Rata Mall - Walkie Talkie Chat

[ambic]

This is the walkie talkie chat.

To post here, you need to use the Walkie Talkie in your room (Just like whispering). Once you have done that, you can chat with each other regardless of what rooms you are both in. There may be circumstances where you can do so secretly, but I have none specifically planned.

[RubberDuck]

Copy Carla?

It's Lacey. There was an explosion, are you ok?

I'm in the phone store, there were walkie talkies, I was flung to the ground, I'm alright, just a bloody lip and my ears are ringing. Are you alright?

Whatever happened happened somewhere else in the mall.

Over.

[Ariel]

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

[RubberDuck]

Could be the gas in the basement? Xavier claimed he could fix the pipes, took the parts he needed, then denied they needed fixing when he came back and that he left it "off"

[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?

[RubberDuck]

No, it was just the one, but it looks like someone else has been in here before me, there's no other items in here and because most of the shelf junk was already on the floor, as well as the till being open and empty, I'd say the room has been cleaned out.

That explosion has also caused grease to start leaking through the wall and shelves. So that's a thing.

[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

[RubberDuck]

Johannes did go to the basement I believe, but his interest has always been solving all the locations of the mall, so helping everyone get to different rooms is in his interest.

I doubt any explosion was malicious, Gas for example, you'd have to literally be in the same room to set it off which would be suicidal.

Now that I think about it.. it can't be the basement that blew up, because the power is still running which means both generators are still going.

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

Describe the puzzle to me. I'll see if I can help you out with it.

[RubberDuck]

If you can relay to me the text description of the room and then try and describe the map layout in words as best you can. i.e. "in the top left corner is an X"
<I don't think Ambic will let you quote the map image to me via the Walkie Talkie>

If you list out any features on the marked map and their approximate location in room, if you have examined any room features, what the description response is.

I know from Sir Leo, there is approximately two bathrooms - male & female and the eatery map roughly depicts two L shaped rooms and an entrance corridor. There are Water pipes somewhere and a broken window somewhere on the west wall which goes out to the back of the bank and some dead guy.

There are puzzles that require clues to solve, others that need logic, and others that need specific parts and actions. So it really depends on what you are trying to do.

[RubberDuck]

Also, if you are trying to turn the water off. The control for that is in the basement.

In the first phase when Leo was in the bathroom he removed a length of pipe from the bathroom. Around the same time, Johannes flipped a lever in the basement, and a rushing water sound resulted.

Sir Leo getting covered in water and sewage was (partially) linked with Johannes turning on something in the basement.

[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?

[RubberDuck]

Mark could have done, other than phase 1 where we were all in the Hardware store, he could have come to the phone store in either of the next two phases, but because he was lurking during the eatery, we have no idea unless anyone else can confirm seeing him in other rooms.

I know Harry and several others checked Marks body, but I don't know if anyone took any items off it. Remember Mark told me he found a locked door to the lab, he might have been trying to find out who owned the lab or he might have actually found another door to something else?

Re: Harry has well over $10,000 in cash by this point and that was just what he took from the barbers, (There was a back cupboard with $10k that he took as well as cleaning out the register.) He did also have that gold ingot he was lugging around, I noticed he was strong enough to carry it easily, but when Yvonne tried to take it, she couldn't lift it. I asked him to consider ditching it, but he point blank refused. He was quite annoyed about both you and yvonne trying to take it, I believe Johannes also has one, and they both stashed a 3rd one in the bank.

So he definitely was doing something with wealth and possibly more to do with Gold specifically? The only other thing I know about him is his cane extends with a blade at one end and it becomes a makeshift spear and he can extend it without being noticed.

One thing I did note, is when Yvonne described the viewable CCTV screens in the lab, she only listed

half

the rooms that actually have cameras in them. Remember the hardware store in phase one had a cctv that was on and was noted to be recording, but Yvonne did not list this as a room that could be viewed nor the barbers which also has a camera. One thing I called her out on was the fact that she told me she had been watching you and Casey in the Cafe via the CCTV.

However, there is no cctv camera in the Cafe because I already had been in that room with Terry in Phase two. Yvonne claimed mod error and that Ambic must have missed it from the cafe map, but she herself had not entered the cafe at all and wouldn't have known there was no CCTV in it. Ambic confirmed there was no mod error about the lack of a camera being in that room.

So Yvonne either was lying, or there's a hidden CCTV camera in the cafe - which is odd because all the other cctv cameras are in plain site, so why would the cafe have the only concealed camera? Or the lab can be used to connect remotely to your digital camera, because you were in the Cafe at the time and Yvonne could see that instead?

My question is why weren't the cameras in the other rooms viewable such as the camera's in barbers or the hardware store etc.

What if there is a 2nd part to the lab, on the west side of the mall that makes up the other half that Yvonne didn't list and that's the locked door Mark found?

[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

[RubberDuck]

Noted. You should also be able to get into the back of bank like Leo did by climbing out the window into the alley. That's how he was able to open the main bank door. Though I'm not sure what his incentive to do so was - he specifically went to the bathrooms and just happened to get the bank open, which seems like a very specific thing for him to have done correctly first time.

I might have you talk me through something soon though.

Sure, let me know.

What about the hardware store? No one did anything in there in the first phase, Xavier went there in phase 2 - he claimed he did nothing but run on the treadmill and then down to the basement in 3 to fix the generators. We caught him lying about the gas, and we know he looks old when seen in a reflection and he had the back story to the lab code door in the cafe.

Given you have the flavor linking between the radioactive coin, the mad scientist, the hardware store and john the mixologist
I'm leaning towards Xavier being the mad scientist, and what if he needed to get the power running to open something in the hardware store?

Basement would make sense for getting into the lab if they are both on the same depth, but Yvonne and Jia would have found the entry/exit from inside the lab as they both noted the laundry chute in the fashion store and the cafe door as being the only ways in and out.

Seems odd that it would all be stacked on the east side and nothing on the west.

[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.

[RubberDuck]

Worth a shot. If we consider that John was taking the coin somewhere for a specific reason.

That also explains why Yvonne was looking for a radiation/hazmat suit.

Do you think my anti-radiation medicine would be strong enough to reduce the effects long enough to traverse it?

I needed to the seer to identify the pills as "Potassium Iodide" - when I took one after identifying them, the description was,

the ability to withstand some radiation is increased.

So it's not a be all end all solution - also we need to consider what is irradiating the area? Perhaps some kind of fusion generator?

Without the Geiger counter, we have no way of knowing if we are running into a radiation hotspot or not. We'd be blind.

There was nothing in the barbers to indicate there was anything underneath it or accessible from there.

it was helpful to have two people to access the tunnel in the first place but might be possible with one person.

Why, did you need to climb or move something to get in there? I'm not exactly strong, so if its a physical task, we'd need help to do it.

[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.

[RubberDuck]

The fact that I needed to identify them first tells me that they are indeed useful and it fits with the context of your discoveries so far regarding the dime and the other radiation.

I think its more about timing, the way I understand it, they don't make you immune to radiation, but allow withstanding it for a short duration meaning anything you do under the effects needs to be quick and well defined.

I'm not comfortable doing a mad dash into a radioactive area and then figuring out I don't know what to do once I'm in there. I'd be willing to bet the same person can't do it twice in a row without dying. I wouldn't want to accidently send anyone to their death either based on an assumption.

I'm not going to be able to push the car out of the way alone, is the manhole cover still open? Yvonne also had a crowbar, she threatened to hit Sir Leo with it when they were arguing about the matches.

I asked Ambic for clarification on the potassium iodide effects, and he said, "You have try them and find out."

So, it's really down to a gamble. I don't have any other leads to go with at this stage, I think this is the current best shot. Mad Dash and try and turn off whatever is irradiating the area?

Grandpa's insignia

First I've heard of this, it wouldn't happen to be the trident symbol that's on all the alien articles would it? Johannes found a desiccated arm in the basement with a ring that had a trident symbol on it? Perhaps that's a clue for your role?

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.

Correct, all the roles except neutrals (morally grey) appear to polar opposites each other, Johannes is specifically going after alcohol and the brewery that Terry was after. Both of them have specifically mentioned Absinthe. I would pitch that Casey had the opposite of Harry because of trying to open all the machines and looting cash, but could be a coincidence. Harry was being quite odd regarding that gold ingot, but the strange thing is, him Jia, and Johannes know where the other two gold bars are, so why does he care about losing one? And why is he carrying around a hidden blade that was a starting item for him.

[RubberDuck]

I'm about to try something incredibly dangerous, so if I don't radio in.. Fingers crossed.

[Ariel]

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

Good luck!

[RubberDuck]

There was a secret passage in the phone store to the elevator shaft. That's what the grease was from. I climbed up and am now in the office with Yvonne.

[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.