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DEADLINE by Infocom
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Go "N" to the front door of the house.  Type "open door" and go "N" into the  Robners'  house.  From inside the door,  go "N","E" and type "climb stairs" twice (or you can just go "U","U") to get to the second level of the estate. From there, go W,W,W,W,N to the library where you will start the first of a series of Sherlock Holmes-type activities.  In  Deadline, you  need  to  establish the motive and method for the murder beyond all reasonable doubt before you can a rrest the guilty party.  If you  don't have an air-tight case,  the jury will acquit the defendant.  It is here in the library where we go about establishing the method by  which  poor Mr. Robner was done in.

First off,  type "examine rug" (or just "look rug").  You will find some mud spots which is your first clue. Now, "get the cup, pad, calendar and pencil"  and "rub pencil on pad" and then "turn page of calendar".  Aha! Perhaps a clue as to the motive?  Let's see if we can  substantiate  the method  a  little more...that mud on the rug was very interesting.  Type "open balcony door" and go "N" onto the balcony.  Check out the  railing by  typing  "examine  railing" and you will see some scratches,  lending credence to the theory that perhaps the murderer climbed up the  balcony from the ground below where he (or she) got mud on his shoes.

Let's  have a look below and check for some indication that the murderer was indeed below the balcony.  go S,S,E,E,E,E,D,D,W,S.  Type "open door" and  go  "S" back to the front door.  Now go E,NE,E,SE to the shed where you  will   see   a   ladder.   Type   "examine   ladder".   Hmmm!  This ladder-and-balcony theory is looking good! Let's see if we can prove the ladder was below the balcony.  This will have to wait a  while,  though, because  it's  getting  late  in the morning and we have to do some more checking in the house before the reading of the  will  takes  place  and besides that, we need to talk to Mr. McNabb and he doesn't seem to be in the mood right now.

Go back to the house by heading NW,W,S,W and  head  back  upstairs  with N,N,E,U,U.  Let's  see  what  else  we  can  find upstairs.  Go S,S into Dunbar's bathroom. Type "open cabinet" and "examine loblo".  Aha, again! Now we go back downstairs and see if we can find Mr. McNabb to see if he knows anything about a ladder under the balcony. Go N,N,D,D,W,S,S. Let's take  a  break  for  a while.  Type "wait until 11:30",  and now for Mr. McNabb.  let's try the orchard first  with  E,NE,E.  If  McNabb  is  not around,  just wait for a while or snoop around the area and he will soon show up.

Deadline is very unpredictable when it comes to the  various  characters moving around the scenario. Once you spot McNabb, go to him and say "hey McNabb" followed by "what is wrong".  He will tell you about some  holes he found in his garden so,  naturally,  you say "show me the holes".  He will take off and you "follow him". When he stops, type "examine holes". Eureka!  The  ladder was here and the depth of the holes proves somebody climbed it up to the balcony!  To make sure we cover every  angle,  type "examine  ground" and "dig around holes".  Hmmm...wonder what this could be about?  To find out,  type "analyze fragment for loblo".  Oops,  it's later than we thought!  Back to the house for the reading of the will.

Go  N,N,SE,S,S,W  to the front door and N,N,W into the living room.  now just "wait" for the will to be read.  noticing that just about everybody is  present,  you  decide  to see if you can roust some of those present into giving you some clues as to the  guilty  party  and,  perhaps,  the motive  for  the crime.  Let's start with George.  Type "show George the calendar".  He will get very nervous and start heading out of the  room. Type  "follow  him"  until  he  finally  goes to his room.  He will keep telling you to leave him alone,  but just keep following  him  until  he gets to his room.

At this point, you decide to see if George knows more then he's telling. go to the balcony and wait to see if he does anything. Go N,W,N,N to the balcony and type "wait 10 minutes". Voila!  Here he comes! Wait until he goes behind the bookshelf and then type "wait 4  minutes.  When  your  4 minutes are up, go S, "examine bookshelf", "press button", and go E. Ha! Caught him red-handed!!  Type "get will", "look safe",  "get papers" and "read  papers".  Things  are  beginning to look up!  Let's see if we can substantiate some of this stuff.

Go back to the living room  with  W,S,E,E,E,E,D,D,W,W.  My,  isn't  this cozy!  Type "hey Baxter", "what about focus". You know he's lying so you "show papers  to  Baxter".  Ah,  that's  better!  Now  for  some  clever psycho-detective  work.  Type  "show lab report to Dunbar" and "show lab report to  Baxter".  Whip  around  and  "accuse  Dunbar".  Hmmm...a  tad nervous,  isn't  she?  Perhaps  we  should  go  off and wait to see what develops.  Go E to leave the room and "wait  for  Dunbar".  Just  as  we suspected!  When  she  passes you,  type "follow her".  Once outside the house,  she will drop a ticket.  Type "get ticket"  and  "read  ticket". Wow!  This is getting good!

Type "show ticket to Dunbar".  You know you've got her on the run now so head off to the shed to wait and see what develops.  Go E,E,SE and "wait for Baxter". When they both show up, "show ticket to Baxter" and "arrest Baxter and Dunbar".  You didn't believe them for a minute, did you?  due to  the  dynamic  nature  of Deadline,  there are several ways to end up accusing Baxter and Dunbar of the murder. there are also more puzzles to solve,  but  this  is all that is necessary to put together an air-tight case against them.

End of Deadline. 
