InvisiClues for Miss Gosling’s Last Case by Daniel M. Stelzer

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If you’re feeling lost, remember to THINK about your situation.

  1. Starting Out

    1. What’s going on?

      1. You are Miss Winifred Gosling, a little old lady in the 1970s who helps the local English constabulary solve crimes.
      2. Unfortunately, you have been murdered.
      3. You seem to still be around, as a ghost...
      4. ...but the only person who can see or hear you is your collie, Watson.
      5. You’ll have to solve this case entirely by proxy, giving instructions to Watson.

    2. What can I do at the Bottom of the Stairs?

      1. Just type anything, or click any link. The scene will end in a few turns.
      2. The point of this scene is to establish that you can’t directly interact with the world, but Watson can hear your instructions.

    3. How do I get out of the Sitting Room?

      1. Watson’s leash is looped over the top post of your chair.
      2. You can drag the chair east and west, but not north.
      3. If the chair toppled over, Watson could pull his leash free.
      4. You need to jam the wheels with something.
      5. The ball and treat are too small; you need something bigger.
      6. The collection of books in the Evening Room should do it, if you can reach them.
      7. If you push the books onto the floor (or take them and drop them), the chair will tip the next time it moves between rooms.

    4. How do I reach the books on the high shelf?

      1. Watson needs to get up higher somehow.
      2. If he gets up on the chair, he can jump up to the shelf.

    5. How do I get past the police tape?

      1. Well, what tools does Watson have at his disposal?
      2. BITE TAPE (or EAT or ATTACK it).

    6. How do I prove it was murder?

      1. Arsenic poisoning isn’t hard to detect...if the constables are actually doing their job.
      2. The constables think you just tripped coming down the stairs in the morning. As a result, they chalked it up to an accident, and didn’t bother investigating further.
      3. Your death didn’t actually happen in the morning, though—you were trying to get to the phone just after midnight. That would poke a hole in their theory.
      4. You need to find your torch. (Flashlight, for the Americans.) That’s something you would only be carrying at night, not in the morning.
      5. Where could it have ended up, after you fell down the stairs?
      6. Check in the grate, under the telephone, and behind the newspapers. It’ll be in the last one of those you check. (Isn’t that just typical?)
      7. Now you just have to get the constables to come look. How would a dog get a human’s attention?
      8. BARK. (Or SPEAK or SING, if you prefer.)

    7. I proved it was murder; what now?

      1. Congratulations! Now that the constables took a closer look, they found the telltale signs of arsenic poisoning.
      2. Currently they have four suspects: your gardener Alfred, your nephew Nigel, your friend Lottie, and your aide Emily.
      3. Based on your knowledge of these people, and your long experience with murderers, you know none of them could have done it—they’re just red herrings distracting the police.
      4. So once again, you have to rule out the constables’ current theories. That will force them to investigate further.
      5. For Alfred, you need to find the tea roses in the gardens.
      6. For Nigel, you need to search your laboratory in the attic.
      7. For Lottie, you need to find the carrots in the root cellar.
      8. For Emily, you need to find your medicines in the master suite.

    8. What do I do with...

      1. ...the dumbwaiter?

        1. PUSH THE WHEEL.
        2. PUT something IN it.
        3. It can carry objects between the different floors of the house.
        4. Specifically, it connects the Pantry (cellar), Kitchen (ground floor), Library (first floor), and North Attic (attic).
        5. You can push the wheel in any of those locations to raise and lower it. It turns around automatically once it reaches the end.

      2. ...the tape recorder?

        1. PUSH PLAY. WAIT.
        2. PUSH REC.
        3. PUSH OFF.
        4. You can listen to the testimony if you want, but it’s not useful to the game. (It’s taken from Agatha Christie’s first murder mystery, The Mysterious Affair at Styles.)
        5. You can’t listen to anything you’ve recorded, since rewinding the tape would require hands.

      3. ...the display cabinets?

        1. You can read the case report.
        2. That’s about it.
        3. Miss Gosling is a bit vain about her accomplishments, and has them displayed in the Dining Room, Reception Room, and Balcony.

      4. ...the stove?

        1. You can TURN IT ON, but that won’t do much on its own.
        2. Put something flammable on it, then turn it on.
        3. What things in the game meet that criterion?
          1. The mail from the front room.
          2. The newspapers from the bottom of the stairs and the lawn.
          3. The photo album from the landing.
          4. The books from the evening room.
        4. Now you’ve filled the room with smoke!
        5. Davis will come turn it off as soon as she notices, which is probably a good thing.

      5. ...the smoke detector?

        1. It makes a loud noise when it detects smoke.
        2. You can pick it up and move it around. (At least, if you can reach it.)
        3. If you stand on the table, you can reach it. Make sure Davis is out of the room first.
        4. Is there anywhere that making a loud, alarming noise would be helpful?
        5. Davis has a calm temperament and won’t be very startled. Is there someone else who might react more dramatically?
        6. If the smoke detector goes off on the first floor (second floor for the Americans), Phillips will evacuate, opening the suite door in the process.

      6. ...the front door?

        1. You’ll have to open it to get to the gardens.
        2. See that section.

      7. ...the back door?

        1. It can’t be opened. Ignore it.
        2. It’s only there to add some flavour to the house, and to match its source material better.

      8. ...the suite door?

        1. You’ll have to open it to get to the master suite.
        2. See that section.

      9. ...the library door?

        1. It won’t open until late in the game.
        2. When Biddlecombe leaves the library, you can go in.
        3. This happens once all four suspects are ruled out.

  2. The Gardens

    1. How do I get out to the gardens?

      1. You need someone with human hands to unlock the front door.
      2. Fortunately, humans are usually happy to let dogs outside.
      3. You just need to get someone with human hands to follow you to the front room.
      4. Constable Davis is the only one around, so she’ll have to do.
      5. Barking won’t work this time; she’s focused on investigating a murder now, and has no time for noisy dogs.
      6. Watch her in the Dining Room for a few turns and see what she does.
      7. Take her sandwich and run to the Reception Room.
      8. Or, if the sandwich has been destroyed, she’ll be eating a biscuit. Same idea.
      9. You can eat the sandwich/biscuit afterward, if you like. Watson deserves a little treat for being so helpful.
      10. It’s important that there be no more pressing concerns—if something is on fire, for example, she won’t think about her lunch in the confusion. Take the sandwich (or biscuit) while she’s sitting at the table, focused on boring paperwork.

    2. How do I see the different colours?

      1. Unfortunately, both you and Watson are red-green colourblind. The red, yellow, and green plants look identical to you.
      2. Have you searched the porch?
      3. There are two bottles in the recycling bin.
      4. LOOK THROUGH the bottle.
      5. You can do this out in the garden, or use the binocular stand in the sitting room. The binocular stand shows you all seven beds at the same time, which is convenient.
      6. You can leave the bottles in the recycling bin and push it to where it’s needed, to save time carting things around.

    3. How do I identify the right roses?

      1. One of the bottles is green, and the other is red. That changes the colour of anything seen through them.
      2. You know that the beebalm is red, the calendula is yellow, and the mint is green, so you can look at those to see what effect the bottles have.
      3. Red flowers look white through a red bottle, and black through a green bottle.
      4. Green flowers look black through a red bottle, and white through a green bottle.
      5. Yellow flowers look white through both red and green.
      6. The order of the plants, and which colour rose you need, is randomized on each playthrough. If you’ve forgotten which colour you’re looking for, THINK will tell you.

    4. What do I do with the roses?

      1. The constables think they might be poisoned, but you know they’re not.
      2. Take them to Davis and she’ll have them tested for arsenic.

  3. The Attic

    1. How do I get into the attic?

      1. Opening the door is easy: just PULL CORD or OPEN DOOR. Unfortunately, that puts you in the Balcony, and cuts you off from the Hallway.
      2. You have to somehow get to that hallway while the door is open.
      3. The bedroom door would work, but it never opens in the game. (It’s locked, and Watson lacks the opposable thumbs to use a key.)
      4. So if you can’t go north or south...how about east?
      5. Watson is good at jumping, but he’s afraid he’ll get hurt when he lands.
      6. If you push the mattress to the Bottom of the Stairs, Watson can jump down onto it.
      7. You can either move it to the Balcony, then push it east, or move it to the Top of the Stairs, then push it west. The result is the same either way.

    2. Where can I find a light source?

      1. You found a light source earlier, remember?
      2. Davis left your torch on the dining room table after examining it.
      3. You may need to TURN IT ON to make it light up.

    3. How do I get into the laboratory?

      1. You can navigate around with the torch, but you can’t see very much detail. You need more light first.
      2. Specifically, you need to open the windows.

      3. How do I do that?

        1. There’s a chain up above your head that you need to pull.
        2. It's eight feet off the ground, so you’ll need to be on something tall to reach it.
        3. Only the grandfather clock is tall enough to use. But you can’t jump to that from the ground.
        4. You can jump to the grandfather clock from the reed organ, and to the reed organ from the victrola.
        5. However, you need enough light to see your destination. Otherwise, Watson will be too nervous to make the jump.
        6. You can THROW carried objects between rooms (for example, THROW TORCH NORTH).
        7. If you get on the victrola and THROW THE TORCH EAST, you’ll be able to jump to the organ...but the grandfather clock will be left in darkness.
        8. Go to Attic East and PUT THE TORCH ON THE ORGAN.
        9. Then, go to Attic North, climb the victrola, and jump from it to the organ. (It’s visible thanks to the torch in Attic East.)
        10. Now, take the torch, and THROW IT SOUTH. Now the clock is visible.
        11. Now you can jump to the grandfather clock and PULL THE CHAIN.

      4. I’ve done that; what now?

        1. What can you see now that you couldn’t see before?
        2. You can now see where the vents run under the carpet. They’re meant to carry dangerous fumes out of your laboratory, so they must connect to it somehow!
        3. DIG or PULL the carpet to get into the vents underneath.
        4. Then climb into the vents, and head on in.
        5. The laboratory is in the center of the attic, so from Attic North you have to go south, from Attic East, west, and so on.
        6. The laboratory door opens without a key from the inside, so you can just walk right out after that.

    4. What do I do with the box of poisons?

      1. The constables think your nephew Nigel tampered with it, causing you to poison yourself while working.
      2. Bring them to Davis and she’ll see that’s not the case.

  4. The Cellar

    1. How do I fix the flooding?

      1. The pump in the Landing is supposed to do that.
      2. But, the electricity is out. So you can’t. It’s a problem for your next of kin now.

    2. What can I do in the Pantry?

      1. Have you gone down there with a light source?
      2. With a light source, you can see the door to the south.
      3. But you need your mouth free to open it—Watson can only grip one thing at a time. And you can’t drop the torch without the water ruining it.
      4. You need to get the torch to this room without carrying it.
      5. What else can you see in this room, with the torchlight?
      6. The dumbwaiter is out of reach, but it is in this room.
      7. Go to the kitchen and put the torch in the dumbwaiter, then turn the wheel until it goes down to the cellar.

    3. Where can I find a light source?

      1. You found a light source earlier, remember?
      2. Davis left your torch on the dining room table after examining it.
      3. You may need to TURN IT ON.

    4. How do I find the carrots?

      1. First, you need to get into the Root Cellar. See “What can I do in the Pantry?” if you haven’t.
      2. It’s too dark to see anything, and wandering around randomly won’t get you anywhere.
      3. Dogs don’t just rely on their eyes to find things.
      4. Remember why Lottie doesn’t like carrots?
      5. SMELL.

    5. How do I leave the Depths of the Root Cellar?

      1. If you’re not carrying the carrots, moving around randomly will get you out in a move or two. (Watson can run around very fast when he’s unencumbered.)
      2. Getting out with the carrots is harder. If Watson is dragging something heavy, he moves very slowly, and can’t just search randomly until he finds the door.
      3. Smelling got you in; another sense will get you out.
      4. The cellar is almost completely silent.
      5. Use the dumbwaiter to put something noisy in the Pantry, then LISTEN.
      6. You can find something noisy in the Dining Room.
      7. Take the tape recorder, then PUSH PLAY. (Don’t do this right in front of Davis or she’ll just turn it off again.)

    6. What do I do with the carrots?

      1. The constables think they might be poisoned, but you know they’re not.
      2. Take them to Davis and she’ll have them tested for arsenic.

  5. The Master Suite

    1. How do I get into the Master Suite?

      1. What do you hear at the top of the stairs?
      2. Constable Phillips is in there, searching for evidence.
      3. What do you know about Phillips? (RECALL PHILLIPS for details.)
      4. Nothing short of an emergency will bring him out.
      5. Have you figured out how to use the stove? See “What do I do with...” under “Starting Out” if not.
      6. If you start a fire on the stove, the smoke detector will go off. But the Dining Room is too far away from the Master Suite for Phillips to hear it.
      7. If you climb on the table, you can grab the smoke detector and move it wherever you want. (Just make sure Davis is out of the room first.)
      8. Put the smoke detector somewhere upstairs so that Phillips hears it, then start a fire to set it off.
      9. He’ll leave the door unlocked when he evacuates.

    2. How do I open the mirror cabinet?

      1. The keys should be on the nightstand by your bed.
      2. But they’re not there. Where could they have ended up?
      3. Look under the bed.
      4. Look behind the cabinet.
      5. The keys are gone, but maybe you have the tools to open it another way.
      6. Put the truncheon behind the cabinet, then push the truncheon (like a lever).

    3. What is a truncheon?

      1. It’s the baton British constables carry.

    4. How do I open the medicine chest?

      1. The keys, again, should be on the nightstand.
      2. But they’re missing. You’ll have to do without them.
      3. Fortunately, the box is made of glass. You’ll just have to break it open.
      4. There are two (actually three) solutions, depending if you’ve reached the attic or not.

      5. I haven’t reached the Attic yet.

        1. As you are intimately aware by now, a fall down the stairs can be deadly.
        2. Throw it down the stairs, or over the balcony.

      6. I’ve already reached the Attic.

        1. The mattress at the bottom of the stairs means you can’t throw the chest down there to break it.
        2. But you now have access to some higher altitudes.
        3. Primary solution:
          1. Send the dumbwaiter to the kitchen or cellar, then drop the chest into the shaft in the attic.
          2. It needs to fall at least two floors to break, and needs to land on the dumbwaiter itself, not in the water.
        4. Alternate solution, if you’ve already opened the windows:
          1. The grandfather clock is very tall.
          2. Jump from the victrola to the organ to the clock again, and throw the box in any direction. That’s enough of a fall to break it.

    5. What do I do with the pill box?

      1. The constables think your companion Emily tampered with it, causing you to poison yourself.
      2. Bring it to Davis and she’ll see that’s not the case.

  6. Finishing Up

    1. What can I do now?

      1. Don’t continue reading unless you’ve exculpated all four suspects.
      2. Davis called Biddlecombe and Phillips in to look over the evidence.
      3. This means Biddlecombe left the Library, and unlocked the door in the process.
      4. Go to the Library. (North from the top of the stairs.)

    2. What can I do in this new room?

      1. Examine the shelves.
      2. Biddlecombe wasn’t able to find anything here, but you know how your secret door works.
      3. OPEN THE SHELVES.
      4. Now you can read the ledgers and files on the desk.

    3. I know who the murderer is! How do I tell someone?

      1. You can’t carry all this evidence with you; there’s just too much of it.
      2. You need to bring someone here.
      3. Why not go to the Dining Room and fetch them?
      4. Nobody will come with you. You’ll have to find some other solution (after visiting the Dining Room and seeing Davis leave).

    4. How do I get evidence the constables will believe?

      1. The murderer will probably destroy all the evidence in the Library.
      2. And a dog’s testimony won’t stand up in court.
      3. How about a recorded confession?
      4. That tape recorder has a REC mode.
      5. You can’t put the tape recorder openly in the Library, or he’ll just destroy it too.
      6. The dumbwaiter does stop in the Library, even if you can’t access it there.
      7. Put the tape recorder in the dumbwaiter, push REC, and send it to the Library.

    5. How do I get the murderer to confess?

      1. He’s probably coming to the Library to dispose of the evidence.
      2. You should wait for him there. (If he’s not showing up, that means the tape recorder isn’t in the right place, or isn’t recording. Your score will go up by one point once it is.)
      3. He’s clearly never liked Watson.
      4. Maybe Watson can aggravate him into saying something unwise.
      5. There are several different ways to aggravate him, but you only need to find three of the six.

      6. Options include...

        1. BITE or ATTACK HIM
        2. LICK or KISS HIM
        3. TAKE or PUSH THE BRIEFCASE
        4. JUMP ON THE DESK
        5. Something gross (poop, vomit, etc), or simply DISGUST HIM if you’re squeamish
        6. BARK unexpectedly

    6. What can I do with the confession?

      1. Don’t bother trying to play it back; you need to rewind the tape for that, and that requires human hands. You’ll just have to trust that it worked.
      2. What have you done with the other evidence in this game?
      3. Take it to Davis.