ROOK: I went to Gino's. Inside, a man approached me. He had brown hair in a neat cut, lower-half-circle eyes, a straight mouth, and a spiffy dark blue suit.
ROOK: Hi. Can I help you?
WALKER: Very impressive, Rook! Most people wouldn't stand up to Morcubus like that.
ROOK: Who's this Morcubus guy, anyway? What's the big deal?
WALKER: He's the CEO of Morcucorp, which owns most of the city.
ROOK: Oh yeah, I saw that name on the plate at the entrance to the park. D'oh, okay, I should've made the connection earlier.
WALKER: Yes, well, he's one of the most powerful men in the world.
ROOK: I was just helping a little girl get her dog back.
Given that pretty much everyone's the same height, I'm not sure what the basis for comparison is.
ROOK: Hey, Morcubus called her little and you never said anything!
Yes, well, Morcubus is at least metaphorically big. Besides, I, um... didn't think of it then.
WALKER: AHEM. Right, you're a detective, aren't you? And a pretty good one, according to your application.
ROOK: Then a pertinent question came to mind.
ROOK: Wait, who are you? How do you know about my application to the Sim Protection Agency?
Because the eyes of the Ranger are upon you...
ROOK: Quiet! He said not a word. Then it hit me.
ROOK: You're a special agent! You're with the S.P.A.!
WALKER: Special Agent Walker. Pleased to meet you, Rook.
ROOK: He had probably been testing my ability to figure it out for myself.
WALKER: I'm here to open a new branch of the S.P.A. in this city.
ROOK: Really?! Well, I'm happy to help in any way I can!
WALKER: Well, that's good news, since I'm approving your application. You are going to be this city's Special Agent.
ROOK: W-what?! Really? I got the job?!
BUDDY: Ha ha! I told you this would be our big case, pal!
WALKER: I'll have to start you off as a Junior Agent. You'll solve a few cases around the city while I observe. But I want to promote you fully to Special Agent as soon as you're ready. The agency needs someone who is willing to take a stand against Morcubus.
BUDDY: Why? Is he stealing more dogs?
WALKER: To be honest, we're not sure what he's doing. He's far too smart to get his own hands dirty, but he has associates all over the city. They're looking for something; we just don't know what. If Morcubus wants it that badly though, it can't be good.
ROOK: Alright, sign me up. I'll do everything I can.
WALKER: I know you will, Agent Rook.
ROOK: So what should I do first?
WALKER: For now, go get some rest. And go get a shower. You smell like you've been rooting around in a dumpster.
ROOK: What! That's... actually pretty accurate.
WALKER: Come back here tomorrow and comb the city for new cases to work. And please don't take that literally. And keep your eyes open for anything that might lead back to Morcubus.
ROOK: The next day, Buddy and I stood on the train platform.
ROOK: Okay, Buddy, today's the day! Our destiny lies just down those stairs. Let's get down there and find some fresh cases!
(New tutorial! It tells you that someone who needs help will have an exclamation mark over his head.)
ROOK: I talked to Luis near the turnstile.
ROOK: Anything in the news, Luis?
LUIS: Oh, hey Rook, did you hear?! Dogwood was almost dognapped! I sure am glad that someone was there to help Poppy out.
ROOK: Ummm... yes. So it doesn't say who helped?
LUIS: Mmmm... not that I can tell.
ROOK: Huh. Okay, just checking.
ROOK: I had to wonder why my name didn't get mentioned. It was probably for my own protection, but it still seemed weird. At any rate, I looked around. Both Shirley the hairdresser and Gino looked to be in need of help. I wondered whose case I should tackle first. Then I smelled smoke. Had there been a fire? I figured Gino should be helped first. There was a fire in his eyes, anyway.
Yeah, I saw it.
ROOK: Hi Gino, how are you?
GINO: Terrible! You have to help me! Rook, I've lost my maps!
ROOK: Maps?! Not tomatoes, this time? Okay, I'm in! Don't worry, Gino, I'll find those maps!
GINO: Oh, Rook, I'm ruined! There was a fire!
ROOK: In your restaurant?
GINO: Yes. Derek, Shirley, and Patrick were all having dinner. Suddenly, smoke and flame started pouring out of my stove!
ROOK: You were the first out of your restaurant?
GINO: Yes! But the others soon followed. After the flames died down, I went back in to confirm that I was ruined. Not only was my stove destroyed, but my safe was open! Someone took my maps!!
ROOK: You kept maps in a safe?
GINO: Of course! Those maps show the secret locations where I find my arcane herbs and forbidden cheeses.
ROOK: How did they get the combination to your safe?
GINO: I don't lock it.
ROOK: So basically, he kept these maps in a box that's basically a sign saying "Hey! There's something valuable in here!" and didn't take advantage of its ability to lock.
ROOK: Okay. So either Derek, Shirley, or Patrick "cracked" your safe during the fire...
ROOK: I went inside. First, I decided to check the source of the fire: the stove. It was very badly damaged. I'd have to repair it first. I figured I could salvage some spare parts from around the pizzeria to repair it. I... oh no... equipped my wrench...
By pushing right.
ROOK: ...and salvaged some spare parts from the tiny oven next to the plant...
By pressing A.
ROOK: That's it? No hokey-pokey with the remote or anything.
That's it. Simple as that.
ROOK: Wow. Okay, so I went back over to the stove and began repairing it. Not only would I be able to find out the cause, but I'd also be helping Gino be able to use it again. In the stove was a motor turning a gear, which turned another gear. There were two other gears off to the right, not connected to each other or to the turning gears. I had a belt and a gear at my disposal.
I'll explain the rest.
(This is a repair puzzle. In a repair puzzle, the board will start with fixed parts ("fixed" meaning you can't move them), and give you spare parts to place, which you can move if you are not satisfied with their location. You press A to pick up a part, and either A to place it or B to put it back in the spare part inventory. The goal of each puzzle is to get all the red parts going somehow. In this case, the red gear needs to spin. A gear will spin if: a powered motor is attached to its axle; a gear that's above, below, to the left, or to the right is spinning; or if there's a belt attached to its axle. When a red part is properly interacted with, it turns green. Now, belts. A belt can only attach to the axles of unoccupied gears or motors, not other belts like in MSK. So here, you would span the larger gap with a belt and the smaller with a gear. I'm not going to give you the solution to these, but if there are new kinds of parts, I'll tell you how they work.)
ROOK: ...Okay. I discovered that the fire was caused by lack of ventilation. I decided to tell Gino, but one bit of business as I left: I equipped my magnifying glass and went over to the safe. There were footprints leading to the trash can. Hmmm... well, I'm no stranger to the cans, so I reached in and pulled out... one of Gino's maps! I wondered if other maps had been discarded. I went outside and talked to Gino.
ROOK: Gino, your fire was caused by a lack of ventilation. Your chimneys must be blocked!
GINO: Impossible! I clean my chimneys all the time! I even affect a funny little Cockney accent when I do it!
ROOK: Well, there's something fishy going on. How can I access the chimneys to check them out?
GINO: Climb the ladder behind my building! But hold the ladder tight, Rook, it's slippery with delicious pizza grease!
ROOK: Oh right, I saw that.
ROOK: I climbed the ladder he indicated, and jumped onto some crates—
Using Z.
ROOK: —yes, okay, using Z, whatever, and up to the roof. Two of the chimneys were clear, but the one over the door had a baseball in it. I pulled it out. I figured that the owner of the baseball probably started the Fi-IIIII-OOF! OW! Hey! Why did I just walk off that roof?!
That would be my doing.
ROOK: ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!?
No; you can't die in My Sims Agents!
ROOK: But that HURT! Why did you do that?
Because it's shorter than having you drop down to the crates, down to the fire escape, and climb down the ladder.
ROOK: Mrrrgh!
Okay, okay. Instead of making you fall just to save time, I'll take you the long way down. But just to warn you, that drop didn't save as much time as others would have.
ROOK: I'll risk the waste. Anyway, I updated Gino.
ROOK: Gino, this baseball was clogging up your chimney! This is what started the fire!
GINO: What?! That's crazy! I don't even like baseball! Who would do such a thing to me and my pizza?
ROOK: That's what I need to find out, Gino. Does anyone play baseball around here?
GINO: No one! Wait! Yes! Lots of people! Just last month that rotten kid Derek put his smelly baseball glove on my nice clean table! I chased him out with a broom!
ROOK: An interesting bit of info. I then used the magnifying glass to follow the footprints. They faded as they went into the street, but picked up, heading for the can outside the park. Another map! The footprints went into the park and around into the forest area behind. The can just inside the forest area... had a map in it!
So there's a trash can in the park next to the forest entrance, and one on the forest side a couple of yards away. That's efficient.
ROOK: Yes, well, I decided to return the maps I had.
ROOK: Gino, I found your maps!
GINO: Oh, fantastico!! You're a life saver, Agent Rook!
Are you certain of that?
ROOK: ARGH.
GINO: What?
ROOK: My narrator's a Pungeon Master.
GINO: Ah. ...Oh, but...one is missing! My map of the mountains!
ROOK: Fascinating. They were only interested in one of your maps, Gino. You see, these had all been discarded.
GINO: I'm ruined!!!
ROOK: Gino, this is a solid lead. I'll get to the bottom of this.
ROOK: I decided to question the other three people who were in the restaurant at the time of the fire.
ROOK: So, what happened in there, Shirley?
SHIRLEY: I was sitting there, eating my salad, when I hear Derek yell out "Fire! Get out!"
ROOK: And you left immediately?
SHIRLEY: Dropped my fork and bolted! I've been here ever since.
ROOK: With the amount of hair spray and other chemicals that woman uses, that was probably the wisest thing.
ROOK: Thanks, Shirley. Good to know. Oh, but Shirley, do you know whose baseball this is?
SHIRLEY: Sorry, hon, I don't. But I just love baseball players! So rugged! I dated one once, you know. He couldn't resist my hair.
ROOK: I gotta go, Shirley, but before I do, I have one more question. Heard any news about mountains lately?
SHIRLEY: Mountains, hon? Hmmmm....
ROOK: Don't worry, Shirley. If you haven't heard anything, that's fine.
SHIRLEY: Yeah, sorry hon! Nothing comes to mind.
ROOK: No problem. Thanks.
ROOK: So Shirley was a wash. I moved on.
ROOK: So, what happened in there, Patrick?
PATRICK: Well, I was diggin' into a slice of Gino's Ultimate Meatball Pizza. Then, all of a sudden, there was smoke everywhere!
ROOK: I see, it happened very suddenly.
PATRICK: I couldn't even breathe, but I managed to finish my slice on the way outside.
ROOK: What? You finished your pizza, even though there was a fire?
PATRICK: Meatballs are too tasty to waste, sport. Who needs to breathe when you can eat?
ROOK: I see. So, heard any news about mountains lately, Patrick?
PATRICK: Huh! As a matter of fact, Derek has been goin' on nonstop about mountains.
ROOK: Is that so?
PATRICK: Yeah! Kid must have gotten into snowboardin' or something.
ROOK: Thanks, Patrick. Very useful to know.
ROOK: Then, I had to ask Derek about all this.
ROOK: So, what happened in there, Derek?
DEREK: Buzz off, Agent Moron!
ROOK: Derek, you need to answer my questions. I want to learn what caused the fire.
DEREK: Why should I care?
ROOK: Derek, I think this fire might not have been an accident.
DEREK: Your face is an accident! I'm not talking to you, Agent Face-Accident.
ROOK: ...Nice.
That's... not too far off the mark, actually.
ROOK: SHUT! UP! Deep breaths, girl... I had to press the matter.
ROOK: Derek, let's talk about baseballs.
DEREK: What? What are you talking about? I love baseballs.
ROOK: I'll bet you do. So, is this your baseball?
DEREK: Yeah, my Vintage Pro 2004 baseball! It's the one I stuck in the... ...nowhere.
Yeah, nothing says lovin' like a baseball in the oven... chimney.
ROOK: You're not very good at this whole "criminal" thing, are you, Derek? Not to mention baseball care... One more thing... heard any news about mountains lately, Derek?''
DEREK: What? Mountains? Go away, Agent Loser!
ROOK: Derek, if you'd just help me out here a minute...
DEREK: What do you want from me? I don't know anything about anything. Buzz off!
ROOK: I don't know why I expected him to help further. Maybe I thought he'd slip up and tell me something else, but either I was too direct, or he was on his guard after talking about baseballs, or something. Anyway, I had another lead to pursue. My mind went back to the footprints. I wondered if they went anywhere else after the garbage can in the forest. They lead up to a ledge, but I noticed a potential path farther up which I would be remiss in not pursuing. So I jumped over and crossed a log... wait... are there any mechanics that you have to explain?
Oh, yes.
ROOK: Thought so.
(Yes, this is the balancing part, and you'll be doing it quite a bit, actually. When you go to cross a tree branch or vine or girder, the player has to press the Control Stick in the direction of the other end. The camera will, as appropriate, rotate so that the other end is the far end or the near end, so the player has to push up or down. Now, as you balance your way across, you'll start to lean over, and if you lean over too far, you'll stop moving in the direction you're headed, and if left like that, you fall. Usually, you won't fall to the place below, but to the near end of the thing you're crossing. This particular place, however, you fall to the area below the log. But if you want to progress, the player generally has to compensate by pressing the direction opposite the one you're leaning.)
ROOK: ...Right. Well, from the other end, I jumped to a large stump and from there to another ledge, and passed to a meditation area. Why anyone who needs meditation would want to go through all that to get there, I don't know, but anyway. There was a piece of paper on the monolith. I decided to knock it down with my crowbar. Anything weird you had to do to make it happen?
Naw, it's just like prying something open.
ROOK: ...I don't know whether that makes it less weird or more. Turns out, the paper was a letter from Morcu Corp thanking Derek for his delivery! It was probably the missing mountain map! I went back to report to Gino.
ROOK: I've got great news for you, Gino! I've saved hundreds of instances of being hit with rotten fruit by not doing a lame Geico joke! Also, I've discovered who stole your maps!
ROOK: We talked inside.
GINO: So, what happened, Rook? Who stole my maps?
ROOK: All signs point to Derek being the thief, Gino.
GINO: What? That Derek is the cause of my ruination?! Why? How?
ROOK: Well, it seems that Derek was hired by Morcu Corp to steal your maps. Derek stuffed a baseball in your chimney to start the fire... When the fire started he stole the maps and ran off, dumping the maps along the way that Morcubus didn't want. He then left your mountain map in the forest at a pickup site for Morcu Corp operatives to pick up. I'm sorry, Gino. I'm afraid there's no way to track the map down any further.
ROOK: Gino stood there, stunned at the news. Poor guy... and then who should have the audacity to walk in but Derek.
DEREK: Gino, I want a slice of sausage and pepperoni...and make it quick! I'm busy!
ROOK: The guy had a lot of nerve, demanding pizza from his recent victim. But I suppose he figured Morcu Corp had his back. Gino's fire returned with a vengeance.
The one in his eyes?
ROOK: Yeah, that one. Come to think of it, I almost actually saw it myself...
GINO: YOU ARE BANNED FOREVER!!!
DEREK: Wha? No! I love your pizza, Gino! You can't do that to me! I'm a loyal customer!
GINO: YOU WILL NEVER EAT MY PIZZA EVER AGAIN... MAP THIEF!!!
DEREK: Aw, man!
ROOK: He left.
GINO: That was great! I've been looking for a reason to ban him for so long! You're a lifesaver, Rook!
ROOK: Make another candy joke with that, and...
...I'll be good.
ROOK: Well, Gino, I guess that's case closed!
Next time: we talk to Shirley!
