Mystery game The Case of the Golden Idol involves a series of mysterious deaths revolving around the titular idol. Case 6 of the game, entitled “The Explosive Events in the Forest Cabin,” finally gives players a closer look at the idol’s many strange abilities. This guide will help you identify all the clues hidden in this chapter and solve the latest case in this tricky multi-step mystery. With the help of this guide, you will be able to completely solve Case 6 of The Case of the Golden Idol.
There are 34 clues to find in this chapter. They can be divided into three categories: peoples’ names, verbs, and items or elements present at the scene. The clues are:
Abe Bestia Billy Black Cloudsley Cracker David Doubloon Edmund Golden Gorran Hardy Jack Keene Little Lucia Nails Pip Smith Walter (names) air coffin corpse gold heat matter vase water (items) clubbed decreased exploded increased shot stabbed (verbs)
As in previous chapters, it is best to begin by identifying all of the characters present in the scene. Like last chapter, several familiar faces once again make their return in this one.
First, Little Pip and Lucia Smith can be found in the main room of the cabin. Their appearances have not changed much. David Gorran is the third servant mentioned by Cloudsley in the orders he has pinned to the cabin’s wall. Because he is not likely to be one of the robbers, by process of elimination he must be the injured man slumped over a coffin. Finally, Edmund Cloudsley himself can be found hiding in the chest in the room on the right. His appearance has changed – he’s lost his hair entirely! – but he is clutching a journal with the initials “EC.”
Next, the dog. In Cloudsley’s orders, Little Pip is assigned to take care of two animals: Black Bestia and Golden Doubloon. Pip is shouting to the dog and calling him “Coin,” plus the dog is yellow in color, so he must be Golden Doubloon (a doubloon is a type of coin).
The last three men are thus the people hired to bring a corpse to Cloudsley’s cabin, who have double-crossed him and entered with nefarious purposes. A newspaper in Lucia Smith’s pocket mentions Walter Keene, a robber who always wears a suit and hat. This description matches the last man in the central room, making him Keene. Thus, the two men killed in the explosion (taking place in the room on the right) must be two of the henchmen available for hire. Four henchmen are described in a book sitting in the cart outside the cabin. Of them, only Jack Nails is mentioned as being able to pick locks. One of the men – the one in the blue jacket – has a set of lockpicks in his pocket, so he is Jack Nails. By process of elimination, the remaining man must be Hardy Abe, as he is mentioned to own the very cart that is parked outside the cabin. Because Abe is the only one carrying a blunt weapon – a club – he must also be the one who injured Gorran, as Gorran was struck on the head but did not die.
Next comes the rather tricky part: figuring out the much-hinted-at mysterious powers of the golden idol. For these, you will mostly have to refer to Edmund Cloudsley’s notebook, in which he has made notes of various experiments.
Going from the top down, the first two runes are similar in appearance (shaped like a shepherd’s crook) so they must have similar or perhaps opposite functions. In the experiment “Vacuum V2” in his journal, Cloudsley outright states that the second rune was used to decrease the amount of air in a vessel. Thus, it means decrease and the one above it, the other crook-shaped rune, means increase.
Also seen in the Vacuum experiment is the fourth rune, two boxes between two lines. Thus, it must be the air part of “decrease air.” From this, we can deduce the remaining runes as so:
- The fifth rune (a circle between two lines) caused a cup to disappear when used with the Decrease rune. It doesn’t state what the cup was made from, so this rune simply means matter.
- The third rune (alchemical symbols between two lines) is used in Cloudsley’s experiments to extract gold from other substances, so it logically means gold.
- The sixth rune (a triangle shape) is used in Cloudsley’s experiments regarding spontaneous combustion, so it must mean heat.
Thus, the six runes are, in order from top to bottom: Increase, Decrease, Gold, Air, Matter, Heat. The runes currently active on the golden idol say “Increase Air,” which must be what Cloudsley did. Knowing this, the chapter’s scroll can be filled out as such:
“Edmund Cloudsley needed a corpse. Walter Keene, along with accomplices, delivered a coffin. Upon entering, Hardy Abe suddenly clubbed David Gorran. Meanwhile, Edmund Cloudsley increased the amount of air in a sealed vase. When Hardy Abe and Jack Nails entered the room, the vase exploded and killed them both.”
This concludes Case 6 of The Case of the Golden Idol. Edmund Cloudsley once again escaped the idol’s wrath, and two henchmen were killed in a brutal manner instead. The next case reveals Walter Keene’s motivations for getting his hands on the golden idol and finally brings to the forefront a secret society that has so far hidden deep in the shadows of the game’s plot. Make sure to check out GameLuster’s other guides to help you find clues and solve cases in every chapter of The Case of the Golden Idol.