Old Ham Mill
 | |
|---|---|
| Old Ham Mill | |
Region |
Gray County |
Unlocked by |
Wandering in Gray County |
|
“ | Sirrah, no. I refer to the Pulitzer Board's cynical capitulation to award the Prize for Drama to Sidney Glout over Haldie Howell. This thoughtless piggery agitated me so thoroughly I could not even read on to learn if that smut merchant Marnie Mornay won for Poetry. | „ |
The Old Ham Mill spins no more. Can you soothe its aching soul?
Quests
- Climb the ladder and walk around the room. There's an invisible spot that triggers a dialog.
- With 7ish Mysticality, start a conversation with the Mill. Keep asking questions to learn its woes.
The Mill is upset about a Pulitzer winner from a few years ago. If you can figure out when the offending prize was awarded, you might be able to help.
- NFSC Directive 17/2 gives you a... smell code, I guess? for the age of flour.
- The flour downstairs smells fetid, so it's around 36 months old. (The game takes place October 13-19, 1928, as per the hitchhiker's memorial.)
- It's been rotting since 1925, then.
- The inspection report tells you the clock was being used as a calendar.
- The clock is stopped at 06:07. If that's a date, it's June 7th; and it must have been the last time the workers bothered coming here, since they'd have been advancing the clock each day manually.
Check the most recent archives at The Watchful Eye Office. Unlike all other archives, this one asks you to type in a date.
- 06-07-25 gives you three headlines, one confirming the awful news of Glout's victory. Sure enough, the Mill must have shut down in grief this very day.
- There's also a typo in one of the headlines.
- Newspapers traditionally publish corrections the next day. If there was a typo on the 7th, then...
- Checking the archives for 06-08-25 gives you not one but three corrections. One declares that Howell won the Pulitzer, not Glout. The Mill will be happy to see this!
Take another look at Watchful Eye, June 8, 1925 in your inventory, though:
The paper contains a full and correct list of 1925's Pulitzer Prize winners, including the Old Ham Mill's beloved Haldie Howell for Drama. A full list:
Reporting: E. Bradford Soup, of the Northwestern Courier & Newspaper
Editorial Writing: Ernest Honk, "A Protestation"
Editorial Carnooning: Jefferson Jost, of "Just Josting"
Novel: Thomas Clancy, Rainbow One
Drama: Haldie Howell, Listen Here, Ape
History: George Geithner, The Tomb of the Young King
Biography: Maude Wolfe, Terri Gun and Her Guns
Poetry: Marnie Mornay, Uncle Cabel
Congratulations to them all
Oh no, not Mornay! That's the "smut merchant" the Mill was grousing about. If it hears about this, its mood is not going to improve.
- Ready yourself with 7ish Muscle.
Return to the top of the Mill, and walk around until you find the hotspot (which moves randomly each time you come in).
- Give the Mill the good news and earn 50
. - It would like to read the rest of the article. This isn't the best thing for it to do, so say no.
- The Mill tries to yank the paper out of your hands. Hold on with that Muscle.
- There's one last chance to show it the article anyway, if you choose (or misclick).
If the Mill sees the full article, it will self-destruct in anger. Keep it from seeing the bad news, though, and it'll keep spinning and enjoy a good ending.
Interactions
Outside
- Find Hobo glyphs requiring 16 Hobo Literacy:
- "GO 50 PACES WEST."
- "NOW GO 50 PACES NORTH."
- "GOOD JOB. NOW GO 25 PACES SOUTH."
- "NOW 25 PACES EAST."
- "ALMOST THERE! 50 PACES WEST."
- Remember that west and north have been switched.
- Eventually, use a shovel to find: previously-buried cigar box.
- A fence you can paint.
- A shadow pouch.
Ground Floor
| Fishing in the tub | |
|---|---|
Limit
|
Once |
Items
|
mana-enriched flour |
- With 6ish Stench Armor, smell the flour. It is dank and fetid.
- If you eat the flour, you gain the Against the Grain debuff.
- Insectologist: study the bugs to learn the flour is at least 2 years old.
- A clock stopped at 6:07.
- If you get the Mill to spin again, find windswept flour (6) in the basin, and fish a mana-enriched flour from it.
As you approach the ladder, the narrator asks:
Steady wind blows but the windmill does not turn.
Why do you think that is?
Your response:
- It's too old?
- Some sort of blade issue?
- Gunked up main shaft, no doubt
- The windmill must have bad bones
- Probably a sound problem, I'm a Meta-Accoustics minor (with Meta-Accoustics)
- Probably a rock problem, I'm a Geology minor (with Geology)
- Probably a solar problem, I'm a Astronomy minor (with Astronomy)
- I have no idea, I just got here, this is too much pressure!
You can ask the Mill about this later.
Grinding Floor
- Find NFSC Directive 17/2 after reading 4 books.
- A safe which you can open with a match.
- With a Chemicals major or Culinary Science elective, the narrator reminds you that particles of flour suspended in an enclosed space will explode if ignited.
- Find inspection report, 111
, and windmill keeper's boots.
The books you can read, chosen at random:
- A People's History of the Skeleton Roads, by Boxer Hamlin. Highbrow taste.
- A Union Daughter, by Sidney Glout.
- Anna in Two Autumns, by Albie Parrish Hatt.
- Early Farewell to the Fiddler, by Marnie Mornay.
- Inventing the Horn, by Boxer Hamlin.
- Our Founding Maids, by Isidora Curlingway.
- Paradise Corn, by Carrington Whip.
- Strange Streets, by Susan St. Sneeze.
- The Borders of Bright Town, by Evelyn Waincroft Webster.
- The Fishing Bridge, by Sidney Glout.
- The Immigrant Wife, by Elmer B. Henckel.
- The Years of Hay and Mourning, by Marnie Mornay.
- We Knew What The Horses Wanted, by Haldie Howell.
- What Did the Banker Say? by Haldie Howell.
Gallery
| “ | A vast, fallow field. The wind blows, yet the mill stands still. | „ |