Walkthrough © 2002 by KD (K.Daleng)
Reproduction in any form without express permission from the author is prohibited
Note from author: v. 1.02
-Changed from v.0.95: Copyright note fixed, small misspelling errors.
-Changed from v.1.00: Small note about key to Eaton’s Safe.
-Changed from v.1.01:Author’s note, additions to notes in case player uses another way solving the game than the WT does.
The walkthrough is only doing what is necessary to solve the game in one way. There are several choices to do in many of the puzzles, so one can solve a problem in a completely different manner than described in this walkthrough. Because of this, try to use this walkthrough only when you are completely stuck, as there’s much more things to do and explore than is described here.
Also, when the WT tells you to talk to a character, it means you should exhaust ALL topics available unless stated otherwise. But, that doesn’t mean you can just click something without thinking about what you are saying to a character, because if you choose one topic, another way of formulating a question that might have been more helpful disappears. So try think about what you are saying before actually saying it.
Different responses *may* lead to a different result than the WT describes, either for better or for worse. Just to have you warned. Just remember that whatever door closes for you, there’s always another opening up, so you can’t go into a dead end. But it can make any Walkthrough misleading if you take another approach. However, I will make notes of the most common ones as I get reports of them.
So, even if the Walkthrough is tested, you might do something different and end up with a different result than I am describing. I have tried to take this into consideration, but the games uses many, many different solutions to problems, so all cannot be covered unless I get reports from you, so if something in the walkthrough doesn’t work for you, send me a mail at kd@thedarklight.net
You can also mail me if you can’t solve a problem even with the walkthrough. My mailbox is a busy one but I answer everyone, it just might take a little while. I’m not talking about days, but just take it into consideration.
That’s enough ranting from me, let’s move on to the game.
Post Mortem
Welcome to Post Mortem and Paris. We are about to take a journey through this excellent and intriguing story as Gustave McPhearson, Former P.I and which now is spending his days painting in your typical dusty painter studio in the middle of city of Paris.
Let’s begin shall we?
We’re just doing our usual painting, when this gorgeous young woman strands on our front step. So what do we do about that?
After some… ehm, enjoying of the view we get control over the mouth…and eyes, and invite her in.
Seems like she has a need for us, so If you feel like a gentleman, you take the assignment right now and get started. Else you have to call her and meet her at a restaurant (Yeah, yeah might be an excuse for getting another look at her, but we got a game to play and a mystery to solve, so get your act together!)
Right, the girl’s sister and her husband has been brutally killed, and she wants us to find the killer.
First you do when you get control is getting the sketchbook on the kitchen counter (At least that is what I think it is) and the camera in the closet.
Leave for the Orphee Hotel.
Talk to the receptionist Petit. Depending on your response here, Petit will either be cooperative and talk about what happened at the hotel that night….or he tells you to bug off. Telling him you’re a P.I seems to leave him less cooperative, so try using something else.
After you’re done, turn around, go into the bar and talk to the bartender. Also buy a bottle of Red from him
Go back into the main hall and take the Paper on the bench. If you want you can also pick up the phone on the desk and send a telegram to learn more about Ms. Blake
Now, our next destination is the police station, so let’s go there. On arrival, you’ll see a mother really concerned about her lost boy. (We’ll learn more about that later, hehe)
Talk to the officer, doesn’t seem to matter what you tell him here, seems to boil down to the same anyway. When done, talk to him again and offer him the bottle of red, and voila, you just learned how to bribe French Policemen.
Read the Police Report and a new location opens, Dr. Kaufner’s office. But talk to the officer again about the report before going there.
At Kaufner’s office, talk to the good doctor (obviously).
When done, we’ll go back to the Orphee and talk to the Bartender (And Petit, if you’re in his good book)
Right, you should get a description of the suspect now, from the bartender and possibly Petit the receptionist, so a profile maker appears in your sketchbook. Let’s go there.
All right, you might not be good in this profile drawing thing, so I’ll give you 2 helping hands. First one, if you go into the directory your game is installed (Default c:\Program Files\Microids\Post Mortem) then \Textures\PortraitRobot. There you will find a pic as the profile should be when it’s done. If you don’t feel like turning off the game to look at the done drawing (Alt-Tab made the game crash on my machine), you can follow this description of how it should be. I’ll tell you how many times you need to click each part of the face left or right. The diagram below shows all the eight parts. If I have placed a number to the left of the buttons (lines) it means you press the left arrow as many times as the number says. Same goes for right. If I place a zero between the buttons, it means you’ll leave it alone. If you already played with the profile, go out of the sketchbook and back in to get it to show default. When done with the pic, write it out by pressing the pen icon below the picture field
-0- - - 3
- - 1 1 - -
- - 2 - - 6
2 - - 1 - -
All right, now when that’s been taken care of talk to the receptionist and the bartender once more to get positive ID.
Now try going up the stairs to the second floor, Gus don’t want to in fear of the almighty Petit. But that big ol’ Suitcase in the middle of the floor looks cool, we’ll take it for a test drive, so climb into it.
After a rather rough drive we find ourselves in the second floor. Try opening room 505 and 507, both locked. Go in the door across the hall from 507 and you’ll meet Mrs. Louisau. If you don’t go in her apartment, she’ll stop you when trying to go back down the stairs. Talk to the lady.
When done, go down again and talk to Petit.
From the talk with the bartender earlier, you should have learned that Malet is usually hanging at a placed called the Alambic Bistro, which should have opened up on your map.
So we’ll go there then. Move towards the bar and you’ll see a cut scene where Malet and the owner Hulot are playing cards. You’ll automatically get into a conversation with Malet that will end up with Gus showing him the drawing of the suspect. When he does, Malet flees and who just showed up in the Bistro. Guess we’re in for a little jog. Gus will chase Hellouin, but eventually loses him.
We’re back at the studio, and Berenice is on her way home (Sure, we had to threat ourselves something for losing Hellouin and fall that badly on the ground)
When dressed, get back to the Alambic and talk to Hulot behind the bar.
Ask for help in unlocking a door and he’ll give you two paintings he wants you to look at. Exhaust all topics with Hulot and take a look at the paintings he just gave you.
Now this is a typical “Find 5 errors” type of Puzzle. One picture has 5 mistakes compared to the original. Switch Paintings by using the button below the painting. The errors are: On the fake one there’s no man in the coffin as there is in the original, just an empty coffin. On the original, a man is about to get slayed in the top right corner. On the fake, the man is not there. A little below that, two bowls are missing from the roof of a little house/hut or whatever. Just left of the Three/Stub a bit above the mentioned roof a Pole is missing. Last error is a missing cross in the middle shield in the bottom right corner.
That should be all, after completed correctly, talk to Hulot and tell him you’re done. He’ll give you a set of lock picking tools as reward.
Head to the police station and tell the officer you have a portrait of the killer, and he’ll soon enough show you the way to Inspector Lebrun.
Go in the first door to the left (Quite easy to find, it says Lebrun) and talk to the good inspector. He should tell you where Hellouin lives among other things.
When done, just head on to Hellouins office which should have opened up on your map.
The office is the second door in the hallway, we are going to break in and have a look, so examine the door handle and get your lock picking tools. Now, the trick to doing this is following a very easy concept. Put four of your total five tools in each part of the lock. (Top left, top right, middle and bottom) Try turning the handle and look closely at the tools. If they are rattling like crazy in the lock, it’s the wrong tool in the wrong place of the lock, but don’t worry, we’ll just use the first try as kind of a calibration. If a tool shakes less than the others, we’re getting somewhere. That means it’s the right tool for that specific part of the lock, it’s just slightly out of position. Hold the marker over that tool and click so that it changes position (its three positions available for each part of the lock, so you may have to click a max of whooping two times for it to be right).
Try the handle again, and if the tool is still, it’s in the right position. If not, try changing its position one more time. Now do this for all parts of the lock following the same simple logic. Shakes alot=wrong tool & wrong position, Shakes a bit=Right tool & wrong position, perfectly still=Right tool & Right position.
When you’re done you should be inside the rascal’s office. Go behind his desk and open the top Drawer (Bottom one is open, but has a safe inside that you cannot open or pick)
Top drawer is just below the desk surface.
Take one of the files in the drawer and you’ll meet Mrs.Hellouin once agai. ((Woman at Police station, lost her little boy, remember?)
Be nice to her, say you want her son no harm and eventually she’ll show you where he is. Go up the attic stairs and meet Hellouin.
He will tell you his Story.
You are now playing as Hellouin and are to investigate the Eatons. You know the story.
Firstly, go to the Eaton’s apartment. You’ll see the janitor scrubbing the floor at the entrance. Whatever you say to her, she won’t let you in, so we’ll have to think of something else.
Turn left and go into the back yard. In the end of this backyard is a red ball. Take it and turn back to where you entered the backyard. There’s a window pretty close that have a plant in it. Throw the ball at it. Damn good for nothing kids.
Janitor goes to clean up the mess and you’re free to move up the stairs.
In the Eaton’s apartment go into the first door on the right and open the closet. There’s a safe in there, but we don’t have the key. So go out again and enter the next door. On the desk close to the door, there’s a boat ticket, pick it up. Go back out and take a look at the poster on the living room wall. Alambic opens up on your map. Just left of this poster, examine the desk and take a letter by Gracie Eaton and a calling card. Take a look at both.
Since Kaufner’s office should have opened up on your map by now, we’ll visit him now.
Talk about everything you can and then we’re on our way to the Alambic.
We’ll meet Berenice here, so talk to her and you’ll learn Hulot and the Eatons just left for a restaurant among other things. When done, go to the Brotherhood meeting place and try entering the door and the doorman will stop you. Ask him about the favorite restaurant and that it is urgent, and he’ll tell you the restaurant is Chez Alexandre which opens up on your map. What you waiting for then? Go there right away son.
Talk to the guy behind the counter and you’ll learn a few interesting thins about the eatons, and that they live at the Orphee Hotel. So that’ll be our next destination. (It’s so refreshing being a P.I, you see so many places)
At the hotel, talk to the ever so joyful Receptionist Petit, and you’ll twist him a little around your finger. After the conversation Malet will contact you and tell you to meet him in the bar. So go into the Bar, sit down by the table close to the window, and you’ll see a cut scene of the night of the murder.
Ok, we’re back being MacPherson. If you sent a telegram in the last segment, there’s a response to it at your doorstep now. Read it if you like.
It’s time to call Sophia Blake, she lied to us and we want to know what’s really going on here.
You’ll agree to meet at the Chez Alexandre. Go there and talk to the guy behind the counter. He’ll show you to your table.
Talk to Sophia. After some clearing things up, you finally agree to see the case through.
Head back to The Orphee and talk to both Receptionist and bartender. While at the reception, pick up a pencil. If it’s not there it’s probably because you got an Iris pin from Mrs.Louisau earlier, they have the same purpose.
Head to the second floor and enter room 505 (Gee, its open now.). Move to the door left of the fireplace, it leads to room 507. Inspect the bottom of the door and put the paper below it as a scandal rag.
Now use the pencil (or Iris pin, depending on what you got) in the keyhole and push the key on the other side out so that it’ll fall on the paper below the door. You’ll get the key, so all you need to do now is using it on the door.
Move to the fireplace, and by closer look you’ll notice a gold ring. Pick it up, Gus will comment that he doesn’t know who Fay is, but that’s just because the game didn’t expect us to get in here this late in the game I guess. Like I said earlier, this game offers many solutions to things, you can use the lock pick tools on room 507 instead of Hellouin’s office and get a hammer from near the broken elevator in the hotel and break into his office that way instead, but this walkthrough take the less destructive way.
Ok, we got the ring, now pick up some glass pieces from the floor and a key from the nightstand. You can also take a look at the sink and notice some black hair dye. (Wasn’t Fay’s hair dyed red? Make your own conclusions)
Exit room 507 and the Hotel and head out to The Eaton apartment.
(NOTE: If you use lock picks on Room 507 instead of Hellouin’s office, the key to the Eaton’s safe will not be on the nightstand, but behind a poster in the Eaton apartment)
Once there, go into the first room to the right and unlock the safe with the key you just got from 507.
There are some passports and documents in there. Take and read them all.
If you are the jumpy type, you can save your game now, head over to Kaufner’s office.
Once there, the map gets unavailable, but don’t worry. It looks like scare tactics as I’ve played through the game three times and never ended up in one of those polstered cells, hehe.
Go one step forward, and then head left. Walk until you see a small hallway branching out from the main hallway. Go in there and pull the lever in the wall. Door behind you closes while the one in front of you opens. Continue to the next branch and throw the next lever, and continue to do so until you’re all the way around and back where you started.
One of the doors in the middle hallway is now open, so head down that way. At the end, turn left and throw levers again till you once again end up at the starting point.
Both doors in the middle hallway should now be open, meaning you can enter the wooden door at the end (Kaufner’s office). Enter it.
First thing we do once into the office is getting four crystals, all in different colors.
Three of them are in each their bookshelf, so look around at each bookshelf until you get a magnifying glass and pick up the crystal. Last crystal is on the table in the corner among a necklace. Grab both.
Move towards the front of the desk and pick up Dr.Kaufner’s personal journal. Read it while you’re at it. Then open the golden egg and take the wax cylinder inside it.
Now go to the other side of the desk and open the drawer. Take the journals of Gracie Eaton and De Allepin and read them both.
We should be done here, so go back to the Orphee and up to Mrs. Louisau. Left of her is a Phonograph. Put the wax cylinder in it and throw the handle on the side to play it.
After you have listened it through, move over to the Alambic and talk to Bebe.
When all topics are exhausted with Bebe, we head on to De Allepin’s house.
Use the four crystals you found on Kaufner’s office on the door and you’ll be able to enter.
Just inside, take a look above the doors on each sides, there’s some symbols there, and the illustrations surrounding them is supposed to show the element the symbol represent. We’ll use this info later.
Head upstairs and look above the two doors here as well.
Then move over to three glass paintings on the wall and note the dates and year on them (14th Jan. 1128, 24th Jun. 1305 and 18th Mar. 1314) more info we’re going to have a use for later. Move into De Allepin’s office, there’s not much of interest in his bedroom.
At the desk there are some documents about De Allepin’s financial situation and a box of matches. Take both and read the document. Gus comments that the handwriting on the document is different from the one Hellouin supposedly received from De Allepin.
Next, go to the other end of the room. There’s a stellar puzzle here, but we’ll wait a couple minutes with that. Instead, take a metal ring in the bookshelf right of the puzzle. Just so we don’t forget it later.
We’re done here for now, head over to the Brotherhood meeting place and try to enter. Doorman stops you. (He really has that jumping in front of your face thing doesn’t he…?)
Talk to him, but no matter what you say, he won’t let you in.
Go to the alembic and talk to Bebe again. Ask her to forge a letter based on the documents you have. (You can ask her make a forge the letter too, but it won’t get you in).Leave alembic and enter it again. Bebe is now finished with your letter. Take it, say Thank you and head back to The Brotherhood where you show the fake letter to the doorman. If all goes well, he’ll let you in.
Move through the door into a church kind of room, go towards the “Throne” and go into the door just left of it. You should be in a Meeting/Library/Museum kind of room. The only thing really important for us if you following this walkthrough is a coin in one of the display cases, but you can also grab a couple of books about the templars and solar systems(Illustrated and all) if you like. When done exploring, head back to De Allepin’s house.
When there, head back to De Allepin’s office and the Stellar Puzzle, It’s time for some Productive work.
Now, what you’re supposed to do here is enter a correct date. The right one is one of the three dates found on the three paintings in the hall outside the room. The four wheels on top is the year, the two in the middle is the month and the two on bottom is the day.
With me it triggered at the 1128-01-14 date, but it very well might be random, so try them all out. When date is entered, pull the lever, and hopefully you’ll see a small cut scene and a secret door opens. Needless to say, that’s the way we’re going.
You’ll end up in a crypt. First thing to do is head right. There is an alchemy set on a bench here, take a closer look at it as that is the first thing we’re going to solve. You’ll see a complete set with lots of bottles, spoons and a vial. By the Vial is a coin, grab that as well.
Along the walls of this crypt, there are four posters with numbers on them. Trick here is to see how much of each ingredience we need for our alchemy project. On each poster is also an illustration of what element we’re talking about. These numbers are all “Magic Cubes”. That means whatever way you add these numbers together, down, sideways or diagonal, the sum remains the same. Try it if you like. Write down the results you get and find out what element each poster belong. When you’re all done, head back to the alchemy set. Next you may notice is that nothing about this set is made easy, as each bottle has a symbol instead of words. So we need to find out what bottle Earth, Wind, Fire and Water actually has. Remember the illustrations and symbols above the doors around the house? Those tells you what symbol belongs to what element. If you remember them or drew them down, great. If not, then Black bottle is earth, Wind is Blue, Water is Green and Fire is Red.
Each spoon holds a certain amount of each ingredience, which is displayed on the spoon itself. The amounts are 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50. You added together those numbers yet? Then you probably know you need 15 of earth, 34 of Wind, 175 of Water and 65 of Fire.
You didn’t get that? Guess Math isn’t your best side then. Nah, I’m just kidding, fill the spoons and throw the correct amount of each bottle into the vial.
When all the ingredients and correct amount of each is in the vial, use your matches to light up the gas just beneath the vial. If all is done correctly you should obtain a vial, with a Purple/Pink colored gas.
So, we’re done here, let’s move on further into the crypt. There’s a new Puzzle here, but ignore that for now and move even further into the crypt. De Allepin Lies here on a bench, dead. Go to the side of the bench and take a picture of the body. Its evidence I tell you :P
If you like you can study all the graves around here. It’s all the persons De Allepin has been since year 1200 or something like that.
When done studying, head back to the puzzle we ignored earlier, it’s time to do our duty.
First, take the long bladed knife just right of the puzzle itself. It’s the murder weapon.
Examine the code wheel, and put the missing ring you found in the bookshelf at De Allepin’s office in it.
Now all you have to do is push the four clams surrounding the rings in place and the puzzle activates. There’s a book on your left side now, showing an illustration of a solar system. Note that the “planets” with the letters A-D-N is marked. That means they’re special of coarse. The top clam shows one letter on each ring, so we’ll do the smart thing and enter A-D-N (From top ring and down) by turning the wheels around.
First part is complete, now for the number wheels. Ignore the leftmost number wheel, and leave it blank. Take another look at the illustration in the book. Notice the planets where the A-D-N combination is again. You’ll see that from the middle, the “A” is in the first solar ring, “D” is in the third ring and “N” is on the fifth. Reverse that number and you’ll get 5-3-1. Enter those in the bottom number wheel, from the top and down. That should trigger another cut scene and move us to the next segment of the game.
We’re back at the Studio, thinking about recent events, when a note slips in through your door. Great, Sophia is kidnapped and De Allepin/Kaufner wants it back. Like we know where it is.
Head over to The Alambic and talk to Bebe. You’ll learn that Hulot is the fourth victim. Talk to Bebe and talk about everything, especially about Hulot’s Fresco and Bebe copying art for him. (Gus will show her a drawing of the head of Baphomet, which she recognizes.)
After finished talking, head further into the Bistro until you see some candles and a picture of Hulot on a table. Pick up one of the candles.
Move one step to the left and examine the painting on the wall.
(NOTE: If the candle does not seem to light up, you haven’t discussed the head of Baphomet with Bebe. Look in your inventory if the sketch of it is present. You’ll need that to advance)
Now this is a hard puzzle, and the worst thing is that this walkthrough can do little to make it easier. If you don’t like pixel hunting, this is not for you. The goal here is to find segments of a drawing hidden in the painting. By moving the candle around you are supposed to reveal parts and letters of the drawing. When you find one, Gus will automatically draw them down.
A few Tips though:
1. Move the candle slowly around, as some parts only unveil themselves if the candle hovers above them for a certain time. Take your time and be thorough.
2. One letter and one part of the drawing are hidden in the white parts in the bottom right, so pay extra attention there.
3. With me it sometimes helped by holding the left mouse button down. Might just be me, but I found it easier that way.
Other than that I can’t do much else than wishing you good luck, and even if you find all the letters and put them correctly so that the name of the place is showing, you still need all the parts for it to show up on the map. Annoying, yes but it keeps you busy for a few more minutes at least.
Check your progress in the sketchbook and glue the pieces together as you discover new pieces of the puzzle. A Picture of the final drawing is also available in the same directory as the Profile Drawing mentioned earlier in the walkthrough.
When finally done go to Hellouin’s office and get the flashlight in the attic. Then head to the new Location on the map. (The Molitor)
When at Molitor, head straight forward then follow the leftmost railway. A cut scene of a train almost smashing you leads to that you’re suddenly in a very dark room. That’s why we got a flashlight. Turn it on and head further in and down the stairs.
On a shelf is the head of Baphomet, so take it. Then take a look in the box a bit left of the same shelf and you’ll find….another head of Baphomet.
So we got two of them, but which one is which?
You can try asking Bebe at the Alambic, but even she can’t tell them apart.
Head to the Police station and talk to Lebrun. Present all the evidence that you got. If you have enough, which you *should* have if you followed this walkthrough, Hellouin should be sent in for questioning at the end of the conversation.
Now we go to De Allepin’s house for the Game Finale.
There are three endings available here, the outcome when you give the head to Kaufner/Allepin depends on if you presented enough evidence to Lebrun or not. I won’t say more than that.
Congrats, you just finished Post Mortem. Hope you had fun.
KD