[X] As a JUNIOR SLEUTH in pursuit of TRUTH AND JUSTICE, you are afraid of nothing and no one... but heights make you a little nervous.
-[X] Ask Mari if she would be willing to test the GRAPPLING HOOK by climbing the OAK TREE. She has faith in her machinery, yes?
--[X] And root for her from down below!!
[X] Ask Mari to collect a few ACORNS and examine the TREEHOUSE.
You look up the OAK TREE. It... it sure is kind of high up there. You glance at Mari - she's still swinging the GRAPPLING HOOK around wildly, almost GIDDY WITH GLEE at having been given this NEW TOY.
"Hey, Mari?"
She takes a while to respond, but eventually turns towards you. "Calloway?"
"Do you think that you could grapple up into that treehouse? It might be kind of dangerous."
Mari grins from ear to ear, a slightly manic sparkle in her eye. "Let's find out!"
And with that, she whirls around, firing the GRAPPLING HOOK. The HOOK sails through the air, wrapping tightly around one of the LARGER BRANCHES OF THE TREE. A few seconds later, Mari goes flying, pulled off her feet and DRAGGED THROUGH THE AIR at a pace that frankly makes you a LITTLE DIZZY to even look at. You put a hand over your eyes as she impacts the OAK TREE with a rather worrying THUNK. However, when you inevitably PEEK THROUGH YOUR FINGERS, Mari is STANDING TRIUMPHANTLY on a BRANCH by the TREEHOUSE. Her TIGHTS are RIPPED AND BLOODIED around the knees, but other than that she looks NONE THE WORSE FOR THE WEAR, still grinning with sheer exhiliration.
[Mari: -15 VITALITY]
[Mari: -2 ÉLAN]
She waves smugly down at you. "Hey, Calloway, what does it feel like to be stuck on the ground like a dummy?"
You swallow the WITTY COMEBACKS that start springing to your mind, instead calling out "Are you okay?"
Mari just shrugs. "I've had worse. I'll look through this dirty little shack, you go and keep doing your silly nonsense."
You mutter indignantly under your breath as you go off to do more silly nonsense.
[X] Observe painting of A Starry Night
-[X] Take it off if you can and check beneath
You examine the REPLICA VAN GOGH PAINTING, which seems PRETTY NORMAL except for ONE DETAIL: instead of a MOON, there's just WHAT SEEMS TO BE a HALO OF LIGHT around a BLACK CIRCLE. As any well-read lass with an ACUMEN STAT as high as yours would know, that's what a SOLAR ECLIPSE looks like. There is a TITLE at the bottom: '1988'. Being VERY ACCUSTOMED to this sort of PUZZLE SILLINESS by now, you're not at all surprised to find that behind the PAINTING OF A STARRY NIGHT is a SAFE DOOR with a SIX-DIGIT COMBINATION.
Apart from separating the areas of the GARDEN, they don't seem to serve any purpose.
[X] If you can, check if there's anything at the bottom of the empty pond
There's a GRATE at the bottom, and although you try to see if there's anything STUCK IN IT, you JUST CAN'T TELL. You're interrupted from this fruitless search by Mari's impatient, snappy voice calling out.
"Oi! Get over here, you idiot! I've found things!"
You make your way back over to the foot of the OAK TREE, looking up expectantly.
"About time. What took you so long, did you stop to take a bath on the way here? You need one, you know. But anyway, there's just a bunch of books in here and a pair of old watering cans, they're all dirty and horrid. I'll throw them down."
You have no chance to protest before a PAIR OF WATERING CANS are shortly tossed out of the TREEHOUSE to land on the ground in front of you, followed by a JOURNAL, a BOOK ON ASTRONOMY, and a BOOK ON BOTANY. Just for good measure, it seems, Mari steps back out onto the BRANCH she grappled up to and tosses a few ACORNS to (or possibly at) you, which land perilously close to your toe. She stands there, grinning down at you, and generally looking TERRIBLY PROUD OF HERSELF. You can't help but give her an ENCOURAGING THUMBS UP.
