Part 60: Blackwell Deception - Update 19 (Part 1)

Now that we've all had out chance to settle on our feelings for yesterday's happenings, it's time to see where this all leads!

Update 19

LAST TIME

Gavin's Theme



The game has changed very suddenly here. Gavin has been revealed as some kind of psychic vampire, and has captured Rosa after shooting her with a tranquilizer gun. Yikes.



We are in serious, serious trouble here.

Lisa's Theme



Hey, take it easy.

Rosa regains consciousness in a small storage room, tied to a chair. She's alive, but things are looking very bad. Given that Gavin buzzed Lisa after he shot Rosa, it's a reasonable guess that she's in Lisa's house somewhere.

Urf. I can't move. What happened?
You got hit with a knock-out drug. You're tied up. Don't worry, I'll get us out of here.

Joey looks helplessly around the room.

Somehow.



Rosa tries struggling against her bonds, but it's no use.

Joey? What the hell do I do?
Just relax and keep calm. We'll figure a way out of this. You doing all right?
Sure, Joey. Just great.

Rosa is pretty frustrated with what's going on, and finds herself glaring at Joey.

He's just floating around like nothing's wrong.

With Joey unable to actually touch anything, Rosa figures she had best fend for herself. In desperation, she calls out.



Hello? Hello!
Shut up.

After yelling a few times, Rosa hears a muffled voice from the other side of the tell. It's Lisa.

Lisa?
I said shut up.

Fat chance of that. Rosa keeps yelling.

Let me out of here!
It's too late for that.

Rosa then tries appealing to Lisa's better side.

I thought you wanted to help me.
Things have changed. All I can do is help myself.



Rosa is pretty damn disgusted with Lisa, and lets it be known.

Trying to guilt me again? I learned long ago that life is too short for guilt. I should have remembered that.
Why did you change your mind?
Because Gavin is downstairs and if I don't do what he says, I'm dead. Fair enough?

I suppose Gavin having left was too much to hope for. It's an understatement, but we're in trouble.

Gavin has... abilities, Lisa. He's not entirely human. At least, not anymore.
I don't want to know. I was happier not knowing.
I just want you gone.

Lisa clearly just wants to wash her hands of all this. I guess she's still frightened of Gavin, and with good reason, since he's apparently some kind of monster.

What does he want me for? Why lock me up like this?
I don't know. Apparently you're a threat to Gavin. And his people. That's what you get for making waves.



How much does Lisa actually know?

I don't know. I just deal directly with Gavin. I just refer him the occasional client and I get left alone.

It's pretty clear she isn't going to help us. We're on our own here.

Forget it.
Good. Just sit there and be quiet.

With Rosa unable to move, and Joey unable to touch things, we're at a bit of a dead end. In desperation, Joey heads out of the room to see what he can find.



He glares furiously at Lisa.

Thanks for nothing, lady... *sigh* It didn't have to be this way, Danny.



Joey heads downstairs where, sure enough, Gavin is hanging around. In fact, he seems to be on the phone.

Gavin "spoke" to Joey before, but it was fairly clear that he was just calling out blindly. Gavin obviously knows that Joey exists, but I don't think he can actually see Joey, or sense him in any way.



Joey is therefore able to sidle right up to the earpiece and listen in on the conversation. Gavin is speaking with a very proper-sounding lady.


And you are absolutely sure this is the Bestower?

Must we go over this again?

If she is, you are welcome to her. But if you are mistaken...

I'm not mistaken. I'm sure of it.


Presumably, the "Bestower" is Rosa.


Then I hope you are correct. You know the havoc they cause.

I told you. Everything is under control.

Just be discreet, is all I am saying.

I've lasted this long, haven't I?


Something I don't quite get here... this lady talks about Rosa like she's a danger to their group, and I can understand why. Being able to question Gavin's victims after their death means she has a unique ability to track him. But yesterday, Gavin said that Rosa's abilities were a commodity he intended to use. How can he use them? Surely it would be safest to just take her out?



The lady on the phone also asks after Lisa.


Can you be sure of her loyalty?

I'm not sure, to be honest.

Then you understand what has to be done?

I understand.


That's bad news for Lisa. She's living on borrowed time.


Take care of it once the Bestower is in custody.

I'll see to it personally.


Wait... "In custody"? We're already in custody. Gavin just tied us upstairs after shooting us with a damn tranquilizer. I think he might be intending to go behind his organisation's back in some way.


Then I leave it all in your hands.

Are we done? Must I go over this another time?

No, I think we're done.

Good bye, then.


Gavin's question about whether he must go over it another time is there because if Joey just floats around in the middle of the room, he only hears Gavin's lines, which obviously don't make much sense in context. In order to give us another chance to hear the full conversation, Gavin will keep repeating it until you move Joey in to the earpiece.



Afterwards, Gavin sits down on the couch. Doesn't seem like he's in any real hurry, even though he already has Rosa in custody.

If I could punch him in the teeth, believe me I would.

In a fit of frustration, Joey huffs and puffs and blows the photograph of Danny off the table and onto the ground.



Gavin immediately cottons on.

Spirit guide, was that you? Roar your mighty wind all you like. It won't make a bit of difference.



Joey obliges by blowing the photo under the door into the next room. There is no immediate reason to be doing this, and amusingly, if we head to the next room and try to do it again, Joey comments that the photo doesn't need to move any further, even though there wasn't any reason to have blown it under the door in the first place. We'll revisit this later on.



All of this blowing on things reminds me that Joey actually can interact ever so slightly with items. Heading back up to the storage room, he blows a glass off the shelf, where it shatters over a chest.

That broken glass could be useful in allowing Rosa cut through her ropes, but Joey isn't able to blow the shards in her direction, and even if he could, Rosa can't reach the ground to pick one up. So how are we going to get the glass to her?



The solution is actually kind of clever. Joey can't physically interact with Rosa in any way other than via his tie. He hands it over to her...

What are you doing?
I got an idea. Just take it.



...and now he can tow her around! He should be able to drag her over to the broken glass in no time. It's a pretty good idea, actually, but it has one flaw.

Keep it down in there!
Careful!
Sorry, sorry.

Dragging the chair and Rosa's weight over the floorboards causes the room to creak, alerting Lisa.

Hm. I don't want to alert the cavalry outside. Better wait until there are fewer ears listening in.

The last thing we need is for her to rat us out to Gavin and have him come in and anchor Rosa's chair leg, or worse, just shoot her with another dart. We'll need to get rid of her first.



Of course, it's in Lisa's best interests to make herself scarce too, since Gavin clearly intends to kill her. Rosa calls out to Lisa.

What?
Gavin is going to kill you.
Really. And you know this how?
You should know by now. I'm a medium. I have a spirit guide. And he overheard Gavin talking.

Lisa is not entirely convinced.

Even if you are what you say, how do I know you aren't lying?

Rosa is sick of dealing with this shit. She can either tell Lisa that she doesn't:

You don't. But do you really want to take the chance?

She can appeal to logic:

Think about it. After what you've done, why would he leave you alive? You already know he's killed before.

Or she can just tell Lisa to go and shove it:

Fine. Forget I said anything. In fact, stay right there. I want to be here when Gavin kills you.

Whichever way we choose, the message gets through.

...
I liked my job, you know. It might not have been respectable, but I was good at it. Now what am I going to do?

Rosa has a couple of ideas.

Let me out of here! We'll take on Gavin together.
Are you kidding? He's armed.
Call the police.
And go to jail myself? No thank you.

Seems like escape is the only option Lisa will consider.

Is there another way out?
In fact there is. There's a fire escape in my bedroom. It's the only way.

Good enough for me!

Great. Let's go.
...
Lisa?



Unfortunately, as a final "fuck you" from Lisa, she just pegs it and escapes by herself, leaving Rosa at the mercy of Gavin. Bitch.



Still, without her listening in, Joey is able to pull Rosa around.



With Joey moving her up against the chest, Rosa is just able to grab one of the jagged shards of glass.

Got it!



Freedom, here we come! Rosa works on slicing the ropes...

Urf. This is tougher than it looks. Almost.



...and soon enough, she cuts herself loose.

Nice going. Now let's see about getting out of here.

To the fire escape!

Gavin's Theme



Shitballs. Rosa and Joey leave the storage room, only to find themselves face to face with an angry Gavin.

Crap.
Please. My ears are burning.
I'll just... get back into the closet.
No no no. Please don't.

Rosa decides she isn't going down without a fight.

I'm not going to let you do this.
Please. I really want us to get along. I thought we could have a chat. I really really don't want to use this again. But I need time to decide what to do with you. You can either pass the time pleasantly, or you can pass it unconscious. Your choice.
Go ahead. Shoot me.

Damn, Rosa's developed some serious balls over the course of this series. Fortunately, Gavin doesn't take her up on her offer.

Do you really want me to do that? Think carefully.
Fine. Let's talk.
Wonderful. Have a seat.



You have given us quite the runaround.

Begrudgingly, Rosa takes a seat.

Bestower?
It's what we used to call your kind, a long time ago. A bestower of eternity. Poetic, isn't it?
I prefer medium.
Suit yourself. Personally, it makes you sound like a steak.

Hahaha. "Bestower" is a reference to a game Gilbert made in 2003, Bestowers of Eternity, which the Blackwell series is based on. It has the same start as Legacy, but ends as Rosa meets Joey. Gilbert intended to continue it, but never did until he made the Blackwell series. I guess he still liked the name, so he brought it back here. Certainly sounds grander than "medium".

What exactly do you know about us?
I know that you are a rarity. A spiritual quirk. Something that was never supposed to exist. A link to the next work that is passed through the generations. Mysterious, isn't it?
Maybe.

Never supposed to exist, huh? That might explain why Joey never received any guidance from "anybody up there".



Even with a gun one yard from her head, Rosa still has the guts to antagonise Gavin

You insist on thinking of me as a murderer. If I tell someone to jump off a bridge, and they do it, does that make me a killer?
It does if you eat them afterward.
They would have died anyway.
You believe that?
I've been alive a long time. And there are always people who go to extreme lengths to avoid their own happiness.

So Gavin sees himself as simply picking the carcass of those who don't want to help themselves. I guess going back 200 years, or even 50 years, people with chronic depression were usually viewed as simply being unwilling to be happy. His attitude is, in some sense, just a much more extreme version of that same mentality.

However, Rosa has a very good question.

And Jeremy? What about him?
Yes, I do regret that one. Normally, I would just refuse to talk to him, but I had my orders. We all have to answer to someone. It's a shame Lisa didn't realize that.

Apparently Gavin was instructed to shoot Jeremy. Obviously he was going to expose more than just Lisa's candle scheme.

Where is Lisa, anyway?
Don't tell me you don't know. Running away like that. Such a mistake. Some people just can't ignore their basic instinct for survival. Not that I can relate, of course.
Did you kill her?
She was trying to escape. To betray us. That isn't allowed.
I... see.
She didn't. Remember that.

So Lisa's dead. To be honest, it's not much worse than she deserves.

I have nothing more to say.
Amicable silence it is, then.



Gavin stands there, but doesn't make a move. It's as though he's waiting for something... but what?

He's got that pea-shooter aimed right at her. Damn it. I gotta do something.



With nothing else in his arsenal, Joey tries breathing down Gavin's neck, earning us a "Blowey Mallone" Steam achivement But it's no use.

(Continued next post...)