The Lost Crown: A Ghost-Hunting Adventure Part #1

Part 1: Day 1 Part 1: The Sleepwalker

I've recorded a video of the opening few minutes, with the intro cinematic and a short conversation between Nigel and the Station Master. It shows you the game's visual feel, and also an idea of why I don't want to subject you all the spoken dialogue.
http://youtu.be/idYTtpSC_ts (6 minutes)

From the video, here's a transcript of the dialogue traded by Mr. Crow (or Mr. Hare?) and Mr. Hadden, deep in the modem-infested CLABS:

Mr. Hare... Mr. Crow... Report!

We've lost him, sir.

I don't want your excuses!

Disappeared, into the crowds.

Which way was he headed?

The station, sir. He has the documents.

Danvers has seen and heard too much! He knows about the chasms, and D Labs. He could have seen the experiment.

How? The firewalls are hackproof!

To those on the outside, yes.

Ah, he's one of us!

Perhaps I can think of a better purpose for Mr. Danvers.

Shall I get after him, Mr. Hadden?

He'll be catching the last train.

Which platform, sir? There is still time.

No, leave him be. I know which train he's on, and I know where he's going.

Where sir, where is he going?

Oh, he's going nowhere. Nowhere... at... all.

And also from the video, the first bit of conversation:

Last stop, Mr. Danvers.

How do you know my name?

You told me, in between kips.

Kips? You mean I woke up?

Oh yes, I should say say so. Quite chatty, you were.

Kips is English for naps! And they call elevators 'lifts.'

That's an impressive old train.

Old, sir? It may be lacking a little polish, here and there, but this old girl hasn't let us down yet.

The tourists must love it, And your outfit.

Outfit, sir?

I see. Re-enactment, or something?

You've lost me, Mr. Danvers. Was there something else?

Did you see anybody else board the train at London?

Only you... and the young lady.

Young lady? A girl?

Yes, that's right. Unless I've been getting it wrong all these years.

Where did she get off?

Well, here of course. Sedgemarsh.

Where did she go? I've seen no other passengers.

Through the fens, I'm guessing. Fancy your chances, do you?

I resent that remark.

Do you now. Well, that's interesting.

Have we been here long? It was midnight when we left London.

No, we've just arrived. Bang on time.

There's nothing here! What am I supposed to do?

Maybe sir should have thought about that before boarding. Ususally, out of flood season, we would continue on... but, the spring tides flood the fens, meaning Sedgemarsh is our last stop.

What time does the train leave?

No passengers for the return journey.

What?! You can hardly leave me here!

You'd rather end up at the terminus, sir?

I'll return, shortly.

Very well, Mr. Danvers.

Nigel is making friends already. I like the Station Master's sass. There's some curious things showing up already (point out what, if you like!), but it's the English countryside. You just have to take that quirkiness in stride?

This is what the station looks like. We walk Nigel around the corner to look at the platform.

This is a good time to take a minute and look at the stuff in our pockets. I've cropped them out, but the game frames the screen in letterboxes. The inventory is shown in the bottom letterbox ribbon. It only pops up when I mouse over it, which is nice and unobtrusive.

These documents along with the intro cinematic help explain why Nigel has ended up at a swampy train station way out in the boonies.

Mr. Hare is much more articulate than Mr. Crow.

It's a log of Nigels' hacking printed on dot-matrix paper. Nigel's a snoop. If you've played the Dark Fall games, some of the stuff in here might sound familiar, but it's not important.

Photos (or negatives?) of somethin' weird! Presumably it's the chasm ghosts from the experiment. Nigel got these through hacking, somehow. Actually, when you look at these in the game, there is a misty movement effect and a sound/music cue of faint hisses and sighs and some gentle notes. I'll be sure to capture that on a video at some point, because we'll hear that cue a few times. It means ~supernatural~

We've got Nigel's unflattering work ID, complete with work number on the back. "What's this?" indeed.

Lastly, Nigel made some notes to himself so he wouldn't forget to skip town and apologize to his employer later. I'm like that too- gotta write it down.

OK. Let's see what there is to see on this charming little train platform.

Not much. Let's leave. (The exit is actually to the left of the main train platform, not on this screen. I'll be trying to cut down on superfluous images like 'travelling')

He doesn't want to go. The Station Master already told him that the way out is through the fens. Nigel forgot because he didn't write it down. We hear the train tooting in the distance and Nigel tells himself "this could be my last chance," which means we should go talk to the Station Master again.

He's off doing his job.

Excuse me.

Yes sir, can I help you?

I don't know... I was hoping that you could...

Could what, Sir?

Where does the path lead?

Saxton, sir. Across the fens.

Why doesn't the train go there?

The floods, Mr. Danvers. I did say. During the spring, the line ends here, at Sedgemarsh.

Could I get to Saxton on foot?

Oh, easily, Sir. Follow the path through to Saxton.

Big town, is it? Food, a bed?

Big enough. You'll find all you need. A little treasure, it is.

Treasure? Why do you say that?

You'll know soon enough.

I see.

That you will. Oh, seeing as you're headed that way, I found this on the train. The young lady must have dropped it. (Puzzle chime!)

That was clumsy! What can I do? (It's an irritated tone, not a helpful one.)

Well, if you're quick, you can catch her up in no time.

I'll try my best. Well, so long. Um, I didn't catch your name.

Oh that's right, you didn't. Station Master will do.

Oh. Goodbye, Station Master.

Goodbye, Mr. Danvers.

I'm not sure losing one's wallet is "clumsy," but the important thing here is that Nigel is a prat.

Now that we've spoken to the Station Master about how to get to town, let's take another stab at those fens.

Success! Here's a sign we can look at. It has an unhelpful map and local wildlife information on it.

Educational! I make Nigel go to the left.

There's some rustling in the reeds. I missed getting a screenshot of it, but Nigel says something like "there's something out there in the reeds."

Oh yeah!

Well, instead of calling her name to get her attention or anything, Nigel just lets her go. She's chosen a pretty strange path through the fens, so he doesn't want to interrupt her concentration I guess. Let's keep exploring.

He says this a lot.

What's this? A piece of a puzzle? I pick it up. Puzzle progress chime!

This man tells Nigel to be quiet, or he'll scare them away. What's he looking at?

It's a The Heron! I can also "use tool" with the frog on the walkway, but I don't have what I need yet. So we'll be back later. (The tool is a hammer.)

Here's Martello Tower, a local landmark. We walk around it.

And find another broken sign piece. (The misty effect is pretty noticable in this pic.)

And a cave with a broken sign out front!

It's hard to resist the call of the cave, but we manage somehow and check out what's to the right.

A beach with the last piece. Nigel won't walk down the other paths here, because he says he doesn't know where they lead. He says this a lot too, he's not much of an explorer. OK then, let's go back to the cave and put the sign together.

This puzzle works by taking the sign pieces from the inventory and putting them in their proper spot. You then have to hold down left-click or right-click to slowly turn them clockwise or counterclockwise until they fit into place. ONLY THEN can we figure out what it says.

"... to watch my step from now on."

Actually I didn't need to solve this puzzle to go into the cave, I could have gone in already. I don't know what this puzzle is for.

Nigel says "nothing ventured" any time he goes into someplace dark. This is a spooky game so I'll hear this a lot. Even when he goes back and forth through this cave multiple times.

The first thing Nigel notices in this creepy cave is a bit of newspaper (with no year) talking about how he's ended up right in Treasure Hunting Central. I bet he feels dumb for whining to the Station Master about how there's nothing to do here.

We take a look down a little side-niche, and-

OK that's kind of unpleasant. Body odours, yech! Can we look closer into the spooky cave-cell? We can!

Wait for a few seconds, and-

I hope you're reading this in the dark!

I also hear the word "here" very quietly, which will generally tell me when I'm looking at someplace I can ghost-hunt. We can do some ghost-hunting here, but not right now. Let's leave the cave.

I agree, it is kind of creepy. That's the Old Net Store, which will show up again later, when we need to buy some old nets. This kid is blocking our way into town. We can't even talk to him, let alone push him in, so let's go a little further out to the beach.

The ocean is making those nice wave sounds it does, there's a foghorn and the dog is barking periodically. We decide to talk to the person standing there and be really rude about her dog.

What's up with him?

Aah, here you are.

Excuse me?

I'm sorry, I should have said "good evening."

Nigel doesn't seem to pick up that she's trying to politely tell him that his greeting was inappropriate. Also, I suppose this is our first indication of what time it is. Nigel said the train had left London at midnight, but it seemed like the train was pretty slow. Maybe it took that long to walk the last way?

I recorded a video because this woman is one of my favorite characters in the game, and I want you to know what she sounds like. We don't know her name yet (but she knows Nigel's, somehow). I might record short clips of all the characters so you can hear their voices, what do you think?
http://youtu.be/CLhPGTAPCCs (1 minute)

Here's a transcript of the video dialogue, if you don't want to watch it:

What is that, in the water?

A tree stump, I think. Dark and shapeless. It could almost be a small body, couldn't it?

I don't know... it's too far away.

Yes, yes... it could almost be a child's body.

What?! We should...

Do not fret, my boy... all will become clear.

Is that your dog?

Yes, George and I have been companions for many, many years.

A woman's best friend?

No. I wouldn't say that.

Is Saxton near here?

You are standing on Saxton Shore. So 'yes,' you could say you've arrived.

At last. I had to walk across the fenland.

Last train never arrives in Saxton.

Why is that?

I have no idea, dear boy. Saxton is an isolated town.

We're given another set of dialogue options and I go through them in a somewhat polite order:

I'm Nigel, by the way.

Yes, Mr. Danvers. I'm sure you are.

Am I expected?

Oh yes, for some time now. You may change it all. Time will tell.

I'm seeking bed and board in the town.

The Bear is most likely to provide what you need.

The bear? Oh, you mean a hotel?

No, I mean The Bear. You can't miss him, he'll be swinging tonight.

I'm sorry?

Oh dearie me, I'm teasing you. You shall see.

I expected to arrive in Saxton Station.

High tides flood the fens. No one can enter or leave the town.

How do you cope?

Cope? Cope with what?

You know. Emergencies and the like.

Oh I see. We cope. We cope very well.

Erm, okay?

I'm a treasure hunter! (He says it like she's meant to be impressed.)

Well well, now there's a thing.

Thing? I'm seeking my fortune.

Oh yes, you and the others.

Others? What others?

The May Day tides bring many to Saxton. The high tides eat away at the rocks, cliffs and sand banks. The low tides expose that which has been hidden.

Like... ancient treasures?

Mm. Perhaps. That and some people's fortunes... and futures.

I'll leave you in peace.

Farewell. I'll be seeing you again, sooner or later.

I don't know why Nigel is asking the woman the questions which were answered in the newspaper article he decided he was a treasure hunter after reading.