Part 25: Trilby's Notes, Part 8: Equal Footing

This is a short update, but just consider it part 2 of the last one.

Trilby's Notes, Part 8: Equal Footing


Come back, let your eyes adjust to the surprisingly bright cave in a wine cellar in a basement that doesn't even have an exit hole in this version of the world.

Say something!
What?
You're alive! Oh god, I didn't even know if I was doing it properly... But I did it! You're alive.

"It" was apparently wrapping his tie around his stomach so as to cover about half of his wound.

Where's... Lenkmann?
That... tall man took him. And then he took him away. I've already called for an ambulance. Let's get you back upstairs.

This series has a very short attention span when it comes to the whole "isolation" element. In 5 Days, the house just decided to let everyone out once we tied up a tangentially-related loose end, and now the whole "all paths lead back to the hotel" aspect kind of fades away without explanation.

Also note that Siobhan views calling the outside as no big deal, which more or less defeats the entire purpose of this whole game. At least 5 Days had the lines be dead; in this game, anybody could have called a police force (or the government agency Trilby works for) and resolved everything in a matter of minutes. Lenkmann is leading you on a potentially destructive trail? Call the Ministry and ask if it's legitimate. The hotel is warping and causing Trilby to be in some implied danger? Call and ask for backup. Siobhan finds Abed dead after being stalked by a faceless monster? Have her call one of the other twelve boyfriends she probably has and get a ride back to her dorm room.

Seriously, stop to think about the people who made the decisions in this game. An evil cult sent Lenkmann there alone with no backup plan if Trilby had realized he didn't work with him or decided not to blindly follow all of his memos. The Ministry sent Trilby to a possessed hotel on the one day that it had a relatively high chance of torturing him to death without bothering to inform him of the July 28th / God of Pain / 2050-year-old murderous Prince situation. Remember that ZP review where he pointed out that all of the game's flaws were negated by its other flaws? That's basically how this game's scheming worked.

Wait. See that wooden idol? Bring it with us. Wrap it tightly in clothes and bring it with us.

I told you the idol was only there to expedite this, since this series also tends to treat its initial goals as afterthoughts. Notice the lack of unused clothing and how this remark is directed specifically at Siobhan. Keep being the gentleman that you are, Trilby.




On the left is how this scene once appeared, while the right shows Trilby's need to rearrange his desk after particularly traumatic events.

No trace of Abed or the hotel staff was found. Officially, they've been classified as unexplained disappearances. Lenkmann and the Tall Man seem to have also vanished, which does not surprise me in the least. Siobhan signed the Official Secrets Act, and last I heard is staying with her parents to recuperate. Which just leaves me to write up my notes, with the idol that haunts my dreams gazing at me from across my desk. I was dead. I can't pretend I wasn't. No amount of CPR could have brought me back from where I was.

Yeah, it's implied that Siobhan tried CPR. For a knife wound to the chest. Remember that this is a student of what Wikipedia claims is one of the top 5 universities in the UK.

So who did? The man in red? Who was he, if not an insane hallucination in braindeath? Unimportant.

As a member of a government agency dedicated to studying the occult, I felt that a directly observed form of the occult that performed an impossible feat and revealed a deterministic universe with profound consequences for all of humanity was pretty useless to concern myself with. Finishing this note was far more important.

I am alive and that's all that matters. Just that, and the destiny of this wretched statuette that I am apparently fated to carry out. Lenkmann spoke of a prophecy. That the destruction of John DeFoe's soul would somehow help him and his Order summon their dark god. So if I destroy the idol, they win.

Some of you may remember that Malcolm does eventually destroy the idol, and that it does not in any way lead to the summoning of their dark god. This is because DeFoe's mind also needs to be destroyed, which apparently didn't happen when his brain was beaten in by a blunt object. 5 Days deals with the destruction of the body, 7 Days deals with the destruction of the soul, Trilby's Notes retroactively makes this at all important, and 6 Days will finally feature the destruction of the mind.

Of course, 6 Days takes place before 7 Days yet deals with the final step of the events. As such, 90% of 6 Days is actually Yahtzee trying to get out of the narrative corner he trapped himself in, and 10% deals with the destruction of the mind. It's rather amusing to watch.

But what else can I do? I certainly can't keep it. I know from experience that it leaks malevolent influence like a broken pipe leaks water.

My similes... are as weak... as glass fire.

The only other option is to hide it. But where can I hide such a thing and ensure that it is never again found by human hands?


Then in two months when I do find an answer, I'll make sure to write an extensive letter detailing absolutely nothing of what I've discovered here.

The fulfillment of the prophecy continues. The ritual for the summoning of Chzo will go ahead. Events have been set in motion that cannot be stopped.


The Prince's left hand is holding Trilby's jacket, in case you can't tell. He's going to use it to make life intentionally more difficult for himself so that 6 Days' plot isn't over in about a minute.





3. "O King, I beseech you, for this land has become corrupt without your benevolent hand, and darkness seeks to envelope us all. I demand of you to cross the border between our lands and make things right, for my power is great, and I have it in my power to control one even as great as you."
4. And the King was rightly amused, for while the Arrogant Man's power was indeed great, the King's power was greater still, and the King said
5. "I will not submit myself, for my power is greater than yours, and not yours to command. Secondly, while my power is vast and my capabilities many, it is impossible for me to enter the land of Technology, for the border is a dark and treacherous ocean I cannot simply will away.

Immediately thereafter, he reached across the border and into the land of technology anyway, pulling Cabadath inside and somewhat undermining the message.

6. "But I will do this for you, O Arrogant Man. For all the bigness of your head, you are still small enough to be spared the rigours of the dark ocean, and I shall rescue you from the darkness in the land of Technology, and you shall live in my household, and here you will learn humility."
7. And as the King said it, so was it so, and the Arrogant Man did cross the ocean between the lands and commence servitude in the house of the King, and the King brought him before his majesty and he said
8. "Now you must repay me for the slight your arrogance caused me, for despite your insult I love you as I love every Man and beast, and you must learn to take this love into your heart."

All of this religious material was written by Jack Frehorn after his own brush with the Prince. I'm not sure how he knew about the Prince from his readings before he wrote the readings, however, and I'm not so sure he understood his god all that well.

9. And the King took the Body and Mind of the Arrogant Man and separated them from his Soul, and this he placed in a great Tree in the land of Technology, and with this action he announced,

He put the soul in a small sapling. This religious text doesn't even agree with the visions that apparently aren't a big deal to have (Lenkmann seemed to know exactly what they entailed, as did other members of the group).

10. "Now you are the Tree, and the Tree is you, and the wood is your Soul. With this gift of separation your body shall not wither or die throughout your lessons. But should any Man in the land of Technology interfere with the Tree that is your Soul on the day that is mine, I shall lend to you the power to confront them, and strike them down with fitting vengeance."
11. And then he touched the Arrogant Man and filled his heart with his warming love, and the Arrogant Man became the Prince, and he knew the name of the King.


I love works that have ten endings, don't you?




Not to mention facial expressions that have nothing to do with the game. Remember all those times Trilby was really angry and Abed sadly reflected over the lack of purpose in his life? Yahtzee pretends you do.


This is a tremendous improvement, however. Thank you for learning from your mistakes and letting other people play your game. Hell, even this artwork is far from terrible, wonderfully rendering Siobhan after her feet got crushed in that horribly accident.


Next time, we tackle 6 Days. If Trilby's Notes was when Yahtzee played the Silent Hill games and decided to borrow their horror, 6 Days is when he played Killer7 and thought it was a bit too straightforward. My request is that, if you haven't played it already, don't. The gameplay is pretty mediocre, and this thread needs some blind reactions to the weird things it comes up with.

While I love Trilby's Notes, since I do think the plot and atmosphere are superb as long as you aren't me and suspend disbelief every now and then, I still say that 6 Days makes the whole series worth it.