I recall that I need to know the order of the house staff based on the stained glass in the chapel, so here we are:
- 1.
Gardener with hoe
- 2.
Chef
- 3.
Gardener with hay fork
- 4.
Chimney sweep
- 5.
Maid with broom
- 6.
Horseguy
- 7.
Shield-and-scepterguy
If I remember correctly, the puzzle also does something else if I go in order around the room, but I DON'T remember who to start with. I'll figure that out later.
The Garage, the Grounds
I finally drafted the garage! Of course, I drafted it first, before the breaker room or anywhere that could give me the car keys.
At least I get three keys in return for sacrificing my only gem. I also get to read a note from Mrs. Babbage, angry that "Christoph" keeps absconding with the car without telling anyone. Is that the groundskeeper who got fired?
...and then the next room I drafted was the breaker room!
Hello, West Path!
Finally, I got to open up the special bonus room, and I started with the toolshed. That means a free shovel and the lockpick kit.
Normally I prioritize drafting rooms that will give me access to ranks deeper in the house, and the breaker room cut that off for me a bit. But I still have other paths. The West Path is worth it. The shovel let me unearth the second microchip, so now I can access 2/3 for later puzzles.
And the oboe music that plays there is divine.
Two by Two
Everything comes in pairs in this game. The second day in the observatory gives me two chests in the foyer. The guest bedroom has two beds. The bunk room, intended for two young brothers, obviously has two beds, but it also spawned two chests for me there.
This is surely part of the theme of Red versus Blue -- brother versus brother, nation versus nation.
The bunk room makes me so sad. The journal is cute, of course. Kids' handwriting sharing a sibling rivalry is adorable. Knowing where it ends up makes it a tragedy. The two never reconciled.
(Also, I thought I was Simon? Maybe I'm Simon Jr? Maybe I'm crazy? But Herbie is definitely Herbert Sinclair.) (This is also driving home the fact my parents chose to have one child and one child alone. Plus Sinclair didn't have kids at all. Siblings were a bad experience for them, and that's devastating.)
It's an interesting contrast the red note (number 4) in the boudoir, where Daniel admonishes Herbert for concealing Marion's disappearance. Marion is apparently Herbert's niece, but who's Daniel?
"If through your silence you bless this betrayal, our son, Simon, your heir, will inherit a fortune of lies and will spit upon your grave when he learns of your cursed foolishness."
Oh, Daniel is my dad. Now I'm really confused. I'm not Simon Jr, so what's with the bunk room journal? Augh, I can't keep track of anything.
At least the bunk room as a cute little hamster I can admire.
New Rooms
It turns out I didn't need to find the aquarium to draft it, since I got it today.
In fact, I'm getting lots of new rooms today -- it helps that I have a lot of tools and gadgets.
I got into the cloister, which gives me my first proper allowance token. There's a note to Mr. Nogula from Mrs. Babbage, who left him the money for "positive reinforcement." His "predecessor" taught them that it's cheaper to be generous. I guess Mr. Nogula replaced the groundskeeper who got fired? Also, the cloister has the scepter lady in the middle.
I have the pump room, but I'm not going to let myself into the basement yet. I've just drained the pool so I can get to its bottom for now. The pump room isn't especially difficult, but annoying.
I also got the Locker Room, the Showroom, the Greenhouse, and others, which I am mostly not fully utilizing -- although the Greenhouse has the lever for the south door into Room 45, which means I've reached one of the most important new rooms.
The Basement Key
"To continue up, you must go down."
I'd been hoping I wouldn't need to go into the basement, but I've still got 37 steps at the point where I get the basement key, and I have the pump room, so I guess I need to drain the fountain after all. It's a really successful day, so I should be glad. Pump room annoyances have left me with PTSD. (Pump room traumatic stress disorder.)
Anyway, I got to the basement with only a little bit of teeth-gnashing. I don't think I ever noticed Basement is written in Red when I reach the door.
I neglected to lower the reservoir by one bar, so I can't take the boat across. I can, however, set up a future puzzle by moving the cart, and I got an upgrade disk -- which reminds me that I also got the car keys, and I can go get a second upgrade disk from the trunk on the back.
It's a good thing I stopped by the kitchen to eat because I'm using a lot of steps to backtrack.
I turned the spare room into the spare greenroom, since I'll sometimes get the watering can there.
I upgraded the store room to have a second key, since I never have enough keys.
With almost thirty steps left, I went back to see if I could remove one bar from the reservoir but leave the fountain empty. I don't see a way to do that without powering the pump room from the boiler room, which I don't have. C'est la vie.
Notes on Day 3
I added the Planetarium to my drafting pool. I don't do that until I solve the telescope puzzle position the first time so that it will always reset on its own.
This was the first time I drafted my upgraded closet off a hallway, so I got three items: the shoes (yay!), the rabbit's foot, and a key. At that point a gem would have helped more, but the shoes and rabbit's foot are hardly a sharp stick in the eye.
I still can't remember the code to the office safe and I never knew how to find the answer without my genius 12yo helping. I am getting VERY GRUMPY about it.
The fifth page of the sheet music was in the Greenhouse.
I had gold and steps remaining, so I deposited as much as possible into the chapel before getting exhausted.
I ended the day with 173 steps taken and 11 new rooms. No wonder I'm IRL tired!