Part 2: Scenario One: Ben Part 2

Scenario One-Ben part 2

When last we left Ben, he was exploring the orphanage he lived in as a boy that was the subject of a fire killing all the children except he and two others. Another of the survivors, Karen, is apparently trapped in the storeroom in the basement, despite having no memory of past events, nor how she got there in the first place. During his attempt to find and rescue her, a mysterious voice has been guiding Ben, and he found a strange symbol in the bathroom that has transported him into a strange and gruesome place.




Those familiar with the Silent Hill franchise know this place well, coloquially refered to as the "Otherworld". If we were to look at the Halo of the Sun symbol again, we would be transfered back to the regular world, but we have some exploring to do. For instance, there's that big bloody hole in the center stall.

Where there was once a toilet there is now but a hole in the ground. It seems like someone was dragged down here, trying desperately to get a hold of something.

If you use the hand icon on this, and most of the other things in the Otherworld, you get the following poorly translated phrase

I rather leave that alone.

While the center toilet is gone, and the right hand one is broken, what about the closed booth on the left?

It's making the hair on my neck stand straight up. It feels like...something is in there.

If we try to find out what, however

I really don't want to open that door.

Well that's no fun. There's still a couple of other things we can look at in here at least. Like that sink for instance.

Blood from the bleeding mirror runs down into the washbasin.

Wait what about the mirror?

The mirror is broken and seems to be bleeding down into the washbasin. The mirror distorts my reflection, almost making me look like...like I did back then...

Okay, let's get's out of here.



As you can see, the hallways are not that descript, now tinted red and looking more bare than they were in the real world, though the doors seem a little more like something out of a prison when they're not boarded up. Since we're already on the second floor, we'll start our explorations here. The first dorm room is stuck shut. When we go into the second, we're met with pitch darkness. Luckily, we have something to light up the room-namely our lighter.



Disappointingly, there's nothing in here but a bed with no color text. Let's try the third dorm, which also starts out in darkness. Just a flick of the lighter and-



OH DEAR LORD, WHAT IS THAT?! These weird crab-spider thingies are the standard monsters of the game. When you encounter one, the game helpfully reminds you how to initiate combat. However, you can just stand there doing nothing, and it won't fight you, and instead just stand there breathing. Do ANYTHING, including try to back up, and it will start fighting. Intermittently it will spit what look like blood-red spider webs out of its mouth at you, damaging you for one bar of health at a time (you have 4).



Combat is started officially by drawing your gun with the 1 key, or using it on the monster as an item. This draws up your health bar and a small white crosshair on the screen. When the crosshair is moved to the creature's hitbox, it turns red, and you press the 5 key to fire. This is trickier than it sounds, firstly because Ben is a terrible shot, with his hands shaking the entire time. Second, the very small hitbox on the monster has a tendancy to move intermittently throughout the fight, though it stays mostly inside the "snout" area on the creature. The creature dies in 2 shots. It briefly becomes a bloody corpse, but the image only stays on screen for maybe 2 seconds, which was not enough time for me to get a shot of it. I did try several times.



It looks like a crank, could it be of any use?

Of course it could be you dolt. We pick it up and move on down the hall. Maybe the classroom will be open this time?



Hmm, nope. This door is stuck. Maybe the other door across the hall? Wait, what other door?



Well, it's not on the map, that's for sure. If we try to open it, or use the panel next to it, we get a sliding lever puzzle that we can't solve right now. It's one of several puzzles not for Ben we'll encounter here in the Otherworld.

This reminds me of something...maybe...

Hush Ben, I just said this puzzle wasn't for you. Let's go downstairs to the first floor. The next room to check is the kitchen.



I see no handle on the door, but there are two holes in the door. One round and one crescent shaped.

Again, this one's a puzzle for someone else. Obviously, it won't be that tough to figure out, considering it's a peg-and-hole puzzle. Anyways, next up on the map as we circle back is the Dining Hall and-



Well, I didn't need that ventricle anyways. Yes, the monsters semi-randomly appear in the hallways too. I say "semi-randomly" because while their locations are set, their spawn rates appears not to be. That's why it pays to always be full-up on your bullets and first aid kits. Anyways, the Dining Hall is closed up here in the Otherworld, so it's back to the lobby where we started this whole thing.



Well. This room has seen better days, what with the shattered bookcase apparently hit from inside the wall, and the ceiling light torn down, and the um, creepy doll in the corner?

This doll looks like it was taken from a child's nightmare.

Just like the title image! If I were a mean man, with gif making skills, I might have the doll wink at you. Dare we touch it?

Did the doll just... no, my imagination. Better leave it alone.

Or the doll could just move on it's own. Whatever. Say, what's up with that door over there?

Looks like the wall swallowed the door. I'm not sure I want to know what's inside.

But then we'd have a dull game. Too bad there's not a handle...

It's a hole in the wall. Looks like something might fit in there.

No Ben, you really don't want to try that here!!



Oh sorry, I thought you meant...nevermind. Let's just turn this crank and see what it does.





This is one case where I'm giving you the full scope of the room, because for once all the interesting stuff is strictly on the sides of this room that is clearly no longer an office. First, we have all these jars on the shelf on the left...

Looks like a jar containing a body of what once could have been a human baby.

On second thought, let's stick to the right. Like the stuff on that cart.

Seems like rusty bloodstained surgery tools.

Yup, sure does. What about below it, in that bowl?

Is that flesh floating in...yuck!

If we ask Ben to reach in, he shows his usual sensible nature, unlike some Silent Hill protagonists.

I wouldn't touch that for anything in the world.

So anyways, is that a peg in the wall I see?

It's shaped as a sun.

Unfortunately you need a prying tool to get it out, and Ben's fresh out of crowbars. Oh well, we'll make a mental note for later in the game. And finally, there's the elephant in the room of the bloody writing on the wall.

This looks important... A riddle maybe... I better write this down.


If the toboggan reference didn't clue you in, this poem is your hint for the safe back in the Regular World. And with that, we're done in the Otherworld with Ben. I went ahead and checked downstairs, but both doors were barred shut, so nothing interesting there.





And here we come to the final puzzle of Ben's scenario. I honestly like it because, though pretty easy, it's still at least thought out. The poem above tells you the answer but doesn't come right out and say it. The safe is a push-button variety, kind of like the clock puzzle earlier.

Solution: The twists tell you how many spaces to move to the left, and the turns how many to move to the right. So starting from "0", we get 6-4-5-3. The last twist is something else.

Inside the safe is a letter labeled as belonging to a Nurse.




See you in the shower room Ben...

Alright, I think it's about time we got to the bottom of this. To the basement! Once we get there, the following dialogue happens, and I'm pretty sure it's there in case we never went down to check on Karen before.

Karen! Karen! Are you down here?!

Ben...? I can hear your voice loud and clear. I'm right through this door.

Hmm... It sounds like your voice is coming from the door to the right.

Please hurry Ben...

The only other reason I can see for this dialogue is to establish that yes, that is not Karen as the voice directing you into the shower room, where Ben had hid back when the fire happened. Anyways, let's finally go in there again...



WHITE SCREEN



I don't...feel so good...I must sit down...I remember now...30 years ago I went down here...and cried...I can't feel my arms...I'm going to sleep... My name is Ben...




END SCENARIO