Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge - It's Always Mardi Gras

Written by The Trickster

While I have no idea how many parts there are to Monkey Island 2, I was feeling pretty happy with myself for having defeated Part I without too much trouble. It did seem odd to me that, apart from “lending” his monocle to me, Wally the cartographer played next to no role at all. It also seemed strange that the Voodoo Lady bothered telling me that she could raise the dead if I just happened to be in possession of some ashes, only for there to be no opportunity to actually do it. I was done with that part of the game though, so it was time to clear the slate and move forward, right? Well once again a lot of you will know that this way of thinking was incorrect, and I’ll explain why straight after this cut scene…

Part I took three posts. How long will Part II take?

As soon as I paid Captain Dread, I was suddenly faced with an image of a fortress. Not just any fortress mind you. This was LeChuck’s fortress, hidden deep in the Caribbean. Inside Largo was arguing with a witchdoctor-like figure, demanding to know when LeChuck would be resurrected. Before the witchdoctor could answer, the villainous pirate entered the scene, himself demanding to know about Largo’s discovery of “Guybrush Threekwood”. When Largo informs him that he saw his nemesis on Scabb Island, LeChuck commands Largo to fetch Guybrush and bring him in alive. Largo departs to do just that, at which point LeChuck tells the witchdoctor to start building a voodoo doll of his own. No guesses as to who that doll will resemble!

LucasArts were big fans of these villain cut scenes, showing the player goings on that Guybrush himself couldn't possibly be aware of.

I would say that LeChuck looks a lot better in Monkey Island 2 than his ghostly form did in the original game, but it doesn't feel right to compliment a green, decaying, living corpse.

As concerning as it was to know that Largo was right now on his way to collect me, it was now time to focus on the task at hand. This task was to find Big Whoop! I was standing on the deck of Captain Dread’s boat, and there was an empty packet of parrot chow sitting right next to me. I wouldn’t be much of an adventure gamer if I didn’t pick it up, so that’s exactly what I did. With that done, I wandered inside to chat with Dread. He asked me where I wanted to go, but since I really wasn’t sure, I asked him for options. It turned out that he only knew how to get to three islands, being Scabb Island (the one we just came from), Booty Island and Phatt Island. Both of the two new islands were mentioned in my book about Big Whoop, so it probably didn’t matter which one I chose. It was Dread’s brief descriptions of them that made up my mind. Booty Island is a party-at-all-time island, run by Governor Elaine Marley, while Phatt Island is run by a fascist dictator named Governor Phatt. Only one of those sounded like a place I’d want to go, so I clicked on the island with the word BOOTY next to it on the Dread Tours map that the captain gave me. It has been too long since I’ve seen Elaine. Let’s go!

Sail away, sail away, sail away...

Let's hope there's booty to be found on Booty Island, and I don't just mean Elaine's.

It sure was refreshing to be in new surroundings after running around nighttime Scabb Island for the last few days. I stepped off Dread’s boat to explore a whole new island, with various sunlit locations to check out. The first of these locations was Ville de la Booty, where the first screen contained an old man standing next to a cannon, a costume shop, and a souvenir shop. I approached the man (whose name is Augustus DeWaat) to start with, discovering that his only job is to fire the cannon when the mail arrives. He also informed me that it’s always Mardi Gras on Booty Island, and that Governor Marley is currently holding a big party up at her mansion.

Yay! Another whole island to explore.

Well then I guess that's where I need to be.

When all my dialogue options with Augustus were used up, I entered the souvenir shop, which was called The Booty Boutique. There was an absolute crapload of different items to look at in the store, including hub caps, pirate hats, peg legs, and ceremonial lights from the South Pacific. The man behind the counter had lots to say about everything, but in the end there really only appeared to be two things in there that were of particular interest. The first thing was a parrot that appeared to be obsessed with it's reflection in the mirror. I attempted to get it's attention with the Parrot Chow packet I had, but that didn't work. The second thing was a part of the Big Whoop treasure map. I was fairly sceptical that it was legitimate, and then completely shocked when he stated that it would cost no less than six million pieces of eight! Obviously I didn’t have that much coin, so was thankful when the guy said he would accept a trade. He had one particular trade in mind though, stating that I could have the map piece if I could bring him the figurehead of the sunken galleon Mad Monkey. When I asked him where I might find it, he replied with “Nobody knows where it sank or why”. Great. That really limits the places I need to look!

I get that you want it, but a little more info than it sank somewhere in the world would be helpful.

There was one other item in the store that I wanted. Tell me you wouldn't want to own Indiana Jones' whip!

As I walked towards the costume shop, the screen scrolled to the right, revealing a woman handing out some form of advertising, and another store called Stan’s Previously Owned Coffins. I immediately recognized the name Stan as the hilariously over the top ship salesman from The Secret of Monkey Island. As much as I wanted to head straight in there and enjoy the madness, I stuck to my original plan and entered the costume shop. Inside I found a whole stack of different brightly coloured costumes hanging up around the room. They were all on the silly side, including Mighty Moose, Wunky Elephant, Rhinoceros Ted and Rickety Rabbit. I examined all of them, but none of Guybrush’s remarks suggested any of them held particular interest. Once finished, I told the shopkeeper that I’d like to rent a costume, for the simple reason that I had no other dialogue options. He abruptly informed me that every costume was either gone or on reserve. I asked him the same question in increasingly urgent ways, but not even “My life depends on renting a costume” resulted in any different response from the shopkeeper. I could think of nothing else to do, so left.

This guy failed to understand just how much I NEED to rent a damn costume.

Having failed to achieve anything on the island so far, I approached the woman in the big hat, hopeful that I might at least get myself a brochure. After introducing myself, I discovered that she was Captain Kate Capsize. While I couldn’t remember exactly who had mentioned her back on Scabb Island (the pirates on the beach?), I did recall that she was a tough woman, and wouldn’t take any crap from anyone. I told her that I was searching for Big Whoop, and rather than mocking me for it, she instead spoke of her own experience hunting for it on the Limping Limpet. They’d given up trying to find Blinky Island when their captain died of boredom crossing the Sea of Biege Flotsam. I asked her for a leaflet, which she eagerly gave me, and then discussed chartering a ship. I didn’t see why I might need to charter a ship when I already had one, but could only assume that I might need to if I intended to go anywhere apart from the three islands that Captain Dread knows how to get to. I soon realized I was in no position to do so anyway, as Capsize’s fee was 6000 pieces of eight. Since that was all I could talk to her about, I moved on.

Nice to meet you Kate. Ever considered a change in either career or surname?

I’d had high hopes for Stan in his new role as a used coffin salesman, and he didn’t let me down. As soon as I entered his store, he pulled out every sales trick in the book, while animatedly gesticulating in his eye-catching way. “Welcome to Stan’s Previously Owned Coffins! We handle the dead for a lot less bread. What are you looking for, son? Need a bin for your next of kin? Want a family plot without spending a lot? You’re in luck! Just look at all this quality merchandise! Never before touched by a living soul. Most of it used for a few hours…premature burial, you know. That sort of thing. Well, speak up. Or are you dead? Either way, you came to the right place.” Stan went on and on with the death and funeral related puns, and I loved it. Eventually we got into a conversation about the purchase of a coffin, and after Stan sneakily measured my height while I wasn’t looking, he showed me what he described as “the Cadillac of Coffins”. To show off how roomy it was, Stan hopped in for a while. After he got out, I noticed that I had the dialogue option to ask him to get back in again. When he did, I realized that for the first time since entering his shop I had control of the cursor. Was there something I was supposed to do while he was in there?

Stan sneakily measures me up. These are the moments I love in the Monkey Island series.

I did some quick pixel hunting during one of the brief opportunities I had, and found a crypt key hanging up at the back of the room, a cash register in the shape of a tomb, and a bell. If I tried to use or pick up any of those items while Stan was sitting in the coffin, he’d tell me not to touch them. Hmmm…could I lock him in there? I asked Stan to hop into the coffin once again, and then closed the lid. It worked, but he popped straight back out as soon as tried to touch anything. He did suddenly hand me a white "Stan’s" labelled hanky though, which was at least something new in my inventory. Eventually I figured that there must be an item that I need to use to lock him in once the lid is closed, but since I didn’t have anything suitable, I moved onto the remaining dialogue options that I had. One of those options was to discuss the coffin’s price. “Pricing here at Stan’s works on a sliding scale based on one’s ability to pay so as to make a decent funeral affordable to even our poorest customers. So, how much dough do you have on you?” Enjoying the brilliance, I informed Stan that I only had 411 pieces of eight, at which point he recommended cremation. There is nothing else of note to report from the conversation, but I did make a connection that I’m pretty sure will be useful later on. When considering the crypt key, it suddenly dawned on me that I might be able to use it on a crypt back on Scabb Island. A quick look through my screenshots confirmed that there was a crypt in the cemetery with the words “Stan’s Kozy Krypts – A Place to Spend Eternity, Not a Fortune”, and it had a big rusty lock on it. If I can manage to get the key, I’ll be heading straight back to Scabb Island.

Stan is the ultimate salesman, not even baulking when I ask him to get into the coffin over and over.

Leaving Stan’s and wandering further to the right of screen brought me to a scene that I remembered all too well. The Pirates’ Spit Contest! There a bunch of expectant spectators waited patiently for someone to step up and test their prowess at spitting. The Spitmaster wandered up and down the contest zone, inviting anyone within hearing distance to have a go. “It’s a great day for spitting! Just look at this juicy crowd! Step up to the line and test your swill!” Even though I knew that I was in no position to do well at this point, I decided to test my skill anyway. I wandered up to the line, at which point Guybrush announced that he would “give it a try”. The Spitmaster asked me who I was, and I was given the dialogue options of Jucious Maximus the Third, The Phlegm Master, or Captain Loogie. I went with the third option, then hocked up what sounded like a decent gob. When I selected to spit though, my effort merely leaked out of my mouth and hung off my chin. “Misfire! Misfire! Everybody run!” yelled the Spitmaster, but he then encouraged the onlookers to give me a round of applause regardless. I had a second go and managed to spit a loogie past the halfway line. It wasn’t quite good enough to pass the third place flag though, nor had I expected it to. I recall from a distant memory that I need to concoct some sort of substance that will allow me to build up a disgusting but highly spittable phlegm-bomb. I can only imagine I’ll know when I’ve found the right ingredients.

This is a very serious event people.

A spit misfire is embarrassing at the best of times, but in a spitting contest it's a catastrophe.

Walking past the spitting contest, I was suddenly confronted by the map of Booty Island. It appeared as though I’d completed my exploration of Ville de la Booty, but not the entire island. I moved my cursor around the map and discovered that I could visit a cliff, the Governor’s mansion, a small structure, and a big tree. The cliff was the closest of these locations, so I chose to go there first. It turned out to be wasted effort really, as I could find nothing to do there but look down the cliff face to the sand and ocean below. I pixel hunted a fair bit, but came up with nothing. I could only assume that something would happen at this site at a later time. I left the cliff and made my way up to the small structure on the pathway towards the Governor’s mansion. When I arrived at the small shack, I was shocked to find LeChuck standing outside it, guarding the path! Of course a second later I realise that it wasn’t really LeChuck at all, as the clothes were all wrong. It was someone dressed up in a LeChuck costume. It wasn’t until the costumed woman took off the costume head that Guybrush was able to realise this though, at which point she said “Don’t you know a Mardi Gras costume when you see one?” When I informed her that I was heading to the Governor’s party, she told me that it was invitation only, and that a costume would be required. I attempted to trick her into believing my outfit was my costume, but she refused to believe that anyone “would willingly wear such a dopey costume”. I quickly ran out of dialogue options, so it was obvious I wasn’t going to be visiting the mansion any time soon.

I could find nothing to interact with at the top of the cliff...

...or on the cliff face itself.

Come on Guybrush. Surely you'd know that this isn't your arch nemesis.

So far my trip to Booty Island hadn’t been particularly fruitful. I’d uncovered quite a few new puzzles, but had only collected a brochure from Captain Kate Capesize and a white hanky from Stan in the process. Perhaps I would have more luck at the big tree. When I arrived I found that there was indeed a big tree, and that it had a heap of holes wrapping around it. The very first hole at the bottom had a plank stuck in it. I immediately figured that if I could stick a makeshift plank into the second hole, I could work my way up the tree by taking the one out behind me and sticking it in the hole in front of me. Alas, none of the likely items, such as the stick or the knife, worked the way I hoped they might. The only other thing to check out on the screen was an outhouse towards the back. I opened the door, but found I couldn’t do anything there either. There was nothing to interact with inside, and when I tried to “use” the outhouse Guybrush told me that there were “only shiny pages left in the catalog”. I departed the big tree, and realized that I’d completed my first exploration of Booty Island. I gained very little from it, but had a good time chatting to the many characters that reside there. Let’s hope I find a few more useful items on Phatt Island, which will no doubt make up the bulk of my next post. Until then…

Booty Island has basically been a bunch of puzzles for which I don't have the items needed to solve them.

You've got a nice clean and crisp piece of paper in your inventory Guybrush. You do what you have to do.

Session time: 0 hours 40 minutes

Total time: 4 hours 25 minutes