Vicarage of Charles Randall

The Vicarage
Chronology	Chapter XII: St. Michael's
Weapon	Belial's Wand
Items	Magical Torch Second Journal The Pit and the Pendulum The Anatomy of Christ 1 Vial
Keys	Unnamed Key Cupboard Key Unnamed Key Tree Key Bell Room Key
Enemies	Shadows Yielders Agi

The Vicarage of Charles Randall is an edifice situated opposite the church of St. Michael where Adam's father, pastor Charles Randall, used to dwell before his death.

We visit this place after having freed Hawk from his prison, by using the Key of Tears that we arduously earned ourselves by completing Raysiel's trials in Raquia.

As soon as we step off the tower gate, we're welcomed by a quartet of Belial's Shadows. After having dealt with them, we have some time to take in our surroundings; there's something considerably unnerving about the Vicarage, an aura of ominous gloom, its bleak façade being overgrown with ivy, the vacant eye-like windows emanating a sense of inhospitality.

Approaching the edifice through the front yard that's girded by a low wooden fence, we spot a red lemniscatic Ward on the double-winged main door which explodes of its own accord as we move closer to it, allowing us to cautiously tread into the edifice. The programmers generously placed the trigger for the explosion considerably far from the entrance as a kind warning sign, to make us aware of the fact that, from now on, it may be unwise to approach the warded doors inside the house without caution.

Gaul performing a seal on a door.

We've actually seen a demonstration of the sealing process as telegraphed by Rebecca in an early cutscene from Chapter III Keeper of Time, when we explored the Mansion's Armoury:
Gaul - 'Coming Events...'
In this particular movie clip, we witness Gaul lighting a match and performing a specific hand motion, creating a red lemniscatic ward on the main entrance of a house (probably the Mansion in this case, which is why we cannot leave it).

Ground Floor

Entrance of the Vicarage, Belial's Wand is hidden under the doormat, and the Magical Torch is inside the small wooden locker to the right

Next to the Vicarage entrance we notice a small wooden cabinet containing a Magical Torch which is necessary to render the green lemniscatic wards visible. Hidden under the well-used door mat we find Belial's magical wand, used to dispel said wards. It's important to always have the torch equipped while exploring the house and to shoot at the doors from afar, to avoid taking considerable damage.

Kitchen

Dispelling one of the various lemniscatic wards on the doors.

The door to the left of the entrance remains locked to us for now, so we'll proceed to investigate the room to the right for now, which was apparently used for dining purposes but is entirely empty now, safe for an extinguished fireplace, empty picture frames and a red carpet showing considerable signs of wear. The wallpaper is ripped off at certain parts, appearing to us as a first indication of the acts of vandalism that Charles' house must have suffered from, considering its present state of dilapidation. There are two adjacent green wards for us to dispel, the right door leads to a dark cubby with a ceiling-high mirror on one side and various kinds of waste (bones, blood) scattered and spilled all over the floor.

The Kitchen. Notice how the clock strikes six.

The second revealed door leads us the Kitchen of the Vicarage, with a surprisingly spotless old gas cooker on the right side. The humming from the refrigerator tempts us to take a closer look at it. We're inclined to call bug hunters as the appliance is covered with grime, but eventually we summon up the courage to open it, yielding us a key which apparently used to be tagged at some point. All things considered, we could almost attest a subtle humour to the fact that the clock has stopped working at 6 o'clock. Yearning for some fresh air, we decide to leave through the door next to the refrigerator and find ourselves spoilt for choice between two more doors.

Entertainment Room

TV set, showing Adam and Rebecca.

Taking the right one leads us to a dominantly blue Entertainment Room with a desk and various kinds of multimedia equipment, such as a hi-fi system with a CD in it and most perplexingly, a TV set which displays scenes of Realms of the Haunting, specifically [ Adam's return from the Gnarl after failing his test], and secondly the first visit to Hawk's Prison where Adam and Rebecca are telepathically contacted by the disembodied voice of Hawk. The room's walls are scratched with occult and astronomical drawings and the windows have been bricked-up. Next to the hi-fi system is a locked door which will later on lead us to the afore-mentioned room to the left of the Vicarage entrance, once we've acquired the necessary Key.

Personal Musings

poster of British rock band Radiohead

Note: I'm afraid I'm too dense to comprehend Adam's and Rebecca's comment on the painting with the music band:

“

Adam: What the Hell? Rebecca: Future sight. It's the only possible answer.

”

ETA: I was considerably relieved to find out I was apparently not the only person to wonder about this particular subject, as somebody kindly dared to open a discussion thread on the game's GOG message board. Apparently, the painting in ROTH has been inspired by a Radiohead poster. Kudos to GOG forum user frostcircus for the enlightenment!

Kitchen vicinity. A slight mirror malfunction.

Kitchen. The grime-covered and malodorous refrigerator contains a key.

Entertainment Room. The painting on the left side is reminiscent of Mondrian. The hifi system contains a CD.

Entertainment Room. Locked writing table with papers. Bricked-up wall.

Basement

Wine Cellar

Ornate tree door.

Creature kept in the basement.

We decide to leave this room through the door we originally came in through, switching off the TV while we're at it, saving some electricity to silence our economical self, and proceed through the door that's just ahead of us. A short corridor and a staircase later, we've reached the basement of the house and are immediately attacked by three major Yielders.

There's a single candle for us to shed some meagre light, revealing an ornately crafted large door with a floral design and a lock mechanism built into it. The basement is generously stocked with wine racks and beer kegs, and at this point in our adventures we could certainly use a fine drop.
Fumbling about in the dark, with no illumination to be had from the numerous, but burnt down candle stands, we happen upon an incarcerated green creature which, luckily for us, is warded by a red pentagram drawn on the floor in front of it.

Laboratory

Laboratory in the basement, with one green vial on the right experimenting table

The magical torch reveals a green ward to the left side of the cell, leading us to a laboratory of sorts. Rebecca senses something of a very concentrated magical quality, and stashed on a spot to the left side of the entrance we find the source of that aura, the peculiarly shaped Tree Key, which will open the similarly remarkable large door we've passed by moments ago.
The room is well-equipped with chemical devices, Victorian computers and bookshelves, but none of them seem to reveal any hidden passages like in the Study. There's a general state of disarray in here, with papers strewn about and piles of books placed upon the floor, more beer kegs, and a blue rug with a pentagram design. Inspecting the experimenting tables eventually rewards us with a valuable green potion among the chemical apparatuses, though.

One of the sound files (FXSCRIPT.SFX) is named 105 LAB1-flash gordon type lab.wav describing the room with the Tree Key as a Flash Gordon type lab, probably in reference to Ming's Laboratory from the Flash Gordon 1936 science-fiction serial. The fandom wiki describes it as "filled with odd machines that flash their lights and emit sparks."

Tree of Life

Behind the tree door, image of an ancient tree.

Now that we're in possession of the curious Tree Key, we can finally take a look at what's behind the florally designed door we've passed by during our exploration of the vicarage basement. We enter a short corridor and walk through of the shimmering gates that we've familiarized ourselves with when wandering the Tower. The passage ends in front of an image of the ancient Tree of Life, with three small lights flickering in its crown. We will visit this very place later on, as the tree is actually located inside the white tower on the Island of Threads. For now though, there's nothing left for us to do in the basement, so it's time to proceed upstairs to the top floor of the vicarage.

Top Floor

Ascending the staircase opposite the main entrance of the Vicarage and following along the corridor, we happen upon a door with a red ward to our left which leads to the first of two bedrooms. This one's in a really bad state, the wallpaper's ripped off, and the bed is unmade and dirty, the carpet is extremely worn. There's another extinguished fireplace, with a vase of long-dead roses on top of it, and another empty image frame. Next to it, we find a standard-fitting wardrobe with claw marks all over it, opening it reveals a green ward for us to dispel, leading us to a dressing room with a coat stand, a small but locked cabinet to our right and another warded door in front of us. We'll need to return here, once we're in possession of the required Key.

One of the two bathrooms, large mirror on one side.

Leaving the bedroom, we proceed along the corridor, gratefully taking advantage of the light switch along the way, and happen upon another warded door to our left which opens to an unremarkable room whose sole feature appears to be a small radiator and another warded door. We enter to find a bathroom, with a large, ceiling-high mirror to our right, and an assortment of sanitary appliances in unsurprisingly objectionable state to our left. It's with a certain relief to note that nobody's decided to hide a key in the toilet. Opposite the bathroom entrance, there's another ward for us to dispel, and using the unnamed Key we found inside the refrigerator we're able to enter the second bedroom of the house, characterized by occultly scribbled walls. With some surprise, we notice the vase of fresh roses on the mantelpiece. The bed is in a much better condition than the one we've seen already, too. Three major Yielders will spawn once we inch forward into the centre of the room, their defeat will yield us the Cupboard Key , used for opening the little cabinet inside the walk-in closet with the coat stand, where the Key to open the door left of the main entrance is being stored.

Ground Floor

Returning to the ground floor, we're finally able to access the door left of the main entrance. Two major Yielders will be triggered when approaching the centre of the room, but once they've been dealt with, we're free to take three books from the shelf, namely the second part of Florentine's Journal, a copy of an Edgar Allan Poe anthology, named after one of his short-stories, The Pit and the Pendulum, and a copy of The Anatomy of Christ. According to Rebecca's musings, the latter book apparently belongs to someone other than Adam's father, judging by the aura it's emanating. Taking a closer look at Florentine's diary, we find another Key hidden between the pages, which will let us access the belfry of St. Michael's.

Gallery

Main entrance.

Side view.

Kitchen, the smudgy refrigerator contains a key.

Kitchen vicinity. A slight mirror malfunction.

Entertainment Room. The painting on the left side is reminiscent of Mondrian. The hifi system contains a CD.

References