Part 14: Chapter 5-2

Alright, so when we last left off, Vickie has flashed back to a stunning(?) reveal! She had found evidence that her boyfriend Richard was probably the Ripper all along, Richard had popped his best Mark Ackerman trollface, and…we cut back to this goddamn house again. Sigh.

So first we’ll just



GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME

“Sorry, Garris, I was…thinking of something else.”

Like a slightly more interesting plot.



“Everything’s fine. I’ll be right there.”





First off, there’s another fireplace poker over here to yoink. Maybe Vickie will put it to better use than Paloma.







Well, it seems Paloma and Chuckles have been through wacky off-camera adventures. Off to the left is a computer.



…a deep fried computer. Still functional, though.









Well hey, we have that power cable we grabbed from downstairs. Use that on the computer, and…



…and that does nothing.





Annnnd there is nothing else that can be done in this room. Leave.



Run all the way back downstairs to the front door, which triggers a cutscene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W2t3j2cPcs





But first we can send Garris after the fried computer upstairs.

“You’re good at electronics, right? You might be able to help me. In the charred room, there’s a surveillance console…see if you can get it working.”





“Neither have you, James…still working the sneakers and jeans look?”





And we have to question Hawker about a whole lot of stuff, so let’s get started.

“So, you’re working the TV angle now? I saw the tape with your interview.”





What am I doing here? Oh yeah, LPing a terrible game.

“We think our murderer is after you. The infamous East Coast Killer, as the press calls him, wants you. You must be flattered.”

Well Vickie, given your track record, Hawker will turn out to be Chuckles and you’ll end up looking retarded. Moreso.



“I like to keep you where I can see you. Besides, you know our enemy. That’s useful.”





And Hawker wanders off. We need to call Claire now.



“Do you have any details on Hawker? What he’s been up to since the FBI canned him?”









“Hawker has supposedly revealed information about the killer to Hernandez. Clearly, in his mind, he’s still on the case.”

I’d laugh if Hawker stopped and was watching you gossip about him from the porch.



“Before he snapped, Hawker was an exceptional agent. Hopefully he’s kept his investigative skills. Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”





Back in the house, Hawker is in the living room. Let’s pester him some more.



“So, James, are you spending your retirement brooding over the past?”



“Really? I heard that you were continuing to investigate. And as far as I know, your social schedule is not what I’d call busy.”

Vickie, your boyfriend apparently killed 10 people while wearing a cape and a top hat. You’re no one to be criticizing anyone’s social life.





And now we have the good old Belligerent Asshole/Not Belligerent Asshole choice. Vickie has shown me no signs of leaning to the latter.

“Some learn from their mistakes, James. Doesn’t look like that’s the case with you.”





“You know perfectly well that I wasn’t the one who squealed to Internal Affairs. If I had, you would have been up for murder charges. All I did was refuse to cover up for you. You went too far, goddamn it!”



And another choice of further provoking Hawker or calming things down. I think you all know what direction we’re taking.

“Here, I’ll profile you. You are egocentric, irresponsible, selfish…and paranoid!”

This is leading to an awkward romance, isn’t it?



And she’s also an alcoholic!

“I could say the same about you!”



And with that bit of maturity, we’re kicked out of the convo. Still more stuff needs to be said, though.

“Can we talk?”



We’re left with no other option now.

“Listen, James, let’s stop dwelling on the past. The killer is still out there and this is our last chance of getting him as a team. Can we bury the hatchet? Paloma Hernandez may still be alive. She’s counting on us.”

I know I totally started that whole argument, but let’s end it and be friends, k?







He’s also left stuff like blood soaked operating tables downstairs.





“There’s evidence in the house that the killer went to film school…that would confirm your hypothesis.”

Really flimsy evidence, yes.





“Well, I have a name…our suspect’s name is supposedly David Karson. Claire is trying to dig up something about him.”



Given this game’s track record, we’ll corner him, shoot him into a river and that’ll be the end.





And so we shall. First it’s upstairs to see if Garris has made any headway with the fried computer.



“We have a suspect: David Karson. We’re making progress, Garris!”



I dunno, you guys are comically inept.

“Don’t say ‘Mission Accomplished’ just yet, Garris.”



The FBI, ladies and gentlemen. “I can totally hack this thing if you can find me the instruction manual!”



Yeah, her obstructing the case and hiding evidence gets me all hot too, Garris.

“Watch out, Garris. Female cops are the number one hazard! Especially the ones who like to hoodwink the rookies…”



And…Garris is of no further use right now. We do have some hints as to the password Chuckles was using, so head back downstairs to his non-broken computer.



Veronica, maybe?



Nein. Chuckles is not Alfred Ashford. It isn’t Karson either.



We need to run back up to Hawker now. This bit won’t trigger unless you fail to put in the new passwords on the computer. Sigh.

“I’m at an impasse with the computer in the cellar. Can you give it a look? You’ve always been a bit of an IT guru.”



And we’re teleported back downstairs.





“Uh…of course.”



I tried that already, fucktard.



“Have you found the password?”

No Vickie, he found a really cool website for watching old episodes of Car 54 Where Are You?







Lots of crap to do now that we’re in. We’ll start with a Google search. Couldn’t Vickie have done this on her phone?



First the manual for the thing Garris is messing with upstairs.



That prints out over yonder.



Googling Veronica Lake…







Karson…



Dang.



On to Chuckles’ collection of porn.



I was kind of right.









And exactly one video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uC5V...eature=youtu.be



I grabbed that video thinking it would be something important. It wasn’t.

Anyway, this seems like something.





And these all do nothing barring the first option.



…



These passes aren’t going to work, but I’ll try anyway.



Dang.



I will laugh if Chuckles keeps the actual codes that work in a big folder marked “Codes”.



Shut up, Vickie.



One file in there.



…



Well, one more option.





Only one functional camera.









Now we need to use our decryption dongle on the PC here.





Hey Vickie, anything stand out to you there?



Smart girl.

“These seem to be the victims’ names…but the last names don’t match.”



“I’m not sure I understand…”







“If that’s his plan I don’t have much time to stop him…I’ll copy the list into my smartphone. I might need it later.”



Grab the instruction book Garris needs from the printer.



And all the damn way up to him. Back and forth and back and forth…



“I’ve printed out the console manual…have a good read.”







Yeah, this is gonna be another one of those bits where Garris isn’t finishing until we’re done with everything in the house. In the meantime, there’s something down here I missed.



That can be combined with the cord in our inventory.



Then that can be plugged into the crispy computer, just to clear up inventory space.



And the locked door over yonder can be sprung with the lockpick gun.



Which leads to a balcony. Check over here.



Spray it. Swab it. Scan it.



…now wait a sec, let me just get this straight. Chuckles clearly knocked off the former owner of the house, Anderson. Anderson has been reported missing. Chuckles has been living in Anderson’s old house to live out his dream of running around in a silly costume and mishmash cosplaying Jigsaw and the guy from Scream. But no one ever searched the house and found Chuckles in here? Really?



Ugh. Anyway, back downstairs to Sheriff Kate.

“I have to talk to you, Sheriff. There was a video where I could see Hernandez…she’s not far, I’m sure of it. We have to get everything we can on the house!”



“Have you found anything else on the Anderson case?”





“If he ran into the killer, I’m afraid his curiosity might have cost him his life.”





Why does everyone think blackmailing the FBI is a good idea?

“You’re a goddamn opportunist…OK, deal.”

I take it back. Vickie’s now just fine with that.

“I found Anderson’s blood on the balcony upstairs. It’s probably several months old. Everything I’ve seen leads me to believe that our killer murdered Anderson. Sorry, Sheriff…your county has lost a voter.”



“Hold back your tears, you don’t wanna get dehydrated.”







“Well? What have you got?”



Come again?

“And where is the entrance to this shelter?”




“Excellent! We’re making progress! We just have to find the hatches.”

I almost expect that you’ll manage to bungle this horribly, Vickie. Somehow.

Now we can head back upstairs to Garris, where he’s finally fixed the thingy.



No sound, though.



Fortunately, Vickie’s been carrying around a speaker…somewhere for the past few hours.



We’ll just plug that in.



This would be Paloma yelling.

“Hello? Can you hear me?”



Pictured: My expression playing this game.

“That voice…it could be Hernandez!”







So scanning that reveals…uh, what?

And not much else can be done for the moment, so jog back downstairs (again!) to Sheriff Kate.

“I have to talk to you, Sheriff. You mentioned a metal detector. Can I use it?”



“Thanks, Sheriff.”





Back outside to Kate’s car.



Voila.





Well we’re looking for a big metal fallout shelter, so setting 3. It can be changed in the inventory to different settings.



You’ll notice our cursor changes when there’s something we can metal detect now.



But where we need to be is the barrel back here.



Use the detector from the inventory.





Planks of wood under there. We’ll just stab that with the fire poker.



And there’s the door to the fallout shelter, but it’s not opening.



…luckily, the password is written down right next to it.



All the way back into the house, all the way back to the functioning computer.



Password for the hatch.





Trying to head back out, Sheriff Kate cuts us off.



“I’ve managed to open the shelter hatch! I’ll go down and try to find Hernandez.”



“I’ll call Garris for backup.”

I see nothing that can go wrong with these three on the case!

Then a cutscene ensues, and…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKqg...eature=youtu.be

Oh for fuck’s sake.