15 Days Part #12 - The Clock Strikes Twelve, Repeatedly

Part 12: The Clock Strikes Twelve, Repeatedly

: I'm right here, you twat.

: He'll come.

: He was going to be back here at four. Now it's almost nine.

: We don't even have the date for this scene, so I can't see why time is an issue.

: Perhaps he got held up.

: Then what?

: Bernard! Oh, thank God. You finally made it.

: What took so long?

: Sorry. There were a couple of problems.

: Oh. What kind of problems?

: WHAT?

: Oh great.

: Look at these expressive postures!

: It's just little things. A photo has moved. The newspaper too.

: Is anything missing?

: I didn't notice anything.

: Hmm. Sounds like one of McBride's stories. Perhaps his paranoid ramblings are contagious. But the question is, what if it's true?

: Was Jack breaking into the artist's studio as well while we weren't looking?

: If that was the police, they would have waited for us. Then Bernie wouldn't be here now.

: That's all well and good, but what now?

: We do what we planned to do. Then we go back and have a look at the loft together. Agreed?

: Going back to the loft with a painting they stole is a great idea.

: Agreed.

: (keeps quiet)

: Don't forget your stuff. Got everything?

: Why, yes. The game titled 15 Days just skipped from the 8th to the evening of the 13th. The plot kicks from the 1st into the 5th gear and the only reason it doesn't wreck the gearbox is that the engine was never running in the first place. Also, if you look at the end of previous update, you'll see that the plan was to do this on the 14th.

: Best of luck, Mike.

: You too. Best of luck. Hmm. We'll hear each other soon.

: You got a signal?

: I have!

: Good luck!

: There won't be a second round of exploration. We can warp right to the work site.

: Our inventory is overflowing with stuff, such as the fake painting and the drill looking at which produces no comment. Also, yes, that's the drill Cathryn chose to penetrate a granite foundation.

: Come to think of it, the light spot is not a square. It's CRT TV-shaped.

: Right, let's get to it. We have a possible hole to investigate.

: Cathryn knocks on some plaster with her finger a few times. It's supposed to be granite but it sounds loud and hollow and totally is a thin plaster partition.

: It's could work here.

: So, how many spots do we need to check?

: You're shitting me...

I'm not sure if it matters which holes you investigate. Cathryn always knocks twice around the centre at her eye level, producing hollow thunks of two varieties.

: This is a bit better, but...

: Here sounds good

: That ought to be enough.

: I'm going to start with the grenades now.

: Nice. I can highlight the hotspots before the cutscene ends.

: Hasn't started yet. Just quiet. There seem to be quite a few people about...

: People we don't have to render.

: All the better.

: How do their phones keep working underground? Anyway, we can look at the rusted guns on the right.

: Completely unusable.

: What of those pipes in front of the camera?

: By the way, Bernard happens to have this.

: Perfect. We'll have it in a minute.

: We grab the pipes though a magic of bad animation and a fade-out.

: Here's our crafting table. We start by pocketing the crowbar.

: Hmm... That still looks quite sturdy.

: Again, the pick up animation ends with a fade to black. Now we can open the box.

: The boxes seem to be in good shape.

: That's Bernard using the crowbar on the box. He is, after all, a mathematician.

: Mortar grenades from the '40s. They should still be OK, right?

: It looks... thoroughly rusted. Are we sure it's a good idea?

: Be nice and careful with that thing.

: OK. We put this rusty metal grenade into the metal vice.

: And now we use our metal wrench to take the grenade apart. No need to protect Bernard from accidental sparks.

: The sounds do not match "unscrewing something carefully".

: Whoa. Careful, careful. One spark and...

: Now we use the open mortar round on the pipe.

: Cathryn..? I've done it. I'm coming back to you.

: It almost seems like "two more times" was a direction for the gameplay designers, but they misread and it became a line.

Today the videos will show up as they come.

: That would be a good place.

: What did Bernard use to seal his pipe bombs?

: Right then, let's go...

: I mean, explosives are not sentient, and if you stick them into a barely closed pipe the blast will escape through the ends.

: Voilà.

: Do you see the size of the "holes"? Do you see the drill? This would have taken hours and a full backpack of fresh drill bits, not to mention a proper power supply. Cathryn did it in only a few minutes.

: Get going people, quick. The fireworks are just beginning.

: Dammit!

: Can you hear? Can you hear the music?

: It's the only time I can't hear any bloody music, and I'm grateful for it.

: I'm coming right now, Cathryn.

: Cutscene time! Probably to signify that Bernard is indeed coming.

: Yeah, they just pan over a standard scene background with a poor fireworks effect added to the bottom layer.

: Hurry up. We don't have that much time.

: I know. But jogging with an explosive device is a bad idea.

: Just three minute, people.

: You getting there?

: 20 seconds? In a tunnel? Um... Nice knowing you, guys.

: One minute thirty. It's getting exciting folks. Are you ready there?

: Ready. Then I'm out of here. Good luck!

: And Bernard goes away like a smart person.

: Thirty seconds Cathryn. Get ready.

: I just hope that the ceiling holds.

: Wow. Anyway, Cathryn puts an invisible thing on the floor and we fade out.

: What?

: Those are open pipes with cords that go into them. This can't work.

: Ten seconds.

: You haven't what?

: Now!

: I have no clue what's going on with this explosion.

: That cellar looks familiar. Luckily, the cameras didn't spot the blast.

: Everything quiet in the museum. How's it looking at your end, Cathryn?

: (signal noise)

: Cathryn..?

: Hey. Cathryn. That's not funny, OK?

: Oh god! You really gave me a fright there.

: OK I'm hooking up with the computer now.

: We don't have to watch out for the cameras. Just timing them was enough to render them useless.

: Whoa, they actually changed the perspective for the night time shots this time around.

: But only on that screen with the itchy statues.

: Oh look, we're back to "evening" again.

: I'm thinking about it. Give me a minute.

Hurry up, I'm not crazy about getting caught by the night security guy.

: Yeah, OK. I'm not a magician.

: Back to "night time"! Let's use the LaserDial on the PC.

Ah. This. This is a stupid puzzle. Never explained, as usual.

The idea is to click on the letters in the Edit Sequence window to make all lasers shoot straight across the room.

Like this. Easier said than done.

Each laser beam is a miscoloured jpeg laid over the image of the room. Thanks to this the screen shows only one laser at a time, while constantly switching between them. There's no "current beam" indicator on the panel. As the result, it's impossible to say whether what you see is laser #1, #2, or maybe #5.