Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers Part #35 - Gabriel Knight vs. The Secret Hounfour

Part 35: Gabriel Knight vs. The Secret Hounfour

Chapter 32: Gabriel Knight vs. The Secret Hounfour

Almost ever since crazy old Madame Cazaunoux taught him of its existence, Gabriel's been trying his best to puzzle out where the hell the cult's hounfour could be. How, in a city of 500,000, could an evil Voodoo cult hide its den of murder and crime? When the question suddenly became more urgent, Gabriel still had no solid theories -- until his flight back to the city landed.

Jackson Square. The wheel within a wheel. If the Geddes have exercised this kind of control from the city's founding, then this shape can't possibly be a coincidence.

Today, Jackson Square is as normal, except perhaps less sunny than usual.

If the hounfour is here, it's deep underground. Gabriel takes a look around; he's no stranger to the park, but he can't think of anyplace that could serve as an entrance.

The bands are out playing. The tourists are having a grand ol' time as always.

As Gabriel listens to the local music, he spots the Rada drummer in the usual spot. He sneaks around out of the drummer's sight.

CALL CONCLAVE - TONIGHT - HOUNFOUR

That settles it. This shit is going down tonight. If he doesn't make it to the hounfour soon, Grace's heart is gonna be added to their collection. He storms over to the drummer; the time to play good cop has passed. This bastard is gonna tell him where the entrance is.

No reaction ... and there are way too many people around for Gabriel to make a scene. And for all Gabriel knows, he might be drumming "Gabriel Knight accosting me, send help immediately." He could have planned that out better.

He leaves the drummer alone for now but continues to investigate the surroundings.

It clicks. Jackson Square simply isn't big enough to hold the kind of headquarters this group must need. If it is located underground here, then it would have to expand past the edges of the park. And if that's the case, the entrance could be hidden in one of the nearby buildings.

And the least likely of those buildings to be scoped out for Voodoo worshippers? St. Louis Cathedral.

Gabriel can't help but feel somewhat guilty as he enters the church. It was bad enough to steal priests' clothing, but now he's scoping the place out for the secret lair of a group of vicious killers. There's only so long before Gabriel hits a deep theological crisis.

He rests on one of the pews, looking out over the cathedral. The entrance wouldn't be anywhere that only the church's personnel would be allowed; a series of suspicious people shuffling in and out of the offices at all times would raise too many questions among the unaware. Most likely, it'd be tucked away in an unlocked room.

For instance, this oddly unlocked priests' closet.

Gabriel looks through the room but finds nothing useful. No sign of a hidden switch in the shelving or anything.

The only other immediately accessible area is the confessional booths.

This place is completely deserted. Not that Gabriel wants to give a confession right now, but the emptiness of the church is starting to make him a little nervous.

Gabriel looks around the confessional before quickly spotting something interesting.

He noticed the hole the last time he was in here, but it didn't seem particularly important at the time. Taking a closer look, he sees that the knothole goes pretty deep; farther than his fingers can reach. And it's about the right size ...

Gabriel pulls the rod he found at the snake mound out of his pocket and plunges it into the hole.

Its secret revealed, the confessional booth elevator moves to a lower floor that shouldn't exist.

Almost as soon as it began, the elevator comes to a halt.

Gabriel pokes his head out of the elevator door for a moment, waiting to get hit by gas or lasers or a machete-wielding lunatic.

When nothing happens, he carefully steps out into the room.

The room is remarkably sterile. Gabriel was expecting violence and filth, but the place is actually pretty nice.

Before he forgets, Gabriel rushes back into the elevator to plant the tracking device.

"If Mose can't figure that out, we're gonna have a nice long chat when we're both dead."

It's time to go exploring.

The door leads to a large circular hallway. Gabriel checks to make sure nobody's around before stepping out into it.

The hounfour stretches out past Gabriel's view in either direction, and the whole place is deathly silent. With every step on the soft carpeting, Gabriel worries he's going to get caught -- but there's nobody around to hear him.

Each room has a mark above the door indicating where Gabriel is in the hounfour. The game's graphical detail isn't enough to show a dozen snakes in such a small space, so the player sees a simplified tally.

Since it worked out for him in the snake mound, Gabriel decides to explore clockwise.

The placid, industrial feel is starting to get to Gabriel's nerves more than he expected. The place feels practically abandoned.

The hallway leads to a central chamber. Gabriel decides to go check that out before exploring the other rooms.

As much as it could potentially mess them up, it's more likely to get Gabriel killed. He continues to the inner circle.

So this is where it all goes down. Gabriel doesn't even want to consider how many people have died in this room. And it looks like they haven't cleaned up since their last kill.

This is a gruesome thing, all skulls and crowns.

Gabriel has his Rada book with him; these might be useful if he has to make a scene.

As with the similar table in Benin, this table has markings all along the perimeter.

That was awfully specific. Their artists must be phenomenal.

There's nothing immediately important here, and it's probably best not to stay in any one place for long. Gabriel heads back the way he came.

Gabriel cautiously pushes the button to enter room 7.

Room 7 turns out to be a closet stuffed full of what looks like nonessential Voodoo crap.

Not feeling especially eager to start rummaging through the boxes, Gabriel looks around the room for something useful.

This could work as a disguise if Gabriel's in a hurry.

Masks are good, but the trenchcoat and bright yellow jacket might tip someone off. There are some robes hanging in the corner.

(He actually says "prosperity.")

There doesn't seem to be anything else worth taking along in this closet. Gabriel continues down the hall.

Room 8 won't open. There's a card slot in the door panel; Gabriel won't be getting in without one of those. Mosely's credit card probably wouldn't work even if he still had it with him.

Inside room 9, Gabriel finds ...

... absolutely nothing. He checks the door in the back just in case.

Fascinating.

Door 10 is also unlocked.

Well, Gabriel's found where they keep their animals. Everything's caged with one big, glaring exception.

Gabriel stares the giant snake down, waiting for it to make the first move. After a moment, he relaxes. The snake doesn't seem to be in any hurry to get off its comfy tree, much less attack him. Gabriel doubts he could fight the snake anyway; he was only barely able to get the museum's python off him, and that one was maybe five feet long.

He walks past the snake to examine the various cages.

The goats don't respond, choosing instead to munch idly on something or other they found in their filthy cells. Looking at the animals, Gabriel starts to feel guilty about not doing anything to help.

This room is depressing and smells atrocious. Gabriel leaves to continue his journey.

Room 11 won't open.

Room 12 is just another guest room.

The room numbers loop back to 1; it seems to follow the same clock/sundial pattern as the snake mound. This room's locked too.

When Gabriel opens room 2, he begins to wonder if he'll find anything worthwhile. Everything truly incriminating seems to be held in the locked rooms.

"F--!!"

Gabriel clamps his hand over his mouth as the horrifying sight of Dr. John's bedroom washes over him.

Dr. John remains deep in prayer, apparently not having noticed his door open. Just as Gabriel gets ready to get the fuck out of there, he notices something on the far side of the wall.

That probably opens all the locked doors. There's a chance he could grab it before Dr. John notices he's in the room, but no way in hell is he about to take that chance.

As he turns to leave, Gabriel notices the freshly bloodied machete. There is no way he could take this guy in a fair fight.

After Gabriel opens the door, he checks back nervously to see if this caught Dr. John's attention, but the man thankfully prays too hard.

Gabriel catches his breath once he's out in the hallway. He was not in any way prepared to see that. He's pretty sure there were human faces hanging off the bull's skull.