Deduction in the videogame "Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened"
This is my attempt to reconstruct Sherlock Holmes's reasoning in the videogame Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened (2006) by Frogwares. I recommend reading this after completing the game.
Content
Introduction
Part 1. Barnes' Case
Part 2. Evidence in Stenwick's Garden
Part 3. Reconstruction in Stenwick's Garden
Part 4. Evidence from Stenwick's Garden in the Laboratory
Part 5. Wharf no.13
Part 6. Warehouse 12
Part 7. A strange temple
Part 8. Origin of illegal goods
Part 9. Mycroft's response
Part 10. Trip to Switzerland
Part 11. Laboratory of the Black Edelweiss Institute
Deduction in the videogame "Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened". Part 14. Light of the abyss
Now it's time to find out what's behind that wall. Perhaps the person Gygax is supposed to keep with him is there. After all, a hiding place behind the wall is a good place to hide a person with attention-attracting appearance. Or perhaps Gygax keeps him in his house or elsewhere in Switzerland. In any case, we need to find out what's behind that wall.
Let's ask one of the patients. But the patient nearest to this wall, Sigmund, doesn't react to us. Nor does the more distant patient, Jotunn [1]. We'll have to turn to patient Wolff. Need to find a way to convince him to cooperate with us. While trying to do this, we finally visited the classroom, where we found on the teacher's desk a note from a certain Professor G. Herzog to Gygax.
It turns out Gygax hinted to Herzog that he would take over the teacher's duties, as the professor himself had to leave. Herzog was also interested in the reason for Gygax's refusal to involve some residents in the classes. For us, the reason is obvious: these were the "useful" and "useless for the cause" patients. This indicates Herzog didn't know about the horrors happening here.
From the letter, it's clear that in the former laundry room was, or is, an anonymous resident suffering from amnesia. This patient had remarkable awakenings. In one of them, while the professor was explaining extremely elementary concepts concerning gravity, the patient answered his questions in writing on the board in his very mechanical manner, then began silently and without the professor being able to stop him to write a series of equations accompanied by diagrams. These equations express the relative motion of known celestial bodies of our Universe and their mutual gravitational influence. In the demonstration performed by this patient, there wasn't a single error.
Who is this mysterious anonymous resident? Perhaps there's a dossier on him, like on other patients? There is an untitled dossier. If this patient is still anonymous, he likely hasn't been here long. Among the numerous dossiers, only this one is fresh enough to belong to the man described in Professor G. Herzog's letter. It mentions that this man was found half-dead on a riverbank. He spent several months in the rescuers' village, then, due to fits of uncontrollable violence, was transferred a few years ago to another institution, which, due to insufficient progress, sent him here. He suffers from the consequences of skull fractures, suffers from amnesia and muteness, but seems capable of performing minor household tasks and shows remarkable aptitude for the subjects taught here. A peculiar personality.
This personality doesn't seem connected to our case. If this person is still here, we'll meet him when we take the lift in Gygax's office, but it's too early to leave now. In the classroom, there is a wooden structure resembling shackles for hands and feet [2]. Must be for punishing disobedient students. An overly harsh punishment. Let's hope Herzog didn't use it.
In this classroom, you can find three hidden notes in toys [3]. Patients hide messages among these puzzles to communicate secretly from their overseers. Clever for so-called mentally ill. One says "The wall opens into hell, I saw it…". And we already know what hell it's about. Another: "If you escape from the lesson, go up by the lift." Did someone escape to the lift via the laundry? Probably not through the doctor's office. Either the way up wasn't blocked then, or the patients didn't know about the blockage. The last note contains three short lines and one long one. This corresponds to the earlier found instruction for Hildegarde. So the patients also knew this code.
We managed to talk to Wolff. Need to find out what he knows about the patients who were here, Dr. Gygax's activities, and the secret place behind the wall. Gygax told Wolff he'd do the same to him as to the others who don't speak like Wolff and who scream very loudly when Gygax hurts them. It seems Gygax said this to Wolff to mock him, because the "useless" are already dead, and the "useful for the cause" have already been taken away, and Wolff is still fine. And now it's clear Gygax wasn't too concerned that screams were audible on this floor.
Judging by the fact Becker said nothing about screams, they didn't reach his floor. At the same time, Becker heard that patients spoke one language and repeated the same thing. Apparently, this torture room isn't audible to Becker, unlike the place where the foreigners were kept after experiments. To the left of Wolff, there is a locked door that is farthest from the torture room. Probably the "corrected" foreigners were kept there.
Wolff said that surely Gygax and the patients are hiding there, behind. But it's well hidden, and the doctor has a code. First, he makes noise with the fire near his office, then comes to make noise with the fire in front of Wolff, and then goes to make noise behind. Wolff is talking about nothing other than that wall. It seems these torches can be moved. Let's try to press the torch closest to Gygax's office. Then the one directly opposite Wolff. And finally the torch farthest from Wolff but close to that wall. And if that doesn't work, we'll slightly change the combination.
The wall is open! Here, on cushions near a hookah, sits some old man resembling an Indian. He has very strange eyes. He says something in a strange language: "ggggrrrrmmmblblblbmmmmbblblblblb". This man calls us a pathetic victim and asks who he is to us. Let's try "Light of the Abyss." We seem to be right. He replied that our lower mind may be enlightened before being given to the servants of agony.
His accomplices must already be enlightened. But obviously, one who is enlightened won't necessarily become an accomplice, otherwise the foreigners here wouldn't have needed their brains physically altered.
The "Light of the Abyss" didn't answer where all the people kidnapped in London are, and those who passed through this asylum. Instead, he said: "Soon He will hear our call, and when the Titans gather for the awakening of their King, you and your kind will flay yourselves, realizing the insult that your mere existence is. You will beg Him to carry you into the abyss, like the lowly spirits gone to implore His return. He awaited us in dreaming, tremble now, cockroach, in awaiting Him."
Someone awaits in dream the "Light of the Abyss" and the lowly spirits gone to implore his return. Obviously, the one awaiting is that very unawakened one. This unawakened one will soon hear the call. Then the Titans will gather for His awakening. These same lowly spirits beg the unawakened one to carry them into the abyss. After which, presumably, the rest of the people will flay themselves, realizing the insult that their mere existence is.
What role do the kidnapped play here, if they are mentioned here? Either they are Titans, or the lowly spirits gone to implore. These people aren't highly valued, so the latter is more likely. Then that song Gygax taught the foreigners — is the imploring for the return.
The "Light of the Abyss" said this too loudly. It seems orderlies will descend upon us now. They won't descend through Gygax's office, as it's presumably locked. So we'll run to the lift. Meanwhile, the "Light of the Abyss" continues to say something: "AQU ZOU GYU UYHU HUW EEHO TAM HUU OTUMYYTI GYU KYAGISOMMAU UCUNYHOMLI NYPABHOY IHOHUQ… AZATHOTH" [4]. And he emphasized the word AZATHOTH. Interesting, what could that mean? No time for this, time to run. We use the needed combination on the lift and find ourselves in the laundry. There is indeed some patient here. Let's try to address him.
We try to ask this man something. But he doesn't seem to hear us. Or rather, he is mute. No surprise, as he answered Herzog in writing. Stop! This is none other than Mm... Moriarty! Moriarty, Holmes's archenemy, whom he thought dead. Who would have thought this demon could survive such a fall at Reichenbach Falls! He seems a shadow of his former self. Without a doubt, he truly lost his memory and has no connection to this story.
Now we hear Gygax's voice from above: "Find this intruder as soon as possible, bunch of good-for-nothings, and bring him to the experimental hall, I'll take care of his... memory..." Obviously, after the cries of the "Light of the Abyss," Gygax realized we've made a mess. He checked our ward and realized it's indeed us. Now he wants to erase from our memory everything we've seen.
No way out, we'll have to distract Gygax and the orderlies with Moriarty. What could provoke Moriarty? Sherlock Holmes's name. But then he'll attack us. Good that Moriarty didn't recognize our appearance. Let's say Sherlock Holmes is upstairs, so he attacks Gygax, not us.
The plan worked! But now we've unearthed a hidden danger, like a bomb loaded with hatred and a spirit of revenge. But this doesn't threaten us now. Need to get out of here, let's go up. We're in the storage closet. We came up here by stairs, so it seems there was little point for patients to get from the laundry to the closet. And it's hard to imagine them risking going up by the lift from Gygax's office. Although if patients wanted to escape specifically from Gygax's classes, and not from Herzog's classes, whom we consider a good guy, then the patients could be sure the doctor wasn't there, though they couldn't be sure if the office was locked. Well, who knows what's on the minds of the insane.
Our Colby suit is here, so our ward was indeed checked. We put our suit back on and try to open the door leading to the reception. It's open. Watson and Bilger arrived just in time. They put us in a police cab. We'll arrive at the station and report everything.
Notes:
In the game, we don't interact with these two patients.
Deduction in the videogame "Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened". Part 6. Warehouse 12
We headed to warehouse 12. It seemed no one was here. It seemed the kidnapped were elsewhere. But even if the kidnapped weren't here, there could be other clues here indicating where the kidnapped were. At the very least, this was the first place of interest to us for clues.
The warehouse window was closed, and through it, we could see the entrance door was blocked by a wooden beam. There was no time to obtain an official warrant [1]. We had already spent a lot of time finding this place! So we had no choice but to break down the door.
In the warehouse, we saw a large pile of sails [2] and 6 crates of the same size. Judging by the label, these crates were 2m by 1m by 1m. Could our people be inside these crates? No, upon opening one crate, we saw it was empty, with only a lantern inside. Let's open another crate. It contained canvas [3]. It seemed these crates originally contained the canvas scattered all over the warehouse.
Such handling of the canvas was simply awful. Therefore, the canvas wasn't of great importance to the warehouse owner, but the empty crates were. Four crates remained: 2 on the floor and 2 on top of these two. Even if they were emptied, there wouldn't be that much canvas left from 5 crates. Therefore, there were originally many more crates. Therefore, these crates were taken somewhere.
Given that we had at least one crate not emptied and another emptied, the question was whether these 4 were emptied? If we answered this, we would save ourselves the trouble of opening them. Judging by the fact that at least one crate was full of sails, the sails were taken out of the crates as needed. But if so, why was the crate with the lantern emptied? To place the lantern inside. Why put a lantern there? A mystery for now.
Perhaps people were loaded into these crates, so they weren't here. No, it was hard to imagine people being hidden in this place for several days. Someone would have discovered it sooner or later.
Near the crates, we found a torn page from an American passport. One Amos Colby, 42 years old [4], native of Boston, Massachusetts. He arrived in Britain two weeks ago (15 days ago) [5]. What was he doing here? The drawing on the back of the page resembled some kind of devil. And it was done in blood!
Next to the passport was a hat pin [6]. Its tip was bloodied. It seemed the person who pricked themselves with this pin did so to draw this "devil" on the passport page. And they did it here. The rest of the passport [7] lay near the crates, but it contained nothing valuable for us.
There was a huge crate in the warehouse. And on the floor were traces [8] that seemed to show frequent movement between the place where the sails lay and this huge crate. Therefore, something was dragged many times from this huge crate to the sails. Or vice versa. That is, either something from the huge crate was dragged into the sail crates, or the crates were dragged into this huge crate. If the crates were used for the kidnapped people, then likely the former.
On the top crate, the one closest to the huge crate, there was a lot of blood [9]. Therefore, someone had a huge wound on their leg. Therefore, there had been a struggle. But between whom and whom?
Now we had to open the huge crate. We opened it and heard a strange growling from within [10]. Something was happening! This wasn't a crate but an entrance to a cellar. This place seemed to breathe… Even to watch us… We must be quiet. What was that?
Now it was clear what the lantern was for: to walk in this dark cellar. But why empty a crate just for one lantern?
We found ourselves before a door. To the left and right of the door were three stones each that could be pressed. Obviously, specific stones needed to be pressed. On the left wall were drawn three symbols, and on the right wall three symbols, and these were the same symbols as on the stones. In the middle of the room was some kind of recess. What could be inserted here? The lantern was the only thing that came to mind.
At first glance, these symbols resembled those we saw in the pub. So now there was no doubt those notches were left by Sommers. Upon closer examination, we understood that the symbols in the pub were more complete versions of the symbols from the cellar. Apparently, we had to press these four specific symbols. And even in the same order we saw them at Sommers' table.
Why was the recess needed? If we inserted the lantern, it began to shine, and in the middle of its beam appeared another symbol. If we tried to align this symbol with each of the symbols on the wall, we would find that 4 of them formed those very complete versions of the symbols from the pub. That is, the lantern was supposed to help not only proceed down the corridor but also enter the door. And yes, the door did indeed open if we simply pressed those four symbols.
Why did Sommers carve them? Sommers was looking for a worker in the pub. So he needed the worker to know these symbols, meaning Sommers wanted the worker to be able to enter the cellar. Why couldn't Sommers open the door for the worker himself? Because the worker was supposed to come here alone. Was Sommers supposed to be inside or outside when the worker arrived? Apparently outside, because otherwise Sommers could still meet his new colleague. But why did Sommers have to be outside? Because Sommers was busy kidnapping Baowpa. For the same reason, the Indian couldn't escort the worker. And why couldn't the third man with the red cap do it? Apparently, he was also busy with some kidnapping or something else entirely. So, the worker was supposed to work or start working without Sommers. But what was he supposed to do?
Most likely, the lantern now in our hands was used by that very person. For there was no guarantee he would have a suitable lantern to solve the puzzle. And Sommers had to guarantee entry. And since this lantern didn't belong to the worker, it had to be left here.
We entered the room. A cursory examination showed: beds, bowls, and jugs [11]. These items indicated that people had been kept here, but who else could have been kept here if not the kidnapped? So we were right that these crates were intended for carrying people away. And alive people at that, otherwise the villains would have killed them immediately, not given them food. Apparently, this worker wasn't alone, for it was hard to imagine someone carrying a bunch of people alone. Most likely, several people worked here. Considering when Brannoch was kidnapped, the kidnapped people were kept here for several days. Judging by the number of beds, there were many. Obviously, Sommers had a lot of money if he managed to buy the silence of his new helpers.
Now about the lantern. Obviously, when these people were dragged, the lantern wasn't used. Moreover, there were many people and only one lantern. How did they manage then? They lit or had torches lit on the columns. But how did they move through the dark corridor then? We had this layout: warehouse, corridor in the cellar, room with columns. The first and third locations were lit. Therefore, something needed to be placed in the corridor, perhaps in the center. Possibly on that very pedestal for solving the puzzle. After finishing all the work, the lantern was returned to the crate.
Why empty a crate for the lantern when it could be placed anywhere? We had already concluded that crates were emptied as needed. Now let's imagine how this worked. Obviously, first a crate was emptied, then they went down to the cellar for a victim, then carried them up, into the crate, then emptied the next crate. If there were four people here, it could very well be that when one pair of people opened a crate and then went down, they discovered the last person had been moved by another pair. So the crate ended up empty and unused. When they realized there was no one else to move, they realized they no longer needed the lantern and needed to close the lid, so they simply put the lantern inside and closed the lid. On the other hand, this didn't even require four people. Even two people might not have immediately realized they had moved all the people.
However, later Sommers and the Indian should have returned with Baowpa. Why didn't they put him in this empty crate? Sommers couldn't know this crate was empty, so he opened and emptied another crate, into which they placed Baowpa.
The fact that people were kept here very recently and now taken away indicated they were moved to another place. But the fact that Sommers ordered everyone to be moved while he himself kidnapped Baowpa suggested this move had to happen in great haste.
Notes:
In the story "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter", it was more than an hour before we could get Inspector Gregson and comply with the legal formalities which would enable us to enter the house where the murder could have happened.
Actually, in the game itself, the pile doesn't seem that big.
It can be left unopened.
In the game, Sherlock will say Colby is 36 years old. This is very strange, as the current date is 06.09.1894, and the passport says date of birth is 20.04.1852.
In the game, Sherlock will say Colby arrived three weeks ago. This is very strange, as the current date is 06.09.1894, and the passport says date of entry is 22.08.1894.
It can be left untouched.
No, we didn't find the rest of the passport in the game. But it must be somewhere: either here or in Colby's clothes.
These traces can be ignored.
This blood can be ignored.
This is a hidden cut-scene we see if we take the passport after the pin or the pin after the passport, when the large crate (cellar) is already open.
Bowls and jugs are only in the concept art, not in the game.
