Alright! We've picked the next door to go through... (Door 1 Mother****ers! **** it! I can't cuss YET!) Not 'till after the break. Hopefully this will be the last post for the first playthough. (*Looks down* Spoiler Alert! No, it isn't...)
Warning!: This is based upon a game that's rated M for Blood, Drug
References, Strong Language, Suggestive (read 'Sexual') themes, and
Violence. If any of these things offend you, don't click on the link.
'It was just as Santa and Lotus had said. At the end of the hallway sat a door with a large, red [1] upon it. A numbered door. To the left of it, bolted to the wall, was the RED. Ace went first, and waved his wrist over the scanner panel. Junpei was next. Finally, listlessly, Clover lifted her arm. She leaned toward the scanner panel. The 3rd asterisk clicked to life, shining brightly. Ace took hold of the lever. He took a deep breath, and turned to Junpei and Clover.'
Ace: Are you ready? Shall I pull it?
Junpei: Yeah, any time.
(Well, you always ask if everyone is ready before you unlock any sort of door...)
Clover: ...
(Not saying anything, are ya...)
'Clover said nothing. She nodded, little more than a lethargic twitch of the head.'
Ace: Very well then. Let's go. 3... 2... 1...!
'The door opened. They stumbled into the room. Frantically, Junpei scanned the room. His eyes stopped on the device that would determine whether they lived or died.'
Junpei: There it is! Over there!
'Next to the door they'd come through was the DEAD. As one, they ran to it. The put their hands over it as if they were fighting for it.'
Junpei: ...
Ace: ...
Clover: ...
Junpei: It stopped...
And we're all glad we're alive! (We're not part of the Nonary Game, remember? We're just like ghosts watching it.) Then kindly explain just how Akurei got a hold of her, quote "9th Snake Nachos". (*munch* *crunch* That's easy, poltergeist activity. *slurp*) (Ew! That's disgusting!)
Ace: Yes... It did...
'Junpei could feel his heart pounding against the inside of his ribs. Ace and Clover were breathing hard and fast. It was the 3rd time they'd been through the process, but they had yet to grow accustomed to it.' (Growing accustomed to that would be the day someone loses their humanity...)
'Not that Junpei wanted to...'
(Good! Let's keep it that way!)
'He planned to finish the game before he got a chance to let imminent death become commonplace. Junpei looked around again, this time more slowly. There was another door. Different from the one they'd entered through. He took hold of the knob and easily, gently, pulled it open.'
Junpei: So... This is the wheelhouse...?
'He closed the door again, and turned to Ace and Clover. He fixed each in turn with a meaningful stare, then spoke.'
Junpei: Ace, you investigate the wheelhouse next door!
Ace: V-Very well...
Junpei: Clover, you're in charge of this room!
Clover: ...
Junpei: Say something!
("Something"!) (Junpei...) ("Tenmyouji"!) (...was not talking to you, Monster...Wha...! Now I'm hearing the voices as well! I think I might be losing my mind!)
Clover: O-Okay... I will...
Junpei: All right then! Let's get started!
----------------SEEK A WAY OUT!-------------------
First of all, what's in those drawers over there? And...I obtain a stack of nautical charts!
Junpei: I think this is a... nautical chart? There's this line on it...here. I think the line is the route the ship is supposed to take.
Clover: There are these dots all over the map...
Junpei: Oh, those are probably ports. Like, for a boat to stop at. It looks like the lines connect the dots...
(Okay...why are you using your stylus to shake the nautical charts all over the place?) I just wanted to see I I can see more that just the top most chart, but I guess that's impossible... Well, I look to the left and... There's another desk to raid! ("Raiding Party!") And in here is... a pocket watch? Maybe? And I've got it!
Clover: That's a pocket watch...
'She sure hasn't been saying much... And she just keeps looking at the floor. She seems kinda sad...' And I back out of the item menu and...it's a cut scene people...
'A voice he hadn't expected startled Junpei from his examination of the pocket watch.'
Ace: Oh, a pocket watch. Might I take a look at it?
'He spun around to find Ace standing in the doorway. Junpei shrugged, and handing him the pocket watch.'
Junpei: Hey man. What're you doing over in this room?
Ace: Oh, I just thought I'd come check up on the 2 of you.
Not much confidence in either Junpei... ("Tenmyouji"!) ...or Clover... Again with that voice! Where's it coming from!?
Ace: Is there a problem?
-Yeah, there is!-
-Well, not a problem, but...-
So, we're pretty much saying "we have a problem" either way. (And we're seeing this again... "Choo-choo!")
Junpei: Well, not a problem, but...
'Junpei looked desperately around the room--anywhere but at Ace--trying to find a convincing reason to dismiss him. Ace opened his mouth, then took another look at Junpei and shut it again. A small smirk appeared on his face.'
Ace: Oh-ho. I see. Of course...
'He looked Junpei over. Then glanced at Clover...'
Ace: I apologize for the intrusion. Well... Best of luck.
'Ace gave Junpei a knowing pat on the shoulder and left. For no reason he could fathom, Junpei's head began to hurt. A sharp, piercing pain... A sharp...pain, in...his...head... ... ... How much time passed? He wasn't sure. But he did notice when Ace strode through the door. His smile was more of a smirk, and he had the air of a man who knew more than his opponent.'
Ace: Ah, yes. There was something I wanted to...check, if you don't mind.
Junpei: Yeah? What's that?
(I have a bad feeling about this...) (Did you just quote Star...?) (No! I'll never quote such a geeky nerdy thing such as Star Wars on purpose!)
Ace: Pardon me...
'With no warning, Ace slipped his hand into the pocket of Junpei's vest.' Oh no! The jig is up!
Junpei: H-Hey! What the hell are you doing?!
'He reached for Ace's arm--But it was already too late. In the older man's hand were the pieces of paper Junpei had balled up and hidden in his pocket.'
Ace: Just as I thought... You switched them didn't you? When we voted.
Junpei: ...
Ace: Ah well. I can't say that I care. I managed to get through the numbered door I wanted, despite your mischief.
Junpei: When...why did you...?
Ace: Oh, simply curiosity. I hope you won't think ill of me for it.
'Ace smiled, gave Junpei a friendly pat on the shoulder, and then turned on his heel and left.'
Junpei: ...
'It was a small defeat, but it was a defeat. Junpei had lost the upper hand, and he knew it. He could feel his stomach begin to tense. ... ...' Let's see if there's anything in that box on the desk...
'It's a wooden box. Maybe a case for letters?'
Junpei: Hey, Clover... You ever write letters?
Clover: ...
'...Nothing.' Okay, are those books up there going to be helpful?
'The shelves are lined with books.' No, there's actually just... *counts* ...six books on that shelf, the rest is just empty space.
'Let's see what's in this blue one... There's something written on it... [Ship's Log]'
Junpei: Huh... Ship's log, huh...
'New material has been added to the file screen.' (Why didn't you color that yellow?) Because I didn't on the other posts and I'm not going to go back and change that...mostly because I can't remember what bits used rainbow speak or not. Now what about that map on the wall...
'A map.' Duh! What else about it?
'It's got the Atlantic Ocean in the middle.'
Clover: Hey, Junpei... What do you think these red things are...?
Are you asking what those are literally, in that case, they're red pins... (Duh!)
Junpei: Yeah... They look like pins...
(Maybe that's because...They ARE PINS!) Pin heads...*LOL*
Clover: What do you think they're for?
Junpei: Who knows?
Clover: What do you mean "who knows?"
The world...The World God Only Knows... (Oh no... Not this again...)
Clover: Come on! Be serious!
Oh my... (Maybe Clover can hear us?) Dun-dun-motherfucking dun!
Junpei: I am...
Well, let's see the new files already...
'A ship's log found in the chart room. The following is written on the last page: We leave soon for a new journey across the sea. After leaving port, we headed south and west.' (Better write this down somewhere, it's going to be helpful later!) If you say so... *grabs a slip of paper and a pencil and starts writing notes* And here's more of that "Ship's log"...
'We turned southwest to steer around the continent, then proceeded northwest. We made port, then changed our heading to east for a time, and are now heading due north. Soon, we will dock in the United Kingdom, the homeland of this vessel.' And apparently the homeland of this blogs spell checking algorithms. No, seriously, it keeps saying I'm spelling the word "color" wrong...yeah, there it goes again. (No one is going to see that...)
Looking back on the map the path of this ship... (...assuming we're even on a real ship in the first place...) Started it's trip from Madagascar... (Well, the ship would've had to leave before the president shut everything down due to some dude coughing in Brazil. Speaking of shutting stuff down, the president of Madagascar and the American GOP should have lunch and hang out some time, they have so much in common.) I apologise for this blog for insulting the president of Madagascar to the GOP, who started this whole American Government Shutdown crisis. Oh, right, the ships itinerary...then it curves around the bottom of Africa and goes north to get to the UK.
Now...let's see that metal door near the DEAD...
Clover: Junpei... Are you trying to open that door? Forget it... It's pointless... I tried it earlier. It won't open.
Okay, so how about that wooden door near the first set of drawers we searched through? And...now we're in the wheelhouse. (Hi Ace!) Oh! More drawers! Let's search those!
Ace: *Sigh* This isn't good. So many drawers, but nothing inside of them...
Well, let's see what else we can do... I look around the room and...what's this I find? A door with a metal plate that just happens to have a pocket watch-shaped indent... Why not try to insert pocket watch-shaped tab into the pocket watch-shaped slot!
'Looks like this is some sort of lock. It's got a weird-shaped indentation on it.'
Junpei: Huh...? This shape... Maybe...
'It does look like the pocket watch would fit here...'
Junpei: ...Nothing.
Ace: I imagine the pocket watch is intended to go in there. However, we may need to do something with the watch first.
All right, I'm backing away from the door... Ace! What is it now!?
Ace: It looks like this is the only exit.
(I think you accidentally clicked on the door when you were aiming for the back arrow.) Fine, let's check the other devices around here... Like the speedometer!
Ace: An engine order telegraph.
That works too...
Ace: They used this on old ships to adjust the speed of the ship.
Junpei: Like the gear-shift in a car?
Ace: Well, it's a little different.
For example, the gear-shift in a car works by gears and switches and stuff. If the gear-shift in a car worked like an engine order telegraph, there'd be very tiny people in the engine of your car keeping it running, or literally having many little horses under the hood.
Ace: This device doesn't connect directly to the engine. In short, it's a transmitter. The navigation officer uses it to set the speed of the ship, and it sends a signal to the engine. There's a handle on top of it, which can be moved back and forth to--
Junpei: Hold on...
Ace: Huh?
Junpei: There's no handle...
Ace: You're right... There isn't... It looks as though it was deliberately removed.
So...this ship is stuck on cruise control... (And you know what... *looks both ways* *inhales* CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL!) I'm thinking only the use of the Royal Canterlot Voice will get to Akurei when she's like that... *inhale* BUT THOU MUST REMEMBER TO STEER! (And speaking of steering, let's check out the steering wheel next!) But first, what's that thing behind it?
Junpei: A compass...
Ace: And what destiny does it point us to...?
I don't know!? I haven't memorized what all those tiny symbols mean, none the less what they mean in specific orders!
Junpei: I really hope you don't think that sounded cool.
What!? I thought that sounded cool, despite my earlier reference to Northern Lights. (Uh... Most people call that book, The Golden Compass.)
Ace: ...
(Okay, back to the steering wheel...)
'A steering wheel.'
(That's what I just said!)
'Let's see if it--woah!'
Junpei: Looks like the steering wheel moves...
Ace: So it would seem. I noticed something else as well...
Junpei: What's that?
Ace: Well, when you move this wheel, the compass also moves.
Junpei: What do you mean?
Ace: This ship...it's moving...
(Or at least you're assuming it's moving...)
Ace: ...Ha! Tricked you, didn't I?
(Nope, not for a single second.)
Junpei: The wheel and the compass must be connected to one another somehow...
Ace: Hmmm... Do you think that's important?
Junpei: Well, let's try turning it again...
And we get to control the steering wheel... (See! Told you recording those directions are going to come in handy!) If you say so... *grabs slip of paper* ...let's see here...first south then west...then southwest, northwest, east, and north...
Junpei: What the...
"What the..." ...indeed, that actually did something!
Junpei: The handle came off...
Ace: Heh... Stooping so low, are you, Zero?
Is that handle supposed to go toward the... *looks up* ..."engine order telegraph"? (Well, we did obtain that handle just now.) Oh right...
'The handle that came off the steering wheel.'
Junpei: Hmm... A handle...
Let's try clicking the top of that... (Engine Order Telegraph) ...Yeah! That! With the handle...
Junpei: So... I sure hope this handle fits... Yes! It fits!
Ace: Excellent.
Why did I just hear that in Mr. Burns voice? (Because you're an unrepentant geek...) (That could be just because, like Mr. Burns, he's as evil as fuck.) (Akurei! Takes one to know one!) (Exactly!)
Ace: That should allow us to operate the engine order telegraph.
Junpei: Let's give it a shot.
Huh... I don't know what the crap to do here! Abort! Abort!
Junpei: Hmm... I have no idea what speed I'm supposed to set this to. This must be another one of Zero's puzzles.
'Man, I have no idea what I'm supposed to--'
Ace: Junpei, take a look at this. Look at the door to the chart room... There's something up above it...
Well, I don't have any better ideas... Actually, it looks more like it's between the doors and near the ceiling but... (Close enough for government work?) Even though the government isn't working right now... grrr... Dang it, it's too fuzzy to read! (I think you need to have your glasses updated.) No, that's with my eyes 'near' the screen... (Oh no! You're going blind!) I think I just need to click on it one more time...
'There's something on the wall that looks kind of like an arrival board. There's only stuff displayed on the left side.'
Junpei: What the hell is this...?
Ace: It's the name of the ports in the world. I imagine it's showing us the ship's route. You know, just like the ones you might see at an airport. "Departing XX Carrier XX Flight XX at XX:00"... Like that.
Junpei: Oh, I get it. It does look like those are the names of all the ports along the ship's route. But there's only one line that shows the arrival time...
Ace: Ah, the time on the bottom, right? 47 seconds and 25 minutes past 7 o'clock. Perhaps that's the arrival time?
Still can't read the damn thing...
'There a whole bunch of words on the arrival board. It looks like they're showing the different stops on the ship's route, and the time it's expected to arrive at the final destination. The time is set to 25 minutes and 47 seconds past 7 o'clock.'
Junpei: Why would they specify seconds...?
I have no clue what-so-ever...
'47 seconds and 25 minutes past 7 o'clock... I guess that's when the ship arrives at her final destination. Time... The time...'
(I don't think clicking on that board is going to help you.) Well, back to the chart room. Maybe we can find something there... Oh! I didn't try to raid the drawers to the sides of the desk!
'The left drawer. Let's have a look... Nothing.'
Okay, other side now...
'The right drawer. Let's have a look... Nothing.'
(That's symmetry that Death the Kid would approve of.) Is there anything we can find in the other drawers...No, you can't open the other drawers... Well, time to go back...
'There's nothing left in the drawer.'
Doh! I meant to hit the back arrow...again... Maybe there's something else to find in the books?
'The shelves are lined with books.'
I think I've already established that there's only six books there...
'Looks like they all have something to do with sailing.'
Junpei: None of these look very useful...
*sigh* Let's check the file again... Nope, it's just the directions, not the speeds needed. Let's check the box on the desk again...
'There's a wooden box on the desk. Doesn't look very suspicious.'
Damn it! (So, you're resorting to the FAQ again...) The nautical charts are supposed to have the answer!? How? ...Oh right, didn't try searching them while I was in the wheelhouse. How about let's try that...
Ace: Those are nautical charts. Several points on a map, connected by a line, yes? There seem to be several maps there. They're clipped together on one side.
Didn't help much. Again!
'A stack of nautical charts. Each page has different lines on it.'
Fine, I'll just use the solution from the FAQ...
Junpei: All right, let's give this another shot!
Let's see here... according to my notes, it's full, half, slow, full, half, dead slow, then stop...
Junpei: Huh...? That's weird... I though I put in the right speed... Did I mess up?
Ace: No, I don't think so. The same thing happened earlier, remember? There's been a change to the arrival board.
Junpei: Yeah, you're right... Let's check it out!
Okay, just changing the held item to the pocket watch first...and... Here's the arrival board!
Ace: Junpei take a look. The display panel looks different.
Junpei: Yeah, you're right... Only the left half of it's on, though.
Ace: The last line... It says that the estimated arrival time at te final destination is 10 seconds past 3 o'clock.
Junpei: Hmm... I wonder why they have seconds in there... Seems a little too specific. There's gotta be a reason for that...
Ace: Hm...? Oh...perhaps...
'Woah! What's he doing--'
Ace: Excuse me, Junpei.
'Hey! He took my pocket watch!'
Junpei: H-Hey! What the hell are you doing!?
Ace: Just trust me.
([sarcasm] Right... [/sarcasm])
Junpei: ...
Ace: It should be fine now.
'Well, thanks for giving me the pocket watch back, but you don't need to look so smug about it. Let's see what he... Oh. He moved the hands...'
Junpei: 10 seconds past 3 o'clock... Oh, so you changed it to match the final arrival time...
'Ace nodded slowly.'
Ace: You know what to do next, right? Give it a shot.
And now we got the pocket watch back in our inventory. Now to use this thing, and this time... it'll work! To the door and then to insert pocket watch-shaped tab into the pocket watch-shaped slot...again...
'Looks like this is some sort of lock. It's got a weird-shaped indentation on it. Actually, it's shaped just like this pocket watch I've got...'
Junpei: Let's try putting this in there! Yes! It says "OPEN" now!
Ace: Good work. It seems you were successful. Well done, Junpei.
Junpei: Heeeey! Clover!
Clover: What...?
Junpei: We've unlocked the door! Now we can get out of this roo--...
Clover: ...Oh... Well... Let's go then...
Junpei: Clover...
Clover: ...
Back up, then click on the doorknob...
----------------YOU FOUND IT!-------------------
'The space they found themselves in outside of the wheelhouse was far too narrow to be called a hallway. On their left was a wooden door. Junpei pushed it open, and stepped into the room beyond. It was full of all manner of turn-of-the century electronic equipment. Most of them were things they'd never seen before. They had no idea what they might have been for, let alone how to operate them.'
'One smaller machine had a metal bar and ended in a circular handle.'
That's a Telegraph, what people used to send messages long distances before the telephone was invented.
'Ace seemed to recognize it.'
Great, now I feel old...
Ace: Ah, yes. A telegraph key. These were used to transmit Morse code, a long time ago.
'He turned, and slowly took in the room.'
Ace: This must be the [communication office].
'Across the room from the door they'd entered through was another door. A metal plaque was nailed to it. It read... [Captain's Quarters]'
(Well, Zero did say he was "The captain of this ship"...) (Nope, Zero's not in there.)
Junpei: The [captain's quarters]...
Clover: That's what it says...
Ace: Then... Do you think...
Zero: I am Zero... The captain of this ship.
(Okay, yeah, Zero did say that. But Zero is not in that room!) ([sarcasm] Right... [/sarcasm])
'Ace swallowed. Junpei could feel his hands begin to sweat. Only Clover seemed unaffected.'
Clover: Well, we won't know if we don't open it.
And...
-----------------------------------
...I'm being evil with the cliffhangers again...Tune in next time to find out what they find beyond that door! (You do know we're not a radio program, right?)
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