GABRIEL KNIGHT 2: THE BEAST WITHIN -- A WALKTHRU
by Morgana
NOTE: This file contains a complete solution to Sierra Online's graphic
adventure, THE BEAST WITHIN (hereinafter "GK2"), and may spoil your enjoyment
of the game. Read at your own risk.
METHODOLOGY
With apologies to those of you who have made use of and/or read my walkthru
of THE DIG, I'm going to borrow this bit from the methodology section in that
walkthru. The methodology is what sets this apart from other walkthrus or
strategies you might read. I've had positive response to the methodology
in THE DIG walkthru, so I decided to give it another go with GK2.
Below is a slightly revised version of the methodology section as it appears
in THE DIG walkthru and you can skip to the PRELIMINARY MATTERS section
if you're familiar with my method. If you aren't, please read the
entire section so you'll understand why I've written this as I have.
This is the story of how I got through GK2. I've described, as nearly as I
can recreate it, the game that I, personally, played. I finished my first
game with 677 of 679 points, but in recreating what I did for this walkthru
I ended up with a perfect score (although I have no idea where I picked up
the additional points).
My goal is not only to help you get through the game, but to give you
a sense of how I thought about the puzzles, what I got out of the game's
story, and why certain things I tried worked (and others didn't). I've
attempted to highlight things that you learn as you play that should
serve as clues to what might otherwise seem obscure puzzles, and have noted
the places where I needed a hint myself and/or felt that a puzzle could have
been more "fair." Instead of just telling you a quick and dirty solution,
such as "take x and use it on y" without an explanation of why, I've tried
to give you a sense of how I came to that point through my own game
experience -- and how (I thought) some of the things that weren't
necessary to finish the game added to its atmosphere and exposed aspects
of its richness.
My hope is that if you're new to graphic adventures and having some trouble,
this walkthru will not only help you through GK2, but will give you some
ideas about what to try with your next game to make it more fun and less
frustrating. If you've been playing adventures since Shep was a pup and
have pretty much breezed through GK2 so far, I hope that this will
help you with wherever you happen to be stuck -- but will also be at
least somewhat entertaining to read through after you finish, as you'll get a
taste of where I was led astray. Maybe you can even relate to some of
my wayward follies because you waywardly followed them yourself. Heh.
PRELIMINARY MATTERS
I'm going to assume that once you've been to a place, you'll be able to
find your way back there if necessary without me telling you how to get there.
I'm also going to assume that you've perused the game booklet enough to know
how to use your inventory, Gabriel's tape recorder (except in one place
where I had some trouble), and Grace's notebook; how to get in and out
of close up views of items by using the EXIT function; and how to save
your games. I'll point out some useful places to save as we go along,
because in a number of sequences you can die quite readily. In general,
though, I save every time I accomplish anything and where the game allows,
as this one does, I make each save a new saved game. (You can save 20 games
in the SIERRA/GK2DOS directory, for example, and to save another 20, just
specify a different directory at the path selection screen. You can save
as many games as your hard drive will allow this way.)
Since many of the onscreen hotspots don't have exact names supplied by the
game, I've given them names of my own (e.g., DIRT for the spot where
Gabriel finds hair at the Huber's farmhouse) -- but I've tried to be
consistent so that once you've encountered such a place you'll be able to
find it again by its name.
I've included in parenthesis the total number of points I had out of 679
after each action that gave me points for those curious about such things.
I've also added special "NOTES" within the walkthru that supply commentary
about particular game features or matters that don't directly relate to
getting through the game.
Whew. That's done, so let's get the heck on with it! <grin>
PROLOGUE
The prologue movie can only be called "mysterious." Fitting for a
mystery story, but even as I write this I'm not 100% sure what it was
telling me.
A man in old-fashioned dress locks a door, then throws the keys down on
a poster that appears to be about a wolf, dated 1750. We see burning
straw, a little boy, and someone who appears to be his mother. The boy
and his mother go outside after hearing from a man whose identity is unclear.
More burning straw -- and we see the boy's face as he watches it burn.
I had no idea what this was all about when I first saw it. My interpretation
after playing the game through is that what we're seeing is the execution of
one generation of werewolf, known as The Black Wolf, and that the little boy
is its offspring. As an adult, he will figure prominently in the story to
come as The Black Wolf, number 2. I admit that my English degree is more
than ten years old now and I'm a bit rusty here, but the mention of Von
Glower's mother in the cast list at the back of the game booklet seems
to bear out this interpretation.
CHAPTER 1 OPENING MOVIE
After this auspicious beginning, we find ourselves at Schloss Ritter in
Rittersberg, Germany. Players of GABRIEL KNIGHT: SINS OF THE FATHERS
(hereinafter "GK1") and those who've read the GK2 game booklet (always
a good idea before you start on a new adventure, and something that can
be your downfall, as I'll discuss in a part where I got stuck) will recognize
it as Gabriel's ancestral home -- a lofty, ancient castle. Gabriel sits
typing his latest novel on an equally ancient typewriter, but he appears to
be having a severe case of writer's block. Luckily, he's rescued from his
frustration by events -- but perhaps not so luckily, he's plunged into a new
case that promises to be just as dangerous, if not more so, than his last.
There's a knock at the door, and someone we later learn is Gerde (who had
lived at Schloss Ritter as assistant to Gabriel's uncle, Wolfgang, and who
in GK1 pretty clearly had a thing for Wolfgang) appears to request that
Gabriel come see some visitors. She warns him not to forget the Ritter
Family TALISMAN and to wear it always -- so Gabriel dons it and goes to
see his callers.
The visitors turn out to be a group of villagers and their relations.
Werner Huber does most of the talking for the group. He explains that they
have come for the Schattenjager (Shadowhunter -- Gabriel's family's
calling as fighters of supernatural evil) because of an incident that
occurred two nights before at the farm of his cousin, Sepp, just outside of
Munich.
Sepp's small daughter had been playing close to some woods toward dusk. Her
mother had called to her to come inside, and saw a wolf approaching. The
mother shouted a warning, but the wolf attacked. Sepp saw what was happening
and went to get a gun, but it was too late. By the time he got outside with
the gun, the wolf had disappeared, his daughter was dead, and the wolf had
dragged part of her away with it.
The police believe this to be the foul work of some escaped zoo wolves, but
Sepp and Werner believe otherwise. Sepp explains that the wolf looked at him
with human eyes, and Werner says it is a werewolf. For this reason, they
have come for the Schattenjager, who must track it down and kill it before
more deaths occur.
After some slight hesitation, Gabriel accepts the challenge, and arranges to
go to Sepp's farm (Sepp and his wife will be staying elsewhere) and take a
look around.
Gabriel awakes in Sepp's farmhouse, and Chapter 1 begins.
CHAPTER 1: At The Huber Farmhouse
The first thing I did, as is my usual strategy, was to take a look at my
inventory to see what I had to start with. Gabriel was carrying a page
from his BARELY-STARTED MANUSCRIPT, which I EXAMINED. This turned out to be
a page from Gabriel's new Blake Backlash mystery, currently a story in
search of a plot.
NOTE: When I use the term EXAMINE in this walkthru, I am referring to
clicking an item from inventory over the magnifying glass icon in the
inventory menu, which will show and tell more about the item, and if it
is written material, to reading it to conclusion. When I use any other
verb, such as LOOK, TAKE, USE, all you need to do is click on the item (or
click one item on another depending on the circumstances).
I next EXAMINED GABRIEL'S NOTEBOOK, his new TAPE RECORDER, GABRIEL'S BUSINESS
CARD (too tasteful for our GK), and the family TALISMAN, which Wolfgang
had given his life to recover in GK1. This was all Gabriel was holding
for the moment, and I learned little new from this exercise.
I next took a LOOK at my surroundings starting with the DOOR behind Gabriel,
and the CRUCIFIX. I couldn't go through the DOOR, and learned only that
the Hubers were Catholic (what a guess!) when I LOOKED at the CRUCIFIX.
Not much new or helpful info here. Same with the CHINA CABINET, which I
also LOOKED at.
However, the BAG on the floor in front of the CHINA CABINET held more promise.
When I LOOKED at it, Gabriel OPENED the BAG (1) and took out some items (2).
When he was done, I checked my inventory and found that I now had: UBERGRAU'S
LETTER, GRACE-TO-GABRIEL LETTER #1, the RITTER DAGGER, and GABRIEL'S WALLET.
I decided to EXAMINE each in turn.
UBERGRAU'S LETTER turned out to be a letter from the Ritter family lawyers
informing Gabriel that Schloss Ritter had been registered in his name, the
estate's debts and taxes were current, and inviting him to stop in to the
firm's offices if he visited Munich. (4) Ah. I now had at least one
destination once I left the FARMHOUSE.
GRACE-TO-GABRIEL LETTER #1 informed Gabriel that his bookshop in New Orleans
was doing splendidly, his voodoo book recounting a fictionalized version of
the events in GK1 was up to #20 on the New York Times best-seller list,
his U.S. bank account was blossoming, and that his sidekick Grace wanted to
use some of the new money to fix up the shop. It ended with a slight push
from the headstrong Grace to get Gabriel to decide whether to sell the shop.
All told in Grace's familiar, and entertainingly witty, zinger-filled style.
(5)
NOTE: If you click on this letter while in the close up screen, Grace will
read it aloud to Gabriel. This occurs with many written items in the game.
I've seen at least one post from someone on the board in GAMERS who
attributed an inability to finish a chapter to not having an item read aloud
where it was possible to do so. Although I didn't experience this myself, as
a precaution, I strongly advise you to allow all such items to be read aloud.
Besides, doing so forces you to slow down enough to absorb all of what's in
the written material. This game is very cerebral; it throws a lot of
information at you as well as some subtle clues. Taking it slowly may help
you to get more out of the story. Worked for me.
The RITTER DAGGER was a Schattenjager knife. And GABRIEL'S WALLET actually
had money in it for a change.
Some Levi's remained in the BAG, but when I tried to TAKE them, Gabriel
claimed not to need them. Oh great. He planned to wear the same clothes
for the duration. Good thing there's no such thing as smellivision in
games yet.
I next EXITED to the right and came to another part of the room. I found
a NOTE tacked to the wall behind Gabriel's coat that I LOOKED at (6). The
NOTE, from Frau Huber, explained that the car keys were by the DOOR and that
as it was better not to drive in Munich, Gabriel should drive to the
underground station and take the subway from there.
Now I knew I ought to find some car keys by the DOOR. A tiny speck under the
MIRROR next to the DOOR looked like a possibility. So I LOOKED at it and
sure enough, here were the HUBER KEYS on a rabbit's foot keychain (guess I'd
be needing all the luck I could get). (7) I EXAMINED the HUBER KEYS just
for the sake of thoroughness.
Although I'd noticed an EXIT at the DOOR, I decided to try to exhaust the
other hotspots in this room before leaving. I found some PAPER on the TABLE
that I LOOKED at. This prompted Gabriel to write a letter to Grace to tell
her he was on a new case. (8) I EXAMINED this GABRIEL-TO-GRACE ENVELOPE #1
and learned nothing new.
On the other side of the TABLE, I found something else to LOOK at, which
turned out to be a Munich NEWSPAPER. (9) Gabriel couldn't READ much of the
German (and I could read even less), but he could tell that the zoo was in
THALKIRCHEN and that the detective on the wolf case, named LEBER, worked out
of a police station in PRINZREGENTENPLATZ. (11) Great, thought I. Two more
places to visit. I'd have to scope out both of these locations asap,
assuming the game would let me.
I LOOKED at the PHONE in the corner, and tried to CALL a couple of people.
I USED the letters from GRACE and UBERGRAU with the PHONE, from which I
learned that this appeared to be the correct way to place phone calls,
although at the moment Gabriel wasn't cooperating in calling anyone.
Finally, I LOOKED at the MIRROR, which was the only hotspot I had left, and
Gabriel futzed around with his hair (which he was obviously proud of). Thank
you, thank you, Jane Jensen, for giving us a male hero who isn't above
primping at the nearest mirror any more than was Adrienne in PHANTASMAGORIA.
Heh.
Having EXPLORED everything I could find indoors, I decided to STEP OUTSIDE.
First, I took a LOOK at the Huber's VW (yeah, a Mercedes would have been
nice, I agree), a LADDER for tending window boxes, and the outside of the
FARMHOUSE. I couldn't find anything to TAKE here, so I decided to look
elsewhere for things to explore on the grounds before zipping off in the CAR.
I went into the BARN to the left of the CAR first, where I LOOKED at some
QUICK-DRYING CEMENT and a METAL PAIL on a SHELF. But I couldn't TAKE
either of them. To the right of the sink I saw a METAL BARREL that Gabriel
informed me held nothing of interest. Finding nothing to do here for
now, I moved on.
I walked back past the CAR to the right, where I LOOKED at a WATER TROUGH.
Gabriel remarked that the ground was muddy, so I decided to take a closer
LOOK at a patch of MUD to the left of the WATER TROUGH. Cool! There I
found a PAW PRINT as big as Gabriel's hand. (12)
At this point, all of my years as a Girl Scout paid off, because I knew
right away that I ought to be able to use the QUICK-DRYING CEMENT to make
a cast of the PAW PRINT. I RETURNED to the BARN and TOOK the QUICK-DRYING
CEMENT. Gabriel (without my assistance) mixed it up with some water in the
METAL PAIL (13) and when he was done, he was carrying the CEMENT IN PAIL.
I RETURNED to the MUD, then to the PAW PRINT and USED the CEMENT IN PAIL
with the PAW PRINT. (18) Like the good boy he is, Gabriel then automatically
RETURNED to the BARN, washed out the METAL PAIL, disposed of the cement
residue down the METAL BARREL, and put the METAL PAIL back on the SHELF.
When I next LOOKED at the PAW PRINT, the cast was ready. Gabriel TOOK the
PAW PRINT CAST (19) and upon EXAMINING it said that he wished he knew whether
it was normal. Perhaps I'd find someone later in the game who could help
me determine whether it was. This was my first clue I'd need to do that.
I still had the WOODS area behind the WATER TROUGH to EXPLORE. Most of
this screen was one big hotspot, and LOOKING at most of them evoked the
response from Gabriel that the woods went back a ways and were a good
hiding place, but he refused to walk into them. Luckily, I tried LOOKING
at a number of different places on this screen, and near some TALL GRASS
toward the bottom I found some DIRT (20), with some reddish-brown hair on it.
Gabriel TOOK the FARM HAIR (22). When I LOOKED at the DIRT again,
he observed that something had been here -- maybe what had killed Huber's
daughter. (Thanks, genius.)
I EXAMINED the FARM HAIR, and Gabriel told me he'd need help analyzing it.
This was my second clue I'd need to find someone who could help me interpret
this evidence.
On my way back to the CAR, I decided to stop again and LOOK at the PAW
PRINT. All that was left now was a HOLE where the PAW PRINT had been.
This seemed as good a time as any to branch out with my investigation
(especially since I was out of things to do here for now) so I went back
to the CAR, USED the HUBER KEYS with it, and found myself at a MAP of the
U-BAHN.
NOTE: There is a really useful game feature in this screen called "HINT,"
which, if you use it, will show you areas where you still need to complete
tasks in the current chapter. Purists may wish to avoid it, and
initially I determined to be stoic about this myself -- if you know me, you
know that I don't much care for online hints in games and that I make
every effort to solve adventures with help only when I'm at the ends of
desperation (that's the fun for me, although many people just like to watch
the story unfold). However, it didn't take me long to reconsider when I got
marginally stuck and thought back to all those hours of wandering
looking for something to do in GK1 to kick over to the next day. Using this
button doesn't cost you any points, so unless you really want to do
everything yourself, consider taking advantage of it.
When I studied the MAP, I learned that from LOCHHAM, I could go to
THALKIRCHEN, MARIENPLATZ, and PRINZREGENTENPLATZ. I thought I recalled
from the NEWSPAPER article on the wolf killings that the zoo was in
THALKIRCHEN. That seemed a good place to start. Maybe some wolf expert
there could offer some insight on the PAW PRINT CAST and the FARM HAIR, my
only evidence at this point. If that didn't work, I could always try the
police station at PRINZREGENTENPLATZ.
CHAPTER 1: At the Zoo in Thalkirchen
Upon arriving at the zoo, I noticed a caretaker walk into one of the animal
habitats and toss some food to -- WOLVES! -- living in there. A-hah! This
was a good sign. But then the caretaker left, and Gabriel was standing
alone in front of the wolf habitat. Oh, boo. Well, maybe I could find
the caretaker again, and if not, I'd just have to explore by myself.
I started by LOOKING at a SIGN to the far right, and got a screen full of
info about canis lupus lupus, European wolf. (23) Working my way leftward
from here, I LOOKED at the GROUND inside the WOLF KENNEL. Nice. Two
wolves were hanging out here, so I LOOKED at one of them (the number of
wolves present at this screen at any give time appears to be random;
sometimes there are three, sometimes, two, sometimes one). Gabriel tried
to call the wolf over, without success. (24) So I looked at the other wolf.
Same difference. If I wanted to get close to these wolves, I was going to
have to find another way to do it.
I moved on to the left to another sign, "Zoo Verwaltung." Neither Gabriel
nor I knew what this meant (my half semester of German was serving me poorly
here). But just at that moment, the caretaker came back! I tried SHOWING
him the PAW PRINT CAST and the FARM HAIR, by clicking each one on him. No
luck. (Now that you know how to SHOW items to people, I'm not going to
remind you how to do it every time it comes up.)
Since this had been a resounding failure, I decided to try to TALK to the
CARETAKER. He agreed to speak with me, so I ASKED him about HIMSELF from
the conversation options.
I learned that his name was Thomas and that he'd worked at the zoo for almost
a year. He didn't attribute his lack of fear inside the wolf kennel to
anything other than the wolves' laziness during the day. After this, I
could still ASK THOMAS more about HIMSELF, so I did. He told me that on
occasion, "Herr Doktor Klingmann himself" would call him about really
important things over the walky talky he was carrying. (25) This gave me
a new option to ASK THOMAS about -- DOKTOR KLINGMANN. When I did, I found
out that Herr Doktor was in charge of the mammal division at the zoo, and
was the person to ask about seeing the wolves close up although he was
unlikely to permit me to see them. Still, I could find him in the
administration area (which turned out to be Zoo Verwaltung, as shown on
the sign I'd seen earlier). (27)
When I ASKED THOMAS about the WOLVES, he told me that he couldn't take me
in to see them close up without authorization. At this point, an awful
lot was pointing to the fact that I'd need to get in to see those wolves,
so I resolved to be on the lookout for a way to accomplish this goal.
Finally, I ASKED THOMAS about the MISSING WOLVES. It turned out that Thomas
wasn't around the night the wolves escaped, but asking this question led
me to a number of more specific options to TALK to THOMAS about. I took
each in order.
According to Herr Doktor Klingmann, the wolves got out because the gate
had been left open, but Thomas wasn't so sure. He wasn't overly concerned
about that, though, because at least he still had his job, unlike the
caretaker on duty the night of the escape, who had gotten the axe.
Thomas thought that Hilda and Parsival (the two wolves) weren't capable of
the killings. (As I learned as I played, we'll see these names again in
another context later.) Both of the wolves were grey, although Parsival
was darker than Hilda. (28) In any event, it seemed clear that the
reddish-brown FARM HAIR I was carrying didn't belong to any zoo wolves, but I
made a mental note to myself to try to verify this suspicion and rule it out
as a possibility.
After talking Thomas to exhaustion, I walked upscreen and found the
ENTRANCE TO KENNEL. A PATH led to it, but Gabriel didn't think he'd get too
far on his own. Below the PATH, I LOOKED at the ENTRANCE again, and Gabriel
remarked again that he didn't think the public was allowed in here. All of
this again pointed to my needing to find a way to get into the WOLF KENNEL.
Since I couldn't just go in on my own, I went back to the previous screen,
then to the left. I ended up in Herr Doktor KLINGMANN'S OFFICE. He seemed
happy to talk to me, so I sat down and made myself comfortable.
Before launching into discussion, I took a LOOK around the OFFICE.
KLINGMANN'S COAT hung by the DOOR. I found nothing of interest in the
BOOKCASE. When I LOOKED at a POSTER on the wall next to the BOOKCASE,
Gabriel observed that Klingmann appeared to have a real thing for wolves,
and repeated this observation when I LOOKED at another POSTER behind
Klingmann's desk. The back DOOR led to office equipment. On KLINGMANN'S
DESK, I found a WALKY TALKY. Hmm. Interesting. When I LOOKED at the
WALKY TALKY, Gabriel drew a connection between it and the one that Thomas
had been carrying. I suspected then that the WALKY TALKY could be helpful
in getting me in to see the wolves, but at this point, I didn't know exactly
what significance it might have.
Finding nothing else of note to check out in the office, I ENGAGED KLINGMANN
in CONVERSATION and very obviously, Gabriel set about recording our
discussion. Oh clue of clues! Too bad it didn't keep me from getting stuck
later. Hehehehe.
Of HIMSELF, KLINGMANN said that he had a doctorate from Heidelberg U as
an animal behaviorist. He also got really hoity toity about his title and
said that people referred to him as "Herr Doktor Klingmann, here."
Again, of HIMSELF, KLINGMANN said he was well-known for his wolf research
and found the wolves' escape from the zoo very unsettling. (29) This gave
me a new option to discuss: RESEARCH.
About the RESEARCH, KLINGMANN told me he studied wolf society, and he had
some very unorthodox views on nature that his fellow scientists didn't
often share. Fortunately, he'd found "others" who did. (30) I was starting
to suspect that Klingmann was, in a secret life, part of a pack of werewolves,
but then I have a fairly outrageous imagination. Just ask anyone. <grin>
When I ASKED KLINGMANN about the WOLVES, he told me that he wouldn't let
me in to see them. (31) He insisted that "we don't show our wolves to
anyone," and said something about wanting to protect their privacy. I
wasn't too surprised by this. Obviously I'd need to twist his arm somehow,
or perhaps go behind his back to get in to see the wolves. I could think
of a few other anatomical metaphors, but I suppressed them.
Finally, I ASKED KLINGMANN about the MISSING WOLVES. He claimed not to
know much about the subject, but as I'd experienced with Thomas earlier,
asking this suddenly gave me loads of additional questions to ask Klingmann.
I asked all of them in order.
The zoo wolves had been missing for about two months, and Gabriel remarked
that it was strange the police hadn't found them. (32)
Klingmann evaded the question of whether the wolves were responsible for the
mutilation killings, but from what he said, it seemed even less likely
that wild wolves were responsible. Very few wild wolves still existed
in Germany, and they didn't hang out near cities.
The wolves would kill humans if hungry and presented with the opportunity.
After he told me this, I could ask how a wolf chose its victims. Here,
Klingmann waxed philosophical about the "language of death" -- a primal
language in which the victim either agrees to die at the hands (paws?) of a
predator or not. I found this entire exchange quite interesting, and urge
you to listen to it carefully.
I got the idea to try SHOWING KLINGMANN the PAW PRINT CAST and the FARM HAIR,
but Gabriel thought he was too close to what was going on with the wolves to
give any reliable information.
After that, I'd milked Klingmann dry for the time being, so I left his
office. I was almost ready to board the subway again and try another stop,
but I decided to take one last look at the wolves first to see if I could
come up with any more ideas about how to get in to see them. When I LOOKED
at the WOLVES, Gabriel confirmed that if he could get a hair sample from
them, he could compare it to the FARM HAIR he was carrying. Having been
completely hit over the head with the importance of getting in to see the
wolves, but having no idea how to do so as yet, I headed off to the subway
MAP. Since MARIENPLATZ was the next closest location, geographically
speaking, I decided to go check it out.
CHAPTER 1: In Marienplatz
Once in MARIENPLATZ, I decided to take in all the sights first and get my
bearings. To the right, I came to a shop that I learned had cuckoo clocks
in the window when I LOOKED at it. Gabriel didn't want to go inside when
I tried to OPEN the DOOR to the CUCKOO CLOCK SHOP. "Maybe later," he said.
A dead give-away that I should check back here frequently.
To the right of the CUCKOO CLOCK SHOP, I came to another shop. When I
LOOKED at this one, I saw Swiss and German watches in the window. Every time
I LOOKED at the WATCH SHOP after this, Gabriel just said he already had a
watch and wouldn't go in.
Slightly further to the right from the WATCH SHOP, I could LOOK UP to a
TOWER. When I LOOKED more closely at the TOWER, Gabriel recognized what he
saw as the famous Munich glockenspiel. Here, I could also LOOK at
a STATUE to the left of the glockenspiel. It appeared to be a Madonna and
Child, and Gabriel got the feeling she was watching him. I figured he
was just talking. Little did I know.
Back down on street level, I LOOKED at the WALL to the right and found a
SIGN for the Munich RATHAUS, or town hall. Further right still, I could
LOOK in the window of a BOOK SHOP. When I did, Gabriel mispronounced
Nietzsche's name (painful to the ears) and said that he didn't understand
Nietzsche and Kant, even in English. Tsk tsk, Gabe. At least make an
effort. You're supposed to have a clever and inquisitive mind, aren't you?
I continued right, all the way into another screen, where a guitar player
entertained some bystanders with a rendition of "When the Saints Go
Marching In." I almost felt like I was back in New Orleans. <grin> I
tried to TALK to all of these people repeatedly, to no avail. Then I tried
to TIP the GUITARIST from GABRIEL'S WALLET, but couldn't. So I decided
to move on.
I wasn't ready to go down into the U-BAHN again yet, so I LOOKED at a
nearby FOUNTAIN. Nice scenery, but nothing to do here either.
I found an EXIT behind the FOUNTAIN and headed for that. I was now on
DIENERSTRASSE. There were some PEOPLE here, but I couldn't TALK to them.
For some reason, on my initial trip through this screen I completely missed
the other hotspot here and went on down the street. (I'll come back
to the other spot later, at the point where I finally found it.)
The only thing to do at the end of DIENERSTRASSE was to LOOK at a GARBAGE
CAN and a BUILDING. So I figured I should retrace my steps and see if
I could find anything to do at the other end of MARIENPLATZ.
Near where I'd started my walk, to the far left of the CUCKOO CLOCK SHOP
screen, I LOOKED at a BUILDING and then at the DRAGON SCULPTURE on it.
Some PEOPLE walked by, but when I tried to TALK to them, Gabriel just said,
"Germans! Always in a hurry." All he left out was the "Humph."
I continued left from here and discovered a DELI, so I LOOKED more closely
at it. Some WEISS WURST and HACK-FLEICH were on sale here, by the LOOK of
the SIGNS. I decided to try TALKING to the SAUSAGE LADY here, but she only
spoke German and seemed to want to sell me some white sausage (even I could
figure out that weiss wurst meant white sausage in German). Gabriel
declined for now. I LOOKED at the WHITE SAUSAGE and the other MEATS behind
the counter, and tried to PAY the SAUSAGE LADY for something from GABRIEL'S
WALLET, but it didn't work. Er, why not? It seemed I might have to come
back and try again later, but why couldn't I just buy the stuff now as long
as she was here and willing to sell it to me? Maybe it would rot in my
pockets?
I left the SAUSAGE LADY and headed back to an OFFICE BUILDING. I LOOKED at
the BUILDING DIRECTORY here and found that I was standing in front of
UBERGRAU'S OFFICE. What luck! Gabriel toodled on into the building without
any help from me. (33)
I found it amusing that I was able to march right into UBERGRAU'S OFFICE
without an appointment or ever having met the guy, and sit and chat for
as long as I wanted. Gabriel probably wouldn't realize what was going on
here until he got the bill. I had the feeling Ubergrau was going to jot
down "Conf/GK re various: 2.5 hours" on his timesheets as soon as I left.
The only thing to do here was TALK to UBERGRAU. First, I ASKED him about
HIMSELF.
Seemingly still feeling the need to reassure Gabriel, who had been so
taken aback by Ubergrau's youth, Ubergrau told me that this was his
grandfather's firm, and he was a junior partner. Ubergrau had been
assigned to handle Gabriel's matters because of his English language skills,
which he'd apparently honed while studying law at Harvard. I looked closely
at Ubergrau. He looked about my age, but I didn't recognize him. Maybe
he'd been in a different first year section.
I then ASKED UBERGRAU about MUNICH. He was surprised that Gabriel hadn't
picked up much German after almost a year of living in Germany (so was I!)
but offered to translate anything Gabriel needed translating. Something
useful to remember for later, I thought.
About the RITTER ESTATE, Ubergrau said that they'd finally been able to
prove Gabriel was a legitimate blood heir, and that he was relieved that
Gabriel had shown up to pay all of the estate's debts. The blood heir
comment didn't have much impact on me at this point, but it would make
sense in the not too distant future.
When we talked about the MUTILATION KILLINGS, Ubergrau got all excited about
helping out on Gabriel's new case, if need be.
Finally, I ASKED UBERGRAU about a possible SAMPLE ANALYSIS. As luck would
have it, he had a client who was a professor at the University, and after
a quick call, he had arranged for me to visit the University's lab, where
I might find some help. (35)
I had nothing more to ask Ubergrau for the moment and couldn't think of
anything I had that he might want to see. So I left. And since I was out
of ideas about what else to try at MARIENPLATZ, I got on the U-BAHN to
try another location.
Now I had an option on the MAP for UNIVERSITAT, so I decided to go see if
I could get my samples analyzed.
CHAPTER 1: In the Biology Lab
Here I ran into Michael, who said he could help. Good thing it didn't matter
that Gabriel had gotten the name of his contact wrong (he called him
Spiegel instead of Schweitzer).
As usual, I decided to take a gander at my surroundings before getting down
to business. I LOOKED at some MEDICAL STUFF and at a SINK, but Gabriel
just got silly with the remarks here. Even sillier, he commented that
something that LOOKED for all the world like an EMESIS BASIN would make
a good hot dog roaster. Ok, ok. I guess there's only one thing to do here.
When I tried to TALK to MICHAEL, Gabriel told me to SHOW him what I had.
I started by SHOWING MICHAEL the PAW PRINT CAST. He took some measurements,
made some notes, consulted a book, and told me that it was a wolf print --
but that it was awfully big to belong to any known species. (37)
I next SHOWED MICHAEL the FARM HAIR. He looked at it under his microscope.
The hair was definitely not human, perhaps canine... no, not that either.
It looked like wolf, but didn't match a known species. Michael's best guess
was that it could belong to some sort of hybrid animal. (39)
For now, that was all I had to show Michael. So I left. At the MAP,
I decided to try PRINZREGENTENPLATZ, the only accessible place I hadn't yet
been a first time.
CHAPTER 1: At the Police Station
My reception here was less than warm, seemingly because of Gabriel's poor
command of German. The desk sergeant contacted Kommisar Leber, but the
good Kommisar appeared not to want to be bothered with the likes of Gabriel,
so we got tossed out. (40)
Now I had a little problem.
I couldn't think of anything to do except maybe get Ubergrau to pull some
strings to get me in to see Leber, try again to get in to see the
zoo wolves, and make sure I hadn't missed anything in any of the places
I'd been already. If none of these worked, I'd be stuck.
CHAPTER 1: Morgie Loses It
I went back to see Ubergrau, but he had nothing to say to me. Ditto with
Klingmann.
I did have more than an inkling that I'd need to use Klingmann's WALKY
TALKY somehow, but I couldn't TAKE it while he was there, and nothing I
tried to show him could prompt him to leave. I even tried USING the
TAPE RECORDER on the WALKY TALKY, but it didn't work. This situation
reminded me of Mosely's office in GK1, but unfortunately, Klingmann didn't
seem to have a coffee machine nearby.
I started to think that I'd missed something along the way, and I scoured
all of the locations I'd been to before. I did find something I'd missed
the first time: in MARIENPLATZ, on DIENERSTRASSE, I noticed a POST OFFICE,
and USED the GABRIEL-TO-GRACE ENVELOPE #1 with the POST OFFICE DOOR. This
dispatched the letter (41), but got me no closer to getting in to see
the wolves. I was on the verge of whining here.
I hung around like a shark in KLINGMANN'S OFFICE trying to figure out how
to invite him to leave. I even listened to some of what he'd said on the
TAPE RECORDER. I saw a SPLICE function there, but it didn't make an
impression on me, and unfortunately, I'd overlooked the explanation of how
to use the TAPE RECORDER in the game booklet, which even went so far as
to say that Gabriel would want to SPLICE a tape in Chapter 1! Let that be a
lesson to you, and to me. <smacking forehead with heel of hand> It just
didn't occur to me to look for help in the game booklet, and GK1's puzzles
were too distant a memory to trigger any ideas in my mind.
I logged on to GAMERS, where I found hercules, who had so patiently listened
to my whine episodes during THE DIG, and who I happened to know had recently
purchased GK2. However, I learned that he was still working on finishing
GK1 before starting the sequel, and wasn't all that keen on having me
spoil GK2 for him before he'd even installed it. <grin> The most I could
say without giving anything away was that I thought I'd encountered a
distraction puzzle of the type that frequently occurs in adventure games.
I thought I needed an item on someone's desk, but I couldn't get him to
leave so I could take it. This wasn't a heck of a lot for poor herc to go
on to help me formulate a plan. So I went back to KLINGMANN'S OFFICE and
waited for inspiration to hit.
Unfortunately, it never did. After several hours, I grew impatient and went
back to GAMERS. As much as I hated to admit defeat, I decided to look on the
board for a likely thread.
At the time, not too many people had made it through GK2 yet, and no one
seemed to be having my problem in the Chapter 1 messages (probably because
they'd all read the booklet like smart gamers), so I ventured into some of
the general GK2 messages. I found a subtle hint that set me on the right
track -- but as much as I tried to avoid material in the threads that
wasn't pertinent to my situation, I also accidentally found mention of
a cuckoo clock having something to do with getting into a locked area. Oh
well. Maybe I'd forget about this before I got to that point. But you
know how it goes when you try to forget something. It's the only sure way
to make certain you'll remember it. <sigh>
In any event, the hint had said something to the effect that you needed to
use the Doktor's words to order someone to do something. So I went back
to my save and scrutinized the TAPE RECORDER option. Here, I was told when
I PUSHED SPLICE that I'd need a SOURCE TAPE in DECK A. So I clicked on
KLINGMANN'S TAPE and LOADED it into DECK A. When I hit SPLICE again, I
learned that I'd need two tapes loaded, so I LOADED a BLANK TAPE into DECK
B. Now Gabriel told me this wasn't such a bad idea, but I'd need some
privacy to carry out my little scheme. The most private place I could
think of was my bedroom back on the farm, so I went back to the MAP and
returned to LOCHHAM.
CHAPTER 1: Seeing the Wolves
Back in the FARMHOUSE I set to work making my SPLICE. I tried transferring
a few things at random first, then decided to get into a different mindset
and think of what I'd say to Thomas if I were Herr Doktor Klingmann.
First off, I'd need to get him to answer the WALKY TALKY, so perhaps I should
call his name? I selected: THOMAS? Gabriel wouldn't let me erase it, so I
knew I was on the right track.
Then I figured I should identify myself in case there was any doubt. So I
tried: HERR DOCKTOR KLINGMANN HERE. That too seemed to work.
Now for the important part. How about the direct method? I tried: SHOW
OUR WOLVES TO MR. KNIGHT. I TRANSFERRED all of this over the BLANK TAPE
by using the TAPE RECORDER buttons, and it sounded pretty convincing. (51)
I now had a KLINGMANN SPLICE TAPE. Hopefully, the game would now let me
get rid of Klingmann so I could use it with the walky talky.
I USED the HUBER KEYS with the CAR again (you have to do this every time
you drive the car, just like in real life -- but I'm not going to repeat it
every time from now on) and took the U-BAHN back to THALKIRCHEN and
KLINGMANN'S OFFICE. Miraculously, Klingmann was gone and I hadn't even had
to do anything to get him to leave!
I decided to SNOOP around KLINGMANN'S OFFICE while I had the chance. Inside
KLINGMANN'S COAT, I found and TOOK a scrap of paper (53) that I EXAMINED.
It looked like a receipt of some kind. Still in EXAMINE mode, I TURNED it
over and LOOKED at the back. I found some writing in carbon that Gabriel
couldn't make out. (55)
I learned nothing new from LOOKING at the BOOKCASE or the POSTERS again,
and Klingmann was behind the back DOOR. I RIFLED his DESK, but found nothing
of interest. Finding nothing else to poke around in while he was gone,
I decided to see if this splice thing would work.
I USED the KLINGMANN SPLICE TAPE with the WALKY TALKY, and Gabriel played
the tape over the walky talky. After a few tense moments, I learned that
Thomas bought the whole thing, hook, line and sinker. (60)
Just as I finished (whew), a cut-scene took over. Herr Doktor emerges from
the back room, and he and Gabriel leave the office. Outside, Thomas is
waiting to escort Gabriel into the WOLF KENNEL. Once inside the kennel,
Thomas calls to a wolf named Marguerite, and she finally comes over to take
a treat he has for her. Now you have a close up view of Marguerite, and take
over the action again.
I noticed a TAG around Marguerite's neck and LOOKED at it. (61) Thomas
commented that all the wolves at the zoo wore tags. When I TOUCHED
MARGUERITE, I ended up in another cut-scene. Gabriel swipes some of
Marguerite's hair despite Thomas' admonitions against touching her. Another
wolf becomes roused and Gabriel and Thomas run out of the WOLF KENNEL.
(65)
I now had some ZOO HAIR to EXAMINE. It was grey. I got the idea that I
should take it back to Michael at the UNIVERSITAT and see if he could tell
me anything about it.
In the BIOLOGY LAB, I SHOWED the ZOO HAIR to MICHAEL. He took a look at it
and said that it wasn't the same as the other hair -- the ZOO HAIR was
definitely wolf. (67)
I decided to leave Michael without too much in the way of a plan, having
tentatively decided to drop back by MARIENPLATZ and see what I could see.
On my way out, Michael handed me an EVIDENCE ANALYSIS REPORT containing
his findings about the two hair samples and the paw print. (68) When
I got back to MARIENPLATZ, I EXAMINED the EVIDENCE ANALYSIS REPORT. By
now, it was looking like the zoo wolves could be ruled out as the
perpetrators of the mutilation killings, but there wasn't much in the way
of another solution as yet.
CHAPTER 1: The Hunt Begins
I dropped by the DELI, but still couldn't do anything here. So on a whim,
I decided to impose on Ubergrau again. In UBERGRAU'S OFFICE, I found I
could ASK him about JAGDSCHEIN -- the word that had appeared in large
letters on KLINGMANN'S RECEIPT. Ubergrau told me it meant hunting license.
(69) I couldn't SHOW KLINGMANN'S RECEIPT to UBERGRAU, but I did EXAMINE
it again myself. The words on the back that Gabriel hadn't been able to
read appeared, after careful study, to be backwards.
I considered for a moment how I might read these words, and it came to me
quickly that holding them up to a MIRROR should be just the thing. And
I knew just where to find a MIRROR. I went back to the FARMHOUSE at
LOCHHAM.
Here, I USED KLINGMANN'S RECEIPT with the MIRROR. Gabriel could now read
the words, but of course they were in German. (74) The one thing I did
understand during his butchered reading was an address on DIENERSTRASSE.
So I ran right back to MARIENPLATZ and over to DIENERSTRASSE.
Where I'd seen nothing but BUILDINGS before, I now recognized an address:
54 DIENERSTRASSE. I OPENED the DOOR and TROMPED inside, like a total
boor.
The DOORMAN wasn't too happy to see me. (75) I had some conversation
options, but this time I decided not to take them in order. I thought it
would be safer to ASK about KLINGMANN first. Maybe I could keep up the
ruse that I knew what I was talking about if I didn't confess ignorance
of where I was right off the bat. But the DOORMAN wasn't telling any tales.
So I had no choice but to ask what kind of place I was in. As I'd suspected,
that went over like a lead balloon and the conversation was over.
It occurred to me that perhaps my lawyer might be able to tell me what the
German words I'd seen in the MIRROR meant. After all, he'd already offered
to translate for me and had made good on that offer once before. So I went
back to UBERGRAU'S OFFICE.
Sure enough, now I was able to ASK UBERGRAU about DIE KONIGLICH-BAYRISCHE
HOFJAGDLOGE. He told me he didn't recognize the place itself, but it sounded
like a men's sport club. The translation was essentially: Royal Bavarian
Hunting Lodge. (77)
Now that I knew what kind of place I'd found, maybe I'd have a better shot
at faking out the DOORMAN at 54 DIENERSTRASSE. Back I went to give it a try.
When I was inside, I ASKED the DOORMAN whether he was in the market for
a TAXIDERMIST. Wrong-o. That got me nowhere. So I decided to TELL him
I was an AVID HUNTER. Unfortunately, Gabriel went all good 'ol boy on me
here and was told that the club was very exclusive and only accepted
members of prominent German families. (78)
Of course, Gabe and I knew he was a Ritter. But would this dude buy it?
I tried to tell him, and he demanded proof.
All I had on me at the moment that might have worked were UBERGRAU'S LETTER,
the RITTER DAGGER, and the TALISMAN. But SHOWING any of these to the
DOORMAN wouldn't work.
My lawyer was right around the corner, and although I didn't think of it
at the time -- I just relied on his profession as a likely source -- he
_had_ told me that he'd gone through hoops to prove to the government that
Gabriel was a direct Ritter descendent. I went back to UBERGRAU'S OFFICE,
and indeed, I could now ASK him about the RITTER FAMILY PAPERS. As it turned
out, he'd had a family tree prepared for the title transfer, and he offered
me a copy. His secretary brought it out, and I thought I was all set. (80)
I EXAMINED the RITTER FAMILY PAPERS, and became convinced they'd do the
trick.
I returned to 54 DIENERSTRASSE and TALKED to the DOORMAN again. I insisted
that Gabriel was a Ritter, and when he asked for proof, I SHOVED the
RITTER FAMILY PAPERS in his face. Now he was singing a different tune, but
it still wasn't enough for the DOORMAN ("XAVIER" from now on). I needed
sponsorship from a current club member. During an ensuing tiff over these
rigid requirements, a stranger stepped out from a corner and came to my
rescue. He, Baron Friederich Von Glower, would take me into the club as
a guest. (90)
CHAPTER 1 ENDING MOVIE
In the club's inner sanctum, Von Glower introduces Gabriel to his comrades:
Von Zell, Klingmann (we've met, oh yes, of course, you're right, so glad
to see you), Von Aigner, Hennemann, and Preiss. Tonight's agenda is drinking,
and Gabriel is handed a beer stein. Von Zell and Klingmann leave rather
abruptly, then so does Preiss. Von Glower apologizes for these departures,
and Gabriel says he ought to be going himself. Von Glower assures Gabriel
that the club will be open to him any time he wishes, although the other
members congregate in the evenings. He hands Gabriel his card, with his
home address.
Who are these people? Why is Klingmann here? What's with that Bruce Willis
clone Preiss who keeps saying Gabriel intrigues him? I thought for sure
I'd found the entire werewolf pack now, but as I soon found out, I'd have
to wait a bit to see if this theory was even close.
CHAPTER 2 OPENING MOVIE
And the reason is: in Chapter 2, you're Grace.
Grace is back in Gabriel's bookstore in New Orleans, having one of those "but
mom" conversations on the phone. Seems from the one-sided conversation
that's going on that she's being questioned about when she's going back to
school, and -- sheer speculation on my part from what Grace told us in
GK1 -- when she's going to get married to the guy her parents want to set
her up with.
A female patron brings Gabriel's voodoo novel up to the counter and all
she can do is gush over what a manly man Gabriel is. She asks Grace when
she can come back to get a look at Gabriel. Grace advises against it.
You see, she says, Gabriel is very shy. There was an accident. It's his
face. (I was rolling on the floor laughing here. Grace is definitely my
favorite character in this game.)
Grace gets Gabriel's letter that says Gerde can do whatever research he
needs, and this pushes one of her buttons big time. She makes arrangements
to go to Germany to take her rightful place as Gabriel's assistant. But
when Grace arrives at Schloss Ritter, Gabriel, of course, is gone. Gerde
can't say when he'll be back, but welcomes Grace to stay at the castle.
Grace meets this hospitality with an indignant statement that she doesn't
have much choice.
The next morning, Grace is making the bed she slept in, in Gabriel's bedroom
at Schloss Ritter when a worker arrives. He sets about doing something
by the fireplace. After this, you're ready to take over the action in
Chapter 2.
CHAPTER 2: At Schloss Ritter
Again, I EXAMINED all of my inventory to see what Grace had to start with.
She was carrying GRACE'S NOTEBOOK (in which she jots down leads and thoughts
automatically during the game); the GABRIEL-TO-GRACE LETTER #1 that had caused
her to pick up and run to Germany in the first place; GRACE'S WALLET,
that contained some marks she'd converted at the airport; and PROFESSOR
BARCLAY'S CARD, a business card for a history professor at Yale.
Then I set off on my explorations. I tried to TALK to the WORKER, but
he didn't need my help. I LOOKED through the WINDOW. Grace said she
saw a nice view of the Alps (but I didn't see it). When I LOOKED at the
CLOSET, Grace opened it and admired it.
Behind Grace, another part of the bedroom contained the BED Grace had been
making up when the scene opened -- when I LOOKED at it, she remarked that
it was pretty comfortable, considering that Gabriel had slept in it. I
also LOOKED at two PORTRAITS of Ritter ancestors, and a stone carving of
a LION. I couldn't OPEN the DOOR here because it was locked. I knew from
GK1 that this was the door to the Schattenjager library, so I figured I'd
need to get the key somehow.
Since I didn't have any ideas about what to do here for now, I decided to
leave the bedroom. I went through the DOOR next to the CLOSET and ended up
in Schloss Ritter's main hall. I LOOKED around here and saw another
stone carving of a LION on the wall, some CHAIRS along both sides of the
room, and more PORTRAITS of Ritter ancestors. All of these just evoked
snappy remarks from Grace.
I also saw Gerde here, seated behind a desk. I decided to try talking to her.
About GABRIEL: She didn't know where he was and wouldn't tell me about
the case, but she did tell me that he'd taken the case for Werner Huber
who ran the Gasthof in town. (92) About HERSELF: She didn't have any
trouble working for the new "Ritter heir." At the moment, she was working
on plans for the castle. It needed a lot of work, and until now there
hadn't been any money to pay for the restoration. Grace got a little bent
out of shape at the thought that Gabriel might be planning to live in the
castle permanently instead of selling it.
About GABRIEL'S RESEARCH: Gerde had been asked to do some work for Gabriel,
but wouldn't let Grace take it over unless Gabriel so directed. (94) He'd
asked Gerde to check the Schattenjager library for cases similar to his
current one. It was starting to sound more and more like I'd need to get
into that library but quick. About the LOCKED DOOR: It led to the
Schattenjager library, as I'd thought, but Gerde wouldn't let me have the
key. Gerde continued to refuse to tell me about the case, and suggested
that I go look around the area. Fine, I know when I'm not wanted. When
I'd exhausted all of my conversation options, I did as she suggested.
By the DOOR to Schloss Ritter, I LOOKED at a VASE and a STATUE, but couldn't
do anything with them, so I went on OUTSIDE. I LOOKED at Schloss Ritter
and GABRIEL'S CAR, and got a few laughs out of Grace's remark about the first,
and a clue out of her remark about the second. She'd wondered aloud where
the keys were, so I thought I'd go back inside and see if I could ask Gerde
for them before I moved on.
When I ASKED GERDE about the CAR KEYS, she wouldn't give them to Grace, so
I continued with my investigation OUTSIDE. Down a path, I came to the
Rittersberg Town Square, where I had a lot of new places to explore.
CHAPTER 2: In the Rittersberg Town Square
To the right, I found the Rittersberg Rathaus, which I knew from Gabriel's
exclamation on seeing a similar structure in Munich was the town hall. I
went to the door, and the Mayor himself greeted me. He knew right away
that Grace wasn't a native German speaker (at least she tried, though --
Gabriel should take a lesson), and suggested we converse in English.
He told me that his name was Habermas (95), that Rittersberg was a very old
town, having grown up around the castle built by Martin Ritter in 1223.
THIS BUILDING was the Rathaus, the town hall (in case I didn't pick up on
what Gabriel had said before, I guess). (96) That was it for Herr Habermas
at this point, so I went to find something else to do.
I looked at another DOOR to the right of the DOOR TO RATHAUS, but it was
locked. Still further to the right, I came to a POST OFFICE. When I LOOKED
closer at it, no one was there. I RANG the BELL, and a POSTAL WORKER came
to the DOOR, but I didn't have anything to say to her now.
I passed on to the right and entered the Gasthof Goldener Lowe. I found a
PATRON here, but he wasn't talking. I LOOKED at a PAINTING to the right of
the DOOR, and a PHOTOGRAPH on the wall at the end of the bar. The same
person appeared in both; Grace wondered who he was. Under the PHOTOGRAPH,
I saw something that LOOKED like a piece of PARCHMENT, but Grace couldn't
tell what it said, and could only say that it looked old.
Having run out of other hotspots, I decided to talk to the BARKEEP, who, as
it turned out, was my old friend Werner Huber himself. He told Grace about
HIMSELF and the Gasthof, which had guest rooms upstairs. He'd learned
English from Wolfgang Ritter. WOLFGANG, Gabriel's Great Uncle, was a true
Schattenjager. He'd had "the sight." It was quite a blow to the town when
Wolfgang died, but it wasn't much of a surprise. Gerde had known what he
was up to and apparently hadn't done a very good job of hiding her concern
from the other townspeople. Huber gave Grace one of those knowing looks
when she asked if Gerde and Wolfgang had been close, but from what happened
later, Grace didn't seem to be too perceptive here.
RITTERSBERG was a small, private town that hadn't changed much over the
centuries. Here, they still remembered what the rest of the world had
forgotten: that life was a battle between "the light and the dark."
GABRIEL'S CASE was for Huber's cousin, Sepp, who didn't live in Rittersberg.
Huber wouldn't tell me where to find Gabriel, and didn't know how long he'd
be gone. But he did tell me that the case was about werewolves. (98) I
replayed this part a few times just to hear him say "werewolf" in that
spooky voice of his over and over.
About WEREWOLVES: Rittersberg had seen them before, in the 1700s. One had
been caught and brought to trial here. (100) Huber had nothing else to tell
me for now, so I decided to move on and explore the CHURCH I'd seen on the
way into the Town Square, then maybe stop back by the RATHAUS and see if
the Mayor could tell me anything more about the werewolf of the 1700s.
Outside the CHURCH, I LOOKED at some FLOWERS, but Grace only wondered what
kind they were. I also LOOKED at a PLAQUE next to the CHURCH'S DOOR that
identified it as St. Georg's Church.
Inside, I found a PRIEST, but when I tried to TALK to him, it became obvious
that he didn't speak English, and poor Grace couldn't communicate well
enough in German to make any headway. I noticed a WOMAN sitting in the pews,
but Grace didn't want to TALK to her as it might have disturbed her.
I LOOKED at the CHURCH WALLS and saw a STATUE of the MADONNA to the left,
and another STATUE of ST. GEORG to the right. Toward the alter, I passed
through an EXIT into a CRYPT. The CRYPT contained COFFINS of JURGEN RITTER,
WOLFGANG RITTER, and MARTIN RITTER, as well as some others that I couldn't
read the names on. But they were all old, and all Schattenjagers. On
WOLFGANG'S COFFIN, I found a SILVER HEART. When I LOOKED at it, Grace
concluded that someone had left it as a mourning gift.
I couldn't find anything else to see or do in the CHURCH, so I left.
Initially, it seemed as though there might be more area to explore to the
left of the CHURCH, because I had a marking for an EXIT there. But try as
I might, I couldn't go any further left. So I stopped back by the RATHAUS.
My instincts were correct, because I could ASK Herr Habermas about TRIAL
RECORDS. He told me they were available back to the 12th century, but since
all I could tell him was that the one I was interested in took place
sometime in the 1700s, he couldn't help me. He didn't look that busy, and
I was a bit incensed that he wouldn't just go start at the beginning and
read all the files for me. How many trials could the thriving metropolis of
Rittersberg have had in a century anyway? <grin> In any event, it appeared
I'd need a specific date before he'd be of any help.
I went back to the GASTHOF to see if Werner Huber could be more specific,
but I had no conversation options for him. So I decided to go back to the
castle and see if I could have any luck talking Gerde into giving me the
car keys, or maybe find a way into the Schattenjager Library.
CHAPTER 2: Back in Schloss Ritter
I couldn't talk to Gerde, so I thought I might be at a bit of a dead end
here. Fortunately, when I went back upstairs, the WORKER had departed,
and I could take a closer LOOK at the FIREPLACE in Gabriel's Bedroom.
The WORKER had left some TOOLS here, and I took a SCREWDRIVER from the box
(101). Then I noticed a HOLE in the stones of the FIREPLACE, so I LOOKED
at that. I wondered if anything the WORKER had been doing had to do with
this HOLE? Maybe I could fix it myself.
I USED the SCREWDRIVER on the HOLE and heard a click to my right. (104)
When I came out of the video scene, Grace was facing the CLOSET, so I
thought perhaps the sound had come from there. When I OPENED the CLOSET,
I discovered that I'd tripped a secret door in its back. I EXITED and
Grace walked into a PASSAGEWAY that someone appeared to have been using
rather recently. (109)
I ended up in an area with two other possible exits that I thought at first
might be a maze. So I saved my game here in case I'd need to backtrack to
the beginning and do some mapping. As it turned out, though, that wasn't
necessary.
The EXIT to the right led to GERDE'S BEDROOM, through another CLOSET. Heh.
(111) There wasn't much to see in GERDE'S BEDROOM except a PICTURE OF
WOLFGANG on a TABLE. I LOOKED at it, though. Wolfgang reminded me of
Robert Plant. Pretty hip for someone's Great Uncle.
I couldn't go out the main DOOR, so I OPENED the CLOSET again. Here, I
found a LIBRARY KEY (113) hanging from the top of the closet. I was sure it
opened the LOCKED DOOR in Gabriel's bedroom. So, apparently, was Grace.
NOTE: The LIBRARY KEY can be hard to see. I didn't have trouble seeing it,
but hercules confessed to me that he was stuck here for a long time because
he couldn't see the key. It's toward the right of center, hanging from the
closet. Gerde's clothes are to the left.
Since they were there, I LOOKED through GERDE'S CLOTHES before leaving.
From Grace's remark, I was now completely certain that she had a huge chip
on her shoulder about Gerde. I was pretty sure that her dislike didn't
begin and end with professional jealousy.
Back in the PASSAGEWAY, I tried the EXIT toward the back, and ended up
outside of the castle. I LOOKED at some ROSES that bloomed in a bush
to the right, and at the side of the CASTLE to the left. Further to the
left, I could move to another screen where I could see the outside of
Schloss Ritter from another angle. I couldn't walk any further this way,
though, so after LOOKING at the CASTLE in various spots, I went back to
Gabriel's Bedroom to USE my new LIBRARY KEY on the LOCKED DOOR.
When I did, it OPENED and I found myself inside the Schattenjager LIBRARY.
(118). I immediately started trying to PULL BOOKS from the SHELVES. The
first set of SHELVES on the left held biographies, mostly about Germans.
Grace didn't seem too interested in these. The middle section of the SHELVES
held BOOKS on the OCCULT. Here, Grace found a BOOK on Lycanthropes. She
OPENED it up and found a LETTER inside (119).
Just then, Gerde came in and confronted Grace, demanding to know how she'd
gotten into the library. Gerde discovered the key, and Grace went ballistic
over what she thought was evidence of secret rendezvous between Gabriel
and Gerde. (Wow, lots of names begin with "G" in this game, and that's
not including Von Glower and Grossberg who I'd learn about later. Come to
think of it: Leber, Huber, Ubergrau, Habermas... ber-y interesting.) Grace's
venomous attack seemed to hit Gerde in a wounded spot, because Gerde left
almost in tears without trying to justify herself and said, "ok, you do
the damn research." I wasn't very happy with my favorite character right
now. She had been mean, and over a _guy_. And here I thought I'd found
a role model who was so self-confident as to be above these petty jealousies.
<sigh>
Continuing on, I tried the last group of SHELVES to the far right, where
Grace found another BOOK. This one, VICTOR RITTER'S JOURNAL (120). Since
she couldn't pick up anything else from the SHELVES, I decided to EXAMINE
what she'd found.
In VICTOR RITTER'S JOURNAL, we learn that Victor had gone after a wolf,
or werewolf, using a sheep as bait. Victor stabbed the wolf and brought
it back alive to Rittersberg to be presented to a magistrate. The journal
entry was dated April 20, 1750. (122)
The letter Grace had found in the Lycanthrope book was a LETTER TO LUDWIG II,
dated March 4, 1864, from Christian Ritter. It warned Ludwig II, King of
Bavaria against one called "The Black Wolf" and begged him not to see this
personage alone, or only with servants as protection. (124)
In LYCANTHROPES: LORE AND LAW BY JENNINGS we learn a great deal about
werewolves. Read this one closely, because it explains a lot that is
relevant to the story. I'll list what I saw as the main points here:
(1) werewolves are virtually immortal, but can be killed by any wound or
form of death that destroys or damages the heart or brain, (2) one can
become a werewolf by sorcery, being cursed, being bitten by a werewolf or
being born to a werewolf, (3) one who becomes a werewolf against his or her
will is not completely damned unless he or she tastes of human blood, but
the soul cannot enter Heaven while the taint remains, (4) werewolves have
pack instincts and sometimes convert others for companionship, (5) a pack
consists of the original werewolf (Alpha) and those who become werewolves
through the bite of the Alpha (Beta werewolves), (6) if the Alpha werewolf
is killed _by action of the Beta_, the curse can be reversed as long as the
Beta hasn't tasted of human blood, (7) an Alpha cannot harm a Beta of his or
her own bloodline without inflicting self-harm, but if a Beta is harmed
by another, that does not affect the Alpha, (8) symptoms of werewolfery
include increasing violence and aggression, unprovoked rages, insomnia,
and restlessness, and (9) _Manos del Sol_ is some sort of Brazilian
priesthood that reported a werewolf incident. (126) Funny. I always thought
manos meant "hands" in Spanish, rather than "men" as Grace translated it.
Maybe it's different in Portuguese.
At this point, I developed a theory: Von Glower was the Alpha werewolf
of a pack that contained all the other people in the hunt club as Betas.
I figured that this book held the key to getting rid of Von Glower at some
point down the road, but I didn't bother my sweet little head about it
right then.
More immediately, though, it seemed from all of this reading that the date
of the werewolf trial might have been sometime in 1750 (as I realized the
second time through the game, this was the date on the poster during the
Prologue movie) -- but what about this other case in the nineteenth century?
Hmm. I thought I'd go talk to Herr Habermas again when I was done here.
I found an EXIT to the right of the screen that caused Grace to sit down
at Gabriel's DESK. Here I LOOKED at his MANUSCRIPT (he hadn't made much
progress), the TYPEWRITER (Grace said she wasn't "quite ready" to write to
Gabriel, so I made a note to come back here later and see if she was), the
VOODOO MURDERS BOOK (Grace made another jealous remark), and the PHONE
(Grace wondered who she should call).
Who indeed. She'd been holding PROFESSOR BARCLAY'S CARD from the beginning,
so I decided to give him a ring. I USED PROFESSOR BARCLAY'S CARD with the
PHONE. Grace woke him up in the middle of the night to ask him about
Ludwig II. Barclay said German history wasn't his field (um, Grace, didn't
you know that?), but he'd give a colleague at the University of Berlin
a call (131) and call back when he'd made contact.
I was done with the DESK for now, so I decided to leave. On a whim (although
in fairness, the game did give me reason to believe I might find something
else among the journals after I found Christian's letter -- I just didn't
make the connection, at least consciously), I checked the BOOK SHELVES again
before I left. When I LOOKED at the far right SHELF, Grace pulled down
CHRISTIAN RITTER'S JOURNAL. (132) He'd died on the same date as the LETTER
TO LUDWIG II. When I LOOKED at the occult SHELF, I found nothing, but when
I LOOKED at the biographies again, Grace tried to find one on Ludwig. She
did, but they were all in German and weren't of much help to her.
I READ CHRISTIAN RITTER'S JOURNAL, and learned that he too had been on a
werewolf hunt, after someone called The Black Wolf. Christian had decided
to return to Rittersberg on March 3, 1864, the day before he wrote the
letter, and then died. (134)
This seemed to be all I could do in the library for the moment, since
Grace maintained that she still wasn't ready to write to Gabriel. So I
went back to town to see if what I'd just learned could point me to any more
definite leads.
CHAPTER 2: Back in Town
Fortunately, my instincts were again correct, and when I returned to the
RATHAUS, I found that I could now TELL Herr Habermas a date for the TRIAL
RECORDS I needed. He pulled them for me and told me the following:
The werewolf was brought to Rittersberg because they wanted to know who
the wolf was. They'd brought it to town so that it would change back to
a person. (136) The werewolf did change back. He was interrogated for two
days, confessed, and was sentenced to death after trial. He'd had a final
meal, asked to see a confessor, and died at dawn. The werewolf had been
kept in the dungeon in the Rathaus basement. (138) He'd turned out to be
Baron Von Reilich from Alfing. (140)
NOTE: I couldn't find anything in the game that told me how to spell this
name, so I spelled it somewhat phonetically but tried to make it look
Germanic.
They'd wanted to know who the werewolf was so that they could warn his
family. Then, Grace asked to see the DUNGEON, and Herr Habermas took her
through the locked DOOR next to the main RATHAUS DOOR.
In the DUNGEON, Grace had a vision that harked back to the Prologue movie.
Herr Habermas said he'd leave the door open for her so she could come and
go as she pleased (142), then left. I LOOKED at the WINDOW and Grace saw
the Church of St. Georg through it. She ruminated on Herr Habermas'
statement that the werewolf had asked to see a confessor. (144) Perhaps
someone could tell us what he'd confessed to? I next LOOKED at a COT
on the far side of the DUNGEON. Grace just said that Von Reilich had slept
there.
I wasn't exactly sure who to ask for what at this point, so I decided to
start with the CHURCH to see if the PRIEST was still there, and if so,
whether Grace could gather up enough German to talk to him about the
werewolf's confession. But she couldn't. (Time to send those home study
tapes back for a refund.)
Then I went back to the GASTHOF to see if my friend Herr Huber had more to
say this time around. In fact, he did. It turned out he was quite a fan
of LUDWIG II, who he called the last true King of Bavaria, and that the
portraits I'd seen on the tavern walls were of Ludwig. The framed PARCHMENT
was actually an article from the Munich newspaper the day after Ludwig
had died. Huber said that Ludwig was a genius who had built castles. The
politicians had killed him -- they thought he was crazy and got papers from
a doctor saying so. "They" killed him. "They" said it was suicide, but
Huber didn't believe that. It was murder. (146)
I wondered how Ludwig fit into all of this. From what we'd learned already,
he'd been in danger from a werewolf, but to what end? I LOOKED again at
the PAINTING, PHOTOGRAPH and ARTICLE. But aside from now being able to
identify the pictures as Ludwig, I learned nothing new.
I went back to Herr Habermas just to see whether he could offer any
enlightenment on what I'd just spoken to Herr Huber about. He couldn't, but
much to my surprise, I could now TALK to _him_ about CHURCH RECORDS. He
told me that the records would be in German and that FATHER GETZ (formerly
the PRIEST) couldn't speak English (yeah, I know). Habermas wrote out
the MAYOR'S NOTE for me to take to FATHER GETZ (148) and said that if the
Father had any records, to bring them back and he'd help me translate them.
I went back to the CHURCH and GAVE FATHER GETZ the MAYOR'S NOTE. (150)
In exchange, he gave me a CHURCH FILE. I took it back to the RATHAUS
and SPOKE to HERR HABERMAS about it.
He took the file from me and started looking through it. He found a note
in English from a lawyer in Argentina who was requesting information on
the death of Von Reilich. The seal on the letter had a wolf on it. Creepy.
Then he told me about the confession.
The Von Reilichs took the symbol of the black wolf because of their great
skill at hunting, but this particular Von Reilich had lived up to the name
too well. He wasn't a very nice person. He'd raped a Hungarian Gypsy
girl who'd killed herself, and afterwards another Gypsy had cursed him.
Thereafter, he'd started to take the form of a wolf and eat human flesh.
He welcomed his punishment if it would save himself and his family from
further pain. (155)
That was all Herr Habermas could tell me. I wondered if I now had enough
information to write to Gabriel and I couldn't think of anything else to
do in town. So I went back to Schloss Ritter to try typing out a note.
CHAPTER 2: Concluding Events
Inside the Schattenjager LIBRARY, I SAT at the DESK and USED the TYPEWRITER.
Grace typed up a letter to Gabriel, then stuck it and all the materials
she'd found in the library in an envelope. (160) But she still needed an
address for Gabriel. Maybe she could drag that much out of Gerde.
Gerde wasn't talking about just anything (can't blame her after Grace's
tirade in the library), but when I SHOWED her GRACE'S PACKAGE (NOT ADDRESSED),
she gave me Ubergrau's address. (162) Now I had an ADDRESSED PACKAGE.
It made a boatload of sense now to visit the POST OFFICE, so I went back to
Rittersberg and RANG the BELL at the WINDOW. I HANDED the ADDRESSED PACKAGE
to the POSTAL WORKER. (163) She took it and said something to me. Oh right.
Such things aren't free. I HANDED GRACE'S WALLET to the POSTAL WORKER
and completed the transaction. (167)
CHAPTER 2 ENDING MOVIE
Grace and Gerde are sitting silently inside Schloss Ritter, reading, when
there's a loud and obnoxious rap at the door. When they answer it, they
find the Smiths, from Merrimack, Pennsylvania, who turn out to be as loud
and obnoxious as their knock. The Smiths are demonologists on a pilgrimage
to see the Schattenjager castle. Grace explains that the resident
Schattenjager isn't home, and reluctantly, the Smiths prepare to leave after
inviting Grace to stop by the Gasthof, where they're staying, to visit
the next day. Grace seems wholly unenthused by this idea. As they leave,
Ms. Smith has an episode of some kind. She grabs Grace's hand and says
that she sees danger to someone close to Grace, in the form of a black wolf!
Mr. Smith drags his wife away. Hmmm. Maybe it's not such a bad idea to
go to the Gasthof and talk to them afterall. But I'd have to wait
because...
CHAPTER 3 OPENING MOVIE
... now you're Gabriel again.
Looks like he's soaking up some sun on a lakefront. There's a swan that's
in the process of alighting on the water, and as he watches it, he sees
interspersed with the swan's descent, pictures of a woman, a man in a hat
sporting a form of goatee giving her something, a wolf. He wakes with a
start. It was only a dream. Or was it? He finds something on his chest.
Feathers? Petals? I couldn't tell, but the implication was that whatever it
was had been left by someone or something in the dream. He stands up ready
for action again.
CHAPTER 3: Morgie's Aside
I patted myself on the back but good here. I'd made it through all of
CHAPTER 2 without becoming stuck! I decided to check into GAMERS and
see how herc was doing.
Luckily, he was there and I found out that he'd finished GK1 by now and had
installed GK2. He hadn't started the game yet, though. I figured he could
catch up to me fairly quickly, so I thought it was important to plow ahead
so I wouldn't drop too far behind later. I didn't know how much longer I'd
last at this point -- I'd started the game up in the evening and
it was almost midnight now, but I didn't seem to have hit too many stumbling
blocks so far. Always a nice feeling, but not very entertaining to write
about. Heh.
I figured that I'd continue on and see if I ran into any difficulties in
CHAPTER 3. If so, I'd call it a night and start afresh the next day.
CHAPTER 3: The Hunt Continues in Marienplatz
Since I hadn't had a chance to take a look at VON GLOWER'S BUSINESS CARD
that he'd given me during Chapter 1's ending movie, I EXAMINED it. (168)
From this, I learned where he lived, and as I found out later, was rewarded
with a new location to visit on the MAP of the U-BAHN.
There wasn't anything new to learn from LOOKING at the same surroundings
in the part of the bedroom where I'd started the game, and indeed, I
couldn't do much of anything in this part of the bedroom. Nor could I do
anything in the other bedroom area except READ today's NEWSPAPER. (169)
From this I discovered that there'd been another wolf killing -- this time
in downtown Munich.
I checked all of the areas outside of the FARMHOUSE again and couldn't find
anything new, so I took off in the CAR. Since I had an advantage that
Gabriel didn't, i.e., I knew what Grace had been up to, I headed first for
UBERGRAU'S OFFICE in MARIENPLATZ to see if her ADDRESSED PACKAGE had arrived.
Of course it had, and Ubergrau handed it to me when I walked in. I didn't
have anything to talk to him about, though, so I paused to EXAMINE the
ADDRESSED PACKAGE in his office. Inside I found and READ the GRACE-TO-
GABRIEL LETTER #2. (171) Gabriel wasn't all that happy that Grace was around
and commented to the effect that all she'd found out about were silly
rantings. How ungrateful. He wouldn't even read the two Schattenjager
journals she'd sent, although he did peruse the book on Lycanthropes when
I EXAMINED it.
I decided to give Ubergrau another shot now that I had read Grace's letter
which suggested I ask around Munich about The Black Wolf. Interestingly,
I could not only ask him about The Black Wolf, but about Ludwig II.
About LUDWIG II: Ubergrau said he was an enigma, a romantic and mysterious
figure. From the discussion, Gabriel seemed to get the idea that if he
sent Grace off to visit Ludwig's castles, she'd keep out of trouble and out
of his hair. (173)
However, Ubergrau knew nothing about THE BLACK WOLF. And, since I had
nothing left to talk to him about, I went on my way.
The SAUSAGE LADY at the DELI still wouldn't talk to me, but I did find
that Gabriel now wasn't too busy to go into the CUCKOO CLOCK SHOP and LOOK
around. I LOOKED at a number of CLOCKS that were hanging or lying around,
and Gabriel wondered whether Grace might like one for the shop redecoration.
I couldn't TALK to the SHOPKEEPER.
When I LOOKED at a CLOCK on the left side of the table in front of me,
Gabriel PICKED it UP and played around with it. The SHOPKEEPER told him
it was 60 marks. (174) I didn't think that 60 marks would break Gabriel
given all of his nouveau richness, so I HANDED GABRIEL'S WALLET to the
SHOPKEEPER and bought the woodpecker CUCKOO CLOCK. (177) When I got back
out into the street, I EXAMINED it. Gabriel made a very strange remark about
never knowing when a little woodpecking would come in handy.
It appeared that nothing else in MARIENPLATZ had changed before I got to
DIENERSTRASSE. The GUITARIST was still playing, this time to a new audience,
but I couldn't find anything to do at or around the FOUNTAIN.
At the end of DIENERSTRASSE, I came upon the CRIME SCENE where the killing
the previous night had taken place. (178) A TELEVISION NEWS CREW stood by,
along with a number of other PEOPLE. I LOOKED at them, but Gabriel didn't
think that they would know anything about what was going on. In the middle
of the group, I saw Kommisar LEBER. He wouldn't talk to me when I LOOKED
at him, so I went into my inventory to see if I had anything that might
attract his attention.
GABRIEL'S BUSINESS CARD hadn't been much help at the police station, but
maybe this time I'd have better luck. I SHOWED GABRIEL'S BUSINESS CARD
to KOMMISAR LEBER, but he ignored me. (180) Then I tried SHOWING him the
EVIDENCE ANALYSIS REPORT. This time he came over to me, but still wouldn't
talk to me, even when I told him I had evidence that contradicted his
findings. I tried SHOWING LEBER a number of other items, but Gabriel didn't
think he'd find them interesting.
I'm not sure quite how I got the idea to do this, as I don't have a memory of
considering that I might be able to play the TELEVISION NEWS CREW against
KOMMISAR LEBER, but I tried SHOWING GABRIEL'S BUSINESS CARD to the TELEVISION
NEWS CREW. Gabriel said he didn't think that the German public would be
interested in that. But this gave me the idea to SHOW the EVIDENCE ANALYSIS
REPORT to the TELEVISION NEWS CREW. This, they were quite interested in --
enough to conduct an on-the-spot interview with Gabriel. As Gabriel went
on and on about what the report said, talking just loudly enough so that
Leber would hear, Leber grew more and more agitated until he finally tackled
Gabriel and agreed to talk to him at the station later if Gabriel would only
leave and stop talking to the press. (185)
Since I was already in the neighborhood, though, I thought I'd go back to
54 DIENERSTRASSE and see if I could find anything of interest there during
the day. Xavier greeted me and told me that no one was there, but that I
could use the club.
I TALKED to XAVIER.
About THE CLUB: It had been around in its new incarnation since 1970. In
that year, Baron Von Glower came along with a new vision. He hired Xavier
in 1972. (186) The club had five members (it was very exclusive); each
new member had been interviewed and approved by the Baron. The club members
hunted as a group once a month or so, but members could use the club's
lodges at other times and did so frequently. (187)
About CLUB MEMBERS: Xavier wouldn't gossip about them, but he did tell me
that some of the club members were new. Herr Doktor Klingmann was only
brought in a few weeks before. (188)
About THE BLACK WOLF: Xavier said he'd never heard of him.
After I'd pumped Xavier dry, I headed into the club's back rooms. I LOOKED
at the MOOSE HEAD, the CHAIRS in front of the FIREPLACE (where I found a
German MAGAZINE that Gabriel PICKED UP but couldn't read, then PUT BACK),
the FIREPLACE itself, and the SOFAS. Aside from the MAGAZINE episode, I
could find nothing to do here.
The EXIT to the right gave me a fuller perspective of the room, but nothing
new to LOOK at except the BAR, which only evoked a comment from Gabriel.
In the back of the room, another EXIT led to the back hall. I LOOKED at a
PLANT, a LOCKED DOOR, and a BACK ALLEY DOOR, but I wasn't sure what to do
here for now. So I decided to visit Kommisar Leber and see if I could learn
anything from him, now that he'd agreed to talk to me.
CHAPTER 3: At the Police Station
There's a short cut-scene when Gabriel walks into Leber's office. They cut
a deal. Leber will give Gabriel press release information and Gabriel has
to give Leber information on any evidence he has. Sounded pretty one-sided
to me.
Before talking to Leber, I LOOKED around the office at the FILING CABINET,
BULLETIN BOARD, and MAP. None of these revealed much of interest except
the MAP, which I LOOKED at more closely. It marked the locations of all the
wolf killings. (189) I could learn nothing else from the MAP for now, so I
started TALKING to LEBER.
NOTE: From some of the messages on the board in GAMERS, it appears that
some people have run into a glitch here if they haven't read the GRACE-TO-
GABRIEL LETTER #2 before talking to LEBER, and/or left during the middle
of the conversation. It appears that this may result in the game not
allowing you to ask LEBER about MISSING PERSON CASES later, and that this will
keep you from being able to end Chapter 3. If you're having trouble of this
sort, I'd suggest that you take a close look at how this chapter is described
in this walkthru, because I didn't have this problem. If you do what I did,
you shouldn't get hung up.
About HIMSELF: He'd been Kommisar for 10 years, all in Munich. His rank
was analogous to that of an English Chief Inspector.
About the OTHER VICTIMS: There were five, including the one downtown. The
killings were all in broad daylight. The first of the victims was killed
32 days ago, two boys 20 days ago, and the Huber girl 6 days ago. The
frequency might be speeding up. (190) There appeared to be no pattern
to the locations of the killings.
About THE KILLER: He couldn't tell me what forensics had to say because it
wasn't for public consumption. All he could say was that the killer was
an animal. (Asking about the possibility of werewolfery got me nothing but
a blank stare. Not surprising.) Leber thought that perhaps the reason the
police couldn't track the killer was that it was a pet that was returning
to someone's home. (191) He seemed certain that the villain was a single
animal. (192) Leber seemed to think that the zoo wolves didn't figure into
the equation at all, but Gabriel disagreed. Hmm. I wasn't sure where this
was leading yet, but it piqued my interest.
About the DOWNTOWN KILLING: The latest victim was male, 52, named Grossberg.
Strangely enough, he was a furrier. (193) Leber had no theories as to why
the killing took place downtown.
About THE BLACK WOLF: When I mentioned this subject, something seemed to
click in Leber's mind. He went to a filing cabinet and pulled out a file
on a missing persons case involving a teenaged girl who had disappeared
in the Bavarian National Forest. The only witness, an old lady who everyone
thought was nuts, had said a black wolf had taken the girl. (195)
I now had the option to TALK to LEBER about MISSING PERSONS CASES. He
said they mostly involved teenage runaways.
Leber then wanted to talk about Gabriel. Gabriel admitted that he was
an American P.I. investigating the Huber girl's death. Leber demanded that
Gabriel contact him if he learned anything and that he not talk to the press
on pain of deportation. That was the end of the conversation.
Before leaving the office, for some reason that I can't explain, I decided
to take another look at the MAP on the wall. Maybe it was because Leber
had invited me to do so during our conversation and I thought perhaps that,
along with the other things we'd discussed, might cause Gabriel to see
something in the MAP that he hadn't seen before. As it turned out, Gabriel
did notice something else on the MAP -- a NOTE tacked to the right-hand
side that contained an address and phone number for the latest victim,
Grossberg. I wondered what would happen if I called that number? As I'd
learned, I couldn't use the phones in the game unless I had something to
USE with the PHONE, so I figured I couldn't just rely on Gabriel to
memorize the number. I looked through my inventory and found GABRIEL'S
NOTEBOOK, which I USED with the NOTE. Gabriel surreptitiously copied down
the phone number. (198)
Now that I had the number and I couldn't seem to talk to Leber anymore,
I decided to return to the Huber farmhouse and call the number.
But first, I had to sleep. I was exhausted even if Gabriel wasn't yet, and,
as can happen when I'm engrossed in a game, when I looked at my watch it
was after 4:00 a.m. I wasn't stuck -- at least not yet -- so I felt
reasonably calm as I fell asleep.
CHAPTER 3: Communications By Phone and Mail
When I started the game back up again the next afternoon, I resumed my agenda.
I USED GROSSBERG'S PHONE NUMBER with the PHONE. I reached someone who
was in the process of calling all of his business associates to inform
them of his death. Gabriel posed as an American business associate,
and she looked for his name in the address book, but couldn't find it.
Interestingly, however, she read the names near where Knight should be
aloud as she looked. Gabriel, in a moment of cleverness, asked her to
look under "Von" for Von Knight, and lo and behold, as she read out the names
again, Von Aigner's name came up. The woman said that the accounts were
frozen and there was no money in them, and when Gabriel asked for an
account balance, she said that she could not provide one because the police
had taken all the accounting records. (201)
While in the farmhouse, I decided to try writing to Grace again since I
suspected that Gabriel would want to tell her to go look around Ludwig's
castles. This could be the beginning of a new slang phrase: "aw, go look
at Ludwig's castles, would ya?"
Gabriel wrote GABRIEL-TO-GRACE ENVELOPE #2 (202) and I headed
back to MARIENPLATZ, where I USED it with the POST OFFICE. (203)
While I was in the neighborhood, I thought I'd stop back by 54 DIENERSTRASSE
again, but nothing was happening there.
Back out at the MAP, I tried going back to PRINZREGENTENPLATZ to see if
I could talk to Leber about Grossberg's accounting records, but I couldn't
go there -- the police station was closed. I also tried going back to
THALKIRCHEN, but Klingmann's office was closed and there was nothing new
in the other locations there. Nor could I visit the UNIVERSITAT.
Now seemed as good a time as any to drop in on Von Glower, so I went to
PERLACH.
CHAPTER 3: My Dinner with Friederich (Well, Close)
Von Glower greeted me and was more than happy to chat. He said something
really creepy about finding nothing more stimulating than a new companion.
All I could think about was that bit in the Lycanthropes book about
werewolves converting others for companionship. Secondarily, I was concerned
I might have to either succumb to or fend off a seduction here, and having
never dealt with such an adventure game puzzle before (I'd played the
seducer in LSL3 but never the seducee) I was sure I'd get stuck if I had
to deal with one. Just like real life! <evil grin>
I only found one thing to LOOK at in Von Glower's house -- a MASK that he
said he'd picked up in Brazil. (204) Perhaps he was somehow connected to the
incident that the _Manos del Sol_ had reported?
I then had a lengthy and fascinating discussion with Von Glower.
About HIMSELF: He'd been raised abroad, in various places. He loved to
travel. But both of his parents had deep Bavarian roots. He had no wife
or children. He'd noted certain similarities between Gabriel and himself,
and the fact that Gabriel was also a bachelor added to them. There was
also a bit of other chit-chat here.
About THE CLUB: He wanted Gabriel to develop his own perspective about it.
The need for a fresh eye was one of the reasons he'd asked Gabriel to join
them.
About CLUB MEMBERS: They were valuable friends, once you got to know them.
All were from wealthy German families, but Von Glower also found it important
that they were all personally accomplished and gifted. Von Aigner ran
a successful butcher and brewery. Preiss was an accomplished trial lawyer.
Hennemann, a politician, was an acknowledged contender for high office.
Von Zell's family owned the majority of stock in one of Munich's largest
banks. Von Glower lapsed into the past tense when speaking of Von Zell.
Gabriel caught this and mentioned it, but Von Glower glossed over it. (206)
About THE BLACK WOLF: This was very interesting. Von Glower lost it,
spilled his drink, called the butler for help, and then regained his
composure and excused himself. He said that he was very upset by the killings
in the paper, that he thought that these events placed hunters in a bad
light. The club's philosophy didn't condone this sort of thing -- in nature
beasts only killed when there was need and without waste -- only humans were
capable of such pointless slaughter. (208) I thought it was quite suspicious
that he'd launched into a defense of the club at the mention of the Black
Wolf and that he'd brought up the killings in this connection.
I had nothing more to talk to Von Glower about now, so I went back to the MAP.
I was a more than slightly unsure of what to do now, so for the first time,
I used the HINT button. I still had things left to do at MARIENPLATZ and
PERLACH, and I'd just come from PERLACH, so I figured I should go talk to
Ubergrau, who I hadn't spoken with in awhile.
CHAPTER 3: Morgie Almost Loses It
I found that I could talk to Ubergrau about MISSING PERSONS. He said he'd
have some research done for me on such cases near forested areas, going back
ten years. It would be ready by tomorrow. (211)
Now I was really unsure of what to do. If not for that hint that I'd
inadvertently read back when I was stuck in Chapter 1, there's no telling
how long I would have been stuck here.
I recalled something about needing to use the CUCKOO CLOCK to get into a
locked area. I had the CUCKOO CLOCK, and I certainly knew of a locked
area. I went back to 54 DIENERSTRASSE and into the back hall of the hunt
club.
My first inclination was to USE the CUCKOO CLOCK on the LOCKED DOOR, which
made about as much sense to me as anything else I might do with it. This
didn't work. I couldn't USE it on the BACK ALLEY DOOR either, which left
the PLANT. Astonishingly, when I USED THE CUCKOO CLOCK with the PLANT,
Gabriel wound the clock up, set it, and placed it behind the PLANT. (216)
As I was mucking around looking for something else to do here, I was taken
automatically to a cut-scene of Gabriel sitting by the FIREPLACE in the
adjoining room, pretending to read a MAGAZINE. Something that sounded like a
knock at the door happened, and someone walked by Gabriel. Hmm. What was
_this_ all about? I ended up still by the FIREPLACE when this scene was
over, so I went back and tried to OPEN the LOCKED DOOR. No luck.
I TOOK the CUCKOO CLOCK back and USED it on the PLANT again, but this time
I walked back into the room with the FIREPLACE right afterwards to see if
I could catch someone walking by. Again, no luck -- the same cut-scene
took over eventually. I tried this exercise a few more times, but nothing
was making sense to me. Finally, I decided to leave the club after USING
the CUCKOO CLOCK with the PLANT.
As luck would have it, I wasn't quick enough in leaving (I paused to try to
TALK to XAVIER again), and now I found out what I guess I was supposed to
know all along somehow -- that I was supposed to distract Xavier by
simulating a knock at the door with the woodpecker CUCKOO CLOCK as it pecked
against the PLANT. Xavier left to go answer the door, and I could LOOK
at the PODIUM behind which he spent most of his time.
First, I WENT THROUGH the NOTEBOOK on top of the PODIUM, but found nothing.
So I OPENED the DRAWER. (217) Inside, I found some BOOKS, a STAPLER, and
a number of other things to LOOK at, but that Gabriel didn't need. I also
found XAVIER'S KEYS. I TOOK XAVIER'S KEYS (220) and then Xavier returned.
I went back to the LOCKED DOOR and UNLOCKED it with XAVIER'S KEYS. (225)
But when I tried to OPEN it, Gabriel said he should return the keys before
Xavier noticed they were gone. So I RETRIEVED the CUCKOO CLOCK and USED
it with the PLANT again, then went back and STOOD by the PODIUM until
Xavier left again to answer the door he thought was being knocked on. I
RETURNED XAVIER'S KEYS to the DRAWER (by USING them with the PODIUM) (226)
and then went back to the now UNLOCKED DOOR again. I TOOK the CUCKOO CLOCK
back from behind the PLANT just in case I'd need to use it for something
else later.
NOTE: I have to say that I thought the above was by far the single worst
puzzle in the game. In replaying, I looked for _any_ sign from the game
that I should know that Xavier had keys to that locked door, and that there
was a drawer behind the podium where he kept them. I couldn't find anything
of the sort. There wasn't even a hotspot on the podium before Xavier walked
away to answer the door. Anywhere I clicked, I got Xavier -- not the podium.
In addition, the necessity of being in a certain place at a certain time,
and the unlikely use of the clock here, made the whole experience one truly
illogical puzzle.
But at least now I was free to go behind the UNLOCKED DOOR.
Gabriel descended some stairs and ended up in a Ritual Room. I LOOKED
at the TROPHIES on the wall, some of which appeared to be endangered
species, and all of which looked very exotic. (227) I also LOOKED at the
CANDLES and SKULL on the CREDENZA beneath the TROPHIES. (228) Gabriel
didn't think they had too much to do with hunting. Then I LOOKED at what
turned out to be a BOOK that was lying on the CREDENZA. (229) Gabriel
READ an entry with the names Preiss, Aigner, and Hennemann and figures
next to the names. He wondered what the figures meant. (231)
The only things left to LOOK at now were the RIFLES on the wall. When
I did, I saw them from a different angle. They were hung around some PHOTOS.
I LOOKED at all the RIFLES, but Gabriel just made the same comment about
ninjas each time. I then LOOKED at the PHOTOS, which were of the club
hunts, and featured Von Glower and Von Zell. (232)
As I was backing away from the PHOTOS, Von Zell rudely interrupted me and
insisted on personally escorting me out of this "members only" room. We
ended up back in the hunt club's main hall. After Von Zell chastised poor
Xavier for leaving the door unlocked, he settled down in front of the
FIREPLACE. I decided to get on my best behavior and try to talk to him.
He agree, reluctantly.
About HIMSELF: His family was in banking. He didn't seem to think much
of Gabriel's being a writer.
About HUNTING: He claimed that he and Von Glower were the best hunters.
When Gabriel mentioned that hunters, like any sportspersons, could improve
with practice, Von Zell became irate and said that hunting was a matter of
the spirit, of will. He did concede, however, that he and Von Glower had
the most practice of those in the club. They had hunted together frequently
in the past, but didn't that much anymore. (233) Von Zell said he'd
outgrown Von Glower, but that Gabriel wouldn't understand what he meant.
I wondered at this point whether Von Zell was planning to leave the pack
and start his own as its Alpha.
About CLUB MEMBERS: He didn't want to talk about them, and turned the
questions around on Gabriel. Why was Gabriel in Munich? Where was he
staying? Gabriel stayed with general responses and played dumb.
About THE CLUB: All the members were very busy and so didn't travel much
together. (This gave me a new option to ask about the TROPHIES IN BASEMENT.)
If Gabriel wanted to learn about the club, he should keep his mouth shut and
observe.
When I ASKED about the TROPHIES in BASEMENT, Von Zell got extremely edgy,
apparently believing that Gabriel was accusing the club of illegally hunting
endangered animals. He lit into Gabriel, advising him to keep his "prowling"
and "sniffing" to those areas where he was invited. (Ooooooh. He even
talks like a wolf. Er. If a wolf could talk, I mean.) Then he ran off,
before I could finish asking him about my last conversation option, The
Black Wolf. (236)
I decided, rather than trying to chase Von Zell, to replay this part and see
what would happen if I ASKED about THE BLACK WOLF before the TROPHIES IN
BASEMENT. This worked nicely, as I made it through all of my conversation
options this way, but Von Zell said he hadn't heard of THE BLACK WOLF and
I received no additional points for getting through all the options.
Now I was alone again, so I thought I'd go back to PERLACH and see whether
I could continue my conversation with Von Glower now that I'd been into
the Ritual Room (this location had still been showing actions necessary when
I left it the last time).
CHAPTER 3: My Dessert With Friederich (Figuratively Speaking)
Sure enough, I had more to talk about with Von Glower now.
About the CLUB BASEMENT: The club was more than just a hunting club. The
members also shared certain philosophical beliefs. (238)
About the CLUB PHILOSOPHY: The club members wanted to connect with their
true physical natures, all that had been dulled by the advent of civilization.
Von Glower compared civilized humanity to beasts, and said that humans had
lost their senses and instincts through disuse. Von Glower believed that
such powers could be recovered. He'd felt it himself, but couldn't prove
it objectively. (240) One goes about getting in touch with the physical
self, at least in part, through hunting. Hunting helps humans get back
to their predator souls. The club's philosophy could be applied in daily
life, and it had helped the men at the club to increase their power in
civilized society. Von Glower hoped that it wasn't possible to take this
philosophy too far. (241)
We had nothing more to say to each other for the time being, so I departed,
after Von Glower said he hoped to see me at the club later, and invited me
back to his place for a drink after that. (His charm and rakish good looks
made me more than happy to accept.)
I returned to MARIENPLATZ, since it was the only location where I still
had anything to do. I went back to my usual haunts, but neither Ubergrau
nor the sausage lady had anything to say to me. So I headed back to the
hunt club.
CHAPTER 3: The Hunt Thickens, or Something Like That
Back at the club, Xavier was still infoless, but when I headed into the
main hall I ran into Preiss. He was fresh from the shower and downing some
shots at the bar, then went to sit by the FIREPLACE. I decided to join him
and see if he was up for a chat. He seemed... willing.
About HIMSELF: He was a lawyer, but he had enough money to be able to take
only the cases that interested him. (Lucky dog.) He enjoyed his leisure
time. He spent it "entertaining." He adored and was obsessed by women
and pleasure, and thought he had Gabriel pegged as a Cassanova type, too.
About THE CLUB: He thought the philosophy worked. He didn't believe in
suppressing natural urges, but his instincts ran to pleasure, not to violence.
He believed that nature dealt with those who veered toward violence; it
led the normals to hunt down the mutants and destroy them and their deviant
bloodlines.
About THE CLUB MEMBERS: Von Zell had always been arrogant, but at one time
he'd been fairly decent and Von Glower's favorite. Von Zell had changed,
though. (242) Contrary to what Von Glower had said, Preiss said that
Hennemann was a drunk, and his political career was over. (243)
About VON ZELL: He'd started to change about a year ago. (244) More
recently, about five or six weeks previously, Von Glower had called Von
Zell down for something and Von Zell had insulted Von Glower and called him
weak. (245) (Hmm. Just a couple of weeks before the first mutilation
killing.) Von Zell had been an asset because he was a banker and had
helped out some of the club members with money. Preiss had taken less
advantage of this "hospitality" than some of the others. (246)
About THE BLACK WOLF: Surprisingly, Preiss thought this sounded familiar.
He said he'd tell Gabriel if he remembered where he'd heard about it.
At this point, the others arrived and set about pouring drinks. Preiss
said he needed to speak with Von Glower, and excused himself, leaving me
alone. I decided to try to mingle as best I could.
I approached HENNEMANN and VON AIGNER, who were standing by the bar, and
TALKED to them.
VON AIGNER said that he'd talk to me more tomorrow, as did HENNEMANN.
About the WOLF KILLINGS: They asked me for details and Von Aigner looked
disconcerted when I mentioned that the victim was Grossberg -- but he
denied knowing Grossberg. (248)
When Gabriel approached, these two had been talking about tomorrow's hunting
trip in the Bavarian National Forest. They asked if Gabriel would be joining
the club on the hunt, and a cut-scene began in which Von Glower said, sure,
why not -- Von Zell disagreed -- and it was decided that I'd be going hunting
tomorrow if I wanted to. (250)
I had nothing more to talk to the pair at the bar about, so I went over to
bother KLINGMANN and VON ZELL, both of whom had always seemed to adore me
(NOT!). They were sitting by the FIREPLACE.
I ASKED how things were going, and they made it clear they wanted me to leave.
Undaunted, I went back and asked what they were talking about. Von Zell
rejected me again after insulting me. I went back still again and asked them
what was new, but they just gave me a hard time. Throughout all of this,
they kept telling me they were having a private conversation and to please
get lost. (This was a hint that I should try to hear this conversation
somehow, but it was too subtle for me until after I figured out the puzzle.)
Finally, I went back and said I just wanted to grab a MAGAZINE, which I did.
(251)
Now, the only people left to talk to were Preiss and Von Glower. Von Glower
wasn't quite ready for me, but, characteristically, he wasn't at all nasty
in sending me away.
I wasn't quite sure what to do now, so I tried to talk to the Bobbsey Twins
by the FIREPLACE again, and I got another little hint here: I should try
talking to them again when I had something meaningful to say.
Feeling socially inept, I decided to EXAMINE the MAGAZINE. I couldn't
READ it because it was in German, but maybe I could interest someone in it?
No luck. I couldn't SHOW it to anyone.
I tried walking around the club for a bit, but I couldn't find anything
else to do. Since I'd received points for TAKING the MAGAZINE, I figured it
had to be important somehow, but since it was useless as reading material
I decided to try combining it with another item in my inventory.
Rather accidentally, I hit upon the combination of USING the MAGAZINE with
the TAPE RECORDER. (256) When I EXAMINED this combo, I found that I'd
hidden the TAPE RECORDER inside the MAGAZINE. Now it all made sense. I
could bug Von Zell and Klingmann and perhaps record that private conversation
of theirs that had made them take such pains to drive me away.
When I USED the MAGAZINE with VON ZELL, I was able to tell him I wanted
to put the magazine back. (261) I made a mental note to retrieve that
TAPE RECORDER as soon as the coast was clear. But I'd have to wait,
because...
CHAPTER 3 ENDING MOVIE
... at this point, Von Glower comes over and apologizes for not getting back
to Gabriel sooner. He says he's glad that Gabriel will be joining them on
the hunt the next day. Since they'll be starting in the afternoon, he and
Gabriel can stay up late tonight. Von Zell gets all vicious again and
demands to know why Gabriel is there. He yells that Gabriel is poking into
all the club members' private business and that Gabriel must be a reporter,
or the police. Von Glower tries to smooth things over, but Von Zell storms
off saying "it" will be on Von Glower's head.
Von Glower apologizes again, says that it's not Gabriel's fault -- the
harmony within the club had been gone for some time. He's getting tired of
Von Zell. Gabriel excuses himself and says he'll see Von Glower later.
He arrives back at the Huber farmhouse.
When he gets out of the car, he sees what appears to be a dead animal on
the ground, and a wolf watching him from the woods. Von Zell? The talisman
flashes and seems to cause the wolf some agitation. Gabriel goes inside.
CHAPTER 4 OPENING MOVIE
This time, it's Grace who is dreaming. She's running across some snowy
hillsides, being chased by wolves. What the heck is she wearing and
what's with her hair? A sleigh stops nearby and Grace runs toward it.
She takes the hand of someone in the sleigh, and just as it appears
she'll be safe, he turns into a wolf. She wakes with a start, just as
Gabriel had at the beginning of Chapter 3. <Twilight Zone music>
CHAPTER 4: In Rittersberg
NOTE: Chapter 4 is by far the most detailed, and, I think, the longest
chapter in the game, but almost all of it has to do with looking at things
in various locations. A great deal of the story unfolds in this chapter,
and I found very little among all of this detail that wasn't of some use
in helping me to pull the story together and to concoct my own theories
of what exactly was going on here. If I were writing a "do X, do Y" walkthru,
I'd merely list a lot of these things and just tell you to look at them.
But since I'm writing an explanatory text, I haven't done that. You'll
therefore find a great deal of detail in this section of the walkthru that
mirrors the detail of the chapter itself. I apologize in advance for this
section's length, but I found it necessary to be as detailed as I was to
be able to give you a true feel for how I viewed this part as I played.
I started by retracing my steps and seeing if there was anything new to
do in Gabriel's Bedroom or the LIBRARY. I had some luck in the LIBRARY --
when I LOOKED at the biography section on the far left SHELF again, Grace
found an English language biography of Ludwig II. (263) I EXAMINED
CHAPHILL'S LUDWIG BIOGRAPHY to READ it.
In it, as expected, we learn a fair amount about Ludwig. In my view, the
main points were: (1) Ludwig was an introvert who was out of synch with
the mores of his time and couldn't handle reality very well, (2) he had been
a hunter in his youth, but had had a hunting accident from which he never
recovered; after that, he stopped hunting and his health gradually
deteriorated, (3) he had had a longstanding friendship with Empress Elizabeth
of Austria, but most of the rest of his relationships were failures because
he became obsessed with people, usually young men, who failed to return
his obsessive love, so he grew disappointed in them and cut them off, (4)
one such obsession was with a young man called Louis, who Ludwig had seen
at a performance of Lohengrin, and who was a high-bred foreigner with whom
Ludwig was involved until around 1880, (5) Ludwig was riddled with guilt
over his sexuality and swore, without success, to abstain from sex; however,
he was still devout and never gave his heart over to sin. (264)
I couldn't find anything else to do in the LIBRARY or Gabriel's Bedroom,
although when I LOOKED at the TYPEWRITER, Grace said she'd write to Gabriel
when she had some information to pass along. I kept this in mind for later.
I didn't see any reason to go through the PASSAGEWAY at this point, so I
headed downstairs. Gerde wasn't in her usual spot at the DESK in the Main
Hall. When I LOOKED at the DESK, Grace wondered where Gerde was. I had
a suspicion that I'd find her in one of two places: her room, or the crypt
at the church, visiting Wolfgang. But for now, I thought it best to go
try to find the Smiths at the Gasthof and see whether I could learn anything
about the vision Ms. Smith had had the previous night. I LOOKED at
everything else on my way out, just to double check and be sure I hadn't
missed anything.
I went directly to the Gasthof and caught the Smiths just as they'd finished
breakfast. I TALKED to MS. SMITH, but her husband chimed in from time to
time as well.
About THEMSELVES: They helped protect people against satanic forces by
delving into the supernatural. They, along with the Shattenjagers, were
warriors against evil. (265)
About LUDWIG II: They'd seen his castles. Grace told them about the letter
she'd found from Christian Ritter, warning Ludwig about The Black Wolf.
Ms. Smith thought that whoever had used her as a "megaphone" the night before
had helped Grace to find the letter, and suggested that Grace should
follow where this presence seemed to be pointing -- i.e., at Ludwig. (267)
About the BLACK WOLF: Ms. Smith wasn't the one talking the previous night;
it was a spirit. She'd help Grace as best she could (she was pretty good
at Tarot readings). (269) But she didn't remember anything that had
happened the previous night once the spirit took over her body, so she
couldn't tell Grace anything about the Black Wolf.
I then ASKED MS. SMITH to perform a TAROT reading for Grace. Here's what
happened:
Grace's soul card, the Empress, meant that her soul's journey was one of
leadership. The Chariot showed that in this lifetime, Grace very much
needed to feel in control, and was driven toward achievement. Her "other"
was the Magician -- cunning, manipulative, and strong with the occult,
among other things. Ms. Smith thought that this other might be Gabriel
and found it interesting that where Grace was all logic and reasoning,
Gabriel was spiritual and intuitive. The Strength (Lust) card showed what
Grace was up to now -- a trial of some sort. Ms. Smith asked what the
trial was and Grace said maybe it was the new case she and Gabriel were
working on. Ms. Smith felt sure that this would be a hard row to hoe.
She urged Grace to use her love for Gabriel to succeed in this trial.
Grace tried to tell Ms. Smith that she had the wrong idea about Grace
and Gabriel, but Ms. Smith didn't seem to be buying it. (270)
MS. SMITH was also willing to perform a TAROT reading for GABRIEL, so I let
her do it. This is what she saw:
His soul card was the Magician. (What a coincidink!) His lifetime card,
the Lovers, meant that he had a duality within himself. His challenge was
to integrate the conflicting parts of himself. Ms. Smith told Grace that
Grace would find peace when she'd learned to love both parts of Gabriel,
the good as well as the bad. Grace went into major denial here. Heh.
Gabriel's "other," the High Priestess, represented deep mystical energies,
a spiritual guide (but wasn't Grace -- hahaha). The Black Wolf episode Ms.
Smith had must have been a message from this guide. Gabriel's current
situation card was Death: dying to one thing and being born to another.
Ms. Smith then drew a fifth card: the 2 of Wands. She said it was a war
card, and signified that Gabriel was waging a spiritual battle between
good and evil. However you looked at it, Gabriel was in great danger.
(272)
I wasn't sure why it was that Gabriel got five cards and Grace only got
four. But I did get the idea from this business about the Death card that
Gabriel would find himself having to choose between the life of a werewolf
and that of a Schattenjager. Talk about foreshadowing.
When we were done, the Smiths told me they'd stay in town to help. If
anything came up that could be a clue, I should let them know. I figured
it was a good bet I'd have to come back and see them again.
Before I left the Gasthof, I thought I'd have a word with Herr Huber. I
TALKED to him about GABRIEL'S CASE, but he hadn't changed his mind about
telling me where Gabriel was. Oh well.
I then stopped by the POST OFFICE and RANG the BELL, since I figured I might
be able to pick up the letter Gabriel had sent the day before. In fact I
could. (274) I EXAMINED it to READ it. As expected, Gabriel suggested
that Grace check out one of Ludwig's castles and a museum dedicated to him.
But Gabriel didn't give an address for himself, and this ticked Grace off.
(275)
I found nothing new to do at the DUNGEON and the RATHAUS appeared to be
closed. So I wandered over to the CHURCH.
Back in the CRYPT, I found GERDE. I tried to TALK to her, but she was
weeping over the SILVER HEART on Wolfgang's coffin. (276) Here, Grace
finally snapped to the fact that Gerde had been in love with Wolfgang.
I tried TALKING to GERDE a few more times. Grace realized she should
apologize for her nastiness before, but didn't want to interrupt Gerde.
She thought perhaps she should do something else.
I thought about what I'd seen around Rittersberg that might make a nice
peace offering. I decided to try saying it with flowers.
I went back to Schloss Ritter and through the CLOSET in Gabriel's Bedroom.
In the PASSAGEWAY, I took the passage to the OUTSIDE. Here, I PICKED FOUR
ROSES from the rose bush. (278) I TOOK the FOUR ROSES back to the CHURCH and
into the CRYPT where I HANDED them to GERDE. Grace placed them on Wolfgang's
coffin. She apologized, but her anger at Gabriel took over during it and
basically wrecked the apology. In any event, when Grace told Gerde she
needed to go see Ludwig's castles for research purposes and asked for help,
Gerde handed Grace GABRIEL'S CAR KEYS. (284) Gerde also said that Grace
would find a map of Southern Bavaria in the car; Ludwig's castles were all
marked on it.
I was ready to ramble. Rittersberg was a nice town and all, but a little on
the small side. So I went back to the CAR and USED GABRIEL'S CAR KEYS on
it. (285)
I found two choices on the map: NEUSCHWANSTEIN, a castle, or HERRENCHIEMSEE,
a museum (judging by Gabriel's rancid translation efforts in the GABRIEL-TO-
GRACE LETTER #2). I headed for the castle first.
CHAPTER 4: At Neuschwanstein
NOTE: The castle at Neuschwanstein is probably my favorite part of the game.
Not only is the castle beautiful to look at and interesting to learn about,
the Tour Tape made me feel as though I, myself, was actually touring the
castle. I've used many in my own travels and I started to wish that I was
travelling abroad. I thought it was an excellent way of imparting a great
deal of information to the player and really added to the "authenticity"
of the castle tour.
NOTE: In my first game, I didn't LOOK at the WOLF PAINTINGS in the Singer's
Hall as thoroughly as I did in my second game as I went through. This
resulted in my having to return to NEUSCHWANSTEIN and LOOK at them again
and also LISTEN to the TOUR TAPE before I could ask Georg at the Wagner
Museum about the WOLF PANELS. In replaying, I was more thorough and I didn't
have to go back and ask Georg about them again. Since I didn't realize
this until I'd finished writing this part, I ask your forgiveness, gentle
readers, for my departure from my stated goal to recreate my first game
as authentically as possible. In the long run, I think you'll find the
walkthru more useful this way.
I sort of bumbled around a bit here until I discovered that Grace had picked
up a TOUR TAPE in English when she walked in the door (as I learned from
EXAMINING the TOUR TAPE DECK that had suddenly appeared in my inventory).
I'd wondered why I suddenly had a TOUR TAPE button at the lower left of my
screen, and solved this mystery when I delved into my inventory.
Before I figured out a system for touring the castle using the TOUR TAPE,
I'd LOOKED at the PAINTINGS in the Entry Hall, and Grace had just wondered
what they were all about. I finally hit upon the system of having Grace
LOOK at a hotspot if possible, then listening to any TOUR TAPE description
if I had that option, and then having Grace LOOK at it again, hopefully with
increased understanding from what she'd learned from the TOUR TAPE. Even
using this system, however, I missed a few things both in my first game
and also in replaying that I went back to clean up later, as discussed below.
I'd also tried to TALK to the GUARD who was standing in the Entry Hall, but
I couldn't. So I decided to focus on taking the tour for now and think about
what I might do with or to the guards later.
In the Entry Hall, I LISTENED to the TOUR TAPE and got some general
information on Ludwig II. He'd built three castles during his lifetime
and had had plans for a fourth when he died. Ludwig also had a passion for
classical heroic German mythology, which taste he shared with the composer,
Richard Wagner. Ludwig had decorated Neuschwanstein with scenes from these
stories, most of which directly related to Wagner's operas. (286)
When I LOOKED again at the PAINTINGS in the Entry Hall, I listened to the
TOUR TAPE and learned that they were from the Siegfried Saga.
Before moving through a doorway, I noticed a small door toward the left
side of the screen. I LOOKED at this DOOR. Grace wondered where it led.
The TOUR TAPE here told me that the DOOR led to the castle's TOWER, which
wasn't part of the tour. Ludwig had been trying to get to the TOWER
when he was arrested in 1886. I LOOKED at the DOOR again, and Grace
wondered why Ludwig was going to the tower the night of his arrest.
I MOVED to the next room, and LISTENED to the TOUR TAPE. It explained
that we were now in Ludwig's Bedroom, done in a Tristan und Isolde theme.
Ludwig had seen the first performance of this Wagnerian opera in 1865.
The sort of spending that went into this elaborately decorated bedroom
had bankrupted Ludwig. (287)
I LOOKED at the BED, and got a close up view of it and some other furniture.
I LOOKED again at the BED and the FURNITURE, then LISTENED to the TOUR TAPE
to learn more about how it had been built.
I then LOOKED at the MURALS toward the ceiling and LISTENED to the TOUR
TAPE. These paintings depicted scenes from the opera, Tristan und Isolde.
There were several EXITS here, and I took the one to the far right first.
This gave me another view of the bedroom. The TOUR TAPE information was
the same in this screen, but when I LOOKED at something to the far left of
my screen, I came to another close up view. The TOUR TAPE explained that
I was looking at a tiled stove with clay figures of Tristan and Isolde
decorating it. When I exited this screen, I was back on the side of the
bedroom I'd started in.
This time I took the EXIT to the right in the back of the screen, under
the murals. As I learned from the TOUR TAPE, I had entered Ludwig's
private Chapel. The TOUR TAPE informed me that Ludwig had been a devout
Catholic. (288)
In the Chapel, I LOOKED at a CRUCIFIX on the wall, and Grace admired it.
I EXITED UP from this screen to a PAINTING that I LOOKED at. Grace wondered
if Ludwig thought of himself as a King Saint, which is what this painting
appeared to show. The TOUR TAPE said that the painting portrayed St. Louis
surrounded by seraphim. As a side note, the TOUR TAPE went on, for a period
of about a year, Ludwig had ordered all of the Louis images in all of his
castles to be covered with black cloth. Hmm. Sounds like St. Louis was
connected to that other Louis with whom Ludwig had become obsessed, as
described in Chaphill's book -- at least in Ludwig's mind.
I then LOOKED at the figure of the MADONNA. Grace noted that she was the
Black Madonna of Altotting and wondered what her story was all about.
Finally, I LOOKED at the STAINED GLASS and LISTENED to the TOUR TAPE. The
windows depicted St. Louis receiving the last sacraments.
I left the Chapel and moved on through the remaining EXIT next to the BED.
The TOUR TAPE explained that I had entered the king's Living Room, decorated
in a Lohengrin theme. Ludwig had also seen this Wagner opera, and it had
affected him deeply. Ludwig, like Lohengrin, was essentially lonely. Ludwig
withdrew into a fantasy world and only wanted to be alone in his dreams.
So extreme was this desire that he wouldn't even let his servants look
at him. Grace wondered what he was afraid they'd see. (289)
I was starting to feel reasonably confident from what I'd learned about
Ludwig so far -- the hunting accident, the danger of the Black Wolf, his
public image as being eccentric or perhaps crazy, and now that he wouldn't
let his servants look at him -- that Ludwig might have at some point become
a werewolf. But I didn't want to jump to any conclusions just yet.
I LOOKED at the TABLE and the OTTOMAN in this room, but Grace just commented
on the linens. Then I LOOKED at the CHAIR next to it, and Grace said she was
surprised that people didn't sit in the chairs while the guards weren't
looking. Interesting. What was so significant about this CHAIR that it
merited its own screen? Too early to tell, perhaps, but something to think
about.
Finally, I LOOKED at the PAINTING behind the TABLE and LISTENED to the
TOUR TAPE. The painting seemed to be titled: The Miracle of the Grail.
I EXITED through the opposite end of the room from where I'd entered and
came to the other end of the Living Room. A SWAN STATUE figured prominently
in this part of the room, so I LOOKED at it. The TOUR TAPE explained that
the swan motif appeared throughout the castle, but especially in this
room. (I had a flashback to Thomas Mann and literary leitmotifs that I'd
studied in college, and interestingly, remembered a tidbit I'd also learned:
that Wagner's operas also contained what had been called musical leitmotifs,
which had influenced the style of German novelists such as Mann. A totally
useless bit of information, probably, but it did go through my head when
I heard the word motif, so I mention it here.) Ludwig had associated images
of swans and lilies with himself -- to him, they represented natural purity
and majesty. The PAINTING behind the SWAN STATUTE, the TOUR TAPE said,
showed Lohengrin's arrival.
Continuing on through the doorway here, I came to a Grotto. I LOOKED at
the TABLE here. Grace said she could almost picture Ludwig here and wondered
what he had dreamed about in this room. The TOUR TAPE said that this
room reproduced the Grotto in the Tannhauser Saga, and exemplified how the
castles were solitary playgrounds for Ludwig. Here, he could imagine himself
one of the mythical heros from these tales. Ludwig had ordered the castles
to be razed upon his death, but the estate was in such debt when Ludwig
died that they had been opened for paying tours. Since then they had
paid for themselves many times over and were now considered Bavarian
treasures. (290) Oddly, I thought of Michael Jackson, who seemed to have
the same propensity toward building private playgrounds and living in
a fantasy world from all I'd heard and read.
The next room turned out to be Ludwig's Study. I LOOKED at the DESK here.
Grace thought it looked like a nice place to work. I also LOOKED at a
CABINET against the wall. Grace didn't think there'd be anything left in it,
and anyway, the guards were unlikely to be too pleased if she started to
poke around in there.
The TOUR TAPE said that Ludwig had spent a lot of time at his DESK, working
on projects, studying literature, and other such pastimes. In later years,
he had also studied the occult. (Oooooh.) He also reluctantly attended
to affairs of state here. His reluctance had been part of the reason charges
had been levied against him. After Bavaria ceded power to Prussia (yeah,
it should be ceded, not succeeded as the tape said), Ludwig became frustrated
by his lack of power to be a true monarch in his definition of the term.
(291)
The three PAINTINGS in this room, according to the TOUR TAPE, were from
the Tannhauser Saga.
Through the doorway here, I came to the Singer's hall. The TOUR TAPE said
this was the last stop on the tour. The hall had been built for small
private concerts, but Ludwig never gave one here -- although Wagner
supposedly visited frequently during the last years of his life and performed
for Ludwig privately in this room. The hall was best known for its wolf
paintings -- the originals were from the Parsifal Saga (Parsi(v)al... one of
the wolves that had escaped from the zoo. I knew I'd heard that before.),
but in 1882, Ludwig had them all replaced with new paintings that he'd
created the descriptions and titles for himself. This was the only room
in the castle not decorated with scenes from one of Wagner's operas -- the
paintings here weren't from any opera that anyone could identify. (292)
I LOOKED at the WOLF PAINTING at the far end of the room. (294) Grace
wondered why Ludwig would have wolf paintings in his castle. My thoughts
exactly.
Then I LOOKED at each of the other PAINTINGS here, and listened to the TOUR
TAPE. I learned the names of all the PAINTINGS. From left to right:
(1) Engelhart and the Blacksmith, (2) Engelhart Courts Hildegunde, (3)
The Hunters Track Down Engelhart and Hildegunde, (4) Hildegunde's
Imprisonment, (5) The Wedding Feast of Hildegunde and the Baron, (6) The
Death of Engelhart. Hmm. Wasn't the female zoo wolf named Hilda? Short
for Hildegunde, perhaps?
I LOOKED out the LOOKOUT <grin> at the opposite end of the hall from the
first wolf painting. The TOUR TAPE told me that Ludwig's childhood castle
could be seen from here, but Grace just marvelled at the nice view of the
Alps.
I took a last LOOK at the first WOLF PAINTING. Grace said she knew there
had to be a story behind it. But what story?
I felt I'd done all I could do at Neuschwanstein for now, except perhaps
get into that little DOOR off of the Entry Hall. But I'd come back and
try that later. For now, I wanted to check out the Ludwig museum at
HERRENCHIEMSEE.
CHAPTER 4: At the Ludwig Museum
First things first. I found when I tried to LOOK at the exhibits