Black Lantern

The Black Lantern is a bar and restaurant located in Haven Springs, Colorado from Life is Strange: True Colors. Directly above the bar is resident housing for its service workers. Alex Chen and Gabe Chen have lived there at separate times while working at the bar. The Black Lantern's roof, accessed through the second floor apartment, is a spacious garden area with large planters, outdoor seating and other recreational activities.

Background[]

On December 30, 2008, Jed saved a group of his mining team, pulling them "out of hell" when the mine they were drilling in began to flood. Following the tragedy, Typhon Mining shut down that particular site, closing it off permanently. When Jed became "local hero Jed", the money he made from the incident "basically bought him the Black Lantern".

Description[]

The bar had multiple rooms tables, a room with standing tables, a back room with an exit, and had 2 arcade games in the back: Turbo Kart and Arkanoid. Gabe Chen had the high score for 4 out of 5 top players. It had a jukebox for people to play music, and a counter for people to sit instead of a table. On the 2nd floor is an apartment. Jed Lucan owned the place and operated a bar, which was a popular hang out place for residents.

Chapter 1: Side A[]

Once Alex and Gabe arrive at the Black Lantern, they go to Gabe's apartment on the bar's second floor. Gabe reveals that he plans to give the apartment to Alex while he intends to stay at Charlotte's place. Alex then gives Gabe the record she bought at record store. Gabe then puts it in a record player and the two then dance to the music. Gabe gives Alex a broom and encourages her to use it. Alex can choose to do so or have Gabe do it. After this choice, Alex and Gabe continue dancing with one of the siblings playing the broom like a guitar. They are suddenly interrupted by a knock at the door. After turning the music off, Gabe goes to answer the door. Mac comes in and confronts Gabe over his talk with Riley, as he believes he is trying to take her away from him. Gabe tries to clear up the misunderstanding, but Mac ignores and attacks him. Alex, upon seeing a red aura around Mac, is overwhelmed by his anger. After becoming infused with it, she copies Mac's words and attacks him uncontrollably. Gabe tries to stop her, but Alex accidentally punches him before finally calming down. Mac calls Alex a psycho and storms off. Alex tries to apologize, but Gabe says it's okay. Later, Alex is seen washing her hands before proceeding to unpack her things. She takes out her toy mouse Zhu-Zhu, a torn photo showing her and Gabe (which she puts next to a similar photo), and her notebook. She then discovers a guitar under the bed along with a note from Gabe saying that it is a gift from him. After playing it for a while, Alex then heads downstairs.

Once downstairs, Alex comes across Charlotte, Jed, Ryan, and Gabe. Ryan is tending Gabe's injuries and decides that he needs first aid. After they leave, Alex then speaks with Charlotte before Jed gives her something to eat. Without his helper, Jed asks Alex if she can help. She can agree or tell him that she has never served before. If she agrees to help, Jed instructs her to talk to Steph, Diane Jacobs and Reginald McCallister III (nicknamed Duckie), and to clean a table. While cleaning the table, she will come across Mac, who is now emitting a purple aura (which represents fear). After she is done, Mac will talk to her. Riley will show up to confront Mac about his violent actions. Alex can choose to stay out of the fight or tell Riley the truth. Telling the truth will ruin Riley and Mac's relationship. After Alex talks to Mac and Riley, an officer named Jason Pike shows up to arrest Alex, but reveals that he is just playing a prank. When Alex talks to Duckie and Diane, they will tell her what they want to eat. Alex must then tell Jed precisely what they ordered. Jed then discovers that Duckie's favorite wine is missing. To find it, Alex must ask people of the wine's whereabouts. She can also choose not to find it. Exploring there, Alex finds it in the couch and gives it to Duckie. When talking to Steph, she will introduce herself to Alex and challenges Alex to a jukebox game where she must correctly guess the song. If she wins, Steph will drink the green-colored wine on the table. If she loses, she will drink it instead. Once all three tasks are done, Alex returns to Jed, who will tell her whether she did well or not so well. Gabe then returns and asks Alex to meet him on the roof.

Once up on the roof, the siblings spend time talking to each other about the earlier fight while drinking beer. Alex can then tell Gabe about her past or powers. After the conversation, Ryan shows up and informs them that Ethan is missing. If Alex told Gabe about Ethan's scheme, they will realize that he has gone to the mines against Gabe's wishes. If she didn't tell him earlier, she will do so now, in which Gabe will not be happy with Alex for hiding this from him. The three then head off to the mines.

Chapter 2: Lanterns[]

Alex, Ryan, Charlotte, Duckie, Jed, Steph, Pike, Mac, and Riley are seen mourning Gabe's death inside the Black Lantern. Ryan blames himself for his death, but Mac reveals that he was part of the operation and claimed that there was no call. Ryan finds out that Mac is actually lying (to which Alex can support Ryan's claim or not), leading to a heated argument with everyone else while red auras appear around them. Alex, overwhelmed, goes upstairs; Steph takes notice and follows.

Steph comes to Alex's apartment and she invites her in. After telling Alex to ignore the argument, they talk about Gabe and Alex's guitar before Steph notices a wine bottle that says "foosball champion", causing her to become upset. To help her, Alex goes into Nova mode, where she learns that Gabe once convinced Steph to stay in Haven by winning a bet of foosball, which Steph was ultimately grateful to Gabe for. She then decides to have Steph play a game of foosball to cheer her up. While playing, Alex talks to Steph and learns that she was once in a band. After three games and regardless of who wins, Steph leaves to return to work. Alex has the option of cleaning her apartment, spending time on the roof, and washing the dishes before heading downstairs. She meets up with Jed, who apologizes for the earlier argument. Remembering Mac's lie, she decides to talk to him. Jed tells her that Mac may be at Lethe Flowers, but tells her that she may not get the answer she’s looking for. Jed gives her the key to the bar and advices her to go to the Silver Dragon to talk to Charlotte. Alex has the option to leave a photo of Gabe and make a face on the dart board by the memory table before leaving.

Chapter 3: Monster or Mortal[]

At the start of the chapter, Alex and Ryan are seen in the Black Lantern telling Steph about Alex's powers and Alex uses it on her to prove it. Recalling that Diane was working with her laptop earlier and remembering her fear from the previous chapter, Alex suspects that she may be working for Typhon and plans to learn the truth from her. After cleaning up dishes from the tables in the bar and optionally talking to Jed and Eleanor and playing a song on the jukebox to help out a student with her problem, she returns to talk to Ryan and Steph, who have already formed a plan, but it isn't well thought out. Diane then comes in and sits at a table to work on her laptop. Alex can then choose to have Ryan or Steph act as the distraction. Alex sits down at Diane's table and begins to talk to her. Her choices may sadden or anger Diane. Alex then goes into Nova and she examines the nearby objects before discovering a flash drive that might have valid information. At Alex's signal, Ryan or Steph distract Diane by asking her on a date as Alex swaps the drive. After they excuse themselves, they head to Alex's apartment to try and decrypt the drive using Alex's laptop, but it is password-protected. Ryan sends it to Riley to see if she can access it. Steph then leaves to prepare for the LARP and reminds Alex to bring her guitar and bard hat. Alex has the option to pull weeds on the rooftops and listen to a song on the record player. She finds the hat in the trunk but notices that its feather is missing. Eventually, she finds it under the TV. Once she has the guitar and hat, she then heads downstairs.

The Black Lantern is part of the LARP. The tavern is temporarily converted as a tavern, with fake blood and limbs, and tables and chairs knocked over; Meanwhile, Duckie portrays a Gnome.

Alex later returns to her apartment where she finds Ryan and Steph waiting for her. It turns out that they had finished unlocking the drive. She then begins to listen to the messages inside it. If she took Charlotte's anger earlier, Alex will get angry and throw Gabe's foosball winner whiskey at the wall, causing Steph to storm out while Ryan goes after her. If she didn't, she won't destroy the whiskey and Steph won't leave and will instead stay to help Alex. Alex learns that Diane is part of a project called Rhea, which reveals that the explosion was a decoy to cover up another explosion and that they were trying to bury something.

Chapter 4: Flicker[]

As the chapter begins, Alex is seen still in her apartment talking to Pike on the phone, informing him of her discoveries on Diane's drive and schedules a meeting with him. After hearing a radio announcement revealing that the Spring Festival is starting, Alex has the option to sit on the couch before heading to the festival. Alex can later visit the bar to find Duckie there, not in the mood to join the festival. If Alex get him to dance with her, he will be convinced.

Alex later returns to her apartment. If she removed Pike's fear, she will begin to express it. She then finds a note from Jed asking her to come find him. She then does so and heads downstairs. One there, she sits down at the counter where Jed reveals that he found out about her arrest. She then tells him about Typhon's scheme and that he is responsible for Gabe's murder. Jed reveals that he knows what Typhon is hiding and decides to show her instead of telling her (with Alex being unaware of Jed's true intentions).

Chapter 5: Side B[]

Diane and Jed hold a meeting Black Lantern to get everyone to vote for Typhon's support before Alex interrupts them. Jed is shocked seeing that Alex had survived his attempt to kill her while Alex glares back at him. Ryan and Steph are horrified to see that Alex has been hurt and suggest taking her to a doctor, but she dismisses their concerns. She then tells everyone the truth and what really happened at the mine. Jed and Diane try to defend themselves by dismissing her claims as nonsense. Depending on Alex's choices from the past chapters, Duckie, Charlotte, Pike, and Eleanor may or may not support Alex. Steph will side with Alex regardless of her choices. If this convinces Ryan, he will demand the truth from Jed, who will get mad at Ryan for "betraying" him. If not, he won't support Alex and Steph will get into an argument with him. Either way, Alex enters Nova where the entire room goes dark with only Jed being visible. Alex has a long, tearful talk with Jed, who will remain silent. She comes to see that Jed felt guilty for being forced to abandon the miners and had to lie to everyone to avoid getting in trouble with the public. Afterwards, she can either choose to forgive or denounce him. Regardless of her choice, Jed will break down in tears, now feeling regretful and ashamed of his wrongdoings as reality returns to normal. It is implied that Alex was taken to a doctor after this to care to her injuries.

A few weeks later, Alex is shown spending time in her apartment, having mostly recovered from her injuries. After the radio announces that Jed has been arrested for his crimes, the Black Lantern has temporally closed, and Typhon has collapsed, Alex then throws Zhu-Zhu at the radio, turning it off. She then decides to go up to the roof for some air. Before doing so, she has the option to lie in bed for a while. A message on her laptop reveals that Diane expresses her regret for helping Jed and Typhon with their schemes. As Alex prepares to head up to the roof, Steph or Ryan (depending on who Alex chose to romance) will visit her. If Steph visits, she states that she intends to leave Haven Springs, but also decides that she wants to stay with Alex if she chooses to and even tears up her ticket to ensure that; Alex must make the decision for her. If Ryan visits, he will express his experience with learning about his father's crimes. If he didn't believe Alex earlier, he will apologize to her and Alex can choose whether or not to forgive him or just say that she doesn't know. Not forgiving him will end their relationship. After Alex goes to the roof, she talks with Gabe's ghost, who explains what will happen if she stays here in Haven Springs. These future visions show that the Black Lantern has reopened sometime later with Alex still working there if she formed a romantic relationship with Ryan; the memories of Gabe, Typhon, and Jed disappearing; and Alex either spending time with Ryan or playing a tabletop game with Steph and Ethan (with Eleanor, Duckie, Riley, Charlotte, Mac, and Pike making potential appearances depending on Alex's past choices). Alex must then choose to leave or stay; after making this choice, Gabe will disappear.