The Last Express - Walkthrough and Plot Guide Version 1.2 Djibriel, December 2010 Contents No number: Contents Version History 1.0 Foreword 2.0 Walkthrough 3.0 Loose ends 4.0 Red Serpent 5.0 Credits Version History: - Version 1.2 (04/15/2012) I finally got my hands on an official downloaded copy of the Last Express, The Gameplay Guide that came along with it was of extremely high quality, and I've incooperated several elements of it into my walkthrough. I've also made a distinction between days, and changed the lay-out somewhat. All for the upcoming iOS release! - Version 1.1 (12/02/2010) Added section 'Red Serpent'. Also found out that Paul Verhoeven is working on a movie based on a game set in 1914, a combination between Indiana Jones and Hitchcock, while Mechner mentioned in a 2008 article that he thinks The Last Express will be back in a different form, like Prince of Persia (confirmed movie adaptation at the time). So, exciting times coming? - Version 1.0 (12/01/2010) Initial Release ********************************** 1.0 Foreword ********************************** The Last Express was created in 1997 by Smoking Car productions, a company specifically created by Jordan Mechner (of Prince of Persia fame) to create The Last Express. It was awesome. It was tremendously expensive. It got all the awards. It was a commercial failure. The relevant marketing department was disbanded a few weeks prior to the release of The Last Express, so there was close to no advertising for the game. The PSX release was cancelled when the company behind it, GameBank, quit. Its publisher, Brøderbund, was bought by a company only interested in educational software; The Last Express was out of print in less than a year. The Last Express is a great experience. It captures a zeitgeist of what is, at the time of writing, close to 100 years ago. It'll teach you some things about European history. It's got a compelling story to reveal and some of the most realistic characters I've ever seen. Though the format of the game is very interesting and makes for a great amount of replay value, it is not without its drawbacks. You, the player, move around in a world that changes all the time without you being there to witness it. Characters won't wait for you to pick fights with other characters, nor will they politely start their incriminating conversations when you enter the room. But the game must go on. So if you, the player, miss crucial parts of information about how and why things are going down as they do, you may find your avatar Robert Cath draw wild conclusions you could never see coming, or see events taking place that don't make a lick of sense. Before you know it, you're catching beetles in matchboxes, unhooking train cars and fighting people before you really know what the hell you're doing. But at the same time, it really immerses you. There are a thousand things that you can miss in any given playthrough, I'm here to tell you all of those things! I hope that this document can help those playing for the first time and enrich the experience for those going in for later attempts. Good luck! ********************************** 2.0 Walkthrough ********************************** Contents Introduction 2.1 Several miles past Paris (France) July 24th 7:39pm 2.2 Epernay (France) July 24th 9:16pm 2.3 Chalons (France) July 24th 9:41pm 2.4 Bar-Le-Duc (France) July 24th 10:45pm 2.5 Strasbourg (Germany) July 25th 3:38am 2.6 Ulm (Germany) July 25th 8:25am 2.7 Munich (Germany) July 25th 12:00pm 2.8 Salzburg (Germany) July 25th 12:45pm 2.9 Attnang (Austria-Hungary) July 25th 1:57pm 2.10 Wels (Austria-Hungary) July 25th 2:23pm 2.11 A few miles past Vienna (Austria-Hungary) July 25th 7:35pm 2.12 Poszony (Austria-Hungary) 25th July 8:08pm 2.13 Galanta (Austria-Hungary) 25th July 8:47pm 2.14 A few miles prior to Budapest (Austria-Hungary) 25th July 10:30pm 2.15 Several miles prior to Belgrad (Austria-Hungary) 26th July 4:40am 2.16 Several miles prior to Constantinople (Asia Minor) 27th July 7:00pm Introduction This is the walkthrough. It is, in the first place, a guide for you if you want to finish the game from start and finish and obtain that much-coveted good ending. However, the nature of the game is such that you can go down many, many roads while often still appearing where you want to go, so I've also attempted to list everything you can find in this game, bad endings included. Because so many things are happening at once, I can imagine it can be difficult to discern what actions are essential to the story and your progress. The Last Express plays in real-time, sped up times six. While certain NPCs at some point in the story behave differently based on your actions, for the most part the world will go about its business without paying much attention to you. This means that at any given time, you can eavesdrop on multiple pieces of dialogue. You cannot do it all in a single game unless you Rewind a lot. When you can catch the kid in the hallway, other NPCs are chatting in the sleeping car while still others are having a discussion in the restaurant. You can always Rewind and Fast Forward. Rewind will take you back to an earlier part of your journey; it allows you to see cutscenes again, or change your actions at any given time. If you don't change anything, you'll keep the option of Fast Forwarding to your latest point in the adventure; if you go back, and do alter your actions (say, you trade something with an NPC where you previously didn't), you can't Fast Forward anymore as the timeline will continue differently from what you've see so far. I've tried to portray everything that's going down in any given segment, but I cannot give you the specific timetables for every NPC, so it's all a bit 'this and that happens between Epernay and Chalons. If you try to visit a scene but an NPC isn't there or you don't receive the option of interacting with that specific NPC while I tell you that you can, you're either too late or too early. Having patience or Rewinding solves those problems. With such a complicated structure of events based entirely on your actions and NPCs not waiting for you to go on with their actions, it's no surprise that I cannot promise you that I've listed every possible scene. In fact, while I've searched the internet for everything I might've missed personally, it would stand to scientific reason that some things are missing. If you feel that you can add anything to the walkthrough that starts below, please e-mail me at djibriel at gmail dot com, and I will update this document. The fans will love your contribution! Let's start! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 Several miles past Paris (France) July 24th 7:39pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You'll start the game looking at a man who seems to be anxiously waiting for some person. This man is Tyler Whitney, and he sent a telegram to his friend Robert Cath to meet him, 7:00, in Paris' Gare de L'est where the Orient Express will start its journey through Europe. But no Robert Cath, just cops. Robert Cath arrives on the Orient Express, aided by a red-haired woman, around 7:39. You can examine two items in your inventory; a telegram and a newspaper article. The telegram is from your friend Tyler Whitney, urging you to board the Orient Express from Gare de l'est at 1900h. You did no such thing since you had to circumvent the gendarmerie at the time, opting instead to risk jumping on the train mid-travel shortly after Paris. You never got a ticket for the train ride here, so know that you're here illegally and can tolerate no inquires. The newspaper article was cut from an English newspaper detailing a fugitive believed to be in the vicinity of Paris; a fugitive matching the description of YOU, Robert Cath. It would certainly explain why you're on the lookout for the French police before you've even made a move in this game. That makes two good reasons not to let the authorities near you. At any rate, it's time to find mr. Tyler Whitney to ask what he means by "exceptional". You find yourself located in between two train cars. To the left you'll find the last train car of the Orient Express, but it's private and you won't be able to enter at this moment. Tyler certainly didn't own his own car anyway. To your right, you can enter the first sleeping car. Had you not stopped to examine your wares, you could've seen a woman leave the last compartment of this train. On the chair of the first wagon, you'll find a copy of the L'Illustration (the Illustration, shockingly), a French newspaper at the time (it no longer exists). Within its pages you'll find the passenger list of both sleeping cars, which contains a list of the Orient Express' chambers and its occupants. Should come in handy! If you stick around for the conductor to reseat himself, you'll hear him cursing about losing the documents... Robert won't bother translating it for you either, since he's a family-oriented fellow. Note that there are two strange items on the passenger list; Maréchal (Marshal) Putnik, Serbian, in room 9 and mr. Jean Jaures, French, in room I. While the latter is crossed out and cancelled, the former is not. Neither room 9 nor room I exists to be filled though. Both are historical celebrities; Jean Jaures a French philosopher who became a prominent socialist leader before he was killed at July the 31th, only seven days after the start of this game. In addition, there was a Serbian field marshal called Radomir Putnik who was, at the time minister of war in Serbia. Recent political events would, if this really is the same Putnik, absolutely have prevented Putnik from traveling. Strange stuff (unexplained throughout the rest of the game as well, don't concern yourself with looking for an answer). After the conductor has seated himself, you can ask the good man (you probably just robbed) where you can find mr. Whitney's compartment, which is #1. You could've found that information in the Report you just stole obviously: M. Tyler Whitney - Americaine - Paris / Belgrade You can also read, depending on how good your French is, how the private car at the end of the train belongs to a man called Kronos. Anyway, let's head to mister Whitney's compartment, which from your vantage point is the last door in this sleeping car. If you don't get the passenger list, you can always pick it up as soon as the conductor isn't seated. ____________________ Alternative actions: At any time, you can knock on one of the doors of compartments 5 through 8. Mahmoud, the Persian eunuch and bodyguard of the harem traveling on-board, will come out and yell at you. Conductor Mertens will urge you to stop. If you continue knocking, about fifteen times should do it, you'll end the game, presumably because Mahmoud kills you with his sword or because you're thrown off the train for your behavior. The game designers didn't even want to award your childish antics with a special cutscene. Still: Game Over ____________________ As you open the door, you come across a grizzly scene; Tyler Whitney is dead, and it's looking violent. What to do, what to do? Outside, you could've followed the trainmaster who is collecting the passenger lists. Coudert, the conductor in the second sleeping car, mentions how the conductor of the first sleeping car is responsible for the lists for both sleeping cars. When the trainmaster wants to collect the passenger list from this other conductor, who turns out to be his nephew, he must confess he lost it (since you stole, you no-good) a turn of events his uncle is not too happy about. At a later point, you can return the passenger list to conductor Mertens' copy of L'Illustration, which will unlock a dialogue in which Trainmaster Mertens will insult his nephew again. Poor guy, can't do nothing right... ____________________ Alternative actions: In the dining room, mr. Schmidt can be found, who seems very irate when you inquire as to where you can find mr. Tyler Whitney; Robert will only introduce himself as Robert and ask where Tyler is if you talk to mr. Schmidt before you enter Tyler's compartment. Mr. Schmidt will then get up to find Tyler Whitney himself. When he finds Tyler murdered in his compartment, he'll pull on the emergency brake, police investigation will commence and you'll be arrested maybe just for riding without a ticket, but likely for your part in the Ireland murder discussed in the newspaper article. The large amounts of various 'bad endings' are generally described by means of Rebecca Norton's diary, as can be seen here. Game Over ____________________ You can't be around during an official police investigation; you're already a wanted man. What needs to be done here is simple. You need to get rid of this body, nobody is to know. ____________________ Alternative actions: At some point, the trainmaster will approach conducter Mertens and, along with a discussion on the harem, will inform his nephew that herr Schmidt is looking for Tyler Whitney. Mertens will approach compartment #1 and knock on the door. If you haven't done anything to fix the situation, you're in trouble. You can pretend to be Whitney be talking through the door and send Mertens on his way. If you don't, Mertens will open the door to find you standing over a dead body. Game Over ____________________ You can do two things now, both of which are proper solutions. 1. Open the window, and pick up the body of your late friend. Then, throw the body out. Not an elegant solution, but the best way of making sure nobody will find him soon. The downside here is that the police will find his body along the tracks. Members of the French police will enter the Express at some point, during which you must hide. In addition, Francois Boutarel, a little kid, will have seen the body of Tyler roll by the train and will chat about it to his mother, who doesn't believe him. 2. Open up the couch to find the bed. Strap Tyler's body in, and close it. The downside here is that conductor Mertens makes the beds during the journey; you'll have to catch the good man in time before he discovers Tyler's body and instruct him to leave your bed alone. Robert will learn about the conductor's housekeeping plans when he gets into a row with the Persian eunuch who does not wish him to enter the harem's chambers. Past that point, you can talk to Mertens and make sure Tyler remains undiscovered for the time being. In both cases, you picked up Tyler's body and gotten blood all over yourself. Grab Tyler's old green one and Robert will throw his old jacket out the window. In your fancy new jacket, you can find a box of matches; take the matches out. It is possible to meet Mertens in the hallway and have him approach you about herr Schmidt waiting for you. ____________________ Alternative actions: Walk out without changing your jacket. When you come across one of the conductors (there's one on both sides of the first sleeping car), he'll notice the stains of blood on your jacket and raise the alarm. You'll be arrested for the murder of Tyler Whitney. Hey, fun to do once. Alternatively, if either herr Schmidt or Milos catches you with the bloody jacket, it's all over as well. Game Over ____________________ Having removed or hidden the body of Whitney and put on a new jacket, you're safe for the moment. Let's have a look around. There's a flamboyant orange suitcase resting on a chair. Opening it will reveal that two items were meant to placed within, but both are gone. Did the murderer take them? Was the "exceptional" discovery of Tyler the motive for the murder? Only time will tell... Below the orange suitcase lies an orange and purple scarf. Pick it up. A woman's? It seems to be embroided with the letter 'W'. Paging through the passenger list, you can at least find Mademoiselle Anna Wolff, Autrichienne (Austrian). Maybe it's hers? You could've seen a woman leave the compartment just when you entered the sleeping car, is she the culprit? Look up. Tyler's suitcase can be found in the luggage nets. Opening it up reveals two items of interest; the reply you sent Tyler and what appears to be a kind of... Russian poem? Robert takes it with him but leaves the telegram in there. If the window's still open, you can opt to look outside. Afterwards, you even get the option of climbing out! When you do so, you gain nothing that helps you, but you now know you can spy on your neighbor should you ever want to. Your neighbor is the Russian Alexei Dolnikov, traveling to Budapest. By examining the glasses in your bathroom, the clicking on the upper rim of the top glass, you get some kind of strange easter egg. I have no real explanation for it... ____________________ Alternative actions: By examining the emergency brake in your compartment, you have the option of using it, thus alerting the authorities. This is like a suicide button, as you'll just earn yourself a: Game Over ____________________ In the hallway, it's somewhere around 19:45 and the first conductor will call around that dinner is served. Let's walk out of here. Francois Boutarel, the little brat, will run around blowing on a whistle. You can try to catch him and ask what he's blowing on to see a very pricey toy. When he returns to his mother in compartment D, and you chose to throw Tyler out the window right away, you'll hear him talk about him seeing a dead man rolling along the tracks. If you try to go back to the private car (owned by Kronos), you'll be stopped by the conductor. Nothing for you there. Lounge car: Monsieur Boutarel (French, compartment C) is minding his own business at a table, and you have no need to converse with the man. Sophie de Bretheuill (French, compartment E) and her friend Rebecca Norton (English, also compartment E) are discussing current political affairs when you enter the lounge car, but will eventually turn the subject to your striking looks. They were discussing the case of madame Caillaux, second wife to the Prime Minister of France who only about a month prior to the game's start shot a newspaper editor who in her eyes wrong her husband. They compare the case to that of the Dreyfus affair (a scandal sharply dividing the French populous about the supposed treason of Alfred Dreyfus, who was later proven to have been framed by the French military court). The reinstatement of Dreyfus happened eight years prior to the events of this game. Everybody's out dining. In the dinner car are sitting at the moment: mr. August Schmidt (German, #3), mr. Alexei Dolnikov (Russian, #2), the four Serbians from #G and #H and finally the old man Vassili Obolensky and his granddaughter, Tatiana (Russian, #A and #B). You cannot converse with the Serbians or the Russians. You can talk briefly with mr. Dolnikov, who appears to have rather anti-governmental sympathies. When he leaves, he'll forget his book, which is a copy of Nietzsche's "Also sprach Zarathustra". Within its pages, you'll find Alexei's boarding ticket. While he according to the passenger list he'll be traveling to Budapest, he marked the time of 10:40 just prior to arriving in Budapest. But it is especially your conversation with herr Schmidt which is interesting. It seems Whitney made a deal with this man to exchange 'the gold' for some kind of merchandise, which will be boarding the train at Munich. There certainly didn't seem to be any gold in Whitney's compartment, and while Robert bluffed his way through the dialogue, it's up to you to get his ass out of this situation. He cannot pay for any merchandise, as there is no gold. Note, by the way, that the maître d' briefly mentions to the Russian pair how great an honor it is to serve them, calling the old man 'Excellency'. Russian nobles, it seems. No wonder such a heavy look was passed between the girl and the Russian liberal. Stay a while. Herr Schmidt will order a roast duck and a bottle of Bordeaux, and the Serbians will leave to make room for other guests at a later time. ____________________ Alternative actions: Around this time, miss Anna Wolff will make her way to the restaurant car. If you meet her in the hallway, you can stop her for a light; after that, you can call after her to ask if the scarf you found in Whitney's room is hers. She declines. You can also ignore herr Schmidt for a long time. Eventually, he'll leave the restaurant car and enter Tyler Whitney's compartment. If the body is there, Game Over (the same ending you receive when you startle herr Schmidt into action as Robert Cath). If you hid or dumped the body, you can visit him there for the same dialogue as you would've had in the restaurant car. If you let him stew in Whitney's chamber for a long time, he'll eventually give up and return to the restaurant car, where he'll be there to get into a conversation with ms. Wolff. ____________________ When Anna Wolff arrives in the restaurant car, you can walk over to her and attempt to join her at the table. She is at first, obviously, welcomed most warmly by the maître d', who she even calls Pascale. She must travel by means of this train more often. Anyway, Robert will attempt to socialize with the young woman. After she declines Robert's offer, you can ask her about the scarf if you picked it up. If you asked her in the hallway, Robert will have inquired twice; she sticks to her answer. When herr Schmidt is finished with his duck, he will walk over to miss Wolff's table. They are old acquaintances from London. You have the option of mingling with the two by talking to miss Wolff, at which point herr Schmidt will introduce you as Tyler Whitney. You can also do this if you haven't spoken with herr Schmidt earlier, introducing yourself as Tyler Whitney here. In this conversation, you learn that Tyler was a champion of foreign liberty causes, which is probably the cause of your disagreement surrounding Cuba. Miss Wolff seems quite surprised at hearing your name. If you don't butt in, herr Schmidt will leave the young lady alone when she reminds him of his English wife. If you spoke with herr Schmidt earlier, he'll discuss miss Wolff's beauty and Jewish heritage with you (the latter condescendingly, I might add). If you interrupted the conversation as a stranger, herr Schmidt will make an arrangement with you to meet him in his compartment in five minutes, though I trust you did all this already. ____________________ Alternative actions: If you still have not talked to Schmidt, he'll try waiting in your compartment again. He'll leave it around 9:19, at which time you can visit you room again. ____________________ Outside in the lounge compartment, Alexei is having a smoke. If you picked the Russian poem from Tyler's briefcase, you can give it to him. Robert will ask for a translation, but aside from learning that it is a Russian fairytale about something called a 'firebird', you learn nothing what you couldn't have extracted from the first few pages of Das Kapital. Outside in the hallway, you can walk up and down a single time to learn that the second serving is starting in the restaurant car and that conductor Coudert is a sketch artist; a notebook filled with artwork can be found under his chair when he's up and about. Meanwhile, conductor Mertens will inform you when you meet him that 'his Excellency' invites you to his private car. Kronos. It sure is an honor, but we've got more to see at the moment. Head back to the restaurant car. Around the same time the Boutarel family takes a seat in the restaurant car, the old man and his granddaughter decide to leave, though they must pass through the lounge car where Alexei is waiting for them. If you're there with them, you'll get to see Russian struggles personified before you. You can talk to Alexei when the two have left, but you won't help much. If you choose to linger in the restaurant car, you get to eavesdrop on the Boutarel family (fun, but not too important) and later on miss Norton and miss de Bretheuill. You can easily deduce that their relationship goes somewhat further than mere friendship. As long as the ladies are here, and conductor Coudert is occupied, you can enter compartment E and find Ms. Norton's diary under her pillow to give some background story on the travelling companions. Around this time, one of the Serbians will seek out Tyler Whitney in his apartment, who will not be there. He knows Tyler's face, and spots you looking at the blood stains on the floor. Then, he will brusquely introduce you to the Last Express' combat system. Milos has two attacks; a low slash and a high slash. He will always start with at least two low slashes. You can simply press the action button to move away and avoid Milos' attack. When Milos tries a high slash, grab his arm instead by holding the mouse over his arm and clicking. ____________________ Alternative actions: If you hid Tyler's body in the sofa/bed, you can take it out before Milos enters your room and lay his body on the floor. Somewhat illogical, but you do get to see Milos' reaction on seeing Tyler dead; he pulls on the emergency brake. Game Over ____________________ When calmed down, Milos will warn you and talk about the Black Hand, a Serbian military society responsible for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. If you chose to hide Tyler's body in the bed, you'll be in trouble once Mertens arrives to make your bed. You can talk to him in the hallway to instruct him to leave your compartment alone, you can wait in your compartment and instruct him through the door or throw out Tyler's body just prior to Epernay, which won't alert the police. ____________________ Alternative actions: If you don't do anything, Mertens will find Tyler's body in the bed and you'll get a: Game Over ____________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2 Epernay (France) July 24th 9:16pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When the Express touches briefly on the city of Epernay, most of the passengers have retreated to their compartments. Only mlle. de Bretheuill and ms. Norton are sitting fashionably late in the restaurant car. You can go behind the curtain of the restaurant car to the kitchen (where the cook is chewing out an apprentice) and beyond, where the luggage is stored. If the trainmaster is there, he'll explain that luggage is off-limits to passengers during the trip, and invites you back to the passenger cars. If he isn't there, you can nose around his documents (not at all interesting) and proceed up until the locomotive, where you can't find anything of interesting except for a cage with some hay in it, probably for safe-keeping of animals during the trip. There IS a hidden Easter Egg in the documents of the trainmaster, though. Flip to the last page, then look at the line which starts with the word "mouvements". A bit will be erased, then something French with an 'a' (I cannot discover what it says). Click the 'a' to find a picture of, I believe, one of the designers. Shortly after leaving Epernay, conductor Mertens will complain to conductor Coudert about how little he's got going on. They'll talk about Robert a bit in French, knowing for sure he can't understand them (which he can). You can use the distraction provided by conductor Mertens to enter compartment E, though you can't do anything there. Ms. Norton's diary is unavailable, and while you can climb out of the window to take a look through the window of compartment F (ms. Wolff's), the curtain is closed. You can't enter compartment F; it's locked, and the growl of a dangerous-sounding dog is heard. This is a good time to visit Kronos in his private car, since you got nothing going on elsewhere. The painting you pass to your right is a painting called 'Sin' by Franz von Stuck, a depiction of Eve and the snake. Now nice. Kronos' bodyguard Kahina opens the door for you. In your talk, it becomes apparent that Kronos is a dangerous man. He knows you're Robert Cath and he knows the authorities are after you. He had a deal with Tyler Whitney, and hints at a 'heavy briefcase'. Does he have the gold? Ms. Wolff can be found in the lounge car, reading the newspaper. You can engage in a short talk with her about ms. Caillaux and Rasputin, the Russian mystic. Later, herr Schmidt will join her for some pleasantries, at which point you can disturb neither of them. Kahina, Kronos' bodyguard, will be up and about as well. She'll enter Tyler's room, then try to enter ms. Wolff's (which is locked). Then, she'll nose around in chamber #C, which is the room of mr. Boutarel. After that, she'll return to Kronos' car. She doesn't really do anything in your room. If you're there when she tries to enter, she won't. You can't open the door when Kahina is in there, so there's no way to catch her snooping through Tyler's stuff. You can, by the way, climb out the window and spy on Alexei now; he'll just be reading through his Nietzsche though, nothing alarming. Tatiana Obolenskaya brought her grandfather to his bed in compartment #A after the nasty encounter with Alexei. After that, you can find her in the space between the first sleeping car and Kronos' private car. If you find her there, then try to leave, she'll ask you for a match. After that, you can ask her about the Russian poem; she'll agree to make a translation for you. If you never spoke to Alexei, but did witness the scene between the three Russians in the smoking car, you can ask her about Alexei and her grandfather. Around twenty past nine, if you dumped Tyler's body out of the car along the tracks, two members of the French police will enter the train. The trainmaster will talk about a 'routine check', but that needn't be the case; they may actually be looking for you or investigating the case of the body along the tracks. You cannot meet them, as you'll get a Game Over. Condcutor Mertens will leave the car to discuss the situation with Coudert in the next sleeping car. The smoking car will be locked, so you cannot go that way. If Schmidt was waiting for you, he'll clear your room just in time. You can hide in three ways. You can walk into Tyler's compartment, then open the window and go hang outside until you hear the police leave. Another option is to walk to the next car and entering compartment A, then go into the washroom. Finally, you could visit Kronos now if you never did before; if you time it right, the coppers will have left by the time your talk with Kronos is over. What you cannot do is hide in your own washroom, or stay in your room and simply lock the door. You'll just get the same cutscene you get when you meet the police in the hallway, but I assume the conductor can provide them with a key and they're thorough enough to enter your washroom when you find nobody home. ____________________ Alternative actions: Meet the police, or stay in Tyler's compartment 'til the fuzz come and get you. You're in trouble, friend. Game Over ____________________ If you police arrived and left, Coudert is summoned by mme. Boutarel to explain the situation. Coudert will explain about the body; Francois will make a fuss since still nobody will believe him. After that, the trainmaster will make his rounds and inquire with both conductors about the police and how it went down. Past 9:20pm (immediately after the police leaving, should they have stepped onto the Express), Milos the Serb will come looking for Tyler. You can wait for him in the compartment or walk in there after you've seen Milos enter the room, you'll get different scenes. If you chose to hang at the edge of the train to hide from the police, Milos will walk in before you get a chance to leave. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3 Chalons (France) July 24th 9:41pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It's approaching night-time, and the livelihood of the Orient Express is rapidly decreasing. Tatiana will remain near Kronos' car for a while, then head off to bed. In the red sleeping car, you can find mme. Boutarel complain to conductor Coudert about ms. Wolff's dog. Conductor Coudert remains a perfect gentleman. Milos, at this stage, can still be found in Tyler's compartment if you chose to ignore him so far. In the lounge car, ms. Wolff is still talking to herr Schmidt, and monsieur Boutarel is enjoying a cigar in solitude. Nothing for you here. In the green sleeping car, the conductors discuss politics. Conductor Coudert has socialist sympathies; conductor Mertens is a young patriot. They would both turn out to be right; the first world war would be a massacre without winners, but France would take back L'Alsace-Lorraine after the war (after a short period of independence). After a while, ms. Wolff will leave, monsieur Boutarel will return to his compartment and then herr Schmidt will leave as well. The two friends from compartment E will enter the lounge car. There's a newspaper here, which you can examine. Among the articles you can find some thing of interest (related to this game). Tension between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is rising after the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand. There's some things about mme. Caillaux, and another example of the article printed on the Belfast murder. American doctor still on the run from the authorities... After a while, conductor Coudert will fall asleep in his chair, giving you the opportunity to enter compartment E. Nothing here still (ms. Norton took her diary with her to the lounge car), but you can now climb out the window and spy on ms. Wolff tossing and turning in bed. It serves no purpose but to portray Robert Cath as a peeping tom... You can also enter compartment A, the room occupied by the old man Obolensky. This room is always open because Tatiana needs to be able to have access; room E is always open because the girls just aren't all that careful. All the other doors remain closed to you. At a later time, conductor Mertens will also fall asleep. At this time, when you climb out your window to spy on Alexei, he will be building a bomb. A young Russian revolutionary, on a train with an old Russian noble, while the former is building a bomb? This looks like trouble. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.4 Bar-Le-Duc (France) July 24th 10:45pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Around 10:40, the girls from compartment E will head off to bed, and now all is officially silent in the public rooms and hallway. You'd better head off to bed as well. If you haven't talked to Milos, he will still be waiting for you in your compartment. If you haven't talked to Schmidt yet, he will be waiting for you. If you spoke to neither, Schmidt will get up to go to Tyler's cabin as soon as Milos has left. Regardless, you can not get the option of sleeping if you've still got one of the two left on your to-do list. If you chose to hide Tyler's body earlier, now is the time to get rid of his body by throwing it out the window. You will do so above a river. Tyler's green jacket will remain untouched by Tyler's now-clotted blood. You can choose to stay awake, but you'll have to wait until 3:30am until the next activity takes place, and you have nothing to do in the meantime, so I suggest you go to bed. You cannot sleep on the mess, so make your bed and get some rest. You'll appear to wake up, but you cannot look in your inventory or interact with anything in your room. You can go out to the hallway to see that conductor Mertens isn't there. Alternatively, you can unlock an easter egg; push the top bell near the door three times; the third time, you should hear the bell ring. Enter the hallway to see conductor Mertens. Try to walk towards him to see his head cloven clean off and his body juggle three copies of his own head. Quite disturbing. Mertens or no Mertens, try as you might, you cannot move an inch from where you're standing, so you can only return to your room, where Tyler Whitney has a message for you... You wake up. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.5 Strasbourg (Germany) July 25th 3:38am -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Orient Express is currently waiting in Strasbourg, presumably for supplies or whatever. Robert Cath isn't ready to continue his rest just yet, so let's walk around a bit. You can check up on Alexei by climbing out the window, but you don't see him. You can walk to Kronos' private car, and you'll hear the piano being played, though you cannot enter. In the red sleeping car, you'll hear ms. Anna Wolff play her violin. Knock on her door to engage in some small talk that quickly takes a turn for the... interesting. Your chatter is interrupted by upheaval in another compartment, and ms. Wolff leaves to check up on it, forcing you out of her compartment as well. You cannot return to it, as Max guards the door. As you near compartment A, you see how Vassili is making a scene while Tatiana doesn't know how to handle it. Robert expertly diffuses the situation. When all is over, you can eavesdrop at the door to hear ms. Wolff mention how she feels someone was in her apartment. It certainly wasn't you. Ms. Wolff asks Tatiana if it's okay is Tatiana will safeguard 'it'. What is so important? Regardless, when ms. Wolff leaves compartment A, you can talk to her briefly before calm is restored on the Orient Express. Ms. Wolff will walk to compartment B one more time, but you cannot interact with her and you cannot hear anything through the door this time. Conductor Coudert will remain awake for a good while. Time for bed. Bonne nuit, monsieur Cath. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.6 Ulm (Germany) July 25th 8:25am -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good morning! If you want to engage in a little morning gymnastics, you can climb out the window to find Alexei reading again. *yawn*. If you stubbornly neglected to collect the W-embroided scarf from beneath the orange box, Robert will pick it up first thing in the morning, nothing you can do about that. In the red sleeping car, conductor Coudert and the trainmaster will discuss in French how the master key that opens all compartment doors was lost during the ordeal with old man Obolensy. While they appear to suspect Robert most of all, we know that he didn't do it. Tatiana certainly doesn't seem to be the type, and apart from her and ms. Wolff, nobody was up at that hour. A strange affair. In the red car, you can hear ms. Wolff practicing on her violin and the ladies in compartment E having fun. In compartment G, a very important cutscene is waiting for you. Mr. Milos Jovanovic owes you an explanation. When you enter, a cutscene will make a lot of things clear. Tyler Whitney got mixed up in the Serbain struggle for independence. He was ordered to sell a national Serbian treasure, called 'The Firebird' for money, then use this money to purchase weapons from 'the German'. In other words, Tyler was to sell the treasure to Kronos, and use his heavy suitcase of gold to purchase weapons from herr Schmidt. You found Tyler murdered in his compartment, the treasure gone. No treasure means no gold, no gold means no weapons for the Serbians. They're not pleased. You must recover the treausre or obtain the gold in another way to pay off Schmidt, of you'll find yourself on the bad side of the 'Black Hand', Milos' terrorist group. In the restaurant car, breakfast is served. Herr Schmidt is dining, the Boutarel family is there as well as Tatiana. Mme. Boutarel is angry with her boy, who made contact with the harem. She must be in for hard times, being so suspicious of Persian culture, seeing as to where she's heading. If you talk to Tatiana, she'll thank you for helping out her grandfather and she'll give you the translation to the poem if you gave it to her earlier. If you didn't, Robert will give her the poem for translation automatically. In any case, she'll walk over to Alexei and have an interesting chat with him in which it becomes apparant they were childhood friends once, when Alexei was a young noble himself. You can briefly chat with herr Schmidt, who did not wake from his slumber during the events of last night. Always good to know when somebody is a heavy sleeper when you're a thieving rogue like Robert Cath :p You can take a look at conductor Coudert's sketchbook when he's busy with one of the passengers. He's quite an artist, and he's not too fond of little Francois Boutarel... The kid can be found running around as well, blowing his expensive whistle, talking about a black beetle he lost to his mother and entering the harem's chambers, despite his mother's protests. If you sit down in the lounge room, you can find the Francois Boutarel's missing black beetle scurrying about. Use the empty box of matches found in Tyler's jacket, and try to scoop up the beetle when he's near the edge of the table. If you manage to catch it, Robert will put the beetle away with a satisfied smile. You can trade the captured beetle with Francois for his expensive whistle. When you meet Francois in the hallway, Robert will refuse to give his prized possession, but later Francois will return with a suitable item to trade it for. The golden scarab whistle can be placed in the orange box in Tyler's room; this is one of the missing treasures! Keep it with you, just to be sure. You can blow on it, but that gets annoying real quick. Note that this is one of two possible solutions, so you need not do this; you'll find the whistle just prior to you really needing it, but it's more satisfactory to have it earlier. In addition, a renewed newspaper is waiting for you if you are interested in the latest developments. You can knock on Kronos' door this morning. If you heard about "the Firebird" either from Tatiana's translation or from Milos, Robert will use it to persuade Kahina to let you in. If you haven't, you won't get far just yet. After you've talked with Kronos (the datura stramonium mentioned by Kronos which was used by Robert to sedate Vassili is a powerful hallucinogen), you can eavesdrop at the door farther down to listen how Kronos instruct Kahina. Kronos seems under the impression that ms. Wolff has the Firebird, but if that's the case isn't it the Firebird that she entrusted to Tatiana? At any rate, it seems Kronos will stop at nothing to obtain the Firebird. There's a book in this room called 'The Sick Man of Europe', which was a common metaphor for the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire at the time. It recounts a popular myth surrounding the Firebird relic. When the ladies of compartment E are out in the restaurant car, you can sneak into their room when conductor Coudert is kept busy or when another passenger is between his sharp eyes and your dealings. You can read ms. Norton's diary again; it's filled with impressions of the other passengers (calling Robert "quite uninteresting") and filled with, for her day and age, deviant feelings for 'her seductress' Sophie and ms. Anna Wolff. The ladies will have a chat on the subject of ms. Norton's diary in the restaurant car if you're there to listen in. Herr Schmidt will join the ladies some time before Munich in the lounge car, but will eventually scare them away when he gets a little too flirtatious. It's a funny dialogue if you've read ms. Norton's diary which reveals her true feelings on the subject of mr. Schmidt, in conversation polite though she seems. Note how Schmidt will almost fall out of his chair trying to get a good look at the ladies walking away... When the ladies have gone off, herr Schmidt will start pacing up and down the hallway. The Orient Express is almost at Munich, you see, and while he must load the merchandise on the train in Munich, he still hasn't seen his payment. Once you run into him, you'll get into a cutscene about the merchandise. If your German is good enough, you'll learn the merchandise consists out of weapons. You can also see mr. Abbot boarding the train, an Englishman. You find Robert sitting in the lounge car, more than an hour past Munich. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.7 Munich (Germany) July 25th 12:00pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tatiana and Alexei are playing chess. Their back-and-forth teasing is amusing, but not really of any consequence to you. You can follow the trainmaster into the restaurant car. Through the curtain, you can hear him discuss all kinds of matters and passengers with the man who got on in Munich, mr. George Abbot. In the meantime, August Schmidt seats himself for dinner. You can talk to him briefly and learn he's waiting for a young lady, something he seems pleased as punch about. It's no surprise this young lady turns out to be ms. Wolff. You can follow mr. Abbot about, who will seat himself in compartment C next to monsieur Boutarel. Mr. Abbot is not the quiet kind, and you can listen in on a long talk during which mr. Abbot does most of the work. The conductors are also sharing some routine water-cooler talk, conductor Mertens complaining on his low amount of tips. You can take the opportunity to check in on old man Obolensky, but he'll just lie there sedated. You cannot enter into any of the other compartments in either sleeping car. If you didn't give the russian Firebird poem to Tatiana until after the night of Vassili Obolensky's nightmares, she will have left a translation lying on the floor in Tyler Whitney's compartment. You'll have to stand by the window and look at the door to see it, though. Back in the restaurant car, herr Schmidt and ms. Wolff share some fun moments, during which Schmidt misses no opportunity to compliment ms. Wolff are display his considerable knowledge on the subject of vinology. You would almost forget the good man is married, considering his so very friendly demeanor around every lady he encounters. A later talk will have herr Schmidt mention he's likely to get off in Vienna, so he must not feel too optimistic about the deal you share. The restaurant car will slowly fill. Monsieur Boutarel will eventually grow weary of mr. Abbot and invite his family over in the restaurant car, where mme. Boutarel will, you'll never guess this, complain about things. Talk from the Boutarels will drown about talk between ms. Wolff and herr Schmidt and vice versa. Mr. Abbot will seat himself in the restaurant car as well, giving you the option of being talked at. It's a fun scene, I suggest you make his acquaintance; it seems mr. Abbot is as perceptive as he is talkative. Behind the curtain, you can catch some more of the cook giving hell to his apprentice. Poor kid. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.8 Salzburg (Germany) July 25th 12:45pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While the second service in the restaurant car is being announced, ms. Wolff and herr Schmidt, both proclaiming to be somewhat under the spell of the bottle of wine they shared, will move into the parlor. Around 1:04pm, prince Kronos will enter the parlor together with Kahina to invite ms. Wolff for a musical duet. If you overheard his instructions to Kahina earlier, you know this invitation serves another purpose; it will make sure ms. Wolff is out of her room, so Kahina can search it for the Firebird. Max is still guarding compartment F, though. If you linger a bit in the lounge, you can listen in on Tatiana and Alexei and their politically-laden chess banter, as well as watch, in succession, the exit of ms. Wolff, mr. Abbot and eventually herr Schmidt. If you meet herr Schmidt in the hallway, he will tell you that he's got a bad feeling about the deal, and intends to leave the Orient Express at Vienna if he has no proof of the gold before than. Should that happen, you're as good as dead at the hands of the Serbians. Not good. The ladies from compartment E will enter the restaurant, and will discuss their resort. That Sophie, what a player. Compartment E is vacant! In the red sleeping car, mme. Boutarel will complain some more. About Max, Anna's dog this time. No! Mme. Boutarel, you're playing right into Kronos' hands! When conductor Coudert meets the trainmaster after that, he'll mention mme. Boutarel's wishes and he will be charged to move the dog. It seems Kronos' plan is working out, and compartment F will be cleared of both mrs. Wolff and Max during the concert. In the hallway, all kinds of stuff is going on. The trainmaster was charged by Kronos to communicate invitations to some of the travelers. Conductor Mertens will invite you personally after the trainmaster has instructed him to do so, even if you haven't spoken to Kronos before. You can enter compartment E when nobody's looking. Diary's still there, not updated since this morning. You can climb out the window; if you're early enough you'll catch ms. Wolff changing. Later, you'll find her relaxing in preparation for the concert. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.9 Attnang (Austria-Hungary) July 25th 1:57pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can try and disturb August in his compartment, but he won't want to speak to you until after the concert. At some point, the Sophie and Rebecca will return to their compartment. Shortly after arriving in Attnang after having crossed into Austria-Hungary, conductor Coudert will knock on mrs. Wolff's door and take Max away into the baggage car. When the trainmaster is out, you can visit Max in his cage in the far end of the train. Circumstances there are not as fine as conductor Coudert would have mrs. Wolff believe. You befriend Max with a staring contest. If you release Max, he'll run right up to compartment F, prompting conductor Coudert to return him. You'll need him away anyway, so let the dog out. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.10 Wels (Austria-Hungary) July 25th 2:23pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At some point, Rebecca and Sophie will once again leave their compartment, and will gossip in the smoking car. When Rebecca leaves briefly to anger mme. Boutarel about the concert, you can attempt to talk to Sophie, who will answer in French that she doesn't speak English. She does! What a tart! Later, Alexei will join them briefly, not speaking a word. The ladies will leave the smoking car just prior to the concert, and have an argument in their compartment about Rebecca feeling like's she sacrificing a lot to go with Sophie to her magical dream island. Mrs. Wolff will leave her compartment to prepare for the concert around 2:30pm, and will ask Coudert to lock her door. Go to compartment E. When Coudert is gone, enter the room. Nothing here but a girl's diary, but you can climb out the window and into the window of mrs. Wolff. Finally, we're into Anna's inner sanctum. Let's see what we got here. There's a hat box with a hat in it. We can't really get her for that, that's normal. There's a photograph of Anna with a strapping young Austrian man. There's a bottle of perfume; nothing strange inside. Let's check out the big cabinet. Clothes, sheet music... and a letter. A very important, incriminating letter. It seems Anna Wolff is a spy, working for the royal house of Austria-Hungary. Her socializing with herr Schmidt seems more likely now that you know she was after his dealings, not his personality. As an agent of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, she is a direct enemy of the Serbian rebels and the continuation of the deal between herr Schmidt and Tyler Whitney. Finally, there's the jewelry box. You can examine it, but you'll also get the option of examining the front of the box. You can press the three red rubes in front of it; the middle one will open up a secret compartment with the master key! This'll be really useful. We got what we came for and then some; let's head out. You can leave just out of the front door; Coudert won't mind. There are two compartments that were always locked and are now open to you. Tatiana will be at the concert, as well as herr Schmidt. Let's attend the concert to make sure everybody's there. At 3:00pm sharp (not earlier, not much later), attend the concert in Kronos' private car. Kronos and mrs. Wolff sure know how to sound like good guys while they're really bad guys. When you can move, get up and leave the concert. Important stuff needs to get done before Kahina starts moving, though she won't find the Firebird in Anna's compartment. In the meantime, Kronos and Anna Wolff will get started on the Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major by César Franck. Kahina, somewhere around twenty past three, will leave the concert briefly to enter Anna's compartment, then return to the concert. You can't really interact with her. When Coudert is out (he leaves his seat on occasion to check up on Max), enter compartment B with your master key (or enter A and enter into B through the washroom). You can search the room, but won't find much of interest; check out the picture of the ballerina. In the washroom, there's a small space below the sink. This is where you'll find something truly wonderful. As Tyler would say, "extraordinary". This is the Firebird. The Firebird as it appears now is a golden egg portraying the world. You can examine the top of the egg to see a closed hatch of some sort with four red jewels surrounding it. The top one opens to hatch to reveal a picture of a woman; this picture is discussed in Kronos' copy of 'The Sick Man of Europe'. At night, this picture should reveal something more sinister... As soon as you pick up the Firebird, you'll hear Tatiana outside talking to Coudert. She can't see you with the Firebird! Since the Firebird is so large, you can't hide it on your person and you must carry it. If you return the Firebird to its hiding place, Tatiana can find you in her compartment empty-handed. Robert will bluff his way out of it, and you can take the Firebird when Tatiana leaves again. Alternatively, if you leave through compartment A, the old man will temporarily regain consciousness and tell you take the Firebird with you. How delirious is he? If you leave, Coudert will ask you how you got in there, but you smooth things over. Let's take the Firebird to our compartment. ____________________ Alternative actions: When you try to leave through the door of compartment B with the Firebird in your possession, Tatiana will catch you with the Firebird in your hands. You can't weasel your way out of it, and Tatiana will take the Firebird back from you. You can't find the Firebird afterwards any longer, so even though the game goes on, you can't safeguard the relic before Vienna and you can't obtain anything but a: Game Over ____________________ Equipped with the poem, you can deduce the secret behind the egg. The travels of prince Ivan and the grey wolf go like this: - In the desert heart of a southern land hangs a cage of silver bells on the red rock painted with the old shapes of dreamtime. This is a reference to Uluru, or Ayers Rock, a large sandstone rock formation in Australia, considered holy to the Aboriginals. Aboriginal mythology dictates that the world was created during 'the dreaming', pictures of which appear on and in Uluru. - A world away lies a colder kingdom, ringed with blue, In a circle of ancient stones the Firebird guards a horse with a golden mane. This is a reference to Stonehenge, positioned in England. Though the shape of Stonehenge is said to resemble a horseshoe, no golden-maned horses appear in legends. Since the isles of Great Britain and Ireland are so small, it's possible the jewel is located on Denmark instead, though no megalith circles of special interest appear there. - On the Rooftop of the World Elena sleeps, under the Firebird's wing. One look at her and Ivan forgot his quest. This is a reference to the Himalaya, commonly known as the 'roof of the world', which contains the highest peaks of the world. Most of the Himalaya is part of China at this time. - In the warm seas, under a cross of stars, on a grassy island, stand the heads of silent gods, looking ever outwards. This is a reference to the Moai, monolithic figures on the Polynesian island of Easter Island, Chili. - To the city of the temple built by the son of David This is a reference to Jerusalem. Christian belief holds that David's son Solomon, built the First Temple there, which would later by destroyed by the Babylonians. So, the proper sequence will have you follow the journey of Grey Wolf, so: - Uluru (Australia), aqua - Stonehenge (England), blue - Himalaya (China), red - Easter Island (Chili), purple - Jerusalem (Ottoman Empire then, Israel now), green Once opened, the Firebird will respond to the Scarab whistle; if you have it on you, you can use it to make the Firebird sing. How beautiful. If you interact with the Firebird in any other place than your own compartment, you get a black background since they would not create a background for every location. You can unfold the Firebird everywhere, in the presence of everybody, without provoking any reaction. Let's avoid this lack of verisimilitude and simply examine the Firebird in private. When you're done playing around with it centerpiece of this game, you must hide it. Kahina has a master key, it won't be safe in your room. The solution lies in the baggage car, past the trainmaster. Nobody will ever suspect it there, nor will the trainmaster let people in easily. When the trainmaster announces Amstetten, you'll want to make your move. The other passenger you'd like to check up on is our good, somewhat round friend August Schmidt. Well Mertens is otherwise occupied (the harem does a good job of sometimes blocking you from his sight, or you can knock on one of the harem compartment's doors to provoke Mahmoud into coming out and blocking Mertens' view for a good long while), enter compartment 3. There are several items of interest. August's cigar case features a hidden gun. Nice. Opening up his suitcase reveals two of August's secrets. First off, you can click on the pictures (though the game won't tell you you can) to see how August fights off loneliness on his long trips. Second, it seems even August is not without a hidden agenda. August is reporting back to some Baron of the Fatherland. What a patriot. Why would Germany benefit from August's transaction? Germany has ties with Austria-Hungary, would therefor as a nation be opposed to Serbian uprisings. The last person aboard the Orient Express who requires further investigation is 'his Excellency', prince Kronos. But you cannot go beyond the concert, as Kahina protects the door. Or can you? With the master key, you can locate the space between the last sleeping car and Kronos' private car, and open the door to the outside. Here, you can climb up top of the wagons. You can go both ways; towards the locomotive (passing the both sleeping cars, the lounge car, the restaurant car, the kitchen, baggage car and eventually the locomotive. You can manage to sneak a peek at the workers toiling away on the locomotive. ____________________ Alternative actions: You can manage this once. Do it again, and you'll be noticed by the Slavic workers, spelling bad news for you. Game Over ____________________ But your business lies elsewhere. Move away from the smoke and pass over Kronos' car. Eventually, you'll reach some colored glass. Kick it in; the sound of the concert will muffle both the glass breaking and you landing in the car. In plain view is Kronos' report about both and late your friend, mister Tyler Whitney, by a private detective called Maurice as well as the feedback from one of Kronos' agents, a British art dealer called Perlmutter working for him. Well, that's not nice. If you put two and two together, you can deduce that Tyler learned about the Firebird's curse, and postponed the sale until after he had your opinion on the subject. Aside from the finer things in life, Kronos' bedroom has little more to offer at first glance, but go check out the large painting on the wall. This painting is called 'Beethoven frieze', by Gustav Klimt. You may need some expert maneuvering, but when you position yourself in front of the left side of the painting, you can see a button near the edge of the painting. Press it to reveal a hidden compartment, featuring a... heavy briefcase. You could at any point have climbed out into broad daylight, but you cannot do so with the briefcase. You can, however, simply enter the concert with the briefcase. You can say a lot about mr. Robert Cath, but he shows some stones here. Kahina and Kronos cannot break character at this moment, so must let you walk away with full knowledge of your break-in and theft. The conductors, in the meantime, will continue their political discussion. At half past three, Alexei will seat himself in the lounge and mr. Abbot will stretch his legs a bit and go read the newspaper there. They will not talk to you, but after a while mr. Abbot will get up and attempt to chat with Alexei. They do not click. Mr. Abbot will return to compartment C, quite defeated. There's a small bit of dialogue between him and mr. Boutarel before both settle down with their newspapers. The Boutarel kid will spend most of his time in compartment D with his mother, but if you meet him in the hallway, and you're carrying the Firebird, you can show it to him. He'll be out much more often if he still has the Scarab whistle. You'll bust out a real nasty grin as well while showing off to Francois, but your high hopes are dashed when he simply mocks your stupid yellow egg. You have nothing to do until 4:50pm, at which point the concert will be over. For fun, just get back there and finish the concert. You may start to fall asleep, no worries. You'll have a dream-flashback about Tyler asking you why you're not making it sing. We get it now, Tyler. Let's make the Firebird sing. After the concert, Tyler. You'll be kicked out of Kronos' car after the concert. The ladies from compartment E will be the first to leave; after which mlle. Wolff will seek out her room. Herr Schmidt will want to continue his contact with her, but gets a cold shoulder for the moment. You can try to talk to the German at this point, but he won't want to speak to you. And you went through so much trouble to get his gold! ____________________ Alternative actions: You can sneak into ms. Wolff's compartment, and wait for her arrival there. She won't be pleased with finding you in her room, but you'll be able to continue. In a similar matter, you can get caught by Tatiana, but you'll distract with your medical talk about her grandfather. Smooth sailing there, Robert. If you're found with the Firebird in your hands, though, Tatiana will be extremely upset, and you'll get a Game Over. ____________________ Before you join him in compartment 3, wait in the hallway for Kahina, who will kindly invite you to go see Kronos. At gunpoint. We'll be right there, sunshine. When Tatiana finds the Firebird gone, she will run to Anna's compartment and cry her heart out over having lost it. You can overhear this conversation. The ladies are feeling frisky after the concert, and can be heard enjoying themselves in their compartment. By which I mean family-friendly enjoyment, obviously. There a multitude of options at this point. You have, at this moment, both the Firebird and a heavy briefcase filled with gold. Kronos' is looking for either the Firebird, or his briefcase back. Schmidt is waiting for the gold, and you're almost at Vienna at which point he will leave if you have not shown him the goods. Whatever you do, do not leave your room unlocked if you're leaving the Firebird behind. Kahina will patrol the hallway at this point. If you leave your room unlocked with the Firebird in the orange box or below the sink, you may find it missing later; Kahina will have taken it. They will later act is if you've given the Firebird to them out of your own free will; you may keep the gold, but the Firebird escapes your grasp and with it answers about Tyler's murder and the game's best ending. ____________________ Alternative actions: You can try to convince August Schmidt with accepting the Firebird itself as payment for the weapons. He will not, as he is no, and this is a quote: "Jewish pawnbroker". What a charmer. ____________________ First off, let's diffuse the situation with herr Schmidt, as it will cost you nothing; he merely wants to see the gold. Take the briefcase to compartment 3, and Robert will do the work for you. Good, Schmidt and his cargo will remain on board until after Vienna. If you meet Milos in the hallway after this, he will be very happy with you. You can seek Milos out in his compartment as well. If Vesna, the Serbian woman, is out, Robert will ask Milos who murdered Tyler Whitney while sharing a drink. ____________________ Alternative actions: If you do not show August the goods, he will be true to his word and leave the train at Vienna, together with his merchandise. With the weapons gone, the Serbians simply execute the man who made an unforgivable mistake. Game Over ____________________ Second, there's Kronos to consider. You stole a large amount of gold from this ruthless man. Kahina will not hesitate. Events tell us that Robert wants to keep the Firebird. We can use this as leverage to wring some information from Kronos. It's very difficult to get the gold to Kronos, since Kahina must be present and she spends most of her time prior to Vienna looking around in the hallway for an opportunity to get into your room and steal the Firebird. Neither the orange box nor the space below the sink will be safe from her prying eyes. You can hide the Firebird in Max' cage, all the way up in the luggage car. Take the Firebird there while the trainmaster is away shouting about Vienna. While you're here, do NOT yet nose about the luggage, it will trigger a cutscene you're not ready for yet. After you've shown the gold to Schmidt, take it to Kronos. He will require something from you; he takes the scarf from you. Note that from this point on, you can keep the Firebird on your person rather than having it hidden in Max' cage, but since it's safe there, there's no need. ____________________ Alternative actions: If you wait to long with the visit to Kronos, Kahina will kill you. Game Over ____________________ Around half past five, both Schmidt and ms. Wolff will leave their chambers. Schmidt can be found in the lounge, where you can discuss politics with him. Why DOES he seem to be helping the enemy? He will not answer you just yet. Later, mr. Abbot will join you in the lounge, and will start a conversation with August. He will prove to be a more suitable man for Abbot's antics than Alexei. Ms. Wolff will move strangely; she will go beyond the curtain in the restaurant, where only staff can be found (and you, on occasion). Is she seeking Max? As an agent for Austria-Hungary, she cannot be allowed to find the weapons herr Schmidt loaded onto the train if the Serbians are to succeed. She will have the whole deal blown wide open. You can follow her, but will find only emptiness until you reach the luggage. A single wooden crate catches Robert's interest. Examine it for a cutscene. When you're done, the Serbian woman, Vesna, is attacking you. Simply keep avoiding her until Anna gets her gun back and helps you out. Vesna has two attacks; a slow one and a quick one. Try to anticipate; if you lose it's curtains for Robert, but you'll get all the retries you could ever use. After a while Vesna will make a run for it, threatened by Anna's gun. Anna leaves you when she realizes they're at Vienna station. Your dialogue here references information you picked up from the letter you could have read in Anna's compartment. If you didn't read the letter, your dialogue will be different. ____________________ Alternative actions: Vesna was after Anna, who is a spy for the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy the Serbians are trying to fight. If you're too late, you can either catch Vesna killing Anna, or you can find the body of Anna lying there. If you wait even longer, the trainmaster will find Anna's body. In any case, you get a: Game Over If you didn't show August the gold, you'll get a scene about Vesna sticking a knife up Robert's stomach for betraying the Serbian cause. Game Over If you showed Schmidt the gold and gave the Firebird to Kronos, you'll get an ending where Robert leaves the Express with his suitcase full of gold while Kronos leaves the Express with the Firebird. A decent ending, I suppose, though not in the long run. You betrayed Schmidt, and if he tries to pull out of the deal, the Serbians will not be glad. In addition, with Kronos gone and you forced to leave the train, you will never figure out the true cause of Tyler's death. You started out poor and on the run, and are now rich and on the run, so the ending's somewhat acceptable, but you skipped about before the last CD even started. ____________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.11 A few miles past Vienna (Austria-Hungary) July 25th 7:35pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We'll probably find Robert seated in the restaurant. If you entered Vienna with the Firebird on your person, you'll start in Tyler's comartment. If you find yourself in the restaurant, George Abbot and two of the Serbians are also there, but you cannot converse with them. In the red sleeping car, you can hear mrs. Wolff instruct Coudert to cancel her plans with herr Schmidt. Her mission is over; she found the weapons, she knows who are involved. You can walk up to her compartment and discuss the situation. It seems that while August is unaware, he's in deep trouble. In the restaurant, when herr Schmidt has seated himself, he will acquire the bad news of mrs. Wolff not joining him. The bottle of champagne and the bottle of wine he had planned, he won't cancel. He'll be in good spirits before long. At first, Tatiana's in her room, the Boutarel family is keeping itself occupied the ladies in compartment E are having fun. A bit later, Tatiana will leave compartment B and head over to Alexei, who is waiting for her in the space after the green sleeping car. The Boutarel family will enter the restaurant car in the place of the Serbians. The Boutarels have no lines this time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.12 Poszony (Austria-Hungary) 25th July 8:08pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tatiana and Alexei will not talk with you present, but you can overhear them if you loiter near Mertens in the green sleeping car. It'll just be politics. Breaking into a room, be it B (Tatiana), C or D (Boutarel) or 3 (Schmidt) will have no impressive results since nothing changed there. You can, however enter Alexei's compartment; you won't even need the master key as Alexei foolishly kept his compartment unlocked, distracted by Tatiana. You can try when the trainmaster calls around Poszony, or create your own distraction with the harem. Alexei's copy of Nietzche will be there (with his ticket detailing 10:40pm if you didn't take it earlier), as well as a suitcase up high. Open it to find the detonator Alexei was working on last night. Remove it from his possession, he's got no peaceful plans for it. When you're done with that, mr. Abbot interrupts you. What was George Abbot doing opening up Alexei's door when he's not around? When the Express has entered Poszony, Alexei will reveal his plan to Tatiana to use a bomb to blow up the Orient Express. Tatiana, suffice to say, will be shocked. Not long after that, Tatiana will depart for her compartment as Alexei will for his. At the same time, the Boutarel family will return from the restaurant car (cue another amusing dialogue between monsieur Boutarel and Abbot), and Sophie and Rebecca will leave for the restaurant (where they'll discuss social dynamics and marriage). Rebecca will leave behind her diary, with an update about the concert, your actions and Rebecca's past. The young lady does not like Robert very much. Also, some explanation about her affair with Sophie. After conductor Coudert has made their beds for the night in their absence, the diary will be hidden under the pillow on the top bed. Schmidt will quickly leave his room for the lounge and a bottle of brandy. Alexei will also find himself in the lounge, leaving his room unguarded once more should you still require entrance. After Schmidt has had his brandy, you may talk to him. He'll talk about his feelings for Anna, quite affected. It'll culminate in a dance; it's a hoot :) Just prior to Galanta, the Serbians will leave their compartment, one by one. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.13 Galanta (Austria-Hungary) 25th July 8:47pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the hallway, Tatiana is looking for you. A cutscene will trigger when she is waiting near your door and you're in. She reveals Alexei's plans with the bomb to you. If you did not pick up the detonator earlier, now is definetely the time! The night is almost there. Schmidt will retreat to his chamber, snoring quite loudly. You cannot wake him up. Sophie and Rebecca will retreat to their room as well, leaving the car derelict except for the conductors and Alexei, who will stare out into the night where he talked with Tatiana earlier. After the departure from Galanta, the Serbians will return to their chambers, but Milos won't be there anymore. In addition, you are now free to pull on any emergency brake that you can find; they won't work... If you wanna see something neat, search out the Firebird in Max's cage, and open the hatch on the top by pressing the correct jewel. At nighttime, you'll see the body of a woman, throat slit. At this point, you can take a look at conductor Coudert's sketchbook and see all the drawings he'll ever do in this game. I just want to point out that Coudert has a fascination for the working man, and aside from the married mme. Boutarel and the exotic Kahina and harem members has not bothered to sketch any of the three beautiful ladies that have entered the Orient Express, neither does he mention a family involved in his retirement. ____________________ Alternative actions: If you did not steal Alexei's detonator, he will not have been averted by Tatiana. A bomb will go off in the night. Game Over ____________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.14 A few miles prior to Budapest (Austria-Hungary) 25th July 10:30pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You will have a strange, somewhat romantic dream. The location mirrors the image on your signet ring, and is the same as the building seen in the very beginning, when you chose to start a new game. The dream is cut short by a mid- night meeting between Alexei and Vassili; a meeting with dire consequences. When you're awake, hurry to compartment A, where Alexei utters his dying words. Long live Anarchy... You can also choose to not go to compartment A and go for the bomb immediately instead. You'll get company while diffusing the bomb, but it makes no sense for any of those character to be there when you were just in an empty hallway. After diffusing the bomb, you cannot enter compartment A anymore. Abbot will smooth things over the trainmaster for some reason, then invite you to a drink in the smoking car. If you get to the bomb before Abbot turns his attention away from the trainmaster, you'll get to diffuse the bomb with the trainmaster, Abbot and Anna staring at your fingers. ____________________ Alternative actions: You natural reaction obviously would be to go to Abbot to talk things over. He will reveal he was sent to keep an eye out for a young Anarchist. He knows about your assumed identity and lack of ticket, and while you give him the detonator he asks if you've found the dynamite? At which point the dynamite makes itself known with a bang. Game Over ____________________ The clock! The ticket sound comes from the conductor's seat, but not quite there... the clock is missing from the restaurant car, if you go and look for it. Go to the conductor's seat in the red sleeping car, and turn around to see a panel. If you waited until after Abbot invites you for a drink, you do this in private, otherwise you've got half the Express looking over your shoulder. You can close a little wooden bit to reveal the dynamite. Push up the cigar box to reveal the wires. Use a match to burn those wires, taking out the cigar box the panel. You can rotate the box to look at it; do so twice so you're looking at the back of the cigar box. Open the hinges, and you'll see the interior of the bomb. Use Tyler's message and put it between the relays. Bomb defused! ____________________ Alternative actions: Pull out the cigar box without burning the wires, open the cigar box from the front or try to destroy the bomb by hand will all result in the bomb exploding under your fingers. Game Over ____________________ In compartment B, you can Tatiana's failed attempts at goodbye letters to Alexei. So sad. In the smoking car, Abbot reveal himself to be not a businessman at all. He offers to clear your name in that nasty Irish cop business and tries to recruit you for the English side. When mrs. Wolff walks by, Robert excuses himself. You can talk to Anna in the hallway, then provoke another reaction by following her closely. She'll tell you you'll talk in the morning, but when you walk to your compartment, Robert won't want to sleep. Robert's got his own plans. Knock on Anna's door for long cutscene during which in the beginning everything is going just fine and then everything is going wrong. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.15 Several miles prior to Belgrad (Austria-Hungary) 26th July 4:40am -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blasted Serbians! Kronos gone, Serbians got their weapons, Anarchist plot foiled, girl obtained, everything was done! What the hell is this? They got what they were coming for, right? Last time you talked to Milos, he was friendly enough. Robert wakes up somewhere in the baggage car, hands tied. Pressing any directional button will make Robert assume a more comfortable position which he can use to turn around slowly. Press down and then up again to struggle some more and turn around in a good position. Now, you can interact with the floor to have Robert dump out his collection of matches and strike one to burn the ropes. You can now get up by going up. You may notice that Alexei's detonator, the master key and possibly the black beetle have been removed from your possession, along with Tyler's telegram you used to diffuse the bomb and the matches you used to burn the ropes. How do you stop four terrorists with an empty box of matches and a piece of paper? When you try to walk out, you'll be stopped by one of the Serbians, unarmed. Ivo is his name. He'll try to punch your lights out. You can take four punches before the fifth takes you down. Working Ivo to the floor also takes five punches. Keeping your cursor on the bottom half of the screen will have Robert avoid Ivo's punches; at the top half, you'll try to strike Ivo. Click to the left for a left-handed punch; to the right for a right-handed punch (both are equally strong). The best advice I can give you is to avoid, then quickly choose to punch. Only very rarely will Ivo get in a punch before you do, and you'll win the fight. Robert will always finish with a right-handed punch. With Ivo down, go further to rescue Anna. Depending on your actions, Robert either tells Anna about his theory (both Anna and Schmidt were set up to expose the Black Hand's weapon purchase so the Germany/Austria-Hungary alliance had an excuse for invading the Balkan), Robert makes a charming joke that has Anna kiss her savior before running off, or Anna will leave without much interaction. You'll appear in the green sleeping car. Doors 9 to 4 are locked. In an example of suboptimal game design, you know there's a gun in Schmidt's cigar case, but Robert will not give you the option of picking it up. In Alexei's room, Nietzshe's book is gone. In Tyler's room, the Firebird and the Scarab beetle remain untouched if you left it there (but you really shouldn't have, you're going to get into trouble later). Onto the red sleeping car. Now that the situation is dire, Robert will suddenly feel too good for crossing personal boundaries, and you cannot examine or open anything in Anna's compartment. Coudert's sketchbook is gone. In rooms C and D, nothing interesting is happening. The Obolensky compartments hold nothing for you. In compartment E, the last diary entry of the game can be found. The diary lies on the pillow of the top bed, and discusses the death of Alexei and the war. Facing the restaurant car, take the door to the left, which has access to the roof. You'll want to go to the front, towards the smokestack. ____________________ Alternative actions: Walk into the restaurant car like an idiot and watch how Vesna slices you up real good. Game Over ____________________ On the roof, you'll run across Salko, armed with a large crowbar. Also, you're on top of a moving train (though not just any train!). Salko's proficiency with the crowbar is impressive; only two hits with the thing and Robert's down. After three punches to Salko's face, you'll get the option of the open hand rather than the closed fist, and you'll be able to wrestle the crowbar from Salko, letting the young man fall in the process. Very shortly after Salko's drop, you'll hear a sword being unsheathed behind you if you chose to linger or move forward. Turn around immediately (or turn around after defeating Salko) to face Vesna, armed with a sword. Vesna's a killer with that sword; one strike and it's done for you. For every successful hit with the crowbar you manage, Vesna will perform one less attack before the tunnel becomes a problem for the both of you. She has two swings. She prepares a stab, you go downwards to avoid. You can choose to hit Vesna as a counter-attack. If Vesna tries an overhead slash, go up to block. After eleven (minus your # of crowbar hits) attacks, Vesna will suddenly lie flat on her stomach. Immediately press down to do the same, or you will get a tunnel in the neck. In the ensuing cutscene Robert will take care of Vesna for you. You can walk up to the smokestack and spy on Milos, who runs the locomotive and has one of the workers shoveling coal for him. There used to be two... ____________________ Alternative actions: Go check up on Milos twice. The second time, Robert will jump down and confront Milos. It seems he leapt into action after concluding from the Anna/Vesna deal that you were on the Austria-Hungary side and were probably going to screw him over in the arms deal. Anna shows up and kills Milos. You can pull the brake or not, but Anna will convince Robert that even though he wants to get to Jerusalem, taking the entire Express with him on a risky border crossing isn't the right thing to do. Robert Cath will be given a medal for stopping the hijack, but Rebecca's diary suggests that past that point, things don't go well for Cath. In addition, he never found out the culprit behind Tyler's murder, nor did he make it to Constantinople or Jerusalem. Game Over ____________________ Go back to the space between the red sleeping car and the restaurant, and just waltz right in there knowing nobody is behind the door. In a cutscene, it appears that all but Abbot and the Obolenskies go to the passenger cars, including the staff. Where Anna is, who knows. There's a lot of fun dialogue to be caught at this stage of the game, though none of it is important as far as continuing the game is concerned. A list: The trainmaster will instruct Coudert to keep all passengers in their compartments. Monsieur Boutarel will completely lose it, which is good fun. Mertens was in compartment C with the Boutarel family, but will leave to enter into compartment 4. From then on, he'll tell you to return to your compartment if you knock on the door. You can annoy Schmidt by knocking three times, which is fun 'cause he's still a bit drunk. Coudert will explain the situation to Rebecca and Sophie, then seat himself in compartment G. It's great fun to rap on the door op compartment G at least two times. The kitchen staff will discuss the situation at least once more. A - empty B - empty C - empty D - Boutarel (all three) E - Sophie and Rebecca F - empty G - Kitchen staff H - Coudert 1 - empty 2 - empty 3 - Schmidt 4 - Mertens 5 - harem? 6 - harem? 7 - harem? The harems is somewhere in those compartments, but won't respond to your knocking. Remember, they can't understand anybody and have lost their eunuch bodyguard Mahmoud to Serbian bullets. Eventually, the two sleeping cars will lapse into tense silence. It's time to do something Robert already knows he wants to do, but you don't yet. Lucky you got me! In the smoking car, if you haven't traded the black beetle for Francois' expensive whistle, you can find it lying around near the table near the clock. Or, where the clock used to be until Alexei used it to make a second bomb. Robert will still notice the empty space. Francois must've lost it in the confusion. In the restaurant car, the Obolenskies are in shock. Tatiana will mention how everybody back home is dead. Old man Obolensky will blame it on the Firebird. Though a lot of strange stuff is happening, at least this can be attributed to Tatiana being mentally damaged by the quick succession of Alexei's death and the hijacking by the Serbians and the old man's superstition. Before you proceed, make sure the Firebird is located in Max' cage and not anywhere on the passenger cars, you'll get in trouble for it later. Between the red sleeping car and the smoking car, you can now look down in the space between the two wooden doors to reveal the hook attacking the two cars together. Interaction with it will have Robert unhooking the passenger cars, making the Orient Express that much lighter and freeing most passengers from whatever plans Milos' has in store for them. At this stage, you'll have your final (and quite victorious) chat with herr August Schmidt. If Robert did not explain his theory to Anna Wolff earlier when he rescued her, his little speech will be somewhat of a surprise to you. If you never read August's letter in his comparment, the dialogue here will be different because Robert doesn't know about herr Schmidt's background. Time to stop Milos. Head up to the roof and go towards the smokestack. Leap down towards Milos, and a long cutscene. It seems Milos leapt into action after concluding from the Anna/Vesna deal that you were on the Austria-Hungary side and were probably going to screw him over in the arms deal. Anna shows up and kills Milos. Anna will then order the Slavic worker to stop the train, but Robert can't have that. He needs to get to Jerusalem. He's unlikely to be pursued in Serbia by those still after him for the Belfast thing. In the brief instance you get to act, click to the left once to find... some lever that makes the train go on, Robert seems to have more knowledge about steam trains than I do. Robert Cath will be given a medal for stopping the hijack, but Rebecca's diary suggests that past that point, things don't go well for Cath. In addition, he never found out the culprit behind Tyler's murder, nor did he make it to Constantinople or Jerusalem. ____________________ Alternative actions: If you do not let the train continue, the front half of the Orient Express will stop in Austria-Hungary, just short of the Serbian border. If you did not lose the passenger trains, something similar will happen as you are too heavy even if you do try to keep the train going. Robert Cath will be given a medal for stopping the hijack, but Rebecca's diary suggests that past that point, things don't go well for Cath. In addition, he never found out the culprit behind Tyler's murder, nor did he make it to Constantinople or Jerusalem. Game Over ____________________ After a long, exciting cutscene during which Abbot appears again and seems content to go along with it, you escape a Serbian general's train (likely the one sponsoring the Black Hand and the mastermind behind Tyler's plan to sell the Firebird). When done, you can examine the locomotive again for some fun (Da! We run train!) but nothing spectacular. You're on your Express route to Constantinople, you got the Firebird, Anna is waiting for you, all is well. Let's find Anna. She can be found in the baggage car near the locomotive, in the passenger seat. That's over the rooftops all the way to the end, back down, through both the smoking car and dining car, behind the curtain and just prior to the trainmaster's office there's a door to your left. Let the scene play out... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.16 Several miles prior to Constantinople (Asia Minor) 27th July 7:00pm -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey, looks like you got some action! Good for you. After Anna leaves, you can check your inventory; same as before. As soon as you enter the smoking car, life has a nasty surprise for you. Kronos and Kahina have taken Anna hostage. Crud. That's the deal with trains; your enemies will always know where you're going next. Luckily, you left the Firebird in Max' cage. ____________________ Alternative actions: If you were not so lucky and left the Firebird wherever on the passenger cars, Robert will say so and you will disappoint Kronos. Kahina does not like it when you disappoint Kronos. Game Over If you try to re-enter the smoking car without the Firebird, death by Kahina. Game Over ____________________ Go into Max' cage and retrieve the Firebird. It's approaching nighttime; a picture of the dead woman greets you should you look at it. Return to the smoking car only to find that the three have moved up into the restaurant car. Kronos will order you to open the Firebird. Do you still remember the sequence? The proper sequence will have you follow the journey of Grey Wolf, so: - Uluru (Australia), aqua - Stonehenge (England), blue - Himalaya (China), red - Easter Island (Chili), purple - Jerusalem (Ottoman Empire then, Israel now), green ____________________ Alternative actions: If you take too long, Kronos will grow restless. Kahina does not like it when Kronos grows restless. A shot is heard. Game Over ____________________ A scene will play in which Anna will play the violin for the Firebird. At gunpoint, no less. After Kronos has finally seen the Firebird in all its splendor, he is ready to take it with him. He orders you to close the egg. ____________________ Alternative actions: If you take too long, Kronos will grow scared with the hour growing late. A shot is heard. Game Over Do as Kronos says, and close the egg. Content, Kronos will leave, and take both the Firebird and Kahina with him. Not without gratitude, he gives you the advice of asking about the 'thirteenth tribe' when in Jerusalem. Robert embraces Anna, finally at the very last stop of the Orient Express and safe from all pursuers. Then, the Express explodes. From the island she was traveling to with Sophie, Rebecca recounts that nobody ever cleared up who was responsible, and that all aboard died in the explosion. Game Over ____________________ Rather than closing the egg, aggravate the Firebird further now that the sun is gone Blow that Scarab whistle, and Firebird will finally show its dark side. It will attack Kronos, then Kahina after she draws its attention. Before the Firebird can lunge at Robert or Anna, they are gone. The Scarab whistle scuttles away, a tiny clockwork automaton of its own. So this was the answer. The Firebird killed Tyler. He must've blown the whistle prior to sunrise between Paris and Robert boarding the train. The Scarab whistle scuttles into the hallway, found by Francois who did not know how extraordinary it really was. When he mentioned to his mother how the Scarab whistle died, he did in fact mean that the whistle had stopped moving. How was she to know? Mentally scarred, Tatiana Obolenskaya uses Alexei's lighter to, in her mind, stop more bloodshed from happening. Blowing up the Orient Express kills her grandfather, George Abbot and the Slavic worker on the locomotive. Max leaped out. Anna leaves you. She must report in Austria-Hungary. When she's done, she will come to Jerusalem after WW1. She will not be able to use the proposed travel plan for more than twenty years. So, in conclusion: compartment A, Vassili Obolensky, deceased compartment B, Tatiana Obolenskaya, deceased compartment C, Claude Boutarel compartment C, George Abbot, deceased compartment D, Mme. Boutarel compartment D, Francois Boutarel compartment E, Rebecca Norton compartment E, Sophie de Bretheuill compartment F, Anna Wolff compartment G, Milos Jovanovic, deceased compartment G, Vesna Savin, deceased compartment H, Salko Popivoda, deceased compartment H, Ivo Biskupovic, deceased compartment 1, Tyler Whitney, deceased compartment 2, Alexei Dolnikov, deceased compartment 3, August Schmidt, arrested compartment 4, Mahmoud Makhta, deceased compartment 5-8, harem Private car, Kronos, deceased Private car, Kahina, deceased The good ending... ********************************** 3.0 Loose ends ********************************** 3.1 Who killed Tyler Whitney? 3.2 Who is Robert Cath? 3.3 What's the deal with Robert's conspiracy theory? 3.4 Whuh... dreams? 3.5 What is the Firebird? 3.1 Who killed Tyler Whitney? The most obvious answer lies in the game's most complete ending, where you reach Constantinople and you don't die. When you blow the whistle on the Firebird after sunset, the Firebird functions not as a beautiful clockwork musical box shaped like the Firebird of Russian folklore, but as a weapon. Tyler Whitney was supposed to sell the Firebird to Kronos, but before he got around to it, he must have gotten curious. Tyler blew the whistle, the Firebird attacked and killed Tyler. The Firebird then curled up again, being found only moments later by Anna Wolff, who took the Firebird. There is one strange plothole here; Tyler was killed between leaving Paris (7:00 pm) and Robert Cath boarding the train (7:39 pm). That's quite late, but in July that's not quite nighttime. Blowing the whistle during the day should only have resulted in the music playing. An alternative theory would be that Tyler was, in fact, murdered with the Firebird. The only person, at that time, to understand the Firebird's dual nature is Kronos. Kronos could have instructed Tyler himself or Kahina to blow the whistle at the appropriate time, thus killing Tyler. Before the Firebird could be taken from Tyler's body, Anna Wolff took it away, prompting Kronos to enlist your help to find the Firebird again. But this is a more intricate and less plausible theory than the previous, accidental death, and still does not explain why the Firebird behaved like it did. In addition, there is no motive; Kronos was more than willing to pay the gold necessary (he gives the gold away for no reason in a bad ending), and as far as we know Tyler was willing to sell the Firebird; was even counted on to do so by various members of the Black Hand he swore an oath with. Note also that from various bad endings, we know for sure that neither Schmidt nor Milos is the culprit, since both pull the emergency brake in alarmed state when finding the body of Tyler. Anna Wolff had no reason to kill Tyler, and would not have known how to operate the Firebird. None of the other NPCs make any sense as the murderer. 3.2 Who is Robert Cath? When you play the game from start to end, and you choose to believe everything mentioned in the game that is not contradicted later, the only character to keep any secrets from you is Robert Cath. - Cuba Some sort of disagreement took place between Robert Cath and Tyler Whitney. Tyler was sympathetic to the Cuban cause, and tried to raise money back in America. Cuba gained official independence from the United States in 1902, too soon for Whitney to have been involved. Civil struggles following, and America returned to install a Governor from 1906 to 1908, which the Cubans were not happy about. Past that point up til 1914, Cuba was officially independent but America continued to meddle in Cuban affairs. Where you want to place Tyler is up to you; no further information about it is given. - The Belfast Murder In a newspaper article Robert carries around with him - a copy of which you can find in the newspaper in the smoking car during the 24th of July - you can read why exactly Robert Cath on the look-out for the police. Ireland was struggling for independence at the time, occupied by Great Britain. In a case not well-documented in the game, a policeman's body was found. Its main suspect was fleeing Ireland together with a man matching your description, but was later found dead. Quite late in the game, mr. George Abbot talks about how Robert really should not have helped the wounded man fleeing from the scene. You can interpret this as Abbot stating the truth, or you can see mr. Abbot painting the picture of what the 'truth' will look life if Robert decided to join the British secret service. - Hypnosis and other occult interests There are three moments during which Robert Cath gets into a troublesome situation he expertly diffuses with a long stare the game specifically points out by first showing Robert's eyes, then that of the other party. When old man Vassili has an attack, Robert calls him down by taking a good hard look in the man's eyes. When Anna Wolff's dog, Max, is as threatening to Robert as he is to everybody else, all it takes is an eye-to-eye moment to make the dog severely attached to Robert. Last but not least it's the ending during which Robert fixates his gaze on the 'dark' Firebird, which kills indiscriminately, to send it not at the closest foe (Robert himself) but at Kronos, in the corner. Given the fact that we already know that Robert delves in non-European medicine, it is not a strange leap towards hypnotism. Note that at the time, several practices now recognized as unscientific by western medicine were, at the time, still subject to serious research. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), author of the Sherlock Holmes stories and medical man of profession, was not above trying to speak with the dead, hypnosis and magnetics, an interest shared by a large segment of the medical professionals at the time. The quasi-real is a known interest of Cath; with this in mind, the unusual treatment of Vassili Obolensky, the "more your line than mine" bit from Tyler's telegram and possibly the manuscript in Jerusalem can be explained this way. - Jerusalem As the story progresses, we learn that Robert Cath has motives beyond escaping his pursuers and solving the mystery of Tyler's death. He wants to get to Constantinople badly, as he needs to travel to Jerusalem from there. He wants to get to Jerusalem because a man has a manuscript he wants to take a look at. In one of the two bad endings in Constantinople (you comply with Kronos' wishes, and he leaves with the Firebird), he tells you to inquire after the "13th tribe", but before Robert can pursue this lead, Tatiana blows up the Express. In addition, there is the signet ring Cath himself dismisses, but Anna seems to recognize. Since Robert dreams about the image at one point, it is unlikely he is being truthful about his lack of connection to the ring. In addition, the image appears during the game's opening, so it must have had some significance. Robert is truthful to Anna about going to Jerusalem; why lie about the ring? Jerusalem appears within the game as being the last stop of the Grey Wolf from the in-game Firebird legend. Clicking on Jerusalem's gem unfolds the Firebird. The poem cryptically describes Jerusalem as the place where the son of David built a temple, a reference to the First Temple built by Solomon. The 13th Tribe is likely a reference to the Biblical twelve tribes of Israel; though which tribes are included in this list is not handled with consistency in the Bible. Up to fourteen different tribes are mentioned throughout the Bible, since Joseph himself begot no tribe, his two sons did (though one of those is later left out where Joseph is named), Reuben lost his right as a tribe leader of a transgression, Levi's tribe never got any land but serves as temple servants, and Dan is left out in one list without any specific reason given aside form a remark in Genesis insulting the lineage of Dan. This is Biblical nitpicking though; symbolically, the 13th tribe would most easily be given to a group of Jews who do not trace their lineage to any of the twelve Biblical ancestors. The building on Cath's signet ring and in his dream reminds me, in architecture, to the tower of David as it stands in Jerusalem. In addition, it may be a representation of Solomon's lost First Temple which was destroyed. The manuscript in Jerusalem (in 1914 under Ottoman rule) makes me think, given the Biblical setting surrounding the case, of manuscripts such as the Q source or the Nag Hammadi scriptures and other gnostic texts that started to pop up in the area at that time. You can search the internet about those if you're interested, their nature is too complicated to summarize here. The truth is, since no further information is given, nothing definite can be said about these things. They could have served as an opening for the sequel, which would probably have been religious in nature as the Last Express was political. In section 4.0, I discuss the unfinished prequel 'Red Serpent', which features Robert Cath (and Tyler Whitney) five years prior to the events of The Last Express, and religious conspiracies and a certain ring DO make an appearance. 3.3 What's the deal with Robert's conspiracy theory? While snooping around in their apartments, Robert Cath learns that neither Anna Wolff nor August Schmidt are without their political agenda. Anna is an agent for the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Schmidt is reporting back to a German noble, mentioning how he is proud to serve the Fatherland. Schmidt's mission is to sell weapons to the Serbians; Germany, as an ally to Austria-Hungary, should NOT be sponsoring Serbian rebels. And while Austria-Hungary suspects that Schmidt is dealing with Serbians, they don't stop it but send Anna to investigate. Schmidt, when asked why a German would help the Serbians, does not respond with an answer. Robert concludes that Germany and Austria-Hungary are in cahoots about the deal. Their mission is to find a reason to invade Serbia. After the assassination of Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist, tension is rising. The plan was this. Schmidt sells weapons to the Serbians. A secret agent of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Anna Wolff, discovers this act of war. Schmidt is left to hang dry by Germany. With the Serbians exposed to the world as violent terrorists preparing to arm themselves for international conflict, the alliance would have sufficient reason to invade Serbia and to root out the Black Hand, the military secret society of which the murderer of Franz Ferdinand as well as the four Slavic rebels on the Express are a member of. While Robert explains Schmidt's part to Schmidt and the player after he has read Schmidt's letter, he does not necessarily explain Wolff's part to either her or us, which makes Cath's theory appear to fall out of the sky to some players. 3.4 Whuh...dreams? Dreams have a curious place in the Last Express, as they divulge information that the dreamers do not have or otherwise help the plot forward. A list: Robert Cath dreams about Tyler sitting up in his bed, removing an egg from his mouth and saying "Why don't you make it sing?" At this point, Robert does not know about the Firebird while the dream can only be explained with the relic in mind. In addition, his nightmare comes at the same time as Anna Wolff's nightmare, and the fact that they're awake on the same time is the only reason Robert will learn that the Firebird is sent to Tatiana; he would've never found it otherwise and would have died in Constantinople regardless of his actions otherwise. Vassili Obolensky, at first, has an attack mid-night where he dreams about a man coming to kill him, hands covered with black fur. Of course, he has just met Alexei that evening, and may suspect something wrong. But he has no reason to expect the events that will later transpire; Alexei is indeed after the man's life, but will be slain with the knife Vassili is asking for that night. When Robert steals the Firebird from the washroom next to Vassili's room, the old man wakes up. He recognizes Robert from his dream, urges him to take the Firebird with him, and say "maybe it will sing for you". Vassili knows about the existence of the Firebird and its curse as we will later learn, but what dream did he have about Robert? Why does he urge him to take it? Finally note that when Milos is running the train and Cath comes to free the passengers, Vassili will say "those passengers will never arrive in "Constantinople". He has reasons to be down at the moment, but he sounds very sure about the situation and Vassili has no reason to either know of Milos' plans or Cath's decision to abandon the passenger cars shortly after that point. 3.5 What is the Firebird? The Firebird must be placed in a tradition of musical boxes at the time. With the lack of musical media as we know it today, music was the monopoly of people playing it up until the invention of the musical box. Pricey and of no practical use, they quickly became a status symbol among the rich and famous of Europe, and those in a suitable position would pay great sums of money to help those skilled to invent ever more intricate musical boxes. Boxes with a little orchestra with moving parts on top of it, musical boxes that would play a turn every hour, boxes resembling large monuments, etcetera. The Firebird is a fictional relic, coming from the old Ottoman Empire. Its curse is somewhat well-known by those in the noble market; the Firebird means death. It's design was based on a Russian folk tale, which actually exists. I'll give a short transcript here, but you can read more on-line: The legend of the Firebird A brave hunter finds a golden feather in the forest. Despite his horse's warning that the feather will bring bad luck, the hunter bring the feather to the czar to gain favor. The czar orders the hunter to find the golden bird, lest he has the hunter killed. Crying, the hunter returns to his horse to bring the bad news, and the horse tells him the real bad luck is still to come. The hunter captures the Firebird and brings it to the czar, who thanks him for the catch and orders him to find a bride for the czar, lest he has the hunter killed. He has a specific princess in mind. Crying, the hunter tells the new mission to the horse, but the horse warns him that the real bad luck is still to come. The hunter rides his steed to a faraway country, finds the princess and gives her his foreign wine. She falls asleep, and the hunter takes her to the czar. The hunter is well-rewarded for his services, but the princess is very unhappy. The czar mentions how he wants to marry the princess, and she tells him she cannot marry without a bridal gown. It is located at the bottom of the sea at the end of the world. The czar sends the hunter away for the gown to be rewarded upon success or killed upon failure. Crying, the hunter returns to his horse, who mentions that once again, real bad luck is still to come. When the hunter finally arrives at the end of the world, he forces a lobster to get the gown from the sea. Succesfull in this endeavor, the hunter returns to the czar. The czarwena, still unwilling to marry the czar, mentions she will not do so unless a brave hunter bathes in boiling water for the czar, surely killing the hunter. The czar orders his hunter to do so. Crying, the hunter returns to his steed one last time, but the steed enchants the hunter so he will not die. The hunter takes a dip in the boiling water, but is transformed instead into a perfect picture of beauty and health. The czar, envious, also takes a dip in the boiling water, but is killed instead. With the czar gone, the hunter becomes czar instead and marries the princess, to live happily ever after. The End In the game, the legend has the hunter replaced with Prince Ivan, the horse with the Grey Wolf and all the stuff about bad luck and the mean czar removed. Kronos has a book about the Ottomam Empire (at some point lying around in his car) which details the Firebird relic. The relic is said to have caused the death of a maiden, since the egg displayed her face upon death; frightened, she threw the egg away, angering the king who killed her for the transgression. At least Vassili Obolensky knows about the Firebird's curse. The Firebird made its way to Serbia at some point, where 'the General', a leading man in the Black Hand, has it given to Tyler Whitney to sell it to buy weapons. From Kronos' investigion, we know that Tyler at first showed the Firebird to various art dealers in Paris. We know also that between the 20th and the 23th, a strange change in Tyler's attitude took place; at first he was forthcoming, he now seems guarded, but not unwilling to sell the Firebird. He suggests to make the trade on board of the Orient Express. Though there is no proof, I believe that during the period Tyler heard about the curse of the Firebird, and was unwilling to handle the Firebird personally until he knew more. He contacts a friend who deals in the strange and occult, a mr. Robert Cath to come meet him in Paris on the Orient Express and analyze the Firebird. Though with Cath not appearing on the Express, and Tyler pressed for time, he simply tries it out. A curse is, after all, merely a spinster's tale... The Firebird, at first, appears like a golden egg displaying the world. Several major cities are marked with a jewel. With knowledge of the legend of the Firebird as displayed in the game, one can open the egg by pressing the jewels in a certain order. Once opened, the Firebird responds to music with his own singing. During nighttime, however, the Firebird displays a darker side. The face on the egg is that of a dead woman. Blowing the accompanying Scarab whistle (or possibly any kind of music) will turn the Firebird into an automaton that kills anyone nearby. It responds to loud noises by redirecting its attention to its source, and it can be argued it responds to visual input as well. There is a severe plothole in the discussion about the Firebird. The above is what the game tells us is the case. However, the Firebird killed Tyler during daytime. In addition, Robert Cath can choose to blow the Scarab whistle during the night, and the Firebird will not respond with violence but with music. The plothole can be solved by arguing that the Firebird does not rely on 'time' but on visual input, that Tyler Whitney had the curtains closed and that Robert is always in well-lit areas when he attempts to awaken the Firebird, even at night. ********************************** 4.0 Red Serpent ********************************** Red Serpent is the name of the manuscript Jordan Mechner wrotein 2002; it can serve as a prequel to The Last Express. The story features both Robert Cath and Tyler Whitney, respectively 21 and 20 years old. Robert Cath comes to Paris to find his old heartthrob, Pandora, and his half-brother Tyler Whitney. The manuscript portrays Robert Cath as the older, more serious and more naive but more inquisitive of the two while Tyler Whitney serves mainly as a self-serving dandy. The mystery of the story revolves around religion, art and a big conspiracy orchestrated by the church. The mystery is almost identical to that of Dan Brown's DaVinci Code, though they were written at the same time. The Red Serpert (an evil society) and the Good Men (a good society!) quarrel over the centuries. The Red Serpent is after the Holy Grail. Pandora was sent, by her mother (agent of the Serpent) to uncover information kept by the Good Men. She succeeds, and the cover isn't blown until it's too late. Pandora is kidnapped by the Serpent. Cath figured it all out, and trail the Serpent, but after an attempt to rescue Pandora are captured instead. The Holy Grail is, in fact, proof of the continuation of Jesus Christ's bloodline. While the Serpent tries to dig up the proof (along with the body of Jesus Christ), Cath does some quick thinking and realizes that it's going to end badly. When a booby trap kills all members of the Serpent, Cath, Tyler and Pandora escape. In the aftermath, Robert obtains a ring from the Good Men and is asked to join, but he gives the ring to Pandora instead, who remains behind in Paris along (but not together) with Tyler. Mr. Mechner has said that he is glad the manuscript never came into fruitition as he is not pleased with everything; specifically, he would not have made Tyler and Robert half-brothers. If you want to accept the prequel as canon, you could conclude that Robert's signet ring is the same as the ring offered to him by the Good Men, and that the manuscript in Jerusalem has something to do with the Holy Grail as it is described in Red Serpent. ********************************** 5.0 Credits ********************************** I am severely indebted to many people, though none of them know it. This game has too many odds and ends for one person to discover, so I searched the world wide web for cutscenes I missed and other rare material from the game. The three easter eggs (juggling Mertens, Schmidt's naked pictures and the hidden photograph in the trainmaster's office) were not found by me. Neither were several cutscenes, including the ladies from E quarreling, an update in ms. Norton's diary, finding the whistle without trading the beetle for it, aggravating Mahmoud into a Game Over, letting Milos discover Tyler's body and most distressing of all, how to avoid police investigation by dumping Tyler's body during the night. Questions or comments? Additions to make, an error to report? E-mail me at djibriel at gmail dot com, and I'll update the document. Probably! ********************************** Disclaimer and legal necessities ********************************** This was written in 2010, by Djibriel, and is copyrighted by me. You are unauthorized to present this document, partly or whole, as written by somebody else as the authors of the respective bodies of text. You are unauthorized to change anything in this document for any other purpose than personal use without my explicit permission. All rights reserved.