Ortgeist - Act 2

Act 2: Overview

After the conclusion of Act I, new rooms appear, this time in Osaka Garden on Wooded Island. While the earlier rooms were life-sized, these are doll-size. An expanded soundwalk is made available, allowing players to listen in these rooms as they did in Act I. Where Act I allowed players to familiarize themselves with the game, Act II focuses on intricate puzzle-solving and further developing the narrative.

Plot: Stuck in the Garden

Having either been driven into Osaka Garden or gone willingly, the furniture must now adjust to its new surroundings, acquaint themselves with new neighbors, and defend themselves from the threats against them, and there are many threats. Since they arrived in Osaka, several pieces of furniture have been damaged, and the culprit is unknown. Has a bitter outdoors spirit from Act I followed them? Are the spirits in Osaka turning against them? Or is some other, unknown enemy lurking in their midst? Meanwhile, the Osaka Garden spirits, though not openly hostile, eye the furniture with distrust. Still guided by the cult and an expanded soundwalk, players can strengthen the furniture, helping it to form an alliance with its new neighbors, or to make new enemies. The act culminates with another cult ritual, this one inspired by Japanese tea ceremonies. The ritual aims to discover who has been terrorizing the furniture,and if it was driven out in Act I, help it to escape.

Live Event: A Mad Tea Party

The second act concludes with a cult ritual inspired by Japanese tea ceremonies; when players arrive for the ceremony, however, they find the tea pavilion in a state of disorder, and all of the rooms with unsolved games totally destroyed. The tea ceremony must go on, but with greater urgency. With one of the cult members acting as a medium to the spirits, players must ask questions to discover who the furniture killer is. Questions must be yes-or-no, and are governed by further restrictions which players must discover as the ritual proceeds. The spirits finally reveal that Wedge, one of the leading members of the cult, has been attacking the furniture. When confronted, he announces that he has summoned the Bloop, the deranged genius loci of Lake Michigan, to destroy the spirits once and for all. The wind picks up, sand and water begin to blow into the pavilion.

Narrative Events and Puzzles

Reverse Spring Cleaning
Akaname, driven out of his beloved filthy bathroom, has settled in the rafters of the tea pavilion in Osaka Garden, hoping they will make a suitably cluttered attic. Unfortunately, despite Akaname’s best efforts, his new home is practically free of clutter. Finding filth to fill his attic is straightforward enough, since damaged furniture and dust bunnies are present in other rooms—the hard part is getting it into the rafters of the pavilion. Complicating matters, Chaji, the spirit of the pavilion, isn’t thrilled about being filled with trash. To keep Akaname happy, players will need to create a rope ladder so they can carry junk up to the attic. Akaname can try to provide hints, but players will have a much easier time if they can convince Chaji to help them. Using a cult member as a medium, players have the opportunity to negotiate with Chaji; if the furniture finished Act I on good terms with the outdoor spirits, they may also turn back to them for help—maybe there’s a rope mixed up in all the junk under the kitchen sink

How Is a Raven Like a Writing Desk?
That’s what Sae, the spirit of the bridge in Osaka Garden, wants to know. Examining the origami books in the library that has appeared on the bridge, players find that question written on their pages, one letter at a time. By offering creative answers (maybe the library could use a very small copy of the collected works of Edgar Allen Poe?), players can convince Sae that her interests are not so opposed to the furniture’s after all, at which point she reveals another set of riddles, whose answers lead to an origami raven and instructions on how to fold an origami desk. Unfold the raven, refold it into a desk, and Edesia is back in business—not in the form she would prefer, but it’s better than nothing.

Home and Garden
Too short on space to create another bedroom, Min settles for being a coat in the closet just outside the garden’s entrance, getting uncomfortably cozy with the tree spirit Kodama. Rummaging through pockets, players discover some odd items—an address written on a scrap of paper, a receipt from a plant nursery with “GO SOUTH” scribbled on the back. Following the advice on the receipt, players continue to walk south through Wooded Island, eventually receiving further guidance from sound clues. Eventually they discover, oddly enough, a box of stationary hidden in the woods, complete with stamps. Putting two and two together, they mail a letter to the address they found earlier; unsure of what to write, they try to explain their situation and ask for advice. A few days later, a response arrives in the park: a package from Loretta Porter, containing several garden gnomes. Clothing the gnomes in the coats, players are able to provide Kodama with some personal space and Min with some personal contact.

Texas Stovetop Massacre
Kiki has found a new home on the hearth of the tearoom, where she and the lantern spirit Tachi get along like a house on fire. But several days after the spirits’ move, players come to Osaka Garden and find that the tearoom has been ransacked; the tatami mats are shredded and the tea equipment is upended or missing. By carefully examining the ruins of the tearoom—and especially by translating the calligraphy on the wall that was left mysteriously untouched—players may be able to restore it, and gain important new information about the identity of the vicious furniture assassin stalking Osaka Garden.