Part 15: Meddling Kids
First, let's start with yesterday's puzzles.
And now, onto the question of Darkcloud...
As multiple people noted, the answer is Max. It would have been more interesting if it were anyone else, but that's just not how Shivers 2 rolls. I sense a cave visit in the near future, but today we have other things in mind.
First, Sientara pointed out that we've already seen a griffin. In fact, it was the very first thing we saw in the game. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the designers are dicks.
The empty drawer is no longer empty.
As soon as you pick up the bahos, the phone rings.
I take this opportunity to breathe at him very heavily.
The bahos is found, but wasn't there a second griffin?
There was!
...and it reveals another chess piece.
Actually, that has no relation to the under the griffin thing, it's just a conveniently plausible time to point out that none of the chess pieces show up until you look at the chess puzzle for the first time. That means two of the empty locations we've found previously actually have chess pieces in them now. Why? Because the designers are dicks.
This is basically the game's way of preventing you from solving this puzzle too early. Even if you go to the gas station first, you've almost certainly already searched the hotel rooms, and you're pretty unlikely to search again without prompting.
I don't know if I've mentioned, but the designers are dicks.
...and at last we can solve the puzzle. Technically.
The numbers on the bottoms are a1 and a2 for the black pieces, c1 and c2 for the white. It would not be hard to just solve the puzzle now, but like our friend Dave, we are a Very Smart Person that can't draw a grid or figure out chess, so we'll come back to this after finding the clue-by-four.
However, before we go seeking that out, there's still one more thing to do. Following up on the suggestion TwelveBaud posted, we input the computer gibberish into the DaVinci Cola:
If Darkcloud's identity weren't already obvious enough, here's more fuel for the fire. This clue will (eventually) let us get into Max's cave.
But first...
Let's see if anyone left any spare bahos around in this giant storage building.
It's locked, but basically no lock in the game will stop us at this point.
First, we place the stick we found in the graveyard. Then, we start shifting cylinders and rotating the existing sticks around.
Eventually it looks like this, but the door opens the second it solves without actually letting me screenshot the solution directly.
There's no stopping us now, Darkcloud... or should I say Max Wharton!
...sorry, I guess I'm getting into this whole Scooby Doo thing. Anyone remember that cartoon? ...no?
Is that a statue of Stalin with a trident?
Stalin is presiding over a building that looks remarkably like the sand sculpture in Shivers. (I'd hate to see the Ixupi that lived in that.
)
...and there's also van in here. Okay. Sure.
The masses demand rock, so let's head over here first.
The only thing of interest here is the drumset. Given that the triangle code we got earlier decodes to "LYLES CYMBALS", we investigate a bit more thoroughly.
Twisting the bolt at the top reveals a tape. This is sort of another pixel hunt, but it doesn't bother me as much. First of all, "Lyle's cymbals" is far more specific. Second, you can actually inspect the cymbals quite easily, which is kind of a big clue that there's probably something there. Once you inspect them a little closer, it's not that hard to figure out which part to click.
You cannot inspect the windowsill closer without clicking directly on the unmarked tile hiding the token. You basically click that tile twice - once to zoom in, then again to open it. You guys might not realize this, but let me inform you: the designers are dicks.
When you put the tape in the player and press play, you get to hear someone making an idiot out of himself.
Next it's time for the sand castle.
This is what Shivers fans wanted to do to the band equipment after seeing their first music video.
Judging by the calendar from earlier, that pizza is probably still good. We could totally eat it and not get sick. Sadly, it's non-interactive, but that's probably for the best. We also can't pick up that tape on the right, which is also probably for the best.
There is, however, a bag we can interact with on the floor under the table. You have to pan the camera down a bit to see it.
I never realized the band members were 15. Somehow, everything makes sense now.
Olivia is obviously the goth kid.
I think Olivia has mistaken Darkcloud for her abusive father figure.
At last, the all-important chess board. That's so much more useful than a pad of fucking graph paper. Now even a Very Smart Person can finish the puzzle! We'll deal with that later.
Now we have one more place to check out. Yes, the entire rest of the warehouse is basically "one more place."
See all that? It's a bunch of shit we can't interact with at all.
We can take a closer look at our Mystery Machine, though.
These things have gradually progressed from just giving us a bahos with no fuss, to taunting us with puzzles, to giving nothing but scraps of paper that initiate this game's version of a fetch quest, and now finally to just plain laughing at us. "You want to know where the bahos is? Hahahaha, fuck you."
However, the laughing kachina is at best a third of the "fuck you" involved in obtaining this bahos.
It wouldn't be Shivers without a marble puzzle that makes you want to slam your face into the desk until the hurting stops.
For this one, you can move marbles as many spaces as you want in any of the four main directions, but doing so will cost a move unless the marble stops on one of the blue stars. It only costs one move no matter how far you move, but obviously, you can't pass through other marbles. You have 38 moves (counted on the bottom right), plus however many you can get for free by using star spaces. I don't expect anyone to actually try solving this.
Solving it opens this crate with a bahos and a rain cloud symbol to match our kachina chauffeur.
Puzzles:
Notes:
Find something to use on the gas pump.
Relatedly, get gas for the mine.
What do the directions in the church music and Spell It Out mean?
The goddamn bees.
Voting:
Believe it or not, there actually is a vote today. Solving the chess puzzle (which we can do whenever) will get us into the mine.
Location list:
Max's Cave
Mine Entrance