Part 8: Hotel Inspection Day

Part 08 - Hotel Inspection Day


NEW MUSIC:



(This is technically a new track, but it'll probably sound pretty familiar. That's because it was one of the two tracks that made up the Seamstresses' Union theme back in DMS)




We'll start our search from the dilapidated first floor. Whoever was occupying room 101 has left the door unlocked, which as far as I'm concerned is an invitation to enter and take everything they own.



And look at that, a safe attached to a computer terminal that's asking for a password. There's actually no way to acquire this password, so the only methods to get the safe open is either guessing correctly or bypassing the whole thing with Decking 2 which we totes don't have.

What could it be? Can YOU guess the mystery password, dear reader?





















Sorry, "Chicago" was a good guess from your part but the correct answer is in fact "Naperville", a suburb of Chicago. Yeah sorry, you're pretty much expected to use Decking for this one.

This part is a small callback to DMS where one of security questions on Coyote's computer had "Chicago" as the answer, and you were meant to gleam that from the exact same poster as the one in this room.



Heroically robbing the owner of this room nets us a Smartlink version of the Ares Predator, the pistol used by literally everyone in the previous game.



While we're here we also rescue ¥302 from the cold clutches of this bedside table.



Heading back and onwards in the hallway, we come to the conclusion that too many people are smart enough to keep their doors locked. Only room 106 and the public bathrooms seem accessible.



The former nets us a BuMoNa Trauma Kit from under the bed. I'm sure nobody's coming back for it anyway.



The bathrooms turn out to be empty of anything but filth, but a part of the wall catches our attention on the way out.



With Strength 3 we could try and break it down, but we never got around to going to the gym this time either. Fortunately for us someone else did, and we can actually make use of their skills in this game.





Using doors is so 2053.



No Winters here though, and doesn't look like there are any valuables either. And after we went through the trouble of breaking down a wall and everything. The only thing that stands out is a small book next to the bed.



Ooh, a diary. I'm sure whoever owns it wouldn't have left it in their private room behind a locked door if they didn't want someone to read it, so let's take a peek.





3rd floor bathroom, 2478. Got it.



All the other walls are of sturdier make, so we head back to the elevator and press the button for floor 2, labeled "Employees Only". Probably just a friendly suggestion.



Different layout on this one. Commence exploration!



...Well when you think about it, we got surprisingly far without having to gun down anyone.


NEW MUSIC:



(Listen to that sweet industrial hammering! The looping's a little half-assed though.)




Guess these guys are the winning side of the little gang war they had going earlier. There's also an explosive barrel left in a pretty hazardous spot in the middle of the room.



Look at these sweet Mind Wipe odds, for some reason even the barrel isn't immune. Lady Lowtax there gets to be our first wipe victim.



Oh come on!



Alright, Plan B, take down the other guy first. There's a bit of anti-synergy between Glory needing to be in melee to flush people out of cover and the spread from Eiger's shotgun, but this distance is too small for sniper rifles so we risk it. Luckily she both misses Glory and blasts the goon away in a satisfying puff of red mist.



The goon boss dressed like an office lady goes for a grenade, but the only thing that takes a hit is her pride.



Ow! Appearing and shooting on the same turn ought to be illegal.



Déjà vu, except Glory isn't as lucky this time. 7 damage is no biggie but this is still a bit sloppy.



Mind Wipe's still on cooldown but we throw all the rest of our Leyline-boosted magical arsenal on the jerk with a rifle, bringing him down in one go.



The boss' grenade finds its target this time, but it's the headache-inducing rather than flesh-tearing type.



The southern goon gets greedy and commits what we in this business call a "critical error in positioning".



Dietrich blows the barrel up with a throwing knife just to show off that he can.



And we wrap things up with Flamethrower. For all the fancy death animations they added, there sadly isn't one for setting somebody on fire.







Alright, now we can explore. This terminal seems like it might help us locate the elusive Mr. Winters.



Looking at our options here, we can search by either room numbers or names while admin access is locked behind a password. This password is also not written down anywhere, and even Decking isn't an option this time. All we can do is guess.

Admin password... admin password... admin... wait. Could it be?



















Incredible.

Admin access doesn't show us anything we couldn't see by searching for room numbers or names, but it does allow us to bypass the whole process and just look at the guest list.



Silke's and Winters are the two names we're interested in here, the rest are references to various Shadowrun characters and their online handles.

We can also access some personal notes relating to the two.





4th floor, room 405, door code 1989. We've got everything we need to catch the bastard now.





But first we have some more exploration to do. Going through the rest of the second floor, we pick up a maintenance key fob from the bathroom.



We can't get quite everywhere however, one of the doors in the middle of the floor is locked with no visible means of getting it open. Ah well.



With our new set of keys we take a quick detour back to the first floor, our grand adventure to the depths of the maintenance closet rewarded with 89 nuyen.



The third floor is maybe in a slightly better condition than the first, but otherwise the two appear to have identical layouts.



The maintenance closet is in the same place too, this time netting us some cram.



Silly note, doors are meant to be opened. That's what they were made for, isn't it? That is why they exist? Alright. Let's do this!



Uh.



ow ow ow please not this again



Once we've located Winters, we're gonna find the manager of this hotel and have a good long discussion about their pet policy.



At least even giant scorpions have minds, and what has a mind can also be deprived of it.



We make quick work of the defenseless arachnid afterwards.



On top of everything there's nothing in the room aside from a note on the fridge. Screw you, Steven.



Back in the hallway, we've got two rooms and a bathroom to look through. 304 is Silke's room, in case you couldn't tell from the quest markers littering the place.





This is the bathroom mentioned in the journal we found on the 1st floor, so we punch in the code written there and open it up.



Seems like Eddie had a bit of a personal drug project going here. We grab some Jazz as a souvenir and move on.



As per Silke's request we head to her room to collect her personal belongings.





Room 305 is large in size but already cleaned up of everything worthwhile. An explosion or something has kind of messed up a part of the floor here though.





This is kind of heading the wrong way but judging by our position, this should drop us behind that locked door from earlier. Hopefully it's the kind that opens from the other side.



Oops, careful, almost landed on that bled-out corpse under the sink there. Hate it when people leave those just lying around. Meanwhile the livelier guy in the same room seems a little freaked out by us falling through his kitchen ceiling.



Why are you locked in the kitchen?

Wait... you're not with those guys out there? I... um... well, I just thought...

You thought what?

I thought you were one of THEM. Y'know, the gangers that took over and shot up the place. I work...

[He catches himself.]

...That is to say, WORKED. I worked for the previous owners. When the shooting started, I shut myself in here. They - whoever they are - haven't figured out how to override my keys yet. It's been a day and a half... I don't know how much longer I can stay in here.

Tell me anything you can about this place.



Room 401, code 5870. Might as well check it out too while we're up there.

Thanks. Who's the stiff by the sink by the way?

That's the head chef, Felix. He took a hit to the chest when they raided this floor. I thought I could stop the bleeding. But, um...

[The cook lowers his gaze to the floor at his feet.]

I couldn't.

Another day, another Intelligence 3 check.

You're right next to a walk-in fridge. Don't you think it'd make more sense to drag the body in there than to leave it under the sink?



We get +1 karma for our expertise in corpse preservation. These small extra rewards are starting to add up!

Yeah. Anyway, we need to get moving, so...

Wait! You'll help me out of here, won't you? I mean, you're not just gonna leave me to die here, are you?

I took care of the guys outside. You should be able to make a run for it.

Thank you! I'm as good as gone!



The cook runs off, helpfully opening the doors on his way out. Disappointingly there's nothing else of value here, so we head back to the elevator and make our way up to the fourth floor.



Up here it almost looks like a clean and respectable hotel.



The maintenance closet bounties also grow increasingly hardcore, this time we find a mid-range frag grenade amongst the janitor equipment.



Punching in the cook's code for room 401 reveals that he was right - this is probably not a qualified hospital. The guy charging towards us with a baseball bat probably didn't graduate from a reputable medical school either.



He shoulda stuck to using that thing for its original purpose, there's no batting away shotgun shells.



Alright that's it, this hotel has now officially gone above its grenade quota.



And assault rifles are not medical instruments!



This is just enough distance for a sniper rifle to have a chance at hitting things, so Eiger promptly pops the organlegger's head like a ripe tomato.



With a little assistance from Dietrich, we light up his grenade-happy assistant and shut down this little operation for good.



Looking around for anything useful, we pick up an Advanced Medkit together with something a little unusual.



A cyberware schematic, from the looks of it one that does away with the bothersome process of having to take your dangerous drugs manually. Technology sure is amazing.



The twisty corridors all look alike on every floor. A quick look in the bathroom reveals nothing of interest, so it's time to finish what we came here for.



405 was Winters' room. Luckily the door code still works, and we step inside.



Knock knock, anyone home? We just want to ask a few questions, nobody needs to get hurt more than is deemed necessary here!



...Oh.