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Casual Playthrough—Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek

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Warning Again—Spoilers from this Point On in the Playthrough/Thread

Some of these images (and comments as well) will be spoilers. If you haven’t finished the game, go no further.


Okay, here’s the timeline. It’s so spoilerish that I am going to put it in spoiler tags, even though this part of the thread doesn’t require it.

If anyone thinks it’s too much info, even despite the tags, I can always delete it. Since the storyline is revealed in pieces, some of this may be wrong – let me know if you disagree.


Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek—Timeline

Events that take place prior to the start of gameplay – some implicit, some from flashbacks, letters and journals, some from the bonus chapter.

Late 1700s? The town of Maple Creek, Vermont is founded. The the Preacher shows up. They build a church, the Preacher puts a demonic clapper on the bell. Using the bell, he supernaturally takes control of the community. Young girls start to disappear.

1820s (This part of the story is from the bonus chapter). Colonel Russell notices the disappearances in his time and starts to document what he can about the Preacher. He puts his notes in a safe place, knowing that his chances against the Preacher aren’t good, and hoping that someone will eventually come along who can defeat him. He guesses that the Preacher can’t be killed except with his own ritual knife. And he speculates that the Preacher can’t be defeated unless the bell with the demon clapper is destroyed.

1980 (This part of the story is also from the bonus chapter, though it’s alluded to in the main portion of the game). Richard Hamilton, a private detective, and his fiancée Emily plan a vacation in Maple Creek. Emily arrives first. She is kidnapped by the Preacher. Hamilton arrives, and is directed to the ruins of Colonel Russell’s house, where Emily has been staying, by the Preacher. Hamilton discovers Colonel Russell’s notes (the Preacher almost certainly didn’t know about this hidden cache of information). Hamilton then attempts to save Emily and fails. The Preacher, who thinks he now has Hamilton trapped, leaves him underground near the altar. Hamilton manages to escape.

A few years later. Richard Hamilton returns to Maple Creek and takes up residence in a cabin outside of town. He studies how to defeat the Preacher. He is unsuccessful, but he isn’t captured or killed either.

Oct. 2011 (The bulk of this part of the story is told in flashback or written form during the main portion of the game). Kate Burrows visits Maple Creek, supposedly on vacation, but really to see her boyfriend who lives on a local farm. She is captured by the Preacher who plans to sacrifice her. The Unnamed Heroine (UH), a police detective, is sent to find her and figure out what is going on. The UH finds the sacrificial knife and is closing in on the Preacher. The Preacher overpowers the UH and brings her to the sacrificial mound, where he threatens to kill her.

The UH manages to free her hands and pushes the Preacher down into the underground hole where the altar is located. The UH runs away from the sacrificial mound, back into town.  A storm begins to ravage the area. The UH gets in her car and attempts to leave, but the wind blows debris against the windshield and she crashes into a tree. As she gets out of the car, she encounters Kate’s boyfriend.

Kate’s boyfriend has (probably stolen) Hamilton’s notes and offers them to the UH. As he does so, both he and the UH are struck by lightning and the satchel with the notes is blown upwards against the Boarding House, where it lodges near a window.  Both the UH and Kate’s boyfriend are momentarily knocked unconscious.

The Preacher has expended so much of his supernatural power (healing himself from the fall, and possibly from the power needed to create and direct the storm) that he can’t get out of the underground altar area. Using his mental powers, he activates the church bell, which calls the Maple Creek residents to the church where he can draw power from them (his “puppets”) to restore his supernatural strength. The residents soon leave as a group to go to the church.  Using the people to restore the Preacher’s power takes time—if he draws too much from them too quickly, they will all go insane and be useless to him in the future.

     
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The point at which gameplay starts in the main portion of Enigmatis: The Ghosts of Maple Creek.


When she regains consciousness the UH has no memory of what has just happened to her, possibly because of the lightning strike.  She goes to the Boarding House where she is staying, and finds that the storm has destroyed much of the Boarding House and the evidence. An old man, controlled by the Preacher’s bell, enters the room and steals the ritual knife. He leaves it at the church to be found later by the Preacher.

The UH goes down onto the street, where she sees the boyfriend, who has managed to make it as far as the street in front of the Boarding House after the lightning strike. He is in his right mind at first, but soon the bell takes over and his eyes begin to glow. He is wounded and too weak to follow the other residents of Maple Creek to the church. The UH treats his wound and then restarts the investigation and gathers more evidence.

Richard Hamilton comes into town, examines the corpse in the basement, writes a message on the evidence wall that the UH should focus on the bell, and follows the UH from a distance, sometimes peeking in at windows to see how she’s doing. He later carries Kate’s boyfriend back to his cabin, where he locks him in the cellar. The UH manages to destroy the bell – one of the supports has been weakened over the years. She disables the bell quickly enough that the Preacher hasn’t had time to regain his full strength. She begins to remember some of what happened before she was struck by lightning. She finds the ritual knife where it has been left in the church and brings it back to her room. She locates Hamilton’s cabin and has a brief conversation with him. Hamilton gives her an item that will allow her to get into the church basement.

The UH finds Kate Burrows tied up in the church basement and frees her. She sends Kate to wait at the gas station just outside of town. After Hamilton leaves his cabin, the UH finds Kate’s boyfriend locked in Hamilton’s cellar and frees him. She sends Kate and the boyfriend away in the boyfriend’s truck to notify police in the next town. Around this time, Hamilton sneaks back into the UH’s room and steals the ritual knife.

Finding her way back to the ritual sacrifice mound, the UH goes below and discovers the weakened Preacher there. Hamilton shows up and threatens the Preacher. The UH, who still doesn’t fully understand who or what she’s dealing with, wants the Preacher alive for a trial. Hamilton wants to sacrifice the Preacher with the ritual knife on his own altar, thinking that it’s the only way to stop him. The UH destroys the altar, which is vulnerable because it has begun to crack. The altar explodes, letting loose the power from the previous sacrifices. The UH is again rendered unconscious. When she regains consciousness, the Preacher has escaped and Hamilton is also gone. Hamilton writes to tell her that he still has the ritual knife and hopes someday to use it on the Preacher, wherever he may be found.

     
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The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Excellent and very thorough summary, Becky!

     

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I agree, an excellent summary that contains many details that I either missed or had quickly forgotten about myself.

There is one thing however, you say that UH is a police detective, but I got the impression that she is actually FBI and not local police. I don’t know if I’m correct or if it is ever explicitly said, but the fact that the first game takes place in New England and the second somewhere on the west coast, is as far as I’m concerned a strong indication that she is indeed an FBI agent.

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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I’m not sure UH is FBI, but she’s not police. I don’t remember what her computer access card read, but I was under the impression that she was a detective working for some sort of national detective agency.

She obviously didn’t have either police or FBI powers to arrest someone. If she did, she would have arrested the preacher, used the chain to bind him while he was in a weakened state, and waited for the police to arrive. And, for that matter, she would have arrested Hamilton for attempted obstruction of justice.

Although, as always, had she successfully done that we would not be playing the second game. Smile

     

For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.

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I just checked and came across this:

So apparently UH works for the Special Duties Unit in Hong Kong also know as the Flying Tigers… or perhaps they just deliberately don’t what to reveal who she actually works for just like they never reveal her name.

It could stand for something like Supernatural Demonic Unit - Supernatural Detective Unit - Special Detective Unit - Sacred Detective Unit - Seraph Detective Unit… Either way, I now believe that it must be some kind of secret government agency specialising in demonic or supernatural investigations! We all know that secret government agencies all have three letter acronyms, and why else should they not just tells us that she is police, FBI or a private detective?

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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As for what kind of detective our UH™ is, I also figured she was FBI, but frankly, whether she’s FBI or just a detective with a national detective agency (or whatever else agency) is imo irrelevant to the story. I won’t lose any sleep over this.
We have bigger fish demons to fry… Cool

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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On the main menu for Maple Creek, the detective is identified (where the player name goes) in the bottom left-hand corner. In this case, I chose “Unnamed” as a name. Behind the ID is a badge. For Maple Creek, it indicates that the detective is affiliated with city police, though it obscures the city.


On the main menu for Mists of Ravenwood, the badge has changed. It indicates that “Unnamed” is now a private detective. So she must have resigned her job to go after the Preacher.


BTW—Izno—my vote for “SDU”—Special Detective Unit.

     
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So it was staring us right in the face every time we start the game, and Becky was the only one that noticed the badges

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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