Updates:This walkthrough (and/or hints) is getting it's final look. Please, do not mail me. i promise to upgrade this walkthrough on a regular basis, i think, once, or twice more. I will also do a HTML file, though I prefer text version. This text is copyrighted! for any requests or if you want to send me a gift (yes, i accept money as well. no, no credit cards:)) contact me at quattro@reflector.siol.net
Differences from 0.6: added warning for patch. solving MANY problems! added more easter eggs, thanks to Lee and Romano text file has now line breaks. some minor changes.
Differences from 0.5.7: corrected typo in solution of Seal puzzle (thanks, Silvia!), corrected Lever problem in wine cellar, added two easter eggs.
Differences from 0.5.5: thanks to John, corrected path in sewers.
Differences from 0.5.1: corrected doorplate puzzle. added two more cheats.
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If you use the doors to exit a location and travel to another this problem occurs. You can solve this problem by using the menu to select world map just by right clicking or install the Black Dahlia patch, it is available at: www.take2games.com/support
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First, i must say, that you must get familiar with game interface. A lot of problems include dragging items (remember Zork Nemesis). And i must warn you, that some puzzles DO NOT give any signs, that they are solved.
Second, there are cheat codes for most puzzles in the game. I'll write them at apropriate puzzles. Use them ONLY if you fail to solve a puzzle by yourself or by this hints. Some puzzles are really almost impossible to solve, but feeling of solving one is wonderful.
Third, Black Dahlia is linear. By linear i mean it is only one correct ending to game. So what.
Start
- You start in your office. Just search and examine everything you can (do that with anything yo can put your hands on in game), in the drawer behind notebook is a gun (drag notebook away to see it). You can find a key in the gun, and key opens cabinet door in bookcase. Also, turn the lights on and search the chandelier, you'll find a bag of runes and some notes. Now go to your boss, Mr. Sulivan and talk to him about your case, and then about your predcessor.
- Next stop is Herr Finster. Ask him about everything and note shield on a wall. Also remember bar he mentioned. On the way to bar stop by detective Merylo at police station. Be nice to him and ask him about torso killings first, and then bring your case on. Look at mug shot book at his desk (remember, Finster said he identified a messenger) and find Louis Fischer with his aliases. Inside is also a piece of paper with Finster's adress and phone number. Take it.
- Now to McGinty's bar. Talk to barman and find Winslow near the exit door. Talk to him and he'll mention the list of suspicious Americans. Run back to your boss and ask him about the list. He'll give it to you. Use Pensky's notes, Finster's phone number and list (warning! You can't use these items together in a game. You have to figure out that by yourself.) to learn coded dr. Strauss's phone number (CLV=CMR, 524=404 or in plain numbers, 267-404). Call that number and Museum of Natural History answers. Curator will leave a message.
- Head back to bar, to find Finster's foreman Hansen. No sign of him. Wander around and return to office. Eventually, dr. Helen Strauss called.
- Go to Museum. Talk to Helen and show her runes. And parchment notes. She'll try and translate them. Return to bar and you'll find Hansen. He'll tell you about Louie, and that he'll check his resources. Go to phone and you'll see number 267-259 and name Lou Fielding. Call that number, there is no one by that name. Ask Hansen again if he knows anything new. He'll tell you something about calling Louie 'Harold'. Hmmm...
- Return to Museum and talk to Helen. Show her Finster's invitation and she'll show you a heraldic book, remmeber the shields of Herald, Sargeant at arms and Scribe. From the conversation you'll learn about stained glass window. Ask her to show it to you. Now you must assemble that window (in future, there will be a picture). The Eagle is alredy assembled, and it doesn't matter, where you assemble other parts. Just be careful, because they must fit almost perfectly. (CHEAT: LEADHEAD). After you achieve this, turn on the infrared light on the desk and read the names. It looks that Harold is indeed Herald, and that his name would be Fischterwald. And Finster is just short for Finsterlau. But new name appears. Muhlhaven as Scribe. Return to bar and call to Lou Fielding again. Use name Louie Fischterwald. They'll tell you he's in the Raven club. But he isn't. Ring the buzzer ant talk to man. He'll tell you that Louie is in the Mission. Search the foyer, under table's leg is a piece of paper. Pick it up and examine. Well, it is an adress of a mission and some card game results.
- Go to mission. Talk to Ernie and ask him about Louie. He'll show you a picture, but he doesn't want to give it to you. Oh, yes, Helen
managed to translate parchemnt sheets, so return to museum and collect them. Now return to Raven room and talk to Louie. What a bastard. Go to mission and prank Ernie. While he's gone, search his suitcase on the floor. Drag all items to get to the photo (note: you can't drag them if any item is ove item you want to drag. The photo is in the bottom on the right). Go to Merylo and show him the photo (and tell him Winslow is an idiot). Return to Louie and show him photo. He want's to meet you in a safe palce.
- After a cutscene, you find yourself in a hall. Go right and grab the bottle on a crate. When shooter appears, kill him. Be fast. (note: that's one possible solution. There are at least two more. Try them at your own risk. And save game before.) Search the body, there is a matchbox from Hotel Cleveland with name Muhlhaven in it. When you decide to leave, a boy appears and gives you a box. End of part 1.
Part Two
- Part two begins with a dream sequence of a Torso Killer. When you wake up, talk to Merylo and choose to cooperate. When he leaves, search the newspaper he left. Note the Torso killer (from your dreams) and a cane he's holding. Go to Sullivan's office. Hm, Winslow. Talk to Sullivan and head to hotel Cleveland. Speak with clerk. Curse, then use phone in the foyer, the clerk number is written on the backside of the matchbox. Pretend to be Muhlhaven and ask for a newspaper. Join the bellboy in the elevator, you'll find Muhlhaven's room. Use cart and pick the knife from it. Use knife on a transom above door and sneak into the room. Try to open the closet, you'll se that you need some runekey (but not from Quake:))) Examine jar on a nightstand and take the spare key. When you try to grab something more, some thugs appear. After they leave, examine jar again and take the photo.
- Go to Louie's loft. You hear a creak when walking. One floorboard is loose. Open it and take lockbox. You also notice a pile of ashes in front of furnace. Clean them away and look at runes engraved. You'll see another dream sequence. It is time to open that lockbox (CHEAT: LOGHOUSE):
- Turn the left lamp clockwise.
- Push the small window in.
- Push chimney down.
- Slide the part below small window up.
- Turn the mill away from you.
- Slide part at small window back down.
- Pull chimney back up.
- Turn mill toward you.
- Turn left lamp back up.
- Slide long part below large window to the left.
- Open door all way (180 degrees).
- Push door to the left to the end.
- Slide small part below large window up.
- You'll get a key and a ring.
- Now there is a dresser drawer. Use key from a lockbox. It doesn't unlock it. Try this way: push in, turn left, pull out, turn right twice, push in, turn left to center position and pull out (CHEAT: TURNKEY). You'll find a canine fang. Go to Sullivean and tell him about your progress. Show him also a photo of Muflhaven. It looks that Von Hess, German spy is blackmailing him. The photo was taken at Flanagan's, and it is worth to look at. Now go to Winslow. You'll learn that he has Pensky's file in his safe. He won't give it to you. Return to Muhlhaven's and use ring on a locked closet.
- Another dream sequence. Take an invitation to Raven room from closet and return to Winslow. He's having fun with a secretary, so you can search his office. A safe is under a picture next to door where you hear moaning, you now need the code. Code is written on one of pictures in the room. Do not bother finding it, it is 19 (right)-6(left)-33(right) (CHEAT: MASTERLOCK). Read the casefile and put it back. Pensky is in Sunnyvale.
- Go to Sunnyvale and sneak to his room. When nurse leaves talk to him. While he's talking, you'll get in another dream sequence. He'll tell you that you need three items to get rid of them. When you collect them, return to him. The raven's feather is in your office. You already got the fang. You still need a wisdom of a dragon.
- It is time to see, if Muhlhaven is in whorehouse, pardon, casino. He is. Ask him about blackmailing and give him an invitation to sign. Return to Pensky and tell him about the party. You must go, so head to Helen to seal it. Helen claims that she gave you the right stamp, but it looks wrong. Take a look on parchment on the desk to see a right seal. Another dream sequence and another puzzle. The stamp has in fact two stamps, one over the other and you must swap their positions by rotating the rings on a handle.
- This is the quickest way: rings marked 1-5 from top to bottom, turn ring hard in following direction: (R right, L left) : 4R 1R 5R 1R 2R 1R 3R 5L 1R 2L 3L 1L 4L. (CHEAT: RINGDING) Party on!
- When you arrive, there is Von Hess, and surprise, Winslow! Winslow drags you away to introduce you to Elliot Ness, and in the meantime Von Hess disappears through the door. When you try to follow him the guard stops you. It is time for a little diversion: go to blue door at the corner and pick the bowl hrom the table in your way. Say, isn't there a rotating table? Try to spin it. It works. Now put a bowl on it and take a plate with glasses from a cart. Put glasses on bowl and spin table again. Von Hess has a problem, and you can enter after all this mess. Dark in here? Just turn on the light over the table. Now to the table. It seems that ring unlocks all lids but one with Landulph's shield. Take a look of rune imprints. It somehow makes sense. Look at parchments and write down runes from line 'Each Gift To Him Is Now Devoted' Write them two by two and there is a correct order how to open lids (CHEAT: ARTHUR). Last panel will open and you'll get a book. Return to Pensky, just to realize, that he's gone and everybody claims that Pensky has actually never been there. End of part two.
Part Three
- A few days later there is a letter on your desk. It's from madam Cassandra, and she wrote you by Pensky's order. You visit her. Talk to
her and she'll put you in a trance. You find yourself in a strange place and when you try to move, a really strange room builds around you. There is a door and you hear about a million voices telling you strange things. When you see the door closer, you realize, that voicess tel you about correct order of carved stones on left and right sides of the door. Here it is (CHEAT: CANCAN):
LEFT RIGHT
Crown Bird
Key Moon
Serpent Shield
Star Fish
Key Serpent
Shield Comet
Sun Crown
Bird Fish
- The door opens and you find yourself in space. You can try and hop from one platet to another, bit you fail (save game before). Press escape to return from trance and tell Cassy about it. She'll show you a book of astrology. Remember numbers of the planets and their astrological signs. Now return to your boss and talk to him; tell him that your case and Torso killer are connected, then go to Merylo. Ask him about Torso killer casefile and look through evidence. Examine closely newspapers as Merylo believes that newspapers can be some sort of clue.. It looks blood stains reveal one number on each newspaper and this is the correct order how to access planets in trance. But the last one is missing - Winslow has it. You also learn that one victim, besides Louie was identified. Angelo Santini.
- Pay another visit to winslow and talk about Von Hess, Pensky and missing evidence. Also take a look at sewer tunnel Merylo mentioned. Now go and visit Angelo's mother. Talk to her and when she leaves, turn off the lights in Angelo's room. Pull down left shade; there is a piece of paper. A photo of Angelo and Louie in the Raven room. Interesting. Go to Raven room.
- Raven Room: Now spinning table is locked, so you must enter through main door. There are pressing plates on them and correct order can be revealed from Von Hess's folding invitation. This one is bitch to solve (CHEAT: TRIANGLE), so there it is:
(forgive my lame ASCII)
_____ ____ ____ ____ _____ _____
/\ ______ | / / || \ \ || / \ |
/ \ \ / | / / || \ \ || / \ |
\ / \___/ | / /______||_____\ \ || / \ |
\/ |/ \||/ \|
- Take a good look of the tapestry and return to police station. Winslow returned the last piece and your theory seems to be right. Go to Cassy and ask her to put You in a trance again. Now this is the correct order of planets (write downt their signs, it's easier. I can't do that in a text file:) Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Earth and Thule.
- You find yourself at Odin's pool and there are some stones. Throw one by one in the water and you'll see, what different people (including you) do at that very moment. Return from trance ant talk to Cassy. She'll tell you to get something that belongs to killer and you will be able to see him. Return to Angelo's mother. More searching reveals loose baseboard next to bed. There is a large sum of money, some pages torn from somewhere and Pensky's note. Give money to Angelo's mother and go to sewers. You see Torso kIller in person and rush behind him to sewers.
- Now this is a labyrinth. I lost my map but as i recall, you must turn right at first split and go straight four times, then turn left and go that way, till you find some pipes and pressure gauges. They are stained with blood. It looks this is a secret passage. Turn pressure gauges till all four of them show the same pressure as the fifth one and the wall opens (CHEAT: PRESSURE). But there is another door, with iron cross imprint. You remember Von Hess had one. Go to Winslow and demand it. Winslow will go with you to sewers. Use cross on door. Waltk into chamber and Winslow will run away. But there is another door. Damn. It has pressure levers and it is hard to pass (CHEAT: BARBELL).
- And then there is yet another door, impossible to open. Look up and left and you'll see a ventialtion grate. Through it you can see a meeting of a Brotherhood and a Torso killer. When the meeting is over you can see killer putting his robe in a closet and locking it with candlestick. Return to Raven Room and get candleholder. It has five rotating parts, each one pulls or pushes indentations (CHEAT: NIMBLE). Take the talisman from closet and return to Cassy. She'll put you into trance again and you'll se a new stone by the pool. Drop it into water and you'll see the image of Torso killer pulling a book in bookcase, resulting opening a secret door. You'll hurry to Merylo and go to Raven room. Pull the same book and enjoy the end of part three.
Part 4
- Now You are the officer of OSS, and war has come to an end. You were called to open some strange door. When you look at it, it looks pretty much like tapestry years back in Raven room. Above the door is a picture of Odin, one-eyed God. You must assemble all the planets with a light side up. Moving of every planet afects other planets. There is no specific solution to this one, but it is not too hard to solve (CHEAT: SUNSPOT). You find yourself in a shamber with three wall safes. On the left is again pressure level puzzle with no obvious pattern (expect a picture) (CHEAT: LADYBUG), in the middle is a multiple key safe (expect a picture) (CHEAT: KEYPUNCH) and on the right is a Gear. (Correct position of levers: down, up, up, down, up, down, down. Expect a picture.) (CHEAT: GEAROIL). First two are empty, but in third one.... BLACK DAHLIA!!!! Unfortunately, some idiot MP apperas and you must give the gem to him.
- A year later, you are hunting war criminals And you get a tip about a monastery near Austrian-Swiss border. You find yourself in a wine cellar. Look around and proceed to tha door above stairs. Look through keyhole. Hm, armed guys. Turn around and you'll see a well. Go to well and try to grab the rope. Examine cellar some more, you.ll find two levers. Push right lever up and left one down, then push right one down again. Now you can descend the well. Oh no, another labyrinth.
- So, some guidelines. Keep all time right, till you find a small altar and strange artifact. Return to crossing and proceed right. You'll find
Herald's Chamber. Use artifact on coffin and it will open. The runes will be added to your notebook. Do not forget to turn them right, when you need them later in the game. Follow the right turning procedure till you come to Main Chamber with multiple exits. Now ths is tricky. The door you came in is marked as entrance. Leave through third door left from your entrance, go left and right and you should come to Scribe's Chamber. If you get lost, sooner or later you end up in Main chamber, so that's not a problem. In his coffin are some square stones. On the wall is a small pool, throw stones into the water and assemble them (expect picture soon, for now only ASCII) (CHEAT: ROCK33)
| \| |\ |\
| \ | \ |\\
| |\ | | | \
| | | | |
- Now to Sargeant at Arms. You will reach that chamber if you turn left all the time from Scribe. His coffin is a sliding pieces puzzle. You must move pieces that corner four ones move out of their indentations. Pretty much same as moving parts i warehouse in Pandora Directive (CHEAT: BLOCKHEAD). And now to Landulph. Again turn left all the time and you shall find a small bridge. Next, you'll find yourself in front of stairs. Each stair has three sections and each section has engraved rune. If you step on a wrong one, the poison dart will kill you.
- The safe way up is (1- left, 2-middle, 3-right): 1,3,3,2,3,1,3. Look at runes on his coffin and return to Main Chamber. Remember to walk on same steps downstairs, now you can't see safe runes!!! (ok.. here it is: 1,3,1,2,1,1,3). There is an altar in main chamber, with four pillars around them. You must put combinations from coffins on pillars (from up to down) to open your way forth. Each pillar can assemble only one combination, so it shouldn't be too hard (CHEAT: TEMPLE). You arrived to another chamber with coffin. Now you must assemble your bag of runes to Dahlia's case. It is almost impossible, but i give you this picture (CHEAT: GEMSTONE):
- Something is now different. The eyes of sarcophagus are now glowing. Descend the stairs left and look through binoculars. Next to binoculars is a stone mosaic that can be turned. Turn it till it is turned with grey rough side to you, and then once more. Go to the other end of trench and do the same thing with other two stones. Look through binocular again and you'll see a point on the outer side of the trench. Go there and examine outer wall. another ASCII:
_________________
| |
| _______ |
| | \/ \/| ----|
| | | ----
| | crypt |
here | | | ----
is ->X O /\ | ----|
dagger | ------- |
| " |
| binoculars |
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- There is a ceremonial dagger and pulling it out reveals another secret passage. You come to a room and find Von Hess. Talk to him and Wislow appears. He kills Von Hess and almost you too. Cutscene, end of part four.
Part Five
- Shortly after that you find yourself in an air base, looking for a pilot who bought Black Dahlia on the black market. Talk to GI and he'll show you Matt's Footlocker. Examine it; there are letters from Elisabeth Short and her picture. Ask if you can keep that and GI tells you that some guy before you asked the same thing. It was Winslow, of course.
- The next part is happening on a train. Look at ashtray and there are black cigarettes! So Winslow is on a train. Call the porter and talk to him. When he leaves, look at his dining car seating chart. Winslow is travelling under name of late Matt Collins. Go to back of the train to see a conductor. When you arrive to baggage car turn around. In a pocket on the door is a blueprint of the train, so you can jump from car to car via that map. Proceed to conductor's car and talk to him. He won't give you a number of Winslow's compartment (ah, remembers me of The Last Express). Go back to baggage car and grab a suitcase near to a crate. It falls of a crate. Hmm. Find a string on a shelf near the door to sleeping cars and return to falling siutcase. Put it on crate again (save your game before!) and tie suitcase with string to an emergency brake. Return FAST to conductor or sleeping car. When conductor hurls away, go to his office and look at his listings. Wislow (Collins) in in compartment number 7 in car #283. You can find that car by yourself (if you try by blind, you'll get kicked off the train) by looking at list of repairs or you can believe me that he is in a fourth car from the front. Enter his compartment ad open a drawer. there is a piece of paper with a single rune.
- As you grab it (the piece of paper with the single rune), you get dizzy and unconscious. When you wake up there is a beautiful girl. Go to conductor. You find out that Winslow left in Chicago and switched to Express, but his luggage is still there. Return to baggage car and look at list to find Winslow's crate (0100AA). It is unlocked and in there are only bottles of Champagne. Strange. But...
- Try this: Remove small pin and put it in a small hole in front. Remove large pin and put it in a second hole in front. Flip top hasp down and open lid. Close lid and flip up top and front hasp. Remove pin from front hole and put it in a front center hole, where hoop is. Push hoop up to the pin. Remove small pin and put it in a front center hole, where hoop was. Remove handle on the left side and put it in the top holes over hasps. Remove handle holder from the left and put it over the hoop in the front. Get handle from the top and put it into the holder in the front. Voila! (CHEAT: BOXTOP)
- You change the stamps on crates, and you only have to apologize the lady for being in her compartment. She is in dining car. And so you arrive to Los Angeles. First thing you do is calling the police. You'll meet detective Maxwell at a small diner across the road. He doesn't like you. But, you'll meet Alice again. Go to shipping office to check about Winslow's crate. stuff, clerk at recieving is an idiot. Go to shipping desk and look into a trash can. Take a package and call a clerk. Send a crate to yourself by EXPRESS delivery and return to recieving clerk. stuff, you must wait. Look at the letters Elisabeth wrote to Matt and go to her adress. But she isn't living there anymore. Look through the room and talk to Mrs. Underhill. IN a drawer next to bed is a hotel napkin from Billmore hotel.
- Go to the Biltmore hotel and talk to barman. He recognizes Elisabeth (Lizzy), but she's not there right now. Return to shipping office and get your package. Winslow's crate was picked up by ABC moving company. Return to your hotel room and call ABC Moving. No help, but you have their adress now.
- Go to ABC Moving and open file cabinet. The file you are looking for (i spare you some searching and deducting) is marked SOIAKP52. It was delivered to RKO studio, so you head there. Security guard won't let you in. return to Billmore and talk to Lizzy. Phone rings and LAPD detective calls you to a crime scene. When you leave, Winslow will appear. When you figure it out, it is too late...
- Next day you return to Billmore. Talk to barman and he'll tell you that Lizzy lives here in room 201. Head to the door, right and up the stairs.
- Room 201 is at the end of the hallway next to window. Knock, there is no answer. Open the window and step out. Try to open window into Lizzy's room. It won/t budge. Click on the top of the window and bump wooden stick that prevents window from opening. Now open window and slip in. On top of the door is a train station locker key. Take it and return to hotel. Maxwell is waiting for you. Lizzy was mutilated. He has a companion who starts to beat you, but Alice appears and saves you from more beating. Talk to her, she'l provide you a V.I.P. pass for RKO Studios. Now go to train lockers. Lizzy removed the number from the key, but he wrote in a letter that she has a foolproof combination to remember the number. E.S. equals number 37 on telephone dial, so you try to open locker #37. Bingo. But no dahlia there. Apparently she sold it. Go to antique shop with bill and claim Dahlia back. stuff! The guy sold it. But he has a cane. you buy the cane and note it's a new puzzle. You must assemble again four runes from catacombs in monastery, and cane opens (CHEAT: ANDYCANE).
- You got yourself some treasure map. Return to hotel, the pass is waiting for you. Go to studio and look at crate. Al King signed for it. You see Alice, talk to her and she'll invite you to Big Al's. When you arrive there, search his house. Hm, he has a telescope. Look at his desk and look through telescope on signed coordinates. He likes to watch, don't he?
- Search trash can. You'll find some torn telegrams (it is fun to assemble them all, but only one important is Winslow's (CHEAT:TELEPORT), sent from Zurich, telling that he'll arrive in january and that he wants a crate delivered to abandoned shooting lodge), newspaper, chisel and gloves. Look at article in newspaper and go to cemetery. There are grafitti over the walls but the one that counts is a puzzle in logo of Saturnus. Correct ansver is 27. Behind the sarcophagus is a small vase and a piece of paper in it. The number of the page is 165 with Saturnus logo drawn around and Winslow wrote, that you can try a hundred times. Return to Big Al's and look at map on the wall above the desk. Use treasure map on map and superimpose it so windroses will match. As you can see, Al's house height is 100 and marked position is 250. Look at charts for telescope. For range 16500 and height difference 150, there is angle of 0.5 use location device and mark 27 and 0.5, then look through telescope. Move telescope so triangles match and you'll see Winslow!!! (CHEAT:PEEPER)
- Go to abandoned loft and as you try to open the window, the floor will break. It is a place where Winslow murdered Lizzy. You look at the aldder, there is a picture of... Alice!!! As you try to climb the ladder, it breaks and place is set on fire. Now quick open all three lockers, by the third you'll get a witness rune marked on your hand. Grab the key and run out. Return to hotel, there is a letter from Alice. Damn!!!!
- Go back to Al's house. Place is a mess. Find a projector and "enjoy" a snuff movie. Take a look at cuckoo clock on the wall. Turn the handst that they show 5 o'clock and when hule dancer comes out, turn minute 5 minutes back. The secret passage will open (CHEAT: BONGO). You see Alice tied up. Untie her.
- That's all I am going to say. I don't want to spoil you the ending! Just a short note. Do not shoot Winslow. Shoot Black Dahlia instead.
