A.C.E. 1/ACE CD 1.iso/files/docs/suspectd.lha/Suspect.doc

Text File | 1994-11-27 | 11.8 KB | 211 lines

                                SUSPECT

Typed by ???  Edited by PARASITE.


 The problems that arise in solving SUSPECT involve an array of costumed and
peripatetic guests, a somewhat lackadaisical detective, and numerous red
herrings, all of which play hell with the timing of the game.

 The characters traipse about constantly, and in Ashcroft Manor, this is more
than simply disconcerting. Every person in the game seems to be involved in
some way, however obscure. Ask anyone about anyone or anything else, and
motives magically become grains of sand: plentiful. You can spend a lot of
time showing evidence to certain individuals, or you can spend a lot of time
conversing with the characters. In both cases, timing suffers, at least early
on when it is most important.

 Sergeant Duffy is his usual self: dedicated to his job and his superior. (He
also has a grip of iron.) The detective, however, is another matter. He moves
around, checking this and that and searching here and there. (He also spends a
great amount of time "weighing evidence.") Since the murder weapon flings
suspicion on you right away, something has to be done to divert him. There is
only one way to do this (although you'll remain a suspect), and that is to
give him whatever you find. Certain clues *must* be turned over to him or
you'll be in the slammer before Halloween Night ends. And the party starts
promptly at 9:00 p.m.

 You'll be unable to make an arrest if the detective doesn't have the
evidence.
The problem with this is that he doesn't seem to make much of an effort. Not
only do you have to give him a clue you find, but in some cases, you have to
tell him what to do with it!

 All this influences the timing. You *can* make the game last until 9:00 a.m.
simply by giving the detective the clues necessary to keep him off your back.
However, even if you've managed to keep him and Duffy at bay while you show
evidence to the guests, events which have to do with timing will have been
lost, as well as what you would have uncovered had you witnessed the event. It
is also wise to remember that Sergeant Duffy has wraithlike qualities; once he
has you in his grip, the evidence you then try to give him may or may not be
accepted and passed along to the detective.

 False trails abound, timing is critical, and there are far too many
suspicious characters to consider. What I've done in this walkthru, then, is
deal strictly with the persons and events which solve the crime.

 The clock has struck nine and it's time to begin! We will pay attention to
only one conspicuous event in the ballroom. There are more subtle factors at
work elsewhere.

 Go NORTH. UNLOCK THE FRENCH DOOR. Veronica will spill a drink on her fairy
costume, throw the glass on the ballroom floor, and stalk off to repair the
damage. Go EAST to the Patio. Make note of the rain. It is a downpour. Go
SOUTH twice, and you'll reach the Circular Driveway. The rain is now just a
drizzle.  Go NORTH to the Front Porch. It should be 9:15 p.m. WAIT. At 9:19
p.m., Alicia Barron will arrive and greet you. According to her, she parked
her car behind the horse barn, then walked around to the Front Porch. During
this several-minute interval, the rain was but a drizzle. So why is her
overcoat soaking wet? WAIT. Smythe (the butler) will open the door and lead
you into the Entry Hall.

 Go WEST to the Morning Room and NORTH to the Hall At Office. A random factor
in the game puts either Richard, Veronica's sullen brother, or Linda,
Richard's spacey wife, in the vicinity. Ignore either or both of them and go
NORTH into the Farm Office.

 The Farm Office is the scene of the crime. Veronica is dead, strangled with
your lariat, which you grew tired of toting around and hung in the coat
closet.  Resist your initial urge to search for clues or hide Veronica's body.
CALL THE POLICE. You should do this at or before 9:30 p.m., in order to keep
the timing straight. (There is a different timing method that can be used to
accomplish what must be done here, but it leads to a wild goose chase for some
nonexistent keys.)

 LOOK IN THE BASKET. TAKE THE BUSINESS CARD (there is a duplicate in the game
package). EXAMtnsigned agreement between Sam Ostmann and Veronica Ashcroft
concerning the purchase and sale of Ashcroft Manor. TAKE THE SALES AGREEMENT.
READ THE CARD. TAKE THE FAIRY MASK THEN EXAMINE IT. The fairy mask covers the
entire head of whoever is wearing it.
LOOK INSIDE THE FAIRY MASK. You will find a dark hair. COMPARE THE DARK HAIR
TO VERONICA'S HAIR. They don't match. Now, WAIT FOR THE POLICE. (If you want
to do more searching in the office, feel free.) The police (including the
omnipresent Sergeant Duffy) will arrive at 10:10 p.m.

 GIVE THE AGREEMENT TO THE DETECTIVE and GIVE THE BUSINESS CARD TO THE
DETECTIVE. From these items, he will divine a suspect and a motive. GIVE THE
FAIRY MASK TO THE DETECTIVE. He will wonder aloud about the value of the mask,
so say DETECTIVE, LOOK INSIDE THE FAIRY MASK. He will see the discrepancy, but
just to be safe tell him to COMPARE THE DARK HAIR TO VERONICA'S HAIR. These
three clues (fairy mask/dark hair, business card, and sales agreement) will
keep Duffy and the detective out of your way. Of course, you could get in
their way.

 WAIT. Michael Wellman, Veronica's husband, Colonel Marston, confident
administrator of Ashcroft Trust, and William Cochrane, boozy owner of King's
Point Realty, will crowd into the office. It should be 10:17.

 Timing is now of prime importance: A chain of events is about to transpire.
We will have to move from one end of Ashcroft Manor to the other, and we will
have to do it fast.

 After Michael leaves the Farm Office, Go NORTH to the Covered Walkway. Go
WEST into the Garage. HIDE BEHIND THE MERCEDES. WAIT. Michael will stop here.
It should be 10:26. Keep WAITing, and Michael will open the trunk of the BMW,
do something which you'll be unable to see, then close the trunk. When Michael
shuts the trunk, go EAST. This will startle him, but it won't get you out of
the Garage, so go EAST a second time. (Had you waited around until Michael
left, you'd have missed at least one of the following events.)

 From the Covered Walkway, go SOUTHWEST to the Farm Office, SOUTH to the Hall
At Corner, SOUTH to the Morning Room, EAST the Entry Hall, and EAST into the
Library. HIDE BEHIND THE VICTORIAN CHAIR. WAIT. Keep WAITing until Colonel
Marston stops here. It should be 10:52. Keep WAITing until Michael arrives at
10:56. Michael will give Marston a piece of paper, which the Colonel will read
avidly. Both men will grin then head off to the north.

 Waste no time now, the chase is afoot! Go NORTH three times then go EAST. You
will be at the South Entrance. You'll see Marston make an odd movement while
he warms his hands at the Fireplace. Go EAST to the Fireplace. TAKE THE PAPER.
Got it just in time! It should be 11:04.

 We can slow things down now. In fact, we *must* slow them down. The detective
will not go where we need him until the guests are gone and only the suspects
remain, sometime after 1:00 a.m. We still have more evidence to get. Before we
go any further, though, let's speak with the guests. Marston should be here
(at the Fireplace), so ASK MARSTON ABOUT THE TRUST. ASK MICHAEL ABOUT MARSTON.
(If Michael has walked off, WAIT until he comes back to the Fireplace.) They
get along well, don't they?

 There will time later to chat with the other guests. For now, let's go back
to the Garage, get more evidence, then try to sort this mess out.

 From the Fireplace, go WEST twice then NORTH twice. UNLOCK THE GLASS DOOR. Go
WEST into the Garden, where you will be greeted, with some unfriendliness, by
a Doberman Pinscher. WAIT. Eventually, the dog will go back to the doghouse.
Go SOUTH to the Walkway and WEST to the Garage.

 OPEN THE TOOL CHEST. TAKE THE CROWBAR. OPEN THE BMW TRUNK WITH THE CROWBAR.
TAKE THE TRUST FOLDER. (Since we need to waste some time, CLOSE THE BMW TRUNK,
PUT THE CROWBAR IN THE CHEST, and CLOSE THE CHEST.)

 EXAMINE THE TRUST FOLDER. READ THE DOCUMENTS. Contained in the documents is a
letter from an accounting firm. It seems 20% of the Ashcroft Trust has been
siphoned off into four poor-risk companies. The Southeast Planning
Corporation, which is handling all this, lists Robert Marston as the executive
officer. Reading the documents also notes that the last page has been torn
off, and the corner of the missing page is still under the staple.

 EXAMINE THE PAPER you pulled out of the Fireplace. Aha! A corner is missing!
READ THE PAPER. It's a list of investors in Southeast Planning Corporation.
Some list! Marston and Wellman each own 50%.

 The business card and the unsigned sales agreement pointed to Cochrane, or so
the detective thought. The trust documents and the list of investors point to
Marston and Wellman. And there's the unresolved matter of Alicia. Since we
can't count on the detective to do anything more than wait for us to solve the
crime, let's head back to the Ballroom.

 Go EAST to the Walkway, NORTH to the Garden, then EAST to Long Hall North.
SOUTH twice and EAST twice brings us to the Fireplace. Marston is here. (So is
the detective, "weighing evidence.") SHOW THE DOCUMENTS TO MARSTON. He's
feeling cheated, poor guy. GIVE THE DOCUMENTS TO THE DETECTIVE. He'll want to
know where you found this important evidence, so by all means ignore him. GIVE
THE PAPER TO THE DETECTIVE, and he won't care where you find anything, so long
as you give it to him.
 Now go EAST to the Bar. ASK ALICIA ABOUT VERONICA then ASK ALICIA ABOUT
MICHAEL. She seems anxious to seal her doom, so we'll help her along. Go WEST
four times. You will be in the East Coat Closet. EXAMINE THE WET OVERCOAT.
TAKE THE WET OVERCOAT. Go EAST three times, to the Fireplace, and GIVE THE WET
OVERCOAT TO THE DETECTIVE. He won't know know what to do with it now, but
we'll tell him later.

 Go EAST then NORTH three times, and you'll be in the Kitchen. TAKE THE
BASKET.  SOUTH three times then WEST to the Fireplace. SHOW THE BASKET TO THE
DETECTIVE. Again, he'll be baffled, so say DETECTIVE, FINGERPRINT THE BROKEN
GLASS. He will give the order to Sergeant Duffy. The broken glass is the same
glass Veronica threw on the Ballroom floor many hours ago. WAIT FOR DUFFY.
Michael and Ostmann and Smythe pace the floor continuously, so you will be
asked if you want to keep waiting, until Duffy actually returns. When he does
return, he will hand the detective an analysis of the broken glass. The
detective will read it then give it to you. READ THE GLASS ANALYSIS for a real
surprise: The fingerprints on the glass are not Veronica Ashcroft's! We've got
her now!

 Well, not quite. There's one more bit of proof we need to close the book on
Alicia. Unfortunately, we need the detective for this, and he will be occupied
until all the guests have departed, and only the suspects remain. The last
revelers will stagger out after 1:00 a.m., after which Marston and Duffy and
the detective will adjourn to the bar, which is right where we want them.

 DETECTIVE, COMPARE THE DARK HAIR TO ALICIA'S HAIR. He will notice the
similarity. DETECTIVE, ANALYZE THE DARK HAIR. He will send Duffy off again.
TELL THE DETECTIVE ABOUT THE RAIN. He will now know why you gave him the wet
overcoat. WAIT FOR DUFFY to return. When he does, READing THE HAIR ANALYSIS
will show that the dark hair had either been pulled out or had fallen out.
Since Veronica's hair is short and blond, someone else wore her costume for a
while.  If you like, you can show the hair analysis to Alicia. She has a good
excuse.  The detective, however, is convinced. DETECTIVE, ARREST MICHAEL AND
ALICIA.

 Michael Wellman and Alicia Barron will be handcuffed and carted away by
Sergeant Duffy. With your testimony, both will be convicted of the murder of
Veronica Ashcroft. Marston will be convicted of embezzlement and grand theft
for siphoning funds from the Trust.

 And you will receive a Pulitzer Prize (not to mention movie and book club
sales) for your syndicated, twelve-part series about the sordid and tangled
events at Ashcroft Manor.

End.