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Clock Tower 3 - Walkthrough/FAQ
Clock Tower 3: FAQs and Walkthrough with Synopsis U.S. Version Written by Collin Lee (firstname.lastname@example.com) Copyright May of 2003 by Collin Lee Version 1.0 -GUIDE OUTLINE- I. Introduction -a. The Players (Characters) -1. Alyssa Hamilton -2. Nancy Hamilton -3. Dick Hamilton -4. Philip Hamilton -5. The Dark Man -6. Dennis -7. Linda -b. The "Arsenal" (Items) -1. Holy Water -2. Lavender Water -3. Sigil Stones -4. Invisibility Bands -5. Other (non-support) Items -c. Freaking out (The Panic Meter) -d. The Big Bads (Entities and Subordinates) -e. Run Away! (Hiding and Evading) -1. Hiding Spots -2. Evade Points -f. The Little Bads (Restless Spirits) -g. The Smackdown (Boss Battles) II. The Walkthrough (with synopsis) -a. Chapter One-"Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em" -1. Prelude (The Hamilton House, Present Day) -2. A Little Night Music (London, Christmas 1942) -3. Boss Battle: Sledgehammer -b. Chapter Two-"It Must Have Been Some Bad Acid" -1. Intermission (The Hamilton House, Present Day) -2. I Hear the Acid's Lovely (London, November 1963) -3. Boss Battle: The Corroder -c. Chapter Three-"A Rooder Awakening" -1. The Sewers and What Lies Above (Sewers, around 1988) -2. Axe me no questions, Tell me no lies (A Graveyard, Present Day) -3. Boss Battle: The Chopper -d. Chapter Four-"Snickety Snack " -1. Hell's Waiting Room (Hospital, Present Day) -2. A Charming Residence (Castle, apparently outside of time and space ) -3. Boss Battle: Scissorwoman -4. Boss Battle: Scissorman -e. Chapter Five- "Happy Birthday! I Got You a Gaping Chest Wound " -1. Climbing the Tower of Power (The Clock Tower, just before midnight ) -2. The Final Battle: Lord Burroughs -f. Secrets and Mysteries -g. Final Review -h. Conclusion and Farewell I. Introduction Hello all. This is my first ever guide, so bear with me. I noticed that most Walkthroughs are very generalized, in order to keep spoilers to a minimum, and I respect that. But I thought that there might be others out there like me, who want a little more to go along with the "turn here, push that" approach, and who might like a synopsis of the game's events to go along with the directions. This is not meant to ruin anything for someone who has not played the game before, and as such I try not to blurt out surprises as they happen, but rather to describe them after they happen, to keep events in context. Thus I won't say "Turn here to see a little girl beaten to death with a hammer", but rather "Turn here for a nasty surprise. That lovely gentleman is known as Sledgehammer, and he seems to have something against little girls". Honestly, if you don't want Spoilers, than you should never read ahead in a Walkthrough. Clock Tower 3 is somewhat linear, and so I am going to assume that if you are reading a Walkthrough it is for a way to find the best path, and the best strategies to get through the game with a minimal effort. And that, my friend, I can promise you. In fact, if you follow this guide to the smallest nuance, it is entirely possible to get through the entire game without using any of your support items, and with no unnecessary backtracking. I try to keep the proceedings clear, and summarize the story and action a concisely as possible, while still reiterating that which is important. There is a lot of detail in this game, and a lot of threads running through the story, and aside from giving directions, I feel that it is my job in this guide to help highlight them and keep them straight. So again, I reiterate; if you are looking for a simple verbal map to get through the game, with a minimum of exposition, there are guides better suited to your needs. However, if you are looking for a complete resource on the game, covering the characters, setting, story and systems, in addition to a simple walkthrough, than you have come to the right place. That being said Clock Tower 3 was released in North America on March 18, 2003 by Capcom, and was developed by Sunsoft. The previous two games in the series, Clock Tower and Clock Tower 2: The Struggle Within were developed by Human Entertainment and published by ASCII Entertainment and Agetec Incorporated, respectively. Furthermore, the game called Clock Tower here in North America is actually the second game in the series in Japan, the first being released originally for the Super Famicom and then for the Playstation as Clock Tower: First Fear, but only in Japan. That means that Clock Tower 2 (called Clock Tower: Ghost Head in Japan) is actually Clock Tower 3, and this game is Clock Tower 4 but don't worry about that, because we don't live in Japan. This game bears but a few things in common with the original games in the series, as they were both more "point-and-click" type adventures, while Clock Tower 3 has more action. Capcom leaned towards this style of game play in hopes of drawing in a larger audience, and I must say that I feel that it has made the series more accessible, without sacrificing the tone and feel of the series. What Clock Tower 3 does share with the rest of the series is an alternative to the guns blazing commando style of other survival horror games (most of which I love, don't get me wrong). Instead it focuses on really surviving, which is to say avoiding confrontation and injury my hiding from and evading one's pursuers, while trying to unravel a mystery. The Clock Tower series has also always had a helpless but brave young girl as the hero. In addition, this game does have an incarnation of Scissorman, though he is much different from the menacing antagonist of the previous games. Also, the name Alyssa was used for the protagonist of Clock Tower 2 in North America (it was Yutaka in Japan, for those who are interested). That is where the similarities end, however (at least that I can think of; please feel free to educate me if I miss other similarities), as this series took on a new look and a new direction under Capcom. The most important of these changes are having multiple killers pursuing you instead of just one main one, and the ability to fight back against these pursuers at the end of each Chapter. And now on to the game itself a. The Players -1. Alyssa Hamilton Alyssa is the main character in the game. She was sent away to boarding school when she was twelve, and told she couldn't come back for six years. Now she is fourteen (almost fifteen), and is disturbed when she receives a letter from her mother telling her not to come home until her fifteenth birthday has passed. Alyssa calls home but no one answers, so Alyssa, like any teenage girl, ignores her mother's wishes and rushes home in hopes of figuring out what is going on -2. Nancy Hamilton Alyssa's mother. Her reasons for sending Alyssa away so abruptly are unknown, but she remains steadfast in her decision. Nancy and her daughter are very close, which makes her behavior that much more confusing -3. Dick Hamilton Nancy's father, Dick, has been like a father to Alyssa all of her life, since she never knew her real father. Three years ago he left without explanation, and has not been heard from since. His disappearance saddens and hurts Alyssa, and she waits anxiously for his return. -4. Philip Hamilton Philip was Alyssa's father, who died tragically in an accident when she was just a baby. Alyssa has no recollection of her father whatsoever. -5. The Dark Man This black garbed and enigmatic stranger is the only person at the house when Alyssa returns. At first, Alyssa thinks he is one of her mother's boarders, but he seems to know more about Alyssa and the house than she is comfortable with -6. Dennis This redheaded scamp is a friend of Alyssa's from grade school. He seems to have a bit of a crush on her -7. Linda Linda is Dennis' sister, a missionary nurse who has raised Dennis since he was a little boy. She is currently in Africa, working as a relief worker. b. The "Arsenal" Alyssa has a few (a very few) support items that she can do to aid her in survival throughout the game. -1. Holy Water That's some high quality H20! Holy Water is your single most valuable resource in the game. At the beginning you will only be able to carry a few doses of it at a time, but as your proceed through the game, you will gain the ability to carry more. But what can it do, you ask? Well, it can unlock doors marked with a glowing blue sigil. It can activate the transportation runes known as Portal Squares. And, more importantly, it can fend off and stun attackers, be they Subordinates, Minions, or Spirits. When you hit the attack button (the triangle button is the default) Alyssa will throw a dose of Holy Water in a short arch ahead of her, stunning any enemies caught by the splash so that she has time to make her escape. Since this valuable commodity is so important, you will want to refill any time you see a Holy Water reservoir jar (you can tell which jars these are because they glow) or at a Lion's Head Fountain. Never leave home without it. -2. Lavender Water Lavender Water is a throwback to earlier centuries, when nobles would carry scented kerchiefs or other perfumed objects to fend off noxious odors and revitalize themselves when faint. Sissies. Anyway, Lavender Water is an extract made from the purple lavender flowers, which gives of a clean, pleasing odor. Alyssa, the little noble that she is, uses the scent of Lavender Water to bring her back from the edge of panic when attack from enemies threatens to push her over the edge. It seemed like a better choice than Bourbon to give to fourteen year old girl. Like all support items, it is a rare commodity, and should only be used to bring Alyssa back from a full-blown panic, or to keep her from going into a full blown panic when hiding, because that causes her to burst from her hiding place. -3. Sigil Stones These crystals will protect Alyssa from one killing blow. They are used automatically when an attack or event would kill Alyssa outright, such as when getting hit while in a full panic or hit by the automated axes in Chapter Four. You will know when they are used because there will be the sound of the crystal breaking and a blue flash of light. Note that they cannot be used in boss battles (unfortunately), nor will they keep you from dying if you fall from the plank in the Concert Hall in Chapter One. -4. Invisibility Bands What has it gots in its nasssty little pocketses? These handy little items will turn Alyssa invisible for a short time, keeping Subordinates and their Minions from finding her out. These a pretty rare, and should only be used if you absolutely need to slip past a lurking assailant, or if you need a few extra seconds head start to make it to a hide or evade point. -5. Other (non-support) Items All other items that you find it the game will be either Key Items (such as the keys, the Looking Glass, or the Sacred Bottle), Documents (that give you another piece of the story), or Sentimental Items for setting restless Spirits free (such as a Teddy Bear or an Engagement Ring). Key Items are used automatically as the situation arises, such as opening a door to use a key. Sentimental Items must be used on the bodies of specific Spirits, and will be covered under the section on Spirits, below. c. Freaking Out In the top right corner of the screen is the Panic Meter, and when Alyssa feels threatened, such as when someone is trying to maul or kill her, her Panic Meter raises. When she feels very threatened, such as when a Subordinate jumps out of hiding and knocks her on her ass, the Panic Meter raises a lot. If it fills up entirely, Alyssa will go into full out panic, and begin to act erratically. The camera gets all screwed up, your field of vision narrows, Alyssa stumbles while trying to run away, can't use Holy Water to protect herself, and will even just stop and tremble instead of trying to get away. You can lower Alyssa's panic level by getting her out of the stressful situations and into hiding, by escaping her pursuers, or by using Lavender Water. Note that even while Alyssa is in a hiding spot, if a Subordinate is sniffing around close to her hiding spot, her Panic Meter will raise. If it is really high to begin with, and this is enough to push her over the edge into a full panic, Alyssa will burst from her hiding spot and directly into danger, so use a Lavender Water if she is on the very edge and an enemy is near her hiding place. d. The Big Bads Each level has a possessed and deadly killer stalking it, in addition to restless Spirits. This killer is called a Subordinate, and the force possessing them is called an Entity. The Entity governing the Subordinate grants its host immortality, and gets its power from the trapped souls of the victims of the killer. The souls of those killed are trapped on earth by something in their lives left unfinished, and it is up to Alyssa to find the Sentimental Items that will give them the strength to move on, thus robbing the Subordinates of their power source. Subordinates are relentless and nearly impossible to kill, and even if you manage to lose them, they will soon be back. Subordinates show up at pre-scripted moments, after a certain amount of time has passed, when Alyssa runs into their moth- like Minions, or when Alyssa makes a racket by kicking or knocking over certain objects, such as cans, pots and pans, and bottles, among other things. Once the Subordinate is on to you, the only way to get rid of them is to use Hide or Evade Points (covered below). You can render yourself invisible to Subordinates and their Minions for a short time by using an Invisibility Band, and you can stun a Subordinate temporarily or destroy their Minions with a dose of Holy Water. The only way to get rid of a Subordinate entirely is to find a Sentimental Object belonging to the trapped souls that are powering them, and then engage the Subordinate in a final Boss Battle (also covered below). e. Run Away!!! Until Alyssa finds the Sentimental Item for the level and can face the Subordinate in battle, she will have to settle for running away and hiding. There are areas in the game set aside as Hide and Evade points, where you can find a few minutes of respite from the killer's relentless pursuit. There are usually one or two Hide Points in a level, and these areas can be used over and over to hide from the Subordinate. They are usually a fairly small and secure place, such as in a locker, behind a curtain, behind an aquarium, and so on. When you are being pursued, Hide Points are marked by a ball of greenish-blue energy, and activate as soon as you run into them. You will automatically pull the curtain or door (or whatever) shut behind you and find a few moments of safety as the Subordinate looks for you (even if they were right on your heels and saw you run into the Hide Point). If the Subordinate searches near your hiding spot, Alyssa starts to get nervous, and her Panic Meter will fill a little bit. If the meter was almost full to begin with, Alyssa can go into a full-blown panic and burst from her hiding spot, as you can't use a Hide Point when you are in a full panic. This is the only way that you will be in danger from a Subordinate while in hiding, because they can't open the hiding place and find you themselves. Lavender Water can be used while in hiding if necessary if full panic is immanent. To leave a hiding space when it is safe, simply hit the search button (the X button is the default). Evade Points are something altogether different. They glow similarly to a Hide Point when you are being pursued, but Evade Points can be used only once. Furthermore, if the Subordinate is right on your heels, you will not be able to use the Evade Point. The good thing about Evade Points is that that they will get rid of a Subordinate right away, and keep him out of your hair for a few minutes. You see, Evade Points are used to temporarily incapacitate, rather than hide from, the Subordinate. An example of an evade point would be a cable sitting in a puddle of water, which is attached to a power switch (which is where the Evade Point is located). Throw the switch, and when the Subordinate runs into the puddle of water, he will be electrocuted, temporarily incapacitating him. You would be wise to use the time that you have bought wisely, since you won't get to do it again. f. The Little Bads In addition to the Subordinates, there are other, lesser threats that Alyssa must deal with. The least common are the Minions of the Subordinates, in the form of purplish-blue lunar moths. The inhabit certain areas, and head straight for Alyssa when she arrives in the areas they inhabit. Their touch causes Alyssa's panic meter to rise, but worse, it summons the Subordinate for the area. To keep them from reporting her position to their master, Alyssa must destroy the Minions with a dash of Holy Water, or escape the area they inhabit without letting them get near her. The second, and more common lesser enemies are the restless Spirits of those slain by the Subordinates. They stay close to their earthly bodies, hurt and alone, lashing out at any who come near. They will pursue Alyssa if she comes too close to them, and if they latch on to her, her Panic Meter will begin to fill, so staying away from them is a good idea. They are bound to the earth by things left undone or unsaid, and can only be gotten rid of by helping them come to terms with this unfinished business, by bringing them the items that symbolize the business they left unfinished. An example of this would be giving a missing engagement ring back to a Spirit who died before he was able to give it to his sweet-heart, or a fountain pen to a Spirit who died before finishing a final note to their loved ones. Each Spirit has a specific item needed to free it, and once you have returned to their body and offered the item, the Spirit will dissipate, bothering the living no more. In addition, they will leave behind a useful item for Alyssa to use, in thanks for her help in freeing them. This is just like the Sentimental Items needed to free the greater Spirits that are powering the Subordinate for the area, which is necessary to complete a level, but on a smaller scale. g. The Smackdown Once the Sentimental Item belonging to the greater Spirits whose misery is powering the level's Subordinate is found, Alyssa gains the power to face off against the Subordinate in battle, using a divine bow and arrow. The Subordinate will try to stop you from reaching the greater Spirits, knowing that if you free them, the Subordinate's power will dwindle. When they do so, a Boss Battle will begin, in which Alyssa must fight damage her attacker while at the same time dodging his attacks. Attacking with the bow is accomplished by pressing and holding the attack button (the triangle button is the default), and then releasing it to fire an arrow. The longer you hold the attack button, the more powerful the arrow will be. The trick to boss battles is not just to pound them with arrows until they keel over. This doesn't work so well. Instead, you need to transfix them, which means hitting them with super-charged arrows that pin them to the spot with glowing chains. You need to transfix the enemy with three glowing chains, from three different trajectories before you can unleash a devastating attack that will finish them off. Unfortunately this isn't as easy as it sounds. It takes time to charge up an arrow long enough for it to form a golden chain upon impact, and at the same time the Subordinate will be trying to kill you. Furthermore, you can't charge up an attack when moving, or adjust the trajectory of your shot once you begin to hold down the attack button. So what this means is running around until your enemy is stunned or slowed, and then charging your arrow and nailing him while he is distracted. Once the enemy is bound by one golden chain, it becomes easier to hit him with the next. Unfortunately you can't just stand in one spot and nail them with binding shots while they pinned. The binding chains need to criss-cross your enemy in order to hold him well enough to hit him with your final attack. This means that you will need to move at least forty-five degrees to one side of your last shot or the other in order for the next binding shot to do its job. Once the Subordinate is pinned by three chains, from three different directions, simply hold down your normal attack button. If the enemy is properly bound, Alyssa will unleash a devastating celestial attack that does quite a bit of damage. Some of the more powerful Subordinates will need more than just this attack to finish them, but if you weaken them earlier in the battle with regular attacks, this strike should finish them for good. In addition, there are two kinds of Special Arrows that you can collect; green Repellant Arrows and red Binding Arrows. Repellant Arrows do heap-big damage and knock your enemy back a few steps. Binding Arrows act as though they were a super-charged regular arrow, and attach one golden chain to bind the Subordinate to the spot. However, all Special Arrows are a rare commodity, and should be saved for the last boss battle of the game. Trust me. This was a public service announcement. Ignore at your own risk. II. Clock Tower 3 Walkthrough For the purposes of this guide, when I say, for example, turn left, I mean Alyssa's left as she is oriented on the screen. Thus, what is left when coming from one direction will become right when she is coming from the opposite direction. When I say "head towards the left-hand side of the room", I mean your left, the player's, meaning towards the left- hand side of the television screen. If I say towards the front or back of the room, I mean closer or further away from the "camera", or the screen (even though it is two dimensional, you know what I mean). If I say a direction, such as north, west, or north- east, I mean in relationship to the map in the inventory screen. These maps are not oriented to the directions, although it would have been nice if they were, so the directions simply refer to what WOULD be north, south, whatever if you consider the top of the screen north and the bottom south. An actual compass or a icon showing you where you are on the map would have been nice, and made writing this guide a lot easier, but I did my best. And now, to the game. -a. Chapter One- "Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em" -1. Prologue The game starts by showing you a cutscene setting things up; Alyssa Hamilton receives a note from her mother at boarding school, telling Alyssa that she is in terrible danger, and to stay away from home until after her fifteenth birthday has passed. Like a dutiful daughter, she runs home, but finds that no one is home except for a creepy old man who knows too much about Alyssa to make her comfortable, who then disappears into the house. After the opening cutscene, Alyssa is left alone in the dining room. There are no items or clues here, but feel free to search the area; certain areas such as the chair the Dark Man was sitting in or the fireplace will give you short text descriptions when you search near them. When you are done, exit through the only door in the room. You are now in the main hall of Alyssa's house. Pressing start will bring up the inventory window, which should be empty. However, the top right corner of the screen tells you your current location, in this case "Guest Wing (1 FL)" which means, of course, the first floor in the guest wing. As for why Alyssa is looking for her mom in the guest wing of the house is a mystery that is never solved. Regardless, in addition to the door to the room that you just exited, there should be three more doors and a staircase. In addition, there is a glowing table with a journal on it in the south west corner of the room, which can be used to save your game, and a glowing table with a large vase on it in the south east corner of the room, which can be used to refill your container of Holy Water, once you receive it. The doors in the middle of the southern wall lead outside, but you will never get the opportunity to use them. The doors on the east wall also do not open, and you never get to find out where they go. The doors on the north wall, almost behind the stairs, lead deeper into the guest quarters, but the doors beyond them are locked for the time being, so for the moment disregard them. That just leaves the stairs, so climb them when you are done looking around. This is the Guest Wing Second Floor. At the top of the stairs is a balcony overlooking the main entry hall below, with three doors leading off from it. The one directly in front of the stairs, on the north wall, is unmarked and leads deeper into the house. The door on the west wall cannot be opened, and bears a plaque reading "Philip". Later on in the game we will find that Philip was Alyssa's father. As to why he kept a room separate from Nancy's is another mystery that will not be solved. The door on the east wall has a plaque that reads "Alyssa", and is (you guessed it) Alyssa's room. This is where we will start. Enter Alyssa's room and take a look around. Gather in as many details as you can. They are not really important, but later in the game certain objects and elements from Alyssa's room pop up here and there, and these details add some depth and continuity to the proceedings. In the north west corner of this room is a desk with a television, a stuffed animal, and a glittering object. Search the glittering object to receive your first useable item, the Lavender Water. Notice that the television doesn't seem to be working how odd. On the west wall, between the desk and the door that you came in through, is a locked armoire. Don't bother searching for the key if this is your first time through the game, as you can only get the key to the wardrobe after beating the game once. For more information, see the section marked "Secrets and Mysteries" after the walkthrough. There is another desk on the east wall, but there is nothing really interesting about it. You would think that Alyssa would want to put on some jeans or something, rather than run around in her school mini-skirt and blazer, but hey, to each their own (when you can change her outfit, in the clear game, none of the other outfits are any more appropriate for exploring; maybe she doesn't own any jeans). Exit through the door on the north wall. This area appears to be some kind of lounge, with a cozy little table and a couple of chairs sitting in front of a roaring fire. If you turn around and look at the door that you just came through, you will notice that there is a plaque on this door to Alyssa's room as well, just so you don't get lost. In addition to this there is a door at the end of the hallway next to the fireplace, leading north, which will never open and apparently goes into the lodgers' quarters. Down the hallway to the west are two doors; the one on the south wall is the other side of the unmarked door at the top of the stairs, while the one on the west wall is covered by a funky glowing blue sigil. Though it usually seems like a bad idea to touch doors covered in glowing mystical runes, do so now for a little surprise and a mini- tutorial on Panic. Don't worry, panic subsides rather quickly if you are not being chased, so don't waste your Lavender Water. Since you can't get past this door, head back down the hallway. As you re-enter the lounge, a secret crawlspace through the fireplace is revealed. Don't worry about burning Alyssa's bare knees, and crawl through the fireplace into the previously hidden room. As you crawl through, you are treated to a rather disturbing little cutscene. At its conclusion, walk towards the broken statue and search the broken noggin for the Sacred Bottle of Holy Water and a note from your dear old mum that is full of all kinds of useful mother-daughter advice on exorcism and redeeming the dead. Once you finish reading this heart-warming missive, you can look at the statue, which tells you that it is the patron saint of the Hamilton house. There is nothing else to do here, so crawl back out through the fireplace. Go back down the westward hallway to the sigil-marked door, get fairly close to it, and tap the triangle button to douse it with Holy Water. This permanently breaks the seal on the door, so you never have to worry about wasting holy water breaking the same seal twice. However, since Holy Water is such a rare commodity at this point in the game, and you never know when you will need it, you may want to go back downstairs real quick and refill at the jar in the south-east corner of the main hall before continuing. Once this is has accomplished, return to the upstairs and enter through the newly unsealed door. This area has three doors, but the one in the north-east corner of the room is boarded up, and a search of it tells us Alyssa can never remember it being opened. The door next to it on the north wall has a sigil mark on it, but the sigil is not glowing. If you try to open the door, you will find it is occupied. Don't bother using Holy Water on this door, because it doesn't do anything at this time. Follow the hallway to the west; it turns north and terminates in a door marked with a plaque that reads "Nancy". This is Alyssa's mother's room. There is an object glittering on the desk in the middle of the room, but don't look at it yet, as it triggers a cutscene so that you can't look around the rest of the room. A hasty search reveals little, except that she left in a hurry. There is a clock in the north-west corner of the room that has stopped, and you are told you will need the winding keys to get it going again. Unsurprisingly, there are none handy. Once you have searched the rest of the room to your heart's content, check out the glittering item on the desk in the middle of the room. It is a picture of Alyssa, her mother Nancy, and her grandfather, Dick. Another creepy little cutscene follows, after which Alyssa will find herself in a strange place. -2. A Little Night Music Alyssa is in a strange hallway, facing a door that is sealed. Head down the hallway towards the camera (south), until Alyssa reaches a barred door at the end, which she will automatically open, triggering another impressive cutscene. Apparently, London is being bombed. When you have control of Alyssa again, you find yourself in a stairwell across from the barred door that you came through, which will no longer open. A quick check of your map tells you that this area is called High Street. The stairwell that you ended the cutscene is simply one end of a tiny little tunnel that goes under another very short set of stairs that leads up to a locked door on the south wall of this area. Opposite this, on the north wall, is an identical short and rather pointless tunnel that goes under the street for a few paces. At the western end of this little tunnel, there is a flyer hanging on a brick wall facing the mouth of the tunnel. It reads "Christmas Eve, 1942: 15th Annual Piano Concours". This is where, or rather when, you are; London 1942. Well, at least that explains all the bombing going on. Directly south of the flyer, only a few feet away, are some cans lying in the street, a phone booth, and a trail of blood leading to a corpse a short distance to the west. The cans are items that can be kicked or disturbed if you walk into them. This isn't a problem right now, but it is not a good idea once you meet the first Entity; stumbling into objects like these will bring him running. The door to the phone booth is being held shut by something at the moment. Follow the smear of blood westward, and another cutscene will start. You get to meet your first Spirit, and these one seems pretty keen on getting its ring back. This is pretty indicative of most Spirits who you encounter; each one will have a clue near its corpse hinting at what Sentimental Item will be needed to set it free. In this case, it flat out tells you it wants its damn ring. Avoid contact with this and all Spirits, as they will latch onto Alyssa and cause her Panic Meter to rise. If Spirits get too close, Alyssa can stun them with a hit from the ol' Holy Water. Now that the door to the phone booth is open, run inside and search the shelf for the ring and a short tutorial on Spirits and Sentimental Items. Having found it, run back to the corpse, press start to bring up your inventory, and select the ring. The Spirit can now shuffle off this mortal coil, and in thanks leaves an item for Alyssa to use. After the Spirit is free, search near its body for a glittering item, in this case the Sigil Stone. A Sigil Stone is an object that will protect you from one lethal blow, automatically. So all in all, it isn't a bad tradeoff. Continue on your merry way, and you will find that the path turns sharply south, past a Lion's Head Fountain. Lion's Head Fountains are handy little stations where you can save and refill your Holy Water. I suggest doing both here, and saving as often as possible throughout the course of the game. Trust me, this will save you a lot of backtracking if you get killed. After saving and refilling here, continue south, easing around the cans in the middle of the path between the two barrels. This path terminates with a Sigil Marked door on your right (if you look at your map, it would be north, but this doesn't really jive with the directions on the map of the area that you just came through) and a dead end cliff overlooking a concert hall, which seems to be the source of the mysterious piano music that has been playing since you arrived. Splash the door with Holy Water, refill at the Lion's Head Fountain, and then go through the newly un-sealed door, which leads down some steps. Go ALL the way down the steps until you reach the street below. The map says this area is called The Promenade. The road goes to the west, but notice another set of stairs across from you leading down to the edge of the river. Go down these steps and head west, and you should pass by a Spirit on the main street above. Search the ground near here for a glittering object, which turns out to be a gold fountain pen, then continue west until you reach another set of stair which brings you back up to street-level. Head back to the east on the main street, towards the Spirit. You should find a bloody chalk outline in the middle of the road, in front of a bunch of tables, with a half-finished letter nearby. Use the gold fountain pen so that the Spirit can finish its letter and move on, and you will be rewarded with an Invisibility Band, which renders you invisible to Entities and Spirits for a short amount of time when used. Continue on to the west, under a tall underpass. Coming out the other side, there should be another staircase leading down towards the river to your left. Don't bother going down this first staircase, but instead continue to the west, past the bridge leading south on your left and the sigil marked door to the Norton's Tailor on your right, until you see huge steel gate blocking the path to the west, and another stairway leading down next to the river on your left. Go down to the river and back towards the east until you are smack against the side of the bridge; there should be a glittering item at your feet. Search to find another Lavender Water, then go back up to the street and splash the Sigil marked door with some Holy H2O. If you are the cautious type you can safely cross the bridge and use the Lion's Head Fountain on the other side, to the left of the archway, to refill and save. Either way, you should return to Norton's Tailor and go through the now un-sealed door to continue. There is a staircase to the left of the main door as you enter in the center of the room is a broken display case, and behind that is a tall counter. A quick search of the counter itself tells us that someone has been rummaging around the counter. Search the far right side of the counter for another Lavender Water. Follow the counter to the left, and you will find a curtained area in the corner. If you enter this area, the curtain closes and it switches to first person view. This is a hiding space. Remember it, as you will have to use it once you meet the first Entity. Just south of the hiding space is a desk with a document entitled "Dad's Letter" on it. The letter is addressed to someone named May, and says that that the author is in Champagne, France, and that they should go there on vacation after the war is over, implying that he is in the military, and stationed in France. He mentions the organized blackouts in London (which were used to make the Germans' job of bombing them that much harder), and his concern for May being alone at night. He signs it "With love, Daddy". Behind the desk, on the west wall, is a door, but it is locked from the other side. There is a Christmas Tree in front of the desk, which leads May to speculate that today must be Christmas. Since there is nothing else of interest down here, climb the stairs to the second floor landing. On the east wall, at the top of the stairs, is a window that has been broken inward, and the glass crunches underfoot as you climb the stairs. Follow the balcony around to the west, where there are two doors on the west wall. The one closest to the stairs opens up into a short hallway with a Sigil Marked Door at the end. Break the seal with some Holy Water, and then go through. It leads into someone's bedroom. The bookcase is filled with the classics, and all the records are old. Now whether that means that the books and the records are from the 1940's, and they are old by Alyssa's standards (especially if she hasn't figured out that she is in 1942 yet), or if they are even older than the 1940's is unclear. Be careful searching the shelf near the record player, as the watering can can be knocked to the floor with a clatter. There is a strong fire in the fireplace, which indicates someone has been there recently. And finally, on the nightstand next to the bed, is a photograph of the owner of the house, with a key next to it. This is the Red Drawer Key. Seeing as how there are no red drawers in this room, it seems it is time to search the other door on the second floor landing. Backtrack to the landing at the top of the stairs, and enter the door in the south-west corner, the only other door in this area. There is a short hallway, with a door on your right at the top of a flight of stairs. Notice the blood on the wall opposite the door, and on the stairs themselves. The door is locked, so continue down the stairs. This is where things start to get ugly. This room has also been trashed. There is a small desk in the middle of the room towards the northern portion of the room, and a "L" shaped desk to the south of this, part of which is covered with newspapers. Next to the L-shaped desk is a red filing cabinet. Moving towards this desk causes Alyssa to move closer on her own and begin to read the newspapers, which tell you of 12 year old May Norton, a young pianist who was murdered on Christmas day, 1942. She had played at the concert hall the night before, and was living by herself because her father, William Norton had been sent back to the war front in July. Damn. Making a twelve year old girl live by herself in London during the war? That is just asking for trouble, or at the very least, severe therapy. Regardless, finish reading the article for a rather horrible surprise. This is your first Subordinate, a happy little fellow who goes by the name Sledgehammer, for obvious reasons. Following the cutscene you will get a short tutorial about Evade and Hide points. Once done reading this, you will find yourself directly in front of the red file cabinet. Even though Sledgehammer is breathing down your neck, quickly search the red file cabinet to use the Red Drawer Key, which opens the cabinet a gives you May's Room Key. This in hand, you must find a way to escape the hammer-wielding maniac. Heading south around the back side of the L-shaped desk would lead you to a door that is sealed with barbed wire. You are going to need a special tool to open this door, so instead head north around the back side of the smaller desk and go through the door behind it on the west wall. This brings you back into the front area of Norton's Tailor, through the door that was locked from the other side earlier. Remember the curtained area in the north-west corner of this room? It should be glowing now, which means it is a hiding spot. Run into it, and the curtains will automatically close, hiding you from your assailant. Stay there until you see (or hear) Sledgehammer teleport away and the chase music stops. From this point forward he never stays away for long, so quickly exit your hiding spot and run back up the stairs, down the hallway to the door in the south-west corner that leads back into the area where you first saw Sledgehammer. The door that he had come bursting out of is May's room. Use the key you got from the red filing cabinet and enter. On a shelf next to the door is May's diary. It doesn't say much, but shows May's nervousness about her upcoming recital, and her wish to make her father proud. The rest of the room is trashed, but quickly take a look around, and then go over to the dresser, where a glittering object shows. It is an Invitation to the piano concert, just what you'll need to enter the concert hall. Of course, as soon as you find this, Sledgehammer finds you and starts trying to beat down the door to get to you. Don't panic; just turn around and search the bottom half of the room for a glowing evade point. Use it for a cool cutscene showing Alyssa using the old noodle to evade her attacker. Her attacker may be down, but not permanently, so use this respite wisely. Alyssa has everything she needs from Norton's Tailor for the time being, so run down the stairs, around the back side of the small desk, and go back through the door into the front room where the hide point is. Run back through the front door and out into the street. No matter how fast or slow you do this, Sledgehammer comes bursting out of the Tailor's only a few steps behind you. Now you have a choice; you can either shake him the easier (but longer) way, by running back up to High Street, past the Lion's Head Fountain and into the phone booth where you found the wedding ring, which is a hide point, or you can run as fast as you can across the bridge to the Lion's Head Fountain on the other side, douse Sledgehammer with Holy Water when he gets near, quickly refill, then run through the archway next to the fountain and across the courtyard to the concert hall. Once you get to the concert hall, there is a cutscene as you enter, and your assailant will leave you alone for a while. Regardless of which method you use to evade you assailant, chances are you will have to use Holy Water to slow him down at least once, so before you enter the concert hall, make sure you refill your Holy Water at the Lion's Head Fountain. Don't worry too much about saving, because there is a saving diary right inside the concert hall that is more convenient. By the way, you might have noticed that there are paths leading to the left and the right by the Lion's Head Statue before you pass through the archway in front of the concert hall courtyard. Don't worry about these, as they both end in dead ends. Same goes for the paths leading to the left and the right when you reach the large fountain in the courtyard itself; keep going straight towards the concert hall, as there is nothing to find to the left and right. Once inside the hall, cross the room to the diary on the front counter and save your game. You can enter the area behind this counter, in which case you will find a wall of little boxes locked with combinations; you are going to have to find the combination before you can get at what is inside. Go back around the counter. You will notice that there is a hallway that curves around to the northeast, and a hallway that curves around to the northwest. It doesn't matter which way you go, as they meet in the middle. Any roped- off doors that you see cannot be accessed because they are "off limits". It is good to know that Alyssa follows the rules even when faced with supernatural hammer-wielding serial killers and earth-bound restless Spirits. For the sake of this guide, we will say you take the left-hand side of the loop. The first door you come across is roped off. The second door you come to opens into actual concert hall proper, with a bunch of seats taking up the main part of the room, and the stage dominating the north end. On east wall is a roped-off door, and there is another on the south wall, to the east of the door you just came in through. There is a door on the west wall that is currently locked. For the time being, let's turn our attention to the stage itself. There is a set of stairs that lead up to the stage on its west end, so head in that direction now. The game will take over when you get close enough, and treat you to a grisly cutscene. Not only can May not get the damn song right, but now Sledgehammer has returned to try to give you a seat right next to her on the piano bench of the damned. Luckily, it is easy enough to escape him this time. There is a roped-off door on the east wall of the stage, which is useless and should be ignored. Instead, run towards the north-west corner of the stage, and you should be able to slip behind the stage curtain. For whatever reason, M.C. Hammer can't follow you back here, so you will be safe until he goes away. There is no glowing area that tells you that it is a hiding space, but it works just the same. While Sledgehammer is still running around on the other side of the curtain, do your best to ignore him and head towards the east, staying behind the curtain as you do so. You will find a switch on the north wall in the north-east corner of this area. Flip the switch to traumatize yourself further, and when the cutscene is over, search the body for a clue that more or less tells you the combination to the safe on the wall behind the front desk. The combination is BAD, where each letter stands for a numerical value. It gives you two works and their numerical values to help you figure out the clue; 1014 = BABE, and 3403 = DEAD. Thus, 1 = B, 0 = A, 4 = E, and 3 = D. The only three letters we are interested in is B, A, and D, so your combination is 103. Make sure that you flip the switch again to raise the section of catwalk, or else you are going to have to go out of your way to do so later. If the creepy music hasn't passed yet, wait for the sound of the creep teleporting away and the end of the chase music, then run for the door you came in through. If you run up the center aisle through the seats, beware of a bottle in the middle of the path; if you kick this, Sledgehammer will come running soon after. Once you are on the path looping back towards the front counter, don't go back the same way you came. Turn to Alyssa's left and run past two roped off doors, and you should see an object glittering on a narrow shelf on Alyssa's left (east wall); this is more Lavender Water. Now continue along the loop back to the front counter. Step behind it a search the rows of lockers to input your newly acquired combination (103 for those with short attention spans), by pressing up or down to change the digit's numerical value, and left or right to select which digit you are inputting. When the combination reads 103, press the action button to open the locker and receive the Master Key. I have been asked how Alyssa knew which one of the sixteen lockers the combination referred to, as A) there was no locker number mentioned, and B)the clue referred to a "Safe Combination", not "Locker Combination". The answer is, "Who cares?" Maybe she could see the key inside this particular locker and assumed it was the one that she needed, or maybe it was just pure luck. Move on. Anyway, the Master Key will open the front door (bet you didn't even know it was locked), and the locked door on the west wall of the concert hall proper (the big room with the piano and all the chairs). Unless you are low on Holy Water, you shouldn't need to leave the Concert Hall yet, so that leaves the locked door in the stage area. If you are low, return to the Lion's Head Fountain outside the Concert Hall courtyard, refill, and come back. Now you are ready to go on. First, save your game at the front counter that you are standing behind. Then return to the large room with the stage in it, the only other room that you have been able to access so far in the Concert Hall. If you want to see bloody May play some more, head up to the stage. If Sledgehammer shows up before you open the door on the west wall, hide behind the curtain until he goes away. Regardless, when the coast is clear, head through the door on the west wall. There is a door to your right (north) and a door to your left (south); first head to the left and go through the double doors at the end. As you cross the hall, you are in for a nasty little jolt; Sledgehammer has found you once again. Since he is right on you, and you panic meter is high, hit him with a dash of Holy Water and run for the stairs on the far end of the room (south) while he is stunned. There isn't anything else of interest in this room, so don't worry about it; there is a roped off door on the west wall of this room that would lead back into the entry hall if it worked, and a glassed in payphone that Alyssa can't use on the east wall. If you want to check these out more thoroughly, you will get a chance to do so later. For now, run like hell until you reach the top of the stairs, and run through the double doors at the top. Dash across this new room, past some chairs on your left and a door with a glowing sigil on your right, and press the action button to open the locker and jump inside. Now hold real still until the bad man teleports away. He may leave the room at least once, but until you hear the teleportation noise and the music fades, he will probably be back. If your panic gets too high while you are in the locker and you think Alyssa might burst from cover, or if she goes into full Panic Mode at any time, use a Lavender Water to calm her ass down, or else you can't use the Hide Point. Once Sledgehammer is gone, leave your hiding space and hit the glowing sigil with a dash of Holy Water to unseal it. By the way, the other lockers in this area do open, but there is nothing inside of use. Also, there is a bottle that can be knocked over to reveal Alyssa's position against the wall to the right of the sigil marked door, so avoid this. Check this stuff out if you want, then go through the unsealed door into the balcony area overlooking the stage. There is a roped-off door to your right, against the south wall of this area, next to the stairs leading up around the stairs. There is a dead end up against the balcony railing to your left. The only way through is to move to your right, towards the south, climb the stairs next to all the chairs all the way to the top, and move east until you find the stairs going down the other side. Descend these, then turn so you are facing the east wall. If you go left (north) there is a roped-off door and a dead end against the railing. So that means right it is, to a door on the south wall. Go through this door. You are now at the eastern end of a corridor running east and west. The first door you pass on the south wall is locked from the other side; no help there. Continue down the hallway and there is an open door on the south wall, and if you continue to the end of the hall you find a roped-off door on the north wall that would have lead out back into the balcony area through the roped-off door to the right of the balcony stairs that you saw earlier, and a dead end. Go through the open door on the south wall to enter a costume storage area. Take in all of the neat stuff as you move east, past a bookcase and an open wardrobe, with a violin case leaning against the wall between them, and you will reach a dead-end made by a haphazard pile of junk. Go to the open wardrobe and search the tuxedo for a box of matches, then leave the room and head back the way you came. As you near the door leading back to the balcony, Sledgehammer makes another dramatic entrance. The wreckage the wall he busted through partially blocks the route back, so run back into the storage room, even though you know it is a dead end. What choice do you have? There is a glowing evade point right over the violin between the bookcase and the wardrobe; use it quickly. Alyssa takes another moment to fight back, and temporarily incapacitates the killer under a shower of boxes. Run back out the way you came towards the exit to the balcony and the pile of rubble. There is a small opening through the rubble on the right side, so have Alyssa crawl through. You can enter the room that Sledgehammer busted out of now, through the hole he made in the south wall. This is the other end of the storage room, on the other side of the pile of junk you just buried Sledgehammer under. Don't worry about him just now, but search the glittering object against the south wall for another Invisibility Band. Once you have this, run back through the hole in the wall, and back out through the door to the balcony which is directly in front of you. Run forward until you see the stairs on your left, then run up them, back west behind the seating, and then down the staircase on the other side. Exit the area through the door you originally entered this area through, on the west wall. Now you should be back out by the three lockers that act as a hiding spot. Run back through the door to the south and down the stairs until you reach the bottom. Since you didn't get to before, feel free to check this area out a little more thoroughly, until your Panic Meter is totally clear. Then exit through the double doors on the north wall. Head towards the door that you haven't checked out yet on the north end of this hallway, for a nasty shock. Doesn't this guy ever get discouraged? He is being humiliated by an almost fifteen year old girl! Hit him with your last dose of Holy Water, then slip past him through the door he just came through, back into the stage area. Run to Alyssa's left, onto the stage, and slip behind the curtain and stay there until the bastard teleports away. When he is gone, run back across the performance hall, through the double doors on the south end, and back out to the lobby. Use the Master Key to unlock the front door (if you haven't done so already), run across the courtyard, out through the archway, and turn right (west) to refill at the Lion's Head Fountain. Save if you want (you will be doing so again as soon as your re-enter the Concert Hall), and then return to the Concert Hall. By this time Sledgehammer should be chasing you again. He almost always shows up behind you, so keep running towards the Concert Hall. Run in through the front door, past the front desk, into the performance hall, onto the stage, and slip behind the curtain until he teleports away. Then return to the front hall and save as quickly as you can. Once this is accomplished, rush back into the performance hall and through the door on the west wall. Finally, turn right and go down the hallway until you reach the door at the end, on the north wall. Go on through. Here there is a flight of stairs. Climb it until you reach the first landing, then turn left. This is a vaguely square room, with a couch and a desk along the west wall, and a vase in the center. The couch and the vase are nothing special, but search the glittering object on the desk to reveal another Lavender Water. Then follow the north wall to the right and around a short corner to find a short hallway and the stairs that continue up. Follow them to the top and enter the door that you find here. Sledgehammer may be chasing you at this point, but do your best to ignore him. Only once was he ever waiting for me at the top of the stairs; if this happens do your best of get away from him, run downstairs and hide behind the stage curtains until he goes away; hit him with Holy Water if you need some breathing room. Hopefully however, he will be behind you and not in your way. Sledgehammer leaves you alone as you enter this area; that is never a good sign. As you enter this area, you will notice that it is a V-shaped section of wire-mesh catwalk. If you run straight ahead, you will reach a dead end. Instead, turn right as you come through the door and run west. If you did not flip the switch in the area behind the curtain a second time, after getting the combination for the locker, there will be a section of catwalk missing, and you will have to go back down stairs and flip the switch before you continue. Otherwise, the catwalk turns sharply south, until you reach an area with an unlit lantern and a plank stretching out over the darkness. Examine the lantern to use the matches to light it, then turn back to the plank. Yes, you are going to have to cross it. Ease out onto the plank and begin edging your way across. If Alyssa wobbles and waves her arms, in means that you will have to wait until she regains her balance, then adjust her trajectory. If she falls, it is game over. Make your way across, stopping to readjust every time she wobbles. Once you get to the other side, you will find a small area of catwalk with a pair of pliers in the middle. Grab these, and then edge back across the board, using the same method as before. Once you are on the other side, another cutscene starts. It might seem a little surreal, but the lunar moth is a clue; these little bastards are the Entities' eyes and ears. If they see you, so does their master. You can't do anything about this one right now, because you now have Sledgehammer between you and the way out. Hit him in the face with some Holy Water, and then run past him and out the door you came in through, in the north-east corner of the room, on the north wall. Sprint down the stairs, down the short hallway, and then make a sharp left when you reach the landing. Run down the remaining stairs, out through the door, then take the first door on your left out into the stage area, and hide behind the curtain. If you can help it, try to make it all the way to behind the curtain without having to use your last two doses of Holy Water, because there are some of those damned Lunar moths in this area that need to be destroyed. It is possible to get all the way down here alive without using the Holy Water; trust me. You might get hit once, but just keep going. Once you are behind the curtain, turn and douse the moths with holy water to destroy them. The moths not only call the Subordinate for the area, but if they touch Alyssa they can cause her Panic Meter to rise as well, and we don't want that. There are three of them, and they usually come by twos or all together. If they are all together, great; one dash of Holy Water should get them all. If not, try to hit two together, then nail the last one with your last dash of Holy Water. If you have to use a second dash of Holy Water before reaching the stage area, don't go to the stage yet; run past the door to the stage, out through the door at the far end of the hallway, up the stairs at the far end of the room, through the door at the top, and hide in the closet until Sledgehammer goes away. Then return downstairs, go through the doors to the stage area, and either dash for the exit or use a Band of Invisibility to slip past the moths guarding this area, and out into the hallway leading to the front desk and the exit. Whichever method you use to effect your narrow escape, it is time to leave the Concert Hall. Save your game at the front (trust me on this one), and leave the Concert Hall. Now it is time for a mad dash. Sledgehammer comes bursting through the doors behind you, so keep running across the courtyard, around the fountain in the middle and slip through the arch with the crazed fiend on your heels. Turn right as you come out of archway, and quickly refill at the Lion's Head Fountain. Nail Sledgehammer with a quick dash of Holy Water, quickly refill again, and then run like hell across the bridge back towards Norton's Tailor. Lunar moths will start converging on you from the sides, but ignore them. Alternately, you can stay near the Lion's Head Fountain and alternately douse Sledgehammer with Holy Water and then refill, until his Minions come to you, then destroy them with Holy Water, stun Sledgehammer one last time, and then run for Norton's Tailor. Regardless, he should come bursting into the room right behind you, so hit him again with Holy Water and then run for the hiding spot in the north-west corner of the room until he teleports away. Once he is gone, leave your hiding space and follow the wall on your right until you reach the door behind the desk. Go through it, and take a right, following the east wall of this room as it turns sharply west, then run west until you reach the door covered in barbed wire. Search it to use the Pliers and unseal the door. Enter it to find William's room. This is a cozy little room with fireplace, an empty bookshelf, a little table covered in books (why weren't they in the bookshelf?), a little table with flowers on it, a couch with a coffee table in front of it, a rocking chair, and, of course, a piano. Where else would little May practice her ivory tickling? There are really only two things of importance in this room; the rocking chair and a box on the mantelpiece above the fire. The rocking chair is in the north-east corner of the room, and it holds a Repellant Arrow. This handy little things are only used in boss battles, and should be saved for the end of the game. Once you have this in hand, search the box on the mantelpiece to start a fairly long but important cutscene. Aww. I guess that pocket watch must be very important to poor May. There are some other important bits of information in the box as well, including the real identity to the one we call Sledgehammer. His name was Robert Morris, aged 32, who killed twelve people with a hammer before being captured and hanged on the 10th of September, 1941. But wait a second, wasn't May Norton murdered on December 25th, 1942? I guess you just can't keep a good serial killer down. It is time to bring Alyssa her father's watch, and put a stop to this madness. Leave William's room through the only door, and retrace your route back out of Norton's Tailor for the last time. Whether you killed them or not, the Minions are now gone from this area. Cross the bridge without fear of attack, refill your Holy Water (just for the hell of it), and save your game at the Lion's Head Statue. Go through the archway and start to cross the courtyard to begin the final battle with Sledgehammer. -3. Boss Battle: Sledgehammer It's time to teach the Hammer that "You can't touch this"! Yeah, I know, that was bad. Regardless, once you get most of the way across the courtyard, Sledgehammer shows up for a little fisticuffs, mano-a-little girl-o. Once the cutscene is over, you get a short tutorial on how to fight boss battles. For more general information on Boss Battles, check out section I. h. The Smackdown. After the tutorial, you get to see exactly what Alyssa is supposed to use to fight the Entities; her Sacred Bottle turns into a Devine Bow that can shoot energy arrows. Groovy. Just like the Ranger on the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. Now it is time to brawl. According to the stats at the beginning of the fight, Sledgehammer has killed 26 people. The newspaper article says Robert Morris killed 12 before he died, and he said that May was only the beginning, so somewhere he killed another 13 people in between. There was one Spirit on High Street, and one on the Promenade, and if he killed the manager of the Concert Hall (the guy who had the combination for the locker), that still leaves ten. Oh well. I guess I don't need to see every body. Bobby has on a couple of attacks. The first is a slow overhead strike when he gets too close to you, which is easy to avoid if you keep moving. He occasionally pauses to do a happy little dance, but don't be fooled; it doesn't give you enough time (usually) to hit him with a super-charged binding arrow. What you have to wait for is for him to say "Die!" After he says this he strikes the ground with his hammer, which sends a shockwave towards you that can do damage and knock you on your ass if you are close enough. If you are somewhat near him when you hear him start this attack, hit the crouch button and hold it until the shockwave goes by. As soon as it has, quickly stand. Put at least a few strides between the two of you, and then begin charging an arrow. The camera switches to the first person view, and the arrow begins glowing ever brighter. Hold it until wavy beams of light stream off of it, and then release. If you think it is almost ready, and Sledgehammer charges you, keep holding it as long as you possibly can. Even if he hits you, the released arrow should pin him to the spot if you held the attack long enough. Unfortunately, you can't just stand in the same spot and pummel him if you really hope to bind him. You need to capture him in a criss-crossing spider's web of energy bands, and have points of origin at least 45 degrees apart, so move left or right significantly before attempting another pinning attack. Do this three times, from three different spots, and you have him pinned. It gets a lot easier after the first shot pins him, because so long as you are out of his range, the first pinning shot holds him in place to set him up for the next. Don't get discouraged if you take too long and he breaks free; just calmly start the process over again. If you are feeling ballsy, you can pin him without waiting for him to release the energy wave. Simply wait until he unleashes a regular attack, turn, and begin to charge an attack. Hold it until the last possible moment, and then release it into him point blank right before he is about to strike you. If your timing was right, your attack will stop his attack and pin him to the spot. Even if it wasn't strong enough to pin him, it should have been enough to stop his attack and stun him for a second, so you can try again. This method is faster, but it takes nerves of steel, since you really have to wait until the last possible moment to make it effective. Once you have him pinned with three energy chains, start another attack from anywhere on the screen. Instead of pointing at the Subordinate, Alyssa aims at the sky, and looses an arrow into the gathering clouds, unleashing a devastating holy attack from above. This should be more than enough to cook Sledgehammer's toast. He will be destroyed in the rush of energy, and release the Clover of Love, which Alyssa will automatically pick up. This sounds vaguely dirty, but the object is in fact a piece of the clover necklace that Alyssa has been carrying. Now that she has it in her possession, Alyssa's Sacred Bottle becomes more powerful; you now can carry four doses of Holy Water instead of three. Not bad. Don't worry about going back and saving, as you are more or less done here, and the Entity who has been torturing you is no more. Take a few moments to appreciate the nice environment of the courtyard which the programmers did such a nice job on, but that you have been too busy running in fear to enjoy. Unfortunately, the way back towards the Promenade is permanently closed, so if you missed something, it is gone. Once you have looked around to your heart's content, continue up the steps and enter the Concert Hall. Again, don't worry about saving your game at the front desk. You are almost done here, so continue on your way until you reach the performance hall. Run up to the stage to begin a long, touching, and informative cutscene. Alyssa tells May that her father is dead, and then tries to comfort her by telling her that she never knew her father because he died when she was very young, but that she loves her grandfather the same way May loves her father. She then encourages May to play the piano along with the pocket watch's tune for practice and she finally gets the damn song right! Her father comes back from beyond to gather her up and thank Alyssa, and then May and William return to the afterlife together, finally at peace. Alyssa, for her part, sees them off, and then collapses in a heap on the stage. It must have been all that stress. She wakes up in her bed, wondering if the whole thing has just been a dream -b. Chapter Two: "It must have been some bad Acid " -1. Intermission There is a pounding at Alyssa's curtained window, but she can't see what is outside. Fearfully, she edges towards it to see what she can see is it a demon, an Entity, or some horrible beast? Well, yes, kind of. It is Alyssa's grade school friend Dennis, and by this cutscene it appears that he has some form of wanker epilepsy. This red-headed scamp not only grates on my every nerve, but he also has a key to Alyssa's grandfather's room that Alyssa's mother gave him to give to Alyssa if he were to see her. So since Dennis obviously has a huge crush on Alyssa (and also seems to know where Alyssa's bedroom window is hmmm), he brought the key over for her, climbed the trellis, and pounded on her window. How kind of him. Now that you have a key for Grandpa Dick's room, it is time to head downstairs again. Alyssa automatically leaves the room through the lower door, leaving Dennis behind temporarily. Go down the staircase, hang a hard right, and double back to the doors almost under the stairs (but if you want to, check the doors to the Dining Room first; who the hell locked them, if you are here alone probably the creepy old guy who told you your mommy was never coming home ). When you go through these doors, you enter a corridor with a door at either end. The one to your left goes into the guest's rooms, and is permanently locked; you'll never get in there. The door to your right is Dick's room. Which brings up another interesting question; the map clearly states that this is the Guest Wing. So why are Alyssa, Nancy, Philip and Dick's rooms all located in this wing? Are they guests in their own house? Are they slumming it? The world may never know. These questions aside, use the key that Dennis gave you to open Dick's room. You know, if I had that name I think I would definitely go with Richard. Anyway, the room you are now in is Alyssa's Grandfather's office, and is full of strange and esoteric objects and books. Before looking at the obvious objects on the desktop, take a few moments to take in some of the room. Notice the painting of your Grandfather on the wall to your right as you enter the room. On the left is a wall of masks (eerily, I have a very similar wall in my own house). Search the bookcase and the desk drawers for interesting bits of information. Remember the locked drawer that is on the right as you are facing the desk. Notice also that there is a mask missing from the wall. Once you have taken all this in, check out the object on the top of the desk. The Book of Entities Vol. 1 explains some of the horrible things that Alyssa has seen; evil spirits called Entities possess innocent humans and drive them to acts of ruthless cruelty and murder. Those humans who are thus possessed are called Subordinates. Even killing the Subordinates does not stop the evil, as the Entity will simply resurrect its Subordinates to continue the killing spree. Subordinates gain power from each human they kill, taking sustenance from the misery and suffering of the victim's soul. Subordinates can acquire an infinite amount of power in this way. Only certain humans can fight the Subordinates and the Entities who control them; the Rooders; metaphysical warriors who's job it is to redeem the souls of the restless dead, and send them on their way. They are the ones chosen to fight the evil creatures called the Entities, and most of them are girls in their early teens. Only one girl, in all the world never mind, that last bit is from Buffy. Alyssa realizes that what she experienced earlier was no "dream"; she is a Rooder, and she actually redeemed the dead and defeated an Entity and its Subordinate! As she is trying to cope with the connotations of this, Dennis burst in, in his trademark irritating manner. Alyssa shows him the book of Entities, most likely confusing the poor bastard even further. Alyssa decides that she needs to find her mother to get the answers that she needs, and can sense that she is close. Dennis begs to be allowed to help, as his sister Linda, who raised him, is away working as a relief worker in Africa, so he is all alone, and, from the sounds of it, bored out of his skull. Alyssa agrees to let him help her find her mother, and tells him to search upstairs while she searches down. Now that the cutscene is over, it is time to search for clues. There is a note on Dick's desk that says "The Keys to the mystery of time lie behind you". Mystery of time, huh? How about the clock in Nancy's room, that said you needed Winding Keys to get it going? The keys lie behind you is misleading; I kept turning around and searching the chair and the bookcase behind Alyssa, and there is nothing there. The clue should read that "The Keys to the mysteries of time lie behind ME", if it was Dick who wrote the note. Search the picture of Dick hanging on the wall to discover the Winding Keys to the clock in Nancy's room. It is pretty irritating that you searched here earlier, and found nothing, simply because you hadn't found the book or talked to Dennis about the Rooders yet. But you have the keys now, so what say we go upstairs. Exit Dick's room, leave the corridor by taking the door on the left wall, climb the stairway in the next room, go through the door at the top of the stairs, hang a left, and go through the door at the end of the hall. In this area, notice something has changed; the sigil on the door is now glowing blue. So what are you waiting for? Douse the door with Holy Water. Unfortunately, the sigil that was hold you out was also holding something in, so a cranky ghost comes out to play. Ignore it to the best of your abilities, and enter the now unsealed bathroom. Inside, you will find nothing other than a bathtub containing the decayed corpse of one of your mother's boarders! The key to freeing this restless spirit is rather esoteric, and concerns the horrible stench that Alyssa comments on when searching the rotting soup that is the corpse in the bathtub. You need to use something to make the room smell less terrible, and the only thing Alyssa is carrying that fits the bill is the Lavender Water. So use it already! This seems to work just fine, and the spirit is freed, leaving behind a Sigil Stone. This little side-quest fulfilled, continue on your way. Leave the bathroom, turn right, and go a short distance around a corner into Nancy's room. As you walk in front of the painting over the fireplace it falls, revealing another picture, this one with a clock depicted in it. The time on the clock in the painting reads 3:00, so go over to the clock to the right of the painting and use the winding keys when prompted. The time on the real clock says 3:05. How do you make the time read 3:00? The left key moves time backwards by 40 minutes, while the right one moves it forward by 25 minutes. If you are having trouble, the solution is; left, right, left, right, right. Once you do this, the wall to the left of the clock slides aside to reveal a secret door, so enter it. In this snazzy red room is a desk, some weird occult mumbo jumbo, and a mystical circle on the ground. Check the book on the desk for a hint on how to activate the "Portal Square" (the symbol- thing on the ground near the desk), then stand in the middle of the Portal Square and douse it twice with Holy Water. Step into the middle of the now glowing symbol, and we are on our way. -2. I Hear the Acid's Lovely I have a feeling that we aren't in Kansas any more, Toto. As Alyssa steps out of the light in the center of the Portal Square, she finds herself in an area that is most certainly not Nancy's hidden office. The Portal Square stops glowing, but you can still see it drawn on the ground. In fact, if you douse it twice with Holy Water again, you can re-activate it and return to your own time and place. Leave it alone for now, however, and investigate this new area. There is only one way to go, so head south. It appears to be some sort of out of the way park in the middle of a suburb. On the ground in the top right corner of the park is a Lavender Water. Fill up your Holy Water at the Lion's Head Fountain dominating the center of the park, and save. If you search the trashcan at the bottom of this area, you will find an newspaper article. It is dated November 23, 1963, and tells of Dorothy Rand and her toy-maker son Albert Rand, whose bodies were found in a drum filled with acid in the garage adjoining their house on Russell Street, in West Sussex. Albert lived with his mother, a blind widow, and he himself had his eyes gouged out prior to the murder. It also says the police were looking for a man who had been staying with the Rands a few days before the murder, having claimed to be a distant relative. Something tells me that these murders might be why you are there. Leaving the area by the only path, you will find that you can't go left, as the way is blocked by a fence. So turn right, and walk up the path parallel to the park, until you find two trashcans, with a nearby red hued Spirit. Here the path turns to the left. Notice the teddy bear at the foot of the left-most trashcan? Pick it up, then continue cautiously past the Spirit to the left. On the left side of the path you will notice a dumpster with an arm sticking out of it; this is the Spirit's corpse. There is a half-heart pendant dangling from the limp hand; you are going to need the other half to put the Spirit to rest and collect your reward. Also on the left, on the same screen, just past the dumpster, notice a door. It is locked from the other side. Continue to avoid the Spirit and continue on your way. You will pass a wall with some bright red graphiti that reads "Get Ready To Go To Hell". Lovely, run past this and past a little alcove with toppled barrels near it. Soon you will find another Spirit, another door on your left, and just beyond it, the Spirit's crashed car, with the trunk sprung and an empty gift box just below it. The teddy bear that you found earlier was once in the box, a gift that some little girl would never get. Well, do your best anyway, and use the teddy bear near the car. This appeases the hippy Spirit, and she departs, leaving you a Sigil Stone. Leave it to a hippy to give you a crystal. Now head through the purple-hued door to your left. Great; a derelict looking house with a wide trail of blood running down the center of the hallway. This should end well. Note the cans on the floor to your left, as these will be a noise hazard once you meet the Subordinate for this level. Also on the left is a set of locked double doors. There is only one way to go, so continue through the house until you trigger a creepy cutscene. Count Crapula! That charming fellow must have been Albert, and he isn't the happiest clown at the circus. But since he is gone, try once more to go down the hallway. Another cutscene follows, in which Alyssa decides to do some exploring without your help, and meets Dorothy, albeit briefly. When this scene is done, check the door to find it is being held shut from the other side, then go to the right some more; at the end of the hall there is a locked door with a crooked picture next to it. As you look at the picture, Alyssa thinks that she should straighten the picture, but then doesn't do so. Now go back to the main hall, and a Spirit will begin to pursue Alyssa. You will run past a door on your right, but don't bother to stop, because it is locked. Run up some stairs and don't stop until you run out of hallway. Here you will find another door, this time on your left. This little room has a few objects of interest; a desk with a journal on it, bookshelf with a toolbox, a bed, and a table with a Moonflower on it and a picture of the moon behind it. First things first, and knowledge should always come first. Read Albert's journal, on the desk. It seems that the Rand's "relative" who came to stay was named John Haigh, and that Albert was wary of him from the beginning, but that dear old mum told him not to judge a book by its cover. I guess Dorothy should have listened to Albert. Now check the toolbox, to find it locked. Finally, examine the Moonflower on the table next to the bed. It asks if you want to turn the flower, so turn it North, towards the moon on the picture behind it. The bed slides aside to reveal a ladder that leads through a hatch on the floor. Go down the ladder and you will come out of a chimney in the dining room downstairs. Don't stand around too long, or you will get blindsided by the same Spirit who cased you up the stairs earlier. Run around the table and pick up the glittering object from the other end; the kitchen key. On the other end of the table is the Half Heart pendant, so avoid the Spirit as you run around to the other side and grab it. Notice the fire extinguisher leaning against the wall opposite the room's only door, then leave the room through the door. You are back in the main hallway of the house, and just exited through the doors that had been locked from the other side. You are near the doors where you first came into the house, but as the ghost comes sliding through the wall behind you, don't bother running for the front door, as something has locked it behind you! So run back up the hallway, around the corner, past the hallway to your right, around another corner, and use the Kitchen key on the door to the right that you ran by earlier while the ghost was pursuing you the first time. Run through the door and into the kitchen to trigger a short cutscene, then read the reporter's memo. It tells us quite a bit about John Haigh's murder of the Rands, if you pay close attention to the dates on the documents. The reporters Memo says that he had found a very important clue in the Rand's murder case, and was going back to the house to investigate. Which is how he ended up here, dead. Along with the Memo is an old news article dated May 11, 1962, that tells how John Haigh, a serial killer on the run since "early last year" (which would be 1961), was finally captured. Haigh had killed several pensioners, whose bodies he then disposed of by stuffing them into vats of stolen sulfuric acid. Knowing that he needed more sulfuric acid to continue in this manner, police staked out factories that used sulfuric acid in their processes, in hopes that he would come for more, which he did, at a plating factory in Horsham. In his attempts to escape the cops Haigh lost his balance and fell from a platform into a vat of acid, ironically meeting the same end as those he had killed. The Rand's murders could have been some of the "several pensioners" mentioned in the articles, except for the dates; the first article found in the trashcan in the park was dated November 23, 1963. This is a year and six months after the article was written. So John Haigh was possessed by an Entity, killed a bunch of people, fell into a vat of acid, got resurrected, then came back, posed as the Rand's relative, and killed them too. He didn't even bother to change his name in between, as Albert's diary refers to John Haigh by name. Ballsy. Check out the corpse on the floor (burned by something hmmm), and his camera, then dash out through the door on the far wall before the ghost (who is still chasing you) gets hold of you. You can check this place out a little better after you get rid of that damned Spirit. You end up back in the alleyway outside of the building, next to the dumpster with the body in it. Run over to the body and use the Half Heart pendant to set the red Spirit free, and receive an Invisibility Band in exchange. Then return to the nearby park for a refill and save. But what is this ! Alyssa's mum makes a cameo, before disappearing into thin air. She left something behind, on the ground on the left hand side of the screen; Dick's Desk Key. Time to head back to the future. Or present, rather. Whatever. Run back to the Portal Square to the north, douse the circle twice with Holy Water, then step into the light. Once back in the red room, head back downstairs to Dick's office and use the key on the drawer on the right-hand side. Inside is the book of Entities II, which tells you how to vanquish a Subordinate. You must find a sentimental item belonging to the murdered soul who is powering the Subordinate, in order to heal the victim and send them on their way. Once the object is found, the Rooder's power is boosted and a "Rooder Portal Square" appears, with the sacred weapon needed to destroy the Subordinate within. Oh, so that is what happened earlier with Sledgehammer. Anyway, also in the drawer is the missing mask, so use it on the wall to your right, and the wall slides aside to reveal a hidden portion of Dick's office. There are a lot of books here, and a few desks. One wall is taken up entirely by old family photos. On the small, book covered desk to the side of the central desk, search to find another Repellant Arrow. Search the box on the central desk for a roll of film and a document written in your grandfather's hand. The document says that the Rooder bloodline is passed from mother to daughter, down through the ages, and the Hamilton bloodline is particularly strong with it. The Rooder powers manifest in the early teens, and dwindle quickly as the Rooder ages, so that the powers are gone entirely at the age of twenty. The ex-Rooders then marry in their early twenties, in hopes that they will have a girl child to pass on the Rooder bloodline to. Dick didn't believe in any of this until he found the Book of Entities, and now he is particularly proud of it. Before we go any farther, we should get this out of the way, to avoid any confusion; in Clock Tower the family name is the name of the female's family. Dick's last name was Brown, until he married Francesca Hamilton, and his name became Dick Hamilton. Dick and Francesca had a daughter named Nancy, and she married Philip (whose original last name was never revealed) and he became Philip Hamilton. So for some reason they are following a matriarchal bloodline; the men lose their "maiden" names when they get married, and take the last name of their wives. You go, sisters. Fight the power! Actually, I noticed the same thing in the Japanese animation Neon Genesis Evangelion; the father of the main character, Shinji, whose name was Gendo Rokobundi , married Yui Ikari, and became Gendo Ikari. It must be some wacky Japanese thing. But I digress once again. Once Alyssa finishes reading her Grandfather's notes, she realizes that she really is a Rooder, and hopes that by doing her Rooder thing and saving Dorothy and Albert Rand's souls, she will be free, and able to find her mother. So return upstairs to the red room with the Portal Square; notice that it is still glowing. Once you have activated it once from each side, it stays open until you are done with that level; i.e. you have defeated the Subordinate and freed the trapped spirits that power them. So step into the glowing circle and return to the 1960s. Refill your Holy Water and save at the Lion's Head Fountain, then return to the kitchen of the Rand's house through the door next to the dumpster with the now-at-rest corpse inside. Run over to the camera and use the film that you got from Dick's hidden office to finally set the pesky spirit to rest. In exchange, you receive some pictures that (amongst other things) show you how the body ended up in the dumpster outside. The second picture shows you that had you moved the crooked picture in the hallway where you first saw Dorothy (like you wanted to), you would have found a hidden switch. Dammit! Check out the rest of the kitchen if you want, taking notice of the pots on the left side of the sink, which can be knocked to the floor with quite a racket. Right, stay away from those. Now exit the room through the door leading back into the house, go around the corner to your left, then go down the branching hallway you had explored briefly before. As you go down this hallway, ignore the door on your left, which some force is still holding shut. Examine the crooked painting at the end of the hallway, flip the hidden switch, and go through the now unlocked door next to it. To your left is a small bathroom, which you can use to hide in later, and to your right is a Lion's Head Fountain and a path that leads west, up a flight of metal stairs. Refill your Holy Water (if necessary) and save, then climb the stairs. The path turns north at the top of the stairs, and right ahead there is a door that is locked from the other side on your right, a stairway going down on your left, and a door a short way up the path to the north. Go north through the unlocked door. Walk straight forward through this small, ransacked room. In the north-west corner there is some wood that can be knocked over, which makes a racket. Next to this is a large container marked Sodium Chlorate (to which Alyssa remarks "sounds flammable"; smart 14 year old). Continue to search to trigger a nasty, brutal cutscene showing you both the Rand's grisly end, a glimpse of the fate of the sentimental object you will be looking for, and your first view of the most disturbing looking Subordinate in the game; John Haigh, "The Corroder". After the cutscene, dash north, away from your assailant, and towards the Sodium Chlorate, your evade point, which should have a green glow around it. The villain is doused with burning chemicals, and Alyssa effects her escape through the front door. However, during the cutscene with the burning Corroder, a glittering object can be seen in the background. Alyssa will have to go back for it. Turn right around and run back into the room Alyssa just escaped from. Run to the south-east corner of the room and pick up the glittering object next to the double doors; another Invisibility Band. Now enter the double doors, into the room in which you saw Dorothy and Albert receive their acid baths. On the east wall of this room is shelf with a glittering object on it. This is the key to the toolbox back in the main house. There is nothing more of interest here, so exit through the door in the south-west corner of the room, back onto the metal catwalk near the stairs. Turn left and run down the stairs leading back to the Lion's Head Fountain, refill your Holy Water, and save. Then head back through the door leading into the main house. Go down the hallway and turn right at the end, or try to. The Corroder jumps out of nowhere and blasts you in the face with acid, raising your Panic Meter almost as far as it can go. Don't let the bastard push you over the edge; instead hit HIM in the face with Holy Water, dodge around him as he is screaming, and run past the room on the right, down the hallway and up the stairs, until you reach the door at the end of the hallway. Alternately, you could turn left at the end of the first hallway to avoid getting a face full of acid, enter the double doors in the main hall (near the blood smears), and go up the chimney into the same room above. Corroder will still burst into the kitchen behind you, but you won't have to use a Holy Water and your Panic Meter won't be topped out. Either way, you are now in the upstairs room, with a maniac right behind you. But Corroder can't up through the narrow chimney passage with him bulky chemical tanks, so he will have to come around and come in through the door. Either way you choose, you are in the same boat. Run over to the toolbox on the bookshelf, and use the Toolbox Key when prompted. Inside is a hexagonal wrench, so take it and get a move on. Run back over to the ladder leading into the dining room below, and wait; after a few seconds, Corroder comes bursting into the upstairs room. Quickly descend the ladder to avoid him. Now you have to act quickly; there is a glowing Evade point over the fire extinguisher, on the same side of the room as the chimney. If you try to leave the room without using the Evade point, the door will burst open as you attempt to leave, and Alyssa will be knocked on her ass and damned near Panicked. You will probably need to use a dose of Holy Water on your enemy to escape. But seeing as you won't have to come back here again, instead of trying to leave through the doors, just use the Evade point, if you can. As you use the Evade point, Corroder will come bursting into the room, and Alyssa will throw the extinguisher, which will break open, filling the room with obscuring mist. The good news is that he can't see you. The bad news is, you can't see him too well either. But since you know where what you are looking for is (the door) you have the advantage. Sneak past him into the hallway, then turn left, run up the hallway until you see the branching hallway going right, run down it to the end, and back out the door at the end. You are now back in the area with the metal stairs and the Lion's Head Fountain. Run over to the fountain, refill if necessary, and save. Then try to climb the stairs. You will hear Johnny come out of a door above you, so turn around and make a mad dash for the bathroom. If you need to buy some time, hit him with a dash of Holy Water, but whatever you do, make it to the bathroom. I've run for a bathroom with almost as much urgency before, but never because a man dressed in leather and a World War II gas mask was trying to immerse me in acid. Well, there was that one time when it FELT like that, after Mexican night, but that is a whole different story. Anyway, run past the door leading back into the main house on your left, and through the door at the end. Then immediately turn around and use the Evade point located directly against the door to temporarily dispatch your assailant. Enjoy the cutscene. Okay, that was a little too Wile E. Coyote for a horror game, but what the hell. Refill and save again at the Lion's Head Fountain if you want (I did) and climb the stairs. At the top, bear left and go down the stairs on the other side, towards the river, then go left through the gate at the bottom. Alyssa will notice Dorothy's shawl caught in a grate in the river, but you can't get there from here. Run south, past the giant fans, until you reach the dead end. You will notice a red knob sticking out of a pipe; examine it and use the hexagonal wrench when prompted to stop the fan next to you. Go through the fan like you would go through a door, by hitting the action button, and Alyssa will crawl past the fans, down a short tunnel, and past the stopped fan on the other side, without you having to do anything. Unfortunately, the Corroder gets here at the same time you do, leaving you with few options in an unfamiliar room. So run straight ahead from your entry point, until you see the Corroder or the camera shifts, showing you the only door to this room, which is on the north wall and has a red light over it. Nail your enemy with a shot of Holy Water to slow him down, then run through the door. He will still be chasing you, so run down the stairs, and through the metal doors to the left of the stairs, without stopping. Run through this next room, past a Save Journal to your left and a table to your right, then bear right, all the way to the Evade point in the farthest corner of the room. Use the Evade point immediately, and the Corroder will meet another ignoble end. Which brings up an interesting point; despite being very creepy looking and killing people with frickin' ACID for Christ's sake, the Corroder is very goofy. You kill him goofy when you use evade points. He giggles and capers in the cutscenes when you see him killing people. If you ever let him close enough to really attack you, he knocks you to the ground, then jumps up in the air and tries to kill you with his ass, just like Mario. If he ever succeeds in hitting you, he dances and claps, while giggling. Oh yeah. This annoying bitch is going DOWN for the count. After he is gone search the table for a Lavender Water and the Daughter's letter, then save in the journal across from the table. This accomplished, leave the room the way you came in. Hopefully, you were moving too fast on the way in for the Spirit who hangs around this area to even make an appearance, let alone cause trouble for you. Dodge past it now as you move north, away from the stairs. Do NOT go back up the stairs to the room with the fans to explore it further; The Corroder has left his Minions there, and will find you if you return to this room; furthermore, there is nothing to find. Turn to follow the path when it turns, and run east until you run out of sidewalk. There is a short flight of stairs leading down to a small empty platform, and a very narrow ledge that continues east. Press the directional diagonally towards the wall and the ledge to get Alyssa to put her back to the wall, then edge east until you reach a small stone island, with a narrow plank leading to another island. This island has two boards leading off of it; a short one in the foreground of the screen, and a longer one towards the back. The easier-looking of the two (the shorter, closer one) is, or course, dangerous, but use it anyway, as falling into the water once is necessary if you want to free that last Spirit you encountered. As you cross the board it breaks, dumping you into the water. Don't bother trying to struggle, as you are simply carried downstream until fetching up against some metal bars that keep you from going further downstream. This also just happens to be right next to the small platform by the water, right next to where you started edging along the ledge. As Alyssa is catching her breath, something is stirred up from the depths, something dead. Alyssa leaps out of the water and up the short set of stairs, but once you regain control, turn around and go back. Examine the corpse for information about how he make have died, then use the Daughter's Letter from your inventory to set his Spirit Free. As a reward you are given the very valuable Binding Arrow, which you should save until the end of the game. Now climb the stairs, edge back along the ledge to the first island, then cross the plank back to the second island. Notice that the short board, which broke, and should be gone, is back. Ignore it and cross the longer one towards the back of the screen to the next landing. There are two more boards, one to the front, and one to the back, but only the one towards the front is safe, so cross the one closest to the screen to reach another island. This one has only one board leaving it, but beware; she who hesitates is lost. If you don't cross as quickly as possible, ignoring the board's grumbling and quaking, the board will slip, dumping you back into the river. You will end up back at the platform with the now dormant corpse, and have to do the whole board-crossing section over again. Luckily, this board will also have returned, or else there would be no way to beat the level. So cross quickly and surely, as the board falls into the water behind you, with you safely on the other side. For here, caught in the grating, is Dorothy's shawl. And you know what that means; it is almost time to end the level. Turn left and walk a short distance until you pass a fence and back onto solid ground. Then turn left again, and begin to walk. This will activate a cutscene, and suddenly, you are stuck in a narrow alley with the maniac! Hit him immediately with Holy Water, than turn and run the opposite direction until you see a door on the fence to your left. Turn and open it, then run forward. You will realize that you are back in the section where the ghost once roamed, and as you keep running forward you the door on your left leading back into the room where you electrocuted the Corroder. Ignore it and run back up the stairs, stopping only to hit Corroder with more Holy Water if he gets too close. Go through the door at the top of the stairs. Another cutscene follows as you enter the room, and it is time to destroy your tormentor. -3. Boss Battle: Corroder As the battle starts, the first thing you need to do is get a feel for your enemy's rhythms; just like all boss battles, this one has a pattern. He has a handful of pre-scripted comments, with a certain attack or behavior attached to each one. First of all, just like Sledgehammer before him, he will take a swipe at you if he gets too close. Luckily, this attack is slow and easy to avoid if you keep moving. He makes two quick swipes with his spray nozzle, and the clouds of acid that come out of them are small and slow- moving, so keep on the move. Every once in a while, when he has a straight line of sight, he will say "There she is". When you hear this, move quickly to one side or the other, because he is about to shoot a long, accurate stream of acid in straight line. This attack moves much more quickly than the clouds, so as soon as you hear him start this attack, get out of the way and keep moving, abandoning any attacks you may have started. His third action is to say "Time to die" or simply grunts a laugh; when he does either of these things, he pauses for a short time and waves his arms around. After a couple of seconds, he then charges straight towards wherever you are on the screen. This is not a dash attack, or anything like that, he just runs a little faster to catch up with you. If you have a straight line of sight (i.e. he won't have to dodge around anything to get to you), he will run straight at you, without dodging from side to side. This is a good time to line up a shot and hold it for as long as you can; you may even be able to get a binding shot, if you have enough space between you. Just hold it for as long as you can, than release it point blank when he stops to attack you. The best time for a binding attack, however, is when his acid spraying nozzle jams. He will try to make a regular swipe at you as he comes in close, but nothing comes out of the nozzle. He will then yell "Damn it!" and shake the nozzle a number of times to clear it, two groups of three quick shakes. After that, he will begin one of his main attacks anew; either the quick swipes (if you are close), the "There she is" long range attack, or one of his charging attacks. Regardless, your job, once you hear the "Damn it!" is to stop wherever you are, turn, and try and get a pinning shot on him. These moments when him nozzle jams are the best opportunities to do so. However, he has more hit points than Sledgehammer, and even if you pin him down and nail him with the super-charged heavenly attack, he won't die unless you have whittled his life down somewhat before hand. So here is the best plan of attack; run until you see him pause for any reason, then turn and fire a semi-charged arrow (one that glowing somewhat, but is less than a binding attack) at him. One important point to keep in mind is that even though there is a big metal machine in the middle of the room, you can shoot through it, even if you can't see through it. Alyssa automatically locks onto the enemy's position, so try to trust that your attack will work. Of course, he might move out of the way, but you will find he does that a lot even when you can see him. Anyway, just hit him with lesser attacks as often as possible, and wait for a chance to pin him, either when he charges you from across the room, or when his nozzle jams. Once you have one glowing chain attached to him, it makes things a little easier. Just like with Sledgehammer, move forty-five degrees at least, then hit him again. He will try to charge you, even when he is bound, but don't let him intimidate you. Hold your shot until you have another binding shot, then move again. The only time you should abandon your binding shot in the middle of charging is if you are too close and he hits you, or you hear him say "There she is". If you hear this, stop whatever you are doing and get out of the way. He can hit you with this shot no matter where he is in the room, if he has a straight line. Pin him three times from at least forty-five degrees apart, and Alyssa's next attack will be her divine finishing attack, just like the one you used to destroy Sledgehammer. If he somehow survives this attack (he might, if you didn't soften him up enough first) just hit him with semi-charged arrows until he dies screaming. After he is gone, Alyssa gets another piece of the Clover Amulet, the Clover of Courage. Like the Clover of Love, this piece increases the amount of Holy Water your Sacred Bottle can hold, so you now have five doses instead of four. Groovy. After the Subordinate is dead, it is time to put let the Spirits of Albert and Dorothy rest. Leave through the fan you stopped earlier. On the other side, follow the path up the stairs, but don't bother going into the house where you saw Dorothy and Albert killed; they aren't there. They are in the room where you first saw Dorothy, in locked room of the main house. So go down the stairs on the other side, past the Lion's Head Fountain (you don't need to save or refill, but feel free), and through the door leading back into the house. Once in there go forward to the first door, on your right, and open it. A fairly long and touching cutscene follows. Their spirits are free, and the evil has been vanquished. Okay, maybe not all the evil. It seems the strange guest from the beginning is somehow involved in all this, and doesn't seem too pleased with your interference. This are about to get serious. -c. Chapter Three: "A Rooder Awakening " -1. The Sewers and What Lies Above Well, you were back in Alyssa's house for a few seconds. Now it isn't there anymore, and there is a big evil Clock Tower where it once stood. What's worse, you have been thrown into Hell by the Dark Man, who says that a) you and he will be one, and live forever starting at midnight on your fifteenth Birthday (in two hours, no less), and that b) the Subordinates killed your mum. Well, maybe this isn't Hell, but it is underground, and it is damp, and it is evil. So close enough. Towards the top of the screen is a weird "Tombstone" thing with a Rooder symbol on it, which seems familiar to Alyssa. Towards the bottom of the screen, glittering in the water next to some stalagmites, is a Lavender Water. The only way out seems to be through a tunnel on the right hand side of the screen, which you must crawl through. You end up on a small platform in the sewers, of all places. Look around all you want, but there is only one way to go. Left (south on the map) is a dead end, so right it is. There is another platform out of the water diagonally from the platform you started on, so slog towards it. You will notice a Spirit moving around on the other side of the grate separating this part of the tunnel from the next, just beyond the platform with the ladder on it. Ignore the ghost and climb the ladder. Hmm. Another short tunnel, this one with a fast-flowing stream in the middle of it, with sidewalks on either side and some short connecting bridges. Head left (west on the map) on the same side of the stream as you started out on. You will find a door on your right, just past some stalagmites, so go into it. The first thing you will notice as you enter will be the saving journal, with a jar of Holy Water next to it. By all means, refill (if you've used any) and save. Then continue into the room. It isn't very big, and there are just two other things of interest in here. The first is obvious; as you move further into the room there will be a small desk or table on your left (south-east corner of the room, on the map) with a glittering object on it. The object is the Worker's Key, so take it. The other point of interest is that behind the fish tank, in the other bottom (south-west) corner, is a hiding spot. This is about to become your new best friend, but for the time being just note its location, try it out, and head back out of this room. Surprise! This charming fellow is Chopper, and he is a very bad man. Once the introductions are complete, nail him with some Holy Water, than run back to the room you just left and dive into your hiding spot. Stay there until you hear him teleport away, then step out, refill your Holy Water, and save. Then leave the room again. Cross the short bridge across the stream, then turn left and follow the wall until it branches into a short secondary corridor with a door at the end. Unlock the door with the Worker's Key, then enter the next room. This is a long corridor that opens onto some scaffolding before branching left and right. For the time being, turn left and down a couple of stairs, then turn left and descend another short flight of stairs into a curving corridor. Chances are that Chopper will show up while you are in this area, as he never stays gone for long. Don't let him distract you though; get everything you can from each level before returning to the room with the fish tank to save. If he gets too close, simply hit him with some Holy Water and get back to work. So, at the bottom of the short set of stairs, turn right and follow the path, noting the gray box on the wall to your left. This is a power transfer box with all the wires disconnected, but you don't want to touch the live wires with your bare hands, so leave it alone for now. Follow this corridor to the end, side-stepping stalagmites as you go; notice, however, the item glittering at the base of the second group of stalagmites, as it is a Sigil Stone. At the end of this path are a couple of wooden crates stacked on top of each other. Inside the top one is the Distribution Plan. This tells you which wires hook to each other in the circuit to restore power. Unfortunately, you still need some insulating gloves to connect the wires. First run back to the room with the fish tank, hide there until Chopper leaves, then refill your Holy Water and save. Then return through the door you opened with the Worker's Key earlier. Go forward until the scaffolding branches left and right. Earlier, you went left. This time, go right. There is a door with "B-3" painted on it. This number is the level you are on, the basement, third level. Open the door and activate the machinery inside to move this elevator to "B-1" or "B-2". Choose B-2, then exit the elevator when it stops. Run down the stairs directly in front of you, then turn left. As you run down this corridor, Chopper appear directly behind you without warning. Nail him with some Holy Water to slow him down, then continue until you see a stack of crates on the right side of the corridor, with a red box on top. Search the red box to find the Crowbar, than keep running, hugging the left side of the screen as you see the right side of the corridor is on fire. Right beyond this is a seeming dead end, with metal barrels against a blank wall. Luckily, this is an evade point, so run up to the glowing ball over the barrels and hit the action button. Chopper will temporarily put himself out of your misery. Take this opportunity to run past him, back down the corridor, and back up the stairs to the elevator. You can return to B-3 and save, or you can continue directly to B-1. Either way, B-1 is your next goal, so head there when you are ready. As you come out of the elevator, there are stairs directly ahead of you and a path to your right. You can't get all the way through to your right until the power is on because there is a door with an electronic card reader at the end, so run down the stairs and go left. Chopper will make another very sudden appearance, but for the moment keep running. You will see a big metal closet to your right; run over to this and open it. Inside are some Insulated Gloves. Grab them, and while you are stopped, turn and hit Chopper with some Holy Water. If you want to check out what is at the end of this path, keep going. At the end is a circuit breaker, but with the power turned off, it won't do much good. Slip back the way you came, hitting Chopper sparingly with Holy Water when necessary, and run back to the elevator and return to B-3. Try to save at least one dose of Holy Water for the run back to the "safe" room with the fish tank, because he often comes out of the door ahead of you on this level. If so, nail him and slip by, run back to the safe room, hide until you hear him teleport away, then refill Holy Water and save. Whew. We are almost done with these basement levels, but we are going to need one more thing before we reconnect the power; the key card for the door out of this area. Luckily, it is nearby. Leave the room a cross the stream, then take a left. Go past the corridor leading back to the elevator, until you are standing next to a tank that says "Danger" in cloud of steam. You should be just on the other side of the little stream from where you first came up to this level from the sewers. On the ground there is a heavy metal hatch. Search, and when it asks if you want to use the Crowbar, say yes. Go down the hatch, back into the sewers. You should immediately see a skeleton at the bottom of the ladder, and some stairs going into the water. There is a ghost in this area, so be careful. Search the corpse for a clue to what it needs to be at peace, and you will find a note. It says that the now-dead guy came to rescue someone, but was captured and locked in the sewer, and to top it all off, he lost his glasses given to him by his loved one. Go into the water and they should be readily apparent; the spectacles are on a little island across from the corpse, barely out of the water. Retrieve them and give them back to the corpse, and the freed Spirit will give you the Card Key in return. Don't bother searching the rest of this little area, as there is nothing to find. Climb the ladder and return to B-3. Chopper should most likely be waiting for you at the top, so hit him with some Holy Water and run for your hiding place behind the fish tank. Once he is gone, refill your Holy Water and save. Then exit the room, and go back through the door across the hall towards the elevator. We are returning to the circuit box, so turn left where the path branches and take another left down the stairs, then turn right and move forward until you see the circuit box. Before opening it, take a moment to refresh your memory about how the wires are supposed to hook up by looking at the Maintenance Manual under "Files" on your pause screen; top left corner to bottom right corner, top center to bottom left corner, and top right to bottom middle. Then open the box and make this happen. You will see a red light come on over the circuit breaker on B-1, so that is our next goal. Run to the elevator and go to B-1. Once you get there, go straight ahead and down the stairs, take a left, and begin to run to the circuit breaker switch. Unfortunately, Chopper is between you and it. Hit him with Holy Water, run past him to the end, and throw the switch to turn the power on. You are almost done with this section. Run back the way you came, hit Chopper again with Holy Water, and then run up the stairs on your right when you get to them. Turn left and follow the path to the end. Use the card key on the door and run through, and you are free at least for the moment. This is some kind of storage area. Directly in front of the door is a Repellant Arrow, so grab it, and then go further on to your room. On your left is a jar of Holy Water, so refill. Directly ahead is a saving journal, so save. Otherwise, the room is empty, so go up the stairs, which are the only other exit from the room. There is a door at the top of the stairs, so go through. The first thing you will notice in this new area is the crying baby. Go forward and you will see some boxes with a stuffed animal on top. If you examine it, Alyssa says "A brand-new toy rabbit It can't be the one I was given when I was a child." But if you were paying attention when you first looked around Alyssa's room, it sure looks like it. The corridor itself should also seem somewhat familiar. You are back in Alyssa's house, but the door that you just came out of should have lead to Nancy's room. The door to the bathroom (which had the dead woman in the tub) is locked, as is the room that was boarded up last time you saw it. Before exiting through the door that should lead back towards the room with the fireplace, check out the little table across from the bathroom door; there is a statue here that Alyssa's mom gave her, which should be in her room. Strange. Anyway, leave through the aforementioned door now. Curiouser and curiouser the fire in the fireplace has been re-lit, and there is a rocking horse in the corner next to it, with gift-bows still attached. The door leading further into the guest wing is still impassable, and the door to Alyssa's room now reads "Nancy", and is locked. I am sure that you have figured it out by now, but Alyssa is a little slower on the uptake. Exit through the door leading out to the staircase. The other door leading into Alyssa's, or rather Nancy's room is also locked, and the one that read Philip still says Philip, but is now locked, rather than just impassable. Why were Alyssa and Philip keeping separate rooms? Apparently they weren't if that baby crying is who we think it is. Head down the stairs, and a cutscene takes over at the bottom. Awww. Isn't that sweet? Nancy and her baby, and an explanation of what the four clovers each stand for; love, friendship, hope, and courage. Well, all good things must come to an end, and this happy scene comes to a bloody one. Alyssa rushes out the courtyard just in time to see her beloved grandfather, Dick, murder Philip, the father who she never really knew. And to top it all off, Chopper shows up to rub it in. Well, to rub it in and to kill her. Boss Battle: Chopper Chopper takes it really easy on you this time. He moves somewhat slowly, and doesn't seem to use all of his attacks. Which is good, because your battlefield is severely limited; you can only run around the courtyard, you can't climb the steps, and you have a couple of trees and the bloody stump that your father died next to there to trip you up. Luckily, his body is gone. For some reason the Rooder Portal Square appears, and Alyssa tries to fight Chopper. I don't know how this is possible, since the Book of Entities II says that the Rooder Portal Square only appears and opens when the Rooder finds the sentimental item necessary to free the Spirit powering the Subordinate. Oh well, I guess Alyssa can use the Rooder Portal Square is she is really pissed, too. Anyway, do your best to avoid Chopper and all obstacles as you run around this tiny area. Since he stalks you fairly slowly, put a bit of distance between you, turn, and hold off your shot until he is right on top of you. If you had enough time, you will bind him with one of the golden chains. Even if you didn't the charged-up arrow should be enough to knock him back and break off his attack. Once you have one golden chain binding him, he is a little easier to hit, since he can't go too far in any direction with the chain tethering him. So move to another location, charge up to the max, and then hit him again. Just remember to move a short distance after every shot and stay out of his range, and you should have him pinned down in no time. Before you can do the coup de grace super-powered kill shot, a cutscene takes over, of Alyssa aiming for Chopper's heart, as he is helplessly bound. She fires, there is a flash of light, and when it clears Chopper is free and unharmed. He laughs at her and tells her she will join all the others, and then opens a pool of inky blackness beneath her. She sinks from sight and is gone. -2. Axe Me No Questions, Tell Me No Lies Alyssa now wakes up in some kind of cemetery, but she is no longer holding her bow; instead, she has a scroll, which Alyssa immediately begins to read. It is a second set of Dick's notes, explaining how he allowed Nancy to marry Philip to preserve the Rooder bloodline, but was disgusted by Philip's weak will and stupidity, and was outraged by the fact that he and Nancy said that they didn't want to raise Alyssa to be a Rooder. Dick saw this as shirking one's duties, and blamed Philip for any attempts to avoid this obligation. Finally, Philip did something to push Dick too far (as we saw), and after the murder he manipulated the police to cover the whole thing up. Wonderful guy. Once Alyssa is done reading this, it is time to explore your surroundings. There is a gate behind her, with Celtic-looking crosses on either side. Examine the crosses to find that each has a hollow impression in it, as if some object goes there. Then run towards the screen (east on the map) until a cutscene takes over. The restless Spirits here are the ghosts of Rooders. That is who you will have to put to rest before you can leave the area. They were all killed by Entities and their subordinates, and at least one of them had her heart removed and used in something called the Ritual of Engagement. The Spirits disappear before they tell Alyssa what the Ritual is. Run back through the columns towards the gate you came in through, and you should see an object glittering in the top left hand corner of this area. Run over to it and pick it up, as it is a Lavender Water, and then return to the hub area, where you woke up. Run between the two crosses and through the gate behind them. All that is in this area is a Lion's Head Fountain, so refill your Holy Water if necessary and save, then return to the central area where you woke up. Now you have a choice; the gate to your right, or the gate to your left, meaning the right side of the screen (north on the map) or the left side of the screen (south on your map). The area to the right is a little tougher, so lets do that one first and get it out of the way. Take the path all the way to the right of the screen, and when you reach the end you should be in an area surrounded by pillars, with a Portal Square in the middle. Douse it twice with Holy Water, and you will be transported to another area. You may want a quick escape route from here, so when you get to the other side, douse the Portal Square twice again to return to the area you just came from. Just like the Portal Square in the Red Room in Alyssa's house, once it has been activated from both sides, it remains active until you are done with it, and doesn't need to be activated again. Run to the Lion's head statue, refill your Holy Water and save, and then run back to the Portal and step through again. You should be in a misty outdoor area, which looks like another part of the cemetery. There is only one way to go, so follow the winding path through the grave stones until your reach a more open area. As you step into this area another cutscene starts, and you find out that not only is Chopper back, and not only does it seem that he killed your mother, but that the whole graveyard is full of his victims. Yeesh. After the cutscene, start things off right and nail him with some Holy Water. While he is stunned, run back towards your mother's car, and pick up the note on the ground. Apparently, the Entities need the heart of a Rooder who has reached her fifteenth birthday to perform the Ritual of Engagement thingy, and Nancy sent her away until she would be safely past her birthday, and thus safe. The Dark Man talked about how when your Birthday came along, the two of you would become one Chances are they are talking about the same thing. When you are done reading, run towards the screen, away from the car. There are Lunar Moth Minions in this area, so if you run into them (or Chopper, of course) hit them with some Holy Water. Wind your way along the path and eventually you should see a shack. Run inside and bear to the right, past a partition, then turn left once you clear it to come into the shacks only real room. There is a curtained hiding place in here, so hide until you hear him teleport away then come out. This cozy little den appears to be Chopper's place, as there are hatchets sticking out of the way here and there. Directly across from the hiding place is a little desk with The Book of Entities III on top of it. Take this and read about how Harold Palmer came to be the Subordinate known as Chopper, the leader of all the Subordinates. On the bed to the right of this little desk is a bed, and on the bed glitters a Lavender Water. Take this and head back towards the exit of the shack. Before leaving, make use of the jar of Holy Water to the left of the door, and the save journal to the right of the door. Then leave the shack. As you do this next section, keep in mind that the shack is the only place to escape from Chopper, so if you are assaulted by him, stun him with Holy Water as needed and run back to the hiding space in the shack, then refill at the jar in the shack once he is gone. Anyway, run back up the path until you reach the car, than take a ninety degree left and run up the left hand path. The path at the top of the screen is back towards the Portal Square. After going up the left path for a few yards you will see the Celtic cross thing that Chopper was perched on in the cutscene earlier. Run around the cross and then turn and look at the other side of it; there are some short steps leading up to a Lion's Head carving, with a button in its mouth. Take note of this but don't push the button, since you don't know what it does. In this general vicinity, off the beaten path, there is an Invisibility ring partially concealed behind a gravestone, but after finding this you can continue on your way. The path will branch left and right, and there will be a podium in the middle. The podium bears an inscription around the rim that says "Purify thyself with Holy Water and awaken the lions in order". At the podium, bear right and run until you see a column like the one with the Lion's Head carving you saw earlier. Run up and inspect it, and you will find another carving, this one with one eye. Since it said to awaken them in order, and one comes before two, hit this button. Then turn and run back to the podium, take a left, and go back the Lion's Head carving that you noted earlier; it has two eyes, so it is next. Finally, run back to the podium, take a left, and run until you see another pillar with another carving. This one has three eyes, so give the button a poke. Nothing happens, because there is still the "Purifying with Holy Water" thing to do; not thyself as the podium says, but the podium itself. Run back to the podium, douse it with Holy Water, and a stone disk appears in a flash of light, floating above it. This is the Compass of Shadows. Grab this and you are done with this part, and can leave. I am sure you have gotten Chopper's attention at this point, but if his music starts while you are almost done with this puzzle, finish it first before worrying about him, because he has to come all the way from the shack. If you see one of the Minion Moths, toast it with Holy Water. Now it is time to get out of here. Run back up the path, past the two-eyed Lion's Head pillar, back towards the car. When you run into Chopper, hit him with Holy Water, dodge around him, and keep going. At the car, turn left and head towards the back of the screen. If all of this sounds like too much trouble, than now might be the time to use an Invisibility Ring, so you can slip right by the axe-wielding maniac and his little winged friends without any confrontation. Follow the winding path back through the graveyard to the Portal Square, activate it if you didn't earlier, and jump through. However, if you didn't activate it earlier, you might not have enough Holy Water to activate it now, after fighting your way past Chopper and his minions. So instead of taking a left at the car, take a right and go back into the shack, hide until Chopper teleports, then come out, refill your Holy Water, save, and then run back to the car and keep going past it up the winding path to the Portal Square. Re-activate it with two dashes of Holy Water, and you are on your way. You are now back in the relative safety of the central graveyard where you woke up. Run back up the path to the central area, and examine the leftmost of the two Celtic crosses to use the Compass of Shadows. It doesn't do anything without its companion, so don't expect anything to happen, but at least now you don't have to lug it around. Go through the gate between the two crosses and refill your Holy Water and save at the Lion's Head Fountain. Return to the central areas and head to the left of the screen. Go down the one path you haven't explored yet, and at the end is another Portal Square. Douse it twice with Holy Water, and you are teleported away again. Now you are inside an eerie tomb, but as I promised, this one is not as dangerous as the last Portal Square you came from. In fact, there is no need to pre-activate the Portal Square exit from this area, because you won't need to leave in a hurry. Against the wall behind where you appear is a small rectangular podium with a hollow depression in it. In either corner of this room are Jars of Holy Water, should you need a refill. Note the Rooder sigil on the wall behind your point of appearance, but don't bother searching it or dousing it with Holy Water, because you can't do anything with it yet. There is a path straight ahead of your position, a path to the left, and a path to the right. This is how we will refer to them for this section; in relation to the dias that you started this level on. Therefore, the leftmost path will be left, the rightmost path will be right, and the path between the two will be center. This whole area is just big puzzle; at the end of each of the three paths is a Rooder's tomb representing a color and element, with a stone inset into each of the Rooder's sarcophagi that should be the same as the color and element of the tomb that it is in. There is a red Sky Rooder's tomb, a blue Sea Rooder's tomb, and a yellow Earth Rooder's tomb; however, the blue Sea Rooder's tomb contains the red Sky Stone, the red Sky Rooder's tomb contains the yellow Earth Stone, and the yellow Earth Rooder's tomb contains the blue Sea Stone. The solution seems simple enough, right? There is only two problems keeping you from easily solving the puzzle. First is the Spirits of the Rooders, who are haunting their tombs (each Spirit also colored to represent the tomb they are haunting), and won't rest until the appropriate colored Stone is returned to their tomb, so you will have to dodge them. The second problem is that for some reason Alyssa can't carry more than one Rooder Stone at a time; this means you just can't go pick up all three and swap them around. The key to the puzzle is the rectangular pedestal on the dias. It has a depression in the top just big enough to hold one stone, so you have to take a Rooder Stone from one of the tombs, return with it to the pedestal, examine the pedestal, and deposit the stone when prompted, then get the next stone from the next tomb, swapping them around until you have all the proper colored stones in the correct tombs. Here's the specifics; the left path is the Earth Rooder's Tomb, (yellow), but contains the Sea Rooder's Stone (blue). The central path leads to the Sky Rooder's Tomb (red), but contains the Earth Rooder's Stone (yellow). The path on the right leads to the Sea Rooder's Tomb (blue), but contains the Sky Rooder's Stone (red). Each path is guarded by a Rooder Spirit (complete with skeletal faces, color-co-ordination, and a gaping hole where their hearts should be), but since there are jars of Holy Water in the main chamber of this area, don't be shy about dousing them if they get to pushy, to keep them out of your way. In addition the paths on the right and left each have a Repellant Arrow on the ground half way between their entrances and the tombs, so be sure you pick them up. The simplest answer to the puzzle is this; take the left path to the Earth tomb, take the Sea stone, then return to the central area and place it on the pedestal. Next go up the central path to the Sky tomb, retrieve the Earth Stone, then return back to the left path and put the Earth stone in the Earth Tomb, in the depression left when you removed the Sea stone. This will free the Spirit of the Earth Rooder, but none of the Rooder Spirits leave you a gift in return for freeing them. Ungrateful bitches. Anyway, now go down the right path to the Sea tomb, take the Sky stone, and return to the central path to the Sky tomb, freeing the Spirit of the Sky Rooder. Finally, return to the dias with the pedestal, retrieve the Sea stone, then return to the path on the right and return the Sea stone to the Sea tomb to free the last of the Rooder Spirits. When the last Rooder Spirit is gone, the slab of stone with the Rooder sigil on it in the main room slides aside, revealing the Compass of Light. Go grab it, and you are done, so splash the Portal Square on the floor twice to return to the central graveyard. Run back to the main area, but before you place the last Compass, quickly detour up the path between the crosses to refill your Holy Water and save at the Lion's Head Fountain. Then go back to the crosses and put the examine the rightmost cross to place the Compass of Light, which opens a huge Portal Square in the center of the area. Step through it to go to the last area in this level. This is some sort of giant cavern, and the Portal Square remains glowing at the point where you appeared. That's good; at least you know you won't be trapped here. Follow the rocky, narrow path, sidestepping the stalagmites as necessary. Soon the path leads to an opening in a rock wall, so go through. Take note of the nifty torches on the wall in here, and pick up the Binding Arrow on the left side of the path. Then continue forward until a cutscene takes over. How's that for some gruesome details? I'm not sure how Alyssa read the inscription, since it didn't appear to be in English, but the gist of it was that the person performing the Ritual of Engagement must cut out the heart of a Rooder during the first hour of her fifteenth year, and drink the blood from the still beating heart in order to become an Entity. Nifty. At the conclusion, a Rooder Square appears with an Old Rooder Arrow in the center of it, at the foot of the dias area Alyssa ends up on at the end of the cutscene. Take a moment to check out the statues on either side of this area (you are going to become really familiar with these chipper folks pretty soon), then grab the arrow and go back the way you came. As you pass through the gap in the rock wall, the cavern around you begins to collapse, so you have to run back to the Portal Square you came in through before it all comes crashing down around you. To make it more difficult on you, the camera sways all around the room like Robert Downey Jr., but try to ignore this as you dodge the swaying stalagmites and run back up the path and through the Portal Square. Whew. You are back in the central area of the graveyard again, but unfortunately you don't get a breather. As you step forward another cutscene takes over, and before you know it, you are in the final boss battle with Chopper again. -3. Boss Battle: Chopper (for real this time) Two things to notice; first, he is totally recovered from your last bout, and isn't going to take it easy on you this time. Second, the doors leading to the other parts of this level are now shut and/or blocked by magical barriers, so you only have the central area to use as your battleground. The gist of this battle is the same as all other boss battles in the game; run around and avoid his attacks until you are given the opportunity to strike, and strike hard. However, as you will see, you will have to make your own opportunities to do so. He has but a handful of attacks. If he gets too close when he is chasing you, he will take a couple of swipes with his axe. Just keep going, being careful not to get hung up on tombstones as you run. Every once in a while he will shout and attempt a flip attack, where he jumps up, spins around, and comes slamming down with both axes. If you can avoid this (easy enough; keep moving, and cut sharply to the side when he is in the air if you think he is too close and might hit you) he will be momentarily stunned. You may have enough time to nail him with a supercharged arrow and pin him, but probably not, so nail him with at least a partially charged arrow if he does this, to whittle his health down. In fact, pelt him with arrows, even weak ones, whenever you get the chance, because he has enough health that a single group of binding attacks/super attack isn't going to be enough to finish him if he hasn't been injured first. The key to pinning him is also when he is the most dangerous. When Chopper yells "Catch!" he is going to throw his axe at you. Don't panic; instead, stop, turn towards him, and begin to charge up an arrow. When the axe comes flying at you, release your arrow to deflect the axe back at Chopper, which will hit, injure, and stun him. When this happens you will have adequate time to charge up a Binding attack and pin him to the spot. Then move the requisite forty-five degrees and line up another shot. Since his only options are to move towards you and try to hit you with his axes, in which case he shouldn't be able to reach you because he is pinned, or to throw his axe at you, in which case you can deflect it back at him again, stunning him once more and setting him up for another pinning attack, it should be much easier to pin him the second and third times. There is only one attack to look out for; sometimes Chopper will throw his axe at you in a sideways arch. This one is can also be deflected back at him, but your timing and trajectory will have to be precise, since it isn't coming straight at you. For some, the best option may be to run away from this attack, to live to fight another day, or just take a hit in interest of nailing Chopper with as strong an attack as possible, if your health is strong enough; just ignore the axe and keep aiming at Chopper until the axe hits you or you get fully charged (whichever comes first), as when you get hit the arrow will be released. As I said, if he is still kicking after taking Alyssa's super attack, just keep pummeling him with arrow charged as much as possible, and he will fall. Now there should be another cutscene, almost a replay of the discouraging end of the courtyard battle. Fortunately, the Old Rooder Arrow is potent, and is enough to finish the leader of the Entities once and for all. Once he is dead, Alyssa will receive another piece of the Clover Pendant, the Clover of Hope. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to increase your Holy Water supply. Dammit. Anyway, now head towards the only open area in the cemetery, the columned area where you saw the Rooder ghosts. They are finally free, and ask you not to allow the Ritual of Engagement to take place. Okay ladies, just for you. Alyssa's mom shows up as well, to congratulate her; with Chopper gone, she is supposed to be free as well. Unfortunately, the Dark Man shows up and takes her prisoner, revealing that he is the one is going to perform the Ritual of Engagement. He then teleports Alyssa to the base of a spiraling staircase, where Dennis finds her and gives her the encouragement to keep going. Alyssa says that she needs all four pieces of the Clover Pendant to defeat the Entities (I can't seem to figure out where she came up with this idea), and there is only one piece left. Suddenly, the staircase swirls out of sight, and Alyssa and Dennis are left in the middle of a secluded forest path -d. Chapter Four: "Snickety Snack " -1. Hell's Waiting Room There is but one way to go, so follow the path into the deep, dark tunnel. Dennis whines, then runs to catch up. The tunnel comes out on some urban street, and the name of the area above the map, Hospital Street, doesn't help much either, other than to tell you that there is a hospital nearby. There is nothing to find, so move forward until a cutscene takes over and the pair of youngsters run into a creepy and derelict hospital, because Dennis is an idiot. This idiocy is compounded when his "sister" turns out to be one of a pair of Subordinate twins, Scissorman and Scissorwoman, whose images you saw earlier on the statues in the area where you found the Old Rooder Arrow in the last chapter. Yes, those katanas that they are carrying are, in fact, giant scissors separated into two separate blades. They take Dennis captive, and tell Alyssa that if she wants to see him alive, she must give them her heart, so they can make a new Entity. They then take Dennis and disappear, leaving Alyssa alone in the hospital reception area. There is a ghost here, so exercise caution as you explore this area. The Spirit's corpse is lying on the floor next to a gurney on the far side of the room, but there is nothing you can do for her right now. Instead, notice the glittering object on the nightstand between the two beds towards the back of the screen (north on the map). This is the Photo of Mother, but it is not your mother, or the mother of the Spirit in this room, so head towards the left of the screen, and out through the door, into the actual waiting room. To your left, against the wall near the door, is a couch, and on the couch is a Lavender Water. To the left of that are some elevator doors that apparently don't open, and a man's corpse on a gurney. His ghost is lingering in this room, so be quick in freeing his soul by giving him the Photo of Mother; in exchange he leaves another Invisibility Band. To the right of the corpse are the doors leading back outside, which you can't go through. Continuing around the room clockwise, you should find a jar of Holy Water in the next corner, followed by a saving journal. Before saving, however, continue to search the counter where the journal is located to find a Labeled Key A on the other end of the counter. Now save, and after exploring the details of this room to your heart's content, leave this room the way you came in (Note: if anyone can make out what is scrawled on the floor around the gurneys near the door in this room, please let me know). Run through this room, ignoring for now the corpse on the floor. Near the corpse is a note entitled Dennis' Letter to Linda. This doesn't tell you much other than Dennis was raised by his sister, and that he really cares about her. Sniff. Turn right at the letter and continue through the door on the east wall. Now you will be in a hallway. To your left are two locked doors, one on the north wall, and on the east wall, in the north-east corner. To your right is a couch at the end of the hallway, and, on the east wall, in the south east corner, stairs going up to the next floor. Take these now. At the top of the stairs you will find another couch to your left, and another long hallway to your right. The first doorway you will come across is on the west wall, to your left, and is locked. The next one, on your right (east wall), is open, and leads into a bathroom, the middle stall of which is a hiding place that you might need to use later. The next door is again on your left (west wall), but it is locked, and as you examine it you will be able to see through a crack in it another Portal Square. Right next to this door is a triple locking mechanism, which you can use Labeled Key A on now, if you would like. However, you still need two more keys to get the door open, so continue up the hallway. The next door, on your right (east wall) is closed but unlocked, so go inside. There is a bed and some equipment, but no objects of interest. What is of interest is the hole in the wall in the north-east corner of this room, leading into the room to the north. Crawl through here, and keep in mind for later that this is safe area similar to behind the curtains in the first level; the Subordinates simply can't get in here. That makes it better than the hiding spot in the bathroom, because you can't panic in here and run from hiding. Regardless, the door leading out of this room is locked, as is the cabinet in the corner with the object inside. Next to the bed is a nightstand with a Looking Glass on it, which you should take with you. Now crawl back out of this area and leave the room on the other side. As you move forward to examine the next room, a cutscene starts, and Alyssa takes interest in the full length mirror at the end of the hall. As she gazes into the darkened reflection, Scissorman shows up behind her and proceeds to terrorize her. Instead of panicking, run towards the mirror and hit the examine button. When it prompts to ask if you want to use the Looking Glass, say yes, and you will be transported through the mirror into another area. This is, of course, the other side of the mirror, and as such everything on this side of the mirror is exactly the same as on the other side, but in reverse. That means rooms that were on the left side of the hall are now on the right, and vice versa. Also, the objects and so on are different on this side. Furthermore, on this side of the mirror you will be tormented by Scissorwoman instead of Scissorman, and she is hot on your trail. Mere moments after escaping her brother, you hear her come through the door at the other end of the hall. Run through the first door, on your left, to escape her. In here is a message scrawled on the wall backwards, in blood ("Let me out from here!!!"), and a chair with a Release Form in it. That is all there is to be had in here, so leave once you have the form. Your freedom from the Subordinate was only temporary, as she comes running again once you step back into the hallway. Run into the first door that you find on the opposite side of the hall, on Alyssa's right as she runs away from the mirror (west wall). This is a mirror image of the room with the hole in the wall, so make a dash for the hole as soon as you enter the room, hitting Scissorwoman with Holy Water to slow her down, if necessary. Once on the other side of the wall from the Subordinate, stay there until you here her teleport away and the chase music stops. While you are waiting for this, you might as well see what you can find in this room on this side of the mirror. The first thing you will notice is the cabinet is locked with a Sigil, so douse it with Holy Water to unlock it. Then open the cabinet to find some Lavender Water. After Scissorwoman is gone, crawl back through the hole and leave the room. Ignore all the rest of the doors for the time being; the triple locked door that holds the Portal Square on the other side of the mirror is unlocked on this side, but holds nothing except a jar of Holy Water and an endless supply of Minion moths that will bring Scissorwoman Running. Instead, run to the end of the hall and go down the stairs. At the bottom you will find the Photo of a child on the sofa, and an open bathroom in the top left hand corner of the area. Go inside the bathroom and search the sink right next to the door for Labeled Key C. At this point, thing can get ugly, because it should be about time for Scissorwoman to make another entrance. You can hide in the stall at the other end of the bathroom until she goes away, but here is the ugly part; after she teleports away and you go to leave the bathroom, she ambushes you again from the alcove next to the sink, pushing your Panic Meter almost to full! So here are your options: either don't hide there in the first place, stun her with Holy Water, and run back upstairs and make a mad dash for either the hole in the wall or the mirror; or, you can hide in the stall until she teleports away, use an Invisibility Band and slip past her ambush and out through the door. If you choose the latter option, you can then refill your Holy Water in the room upstairs where the Minions were, as for some reason they are no longer there (perhaps because she herself is still crouched downstairs, waiting for her chance to jump out at you). Regardless, you have everything you need from the mirror world, so head back upstairs and leave through the mirror. Now, the room to your immediate left as you come through the mirror is locked, as it is the other side of the room you crawled into through the hole in the wall, where you found the Looking glass. Continue back down the hall to the next door, which is now on your right (west wall). Go inside, and you will find a room with a corpse in a chair, a Spirit, and the message that you saw earlier ("Let me out from here!!!"), only written forwards. Search the corpse to see what it needs to be free, and find a note that tells you that this poor soul only wanted a Release Form, but every time he got one, it disappeared. So give him the one you found in his chair on the other side of the mirror, to set his Spirit free. In return you will find a Sigil Stone on the ground next to him. Now leave this room, and go through the next door on the other side of the hall, back into the room with the hole in the wall. Scissorman is waiting for you on the other side of the door, but don't sweat it. Hit him with some Holy Water to stun him, then crawl through the hole in the wall and open the now unstuck cabinet; it must have been held shut by the Sigil on the other side of the mirror. Inside you find Labeled Key B. You now have all three of the keys to open the room with the Portal Square, but it is not time yet, as there is still the Spirit of the nurse downstairs to free. Wait until Scissorman teleports away, then crawl back through the wall and leave the room. Run all the way to the far end of the hall, go down the stairs, and go back to the reception area, where the nurse's body lies. Use the Photo of Child on her corpse to free her Spirit, and in return you will receive another Repellant Arrow. Now go back to the lobby area, refill on Holy Water and save. Now run back through the reception area, back up the stairs, and examine the lock next to the room with the Portal Square to use the three labeled keys. Now that the door is unlocked, go inside to find a Portal Square in the middle of the room, and a jar of Holy Water Behind the curtain on the left side of the screen, if you need it. Now douse the Portal Square twice with Holy Water to activate it, and you will be transported to a new area. -2. A Charming Residence You are now standing in a barren, rocky area, with thunder crashing in the distance. Follow the path until a cutscene takes over. The chanting fellow is your Grandfather, and he is heading towards the castle at the end of the rocky gorge. As you follow, before going through the broken gates, notice the document that he seems to have dropped in the middle of the path. Pick it up to hear wonderful things about your dear old Grand dad. It seems that he was at least considering ripping out Alyssa's heart and drinking its blood so that he could gain immortality, and he and Alyssa could be together forever. Great. In addition, he was researching something called "The Legend of Lord Burroughs", which also has to do with becoming an Entity, and might be related to the Ritual of Engagement. Its secret has something to do with a mysterious triangular crest and the letters A, D, and N. AND? DAN? NAD? DNA? Well, we don't know for now, so let's go on. To the left of the broken gate, before you go through, is another Lavender Water glittering on the ground. Now go through the broken gates. To your left is a Lion's Head Fountain, so go over to it, refill and save. As you continue up the path, Scissorman comes dashing towards you from the way you came. At the end of the path you are going to need time to break a sigil on a door, and there is nowhere to hide from your enemy, so you have two options; make a run for the door at the end of the path, and hit him with Holy Water whenever he gets close, then break the Sigil and go through the door to escape, or use an Invisibility Band to easily make it to the end of the path, break the Sigil, and escape into the interior of the castle. I would choose the latter, simply because you might need the Holy Water sooner than you think, but either way, break the Sigil on the door at the end of the path, and then slip through the door. This area is dominated by vaguely obscene looking statues leading up to a spiral staircase in the middle of the room. There are also three arrows in this room; a Repellant Arrow in the south-west corner of the chamber, a Binding arrow behind the spiral staircase, and another Repellant Arrow next to the door on the east wall. The spiral staircase is a dead- ends partway up, so after collecting the arrows, go through the door on the west wall. This door leads to a short set of stairs on the outside of the building. As you climb you will be ambushed by Scissorman on the first landing, so stun him with some Holy Water, than continue to run up the stairs. There is a corpse at the top, with an object glittering next to it. Ignore this for the moment, because just past that is a dead end where the stone bridge crumbled away, and an Evade Point. Use this now, and watch Scissorman take a tumble. When he is out of commission, go back and check out the object next to the body. It is an Employee's Memo, which tells us that someone named Ralph and Jemima want the Employee to kill more villagers, though he has killed ten already now his masters want twenty more. He hopes that the villagers will be able to escape by slipping through the bars of the kitchen window, which he loosened for this purpose, and that those who escape will tell the world about the horrors going on in the castle. Well, if you examine the corpse you will find that things must not have gone so well, as the body is missing its head. I guess Ralph and Jemima found out, and were not pleased. The restless Spirit who haunts the outside areas of this castle is the owner of this body, and would really like its head back. But you don't have any spare noggins in your inventory at the moment, so it is time to go back the way you came. When you reach the room with the spiral staircase, cut straight across the room and head through the door on the opposite (east) wall. This leads to another short set of stairs on the outside of the building, and a crumbled path. However, though it looks like a dead end, you can still continue. On the right side of the screen is an opening, or archway, through the stone wall. Walk over to this opening and you will notice that there is a very narrow ledge leading along the outside of the path, just wide enough for Alyssa to edge along, so do this now. A headless ghost moves through the walls of this area, but it can do you no harm as long as you are on the ledge, so ignore it. About half way along, a stone gargoyle blocks the path, so use the crouch/crawl button to make Alyssa crouch down, and hold this as you slide along the wall, under the gargoyle. Once past it you will soon see another opening in the wall, so slip through this and back onto terra firma. This is short lived however; the door at the end of the path is locked. So now slip through another opening on the right hand side of the screen, near the locked door, and back onto a different part of the ledge. Easy out along the wall again, until you see a small, barred window close to the ground. Search this to squeeze through the bars and enter the kitchen. Note: this is the window to the kitchen, which was mentioned in the memo of the headless employee whose body lies in the west branch. Why didn't I just tell you to go east, to the kitchen first, you ask, since you didn't get anything useful from the west branch? Annoyingly enough, Alyssa can't figure out how to slip through the bars into the kitchen until she reads about it in the Employee's Memo. If you had tried, it simply would have said "I can't slip through here" or something like that. It is just another anoying little plot thing, like how you couldn't find the Winding Keys behind the picture of Dick until it let you, back in Chapter Two. Oh well. Onward. This is the kitchen. On the table is a Jotting Pad that says "If you wish to open the other path, calm the flames", and what this means you will see soon enough. As you move towards the other end of the room, the door opens up and Scissorwoman appears. Quickly move over to the oven on the wall to Alyssa's right (north wall), and use the Evade Point over the oven to pull a Hansel and Gretel on the bitch. After she is out of commission, examine the fire in the brick chimney to see a crest with an "A" on it in the back of the fire. Then examine the ashes in the corner opposite the fire to use them to extinguish the fire in the chimney. Now that the flames are out, grab the "A" Crest. Scissorwoman's bony ass is still sticking out of the stove, so you can't grab the object in there yet, but remember to check here later. Now leave the kitchen through the door Scissor Woman came in through (west on the map). This new area is but a short hallway, so run to the other end and go through the door on the other end (west wall again). This room has a big fountain in the center, and a bunch of large dining tables. Along the wall to Alyssa's left (south wall on the map), you will find a jar of holy water and a save journal. Use them now. On the end of the table directly between the journal and the jar, there is a candlestick that has been dragged from its original position. Push it back where it belongs and the statues on either end of the room will stop pouring water and raise out of the ground so that a pair of embossed pillars appear in their place. One of the pillars bears the letter "N", the other one bears the letter "A". Hmm. Place the "A" Crest in the pillar with the "A" on it. Then exit through the door on the far side of the room from where you came in (just past the "A" pillar, west wall on the map). There is another short hallway with nothing in it, so run through it and go through the door on the other side. You should now be in a small library. On the table to the left of the door you will find Dick's Notes 4; it chronicles Alyssa's grandfather's three year search to find Lord Burroughs' castle, and unlock the mystery of the triangular crest that is the key to the Ritual of Engagement. He also realizes that Nancy must have found his notes by now, and figured out that he plans to tear out Alyssa's heart on her 15th birthday, and has probably begun to take action to stop him. Once you are done perusing this document, move across the room towards the next table. You will be ambushed by Scissorwoman before you can grab the glittering object off the table, so nail her once with some Holy Water to stun her, and then grab the object, which is another Lavender Water. Stun her again if necessary, and then run out the door in the back of the room, where she appeared. You are again on the path outside the castle, and the path ahead is once again crumbled away. Furthermore, the headless Spirit wanders this area. Luckily, your pursuer won't follow you out here, so at least you don't have to worry about her. As you come through the door, step out through the archway on your right. You do not want to go forward, towards the broken path, however. Instead you are going to edge back towards the library, until you see another small window near the ground on a narrow ledge. Examine this area to crawl through, into an area of the library that is behind some bookcases. You will be able to hear Scissorwoman still looking for you on the other side of the bookcases, but ignore her since she can't get through to where you are. Embedded in the wall to the left side of the screen is the "N" Crest. Grab this, and then wait in here until you hear the annoying wench teleport away. Then crawl back through the window, edge back along the ledge, and re-enter the library through the door. Run all the way back the way you came until you reach the Dining Room, refill your Holy Water and save. Then place the "N" Crest in the "N" marked pillar. This will cause the large painting on the north wall to rise, revealing a secret door behind it. Don't go through yet, however, as you still need to free the headless Spirit. Go past the "N" pillar and through the door, run back through the short hallway, and go through the door at the end, back into the kitchen. Search the stove where you had previously fried Scissor Woman and you will find the Charred Skull. Take this and leave the kitchen through either the window, or through the front door, which was locked from this side. Step back out onto the ledge through the second archway to your right to edge past the gap in the path, then go down both flights of stairs and through the door at the bottom, back into the main hall where the spiral staircase is. Run straight across and go through the door on the other side. Scissorman is back, and you already used the Evade Point here earlier, so you will have to think of something else. Either hit him with Holy Water and go about your business as quickly as possible, or (the far easier option) use an Invisibility Band to sneak by him. Either way, your goal here is to get to the headless corpse, who strives to one day not be quite so headless. So help the man out already! But be quick. In exchange you get a Sigil Stone and a Repellant Arrow; not a bad haul. Now head back down the stairs and out the door at the bottom. Cross the large hall one more time and go back through the doors towards the kitchen. Scissorwoman will be waiting for your return now that the Spirit is no longer patrolling this area, so stun her with some Holy Water and jump back out onto the narrow ledge where you will be safe from her. Edge back along the ledge towards the kitchen, and the chase music will stop when you are halfway across. This doesn't mean that the horrible bimbo is gone, however, just that she has decided to take another approach. As you step off of the ledge and back onto the path on the other side, she comes back through the door from the kitchen. Though she can't reach you on the ledge, she will also never go away if you are standing on the ledge, so your only option is to douse her with Holy Water again and run past her into the kitchen. Cross the kitchen as fast as possible and run through the door on the other side. Keep running down the short hallway, re-enter the Dining Room through the door at the end, and then run halfway across the dining room on the left hand side and refill your Holy Water at the jar. Scissorwoman should still be right on your ass, so if she gets too close, hit her again with Holy Water. Run out the door on the far end of the room, down the next short hallway, and enter the library through the door on the end. Weave your way through the library and out through the door on the other side. Finally step back out onto the ledge, edge back towards the library and re-enter the small area where you found the "N" Crest. As before, Scissorwoman will look around the library while you are safe on the other side of the bookcase. After she teleports away, leave through the widow, go back along the ledge, and go back into the library. Now, run all the way back to the Dining Room, refill your Holy Water, and save. Finally, go through the door that was hidden behind the painting. Cross the short hallway and go through the double doors at the end. You should now be in a "U" shaped hall with some suits of armor and four iron maidens. Run past them and go through the red doors on the north wall. The door locks behind you, trapping you in this grand but oppressive room. Notice the ornate triangular symbol that dominates the floor in the middle of this room; this must be the symbol that Dick was talking about in his notes. As you walk towards the opposite side of the room, Alyssa takes time to examine the impressive painting of a man on horseback. Search the shelf beneath the painting to find the "D" Crest, the Book of Entities IV, and Dick's Notes 5. The Book of Entities IV tells us about Lord Darcy Burroughs, who was an incredibly powerful landowner in the beginning of the 17th century. He married Natalya Hamilton, and had one daughter, Annabel, of whom Lord Burroughs was especially fond. Not fond enough, however, that when he learned of the Ritual of Engagement, he planned to kill her to achieve immortality. Unfortunately for him, his daughter died in a carriage accident the day before her fifteenth birthday, which kept Lord Burroughs from performing the ritual and sending him into a murderous rage. He had the coachman and the maid who were with Annabel at the time of her death killed, and when this didn't make him feel better, he started killing the rest of the staff, and even the villagers. When Natalya tried to convince him to stop, he killed her too. The villagers finally decided they had had enough, and formed a mob to kill Lord Burroughs. He ended up being crushed to death in the cogs of the castle clock tower while fleeing the mob. Not before, of course, he vowed to plague the world with hate and terror as long as the clock tower continued to stand. Finally, we have some idea of what is going on. Dick's Notes illuminate things even further. Darcy Burroughs also had a son, from his first marriage, named William, who escaped the castle when his father died. He went into hiding and changed his name to Billy Brown to avoid being recognized as the son of a mass murderer. As it turns out, Brown was Dick's last name before he married Francesca Hamilton and took her name, and Billy Brown was his ancestor, making him a direct descendant of Lord Burroughs (and for those keeping track, this wasn't inbreeding, even though Burroughs married a Hamilton, because William was a son from a previous marriage, and thus carried no Hamilton blood). Furthermore, Lord Burroughs' first name was Darcy, his wife was name Natalya, and their daughter Annabel; D, N, and A. Dick's first name is well, Dick, his daughter was Nancy, and her daughter is Alyssa; D, N, and A again. Small world, huh? Well, in the words of Buffy, there are two things I don't believe in; coincidences, and leprechauns. Dick sees all of this as the inevitability of fate; he is meant to complete what Lord Burroughs started, perform the Ritual of Engagement, and become an Entity. And if that wasn't bad enough, as soon as you are done reading the documents, the antique projector in the front of the room comes on, and shows the Scissor Twins torturing Dennis, pit and the pendulum style. When the cutscene is done, search directly below the screen the image was projected onto to find the button that was illuminated by the light from the projector. Push it and the shelf where you found the Crest and the documents slides up, revealing a hollow beneath. Go over to it and put the "D" Crest in it to unlock the door to the room and begin a deadly chain of events outside the room. Leave the room through the only doors, but be careful. The suits of armor in the hall outside have burst into deadly motion, swinging their axes in irregular patterns. The iron maidens are also now activated, but for your benefit; they are now elevators into a dungeon below. The axes will kill you with a single hit if you don't have any Sigil Stones; if you do have Sigil Stones, every time you are hit you will lose one stone. So don't get hit. Unfortunately, the iron maiden elevators need to be used in a certain order to be effective, as doors in the chamber below need to be unlocked and opened from the correct side before you can move around the chamber freely. The elevator directly next to the door isn't useful right now, since the area that it leads to is blocked off by locked doors that can only be unlocked from the other areas reached by other elevators. Instead, first cross across the top of the room without passing any active suits of armor; the one in the middle of the north wall is dormant. Go down through the elevator here (north-west corner) into the room below, and move forward until you reach a metal barred door. It is locked from this side, so unlock it and open it. Now go back to the elevator and return to the hallway with the armor. Now you need to run south, past three suits of armor, and go down the elevator in the south-west corner. To do this without getting hit, wait until both suits of armor that you can see have both just moved; the one closest to the north swings with and up and down motion, and the next one further south swings side to side. After each swing you will have a few seconds to move, so as soon as you see these two move almost at the same time, dodge around them and sprint south. The third one is also pretty easy to avoid; just keep moving. Once you reach the elevator on this end (right next to the door you first entered this area through) get into elevator and return to the basement. Move towards the back of the screen, and the door to this cell will fall outward. Move out into this hallway, and continue until you reach another door, which is also locked from this side. Unlock and open it, and now you have free access to three out of the four elevators. As you step through the now unlocked door, you will see a bloody trail on the floor. Follow it to the elevator in the north-east corner of the room and ride it back up to the hall. You are once again next to the red doors. The last of the elevators lies to the south of this, so use the same tactics as before to get past the swinging axes to reach the south-east end. Go down the last elevator. To your left is a bench with a skeleton on it, but there is no restless Spirit here, and no items, so ignore it. Move to your right and go through the open doorway. You will see a lot of blood on the ground, and right above that, a switch on the wall. Get ready for a mad dash before you throw the switch. It will raise two iron portcullises that are on a short timer; you will have to dash straight across the room without pausing for an instant, moving in a straight line despite the changing camera angles, without getting hung up on anything. Otherwise the gates will come crashing back down before you reach the other end, and you will have to use the elevator in the north-east corner again, run south past the gauntlet of axe-y death again, and try once more. So throw the switch when you are ready and run like mad, as straight as possible. When you make it you will know; there will be a cutscene of the gate crashing down right behind Alyssa, startling her and knocking her on her ass. Once this is done, get up and go through the only door in the room. You have finally reached the room with Dennis and the goofy twins. They apparently took the time to make a animatronic dummy resembling Dennis (seems kind of redundant to me), which they chop in half with the pendulum blade. Too bad it wasn't the real Dennis, but moments later they flip over the alter to show you that he is still alive, and in the same predicament. They tell you he will live if you will give them your heart (yeah, right), and then surround you on the stairs, but before they can grab you, the section of stairs you are standing on collapses, depositing you into yet another sub-chamber. You can't go back the way you came, and the door on the side of the room is broken, so move forward until you see and intact door, with a book on a pedestal to the left of it. The book is the Book of Entities V, and it tells you about Ralph and Jemima, Oriental Twins who served sadistically in the employ of Lord Burroughs, exercising their knowledge and fascination with bladed weapons (scissors in particular) to eviscerate and dismember victims who were still alive. When Burroughs was killed, the twins were cornered and stoned to death by the angry mob, but were resurrected together by the same Entity so that they might be Subordinates in death. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Scissorman and Scissorwoman. After reading this, go through the door at the end of the room. Okay the door leads into an exact replica of Dick's inner office, the one behind the wall of masks. Search the bookcases on the left hand side of the room to find pictures that Alyssa drew for her beloved Grampy, and a story about the big bad wolf. Look carefully at Alyssa's drawing of the big bad in the background, and you will notice that it looks an awful lot like the Dark Man who dragged Alyssa into all of this. Once you are done looking, the bookcase where you found the drawing slides back to reveal yet another secret chamber behind it. In here there is a desk, and some books, and some pretty drawings that Alyssa made as a little girl and a ladder leading up. Climb the ladder to climb up through a hidden panel in the floor of the room with the projector. A fairly long and creepy cutscene commences, showing you how your grandfather performed a ritual to join with the shade of Lord Burroughs to make the circle of evil complete; Burroughs and Dick will perform the Ritual of Engagement to create a new Entity together, thus finally fulfilling Burroughs shattered dream. At the end of the cutscene you once again see Ralph and Jemima on the projection screen, taunting you with poor Dennis. Wait a second, am I telling you that you have to go past those axe swinging suits of armor, back into the basement, and dash past those timed iron gates all over again? Yes I am. Go back out of this room, carefully time your dash past the suits of armor into the south-east corner, go back down into the basement through the iron maiden, cross to the switch, pull it, and run like hell, straight as an arrow to the other side, just like before. You are treated to the same cutscene of Alyssa falling on her ass, so get up and go through the door for the last time. As you start down the stairs, Dennis is removed temporarily from danger, and the battle against Scissorwoman begins. -3. Boss Battle: Scissorwoman Don't even bother trying to pin this little bitch, as she teleports away whenever she is cornered, and her Entity can't be pinned down and destroyed until you take down her brother, since they share an Entity. Just focus on staying out of the way of her attacks and pummeling her with arrows as strong as you can charge them. Like most Subordinates, she will charge at you and attempt to slash you, and as she is charging is a good time to get a shot off, no matter how weak. A strong enough attack will knock her back long enough for you to move out of the way as well. Also like the other Subordinates, these attacks are pretty easy to avoid if you keep moving. Unlike other Subordinates, she doesn't pause after taking a swing at you, but instead teleports away, sometimes really close to you, and tries again. She moves fairly quickly, so stay on your toes and take shots when you can get even a moment. If she does connect with an attack she dances and claps for a few seconds, proud of herself, so if you are quick you can get a shot off before she teleports away again. Her secondary attack is tougher, though less frequent. She will teleport to the middle of the chamber and begin swinging her blades around to start a whirlwind, which will knock down and damage Alyssa if it connects. Move as far away from her as possible and try to line up a shot, or hit her before she gets the whirlwind started to stop this attack before it begins. Lining up a shot once she has started the whirlwind is harder than it sounds, because it seems to screw up the auto-aim; instead of aiming at her automatically when you hold down the attack button, Alyssa will aim straight ahead. So you will have to line up the shot manually, which is hard to do while still staying out of the range of the whirlwind. Furthermore, weaker shots will be deflected by the whirlwind before they reach her, so you will have to charge up your attacks quite a bit before an arrow will punch through the wind and hit her. If you wait for about fifteen or twenty seconds, Jemima will stop her whirlwind attack anyway, and will go back to teleporting around. Once you have her on the ropes, and she has little life left, she will start teleporting faster and closer, so that you have less time to react. Just hit her with arrows often and keep moving, and she should be dead in no time. Once she is down, Alyssa runs to Dennis (who is no longer hidden beneath the altar, it seems) and begins to free him, using one of Jemima's blades. Suddenly Ralph shows up, and is none to pleased that you killed his sister. Now it is time for you to fight this effeminate albino. -4, Boss Fight: Scissorman Luckily, he moves a little slower than his sister, and doesn't teleport. This is good because he is also a lot tougher to kill than his sister, and you are going to need to pin him down. As is always the rule during boss battles, keep moving to avoid his ordinary attack, as he methodically stalks you and swings his blades when he gets near. He has a number of attacks, including a powerful one that comes with little warning, in which blue energy blades erupt from the ground in a straight line away from him. If this happens while you are running away, jag left or right to avoid this attack. He also has a number of normal attacks, such as a swipe or a jump and swipe attack when he gets close, but these all amount to the same thing, and are easily avoided if you keep moving. The really dangerous attack comes when he says "I've got a present for you!", which means that he is about to unleash a devastating scything energy attack. He charges up with a blue glow around himself for a short while, and when he is done, blue blades of energy tear through the air in an arch all around the room. While he is attempting to charge up this attack is the best time to hit him with a pinning arrow attack. The second that you hear him say "I've got a present for you", turn and begin to charge up an attack. Hold it until it is fully charged, with the little tail of energy coming off of it, then nail him. Move away from him in about a forty-five degree arch, then charge up another attack. Keep in mind he can still strike with the blue energy blades from the ground, even when pinned, so if this attack starts, hit him with an arrow, whether it is fully charged or not, to disrupt his attack, and then immediately start charging another arrow. It may take a few attempts to get him full pinned, but this actually a good thing, since you need to whittle down his health before the final attack can kill him. In addition to when he is charging up for the scything energy attack, it is also very possible to injure or even pin him if he gets far enough away from you. Since he doesn't teleport around like his sister, any time he comes in for an attack, he charges in a straight line, so long as nothing is in his way. So if you put some distance between you, then charge up an attack that you are aiming at him, you just may have enough time to bind him with an energy chain. Even if you don't have enough time, the charged arrow will knock him back and stun him in addition to wearing away at his health. In fact, if your time is right, you can keep hitting him with arrows and stunning him until he breaks off to make a more powerful attack. No matter how you do it, once you have him pinned once, keep moving around the room and bind him with energy chains from every angle until Alyssa finally unleashes the devastating final attack. If this doesn't finish him, pummel him with more arrows until he is done. Then there will be another cutscene to end the chapter. Alyssa tries to cut the last of the ropes binding Dennis to the altar, but Ralphy isn't done yet, and grabs Alyssa, pinning her against the wall, ready to take revenge for his sister. Before he can, Dennis frees himself and activates the pendulum, which swings forward and skewers the subordinate, destroying him. Wow! He finally made himself useful! The twins prove to be just as irritating dead, and their giggling ghosts remain, riding the swinging pendulum blade, until both the blade and its riders disappear in a flash of light. This time you don't even get a section of the Clover Pendantyou're your troubles, so Alyssa is still short one. Alyssa shows her gratitude to Dennis by hugging him, but then he ruins his big moment by acting like a jackass, having another one of his spaz attacks on the altar. Mercifully, his shenanigans are ended when he and Alyssa are transported back to the foot of the spiral staircase, which leads up to the clock tower. The Dark Man makes another appearance, and Alyssa tells Dennis that the Dark Man is actually her grandfather. The Dark Man tells Alyssa that to end this she must meet him at the top of the Clock Tower, now. Alyssa shrugs off the whining Dennis, and begins her final ascent -e. Chapter Five: "Happy Birthday! I got you a gaping chest wound.." -1. Climbing the Tower of Power The stairway is broken, but luckily a rope is lowered so that Alyssa can climb it to the top. Climb until you run out of stairs, and when you reach the edge a cutscene will take over that shows Alyssa leaping out to grab the rope, which causes a winch to activate, bringing her up into the machinery of the Clock Tower. The first thing you will notice (besides the giant, grinding gears, is a Binding Arrow lying on the floor of the Machine Room, so pick it up. Now you have to find a way through the gears (very likely the same gears in which Lord Burroughs met his untimely, if much deserved, end), so crawl under the large horizontal gears and make your way to the left until you see the camera angle shift and you can stand again. Run a little further, and again crawl, this time under the shaft of a vertical gear. Just past this is a door with torches on either side, which you must go through. Now you are outside the face of the Clock. To your left you will see a ladder, which you can't yet climb, and a gargoyle with a lever sticking out of its back, which you can not yet reach. Keep going to the left until you reach the feet of the giant statue of the demon/goat thing, next to which you will find a Repellant Arrow. Now notice the small gap behind the feet of the statue, a space just large enough for Alyssa to crawl through. Do so no, and throw the lever that you find on the other side. This opens a hatch up high in the clock's face, and moves the statue with the lever closer to the edge, where Alyssa can reach it. Now crawl back out past the statue's feet, and throw the lever on the gargoyles back to raise the ladder. Move around to the front of the ladder and climb it to the next level. Open the doorway ahead of you, and go through. Now you are in the upper Machine room, and instead of going under the gears, you are going to need to go on top of them. First, use the save point to the left of the door; better safe than sorry. Once this is done, climb the short flight of stairs to the first gear and jump on. Now it is just a matter of controlling your run along the gears as they spin. At the end of the last of the horizontal gears is a vertical gear; while staying in place by running in the opposite direction than the gear is spinning, hit the action button near the vertical gear to jump on and ride it to the top. Now it is time for the final confrontation. The Dark Man is waiting for you, and soon transforms to show you one of his true forms, that of Alyssa's grandfather. He says he can't wait to be one with her for all eternity, and tells her why he had so much trouble finding Burroughs' castle; the Castle once stood where the Hamilton estate now stands. He actually lived on top of the remains of the castle before he left to look for the castle. He said that it was no coincidence, but instead the Entities doing. He takes this as a sign that he and Alyssa were always meant to become an Entity together, but Alyssa denies him, and demands to see her mother. Dick points to an area below, where Alyssa's mother stands, still and pale. Alyssa runs down a flight of spectral stairs that disappear as she passes, only to find that her mother has been turned to stone. She is standing on the edge of the triangular symbol that Dick search for the mean of for so long. Dick, now transformed into Lord Burroughs, says that he had no choice but to turn her to stone, since she had betrayed him so much; first by marrying the weak-willed Philip and again by trying to keep Alyssa from him. As he is saying this, the camera cuts away to show Dennis coming up through the bowels of the Clock Tower, looking for Alyssa. Lord Burroughs summons up an altar in the middle of the now glowing triangle, and suddenly Alyssa is flung into the air, her cloths transform into the flowing white robes like something out of a Greek tragedy, and she is bound to the altar. To further drive home that Alyssa is at his mercy, and no one can help her, Burroughs shatters the statue that was once Nancy with his sword, and the last of the pieces of the Clover Amulet is revealed in the wreckage, before Burroughs sends it skittering over the edge into the lower parts of the Clock Tower. He then transforms back into Dick, this time dressed in red ceremonial robes, and begins chanting the Ritual of Engagement, the ghosts of all of the Subordinates chanting in counterpoint. Things are looking pretty bleak. But no! Its red-headed wanker boy to the rescue, as he throws Alyssa the last of the pieces of the Clover Amulet, which she promptly joins with the others to reach her full potential, sending the Subordinate ghosts reeling back into the netherworld. Unfortunately for Dennis, he also thought it would be a good idea to jump on Burroughs' back, who has now transformed back into his Lord Burroughs persona, and Dennis is soon tossed over the ledge, back into the bowels of the Clock Tower. He did his part though, and Alyssa takes out her bow and leaps over the old man to safety. Thanks to Dennis, she is finally ready to face Lord Burroughs in battle. -2. Final Battle: Lord Burroughs First things first; this bad boy has two full health bars that must be whittled down before he can be defeated. This means beating him down for a while, Binding him to one spot, and nailing him with a divine final shot, and then doing the whole thing again. It is like two boss battles in one, except that you only get the one health bar for yourself. Furthermore, Burroughs isn't easy to pin down even once, let alone twice. But it can be done, especially with the help of all those Special Arrows you have been saving. Here is the big problem; Burroughs' normal ranged attack can Bind you to one spot, the same way your fully charged attack will a Subordinate (including Burroughs). If he is out of range to attack you with his sword, he will make an odd laughing noise as he charges up and attack, and then releases a ball of purple energy to bind you to the spot. If he can get three bands attached to you, it is game over, because he can release a final devastating attack just like you can, and you have a lot less health than he does. So your job is to not be there when the ball of energy gets there. Move back and forth, stopping periodically to hit him with some weak attacks, then get moving again. A half charged arrow will stop his attack and knock him back momentarily, if you can get your attack off before he releases his. Every once in a while he will stop and laugh at you, a deep throaty laugh instead of the short cackle that precedes one of his energy attacks. This is your opportunity to hit him with a binding attack. Hang in there until it is fully charged, even if he is charging up a pinning attack of his own. If you timed it properly, you should have enough time to get your pinning attack off before he releases his. Now move forty five degrees and try to get another binding attack in, while dodging his. Even if you can't bind him fully right now, it is best to keep pummeling him the best that you can, to get his health down. If he hits you with one Binding shot, simply break off your attempts to attack and focus on dodging until the Binding Chain wears off. One Binding shot doesn't limit your movement to much, so long as you keep moving back and forth in a small space. If you think an attack is about to hit you while you are bound, run to the end of your tether and keep pressing in that direction, and the energy band holding you in place should jerk you off your feet. If you time this right, the next attack will pass over your head instead of hitting you. Keep dodging as best you can until the Binding wears off, then continue your pattern of dodging and firing. If he gets two Binding shots attached to you, your best bet is to just keep moving, at try to get jerked off your feet so that there is less chance that the third attack will hit and bind you. The key to this first portion of the battle is to take no risks; don't charge your attacks longer than you have time to, or you will get pinned to the spot before you have time to move. Hit him with weak to moderate arrows, and try to pin him only if you are sure you have time. If he gets close he will slash you with his sword in addition to the above attacks, and even stab you when you are on the ground. In addition, he can pick you up by the neck and drain a significant amount of life from you. After you have reduced his first health bar down to half, he adds a nasty attack to his repertoire. He will yell "There is no escape!", and moments later a viscous bloody mass will rise from the spot where you were standing. If you are within its diameter it will hold you in place long enough for Burroughs to use his energy attack to bind you in place, so when you hear him say "There is no escape", just run as far as you can in any direction, so long as it is a straight line and not directly towards Burroughs. Always pick the direction where you have the most distance to run in, to avoid getting hung up and caught in the red goo. Otherwise, keep up with the tactics mentioned previously, dodging and firing, but always moving. Soon his energy attack will get even more dangerous, as it will split into three balls, one going straight and the other two going tangentially. He only does this rarely, however, so just dodge them the best that you can and keep up with the strategy above. Once you get his health bar so that it is all red, this means he is half dead. Now it is time to lay down a little ass whooping. Remember all those arrows we have been saving? Well, it is time to use them. Special Arrows are activated by pressing the R1 button instead of the normal attack. Unfortunately, you can't choose which arrows you want to use, as they are used in the order that they were picked up. Still, the Repellant Arrows, even though they do not Bind, do a nice chunk of damage, which is very nice considering how long it took to get him down to half hit points. When you use a Binding Arrow, you will know, as it glows red and places an energy chain on Burroughs when it hits, just as though you hit him with a fully charged regular arrow. When you do hit him with a Binding Arrow, you need to move to another spot at least forty-five degrees away to bind him with a second arrow, just like normal. Keep up your normal pattern of fire and dodge, exactly as before, except using Special Arrows instead of your regular attack. If you do the Binding right (i.e. moving far enough after each Binding shot) you should soon be able to pound him into the ground with the final attack. Unfortunately, though this half of the battle should go quicker, Burroughs gets tougher. Once you start eating into his final health bar, he gets a number of new attacks. First of all, he can execute any of his normal attacks without warning now. He will normally give you a warning such as the taunt or the laugh, but sometimes now he won't, simply attacking without warning. This means that the puddle of goo can appear right under your feet without warning, effectively trapping you. He also can take time to shrug off your Binding attacks with a little burst of energy, freeing himself of all your hard work and wasting your Binding arrows. Luckily, he will also occasionally stop and say "Are you ready to give up now?", which gives you a chance to charge up a regular arrow and nail him in the kisser. The manuever that he uses to free himself of your binding shots can also be used to your advantage, if you are fast. Burroughs will build up this blue glowing energy field around himself, and when it is fully charged, he releases the energy and breaks your binding chains. However, he doesn't do any other attacks simultaneously, so he is also vulnerable at this time. If you want to stop him from breaking free, just hit him with a Repellent or partially charged arrow to interupt his attempt to free himself. It is in your best interest to not do this however, as you can keep him busy if he is constantly trying to break free of the binding chains. So what you do is begin to charge an arrow as soon as you see him gathering the blue energy, and hold it until he bursts free. When he does so, he will be floating a bit of the ground for a moment, before landing and resuming attacks. If you hit him with a fully charged arrow as soon as his feet hit the ground, you can bind him anew. This means he will have to either stay stuck or try to break free again. If he tries to break free again, simply use the same strategy to pin him once more. Using this strategy and careful timing, you should have him pinned down in no time.If you never pin him completely, or your final attack doesn't finish him, and you are out of special arrows, don't fret too much. Just go back to your original strategy and keep hammering away until he falls. Unfortunately, that isn't the end of him. He disarms Alyssa at the last moment and knocks her over the ledge, but Alyssa catches herself before plummeting to her doom. Burroughs gives her another chance to submit, but rather than do this, Alyssa tries to let go and fall to her death. Burroughs catches her arm and stops her from falling, and Alyssa gets free of his grip, back on firm ground. A spectral voice says "Alyssa, take strength from me ". Now you have to run away from Burroughs and make your way around the pit in the center to the left hand side of the screen, where the rubble of Alyssa's mother lies. Just keep moving no matter what, and when you reach the rubble, the final cutscene takes over. Her mother's head under her arm, Alyssa kills Burroughs with a sword made of blue flame, and her mother is temporarily returned to life, to tell her daughter how proud she is. The Clock Tower crumbles around them, along with the remains of their home, and Alyssa loses consciousness. When she awakes, she is in a field full of clover, back in her own clothes, and Dennis is there with her. She has her mother's Clover Amulet to remind her that it wasn't a dream, and as she embraces Dennis she thinks to herself: "Mum, we did it " And that is that. Congratulations! You either beat the game or finished reading this ridiculously long document. Or both. Either one is a great accomplishment, and you should be proud. -f. Secrets and Mysteries Once you beat the game, you will unlock a few new features. First of all, there will be a new section on the main start screen, marked "Gallery". This allows you to watch all of the cinemas and cutscenes in the game, as well as stills and Production Art from the game's development. Secondly, you will receive a key to the wardrobe in Alyssa's room at the beginning of your next ("Clear") game. There are five outfits in the wardrobe that you can choose from, and they are, in the North American version of the game; the Greek Dress from the battle against Lord Burroughs, a Denim Cowgirl outfit (still with a mini-skirt), a pretty cool Rooder Warrior outfit (still REALLY short though), a fishnet and halter top Whore outfit (on a fourteen year old girl real nice guys), and the her standard schoolgirl outfit. Apparently Alyssa won't wear anything that doesn't give her a nice breeze on her cheeks. This is true for the outfits in the Japanese version of the game as well; the Greek Dress, a Blue Sailor school uniform, a White Sailor school uniform, a Santa's Helper Christmas costume, and her regular school uniform. Jimmeny. Also, when you play through this "Clear" game, the difficulty is a lot harder. Alyssa's Panic Meter fills faster, the Subordinates are faster and have new hiding places, carry different, nastier weapons, and are tougher to kill in the Boss Battles. All in all, it makes for a much tougher experience. That's it for secrets, now what about Mysteries? Actually, I lied. There are no real mysteries left at the end of this game, other than what Alyssa has against pants, why her family was living in the guest wing of her house, and why the men take the women's last names when they marry. To these questions, there may not be a real answer -g. Final Review Obviously I enjoyed this game pretty well, or else I wouldn't have written over fifty pages of text about it. I felt that the game's story, game play, sounds and graphics were overall pretty good. It did have a few issues, which I will outline here, in no particular order. First of all, I felt the game was stronger in the first two chapters than it was in the last three. They set up the deal for us early on; Alyssa moves from era to era, defeating Subordinates by freeing the tormented Spirits who give them their power. She frees the Spirits by finding their Sentimental Items, and then, and only then, will the Rooder Portal Square open to give her the divine weapon needed to fight and defeat the Subordinate. However, after Chapter Two, there are no more Sentimental Items, and thus, she shouldn't be able to fight the Subordinates. In Chapter Three, the Old Rooder Arrow works in roughly the same way, in the sense that until you find it, you can't defeat Chopper, but it is not a Sentimental Item per ce. In Chapter Four, there is no item needed, you simply need to get to the Dungeon and defeat the twins. Also, what was the deal with the Sewers on level three? Why did you end up there and what was their significance? They seemed to simply be beneath the Hamilton House, since they led up into it, but why did they lead up into an area that should have been Nancy's room? And the castle in Chapter Four; obviously it was Burroughs' castle, which occupied the space where the Hamilton House now sits. But when is it? Is it in the early 17th century, when Lord Burroughs ruled, as would be suggested by the headless corpse still in the hallway and the general antiquity of the place? Or is it modern day, as would be suggested by the presence of the movie projector? If the castle was destroyed, and the Hamilton House built on top of it, how did Dick find Burroughs inner chamber and join with him? Plus, Burroughs said that he would continue to spread pain and suffering as long as the Clock Tower remained standing but the Clock Tower must have been destroyed if the Hamilton house was built where it once stood. Things like this probably could be explained, but weren't. The game was simply stronger in the earlier Chapters, when Alyssa was time-hopping. The story was still well done and engaging, it just had a few holes in it. The graphics were excellent overall, with a few exceptions. Alyssa's model looked good, with realistic animations and cloth effects, such as her skirt. The environments and backgrounds were moody and well rendered. The Subordinates looked universally well done, at least from a technical standpoint, but they were also one of the disappointing aspects of the game visually. The Subordinates were supposed to be frightening, and the first two, Sledgehammer and The Corroder, were. Chopper looked rather cool, but he didn't fit the ambience of the game at all. I would have liked to see a Leatherface or a Michael Myers, some kind of creepy blade-wielding maniac. Instead, Chopper was obviously very anime influenced, and would have looked more at home in a game like Devil May Cry. The Scissor Twins were not frightening at all, but instead rather goofy. Actually, Scissorwoman was kind of a cutie, mass slaughter aside. And Scissorman kind of pranced around the level, looking like an effeminate albino ninja. They, for their part, would have done well as comic-relief characters in the Onimusha series. And as for Lord Burroughs his look fit the character pretty well, but I felt like I was getting tossed around by an evil Captain Morgan. Which actually happened a few times during college, but only metaphorically. Seriously, his model looked good, and he was imposing but not frightening. The Spirits were the other disappointing feature, both sound and graphics-wise. The idea that the Spirits would have a visual clue as to what you needed to set them free (such as the Rooder Spirits who had hexagon-shaped holes where their hearts should be, for example) was a good one, but the Spirits themselves looked cheesy and generic. They were all interchangeable, having nothing really to differentiate one from another. They should have at least used more polygons to render them, as they really didn't look like anything the original Playstation couldn't have done. As for sound, their moans and cackles were pure Scooby Doo. They certainly didn't sound like the moans of the damned. One would have thought that after seeing how a game like Fatal Frame did ghosts, making them really creepy with their own individual looks and sounds, that the designers might have taken a page out of their books. As it was, Clock Tower's ghosts just fell flat. Sound was another mixed bag. Besides the Spirits, the sound in this game was done really well, with realistic noises for each kind of surface Alyssa walked on, for water, storms and so on. But the Subordinates themselves should have had more than a handful of phrases and noises that they made, because most of them were creepy the first few times you heard them, but went quickly from creepy to irritating after a few repetitions. The snuffling noise that Sledgehammer made was the only one that didn't get out after a while. When I was hiding from Chopper behind the fish tank in the first part of Chapter Three, I heard him say "Oh, clever girl!" literally six times before he finally teleported away. But the one who wins the Irritation Prize is Scissorwoman; if I heard "Snickety Snack" or "Slice and Dice" one more time, I was going to go homicidal myself. Other than the things mentioned above, I thought that the game was pure gold. The inability to fight back against one's enemies, resulting in tense sessions of running and hiding, balanced by the ability to fight back against one's attackers as a sort of catharsis for the rest of the level ended up being a very satisfying combination. Add to this the Quantum Leap-like aspects of the earlier parts of the game where you go from time to time, setting the spirits of the damned free, and the very strong and interesting story, and you have a game that was a wonderful change of pace from Resident Evil and all of its clones. Although I do love Resident Evil, and especially Silent Hill there is something closer to the roots of horror about not being able to fight back, about being weaker than one's enemies and still triumphing against impossible odds. Now lets just hope that the next Clock Tower (if they do one; they expected this game to sell a half-million copies in North America in its first months, and it only sold a quarter-million) they keep the same formula but focus on making the enemies, Spirits and Subordinates alike, more frightening instead of flashy. They have an opportunity to make some really memorable horror icons here, the Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees, and Freddy Kruegers of the video game world. I would also like to see another aspect to the Boss Battles, where after destroying the Subordinate you must then destroy their true form, that of the Entity that was controlling them two nasty evils for the price of one. Here's to hoping that Capcom stays at the helm and are up to the challenge of making Clock Tower even more frightening next time. As I said, I though Clock Tower 3 was a very strong game overall that fell flat in a few places but still kept my attention and interest, even after a couple of times through the game. The super nasty "Clear" mode, with its extra elements of difficulty and surprise helped to give this game some good replay value. I give the game a 7.8 out of 10 for its strong performance, excellent story, and fresh ideas. The franchise has room to grow on the Playstation 2, and I look forward to seeing it do so. -h. Conclusion and Farewell Well, I guess that is about it. I won't give you the normal non-sense about this being my intellectual property and whatnot. I did spent an awful lot of time and hard work to build it from the ground up, but I understand that it is a guide to someone else's intellectual property, that I was neither hired nor asked to do. That being said, please do not try and pass this off as your own work or post it on your own website without getting at least telling me first. This guide is will go first to GAMEFAQS.COM, and soon will be up at my upcoming horror themed site WWW.ADARKERVISION.COM. Keep an eye out for it for more on horror games, movies, books, and more. If you have any questions about this or anything else, feel free to write to me at firstname.lastname@example.com and I will get back to you as soon as possible. If I get enough questions I will add a FAQ question and answer section to the end of this already ridiculously long document. Thanks for taking the time to peruse it, and I hope that you found it entertaining and useful. Be well. -Collin Lee