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xyzzysqrlMy therapist Dr. Woof Woofington says I'm allowed to handle otters again! Oh, uhm. Also I can play video games. So I offer a heartfelt apology to any members of the mustelid community who were angered by my hurtful remarks. I hope we can put these things behind us, or alternately in front of our mutant bichromatic second head, and wiggle away from it.
All right, what was I doing... talk to Kyler, then explore the grounds. I have been PROMISING hot grounds-exploring action for like three updates. I'm sorry. LET'S GET ROLLING. Out of the nursery, please... yes.
Actual In-game Dialogue
Nancy: "I found these glasses in the fireplace."
Kyler: "Those are Matt's glasses!"
Nancy: "Did you look for him in the fireplace?"
Kyler: "No. ...why would we look for Matt in the fireplace?"
Anyway, she elaborates that Matt can't see a thing without his glasses. She really wishes Nancy would find Matt, so she can -strangle- him. Hey Kyler, speaking of which, tell me about that argument you supposedly had! The moment this comes up in conversation, Kyler clams up and refuses to talk anymore. Sigh. So much for getting information out of her. Oh well. Time for Nancy to go play outside.
The first thing I encounter, roaming about the grounds, is -this- crap.
Outdoors Puzzle #1.
Outdoors Puzzle #2 comes out in the castle garden, where I find a long row of leprechaun statues. I assume this is where the book on caste systems comes in. Just as I'm turning to leave... well, hello. This is an inviting little park bench. And what's this note say...
You will probably want to click this a couple times, to read it full-sized.
Guys, I'm -almost- starting to feel bad for poking so many holes into Kyler and Matt's love life. Seriously. I wander around the edge of the castle, exploring and poking at things. As I'm walking, I miss where I was going and stroll straight off a cliff edge. As the game cheerfully informs me, it wasn't -that- high a cliff... but it was still a cliff. ... I guess it's just not a Nancy Drew game until I've managed to kill Nancy at least once. Sigh. All right, back to exploring. There's also a ring, rimmed with stones and divided into spokes. Looks like a fairy circle, or as the Irish call them, "Good People Rotunda". Sadly I can't seem to find anything remotely interactive here.
I also find the edge of a deep and swampy looking bog. My Sierra Sense is tingling. This is probably gonna kill me. Out of pure, perverse curiosity, I enter the bog. Uh-huh. This time, the game informs me: "By the time Kit and Kyler find you, you've sunk to your waist. When they try to pull you out, they sink in up to their chins." So this time I killed not just Nancy but ALSO two thirds of the suspect pool! HAT TRICK.
All right, enough killing off the player characters. I find a few big cross-shaped gravestones with big suspicious-looking holes in the middle of them. Let's see... the dates on those are 1801 (front left), 1845 (front right) and 1916 (middle back).
What've I got here... I flip through the book on the Zodiac, then the book on caste systems, and hit up the leprechaun statues again. The book is full of poemy bits like "FIRST STANDS THE HIGH KING, PROUDLY FACING FORWARD FOR ALL ETERNITY". I spend a while reading the poem, and considering it... and then I notice that each stanza starts with a BIG FIRST LETTER, either "F", "R", "L", or "B", and these little buggers rotate when you click them. Each stanza also has a little emblem, and each statue has an emblem on its tummy like a little bearded green Care Bear. This doesn't take long to line up and work out. Once I do that, the garden wall swings open. Inside is the crow's nest, full of tokens and some colored gems and suchlike. So now I can go... YES.
Back to the NURSERY to stick those in the rainbow jewel puzzle. I'm left staring at that for a while. What am I supposed to do, click them all ROYGBIV and something will ha--
The fireplace promptly swings open.
... OH COME ON, THAT'S IT!? No wonder Matt found it. A -kid- could have found it. A kid probably did find it, this place is really empty and freaky for a nursery. I peek into the secret passage. Let's see... yeah, these run off behind the castle walls, it looks like. I grab a board off the floor, find a note laying in a little nook...
...and that is actually IT for this secret passage. God, you guys, I don't get it. Usually in a Nancy Drew story, finding The Secret Passage is a huge -deal-, y'know? Like it marks a major climax of the story. I feel like nothing really big happened when we located that, and I'm a little let down. As I walk back out of the passage, a crow flies past the window and Nancy turns to get a look at --
Pictured: HOOOOOLY FREAKING CRAP
Nancy herself doesn't seem freaked out at all. She actually takes a couple of steps closer to the window, as if she's curious or just investigating further. Behind her, though, Kyler gives a loud scream, and when Nancy turns slightly to look, the alleged ghost floats off towards the tower. Kyler, after that shriek of terror, seems to have come back to her senses. When we fade back in, she's asking Nancy to please go find a nice logical explanation for... y'know. That.
Nancy swears she'll get to the bottom of things. Because she's Nancy Goddamn Drew, that's why.
Downstairs, Kit is sufficiently rattled to open up a little, so I spend a while grilling him for everything he knows. Kit's known Kyler for about six years now, since a year or so after Kyler stayed at Nancy's house for a summer. (Presumably how they met.) They dated for a while (Kit and Kyler, not Kyler and Nancy) and Kit seems ... mildly regretful about missing his chance, but "happy they stayed friends". Meanwhile, he and Matt are "totally best friends", but he won't elaborate beyond that. Matt wasn't into rock climbing or anything, and Kit doesn't think he could've gotten into the tower on his own. In fact, Donal discouraged Matt from exploring around. Threw a fit when he saw him playing with the statues in the garden (uh-huh) and when he found Matt sleeping in the nursery he just about had a heart attack screaming at him.
Finally Nancy pushes one more time. What did Kit and Matt fight about? ... Kyler. Of course. Kit was grilling Matt on whether he'd -really- thought about what being married to Kyler would be like. The more he asked, the more Matt got mad, until finally... Pow. Right in the eyeball. "So if I seem guilty and evasive," Kit finally sighs, "I am. It's really my fault. Matt walked out the next day. I drove him away."
Kit... I think you're off the suspect list for good. Damn. Now it's Donal or Kyler, I guess. Donal looks most suspicious... but perhaps Kyler threw Matt in the bog to be rid of him and is pulling a Telltale Heart? I need to keep searching. Where else can I access now... mmh.
Using the board I found in the secret room, I make a bridge over the bog outside. And... hey, what do you know. Standing piles of stones, in the style of the note found behind the fireplace. Following these lithic markers I successfully navigate through to the other side. This is actually harder than I thought, because you have to follow each instruction all the way through and not make any turns to follow new markers until you're done. This gets me killed more than once, before I finally found the old cabin in the middle of the bog. Inside the smoky old cabin in the middle of a bog, I poke around in a wicker basket and find... a jet pack.
... what.
WHAT.
I also find a sewing kit and a number of doll-making parts, a locked box, a shelf full of herbs and poltices, and a journal full of medicinal mixes and potions to summon spirits. In back is a cage with something inside, but there's an enormous swarm of biting flies within. Nancy mixes up an anti-insect herbal remedy and solves that problem neatly. Inside is a round lens. ... Sigh. Remember where I saw a big suspicious looking hole? That's right. The crosses! To the crosses!
Nancy does the trek back through the bog automatically. Thank you, Nancy. Through each of the holes I see... let's see, in order: 1801 has a triangle with wavy lines coming off it in spirals, 1845 has an rolling-hills-wavey sort of line, and 1916 has a diamond with a jagged line under it. Back to the large wall, I push those in date order, and one of the lights on the wall lifts up in the air, spins around in circles, and then the wall retracts into the ground so I can walk past it.
I'm not making this up, you know.
Beyond the wall I wander around, looking for landmarks. Next to an old tree... OH LOOK YOU GUYS.
THAT'S not suspicious or anything. ... We knew about Kit's renovation plans, but that was before we knew he was a lovestruck fool. Hmm. Barn and "Weird Stones", huh? I'll have to check those out.
First, though...
*ring ring*
Ned: "Mmm?"
Nancy: "I think the eighty year old housekeeper of this old castle is dressing like a woman and flying around the castle grounds on a jetpack. Meanwhile I'm staying with a deranged lovestruck real estate developer and I'm pretty sure Kyler loves him back. I'm not sure why Matt is missing, but I know that if he stayed gone, Kit would probably marry Kyler in his place."
Ned: "... I'm in a broom closet trying to keep away from Minkie and I've just found the lost land of Narnia. And I think Bess and George are taking turns piggyback-riding the most tanned man alive around the pool."
Nancy: "Ned, the difference is that my story is true."
Ned: "Well, the part about Minkie is true, anyway. Nancy, I'm really trying to stay monogamous here. I hope you get the fabulous flying caretaker arrested and come home soon."
Nancy: "Thanks, Ned! ... So the part about Bess and George..."
Ned: "No. They're not really surfing bodybuilders through the chlorine waves."
Nancy: "That's a relief. Okay, talk to you later Ned!"
*click*
...Next time, I don't even know. More exploration! I'm trying not to turn to a walkthrough, but I'm also tryin' to get this beat within the next few days and this stuff is REALLY piling up!
All right, what was I doing... talk to Kyler, then explore the grounds. I have been PROMISING hot grounds-exploring action for like three updates. I'm sorry. LET'S GET ROLLING. Out of the nursery, please... yes.
Actual In-game Dialogue
Nancy: "I found these glasses in the fireplace."
Kyler: "Those are Matt's glasses!"
Nancy: "Did you look for him in the fireplace?"
Kyler: "No. ...why would we look for Matt in the fireplace?"
Anyway, she elaborates that Matt can't see a thing without his glasses. She really wishes Nancy would find Matt, so she can -strangle- him. Hey Kyler, speaking of which, tell me about that argument you supposedly had! The moment this comes up in conversation, Kyler clams up and refuses to talk anymore. Sigh. So much for getting information out of her. Oh well. Time for Nancy to go play outside.
The first thing I encounter, roaming about the grounds, is -this- crap.
Outdoors Puzzle #1.
Outdoors Puzzle #2 comes out in the castle garden, where I find a long row of leprechaun statues. I assume this is where the book on caste systems comes in. Just as I'm turning to leave... well, hello. This is an inviting little park bench. And what's this note say...
You will probably want to click this a couple times, to read it full-sized.
Guys, I'm -almost- starting to feel bad for poking so many holes into Kyler and Matt's love life. Seriously. I wander around the edge of the castle, exploring and poking at things. As I'm walking, I miss where I was going and stroll straight off a cliff edge. As the game cheerfully informs me, it wasn't -that- high a cliff... but it was still a cliff. ... I guess it's just not a Nancy Drew game until I've managed to kill Nancy at least once. Sigh. All right, back to exploring. There's also a ring, rimmed with stones and divided into spokes. Looks like a fairy circle, or as the Irish call them, "Good People Rotunda". Sadly I can't seem to find anything remotely interactive here.
I also find the edge of a deep and swampy looking bog. My Sierra Sense is tingling. This is probably gonna kill me. Out of pure, perverse curiosity, I enter the bog. Uh-huh. This time, the game informs me: "By the time Kit and Kyler find you, you've sunk to your waist. When they try to pull you out, they sink in up to their chins." So this time I killed not just Nancy but ALSO two thirds of the suspect pool! HAT TRICK.
All right, enough killing off the player characters. I find a few big cross-shaped gravestones with big suspicious-looking holes in the middle of them. Let's see... the dates on those are 1801 (front left), 1845 (front right) and 1916 (middle back).
What've I got here... I flip through the book on the Zodiac, then the book on caste systems, and hit up the leprechaun statues again. The book is full of poemy bits like "FIRST STANDS THE HIGH KING, PROUDLY FACING FORWARD FOR ALL ETERNITY". I spend a while reading the poem, and considering it... and then I notice that each stanza starts with a BIG FIRST LETTER, either "F", "R", "L", or "B", and these little buggers rotate when you click them. Each stanza also has a little emblem, and each statue has an emblem on its tummy like a little bearded green Care Bear. This doesn't take long to line up and work out. Once I do that, the garden wall swings open. Inside is the crow's nest, full of tokens and some colored gems and suchlike. So now I can go... YES.
Back to the NURSERY to stick those in the rainbow jewel puzzle. I'm left staring at that for a while. What am I supposed to do, click them all ROYGBIV and something will ha--
The fireplace promptly swings open.
... OH COME ON, THAT'S IT!? No wonder Matt found it. A -kid- could have found it. A kid probably did find it, this place is really empty and freaky for a nursery. I peek into the secret passage. Let's see... yeah, these run off behind the castle walls, it looks like. I grab a board off the floor, find a note laying in a little nook...
...and that is actually IT for this secret passage. God, you guys, I don't get it. Usually in a Nancy Drew story, finding The Secret Passage is a huge -deal-, y'know? Like it marks a major climax of the story. I feel like nothing really big happened when we located that, and I'm a little let down. As I walk back out of the passage, a crow flies past the window and Nancy turns to get a look at --
Pictured: HOOOOOLY FREAKING CRAP
Nancy herself doesn't seem freaked out at all. She actually takes a couple of steps closer to the window, as if she's curious or just investigating further. Behind her, though, Kyler gives a loud scream, and when Nancy turns slightly to look, the alleged ghost floats off towards the tower. Kyler, after that shriek of terror, seems to have come back to her senses. When we fade back in, she's asking Nancy to please go find a nice logical explanation for... y'know. That.
Nancy swears she'll get to the bottom of things. Because she's Nancy Goddamn Drew, that's why.
Downstairs, Kit is sufficiently rattled to open up a little, so I spend a while grilling him for everything he knows. Kit's known Kyler for about six years now, since a year or so after Kyler stayed at Nancy's house for a summer. (Presumably how they met.) They dated for a while (Kit and Kyler, not Kyler and Nancy) and Kit seems ... mildly regretful about missing his chance, but "happy they stayed friends". Meanwhile, he and Matt are "totally best friends", but he won't elaborate beyond that. Matt wasn't into rock climbing or anything, and Kit doesn't think he could've gotten into the tower on his own. In fact, Donal discouraged Matt from exploring around. Threw a fit when he saw him playing with the statues in the garden (uh-huh) and when he found Matt sleeping in the nursery he just about had a heart attack screaming at him.
Finally Nancy pushes one more time. What did Kit and Matt fight about? ... Kyler. Of course. Kit was grilling Matt on whether he'd -really- thought about what being married to Kyler would be like. The more he asked, the more Matt got mad, until finally... Pow. Right in the eyeball. "So if I seem guilty and evasive," Kit finally sighs, "I am. It's really my fault. Matt walked out the next day. I drove him away."
Kit... I think you're off the suspect list for good. Damn. Now it's Donal or Kyler, I guess. Donal looks most suspicious... but perhaps Kyler threw Matt in the bog to be rid of him and is pulling a Telltale Heart? I need to keep searching. Where else can I access now... mmh.
Using the board I found in the secret room, I make a bridge over the bog outside. And... hey, what do you know. Standing piles of stones, in the style of the note found behind the fireplace. Following these lithic markers I successfully navigate through to the other side. This is actually harder than I thought, because you have to follow each instruction all the way through and not make any turns to follow new markers until you're done. This gets me killed more than once, before I finally found the old cabin in the middle of the bog. Inside the smoky old cabin in the middle of a bog, I poke around in a wicker basket and find... a jet pack.
... what.
WHAT.
I also find a sewing kit and a number of doll-making parts, a locked box, a shelf full of herbs and poltices, and a journal full of medicinal mixes and potions to summon spirits. In back is a cage with something inside, but there's an enormous swarm of biting flies within. Nancy mixes up an anti-insect herbal remedy and solves that problem neatly. Inside is a round lens. ... Sigh. Remember where I saw a big suspicious looking hole? That's right. The crosses! To the crosses!
Nancy does the trek back through the bog automatically. Thank you, Nancy. Through each of the holes I see... let's see, in order: 1801 has a triangle with wavy lines coming off it in spirals, 1845 has an rolling-hills-wavey sort of line, and 1916 has a diamond with a jagged line under it. Back to the large wall, I push those in date order, and one of the lights on the wall lifts up in the air, spins around in circles, and then the wall retracts into the ground so I can walk past it.
I'm not making this up, you know.
Beyond the wall I wander around, looking for landmarks. Next to an old tree... OH LOOK YOU GUYS.
THAT'S not suspicious or anything. ... We knew about Kit's renovation plans, but that was before we knew he was a lovestruck fool. Hmm. Barn and "Weird Stones", huh? I'll have to check those out.
First, though...
*ring ring*
Ned: "Mmm?"
Nancy: "I think the eighty year old housekeeper of this old castle is dressing like a woman and flying around the castle grounds on a jetpack. Meanwhile I'm staying with a deranged lovestruck real estate developer and I'm pretty sure Kyler loves him back. I'm not sure why Matt is missing, but I know that if he stayed gone, Kit would probably marry Kyler in his place."
Ned: "... I'm in a broom closet trying to keep away from Minkie and I've just found the lost land of Narnia. And I think Bess and George are taking turns piggyback-riding the most tanned man alive around the pool."
Nancy: "Ned, the difference is that my story is true."
Ned: "Well, the part about Minkie is true, anyway. Nancy, I'm really trying to stay monogamous here. I hope you get the fabulous flying caretaker arrested and come home soon."
Nancy: "Thanks, Ned! ... So the part about Bess and George..."
Ned: "No. They're not really surfing bodybuilders through the chlorine waves."
Nancy: "That's a relief. Okay, talk to you later Ned!"
*click*
...Next time, I don't even know. More exploration! I'm trying not to turn to a walkthrough, but I'm also tryin' to get this beat within the next few days and this stuff is REALLY piling up!
no subject
Date: 2017-06-02 01:54 am (UTC)*boomf*
"Pikaaaaaa~"
Also AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA wait... jetpack? This is the biggest "The supposedly supernatural event has a perfectly rational explanation, except that the perfectly rational explanation is even weirder" swerve since the first couple Layton games.