Part 58: Last Night- Page 56
Sooo... I messed up.>kick door
With a defiant shout, you launch your body at the door. Something snaps (the door? you think incoherently, or your shoulder?), and the door flies open, sending you sprawling out into the hallway.
Hallway
A grim hallway of concrete and industrial green tiles. This is the north end; the hallway runs south from here. Doors lead east and west, and a narrow, barred window to the north looks out onto the dark corner outside.
A shard of glass from the broken window lies on the floor.
While exploring this hallway the first time through, I forgot about the Madman.
>take glass
(the shard of glass)
Painstakingly, you get down on your knees and very, very carefully pick up the shard of glass with your teeth.
>put glass into crack
(the shard of glass into the crack)
You wedge the shard of glass into the crack, its sharp edge pointing outward.
>cut jacket with glass
(the shard of glass)
Carefully, you lean back against the wall and start shrugging your shoulders against the jutting glass shard. After what seems like an eternity, you feel the straps begin to fray and loosen, until suddenly the strait jacket grows slack and slips free. You shake the horrible garment off in disgust, giving it a vicious kick for good measure as you gingerly rub feeling back into your arms.
Your score has just gone up by two points.
The Madman is a time bomb. After a certain number of turns, he eats you.
>open closet
You open the closet, revealing your trenchcoat, a silver locket, a gold locket, a hooded robe and a lantern.
>wear gold locket
(first taking the gold locket)
You put on the gold locket.
>wear silver locket
(first taking the silver locket)
You put on the silver locket.
>wear coat
(first taking the trenchcoat)
You put on the trenchcoat.
>take lamp
Taken.
>take robe
Taken.
There. I think that's everything.
Let's just let Miranda check herself before she continues as normal...
>i
You are wearing your trenchcoat, a silver locket, a gold locket, your clothes and your wedding ring; in addition, you have in your hands a hooded robe and a lantern.
The pockets of your trenchcoat contain an old tin (which is closed), four mirrors (the mirror labeled #4, the mirror labeled #3, the mirror labeled #2 and the mirror labeled #1), a pair of calipers, a keyring, on which are eight keys (a long steel key, a tarnished bronze key, a small steel key, an old-fashioned brass key, a small copper key, an old-fashioned iron key, a key to the house and a key to the cellar), a blueprint rolled into a loose tube, your umbrella, a towel, a hastily written letter, a book of matches with four matches left, a flask (which is closed), a meat hook, a tattered drawing, Michael's wallet (which is closed), Michael's faculty card, a letter opener, a newspaper, a strange metal flute, a jewelry box (which is closed), the Cryptical Haermoniacon, an animal's skull, The Compleat Manual of Wardes and Seales, a puzzle box (which is open but empty), a styrofoam cup, a family album, a torn journal, a flashlight, a bundle of soggy pages and a typewritten notice.
Yup. That's a lot of stuff.
>south
Hallway
A grim hallway of concrete and industrial green tiles, running north and south from here. Doors lead east and west.
>look into east observation window
Inside the eastern cell you can see what must be one of the asylum's old inmates, prancing and cavorting around the room. You are mildly disturbed to see that he is wearing no strait jacket.
And there's our friend. WE'll just let him stay in there for now. His timer doesn't start until we try and go down stairs.
>south
Hallway
A grim hallway of concrete and industrial green tiles. This is the south end; the hall runs north from here. Doors lead east and west, and a doorway to the south leads to the top of a stairway.
Something about the observation window in the western cell door catches your eye; it looks like it has blood on it.
>look into western cell
You find nothing of interest.
A burst of lightning from outside sends a brief flicker of illumination through the hall.
3... 2... 1...
>wait
*** ka-WHAM!!! ***
A monstrous clap of thunder rolls across the sky, shaking the whole town to its foundations.
With the Madman locked up, we can do a few things that require time. Specifically this cell right here.
>unlock west door
You unlock the west cell door.
>open west door
You open the west cell door.
You hear strange, gibbering laughter coming from down the hall.
>west
Padded Cell
Another padded cell, much like the rest. There is a door in the east wall.
The padding in this room seems a bit worse for the wear; murky bloodstains spatter the canvas near the door, and there is a large tear down in the corner of the cell, with bits of stuffing leaking out.
I WAS saying, there was a hair pin at one point, apparently. I seem to remember it in my first play through. I found it in the luggage back at Verlac Manor. All through the game I've been editing out my attempts to search through the luggage. Every time I did, Miranda would just say "Ugh! It's such a pain!"
I guess the author cut out that part.
>look at tear
The canvas is frayed and jaggedly torn. It looks as though someone might have gnawed through it with their teeth.
An eerie, flickering glow momentarily illuminates the hall outside the cell.
>pull tear
That would accomplish very little.
*** ka-WHAM!!! ***
A monstrous clap of thunder rolls across the sky, shaking the whole town to its foundations.
>take stuffing
The padding is firmly attached to the walls and floor.
>search tear
In the ragged tear is a torn square of canvas.
There it is.
You may or may not remember the orderly talking about what happened to Edward Verlac at the end.
Maybe not.
Edward bashed his own brains out. Being such a good hospital, Danvers didn't clean it up after all that time.
I'm sure they have their reasons.
>take square
As you carefully pull the ragged piece of canvas from its hiding place, something pricks you sharply on the finger. You jerk your hand away; then, peering into the tear once again, you notice an old, crusted needle embedded in the stuffing.
Your score has just gone up by two points.
>take needle
You pick up the crusty needle. It's about two inches long, very old and crusted with what looks like dried blood. The point is worn down but still sharp.
This. This is what we have instead of the hair pin.
>put needle into coat
You slip the crusty needle into the pocket of your trenchcoat.
Now, what's this square?
>look at square
It's roughly six inches to a side and covered front and back with uneven, barely legible handwriting. The letters are the murky brown color of blood.
Handwriting?
>read square
It's roughly six inches to a side and covered front and back with uneven, barely legible handwriting. The letters are the murky brown color of blood.
"My name is Edward Verlac, and this is my testament:
"I am utterly, utterly mad.
"They have locked me in here for my own safety -- and for the safety of others. My arms are bound in a strait jacket. Yet this is no less than I deserve. I am writing this using a needle dropped carelessly by one of the orderlies some weeks ago; biting my lip to draw blood for the ink, I hold the tiny steel quill beneath my teeth to write. This exhaustive task shall be my last on earth; when I am finished, I shall dash my brains out against the cell window. The last of the Verlacs will be dead, and the world made a slightly brighter place thereby.
"Know this: I did not slip into madness through any weakness or congenital defect (except insofar as my blood is indelibly tainted with the cursed ichor of the Verlac line) -- I was driven mad by the spectre of my great-great ancestor, Croseus Verlac. For generations that fiend has traveled down the family line, passing from body to body in a hideous, incestuous ritual whereby he impregnates his own daughter, then projects his black soul into the innocent body of his infant grandson. I myself was horrified to discover that I am in fact the progeny of my own grandfather, Mordecai Verlac, and his wretched, tormented daughter -- my mother, Anna. The experiment failed on the first attempt, producing William, my sickly, malformed elder brother whom I never knew. William, however, died while still a toddler -- or so my mother has always told me -- and the next unholy coupling resulted in me.
"From as early as I can remember, I could feel the lurking presence of my grandfather, who died the day I was born, and who I now realize was little more than a fleshly disguise for the pernicious warlock Croseus. He stalked the boundaries of my mind, seeking a means of entrance, of condemning my soul to limbo and taking up a fresh, new abode in my young limbs. His evil, red-rimmed eyes haunted my every dream and o'ershadowed even my waking hours. The amulet my mother gave me while I was still in the crib protected me -- for the old man cannot abide its presence, and must flee all who wear it -- but Mother died while I was still young, and since then my folly has brought tragedy to myself and to all those I love.
"The memory of my mother's urgent warnings faded soon after her death. I became embarrassed by the scandal that seemed to hover over my family name like a pall, and was mortified by the superstitious trinket that I still wore around my neck, as if in ignorant servitude to those old myths. The red-rimmed eyes had not given me nightmares since my twelfth birthday, and I dismissed them as an immature fancy that had passed along with my boyhood. At the age of 21, I pawned the amulet at a magic shop somewhere in town, and thereby sealed my doom.
"For ten years I have resisted Croseus' demonic encroachment upon my mind, my soul, my very being, with only the strength of my will. It was not enough. I found my mind flooded at the oddest times with strange, antiquarian memories; my speech and mannerisms lapsed into uncharacteristic, archaic patterns; and worst of all, I found myself looking at my dear daughter Gertrude -- only seven years old! -- in the most unwholesome way, with the most unmentionable ideas creeping through my subconscious.
"I scoured every street in this cursed town, looking for that magic shop, but I have never found it. In desperation I began delving into old histories and forbidden genealogies, researching the history of the dread Verlac name for some solution to my plight. I discovered no answers, only the horrors I have just written of. But I also discovered something worse -- the ultimate purpose behind the old demon's nefarious bodysnatching!
"He plans to unleash a primordial evil such that the earth could not possibly survive. I have seen the plans and the blueprints; I have read the dread tome in my great-great grandfather's church; I have used the obsidian lens that is not true obsidian, and I have looked upon what that madman means to draw down onto this earth! He and this town, his foul congregation of fanatics and madmen! They are all a part of it! They have been watching me, waiting for me to change, waiting for the return of their monstrous high priest!!
"It was then that I realized that killing only myself would not be enough; for the degenerate inhabitants of this town would hunt down my family and wreak a terrible vengeance if I took from them their Messiah. And besides; who could say whether the crafty devil Croseus might not concoct some new way to enter the world, through a new body -- through that of one of my daughters, perhaps? The ritual has always demanded a grandson, but Croseus was never one to let such a trivial inconvenience stop him. He would find a way. He always returns to his blood.
"I did the only thing I could do -- Julia, I am so terribly sorry, but I will be with you soon -- I could not let him have you, or Gertrude or Sonia -- and I will not let him have me. Say good-bye to the last of the Verlacs -- there will be no blood for him once I am gone."
>put square into coat
You slip the torn square of canvas into the pocket of your trenchcoat.
>east
Hallway
Something about the observation window in the western cell door catches your eye; it looks like it has blood on it.
Right. Miranda is plenty sick of this place. Time to move on.
And before you ask; No, she doesn't want to keep the straight jacket.
>strike match
(first taking the book of matches)
One of the matches starts to burn.
>light lamp with match
The lantern is now lit.
>drop match
Dropped.
The match goes out.
>south
You are stopped halfway to the stairs by a loud banging noise behind you.
You turn around -- there it is again. A loud, shuddering bang, like something heavy slamming into something wooden -- and you see a cell door halfway down the hall shiver in its frame.
Looks like someone else is trying out your brilliant escape plan.
The door is hit a third time, the latch snaps and the door flies open, and a filthy, ragged man staggers out into the hall. You have just enough time to notice -- with no small amount of disquiet -- that the man is not wearing a strait jacket, and then he looks up at you and grins an utterly psychotic grin.
The madman follows you at a wary distance.
And now it begins. Miranda has only so much time before the Madman eats her.
>south
Top of Stairs
You are at the top of a stairwell leading down to the asylum's ground floor. A hallway lined with doors leads north.
The madman follows you at a wary distance.
>down
Bottom of Stairs
You are at the bottom of a stairwell leading up to the asylum's second floor. A hallway leads north.
The madman follows you at a wary distance.
>north
Hallway
A grim hallway of concrete and industrial green tiles. This is the south end; the hall runs north from here. A doorway to the south leads to the bottom of a stairway.
The madman hops awkwardly toward you, giggling and dripping saliva from his blood-smeared chin.
That guy is too happy.
I'm going to guess a psychotic mania brought on by too many dreams where he ate his mother. It's always the mothers that drive men mad.
>north
Hallway
A grim hallway of concrete and industrial green tiles. The hallway runs south from here; to the north, the hallway ends at the barred gate leading to the lobby.
The orderly is lying face down in a pool of blood, several feet beyond the barred gate.
The orderly's porno magazine lies discarded on the floor, just outside the barred gate.
A large key dangles from the orderly's belt.
The madman lurches after you.
"Yummy," whispers the madman to himself. "Oh, yummy, yummy..."
>look at orderly
The orderly lies face down in a pool of his own congealed blood, the back of his skull savagely beaten into a wet, churned mass.
AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
>look at magazine
"Juggs". How charming.
We're familiar with it's articles on Grecian pottery.
>look at large key
Presumably, it opens the barred gates, providing access into (or out of) the asylum.
>
Alright, which should we grab first?
Remember, Miranda's on a timer.
Items
In Trenchcoat
