Part 71: Last Night- Page 69
In his moment of hesitation, you see your chance; straining against his choking grip, you slip the amulet's cord around Michael's neck, letting the silver pendant drop to his chest.Instantly Michael begins convulsing, arching his back and clawing at his chest. His jaws stretch open as if to release a howl of torment, but instead of voice, a thick, ropy stream of ectoplasmic mist pours from his throat. It pools into the center of the room, roils about, then coalesces into a human form -- the vaporous, half-rotted apparition of Croseus Verlac himself!
Now (cracks-knuckles) where were we?
>look
Burial Mound
The cave is lined, floor to ceiling, with mummified human corpses. Shrunken and desiccated, they lie in jumbled heaps inside irregularly carved niches. Carvings cover the rock walls in between the niches -- grotesque, leering faces too horrible even to look upon, their features twitching and smirking in the wavering light that sifts down from above.
The disembodied ghost of Croseus Verlac floats before you, howling its rage.
Your husband is here; weak and battered, but nevertheless your husband again.
The obelisk base stands before you, vast and shadowy in the green, murky light.
At the narrower, northern end of the vaguely egg-shaped cavern sits a massive stone altar, flanked on either side by a pair of strange, vibrating columns.
Michael is doubled over with racking coughs, bringing up a thin trickle of blood.
Mort posted:
I guess we have to lure the ghost onto the altar and use the flute to send him to the hell dimension?
Yorkshire Tea posted:
Shine a light on him Luigi's mansion style to drive him to the altar and then perform flute plan.
Fortunately, we won't need to move the ghost.
Kacie posted:
Gazing in dismay at our overwhelming list o' items in the coat - the Flute is our best bet. Like Mort said- lure ghost to altar and use the flute.
Tasteful Dickpic posted:
Play that funky flute, white girl!
Princey posted:
Also maybe grab hold of your husband and something sturdy so you don't join Croseus in the hell dimension.
gbuchold posted:
[/b]Singspiel die Zauberflöte bitte!
Mozart reference.
Cool.
>take flute
(the strange metal flute)
Taken.
The ghost lets out a chilling, sepulchral laugh. "You useless, puny mortal," it cries. "Did you really think that there was any way on earth you could stop me? I have lived and thrived for over four hundred years -- not even Death can claim me!"
Michael lets out a weak groan.
I won't bother you with remembering which cord to play.
Miranda remembers.
I...
>cover first hole
You place your finger over the first flute hole.
"You sabotaged my dimensional beacon -- I will build another. You drove me from my host body -- I will find another. What next? Will you track down my disciples, one by one, and kill them all? Will you set this whole town to the torch?"
Michael lets out a weak groan.
...have HAD...
>cover seventh hole
You place your finger over the seventh flute hole.
"There will be more towns, woman, and more bodies, and more disciples, and always will I be there. And there is NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME!"
Enough!
Michael lets out a weak groan.
...of YOU!
>play flute
(the strange metal flute)
The flute emits an odd mixture of metallic, warbling notes which intertwine and harmonize eerily with each other.
The strange harmony of the flute blends with the atonal ringing of the two columns, and the three sounds suddenly grow stronger, resonating with and reinforcing one another, intertwining like a dissonant, invisible braid. The sound increases in volume, piercing your eardrums and causing the very air to shimmer.
Suddenly the air above the altar begins to ripple as though with extreme heat. The very fabric of space seems to twist and buckle between the two columns; and then, with a sound like a wet sheet being torn slowly down the middle, the fabric splits.
You are immediately swept off your feet by a powerful sucking vacuum, pulling everything within reach toward the portal. Dust and debris; bones and loose rock from the burial niches; everything not nailed down goes flying across the temple and into the all-devouring maw hovering over the altar-stone. Desperately, you wedge your fingers into a crack in the floor; with the other hand you grasp hold of Michael's pants leg and hang on for dear life.
Verlac is caught like a gossamer thread in a tornado. Frantically he claws at the air, but as an insubstantial ghost there is nothing for him to hang on to. Shrieking and cursing, he is dragged inexorably back, closer and closer to the portal, until the suction draws his corpus out into a long, trailing ribbon, like an unraveling cable-knit sweater -- and in the next moment he is gone forever, sucked into whatever alien dimension lies beyond that horrible rift.
For a few agonizing moments you don't think you're going to make it; then, suddenly, the chaos stops, leaving you breathless on the floor.
Painstakingly, you pry your stiff, bleeding fingers out of the crack and roll over. The rift is gone. The air is normal, and the columns are ringing quietly, as if nothing had happened.
Silence reigns.
There passes some time that your memory cannot account for; a brief period of blackness and oblivion, you and your unconscious husband, together in the subterranean vault. Perhaps you were unconscious as well; you cannot remember. At some point you become conscious again. You lift Michael to his feet, putting his arm around your shoulders, and the two of you stagger up the titan stairs to the surface. The ground begins rumbling just as you are exiting the house, but by that time Michael has recovered some of his senses and can walk a bit faster.
You make it down to the bend in the road overlooking the town just in time to see the town square collapse, the vile obelisk sinking into the earth. Several buildings are dragged down along with it. A gas pipe ruptures in the courthouse, sending a gout of flame high into the air, and soon the entire town is burning.
Behind you, a muffled explosion and a sudden warmth against your back bespeak a similar end to the Verlac family mansion. For a moment you find yourself almost turning back, driven by instinct to rescue your belongings -- but you stop. You turn away. And while Michael rests, you stand at the overlook and watch the sparks rise like fireflies, mingling with the stars in a clear, cloudless sky.
Home
You are home, and it is a momentous event. Downstairs, Michael is waiting for you to bring him the wondrous news. To the east is the bedroom you both share, and to the north is your bathroom.
A cool wave of uneasiness washes slowly over you; you're not sure why.
You can hear a fly buzzing around, somewhere nearby.
Your score has just gone up by fifteen points.
Michael and Miranda Carter are back in Texas, I imagine.
Where else would they go?
>look at fly
You can't see where the fly is. You're not even sure where the buzzing is coming from.
"Well?" Michael calls excitedly from downstairs. "Have you looked yet?"
Time has passed.
It doesn't matter how long.
>inventory
You are wearing your clothes and your wedding ring.
Michael calls up again, this time sounding slightly worried: "Hon? Everything okay up there?"
What matters is that they aren't in Anrchorhead anymore.
>north
You can barely feel yourself walking; it's almost as if some outer force were moving you of its own accord.
Your Bathroom
Your bathroom; an ordinary place. A normal, safe, familiar place.
On the counter is a home pregnancy test.
A nameless, formless apprehension grips you suddenly, leaving you short of breath. Why are you so frightened, on what should be such a joyous occasion?
What matters is Croseus Verlac is more than dead.
>get test
You pick up the home pregnancy test. It's an ordinary pregnancy test, the kind you can get at any drugstore; the kind with the little window that turns pink if you're going to have a baby.
You can hear a fly buzzing around, hovering over the back of your neck.
He's gone.
>look at test
It's an ordinary pregnancy test, the kind you can get at any drugstore; the kind with the little window that turns pink if you're going to have a baby.
And he can't hurt Miranda's family anymore.
>look at tiny window
You can't see any such thing.
Really, game?
I'm trying to be Dramatic, here!
FINE!
>look at little window
You stare down at the little plastic indicator, and an inexplicable horror seizes you.
The window is pink. The test is positive.
From downstairs, you can hear Michael joyfully talking to himself:
"Oh, I hope it's a little girl," he says. "I've always wanted to have a little girl."
*** You have won... for now ***
In that game you scored 97 out of a possible 100 points; you have banished the evil and saved your husband from a fate most hideous -- but you were unable to solve the entire mystery.
Thank you for playing Anchorhead!
Would you like to RESTART, RESTORE a saved game, UNDO your last move, give the FULL score for that game, see some suggestions for AMUSING things to do or QUIT?
A quick look before we finish up the game part for good.
> full
In that game you scored 97 out of a possible 100 points; you have banished the evil and saved your husband from a fate most hideous -- but you were unable to solve the entire mystery.
The score was made up as follows:
2 points for finding the house keys
2 points for showing the keys to Michael
1 point for taking a bath
1 point for getting the key from the cellar
1 point for getting the key from the attic
2 points for finding the journal
2 points for finding the diary
1 point for finding the safe
2 points for opening the safe
2 points for opening the puzzle box
2 points for guessing Michael's computer passcode
5 points for receiving the amulet
2 points for giving the bum whiskey
5 points for giving the bum the amulet
5 points for learning the name IALDABAOLOTH
2 points for spying on Michael
2 points for opening the secret door behind the wine racks
2 points for hiding from the monster at the slaughterhouse
1 point for breaking into the church
2 points for escaping from the church
2 points for opening Claudia Benson's desk drawer
2 points for giving the teddy bear to Jeffrey's mother
1 point for getting the long steel key
1 point for shutting off the steam valve
2 points for getting up to the mill laboratory
2 points for escaping the strait jacket
2 points for finding Edward Verlac's last testament
2 points for escaping the asylum
2 points for recovering the amulet
2 points for slaying William Verlac
5 points for sabotaging the ritual
5 points for freeing Jeffrey
5 points for showing the wedding ring to Michael
5 points for putting the amulet on Michael
5 points for banishing Croseus Verlac
10 points for doing it in time to save your husband's life
97 total (out of 100)
Thank you for playing Anchorhead!
We're missing 3 points from the following things that, technically, didn't happen this play through...
2 points for getting the book from the librarian
1 point for taking a bath a second time
Wait a second...
(checks)
Miranda DID take a bath the second time.
The next update will fill in some last details and look into the "Amusing" option. It will be the last entry, I think.
Thanks for playing along and being patient with this Let's Player.