Rata Mall - Walkie Talkie Chat

[Ariel]

I'm in the bathroom; the explosion happened elsewhere. My wild guess is the lab

[Ariel]

Wasn't Johannes there too? Not sure why he'd agree to that. But it's a possibility.

Out of curiosity, are there more walkie talkies or just the one?

[Ariel]

umm where did johannes go with my flashlight and gas mask then if not to the basement to help out??

i wish i could think of a reason why grease was significant

i am getting stressed about my inability to solve a puzzle of sorts in this room

[Ariel]

I have made progress. I might have you talk me through something soon though.

Mark might have gotten to the phone store the last time we went exploring? So whatever was interesting there might now be in Harry's possession now. Speaking of Harry, do you know what he's trying to do in the mall?

[Ariel]

I can believe that there's a third way to enter the lab. Just based on the map, it would make more sense if it was from the basement though, if it does exist.

I don't really know what to say about the camera thing. She didn't tell me she'd watched us, but I didn't like ask about it or anything. I don't really have a reason to think it's through the digital camera but that's an interesting idea. I no longer have the camera currently. I will say, the flavor for the camera being in the bathroom is due to graffiti, and it being visibly installed in the hardware store makes sense because stores generally do. You wouldn't generally have visible CCTV in a restaurant though, even in a mall, to my knowledge.

I would think the bookstore is the obvious way to get into the tan block on the map if that's not just meant to be the upstairs.

[Ariel]

Um...I'm about to be doing something dangerous, so if you don't hear from me again, it's my own fault. No one else is here

[Ariel]

it went fine, talk to you more soon!

[Ariel]

OK, so here's a secret I believe only Yvonne and I know that I believe is relevant:

there's a tunnel accessible from the carpark that goes underneath the bank, bookstore, bathrooms. past the bathrooms the radiation was pretty bad per the geiger counter so we didn't check it out. the radioactive area might correspond to under the barbers just based on the map. it was helpful to have two people to access the tunnel in the first place but might be possible with one person.

[Ariel]

actually wait upon thinking about it more, two people were needed to push the red car out of the way to expose a manhole cover. then we needed some sort of tool (a knife wasn't good enough) to get the manhole cover open. we used Casey's crowbar. we put the car back on top of it afterward. originally Casey was just going to park the truck on top of it since we would have the keys but then the truck didn't go where he wanted it to lol.

i don't really know how radiation is supposed to work in this game but if your meds wouldn't help with it that would make the meds pretty useless?

[Ariel]

i was mainly being secretive about the tunnel because i saw a box marked with my grandpa's insignia that seemed more easily accessible from the bathrooms, that was implied to relate to my win con. i have gotten access to it in here and it was relevant to my first win con. i'm a little paranoid about the info being shared with Harry specifically though.

I know your strategy is more to be open with everyone and explore everything, but I believe some of us have win conditions that are directly opposed to one another, and I feel Leo's may have been with mine and Harry's may also be.

[Ariel]

Sorry I misremembered, they were just his initials, not an insignia.

Good luck!

[Ariel]

Cool. The office seems interesting. My grandpa's initials are HT, feel free to let me know if you find anything relevant to him in there.

I wonder where everyone else went.

[Ariel]

OK. It makes sense Jia's going to the fashion store to protect the lab. I feel a little confused by her at this point.

You're just trying to survive and figure things out while you're at it, right?

[Ariel]

I set off dynamite when I told you I was doing something dangerous. The explosion that went off right before you walkie'd me wasn't me as I said

[Ariel]

Is there any information about someone with the title of professor?

[Ariel]

Love the anagram, good job confirming our theory

[Ariel]

That doesn't have anything to do with me? But obviously there are valuables here; there's gold

[Ariel]

That's such a random form honestly. It's curious.

I feel like Cindy has to have found out a lot of interesting stuff but she's not very talkative. I hope we can pick her brain a little bit when we meet back up.

There's not necessarily a ton left for me to do in here because Leo already looted it. There is a speaker with the CCTV, do you think that's notable?

[Ariel]

Haha ok well I didn't know all that. Although it makes me wonder if he manipulated Terry regarding the freezer? Because he obviously got in there

Whisper to GC

I told him that there were ingredients for his beer around, he wanted hops and sugar, which I presume he got? Tried the door once but got a single skull, which I presumed was bad so I left it alone. Sounds like a good call!?

Lemme guess? The code Terry needed?

[Ariel]

So Xavier contacted and spoke to both Johannes and Leo in the first round? I guess then when he was asking about who contacted him while he was in the basement, he essentially was trying to figure out who else had been in the lab. That's probably why he thought it was me at first. I wonder if that's because they were alone? Cuz I don't remember hearing or seeing anything in the hardware store.

Out of curiosity, which rooms does Xavier own?

Also, do you mind telling me more specifically about what happened after you cured Terry? In terms of how that affected how you win the game.

[Ariel]

Thanks for the info. For what it's worth, I have another stick of dynamite and I'm not sure whether I have a specific need for it. So if you have any crazy ideas, feel free to let me know. It could be a roundabout way to access a hidden area.

This is random, but what part of your backstory led you to seek out the Rata Mall specifically?

[Ariel]

I am tempted to look into whether I can access the actual bank or just the front of it, though I'm a little nervous to because I'm alone and wimpy haha

[Ariel]

So there's a dead body in the alley on the way to the bank that looks like it's been searched already. It looks like a bank employee but seems to have been dead WAY too long to be the one that Jia killed.
I CAN go into the bank (interesting that Leo left that detail out) but I'm still not sure I should. My win con actually changed such that I don't have to find the ghost anymore. I need to survive. And Xavier's location is unaccounted for.

I don't think you've done anything to warrant you being killed, so I'm probably going to advocate that you be restrained or knocked unconscious at worst. (I realize that that didn't end well for Mark, but it's better than you losing outright).

[Ariel]

Johannes seems less trigger happy and he's the one with the gun currently, so there's that at least.

I feel like the computer in the office has to be pretty useful but it would take ages to get that set up.

Xavier seemed more motivated than anyone to unlock the new areas, so I actually wonder if he possibly went to the cinema too? Unless that's also a cover.

I think I forgot to mention this, but Casey claimed his goal was to kill all the villains at the mall (which is supported by his lie detector). Which is the main evidence besides Mark that I have that people have opposing win conditions.

[Ariel]

I found the walkie talkies in the hardware store and gave him one of mine. I don't know where he got the geiger counter. Your theory is interesting though. Maybe he did have a connection to the phone store

[Ariel]

maybe a metal detector can help you find your phone, lol

[Ariel]

oh i was just joking that that would be why a phone store sells it haha sorry

[Ariel]

That is a valid potential use for it although I don't really want to go into the irradiated area at this time so

[Ariel]

I'm back in the bathroom BTW, still indecisive about whether I should go to the bank

[Ariel]

The bar Harry had is serial 12489

[Ariel]

Let's sort out if that's a match before doing anything else

[Ariel]

OK I don't think that the gold in the bank is relevant to me. So I pissed off Harry for no reason

[Ariel]

i think i have figured out a convoluted method of giving it back to him

[Ariel]

oh my god no that's not ok

[Ariel]

IM GLAD YOU TWO ARE SMART
DOES THE LIFT STILL WORK?

[Ariel]

from the alley it looks like there are sprinklers going off in the phone store to deal with the fire
did you tell everyone you were going to the phone store??

[Ariel]

it appears very smoky so idk if waiting would help

[Ariel]

I STILL don't have any weapons besides the dynamite (i even lack the ability to break off a pipe) but OH MY GOD that's fking crazy, both Terry and Casey are way stronger than us

[Ariel]

thanks for the advice. maybe i will try hiding from the CCTV?

[Ariel]

k im in the alley

[Ariel]

A portal? We thought you were in Mr. Rent but OK. Let me know if I can help

[Ariel]

Do you want me to tell everyone where you are?

[Ariel]

I hope you can figure out how to port out?? Thank you for the info but I'm scared for you

Johannes wants to know if you can try to disable the teleporter thru the control center

[Ariel]

Johannes: Suggests using camera console in case it works with teleporter or lets you talk to us
Yvonne: Suggests finding floor drain. Asks if it goes somewhere, says it's by teleporter

[Ariel]

Yvonne wants to know our best guess as to Xavier's real goal

[Ariel]

Harry wants to know if you have the camera.
Harry is proposing that the time machine was a "memory ray" machine, that we were created in the mall, and that's why our memories aren't very concrete. He believes the time machine is what the aliens on the TV were talking about.

[Ariel]

Never mind, Yvonne has the camera.
Sorry for spamming you.
If I hand off the walkie talkie, do you have a preference for who I would give it to?

[Ariel]

Noted.

Yvonne: Teleporter in lab was originally missing a part. So if it works now, someone added the part. So maybe that part can be removed to stop it being used

[Ariel]

Harry suggests that if it's a removable part that it may have already been removed because Xavier's not appearing to be using it right now.

[Ariel]

Yvonne wants you to wait before removing anything (yes I'm awareb you're occupied)

[Ariel]

That makes some amount of sense. I mean, I have a specific memory tied to what to look for here, but there's a lot else I wish I knew.

[Ariel]

Noted.

Yvonne: Teleporter in lab was originally missing a part. So if it works now, someone added the part. So maybe that part can be removed to stop it being used

Yvonne wants you to wait before removing anything (yes I'm awareb you're occupied)

Go ahead and try this if you want

[Ariel]

Johannes: Has she found the security console? If she can find the security console she can talk to us, perhaps not here but in the cafe. And if I’m not mistaken she can also change the freezer code. If the freezer is truly a one-way door we might be able with combined effort to dig out through the cinema or fashion store.

Yvonne: I don't think the freezer door works anymore, or maybe it's not there anymore. I have Jia's special piece of paper that always had the current code on it - it's blank now. And if that's the case, I expect the computer with the CCTV feed and messaging to the basement isn't in working order either. The laundry chute might be a possible way out, but it leads to fashion store which is also trashed. Was there a link between the cinema and the secret lab??

Johannes: There was a fire exit that led to a door we couldn’t open; we vaporized it and brought down the wall with it. In the chaos we saw Xavier. Presumably through was the lab.

Passing walkie to Johannes.