Gabriel Knight - Now Go Do That Voodoo That You Do So Well

Written by Michael

Oh, if only they knew what was coming in 30 years...

I’m back to start another day in the life of Gabriel Knight, gentleman scholar.  My last post ended at the close of the first full day, leading up to the wee hours of the morning, where a familiar ritual occurs, the paperboy arriving at the bookstore a mere second before my assistant Grace.

We learn nothing new because our convenient police source keeps us in the loop.

As is my usual ritual, I stumble out of the back-room bedroom, drink some coffee, and read the newspaper.  This is much like my own life, minus the now-extinct newspaper.

Wait, I keep using the word ritual.  Somehow, it seems appropriate when narrating this game.

The newspaper tells us nothing new about the Voodoo Murders, and reiterates the claim that it has nothing to do with actual, real Voodoo.  Both myself and Gabriel doubt that very much.  The newspaper also has an article about the history of Jackson Square.  Back in the days of French control, it was “La Plaza d’Armas” and used for executions in so many different flavors, such as firing squads, hangings, impalement, and breaking on the wheel.  But, “Of course, these days it’s mostly a hang out for tourists, street musicians, and local artists.”

Both Gabriel’s and my own horoscope for this day?  “Chances of a dark star rising on this day.  Do not trust your instincts.”

After finishing browsing the paper, I interrogate Grace and show her all the objects I think she should see, but she has no new information and, in fact, is somewhat revolted by the crime scene photo.  Perhaps hiring someone so squeamish to help research this Voodoo book wasn’t the best call?

I decide to go back to the museum, since we didn’t have much luck there yesterday.  This time, Dr. John is here.  

As an aside: there’s almost no chance at all that this character isn’t named after ‘70s funk superstar Dr. John, who also had a lot of music inspired by New Orleans jazz.  His debut album was titled Gris-Gris, which is a term we will come across later in this post.  His later work is most likely something you’d recognize, like this song used in many movies and shows.  Heck, he even inspired a character on Sesame Street.

Uncanny resemblance.

Dr. John (in the game) is very helpful, patiently explaining to me so many things about Voodoo.  He breaks it down to two main variants, Historical Voodoo, and the modern Voodoo currently performed in the city.

My conversation with him took at least a hundred screenshots, so I’ll try to paraphrase somewhat.

Historically, Voodoo was created as a religion by African slaves, molding together a lot of the tribal practices and religious customs they were exposed to.  These slaves went many places, but notably to us would be the ones that were imported into the West Indies into French and Spanish plantations.  Since the land under New Orleans used to be owned by France, that’s how they made their way here, eventually.  The slaves, much like many people free and otherwise in the past, had a sense of community from their shared religion, which gave them a sort of power.

“Among the first meeting places were the Bayou St. John and the shore of Lake Pontchartrain.”  Wait... wasn’t that where the crime scene was yesterday?

As the following grew, a leader emerged, a Voodoo queen named Marie Laveau.  Much as Jeanne Phillips took over for her mother Pauline, or even how the succession of the Dread Pirate Roberts is handled, Marie’s daughter (also named Marie)  seamlessly took over for the mother when she got older.

Marie (the older) worked as a hairdresser for rich Creole ladies, and hired servants to spy on people for her, until she got into a position where “she knew everything about everyone who mattered in New Orleans.  She was not above using her information to appear psychic, to intimidate, or even to blackmail.”  She performed Voodoo ceremonies out by the lake, with her snake.  

She basically invented most of the practices of Voodoo, and the folk tradition of Hoodoo, which is basically the magic spells and “gris gris”.

He also speaks the party line.

I continue to ask Dr. John about many topics and even himself; I took a triple-digit number of screenshots recording this conversation for the blog. Remember, a player could go back to the interview tapes that Gabriel is recording to check out this information.

After talking with the good doctor, I check out the room the same as I did last time, but I cannot do anything with the snake, and I can’t turn on the fan.  The coffin still opens and closes, but I do not know what the endgame is for that.  I even show him the crime scene photo, but he still insists it has nothing to do with real Voodoo.

In so many movies and TV shows, two parties like this work together to con someone.  I wonder if this is the case here.

So I say my goodbyes, and head over to Moombeam, as he suggests.  She is a Voodooienne, a Voodoo priestess.  You know, like Marie Laveau was.  This room reminds me more of a bad psychic than a Voodoo queen, but to be fair, my only comparison is to the Voodoo Lady in the Monkey Island games.

I talk with her some, and then interrogate her.  She expands on some of the topics that Dr. John answered for me, but only really about modern Voodoo as she practices.  She’s big on making potions and placing spells, making the gris gris.  But, “Much of a Voodooienne’s work is protecting her clients from the spells of others.  I mix special protective gris gris to be worn in secret.  They keep evil spells from working against my clients.”

I ask her for examples of gris gris, and honestly, they come off as a cross between superstition and darkness.  Here’s a few examples she gives; she does say they are older and less powerful than her own:

Just like Dr. John, she claims not to know what Schattenjӓger means.  Considering their expertise, I’m somewhat surprised.  As for cabrit sans cor’, she also claims ignorance, but the spoken dialog, unlike the written text, starts with a very audible stutter that makes it seem that she’s definitely lying.

“Sometimes in the the swamp, you know, Bayou St. John.  Sometimes at the lake, Lake Pontchartrain.”

As for St. John’s Eve, finally, someone who gives me an answer.  Basically, a form of religious holiday blended with a party.

One of the best things to talk about with her is snakes. She has one in a cage across the room, and we learn a lot about it.  One of the questions we can ask is to get one of it’s scales.  She turns us down, but that makes me think about why we would need it.  Probably to compare to the fragment I found at the crime scene.

Another interesting item: her snake (Grimwald) is very responsive to vibration.  In this snake’s case, he doesn't react to his name, but stomp 3 times and he pays attention.  I wonder if this will be useful knowledge -- but also it might just explain about the fan at the museum?

Oh, and we can get her to dance with it.  

Also, I can show her the symbols drawn on the side of Marie’s tomb, and she translates them for me:

DJ conclave bring tonight FWETKASH

I’m thinking “DJ” is Dr. John, but I need more info I suspect about the rest.

I also show her the photocopied symbols from the crime scenes, which she recognizes as Voodoo symbols but not what their meaning is.

After I finish talking to her, I look around the room.  There’s a dead snakeskin in the cage with Grimwald.  But, when I try to get it, Gabriel seems a little squeamish (rightfully so) about shoving his hand into a cage with a snake. 

But let’s try the tried-and-true solution:  The first time I watched Moonbeam dance, I didn’t notice immediately that I get control of the mouse cursor during the dance when she is facing away from me.  So, after getting her to do it again, I realize I can grab the dead snakeskin out of the cage.

Nothing else in the room seems for the taking at the moment, so I take my leave.  I decide to go to the park, because of the news story highlighting it.

Amazingly, this song came on the radio while I was writing this section.  For the record, I personally like jazz, and have many accomplished musicians in my extended family.

I try to talk to many of the park inhabitants, but only a few are useful, and set up future puzzles for me to solve, although I don’t know why yet.

There’s an architectural student taking sketches of the nearby cathedral, and Gabriel notices his drawing tools, which are “great for laying lines, angles, circles...anything geometric.”  This seems like I need to get my hands on it for something at some point.

Jane Jensen likes to rub it in.  After all, she’s a much more successful writer than Gabriel is.

There’s a boy tap dancing in the view of a hot dog cart, and the vendor is acting indifferent and reading a book.  So, it seems I’ll need a hot dog, and I’ll need to use the kid as a distraction to get it.

So, this is where I will pause for now.  I’m not sure where I’ll go next, but there’s still a lot to explore today.

Score: 77/342

Session Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes