Walkthrough for
The Miser
by Jack Lockerby
Written by Richard Bos
First, a few notes.
To start with, this is a PAWed game for the ZX Spectrum. Therefore, words
are significant to five letters rather than the more usual Quill's four. Do
note though that (and this is different from most PAWed games, and more similar
to Quilled ones) to speak to people, you do not use quotation marks. Usually
you just TALK TO PERSON; if you have something specific to say, you SAY WORD.
In fact, SAY "WORD" will not get the desired response.
Obviously, since this is a walkthrough, spoilers are rife below. I'm not
taking you past every single clue and sight, but I do provide some commands
which give some hints while not being strictly necessary to get to the end.
Examining objects is often helpful for providing clues. So is talking to
people. HELP gives a list of verbs, some of which are less than obvious.
It may be that it is helpful, for some specific puzzles, to have read the
original story. I have only seen adaptations (I don't think two Marleys played
by Waldorf and Statler was quite true to Dickens' text...), and read the story
once, many years ago, and probably in translation at that, so I can't be sure.
What is obvious, though, is that the greater part of the game is only as "based
on Dickens" as a Hollywood film.
We start the game with a pretty clear hint, so let's comply.
Sleep. Make a note of what happens (is that "uncommon torch" in Dickens'
story? I don't remember it), and of the Cratchit's wishes. We are commanded to
perform twelve good deeds. Seven of these are the presents for the family; we
will find five more over the course of the game. In fact, let's start with one
of those, and gather all the presents near the end, to keep our hands free.
Go in to the alcove, take broom and come back out. Unlock the door, then go
out, south, and down, and unlock that door. Go out again, then south, east
twice, and south. Unlock the last door and go in, and south. Drop your keys and
get the scuttle.
Go north, out, north, east, south, in. Sweep the floor, get rag, go out, drop
the broom. The landlord doesn't want you to drop it inside, and the urchins
keep the streets nice and tidy. Don't worry if you drop something by accident,
by the way; you can find everything they take away somewhere around town.
Go north and east twice. Now go back to the past by entering BACK. You are
now in your own youth, as in the story, but the things you'll be doing here are
not quite limited to observing. Look behind the barn and take the ladder.
Stealing from the past... is that really a good deed?
Putting our ethical qualms aside, go into the barn, examine the barrel and
get some water. Go out and forward, then (back in the "present") west five
times, sw and inside. Clean the window, then drop the ladder and the rag.
That's one good deed done!
Go out, ne, and east six times. Search the roses. Go all the way back west
six times and sw, then south. Dig here. Take the bone and drop the spade. Go
north, ne, east thrice, and north. Throw the bone over the gate, then open the
gate. We won't go inside just yet, but at least now we're not carrying that
bone around all the time.
Go south, then east three times. There should now be an old lady here. She
appears, at a random time, after you've taken the spade - but only if you are
elsewhere. We've taken enough turns in the mean time for her to be almost
certainly there, but if she isn't, just go back west, waste a few more turns,
and go back east, and repeat this until she appears.
Talk to this lady, and wait with her - explicitly, using the command WAIT.
Don't just stand around using turns, or the coal cart will never come. Go west
after the cart and note what happens. Go west three more times, and get the
coal in your scuttle. Go back to the lady, east four times, and give her the
coal. That's our second good deed.
Go west thrice, south and in. Take the rum - this triggers the arrival of
another cart - and go back out. Wait (again, using that verb), and help the
drayman - another good deed, and one well rewarded!
Go north, west twice and south, and pull the chain. Go in, east, and in
again. Get some food, go out, prepare a meal (miracle ingredients!), go west,
and give the meal to the orphans; good deed number four. Examine the dormitory.
Don't ask me what that hammer was doing there, but it will come in useful.
Go out, north, west twice, forward into the future, and west. Examine the
sleeper. Extract the spike and get it. Now go east, back, east thrice, south,
in. Light the candle. Go out, north, east thrice, and back.
Go inside. Examine the wood and extract the nails. Knock (no guess-the-verb;
it is in the HELP text) the spike into the barrel, then extract it. Move the
barrel, open the trapdoor and go down. Get the torch (remember that from the
intro?), drop the candle and go up and out.
North twice, in twice. Examine the blackboard, then "REMEMBER 1826". Not my
favourite puzzle, but I suppose it fits with the story. Take book - the first
of our presents.
Go out twice, south and west. Listen, and listen again. Note the name of the
girl. Go east twice and in. Remember the man then remember Belle. Examine the
room and get everything.
Go out, west, nw and in. Examine the paper, then remember Sir Roger. Get all
(more presents), then drop the paper. Leave the past by going out, se, south
and forward.
Go west twice, north and in. Get all. Go out, south, west, north and in. Fit
shelf - and yes, it's easy to find out why, but I'm not telling. You're reading
a walkthrough, you can't expect to get full satisfaction! But, with or without
a clue, that was the last of our non-Cratchit-related good deeds, and again
we're rewarded for it.
Go out. Drop the saw and drop the hammer. Go south, west, north and in.
Remove your boots, examine them, and wear them again. Give the ticket to the
shopkeeper. If you think the answer to the riddle is "light" or "sunlight",
you're as wrong as I was at first (and I still insist that it's a good
answer... grumble). Instead, SAY SILENCE. Be careful: you only get one chance
at this.
Go out, south, east thrice, and south. Give the guinea away. A vacancy... now
who might benefit from that? Do you remember your dream? Of course: say Peter.
Also get the dog. If, at any point, it runs away, you should be able to find it
again right here. As far as I can tell, its running away is randomly
controlled.
Carrying the dog and all other presents, go north, west four times, nw and
inside. Give the turkey to Mrs. Cratchit. Shake the torch over Tim (and be
careful with the spelling of that command, as you only get one use out of it).
Put everything under the tree - that's four good deeds in one!
Finally, to reap your rewards, go out, se, east five times, se and in, to
your nephew's party.
