solutions/Muse.Solve

          "MISS JEMIMA! Are you in your senses? Replace the
           Dixonary in its closet!"

                                  - W.M.Thackeray, "Vanity Fair".

           A Walkthrough For MUSE: An Autumn Romance
           =========================================

(With added footnotes, and an Amusing section)

Parental Advisory : Explicit Spoilers.

Written by Quentin.D.Thompson.
This walkthrough is (C)1999 Quentin.D.Thompson/The Theatre Of The Sensible.
Written using the MS-DOS Editor / Release 990406 / Version 2.0.026

Disclaimer:
----------

Of course, all the usual warnings given by walkthrough writers could be
added here, but why repeat them? What I must state is this:

This walkthrough takes a rather comic/sarcastic look at the game, which
is (probably) not the spirit in which "Muse" is meant to be taken. To put
it another way, this was a sort of a "Bah! Humbug!" exercise, flippant
in spirit and execution - and a little cranky at times.
If you find this objectionable, read the 'PJG-Style' walkthrough immediately
below. If you can tolerate my (sometimes imbecilic) sense of humour and
sarcasm, read the Detailed Walkthrough instead.

A Short Walkthrough
-------------------

(Named 'PJG-Style' in honour of walkthrough-writer extraordinaire,
Paul.J.Godfrey, without whose help I would never have finished "Enemies".)

(your aim in this game is to reconcile a German fraulein with her father,
and lift a young British artist out of his inferiority complex)

(you start on the verge of boarding a small ferry)
get trunk
look (or anything else)
wait
(again, until the quote box from William Shakespeare appears)
(you can get one ending here with the three commands in brackets:)
(give trunk to boatman)
(enter boat)
(undo)
east
(the boatman will now leave)
look at gentleman
introduce myself to gentleman
(in this game, always introduce yourself to each character before talking
to them...)
(x me)
examine painting
ask John about painting
(depressed, isn't he? keep this in mind later..)
ask John about inn
e
introduce myself to priest
(we could do this later as well....)
(ask priest about john)
(take crucifix)
w
s
s
check in
(you could introduce yourself to the German here, and save a turn later)
x gentleman
x lady
up
w
(notice that the room is stuffy)
open window
(strange...let's be busybodies....)
e
e
(this part is a little 'guess-the-verb'ish. If you let Viktor die there
are two endings possible, one dumb and one extremely annoying. The
'optimal' ending is reached by saving him)
support Viktor
shout
again
wait
(now everyone arrives on scene and you go to sleep)

(the next morning)
save "day1"
stand
e
e
introduce myself to gentleman
ask gentleman about suicide
ask gentleman about Klara
ask gentleman about lady
(you don't know her name yet, do you?)
w
d
ask innkeeper about Viktor
innkeeper, change rooms
u
e
open window
(you can see the young lady in the churchyard now)
x dresser
open dresser
get journal
w
w
give journal to Viktor
(we can also keep the journal as proof to show Konstanza, but I'm a
Victorian gentleman :-)
e
d
out
e
introduce myself to fraulein
(the conversation that follows is vital)
talk to Konstanza
ask Konstanza about parents
ask Konstanza about mother
ask Konstanza about anniversary
ask Konstanza about Viktor
(ask Konstanza about love)
(enough cross-questioning now)
ask Konstanza about Germany
tell Konstanza about England
walk with Konstanza
(or "Konstanza, follow me")
tell Konstanza about John
tell Konstanza about Emma
ask Konstanza about beach
(talk to her or walk with her a bit more)
(the next part is a little difficult to guess)
(you have to find out about Klara von Goethe's death)
n
ask LeBrun about Viktor
(ask LeBrun about suicide)
ask LeBrun about Klara
ask LeBrun about Konstanza
s
w
s
ask Rene about Viktor
ask Rene about Klara
(now you know more or less what happened)
out
e
x Konstanza
(you should get a description running 'regarded me with a certain amount
of trust.....')
ask Konstanza about Klara
(now the truth comes out)
(you have to let Viktor know)
w
s
u
w
tell Viktor about Konstanza
e
d
out
e
tell Konstanza about Viktor
w
(puzzle one is now solved. The rest of the plot concerns John.)

(John Austin appears now)
John, draw Konstanza
('tell John about Konstanza' also works)
(he now goes down to the beach and starts painting)
d
introduce John to Konstanza
(this should give you an idea of the 'best' ending)
John, draw Konstanza
(John searches his pocket but can't find his sketchbook)
u
s
e
ask Yvette about John
ask Yvette about sketchbook
ask Yvette for sketchbook
w
out
d
give sketchbook to John
John, draw Konstanza
(you can now 'take five'; this is one way of doing so)
u
s
u
w
ask Viktor about Konstanza
e
d
e
ask Yvette for meal
(x meal)
(do not 'smell meal' - the program crashes here on Frotz)
w
out
d
(back to the beach)
ask John for sketchbook
show sketchbook to Konstanza
John, paint Konstanza
z (for a few turns)
(you should now get a message about feeling out of place...)
give sketchbook to John
u
e
n
w
n
n
(you could meet Maurice at any point in the game - it's immaterial)
introduce myself to newsagent
ask Maurice about John
n
(John isn't here)
z
(wait until John arrives at his lodgings)
n
(you should now be in John's room)
x landscape
x seascape
buy landscape
s
(another 'guess-the-verb')
wire emma
ask emma for money
(you now are ushered out of the shop)
s
s
u
e
sleep

(the morning after)
save "ending"
(there are two endings you can get here)
stand
w
d
(Rene should now hand you a cheque from Emma)
out
n
n
n
give cheque to John
(if you haven't guessed the ending by now, kongratulations)
s
s
s
save "ending"
(Viktor now tells you about John and Konstanza. Here the ending branches)

'Depressing' ending:
u
e
get trunk
w
d
out
e
n
w
w
give trunk to boatman
enter boat
quit
(annoying, isn't it?)

'Happy' ending:
u
e
get trunk
w
d
out
d

(all that fuss for a single kiss. I haven't felt such a sense of
purposelessness since Ducksoup, when I braved hell and high water
to rescue some dame's dumb ducky. And at least Ducksoup was funny.)

Some nitpicks:

1) frenchman is spelt with a capital F (at least it was in the Victorian
   Age.)
2) in the last scene of the 'happy' ending Konstanza addresses you as
   Herr Austin.....wonder how John will react if she calls him Herr Dawson?
   
Some unanswered questions:

* if you're such a father figure, and Emma is like Konstanza's mother,
  why not another guess-the-verb ending - 'adopt Konstanza'? :-D

* why does Yvette do absolutely nothing in the game?

* in general artists are abetted by middle-aged women, not young
  frauleins; hence another ending: "Wire Emma. Tell Emma about John.
  Z (until Emma arrives). Marry Emma to John. Full. Amusing." :-D

* all right, so the game doesn't have a score; why not a tasklist at least?

A Long Walkthrough:
------------------

(In the tradition of Gareth Rees' fine walkthrough of Jigsaw.)

Muse is an 'atypical' text adventure. Instead of finding treasures,
solving puzzles and visiting hundreds of locations, all your
action takes place in a small French town/village, and all the puzzles
are based on interactions with characters. Traditional thinking won't
get anyone very far in this game. The best advice I can give anyone
who stops reading at this line is to follow Pink Floyd's advice:
"Keep talking". Or Hercule Poirot's: "Keep talking, something's bound
to slip." There are no mazes, no significant object interactions, and
there is no score. It's also potentially very depressing in some trees
and annoying in others, and a lot of its puzzles are arguably guess-
the-verbs or guess-the-topic of conversation. This said and done, it's
an honourable attempt at making characters, rather than locked doors,
tourist maps or fifteen puzzles, the focus of a text adventure.

Be warned, however. The quote at the beginning of the game may
lead you to expect otherwise, but there's very little romance in
this game. (At least, romance in the usual sense.)

A few general principles, in case you find the blurb so interesting
that you don't want the game to be spoilt for you:

1. Before talking to anyone, use the command "Introduce myself
   to <person>". If you want to break the ice between two people,
   type "Introduce <person1> to <person2>". For example (assuming
   this is a Dickensian universe, not a Trollopeian one....)

   Introduce myself to Brownlow
   Introduce Rose to Nancy

2. Though the puzzles are all based on human behaviour, that doesn't
   imply that you need a knowledge of Victorian behaviour to solve
   them. Think straight, and if you get stuck, the author has provided
   a pile of hints.

3. Sometimes you may feel that you ought to be progressing, but actually
   you aren't, because you've left out a crucial step. It's fairly
   easy to go back and correct this in Muse, so don't worry.

4. In a traditional text adventure, "Examine everything carefully" is
   good advice; in this game, ask everyone about everyone else and
   everything. A lot of interesting things may slip out. (Vide supra.)

5. You can tell people a lot of things in this game, and in one
   particular puzzle you have to. Use your discretion.

6. If you offend anyone, use the 'apologize' verb to patch things up.

7. Just remember, if things get too dicey, hop on the boat and go
   home.

8. There's more than one way of solving the game.

WALKTHROUGH.

PART ONE.
In this game you play the Rev. Stephen Dawson, an elderly British
clergyman, on vacation for health reasons. He decides to make short
stop at a French village for a bite, and is about to get back on board
the boat.....

      examine me

Always good to know thyself. I always try this command in every game,
and though few games give you as rewarding a reply as Photopia, I still
keep on trying.

      get trunk
      enter boat

At your third move, you see a young lady pass you by, and whatever you
do for the next two moves, time stands still. So follow the line of
least resistance and just:

      wait
      wait

Nice quote. Well, now you have two choices. Either you can ignore the
entire episode, or follow your irrational impulse. Let's take up the
former first, but take our precautions.

      save "goodbye"
      enter boat

Quite a realistic answer (you are, after all, 59 years old), so just
lighten your load a little...

      give trunk to boatman
      enter boat

And you'll never see what might have been. Not a very satisfactory ending -
I can hear Tom and Crow's complaints in the background. (I'm not a great
believer in 'love at first sight' - especially if you're supposed to be a
sedate 59-year-old, who has probably seen a lot of women in his lifetime -
so please excuse my little jest.)
Let's take the road less travelled, this time.

      restore "goodbye"
      east

The boatman _is_ kind of annoyed, and that's understandable. (Query: is
it 'alea iacta est' or 'alea jacta est'? My Latin is atrocious, but I've
seen it spelt both ways.) That young gentleman (I was by now totally in
my persona as Vicar of Barchester, and held decidedly anti-Bohemian views)
seemed unattractive, but I dropped the mimesis and decided to play it
as a text adventurer. I can't let my walkthrough be affected by my
recent readings of Irving Stone, anyway.

      introduce myself to gentleman

"Introduce" is an interesting command that's obviously been introduced
(ouch) for the first time in this game. It's perhaps the only thing I
could unreservedly praise in it. Let's chat with John a little now,
since he's no Vincent Van Gogh, but a jolly old Englishman....

      ask John about painting

Feels unsure of himself, doesn't he? Well, you can't do anything about it
- yet. Chat with him if you want to ('talk' works fine in this game)

      talk to John

or even

      ask John about inn
      (since you're going to stay there)

but it's not really essential. You can just explore a little, and practice
using the Introduce command as much as possible....

      north
      look at postmaster
      introduce myself to postmaster
      talk to Maurice
      south

      east

Nice quote box. It keeps on popping into my head everytime I enter the
Gynaecology Out-Patients (Quentin.D.Thompson, for the record, is a
medical student. Hence "A Bloody Life".)

      look at priest
      introduce myself to priest

Ask everyone about all the other characters. This game calls for a little
Agatha Christie mentality (if you're not sure what I mean, dump this
walkthrough and read a good Hercule Poirot...)

      ask priest about John

which merely confirms what he himself told you. You'll have to convince him
how great he is later in the game, but not now John (sorry, Pink Floyd).
Let's now make our way to the inn...

      south
      west
      south

You're now in the lobby, and you can see the young lady and her father here.
Remember this is the Victorian age, so stifle your 20th century pick-up
lines, and

      introduce myself to German gentleman

so that you can call him Vik from now on. You need a room:

      check in

Well, that's settled.
This part of the game is analogous to the picking-up of the sketchbook,
device, rucksack, etc. that you have to play through in Jigsaw. The real
'action' (an execrable term - let's say 'flow of events') starts from
now. If you want to commemorate this, just

      save "main"

but it's not strictly necessary. Go up to your room (that's what you
want to do, isn't it?):

      up
      west

The lack of ventilation is getting you down. Now, if I were writing this
game, saying "XYZZY" would bring you an Ivan Blagowski complete with
air-conditioner, but let us be Victorian and keep a stiff upper lip:

      open window

Very strange, as Lennon and McCartney would put it. Once again, dropping
our role, let us play the part of private detective:

      east

What happens now confirms your suspicion.

      east

The part that follows not only contains one 'bug', but is also a guess-the-
verb. If you want it made easier for you, first

      examine Viktor

or trigger the bug using

      talk to Viktor

or, if you're just following the leader, use the prescribed command....

      support Viktor

But you can't save him by yourself. Not only are you 59, but he's probably
got a lager-belly as well, and we can't have the Rev. Dawson dislocating
both his shoulders in a game called "An Autumn Romance". Get some help,
quick!

      shout
      shout
      wait

And this brings us to the end of Part One of the game. Part Two is where
you go around resolving all the conflicts, and it's a little more
difficult that Part One. So, if you needed the walkthrough till now,
you might as well print out the rest and save yourself some bother.
Sorry if that last sentence sounded smarmy - I was just thinking of the
game's online hint system (which is very jarring when you consider the
writing skills shown by the author in the actual _game_).

You wake up the next morning.....Save a game here if you want.

     save "part1"

Now get out of bed and at 'em!

     stand

PART TWO.
You're curious. You aren't? Well, you ought to. Or rather, you should be
concerned about the spiritual wellbeing of anyone who's just attempted
suicide (if you want LeBrun's theology on suicide, just ask him at any
point after Part One.) Let's pay Viktor a house call:

     east
     east

This is no time for dilly-dallying.

     ask Viktor about suicide

Most convincing. One old man will definitely pour out his woes to another.
You can ask for the gruesome details if you want, but that's sheer abuse
of your position of trust. But, after all, this _is_ a computer game.....

    ask Viktor about Klara
    ask Viktor about daughter

Give the poor guy a break now. Go on down and meet Rene. He has a hint for
you:

    west
    down
    ask Rene about Viktor

A change of scene. Hmmmm.....not much room for change in this game. After
all, the inn only has three rooms, 1, 3 and the mysterious Room 2. Well,
at the most, you can swap rooms. Phrasing is difficult here (there were
mucho grouses about this on r.g.i-f) so I'll help you out:

    Rene, change rooms
    (or simply 'change rooms')

Now you're in Room 1, so rearrange your geography a little. Enter your
new room:

    up
    east

Same problem as before, so use the same solution:

    open window

Now explore the room. (Just kidding). Actually, all you need to do is

    open the dresser

which should give you a journal. The first time I played the game I actually
tried:

    read journal

and felt like a heel for the rest of the game. (Still kidding). Let's be
Victorian about it, and respect the poor guy's privacy.

    take journal
    examine it
    west
    west
    give journal to Viktor

Much nicer than being a Nosey Parker, in my Victorian opinion. 
    
    east
    down
    out
    e

The conversation that follows is rather odd. It starts like an average
clinical history (or should I say psychiatric history?) but suddenly
becomes rather lame. There are many ways of playing this part; I'm just
giving you one that worked for me.

First things first. You've already been introduced, so just take a long
hard look.

    look at Konstanza

(or 'lady', or 'girl'. Of course, if you've been reading this carefully,
you could call her Konstanza, but - dear me - let us be realistic or die.
Read the description carefully; the reason why becomes apparent later.)

Now give her the third degree:

    ask Konstanza about parents

(You could go directly to Viktor or her mother, but this is more realistic.)

    ask Konstanza about Viktor
    ask Konstanza about mother
    ask Konstanza about anniversary

That's about all she's going to tell you until you find out more about her
mother's death. Another interesting (realistic?) proviso is that she won't
tell you more until you have a bit of a jaw with her. Frankly, if I was
a depressed young German fraulein, I would have _extremely_ little patience
with some stuffy old English vicar telling me all about his life; I would
just ignore him, like all the NPCs ignore you in "Undertow". However, this
seems to be an important puzzle.

Remember "The King and I"? (It's a lot more recent than Anthony Trollope,
so I guess you should.) Well, if my long-term memory isn't failing me
yet, there was a song entitled 'Getting to Know You' in it. It seems like
an apt theme tune for the next few moves (which can be made in almost any
order; this is just the one I followed.)

    ask Konstanza about Germany

Bavaria? Isn't that where Arnold Schwarzenegger came from?

    tell Konstanza about England

Now bore the poor girl to death even more....

    tell Konstanza about myself
    tell Konstanza about John
    walk with Konstanza (or "Konstanza, follow me")
    talk to Konstanza
    tell Konstanza about Emma
    ask Konstanza about beach (or inn)
    ask Konstanza about Rene
    ask Konstanza about LeBrun
    
Informative. This makes your next few steps a lot more logical; obviously,
LeBrun and Rene have some of the information you wanted. If you want to
get a really touching reply out of her, just

    ask Konstanza about love

Que c'est emouvant! Now let's leave the poor dear alone, Mr. Dawson. Go
talk to some of your gentleman friends:

    north
    ask LeBrun about Viktor

If you'd like a Catholic perspective on suicide, just ask old Antoine...

    ask LeBrun about suicide

...but if you don't, just proceed with the gathering of data to be
manipulated and used:

    ask LeBrun about Klara
    ask LeBrun about Konstanza

You've got all you can out of him; now seek a garrulous old Frenchman.

    south
    west
    south
    ask Rene about Klara

That solves the second and most difficult part of what I shall call the
"Konstanza puzzle". Now go back to her....

    north
    east

There's one more thing you can find out (though it's not necessary):

    search graves for Klara

Just to make sure that she's ready to trust you, you can try

    examine Konstanza

Hmmm. So she now regards you with sympathy, etc, etc. Let's take advantage
of this state of love and trust:

    ask Konstanza about Klara

Now the _awful_ truth has come out. These days, it would hardly be second-
line material for the Oprah Winfrey Show (though Deepak Chopra or Reader's
Digest might make much of it) and I doubt that, even in the Victorian age,
it was such a big deal - but this is a walkthrough, not a boring critical
essay. So trash your incredulity, and relay her message to Papa:

    west
    south
    up
    west
    tell Viktor about Konstanza

Now back down those stairs again. It's fortunate that you're a mere man,
otherwise all those flights of stairs would give you a prolapse, and you
could sue Chris Huang for malpraxis (or is it 'malmimesis'?)

    east
    down
    out
    east
    tell Konstanza about Viktor
    west

Part Three of the Konstanza puzzle is now over; your only remaining puzzle
is the Matchmaker puzzle, about which the next section is concerned. It
mainly concerns John, who's looking for inspiration. Right now, you've
got a one-track mind, so the only suggestion you can make to him (he
appears out of the blue now) is

    John, draw Konstanza

John now goes down to the beach, intent on painting a seascape (you will
end up getting it for free, but more on that later), so go join him; you
have nothing constructive to do.

    down

So as to prevent our young friends from feeling embarrassed, you could

   introduce John to Konstanza

- in fact, you have to, and this should give you an idea that this is _not_
one of those Western games where the cowboy gets his man (or woman). Since
he still needs inspiration, repeat your suggestion again, now that he can
see her...

    John, draw Konstanza

John searches his pocket but can't find his sketchbook. Panic. No fear. There
are very few places that the sketchbook could be. If I were sadistic, I would
ask you to go around asking everyone for it; but this _is_ a walkthrough. Just
get back to the inn.

    up
    south
    east

Now that you're in the public house, you could always

    ask Yvette for a meal

which, considering that you haven't eaten at all in the game so far, is
welcome. Do not type 'smell meal' here if you're using Frotz; for some
enigmatic reason, the program bombs with a "Stack overflow" message.
We're concerned solely with John, so...

    ask Yvette about John

Aha!

    ask Yvette about sketchbook

A little guess-the-preposition is needed:

    ask Yvette FOR sketchbook

(the capitals are just for emphasis. Type it in lowercase as usual.) Now
you can return the sketchbook to John:

    west
    out
    down
    give sketchbook to John

and repeat your request for the third time - artists are dense, aren't they?

    John, draw Konstanza

John can't finish the sketch immediately, so you might as well take a
leisurely stroll around the village now. This is one list of things you
could do; feel free to kill time in any way you want before returning
to the beach. This is one way - and it also ascertains that you've done
the right things so far...

    up
    south
    up
    west

Has our mission of peace succeeded?

    ask Viktor about Konstanza

Yes! Now go barge in on dear John.

    east
    down
    out
    down

We're back at the beach now, and the puzzle at hand is how to make
Konstanza pose for John's painting. (She is, after all, his inspiration.
A little later, you can ask John about her to see how badly hit he was.)
Konstanza doesn't know much about John's talent, so convince her:
   
    ask John for sketchbook
    show sketchbook to Konstanza

Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas, as Willie Thackeray would put it.
Anyway, it seems to have worked. Now you can tell John to get on with it.

    John, paint Konstanza
    wait
    wait

You can wait (for a few turns) or do anything else, but you'll soon get a
message about feeling like an intruder - which is realistic enough. If I
were painting, I'd hate to have J. Alfred Prufrock over my shoulder
(not that I could paint to save my life; make that 'if I were writing
AGT/Inform/Hugo code or game reviews'.) Let's leave the dears alone. You
have to return John's sketchbook first, of course.

    give sketchbook to John
    up

Let's go back and visit old Maurice again.

    east
    north
    west
    north
    wait (for a few turns)

John should now arrive at his lodgings; if he doesn't, just kill time
a little; look at the newspapers, talk to Maurice, say 'xyzzy', let
your imagination run wild, and keep on trying 'north' again. Finally,
you will end up in John's room. Be an art critic:

    examine paintings
    examine landscape
    examine seascape
    ask John about landscape
    ask John about seascape
    
He already thinks the seascape is good, so there's no use in buying it.
What you have to do, then, is

    buy the landscape

Out of cash! It's a bloody life. Maybe you could wire home for some. This
is extremely guess-the-verb, which is ironic considering that, traditionally,
guess-the-verb is synonymous with AGT Standard....

    south
    wire Emma
    ask Emma for money

This kind of pleases Maurice, who escorts you out of the shop. Well,
'something attempted, something done, has earned a night's repose' (I'm
not sure where the quote is from, or even if I'm quoting correctly), but
just go back home and tuck yourself in....

    south
    south
    up
    east
    sleep

Thus ends the Second Part.

PART THREE.
As you may have guessed by now, there is still one loose end to be tied
up - that is, paying John for the landscape. Doing this more or less
winds up the entire plot in a rather rushed manner - but this part _is_
well done, I'll admit. Since there are two endings here, you might want
to have a saved game handy before trying them both out:

    save "ending"

and get out of bed...

    stand

Sloth is one of the Seven Deadly Sins, so get out of your little room and
explore the Internet - sorry, I meant the village....

    west
    down

Maurice should now hand you a cheque from Emma, whose use is quite obvious.
(At least this game didn't have VILE ELECTRONIC PUZZLES FROM HELL.) Go give
the cheque to l'ami John:

    out
    north
    north
    north

You can ask John about Konstanza if you want to know how much your monetary
assistance will mean to him, but don't bother. Just be business-like:

    give cheque to John

Guess the ending now. It's not hard. There's very little more to do: just
get back to the inn.

    south
    south
    south

And Viktor has a bombshell for you. Now, you could try and do a 'Porphyria's
Lover' (or do I mean a Stiffy Makane?) by killing Konstanza, but that would
only work if I had been writing the story. From here, there are two
endings. Save your game again, and savour them. The first six moves
of both endings are simply the process of getting your trunk - you don't
need to check out.

    up
    east
    get trunk
    west
    down
    out
    save "Endings"

Let's do the sad ending first. (Don't ask me why - maybe because P.J.G.
did something of the sort in his Spider & Web walkthrough.)

    east
    north
    west
    west
    give trunk to boatman
    enter boat

I can just imagine the Mystery Science Theatre heckling at this ending;
it's extremely unsatisfactory. I had always pictured Dawson to myself
as an amiable blunderer, and this ending shows him to be just about as
unreasonable as John, when push comes to shove.

Be warned, now. The happy ending is not much better....

    restore "Endings"
    down

St. Francis?
The 'givers' of society?
Oh, great. One ending makes Dawson a pig, the other makes him a prig.
Some people have gone on record saying that this ending produced tears
of joy, but I wasn't one of them. 
Great "closure", I must say. Let Emma have the last word:

"It's nice to see that Stephen had some common sense. That German
girl would never have suited him, or made him happy. Why couldn't
the dear man choose a nice simple English girl, with _several_ freckles
instead of just one, who could ride a horse with the best of them and
keep his vicarage in order after I'm gone? Men!"

Victorian women always were tops in common sense - especially spinsters.
What this game needed urgently was a Miss Marple. Not in her detecting
capacity, of course. It also urgently needed a sense of humour. Even
Dickens - for all his sentimentality - usually found the time to
add the leaven of humour to most of his books.

(Please excuse the quotes around the word "closure" - oops, I've done it
again. I just find the term execrable. A matter of idiosyncrasy.)

Some amusing things to try -

- Kiss the boatman.
- Take the cross in the Catholic Church.
- Attack Father LeBrun.
- Ask Rene or Yvette about Nazis, Flick or Edith. People who haven't
  watched the TV show "Allo Allo" won't get this, and frankly I don't
  understand why this joke was included.
- Type 'xyzzy' or 'plugh'.
- Try any of those good old four-letter words.
- Talk to Viktor when he's about to die (a coding error, but it's funny)
- Try painting anything.
- Play "The Incredible Victorian Adventures of Stuffy Dawson" (a.k.a.
  "Muse! An Interactive MiSTing") by Quentin.D.Thompson, to be released
  in a few months.
  (Sorry, I couldn't resist that.)

Some irritating things to try -

- Kiss or hug Konstanza.
- Ask Konstanza about love, propose to her, or ask her about Klara after
  El Big Mess-Up is cleared up.
- Ask for a score.
- Read the online hints.
- Play the optimal ending.
- Allow Viktor to die. The game becomes unplayable.
- Smell the food in the public house. (Only if you're using Frotz.)
- Type 'eat food' after ordering a meal.
- Read all the quotes in the game carefully.
- Take this game and its message seriously.

A few unanswered questions -

* Do you _seriously_ believe that John and Konstanza will live happily
  ever after? I once toyed with the idea of writing an Enemies-style
  game where you play Dawson once more, and Konstanza comes seeking your
  blood for letting her be miserable with John - but then, I couldn't
  code all those Mensa puzzles if I tried.

* Since you play the role of a father-figure, and Konstanza says
  Emma is like her mother, why not adopt the young fraulein? (after, of
  course, having let Viktor successfully commit suicide.) Hell, "adopt"
  is hardly as guess-the-verb as "support".

* Why is this game called "Muse"? "An Autumn Romance" perhaps, but
  why "Muse"?
  (I know that there's a synthetic prostaglandin preparation called
  _Muse_, which was prescribed by doctors before Viagra was invented,
  but that could hardly be what the author was referring to. Maybe
  the author meant that Konstanza was John's Muse, but that's a very
  hollow explanation and I don't quite believe it myself.)

* How does the quote at the beginning of the game fit in with what
  actually happens?

* Wow, a real live Puritan must have written this game. Since when
  has 'xyzzy' been considered witchcraft? Surely we aren't incinerating
  (oops, bad pun) that all IF games with magic in them ought to be burned
  at the stake. _Maybe_ it was humour. But if it was, it hardly jells
  with the rest of the game.

* What's the matter with the online hints? After investing so much time
  writing a game in the style of the Victorian Age, why mar the effect
  by writing hints that come straight out of "Mop And Murder" or "Space
  Aliens Laughed At My Cardigan"? Even contemporary games (Theatre,
  Little Blue Men, Photopia) had well-written hints. Yvette suddenly
  walking across the street doing a can-can couldn't have been more
  out-of-place.

* Is this game _really_ meant to be a satire? I know there's a fine essay
  by Adam Cadre, "The Calliope Effect", that argues this point. But
  I'm still not convinced. There are too many discrepancies.

* I fail to see the connexion (Victorian spelling :-) between this
  game and either Jane Austen or Jane Eyre.

Well, I hope you found this walkthrough useful. If you have any corrections,
comments, suggestions or flames, please direct them to me at
<stupid_q@my-dejanews.com>.

                                                      Au revoir,
                                                      Quentin.D.Thompson
                                                      Planet Earth, 1999 A.D.