Part 34: Beast Within 13: My First LP Gave Me PTSD

Part Thirteen: My First LP Gave Me PTSD

Ok, Grace what sort of catty bullshit are you going to pull with Gerde this time??


Well, before we can find that out, Grace is having a little snooze by the light of the full moon.


And of course she’s dreaming of wolves. Because why wouldn’t she.


Then we see this woman fleeing through the snow.


Oh, it’s actually Grace. With hair extensions. There’s a few more shots of wolves, and of her running, and finally someone comes to her rescue!


SANTA!!


Or this guy.


Who then turns into a wolf. Because dreams.


And Grace wakes up. Yeah, that really added a whole lot to the story here. No, I need to address this. The dream sequences in GK1 were an ongoing thing right from the beginning of Gabriel’s story, hinting at the dark secrets of the Ritter family’s past. This, this just comes out of nowhere and is just there to be “OOOOOH SPOOOOOOOKY!!!”


Apparently Gerde isn’t up yet. Clicking on the table just has Grace “wonder what Gerde’s up to”.


At any rate, we head into town and pick up the letter from Gabriel. Let’s see what it says!



Seriously, Gabriel, you’re an asshole. And not the magnificent one you were last time. Grace concurs, pissed that he didn’t include the return address. Welp, back to the house, and seeing as Ludwig is all Grace has to go on, better check the library again.


Success! A book in English! Let’s read!


At least this isn’t another stupid fucking pun name.


So, Dick Cheney is younger than I thought. Good to know.


History Time! The Lohengrin opera (one of Wagner’s) tells of the Swan Knight Loherangrin, the son of Parzival (or Percival for us Anglo heathens), and a knight of the Holy Grail. He is called the Swan Knight as he arrives in a boat pulled by swans to save a maiden who is forbidden to ask his identity. He marries her, and one day, unable to help herself, she asks his name, which he reveals, then returns to his boat, never to be seen again. That’s the broad strokes of the story at least. And a piece of music from it is amongst the most replayed music in Western history: The Bridal Chorus, AKA “Here Comes The Bride”.


It…it’s fucking Von Glower, isn’t it? No, wait, when the fuck did Lycanthropy bestow eternal life? As far as every werewolf legend I’ve ever read goes, they still fucking grow old.


His…sensual nature? Eeeew. Anyway, that’s as far as we can read. And out of ideas, I think it’s time to visit Werner again.


All we can do is ask again where Gabriel is, but Werner refuses. But elsewhere in the place…


Oh, god, dare I? Well I’ve got nothing better as far as an idea, let’s hit up the Smiths. I have a feeling this is gonna hurt.


So Mrs Smith explains that as Demonologists, they’re on the front lines against Satan. Grace asks how she knew about the Black Wolf, and she comments that she was simply the conduit. Grace doesn’t buy it, despite being held hostage by a possessed woman previously.

Also, they’re one of those couples, where the husband calls his wife “Mother”, which always creeps me the fuck out. Freud would have a field day.

And then she offers to do a Tarot reading.


Well, okay, that’s not exactly the first thing I thought of. As we go further and further in this game, I keep having severe PHANTASMAGORRRIA!! flashbacks. I just know she’s going to start ejecting ectoplasm out her faceholes at any minute.


Anywho, Mrs. Smith does a reading for Grace, and then one for Gabriel, but I’m pretty sure that you need to have the person you’re doing a reading for right there, or it doesn’t mean jack shit. However, I’ll leave that to anyone reading who knows Tarot, I will not pretend to be an expert of any kind. Following the readings, Grace thanks them, and they say they’ll be in town to help when she needs it. Well, back to exploring town and…


Well this is new. Gerde is standing at Wolfgang’s coffin and weeping. Upon seeing her, Grace wonders what she’s up to.


And then she sees Gerde tenderly holding the silver heart she left for him…


AND THE PENNY FINALLY FUCKING DROPS. Grace is feeling pretty fucking stupid at this point.


So we drop by the secret passage and…no wait, I know I just mentioned PHANTASMAGORRRIA!!!, but I swear to fucking Christ that’s the exact same passage as Adrienne flees towards the end of the game. Hang on, I just got Archives recently…Holy shit, I’m like 99% sure that Sierra just recycled the CG from one game for the other.


ANYWAY, Grace, feeling bad for being a gigantic bitch, decides to pick some roses for Gerde.


Well, really, they’re for Wolfgang. Grace apologizes heavily to Gerde, and after they make nice, Gerde gives Grace Gabriel’s car keys so she can visit Ludwig’s castles.

NEXT TIME: Road Trip!