1. Discovering the order that the group traveled through the rooms seems to be the first step. I've put together a list that may or may not be correct and then reordered the room descriptions to follow that order.

2. The cryptic remarks at the end suggest knowing which doors the group didn't take is important to solving the puzzle. I've gotten maybe half of the unused doors identified based on clues in the text.

3. It's unclear whether the house is mappable. Many room-to-room transitions are only vaguely described. There aren't enough mentions of stairs to account for how often the group appears to transition from level to level.

4. There are a number of odd comments made by the "host" that suggest some sort of wordplay going on, like rebuses. It could be that these need to be ordered by the group route (or group non-routed) and then solved.

Nos, if the Antechamber was something other than a square, then it would be possible. So make 1 and 2 a single room with the point of entry at the bottom of one. A left into 3, followed by a left into 4 would result in a left back to the Antechamber.

My problem with the Aux Bath and group seeing back into the antechamber is that it sits at the fifth spot on the list, minimum. So it doesn't seem physically possible to keep turning in the same direction and see back to the starting point in that many steps, unless they're not making 90 degree turns to the right or left.

I wouldn't assume that the rooms are arranged in a rectangular array. I'm treating them as an array of nodes with connections between them. I'm not sure it is something that can be mapped as a floor plan or something.

Right now I am working under the following assumptions:
1) Each node is connected to three other nodes (except the first node (Antechamber) which is explicitly stated to have four connections).
2) The people follow a path through the nodes such that they never enter the same node twice.
3) The connections between the nodes do not cross (not sure if I can keep this one).
4) There are 21 nodes; the 20 visited plus the 21st "Treasure" node.

If I am right, it should be possible to figure out all of the connections except 3; those should be the ones leading to the treasure node. I think there is enough information available to figure this out. Unfortunately I have plans for tonight and can't work on this one as much as I would like.

I do have one uncertainty so far and that is I do not know if the dumbwaiter counts as a connection between two nodes or not. Right now I am treating it as if it is.

1. Antechamber - Stated to be first room.
2. Research Laboratory - Mentions that the house is supposed to be abandoned and an alchemical stench.
3. Unused Pantry - Someone says to close the door to block a chemical smell (so after Research Laboratory. Find the key. Is implied that there is a secret door here.
4. Book Stacks - Someone questions if the house is really abandoned. Hear a sound and follow it.
5. Boiler Room - Source of sound heard in Book Stacks. Room is dark.
6. Gleaming Chamber - Stated that room is brighter than any connecting room so previous and next rooms must be dark.
7. In the Rafters - Area is dim. Mentions getting dirty from bat filth. Mentions missing secret door so after the Unused Pantry.
8. Auxiliary Bath - Mentions cleaning off dust and bat guano, so after In the Rafters.
9. Dank Garret - Mentions both the Unused Pantry and In the Rafters so after both. Find the crowbar. Someone sees something through the door.
10. Hallway to Nowhere - Has the fake painting seen from the Dank Garret so after it. Mentions the secret door in the Pantry again.
11. Lumber Room - Stated to be the 11th room. Used the key found in the Unused Pantry. Leave by a stairway.
12. Upstairs Landing - Mentions a chemical smell, so after the Research Laboratory. Mentions a possible live animal.
13. Master Bedroom - Mentions being concerned about something following them, so after the animal discovered in the Upstairs Landing.
14. Floorless Room - Mentions possibly returning to the Master Bedroom so after it. Mentioned that someone may be missing.
15. Ashy Kitchen - Used the crowbar found in the Dank Garret.
16. Glasshouse - Mentions tracking ash around so after the Ashy Kitchen. Mentions that the key (or the person carrying it) is missing, so after both the Lumber Room and the Floorless Room.
17. Cavernous Cellar - Mentions the sound so after the Boiler Room. Mentions a dumbwaiter. Leave the room by a stairway.
18. Drawing Room - Mentions arriving by stairway so follows either the Cavernous Cellar or the Lumber Room. Mentions that the crowbar is missing, so after both the Dank Garret and the Ashy Kitchen.
19. Banquet Hall - Mentions the dumbwaiter so after the Cavernous Cellar.
20. Zodiacal Hall - Stated to be last room.

Any thoughts?

Close! There's another clue as to which room follows the Gleaming Chamber, and it's not the one you list.

This is fun, thanks for sharing it!

Spoiler wrote:

I think I've got the rooms in the order they proceed through them correctly. Would anyone like to compare? I'll have to save attempting to identify the unused doors in each room for tomorrow at work, as well as figuring out what comes next.

Identifying maybe half of the unused doors is possible without a map. To get all of them you'll need a map.

Feel free to post!

spoiler wrote:

Identifying maybe half of the unused doors is possible without a map. To get all of them you'll need a map.

Hmmm... I guess that means...
*snip*
Thanks. I should have caught that.

The only problem Ihave with that is I don't think the Upstairs Landing can follow the Lumber Room, since the LR has stairs, and the stairs going up and down at the Landing are rotted through. I suggest moving the Landing down between the Drawing Room and Banquet Hall, but I'm not sure if that works yet. That would make the order:

Antechamber
Research Lab
Unused Pantry
In the Rafters
Auxillary Bath
Book Stacks
Boiler Room
Gleaming
Dank Garret
Hallway to Nowhere
Lumber Room
Master bedroom
Floorless Room
Ashy Kitchen
Glasshouse
Cavernous
Drawing Room
Upstairs landing
Banquet Hall
Zodiacal Hall

That's the problem I just realized. The landing does have to preceed the bedroom. So I guess the question is if the LR can get to the Landing...

hint 2 wrote:

The house can be mapped. However, doing so will probably be very difficult without being familiar with the map of the game that this puzzle pays homage to. And I don't mean Maze.

Assuming that there is a single solution, and trying to keep track of what we can be sure about, we know that we start in the Antechamber, there is a gap of 9 rooms followed by the lumber room, and then a gap of 8 rooms ending with the Zodiacal Hall and the Antechamber again. I make 5 sequences we can be sure about:

1. ResearchLaboratory->UnusedPantry,
2. InTheRafters->AuxiliaryBath,
3. BookStacks->BoilerRoom
4. GleamingChamber->DankGarrett->HallwayToNowhere,
5. MasterBedroom->FloorlessRoom->AshyKitchen->GlassHouse,

leaving UpstairsLanding, CavernousCellar, BanquetHall and DrawingRoom

The boiler room is mentioned as being very dark, so sequences 1-4 would fit nicely between the Antechamber and the Lumber Room. That leaves sequence 5 and the 4 free rooms to fit between the LumberRoom and ZodiacalHall. That seems certain, since 4 has to go before the lumber room because it doesn't fit after it with sequence 5 and the BH/DR. That leaves a gap of 2, and the CavernousCellar has to go after the BoilerRoom, so it can't go in there. BH and DR should go last since everyone is very tired, and the UpperLanding needs to go before sequence 5 because of the animal smell. LR and CC have stairs mentioned, so I think that the UL should go first, then the sequence, then the CC, and lastly DR and BH.

Hence, I end up with the same as tanstaafl. the stairs all seem to go between rooms rather than being part of the rooms themselves, so the stairwell mentioned in the LumberRoom would end up at a door on the UpperLanding level rather than being one of the sets mentioned in the UpperLanding description.