Part 39: XXXIX - Krise
So, like I said, I went through the events of the last update again to prepare a bit better, though I didn't record it because it's just offscreening stuff that's not really all that important. Here's the gist of it, though:
- Went to Santa Monica, got some blood from the blood bank and from the girl at the Asylum.
- Wanted to go to Mercurio to stock up on SPAS ammo, got thwarted by the fucked up doors gatz talked about in update 32. Tried to teleport in, but my game crashes whenever I try to do so. Fuck. Me. There is no Bloodlines LP curse, god damnit! If the game decides that I can't get SPAS ammo anymore, then I don't need any more SPAS ammo! So there! You won't break me, game! First you try to mess me up by not using the dedicated graphics card on my laptop but the Intel chipset instead, despite pretty much every other game managing to use the dedicated card without me having to tell it to, causing all sorts of weird lag and making video recording damn near impossible until I figured out what exactly the problem was, now this shit? Seems like we're off to a real good start, you and I.
- As a sidenote, I believe this is because something's fucked up between my computer and the game's console. I recall having problems with teleporting and other console commands before, and strangely enough, a complete hard drive wipe and reinstall hasn't changed anything. That's what happens with a buggy, old game such as this one, which is basically held together by German ingenuity and insanity at the same time. Just another problem to throw on the pile.
- Went to Hollywood and bought some other ammo, tried to eat out the girl at the Asp Hole and got denied. Made memo to maybe punch up Seduction a bit, but just a bit. Also picked up the Colt Anaconda as an alternate weapon that we can use well with 5 Ranged. That thing's got some bite, and is surprisingly effective as a sniper weapon.
- Went to Downtown and topped off my blood supply from the girl at Confession.
- Went through the house at King's Way again, this time without taking a whole lot of damage and without wasting a whole lot of SPAS ammo.
Well, let's hope this doesn't end up being a complete disaster.
So, this is it. Many games have a "sewer level" (which doesn't necessarily have to take place in a sewer, it's just the sewers are the perfect locale for a perfect storm of all the terrible things that make a "sewer level"), and the one in Bloodlines is famous for being one of the shining examples of one. That's not a good thing.
One of the first things we run into in these sewers is a switch.
And right behind it is another one of those Geodude looking motherfuckers. Geodudes killed: 1. Yeah, I'm keeping a counter, because that's going up.
Normally, the first thing we should have spotted coming out the pipe was this dead worker and his clipboard. Let's see what it says.
Clipboard posted:
This looks like the clipboard of an employee of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Spring 2004:
Mon, 24th - Initial investigations into the reports of the strange sightings in the LA sewers started today. Entered quadrant 13, and will move into 14 and 15 later on in the afternoon. Quadrant 13 seems normal.
Tue, 25th - Quadrant 13 checked out, but heard unidentified noises at various points in both quadrants 14 and 15. Called into dispatch to confirm that no other inspectors were working in the area. There were none. Coordinates noted. Investigation into 16 tomorrow.
Wed, 26th - Strange noises, undoubtedly some sort of animal, heard again in quadrant 16. I saw what may have been the animal at the intersection of corridors 63a and 64b, but could find nothing upon further investigation. There were strange prints in the mud on the edge of the corridor, almost hand-like, although it was difficult to make them out in the darkness.
Thu, 27th - More prints found in corridor 73d. They disappeared into what looked like an entrance into an older part of the sewers. Called dispatch to see if they had blueprints of the old sewer section, but they didn't. Requested advice on how to proceed, and dispatch told me to continue with caution tomorrow.
Fri, 28th/8:00am - Began investigation of the older part of the sewers this morning. Saw again what I believe to be an animal, although I don't know exactly how to classify it... the skin seems bare, almost reptilian. I can hear it constantly, almost as if it is following me, although the echoes down here make it impossible to gauge distance.
Fri, 28th/9:15am - Can't seem to raise dispatch on the radio, so unable to check in. There is a smell that has become more and more pronounced as I travel further into the old sewers, undoubtedly the carcass of an animal washed down here in the last big rain. Investigations continue.
Fri, 28th/11:31am - Found the source of the smell, and it looks to be human remains. Immediately called dispatch, but was unable to reach them. The body seems to be that of a transient, but there are tears, massive tears in the flesh that indicate an animal may have recently fed upon the corpse. I have noted the coordinates of the body, and am returning immediately to report my findings.
Fri, 28th/1:22pm - I have become temporarily lost in the old tunnels, and repeated attempts to reach dispatch have ended in failure. The animal sounds I heard before have begun to approach again, and I fear that I may be being hunted. As a precaution, I have unholstered my weapon.
Fri, 28th/5:30pm - Undoubtedly lost. I may have travelled deeper into the old sewers. Something is following me, I know it. Can't reach dispatch. Batteries running out in my flashlight.
GOD HELP ME... SAW CREATURE... SOME SORT OF MONSTROSITY... TEETH AND BLOOD... CAN'T GET OUT... NO MORE LIGHT... CAN'T REACH ANYONE... PLEASE, OH GOD WHAT IS TH... (The writing trails off, spattered with what looks to be blood.)
...why do I get the feeling Troika really wanted this to be an audio log akin to the ones in Grout's mansion? Same thing with the diary in the Ocean House Hotel, although that was even worse, what with the mother noting in her fucking diary that somebody was knocking on her door, leaving, seeing her husband covered in blood, running into the bathroom, with the fucking diary, AND THEN PROCEEDING TO CONTINUE TO WRITE IN THE DIARY, "WRITING" FOR HELP WHILE DOING SO. God damn, I hate it when that shit happens. You turn that into an audio log, give it a good voice actor, and then you've got yourself atmospheric gold. You turn it into something written, and you just piss me off. What a great start.
A lot of this is just meandering around, trying to figure out just where the fuck I am supposed to go. I've been through this part at least four to five times, and I still can't remember where to go. It looks so samey.
Also, note the rats. They're pretty much your only source of blood in this level. We're playing a Ventrue, which can't gain blood from animals. Well, that's just great.
You might not be able to see shit, but trust me when I say that this is the inside of a pipe. You go in, go up a ladder, and find yourself in complete nothing. Nowhere to go, total dead end. There's a lot of these, and if you're going through this place for the first time, you're going to go insane checking all of them, thinking that there has to be something interesting in some of them. The only thing you're going to find is that some lead to other exits, and you need to go through some to progress, but you're not going to find jack shit in all the other ones. In fact, you're not going to find jack shit in this entire sewer system. Pretty much every other area has goodies all over the place, but this place is nearly entirely empty.
At least you can fairly easily tell which ones actually go somewhere. Hooray for this place not being completely and utterly deplorable.
Geodudes killed: 2. The Anaconda is a really nice weapon, because if you get a stable shot off, it's incredibly accurate, and it packs a serious punch, comparable to a good hit from the SPAS, or two hits from the Glock.
Doors? Doors that don't look like they've been put here before the Victorian era? What wizardry is this?
One is locked, and hides some very much appreciated ammo.
The other one isn't locked, and hides some reading material.
Ledger posted:
This looks to be the weekly log of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, 1972:
03/03/72 - Reports concerning the recent "hauntings" in the sewer system have prompted the mayor to request a weekly log of all operations in the lower sewer sections 453-500. Log begins today. Nothing to note, although I will say that I find the stories to be unsubstantiated and ridiculous.
03/10/72 - Both investigative teams this week reported nothing of note, although one individual (who may be apt to nip at the flask more often than not) noted that he heard what he could only describe as whispers in one of his sweeps along section 476. Undoubtedly these were the product of an overactive and throughly soused imagination.
03/17/72 - Nothing to report. Operations normal.
03/24/72 - Things have been hectic with the recent rash of "sightings" in sections 498 and 499. Although mostly described as "shadowy figures", the reports come from men whose word I trust. Discounting the usual stories about underground societies of displaced vagrants and rabid, blind pets, I am at a loss to explain these observations. I will join the teams tomorrow to see for myself what is going on down there.
04/01/72 - I have travelled with a team down into the sections in question, and I must admit that I saw and heard things that I could not explain. More than once I heard the same whispers as described before, and chased what I thought to be a figure down a corridor, only to turn the corner and find myself facing a brick wall... what looked to be an older section of the sewers that had been sealed up. There was no one in sight, although I could have sworn I heard laughter echoing in the darkness around me. I will be forced to report my findings to the mayor himself on Friday.
04/08/72 - The mayor has sworn us all to silence concerning these new sightings, but has promised us an answer concerning a course of action within the week. Inquiries about previous LADWP records and reports have met with strange resistance... it seems they have been sealed for official reasons. Something is amiss down here.
04/15/72 - We received word from the mayor today that sections 475-500 will be sealed off permanently, and that no further inquiry into the matter will be tolerated. I have a few connections at the front office, and it seems like something like this has happened before... it's something the city council doesn't want to become public. My contact said he couldn't say any more, and that if I said anything to anyone, he would deny any knowledge whatsoever.
04/22/72 - The sewer sections close tomorrow, and the city engineers have bricked up the corridors that lead to them. This office falls within section 482, so it will be closed as well. As no one has requested the ledgers, all materials and records concerning this will be left down here to rot with the ghosts. Sorry about that, but as no official eyes will ever see this, I figured I could wax dramatic on this last day. Log closed.
Well, that was interesting. I ended up skipping over the newspaper because this was actually my third time recording this part and I was starting to get ticked off at the situation in general, so I just forgot about it. It wasn't anything interesting AFAIK, just some notice about the sections getting closed, same shit we've read in the ledger in much more detail.
Seems like this office was right close to one of the paces being bricked off, and it seems like something busted through here. That can't be good.
Behind this door, we find an exit into the regular sewers, so if we needed to, we could just head up and restock. However, I'm about as stocked as it gets, so let's just keep going and finish this shit ASAP.
Going further down the sewers, there's a lot more of these annoying monsters to deal with. Geodudes killed: 5.
Geodudes killed: 7. These assholes love to show up in pairs, making it harder to cancel their attacks with melee weapons, and making it harder to take them out with guns before they claw your face off.
Here, I was trying out the Uzi, and holy fuck, that thing has some kickback. Definitely not for usage in these distances, not even with short bursts. Takes me an entire mag to take that fucker out. Geodudes killed: 8.
And of course there was another one right around the fucking corner. Geodudes killed: 9. Anyway, there's a dead end here, which means backtracking all the way back around again.
On the way back, I head through a pipe, because I've been here before, and I still remember that I had to go through a pipe to make progress at this point.
There's even a little room here. I don't know why.
See? There's the gate that would have blocked us off if we backtracked the entire way.
And of course it wouldn't be a new area without more of these fuckers. Geodudes killed: 10. Is this getting tedious yet? Good, because that's exactly what you should be feeling.
Well, this is something different. A big body of water with a hatch at the bottom. There's a valve to the right that you can just barely see, let's turn that and see what it does.
It opens the hatch. Well, that was to be expec-... wait, does that mean...
OH SHIT
OH FUCK
Well, now we're underwater. Good thing we're a vampire, or else we'd have to add "not drowning" to the list of our ever growing problems we have to deal with. Welcome to area 2 of 4 of this funhouse.
As we proceed further, we end up in some sort of current dragging us along, towards that scary looking spiked spinny thing, with no way of going back. But there's a ladder there, that shouldn't be a problem. Right?
Right?
You motherfucker.
God fucking damnit. And to add insult to injury, the last autosave was back when I walked out into the regular sewers. So now I've also got to save every couple seconds.
For some reason, this shit is harder than it looks. Took me three tries to climb a ladder. That's not the kind of thing that raises ones self-esteem. Note the Geodude crashing into the water. He'll be stuck there.
So I might as well pick him off.
As well as his buddy in the pip-
OH SWEET JESUS
And after dispatching him, there was another one in the water. Geodudes killed: 14.
15.
And 16. Nothing much else to be said about this area, just a bunch of monsters. A bunch of the same monsters. Now, how do we make progress? That's simple.
Just pick up one of these barrels...
...and chuck it onto one of those spinny things to stop it.
And that allows us to get up to this pipe. You know, I think I see one of those monsters in that pipe up there.
Let's just take it out from a dista-
OH FUCKING CHRIST
DESTROY EVERYTHING
...and fucking stay dead! Damn. Well, that was a learning experience. Normally, I head out of the pipe and get ganged up on by these fuckers, this time, I stay in the pipe and still get ganged up on by these fuckers. Geodudes killed: 22, I think. Could have been more or less, I kind of lost track in that orgy of blood and violence we were having in that pipe.
Next, we get to walk over this catwalk, and I can already hear more of those fuckers down there.
My clever attempts to bait them into some situation I could take advantage of haven't really gone that well. Even though those two down there got stuck on the staircase...
...once I started shooting at them, things rapidly went pear-shaped. Geodudes killed: 26.
After that, we drop down a hole and get to continue going even deeper down this fucking madhouse of a sewer system.
I don't even know where the fuck we are anymore. Some water pumping room, I guess?
I take out my frustration on two Geodudes that can't fight back because they're stuck on the other catwalk. Geodudes killed: 28.
As we make our way over to the other catwalk, it collapses out from under us, because of course it does.
And of course there's electricity blocking the ladder we need to get up. I try to time it correctly, but fuck it up and just eat the damage. All things considered, I haven't been taking that much damage anyway.
Ah, a computer! Finally, something Melissa is good at. This computer isn't very interesting, but very useful. We turn off the pump here (using the password septic) and turn off the electricity too (using the password tank). Once I've convinced myself there's nothing else interesting in the area, we turn the pumps back on again and fucking leg it.
Once we turn the pumps on, we only have a small window of time to make it all the way to the end of the pipe before the fan turns on and blocks us.
And we needed the pump to be on so that these reservoirs would be filled and we could swim to the top, and then to the next area. But that will have to come in the next part, this is getting pretty long already. Immer tiefer, immer tiefer, immer tiefer in die Krise...