Servant of the Lake Day 1 Walkthrough (Friday)
Player-documented walkthrough. Rusty Lake does not publish official puzzle solutions, and this page is written from player playthroughs. Treat every step and code as community-reported, verify it in your own game, and confirm storefront or game details on the official pages linked in the sidebar.
Day 1 is Friday at the Vanderboom estate: you arrive as the new servant, cook for Aldous, welcome Alexandra and baby James, serve the reunion, walk a night watch, and steal an attic scroll for William. The free Demo matches the opening morning only; everything after the first guest carriage is full-game content. Start from the walkthrough or Demo guide if you are new.
The Arrival
Open the coach curtains. Pull a carrot from the right flower bed and feed the horse. Take tin cups from the coach door and the left window, then open the right window. Arrange five cups by stripe count 1–5 left to right; the lidded cup yields a coin. Click the horse head a few times after feeding it for Petting the Horse. Pay the driver, take the iron bar, pry the outlined plank, take the key, and enter. Speak with maid Kate, dip the quill, and sign the contract.
Preparing Breakfast
Left door: logs, oats, stove note. Load logs. Through the far rooms, take milk from the crate. Feed milk to the armchair cat before you pick up the dead mouse for Feeding the Cat. Take the upstairs pot, slide the cupboard, take the mouse, feed the cat, collect matches. Light the stove, cook milk and oats, take the pot. Kate then opens Aldous's door.
Waking Up Aldous
Take the bowl, note, both slippers, and the middle-drawer spoon. Solve the silver box by rotating coloured blocks onto matching patterns; take the razor. Fit the soldier's clock hand and set 7:00. Open curtains, shave, collect the earlobe, clean blood. Feed the earlobe to the window crow for a key, unlock berries, pour porridge and berries, block insect holes until you can squash the bug, then spoon-feed Aldous. Mirror the soldier: Left, Right, Down, Right, Right, Down. Dress him, then click the arriving carriage. Click him wrongly until he sticks, then unstick him, for Exercising with Mr. Aldous. The morning routine covers these gates in detail.
Preparing the Reception
Clean dirt in the hall, servant room, and far corridor. Speak with Kate for the duster. Dust portraits: Alexandra 2, William 3, Aldous 4. Open the cupboard box for a candle. Dust the servant-room frame until it breaks, then rebuild it for Small Repairs. Place remaining candles on the chandelier and light in arrow order: third from left, far left, third from right, second from left, far right, second from right.
Welcoming the Guests
Take the jug. Rearrange the bouquet so white flowers climb the left, pink balls climb the right, and green stems sit centre by leaf count. Feed the bouquet to the goat before milking for Ruining the Bouquet. Milk the goat, take the hoof-hole key, open the letter box, take letter and tablet. Herd cockroaches into the hole with the token (reset arrow if stuck). Place tablets House–Cupboard–Vial–Droplet over Tree–Nest–Egg–Bird, raise the flag, help Alexandra out. The suitcase code is under the baby basket. Pack clothes without overlap, pay the driver, feed the horse the bill.
Serving Tea
Do not click the cat first if you want Serving Matcha Latte. Take Kate's tea, kettle, and cupboard cup. Feed tea leaves to the cat, make it vomit, take the sticky goo and the crate's green substance. Give Alexandra cup, optional green goo, sugar, hot water, tea, milk. She drops it. Rebuild the cup with goo. Serve again: milk, sugar twice, tea.
Opening the Reunion
Light the fireplace. Note the wine box date. Give Aldous wine; optionally wine the baby for Soothing the Baby. William arrives; rebuild the broken bottle for the nine-button cigar path (top-left, top-middle, centre, right-middle, bottom-middle, bottom-right). Light the cigar, push it in, steer the saliva drop with his teeth, take the spoon. Fish painting order: timepiece, book, elixir, fish; cook the fish. Bloom the protein plant with the fly-arrow routes, collect eggs, make fish toast, feed all three siblings, tap Aldous's glass. Follow Alexandra's lullaby clicks, then wake William by clicking hat, ear, and shirt as he looks.
Night Watch and Attic
Kate sends you on patrols. Ring the bell for strangeness (bloody crate cat, stair silhouette, smeared Alexandra, slipped William, closing door). Blow a candle only on a clean run. Check the garden door each loop for Checking for Intruders. William gives a walking stick for the ceiling hatch. Reported Friday-night codes: 243 opens the west hallway gallery safe (grandfather clock pendulum key), 374 opens the attic hatch padlock (upper roof beams and the constellation attic), and 1753 is the night-watch grandfather clock dial (library secret door mechanism) — see the codes directory. In the attic: take a rung and statue, sort the collection box by type, scare the window crow for Chase away the Crow, light the lantern, solve the poem statue order, unlock the purse statue, set window-box constellations from cloud positions (house down twice, moon down three, water up once), then seat golden-case animals butterfly, bird, monkey, fish, ibex. Take scroll and rung, finish the ladder, slide the door. Continue on Day 2.
Source status
This page is player-documented and not an official guide. Specific codes (243, 374, 1753) and achievement names are community-reported and have not been cross-checked against a second independent source on this wiki; treat them as reports from player playthroughs. Official store and website links are listed in the sidebar.