Ruby Quest Chapter 18 Ruby and Tom enter

Ruby Quest: Chapter 18

Ruby and Tom enter the room Tom was trapped in earlier. The walls are covered with graffiti. There are numerous items here, including a SHOVEL HEAD, EMPTY RED SPRAYCAN, Red's CANE, and the remnants of another implement broken to create one of the two stakes. There is a METAL BOX here. The pneumatic tube here is empty. There are doors to the north and to the south. RED is here.

Red face is grotesquely deformed, with an impossibly huge grin. Red is impaled through the back of his neck and through the right side of his skull by large stakes. Red is covered in blood and not moving. Red's dead, baby. Ruby doesn't particularly want to disturb Red's body, let alone pull out thick wooden stakes jammed through his gray matter. TOM examines the METAL BOX Red left. It appears unlocked, so he opens it.

"Look at screen/window"

">Look at screen/window" The screen is just static. Ruby examines the items. There is a METAL TOOL HEAD that looks like it broke off one of the two stakes, but it does not appear useful in its current broken state.

Tom opens the BOX. There is a NOTE. Tom also notices a COIN in the pile of stuff under the note.

Ruby takes the CANE and SHOVEL HEAD, but leaves the EMPTY SPRAYCAN and the METAL TOOL HEAD, as both appear unhelpful in their current state.

The door to the north opens. A very large figure appears in the doorway. Ruby gets the very distinct impression that this individual is not friendly.

Tom is distracted by the NOTE. He reads it. . .

Tom discards the NOTE as he finishes reading. There is something under the NOTE.

Suddenly, a flash of memory returns to Ruby. The figure does not seem friendly. She remembers the figure. . . The figure is the one who put her in the locker.

"Call TOM, RUN out of ROOM at HIGH SPEED. "

">Call TOM, RUN out of ROOM at HIGH SPEED. " Ruby doesn't see the BOMB. Tom reacts quickly and runs from the room. He grabs Ruby and quickly carries her along.

Tom runs as fast as his tired legs will carry him. [CUTSCENE!]

Tom leaps from the room just as a huge, poorly-rendered explosion erupts from behind them.

The explosion blasts through the air above them, filling the room with heat.

[cutscene over] Ruby and Tom appear unharmed. The building around them still shudders from the explosion, but it appears the imminent danger is gone. The room to the north appears to have been filled with debris. It is now inaccessible.

"Let's consider the strength of the bomb. Has this perhaps altered our other surroundings? "

">Let's consider the strength of the bomb. Has this perhaps altered our other surroundings? " The explosions seems quite localized -- the door to the north is inaccessible, and most likely, the room the explosion took place in is all but obliterated, but it seems most of the other rooms are unaffected. The area as a whole does not seem to have had a particularly strong reaction.

"thank the guy, too! SAY something!" "Would have been nice to have the coin back, since we've lost our spare one. I wonder why Red needed it, anyway. . . " "The area as a whole does not seem to have had a particularly strong reaction. "

">thank the guy, too! SAY something!" Ruby thanks Tom for saving her life again. Tom blushes slightly. He says it's what anyone would have done in that situation. ">Would have been nice to have the coin back, since we've lost our spare one. I wonder why Red needed it, anyway. . . " It would appear Red used the TWO COINS as some kind of makeshift contacts for his homemade bomb. ">The area as a whole does not seem to have had a particularly strong reaction. " Scratch that. The lights in the room suddenly go out.

"Look at the tiny light outline. " "Weapons out, and listen. "

">Look at the tiny light outline. " There seems to be a doorway hidden in the wall. A light comes through a crack from the other side. Perhaps the door was jarred loose in the explosion. ">Weapons out, and listen. " The air is deathly silent after the near-deafening explosion. Ruby and Tom draw their SCALPEL and CROWBAR, respectively.

"We should ask Tom if he recognized the Birdman. See if he has any experience with him. And see if Ruby can remember anything more herself. "

">We should ask Tom if he recognized the Birdman. See if he has any experience with him. And see if Ruby can remember anything more herself. " Ruby is drawing a blank, beyond the image of being put into the metal cell by the figure. Tom says he recognizes them. It is the same figure that dragged him away to that room when he was suffering from arsenic poisoning.

"it would be good to see how the othe rooms changed from the blast too"

">it would be good to see how the othe rooms changed from the blast too" A preliminary examination of the room below suggests there has been no extraneous damage, but the lights seem to be off in most of the rooms.

"Go to dummy room. "

">Go to dummy room. " There doesn't appear to be any damage here either.

Examine the dummy's eyes

Tom examines the glowing eyes on the dummy. He can't tell what's causing the light. Ruby gets scared and backs away from the dummy.

"RUBY get a GRIP and stay the fuck away from that BOX. " "Try poking the red eyes with the scalpel. "

">RUBY get a GRIP and stay the fuck away from that BOX. " Ruby can't resist. . . she looks in the box. The box is empty. ">Try poking the red eyes with the scalpel. " Tom uses the sharp end of the crowbar instead, and jabs one of the eyes. It makes a squishy sound.

"GET OUT NOW"

">GET OUT NOW" Tom and Ruby decide to quickly vacate the room. They head back upstairs.

"OPEN DOOR"

">OPEN DOOR" Tom grabs his CROWBAR and sets to work opening the door. It's stuck fast, but nothing a little MANLY PHYSIQUE can't handle. . .

The door unceremoniously falls off its hinges and reveals a bright room beyond.

Ruby and Tom check the room for obvious dangers, take a moment to let their eyes adjust, and then enter. . . There is a door to the west. The door to the north seems to lead to the room where Red's body was just found. It is inaccessible due to debris.

Tom and Ruby inspect the room. There is a bottle of CHAMPAGNE on the table. Tom takes it. There is a NOTE on the other table. Ruby will inspect that in just a moment. On the north wall is the doorway to the room the bomb went off in. The heavy door has been blown to pieces but seemed to protect this room rather well from the blast. The doorway is marked "Holding" by a sign above it. There is a WATER COOLER here. Beside the cooler, there is a set of METAL SHUTTERS, which are wrapped shut at the base with barbed wire.

"Drink the water. " "Examine the hole below the vents for treasure! Arr!"

">Drink the water. " Strangely, neither Tom nor Ruby is very thirsty. ">Examine the hole below the vents for treasure! Arr!" There appears to be something in the back of the hole, but it's wedged in there good! Ruby can't get it out with her bare hands, she'd need some kind of precise implement to grab it.

Ruby examines the NOTE. It appears to be some kind of official document. Much of the text has been blotted out with a marker. [cutscene!]

This note. . . it's about Ruby!

The note is mostly illegible. Something has been attached to the main note, however.

“Show Tom what you found” "No, Tom mustn't know. "

">No, Tom mustn't know. " Tom can't see this. Ruby hides the note in her pocket.

"get that object using either the CROWBAR or the CANE!"

">get that object using either the CROWBAR or the CANE!" It won't work, the hole narrows at the end, and whatever's in there is wedged. It would need to be pulled out, and neither the cane nor the crowbar can GRAB. Tom offers to open the bottle of CHAMPAGNE with Ruby.

"Tell him that he can open it after they escape. "

">Tell him that he can open it after they escape. " Tom agrees. He was just trying to be upbeat. The champagne will taste all the better when they're out of here. Ruby inspects the objects on the wall. She finds, on the shelf, two WALKIE-TALKIES. Both Tom and Ruby take one. YOU CAN NOW DIRECTLY CONTROL TOM. FROM NOW ON, SPECIFY WHICH CHARACTER YOU ARE DIRECTING YOUR ACTION TO. YOU CAN STILL HAVE ONE CHARACTER TELL THE OTHER TO DO SOMETHING, OR YOU CAN SIMPLY COMMAND THAT CHARACTER DIRECTLY.

The metal shutters are bound tight with the coiled barbed wire. No amount of force from the crowbar will rip them free, and they can't be untied or unwound -- not with bare hands, at least. The door to the north, leading to the bombed-out room, is completely blocked with debris. Even Tom's manly physique wouldn't be able to clear a path. The stained wooden door to the west is locked. It appears to have a lock which is linked to the adjacent card reader.