Prologue: A Lion Is In The Streets
The game begins with an old woman and her two guests in a cosy sitting room. The guests ask the old woman to tell the story of the Balance, but that story is too long, so she’ll tell a shorter story, “a story that became a crucial turning point in the history of the Balance”. That story forms the bulk of this game, and somehow, isn’t that short a story at all.
A credits sequence follows, wherein one sees a naked man floating in a flow of energy between two stylized windows. His eyes open, revealing worlds. His eyes close, then re-open, and his eyes become normal. He regains the floor and leaves, but in response things crack and move in a way suggesting that all is not well.
Hard cut to an overview of a city that we will learn is Newport, an American city in Earth’s future. Cut to an interior view of a small bedroom in that city, where a girl named April Ryan is having a nightmare. You see the walls and bed fly away, and April finds herself standing on a cliff, wearing only her “undies”. April is the player character; you will play the game as her, deciding what she does from now on.
Top of Cliff
Walk away from the cliff edge, towards the right, and as April enters, there’s a brief quake that dislodges a large egg from a nest. The egg rolls off the cliff and is luckily caught short by a forked tree root. Of course, the egg isn’t safe there, but April can’t put the egg back in the nest directly without risk to the egg or herself. Examine the nest and get a disturbingly reptilian scale. Examine the tree. There’s a twig on one side; take the branch.
The tree groans. Talk repeatedly with the tree, actually the wood spirit, until April offers to bring water to the tree.
Walk further right, and you’ll see a mountain stream with the necessary water, but it’s flowing into a break in the rock. Inside April’s inventory, put the scale and branch together and make a funnel. Put the funnel on the stream to redirect the water to the tree. The tree is revitalized rapidly.
Walk back to the tree, talk to the wood spirit again, and remind him to save the egg. The tree roots flex and twist, and put the egg back safely into the nest. Suddenly a large White Dragon flies up past the cliff!
The dragon lands on the nest, and begins to talk to April, addressing April by name, calling April her daughter. The dragon, whose voice is female, tells April that she’s been waiting for her since “it begins here”. Before the dragon can explain fully, an unnatural storm cloud appears, and April falls off the cliff...!
Chapter 1: Penumbra
April’s Bedroom
...and then she wakes up, back in her bedroom in Newport. Her plan for the day is to do more work on her painting at the studio. Check April’s inventory: she begins with just her cashcard, and it’s low on funds.
Spend some time looking around April’s room to find out some background info. Take the diary and (optionally) the photograph. Inside inventory, examine the diary in closeup and take the timesheet. Also, now that you have the diary, your diary game control is now active. With it, you can read your diary entries (which April will update frequently during the game) to remind you of your progress and current goals.
Open the closet and take the toy monkey. Inside inventory, examine the monkey in closeup and try winding him up. Also click on his eye twice to get the monkey eye.
Open the window and look at the view outside the window. You’ll come back to this later.
Finally, click on the room’s door, and April will get dressed and leave her bedroom.
Upstairs Hall
Zack is here. He’ll ask April for a date. It doesn’t matter what you say: April will decline, Zack will return to his room (opposite April’s), and April will call Zack an asshole.
There’s a few things here. First, there’s a plastic plant here. Take a leaf from the plant. Second, there’s a smarmy FACT (FreeAccess Terminal) computer that is totally useless to April. Also, there’s the door to Charlie’s room, but he’s never home when you knock. So go downstairs.
Common Room
Fiona, one of your two landladies, is sitting on the couch watching the Screen (i.e. the future version of television). Fiona is the main source of information on the house and its occupants, so ask her about all of it until you’ve had enough.
More stuff here. Take the matches from the coffee table. Examine the corkboard and take the pink note and its pushpin. Inside inventory, read the pink note. Then give the pink note to Fiona and get your lost gold ring back. You may also click on the tiny secret button on the back of the Screen (the button is an Easter Egg) to see an ad for the game appear on the Screen. Now head out the main door.
Outside Border House
There’s a machine to the left of the house. Examine that first.
Machine (closeup)
This is a Myst-like machine. Your task is to obtain the clamp without letting the water gush out everywhere.
First, locate the ripped cables in the upper right, and rejoin them with your gold ring. This temporary connection turns the machine back on.
Second, we want to fiddle with the screws in the lower right and align all four switches in a straight horizontal line. Save the game here before fiddling with the screws. If you can’t figure it out, restore the game (the original alignment is “/|-\”) and click the screws in this order: LRRRLLLRRRLL, where L is the left screw, and R is the right screw. You’ll know when it works, because the main light will turn from red to green and you won’t be able to turn the screws anymore.
Third, examine the rest of the machine’s components if you haven’t already. Click the valve (on the left), and pressure gauge needle should go down from 100 percent to 0. Now you can turn the wheel and the water tank empties. Now you can take the clamp and, of course, your gold ring.
Outside Border House
There’s a man on the bench. Examine him to learn his name: Cortez. When you try to walk past him, he’ll stop you and tries to ask you about your nightmares. After April ends the conversation, ignore him and keep going.
Bridges
From here, you can go to the subway station entrance, the park, the café, or back to Border House. Go to the park (upper left-ish exit).
Park
From here, you can go left (to the subway station), forward (to outside the studio), or back (to Bridges). Go to the studio.
Outside VAVA Studio
You can’t talk to Bishop or Ann-Marie, but you may read the notice board repeatedly, if you like. Go inside the studio.
Academy, Downstairs
You can’t talk to Olav, but April seems to like his work. Examine the bin and take the rubber glove. Note that the glove has a hole in it. Go upstairs.
Academy, Upstairs
Examine everything, including Emma’s holosculpture. Take the paintbrush and palette from the shelf, and use them on the canvas on the easel. Time passes from morning to afternoon.
Emma arrives and gives April a message from Cortez: he’ll meet April “where children visualize their dreams”. It means nothing to either of them, but April tries telling Emma about the dragon in her dream anyway. Emma invites April to meet her later at the café and leaves. As April washes up at the sink, the holosculpture seems to come to life! It soon resumes its normal appearance. April is a bit shaken. Leave the paintbrush and palette here in the studio and head for the café (northish exit from Bridges).
Outside Café
For fun, you should click on the mystery door, the wheel, the lovebirds, and the backpackers before heading inside.
Inside Café at Bar
Charlie works behind the bar, but first, take some candy from the candy jar. Talk to Charlie; he’s one of your best friends. If you ask him about Cortez, he’ll say that Cortez was interested in the poster near the jukebox. After you’re finished talking to Charlie, go left to rest of the café.
Inside Café at Jukebox
Several things to do here. First, take some bread from the bread basket on the table. Second, examine the poster by the jukebox, and in the poster closeup, take a free ticket. Inside your inventory, examine the ticket in closeup and read the address of the Roma Gallery. Third, talk to Emma. And fourth, talk to your boss, Stan (but save the game first).
Actually, what you need to do is give your timesheet to Stan. He won’t actually pay you, though, until you quit your job. After he adds money to your cashcard, he’ll ask you if you want to work a shift tonight. Your answer will make a big difference in how Chapter One ends (at least, visually), so that’s why I suggest you save the game before answering so you can play out both options. Now head out for the subway.
Subway Entrance
Not much here. You can go up (into the park), right (to Bridges), or down the stairs (into the station). Go down.
Subway Platform
You can’t walk through the gates onto the main platform until you’ve paid. There’s a gene scanner beside you. Click on it for a closeup. The scanner has instructions that are simple enough to follow, so follow them. Push the button for a weekly pass, then click your cashcard on the lens. The gene scanner will scan you, and now you can walk through the subway gates for the rest of the game.
There’s something sparking on the left tracks; examine it to see that there’s a large key down there. You’ll come back to this problem later. Enter the train when it arrives on the right tracks.
Inside the Subway Train
Click on the overhead map for a closeup. Only active destinations are highlighted (the game won’t let you travel everywhere in Newport) and click on the icon for Watertown Bridge.
Outside Gallery
Examine or ignore the people outside the Gallery as you please, then go inside.
Inside Gallery
Cortez is here, but you’ll have to walk to the far right to see him. Walk around the floor barrier thingy and talk to him. When he asks you to look at the painting, do so. Ask “who’s the artist”, then ask “what am I looking for?”. When Cortez asks what you see, say first that you see art, and secondly, truth. Cortez tries to explain that there is truth in dreams, and that “things are afoot”, but April is angry with this explanation. Cortez asks April to meet him again tomorrow, then leaves.
—
It’s now evening, so head back to New Venice. If you agreed to work a shift at the café, go there and talk to Stan. You’ll start your job, and partway through the evening, a strange small creature will appear from the jukebox! Everyone can see it! Then the creature vanishes...
—
If you didn’t agree to work a shift, go to the Border House common room and talk to Mickey, then Fiona, who’ll invite you to watch a movie with them. You do so, and partway through the movie, the entire room turns into a jungle! Fiona and Mickey see it too! Then the room returns to normal...
Chapter 2: Through the Looking Glass
April’s Bedroom
The events of the previous evening convince April that she must talk to Cortez again. But where is he? (He won’t be on the bench this time.)
Look out the window (I assume it’s still open). Untie your end of the clothesline and it’ll fall. Use your bread from the café to sprinkle crumbs on the rubber ducky. The seagull will peck them, the ducky will burst a hole, scaring off the bird and the grill will fall with a clank. Pull the chain up to get the clothesline.
Common Room
Fiona is standing by the window, upset. Talk to her. Whether or not you were here or at the café last night, Fiona and Mickey still saw the living room change into a jungle, and Fiona is worried that she’s going mad. During the conversation, talk to Fiona about Cortez, and she’ll suggest that he might be at a movie theatre, but you’ll have to ask Zack to find out exactly where that is.
Upstairs Hallway
Knock on Zack’s door after you’ve got the lead from Fiona, and agree to go out with him on a date tonight in exchange for the location of the theatre that Cortez goes to. He’ll tell you it’s the Mercury, east from Metro Circle.
Bridges
You’ll see the rubber ducky (but wait, wasn’t that deflated?) float away from here when you enter. Follow it north.
Outside Café
Take the rubber ducky. In inventory, examine the ducky closeup and take the Band-Aid. Where the bandage came from is anyone’s guess. Put the bandage on the work glove, repairing it.
Inside Café at Bar
Talk to Charlie. Like Fiona, he’ll want to discuss last night’s events, but he’s not worried about insanity like she is. He’s willing to “embrace the mystery”. Also, he’ll tell April that Royn Dale will be playing at the café tonight, which ought to be great.
Subway Platform
Approach the sparking on the left tracks, and in inventory (not closeup) assemble the clamp, clothesline, and inflated rubber ducky into one object. You’ll have to inflate the rubber ducky with the mouth icon on the ducky in the inventory window before it will combine with the clamp, holding the clamp’s jaw open. Before the air runs out of the ducky, lower the clamp onto the tracks and retrieve the large iron key. Enter the subway train and exit at Metro Circle.
Metro Circle
Head east.
Street outside Radio Power
Head east.
Outside Mercury Theatre
Lots to take in here. Examine the Mercury itself (it’s closed and locked), it has posters and a flickering marquee. A handyman is sweeping garbage. There’s a waste receptacle overtop a green puddle of something. There’s a locked electrical box. There’s a locked door to an alleyway. And there’s a plainsclothed cop loitering here.
Talk to both men. The handyman is Freddie Melon, and not too bright. Although Freddie denies that he knows Cortez, or that anyone’s in the theatre, it’s clear that that’s exactly where Cortez is. Talk to the cop repeatedly until he confesses a craving for sweets.
Push the waste bin aside (Freddie will object but not push it back) and dip one of your candies in the green ooze. This gives you a stinky candy. Give the stinky candy to the cop, who’ll eat it and get ill. Coughing up the candy at Freddie’s head doesn’t help the cop, and Freddie chases him away. Freddie’ll tell you that the guy lost his hat, so briefly, head back west, take the hat off the street, and come back here.
With the cop gone, examine the electrical box in closeup, and open it with the iron key that you found on the subway tracks. Use the repaired work glove on the sparks to rip out the offending wire, and the marquee will go out for good. Freddie will open the alley door and head inside. Follow him.
Theatre Alley
You can’t open the backdoor either, but there’s other stuff here: a pile of garbage whose shadow is quite humanlike, a trashcan of rags, and a fire alarm. Put the hat on the garbage heap, improving the shadow’s likeness to the cop’s. Put the toy monkey behind the garbage; April will wind it up and its aggressive chant will continue indefinitely. Open the trashcan, and use the matches on it to start a fire. April will hide behind the door as the fire alarm rings and Freddie rushes out to investigate. Freddie puts out the fire, then is fooled by the monkey and shadow, thinking that the cop wants him to “dance”. While Freddie is “doing the monkey”, enter the theatre through the now open fire door.
—
Inside the theatre, walk up to Cortez and talk to him. He’ll explain all, back out in the alley.
—
Freddie is gone, and the monkey is silent. Cortez opens up a magical portal and tells April to step through. When April decides to step through, he’ll tell her to visit Brian Westhouse when she’s ready to come back. And April steps into the swirling light...
Inside Temple
...and finds herself in a temple, near a large wall painting. Head to the right, repeatedly, until you find a priest. Talk to the priest.
The priest, however, doesn’t understand English, nor does April know his language. Whenever offered the option to just “listen”, choose that. Eventually, April will learn Alltongue magically, but if she interrupts before then, it doesn’t work. Once April understands him, he’ll introduce himself as Tobias Grensret, the Vestrum of the Sentinel. He’ll also open the outer doors of the temple, and invites April to explore the city of Mercuria, and to return when she has more questions.
—
When April talks to Tobias again, he’ll take her to the mural and explain a lot of stuff. It’s a very very long explanation, as both you and April get a crash course on the two Earths—Stark, the science world, and Arcadia, the magic world—the how and why of their separation, the Kin (aka Dragons), the Sentinels (aka the Fathers), the Vanguard (the Sentinels’ rival faction), and the Balance between the worlds, plus the Guardians who guard the Balance. Furthermore, the Balance is in danger, and April is a Shifter, that is, someone who can travel under her own power between Stark and Arcadia. Unfortunately, Tobias cannot help April learn how to use her Shifting talent, but is willing to answer further questions.
—
Back at Tobias’ podium, talk to Tobias yet again. This time, April can ask him about Brian Westhouse, Arcadia, and more. You’ll have to talk to Tobias repeatedly about Brian, to learn that (a) he collects maps, and (b) he is commonly referred to as “The Rolling Man” (perhaps Brian has a bicycle).
Marketplace Overview
From here, you can go south (into the Temple), north (to explore the city at large), or go the center (visiting the Stalls). Go to the Stalls.
Stalls
You can talk to the cups handler or the bird, if you like, but they can wait. Talk to the maps merchant. Ask him about the city and his maps first, if you like, but sooner or later, ask him about “The Rolling Man” (he won’t recognize the name “Brian Westhouse”). He refuses to divulge information on his customers, so keep asking him anyway. Eventually, his assistant, a blue skinned Dolmari boy will arrive, and the maps merchant will fire him for lateness. Ask the maps merchant for the errand job, and when he hires you, you’ll get a delivery list and Captain Nebevay’s map. He tells you to deliver the map to the Captain of the White Dragon (find him at the harbor), and get him to sign the delivery list. Then to return here for the next map. So get going!
Marcuria Map Overview
Click on the Pier icon, or the City Gates icon if you haven’t visited the Pier yet.
City Gates
The city is though the gates to the left, but for now, go to the right to the pier.
Pier
There are two docks you can visit. A short dock to the upper left where an old sailor sits on a crate, and a long dock to the upper right where the White Dragon and its captain wait. Go to the long dock.
Long Dock
Talk to the man and ask if this is the White Dragon. It is, so give Nebevay his map, and he’ll give you a single iron coin as a tip. But when you try to give him the delivery list to sign, he won’t do it. Talk to him until you learn that only music will distract his god, and then he can sign. Return to the City Gates.
City Gates
There’s a musical instrument vendor to the far left. Buy a flute for one aren, the coin you just got from Nebevay. Return to the captain.
Long Dock
Now, armed with the flute, give the delivery list to Nebevay again. You’ll play the flute as he signs his “X”. Wonderful. Head back to the maps merchant.
Stalls
Give the signed delivery list to the maps merchant, and he’ll give you the next map for the “Rolling Man”. He’ll then explain where he lives, far to the west end of the city. You don’t need to remember the long explanation; an icon will appear on the city’s overview map. Head out into the city and click Brian’s icon.
Westhouse’s Bungalow
Brian is here on the porch, so talk to him. Be sure to mention that Cortez said to look him up. Give him his map, then give the delivery list to him (he’ll sign it). When you try to leave, assuming you mentioned Cortez, Brian’ll give you a pocket watch that belonged to Cortez, but stopped ticking. Use the pushpin on the watch to wind it, and a Shift portal will open! April will step into the Shift and...
Theatre Alley
...return to the Alley, where Cortez continues to wait for her. April and Cortez will talk some more, about how Chaos and the Vanguard are threatening the Balance. They will need to find the Guardian himself, the entranceway to his Realm, and the key to the Realm, which is split into a disc and four jewels. Each jewel is held by one of the four Dragons. Also, Cortez reveals that in Stark, the Vanguard is known as the Church of Voltec. Agree to help solve all this.
When April agrees, Cortez suggests beginning by finding out more about the Vanguard, and that the artist who painted the picture at the Roma Gallery can help. His name is Warren Hughes. To find where he is, April will have to talk to Father Raul in the Hope Street Cathedral. After April has gotten Warren’s aid, they’ll meet again at the Cathedral. Both Cortez and April leave the Alley; April is next at Subway Entrance.
Café at Jukebox
Sit down on the couch; Emma arrives and sits beside you. Emma says that Zack’s been bragging about a date with April tonight. You have the choice either to honor your promise to Zack, or to stay with Emma for the concert. It doesn’t matter to the game which option you choose. [End of CD1. Insert CD2.]
Chapter 3: Friends and Enemies
April’s Bedroom
April wakes up with a headache, and remembers both her trip to Arcadia, and that Zack is pissed with her (either because she stood him up, or because she refused his advances on their date and kicked him where it hurts).
Upstairs Hallway
Zack and April talk. It doesn’t matter what April says; Zack vows that April will be sorry she crossed him. After Zack leaves, head for the Subway, and exit at Hope Street.
Hope Street
The Cathedral is to the upper end of the street.
Cathedral
Head for the confessionals, middle right.
Near Confessionals
Talk to Father Raul, and ask him about Warren Hughes. He’ll tell you that his gang hangs out in building 87 just down the street.
Hope Street
You can now enter building 87, to the left.
Building 87
Ignore the elevator, and talk to the boy on the stairs. Keep talking to him. Eventually, April will clue in that he’s Warren and mention Cortez’s name. April will ask about the Vanguard, and Warren says he has a friend who can help. But. Before Warren will offer his friend’s help, April must help Warren: “Break into the Newport Police Department computer archives, get me some information on my family, destroy my criminal record, and get the hell outta there—preferably alive.”
Agree to do this for him. Then Warren will explain about his family, and that he needs info on what happened to his sister. Ask where the police station is; he’ll tell you to take the subway to Metro West. So do that.
Metro West street corner
If you head up the street to the police station and up to the police station doors, you’ll find that the doors aren’t working, so you can’t enter the normal way. But an automatic garbage truck uses a basement entrance without a hitch.
So. Examine both street signs here, plus the roadblock and the garbage container. Note that the garbage truck never uses the street that the garbage container is on, because of the roadblock. Use the hand icon on the roadblock to change the id number to the other street. The roadblock will move. Enter the garbage container and wait. The truck will pick you up and take you into the police station.
Police Station Lobby
Okay. You’re in. Smelly, but in. Unfortunately, the doors to the rest of the building also aren’t working. There’s two repairmen on extended lunch break, a pair of public phones, and a female desk sergeant. Near the doors is a toolbox. Examine it, then use the hand-icon on it to get an old petition. Examine the petition to learn its number.
Examine both phones to learn one of the phone’s phone number. You may phone your Mom at this point, but it’s optional.
Talk to the desk sergeant until you learn that the doors aren’t working, and neither are the repairmen who’re supposed to fix it. Then talk to the repairmen, the “portly fella” especially, until you learn that they need a requisition form to go back to work. Just like the old petition you found in the toolbox.
Talk to the desk sergeant again, this time asking for form 09042. She’ll give you a blank copy of union petition #09042. Give it to the portly fella—April will quickly forge the necessary info based on the old petition—and he’ll sputter until he declares that he needs the addendum as well, because it’s a holiday.
Talk to the desk sergeant again, this time asking for form 09042-A. She’ll give you a copy of union petition #09042-A. Give this form to the portly fella, and they’ll finally stand up, and open the work panel beside the broken door, revealing a pair of wires.
However, this still doesn’t get the doors open, only the panel. So, go to the right vidphone and call the left one (Dial 099-12090). While the phones are ringing, go tell the portly fella that there’s a phone call for him. He’ll leave the panel and answer the left phone. Then tell the thin repairman the same thing, and he’ll go to the right phone. Go to the panel, join the wires together, and the doors open. But as you try to use them, the desk sergeant stops you, since you’re not allowed in there.
So finally, examine the shelves behind the desk sergeant and find the most distant form, the form for complaining about lewd and indecent behaviour. Ask the sergeant for this form. While the sergeant goes off for it, rejoin the wires, and sneak through the door.
Police Station Corridor
Use your cashcard on the pop machine to get a soda can. Then enter the locker room to the left.
Police Station Locker Room
Examine the six doors on the lockers. Note Maria’s name is the only female. You hear someone’s having problems in the toilet cubicle. Talk to him; it’s the same guy you gave the stinky candy to outside the Mercury Theatre! His name is Minnelli and he’s still sick. Claim to be Sergeant Hernandez, and he’ll toss you his locker key, and will ask for his bottle of medicine.
Use the key on the first locker and open it. Take the bottle. Examine the mirror, plus its cracked corner. Take the corner of the mirror, revealing a secret note. Read the note to learn about Minnelli’s ID, and that his password is based on his wife’s birthday. Also note that the eye receptacle here shows that Minnelli must use a synthetic eye.
Give the bottle of medicine to Minnelli. Then ask him about Mrs. Minnelli. Twice. He’ll reveal that Laura’s birthday is tomorrow. Then he’ll start sneezing and his synthetic eye will fall to the floor. He’ll pick it up and put it back, but then sneeze it out again. Click the light switch to the cubicle off (the switch is on wall there), so he can’t see your next move. When the synthetic eye is on the floor, replace it with the monkey’s eye (taking the synthetic eye). He’ll put the monkey’s eye in his eye socket and start screaming for you to get him a doctor. Unfortunately for him, you’re just going to leave him there.
Police Station Corridor
Show Minnelli’s glass eye to the retinal scanner, then enter the Archives.
Police Station Archives
Go to the computer and click it. April will login successfully. Search for “Warren Hughes” first.
On Warren’s page, examine Erika Hughes’s name to remember it and her colonization number. Then click EDIT to erase Warren’s criminal record. Then click PRINT to print the revised page. Click MAIN.
Searching for “Erika Hughes” doesn’t work, so search for her colonization number instead, “col#0050123185353260”. Click PRINT. Click MAIN.
Searching for “Vanguard” doesn’t work, but searching for “Church of Voltec” does. There’s not much info here, but click on the name “Jacob MacAllen” to remember it. Click MAIN.
Search for “Jacob MacAllen”. The computer displays a classified page with a strange four symbol code. Write down the code symbols. Click MAIN. Choose “Log off”.
Take the printout from the printer, then look at the other machine in the room with the sixteen buttons, labeled with odd symbols. Type the code you saw on Jacob’s page (buttons 11, 16, 1, 8). The machine will retrieve a Vanguard folder for you. Examine the folder in your inventory to find the Vanguard datacube.
Once you have the printout and datacube, leave the archives and return to the Police Station Lobby.
Police Station Lobby
Pause here to pick up a magnetized screwdriver left beside the toolbox by the repairmen. The doors now work, so there’s no trouble leaving by the front entranceway.
Crash Site
You might have already seen this if you tried to enter the station conventionally, but when you enter the area outside the station for the first time, you enter a broadcast from Action Metro Channel News about a flying shuttle that crashed in front of the station. After Lucinda Carlyle leaves, you can examine the shuttle, the forcefield, and the cop in body armor who’s guarding it. Talk to the cop enough times to learn that he’s thirsty, but don’t give him the soda can just yet. You’ll come back to this later. Return via the subway to Hope Street and Warren.
Building 87
Give the printout to Warren, and he’ll tell you visit his friend Burns Flipper, out at the deserted Newport docks, head east to a large garage and to knock three times on the door, and that he’ll call ahead to let Flipper know you’re coming. Off to the subway again, and this time exit by the Docks.
Seaport
Climb the stairs and head to the right.
Construction Yard
Cross the yard from left to right. The Camaro is Flipper’s.
Outside Garage
Note that there’s a paint shaker here, to the right of the large door. Knock on the door three times. After a long conversation over a hidden speaker where Flipper pulls April’s chain, he finally opens the door. Enter.
Inside Garage
Ignore the stairs, and head down into the pit in the floor.
Flipper’s Pit
Talk to Flipper. He’s kinda weird, to put it mildly. (For example, if you want to learn the true story on how he lost his legs, you must admit that you’re not a virgin.) Tell him that you’re looking for information on Jacob MacAllen and the Vanguard aka the Church of Voltec.
He wants details, so give him the datacube. He’ll examine it a bit, and quickly show you a film segment on Jacob MacAllen, and his right hand man, Gordon Halloway. It turns out that Gordon was supposed to be a Guardian, but the Vanguard did something weird to him, splitting him into two halves spiritually in some way, half logic, half chaos.
April asks where the Vanguard HQ is. Flipper reveals that the Church of Voltec is linked to MTI, and their HQ is on Grendel Avenue. But that’s in a restricted upper-class part of town, and April doesn’t have the necessary ID to even visit.
Ask Flipper repeatedly about getting fake ID. Flipper can get some, but it’s extremely expensive, far more money than April gets from her waitressing job. After Flipper’s hoverchair starts spazzing, he admits that a new anti-grav unit for the chair would be acceptable alternate payment for fake ID. So, off to get an anti-grav unit.
Outside Garage
Pause here to put the soda can in the paint shaker. This transforms the soda can into a dangerous soda can.
Crash Site
Return here, and give the thirsty cop the soda can that you just shook up. It’ll drench his armor, and since there’s a danger that it’ll short-circuit, he leaves. Use the mirror corner on the laser fence to open a passage to the shuttle. Examine the blinking light to learn that it’s an AG control unit. Try first to take the unit with your hand. Then take the AG control unit with your screwdriver.
Flipper’s Pit
Return to Flipper’s Pit, and give the AG control unit to him. The ID will take a few days to make.
Near Confessionals
Return to the Hope Street Cathedral, and April will overhear Cortez and Father Raul talk about the Vanguard, the Balance, and herself. After Raul leaves, talk to Cortez and update him on your progress. You make plans to meet here again tomorrow and investigate your lead. From here, there’s nothing to do but head home.
Upstairs Hallway
Zack’s listening at your door, but as you arrive, he leaves without a word of explanation, and returns to his own room.
April’s Bedroom
Charlie and Emma are here, waiting for April to come home. They want to know what’s going on. You can decide how much to tell them, even ask for their help, but you really can’t tell them very much. Whether you open up to them or not, you thank them for their concern. They let themselves out, and April goes to bed.
She has a confusing dream where Cortez is captured. A weird noise and light coming from her closet wakes her. Investigating, she opens the closet, and there’s a flash of light...
Chapter 4: Monsters
Outside the Inn
...and April has Shifted again. She’s on a dark nighttime Marcurian street, and in her “undies” again. There’s nowhere to go except into the Inn.
Inside the Inn
Talk to the woman who’s walking around; her name is Belrime Salimin and she’s the owner and operator of “The Journey Man Inn”. Keep talking to her until the innkeeper’s conversation topics are exhausted. (You’ll learn about Fate, types of magic, and the Feast of the Balance. The innkeeper also calls April a “Wave”.) She will then excuse herself, and a strange creature will enter from the backrooms.
Talk to the creature, who already knows April and talks oddly. His name is Abnaxus of the Venar, and his kind see all times equally, except for what is hidden by the “veil”. He invites you to visit him at his home in the Marcuria city green. He bids April a good-night and leaves.
Soon, April is sleepy. Sit in the comfy chair; April will sleep there until morning.
The innkeeper wakes her. Try to leave the inn; the innkeeper won’t let you walk the streets unclad, so she outfits April in a new set of clothes. The clothes and the night spent by her fire aren’t free, though, and the innkeeper asks April to do a few chores in exchange. Agree to do the work.
After the cleaning is done, the innkeeper pays April with a handful of coins, since she did more than what was required. Head outside and into the city. The Marcuria map now shows icons for the Inn and the City Green. Visit the Green.
City Green
(Optional: plant the leaf from the Upstairs Hallway plant in the flowerbed here. This will open the Book of Secrets in the main game window. Otherwise, the Book of Secrets won’t open until you’ve completed the game.)
Knock on the door to the tree/house, and enter.
Abnaxus’s Home
Abnaxus will descend the stairs into the room soon after you enter. Talk to him about everything. Of particular importance is learning of the Dragons; first, that the White of the Draic Kin, the Mother, is featured in a story called the Silver Spear of Gorimon, and second, a legend of the “god who fell from the sky”, but only those who know the ocean could tell April more. He directs you to Tobias for more about the disc, and knows nothing about the entrance to the Guardian’s Realm. He also tells of a prophecy when the Balance will falter, and the saviour who will restore it, only to later break it. He calls this savior the Kan-ang-la.
Stalls
Talk to the maps merchant and show him the delivery list (you did remember to have Brian sign it, right?) The merchant grumbles, and gives you a map of the Northlands for Tun Lieuc who’s staying at the Journey Man Inn. (She’s not there right now, so don’t bother trying to deliver it just yet.)
Temple
Talk to Tobias about everything. He tells you that the disc was divided amongst four of the magical people of Arcadia for safekeeping. Regarding the Realm’s entrance, he explains that when the Earth was split in two, places shifted about, and that the entrance may now lie below ground or far above in the sky, so he doesn’t know where it is or who would know. On all else, he directs you to the books of the Sentinel Enclave, and to speak with Minstrum Yerin, their keeper.
Westhouse’s Bungalow
Talk to Brian about everything, especially about the “god who fell from the sky”. He’ll tell you to visit a library, and also tell you about a rumor about a winged people who record stories. He suggests that if you can find them, that they might know.
Short Dock
Talk to the old sailor about everything. Learn how he lost his bird “Bird” to the cups dealer. Listen to both his stories, especially the one about the mermen.
Outside the Enclave
Enter the dome.
Enclave Dome
Note the dragon’s mouth, and the five hollows in the floor, but continue down the stairs into the library.
Enclave Library
Talk to Minstrum Yerin, tell him Tobias sent you, and that you’d like to see some books. Reading the books is tedious. Yerin fetches whichever book you ask for and puts it on a desk which you can read. You read it, and when you’re done, he puts it away. Then you can startle him and ask for another book.
There’s about ten books you can read here, and you’ll probably want to read all of them, too. But the only book you need to read is the one about the winged storytellers. That book tells April that they’re on the island of Alais.
(In case you’re wondering, you needn’t worry about the library’s pool or wheel just yet. Those come into play somewhat later in the game.)
Long Dock
Talk to Captain Nebevay about everything, especially about the island of Alais, and if he can take you there. He has three problems with that: no wind, no navigator, and April is a woman. He doesn’t let women on board “The White Dragon”.
Short Dock
Talk to the old sailor again, and ask him if he can get you passage on a boat going south. Get him to agree to cash in a favor with Nebevay if you’ll get his bird “Bird” back from the cups handler.
Stalls
Talk to the cups handler, and agree to play a game. He’ll warn you that he can detect if you use magic to cheat. Put one of your iron coins that you got from the innkeeper on the table to begin a game. He’ll cover the coin with one of the cups, then shuffle them. Examine the cups in closeup and touch them with the magnetic screwdriver. The middle cup slides, so pick that one. He claims you cheated, but he can’t prove it, so he gives you a calculator as a prize.
He won’t let you play the game again, so offer your screwdriver—that is, magic wand—in exchange for one his “exotic prizes”. Choose the talking bird. You’ll have a brief chat with the bird between the stalls explaining that you need the sailor’s help to help save the worlds and the Balance, and that if he was your bird, you’d call him Crow.
Short Dock
Give Bird to the old sailor, and he’ll tell you to tell Nebevay that Umber Ianos is cashing in an old favor.
Long Dock
Tell Nebevay about Umber Ianos and the favor. He’ll remind you that there’s still no wind, because of a mad alchemist named Roper Klacks who lives in a rock somewhere up north. April will get him to agree that if she can free the wind and get him a new navigator, then he’ll take her to Alais.
Head back into town. Now that you have a map of the Northlands, and a strong reason to go north, the overview map should now show a icon into the north. Click it.
Farmland
Look all you like, but keep going into the forest. As you leave, Crow flies in.
Forest
In mid-forest, Crow finally catches up to April; he escaped from Umber Ianos and has decided to join the quest. They agree that April can call Crow with her flute, as long as she realizes that he won’t arrive at every beck and call. Crow flies off. Continue through the forest.
Near Broken Bridge
A moleman comes out of the forest, scared that April will try to kill and eat him. Talk to him and reassure him. His name is... well, his short name is Ben-Bandu, and his brother is missing. Many Banda have disappeared lately. She agrees to look for the missing Banda, and after Ben-Bandu leaves, she plays the flute and tells Crow to see if he can find him. After Crow leaves, examine the bridge. It’s broken, so April is forced to retrace her steps back into the forest.
Forest
There’s an old woman sitting here who wasn’t here before. Talk to her; she talks oddly and claims to have twisted her ankle. Help her up and follow her back to her home.
Outside the Burrow
Examine what you can, then enter the burrow.
Gribbler’s Lair
The old woman, once April is inside, makes an excuse to get more things for her stew and leaves. Examine everything: door (locked), pillar, table, cauldron, fire, plank (a loose floorboard), window, tools, skull, cabinet, and broom. Someone is inside the cabinet! Take the skull, then the broom. Use the broom on the cabinet to open it; a moleman crawls out, and is Bandu-Uta, Ben-Bandu’s brother. He tells you that the old woman is really a monster called the Gribbler, and they must escape or she’ll eat them.
Throw the skull at the window, then take Bandu-Uta and put him through the open window. Unfortunately, he runs away, and the Gribbler returns. She isn’t pleased that the moleman has escaped and begins to threaten you. Jump on the loose floorboard, which topples the pillar against the Gribbler. The Gribbler falls into the fire and dies. April can now escape through the door.
Outside the Burrow
Ben-Bandu meets April. She tells him that the Gribbler is now dead. He tells her that his brother found him and ran to alert the village to get help. He also updates her map to show where the Banda Village is.
Banda Village
As you arrive, it’s late at night, and Ben-Bandu greets you. He tells you to speak to the Elder first. Talk to the Elder, who invites you to sleep in the Spirit Dig. He’ll talk to you again tomorrow. Talk to Ben-Bandu and his brother, and learn where the Spirit Dig is. Crow is also here, talk to him and compare notes. Then enter the Spirit Dig (upper middle of the screen).
Spirit Dig
Lie on the bed and go to sleep. April dreams having a long conversation with another April who berates her, and a Charlie who offers comfort. In this way, April faces some of her fears and inner demons, plus realizes that she isn’t alone and has friends who’ll help. (She also finally clues in that Charlie loves her.) The Spirit with Charlie’s face and voice says to tell the Elder that she had a “Bak-Baar”, that she’s spoken to the spirits, and that her new name is April Bandu-embata.
Chapter 5: There and Back Again
Spirit Dig
April wakes up. Leave the dig.
Banda Village
April talks briefly with Ben-Bandu before he has to say farewell. Talk again with the Elder, and tell him about the Bak-Baar. He’ll give you the Bandu stone, the first piece of the disc. Wake Crow and tell him it’s time to go. Head right, into a swamp.
Swamp
Just mosquitoes and swamp water. Keep going.
Swampy Forest
As you leave the swamp proper, April realizes that she lost something (the delivery list). But she won’t go back to find it. Take some of the soft purple flowers.
Hill
Your first view of Klacks’s castle, a big floating rock. Head down to the plains.
Outside the Castle
Touch the statue, and learn that it’s a petrified man. He can’t talk until April can figure out a way to soften him up (and the flowers aren’t quite good enough). There’s a berry bush here, try to get some berries. When you realize that the ground is too marshy, play the flute and summon Crow. Ask Crow to get some berries for you. In your inventory, mix the berries and flowers together to make moisturizing cream. Apply the cream to the petrified man and talk to him.
You learn that his name is Lorhan, and that Klacks holds his soul and other men’s souls hostage in a crystal. Then he lowers the stairs into the castle before he petrifies again. Enter.
Labyrinth
Klacks is a mad alchemist, and the labyrinth reflects his odd sense of humor. His voice will taunt you, but ignore him for now.
On the right, a gargoyle holds out a begging hand. Give him one of your coins. The gargoyle’s pillar turns to reveal another gargoyle bearing two lit candles. Blow out both candles (use the mouth icon). This (a) lights up a door with a face on a lower level light up that yawns, and (b) turns the gargoyle back to holding a begging hand out. Give another coin to the gargoyle. It turns once more, now bearing salt and pepper shakers in his hands. Take the salt shaker and pepper shaker.
Climb the stairs to the gargoyle with the hourglass and tip it. Part of the stairs flip up, allowing a timed access to an upper level. There is just enough time for April to run up the stairs before the stairs fall down. If you don’t make it, keep trying until you do.
A parchment is rolled up in front of a mirror here, but when you try to take it, an evil mirror image version of April stops you.
Knock on the door at the upper right. It will turn to reveal a second hourglass. Tip it, and run quickly across the new path to the upper left door. Open the door and enter to reach the labyrinth’s lower level.
At the stony face door, sprinkle pepper at it. It will sneeze and fall like a drawbridge. Exit through the door.
Castle Foyer
Attempt to climb the stairs. Roper Klacks will appear and throw a fireball to keep you off the stairs. Talk to him. Somehow, he knows exactly who you are. He laughs off your bravado and asks how you expect to defeat him. Ask him: “How about a proper challenge?” He agrees to let you try.
At this point you may talk to him again, and challenge him to games of hopscotch, tic-tac-toe, spelling, weight guessing, Shakespeare recital, and cooking. None of this will work, but it’s vastly amusing to watch a mad alchemist play hopscotch.
Click the calculator on him, to challenge him to do arithmetic. He’s pitiful at it. When April declares him the loser, he summons the calculator to him and plays with it himself. Somehow, the calculator becomes too hot for him to hold, and when he tosses it away, he is bodily absorbed into the calculator! Suddenly the castle shakes; with the loss of its master, the floating rock is no longer grounded, and begins to rise up higher into the air. Climb the stairs and enter the tower.
Castle Tower
There’s a white vial in plain view, take the white vial. Open the curtains and take the green vial, then open the window and play the flute to summon Crow. Talk to Crow to learn that the castle is going nowhere but up. Move the skull on the table and take the blue vial. There’s a red vial on a high shelf, but you can’t reach it. Crow can reach it, but can’t get it safely. The crystal of souls is here, but there’s no obvious way to break it.
There’s a spellbook with a ripped page here. April reads the only spell listed as “clouds and spider’s web with catalyst makes invisibility spell”.
Also, on the far right is a cauldron. Take the yellow vial that’s beside it. Examine the vials that you have so far. The white vial suggests clouds; the green vial suggests spider’s webs; the yellow vial suggests butterflies; the blue vial suggests ice and bells. Click in order, the white, green and blue vials on the cauldron to make a vial of invisibility potion. Return to the labyrinth.
Labyrinth
You emerge from the upper right door. Go near the mirror and use the invisibility potion on yourself. While invisible, take the parchment. The potion wears off. Return to the tower.
Castle Tower
Put the parchment in the spellbook and read four new spells. Then go to the cauldron and mix the next spell: yellow + white + blue to get light-as-a-leaf potion. Back away from the cauldron and stand under the red vial. Take a sip of this new potion, then take the red vial. Examining the red vial suggests brimstone.
Mix up the last three potions: white + red + blue = wind potion; red + red + blue = big bang potion; green + yellow + blue = bind magic potion.
Use the bind magic potion on the soul crystal, then use the big bang potion on the crystal to free the locked souls. Then give the wind potion to Crow and ask him to fly out and pour a little of it outside. He does so, and the wind is freed. He returns the rest of the vial to you.
—
Once both wind and souls are freed, the castle lands and April is once again back at Farmland. The only way from here is back to Marcuria.
Long Pier
Talk to Nebevay and claim you’ve defeated Klacks and freed the wind. He won’t believe you. Use the wind potion on him to convince him. He’ll even agree to hire a female navigator.
Inside the Inn
Finally deliver the last map to Tun Lieuc, who will finally be at The Journey Man Inn, but only after you’ve shown the wind potion to Nebevay. Talk to Tun Lieuc; she’s a female navigator looking for work, so offer her a job on the White Dragon.
Stalls
(Optional: Talk to the maps merchant just so he can fire you.)
Temple
Talk to Tobias at the mural. He’ll tell you about the Tyren threatening war against Marcuria, and that you’re the 13th Guardian of the Balance. He’ll give you the talisman of the Balance, held in safekeeping for you. He only knows that it’s yours, not what it does. You tell him that you’re heading for Alais, and he agrees that you’ll be safer there.
Long Pier
Board the ship. The “White Dragon” sails out of the harbour.
Chapter 6: The Chaos Storm
The Deck
Take an apple from the apple barrel. Climb up to the Bridge.
The Bridge
Examine the orb, then talk to the captain and Tun Lieuc about everything. You need to learn from Tun Lieuc that the orb is a spirit compass, which can be affected by magical fields. Leave the Bridge.
The Deck
When you first return to the deck, the Chaos Storm is first spotted. The Captain orders a course change. You can return to the Bridge and argue about it, but you won’t make any headway. Go down into the hold.
The Hold
There’s an axe here. Take the axe. Examine the flour sack; a worm emerges every now and then, crawling from one hole to the next. Eat a candy (if you haven’t already) and get a sticky candy and a candy wrapper. Put the sticky candy on the sack between the holes. The worm will stick to the candy, allowing you to take the worm. In your inventory, put the worm in the apple.
The Bridge
Give the wormy apple to the captain; he’ll run off to check the apple barrel. Talk to Tun Lieuc and offer to take the wheel for a while. When she’s gone as well, put the talisman on the spirit compass. April will call Tun Lieuc back to the wheel. Then talk to Tun Lieuc and claim that you may have strayed off course. She will check the compass and change the ship’s course accordingly. Ask Tun Lieuc if the storm’s getting closer. She’ll agree and call the captain back.
The Deck
The weather has gotten even worse and the ship’s in serious danger.
The Bridge
Take the talisman. Nebevay notices and demands to know what you did. Whether you lie or tell the truth, he takes the talisman, orders a course change, tells Tun Lieuc to ignore April, and says he’ll lock up the talisman as far from the compass as he can. He leaves.
The Hold
The trunk here is locked. Use the axe on the trunk to open it. Unfortunately, with the ship moving so violently, April breaks through the bottom of the ship instead! Axe and April go flying as the ship breaks up and sinks to the ocean floor.
Chapter 7: A Deep Blue Mirror
Ocean Surface
April is sleeping on pieces of ship debris. Crow flies in beside her and wakes her. He tells her that the crew got away in a lifeboat. Ask Crow to search for land.
After he flies off, a creature pokes its head out of the water. Examine it. When it next appears, talk to it. When it appears closer to April, try to touch it. The creature instead grabs April, and pulls her into the ocean. Crow returns and wonders where she went.
Breathing House
April is quickly conveyed to a “breathing house”, an organic room filled with breathable air. Examine the drawings on the wall to learn (a) that mixing one’s blood with moss and adding it to a black pearl and then eating it results in learning how to speak to the mermen, and (b) putting a polyp in one’s mouth lets one breathe underwater. Examine the walls. Use the mouth-icon on the wall to breath air through a polyp. Then take a polyp from the wall and use it on April. Now April can leave the “house”.
Ocean Floor
Open the shell and take the black pearl. Head into the city.
Maerum City
You can’t talk to the maerum yet, nor take the spear. But you can take some of the moss on the walls, plus the first crystal from the wall.
Breathing House
Use the pushpin on April to get a drop of blood. In inventory, add the blood to the moss, then the moss to the pearl; it becomes a golden pearl. Eat the pearl. You can now go back to the city and talk to the Maerum.
Maerum City
Talk to the Maerum about everything. You’ll learn mostly about Tanyenn, Snapjaws, and the prophecy of the Waterstiller. She won’t tell you anything about their “sleeping god”. She will tell you where the sunken ship is, just past the breathing house.
Ocean Floor
Search the seaweed to the left and find a second crystal. Search some more and open an entrance to a lost shrine. Enter.
Ancient Shrine
There’s an altar and two more crystals. Take the third crystal and fourth crystal. Examine the altar in closeup.
This is an alignment puzzle, insufficiently clued. The first part is to rotate the four center rings into their proper positions. The pot ring cannot be moved. Rotate the fire ring until its tag faces water. Rotate the bird ring until its tag faces fish. Rotate the Maerum ring until its tag faces the eyed-pyramid. All the rings will lock when they are correctly placed.
Next insert the crystals into the corner slots, and rotate them so that their sides face the matching tags. Explicitly:
- Put the black-topped first crystal in the bottom right slot. Rotate it so that its harpoon and fish sides face towards the bottom left and top right, respectively.
- Put the red-brown-topped second crystal in the top left slot. Rotate it so that its harpoon and fish sides face towards the bottom left and top right, respectively.
- Put the yellow-topped third crystal in the top right slot. Rotate it so that its water and pyramid sides face the top left and bottom right, respectively.
- Put the green-topped fourth crystal in the bottom left slot. Rotate it so that its water and pyramid sides face the top left and bottom right, respectively.
When all the crystals are in place, the center of the altar opens, filling the ancient shrine with light. Examine the symbol and drawings that are now visible to learn the Maerum’s history.
Maerum City
Tell the Maerum about the cave with the altar and the wall paintings. She is now willing to consider that you may indeed be the Waterstiller, but you must fulfil all the rest of the prophecy. She now lets you take the spear in order to kill a Snapjaw, so take it.
Ocean Floor
Head to the right, past the breathing house.
Outside Shipwreck
Try to enter the wreck. When the snapjaw appears, kill it with the spear. Click on the dead snapjaw to get a snapjaw tooth. Enter the wreck.
Inside Shipwreck
Take the talisman of the Balance; it’s in plain sight.
Ancient Shrine
Click the talisman on the symbol to open a niche. Reach into the niche to get the Maerum stone, which is a piece of the disc.
Maerum City
Show the snapjaw tooth, the talisman, and the Maerum stone to the Maerum queen. This fulfils all of the prophecies but one: reuniting their people. Explain that the Maerum must reunite with the Alatiens. The Maerum Queen will take you to Alais to fulfil the last prophecy, and hold onto the Maerum stone. [End of CD2; Insert CD3.]
Chapter 8: Reunification
Beach
Take the rope from the debris. Head west.
Ruins
Examine the statue’s top, middle, and base. Examine the sapling and hole. Tie the rope to the sapling and climb down the rope.
Cave
Examine the nests. Continue downward. Examine the sea and the rubble. Take the stone key from the rubble. Climb up the rope.
Ruins
Untie the rope from the sapling, and take it. Head back east to the beach.
Beach
Try to head north into the jungle. Then play the flute to summon Crow. After talking to him, use Crow on the jungle so you can explore the jungle. Enter the jungle.
Island Map
Click the head icon.
Outside the Big Head
Find the large tree and examine it. This adds another location to the Island Map. Enter the big head.
Inside the Big Head
Put the stone key in the triangular keyhole. Record the symbol on the wheel, and examine the aperture. Turn the key clockwise to change the symbol and look through the aperture again. Repeat for all the symbols. Note that the “arrow” symbol looks at the ruins’ statue, the “onion” symbol looks at a sea cliff’s statue, the “S” symbol looks at a tall tree’s statue, and the “bracketed-A” symbol is a mirror (eg: it looks at the big head itself). Take the key.
Island Map
Click the big tree icon.
Under the Big Tree
Walk through here until you hear a voice go “Ow!” Wait, and eventually three Stickmen will reveal themselves to you. Talk to them, but mostly to their leader, whose name is Wick. Talk to Wick about everything, and learn about Q’aman (the once “quiet giant” who isn’t so quiet anymore), the Orlowol (large sentient crabs), the telephone statues, and the Stickmen themselves. Climb the tree.
On Mother Tree
Examine the wooden crossbow and the mountain path. Climb down again.
Under the Big Tree
Ask Wick about the crossbow and learn that it’s their lunar cannon. They won’t go back to work on it until Q’aman stops snoring.
Examine the base of the Stickmen’s statue. Put the key in the triangular keyhole. Turn the key counterclockwise until the selected symbol on the upper ring is the “onion”. Turn the key clockwise until the lower ring symbol is the “S”. This means you can now talk from this statue to the statue at the seacliff. Take the key.
Beach
Head east.
Crab Village
Examine and talk to the crab, but you can’t help him loosen his shell. Ignore him for now, and continue up the cliff stairs.
Seacliff
Examine the base of the statue. Put the key in the keyhole. Turn the key counterclockwise until the top ring is the “arrow”. Turn the key clockwise until the bottom ring is the “S”. This means that this statue is now listening to the Stickmen’s statue, and talking to the ruins’ statue. Take the key.
Ruins
Examine the base of the statue. Put the key in the keyhole. Turn the key counterclockwise until the top ring is the “bracketed-A”. Turn the key clockwise until the bottom ring is the “onion”. This means that this statue is now listening to the seacliff’s statue, and talking to the big head. Take the key.
Under the Big Tree
Talk to the Stickmen’s statue. Your voice should now be broadcast to the seacliff, then to the ruins, and then to the big head, which broadcasts it over the entire island. This wakes Q’aman. Talk to Q’aman until he tells you where he is. Then go visit him.
Q’aman’s Refuge
Talk to Q’aman and tell him about the Orlowol who needs help. You’ll both go to the Crab Village...
Crab Village
...and Q’aman will free the crab, and the crab will invite Q’aman to stay. Q’aman will go to the seacliff.
Seacliff
Talk to Q’aman, who is now fishing. When you find out he needs something lightweight and colorful for a lure, give the candy wrapper to him.
Under the Big Tree
Tell Wick that Q’aman is back with the Orlowol. The Stickmen leave and climb the tree.
On Mother Tree
Talk to Wick about the lunar cannon, until you find out that they need a bowstring.
Seacliff
Take Q’aman’s fishing line and the large fish bone.
On Mother Tree
Give the fishing line to Wick. The Stickmen will finish their cannon. In inventory, tie the rope to the fish hook. Then put the rope in the cannon. Pull the lever, and April will climb across the rope to the mountain path.
Mountain Path
Examine the Alatien and the updraft. Talking to the Alatien doesn’t help you get across the chasm. Use the wind potion on the updraft and the light-as-a-leaf potion on yourself to get across. The stunned guard will ask if you’re the Windbringer and suggest that you see the Teller.
Alatien Stairs
You can talk to the old man here, but he has little to say right now. Continue to the castle.
Outside the Castle
Climb the stairs to the castle. Tell the watchman that you are the Windbringer. He’ll ask you to prove it by answering questions about four Tales. Tell him you’re not ready to answer yet.
Talk to the little girl, and get her to tell you the Tale of Stars.
Talk to the female potter, and get her to tell you the Tale of Homecoming.
Alatien Stairs
Talk to the old man, and get him to tell you the Tale of Sea.
Mountain Path
Talk to the guard, and get him to tell you the Tale of Winds.
Outside the Castle
Talk to the watchmen and say you’re ready to answer the questions. The answers are (rather obviously) “Mount Bak’ta’ana, the Tower of Light”, “The spirits of five Tellers”, “The Octa’wo”, and “A broken pot, to teach him that absence may break a heart in two.”. Now you can enter the castle tower.
Teller’s Tower
Talk to the Teller about everything. There’s no decision making here. She really doesn’t have much she can tell you for your quest, except to suggest talking to the Kin (Dragons). She readily agrees to rejoin the Alatiens with the Maerum, though. And she has the Alatien half of the second piece of the stone disc.
—
In the Cave, the watchman and the Maerum queen meet, and reunite their peoples. They also reunite their stones to form the Alatien stone. The Maerum queen then takes April to their sleeping god.
Large Rock Underwater
Examine and touch the rock. Examine and touch the sand, revealing a small orifice. Talk to the small orifice, which opens a large orifice. Enter the large orifice.
Dragon’s Eye
Touch the “circular protrusion” and talk with the Old Dragon. Ask him about everything. He won’t tell you who you are, but says that you’ve already been told, that your journey began with the answer. He gives April the blue jewel known as the Dragon’s Eye. He tells April that the entrance to the Guardian’s Realm has moved into the sky, and that the Dark People have prepared a map for her. He then takes April to the Dark People’s shadowship.
Shadowship
Talk to the dark emissary about everything. He calls April a Wave. He’ll give you the star map and the Dark People’s stone as soon as you ask for them. Then he bids April to sleep while they travel back to Marcuria.
Chapter 9: Shadows
Shadowship
April wakes, and leaves the ship.
Long Dock
The White Dragon isn’t here, nor anyone else. When you try to leave the dock, the Chaos Storm rises and approaches! In a panic, April summons up a Shift and escapes to...
Near Confessionals
...the Hope Street Cathedral. Talk to Father Raul and find out that Cortez is missing, and that Raul is a Minstrum. Nothing to do but return home.
Common Room
On entering, you notice immediately that Fiona is crying on the couch, and Emma yells at April to run out of here! However, before you can do anything, Gordon Halloway and a Vanguard agent enter. Talk to Halloway about how he found her and where’s Cortez. When he offers to take you on a trip, answer him however you like. But he’ll order the agent to shoot Emma anyway. Mickey enters unexpectedly, allowing April to escape up the stairs.
Upstairs Hallway
Zack tries to gloat about getting even with April, but is stunned when April tells him Emma has been killed. Then the agent shoots him. April retreats to her bedroom.
April’s Bedroom
Nothing to do but jump out the window!
Outside Border House
To get past the guard, use the invisibility potion on yourself and escape to Bridges.
Outside Café
After you enter here, two Vanguard agents start to chase you. Then the mystery door opens, shining a strange light. April runs in to...
Lady Alvane’s Sitting Room
...a sitting room with an old woman. The same old woman who is telling this very story. Talk to the old woman. She calls herself Lady Alvane, and tells April that Emma isn’t dead. Hurt, but not killed. Also that this place is neither in Stark, nor Arcadia, but Between. Alvane wants April to return to Marcuria and learn from the people’s courage. She also advises that April’s shifting talent can be focused through other talents, such as art. April leaves through the door and is gone.
Chapter 10: Rebirth
Outside the Inn
The Inn is deserted and empty.
City Map
Your options are reduced to Marketplace, Westhouse’s Bungalow, the City Green, and the Enclave.
Westhouse’s Bungalow
Talk to Brian. He’s not leaving. He’s stubborn, drunk, and has a gun.
Abnaxus’s Home
Talk to Abnaxus. He’ll give you the Venar stone, then leaves.
Enclave Dome
Time to put the stones back together and reform the disc. Put the Alatien stone in the top hollow. Put the Venar stone in the left hollow. Put the Dark People’s stone in the bottom hollow. Put the Banda stone in the right hollow. The dragon mouth is jammed, and you can’t reach it, so play the flute to summon Crow. Use Crow on the dragon, and he’ll peck the pigeon droppings off. The dragon mouth will erupt, melting the stones. They will run together into the center hollow, and reform into the disc. Then the floor under it opens, and the disc falls into the library’s pool below.
Enclave Library
Talk to Yerin and learn that Tobias was murdered, and that the Enclave priests are arming themselves with magic and weapons. Walk down the stairs and touch the water to learn that it’s too hot. Try turning the wheel; you can’t. Talk to Yerin again and ask him about the wheel. Then ask him to unlock it so you can drain the pool. He’ll leave to do this. Turn the wheel and drain the pool. Take the now cooled stone disc.
Outside the Enclave
Trying to return to the city heralds the approach of the Tyren army. April manages to open up a Shift and escapes...
Chapter 11: Kin
Academy, Upstairs
Only one thing to do: pick up the paintbrush and palette and paint on the canvas. April uses this to shift to...
Clifftop
...the cliff top she visited in the Prologue. April talks with the White Dragon, who is dying. April learns that the Mother is, in fact, her mother. April takes the Mother’s white jewel at her insistence, and stays with her as she dies. Then the egg hatches, and the new mother is born. April opens a Shift to...
Near Confessionals
...the Cathedral, and realizes ruefully that she’s finally learned how to Shift, but now there’s no reason to, since everything that can be done in Arcadia has been done. She now needs to find the Guardian, figure out the star map, and find the last two jewels, and all of that must be done in Stark.
Flipper’s Pit
Talk to Flipper and get the fancy ID-card. Then give the star map to him, asking if he can figure it out. Luckily, the AG unit gives you enough credit that you don’t need to pay anything more for this service.
Metro Circle
Head to the elevators to the left. Your ID lets you walk into the elevators, and the policeman won’t say a word.
Upper Level Plaza
“Go shopping” for new clothes. Examine the pizza machine, and take the discarded pizza box from the garbage bin. Take the shuttle exit to Grendel Avenue.
Grendel Avenue
Talk to the policeman briefly to find out where the MTI building is. You can now head east to the MTI lobby.
MTI Lobby
Examine everything, but the receptionist won’t let you go up the elevator without an appointment, and won’t tell you where Jacob MacAllen is. Click the pizza box on “Jerry” and pretend to be delivering a pizza to MacAllen, and he’ll let you enter the elevator.
McAllen’s Office
Examine everything, but touch the desk last. When you do so, MacAllen himself enters. Talk to him however you like, but sooner or later, you’ll both enter a second elevator to a secret laboratory.
Laboratory
MacAllen continues to interrogate April. Again, answer how you like. He will take the disc and jewels from you, add his two jewels, and put the fully assembled disc in a machine, operated by a computer console. After a last question about where the Guardian’s entrance is, he leaves, and then a “mutant freak” is let loose and chases April.
Examine the computer, then hand-click it to open the hoverpad exit. Then exit to the hoverpad.
Hoverpad
The freak will pursue April here. Run to the protrusion in the lower right corner. When all seems lost, a blast will hit the freak and the freak will fall. Cortez has arrived. Talk to Cortez about everything. MacAllen will arrive and they’ll square off against each other. Apparently, Cortez is the Red of the Kin, and MacAllen is the Green of the Kin, and bitter rivals. They fight, fall, transform, and are gone.
Laboratory
Use the computer to open the containment chamber, then take the stone disc from the chamber.
Flipper’s Pit
Flipper has been roughed up, and is dying. The Vanguard has stolen the star map. But he deciphered it, and tells you that the destination on it is an anomaly next to The Morning Star, a transfer station to the colonies. Also, Halloway mentioned bringing something important to the station, which April correctly assumes must be the missing Guardian. Then Flipper dies.
Upper Level Plaza
Take the “tubes” exit.
Tubes Lounge
Talk to the representative, and tell her you want to register as a colonist. Whichever ship goes to the Morning Star. The sales rep is puzzled, but makes no complaint. [End of CD3; Insert CD4.]
Chapter 12: Dreamland
Waiting Room
Look around. Try to enter the ladies’ room. When that fails, enter the men’s room.
Men’s Room
Examine the dispenser. Use your cashcard on the dispenser and get Instant Heat capsules. Push the trash can to reveal a grill. Use the iron coin on the grill to unscrew the grill and open it. Enter the hole.
Tunnel
Examine the tunnel map (on the left).
Tunnel Map
From the map you can exit to a Security Corridor (duct exit #1), or a Security Office (duct exit #2), or the Men’s Room. Or Exit to the Tunnel. Go to the Security Corridor.
Security Corridor
Click on the camera’s cable to disconnect it. The guard in the security office comes to investigate. Duck back into the tunnel before he catches you, and quickly use the map to enter the Security Office before he comes back.
Security Office
Quickly, before the guard returns, put the Instant Heat in his coffee mug. Then sneak back out through the grill to the tunnel. Wait a bit, and return here, and watch the guard through the grill. He’ll eventually drink the coffee and feel the urge to be elsewhere. Enter the room fully once he’s gone for good.
Examine the computer to learn that the Guardian is in cell #5. Search the coat to get the magnetic key. Examine the security map, and order the cell guard off-duty. Exit the office by the door, into the Security Corridor.
Security Corridor
Head “north” to the Cell Block Corridor.
Cell Block Corridor
Now that the guard is off-duty, touch the lock for cell #5 to open the cover, then use the magnetic key on the lock to unlock the cell and free Adrian, the missing Guardian. He’ll follow you through the corridors, although not into the Security Office.
Security Office
Using the security map, order the rest area guard on-duty, then order the airlock guard off-duty.
Security Corridor
Lead Adrian back north through the Cell Block Corridor (the guard there won’t see you), through the now empty Airlock Corridor, and into the Airlock Control Room.
Airlock Control Room.
Adrian declares that he’ll stay here. Find the pod controls, then examine and push the red button to load a pod. Examine the pod’s panel to discover that an oxygen filter is missing. Head back to the Office.
Security Office
Using the security map, order the rest area guard on-duty, then order the cargo bay guard off-duty.
Security Corridor
Head southwest and continue through the now empty Cargo Corridor to the cargo bay.
Cargo Bay
Use the computer terminal and search for an oxygen filter. The storage code is L-10-9. Search the boxes. The L-10-9 boxes are towards the back and left, the “even more boxes”. Touch the even more boxes, and take an oxygen filter.
Security Office
Using the security map, order the rest area guard on-duty, then order the airlock guard off-duty.
Airlock Control Room
Put the oxygen filter on the pod’s panel. The panel light changes from red to green. And the yellow launch button on the main controls lights up. Push the yellow button, and you and Adrian will enter pods and travel to the anomaly. Adrian warns you that you might be separated, and that the Balance will set three Trials: a Trial of Might, a Trial of Spirit, and a Trial of Matter. You must solve all three before reaching the Well of Making, which lies below the Guardian’s tower. As you enter the Realm, a third person seems to be following you.
Chapter 13: The Longest Journey
April’s Pod Site
The pod is broken and Adrian is missing. Head north towards the tower.
Adrian’s Pod Site
Adrian’s pod is here, but not him. Keep going north.
First Trial: Chaos Vortex
Somehow the Chaos Storm has followed April even here, and it’s bigger than ever. Use the bind magic potion on the talisman, then use the talisman on the vortex. The vortex is absorbed into the talisman! Continue your journey.
Second Trial: Daddy
It looks like April’s parents’ kitchen. And Daddy is here. April becomes an eight year old. Show the gold ring to Daddy, and he will cry and say he’s sorry. April forgives him. The kitchen and Daddy vanish, and April returns to her normal age. Continue north.
Third Trial: Canyon of Nothing
Examine the cone structure, tower, and canyon. Play the flute and summon Crow here. Talk to Crow until he’ll agree to help. Use Crow on the cone structure, the tower, and the canyon in turn. He’ll tell you that the cone structure holds the Well of Making, that he sees no way into the tower, and the canyon contains ***nothing***. Literally.
Tell Crow to fly to the Well of Making and get a beakful of magic water. Then tell Crow to fly into the canyon, and spill the water of making on the nothing – that should make *something*, right? He does so, and a bridge to the Well is made. Crow doesn’t return.
Well of Making
Examine and then touch the well. In the closeup of the wellshaft, drop the disc into the well. The water sinks, then rises, and a handprint is magically projected onto the water’s surface. Touch the handprint. It doesn’t work, but then Adrian appears and touches it. This time it works, and the circle surrounding the well rises, carrying the two of them (plus a third person hanging on from underneath!) into the Guardian’s Tower.
Guardian’s Tower
Adrian and April talk about what happens next. Adrian suggests that April walk to the edge of the disc. If she is the next Guardian, then the tower will accept her. But nothing happens when she does so, proving that she isn’t the 13th Guardian after all. Then Gordon Halloway enters, claiming the post. Oddly, April feels too cold in the tower, and Gordon feels too hot. Then Gordon and Adrian fight.
Use the talisman on Gordon. This returns the Chaos Vortex to him, reuniting the two halves of his self. Gordon is now cured of his madness and is now an acceptable Guardian. Gordon and Adrian thank April. After a short talk about the future, April says her goodbyes and leaves.
—
Outside the tower, April ruminates and leaves. Crow flies after her. The energy streams from the towers start to change rapidly...
Epilogue: Threads
Lady Alvane’s Sitting Room
Lady Alvane ends her tale. The guests leave. Then Crow enters, older, but still Crow. It’s obvious that Alvane and April are one and the same, as Alvane reassures Crow that their adventuring days are over. Crow asks for another story, and Alvane happily complies.
THE END