Nosedive

Nosedive is the fifth main case in The Sinking City, following Fathers and Sons and preceding Deal with the Devil.

Flooded office building

Fred set up a meeting for Charles Reed with Ebernote Blackwood, in a flooded office on Sam Reed St between Innsmouth Road and Oak St, in central Reed Heights.

Inside the building, Charles gets attacked by members of the KKK. Once they are cleared, the following evidence is can be found :

• an Innsmouther hanging from the ceiling, with a Note of warning reading : "We have warned you, yet still you return. This is our final message - go back underwater, or die. Reed Heights is under our protection. The police won't help. No one will." At his feet are written the words "GET OUT LEAVE NOW".
• another Innsmouther laying dead on the floor, a knife through his face. The knife can be examined.
• after examining the knife, Mind's Eye leads Charles to the next body, laying in a pool of blood with a note in his hand entitled "To Professor Dough" :

"Dear Professor Dough,

I appreciate your quick response. It's unfortunate that meeting in person would implicate us both. Your hallucinations do indeed sound unusual, and the Asylum hacks wouldn't be able to make any sense of it. But I can. Just recently, I've read about a certain phenomenon that contains commonalities to these visions - at a later date I will inform you about my findings. Keep me updated about any new fits you experience. And please, stay safe. It is absolutely paramount that you do.

Kind regards, E.B."

• Mind's Eye continue to a book lying on the floor, called Translation notes : "C.A. XXIV "The One savior will seal the gates." N.E.X. MMCIII "Hundreds will fall, while one succeeds." A.M.U. MCXXI "The will of the One will break the cycle." D.M.I. LXXII "For there can be only One." J.R.T. XCVI "One to pass through..." "
• right above this book, a map of Oakmont pierced by bullets

The events unfolded as such :

1. Innsmouthers inform Blackwood that they're under attack.
2. Blackwood surrenders to the KKK assailants, asking for his people to leave in return.
3. The rest of Blackwood's team is killed to show that the Order is not welcome in this part of Oakmont.
4. The KKK members leave with Blackwood.

The meeting place was attacked. Ebernote was carried off, while his escort's bodies were left as a warning.

Oakmont Police Department

Reed has to search the archives for similar occurrences of violence against Innsmouthers.

On Fishfaces not welcome, the search is (Crimes > Violent crimes, Subjects > Suspects, Evidence > Instruments of crime) but other combinations may work too, this reveals a document entitled The Orion Club:

"Case 2329734 - felony lynching. Suspects : Z. H. Comstock, C. Borshoff, unidentified accomplices. Confirmed victims : 8 males with Innsmouth syndrome. Status : closed by public demand. Category : homicide. District : Reed Heights.

Dec 9 - Suspects apprehended at the Orion Club (St. Michael's Rd, south of University St, Central Advent), ties to KKK confirmed.

Dec 11 - Case closed by public demand, suspects released."

The Orion Club

Upon entering the building, Charles has to defend himself against wylebeasts. The door on the ground floor is locked. In the basement, he then meets a wounded KKK guard. He tells Reed that Ebernote is responsible for bringing in the creatures. When asking what is going on, he tells him to go see the "Wizard" upstairs. Reed can decide to help the man or not. Behind him, Reed can use the Mind's Eye on the wall and reveal a prison cell with a dead Innsmouther inside.

Using Mind's Eye again by the corpse leads to the ground floor through a hole in the ceiling, behind the locked door. A note on a table has the KKK orders :

"Ebernote Blackwood is behind on his rent. There have been enough warnings - send men to make an example of his operation. Make it look good for the newspapers - they are fishfaces, after all.

P.S. See what he was up to while you're at it. If Blackwood's trustworthy, I'm gosh darned Teddy Roosevelt."

Climbing on this table allows access to the upper floor, where several more wylebeasts appear. Several clues are found in this room :

• torture tools
• a dead KKK member on which Mind's Eye can be used, revealing that the tools were used on Blackwood to write a confession
• a note by the corpse entitled "The confession".
• a nickel key right by this note
• a strange glyph painted on the wall of the bathroom

More wylebeasts spawn when leaving the room, and the lock on the staircase door can be broken. In the room at the top floor, Charles is stopped by the Imperial Wizard Gordon Meyer. He tells Reed that Blackwood is the one who summoned the creatures before escaping, betting on him returning back to his hideout. If Charles Reed asks the Wizard for a magic trick, he and his guards attack.

Blackwood's Hideout

The hideout is in western Grimhaven Bay, on Deepshore Rd between Skipper Rd and Marsh Ave. Entering the building, Reed is struck by a vision, in which he sees a Lethian. He pulls out his gun, which disappears as well as the creature upon shooting.

After a good dose of anti-psychotics, Reed begins to investigate the hideout. He finds :

• signs advertising "Deep Shore's Soup Kitchen"
• a clean bed with crumpled sheets, recently slept in
• a pot on the stove which smells like fish soup, as well as plates
• a map of Oakmont with pins
• crates full of fish, seemingly a few days old
• a book on a lectern

From the map, Mind's Eye leads to the basement, through a hidden wall, which reveals two KKK members on the ground, their throat slit. The chain of events is then :

1. The KKK members are killed in the basement.
2. Blackwood and other members looking at the map. He tells them to go ahead while he speaks to the others.
3. Blackwood is behind the lectern, telling them it is time to strike down the false prophets of the Order and to take Harriet Dough back.

Blackwood's going after Harriet Dough. Took a small army with him. Just need to figure out where he went...

As Ebernote took his men "into the sea", Charles sees that only one pin on the map is on the coast, the address being in western Salvation Harbor, at the end of Pembroke Ln. At this location, called Calmshore Marina, Reed finds a suit and then dives.

Underwater cavern

Once again, Charles follows the white chemical lamps. On his way, he is attacked by tentacles, as well as a deep-sea creature.

When entering the cavern, he finds a corpse riddled with bullets. Further down the path, he is attacked by Innsmouthers dressed in cult clothes. On either side of the chamber there are sections of the cave blocked off by metal bars, behind which are women chained to the walls. In the middle of the cavern there is what looks to be an altar atop a clutch of eggs, upon examination Reed remarks "ugh, these look like they'll hatch soon". At the end of the chamber, on top of the stairs, he finally meets with Ebernote, who asks him why he is here. When requesting Harriet's whereabouts, Blackwood says she must fulfil a purpose. He tells Reed that she is one of the Chosen, and that only she can avert the tragedy which is close to happen, as she is the only one remaining. This tragedy would come from beneath the city, and is represented on frescoes in the cavern, which Blackwood has studied.

Following the path, Charles encounters several walls to be passed through using the Mind's Eye.

1. First fresco : Since dark aeons before the age of man, Cthygonnaar lies beneath the ground. In that eldritch prison rests the Dreamer's Hidden Daughter, bound to never leave.
2. Second fresco : But there are those who would free the Daughter, if the Dreamer's Seed would only pass to Her. Each turn of the cycle those carrying the Seed are drawn to Cthygonnaar, driven by hidden visions.
3. Third fresco : The Seal of Cthygonnaar will open the way. Many will try and perish. When the stars are right, and the Dreamer stirs in his house, one will succeed. The Daughter shall be freed, and from her swollen womb the Dreamer shall spawn once more.

After traversing the walls, Reed finally finds Prof. Dough. When Charles tells her that he's come to rescue her, she answers :

Don't you understand ? It's all in my hands now. There is a cycle. This has all happened before. She wants to be free, but she must not be... or else it all ends.

Charles asks about the cycle. Harriet says that it always begins with a great flood, threats rising with the sea which divides our world from the one below.

When the sea rises, the gates -- the gates (of Cthygonnaar) ! Neither opened nor closed, only waiting !

She tells Charles that they must be one or the other by the cycle's end. She says that the seal may close the gates forevermore and refuses to leave with Reed. Only the Chosen ones, those led by the visions, which she's had for a long time, may influence the gates. Charles can ask her to describe her visions.

Horrors. Nightmares alive. I see reality... torn. Rotten. The things below. And water. So much water. Water is death.

Reed talks about his own visions and the fact that they are the reason that brought him to Oakmont and her. She does not understand, says there can only be one of them. The discussion closes and now is the time to inspect the Mind Palace to link the new clues. A choice needs to be made :

Only one may survive

Only one may survive : The Prophecy says there will be many Chosen, but only one savior. Those that fail will die.

Harriet and I are both Chosen. Both of us are plagued by these nightmarish visions, both destined to seal the evil under the city. Yet the prophecy says only one of us may live. Too much is at stake to take any risks

Choosing this option Reed can speak to Harriet telling he will be the one. After this conversation she becomes aggressive and Reed must kill her. After she is dead he can take the seal. Upon reaching for the seal Reed faints as Ebernote Blackwood approaches from behind. Reed then has a vision of himself being tied to a bed. He sees a second himself banging on the wall then being pulled back by black tentacles. The Reed on the bed turns his head to see a pile of syringes laying on the nightstand. Johannes van der Berg then walks towards him, turning into a Lethian then into Johannes again. Charles lays his head back on his pillow and then wakes up in his real bed at the Hospital of St. Mary, where Johannes is indeed standing by his side.

Only one may remain

Only one may remain : The Prophecy says there will be many Chosen, but only one savior. The others will try and fail.

Harriet Dough and I are both Chosen, and if the Prophecy is true, only one of us can succeed. But damn the risks - she has suffered enough already. I must save her.

Harriet is still against leaving, saying she needs to complete her mission, but Reed argues that she cannot complete anything if she is dead. She ends up agreeing but says they need to take the seal with them. Here Charles can reach for the seal.

As he touches it, he begins flailing his arm around then faints. We then see Ebernote Blackwood standing behind him. Then the vision continues just as with the other choice, ending up in St. Mary's Hospital.

Trivia

• The Z. H. Comstock mentioned in the police archive is a reference to the character Zachary Hale Comstock from the Bioshock series.