Fathers and Sons

Fathers and Sons is the fourth main case in The Sinking City, following Quid Pro Quo and preceding Nosedive.

After speaking to Fred in the EOD's basement at the Fish Market, you are charged with smuggling him out of the city in exchange for the location where Professor Harriet Dough is being kept.

Fred told me he knows where the EOD is keeping Professor Harriet Dough, the leader of the lost expedition I am seeking. He won't tell me the location until I arrange safe passage for him out of the city. He suggested using the local smuggling ring.

He believes that the smugglers communicate secretly using advertisements for Salvation Harbor in the local newspaper. Most likely it's a new message each week.

Reed has to look into the Oakmont Chronicle's archives to find such an advertisement (After the Flood - Advertisements - Salvation Harbor). He finds an advertisement entitled Toothless Bob's wake:

The time has come to send Toothless Bob on his final journey - this time to the Seven Oaks Bar at the crossroad of Calmshore St and Salvation Rd, in western Salvation Harbor.

Part 1 - Seven Oaks

Charles speaks with the bartender at the mentioned location. As a newcomer, getting trusted is not easy and the bartender asks for a favor to prove his worth. You have to find a courier that had to deliver a package some time ago. He gives Reed the last known address : a house on Levi Coffin Avenue, not far from the crossroad with Marsh Avenue in western Grimhaven Bay.

"One more thing : if you don't find him, bring the package back, will ya ? It's a crate full of "the water of life" if you catch my drift."

Upon arriving at the Courier's Final Destination Charles will be welcomed by several wylebeasts. After taking care of them, he investigates the basement. He find wheel tracks left by something heavy, a blood stain, a can of gasoline and a burnt body. Next to the crates covered by a sheet, there is a wall he can go through using his Mind's Eye. Inside is the crate of whiskey for the bartender. He can now use his retrocognition to figure out what happened.

"Someone was looking for a crate here... and was brutally killed. The crew that did it were headed up by a guy in a wheelchair."

Reed comes back to the Seven Oaks to report to the bartender and bring the crate. The bartender freaks out upon learning of what happened in the house. He says "he (the Boss) might think I was in on it". If Charles tells him it's not his problem, the bartender tells him he's wrong, as the Boss is the only man who can smuggle out people. He then gives Charles a paper with instructions, describing a rendezvous point alley on Windmill Ave, between Octopus Ave and Skipper Rd, southern Salvation Harbor. There is also a password : the question asked will be "What does one do with a dog ?" and the password goes "The dog is rabid, so it must be killed.".

Part 2 - Smuggler's hideout

After providing the password Reed is led to the Smuggler's Hideout where he meets the boss of the operation, who turns out to be Brutus Carpenter. Reed presents himself and his aim. Brutus accepts, as he knows you for working for Throgmorton, but there is a price : someone had tried to kill him a week ago by organizing his cremation, and he wants to know who. He had woken up at the crematorium rolled in a carpet with a tag on his toe and covered in rancid slime. When he came back home, he saw someone "wearing my face and walking out my front door, like all was well with the world". He thus decided to hide and gather a company until he had discovered what happened. He thinks the instigator must be someone close to him. He didn't contact his son Graham, as he doesn't want to expose himself.

Before leaving, Charles can investigate Brutus' hideout. He discovers bullet holes on the wall, a bloodied rag and finally a woman's dead body in the basement. When asking Brutus about this, he says she didn't die by his order and that the guilty have been severely punished, as he himself doesn't hurt women and children.

Once all the evidence has been collected, Reed heads to the crematorium, situated in St Botolph's Cemetery, corner of Wayne Rd and Philips St, in southern Reed Heights. As the cemetery is cut off by water, a boat is required.

Part 3 - The crematorium

On the first floor of the basement, Charles find the Crematorium registry on a desk. A certain Jack White had to be cremated urgently. There are also the crematorium keys. The keys open the door at the end of the corridor, which leads to the lower floor.

Reed finds a big amount of putrid slime in this part of the basement. A bloodstained shovel is laying on the ground in front of a locked door (examine both sides of the shovel), of which the lock can be broken. In this room, slime is pouring out of the wall, and somebody had tried to clean one of the mortuary tables with no effect.

In retrocognition, Charles finds out that this Jack White, namely Brutus, was brought to the crematorium by a group who had a deal with the worker. Brutus woke up before the cremation, knocked out a man and escaped. The man on shift is James Warren, suffering from a head injury and requiring urgent treatment. The next step is thus Saint Mary's Hospital.

Part 4 - Hospital

In the hospital's archives (Patients - After the Flood - Surgery), you find a document that states his bed is on the second floor of the hospital.

Reed asks James about the people from the group who kidnapped Brutus. He pretends he doesn't know, and that his head was hurt from falling down the stairs. He admits he knows when you tell him that you've met James White, but Charles needs to threaten him to learn that the people were priests.

"They were talking about The Lord of the Woods or something. Maybe from an old Oakmont church ? That's all I know, I swear !"

Part 5 - Carpenter Manor

Charles comes to investigate at the manor. As he needs to enter without causing alarm, he asks for work to the the worker assuring the distribution of free food in front of the manor. Reed is charged with bringing a sack of potatoes laying in the basement. The sack is gone, and Charles tracks it to a man who stole it and is now being attacked by several Stygians. Reed saves him and asks him why he stole. The man explains that his family is starving.

Charles tells him to stay there and goes back to the manor. He tells the vigil about him, and offers to go talk to his boss for him. The man accepts and Reed thus gets the opportunity to go talk with Graham Carpenter. Looking around in the house, you find a note on a locked door.

Don't let Papa Brut have the keys to the room. He's already lost them twice around the house !

Charles can look for the keys, which are in the fridge downstairs. Inside, you find the fake Brutus, who looks like him but looking younger. On the table is a picture of him kissing Robert Throgmorton.

"Huh. Weren't you the one who called Robert an ape-lover, Brutus ?"

There is also an empty bottle with chinese characters on it. In the safe is a page of Brutus' diary in which is written Brutus' desire for eternal life and his plans to obtain it through the High Priest of an "age-old" church. Graham is in his office. Reed observes his war uniform, finds a Letter from Boston thanking Graham for saving his life in battle, a bible revealing a scene with the Mind's Eye, and a photograph of Graham and Johannes van der Berg in Paris on the side of the wardrobe.

The stealing incident reported, Graham kindly says he does not take offense and that the man can keep what he stole to feed his family, wondering why he didn't simply ask for it. He also offers to give him some medicine. Graham comes off as a nice man who wishes to help the population as much as he can.

Going into the Mind Palace, Charles thinks about looking into history books about this old church. He thus takes off to the library using the archives there (Religion - 17-19th century - Local) he finds a document entitled Prayer to the Heavens which provides the address of the next destination: The Redemption Church, located in central Salvation Harbor on Marsh Avenue between Polaris Road and Old Church Road.

Part 6 - Redemption Church

Hidden statues at the Redemption Church

The church door is locked but a blow easily breaks the lock. The inside looks like of a normal church, but the Mind's Eye reveals disturbing things. Using it on the two statues on either side of the altar will reveal their true form : a hideous leech-like monster. Using it on the altar itself will reveal its inside, making Charles lose his sanity. He has to fight the hallucinations, taking the form of wylebeasts (note : they do not go away if you replenish your sanity).

Another statue is found upstairs. At the top of the stairs leading to the basement Reed finds a Note from the church describing a plan to 'persuade' the mayor. In the basement, a lone Stygian is lurking. On the floor, at the end of a trail of papers is a Dropped note describing the churches infiltration of the Oakmont police department. The same putrid slime from the crematorium can be found, as well as a bloodied corpse in front of a locked door, holding keys and laying next to a Priest's diary.

I burned the seductive witch, my daughter, my cursed seed, but she came back. How long will the Almighty test my faith ? (...) They hanged me, their father, but not for long. That night I was born again - by my dear daughter !

A diving suit and a trapdoor lead to the depths below Oakmont. Reed uses his retrocognition again. The flock had been praying.

The stars are aligned, and a new turn of the Cycle begins ! The time has come to return to the Mother's womb, and we shall be reborn, brothers and sisters !

They took all the documents they could, charged some members to take several bodies to the crematorium, then dived. Reed will need their records to learn who betrayed Brutus, so he has to find them underwater. The pillars with an eye drawn on them lead to the cave where they are hiding. Charles enters and talks to the tattoed man standing near a lectern.

"Our eyes infest this city. Our hands, too. We fill young Graham with our words, and soon he will be hollow. (...) His house is divided. It cannot stand. The young must succeed the old, as new shoots rise from decay. (...) Our growth shall choke the sun. The veins we open will seed crimson blossoms. The Fecund Mother grants new life. You should have stayed above."

Fecund Mother

A boss fight ensues : Reed has to beat the Fecund Mother and its flock. It shoots balls of slime and summons wylebeasts. Once it's done, the investigation can continue. The book on the lectern is the Songs of the Horned Woods:

Ia ! We'll feed the Daughter of the Woods so she devours the weak flesh. Ia ! Shub-Niggurath ! A mortal man is allowed to touch the womb of the Life. Ia ! A mortal man is allowed to be reborn in a new form. Ia ! A mortal man will gain a thousand faces, a thousand eyes, and a thousand vessels for his mind.

There is also a wheelchair in a pool of slime, near to A letter from the Church saying that Brutus had refused the gifts of the Church. The flock thus needed Graham to get rid of his father for the streets to be opened for them. After combining the clues in the Mind's Palace, it is time to take a decision : who needs to lead the Carpenter family ? Either a second chance for Brutus or trust that Graham can resist the cult.

Charles tells the news to Brutus. He's shocked, but Reed reminds him of their deal and he ensures him that he will keep his end of the bargain tomorrow night, and to tell Fred to be ready. Charles thus goes back to the Fish Market. Fred tells him he has arranged a meeting with a high-ranking member of the EOD : Ebernote Blackwood. He says that he surely knows where Dough is being held. He gives Reed the address of the rendezvous, warning him that Ebernote is expecting him and not Charles.

Ending this case launches Nosedive.

After completing this case, should Reed have sided with Brutus a newspaper clipping will appear in his room entitled Carpenter heir dead. Should Reed have sided with Graham a clipping entitled Brutus Carpenter retires! will appear instead.

Trivia

• If Charles chooses to side with Brutus, after he picked up the newspaper 'Carpenter heir dead' in his room bulletin board, there will be a cutscene of Graham's ghost walking toward Charles, hug him, then disappear.
• If Charles chooses to side with Graham, when Charles is entering the Carpenter Manor in Self-Defense, there will be a cutscene of Charles seeing Brutus's body about to being burn in the crematorium, but suddenly changed into Charles's body. Then Charles starts to catch the flame, feeling he is getting burn.