Merlee's Mansion



Merlee's Mansion is the home of Merlee in Super Paper Mario. It is the setting of Chapters 2-2, 2-3, and 2-4. Merlee's Mansion is a large manor that lies in the perpetually twilit Gloam Valley. Merlee's Mansion is in appearance quite similar to the many incarnations of Boo's Mansion, not to mention Luigi's Mansion. During Chapter 2, Merlee's Mansion was taken over by Mimi, one of Count Bleck's lackeys. The mansion itself has no enemies, though the traps and basement are full of them.

The area of Merlee's Mansion in Chapter 2-2 has only one room which serves any plausible purpose: the entry room, which also has Merlee's crystal ball. It is here that players can initially earn charms from Merlee (after beating Chapter 2), though the mysterious charmer moves to Flopside once the player is able to access that area. The mansion is guarded day and night by Merlee's pets, the Gnips and her favorite pet Gnaw. After beating Chapter 2, the Gnips and Gnaw no longer appear.

The interior of Merlee's Mansion, traversed in Chapter 2-3, contains mainly generator rooms, along with a "bank" ran by Mimi. The generator rooms power the electricity (most notably the lights) in the mansion. During Chapter 2-3, Mario meets the Pixl named Slim.

Chapter 2-2: Tricks, Treats, Traps
For chapter information on Chapter 2-4, see Merlee's Basement.

In the twilit Gloam Valley, Mario discovered Merlee's Mansion, a foreboding structure standing tall in the swamp. With slight hesitation, the mustachioed plumber and Princess Peach entered.

The mansion was guarded by Merlee's pets, the Gnips. Mario thought they were his enemies, but had a change of heart when Tippi explained to him that mysteriously, the pets were simply trying to protect Mario; but protect him from who?

As Mario continued on in the orange-lit mansion, he found Mimi, Merlee's maid. According to Merlon, Merlee had the Yellow Pure Heart. Since Merlee was nowhere to be found, Mario asked Mimi for help. Mimi kindly told Mario that Merlee was just a few rooms down on the second floor. She also warned Mario of Gnaw, who she said would viciously attack him, and so had to be locked up.

Mario examined the room Mimi sent him to; but oddly the only thing he discovered was a falling, spiked ceiling. A trap? Mario escaped and returned with concern to Mimi. Mimi sent him to all the other rooms in the hallway, sans the one Gnaw was locked to. However, the result of all the rooms was the same: a luring trap--maybe a Mushroom hanging on a string, or a line of coins--with a trapdoor at the end. The traps led to a room in which Mario had to confront a single enemy, usually a Shlurp.

Eventually, Mario had enough of the madness. It was becoming obvious that Mimi was not to be trusted, so he did some investigating of his own. Through doing that, he discovered that there was a key in an alcove above the spiked ceiling, which could be avoided and jumped onto by flipping to 3-D. Tippi said the same of Gnaw as she did for the Gnips; Gnaw, Merlee's favorite pet, was trying to protect him. Mario decided to free Gnaw, and when he did Gnaw left Mario alone and instead chased Mimi out of the room. Shortly thereafter, Mario found his way deeper into the mansion...

Enemies

 * Boo
 * Gnaw (not actually fought; will throw the player out of the mansion)
 * Gnip (not actually fought; will throw the player out of the mansion)
 * Shlurp
 * Swooper

Chapter 2-3: Breaking the Bank
"Until you work off your debt, you naughty little things, I OWN YOU!"

- Mimi

As Mario delved deeper into Merlee's Mansion, he came upon a ? Block with a vase on it. He hit the block, but as a consequence the vase fell off and broke. In rushed Mimi, Merlee's maid. Mimi scolded Mario (or Princess Peach, whoever the player is controlling), saying that it was her favorite vase, worth 1,000,000 rubees. As punishment, Mario is enslaved by Mimi until he can pay off his debt. Seeing as Merlee was still nowhere to be found, Mario had no choice but to accept his punishment.

As it turned out, Mario wasn't the only one enslaved by Mimi. Many others, such as Conn, were slaves just because they had come to see Merlee. Most of the slaves (red ones and skinny green ones, similar to Mario and Luigi) had to run tiring generators to make their Rubees, while others more favored by Mimi (though still slaves) had to make sure the other slaves did their jobs. Mario tried the labor, but found that it paid too little to his debt.

However, by paying Rubees to his inmates, Mario discovered secrets to making more rubees--such as the secret password to the "Elite" Generator Room. He also learned of a secret vault hidden away in the attic. If he were to get the rubees in that vault, he'd be able to pay off the debt instantly. Although one of the inmates was able to tell him the vault's password, Mario discovered that it was impossible to reach the vault, thanks to moving electric walls that were even impossible in 3-D.

This could be solved with the help of a flip-flopping Pixl. Mario met Slim in the Mansion Interior. Slim needed to make sure that Mario had enough thrills; but as the plumber did, Slim happily joined Mario's party of Pixls. Slim was able to make Mario immune to the moving electric walls, allowing him to get to the vault and pay off the debt.

Upon paying off the debt, Mimi's magic apparently wore off. In a violent act, Mimi self-destructed and the path to the basement became clear.

Trivia

 * This is the second mansion to be appear in the Paper Mario series as the home of an important character, the other Boo's Mansion from Paper Mario.
 * Incidentally, the music of Merlee's Mansion has several interludes full of altered versions of Mimi's theme. Oddly, though, Merlee's theme (the same as Merluvlee's) is never heard throughout the entire Chapter 2.
 * Chapter 2-3 may be considered the longest level in the history of Mario games; however, it is the length of a normal Super Paper Mario level if the player decides to acquire the Rubees in the vault.
 * Apparently, the purpose of Mimi forcing her slaves to work in the generator rooms is because she is afraid of the dark.
 * Whilst in the VIP Room, players can access a reference to the Gerbilympics, a clear parody of the Olympic Games.
 * It is unknown whether the generator rooms existed before Mimi's take-over of the mansion.