Gotham Knights Diaries Part Twelve

This is my exploration of Gotham Knights where I will chronicle my playthrough like a text-based Let’s Play. I’ll point out all of the Easter Eggs that I can spot in the footnotes at the end of each part. Now let’s continue Gotham Knights…

With the gears finally setting into motion, it was time to get to the Masquerade Ball…

Leaving Belfry, I set course for Southside to meet up with Oscar, a member of The Watch. During this section, I cleared out two Owl’s Nests, completed a Crime Scene Investigation, stopped three Criminal Deals, rescued Officers Under Attack, saved hostages at a Bomb Threat, and stopped a Kidnapping in Progress. I also resolved a number of crimes of opportunity, scanned a Gotham City Street Art, and found some Batarangs.

Oscar offered me some resources if I stopped crimes and beat up criminals in the area, so I headed out to stop the premeditated crimes on my map. Penguin popped up on my map, so I nipped over to collect some crafting supplies and get asked to stop more Criminal Deals, and defeat four Minibosses. After stopping some more premeditated crimes I had to go straight back to see him again! This time he needed me to defeat four Talons and stop another Criminal Deal.

Since I’d also managed to inadvertently do what Detective Renee Montoya needed me to, I was able to nip over to see her and get some more resources. But, it was finally time to head to the Masquerade Ball at the Orchard Hotel, where I gained entry through the penthouse suite. Alfred Pennyworth warned that this was an extravagance that we couldn’t afford to keep doing, which made me wonder: what happened to Bruce Wayne’s will? Did he not leave his vast fortune to Alfred? Or his wards, Richard Grayson and Jason Todd? And Dick was on the board at Wayne Enterprises, was he not pulling in a salary from that?

Entering the hotel, I carefully made my way through the halls to the ballroom, then around to the other side. Going through some doors I was immediately heard and failed the mission because Batgirl stood up and I foolishly assumed that meant that I didn’t have to crouch anymore… Giving it another try, I remotely deactivated some cameras (though my Digital Ghost ability made them useless anyway) and knocked out a guard in the security room before disabling the security system. This made the gaggle of goons near the entrance begin to patrol the area, so I had to beat them up.

As luck would have it, the gaggle had been standing near a ventilation shaft that led directly above the ballroom! Before I went inside, however, I opened a chest of resources, and found a note from Mark Hendricks (who I had previously saved) to his team. It mentioned that a new staff member had seemed a little too interested in security protocols for the Ball, despite not being scheduled to work that night.

Once in the ventilation shaft, I scanned all of the markers to locate members of the Court of Owls. As well as a few of them, I heard Commissioner Kane complaining that Montoya wasn’t in correct formal wear, some people discussing a sealed off staircase which was haunted, Mayor Tsai unable to get a meeting with Jacob Kane, and how some guests were unimpressed by the size of the party. The most obvious Court member was the wheelchair-bound person identified earlier by Alfred as Constance Cobblepot, that is until the Voice of the Court appeared wearing an ornate gold helmet in the shape of an owl head.

Getting everyone’s attention, he gave a speech about how the event was in the memory of Bruce Wayne, who he knew the man as more than a playboy. His contributions to the city would be felt for years to come, and he had helped in ways that he never realised. He raised his glass in toast but didn’t drink, instead putting his glass down and leaving the room.

Giving chase through the halls, I overheard someone stop the Voice and say that they required more dionesium in order to meet quota, a request that was granted before they continued on. However, there were cameras and guards between me and there. Unfortunately, while grabbing a chest full of resources, I was spotted by a guard and had to smash some heads before I could continue. I also found a note from the construction lead, saying that their crew refused to check where some wires went because the stairwell was haunted, so the renovations were on pause.

Jumping up into another ventilation shaft, I saw the Voice activate a hidden elevator using a piano, with a clear view of the keyboard as they did so. As the wall closed behind them, I jumped down and scanned the piano and wall, but there was apparently no way to follow. Red Hood reported that they lost contact with the Voice between two floors, whereupon Alfred reported finding a hidden 13th floor in the blueprints. Batgirl had a photographic memory, so I’m not entirely sure why she refused to use the piano to open the door, but hey.

Going down the “haunted” stairwell, I grabbed a chest at the bottom, then went back up halfway to activate a hidden door. Many bookcases lined the walls, and there were several gramophones with old speeches pressed to records. I say speeches, but they were 10-second clips from what I assumed was one speech. An owl statue had a button inside its head, which opened a hidden door and posed yet more questions, such as why would you need a hidden door inside your hidden floor accessible only by using a piano or an Owl Key.

Three grunts were guarding a big table with a map of Gotham City and a bunch of markers on it. There was another gramophone, and some architectural plans for the Powers Club and Orchard Hotel showing the hidden Court-only areas hidden on the official blueprints. I activated a projector from the table, and it began showing images of Kirk Langstrom while the Voice explained that the doctor needed to be erased as a lesson to other members of the Court of Owls, a warning to remain loyal. Copying the presentation to a USB drive, some more goons entered and I had to kick them about.

In the adjoining room, revealed by the goons opening yet another hidden door, I found stone reproductions of several buildings from around the city, constructed between 1836 and 1877, each with a corresponding pressure plate. Stepping on them in date order, it opened yet another hidden door, but this time the Voice apparently noticed, as they started talking directly to me. They wanted to speak to me, face-to-face. I followed the hallway and listened to two more gramophones, and found a 30-year-old Court mask in a side room, but at the end of the hall the wall parted, and I could see from the fact that the other side was a bookcase, that this was, yes, a hidden door.

Beckoning me to a large painting, the Voice opened the wall to reveal himself, but this was a hidden window and not a door, so that’s okay. The Voice said that the Court wasn’t trying to destroy Gotham, but save it. I wasn’t sure why the Knights thought that the Court wanted to destroy the city after ruling it from the shadows for 200 years, but heroes gotta hero. The Voice went on to ask me to join the Court, and took off his helmet to reveal Jacob Kane! And that he knew who I really was!

Jacob explained that he knew Bruce was Batman, but due to loyalty to his sister Martha Wayne, he hadn’t spilled the secret. He also knew that Bruce would have hated the Court on principle, which was why he had never asked his nephew to join them. Although the Court and the Knights’ tactics may differ, Jacob was only a few syllables short of saying “We’re not too different, you and I”, though Batgirl brought up the murder of Langstrom. Jacob had an attitude of “if you’re not with us you’re against us” and said that he wouldn’t protect us like he had protected Batman.

An alarm sounded and the security monitors behind Jacob showed people being murdered by assassins! He put on his Voice mask and closed the wall, while summoning some goons for me to fight, which I did so. Exiting through the elevator shaft that I had seen the Voice use, I made my way to the ballroom, encountering at least one assassin who was killing Court goons until I stopped them and saved a couple. I still had to knock them out, though…

In the ballroom, I found the floors littered with corpses, the security team and party guests alike. After swiftly defeating some League of Shadows assassins, I made my escape to avoid getting swept up by the police. Speaking of which, I called Montoya who had somehow survived the slaughter, and said that I would send over everything I had about the League.

Returning to Belfry, my patrol summary said that I had stopped nine crimes, completed five bonus objectives, and rescued five cops and four citizens. That involved defeating 115 enemies, 14 of which were silent takedowns…

The next day, Commissioner Catherine Kane gave a press conference about the attack, and pledged that the GCPD was going to step up and restore order to the city, and take it back. Bold of her to suggest that the GCPD had been slacking. The team, however, were more concerned with working out whether Catherine was a member of the Court or not, due to her being married to Jacob. Alfred said that it was likely Catherine had no idea, as he also didn’t have an inkling that Jacob was involved with the Court.

Barbara listed off some names of Court members murdered during the attack; John Wycliffe, Isabella Haas, Maria Powers. However, Jacob Kane and Constance Cobblepot both likely survived. Our next step would be to hand over the USB drive to Montoya, and speak to Talia al Ghul to try and get some insight into this growing conflict…

FOOTNOTES

John Wycliffe became Grandmaster of the Court of Owls in issues of Talon before his death.
Isabella Haas was a member of the Court of Owls who manipulated Nightwing’s memories in his ongoing comic.
Maria Powers appeared in one issue of Batman as a member of the Court of Owls.