Part 70: Blackwell Epiphany - Update 2 (Part 1)

Update 2

Yesterday, we rejoined Rosa and Joey as they began investigating the decrepid Karth House at the request of Detective Durkin, to who they are now contracting their services. Joey discovered a ghost lurking within, but couldn't get close enough until Rosa was able to find a key to enter the premises, which she finally did behind a frozen brick.

Bit of a longer update today - I'm keen to get to the real meat of the game, so we'll push hard through this tutorial case. I'll also start today's update by linking one of the tracks of music that didn't end up being used, a bit of ambient noise for within the Karth House. It's atmospheric enough, but I guess there wasn't any need since the Inside Karth House track did everything it needed to do already. Here it is anyway!

Karth House Atmosphere (Bonus)



Having seen all she needs to see in the lobby, Rosa climbs up a level. Here we see a new feature of Epiphany. Much like in Deception, Rosa and Joey are not tied together. Rosa can go to a room while Joey stays in a previous one, and occasionally this will even be required. However, with some fairly large areas consisting of several rooms in Epiphany, it can be frustrating to move the characters around individually. To remedy that problem, Gilbert introduced handy "Call Joey" and "Call Rosa" buttons, through which you can summon your character's partner to the room, although only when it's actually possible for them to follow, which is why we didn't see it earlier.

Joey? Get in here.



It's quite well handled. Joey will happily sing out for Rosa to come, and if there are people there she'll quietly enter, or arrive more boisterously if the coast is clear. Meanwhile, Rosa will call out for Joey if she is sure nobody will hear her, but in crowded rooms she'll let out a discrete whistle to attract his attention instead.

Look at the state of this place. You think it's safe?
Dozens of homeless people were living here not too long ago. If it was safe for them, it should be safe for us. And by "us", I obviously mean "me".

These two continue to just chew the fat rather than pursuing the ghost. I guess they've got nothing else on tonight.

Hey. Is it just me, or is that the same kind of couch you've got at home?
No. It's totally different.
It IS the same couch. Probably newer than yours. Better shape, too.
Can we stay on task, please?
Just saying. Free couch.

Hahaha, I have seriously missed this By this stage of the series, Whittaker and Goldfarb have so much chemistry and such charisma that it's a real joy just listening to them ramble on.

*sigh* Coldest night of the year and we have to go to the least insulated building in the city.
Could be worse. At least you have a warm place to go home to. Whoever lived here didn't.
Hm. Point.
Come on. We won't get anywhere if we keep jawin'.

You said it, Jo.



With Rosa now in range, Joey is able to go up yet another floor to follow the spook. Note the collapsed stairwell - Rosa can't follow him up there. Joey will need to go this one alone. Cleverly, Rosa refuses to leave the Karth House, so Joey has free reign to head up and down.

Mary's Theme



Joey finds the ghost staring out a hole in the wall at the floating snowflakes, and the city beyond.

I guess if you have to haunt a place, you can't beat a room with a view.

Unfortunately, the music here is not included in the game's OST, even though it's quite pretty, albeit very simple. I've recorded it, but I'm afraid you'll have to put up with the ambient noise of the Karth House in the background. To be honest, it probably adds atmosphere to the music anyway.

Joey studies the spook.

She looks pale and strung out. It's hard to place her age. Could be anywhere between twenty and forty. She's also shivering and scratching her arms. I know the dead can't feel the cold, but something is definitely giving her the shakes.



Time to see if we can figure out what's wrong with this poor spirit.

Hey.
Oh. You're not.
Not what?
Just... not.

Not a lot to go on with there. Joey tries to keep talking to her.

Were you expecting someone else?
Someone.
Could you tell me who it was? Maybe I can help look for him.
No. He'll be here.



Joey decides to introduce himself.

I dunno. Mary?
Your name is Mary?
Sure.

Mary, huh? More so than any other ghost encountered so far in the series, Mary gives off a palpable sense of hopelessness, depression and general exhaustion. I guess to be that way to such an extent now, she must have had some of those traits when she was alive too, or at least around the time she died.

Look. This is no place to be during a blizzard.
It's fine. It fits.
Fits? Fits how?
It FITS.



As usual, Joey's first trick is to try to change the ghost's environment, in the hopes that changing the scenery will jolt their senses, but Mary's not interested.

No. I'm hidden now.
Hidden? You're not hiding. You're right there.
I'm hidden and I fit.
It's how it should be.

Not since Alli, all the way back in Legacy, has a ghost been so immediately cryptic. Mary will barely finish a sentence here.



Joey tries to figure out what happened to her.

I... I was here.
And before that?
The words. The... no! That's not.
Not what?
How it works.

Usually, we can gain some idea early on of what issue the ghost has, but here, even being spoken to at all seems to be getting Mary offside. Something big, something integral to her being is the issue here.



Fortunately, Joey is able to talk about Rosa's clues even when she's not around. I guess he's got a good memory

So how'd you end up in a dump like this?
It's... a place.
Yeah, it's a place. One that's falling apart. You shouldn't be here.
No place else to go. Can't go home.
Depends where home is. Where are you from?
Here. Nowhere. In front. In back. Doesn't matter.
I fit here.
Just a face here. One of many.

Between talking about being hidden, fitting and just being a face, I'm guessing Mary came here to hide away from the world. The question is, why? We'll need to learn more about her by ourselves, because she isn't giving Joey anything.



Joey tries to work out her full name...

Uh huh?
Mary who?
Doesn't matter. I'm just Mary.

...but that doesn't work. Rosa and Joey are alone on this one.

I have to get going. Take care of yourself, Mary.



Before conferring with Rosa, Joey takes note of a "plastic thing" on the ground.

It's a piece of black plastic with a metal bit on the end. I have no idea what it is.

Sounds like a USB stick to me. That might contain some useful information, but Joey can't pick it up, and Rosa can't climb the stairs to get into the room. We'll need to figure out what to do about that.

Inside Karth House (Alternative)



Rosa and Joey come together to discuss Mary.

Incoherent. Babbling. A total basket case. Typical spook, in other words. What's your take on her?
I haven't spoken to her myself yet, but she must have been living rough before she died.
To end up in a place like this, she'd have to.

It's worth nothing that the music here plays very quietly, so as to not get in the way. In many ways, the visuals provide the atmosphere more so than the music here. It also helps to set Mary's theme apart when it is used.



Before figuring out how to proceed, Rosa takes a look in the next room.

There's nothing in here. Thank god. I guess it was a bathroom, before whatever happened happened.

In what has by now become a Blackwell staple, she stops to comment on the view.

I'd admire the view, if it wasn't so damn cold.



Unlike Joey, Rosa is well and truly capable of picking up the old newspaper. Is there anything interesting on the other side?



Huh. It's safe to say that the "Chelsea tenement" listed here is the Karth House. I guess that means that this page of newspaper just happened to fly in here through the hole in the wall, since it wouldn't make sense for one of the drug users or transients to have been reading it before the raid occurred.

I guess this explains why Durkin was involved - the police raided the place, even if he wasn't the officer at the scene. It also explains the ghost - most likely, the unidentified woman. She wasn't kidding about hiding herself from the world, being surrounded by a bunch of drug addicts Though I'm a bit worried that she felt like she "fit" here.



Although the above was all obvious to me, this is a Blackwell game, and so we need to combine clues to help Rosa make the requisite mental leaps. First of all we access her phone, which looks very much like in Deception...



Then into the Notes Collector. Combining "Mary" and "Drug Raid":

Mary could be the unidentified dead woman in the article.

"Karth House" and "Drug Raid":

The article said the drug raid happened in Chelsea. The Karth House is in Chelsea. It's probably safe to assume that the drug raid happened here.

"Detective Durkin" and "Drug Raid":

If anyone would know something about the drug raid, it would probably be Detective Durkin.

"Detective Durkin" and "Mary":

Did Durkin know Mary? Is that why he sent me here?



Rosa summons Joey to show him the article.

What is it?
It looks like this place was the site of a drug bust.
That explains all the needles.



The discuss the Karth House for a while.

I'll take your word for it. I can barely look out there five seconds without the snow covering my glasses.
Right. I forgot. You have to suck the romance out of everything.
Just saying.

Hahahaha

What do you suppose went on in this place?
Drugs. Booze. The usual squatter stuff. It must have taken something really bad to get everyone to leave.
I think this place is a drug den. Or it used to be.
A hiding place for lost souls. Seems right up our alley.[/b]



Rosa contemplates calling Durkin, but spends a moment stewing over her frustration instead.



While we're looking at the phone, let's check our emails. Sounds like Ken Sharpe's marriage is on the rocks since Deception. Presumably Hannah discovered her husband's affair with Tiffany, though I'm not sure how. Perhaps somebody had seen them together? I'm also not sure how Rosa's name ended up here, since I can't imagine Ken would want her at the trial, but never mind.



In a return to form, Rosa receives yet another "stay the hell away from me" email, this time from Seb Fredrick, Jamie Graham's ex-boyfriend that Rosa met at Munray's in Deception. Rosa is now barred from her alma mater



Once again, Gilbert is obsessed with putting references to Tomo in his games. No, I still don't know what it means. Curse you, Gilllllberrrt



Rosa wisely keeps her distance from the Sharpe trial. The last thing we need is to be stuck in a courtroom while Ken's lawyer asks us to explain how we knew about the contents of his client's desk drawer.



Finally, we see the email from Durkin which led Rosa to this hellhole of a building.



"Oogle" still exists too, complete with the requisite Tomo page. PoOf!



Okay, enough procrastinating. Rosa gives Durkin a call, while Joey heads off looking for clues somewhere.

Hi. It's Rosangela Blackwell.
Uh huh.

The anger in Rosa's voice is palpable, but Durkin is cool as a cucumber.

What exactly am I supposed to find?
You know the deal. You tell me.
I need more to go on.
Sorry. But my hands are tied.



Rosa lets her frustrations bubble over.

What? You want bottled water and a limo?
No. I need more details!
I can't give 'em to you. Sorry.

I wonder why not? It would make it easier to do whatever it is he wants us to do, surely?

If you need my help so badly, why are you acting this way?
Never said I NEEDED your help. But if you turn up anything, you're now obligated to report it. Assuming you want to be paid.
Yeah, yeah. I know how this goes.
Good.

He's not going to give us anything unless we give him something first.



Great. Don't say any more. Swing by tomorrow if and when you know for sure.

That's something at least, but he still won't tell us anything tonight. Rosa tries a different tack.

Can you tell me about the drug raid that took place here?
You heard about that, huh?
I might have read about it.
Well, it was pretty by-the-book. The team went in, took the stuff, and brought everybody out.
Nothing unusual took place?
I wasn't there, so I can't really say.

None of this explains why Durkin sent us here. The only thing out of the ordinary here is the unidentified dead woman, but there must be hundreds of those sorts of unsolved cases. There's something we're not being told here.

Can you tell me anything about the Karth House, at least?
It's condemned.
Yeah. I can see that just by looking at it. Anything else?
You know how this works. You tell me when you've got something.



Finally, Rosa gives up in frustration and hangs up as forcefully as she can on a touch screen.

Hanging up on him? Yeah. That'll show him.

Mary's Theme



Joey heads back upstairs to speak with Mary about the police raid. Maybe that will stir up some memories?

What are you talking about?
The cops. I heard they raided this place.
Why would the police bother coming here?
That's the whole POINT.
What point would that be?
Oh, forget it.

Of course, that was always going to be fruitless. If the police discovered her already dead body, then she wouldn't remember them from when she was alive. That said, I don't quite understand why Mary would assume that the police would avoid a whole house full of drug addicts. I guess she figured the place was off the map.



Okay, let's try to progress things. The puzzle here takes a second to get your head around. We need to learn more about Mary, and that USB stick is the obvious place to look. Joey can't pick it up, and Rosa can't reach it. What is the solution?



There is an elevator which seems to go to each floor. Can Rosa use that to reach Mary? She turns the power on at the fusebox, but...



...almost immediately, a fuse blows, sending sparks flying, frying the circuit board, and leaving the elevator door closed. It's probably a good thing - from the looks of things, the bottom half of the elevator shaft was empty anyway.

Well, that didn't work. Something must have shorted. It's stuck in the "on" position.

The power to the elevator is now stuck on, but all of the door fuses are blown.



Not exactly the best place for it. Old cables, frayed wired, a fried circuitboard... Hm. There's an old fuse at the bottom of the pile. Looks intact.

Rosa finds herself a fuse upstairs in the cardboard box. Hopefully it hasn't been wrecked by the weather. She shows to it to Joey to get his opinion.

Look at this old fuse. I don't think this building is entirely up to code.
What was your first clue? The giant holes in the wall, or the used needles all over the floor?
Just saying.



By putting the fuse in one of the five slots, Rosa is able to open any given elevator door, but only one at a time.

Good thing I'm wearing gloves.



With the door open, Rosa is able to peer into the elevator shaft.

The elevator looks like it's stuck between two floors. Probably for the best. I'd better not go in there. That elevator could collapse any minute.

Also, if that fusebox is to be believed, this building has a basement, so you'd go plummeting down a floor, Rosa



By placing the fuse into the "Floor 2" slot, Rosa opens the door here. She wasn't kidding about the elevator being stuck between two floors.

Elevator's stuck between floors. Doesn't look like it's gonna budge.

I hate to sound like a broken record here, but it needs to be said one more time. This place is an absolute shithole.



Okay, so how can we use the elevator shaft to our advantage? By opening up the door on the third floor, Joey is able to blow the USB stick down the elevator shaft, where it presumably lands on top of the jammed elevator.



Then, by opening up floor 2...



...Rosa is able to retrieve it! Notice that when Rosa is selected the item description actually says "Memory Stick" rather than "Plastic thing", since Rosa knows what one looks like even though Joey doesn't. It's a neat touch that Epiphany continues from Deception.

It's definitely some kind of memory card. And it looks like it's compatible with my phone.

This is what Gilbert meant by having rooms which connect together, and objects that naturally move between them. We have to manipulate two characters on three different floors to get the memory stick, and it makes the otherwise disconnected rooms feel like they're stacking on top of one another. It's quite a clever puzzle, but unfortunately loses a bit in the execution because it's never made that clear that you actually need to be retrieving the memory stick. Perhaps some extra dialogue hinting at it would have helped.



Rosa jams the card into her phone, where she finds it contains all of a single photo.



Joey joins her as she transfers it to her phone's internal storage.

I think so. Take a look at this photo.



Is this her? The ghost, I mean.
Yeah, sorta. She looks a lot better in that photo, I'll tell you that much.
Look at the filename. This was a headshot photo. I guess she was an actress?
Could be. You wouldn't know it from looking at her. The spook upstairs looks like life chewed her up and spat her back out.

Man, Joey isn't kidding. This looks like a glamour shot, whereas the ghost upstairs looks like... well, like she's been living in an condemned hotel with a motley collection of passed-out druggies until she died.



Despite the cold, Rosa finds the time to stop and discuss her phone signal Joey isn't interested, of course.

Well, thank heaven for that. That's a pretty nice picture of our spook. Does it tell us anything useful?
The photo has "The Gotham Collective" printed on it. I assume they are a theater group.
Well, you know what they say about "assume." Better find out for sure.
Working on it. I never heard of the Gotham Collective, but I haven't gone to the theater in a while.
Hey, who needs the theater when you've got a glamorous place like this?

The Gotham Collective, hey? That sounds very searchable.



Just in case you didn't get the message, Joey reiterates that they should research the place.

Some kind of theater group, I guess. But I doubt it's vaudeville.

Rosa then reflects on the fact that Mary brought the memory card with her to a drug den.

To keep this with her, even in this place... It must have meant a lot to her.
Who knows. I stopped trying to figure out why people do things long ago.

Joey heads back up to see Mary.



Let's see if we can jog Mary's memory with something that actually occurred before her death, this time.

Not anymore.
What happened?
Nothing. Everything.

Hm. That's suspicious. Whatever happened with The Gotham Collective, it clearly contributed to her death.

Come on. Tell me about your acting days. Sounds fascinating.
It's not. It's nothing. I'm nothing.
You're nothing?
Yes!

(continued next post...)