Game 28: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Pull the Plug

Indiana Jones Journal Entry 3: “I finally made it through that underground tunnel system beneath Venice. I soon realised there’s no way my father went ahead of me, since many of the obstacles I faced on the way were unsurpassable in their current state. Flooded rooms, broken machinery, stuck levers, he didn’t go through there! I managed to find what he was looking for though, and the second marker in the knight’s tomb suggested our next destination should be Turkey. I can’t believe the Holy Grail might actually exist! Once I was out of there, I found out what happened to dad, and it’s more than a little inconvenient. He’s been kidnapped, and is being held captive in a castle on the Austrian-German border. Elsa and I have just arrived and I plan to scout the place out before trying to rescue him. The Holy Grail will have to wait I’m afraid!”

Indiana Jones waited patiently for the player to return and continue his adventure.

So, my last post ended with me having fully explored the underground area of Venice, and I was about to set off to go look for something I could hold water in. The manhole I exited took me straight to the plaza, where I had another attempt at getting the wine bottle off the two lovers at a table. I really have no idea why, but when I approached them this time and asked if they minded if I took the bottle, the man responded with “Of course not. It was a dreadful wine” and gave it to me. Can anyone explain why he responded this way at this stage, yet he’d said “Indeed I do!! We’re not done with our fine wine yet!” when I first tried? Is it a matter of timing or is there something else at play here that I just didn’t get? Either way, now I had the wine bottle, and went straight back into the underground to see if my instincts were right.

Well make up your mind buddy!

I made my way to the flooded room and used the wine bottle on the pool of water. It worked, so I now had a bottle full of water! I took the water back to the room with the torch stuck in the mud and used the bottle on the torch. Once again, it worked, and while I wasn’t able to remove the torch from the wall, I was able to pull it down. This caused a hole to open up in the ground beneath me, which I subsequently fell into. I found myself with another top down view, meaning I had a whole new maze to get through. As it turned out, it wasn’t a big maze, with only a couple of places of interest. The first thing I came across was a ladder leading back up to the floor above. I hadn’t seen a ladder leading down anywhere, so I ascended to see exactly where it would come out. The answer was the concrete slab that I’d been unable to get a grip on. It makes sense that I was able to push the slab up from below, even if it was too slippery to shift from above.

The little touches are great in the game, like Indy falling into a hole and his hat slowly drifting down after him.

The second place of interest had a narrow bridge, with what appeared to be a wooden plug that was dripping water in the ceiling above it. I figured it must be the plug that I could see in the floor of the flooded room above, but before I tried to figure out how I could pull it out, I crossed the bridge to see what was on the other side. I came across an alcove containing inscriptions all over the wall. The inscriptions described the Grail, and after reading through them, Indy came to the conclusion that “either the account of Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, or that newspaper column about the New Gospel is the correct account of the Grail”. The articles he’s talking about can be found in the Grail Diary that came with the game, and I’m assuming that this finding means the other numerous accounts in the book are nothing more than misinformation. I’ve taken screenshots of these two accounts if you care to read them.

You mean dad wrote red herring grail accounts in his diary in case it fell into the wrong hands? Genius!

 

Possible correct account number1

Possible correct account number 2

After reading the inscriptions, I moved back to the bridge and set about removing the plug. The first thing I tried was using the hook on the plug, which resulted in Indy screwing it in. I tried using the plug and then using the red cordon with the plug, but neither worked. I then tried using my whip with the plug and watched with great satisfaction as Indy walked to the side, wrapped the whip around the plug, and then pulled it down. The water came rushing through, knocking part of the bridge out on its way through. I felt pretty happy that I’d already crossed the bridge to the alcove, although I could have restored to just prior to the bridge if I hadn’t. With that done, I made my way back to the room with the ladder and up to the floor above.

Now I really feel like Indiana Jones!

I made my way to the previously flooded room, and was now able to climb (well, fall really) down the rocks to the ground. While there appeared to be three new exits to the room to check out, two of them were nothing more than dead ends. I took the third one and found myself in...yes, you guessed it...another little maze. I have to admit that I was getting a little bit fed up with the mazes at this stage, and hoped this was the last section. The first location I came across contained some sort of machinery, although it didn’t appear to work. Seeing the numerous wheels, I decided to try using the red cordon on it and was thrilled when it worked. Indy placed the cordon around two of the wheels forming a belt, and I then I turned the wheel at the side to make the whole thing work. The machine’s purpose seemed to be to lift something up below connected to a chain, although I couldn’t see what it was.

I think someone is making up for inadequacies

With that done, I began wandering through the twisting corridors of this maze section, eventually entering a room with three statues, a closed door, and an exit on the other side to where I entered. I immediately looked at the diary and was shown a “correct” configuration for the statues as well as one labelled “certain death”. By using the statues I could get them to change, but changing one would always cause another to change too. This resulted in me accidentally forming the “certain death” scenario, which caused me to fall through the floor. Strangely, I didn’t die, and was merely taken back to the room with the manhole exit to the plaza. I restored, and this time was able to form the “correct” configuration without too much trouble. The door that was closed now opened, so I went through.

A lot of effort just to lock a door!

The maze continued, as if there was any doubt, and I eventually come across a small bridge leading to a doorway with a chain next to it. This must be the door that I opened when I used the machinery that pulled the chain up, so I took it. It led to a couple more caverns, with the second one containing a locked door and a pedestal with six skulls on it. When I used the skulls, Indy would press them, and they would make a bonging sound. Each of the six skulls made a different sound, ranging from high to low. I looked at the diary and was shown some sheet music. My heart dropped! Clearly I was going to have to replicate the music on the sheet, yet my music skills are on par with my geography skills. Retarded!

I pity the player that arrives at this point and didn't fix the pulley machine!

When I got over my fears, I at first thought it would be fairly straight forward. Each of the lines must represent one of the skulls, so I must simply have to figure out which line represents which skull. Except there were only five lines and six skulls!!!! I quickly noticed that two of the symbols on the sheet music had stems (that’s what I’m going to call them) that went down, whereas the others went up. What did that mean??? The note in the diary said “the excerpt uses an obscure musical notation, and I am not sure why it never has more than six different notes.” Six different notes? How can there be six when there are only four different notes on the sheet? Confused! I decided to treat the first skull like the top line on the sheet and the last skull like the bottom line, therefore pressing them in this order: 1, 5, 6, 5, 1. The door partly opened and then closed!

I have as much chance reading the music as I do the title

I looked up sheet music on the net to try to figure out what the different stem directions mean, and discovered that it means absolutely nothing. The stems go up if they’re on the bottom lines and down if there on the top, but it’s for purely aesthetic reasons. I decided I would try ignoring the end skulls and try 1, 4, 5, 4, 1 and then 2, 5, 6, 5, 2. To my great surprise, the first combination worked, meaning I’d solved the puzzle on my second attempt, despite feeling completely flummoxed by the whole thing. Can anyone explain why there are six skulls? Is my confusion related to my ignorance about music or is this just a devious puzzle that’s solved through a bit of guesswork? Regardless, the door opened, and I raced through before the game could make me do anything else related to the skulls or music.

It opened? Really? You mean I solved it? No...seriously?!

The doorway led to more twisting paths, but it didn’t take me long to find my way through it. The exit from the maze took me into the room containing the casket that I’d seen through the gate about forty minutes prior. I opened the casket and discovered the knight was inside as I’d expected. I was told that “The shield is the second marker Donovan spoke of! It mentions the ancient city of Alexandretta! Today, the city of Iskenderun is built on its ruins. We’ll find the Grail near there!” Of course I had no idea where Iskenderun is, but I figured that piece of information is all I needed. It was time to leave! I went to the gate I’d peered through earlier, hoping that I’d be able to open it from this side. Thankfully, the lock was easily broken from inside as it was rusted (surely I would have been able to break it from the other side), so I was able to exit the underground of Venice.

Please don't come back to life! I fear you would kick my butt!

As soon as I climbed out of the manhole, Elsa approached with news that she knew where my father is. “He’s being held captive in the Brunwald Castle on the Austrian-German border.” It was decided that I would try to rescue my father and then Marcus would meet me in Iskenderum, then we immediately set off. The overhead map view showed a red line leaving Venice and taking an indirect route to the boarder on Austria and Germany, where it stopped. Soon afterwards, I was looking at a rather foreboding castle, complete with lightning and Nazi flags for full effect. I exited the car and told Elsa (who’d apparently come along) to wait while I scouted. Perhaps I wasn’t supposed to enter the castle through the front doors, but that’s what I did. The butler confronted me immediately!

Yes, you just sit in the car right outside the front door of the castle we're about to break into!

I’d decided early on that I was going to try to finish the game without fights if possible, so I set about talking my way into the castle. The butler of course wanted to know who I was, but I instead asked him if he was “the one with the relatives in town”. He responded with “My nephew Otto in Salzburg? Is something wrong?”, to which I said “No, he’s fine, but you must go to him immediately.” He wanted proof that I knew Otto, but I was somehow able to convince him through ridiculous logic, causing the butler to leave. OK, so now I’m in a big castle, likely filled with Nazis, trying to find and rescue my father without assistance. Shouldn’t be too difficult right? Well, you’ll find out how I went tomorrow.

That's a pretty random thing to say to someone. It could actually work!

Session Time: 0 hours 40 minutes 

Total Time: 3 hours 00 minutes 

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!