Part 21: Sins of the Fathers 21: The End of the Beginning!

Part Twenty-One: The End of the Beginning!

And here we are: The Endgame. So let’s leave this stinking elevator and enter the horrors of the Hounfour.


And it’s kinda futuristic?


Ok, I don’t know what I was expecting, but it probably wasn’t this. At any rate there are 12 rooms in a circle around the central area, each one marked by a number of snakes above the door. (Yeah, I know they don’t look like snakes here. Just roll with it.) The elevator room is Room 6, so let’s go clockwise and explore a little. Room 7:


This is where the cult keeps all their robes and masks and shit. Gabriel wisely decides to grab some robes as well as a wolf mask for himself and a boar mask for Mosely (if he shows up). Room 8 is locked, on to Room 9.


Room 9 is pretty uninteresting. Room 10!


This is where the Cult keeps all their potential sacrifices….and a huge fucking snake. This one leaves Gabriel alone, but if you use the OPERATE command on it…


“No, YOU operate the python!”

*Snicker* Okay, that was pretty good. Room 11 is also locked…starting to feel a bit unwelcome here…Room 12 it is then!


Just another boring bedroom. On to Room 1. Locked as well. Fuck. Room 2.


Holy fuck, Haitian Worf is fucking nuts. That’s human goddamn skin he’s using as wallpaper, and I might be mistaken, but those look like skinned human faces hanging from the bull skull. We’re gonna leave the room now, because he’s too into his prayer ritual to notice Gabriel at the moment. But if we moved further into the room, he’ll notice Gabe fast. Moving on.


Malia’s Room. She moves behind the screen and briefly summons Tetelo, appealing to her to spare Gabriel. Tetelo refuses, insisting that Gabriel is just like his ancestor and will betray her at the first opportunity. Malia is understandably upset at this, and…locks herself in the bathroom. Uh, Malia, I’m sure that worked on your parents, but I don’t really think locked doors are gonna do dick against a fucking ghost.


Room 4…Um, kay. After the horror show that was Dr. John’s place and Malia’s opulent suite, I really wasn’t expecting to walk into Initech. Although there should be a big banner "IS THIS GOOD FOR DAMBALLAH?" There’s a ledger on the desk, so we grab it.

“This record book might be the kind of thing Mosely wanted for the FBI.”

Inside we find Rada drum codes for various members of the cult, with “Brother Eagle” being right near the top. Brother Eagle just happens to be Dr. John, so we file that away for future use. Room 5 is another office space. So what do we do next? Well, if you can bring yourself to look back at Dr John’s room, he has a keycard hanging from the far wall, so we need to get the crazy bastard out of there. There’s only one place we can explore now, the center of the Hounfour.


Oh great, another sacrificial table. Terrific. But there are also some Rada drums, and we need those, so operating them we send a very basic message: SUMMON-BROTHER EAGLE. At which point Gabriel has to fucking book to Dr John’s room, grab the keycard, and get the fuck out of there as fast as possible. Just for good measure, we go into Room 1 now to hide.


FUCKING JACKPOT! And you know what?

We can take some.

“I know it’s dirty money, but it’s for a good cause. Me.”

So yeah, Gabriel just casually helps himself to a million dollars in large unmarked currency. Damn. Well, we’ll go counter-clockwise to open all the locked rooms as we look for Grace.


Room 11 is...fucked up as well. Unlike the gory horror of Dr. John’s place, this has a certain antiseptic horror if you know what I mean. Undoubtedly, this is where he gets his wallpaper. But Room 8 is where the action begins.



“Grace! I found her!”

Mosely arrives just then.

“Mostly! You made it!”
“Thank God! I thought I saw you ducking in here! Those goddamn drums started as soon as I got off that elevator thing and I heard voices from above. I have a feeling the mass Voodooees are about to invade.”
“I found Grace.”
“I see that. Check her out, then you and I need to find a way to blend into the woodwork, bud.”

Talking to Grace does nothing, it’s like she’s under a spell or something…hey, didn’t we just come into possession of a mystical artifact of some sort? Let’s give it to Grace and see what happens!

“What…what’s going on..? Gabriel! Mosely! Where are we? What’s going on?”
Gabriel takes back the Talisman.
“We’re in the Gedde cartel Hounfour, Grace. A ritual is about to begin, and I’m afraid you’re the main course.”

Your metaphor sucks, Gabriel.

“Is that what those drums are? I heard them in my sleep! I couldn’t wake up!”
“Yeah. Make you want to dance, don’t they?”
“Be serious! What are we going to do now?”
“Right! Let’s make a plan! What do you want us to do, Gabriel?”
“You’re asking ME?”
“Oh, God, we’re in trouble.”

Eventually, they decide that Grace will play unconscious, while Gabriel and Mosely try to prevent Dr. John from summoning Tetelo. If necessary, Grace will wrestle Malia away. Gabriel hands Mosely his cloak and mask so they can blend in. Just in time too.

“What are you doing here?”
“Thought this room was empty.”
“Go to the circle! Now!”

And…here…we…go….


Malia arrives not long after Gabriel and Mosely come in, and there’s a problem.

“Damn it! She’s already being ridden by Tetelo!”
“What?? But you said…”
“Sshhh! Yeah, yeah, I know!”
“Great! Now what?”
“I don’t know!”

Out of options, as Malia/Tetelo raises the sacrificial knife, we whip out the Talisman.

“Tetelo, STOP! I won’t let you kill her!”

Tetelo calls him a bastard of a bastard (which is a curse that I’m going to work into my vocabulary), and swings the knife. However, Grace quickly rolls off the table. Tetelo commands Dr. John to finish her off….and Mosely to the fucking rescue!!


Damn.


Dr. John’s blood activates this table revealing an Idol inside that Tetelo’s drawing power from. Mosely tries to shoot it, too, but Tetelo gestures and Mosely’s gun explodes…strangely not blowing off his hand in the process. She then demands that Gabriel give her back the Talisman or she’ll kill Mosely and Grace.

Now....waaaaaay back, I alluded to a plot point that would pay off later. Do you remember it?


Time for the payoff.


Oh yeah, that just happened. Gabe tells Mosely to take Grace and the Talisman and run, which he does. Defenseless, Gabriel is at Tetelo’s mercy. She grabs him and tries to slit his throat, but Malia’s will delays her long enough for us to grab that Idol thing and smash it against the floor.

“Oh, SHIT!”

Because now the Earth opens up. Yeah.


Malia/Tetelo clutches to the edge of the newly formed crevasse. Tetelo mocks Gabriel, saying he’ll betray her, while Malia begs for help. Being a big softie, Gabriel listens to Malian and grabs her hand. But Malia realizes something…the circle won’t end if she lives.


So she throws herself down into the lake of fire that’s under New Orleans for some reason.


And so we reach our Dénouement. Grace and Gabriel look at the ruins of the park, and Grace decides to put off her Ph.D so she can help him in his task as Schattenjager.

OR DOES SHE?!

Nah, she does. Because if the alternate ending were canon, well we wouldn’t be starting Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within after Christmas, now, would we?!

FINAL THOUGHTS

I fucking love this game. Some things are a little hokey, sure, and the writers take a ton of liberties with Voodoo, but a)That's pretty much the Dan Brown formula for success anyway, and b)Unless you think to check any of that out online or in a library, you're not really going to notice it.

And I really can't stress the acting abilities of all involved. Tim Curry and Leah Remini just knock it out of the fucking park as Gabriel and Grace, Mark Hamill is so lovably pathetic as Mosely, and Michael Dorn is far more intimidating as Dr. John than he ever was as a Klingon. Man, I can't wait to see how well Tim Curry does in the next game-


...Who the fuck are you?