Part 13: A Rescue and a Rocket

I'll get this update out a touch early today, since I'll be too busy to write an update this evening.

Last time, Kent destroyed a booster station, as well as half the nearby neighbourhood. Did it have the desired effect? We'll find out later, but first, let's check out the wreckage around here.



A ruined hose juts out from the debris. Kent's always wanted a ruined hose!

I've got it now.



Apparently Mr. News' ghost is now haunting the remaining shell of the TV Shop. Hope the next world is newsworthy, man!



Okay, so there's some kind of Norm truck out here. Initially I thought they were here to rightfully arrest Kent for terrorism, but on closer inspection they've just crashed into some of the debris.

It's a Norm Trooper truck. I reckon they have a prisoner in the back of it. I further suspect that it might be my fellow adventurer Dai.

Wait a minute, what? Dai got shot straight through the chest, dude should be as dead as Saul's brain. And even if he did somehow survive, how does Kent make the adjudication that Dai is inside? This is a bigger random guess than usual.



Well I'll be damned. Dai is inside there. I hope he's not mad at us for the whole abandoning him to die or be captured by the Norm army in unlikely event that he survives thing. Trying to open the door evicts a petulant response from Kent.

Would you believe me if I said it was locked?

Of course, Kent doesn't bother to try talking to Dai or anything like that. He must still be pissed about Dai refusing to speak in those Den scenes earlier.



This is why the truck isn't going anywhere. The Norm inside continually tries to restart the truck, only to have it repeatedly stall.



Now, I want to make this shot really clear. There is one Norm trooper in the truck, right? Just one, and Dai in the back compartment. I'll come back to this point soon.



This is the sole air intake for the truck. Our city has no concept of functional design.

I think this is the second time in the game I've found myself agreeing 100% with Kent.



The smell from this grille suggests that it sucks air out of my bathroom.

Oh God, I know where this is going, and it isn't good. It isn't good at all.



Gas Pipe (1:19) - Kent uses the gas pipe to connect the air vent to the truck's air intake. Suddenly, without explanation, there are two Norms in the truck. Where did the second one come from? Who knows? They engage in an embarrassing "who farted?" conversation until they are both overwhelmed by the stench of Kent's bathroom and run out of the truck vomiting everywhere. Delightful.



Okay, so now we've got rid of the Norm trooper. Or troopers, I'm still not sure. Anyway, you'd think that we would then jump in the truck and try to find a button to open the rear doors, but we can't. So what do we do?



Oh! Kent just swings them open! Apparently the doors were unlocked the whole time! So not only was that whole air pipe thing completely unnecessary, Dai could have just opened the doors himself and snuck out without Kent even being here! I'm not sure who this reflect more poorly on, the Norms who forgot to lock the back door, Dai who just sat there like an idiot, or Kent who refused to even attempt to open the door earlier. I'm going to go with "All of the above."



Nice to see the Norms took the time to clean the blood off his raincoat before sticking him in the truck.



"Not dead, or anything?"

A bit shaky, son. That sure was a foul smell you subjected me to. Near knocked me clean out!
I'm sorry, old friend. Let's go before other Norms arrive...

Fortunately it seems the disgusting scent of Kent's bathroom was strong enough to erase Dai's memory of Kent leaving him to die horribly, so all is forgiven. Hooray!



I like the way they're not even looking up as their assumed-dead friend waltzes back in. "Dai's alive? I'll look and see for sure once I finished cleaning my nails."

Dai! You're back! How are you feeling
I just wanna sleep.

So, pretty much the same as before.

No time for that. Go and help Brian with his measurements. I believe he's on his way to the Ordinary Outpost.
You sure are a hard taskmaster, Miss Heather. See you all later.

"You barely survived being shot and then were captured? That's no excuse! Go and help Brian with a task he was perfectly fine doing by himself until you returned from the dead!"

Kent is a little hurt that the rebels haven't congratulated him on his wanton destruction yet.

What's with the long faces? I got Dai out, we all accomplished our missions.
Saul's a little downhearted. Blowing up the Mood Transfer Substations hasn't had the expected or desired effect.

By which Heather means, it's had no effect whatsoever. I guess it's not surprising that a plan formulated by a man suffering severe brain degredation didn't work.

So, exactly what happened? We all did our jobs, right? Destroying the Mood Pumping Stations must have made some difference?
There is no discernable difference Everything seems pretty much as it was before.

In fact, I bet that wasn't even a "booster station". There's probably no such thing as a "booster station". We just torched a TV shop and the salesman inside it for no fucking reason.

Where are Bri and Dai?
They have gone to take a few measurements for our next objective.

Wait a minute, is that fruit juice test tube back again? And the microwave isn't broken anymore. Either I mixed up my save games somewhere along the line, or Heather has somehow invented devices that even Kent can't (permanently) destroy.

Where do we go from here then? Do we just give up?
Saul has another theory. It concerns the Pollutotron. That huge smoke belching structure you passed on the roof of the Ordinary Outpost, just before our beloved founder Dai gave his life for our cause.

What the fuck, Heather? He's still alive. He just walked in the door less than a minute ago. You just ordered him to go and take Brian's measurements or something. Before when we thought he was dead you kept referring to him as though he was alive, and now that he actually is alive you think that he's dead. There's something seriously wrong with you, woman.

What about it?
We must somehow gather enough dried flowers to cover up that terrible wallpaper. If my rich uncle visits he won't understand your complete allergy to seafood...
Er, quite! I think what Saul is saying is that we should attempt to destroy it. Something is happening to his mind, Kent. I think he spent too long in the Mood Filter.

Saul sounds like he's lost his mind here, but to be honest, terrible wallpaper is one of Neutropolis' biggest blights so he's probably in a stronger frame of mind than the rest of the group here.

And just how do you propose that we do that?
This new deoderant increases sweat dispersion by up to 50%. It's been tested thoroughly on fish, with more than satisfactory results.
A missile, Kent. We have to prepare a missile which can strike at the very hear of Paul's schemes.

A missile?! The theory earlier in the thread that these guys mirror the FF8 crew seems even more valid, with Heather taking Selphie's role. So much for being a pacifist group.

OK, a missile. What exactly do I need to do this time?
I need some explosive toxic substance, a detonator, and something to make a long tube out of.

You could get all three of those at once by just retrieving that gas pipe from Kent's bathroom air vent.

OK, I'll see what I can do. Exactly what will that achieve, blowing up that pollution device?
It will let the rest of the world see what has been going on beneath the pall of soot that has hung over the city for so long. It will also remind the people what the Sun looks like, and the beneficial properties it possesses.
Hey, we are going to the see the Sun, right? Just in time for Paul's mighty meeting up at the stadium.

You know, if you're aware that Paul is going to be at the stadium, why don't you just aim the missile at him instead?

So what's up with Saul's gourd?
I think his faculties are decaying very rapidly now he has left the Mood Filter.
So our savior is destined to be a drooling vegetable?

Smooth, Kent. He's sitting right there, you know.

That's about the size of it, Kent. We will have to make do with the resources we have. We've come too far to turn back now.
Back we go.
Good luck, Kent.

Yeah, yeah. I don't see you out there doing anything. You'll notice Heather was the only remember of the resistance that didn't have her own stylised wanted poster.



Kent, don't accost the poor guy. His brain is dying fast enough without having to listen to you.

How goes it not-dead-guy? Feelin' good?
You have caught me in a rare moment of sanity, Kent. Breeeeep! I am trying to remember something. Something that could restore me to my previous state of mind. A secret of mine which has.. muuuhhhh... slipped away.
OK, man. I'll leave you to it. Sounds a little too deep for me, y'know.

Great, a fleeting remaining moment of sanity and it was wasted on Kent.



Norm 2782 is still sitting around here, but for some reason he has reverted back to his scratchy voice again.

Later, citizen. Later.

Not sure what's up there, it almost sounds like this line was supposed to be back at the M.I.N.T. Mall.



Kent decides to spend some time checking Heather out.

A bright, technical girl dressed in a long coat with pockets stuffed with apparatus.

Umm... Kent? She isn't wearing a coat. That's probably the furthest thing from a coat. I'm not convinced she has any pockets, either. I don't think Kent really understands clothes, which would explain his own outfit. He probably thinks he's wearing a suit and tie.



Okay, let's go and find the material to make a rocket. As usual with Kent, whenever he wants to find some junk to lug around, he takes off to the Plush-Rest factory.



It's a big bullet-shaped canister full of welding gas.

Probably not what we're looking for.



However, it might be useful in opening this huge container. Of course, trying to use it on the container draws the usual Kent red herring.

I can think of a number of uses, but they would all bring a tear to your eye!

The problem with using items in Normality is that if you try to use one item on a second item, and it isn't what you're supposed to do, Kent just comments as though you tried to use the first item by itself. Which means he can completely mislead you about the purpose of the second item.



In fact, we do need to use the torch on the container, but we need to move it first.

I could drag it a little way, but probably no further than I can see.



Kent is going to need a serious chiropractor after this is over.



He feebly rolls the torch towards the container, where it comes to a halt.



Suddenly Kent recognises that this is a good idea! Unfortunately, there's a problem.

I don't have anything to light the gas with.

Unfortunately, we lost all of our inventory items when Kent was sent to the Mood Filter. This also happens if you get put on corridor duty.



Kent heads back to the M.I.N.T. Mall hoping to find the matches dude, but of course he's nowhere to be seen. Also picture: those fireworks are still going.



Fortunately, Mr. Matches left a matchbook behind for us. That's convenient!



Here are these planks of wood that we didn't take last time. If you do take them too early, Kent deliberately leaves half of them behind and refuses to take those until now. Even in this case, when I did leave them, he'll only take half of them.

I'll just take three. They can't be much more use than that.



Likewise, Kent will only take half of this rope at any given moment.

Hey! It's in two parts. I'll just take half of it.

If you do actually take the first half of the rope before you get captured by Paul, Kent somehow completely forgets that he only took half the first time and accuses the Norms of taking it instead. Hopefully this is a sign that Kent is losing his mind even despite only having spent a few minutes in the Mood Filter.



This is the only item that Kent refuses to pick up before you get captured, claiming that he is now scared of firecrackers and doesn't want to touch them. This time, however, he's quite happy to grab it since the longcoated Heather asked for a detonator. A requirement which a firecracker apparently fulfills.

Wary as I am, I can't leave a chick in a fix. I got it!

Funnily enough, he needn't actually bother. Even if you don't get it, and just get all of the other things you need, the game just assumes that you've got it and moves on. This is a different kind of useless item, one that should actually be necessary but then isn't required at all! This game has everything!



Okay, let's get this container opened.



Container (0:18) - Kent fires up the Oxy-Acetylene Torch, and goes to work on the container door. The flames penetrate the door and cause an explosion with the gas canisters inside, blowing the door and Kent flying.



Each has a small sign saying 'DANGER: TOXIC. EXPLOSIVE!' There's a small skull and crossbones too!

Excellent, we'll use these. Kent comes up with a clever plan. That river goes right past The Den.



By rolling this canister into the river, it'll float right down to Heather, who can retrieve it.



Of course, this is actually an awful, rather than clever, plan. The canister sinks to the bottom, never to be seen again. Did you really think that was going to work, Kent? They're giant metal canisters full of compressed gas, you fucking idiot.



So Kent comes up with an alternative plan.



Raft (1:31) - Kent rolls those empty paint drums out, clumsily throws the planks on it, and ropes the whole thing together. There is no way it would work since he forgets to actually rope the planks as well as the drums, but I'll ignore it for now. He then shoves it onto the lake and rolls the gas canisters onto the raft and sea shantys his way back to The Den.



Great, Kent! You seem to have everything. I'll get to work right away. There's no time to waste.



Apparently Heather then wastes a day...



Rocket (0:48) - Heather creates the world's most miserable rocket and launches the mother. Despite clearly having no kind of guiding system worth a damn, Bri and Dai's measurements see it land directly on the roof of the Ordinary Outpost. It explodes, and the sky clears almost immediately. Everyone is pleased, except for Dai who apparently decided to go and sleep instead of attending the launch.

The sun is out! The sky is clear! Kent and co have actually had a noticable effect! What will they achieve next? Tune in tomorrow!