Gabriel Knight SOTF - DAY 10 Part 1 - "Who? Me?"

[xyzzysqrl]

We are down to the LAST DAY and I don't think it'll all fit in one post. I'm gonna space this out a little more than usual accordingly. (Also because I need more rest.) We're not getting too far today.



Yeah. Gabe wrote it. He's surprisingly poetic! A couple of folks have asked about this, so I here provide the full thing:

I dreamt of blood upon the shore, of eyes that spoke of sin.
The lake was smooth and deep and black, as was her scented skin.
A mask I wore as I approached, I was what I am not.
And though the pattern was unclear, its meaning could be bought.
Drawn to Bacchus's abode, I sought there to conspire.
But it was in the city of the dead that I found my heart's desire.
I spoke to one who smelled of death, he gave to me his ears.
And crosses that were marked were made into a veil of tears.
The road was blocked, the truth was shunned, the white flag had been waved.
Reversal cost me all I had, and everything I'd braved...
And then the night became as day, I glimpsed nature's reddest claw!
The face of fear looked back at me as I gazed into the maw.
My last ally laid to waste, I ran towards the light.
I prayed for one to change my path, to give me strenght to fight...
Inside a hidden chamber where I had no right to be,
I found the wheel at last or, could it be, the wheel found me.
And then the wheel went round and round, I could not find my way.
Twelve and three and turn the key, I heard the madman say.
Deep in the earth I faced a fight that I could never win.
The blameless and the base destroyed, and all that might have been.

Anyway! Uh, moving on.



I like that Gabriel just ARRANGES (offscreen and handwaved vigorously) for the body of his dead uncle (with a gaping hole where he became a Heartless) to be taken from the middle of Africa and flown back to Germany. I'm sure Customs was absolutely thrilled and had no objections of any kind, and also that Uncle Wolfgang will return as a Nobody for the sequel. (Foxgawlng? Gnawxflog? Glowxfang?)

I may be lying.



I'm sure these two things are in no way connected. Anyway, Gabriel laments as he flies in that he has absolutely no leads anymore. Unless Grace found something while he was away, he can't possibly imagine where the voodoo cult that's run New Orleans since forever would put their base. It's not like there's any veve-style wheels-within-wheels in the city. He has no idea...



...okay or there could be a really really obvious clue.

Okay, before we do anything, let's make sure Grandma Knight is okay. We'll just stop in at her place, and... there's a note on the door? Addressed to Gabriel. Huh.



Wow. We have got to make sure Grace gets out of this okay. Speaking of Grace, let's get to the store and check in. We may know she's gone, but Gabriel doesn't. We head into St. George's Books, and Gabriel calls around for Grace before noticing what a mess the place is. The second thing he notices...



We have GOT to make sure Grace gets out of this okay. Seriously, the woman's more of a saint than St. George is. There's an envelope on the desk. Inside is a note from Malia. Tetelo's in charge now. She knows Gabe has the amulet. She's the one that took Grace. Malia begs Gabriel to give the amulet up, leave town, and never come back or he'll be killed. It's signed with an "I love you."

As Gabe lowers the letter, he hears movement in the back of the shop. Gabriel whips out the talisman and the schattenjager dagger and squares off, prepared for more voodoo zombies or loa or whatever to come attack him...



...and instead out walks Franklin Goddamn Mosely, Detective NOPD.

Mosely: "Dead? ... Oh! AHAHAHA! That was YOU at the tomb? Shit, Knight, you should'a said somethin'! I thought you were one of them!"
Gabriel: "You mean... you WEREN'T dead, you son-of-a-bitch!?"
Mosely: "Do I LOOK dead? Don't answer that."



Gabriel: "Christ, Mostly. You about killed me."
Mosely: "Well I said I was sorry! Besides, I owed you one for stealing my badge. ... All right, and if it makes you FEEL any better, I lost my wallet that day too."
Gabriel: "Lost your --- oh. Ohhhh yeah. Uh, yeah, I guess we're even then."

Knight, you are an INCREDIBLE peniscanoe, I seriously mean that. The two duck in back so nobody will see them talking. I make Gabe return Mosely's things, because I am only occasionally an asshole.

Mosely: "Hey! My wallet! What a pal."
Gabriel: "And your, uh, credit card."
Mosely: "Thanks! ... Did... you didn't put anything ON this?"
Gabriel: "Who? Me?"
Mosely: "Yeah I guess not. Sorry."

Oh, sweet god. All right. What's the Moseman been up to while Gabriel's been abroad on his dime?



This is the last time we see this screen, by the way. Good thing, too. We'd have had to invent some scrollbars if this kept up. We fill Mosely in: Gedde's the head of the cartel, Dr. John's her right hand. (Mosely had picked this much up.) Gabe takes a deep breath and launches into an explanation of Tetelo, the talisman, his schattenjager heritage, those dreams he's been having, Africa...



... okay or we could skip all that. Mosely seems just as happy to not give a crap about Gabe's ancient shadow-hunter destiny or whatever as long as he's got someone to arrest. Speaking of, we have HIM fill US in.

Mosely is in a kind of awe still. It was a real runaround, but the day he can't outwit some magical mumbo jumbo is the day he dies! (Gabe cannot argue with this logic.) And yet, it was like -- once Mosely got digging, it was like the scales fell off his eyes and EVERYTHING seemed obvious. The Geddes and the cartel are into EVERYTHING: The Mayor's office, the police force, judges... and nobody knows about it even though EVERYBODY should know about it! He is 100% down with our side, but he needs some real concrete proof. Stuff he can huck over everyone's head and get to the FBI. They're the only name big enough to shut down this voodoo party.

The two sit on Gabe's bed and hash out a plan.

Gabriel will go find the voodoo hounfour base. ("You're better at sniffin' out this voodoo stuff." Mosely admits up-front.) Meanwhile, Mosely will make contact with out-of-state law enforcement and get them ready. Once Gabe's found the base, he'll infiltrate and try to find two things: Evidence and Grace. Meanwhile, Mosely takes the tracking device. He'll follow Gabe's signal and try to provide backup.

It's a shakey heap of a plan held together with duct tape and hope, but it's the best they can do. It's the two of them against what could be a literal army. Mosely departs.

Before we leave, we gotta do a couple things.



Mmm, day old coffee. And the newspaper ... is reporting tornado-like storms, a massive crime rate, and outbreaks of food poisoning all over the city. It specifically asks that people keep their head down. Is this also the voodoo cartel's work somehow? No idea, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Finally, the last horoscope.




On that note, we're off to the secret base, PROBABLY located under Jackson Square.

See you next time.

Comments

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

*giggles at the lampshading*

[rowyn]

That cracked me up, especially with Sqrl making fun of the horoscopes all along. XD

[vulpisfoxfire.livejournal.com]

You know, if they ever did a remake of this, they *really* need to put in an option to talk to the Horoscope person at the paper and discover that they're actually a member of a family that's served Schattenjagers since they began.. Bonus if a Hungarian named Igor or something, who gives Gabe a blank look when he asks 'what about everyone *else* reading this?' :-)

[kiruppert.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I think it kinda kills the joke if someone is intentionally writing these horoscopes with the intent of helping Gabe.

Also, there is a planned remake of the game, funny you should ask. I think it's on Kickstarter, but I lost the link. I got it from our Sqrlian overlord, so maybe he can provide it here?

[xyzzysqrl]

Already shown.
Behold! for those who want to see it. The only difference is visual and they're casting different actors, so.

[kjorteo]

"Yeah. Gabe wrote it. He's surprisingly poetic!"

WAIT NO. I mean that makes sense for how the poem knows so much about Gabe's adventures and all, but what about that time JUST YESTERDAY we got the puzzle solution from it? If Gabe wrote that line because he knew the solution... but he knew the solution because we read that line... oh God this is like the climax to a Bill & Ted movie when they're helping themselves win.

But whatever MOSELY YAY THANK GOD. I dared to hope because his body went missing, but I thought I was just being dumb and clinging to hope because I just really didn't want him to be dead, but SOMETIMES DREAMS COME TRUE AFTER ALL I GUESS. Now let's just get out of this without him dying again and also yeah holy crap Grace deserves a god damned medal for all this.

And Gabe has some serious explaining to do once Mosely's next credit card statement arrives. Thank goodness he's on the path to purification!

[xyzzysqrl]

I kind of suspect, given the past-tense, that Gabe maybe wrote it sometime between GK1 and GK2. Like... maybe it's what opens his new "Blake Backlash" book. Which would be a HELL of a thing to explain to people.

And yes the first time I played this I was like "YES HE'S STILL ALIVE YAY" and... well y'know.

[kjorteo]

So he sort of bumbled his way through the puzzle the first time, then in retrospect he turned it into a cool poem, and we used that poem to solve the puzzle like we actually knew what we were doing? This is Bill & Ted.

[xyzzysqrl]

It -is- the same solution as the clock puzzle back on day ... uhm... any day after 1. In Grandma Knight's attic.

WHY is a question I cannot answer. Maybe one of the many Ritters of Rittersburgh went into clockmaking.