you haven't explored. Go into the room in 
the upper right corner. OPEN the black dresser and DRAG the star 
into your inventory.

Go out of the Bedroom, through the Upstairs Hallway, and back 
downstairs to the Hall. Remember that bottle of "No Ghost"? You 
had better OPEN it just in case you need it in a hurry. Now OPEN 
the lower right door. What's this? Out of nowhere a woman dressed
like Scarlet O'Hara has appeared in the Hall! Anyone dressed in
clothes from a century ago must be a ghost. OPERATE the bottle
of "No Ghost" on Scarlet and see what happens. Well, that takes
care of that as another ghost bites the dust.

OPEN all the doors in the Hall. First, go through the lower 
right door that you first opened before "Scarlet O'Ghost" 
pranced in. That takes you into the Parlor. OPEN the outside 
door and go to the Veranda. There's a quick spider going by too 
fast for you to stop him. OPERATE the "Spider Cider" on the 
railing. Go back in the Parlour. On second thought, go back 
outside on the Veranda to see if the spider might come around 
again. Here it comes, slowing down in its tracks due to the 
numbing effects of the "Spider Cider." Pretty good stuff! DRAG 
the spider into your inventory. You never know when a spider 
might come in handy for stirring up a brew or something.
 
Go back through the Parlour into the Hall again. Remove the 
"Spider Cider" and the "No Ghost" from your inventory and leave 
them in the Hall. Go through the lower left door into the Rec 
Room. OPERATE the gramophone.

Pretty neat, huh? Too bad you broke it. It must be quite a 
valuable antique on today's market. But, then again, a lot of 
the creepy things you see in this house might fetch a high price 
at a graveyard auction. EXAMINE the cabinet at the back of the 
room. OPERATE the key on the cabinet. OPEN the unlocked cabinet 
and SPEAK to the doll. Say "SPECAN HEAFOD ABRAXAS" (like the 
scroll in Dracon's room said). The doll tells you to speak to 
her brother. OPEN both remaining doors in the Rec Room. Go 
through the right side door into the Dining Room.
 
DRAG the flowers from the table into your inventory. EXAMINE all 
the pictures in the room. Be aware that some strange things will 
float out of the pictures as if they have a life of their own. 
OPEN all the doors in the Dining Room. Go through the upper left 
door to the Kitchen first. OPEN both the left and right doors. 
Go through the room on your left to the Bedroom.

OPERATE the lamp. Something strange happens. (Actually, in this 
game, everything is strange! So maybe what's strange for the 
real world is normal here at 666 Blackwell Road.) Too bad that 
"No Ghost" was used up. Neither the amulet nor the star has any 
effect on the ghost. Maybe the ghost is frightened by small 
living animals the same way the mouse is legend for scaring 
elephants? OPERATE the spider on the ghost and it vanishes!

 

EXAMINE, OPEN, then, again, EXAMINE the diary that was hidden in 
the wall behind the picture. It contains a clue for whatever is 
inside the box that was locked in the large chest upstairs in 
the Master Bedroom. Fire and ice -- where to find either would 
be helpful right this moment. Go out of the Bedroom through the 
Kitchen to the Pantry (the room off the Kitchen's right). DRAG 
the box of matches from the second shelf from the top. OPEN the 
matchbox. OPERATE one of the matches on the matchbox itself. 
OPERATE the newly lit match on the candle you took earlier from 
the Master Bedroom.

Great! Now that should shed some light on the situation.
 
Everything in the Kitchen, the Pantry, and the downstairs 
Bedroom is interesting but will not help you to complete the 
game. In fact the more mouse clicks that you waste in these 
rooms, the more time you lose. And those mouse clicks become 
valuable with time. Go out of the Pantry through the Kitchen 
back into the Dining Room. Go through the door in the top center 
of the Exits Box to the Study. EXAMINE the locked door. Besides 
being locked, there is something strange about that passageway. 
Hmm! Maybe the key that the creature has, huh? You'll have to be 
patient with that one. You aren't fast enough to make a 
difference in his life. OPEN the desk. Inside the desk are some 
files about different elements. DRAG the file on Gold, Silver, 
and Mercury into your inventory. Those elements were all 
mentioned as being able to make a key when put together. You 
will have to EXAMINE most or all the files to find all three 
cards.
 
Go out the open door to the Dining Room. Go through the Hall 
back into the Entrance Hall. OPERATE the LIT CANDLE (that you 
have been carrying in your inventory) on the FIREPLACE. Besides 
taking a chill out of the air, you now have a big fire. OPERATE 
the sealed box that you took from the cabinet upstairs on the 
burning fire. The box will dissolve, leaving a pentagram.

DRAG the pentagram to your inventory. Without it you cannot 
finish the game. Go back through the Hall and the Rec Room to 

the Trophy Room. DRAG the cage into your inventory. While there 
are several items that look helpful or interesting, they are red 
herrings.
 
[AT THIS POINT I WOULD RECOMMEND YOU SAVE YOUR GAME because when 
you OPEN the door in the upper right corner, you never know what 
kind of hell is going to break loose!] 

OPEN the door in the upper right corner, and go outside to the 
Backyard. In the Backyard are three paths to three different 
buildings. Obviously, you will have to visit each building. Your 
brother just might be inside one of them waiting to be saved! 

First, go to the Building in the center. OPEN the door at the 
entrance and go inside the Greenhouse. EXAMINE ALL of the plant 
pots in the room. One of them is different from the others. 
OPERATE the watering can on the DIRT-FILLED RED-CLAY POT. DRAG 
the RED-CLAY POT into your inventory. There isn't much else of 
interest in this building.

Go out of the Greenhouse, and return to the Backyard. Go to the
Domed Building. No matter how you try to OPEN the door at the
Magisterium, you fail. EXAMINE the niche over the Magisterium
door. Something that should be there, isn't.........

@~To be concluded in the next issue of SynTax