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 Entry Room
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.

Story
In the twilit Gloam Valley, Mario discovered Merlee's Mansion, home to Merlee. To advance, Mario and Princess Peach had to enter the Mansion in Chapter 2-2, because according to Merlon, Merlee had the Yellow Pure Heart.

Merlee's Mansion was guarded by Merlee's pets, the Gnips. Instead of hurting Mario, they simply removed him from the Mansion when they caught him. According to Tippi, they do this for Mario's own protection.

If Mario and Princess Peach progressed further through the Mansion, they entered a hallway where Mimi could be found, a girl who claimed to be Merlee's maid. She gave him false advice as to which room he had to go to. Chained to a locked door on the far side of the hallway was Gnaw, Merlee's favorite pet.

Several doors in the hallway lead to rooms with traps, that were of no further use. One door lead to a room with a lowering, spiked ceiling. Would Mario flip to 3D, then he could escape being crushed and jump on the ceiling that would soon go up again. This way, he could reach a key to open the locked door and free Gnaw, who would then chase away Mimi.

After this scene, if Mario entered the door, he would find the end of Chapter 2-2.

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

Rubee Savings and Loan
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.

VIP Generator Room
The VIP Generator Room is located in Merlee's Mansion and can be accessed by paying 100 rubees to Conn after which he gives the player a pass code.

As opposed to the normal generator room, where Mario needs to hit generator blocks by jumping, the VIP generator rooms contains three gerbil wheels. Mario must run for almost six minutes, to earn the 10.000 rubees needed to get another pass code (this time given by Stock). In the VIP generator Room, the rubees can be gained ten times faster compared to the regular room.

Story
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 VIP 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.

Chapter 2-4: The Basement Face-Off
For chapter information on Chapter 2-4, see Merlee's Basement.

Trivia

 * This is the second mansion to be appear in the Paper Mario series as the home of an important character, the other being 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.
 * It is impossible to claim the Mushroom in the room to the left of the Gnaw.