Part 17: Don't Stop Bereavin'
Hey, look, a tile puzzle solution. Who would have guessed that?
First, let's take the torch into Burt's Tardis, as several people suggested.
As a side note, Norah's painting is gone now. Has anything else changed around town?
Having just a few random things change around town is a great effect... when those things are not puzzles.
Anyway, where were we?
Right. Bees.
First, combine the torch with the match to light it on fire.
Take that, bees!
Now we can inspect Burt's winter coat for the $100 he forgot in there when it turned spring.
...that joke works a lot better when the game doesn't take place in the desert.
The only thing of interest inside is this crate. The diamonds in the corners tell me it's our last bahos puzzle.
It sure is.
As you can see, we're able to roll the cubes to reveal a picture on the top. The goal is to have the picture face up on all the cubes and still leave a space in the center. It's not hard.
This magically makes a bahos fall out of Burt's winter coat. It's no $100, but it'll do.
Well, that's new. One hilariously embarrassing tape recording later...
The spirit tells us to fuck off to Max's cave.
One more shot of this canyon exit. For old times' sake.
To get to Max's cave, you have to take the path to the right at the T-intersection next to the bakery. This is the path we took when running our first bahos to the mine. Believe it or not, the shot above is pointed towards exactly where you need to go. Not only is Max's Cave somewhat difficult to see on the full map, but it's hard to figure out how to get there as well. They seem to want it slightly hidden, for obvious reasons.
He, uh... sure does live in a cave. That rock on the ground is the one hiding the key.
That's a bit more clever than those magnetic key holders for parents to hide a key outside when their kids inevitably lose theirs.
As if we hadn't already figured Max's symbol out.
In we go.
...or not. First we have to solve one more puzzle. Remember the message on the DaVinci Cola?
It said, "day of her accident reversed," which leads us to this handy item in our flashback screen. 8/22/1992 means we're looking to make 2991228 with the sticks above.
First we move the two to the left side, but... we don't have the right numbers here.
It turns out, clicking on a stick twice in a row will flip it, while clicking on two different sticks swaps them.
From there, we make this. As soon as we flip the right one, the door opens.
Okay, now we can go in.
The beginning of this song is actually the same melody as the main Shivers theme, which is a nice touch.
Pretty swank cave you got here, dude. What's the rent like?
There's a bookshelf on our right as we enter.
Uh oh. My "author self insertion character" sense is tingling.
There's a path leading further into the cave to our left.
That takes us to a screen with an obvious staircase leading up. We cannot, however, actually climb the stairs in any fashion. I'm guessing it was a cut area or something.
Also, it's difficult to see in this picture, but entering this screen causes a bat to fly down from up there. I guess it's only appropriate that we add bats to the list of trained attack wildlife trying to kill us, but luckily the bat does no harm.
To the right of the stairs are more stairs, these ones leading downwards towards a door.
However, we're currently fresh out of keys, so we'll have to leave this for now.
Instead, let's explore Max's living room. ...Do caves have rooms?
Like any self-respecting geek, his living room has a couch that never gets used and a computer desk.
My "author self insertion character" sense is now reading off the charts.
(...I don't think 'electronical' is a word. I think this sums up the quality of the institution giving him the degree.)
Please tell me he's best man in his mom's wedding.
I don't know... that looks more like "random axe murder spree" and less like "Native American voodoo curse spree," but maybe that's why I'm not a homicide detective.
This letter is hanging out to the right of the computer monitor. He liked it so much he had it framed!
The right side of the desk is covered in assorted stone pieces and a random spine. He sure does love desecrating graves and decorating his
That's about all we can do here, so it's time to do as Norah asked and play creepy surrogate wife.
First we place the music box. Once it's placed, we can examine it, but no longer pick it up or listen to it.
Then we click on the computer keyboard and it automatically types this message. Suddenly, I feel very unclean.
...and that's it for Max's cave.
I don't know about you guys, but all this running around has made me hungry, so I'm going to go back to the bakery to grab a stale hurricane bun.
When I enter, the phone rings. It looks like Darkcloud got our little message.
I think he might be mad.
At this point, he actually just keeps calling repeatedly every time you get near a phone. This goes on for some time.
"What did you think you were doing? Don't you know that it is because of her that I have done all this? They killed her and lied. And you're no better."
u mad bro?
"Warrior, your life is a road. When you get to the end of the road, you die."
"Warrior, I see the end of your road."
"Your friends told you where it is, didn't they? You'll have to tell me eventually or you'll be joining them."
"Where is it?"
After that, he finally stops calling. However, this is another one of those times when something random changes around town. Well, maybe not so random.
He mad.
At this point, you have to wander around aimlessly until you figure out the game wants you to go to the cemetery. Mom appears as soon as you approach, telling you to go inside her mausoleum.
Upon first glance, nothing seems different.
...but back by the doorway, there's a key hiding on the ground. Well, not really hiding from anything but the camera.
So that takes us back to Max's cave.
...where we can now open this door. Like I said, no lock can stop us now.
Inside there's a stairway down, leading to...
...a creepy shrine dedicated to Norah.
On the left you can see the painting that he swiped from Burt's trailer, indicating that he's actively adding to his collection of creepware. This is another one of those genuinely kinda creepy moments in the game, for multiple reasons. If only the game had more of this stuff and less seeing (or hearing) Darkcloud. Honestly, the game
Anyway, let's take a closer look at the creepy shrine.
This would actually be kinda sad if Darkcloud weren't so ridiculous.
This is just kinda creepy, though.
She probably wrote that the morning before she died.
...and finally, what we're looking for.
Somehow, with all the time he spends sitting in this shrine and petting her hairbrush, I can't really believe he never figured it out. That's hardly the worst of Shivers 2's plot holes, though, so sure, we'll run with it. ...all the way into the canyon.
Wait. That's not right.
"...He has this code. Let's see. Today's code is star - spider - breath - raincloud... or is it raincloud - breath? Oh well, you'll figure it out."
I found out the hard way that, despite the number of completely unimportant yet unskippable videos in this game, this video with a critically important clue is one of the skippable ones. Thanks, Shivers 2. You're the best.
As might be expected, Mom is alluding to this puzzle from before. Magically, we can press the buttons now. We press them in the order she described (she got it right the first time) and...
Okay, so it's more of a Riven-influenced cable cart ride, but the principle is the same.
At last, this brings us to the kiva through the back entrance. It's time for a showdown.
We've got Ianyi, so let's summon the spirit again.
Oh. So that's what the sand is for. Despite the fact that it wouldn't let me use it before.
So we pour the sand into the little drawing here. This is it, guys: the final showdown. At last, we get to meet Darkcloud in person and battle for the mystical stone with the power to destroy all life.
...after we insert disc 2.
I can't stop laughing at how terrible this is. Is that one of the programmers? I think our author self-insertion just manifested literally.
The spirit vanishes when we futz with our inventory, allowing us to interact with the altar in the back. How should we proceed?
Puzzles:
Notes:
What do the directions in the church music and Spell It Out mean?
Voting:
Your call.