by Angel Ramon
Chapter 8
When Maria enters the Bell Tower building she finds herself in a bedroom. It looks like it’s the bedroom to perhaps the undertaker of the funeral parlor next door. As she looks around she finds something on top of the coffee table.
Picked up +10 Shotgun shells. Shotgun Ammo: 30
She sees a picture that is down and a hole behind it. Taking the picture frame down, she sees a key.
Picked up Clock T. Key. Used to open doors in the clock tower.
After picking up the key, a window breaks and a few zombies enter the bedroom. Grabbing her pistol she shoots the three zombies in the heads killing the instantly. However as she sees outside the window, more zombies are seen preparing to head towards her location. Knowing that she can’t defeat them all, she heads for the wooden door out of the room.
“Those zombies must have sniffed me out. I gotta be on my guard.” She says in her head.
As she walks into the treasury room, she sees some gunpowder jars on the table. Before she can take them, she hears the sound of a gun pointed at her. To her relief it’s Danny.
“Whoa Danny! Don’t scare me like that!” She says to him a bit flustered.
“Sorry hun, didn’t mean to scare the sexy chic. Hehe! Anyway it looks like we both made it.” Danny says jokily.
“Can it with the sweet talk will you?” She responds not impressed.
“Ok...ok. I’ll stop the sweet talk, but it looks like maybe we can start helping each other again. What do you say?” He asks.
“That I’ll accept we do need to help each other. Maybe we can rest now.” She replies.
“No way! There is no rest for the weary. We’re the only ones alive here. Anyway here’s a gift for you, I’m sure you’ll make better use of this lockpick.”
Danny hands Maria a lockpick.
Lockpicking level: 1
“Thanks…” She replies.
“No problem, anyway I’ll go through this way and you go explore there. Let’s try to meet up at the top, ok?” Danny comes up with a plan.
“Sounds good, be safe out there.” She says while the two separate once again.
Looking around the room she picks up the gunpowder jars.
Picked up a jar of Gunpowder A and two jars of Gunpowder B.
She spots a locked desk next to a computer and uses the lockpick to open the desk. What she finds is a journal of the undertaker in charge of the funeral parlor. She begins to read a little bit of the journal and reads up on the personal life of the man. However towards the end something catches her eye, it has to do with the Bell Tower.
“It’s been a while since the bell tower has actually worked properly. I know people have been complaining to me about the bell not ringing at all. What these people don’t understand is that the problem is that the gear is missing. I had the technician look at the bell months ago and he took out the main gear to get the clock working, as he was cleaning the inside as part of the cleaning routine. Only thing is that he found a problem within the clock itself. Apparently one of the springs was rusted and that was part of the problem besides the gear.
He didn’t have the spring with him and he had to order the part, which was fine with me. I liked the guy, he’s always been reliable. I decided to play with the gear myself and I noticed that the gear was broken as well. Luckily for me I had a spare gear, but I was clumsy to hide both parts of the gear in separate locations. One part in by the clock area that one is easy to find, but the other is hidden behind a picture of Chronos and there’s a time puzzle that needs to be fixed. At my age I totally forgot how to solve the puzzle and I also lost the key to that area.
Oh dear… I’m just getting too old for my age. After all, I’m over 70 years old and not to mention that later I found out the technician decided to kick the bucket. The company would send me another man to fix the clock, but without the gear I found no point in calling the man to come over. Plus, there’s no way I’m paying a fortune to get a new gear. Oh… if only somebody could help me find the gear pieces I would pay them handsomely. Looks like Charles Dickerson is simply too old to be running around, a sad day indeed. Even sadder considering I run a place full of dead people…”
“Oh crap, Charles Dickerson. I saw him a month ago before he died. Poor man never got the clock fixed before he passed.” Maria says to herself as she remembers the caretaker of the building.
She realizes that it’s one thing to be on top of the building, but it’s another thing to get the clock working. Without the clock in working operation the chopper might bypass the clock tower figuring no one is there and the effort will be for not.
She sees two doors, a green metal door, and another wooden one. Trying to open the green door, she finds it’s locked and a message is on the door welded onto it. It says:
“The only way to enter my chamber is to obtain the key of time.”
“The key of time? That could be what Charles was referring to in his journal. Darn it, it looks I’ll need to explore this area further after all.” She says as the journal entry begins to make sense.
She heads to the other door, which is locked as well. Luckily for her though the key she obtained in the bedroom opens the door and it leads her to the main hallway. When she opens the door the grand hallway can be seen. While there is a set of stairs to the top of the bell tower, Maria decides to explore the door in front of her. The door leads to the dining room, but the door is locked.
Maria attempts to use the Lockpick, but she is unsuccessful in picking the lock. Requires Level 2 lockpicking skill level.
“Looks like I got to get started on something simple I guess or find the key to the door. I still say I can pick that lock, I just have to improve my skills.” She says.
She heads for the double doors leading to the courtyard and finds the door is locked as well. The lock on this door though is much simpler to pick, although she learns about the basic mechanism of a door lock as she picks the lock.
Lockpicking skill has improved to level 2!
After picking the door, she decides to enter the courtyard. The courtyard is a nicely groomed garden in design. However, the flowers are mostly dead due to a lack of care. She walks into the garden slowly looking for anything useful. When she spots a couple of herbs, a green and blue one, she is met with a couple of dogs.
The dogs go after her and attempt to jump on her, but she is able to sidestep and avoid contact. She tries to shoot them with her handgun, but she catches a cramp on her left foot causing her to jerk the shot to the right missing the dogs. The dogs run towards her and she is unable to get out of the way. One dog scratches her badly on her right arm while the other bites her on her cramped leg.
Condition: Caution (Level 2)
Despite her injuries, she is able to get back up and waits for the dogs to get close again. She stays kneeled down and concentrates on her shot. With the moon shining brightly and the calm wind blowing, she wishes that she was out on a date with her husband.
Foam begins to come out of the mouth of the two dogs as they prepare to pounce on her again. Holding her gun tightly, she turns the gun to the side and takes aim for the dogs as they run.
“Ok, let’s see if I learned anything from my survival lessons from Angel.” She says trying to keep calm.
Before the dogs could get any closer, she shoots the dogs point blank just before they could get their claws on her.
Pistol Ammo: 125
“Close call, man I gotta watch my back! This is only getting crazier as the night gets deeper.” She says to herself as her cramp goes away.
When she tries to grab the herbs though, a poisonous snake pops out of the pot and bits her on the arm. The snake’s venom begins to enter her body and she begins to vomit violently on the floor.
Condition: Poison
She begins to feel very dizzy and her equilibrium is compromised. Seeing the green and blue herbs, she grabs them and crushes them together.
“Hmm… according to the botany book I read
all I need is some water while eating these herbs. The antitoxic properties on the herbs should cure me or at least hold me out until I get real help later on.” She says in her head.
Trying to get the energy to the small fountain in the middle, Maria crawls towards the fountain thinking about her husband. After using all her energy she makes it to the fountain. She eats the herbs and drinks some of the horribly tasting water from the fountain. Despite the nasty water, she knows that she can’t be choosy about the taste of the water.
Taking a knee on the ground, she begins to feel the effects of the herbs kicking in.
Condition: Caution (Level 2)
Her dizziness begins to calm down and her vomiting stops. However, she is still hurt and feels weak from her injuries. As a result she uses another first aid spray from her first aid kit.
Maria uses First Aid Spray. First Aid Kit contains one spray.
Condition: Fine
Using the spray to heal herself, she re-enters the bell tower and attempts to pick the door to the dining room. This time around, she is able to pick the door after gaining some experience with her lockpick.
Entering the dining room, the room is grand in nature with gold goblets and China plates. The walls are made out of limestone and one could tell that the building was built sometime in the late 1700’s to early 1800’s. However, the room also contains zombies and one is nearby Maria ready to pounce on her.
She runs towards the table and gets up on it trying to get away from the zombies. The zombies go towards her trying to pull on her leg and she steps on their hand in order to get them away from her. Eventually she pulls out her shotgun and blasts the zombies killing them. She spots two doors, one leading to the praying altar and the other to the actual Funeral Parlor. She attempts to open the door to the Funeral Parlor, but it is locked.
Shotgun ammo: 18
She studies the lock and sees it can be picked, but she is unable to as the lock is much more complex that the previous doors.
Requires Level 4 Lockpicking skill level.
Heading to the door to the altar, she opens the door and enters the altar. She is intrigued by the architecture of the altar. Despite her age and amount of time in her town, she has never been inside of the altar. In fact, she has never visited the Bell Tower in her life.
“Looks beautiful, at least the dead would get a nice farewell before they would have to leave the world.” Maria says in her mind.
September 13th, 2013
“I entered the Bell Tower and despite a place to mourn the dead, it was a nice place. Charles definitely maintained this place from top to bottom. It’s a shame I never got to enter this building during its prime, would have been nice if my grandmother had her funeral here.
The poor people of Cypress Hills and poor Charles have no idea that this landmark is going to be destroyed by the dirty dogs at Hybrid. I’ll never hear that iconic bell, ever again…”
Exploring the altar, she spots a few items and a locked desk.
Picked up +10 Shotgun Shells. Shotgun Ammo: 28
Picked up a jar of Gunpowder A
Maria picks the desk open and picks up +15 Pistol Ammo.
Pistol Ammo: 140
With nowhere else to go, Maria decides to head back to the hallway. She heads up the stairs and after going up she sees several huge mutated spiders.
These spiders are code named “Web Spinners”. These are mutated spiders that have grown up to 20 times from their natural size. Their legs are dangerous in that they can cut a normal human being. Also, they can spit out a rancid/toxic spit capable of poisoning their victim.
One of the web spinners tries to bull rush Maria. She jumps up to the ceiling grabbing a chandelier and begins to rock back and forth on it. Another web spinner on the wall prepares to spit its poisonous liquid towards her. She jumps towards the door leading to the roof and dodges the spit.
Landing back on the floor, she opens the door to the roof. She can see the destruction on street level from the roof of the bell tower. There is a small ladder leading to the machine room of the clock. She climbs the ladder and enters the machine room. In the machine room she sees the gears of the huge clock and the room is silent. Under normal circumstances the room is loud with the gears moving and the bell ringing.
She spots a locked desk to her right and is able to pick the desk and sees an odd-looking object.
Picked up Chronos Key Adapter. Insert the Clock Tower Key into the hole reserved for the key itself.
Maria COMBINES the Clock T. Key and the Chronos Key Adapter.
Maria has created the Chronos Key. Use this to open the “Door of Time”.
Lockpicking skill improved to Level 3!
“Nice, it looks like I might be able to find the gear now.” She says to herself.
She takes a quick peek at the back of the room and sees where the gear belongs which is indeed missing. As she heads back down, she sees a chest that is locked. This chest though cannot be picked and has a special keyhole that has a lock that cannot be picked.
“I might have to come back for that one, knowing my luck something big will be in that desk.” She makes a mental note and heads back down.
She heads back inside into the Bell Tower and heads back down. Once again she ignores the web spinners and one of them barely misses her with its poison spit. To get away from the pursing spiders, she rushes back to the library where she met Danny. She quickly closes the door and keeps her eye on the door to make sure none of the spiders enter.
Maria decides to give the library a second look around in case she missed anything. A desk is by the door of time, she quickly picks the lock on the desk. To her disappointment there is nothing useful, but on closer inspection she spots a set of papers that she takes a closer look at.
“As I remembered, to solve the Chronos time puzzle I have to make sure the middle clock reads 00:15 or 15 minutes after midnight. However, I can’t just change the clock by hand.
There are 3 clocks including the main clock that represents Chronos himself. I can’t believe I have to write a damn manual for the puzzle I designed myself, but with my increasing age I been forgetting things too easily.
Anyway, there are also three balls. They’re Amber, Obsidian, and Emerald. Each of these balls adds a certain amount of weight. I think Crystal is the heaviest and Obsidian is the lightest, but because I haven’t messed with this I over 20 years, so I can’t be too sure. The first clock controls the hour, the third clock controls the minutes, and the middle clock of Chronos reads out the time. The twist is that a ball has to be placed in the middle as well and there is only one correct place for each ball.
Simply the middle clock has to end up on 12:15 AM and one of the gears should be in the clock compartment should I need to store it for maintenance.
The rest of the note is illegible…
“Two gears? Was this man drunk when he wrote this note or is there something I’m missing?” Maria wonders why the note mentions two gears.
She heads for the green metal door that she wasn’t able to open before.
Maria uses the Chronos Key. This key is no longer needed. Maria discards key.
When she opens the door she finds herself in a semi-dark hallway full of spider webs. Ahead are a couple of web spinners, the hallway is too small for her to run by the spiders. As a result she has to take out the spiders. Arming herself with her grenade launcher with the standard grenade rounds, she takes aim at the spiders.
She shoots the spider on the ceiling and the impact takes the spider down and burns it alive. She sees the other spider on the ceiling as well and she tries to shoot another grenade at it. However, the spider jumps down quickly and catches her off balance. As she tries to cock the launcher, the spider tackles her and deals a hard blow with one of its legs. The impact sends her crashing into a dusty wooden table that cracks on impact.
Condition: Caution (Level 1)
Standard Grenade Ammo: 6
After crashing through the tabl
e the spider tries to spit its toxic spit at her, but she rolls out of the way with just enough space to spare. The giant spider keeps moving on the ceiling and ends up on top of Maria. The spider jumps down on top of her and prepares to bite her.
Maria is unable to use any of her projectile weapons. However she has her survival knife on her side pouch. She is able to pull it out quickly and before the spider could bite, she is able to stab it on its left eye. The spider screams in pain and she stabs it again, this time on the right eye. Escaping the grasps of the web spinner, she finishes it off by stabbing it in its abdomen. The spider begins to bleed out a disgusting green colored blood. The blood is enough to send her to the next room nearly vomiting.
She is able to hold the urge to vomit and sees she is in the Chronos clock room.
“Hmm… this must be the room that Charles was referring to. I see the three balls ahead of me and the clocks to the left. Damn this room gives me the creeps.” She says as she views the room.
Before she grabs the balls, she heads to the back of the room to explore. She finds a bell blocking a door. She attempts to move the bell, but it’s too heavy for her to move.
“Damn that thing weighs a ton, by the looks of it the bell has been there a long time. No time to worry about that though.” Maria gets her thought back to the time puzzle after finding nothing useful in the cabinet next to the bell.
There is another desk next to the cabinet that she picks the lock to and she finds a green herb inside ready to use.
Maria uses Green Herb.
Condition: Fine
Lockpicking skill has improved to Level 4!
The room of Chronos as it’s called by Charles is decorated with mustard yellow wallpaper and strange statues representing the children of Chronos holding the “time balls” as they’re called. The clocks have even stranger pictures representing Chronos and his children, probably from the imagination of Charles. The room is creepy enough to give a normal person goosebumps.
She heads to the statues in order to grab the balls.
Maria grabs the Amber, Obsidian, and Emerald balls.
Heading to the clocks, she sees where the clocks are. The first clock has the hand on the 2, the middle clock is on the 12 where it belongs but reads 12:45 instead of 12:15. The final clock has a strange design in that it has the numbers 0-59 indicating the minutes and it’s on 30.