Update 19 (and final): Escape from Hell
Welcome to Hell.
Let's listen to: Frederik Pohl's Gateway - Hydra Lair Theme
Alternatively:
> examine hydra
The hydra is basically a multi-headed dragon. Its dark, thick scales protect it from attack. Each of the heads differs subtly from the others, and you think you can even discern independent personalities, but all of them glare at you with undisguised hate and hunger.
One of the heads writhes forward and snaps at the air not a foot in front of your face.
> examine flames
They surround the hydra, and bathe him in an inferno.
> examine rock
The rocks seem to have been molded together smoothly leaving no jagged edges. The rubble seems to end at the ledge. You can't make out what lies beyond because of the intense flames.
Two heads start snapping back and forth, fighting over the privilege of taking the first bite from you.
I wonder if this is going to end well.
> examine ashes
The piles of grey ash lie scattered about the cavern. A few remnants of human bones stick out at odd angles.
> examine bones
They're very small bone fragments - remains of previous human victims perhaps.
Suddenly, one of the heads whips out at your legs. You leap aside just in time.
> examine sword
The sword is old and stained with blood and rust. Its edge remains sharp, however.
A head weaves out and opens its snake-like mouth, revealing huge, razor sharp fangs that are as long as your forearm.
> wait
A head stares right through you, sending a chill into your heart. Its eyes burn into yours.
> wait
One of the mouths slowly closes over your torso. You seem powerless to move, and you wonder about this eerie paralysis right up until the moment when you can't wonder any more.
Well, it's not like you didn't see it coming.
And we're back at the hydra's. The first thing we should do is of course take the sword.
> take sword
> kiss hydra
Stop and think for a moment. If you kiss the hydra, you will be kissing everyone that it has ever kissed!
> ask hydra about me
One of the heads looks at you quizzically, but it doesn't give you the intelligent answer you were hoping for.
We can try killing the hydra with the sword.
> cut hydra with sword
> take head
The decapitated hydra head is far too large to pick up and carry.
SUDDENLY
No good in trying that again either:
> cut head with sword
You lunge at the hydra, but it has grown wary since your last attack. You fail to pin down any of the writhing heads.
So we head south.
Let's listen to: Frederik Pohl's Gateway OST - Demon Gauntlet Theme
Alternatively:
Demons!
> examine abyss
It's a swirling maelstrom of fiery vapor. Exploding gasses breathe and rumble up from the depths. You see no bottom.
One of the demons lobs a pointed rock at your head. You easily duck, and it falls into the abyss below. The demon looks disappointed and angrily looks around for more ammunition.
> examine walkway
This is a walkway rising above an endless abyss. It is about two feet wide and it connects portals on either side of the huge cavern.
Stones and other unidentifiable objects fly uncomfortably close to you from both sides of the cavern. Many of them cause you to dodge and nearly lose your balance. Some of the demons, frustrated with the misses, start to gather together a rope net.
A rope net? That sure doesn't bode well.
> examine horde
Demons of all sizes are perched upon the cliffs that line this cavern. There are so many, you couldn't possibly get an accurate count. They fling taunts and jeers at you, not to mention the more substantial objects that they throw in hopes of knocking you off into the abyss below.
The demons heave a rope net at you. You try to dive out of the way, but there's not enough room on the catwalk and the net ensnares you.
And so we're ensnared. Let's wait and see what happens next.
> wait
Some of the demons, seeing your plight, start to pool their ammunition. One of them produces a makeshift sack, and the rest load it up with stones, dead animals, and other items you don't recognize.
Uh-oh.
> wait
The largest, meanest demon you've ever seen (although you don't really have all that much experience with them) grabs the sack, whirls it around his head, and releases it straight at you.
It hits you like a ton of lead, and knocks you from your perch on the catwalk. As if in slow motion, you fall downward into the fiery abyss, the screams and taunts of the demons still echoing in your ears.
"Ah," a deep voice rolls, "you can't escape my realm by simply dying. Did you think it would be that easy? We're just starting to have fun. Let's try it again, shall we? Choose your fate." With an icy laugh, he wrenches your soul from the void and throws it back into the pit of Hell.
Alright, let's go back and do it a bit differently.
The demons heave a rope net at you. You try to dive out of the way, but there's not enough room on the catwalk and the net ensnares you.
> cut net with sword
You start to hack at the rope net with the sword. Some of the ropes fall away, but quite a few remain.
[Your score has just gone up by 5.]
Good, but some ropes still remain. If we don't cut the net once more, we'll end up being knocked down into the abyss just like the last time. So we do it again.
> cut net with sword
And hey, we can grab the sack and the net now.
> take all
sack: Taken.
[Your score has just gone up by 5.]
rope net: Taken.
[Your score has just gone up by 5.]
Maddened, the demons begin hurling everything they can grab at you. Some even pick up their neighbors and toss them in your direction. The sheer quantity of missiles alerts you to the danger of staying here much longer.
> examine trash
What do you THINK demon's garbage looks like??? It's smelly, awful, horrid, and ugly.
Naturally, despite the game's explicit warning, we can choose to stay.
> wait
A rock strikes you on the side of the head, stunning you for an instant. Blood trickles down your neck, and you feel a bit woozy.
> wait
A sharp stone lodges itself in your leg, and the ensuing reflex jerk causes you to lose your balance. You teeter on the edge of the chasm, and just as you regain your balance, another rock strikes your chest and sends you plummeting into the swirling abyss.
Not a good idea.
> kiss demons
You're too far away from the horde to do that.
Back at the hydra lair we collect some ashes into the freshly-acquired sack (unfortunately, the game doesn't understand the word "collect", so I have to struggle with the interface for a couple of seconds until I find the verb it does know)...
> put ashes in sack
You scoop a pile of ashes into the sack
...and head north, into an empty chamber:
> examine stalactites
Eons of dripping lime and other natural deposits have created these low hanging stalactites. They point from the ceiling like daggers.
> examine stalagmites
The stalagmites look old and eroded.
A disturbing giggle floats in the air around you.
I don't think I like that giggle.
> examine stump
One of the larger stalagmites has broken horizontally, creating a level shelf about three feet above the ground.
A screeching laughter, like the scraping of fingernails on slate, echoes through the cavern. It bounces off the rocks and walls, making it impossible to pin down the source.
And if we simply do nothing...
> wait
You hear a scuffle, but can't pin down where it's coming from because of the echoes.
...
A sudden shove from behind knocks you headlong into a rock outcropping. An irritating screech of laughter rings through the cavern.
Oh gosh. We can attempt examining whatever is laughing at us, of course...
> examine laughter
You can't see what's attacking you. If only you could do something to make it visible...
...but to no avail. Meanwhile,
You hear a ripping sound and look down to see that the leg of your coverall has been slit cleanly to the ground. Laughter explodes around you.
And then
A sharp blade slices through the fleshy part of your leg. Blood trickles down your calf.
Next moment
Something heavy slams down onto your foot. You reel, but catch yourself on a stalagmite. Maniacal laughter fills the cavern.
But we remain patient:
You feel something brush up against your leg, but as soon as you reach down, it's gone.
...
You hear a scuffle upon the stalagmite shelf, accompanied by a giggle.
...
You gasp as something slices through your coverall and bites into your shoulder. You hear another scuffle as whatever was on the shelf seems to leap away from it.
...
Your leg gives way and you realize your foot is broken. Quickly you pull yourself up and balance on the other leg.
You hear the scuffle on the shelf again. Beyond that, it is deathly quiet.
And finally
Suddenly an invisible blade slices through the air and deals you a fatal blow. As the edges of your vision tinge with black, the piercing laughter again fills your ears, drowning you in its madness. Everything darkens, and you die.
Serves us right for letting the mysterious creature do whatever it wanted to us.
There is a way to make it visible, though. For that, we first throw the ashes we collected into the sack on the stalagmite stump:
> throw ashes on stump
Then we retrieve the sack, return to the hydra lair to pick up some more ashes (we're going to need them), and go back to the empty chamber and wait.
You hear a scuffle upon the stalagmite shelf, accompanied by a giggle. Tiny footprints appear in the thin ash layer on the shelf.
Got ya!
> throw ashes on stump
What a loveable little demon! I wanna hug him and kiss him.
> kiss demon
You try to kiss the loveable demon, but find your lips wrapped around the blade of his axe. You discover that his weapon likes to french kiss, all the way through your head.
Well, we can always try killing the demon with our sword, I guess.
> kill demon with sword
You leap to the attack, but he sees you coming. With an insidious grin, he jumps out of harm's way and swings his axe. As luck would have it, you were absent the day they covered axe-dodging in school.
Yeah, you could see that coming. We can also take our sweet time to closely examine the demon.
> examine demon
The demon is small, thin, quick, and wiry. He is covered with dusty grey ashes, and doesn't appear very happy about it.
He is holding a wicked axe and wearing a ring.
The demon stops coughing, looks up at you with a growl, and leaps to the attack. His axe makes short work of you.
Uh-oh. The same thing happens if we choose to examine the ring or the axe, of course.
> examine ring
You can barely make it out. It looks like an ash-covered lump on the demon's finger.
The demon stops coughing, looks up at you with a growl, and leaps to the attack. His axe makes short work of you.
> examine axe
The axe is long, curved, and as dangerous a weapon as you can imagine. It's the kind of instrument only the darkest of villains would use.
The demon stops coughing, looks up at you with a growl, and leaps to the attack. His axe makes short work of you.
A better idea is to entangle the demon with the net.
> throw net on demon
Hmm, I wonder we can kill him now.
> kill demon with sword
You jab at the demon with the shiny sword. Confined as he is by the net, he presents an easy target, and you succeed in drawing blood. He glares at you with red-veined eyes that promise a lot of pain if he ever escapes.
The rope net falls away from the shelf, and an invisible blade slices you in two. Before you can wonder what life with a split personality would be like, you no longer have one.
What we really must do once the demon is caught into the net, is grab the ring off his finger...
> take ring
While the demon is concentrating on the net, you slip the ring from his hand. He immediately ceases his struggles and yells, "Precious! My precious! Evil man is to give my precious back. Now!" He holds the wicked blade threateningly in front of him.
[Your score has just gone up by 10.]
(Yeah, yeah, a Lord of the Rings reference.)
...and (naturally!) quickly equip the ring:
> wear ring
You slide the silver ring onto your finger and find it a perfect fit. As you admire it, your hand begins to fade from view. Your arm follows, and soon your entire body has disappeared. With a shock, you realize you are invisible.
[Your score has just gone up by 10.]
Suddenly, the demon gets an idea. He begins sawing at the net with his nasty looking blade. Some of the ropes fall away, but he still has a ways to go.
...
With the demon's final swipe, the rope net falls onto the stalagmite shelf. The demon looks up with an expression of manic glee, but it quickly fades when he realizes he can't see you. His cry of triumph turns to one of frustrated rage.
It would of course be a bad idea to take the ring off in front of the demon:
> take off ring
You remove the ring and fade back into view.
The ash-covered demon immediately looks up and notices you. In one rapid movement, he leaps onto the shelf, kills you with the axe, and removes the ring from your falling body.
That's why we should stay invisible, at least in this particular area.
The demon wanders about the cavern, looking distracted and angry. He keeps mumbling something about regaining his 'precious'. Periodically, he brushes ash from his body.
Poor thing.
If we stay in this room for too long, the portals will close, trapping us, so we grab the sack and hurry to the north.
> take sack
You take the sack from the stalagmite stump.
> n
Spooky.
The music playing here is the same as Kaduna Three theme, so I won't be linking to it.
> examine Abaddon
This statue is hidden by shadows; you can make out the dark form of long hooked wings, but exact features escape you. A play of blue light falls over the graven word of 'Abaddon' at the base of the statue.
Wikipedia entry on Abaddon and
one on Abaddon in popular culture.
> examine Aeshma
The statue wears seven carved rings upon long taloned fingers. It glares into the room with multi-faceted eyes, and its hideous grin reveals sharp, wicked fangs. The word 'Aeshma' is graven in the stone base.
Wikipedia entry on Aeshma.
> examine Ahriman
The statue is a twisted joining of man and beast that combines parts of each into a single disturbing image. The word 'Ahriman' is graven at its base.
Wikipedia entry on Ahriman.
> examine Azazel
This hideous demon is distinguished by its large reptilian wing span and a protruding snout which hides razor-like teeth. The word 'Azazel' is graven at its base.
Wikipedia entry on Azazel.
I doubt Black Cat is following this LP, but she could no doubt describe Abaddon, Aeshma, Ahriman and Azazel better than I ever could, that's why I simply linked to the Wikipedia entries. I'm lazy like that.
> examine mirrors
The mirrors, set into the walls, ceiling, and floor, are forged from silver and are highly polished, although they seem very old. The light from the portals is thrown back and forth between them, casting a bluish hue over everything in the room. You wander around the room on the mirrored floor. It seems to support your weight well.
You may be wondering why we don't reflect in the mirrors -- well, that's because we have the ring equipped.
> take off ring
As always, let's see what happens if we wait long enough.
The carved face of Aeshma animates in an obscene sneer. It looks around the room, and then takes a deep breath. When it exhales, glowing red dust emerges from its mouth and fills the chamber, settling on you and every other surface.
The red dust sinks into your skin, and you start to feel dizzy and confused. It begins to make you a bit angry.
You attempt to make out your surroundings through the red haze of anger, and you find yourself looking at your own image in one of the silver mirrors. You are suddenly filled with an incredible self-loathing. You stare at your image and start to hate everything about it.
You find yourself bashing your head up against the silver mirror to the rhythmic chant of, "Die, die, die..." After about the seventh impact, you finally fall prey to unconsciousness.
Eventually, you awaken and pull yourself off the floor. Your reflection in the mirrors shows your injuries, and they appear more cosmetic than life threatening. You shake the cobwebs from your head, which clears your vision, but makes your headache worse.
That didn't go too well. But you haven't seen it all yet.
The statue of Azazel moves a little. Then the features begin to reorient themselves, changing the demon's expression.
...
The carved face of Azazel animates in an obscene sneer. It looks around the room, and then takes a deep breath. When it exhales, glowing red dust emerges from its mouth and fills the chamber, settling on you and every other surface.
The red dust sinks into your skin, and you start to feel dizzy and confused. The confusion spirals into madness.
You attempt to make out your surroundings through the red haze of anger, and you find yourself looking at your own image in one of the silver mirrors. You are suddenly filled with an incredible self-loathing. Your image seems to mock you; suddenly you resent its very existence.
Using dubious logic born of fatigue, you reach the shaky conclusion that hurting yourself will harm your image. You begin pummeling your head and chest with your fists. After a few rounds of this, you start flailing around the room, bumping into the walls and statues. Finally, you slam into something that knocks you unconscious.
Eventually, you awaken and pull yourself off the floor. Your reflection in the mirrors shows your injuries, and you seem to have added some cuts and abrasions, but you'll live. You shake the cobwebs from your head, which clears your vision, but makes your headache worse.
Still alive?
The statue of Abaddon moves a little. Then the features begin to reorient themselves, changing the demon's expression.
...
The carved face of Abaddon animates in an obscene sneer. It looks around the room, and then takes a deep breath. When it exhales, glowing red dust emerges from its mouth and fills the chamber, settling on you and every other surface.
The red dust sinks into your skin, and you start to feel dizzy and confused. Hatred wells up from deep inside.
You attempt to make out your surroundings through the red haze of anger, and you find yourself looking at your own image in one of the silver mirrors. You are suddenly filled with an incredible self-loathing. Everything in the mirror seems to turn red and your hatred overwhelms you.
Yet again, you begin the ritual of masochism. You start by throwing yourself on the floor. That doesn't seem to do nearly enough damage, so you get up and throw yourself at the statues. The points and bumps of the carved stone prove to be excellent surfaces to cause injury. One particularly jarring blow to the head finally knocks you out.
Eventually, you awaken and pull yourself off the floor. Your reflection in the mirrors shows your injuries, and it looks pretty serious. You don't know if you can survive another bout. You shake the cobwebs from your head, which clears your vision, but makes your headache worse.
Well, let's see if we can survive another bout, then.
The statue of Ahriman moves a little. Then the features begin to reorient themselves, changing the demon's expression.
...
The carved face of Ahriman animates in an obscene sneer. It looks around the room, and then takes a deep breath. When it exhales, glowing red dust emerges from its mouth and fills the chamber, settling on you and every other surface.
The red dust sinks into your skin, and you start to feel dizzy and confused. The dizziness suddenly clears. You don't feel woozy; you feel more angry than you've ever felt before.
You attempt to make out your surroundings through the red haze of anger, and you find yourself looking at your own image in one of the silver mirrors. You are suddenly filled with an incredible self-loathing. The image in the silver mirror seems to grow larger. You become convinced that it is your enemy and that you must vent your fury upon it.
Insane with self-loathing, you convince yourself that you deserve to die. With this in mind, you climb up on one of the statues and leap off, attempting to land on your neck. Unfortunately, you succeed.
Oh well, we died again. And that was cool.
The correct way to beat this area is to cover Aeshma's mouth with the sack before the statue exhales the red dust.
> put sack on Aeshma
You place the rotting sack over Aeshma's mouth and hook it over one of the many jagged edges of the statue's face.
The carved face of Aeshma animates in an obscene sneer. It appears to take notice of the bag draped over its mouth with an expression of disgust. It draws a great breath, and then blows with such force that it seems the stone itself will crack. A torrential flow of glowing dust shoots from its maw into the sack, but the fabric holds together and you obtain quite a collection of it.
[Your score has just gone up by 15.]
> take sack
You take the sack from the statue's mouth.
Having collected some berserker dust, we can finally break this VR as well. We equip the ring of invisibility and head to the hydra lair. We can also visit the demonic horde again, now that we're invisible:
The demons fidget restlessly, and occasionally a small fight breaks out in the ranks, but the horde takes no notice of your presence.
And the hydra smells but can't see us:
The heads sweep back and forth across the room. The hydra is trying to find with its eyes what its sense of smell says is there.
The way to break this VR is to make the hydra's heads fight each other by throwing the red dust at them. But to do that, we must stay invisible, 'cause otherwise this will happen:
> take off ring
> throw dust on hydra
You heave the sack filled with magic dust at the hydra. One of the heads snags it in midair and tears it open. The hydra waves it back and forth, spilling the red dust over the other heads.
The berserker dust immediately does its work. Many pairs of eyes focus on you. The hydra roars with blood-lust and comes after you with not just one or two, but ALL of its heads. You last about as long as an ice cube on the surface of Venus.
So we stay invisible.
> throw dust on hydra
You heave the sack filled with magic dust at the hydra. One of the heads snags it in midair and tears it open. The hydra waves it back and forth, spilling the red dust over the other heads.
The berserker dust immediately does its work. Blind with rage, the writhing heads search for a target upon which to vent their blood-lust. Seeing no one in the room save themselves, they begin to bite and snap at one another, wounding and in some cases decapitating the heads around them.
[Your score has just gone up by 50.]
The heads multiply ad infinitum and overload the VR; which is, in its basic idea, similar to the infinite cocktail trick we used to deal with the Beach VR earlier.
Let's listen to: Frederik Pohl's Gateway - Escape Theme
Alternatively:
It looks like we've succeeded in our mission, so back to Gateway we fly.
We're greeted as a hero, but the game doesn't end here for some reason. In fact, you can notice something fishy is afoot by looking at the timer.
Still, we feel sleepy and head to our quarters to take a nap.
> sleep
You curl up on your bed and fall asleep. You wake several hours later.
Your Quarters
Your room is a spartan cubicle furnished with a desk, a chair, a wall locker, and a fold-down bed. The only decorative touches are a sickly looking plant sitting next to the desk and a lonely picture of Earth adorning the far wall. A PV commset is set into the south wall. Above the PV is a vent. To the east is a door that leads outside.
We have a new message.
> activate commset
[You get off the bed first.]
[Taking the debit card first.]
You insert your debit card into the slot.
It's just as you've already guessed -- we're inside a virtual Gateway created by the Assassin.
Fortunately for us, it's running autonomously so the Assassin can't track the Guardian's message.
Even better, there is a way to transfer the Heechee-designed virus straight into the Assassin. For that, we must enter the Deep Psych VR.
We exit the commset menu...
[Your score has just gone up by 20.]
You take your debit card from the slot.
...and head to the VR terminal.
The technician isn't here; he must've gone to the VR conference he mentioned earlier, even despite this being a virtual reality. Which means we're free to pick up the manual containing the Deep Psych passwords.
> take manual
Alright, let's see what today's password is.
> read manual
It has a few sentences about each virtual reality program. The section on 'Deep Psych' is printed in red. "Activate only by prescription. Password lock-out is date dependent and uses the following list:"
The remainder of the page is empty.
Unfortunately, the page appears empty.
This is in fact the game's final puzzle. As you may or may not remember, the VR technician used a special reader device when consulting the manual.
Code:
> examine reader
It's a square device with the colorful 'NeoTech' logo emblazoned on the back.
> ask technician about reader
"I use this to read the passwords out of the manual. Cheap piece of crap, actually. It's only a little UV light dressed up to look like a sophisticated entry-protection device."
> take reader
"Keep your hands to yourself. I NEVER lend out this NeoTech device. Even if it wasn't against Gateway directives, the blasted thing would be impossible to replace."
The reader isn't around at the moment -- the technician must've taken it with him. Which means we must way another place with UV light. And I wonder if you can already tell what place I'm speaking of.
We exit the Corporation Offices, pass through the Blue Hell Bar and Casino, and enter the Pedroza Lounge. From there, we head north.
Yes, it's the Tanning Room. And now let's consult the manual.
> read manual
It has a few sentences about each virtual reality program. The section on 'Deep Psych' is printed in red. "Activate only by prescription. Password lock-out is date dependent and uses the following list:
1] spiral
2] vapor
3] hurtful
4] ghost
5] jalopy
6] saucy
7] jasmine
8] flaky
9] damage
10] powder
11] gushy
12] membrane
13] petty
14] larva
15] pauncy
16] rumpus
17] stilted
18] drowsy
19] fantail
20] bilge
21] manor
22] feud
23] infidel
24] herring
25] thong
26] gnash
27] handcuff
28] pebble
29] reclaim
30] homely
31] crouton
[Your score has just gone up by 15.]
Splendid! Time to return to the VR terminal and type in the password, which is "petty" since today's the 13th day of the month.
> type petty
You carefully type "petty" on the keyboard. In response, you hear a faint, tinny 'ping'.
[Your score has just gone up by 20.]
Hey, we still have lots of time before the Assassin sends his deadly message.
As for the drill, you know it.
> lie on couch
> wear collar
> push button
You press the button. The couch starts to hum with power and the collar begins to glow a dark blue.
[Your score has just gone up by 100.]
Everything around you fades to a milky white. Then a picture begins to form...
The ending cutscene kicks in!
I've recorded a video of the ending cinematic and uploaded it to Youtube, and therefore WON'T be covering it in screenshot format. Really, grab a cup of tea and watch the ending; it's worth it.
Frederik Pohl's GATEWAY: The Ending Cinematic
Yes, the above is the link. So click it. I said
CLICK IT! NOW!
As for 100%-ing the game...
Thanks to whoever's been following this thread and especially to those who commented on the updates! I hope you've enjoyed the LP.
End of line.
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