Pepper’s Adventures in Time – Back Without A Vengeance

 by Will Moczarski

Well, on to the penultimate act of Pepper’s Adventures in Time we go! Let’s dive right in...

Act 5: Pepper Visits the Constitutional Convention or The Key to an Old Ben’s Heart

In the fifth act we need to learn about gout, Ben’s raccoon skin cap, unusual uses for a kite, Ben’s role at the Constitutional Convention and eyeglasses invented by Ben. As usual, these will be necessary in order to solve the quiz at the end of the act. The objectives needed to progress to the final act are: 

* Distribute Ben’s Special Editions

* Go to the Constitutional Convention

* Get Advice from Ben

That’s fairly unspecific. Let’s see how we fare with this one! 

On the first screen we see Ben working on a new pamphlet. He wants to help the people get back to the “good old colonial ethics of hard work and diligence”. No more hippy-dippy for Mr. Franklin, it seems. Pepper asks whether Ben couldn’t just go to Penn Mansion and ask for Lockjaw, seeing that he’s a “pretty important guy in Philadelphia”. Ben turns her down, telling her that he was never on good terms with General Pugh and thus his influence doesn’t extend to his mansion. Pepper suggests they just raid the joint but Ben tells her that the Mansion is well guarded. He is positive that he can help her cross the river and sneak into the Mansion – it’s getting her out he’s worried about. Pepper then suggests that the townspeople of Philadelphia might be able to help but Ben tells her they’d need a reason to gather at Penn Mansion because they won’t rally against the General for a dog they don’t even know.

That conversation obviously takes place to explain our objectives in more detail. It also neatly sets up the endgame. We are then left to our own devices. When I regain control of Pepper I hand over General Pugh’s letter (the one that proves that the Stamp Tax is just a scam) to Ben Franklin. Ben calls Pugh a cad (meaning he’s furious!) and immediately figures out that this bit of information will rile up the colonists enough to get them on the march to Penn Mansion. The letter also inspires him so strongly that it takes him only another two seconds or so to finish his pamphlet. However, the lever for the printing press is missing, meaning we’ll have to repair it for the old man. Fortunately, we already have a lever in our inventory and it fits like a glove. Ben prints his pamphlet in no time and tells us to go spread the word and not forget to leave a copy at the post office as well. This concerns our first objective, so let’s do this!

I‛m selling these fine leather jackets...

I grab the pamphlets and head back out into town. Now this errand is very similar to the one with the words of wisdom a while back. This one is even easier, though, because we just have to hand them to anyone we come across. It’s clearly designed to make the game last a little bit longer since it’s not a puzzle at all. The reaction is always roughly the same: people thank Pepper and get angry at Pugh. It’s not a very interesting part of the game. The only humorous part is that people suddenly want to know my name now, and Pepper comes up with all kinds of monikers she invents right on the spot, calling herself Ed Madley, Dan Bladder, Ezra Winfrey, dropping references left and right. That’s about all there is to it so let’s skip those ten minutes of boredom and carry on.

As I'm just about to enter the Franklin Mansion again to tell Ben about my rampant success, my weird uncle uses his time machine once again and attempts to neutralise the threat (aka me) by sending me somewhere I'll never come back from. The game suddenly switches to his perspective and reveals that he has been watching me on a monitor all along which is a weird bit of information to receive this late in the game. 

Charge the Chron-o-John...wait, wrong game.

However, this game's villain is a bit of a hack. He accidentally sends me to the constitutional convention which is exactly where an educational game would want an inquisitive young girl to be at this point. In a setting that is weirdly reminiscent of the one in Day of the Tentacle (albeit a lot sparser, and the more realistic for it), Pepper can now listen to the founding fathers argue about the nitty-gritty of the American constitution. While Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Wilson are duking it out with words, our beloved Ben Franklin is taking a nap. Instead of waking him up, the gentlemen decide to adjourn the decision and tell Pepper, whom they address as a page, to see that the inventor gets home safely. Pepper is then left to her own devices and can snoop around while Ben is moving on from nap to kip territory. 

However, there's nothing to do apart from ending the old man's siesta. Ben is so startled by it that he drops his glasses but of course we swoop to the rescue. He does recognise Pepper but can‛t quite place her. In fact, he muses that he might have known her father once, marking the length of time we have traveled from the game's present past to the game's future past. 

"I don't believe in a no-win scenario."

Before we can walk Ben home he confides in us that his gout is acting up. By now he's an 81-year old chap, after all. Most dialog options also revolve around him whining about his age. The truth button reveals that the real Benjamin Franklin actually had terrible gout in his old age due to people drinking a lot of wine instead of water because water was often not safe to drink. 

I have to admit that I was stuck in the Philadelphia Convention Hall for quite a bit. There were no visible exits to be found, conversation with Ben was limited to his bickering about his old age, and my inventory didn't seem to contain anything related to helping him with his gout. Did this Sierra game, educational though it may be, actually leave me in a dead kid walking scenario? 

It turned out to be just pixel hunting, that other bane of 1990's adventure games. I had investigated the papers on Ben's desk but they weren't the only object Pepper could interact with. In fact, there were some inconspicuous-looking herbs right next to them. Put differently, the solution to Ben's problem was within his reach the whole time! What kind of herbs does Ben need anyway? Did he fall off the (hippie) wagon again somewhere along the line? 

Pepper almost gives herself away.

Now that Ben looks "pretty awesome" once again (Pepper's words, not mine), we can finally walk him home. Unfortunately, he lost the keys to his mansion which… doesn't make him feel concerned at all. He just proceeds to ask Pepper whether she might be able to pick the lock or something. After some more age-whining from Ben I resume control of Pepper. She notices right away that the key is in the lock on the other side of the front door. I know this puzzle! But wait, how will I solve it without a doormat?

Pepper conveniently finds a small tree branch in front of the door and proceeds to pick the lock with it. After some nestling, the key drops to the floor on the other side. So far so conventional. But now, lacking a doormat, we have to bring out the big hitters. We are not carrying around a huge magnet for nothing, are we? Ben appreciates Pepper's McGyverness and gives her some chocolate for her troubles. Before she can eat it, though, she disappears into thin air again, leaving a puzzled Ben alone. 

Good thing he attributes everything to his age, too.

Pepper pops up in the same place back in 1764, enters the mansion, and thus acts the penultimate act – with another quiz, of course. 

Kids in 1993 knew about "Bebop shades"?

Session time: 1 hour
Total time: 5 hours 50 minutes