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 In 1992, video game company Westwood Studios - who would later come to be known for the Command & Conquer series of real-time strategy games before being bought out by Electronic Arts and closed down - produced a point-and-click adventure game along the lines of King's Quest or Monkey Island called Fables & Fiends: The Legend of Kyrandia. Though filled with puzzles of questionable quality, especially by modern standards, the game was successful enough to spawn a fully voice-acted CD-ROM version (starring none other than Joe Kucan, who would later go on to voice Kane in Command & Conquer) and two full sequels, both fully voiced. A little while ago, we finished up the first game (the thread for the LP of the first game is here: Cliches & Clowns: Let's Play The Legend of Kyrandia), and it's time to dig into the second game in the series: Fables & Fiends: The Legend of Kyrandia: Book Two: Hand of Fate, or just Hand of Fate for short. In this game, we'll be playing as one of the minor characters from the first game - Zanthia the alchemist - on a journey to solve a problem completely unrelated from the plots of the first or third games in the series.  Unlike the first game, Hand of Fate is pretty light on bullshit puzzles, filler locations and backtracking. It's a significant step up from the first game. Not perfect by any means, but at the very least playable. As before, exercise good judgment with regards to spoilers. The Kyrandia games don't have a deep plot, and most of it is fairly predictable, but at least try to use spoiler tags when talking about future things. Just like the first LP, this will be a combination of screenshots, transcribed dialogue, and video clips of significant events, especially when new characters are introduced. I will also post as much of the soundtrack as I can manage to record, which should be most of it. My commentary will be in italics, and any other text can be assumed to be straight from the game, usually in the form of dialogue. Well then, let's return to Kyrandia and see what's wrong with the place this time. Table of Contents Chapter 0: Introduction Chapter 1: Wherein Transportation Proves Troublesome Chapter 2: Wherein Zanthia Smells a Rat Chapter 3: Wherein a Potion is Made Chapter 4: Wherein Zanthia Tampers With the Post Chapter 5: Wherein Local Bureaucracy Causes Delays Chapter 6: Wherein Law Enforcement is Thwarted + Intermission: The Truth of Things Chapter 7: Wherein Poetry is Appreciated Chapter 8: Wherein Skepticism is Encouraged Chapter 9: Wherein the Natives have Zanthia for Dinner Chapter 10: Wherein Zanthia Journeys to the Center of the Earth Chapter 11: Wherein the Anchor Stone is Retrieved Chapter 12: Wherein a Body Part is Captured Chapter 13: Wherein Candy is Stolen From a Baby Chapter 14: Wherein Love is Found Chapter 15: Wherein Zanthia has Had Enough, and the World is Finally Saved Bonus: Secrets! Hyper Crab Tank fucked around with this message at 21:14 on Mar 12, 2015 |
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Oct 11, 2014 14:27
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Chapter 0: Introduction Video: Opening Cinematic (Youtube) The opening cinematic is narrated by Joe Kucan - in other words, the newly crowned King Brandon. He does not otherwise appear in this game.   Narrator: Kyrandia is disappearing!  Narrator: Rock by rock and tree by tree...  Narrator: Kyrandia ceases to exist!  Here's all our old pals: Darm the elderly wizard, his pet dragon Brandywine, Brandon's grandpa Kallak, Brynn the priestess, and Zanthia the alchemist. And a very colorful fellow in the top left, who we haven't seen before.  Narrator: Every reference has been consulted.  No, you shouldn't really know who Marko is. He's a new character, and so is his weird handservant.  That's very convenient.  Narrator: And finally a plan was approved that required a magic anchor stone...  ... maybe not so convenient after all. If the best plan you can come up with involves journeying to the center of the world, you know you're in deep.    Hurry up, Faun! This should be enough blueberries to open a portal to the center of the world.I guess this does explain why she wanted blueberries in the first game. Sounds like we've got this one covered already.  Finally a game where we don't have to engage in a series of convoluted puzzles just to get to our destination!  Why is nothing ever easy?
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Oct 11, 2014 14:27
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Chapter 1: Wherein Transportation Proves Troublesome Here we are again in the magical land of Kyrandia. Trouble is afoot: The land is disappearing before people's eyes, and no one knows why. No one except this mysterious Hand, who seems to be working as a valet for two-bit magician Marko, that is. Zanthia, a supporting character from the first game, has been selected to save the world from imminent disappearance, but before she can brew up a portal potion to get the job done, she comes home to find her laboratory trashed and all her equipment stolen. Looks like we'll have to walk after all. First, let's have a look at the new user interface. The fundamentals are still there. We can click on things to interact with them or examine them - everything is context-dependent, and there are no separate examine or interact actions. Everything is done with a left mouse click. The interface is much sleeker this time, having removed the heavy border around everything. As a result, we can see more of the room. Additionally, Zanthia has a lot more to say about the environment than Brandon ever did. Music: Zanthia (Tindeck)  Senseless! Who could be mad at me?Almost everything in the background that looks interesting can be clicked for a short description. The developers really cut down on the useless filler rooms in this game, too, leading to an experience that is a lot more densely packed with things to look at. Since there's so much to look at, I'm going to gloss over much of it and just point out especially interesting stuff, with some extra descriptions here and there in the form of dialogue. To the left is the same options menu as before (remember to increase your walk speed!), and to the right of that is our inventory. Note the little wheel on the side of it; Zanthia can actually carry 20 items, twice of Brandon's capacity from the first game. However, only ten items fit on screen at once, so the wheel lets you scroll through your inventory. There's a good reason for expanding the inventory in this game, as we shall find out in due time. The right side is currently empty. In the first game, this is where our magic amulet sat once we recovered it, and that space is going to serve a similar purpose this time around. Zanthia does share something with Brandon: She complains a lot if you click on her. In fact, she'll complain on her own if you just leave her idle for long enough. Why would some thief steal my equipment? I can't even make potions without a cauldron and spellbook!She has a lot more of these lines than Brandon ever did, too. Why does this always happen to me? Can't those other Mystics ever do anything by themselves?Brandon had two or three per area; Zanthia has one or two for each screen in the game. I won't be showing all of them, but I'll try to get the interesting ones. All right, let's get something done. First things first. You'll recognize our half-animal companion from the first game, when he stole our royal chalice and made us go into his house full of comically oversized everyday objects. I don't trust him.   Okay. Don't mess with my stuff while I'm gone! Who, me?I'm watching you, pipsqueak. Is there anything left among the wreckage we can use?  When you pick this up or examine certain things in the room, Zanthia does a little frustrated animation.  Faun appears to be mocking us.  Underneath the carpet is another flask. This one has some water in it. Like in the previous game, using this on Zanthia will make her drink the water. Unlike the previous game, it's easy to find replacements for any important items you unwittingly consume, so you don't have to be nearly as paranoid about using potentially vital stuff on yourself.  Let's not forget the delicious blueberries. Zanthia was going to use these for a portal potion, but we don't have the equipment necessary to make one anymore, nor any leads on whatever other ingredients might be required. Let's get out and explore that lush, verdant forest we know Zanthia lives in, since we played the previous game. I mean, her front porch is a swamp for some reason, but most of the area was a forest. I wonder how the magic fountain is doing? I'd better change before I leave.  Yuck! This won't do!  Much better!A recurring thing in this game is Zanthia changing her wardrobe, usually whenever we get to a new area. Sometimes she just changes the colors of her clothes, sometimes she puts on a whole new getup. Since we're about to trek through a swamp/forest, Zanthia has selected an adventurous moss green and white ensemble.  Music: Darkmoor Swamp (Tindeck) The area outside Zanthia's house should be familiar from the first game, except it's subtly different somehow. Previously, there was a path to the left that would take us to the magic fountain; it must have flooded in the time since then or something. Instead, we can go north to an area we never saw in the previous game. On the ground is some more blueberries, which we'll pick up for good measure. And on the left there...  Oh look, it's our friend from the first game. The one that ate us when we clicked on him. Are we going to find our first game over so soon?   Watch it, slimeball! I don't have time to mess with you today!Nope. Zanthia is not a dweeby loser like Brandon, and shows that frog what-for.  Sometimes I have to be strict.Onwards and upwards to the only exit that doesn't lead back into Zanthia's house.  Uh oh.Yeah, the land isn't doing so good. Stuff's going missing left and right. Better get a move on. Hey, is that a mushroom?  We could get some swampy water from the docks (or anywhere else, really), and Zanthia will even drink it (eww) if you use it on her, but there's no real reason to. I'm beginning to wonder where that forest went to, though. Did all the trees disappear already? I hope Faun doesn't wreck my house.Not that I wouldn't put it past the little nuisance, but I think someone beat him to that, Zanthia.  Further ahead is this abomination. The area is looking a little more like a forest now. It's a little early to tell, but all those identical forest locations from the first game are gone. Every screen in this game is unique, without any of the glorious mid-90s graphics quality taking a hit. Fortunately, the giant piranha plant monstrosity doesn't seem very interested in attacking us. Hmm, guess it doesn't like my perfume today.Nothing else seems to stick out on this screen. However, there is something very important here. See that stump in the bottom right?    Hey! Who ripped out all the pages! Right out of the gate, we've recovered one of the two items that will sit to the right of our inventory for the rest of the game, somewhat analogous to the magic amulet from Brandon's adventure. It's an old spellbook of ours! That sounds way more useful than a crummy magic amulet that barely works in the first place, and only has weird spells like Will-o-Wisp and Dispel Magic in it. Unfortunately, whatever vandal stole this from us also ripped out a whole bunch of pages. Let's see what's left in there.    Oh, great. These kiddie potions are going to be a big help!So much for that. It looks like our selection of potions is going to be pretty limited until we can recover some more pages from our book. What few potions we have are of questionable use (what does a Skeptic Spell even do?) and some of these ingredients sound pretty obscure in the first place. What's worse, even if we could find the ingredients, we don't have a cauldron to mix it all in. Why couldn't Darm do this instead of me? To the north is this place. The swampy ambience has returned. Zanthia goes on about some ferry, which presumably is our next goal. If we can't portal our way to the center of the world, maybe the ferry will get us there?  You can snap off part of this root. The game informs us this item is called "gnarlybark". Shortly after taking it, the root grows back out; as mentioned, it's much harder to permanently lose out on important items in this game, which is good because destroying items will become easier than ever this time around once we recover a certain item. Anything that can be carelessly discarded will usually respawn near where you picked it up the first time. Anyway, we'll stash the root and move on. While in our inventory, the root squirms and wiggles occasionally.  At last! I thought I'd never get here!Guys, I think this might be the ferry. And it's manned by the ugliest fairy I've ever seen. Apparently, his name is Brueth. The dialogue system is pretty much unchanged from the previous game: You click on a person, there's a brief bit of a dialogue, and that's it. The only novelty is that you can click on the same person multiple times and get more responses until it starts looping, and sometimes people will have new things to say after events in other parts of the game have transpired. Video: Brueth (Youtube) Music: Brueth (Tindeck)  I have to get to Morningmist. We leave as soon as you pay your fare. Hey! I've been robbed, and I don't have any money right now. You're the alchemist. Make some gold.Curses! Capitalism strikes again! I don't think introducing a bunch of magically created gold to the market will have a positive effect on its value. Then again, if the previous game is any indication, Kyrandians have a pretty screwed-up appreciation for the value of precious metals in the first place, what with all the gemstones just lying around everywhere with no one showing any interest in appropriating it for themselves. Can't I just ride for free? Sorry, no exceptions.Come on, we're on a mission to save the world from disappearing into the void, here. Can't I just pay you when I get back? Pay in advance. That's the rule.All right, FINE. I guess we'll have to find some gold to pay off this jerk so he can take us to Morningmist, wherever that is. What's in Morningmist, you ask? We don't really know yet, but Zanthia is convinced that's where we should be headed. Next time, we'll explore more of the swamp in search of precious metals and random junk. Spoiler alert: It's mostly random junk.
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Oct 11, 2014 14:27
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Oh man so psyched for this game. I made so many sandwich potions when I played this 
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Oct 11, 2014 15:40
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Never played the first Kyrandia but i loved this and the third one. The third is superior because of sheer jackassery but i love Hand of Fate almost as much.
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Oct 11, 2014 16:02
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Glad to see this starting up. I only ever played the third game via it being loaded onto a computer in a store in the 90s.
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Oct 12, 2014 01:55
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I could swear Zanthia specifically lamented the lack of the Teddy Bear spell - maybe that comes later. It's just one of those jokes that really stands out for me. The spellbook is really at the center of what I think makes this game so accessible. Whereas, in the first game, so much of what you have to do isn't adequately explained, this game gives you lists of instructions for finding and solving most of the puzzles, and the hardest part is usually correlating the objects you pick up to the correct spell for the situation. (Like you said, what the heck does a Skeptic Potion do? I have no idea, but if I'm finding exactly the things I need to make it, that's what I'm going to do.) Zanthia's a pretty fun character, and fairly relatable as well, so the game's considerably more fun than the first one was on that level as well. Sometimes I hate when a game gives you lists of fetch quests (Woodruff and the Schnibble was particularly fond of that), but in this series, it's greatly appreciated.
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Oct 12, 2014 01:58
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This game essentially was my childhood, along with Sam and Max Hit the Road. I didn't have many PC games as a lad.
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Oct 12, 2014 03:02
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Zanthia is so good compared to Brandon, it's ridiculous. Also her game isn't full of bullshit like the first (or the third, though that one's not nearly as bad as the first) so that works in her favor too. I friggin' love this game.
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Oct 12, 2014 06:01
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Nidoking posted:I could swear Zanthia specifically lamented the lack of the Teddy Bear spell - maybe that comes later. It's just one of those jokes that really stands out for me. I went back and checked the recording, and...  I seem to have neglected to transcribe it. Instead, there's a generic complaint about Darm. Not sure what happened there.
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Oct 12, 2014 18:06
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I'd save you some trouble be linking you to a pre-ripped copy of the soundtrack if it wouldn't get me a ban...
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Oct 12, 2014 19:19
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I like Zanthia already.
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Oct 12, 2014 19:38
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I don't think I played this game for too long (maybe long enough to get another wardrobe change) and the moment Zanthia starts talking to Faun brings it all back. How slowly the dialog progresses if you don't click through it (I don't even remember if you can click through it) with all those pointless "bah blah blah" animations, the way everything looks a bit worse now that the screen is zoomed out, Zanthia's terrible Daria impersonation voice, the awkward attempts at "zaniness" such as the frog or (ugh) the fat fairy... The game just does everything wrong right off the bat.
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Oct 13, 2014 01:56
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Awww yiss, more Kyrandia! I don't mind the zaniness, the talking animations that just don't sync up, or other flaws, for two reasons. First, it's not the first game, it's improved. Secondly, it's not as lovely as some of its competitors around the same period, one of which (COUGHXANTHCOUGH) created two entire Dead Man Walking paths. Not moments, paths. And even the good path has your companion character trying to trick you into dying at least once. So yeah, I actually don't mind this game at all.
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Oct 13, 2014 03:07
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Is Master Hand the big bad of the game? I want my own handservent
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Oct 13, 2014 03:38
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Yes, I played the hell out of this one when I was kid. Mostly because this was the only one we could get to run in later years before DOSbox.
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Oct 13, 2014 06:15
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DOOP posted:Is Master Hand the big bad of the game? If he's not I'll be really suprised.
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Oct 13, 2014 06:25
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Yeah this is really the best Kyrandia game and Xanthia has her poo poo on lock at all times. She's so cool.
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Oct 13, 2014 06:27
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Iretep posted:If he's not I'll be really suprised.
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Oct 13, 2014 09:25
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Whoa, hey now, just because there's this weird animated hand walking around that no one's ever seen before and who seems to know a suspicious amount about world-disappearing cataclysms and the causes thereof doesn't mean he's bad.
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Oct 13, 2014 09:41
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Hyper Crab Tank posted:Whoa, hey now, just because there's this weird animated hand walking around that no one's ever seen before and who seems to know a suspicious amount about world-disappearing cataclysms and the causes thereof doesn't mean he's bad. In Legend of Kyrandia 2 we learn that the REAL villain... is prejudice.
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Oct 13, 2014 10:36
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Well, he certainly is... sinister.
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Oct 13, 2014 15:56
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It appears smash brothers wasn't master hand's first game appearance.
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Oct 13, 2014 21:42
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...Did the Evil Dragon Maze Cave of Darkness and Death just fade from existence? CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY!!!!
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Oct 14, 2014 00:04
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Yes, this man we haven't seen before and his giant hand are completely trustworthy.
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Oct 15, 2014 07:35
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Especially since the game is called Hand of Fate.
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Oct 15, 2014 08:04
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Admit it! When you first saw that colourful guy up there, right next to all the people you know you thought it was Brendan. I know I did. It seems like something he could wear. He could be there thinking he was part of the mystics thanks to his magic amulet. I look forward to this game having never played it myself.
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Oct 15, 2014 09:18
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Darth TNT posted:Admit it! I totally thought that. "Wow, I always suspected that Brendan would wear terrible clothes as a king, but he has really outdone himself."
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Oct 15, 2014 09:23
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Torrannor posted:I totally thought that. "Wow, I always suspected that Brendan would wear terrible clothes as a king, but he has really outdone himself." "Well drat, Malcom completely trashed the castle before I turned him into a statue. Good thing he had a bunch of extra clothes in his room or I'd have nothing to wear!"
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Oct 15, 2014 14:04
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Albu-quirky Guy posted:"Well drat, Malcom completely trashed the castle before I turned him into a statue. Good thing he had a bunch of extra clothes in his room or I'd have nothing to wear!" That would honestly make too much sense.
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Oct 15, 2014 16:13
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Darth TNT posted:Brendan You don't fool me, Darm TNT! Darth TNT posted:When you first saw that colourful guy up there, right next to all the people you know you thought it was Brendan. He's not wearing sandals.
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Oct 15, 2014 23:09
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Nidoking posted:You don't fool me, Darm TNT! Is that cat I smell on your breath?  With that outfit the last thing I'm going to look at is someones shoe wear.
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Oct 16, 2014 09:51
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A little late, but here it is! Chapter 2: Wherein Zanthia Smells a Rat Last time, we got re-introduced to Zanthia and started poking around her swamp, eventually running into into a fairy ferry that could take us to Morningmist, our next destination. Unfortunately, we lack the means to pay Brueth the ferryman for passage, and are told to conjure up some gold with our alchemic powers. We also recovered an old grimoire containing spells of questionable utility, such as "Snowman, Regular" and "Skeptic Spell", but nothing to make gold, and at any rate all the spells require access to a cauldron, which we don't have. There's still a lot of swamp left to explore, though, so hope is not yet lost.  To the west of the ferry is a crossroads in the swamp, with some glowy eyes peering from the shadows. Voyeurs! Getting hold of feathers has become drastically easier since last we set foot in Kyrandia. Any golden eggs in that nest? The next screen over is a huge pool of quicksand. I really like the look of this room, by the way. The environment artists working on this game really did a great job making the rooms look great. Why doesn't the sign sink?Mystery for the ages, Zanthia. Maybe the quicksand isn't as quick as it looks?  I think the secret with quicksand is to run across it quickly. This looks firm enough to support my weight... What do you know, it works. And here I thought we had to solve a complicated puzzle to get across.   Well... hey, Zanthia was right. Technically. So that's our first death. In true classic adventure game fashion, we have no choice but to reload an old save. Nothing's changed on this front since the first game—the death screen itself even looks the same as it did in the first game. Let's quickly reload and see if there's any other way across the quicksand. Maybe we can push that tree over? No problem... Hmm... must be a magic tree. I can't tip it over.If only it were that simple. No doubt we will need to engage in a long, tedious fetch quest involving birthstones, dark mazes and who knows what else.  I knew it would be easy.... or the problem can just resolve itself. That works too. We can cross the quicksand now. On the way, let's have a look at whatever it is that skeletal hand is holding.  Of course. What else would it be? Moving on...  Grr, grr, grr. I've heard it all before, pal.Hey, a cute little crocodile buddy! Let's pet him! I can't help myself. I like living dangerously.Let's pet him again!  Crocodiles 1, frogs 0. So that's two deaths in one update, and we're only two updates in. We're well on track towards beating Brandon at this rate. Okay, let's reload. There is something of great importance in this screen too, and it's not the crocodile. Do you see it?   Too small to make portal potions, but at least it's something. Stashed inside another hollow tree is more of our stolen equipment! This is the cauldron. With this, we can cook up the recipes from our spellbook and make potions. Almost every item can be tossed into the cauldron; doing that permanently destroys the item. Once you've put the right items into the cauldron, the contents will change color, indicating that you can scoop out a potion using any empty flask you happen to have on you. Many puzzles in this game are solved this way. Of course, finding the right ingredients can be a puzzle in itself, and the same goes for the right way to use the resulting potion. We can reset the contents of the cauldron at any time, as well as get infinite flasks of water by using flasks on the empty cauldron.Now that we've got our spellbook and cauldron, we could start mixing up some potions... sadly, there's still no potion for making gold, at least not that we know of. We could stay here and hassle the crocodile some more, but that's likely to just result in us dying again. Let's check out the area to the north.  Looks like this swamp came with the deluxe hot spring package. I wonder if a golden rock would fool Brueth?What are you talking about, Zanthia? Where would we get a golden rock?  Oh, look at that. It's not gold, though; it's a chunk of yellow sulfur (also known as brimstone). Fragrant, for sure, but I don't think it's going to fool Brueth. We can pick up some hot spring water, but we don't have any real reason to and it'll rapidly cool as we move to other rooms anyhow, becoming regular old plain water.  Our next stop is just to the north of this crossroads we came across earlier.  A quaint little shack built into the middle of a tree. Looks kind of cozy from out here, actually. Wait... that bush... is that...?  Augh, it is! This bush is bristling with our old nemeses from the first game: fireberries. Their presence in this game is an ill omen. We'd better pick some up while we can, just in case we run across another godforsaken hellhole. Unfortunately, trying to pick them up just burns our hand; the berries are too hot to pick. Is there some way to cool it off?Well, we've got this flask of lukewarm water. Will that do?  Yep! A fireberry... No kidding. It seems the developers were aware just how awful the fireberry maze in the first game turned out to be. Nevertheless, they managed to do another near-complete 180 in the third game... but we'll cover that when we get there. This fireberry turns out to be an "everglowing" fireberry and will never go out, unlike the ones from the first game. We can eat the berry, but doing so has no interesting effects. All right, if we're done out here, let's go into that house.   Good grief, this swamp is positively infested. This warty fellow is Herb, proprietor of a shack filled to the brim with frogs and a pile of random garbage that would put any adventurer's inventory to shame.  Video: Herb (Youtube) Music: Herb's Shack (Tindeck)  Why do you ask? I have to pay Brueth for the ferry ride. I don't have any. Oh, of course the frogs can talk.  Yeah, yeah, the Lost Treasure!... what's this about a treasure? We like treasure. Do you know where the treasure is? I've never seen it. Probably buried. Yeah, yeah, buried.Boy, that sounds like a lot of work...  None. Treasure it is, then. Where should I look? Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe it's buried in the Sulfur Springs!The game has a problem with spelling certain words consistently, like sulfur/sulphur. At any rate, we were just there, and there wasn't any treasure there, unless you count the vaguely yellow-ish rock we found. Still, maybe these frogs know something else about this treasure? Aren't you Faun's friend? Aren't you afraid of warts?Nope. There's a lonely-looking stool sitting on a box between the other two frogs. Let's steal it.  ... before he croaked.Of course. The utility of tiny furniture is dubious, but I guess we'll just cram it in with the rest of the random junk we're carrying around. Speaking of which, how about that flask?  Sure. There's flasks lying all over this country. Go ahead, take it. Yeah, yeah, take it.Wow, if you're in a giving mood, how about uh, that sack?  No one seems to be complaining. Man, there is a lot of junk in here. Nobody stole any of his stuff... I can't blame them.Yeah, our inventory is filling up quick. Where the first game was fairly minimalistic and most items were useful for one puzzle or another (with a few notable exceptions covered at the end of the previous LP), Hand of Fate is full of items that have no use at all and are just there to widen the space of potential solutions. It does encourage you to actually think about the puzzles you're presented with, rather than quickly resort to rubbing every item in your inventory against every other item you come across. We're done on the left side of the swamp for now.  As expected, trying to bribe Brueth with the sulfur rock is pointless. Let's check out the east side.  A nice view of the mountains in the distance, and two dorks in a rowboat. Uh, you guys doing okay there? Your boat is more water than... boat. Any luck? Not yet. Nothing? You're making too much noise. What bait are you using? Bait?No bait, huh. Well, good luck with that, I suppose. We've got important questing to do. Onwards to the east.  What a bizarre affliction! Kyrandia is disappearing right before my eyes!Better hurry up. That anchorstone ain't gonna find itself.  Oh, great. It's Marko. Remember? The guy with the hand? Video: Marko (Youtube)  I'm getting to be quite a good magician. I'm sure the kids at your next birthday party will be very impressed. Yes, because if there is one thing that would improve our lives it would be having a creepy giant animated hand following us around everywhere. Yeah, Marko, that's great. Where is your hand anyway? Oh, he's around here somewhere. He seems to really enjoy hiking in the swamp. Speak of the devil. Hello, Mr. Hand. Are you enjoying your hike? I'd love to stay and chat, but someone has stolen my equipment. I have to walk down to the center of the world to get one of those anchor stones. Personally, I blame Faun. That little jerk is up to nothing good, I tell you.  There has to be something in that cave.Well, why not go check it out? First, let's talk some more with Marko. Maybe he has something else, more insightful to say. Can we help? Do you have any gold? Nope. Sorry.Nope. Marko is useless. Please, let us help you. I'll get it done myself, thank you though. This onion is more useful than Marko. Into the pile of crap it goes. Shall we go see what's in the cave?  Music: Swamp Cave (Tindeck)Some swamp water, a chasm, and a foul-smelling rodent. I wonder what he's got to say. Video: Swamp Rat (Youtube)  Hey! Don't sneak up on me like that! Okay pal, out of the way. I'm comfortable where I am... Is there any treasure back there? Why should I tell you?Yep. Definitely treasure. Move aside, mister. I'm in a hurry. Not likely. Please.It's not coming across in text, but Zanthia's sounding frustrated and annoyed in the above line.  Creep. Last chance, or I'll... You'll what?We'll... we'll... okay, yeah, we don't really have anything to threaten the guy with, unless he really, really hates onions. But there's got to be treasure back there, right? We need to get past this guy somehow.We've seen almost every location in the swamp now, and yet we're no closer to getting our butts to Morningmist. Nevertheless, we have everything we need to start solving some puzzles. We'll tackle that next time. In the meantime, see if you can figure out what we need to do to solve our little rat conundrum. I'll give you a hint: it involves our newly-recovered spellbook and potion, and we have almost every item we need already.
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Oct 20, 2014 18:51
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Well as far as I can tell it's potion time and you only have one potion that might even conceivably help, so brew that up. I mean, of course, the abominable snowman potion. (not really)
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Oct 20, 2014 19:44
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I'm going to guess we have to brew a Swampsnake Potion. But you know, some simple diplomacy might have done the trick. Zanthia was awfully rude to the rat from the word go. Maybe if she'd apologized and asked him nicely to move, he might not have been so combative. Didn't anyone ever tell Zanthia that it's easier to get people to do what you want them to do if you're nice about it?
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Oct 20, 2014 20:22
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I think my favorite line in the game results from filling a flask with quicksand and drinking it. You may have to do that before pushing the tree over.
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Oct 20, 2014 23:35
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I suggest we turn that rat into a sceptic, everyone knows sceptics are a helpful lot.Nidoking posted:I think my favorite line in the game results from filling a flask with quicksand and drinking it. You may have to do that before pushing the tree over. We must see this!
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Oct 21, 2014 07:37
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Sure thing! 
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Oct 21, 2014 19:47
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Nice Monkey Island reference, too. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" BTW, I have played the hell out of this game in my childhood and this is by far the best of the series. I'm so glad you are LPing it.
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Oct 22, 2014 00:03
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benjoyce posted:Nice Monkey Island reference, too. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" I second this opinion.
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Oct 22, 2014 19:19
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