“In a smelly place, where time is told” points to the Sewers, behind the southeast gate. The specific digging instruction is to bring a Shovel to Manager John's room and dig directly beneath the clock. This is the recorded location and action; the current treasure result and reward have not been confirmed.
Go to the sewer clock, not the school
The smell clue refers to the Sewers, while the time clue refers to the clock in the room with Manager John. The relevant area lies behind the southeast sewer gate, near a Mystery. Start with that combination of area, gate, room, and object rather than searching every garbage bin near an outdoor clock.
Manager John is in the Parks and Recreation Office. That room name is useful if you recognize the office before recognizing its occupant. His separate Wand of Parks and Recreation task concerns a missing item; speaking to him about that job does not perform the digging action beneath the clock.
The exact clue matters because the television gives several different buried-treasure hints. This one is the smelly-place and time-told line. A red-lit room, an abandoned shop counter, and a forgotten closet belong to other clues and lead to different places.
Take the target description with you when entering the room. The clock is the landmark for the digging location, not an instruction to change the game's time. No particular hour is established as necessary for this clue.
Open the southeast sewer route
If the southeast gate is closed, work on the Gatekeeper's key task. The second Gate Key is the relevant access lead for the area. It is purchased through dialogue with a woman at the General Store near your house, rather than found behind the store's locked rear door.
Use the Gatekeeper second-key walkthrough for that purchase and the return to the Gatekeeper. Bring the acquired key back to him and continue the task conversation. Owning a key and receiving the task's gate access are separate steps.
A Basic Skeleton Key is not the substitute for this part of the route. It opens ordinary locks that specifically request that item. If you are carrying one but the southeast gate remains inaccessible, return to the Gatekeeper's named-key progression rather than spending the skeleton key at unrelated doors.
Bring a Shovel to Manager John's room
Carry a Shovel before attempting the digging action. The clue's recorded solution requires the tool, so simply inspecting the clock without it does not complete the suggested interaction. The target is the ground directly below the clock in the room with Manager John.
Buy a Shovel at the General Store if you do not already have one. Check the price in the current shop before buying; the older item value of 50g is a selling value, not a confirmed purchase cost. Bring the Shovel into the Sewers, because this treasure instruction does not name the hoe as a substitute.
Once you reach the room, use the clock to orient yourself and inspect the space immediately beneath it. With the Shovel in your inventory, interact with the correct ground tile to dig. Use the interaction prompt shown in your game.
Check that the active news clue matches
Read the television report before following this route. The treasure system uses more than one location hint, and the wording tells you which object to investigate. A clue about a smelly place and a clock should not send you to a closet simply because another treasure guide used that location.
The same television also reports telephone events. Those give you a number to call and instructions from the person on the other end. The telephone and Fancy Key guide covers that separate sequence; dialing a number is not part of this clock-based treasure instruction.
News events change as the game progresses, but there is no confirmed rule here that this digging attempt expires at a particular hour or can only be tried once. Work from the clue currently shown and the room interaction. Avoid turning an assumed deadline into a reason to rush through a dangerous route without the required tool.
Distinguish the other buried-treasure hints
The recorded treasure hints use recognizable objects rather than one shared treasure location. If your current wording differs, the following comparison can help identify why the sewer clock does not match. Use it to select the correct clue, not as a promise that every treasure is active at once.
| Other hint | Its recorded location |
|---|---|
| A dark, abandoned place where a person should stand | Behind the counter in the empty Mall store beside the Arcade Machine Mystery |
| A shabby closet, locked and forgotten | The closet behind the left door in Old Man Jackson's house |
| A secret room where a red light glows | The staircase down to the Fancy House's secret room |
The Jackson closet has its own access issue. If that is the clue you actually received, the Skeleton Key guide explains the ordinary lock there. Opening that closet does not advance the Gatekeeper's sewer gate task or place this clue's treasure near a different clock.
A nearby Mystery is a landmark, not confirmation that you collected the buried treasure. Judge success by the digging interaction and its item or event message.
Resolve a blocked attempt
If you cannot reach the room, the problem is access through the southeast gate. Check the second-key purchase and the Gatekeeper conversation. Searching the clock's approximate position on the wrong side of a gate will not replace opening the route.
If you can reach the room but only inspect furniture, check that you carry a Shovel and are targeting the space directly beneath the clock. If you are at a different clock, return to the Manager John room identification. These checks address the known location and tool requirements without inventing a precise screen coordinate.
If the matching action still produces no treasure, the current event state and success behavior remain unresolved here. No reward name, quantity, failed-dig penalty, or one-attempt limit is established for this specific clue. Do not discard items or repeatedly advance dates on the assumption that an unverified penalty or reset rule is responsible.
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