Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lukas Mittelmeier

Nancy has been asked to investigate a series of monster sightings at the German Castle Finster by its owner, Markus Boehm. Apparently the monster has been spotted near the castle grounds for centuries, returning to the woods again after finding a new victim. The opening sequence shows the player a scene from the past where a young girl picking herbs is chased by a monster. When she arrives at the castle gate, she finds it closed and is then dragged off by the monster.

The scene then moves to the present day with Nancy arriving at the castle gate. She also finds the gate closed (luckily no monster drags her off). When she rings the bell, someone called Lukas calls out to her and refuses to let her in, unless she passes a test. A bucket is lowered containing a game where Nancy has to match two monsters that are the same from a row of monsters. After passing this test, Lukas wants to give her another test, but fails to do so, as the mayor of the castle community, Karl Weschler, arrives and chases him away. Nancy later learns that Lukas is the son of the head of security at the castle and a very mischievous child (Karl refers to him as the castle's other monster). He is very fond of pranks, usually targeting Karl (since he is so good at noticing). Nancy can usually find him in the lobby, where he challenges her to a game called "Monster". In this game the two players play either the farmer or the monster. The players that is the monster hides three of them in a herd of cows. The object for that player is to kill as many cows as possible, while the farmer tries to locate the monsters as soon as possible (by looking at which cows move after a cow was killed). In the second round the roles reverse.

Answer: Nancy and Ned have a fight

Nancy's trip to Germany does not really start well. Ned calls her on her cell phone. Nancy can hardly hear him, as there is pretty bad cell phone reception at the castle. He does tell her he has a romantic getaway planned for them. Since Nancy is on a case, it has to be canceled. While Ned is usually pretty helpful and supportive during the games (often appearing as a phone friend), he is apparently a little fed up with Nancy going off adventuring all over the world, while he has to stay at home. The call ends with Ned hanging up angry and refusing to answer the phone for quite a while.

Nancy is soon called by Frank Hardy, one of the Hardy Boys (detective friends of Nancy). Apparently Ned is very upset and has to be consoled by Joe Hardy (the other Hardy Boy). Nancy talks to Frank about the situation and suggests she rather plays detective than having one of those relationship talks. Eventually things get patched up between Ned and Nancy. Ned tries to find more mystery in his life (so far he has only solved the case of the missing keys, they were in his pocket). He says he wants to try a more edgier persona, like buying a motorcycle or returning a library book at the wrong branch. Nancy tells him she likes him just the way he is and that they might very well work on a mystery together. This is a link to the next game in the series "Alibi in Ashes", where Ned and Nancy form a team with their friends Bess and George to participate in the Clues Challenge held in their home town of River Heights. The fight scene has led to much speculation among Nancy Drew fans that Nancy might be romantically linked with Frank Hardy instead of Ned. These speculations were fueled by a conversation Nancy has with Frank after she reconciles with Ned. Frank says he is happy they are back together, but noticeably hesitates just before saying that.

Ned has given Nancy a locket in the 18th game of the series "The Phantom of Venice". A locket does play a large game in "The Captive Curse" as well. As history goes the monster searches for a young girl as his victim. One of the first victims was apparently the daughter of the Freiherr (a sort of land lord), whose portrait hangs in the castle. She wore a locket. Nancy eventually finds the locket buried in the woods. She soon learns that the real reason she was asked to come to the castle is to cast her in the role of the new victim of the monster (with someone using the monster legend for their own purposes).

Answer: Storyteller

In the banquet room Nancy meets Renate Stoller. She is an older woman who works a story teller. She learned the trade from her father. Renate knows a lot about the castle's history and especially the monster sightings. It is soon suggested by other characters that Renate always stays at the castle when there are monster sightings. When Nancy snoops in her bag, she finds a map that details where monster attacks have taken place. Renate is often very secretive and frequently avoids Nancy's questions. Slowly Nancy uncovers more about her, when Renate tells her a story about a young girl staying at the castle a long time ago (when there were dark forces surrounding the castle). She was told not to go in the woods, but when her scarf was blown into the woods by the wind, she chased after it. Her older sister went to look for her, but only one girl came back from the woods alive. Nancy finds out that Renate was the young girl in the story and can also find her scarf back in the underground passages below the castle (a beautiful red scarf with elephants, that came all the way from India).

Anja Mittelmeier is the castellan at Castle Finster. She is in charge of guest services and can usually be found at the gift shop. Anja is the aunt of Lukas Mittelmeier and sister of his father Franz Mittelmeier, the head of security.

The castle does have its own newspaper called the "Castle Cryer". In it Nancy can read the local gossip (she learns about an accident for example, when the ceiling of a dungeon collapsed injuring several tourists) and can also learn some German words. Those words are very useful when Nancy has to decode several messages she finds on the castle grounds. She has to match the German words to symbols found on the notes to decode the messages, by using a decoding machine.

Answer: Security Booth

In the lobby Nancy finds a glockenspiel. In the courtyard she can find a piece of paper which details where the notes are on the glockenspiel. When Lukas is gone from his usual place, she finds a message from his father under the table. It is a coded clue. When Nancy arranges the letters in the columns, she can read how to gain access to the security booth. She has to find notes hidden at five different locations around the castle. When she plays those notes in the right sequence, the door to the security booth will open. In this booth Nancy will find the decoding machine. Before she can make it work, she will have to locate two missing rotors (one is found in a box outside Karl's room, the other in a clock at the gift shop). In the security booth she can also enable her phone to receive messages of monster sighting alerts and look at the various security screens (to locate where the monsters is for instance).

Nancy will also gain access to the other locations mentioned during the game. She can access the dungeon after pulling a lever in the furnace in the basement. In the dungeon she finds a hidden trap door, which can be activated by turning the locket she found on a relief built into the wall. She can also access the dungeon via the underground passages. These passages can be accessed in a number of ways. Nancy will first enter the passages by going inside the well and unlocking the door by playing a puzzle arranging the parts on a special hexagon tile. She can also enter via the woods. She can leave the passages and end up in her room in the castle (she can't enter the passages that way however). Nancy finds the campsite in the woods, hidden by a bush of burrs. Here she finds the locket buried and also finds a flashlight and the hexagon tile.

Answer: Raid

Karl Weschler is the mayor (buergermeister in German) of the castle community. He hides himself away in his office and appears somewhat lonely. Anja calls him incompetent and suggests the castle would be better off with her in charge. Markus also says he is not his ideal manager, but is adequate for the job. Nancy finds out that Karl does not like tourists coming to the castle. This is due to an accident taking place in the castle dungeon, when the ceiling collapsed. Karl was giving a tour at the time and actually locked the door for a moment, staying outside himself. That is when the accident happened. Nobody died, but some people were badly injured. Later in the game Nancy finds out more about Karl, when he tells her about a mysterious meeting when he was travelling on a train with his father. He met a boy that looked just like him. In German legend this is referred to as a "doppelganger". Nancy also discovers love letters written to a woman named Mildred in Karl's desk.

Karl's hobby is making board games. When Nancy first meets him, she finds him playing with dolls (which he quickly tries to hide when she enters his office). The game he has created is called "Raid". It is a board game where three players try to end up at the last square of the board (the castle). Depending on which square they land on, they have to challenge one of the other players to a duel in a specific category. When they win the battle they advance, otherwise they have to go back a certain amount of spaces. The game has beautifully designed game cards with characters from German fairy tales. Nancy can even help Karl design a new game card during the game. When Nancy plays "Raid" with Karl she gets a small amount of money.

The other games mentioned all play a part in other Nancy Drew games. The game of "Double Take" appears in "Warnings at Waverly Academy", "Land Rush" is found in "Trail of The Twister" and "Renograms" in "Shadow at the Water's Edge". These games often reappear in later games as minigames on Nancy's cell phone.

Answer: Markus Boehm

Anja and Markus used to date each other. Apparently the relationship did not end well. Nancy is quite surprised to learn this, since Anja is now working as a castellan at the Castle Finster, owned by Markus. Although both of them acknowledge the bad ending of the relationship, they both claim things are now fine between them. Anja says she made Markus into what he is now and then he left her for some cheap blonde. She says she really loves her job as castellan and does not mind that Markus dumped her in a bad way that much anymore. She was able to move on and now works hard at her job, a job she loves more than anything. Markus did not agree with her working at the castle at first, but he came around and saw she was good at what she does. They are now very mature about things. Markus only suggests that she is the reason he makes sure his shoes are tied before leaving a relationship, but does not want to go into details. He says Anja is doing a fine job as castellan. Anja eventually winds up giving Nancy relationship advice, when she is having trouble with her own boyfriend Ned. Nancy tells her that she feels she needs to apologize to Ned after their row, but he needs to let her live her life. She wants him to be a big part of it though. Anja tells her to just explain what she told her to Ned. Talking things through is what is important. She goes on to explain that relationships are like plants. They grow stronger when you talk to them (she sighs next and says that saying works better in German).

Alexei Markovic is a character from "Alibi in Ashes". He is the owner of an antique shop in River Heights, the town where Nancy lives. Ironically, Alexei and Markus are voiced by the same actor. Karl and Anja do not get along very well, as she thinks he is incompetent. It makes Anja wish they were still living in medieval times, when someone had to pull a sword out of a stone to assume power. Karl would never be able to do that, in her opinion. Karl and Anja never had a relationship.

Answer: There is a bucket of water over the door

At one point in the game, Nancy goes back to her room. Markus calls her on her cell phone with a request to call him on the land line (as the castle has notoriously bad cell phone reception). There is a bucket of water over the door, which falls when Nancy enters the room, making her all wet. Nancy's luggage failed to arrive, so this leaves her in some trouble. Nancy does find a traditional Bavarian dress (the castle is located in Bavaria) called a dirndl on her bed, but sees no note left behind telling her who put the dress there. As she has no other clothes to wear, she is forced to wear the dirndl. This very much upsets Renate, who gets very angry with Nancy telling her to take the dress off. When Nancy goes back to her room, she finds her clothes have been shredded by someone. She now really has nothing else to wear than the dirndl. Renate explains this is very bad news. Obviously someone wants her to wear the dress. She says the monster is at the castle for Nancy. Nancy is cast as the next victim of the monster and wearing the dress is part of the monster's legend. Someone appears to be using the monster legend for his or her own purposes.

All the employees at the castle wear traditional Bavarian clothes. Anja for instance wears a dirndl as well and Karl and Lukas are wearing Lederhosen (a type of knickerbockers). Karl especially is not very fond of this. He thinks they have too many straps and hooks and make it appear that he can't be expected to keep his shirt on. It takes him nine minutes in the morning to put them on and they make him look like a sad old Pinocchio. The costumes are part of the Bavariazation of the castle, as promoted by Markus to draw tourists. He wants things to look authentic.

It is Lukas who is kidnapped by the monster in the game. Nancy finds him locked up in the dungeons. She has to play a game to open the lock, carefully sliding a beam to the right hand side of the lock, ensuring nothing gets hit by the beam. Eventually Lukas gets out of the dungeon, but the door locks after he leaves. The monster attacks Nancy and throws her down the trap door. Nancy has to solve two puzzles to get out (one involving pressing the right sequence of pictures relating to the monster legend and one forming the German word "entkommen" on a grid). She then has to navigate the underground passages for a final confrontation with the culprit in the dungeons.

Answer: Castle Cast

Nancy finds information about Castle Cast in Karl's safe. There is a reference to Castle Cast in Anja's resumé. Nancy calls them, but does not get information first off. Markus will have to give permission first. When you call a second time, Jordan will give more information. She does know Anja, she apparently delivered the mail at the company. This way Nancy finds out that Anja lied about her previous employments. She had claimed she had worked in management, but never did. When Nancy confronts her, Anja eventually admits to lying. She claims she never would have been eligible for the castellan position otherwise. This position is considered management. She loves her job more than anything.

In her conversation with Jordan Nancy has the opportunity to ask about some of the guides that Castle Cast has written. When she was snooping in Anja's desk in the gift shop she discovered one of their guides, specifically the email guide. Nancy also found some emails written by Markus. In these emails it is suggested that the financial position of the castle is bad and that drastic measures need to be taken. Nancy suspects that these emails may have been forged by someone else to frame Markus. Jordan goes on to explain that there were problems with email signatures getting too long, so a guide was written and was sent to all employees. She also confirms that she never sends mails for Markus. That is against company policy. Jordan is a very lively character. She also talks about the wizard discount (sadly discontinued), wanting to see the world (since it's there and it would be a waste not to go see it) and the other pamphlets that Castle Cast has written, like "So you want to host an office party? Don't!" , "Let's be reasonable about office supplies" and her personal favourite "So You Decided to Pretend To Be Sick and Then Posted Pictures of Yourself Online Having Fun While Everyone Else Is Working!" (she describes it as firm, but fair).

Krolmeister Inc appears in nearly every "Nancy Drew" game. They make every appliance known to man and various appliances in the game are indeed made by them. Fony is the brand name for the television in "Trail of The Twister". The Golden Gardenia Inn is the previous name of the mansion in "Message In a Haunted Mansion".

Answer: He shouts at another driver

Markus Boehm hires Nancy to investigate the monster sightings at Castle Finster. He is the owner of the castle. At the time of the game (which takes place in one night session) he is on his way to the castle by car, about four hours away. He is planning to bring in some investors the day after. He describes these investors as very rich: ""Like stupid rich. Like, 'Happy birthday, here's the town in France you wanted' rich." Markus himself is quite rich as well, owning three houses in Berlin and one somewhere else (he told his realtor to surprise him) that he should really track down someday. When Nancy asks what he does exactly, he answers that he shuffles money around and then there is additional money. Nancy does not find that very specific, which causes Markus to remark she sounds like his financial advisor. During his car ride over to the castle Markus is very suddenly cut off by another driver. This causes him to shout the following line: "Who taught you to drive, the stupidest dog on Earth, because that's what it looks like?! I tell you Nancy, no one has manners these days."

Markus provides very witty dialogues throughout the game. He expects Nancy to have the mystery solved before he arrives, so it makes him look good. He seldom seems to want to bother with some of the details of the case, explaining that he is like a dinosaurs yearbook. He does not do small print. When Nancy tells him about someone leaving a dress for her, he does not care very much and tells her to just go and have fun. He does very much admire her thoroughness thouugh, yet shouts this funny line at her when she accuses him of being behind the monster sightings: "It is so far out of the Realm of Possibility that is has crossed the Sea of You Are Wrong and landed in the Realm of Ludicrous Accusations." He also says to Nancy that if the monster is real he knows a guy who would pay through the nose for the movie rights.

The Ungeheuerlichkeit Nacht Festival is celebrated every year at the castle. It is celebrated for every year gone by without a monster sighting. Surprisingly the festival is still ready to go in the current year. Karl explains that they have already bought the cake, which causes to make a sarcastic reply in return, suggesting they couldn't possibly cancel the festival now.

Answer: Anja Mittelmeier

At the end of the game Nancy is confronted by the monster in the dungeons. She had previously seen the monster in the castle, but that turned out to be Lucas in a costume walking on stilts. She accused him of being the culprit, but then the real monster turned up at the window. This eliminated Lukas from being the culprit. At the ending stage the player can guess who the culprit is. If you guess right, the culprit is revealed. If you get it wrong, you have the opportunity to try again, using the second chance option.

The culprit turns out to be Anja Mittelmeier. Just before the confrontation Nancy found some emails suggesting that Markus staged the entire monster sightings to get publicity for the castle. Nancy was to be the victim of the monster, which is why she was lured to the castle and forced to play the part of the "girl in the dress" (like in the monster legend). Anja forged those emails however. She was still angry about Markus dumping her for some cheap blonde, after she helped him get ahead in his career. She feels he does not deserve to be in the position he is in. When Anja is explaining in detail what she has done, Nancy notices she is standing on the trap door. She manages to put the locket on the relief built in the wall and Anja falls down the trap door. Anja now tries to claim it was all a misunderstanding, but Nancy does not fall for that trick. She has Anja arrested. Anja finally threatens she will get revenge, but Nancy is not very impressed telling her she will start to worry about that in about ten to fifteen years.