Part 13: Day 3 Part 3: The Old Net Store

Things are really ramping up now. We're in the last third of the game, there's probably another 7-8 updates and things are happening fairly quickly now.



So here we are at Ye Olde Nutte Hutte & Boate Storagearium. Lucy buzzed us on the walkie-talkie to let us know that she may have a lead on the catnapper/s plaguing Saxton for the last several weeks. Seeing as how Nigel doesn't have a lot to do at the moment (having been caught by Hardacre while trying to mess with his stuff), he joins Lucy.

Off to the right, we can take a look at some rocks, but there's nothing we can do with them.



We're supposed to talk to Lucy, of course:



So this is where you hide yourself, eh? (with the crabs, and the fish-heads? No wait that's Hardacre.)
I hate being alone here. Can't you feel it?




Regardless of our response:
Are you okay? You seem a bit distant.
Something happened to me, on the beach. I can't explain it.
Cant, or won't?




Regardless of our response:
When we're done here, you're going to see Dr. Black.
No, no please. I don't need that. I'm okay. Promise. Anyway, what are you up to?
Aha! We may be on the verge of a breakthrough...



What is this place?
It was used years ago by the local fishermen. They kept small boats here, dried the fishing nets, and boxed their catch.
Catch? Oh, what, you mean the fish?
Yup. You can still smell the fish guts on hot summer days.
Urgh, that's horrible. Morbid in fact. (Uh I don't think it is...?)
Not as morbid as my reasons for being here.


So, what brought you here?
A hunch. Instinct if you like.
Instinct? That's not very scientific.
Yes, that and the trail of blood which led up to this door.
Blood? Are you sure?
Go check for yourself, at the top of the path.


Shall we take a look inside?
That's the idea. But there's no door handle.
What can you see inside?
A walkway with wooden spindles, I think.
What's below? The building is on two levels.
Go take a look. The stone steps lead down to the under-dwell.


I'm going to take a look around.
Okey dokey. Be careful sunshine.


Let's find that blood that Lucy mentioned.



What

Let's go visit the under-dwell. I hope we meet some mole-people!



Let's go inside:



I wouldn't say it's particularly gloomy, but I suppose Nigel doesn't have the advantage of seeing things in 3D crispness.

We can't do anything here anyway, except click on things to hear Nigel call them 'unloved antiques' or 'useless junk.'



I found the blood. Do you think we should contact the police?
What?! And lose the chance to solve this ourselves?
Seriously, this could be very dangerous.
I thought you liked adventure?



I couldn't see much. How about you?
Shouldn't you have a torch or something, Mr. Ghosthunter?
Oh, I have something much better than that. The night-vision camera!
Really? Another Hadden gadget? Let me borrow it.
Fair enough. Here you go.


About that blood... do you think it's human?
No, thank goodness. But... I think someone's dear pet has been butchered.
Oh dear God.


Who owns this building? It's full of junk.
No one, as far as I know. It's abandoned.
I can see, and feel, why that would happen.
Yeah, spooky kinda place, isn't it.


I'm going to search the under-dwell again.
Good idea. I'll keep an eye open for you.


Now that Lucy has our nightvision camera though, maybe she can help us navigate through the lower level. Of course... if we'd kept it ourselves, we could have done that too. Whatever.



As soon as we're inside, we hear Lucy trying the door upstairs. Then we hear glass breaking. Then we hear the door open. Lucy!

Um... I found a way in.
Yes, it sounds like it! You vandal.
It was an accident.
Don't tell me, a rock accidentally flew from your hands.
Yup. I blame the poltergeists.
That's no joke, it's spooky down here. And that smell! Rotting fish. It's overpowering.
I did warn you. This place has seen a lot of blood.


Suddenly,



What the hell was that? It's even darker now!
Hang on, I'll try this camera of yours...



Because I like Nigel to be a jerk, I choose "Have you used a camcorder before?" It makes no difference, though.
Um, here we go... got ya!
Can you see me?
There's a path, I think, through the junk. I can guide you.





It still doesn't seem that dark, and not really that cluttered or dangerous either. However, this is clearly a tense episode in the game. I made a video of this part! (5 minutes)

Now comes a little minigame. I get to be Lucy, directing Nigel through the dark. I tell him to turn and face left or right, or advance forward. It is literally a series of "Turn to the left. Head forwards. Head Forwards."



About halfway through the room, some sinister hissing-type sounds begin and a spot of inky black mist bubbles up from the ground. The ghost of fishguts past?? The music ramps up to something more tense and dangerous as well. You can see the mist in the screenshot below, a few steps below Nigel:

What's that noise?
What noise? I din't hear-
Ssh- there! What is that? Can you see?




Lucy, what the hell is going on?
Nigel, move! You've got to get out of there!
You are my eyes now, Lucy. Which way?


I've omitted screengrabs of the next part, as it's really just more directing Nigel around the floor to both avoid the black mist (which will disappear and reappear in a different spot a couple of times) and advance toward the window. If you mess up, Nigel gets overcome and has to retreat to outside the building and you get to try again.

Partway through the event though, the black mist disappears from Nigel's area....

Whatever that thing is, I think it's gone.
What the hell is down here with me?
Wait...
Lucy, what is it?
Ssh... something's coming.
What's wrong?
That smell, I think it's up here... with me! What shall I do?




Regardless of which I choose:
It's... it's here! It can see me!


The screen fades to black and the growls/hisses intensify. Lucy shouts in terror and you can hear rapid footsteps on wood. After a few seconds the screen fades back in, the camcorder is looking down on Nigel from a different angle. Lucy has moved to the other side of the balcony.

OK, OK. Calm. Calm. I'm good, I'm good.
You okay? Are you safe?
The sound, and that smell... it's gone.
Am I safe?
Oh, no! It's right behind you!


After directing him about a little more, he reaches the window-lever, which I have him pull.




The sunlight dispels the dark entity. We can hear the hissing dissipates with a howl and the music returns to normal. Phew!

That did it! Whatever or whoever that was, I think it's gone.
I'm more than pleased to hear it.

Check out what's on that barrel though...



Uh oh.



M.... Mr. Tibbs....

What have you found?
I think we may have found Mr. Tibbs...
Oh no! Is he dead?
Not sure. It's just his collar. I'm going to explore further.
Please be careful.


A few steps on brings Nigel to the basement door. Is a basement which isn't actually under the rest of the building still a basement? At any rate, the door is thumping and rattling but can't open, if you'll notice there's a sliding bar lock just above Nigel's head. There's also the sound of upset cat meows. Perhaps it's not too late for Mr.Tibbs! Maybe he's just stuck! What cat couldn't resist the smell of fish guts, however old?


I must set them free.

We have to take a moment to unlock the door, but then we can go inside... and the meowing stops.



Nooooooooo!

(pic spoilered for slight 3D render/photomanip grossness of a cat)


Why don't catnappers ever want to do NICE things for cats???

Also, whoever is hanging out in this basement has a real thing for Nigel and Lucy, because check out those photos on the wall:








Wow. Some of those photos looked pretty hard to get without getting noticed. Also, rust streaks on 1-3 day old photos, pretty impressive! I also don't remember Lucy ever wearing a hat, or Nigel going to a carnival with her. I feel a little cheated now.

This photo has a rusty old key behind it:



Let's check out the rest of this horrible room.



Whoa hey does this seem... familiar? Let's take a closer look.




Ew.



Hmm, that's different. Which one is he? I think probably Thomas, since he has the crucifix and we contained him at the church. It's not very important who's who though. The painting gives Nigel the heebie-jeebies, he won't look at it for long.


That portrait... I can't look. There's something about the eyes... pure hatred.


We can take a look at the desk drawers, and see that one of them is locked. We did just pick up a rusty key, so with some clicking the drawer reveals its contents:



Two books and a scythe, all blood-spattered. Someone's not a very tidy cat-skinner.

No sooner is the drawer opened but the game shows us that the door is being re-bolted shut by nobody. Then, FLIES!



In his panic, I'm not sure whether he sees his other visitors... do you? We make Nigel run for the door, while the painting watches us:



The flies are still buzzing around Nigel, visible as little black dots:



The door is shut! Nigel yells for Lucy, but she doesn't seem to be on the other side. After a moment, Lucy talks to him on the walkie-talkie.

Nigel?


Regardless of which I choose:






Nigel, what's the matter?
The flies, the flies! Get them off me!
Nigel, there's nothing here!
Get them off!!!
Stop it! Look at me.... the cats! Oh, please no! They've been skinned! Whever did this... they will pay.




It's this place. It's affecting your judgment.
No, it was real. I'm sure!
What's this? (Lucy has noticed the photos.) It's you... and me!
Someone's been watching us.
Who? Who would do this? And the cats? It's horrific.
I don't know. Here, take this. For evidence.
Good idea. We are first on the scene.
I'll have a look around, see what I can find.


Nigel apparently hands his camera over to Lucy. Now we can head back to the other half of the room and investigate those books in the drawer.



Er... something seems different here. Actually 3 things. Try to spot them!

The first is that the portrait has changed:



Another Ager has become obliterated by cracks. This is the same one who we saw while the flies were attacking Nigel. If you remember, this building was designed by Frederick Ager- so that's who this one is. I guess we've sort of defeated him as well.

Second change:



The hand scythe is gone. We could explain away spontaneous painting-decay but disappearing farming tools seems a little tougher to rationalize. Let's read these, anyway. Note that they aren't Ager books, which have the crowns on the front.



We've seen a little bit of stag imagery in the game. There's that creepy stag above Nigel's bed, and stags with crowns over their heads have been in a couple of stone carvings. I'm not sure they're of any importance/meaning, but this version is pretty twisted regardless.

And the other one:



Interesting image there - the Saxon crowns, but also, a skeleton seems to be bestowing something upon a supplicant.

Written by the same person as the other journal? Probably. These two books reveal a lot, actually. We still don't know who this person is, but at least we know it IS a person (and not a ghost), and some information about their reasons for killing cats and stalking Nigel and Lucy.

One last difference, there is a new book on the shelf:





Freddy really hated the greedy. Nigel takes this book.

Let's see what Lucy's up to:



Painfully. Someone very disturbed is behind all this.




I found a journal.
Who wrote it? Any clues?
No, but someone very much alive, that's for sure.
So, no ghostwriter. We are making progress.
The journal contains the ramblings of a mad man.
Not mad, Nigel. Psychotic. This is planned, premeditated.


The painting has changed!
What painting?
The Ager brothers. An old family, evil to the core.
Why is the painting here?
Someone is continuing the Agers' dark work.
Like a copycat, you mean?
Worse. I think they believe they can prevent the inevitable.
With the inevitable being what, exactly?




Regardless of which I choose...
You think the two are linked?
I'm sure of it. I think this was a warning.
A warning to the curious...? Perhaps.
Yes. Us. And these cats. Curiosity killed them. (???) Look, this is out of our hands now. We need to call the police.
Yes, you're right. It's a criminal case now.
Let's get out of here, before we contaminate the scene any further.



If you want to make yourself scarce.
No, it is my responsibility.
Why do you say that?
I'm going to tell my brother.
Your brother? What brother?
You'd know him as... Alex Spitmoor.
The journalist?! Ah, I should have guessed.
He's not a journalist. He's a detective with the police force.
I still should have known!
What makes you say that?




These are all the same reason, just presented in a different way. Oddly enough, we can't explain to Lucy that we knew from Alex's PDA that he was up to something and spying on people. Anyway, ok, anagram. So what is Alex Spitmoor's real name? Ax Metropolis? Roma Exploits? Tesla Proximo? Hey, that's a cool name.

Yes, Spitmoor. It's an anagram of... impostor. (Oh. And... Alex Reubans is an anagram of "uber anal sex!" )
And he's your brother? What's he doing here? (And why did Lucy call Nigel to check the place out instead of her detective brother?)
Laying low, undercover. He's been on this case for weeks now.
The catnappings? Why didn't he just say?
Well... he thought it was you!
What?! So our friendship, it's all been fake? (Personally I would be a little more concerned about the colossal stupidity and personnel waste of the police force just revealed, but Nigel's more worried about his friend zone.)
Nigel, no... I do like you. I just couldn't say. And anyway, you're not exactly forthcoming yourself.



Regardless of our choice:
Why are you here? Who are the Hadden Corporation? Who gave you those gadgets, and why?
Fine, so neither of us are great at opening up. But... you have to understand.
I do. I didn't like keping secrets either. I'll find Alex and tell him what we've found.
And me? What shall I do?
Rest! You've had a shock. Some tea'll do the trick.
Tea? Aha, I see. Nanny Noah's?
Nanny Noah's. Get some rest, I'll buzz you later.