The second (and sadly final – at least for now) DLC for The Case of the Golden Idol takes players to the mysterious Monkey’s Paw Island to finally learn how Oberon Geller and Albert Cloudsley obtained the titular mystical device. This guide will take you through the first case “The Enigmatic Expiration in a Harmonious Island Commune,” and help you solve every mystery in this consistently tricky game.
Clues
There are 35 clues to find in this chapter. You should ideally collect every clue before beginning to solve the chapter’s puzzles. The available clues are as follows:
- People: Gamini, Jayan, Ji, Kerra, Kruplu, Kula, Lavu, Mata, Momgo, Stirna, Sutul, Tissa, Vaito, Vyrlis, Zarno, Zubiri
- Verbs: Increase, Reduce
- Nouns: Death, Golden, Idol, Incantation, Lifespan
- Island History: Ancestors, Banishes, Brute, Community, Discovers, Dweller, Emerges, From, Lemurian, Protection, Sentinel, Tower
Solutions
Unlike previous cases, this one is broken into three scenes, set in the same commune during different time periods. Call the earliest Scene 1 (three shipwrecked men arrive on Monkey’s Paw Island,) the middle Scene 2 (daily life on the island,) and the final Scene 3 (someone dies in a ritual.)
Persons of Interest
As in previous cases, begin by identifying the key players in the situation. If you played the previous DLC (The Spider of Lanka) you may recognize three of the characters and be able to name them immediately. However, the case does identify them for players who do not remember them or haven’t played the previous DLC.
First, take a look at Scene 1 and the three men washed up on shore after a shipwreck. The man lying down identifies himself as part of the Gamini family and as a prince. The diary of the kneeling man calls the prince Tissa, so this is Tissa Gamini. Tissa calls the man holding him up “Blademaster Jayan,” and the diary mentions “Blademaster Ji,” so this man is Jayan Ji. Finally, a letter in Jayan’s pocket calls the third man Zubiri Kerra, a Lemurian priest.
Move to Scene 2, where a council of Guardians have voted on an important issue. You not only need to identify their names, but their titles. Read all the dialogue between villagers to learn the following facts:
- A person named “Kula,” is female and assigns tasks to women. “Kruplu” is male and interested in plants. “Lavu” is female and is strict.
- “Stirna” admonished a woman, while “Vyrlis” is responsible for the newcomers and “Zarno” organizes the harvest.
- “Kula” votes against “Momgo,” who is male.
- “Mata” is responsible for teaching children.
- “Vaito” is having their house redone by the villagers
The four members of the council are the Guardians of Males, Females, Children, and Agriculture. In addition, one villager was brought in to break a tie vote. The votes “for” are KS and KZ while the votes “against” are LM, VM, and SV.
With this information, you can begin to identify the council members. The blonde man says that the newcomers are his responsibility, so he must be “Vyrlis” and thus “VM.” He calls the woman next to him “Lavu.” She has a register of children in her hands, meaning that she must be Lavu Mata, the Guardian of Children (as Mata was named as the children’s teacher.) The only other “M” name is “Momgo” so the blonde man is Vyrlis Momgo, and because he is responsible for newcomers, he is Guardian of Males.
By process of elimination, the remaining woman is Kula Stirna, the Guardian of Females. “Kula” is the only other known female name, while “Stirna” reprimanded other women. This fits the “KS” token. The man next to her is then “KZ.” He is thus the sole remaining Guardian, the Guardian of Agriculture. His name is Kruplu (interested in plants) Zarno (organizes the harvest).
Once again use process of elimination – “SV” is the villager who broke the tie. Lavu said that “Sutul” agreed with her, and the only V name left is “Vaito,” so he is Sutul Vaito.
The History Of Monkey’s Paw Island
Now, look at the twelve history tiles the children are playing with. This may seem like an extremely difficult puzzle on the surface, but it is in fact much simpler than it initially looks.
Read Zubiri’s diary (in his pocket) in Scene 2 to learn that the twelve tiles make up three stories – the first about “exodus,” the second about “discovering something accursed,” and the third about “discovering protection.” Arrange the twelve words to make three short four-word sentences that describe the history of the island in the ordered Zubiri provided. (The pictures on the cards will also make a coherent story when placed in the right order.)
The sentences, in order, are:
- “Brute banishes Lemurian ancestors” (people flee from a tyrant, get on a boat, and find the island)
- “Dweller emerges from tower” (people live peacefully on the island until the Tower Dweller shows up and begins killing them)
- “Sentinel discovers community protection” (the sentinel finds a blue helmet-like device that keeps them safe from the Dweller’s attacks)
The Failed Ritual
Finally, it’s time to take a look at Scene 3. A person confronted the Tower Dweller, who is shown wielding the golden idol, and winds up dead. A piece of graffiti on the wall in Scene 2 reads “Tomorrow your incantation expires, Vaito.” This means that Sutul Vaito must have been the person who chanted the incantation in front of the tower. (This fits with what you know of Vaito – he’s elderly, respected by the community, and is exempt from normal duties according to Tissa.)
Based on the history tiles, you know that Vaito must have been taking on the role of the “sentinel,” who “banishes” the Tower Dweller when the community needs protection. However, this time, the ritual failed and he died. The answer to this comes from the base game: the golden idol is capable of taking away years of a person’s life when activated. Vaito, who was already elderly, most likely had too much of his life taken away, hence his death. (While the idol can also do things like transfer energy or produce fire, Vaito has no visible wounds, so this cannot be his method of death.)
Thus, the final scroll of the chapter can be filled out. It reads:
“Sutul Vaito went to the tower and spoke the incantation, because according to local tradition, whenever the dweller endangers the community, the sentinel goes and banishes the dweller to the tower until the next time. After the incantation was spoken, the golden idol was activated to reduce lifespan and Sutul Vaito died.”
With this, you will unlock the full solution to the first case of The Lemurian Vampire DLC for The Case of the Golden Idol. This will allow you to move on to the next case, where someone becomes the new Sentinel after Vaito’s death and players get to learn more about the titular vampire and tensions within the council. While you’re here, make sure to check out GameLuster’s other guides for every case of The Case of the Golden Idol as well as both the Spider of Lanka and Lemurian Vampire DLC!
