*** HINTS ***

THE BASICS

You always get to a good "ending", but your choices change the tone of the story.
- If you choose mostly Clever options, the world will seem deceptive and sinister.
- If you choose mostly Bold options, the world will seem dangerous.
- If you choose mostly Open options, the world will seem beautiful and uplifting.

You can't do everything in a single runthrough. For example:
- You can't read all the newspapers and fully decode Scudder's pocketbook (see below for more about the pocketbook).
- You can't do everything in the flat before you leave: not if you want to catch your train on time. For example, you can't change clothing, get Scudder's notebook and completely avoid your pursuers' attention.

You'll need to play multiple times to do everything, discover the secrets and learn the right choices to make.

FAILING

You never fail by random chance. The only random thing, in the game, is the meal you get in the inn.

You never fail because your Open, Clever or Bold "score" isn't high enough.

You might fail because you're wearing the wrong clothing or your pursuers are too close.

CHOICES

There aren't "right" or "wrong" choices, but the option you choose might
- make your pursuers notice you or
- force you into a later option you didn't want to take

Your Open, Clever or Bold "score" doesn't determine which choices are displayed.

SCUDDER'S POCKETBOOK

You can find Scudder's pocketbook by searching the flat thoroughly before you leave.

To decode it fully, study it four times. Alternatively, you can probably decode it yourself (outside of the game), if you study the pocketbook two or three times (in the game).

ANSWERING SIR WALTER'S QUESTIONS

To find out the name of your enemies, get close enough to hear their conversations.

To find out their plan and where you must go to intercept them, decode the cipher in the pocketbook and ensure you read a newspaper during the adventure, which will tell you the name and position of a key person.

Finding the location is particularly difficult. You can do it by studying the pocketbook four times during the adventure or by figuring out what the rectangular symbol means.

*** WALKTHROUGH ***

There is no "right way" through the game, but here's a way that:

- Makes more "Open" choices than "Clever" or "Bold" ones, which makes the tone of the story uplifting rather than sinister or dangerous.
- Avoids your pursuers noticing you.
- Lets you answer most of Sir Walter's questions correctly.
- Captures all your enemies at the end and finds the naval plans.

CHAPTER 1

After you discover Scudder's body, take the Open option ("inform the police"). Shave, which will remove your beard, then search the flat to reveal Scudder's notebook.

Leave the flat and approach the milkman: if he isn't there, wait for him. You can choose any option to get his jacket, so choose the Open one ("I'm in a great deal of trouble"). Now you are disguised - that is, you're dressed as a milkman and you've shaved your beard - you can descend the stairs to Portland Place without the watchers noticing. The text will confirm this, by saying "Neither gave me a second glance".

Now go to Fitzrovia, by choosing the Clever option ("I steered a path around them all"). There should be a postman there: if he isn't there, wait for him. You need his cap: choose the Bold option to get it, because it's better to run to the station.

You are now on Euston Road. Dispose of the milkman's jacket, then pick up the suitcase and enter St Pancras' station. You can do this without alerting the watchers, because the postman's cap makes you look like a porter.

You should be just in time for your train. You can buy any ticket you like, but choose the Open one. Because you've made a majority of Open choices, the text will end "I felt good about my life".

An alternative: If you don't care about the pocketbook, then instead of searching the flat, change into less conspicuous clothing before you leave the flat, This means you change into tweeds, which will make you less likely to draw your pursuers' attention in the Highlands.

CHAPTER 2

At Dumfries station, look through Scudder's notebook. Wait for the train to pull into the station, then choose the Clever option ("I kept my face hidden") to avoid talking to the Postmaster, who would remember you later.

An alternative: if you drew your pursuers attention in Chapter One, there will be policemen waiting at the station, and it is unwise for you to go there. If so, buy a ham sandwich at Dumfries station and place it in your pocket. Then, when the train stops outside the station, place the sandwich on the floor to distract the dog, and leap out into the brambles.

You're now walking across a moor. Since you have chosen mostly Open options, you should get a very positive description, in which "my heart lifted as though I was a boy". Take the Clever option ("I turned into the glen"), because it's the only one that keeps you concealed.

Now the monoplane follows you. Because you've avoided your pursuers' attention, it should be "flying in a large circle...to scan the whole landscape". If you'd attracted their attention, it would be flying lower. Choose "I remained completely still", then "I kept hidden". If you were wearing tweeds, you could try "I kept walking" instead.

Spend the night in the barn, which lets you study Scudder's notebook for a second time. You now know the letters are a substitution cipher and you know the keyword too. This should be enough to solve it, especially if you search the Internet, although you can keep studying the notebook for the full solution.

An alternative: If you don't want to decode the pocketbook, you could spend the night in the farmhouse, where they offer you dinner. If you tell the occupants a story, make sure it matches your clothes: if you're wearing the tweeds, tell them you're a cattle dealer, and if not, tell them the truth.

As you enter the village the next morning, you learn an important fact: each Post Office has its own unique number. You'll use that to understand the symbols in Scudder's pocketbook.

When the policeman challenges you, choose the Open option first ("I smiled confidently and kept walking"), but then you'll need to choose two Clever options to avoid attention ("I invented a story", then "Sensing a trap, I told him I had seen no-one").

You've now chosen a lot of Clever options. If you want to choose a majority of Open options by the end of the adventure, you'll need to choose Open options from now on and avoid too many Clever ones.

You also haven't eaten, which limited your choices when dealing with the monoplane and the policeman.

Now you're in the inn. On the first night, be Open with the innkeeper ("I told him the story of the murder"). You could read Scudder's notebook for a third time, but instead, read the newspaper, which tells you an important fact: Lord Alloa is the Lord of the Admirality. When you read about the Portland Place murder, the details reflect the choices you made earlier.

To escape the inn the next morning, start with the Open option ("Tell the policeman he has no right to disturb us without a warrant"), then the Clever one ("I crept downstairs and looked for a back exit").

You escape to a ridge. Because you've avoided your pursuers' attention, you've made it to the end of Chapter Two. If you'd drawn their attention too much, it would have ended early.

CHAPTER 3

There are various ways to escape your pursuers, so here's a fun one with a lot of Open options. Move along the ridge to the trees, climb the tree and choose the Open option ("I shouted and waved"). This distracts them and gives you more time before they catch up with you.

Run diagonally down the slope, then ask the roadman about his work, which leads to you exchanging clothes with him and your pursuers going past you. After they leave, keep working and a motorcar will arrive. Choose the Bold option ("I hopped into their car and drove off"), although the Clever option would have let you escape too.

Note that the driveway to the house is a trap. If you'd chosen a majority of Clever or Bold options, you would have spotted this, but because you've chosen a majority of Open options, you didn't spot the danger.

An alternative: After you climb the tree, you can climb higher to get behind your pursuers, then either steal their clothing or - if you're feeling bloodthirsty - kill one of them. You can also simply let yourself get imprisoned, which leads to a variety of escape options and a final chance to study Scudder's notebook.

Now, you'll meet Sir Walter. After dinner, he asks you what you've found out so far.

First, he asks who your enemies are. You won't know the answer, because you haven't got close enough to your enemies to hear their conversation. For future reference, you can discover the answer by escaping via the drainpipe in Chapter 1 or getting imprisoned in Chapter 3.

Second, he asks what your enemies' plans are. You've studied Scudder's pocketbook twice, so you've found the cipher and the keyword. You can decipher it easily with an Internet search (or, if you'd studied the pocketbook four times, you'd get the complete answer). The translation is "A fake Lord Alloa will steal naval plans" and you know that Lord Alloa is the Lord Admirality. So the correct answer, which you'll give in three parts, is: "They intend to impersonate the Lord of the Admirality in order to steal naval plans".

Finally, he asks where your enemies can be intercepted. In Scudder's pocketbook is a symbol like an envelope, containing the number 784. You know that each Post Office in England has its own unique number and this is a Post Office number. You can find the full list of Post Office numbers online (or, again, you get the complete answer if you study the pocketbook four times).

The location is Tenby, a small coastal town in Wales. You can give this answer in two ways: you can say "I have a clue", then suggest looking at "Post Offices", then "Post Office numbers"; or you can say "I think I know the place", then "Wales", then "Tenby".

An alternative: To play the game so you can answer all Sir Walter's questions, follow this walkthrough, with two changes: in Chapter 2, read the pocketbook rather than the newspaper; and in Chapter 3, get imprisoned - which lets you hear the name "Black Stone" from the guards - and read the pocketbook again.

Whichever you choose, Sir Walter will then take a phone call, and return to say the naval plans are stolen. It's time to go and intercept them.

CHAPTER 4

There are three completely different endings, depending on how you choose to enter the house.

- If you choose the Open way ("I went to the front door"), you'll confront your pursuers, then play bridge with them.
- If you choose the Clever way ("I went around the back door"), you'll trick your way in, then sneak around.
- If you choose the Bold way ("I kicked open the front door"), you'll burst in and stop them by force.


In all three endings, the naval plans are hidden in two locations: a flag in the walking-stick stand in the study; and a cloak in the hallway. Both of these objects are out-of-place in some way: it isn't usual to have a walking-stick stand in the study; it definitely isn't usual to have a flag in a walking-stick stand; and a cloak shouldn't be hanging to dry when the weather is fine.

There are other things that are similar in the three endings. When your enemies escape: the well-dressed man tries to grab the plans in the flag then flee through the front or back door; the gaunt man tries to grab the cloak, then jump out of the smoking room window; and the elderly man stays so the other two can escape. The rail over the fireplace is a lever, which destroys the thirty-nine steps. This is also out of place: it isn't usual to have a brass rail over a fireplace.

It's intended that you play through these endings a few times, so you work out the right actions to take.

THE BOLD ENDING

In this ending, everything happens fast, and you must take the right actions to stop your enemies escaping and seize the plans. It's intended that you play several times to get the actions exactly rigiht.

As the elderly gentleman rushes at you, throw the cloak over him, which both brings him down and reveals one set of naval plans. Run into the study and try to beat the well-dressed man to the walking-stick stand, which reveals the other set of plans.

Now open the desk drawer to get the gun. For interest; this is the only ending that has a gun in the drawer. The other endings have a knife, like the one that killed Scudder.

Your enemies are running across the road to the thirty-nine steps, so fire a warning shot, which stops everything for a moment. Run into the smoking room and pull downwards on the brass rail, destroying the thirty nine steps and preventing your enemies from escaping.

You've now found both sets of naval plans and stopped all of your enemies from escaping.

THE CLEVER ENDING

Start by going around to the back door. You have three different options, each of which lets you learn different things.

If you choose to sell locks, you'll discover more about the occupants. If you choose to sell a cloth, you'll discover two strange locations in the house, each of which contains a set of naval plans. If you choose to sell lighting, you can learn about the monoplane or the boat your enemies plan to escape in. Some questions will make the maid suspicious and refuse to answer.

Choose to be a cloth salesman, then ask what the maid finds hard to clean and what she cannot clean. Her answers tell you the locations of the naval plans.

She'll now leave you alone in the kitchen. You can now sneak about the house. The trick is to choose your moves so you find everything before getting caught.

Go into the smoking room, examine the brass rail and press downwards on it. That destroys the thirty-nine steps, which prevents your enemies from escaping.

Now go into the hallway. You want to examine the cloak, but you can't do it yet, because your enemies are about to walk through the hallway.

Instead, go into the study, examine the walking sticks and look at the flag to find a set of naval plans. Your enemies have now started a game of cards in the smoking room, so go back into the hallway and look at the cloak to find and hide the final set of naval plans.

Now the cook finds you and your enemies leap into action. But you've done everything you need to do: you've hidden the two sets of naval plans, so they can't grab them, and you've destroyed the thirty-nine steps to stop them escaping.

THE OPEN ENDING

This ending can seem counterintuitive, because you discover lots of things (e.g. revealing facial expressions, the location of the plans) that you only realise are significant at the end.

After you enter, you make two accusations, and each accusation will make one of your enemies make a distinctive facial expression.

Start with "I am here to arrest you for the Portland Place murder" and the thin man will raise his eyebrow. Although it isn't immediately apparent, he does this because he committed the murder. It's a "tell", which you'll confirm this later when you play bridge.

Then say "You have stolen British naval plans and I intend to find them". This causes the well-dressed man to wrinkle his nose. He's doing that because he stole the plans. The text points out that this is a distinctive facial movement.

Now march through the closed door and examine the walking stick stand. You'll find a furled Union flag there, which will become significant later.

Your enemies invite you to play bridge. Use this as a chance to unsettle your enemies, as the text suggests. You want to get your enemies to repeat their distinctive facial expressions.

Start by passing, which will unsettle the gaunt younger man. He raises his eyebrow, like he did earlier, and you'll make that connection shortly.

Now there's a break in play. Look at the fireplace, which peculiarly has a brass rail above it. It'll come in handy in a moment.

Back at the card table, bid Two No Trumps, which will unsettle the well-dressed man, who knows your hand isn't strong enough for that bid. He will wrinkle his nose, just like he did earlier.

Now everything comes together. You recognise the gaunt man as Scudder's murderer and the well-dressed man as the thief of the naval plans, meaning that the elderly man is the mastermind. You also realise that one set of naval plans are in the walking stick stand and that the brass rail over the fireplace is the lever.

Push the lever above the fireplace, which destroys the thirty-nine steps and ensures your enemies cannot leave.

THE END

Because you have chosen more Open options than Clever or Bold ones, you get a positive ending: "you feel alive, for the first time in years".

Alternative endings: if you chose more Clever endings than any other, the last words are "I could never quite trust the world again." If you chose more Bold endings, they are "I realised the world was more dangerous than I could have ever imagined."
