Part 30: Blackwell Convergence - Update 5

Update 5

Following the lead given to them by Monique, Rosa and Joey find the ghost of deceased actor Frank Lyons, seemingly stuck performing his final scene.

The Gothic Bridge



Rosa is still trying to chat with Frank...

Huh? Oh, come ON. That's not even close.
Listen, I have to tell you something.
No, no. That comes later. Try and concentrate, will ya?

...but trying to talk to him normally just doesn't work - he keeps interrupting and returning back to his lines. Looks like the only thing to do is to try going along with the act.



I know you, Yvonne. Perhaps too well.
Yvonne? Who's Yvonne?

Unfortunately, Rosa is kind of hopeless with it

Um, YOU are? *sigh*
Never mind. We'll talk later.
Yeah. I think you need to practice some more.



This isn't working at all. Let's give Joey a spin instead.

Hello?
Oh, hey. You with the company?
Company?
Oh. I guess you're not. They told me to meet 'em out here. I guess they're late.

This is different. I guess Frank thinks Rosa is an actress because there is a lady in the scene, but he just assumes that Joey is a stagehand or a fan or something. He should hopefully be a little bit easier to talk to with Joey.

Are you Frank Lyons?
You recognise me?
Sure.
That's... thank you. That means a lot.
Hey, I live to please. Sort of.



I guess that's a confirmation, not that we really needed it since Rosa recognised him immediately.



Oh, you know. Just waiting to finish up. Just one scene to go and I'm done. Finally.
Done is the word, yeah.
Hm?
Never mind.

You can always rely on Joey for a morbid joke!

So, we're on a movie set?
Yep. The film is called "Water Under the Bridge."
Really.
Yeah. Actually, I'm probably not supposed to tell you that, but we're hardly Paramount Pictures or anything. Just don't tell anyone, okay?
Oh. Lips are sealed.

Water Under The Bridge is the film Monique mentioned, and Frank says he's doing the last scene. So that confirms our suspicion that Frank is constantly reliving the one scene he didn't finish filming before dying.



Joey tries his usual trick of snapping ghosts back to their senses by trying to demonstration a logical disconnection.

Yeah.
Where are all the lights? Equipment? Cameras?
You know, I'm not sure. They should be on their way. I don't know what's keeping them.

Interestingly, Frank is a little different to the ghosts in Unbound. Isaac thought he was in Johnny Ivory's, and Mavis thought she was still in her apartment. I guess when a ghost can come up with a logical reason for not seeing something they should, they will, and if not they'll just imagine it's there. Going all the way back to Alli, she just convinced herself that she was in a dark, lonely park because the Deacon had chased everyone away from her.

Of course, whenever Rosa speaks to Frank he seems to think the cameras are on, so a ghost's handle on reality is obviously situational.

Could you tell me the last thing you remember?
What do you mean? I've just been hanging out here.
And before that?
I was.... hm. Funny thing.

"Funny thing"? Joey pushes the point

Yes?



Suddenly, Frank's facial expression and vocal inflection completely change.

The Minetta?
YEAH. I WAS THERE. I'M ALWAYS THERE.

What the hell is this?

Just what is the Minetta?
Minetta...?

Just as suddenly, Frank is back to normal, and seemingly has no idea what the Minetta is, or why Joey is asking about it.

Yeah. What is it?
THE MINETTA. I'M FAMOUS THERE, YOU KNOW.

And then switches straight back again. Great. A schizophrenic ghost. This could get messy.

YOU CAN ALWAYS FIND A WILLING EAR THERE, AND SOME DONATIONS FOR THE FUND.
The fund? What fund?
YES... THEY ARE VERY KIND.
Why are you talking like that?
Talking like what?
Like you... oh, never mind.



Joey changes the subject.

Ms. Stahlman? She's a good lady. I just wonder where she is.
You expecting her?
Yeah. We can't start without the executive producer, can we? I could swear I saw her run by a couple of times, but why wouldn't she stop?

I guess that was when Monique thought she heard Frank's voice. Next up, Joey tries the direct approach, which works about as well as usual.

Listen, Frank. You seem like a swell guy, but I have to be honest. You're dead.
What?
I mean it. You've been haunting this area for months now.
Hah. Very funny. My career might have one foot in the grave, but it's not dead YET. My ship will come in. You'll see.

I wonder if that ever works, actually. Perhaps in the the majority of cases the ghost just says "Oh. You're right!" and they move on, but we only see the difficult ones in these games?

So tell me about yourself, Frank.
Oh, I'm just an actor. I just walk and talk the way they want me to.
Oh, come on. There's got to be more to you than that.
I don't really need anything else. I'm not in the magazines, but I think I'm OK with that. I just want to finish what I start.

I'm afraid it won't work out that way, Frank

Well, see you around.
Yeah, bye.



Joey has cottoned on to Frank's schizophrenia.

You mean multiple-personality disorder.
Yeah. You think he's one of those?
Could be. It would explain a lot.
Two spooks for the price of one. Fantastic.

Haha Rosa is also feeling let-down about her own awkward conversation with Frank.

Talking to Lyons was... different than I expected.
He's a dead guy. What did you expect, scintillating conversation?
I just wondered... well, nevermind.

Joey tries to comfort her a bit.

A spook's a spook. They don't think like living people do. They're strange.
Does that include you?
...



Thank heaven for that.

Beautiful Rosa quickly gets over her disappointing conversation with Frank.

I know he's dead and all, but this is kind of cool. I've never met anyone famous before.
Just don't ask him for an autograph.

Joey and Rosa chat briefly to figure out what to do next.

Figures. We finally go to the park and the weather is miserable.
At least there's nobody around.
Minetta. I wonder what it could be. Do you have a phone book?
Phone book? Who uses a phone book anymore?
Sorry I asked.

We'll have to follow up with this Minetta place.

So who is Frank Lyons anyway? I'm afraid I'm not up-to-date on pop culture.
He's a movie actor.
Big?
Not really. I don't think he would have been as famous if it weren't for the news reports.
Fame after death, huh? Lucky guy.



Let's give this one more go.

How did you know I'd come?
I know you Yvonne. Perhaps too well.
Listen, I have to tell you something.
Come on. The boat's going to leave any minute.
Boat? What boat?
What boat? Come ON. Let's just do this and get outta here.

This is as far as we can get for now - Rosa can't think of any dialogue options to get her past this stage yet. Hopefully something will clue her in at the Minetta.



Let's just look this place up...



There it is! Time to pay us a visit.

The Minetta



The Minetta is an actual tavern in New York. In fact, Gilbert wrote most of the story and much of the dialogue in the Blackwell games there, and really wanted to include it in one of his games.

Ironically, he went to great pains to ensure the artistic rendition of the bar was as accurate as possible... and then, shortly before Convergence was released, the Minetta underwent renovations and no longer actually looks like this, though the bar itself is still pretty much unchanged.

Rosa, meanwhile, has been working on her next awkward joke!

So a ghost walks into a bar...
Don't. Just don't.

I love you, Rosa



This portrait seems to stand out among the rest...

It's a portrait of an old man.

...but Rosa isn't really interested in it. Never mind.



Nobody else is here, so Rosa chats to the bartender.

Afternoon. What can I get for you?
Oh, no. I'm not here to drink.
Not YET, anyway.

Hahaha, Joey is still riding Rosa about her wild night

I was hoping you could answer some questions for me.
Really?
Yeah. Is that a problem?
Oh no. It's just that this has never happened to me before. You always see bartenders being questioned in the movies, but it never actually HAPPENS. You a detective?
Something like that.
Cool. How can I help?

The bartender looks like a pretty hip dude, which completely clashes with the dorky voice provided by Gilbert. Unfortunately his voice is so distinctive that you start noticing it every time he plays a role.



Frank tols us he was at the Minetta all the time, so maybe this bartender knows something about him?

Frank Lyons? The actor? Didn't he die a few months ago?
Yeah. He did. I think he might have come here before he died.
Hm. Well, we get all sorts in here, but I don't think we've ever seen him.

Oh. Maybe he just kept to himself?

What can you tell me about this place?
The Minetta? Been here forever. Sixty or seventy years at least. I've only been here a few weeks myself. I don't know much of the history.

Ahh. He's only been here a few weeks. That would explain why he never saw Frank, though I don't know why he didn't just tell us that before.



Joey is reasonably impressed with the bartender, or at least, as much as Joey ever is. Unfortunately, he's got nothing else for us, so for the moment at least, the Minetta is a dead end.

Monique's Theme



Okay, we didn't learn anything from the Minetta, but perhaps Monique knows something about Frank?

Frank? He was a solid actor. Not A-list material, but dependable. He could read his lines and hit his marks and looked good on camera. He didn't demand much, and he was easy to work with. We set him up with an apartment nearby, and that was all he needed. That reminds me, we still haven't moved his stuff out. I'll have to get on that.

His stuff is still around? We might be able to get something useful from that. And we know much Joey loves encouraging Rosa to break and enter!

Anything else you can tell me about Frank?
Like I said, he was the dependable type. He was always willing to work with us, and he worked pretty cheap. I think he was waiting for his next break.
He got one, all right.
You really rented him an apartment? That's very generous.
Not really. The company owns it, and it's rent-controlled. We couldn't pay him much, so it was the least we could do.

Presumably Monique knows the adress. Rosa figures she might as well ask.


Of Frank's old apartment? Why?
I just wanted to look around.
I ask again. Why?
Research.

Hahaha, "research" "Definitely not to steal his shit, or anything like that!"

You're very dedicated, but I'm afraid the answer is no. I'd like to give Frank some bit of dignity.
Thanks for the chat, Monique.
Sure.



Well, it's not much, but we have something to go on. Tomorrow, we'll see if we can figure out what's going on with Frank Lyons!