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Text Adventure Playthrough #7: Christminster
No worries, it happens.
So let’s make a resume of the ingredients and the recipients?
We have the wine, tears, mirgghh, honey. Where do they need to go?
Lully 364
The first two are clear:
Arkwright 143 (honey of Egypt?)
John 11:43 (bath of King?)
Perhaps Simon Noble’s lines on Heliogabalus,
For I have wept more tears than e’er
The ancient sage did weep at man’s great folly…
are a clue to the third?
So first we add the honey to the wine, next the myrrh and then the tears.
“Be of good heart, and pray to God for guidance in the Work. Take thou the Spittle, and in a glass retort heat it continually. First, make it sweet with the Sap of the Wood of Hermes, that is named also the Honey of the Egyptians. Second, make it bitter with the Bath of the King. Third, make it salt with the Water of the Sages, for thou desirest the spiritual elements to rise and the terrestrial elements to sink.”
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
So we need to first
>open bottle with corkscrew
>pour Spittle into retort
>heat retort in gas light
Sigh… Okay, time to carry on. I’ve redone most of the game getting the green bottle first.
But I’m really not happy with the way the game presents itself as non-linear but requires you to do things in a certain order. That is not cool.
I’m surprised we have got this far. You guys have got it easy, the parser isn’t very responsive and I have to juggle items all the time getting things out of the handbag to be able to use them.
Why did this game get such good reviews? I’ve seen 5 star ratings for it.
>put retort on gas ring
You put the retort on the gas ring.
“Ark!” screeches the parrot.
The pale liquid begins to bubble.
[ If this furious serpent, after it has been
dissolved by the universal menstruum, does not
turn into our virgin milk, invisibly devouring
away every thing that comes near it, it is
plainly to be seen that you err in the notion of
the universal menstruum.
—Urbigens, “100 Aphorisms”]
>pour honey into retort
You pour the honey into the retort. The mixture starts to bubble furiously, and you cough from the vapours.
Edward coughs too. “Whatever kind of chemistry you’re doing, I wish you would do it somewhere else,” he says.
[ Take of aqua vitae, and put into this vegetable
humidity a third part of a honey-comb, ferment or
digest it in a gentle heat, and repeat the
distillation nine times, renewing the comb every
second distillation.
—Raymond Lully, “The Hermetic Mercuries”]
>pour gum into retort
You pour the transparent gum into the retort. The ingredients combine into a sticky mass, which slowly melts and clarifies, like molten wax. The smell is bitter and putrid.
“Awk!” squawks the parrot.
[ I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have
eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my
wine with my milk.
—Song of Songs 5:1]
>pour tears into retort
You pour the tears into the retort. There is a loud crackle from the liquid, accompanied by sparks and flying droplets. When the reaction subsides, you see that what little is left of the mixture has become completely clear, and a wonderful perfume starts to pervade the room. Could this be it, the Elixir?
“Oh no!” says Edward. “What are you doing? When the dusty comes in on Monday she’ll accuse me of having some trollop in here, and if she tells the Bursar I shall be in terrible trouble! Please, take it away!”
“Please take that perfume away,” begs Edward. “My dusty, she has the nose of a bloodhound, I tell you, she can smell alcohol or perfume from a mile off.”
[Your score has just gone up by one point.]
I’m surprised we have got this far. You guys have got it easy, the parser isn’t very responsive and I have to juggle items all the time getting things out of the handbag to be able to use them.
I have very bad memories of the asylum cells in Anchorhead, where I had to juggle with inventory objects all the time with this crazy murdering inmate following us, and people refused to explore the place thoroughly. I feel your pain. 
> look (to see if Edward has anything interesting in his room)
> x elixir
> smell elixir
> give peanut to polly
> pour elixir on something, a peanut for instance, or on edward
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
>look
Edward Forbes’s Room
A poky and unbeautiful attic room, not improved by the broken glass all over the floor from the broken window. There is an unmade bed jammed up against a tiny desk, and a door leads out to the west.
The door to B5 stands open.
Edward Forbes sits at his desk, furiously writing.
The gas ring is lit, and produces an erratic blue flame.
On the gas ring is a retort (in which is some elixir).
“Please take that perfume away,” begs Edward.
“I wouldn’t worry,” you reply, “At least your window will be open all night.”
>x elixir
A pellucid liquid with the consistency of the finest sherry.
[ Now this our second and living water is called
azoth: it is also called the soul of the
dissolved bodies, which souls we have even now
tied together for the use of the wise philosopher.
—“The Secret Book of Artephius”]
smell elixir
Its perfume is compounded of rose petals, violets, musk, peaches, cinnamon and other ingredients you cannot distinguish.
>give peanut to polly
(first taking the peanut)
The parrot gobbles down the peanut.
>get retort
Taken.
The elixir cools and stops bubbling.
>pour retort on Polly
Nothing would be gained by pouring out the elixir.
> x desk
> x bed
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
>x desk
You don’t need to refer to that.
>x bed
You don’t need to refer to that.
...
Are you just playing around because you’ve read the walkthrough and know what to do, but feel guilty about using that knowledge?
Actually, I read a review that said there was an easter egg, a book referring to the Meldrew family in the text adventure Curses.
It’s not yet dinner time and no, I don’t know what to do. We could try the manhole and explore the barrier some more or go to the dining room to see if there’s any action yet.
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
Strange that making the elixir didn’t bring the time forward.
We also still have not found the crypt where the others are meeting.
Edit: we can try to open/push/pull/lift the barrier
Actually, I read a review that said there was an easter egg, a book referring to the Meldrew family in the text adventure Curses.
Interesting. That would be worth finding.
Up next in Text Adventure Playthroughs: Karlok hosts Curses! 
>w
“B” Staircase, Second Floor
The door to B5 stands open.
>d
“B” Staircase, First Floor
A small white box is attached to the wall near to the door to B4.
>d
“B” Staircase, Ground Floor
The door to B2 stands open.
>nw
First Court
The elegant clock tower above the college chapel dominates the skyline to the northeast.
The gate is closed, but a little wicket gate stands open.
The clock of Biblioll College strikes seven o’clock.
>s
Library Archway
A notice is pinned to the door.
Tonight’s dinner in Great Hall started at seven o’clock, and if you don’t hurry to get there, you’re going to be even later than you already are!
Up next in Text Adventure Playthroughs: Karlok hosts Curses!
Oooooh! You’re offering me a full-time job, how lovely. 
Yearly renewable contract?
I will be away for the day. Expect me when you see me.
> go to dining room and have fun
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
>e
Second Court
The elegant clock tower above the college chapel dominates the skyline to the northwest.
>sw
Great Hall
Serving staff bustle here and there, arranging furniture and laying tables.
One end of the hall is occupied by the high table.
A long table extends across the remainder of the room.
You quickly leave your possessions in the cloakroom and find your seat. You are surprised to discover that you have been placed on the high table with the Master and Fellows of the college…
Great Hall
A grand room with a vaulted ceiling far above your head, echoing with the loud conversation of twenty fellows sitting around the high table and maybe sixty students on the low table.
Sitting near you around the high table you can see Wilderspin (to your left), the Master (to your right), Jarboe, Bungay, and Halfhide.
Displayed prominently on High Table is the College’s collection of plate.
“How good that you could join us,” says the Master to you. “Wilderspin tells me that you’ve already met, but here are Jarboe and Halfhide, and that’s Bungay. Should be a good bash, eh? There will be a little do afterwards in the senior common room, and we’ll be delighted if you’ll tag along.”
Just for fun
> give elixir to Jarboe
Otherwise, let’s just wait, unless someone has questions for the Master?
Just for fun
> give elixir to Jarboe
No can do - you left all your items in the cloakroom.
>z
Time passes.
Waiters come past the high table, depositing dishes at high speed in front of everyone. You end up with a large lobster and a strange widget.
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