Part 33: Beast Within 12: Von Zell Is A Dick. Also Probably A Killer, But Mostly A Dick

Part 12: Von Zell Is A Dick. Also Probably A Killer, But Mostly A Dick

Well, I can find nothing else at the Werewolf Club, so we’re back to the best part of any point and click adventure game: AIMLESS WANDERING!! Well, not totally aimless after all: Just to check things out, Gabriel goes by Harry’s office, and we can ask him something about the Missing Persons cases that Leber mentioned.


Gabriel asks if he can “borrow” Harry’s secretary to do some “research”…nah, that’s not fair. He legitimately wants help looking up any missing persons cases within the past 10 years; more specifically those cases that occur near forested areas. Harry agrees, saying he can spare her a little later in the day. Nothing new at the Huber farm, maybe something new at Leber’s?


Yes, actually! We now have the address of the latest victim! Gabriel uses his notepad to jot it down, so we can now look at a brand new area. Oh thank Christ. Exceeept all we had time to do was jot down the phone number. Gabriel, you clod.


At any rate, we go back to the Huber farm and call the dead guy, because why not. He reaches some woman, and as she checks over the names trying to find either “Knight” or “Von Knight”, she lists off a “Von Aigner”. So back to checking every single location again. And I’m fucking stuck. So, I had to check the walkthroughs. And yeah, this is another one of THOSE puzzles that there’s no fucking way I could’ve figured out on my own. You guys ready for this??? You better be.


Ok, first we go back to the club’s back hallway. Now, see that door on the left? I just assumed it was an open door that led to the alleyway door, but no. It’s a separate, locked door.


The next thing we need is the woodpecker clock, and have Gabriel hang it on the little potted tree there. Now we head back to Xavier and just hang out until the clock starts knocking. When it does, Xavier goes off to answer the door, giving Gabriel an opportunity for further snooping.


And we find some keys, so let’s go open that door now.


Door’s unlocked, but Gabriel wants to put the keys back somehow before weasel boy notices that they’re missing. On the way, we grab the clock, because, hey, it’s 60 marks! Actually, we reset the clock, and repeat the process so we can return the keys. And then we take our expensive clock back, and go in the new door.


Um…


Oh jesus, this is worse than Paul Warner’s office in PHANTASMAGORRRIA 2! Well, guess we better take a closer look.


So there’s a notebook, no idea what the context here is…but Gabriel confirms that these are all men he met last night. We can look around this room a little more…


“What the hell did these guys hunt? Ninjas?”

For some reason, I find the idea of a Ninja Rifle extremely funny.


Photos of Vons Glower and Zell hunting. Sigfried and Roy would disapprove of at least one of them.


BUS-TED!!! Von Zell catches Gabriel, shouts that this room is for members only, grabs the notebook, and takes us back upstairs.


And we can take an opportunity to Get to know the good Baron a little more.
Not that he wants us to. He’s civil at first until Gabriel comments that good hunting takes practice and

“BULLSHIT!”

“HUNTING IS A MATTER OF THE WILL!”

So I’m pretty sure Von Zell’s the one who did the little girl. When asked about the endangered species in the basement, Von Zell snaps that they were all obtained legally and storms off in a huff. And now I’m left with no destination again. What to do, what to do…well, it turns out I should’ve had a good look at Von Glower’s card to get his address, as that opens up the Perlach district on the map, so let’s go visit another werewolf.


A werewolf who is apparently a smooth pimp daddy. Von Glower welcomes Gabriel warmly, and we can take a little look around his crib.


The hell is that up on the wall?


“Is that African?”
“Indian, actually. From South America.”

Uh. Huh. At any rate, our conversation is…perplexing. First of all, we get a little background on some of the other club members, one of whom, Hennemann, seems primed to become a future Chancellor, while Von Aigner owns a butchery. Kinda turned off that weisswurst now.
And then, we get into Von Glower’s philosophy. I’m not going to retype out everything, but allow me to sum up: Man has been weakened by civilization and only by getting back to our primal selves can we truly reclaim our “physical power”. Or something. Pretty sure that’s the broad strokes.
And then we ask about the Black Wolf, startling the fuck out of him.


Von Glower recovers relatively quickly, and states that he simply associated the phrase with the spate of killings. (Bull. Shit.) But that the killings have him derailed.

“Nature can seem cruel, but it is orderly. It does not waste or torture; not like this. And with the club espousing what we do…Our philosophy does not support this sort of thing.”

And to be honest, he comes off as pretty honest about it. I have a feeling that while he’s obviously involved as the Alpha werewolf, Von Zell is probably the actual killer, and is doing it against Glower's wishes. At any rate, they agree to meet at the club and share a few drinks afterwards. Back to the club I suppose!


And here we see Herr Preiss, described by Von Glower as one of the top lawyers in Munich. Time to pump him for information too, I suppose.


Preiss is an agreeable enough sort. He admits that his own urges tend toward the carnal end of things, but he’s more than willing to dish on Von Zell. Turns out Zell was Von Glower’s golden boy for some time, until the past year or so their relationship began to sour. Then about six weeks ago, Preiss overheard an argument between Glower and Zell where Zell called him “weak”. Preiss wanted to step in on Von Glower’s behalf, but opted not to as it was a private conversation. Also, Zell’s been loaning other members money from his family’s banks, including Preiss, although he admits it wasn’t that much. Thinking back to that journal in the basement, those numbers are probably loan amounts then. And seeing as I doubt a bank would issue a loan of only 30 marks, I have a feeling all those numbers need about 3 more zeroes added to the end, which means that Von Aigner is in the shit.
Then when asked about The Black Wolf, he says he’s heard of it somewhere, but can’t remember where or what it was about, but he does promise to tell Gabriel if he remembers.

At that point, the rest of the club members arrive. Preiss excuses himself for a word with Von Glower, Zell gives Gabriel a dirty look, and goes to chat with Klingmann.


We try to join in with Preiss and Glower, but are gently rebuffed. So we go to talk to Von Aigner and Hennemann, and after getting agreements to speak privately with them the next day, Gabriel lets drop about the murder and Von Aigner gets a little cagey when hearing the name of the victim. They then ask Von Gower if Gabriel will join them for the club hunting trip the next day. Zell starts flipping out, snapping that Gabriel doesn’t have a hunting license, but Von Glower just glosses over it.


Last group to talk to is our old friends. Well, talk to is a strong phrase, really, all we need is one of those German magazines. And we get clever with it, wrapping Gabriel’s tape recorder in it and slipping it back.


After which, Von Glower comes over with a fresh cold one for Gabe, and expressing excitement for Gabriel joining them tomorrow. And Von Zell flips out again.


He starts ranting that Gabriel could be a reporter or policeman, but Von Glower just calmly states that he doesn’t care. Zell storms off again, and Glower apologizes. Gabriel then excuses himself as well, wishing all gathered a pleasant night.


Back at the Huber farm, someone left Gabriel a present! And it’s a good thing he put on the Schattenjager Talisman off camera…


Because the fucking Predator is watching him.


And it’s not very happy. And holy shit, that’s the end of Chapter 3! So you know what that means next time! More Grace and Gerde being catty and bitchy to each other!!