3Charlie: You know the gnome from Half Life 2: episode 2?
Me: yeah?
Charlie: It’s in Left 4 Dead 2 you get another achievements for carrying it through the game.
Me: oh I am so fucking doing that.
While this was a bigger bitch in Half Life 2: Episode 2, Left 4 Dead 2 requires people to actually help you. While Half Life was all down to you being a good player. If you get a douchey team mate in Left 4 Dead 2 your fucked.
Me and the mate Charlie decide to play the game through, I’m not too bothered for the achievement at this point as it would be my first play through on the level. Charlie has a different opinion on this and goes straight for the gnome, it’s at this point I find out you need to score 750 points in a shooting range game in order to win him at the beginning of the game. This, I learned, is a bitch to do if you have 4 people just randomly shooting at the game other than playing it. Six goes later we get hold of the gnome and Charlie refuses to let anyone else carry it. Fine by me, except I now have to protect him.
Being the only person to have finished this level Charlie also takes the responsibility of leading the team into his own hands. 2 smokers, a hunter and a jockey later, He decides I should take the lead as to not lose the gnome.
We make it to the tunnel of love safe house, YAY. Now to work our way through. Charlie gets confused as he demands that we find a hole to jump down, forgetting it’s much later as we go up into a warehouse part. We eventually find that area as Charlie gives up on finding the hole in the main tunnels. To get attacked by a jockey, I over react and shoot the gas canister next to the jockey and set the room on fire. Charlie drops the gnome and panics saying it’s gone for good now it’s been set on fire. The fire goes out and we can’t find the thing, he’s down at the loss but still willing to go on. We drop down to hole to find the gnome waiting for us at the bottom. This is when we find out he’s indestructible.
We make it to the last chapter, Gnome intact and Charlie slowly giving up on his dream of making it. I take control of the gnome, we get on stage and set everything off. Two minutes later we are dead. Hordes are good mixed with three tanks. We go through this process another two times before Charlie asks we try it without the gnome. “NO” I say, apparently by this point I found it impossible to turn my back on the gnome after making it so far. Charlie tries to kill me for the gnome in a panic filled sprint around the stage to save him from getting it. We die again. We spawn, Charlie beats me to the gnome grab, he runs outside and throws the gnome over a fence. I can’t save it now.
We lose the mission, I debate the idea of retrying but foods on the brain and Charlie will just argue for gnome death again. We decide to turn off the game and go get some food.
Yes, this article is pointless. But you read it, I wanted to word how much hell it is to get through the ending of this level with the gnome on side. I eventually got a group of people online that was willing to help. We took the high ground by the stage and held everything off. I left the gnome where I thought the helicopter would appear, it spawned the other side of the map. The guys told me to ditch it but I had come too far. I was a lone soldier on the opposite side of the map with a tank after me. I weaved through zombies to the helicopter and barely made it. The achievement is mine and now my avatar has a pretty shirt to show for it. Worth it? hell yes.
