Part 14: Insert movie title reference here

Insert movie title reference here

Last time we took an ill-fated trip to paradise and raided a military bunker after killing a lot of mans.

This time we will check out the last optional areas. A village and the Arena.


The strange thing is that nobody told us about witches.

Remember how Horatio, in Copper Hill, told us about Faceless monsters murdering his village?

Guess what will never be brought up again?!

I named Ivana's gun "Drago" as an homage to the greatest fictional Russian ever created. Keno's shotgun will go by "Bessie". It's a joke for farmers.

Aside from a bunch of ruined houses there is nothing around. At least nothing useful.


I find this though.

The strange thing is, that this is the only pack of sugar in the whole game. It can only be sold and has no other uses. I guess it was meant as a quest item for something that was cut.

While this was a dead end, there is another village on the map. So I embark on a quite long trip. (I forgot to bring my car )

I'll never stop saying that this game can be pretty.

Here you can see the main purpose of this village.

Farming!

There are several contacts around.

But instead of talking I make my way towards the center of the village.

Because of cutscene!


:"Help you? Who are you, and why are you sitting in that cage?"

:"The crazy people here say that we are witches and want to burn us at the stake!"

:"You don't really look like witches to me. Who are you anyway?"
Yeah, no pointy hats, warts or brooms in sight. Those are the true signs of which craft, FYI.

:"I'm Fran..."



:"If it hadn't been for Jenny, that spiteful beast, none of this would have happened."

:"Why would they want to burn you at the stake? There must be some reason for it."

:"We don't quite understand it ourselves. Some of the people in the village got seriously ill. One girl even died. Jenna, the bitch, saw to it that we got the blame for everything. She says we cast a spell on the people!"

:"And these idiots in the village believe this sort of nonsense of course. Because Jenna is supposedly a fortune teller. And so they want to burn us. They're all completely mad!"

:"What sort of a weird disease is that? Nothing contagious I hope?"

:"I don't know. Maybe. Several people have fallen ill, but not all. For example, we're fit as fiddles. That's why Jenna reckons we must be guilty. Not that she's not ill either, the silly cow!"


Yikes! Well that sounds like another case for Inspector Seagull.



Let me say a couple of things here. First, this is a fetchquest so I will take the fastest route through it and will not show every blurb of text. Also this quest is a slight reference to the movie The Crucible and every story about the Salem witch trials ever told.

We start with the Doctor.


:"Hello! I'm Doctor Marcus. What can I do for you?"

:"I'm here because of the witch problem."

:"There is no witch problem here in New Catalina! There's only an epidemic of dumb people who believe anything."

:"We're agreed on that. I heard about the sickness here. These two girls, Fran and Iris, are going to end up being burned if no one does anything."

:"Human stupidity knows no boundaries. the girls are innocent, of course. Unfortunately I don't know how I can help them. I have no idea what's causing the disease."

:"What's the nature of this disease in your opinion?"



:"And how do these theories of yours look?"

:"Well, I think it's got something to do with the food. Basically, I can see three possible causes: the water, the meat, that Robin sells, and the bread that people buy from Warren."

We only have to look into the bread and the meat. Doc Marcus asks us to get a customer list from both vendors so he can compare them to the list of sick people.

When you move around in the village you can spot several people on the ground, in different states of agony.

You actually hear a clip of painful sounds when near them.

I get both lists without a fuss, but instead of going straight back to the doc, I think you deserve a quick look at the root of all this madness.


The supposed fortune teller.



:"I have a few questions to ask you. What makes you think Fran and Iris are witches?"

:"My family had the power to tell fortunes for centuries. People trust me because my predictions always come true."

:"That's not an answer to my question."
I would even say that it's bullshit.


God, you're hideous!

:"You want two girls to burn at the stake! Have you any real proof that they are guilty of witchcraft?"


Put a bag over your head!

All jokes aside, this is actually painfully close to the thinking process of humans during the real witch-hunts. My favorite is the drowning test. Tie a person to a stone and push them into the river. A witch would fly away, while an innocent would drown and get a first class ride to Jesus for pie and tea.


E/N might be the forum for you, Seagull.

Anyway, let's bring the lists to Marcus.

:"Here is the hunter's list. Can you see any clues?"

:"Let me see... Hmm.. No it's not the meat. None of these people are ill."

:"But can you really be sure?"


This quest actually makes sense, for a change.

:"This is the bakers list. Even sorted according to types of bread. Does that help us?"

:"Let me take a look... Hmm.. well, this.. hmm... this could be it!"

:"Is it the bread?"

:"Quite possibly! Warren has divided his list according to people who buy rye or wheat bread from him. It looks as if those who have eaten rye bread have fallen ill, while the wheat bread eaters haven't. Duncan is even at the very top of the list for rye bread."

:"But why should the rye bread make people sick and not the wheat bread?"

:"That's a good question.. But I think I know how we can find out. It won't be easy though..."
It never is.


Oh hey, I know that guy. In fact, he send us here in the first place! But I wonder if he will us give the book, just like that?


Well that's okay then!

Before I leave, I collect a rye sample.


For the sake of not being boring, let's just say that I collect the book without a fuss. Horatio even marks a special page which could be helpful in this case. What a guy!

:"What's new?"

:"I brought you some rye plants."

:"Excellent, a whole bundle at once! Let me see.. The plants don't look too healthy to me at all.. the ears look rather unusual. But without the book I can't say more."

Guess what I have?
:"Let me see.. Here's a bookmark. Is that a coincidence?"

:"No. I told Horatio about our problem and he marked that page. "


Natural LSD?


Inspector Seagull away!


The dev's just assumed that you would talk to him before this point.

:"No, we haven't. But Doctor Marcus has. He's one his way over here and he's going to put an end to all this witchcraft none sense."


What a bitch!



The Doc finally comes over..





:"You're lying! The girls are witches! Fletcher's dog got sick when he drank some urine! He didn't eat any bread!"
Stop it. The bitch jig is up.

:"Jenna, you don't know what you're talking about. A part of the ergot poison is released in the urine. The dog drank the urine and poisoned himself so to speak."
Kind of a dick move to have a dog drink cursed/poison-piss. Just saying.


Now she is just lashing out and still being a bitch.

:"So you claim that the hallucinations and cramps don't come from the bread? Then how about trying a piece? If you are right, nothing should happen to you."
Check.

:"I..I'm not eating anything. After all, I'm not the one whose being accused here. I don't have to prove anything."

:"Please, Jenna, eat some of the bread. That's the only way we can believe you."
And mate.

:"Very well. I.. I.. No, I don't want to eat any of the bread!"


Cause she's a bitch?

:"I.. I've made a terrible mistake. Iris and Fran.. well.. they always poked fun at me.. and then.. they said I was ugly. I wanted my revenge!"
To be fair you are very hideous. Kind of extreme to want them burned for stating the obvious. Lots of people just deal with it, you know?


Science saved the day!



:"Doctor Marcus and I have proved your innocence. Jenna had to admit that she was lying."

:"That's great!"
I see that you are very happy and grateful about this turn of events.

:"So now that you are free, what do you want to do?"
You're a terrible flirt, Seagull.

:"We're going to exchange a few words with Jenna."

:"Yeah!"

No hugs for Seagull, but a good chunk of Xp in the bag.

At this point the quest is done but Seagull's detective sense is still tingling. He really wants to look for Jenna.



:"Just leave me alone."



:"So what's it got to do with you? Let bygones be bygones."


I have no idea how Seags pieced this together. But then again I'm not a master detective like him.

Before we move on there are still some things to look at.

Weird pedal-buggy things for instance. Shame that the dev's forgot a way to steer though.

I make a quick sweep of the area but the only good thing I find is some G11 ammo.

Speaking of the G11, guess what the Danny Devito trader here has?





This rifle is in every game since the nineties or so. Seriously, for it never leaving the test phase, and having only a very small number of actually working rifles produced, this thing is awfully common in video games.

And look at those stats. A ROF of 2000.0 and 7.1 accuracy with maxed heavy skill? Fuck yeah! Put the high penetration of the caseless ammo in the mix and you got yourself a game breaker. Naturally I'll stash it till the endgame.

You still got some power left?

I sure hope so cause we're going to bust some heads!


There are some shacks/houses around but the action happens in the middle.

Say hello to our very own Thunderdome. Well, kind of.

Also, see that billboard on the right? It taunts us with another game from Silver Style that was actually pretty cool. Look up Soldiers of Anarchy if you like tactical 3d games that are also crazy. Or hope that I will Lp it someday.

There are several people around, titled "Fan". They will be dicks to us for the moment. So let's go directly to the arena master.


:"Well if that isn't a man who keeps himself in good shape, my name's not Marco!"
Uhm, okay?

:"What's going on here? A crowd of people in the middle of the desert?"



:"Do we get paid for fighting?"

:"For every day you fight, we offer you free accommodation in our own quarters. Plus a hot meal! And the winner can help himself to the loser's gear."

:"That's pretty hard on the loser."

:"Of course! Otherwise people would just let themselves get beaten up to have a warm bed for the night. Besides, the loser is free to ask for a return fight to win back his stuff. "

This is the only place where you are guaranteed to find some M46 armor and many more neat items. The fights are not that tough, if you cheese them a little that is. Also, true to the masters word, if you get knocked out you lose some of your stuff and have to win it back.

Time for some action.


:"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our next sensational fight!"

:"Facing each other: on the one side - cruncher Keagan, with an iron fist that can smash through granite!"

:"And on the other side - the man with no name, a new fighter, about to make his explosive first appearance before your very eyes! Applause for the fighters!"

:"The rules are simple: no weapons allowed. The fight stops when one of the fighters is KO'd. Enough talk. May the best one win!"


Let me point out a couple of things here. First, I'm still wearing my armor which means I'm taking a lot less damage. Also I pop some roids. I could have taken more drugs to raise my stats but it's not really necessary. Lastly I can also pop healing items during the fight. I can't really see how you could lose this.

Even with a horrible melee skill, like Seagull has.

Most fights will work like this, though later fighters are a lot faster and deal more damage.

The first round goes by quite fast.


What is my prize?

M46 boots and a Dt21 suit? I'll take that.

The game also remembers to spawn all the people this time.

Let's use Seagulls roid-rage while it lasts.


Steamroller? He goes down like a punk.


M46 gloves go in my bag.


Fighting the champion already? Whatever, I'm not going to complain.

This fight is actually a bit tough. Sabrina is insanely fast and reduces Seagull below half health, despite the armor.

I pop healing and still get back down to half again.

But this is the winning punch. Right in the kisser.


Finally a suit of M46! Also a Petrol Bomb. Look at those stats! This is craftable but I haven't found the parts so far.

:"We have a winner and a brand new champion: It's.. the man with no name! Let's hear it for our champion!"


Now the Fans around will really like us.

:"You're on the right way to becoming an all time legend! If you can make it through a couple more fights, you'll be the god of the arena!"

We actually can't get more glory here, but we can still fight.

With a little speech magic I get him to reward me with random ammo on top of my picks from his stash.




Marco's stash will hold random crafting items, ammo and small arms. Consider this, you can do this as many times as you want, and in theory a majority of the game items can spawn here, aside from heavy guns&ammo. Whatever fiscal balance this game had has been thrown out of the window by now.

Before we finish up this map, have a look at the M46 suit.

It's awesome!

Let's take a look at the other houses on the map.

The Master's mansion, for instance.

He even has guards at his door.


:"Hey! What do you want?"

:"Nothing much. I just wanted to take a look at the house."

:"It's not open to visitors. So beat it!"

While you say that, I can call upon the powers of glitchomancy.

And clip through the door. Sadly there is nothing good in here. Aside from another dirt bike to taunt me.

The rest of the houses are nothing special.

I still loot them and find another pair of M46 gloves.

Also this.

Hanzo steel!

This is probably meant to be the house for fighters.


Inside is nothing special.

This can be used to craft your own explosives. But the game will not offer me another opportunity to really use those.

Whelp, that's all for now.

I think we are finally ready to kill more mutants!

Next time: Just use the damn tank!