Part 12: Booking In
Update 12: Booking InWelcome back. Last time we explored Rion’s house and found a recording from Rion’s father explaining the exact details of the plot. Armed with this knowledge we must now visit the Babylon Hotel in order to retrieve Lilia and hopefully put an end to Dorothy’s madness.
Since we’re on disk two now the title screen has changed from a surly Rion to a vacant Lilia. Anyhow, let’s cut to the chase and get started with stage three.
One good thing about rain-soaked dystopias is the steady market for futuristic anoraks.
Our next destination - the Babylon Hotel.
Music: Galerians - Hotel Theme 1
The Babylon Hotel is slightly different from the first two stages. Combat and exploration are kept to a minimum, and there are actual NPCs we can talk to. The focus is more on investigation and following a chain of events to their conclusion.
Our first port of call is the front desk, where we meet the manager and porter of this fine establishment. They must have a guest list, so asking them if Lilia is around seems like a good idea.
: Welcome to the Babylon Hotel. A room for one?
: Is there a girl by the name of Lilia staying here?: Lilia? There’s no one by that name staying here. Your room is number 302.
Figures. Lilia would have been caught a long time ago if she booked herself in under her own name. Guess we’ll have to search the whole place if we want to find her.
The Babylon Hotel is a very small stage. At the moment we have access to two more floors via the lift at the back, as well as a couple of side rooms on the ground floor.
The first is a rather grimy bathroom. There’s nothing in here and the room itself is never relevant.
The second contains the stage’s only save point.
There are also some stairs leading down into the basement, but they’re cordoned off for the time being.
A psychic reading gives us an image of the workman who blocked them. We’ll have to keep an eye out for him for when we inevitably need to go down there.
The lift gives us access to the top two floors. We could go to Rion’s room right now and begin the next phase of the plot, but we might as well explore the rest of the hotel first. Maybe bug some of the other guests too.
The second floor has a simple layout, a long, decaying corridor with guestrooms on either side.
First up, what on earth is the deal with room 204? It looks like the entrance to a fallout shelter.
It doesn’t look like we’ll be getting in there easily, so let’s check out the rest. Room 203 looks more normal, and a reading reveals it’s occupied. The door is also unlocked, and going in triggers a brief in-game scene.
Is that…a nuclear bomb?
Rion hesitantly approaches the occupant, who is busy drilling / soldering / doing something engineer-y.
: I’m very busy right now! I’m gonna change the world, ya know!!
Rion wisely decides to leave the deranged man to his own devices.
We have more rooms to explore, but halfway down the hall we encounter some kind of tech-punk grandfather clock.
The time is 3:35.
Room 205 is unoccupied, with the key behind the front desk.
Ditto room 202.
Room 206 is occupied, seemingly by someone of a religious persuasion. It’s also unlocked, so let’s pay him a visit.
: Welcome to my parish! I shall pray for your soul.
: Oh, but first, a donation!
: A small donation! Anything will be fine…
: You…you do have money about you?!
: Argh!
Rion twists out of the creepy priest’s grasp and backs out of the door.
Okay, so we have an insane engineer and a possibly child-molesting priest as our first two guests. Let’s hope the next one will actually be a decent human being.
A reading reveals the room belongs to the maintenance guy, but he seems to be out right now.
The third floor shares the same layout as the second.
Room 304 seems to contain a dancing girl, if you get my meaning.
: I don’t know anymore! I just don’t know!!
It looks like she’s having a bad time. Probably best to leave her be for now.
It’s heartening to know that NRA membership is still going strong even in the grim dark cyberpunk future of the twenty sixth century.
: Hey! You can’t just waltz in here! You got a death wish or somethin’?!
: Wait a minute! Could you help me? I’m looking for someone.
: Ha! You want my advice? Get out of here if you know what’s good for you, kid!
As much of an asshole as the guy is I guess I can’t fault him for telling the creepy-looking blonde kid who just barged into his room to get the hell out. Hell, compared to the other guests the guy is almost normal.
Room 305 is another empty room. Room 302 is Rion’s room and going in will advance the plot, so we’re skipping it for now.
Hmm. No indication about who this guy might be or what his deal is. Guess the only way to find out is to pay him a visit.
…Or not, since the guy is either out or just likes his privacy.
The last room is also empty and irrelevant for the time being. So, in short, this hotel contains a fairly ordinary manager and porter, an insane man fiddling with some kind of atomic device, a priest who is entirely too interested in young boys, a maintenance man, a depressed prostitute, an alcoholic gun nut and a mysterious stranger. It sounds like the setup to a Monty Python sketch.
Anyway, let’s enter Rion’s room and kickstart this stage’s plotline.
: Lilia, where are you? Why won’t you call for me?
Rion’s musings are interrupted when the phone starts to ring.
Such a futuristic design.
: This is the front desk. Please dial ‘9’ for assistance.: Okay, thank you.
Suddenly Lilia’s doll begins to spark, causing Rion to lose hold of it.
The scene briefly shifts to…the porter?
: Lilia!
Rion’s plea goes unanswered. But the next scene transition reveals he has bigger things to worry about.
A young woman enters the hotel with an entourage of Enhanced Rabbits.
The revolving doors swing shut and lock themselves behind her.
: There’s no escaping now, is there? Hmph.
Well, this can’t be good! Dorothy appears to have tracked us to the hotel, and her goon squad contains at least one Galerian. Things are really starting to heat up!