Part 2

Welcome back! When last we left off, our forgetful hero just stumbled upon a corpse in an office just above a bar.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyJD-PynHKU

Naturally, our first move is to "Open" the corpse. Must be plenty of goodies in there!



The desk can be opened as well. This yields a total of two keys, a pencil, and a piece of paper.

It's an unmarked key.

It's a key marked, "FRONT."

It's a common #2 pencil. those who had schooling usually become ill at the sight of one.

It appears to be a blank piece of paper.

The safe on the left is a combination safe. We don't know the combination yet, so not much to be done there. However, the shutter behind our dead pal leads outside.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_CutvlHN4Y

It's a bit hard to tell with this perspective, but you can either go back through the window, up a level, or down a level. Going down a level would lead to the alley outside the bar, but it's a one way trip. Besides, we're not quite done with Joe's.



Going up a level reveals a fourth floor, accessed via another window.



It almost looks like an electric chair, but it has no power supply leading to it. It has restraints for the arms and head. Perhaps it's a dentist's chair.

Interesting, a restraining device in a hidden room atop a bar.



In addition to the syringe in the wastebasket, there's three vials of medicine on the table.

The syringe is currently empty.

It's a vial labeled: SODIUM PENTATHOL. The vial is empty.

It's a vial labeled: DIETHANOL TRIMENE. The vial is empty.

It's a vial labeled: MEDREZINE.

In the NES version, the syringe is replaced with capsules, but the system itself works like this: You can use medicine you find on yourself with the syringe. The syringe itself doesn't break or cause you any harm, but some of the medicines you find aren't entirely beneficial... more to follow in a bit.



I don't remember seeing an elevator anywhere, do you? Let's see where it goes.



Top button does nothing, but the next one down works. Also, brain damage from drugs. Who can forget?



Hrm, secret elevator passage... if this guy is the owner, maybe he isn't as innocent a victim as we thought.

Let's head back downstairs.



Unlocking the door just to be safe is a good idea at this point. S'EOJ RAB is almost done, but it may be necessary to come back in a pinch. Just one more area to explore, and that's the door under the staircase.



The wine cellar seems simple enough, although checking one of the bottles on the far right reveals a telltale "lack of dust" that is worth investigating with commands like "Operate" or "Hit".



More secrets? Not entirely surprising, given what we saw upstairs. Let's check this out.



Weird is right. Maybe Joe was trafficking something down here. What's in that other room?



Huh... a hidden underground casino. This is starting to make more sense. Gambling in the 1940's was... complicated. Secret casinos were fairly common, and operated fluidly with or without unofficial support by authorities. No wonder Joe needed easy access to the sewer system; he needed an easy way to move product and clients in, and a bolthole to move them out if needed.

Oh well, since we're here, nobody will notice if we throw a couple quarters on the machines. Say... the one on the right.





I put two quarters in.

The slot machine is expanded upon greatly in the NES game, with rolling slots and semi-random outcomes. While definitely an interesting "spin" on the original game, in this version the right slot machine appears to be much simpler: two quarters, and then you've got pretty much enough of them for the rest of the game.



Pretty soon I'll have to tidy up the inventory for a bit, but for now I'm just going to admire my windfall. Also, pictures of a couple pretty infamous gangsters there.

It was also at about this time I realized that I never opened up the envelope in my inventory.





Interesting, a bill of sale for the medicine we're toting around. And an address! This is our first major lead.



But first, let's finish up the exploration with the sewers. Don't worry ICOM, I'm not that easily excitable.



Not much going on in this tunnel, so let's head back and-



JESUS CHRIST!





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFip1UyrG94

The alligator in the sewer is a semi-random encounter, and you don't get a lot of time to react to it. Maybe this is the real reason why the casino was empty...





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbIDMQfQjfk

Naturally, I go back and have some revenge.



It's best to get the alligator out of the way early, since I believe it only happens once and killing it makes the sewers a safe place to go to ground.



It also leads to this important area, which will become clear towards the end of the game.



For now though, let's take a dip!



Okay, enough suicides... well, okay, maybe a few more.



All that work just to wind up outside the bar. Let's go back in for a minute.



Two of the three vials were empty. The third...



Anyway, going to the right from Joe's Bar takes us to the police station. Let's go in and say hello!



Hi guys!



Yup, you can go turn yourself in at the police station at pretty much anytime in the adventure. In fact, you have to go there at one point to actually beat the game. I hate to keep saying this, but we'll get back to that point much later in the LP.

Oh, but sometimes there's also a very important random encounter on the way over to the station.



Well hello there toots! How can I hel-







Rubbed out by a hooker... and not in the way that encourages you to leave a tip. A femme fatale if ever there was.

See you in the next update!

Incidentally, if you're a history buff or simply interested in a bit of Chicago history, this site presents interesting articles on gambling in the early half of the twentieth century: http://online.sfsu.edu/hl/g.ec.html