Part 12: Not enough tickets to paradise

Not enough tickets to paradise

Last time we made our first strike against the shadows and solved everyone's problems.

This time we will accompany a group of people on the journey to paradise, or so they told us.

Off to paradise!


It doesn't look like paradise here...

But the map also shows us that we have a long road ahead.

After some steps, a wild cutscene appears.


:"What's up with her? She doesn't look good at all."

:"I feel bad. Could it be something to do with the water? The more I drink, the worse I get."


You may notice a slight inconsistency between his face and model.

Seems like we got another mystery at our hands. You can choose different dialog routes but they all lead to the same outcome.

:"Each one of us carries a water can. We'll each take turns and drink out of all the cans. So the culprit has to drink his own poison."

The mute merc turns hostile after Seagull's plan.

Keno goes for the CQC snipe.

:"It really was Fiodr. I found some white powder in his bag. That must be poison."

:"Which means his water will be OK. We're not going to get far though."
Nevermind the five liters of water each of my crew has.

:"But why did he do it? Did he want to look for paradise all alone?"


Oh man. DAT FACE

So with this sorted out, we just have to continue along the dried road. Abraham yells at me a couple of times because he wants to go east, despite the road leading straight to our objective.


This still doesn't look like paradise.

:"That must be the access to the gorge. But there are some bears around."
Two bears casually saunter in during a small cutscene.

:"Then let's see how we can sneak by."


Stealth-action gameplay.

:"You see? We've actually made it! Paradise is right before us. You can rely on my map!"

:"Hmm.. At first sight it doesn't look much like paradise. Show me this wonder map of yours."
Yeah!

:"No problem, now that we're here. - It must be over there, the temple of purest water! You see, Mickey? I have lead us into a better future."
The group moves into the place, while we get left behind and have to click there.

:"To me, this looks like... advertising?"
Wat..


What a twist!

"It's over, grandfather. That damned map."

:"I.. It can't be..."


Ah fuck!

"We've come all this way! For nothing!"

:"Who are you? Wait, I know you! You stole a piece of the map from me! What are you doing here? That wasn't your dream, it was mine!"

"Shut up, old man! This is all your fault! You and your damned map. You're going to bleed for this!"

Standoff!

The others don't even pull guns and just stand around...

:"Abraham is dead. Now I will look after Mickey. We can go on up north. There'll be a place for us somewhere."
This is scripted, believe me I tried. He just keels over when you kill the last guy.

At least we can really look at the map now.

This is a state park with a swimming bath!

Initially I wanted to make a joke about how the apocalypse makes you stupid. But really, seeing how old he is, he probably just went weird after the collapse and got obsessed.


Let's still take a quick look at the place.


This is a restaurant. There's tables and stuff up there.


The pool.


The fitness area. There are treadmills and a bench up there.

Despite this being a total bust, there's still stuff to do around here.


Remember that video with the bike animations?

In the lower part of the map is a camp of Indians.



:"Hey, you! Come with us right now!"
We could start a fight now, but I prefer doing the quest.

A cutscene leads us into the camp.


The village chief approaches us, looking equally stern.



:"(eloquence) I fight against the gangs like the Ratskulls or the Shadows. So you see: I'm not your enemy, you can trust me."



:"Bad experiences? What happened? Maybe I can do something for you."



:"I see. Shall I try and find out who the guilty ones are?"

:"The white man would be doing our people a great service. Indians aren't welcome in the settlements. So it's difficult for us to search for the grave desecrators among the whites."

:"Okay, I'll look into it. Of course I can't promise anything."

:"If the white man helps, Tyee can take heart. Tyee permits him to look for clues in the cemetery. The white man my find evidence that we overlooked."
Let's search for clues!


There are several robbed graves, and you have to investigate all of them.


IC? That doesn't help in any way.

Now, this quest was changed along the way. Initially you could only find out who did it, if you went to certain place close to midnight. But in this version you can also get on with this during the day.

On another part of the map I find this.

IC, huh? Also he is dancing like an idiot.

:"Satan, hear me! Send your envoys to your true disciple, Ian!"


:"What? Who are you? What do you want here?!"

:"So what's going on here? Satanic rituals with Indian corpses? That's what it looks like to me."

:"You're wrong! That's... chicken blood! All perfectly harmless. I would never dream of human sacrifices!"

:"Sure. That's why this ring, with your initials on it, was lying around in the Indian cemetery."

:"Ah, the ring... I lost that months ago. Someone wants to set me up. People who are envious! I tell you! Envious!"


There are some different outcomes, but I decide to be a good boy and turn him to the Indians.

:"You can tell them what you want. This place is sacred to them and they won't enter it. They're so damned superstitious! They'll never come here in a million years."
I wouldn't be so sure.





True to his word, one of the Indians bolts over to Ian.

:"Hey! Come with me.."

:"Aaahhh! Satan will destroy you! Appear my lord and save your faithful disciple! Appear!"



:"...Satan? Hello?"


And that's that.

From his corpse I can grab something special.

This is the only place, to my knowledge, where you are guaranteed to find this. It may show up at a vendor, but seeing how random they are, I can't say for sure. There are also binoculars for daylight, which are pretty common.

To finish this map, I walk back into the camp and chat up a little boy.

:"Well, young man? What are you so worked up about?"

:"Worked up? It's a matter of life and death. You have to help me!"

:"If you tell me what's going on, I could help you."

:"It's about Aleshanee, my sweetheart. I need a present for her. Something worthy of her. How will I win her heart otherwise? A nice chain with teeth or claws, that would be great!"

:"You need a present for your little girlfriend? Aren't you a bit young for this kind of thing?"

:"What do you know about it? I have to follow the call of my heart! Love can't wait!"


You can find a chain on this map, or Butch could whip one up if I had the parts.

:"Fantastic! Just the thing! Now I can finally win over Aleshanees heart! Thanks, a thousand times!"


She looks a little tall...

"Oh, it's you again? What have you got this time? A chain? Oh, how cute."

:"It's a present. Please take it, Aleshanee!"

"Listen, Anoki! I accept the present gladly, but only if you promise me one thing: you must stop visiting me constantly. I'm married, understand that once and for all!"




"Maybe because you're just 12 and I'm 22? Anoki, you're really sweet. And one day you'll make a girl very happy. But you have to understand: you're still a child! So, and now leave me in peace."

It's hard out here for a pimp.

:"Well, a little hitch in the relationship?"

:"How can this woman be so blind? She must feel it too - this strong attraction between us. This erotic rapport..."

:"Erotic rapport? Well, when I was your age... Ah. Forget it."
Reach for the stars, kiddo!

Agnes leveled after this and finally maxed survival. I choose "Will to survive" as her last talent. It is a group buff which raises Hp by 10% for five minutes. Quite handy for some battles.

It's very easy to overlook, but you can talk to some of the Indians and get more fluff on the group, the other tribes and how the Indians fared after the collapse. If people want this, I'll make a short info dump. So speak up if you want.

I think this is enough Indian lore for now.



I leave this map and take care of micro management. I move my cars and stashes to Copper Hill as we will operate in this area for a bit longer. Also I make a trader run and get a few pieces of armor, ammo and a Barrett 50 Cal.

After that I re-quip my squad to better deal with the next area.


Seagull brings the 40mm launcher. To blow shit up.

Agnes upgrades to the P-90(Valkyrie). It has decent range and can take armor piercing rounds. Also I've taped a laserpointer to it.

Victor brings all the remote C4 I still have. Three charges will be just right.

Butch whips out the MG 3! It does what you expect, spray bullets everywhere with insane speed.

Ivana sports an RPK. I first thought about a 5,56mm MG but I have all this 5,45mm around and no other use for it. Also Russian guns fit her more.

Keno ditches the crappy MP and grabs an HK CAWS. That's an automatic shotgun, you philistine.

Why do I do all this? Well you have to wait until next time.

Next time: Your dad died like a pussy!

Note: The next update will come soon, with more optional stuff. There also won't be a roundup for those as I don't miss stuff and try to show the area during the update. Agnes's gun is named, but Butch's MG 3 is still a virgin. Ivana will not use that RPK again so don't worry, but she can still use a name for her real MG. Keno can still use a name for the shotty and some rifles. Don't feel obligated though, if there are no pitches in like a week from now, I'll make em up.