hi Garry, no that’s not true unfortunately. You don’t need to do anything in the Inn in order. When you talk with the villagers before the horses are in the stable, you get a reply that the time is not right. After the horses are in the stable you can talk with the villagers, provided you gave back the key. If you’re still carrying the key, you are encouraged to give it back first. That’s the trigger and nothing else.
Your problem is that you’ve searched your way through the scenes without knowing what you’re doing and without a clear mission. The game tells you when you need to look after the coachman and when you need to search for certain things which then become obvious. There is NO shovel for you to grab now. You will know when you need one much later in game.
Actually all you had to do now is going to the church and ringing the bell. After your talk with the villagers a few hours passed and there is someone now in the church. To sum that up:
*water from the well: the missing link and the mission is unfold in the church. Yes, in the church you would have needed to search one time again. The problem is that you’re trying to solve microgoals which you were not told yet and that’s exactly why the missing item is at a place where you have not progressed enough to enter. Someone in the church tells you what to do. The whole progress of the game is very linear and logical. You’re the first person to struggle a bit with that. I understand though that adventures come always with expectations and when you’re expecting an oldschool adventure, Rabenstein is wrong for you. it’s about experiencing a story step by step.
*which shovel? You don’t need a shovel now. You need it later in game at a completely different place and when that’s the case you will know.
*entering the church: like I said, after talking to the villagers, all you had to do is ringing the bell. Since a few hours past, someone is there now
* there are a few „passages of time“ but you don’t force it. They happen while you progress and you know when you can trigger them. You can’t right now because you have not progressed enough.
In this game, it’s all about progressing. When you did something and triggered something, it could be that you can do things you were not able to do before. The logicial context is important. Why would you searching for a bucket if you don’t know you need water?