The Secret of Monkey Island/Part One: The Three Trials

Town
After a brief conversation with the Mêleé Island™ lookout, you find yourself standing on a bridge at the edge of the town. The town isn't a huge place but consists of a fair few areas and you will find yourself returning here throughout the game.

The lookout told you that if you want to become a pirate you should talk to the Pirate Leaders, and they are to be found in the Scumm Bar, so that's our destination. First, you can have a look at the poster of Governor Marley that's stuck on the wall near you - she's an important player in this story.

Walk to the right, past the bridge, and the first building we come to is the Scumm Bar. How convenient. Open the door and go on inside.


 * ITEMS
 * none

Scumm Bar
There's several nearby pirates you can talk to here to get a bit of background info on what's going on. You will find out about the ghost pirate LeChuck and his history with Governor Marley. You can also get a hint about how to get into the kitchen.

The important-looking pirates are sitting on a large table in the room to the right. These are the Pirate Leaders. Go and have a chat to them, tell them you want to become a pirate and you'll find out about The Three Trials. Ask about each one in turn to find out exactly what you have to do to prove yourself worthy.


 * Master the art of the sword by defeating the Sword Master
 * Master the art of thievery by stealing the Idol o' Many Hands from the Governor's mansion
 * Master the art of treaure hunting by finding the Legendary Lost Treasure of Mêleé™ Island

When you're done talking, we might as well have a little look at the kitchen and see if there's anything interesting. If you open the door and try to enter when the cook is in there, he'll kick you out. Therefore, you need to wait until the cook leaves the kitchen and walks past you, off the screen (you may need to stand away from the door a little bit). Then you can go inside.

There's a few things to steal (borrow) while you are in here. There's a hunk of meat sitting on the table at the back of the room, and there's also a pot hiding underneath it, so take both of them. Open the door at the side of the kitchen which leads to the small pier, and a seagull will appear next to a fish lying there. If you try to pick the fish up, the seagull will peck your hand.

To get the fish, walk to the far right end of the small pier and down a little so you step on the bottom most plank. The plank is loose, and will knock the seagull into the air. Do this three times to give yourself enough time to pick up the fish. Time to leave the Scumm Bar and go back into the town now.

You can continue to explore the rest of town if you wish, there's a church, a shop, a prison, the voodoo lady and the governor's mansion. For now though, you can begin the three trials. Go back to where we started the game, and to the left up the cliffside. Chat to the lookout if you like, then continue on to the island map view and head for the clearing.


 * ITEMS
 * hunk of meat
 * pot
 * fish

Mastering the Sword
NOTE: You can perform the Three Trials in any order you wish.

Circus
We're going to need some money to continue, and this is where we'll find it. Go inside the circus tent and meet the Fettucini Brothers. They want to shoot you out of their cannon. Ask, "How much will you pay me?" and then agree to do it. Say that you have a helmet and when they ask to see it give them the pot. We're now 478 pieces of eight better off, but we need a sword. Go back to the island map and head back to the village where we began.


 * ITEMS
 * 478 pieces of eight

Town
Go through the two sets of arches until you have an overhead view of the church and shops. Walk a little way past the alley and you'll hear someone saying "psssst". Go down the alley and you'll meet the unpleasant Sheriff Fester Shinetop. He suggests you leave town.

Go back out of the alley and enter the shop. There's a sword on the wall near the till, pick it up and then ring the bell on the counter. Tell him you want the sword, and it'll cost you 100 pieces of eight.

Leave town, go back to the island map view and head for the house in the south-east corner.


 * ITEMS
 * sword

Bridge
A troll stops you at a bridge before we can reach our destination. Talk to him. He wants a toll - something "that will attract attention but have no real importance" ... give him the fish (a red herring!). Continue on to the house.


 * ITEMS
 * none

Sword Trainer's house
Open the door and you'll meet the sword trainer. Tell him you want to beat the Sword Master, and persist that you do have what it takes. Eventually he'll relent and tell you that training will cost 30 pieces of eight. Show him your sword and you'll then be treated to a fairly amusing sequence in which Guybrush is taught to sword fight.

You'll now know that the secret to winning sword fights is to use insults on your opponents. The sword trainer taught you a couple, but you're going to need to learn more. So, leave the house and go back to the island map view.

You see all the little figures of people walking around the island? Those are pirates, and they're all hankering for a good sword fight. Walk up to one of them and stand still - eventually, one of them will walk into you and you can choose to fight them.

You need to learn more insults and responses from all these pirates. Every time they say a new insult to you, you can use it on the next pirate you meet, and when you do they in turn will (usually) provide you with the correct response. You need to keep doing this until you've learnt a good deal of insults and their proper responses. Don't worry if you lose a fight, you can't die. See here for the full list of insults/responses you need to learn.


 * ITEMS
 * none

Finding the Sword Master
The next step is to find the Sword Master, and there's one person in town who knows where she is. Go to the town shop where we bought the sword from, and ring the bell to get the assistant to appear.

Tell him you're looking for the Sword Master, and he'll go off to find her and tell you to wait there. What you actually have to do is follow him. He'll walk out of the town, onto the island map and then go to the fork. Once you are in the forest, keep following him and you'll soon come upon the Sword Master's hidden house.

When you have control of Guybrush again, walk up to Carla the Sword Master and talk to her. Whatever you say, you'll soon be fighting her.

This is where all the insults you've learnt come into play. Although Carla's insults are different, the responses are the same, so you just have to use common sense to figure out which response is the correct reply to her insults. If you really can't, see here for the full list of specific Sword Master insults/responses. When you beat her, you'll get a wonderful prize.


 * ITEMS
 * 100% cotton t-shirt