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4. Spire
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Before you start, a warning: Spire is evil! Then again so is Sirrus, so that
makes it even. As with any Myst game the details are very important, but in
this Age they are even more so. Now that this is out of the way, look around
you. The scenery is beautiful.
You arrive inside a blown up linking chamber. As with Haven, the same system
was adopted here. You'll find a book on the bench across the room. Use the
amulet on it to trigger a memory. Yeesha's first mistake with Sirrus: telling
him she knew D'ni. Second mistake: teaching it to Sirrus. Anyway, when you are
done, exit and start climbing down.
On your way down you'll pass an elevator shaft off to the side. Enter it and
see that the call button is broken. You can zoom in on the shaft but you won't
see much. Exit the elevator and continue climbing down until you arrive at a
garden with crystal statues. If you used the viewer code, this is the place
you saw.
Proceed to the statues and trigger a memory sequence. From this you can see
the kind of manipulative mind Sirrus has. Turn left, and zoom in on the tools,
bedroll and extinguished fire on the floor. Trigger another memory sequence.
To the right and back there's a tunnel that leads to an elevator. Instead of
taking that route, let's go another way. Turn back to the statues and proceed
to the left and then behind them.
At the end of this walkway, there's a huge crystal jutting out from a stone
pipe. Take a picture and note the shape of the pipe (pentagonal). Zoom in.
Trigger the memory sequence which confirms this is indeed a pentagon-shaped
pipe.
Zoom out. Notice the white mark at the fourth position of the scale (counting
the one where the indicator is at as one). This will become relevant near the
end of this Age. Now turn right.
Examine the pipe hole. Zoom in and trigger a memory sequence. Jump in and
enjoy the slide down (hope the Traveler has heat-resistant pants! ^_^) Once
the ride ends, go forward. There's a sort of book device at the end. Pull the
lever below to open it. Trigger a memory sequence. This is a circuit board for
the Age and it shows where there's power. Right now, nothing is powered up.
There are a group of four fuses on the upper left side, a group of seven fuses
below that and a group of 35 fuses on the right hand side. There are also a
lot of symbols. Each of these represent a location here in Spire (kind of like
the power box back in Tomahna).
To the right of this circuit board is a metal pipe with rungs leading up. This
is your exit ladder from this level. Examine the rest of this location. Go
left. There's a control box here. The symbol on the lid looks like a castle
with waves above it. It's an electromagnet and the waves represent magnetic
forces. Zoom in on the lid and trigger a memory. Press the button beside it to
open the lid. Inside you'll find a slider and seven LEDs (numbered 1 to 7).
There's a power gauge on the right and a switch on the left. Flick the switch
down. Now, let's ground some conductors. It took me a few tries to find the
right combination, but to save you the time, here it is: move the slider
right, left, right, left and right. This works because one move to the right
lights up 4 LEDs and one move to the left turns two off. All seven LEDs will
light up. The game will take over and you'll see something being pulled down
by the magnetic force.
If you now go to the circuit board, you'll see that this area is also lit up.
From there, and to the left, you can go to the end of the walkway and see a
huge crystal that is storing electricity. A cable leads out into the void and
connects to several floating stones. A ladder seems to lead out to the left,
but can't be used right now. Turn back to the exit ladder and climb it.
At the top, move the lever to the left to open the trap door (if you had used
the elevator back at the Statue Garden, this trapdoor would be locked and it
would have been impossible to open it from here). This area leads to Sirrus'
work area, botany lab, and another elevator to the right with a rest area and
workbench, to the left.
For now, continue climbing the pipe. This is another control area. The control
box lid here has a symbol that looks like a ship sailing over some waves. It's
another electromagnet, this one is pointing down. Zoom in and trigger a
memory. What you have to do here is balance out the floating rock you saw
coming down when you powered the box downstairs. This is all explained in one
of Sirrus' Journals (we'll get to it in a bit), and also through the triggered
memories at the control boxes when they are covered up. You'll learn that the
location downstairs is a dock and that the floating stone is actually a stone
ship.
Open the box. This one is exactly like the one below but has only four LEDs.
You need to light up two LEDs here. The sequence for this, after flicking down
the switch, is: move the slider left, right and right. The game will take over
and although you can't see it from up here, the stone ship has moved to the
correct position in order to be boarded at the docking area.
Climb down to the middle area and go left. Approach Sirrus' workbench. On your
way there, zoom in on the floating stone to the left and trigger a memory. As
long as you are here, take a moment to follow the path next to the floating
stone to the end to add a link to the Zip mode. It might come in handy. Do not
use the elevator though. There's no need to yet and besides, you have more
things to do on this level. Return to the floating stone and continue to the
bench. Zoom in on the first of Sirrus' Journals and use the amulet for a voice
over.
You'll learn a lot about how the Age works, some of its secrets and why the
stones float. You'll hear how the stone ship was created, how the electro
crystals work and about Sirrus' failure. Contrary to his brother, Sirrus
doesn't seem the least bit remorseful.
To the right of the journal there's a device that shows how the crystals work.
It also can be used to trigger a memory. Do so. To the right is a telescope
that triggers yet another memory sequence. It shows you the destination of the
stone ship. You'll be going there in a bit.
For now, go to the left and behind the workbench area. This path leads to the
Botany Lab where Sirrus' has nurtured a flower to offer to his mother
(remember the one in the pressure chamber in Catherine's Botany Lab, and also
it triggers a memory sequence in Tomahna by Night in the Botany Lab.) Zoom in
on the statue and trigger another memory sequence. The Botany work table shows
a diagram, but that doesn't look like flower experiences. Looks like Sirrus
has been extracting something from the plants around here.
Return to the trapdoor. Return to the docking area below. On arriving, notice
that a gangway has now been extended to the stone ship. Walk to the ship and
get inside. Push the lever up and enjoy the short ride to the other island.
Once there, get out of the ship and proceed forward and to the right. Cross to
the other side and zoom in on the pipe. Trigger a memory sequence and climb
down.
To the right there's a web of chains. Go there first. Zoom in on the porthole
and use the controls on the right to move the view around. There are three
places where the blue button will light up, but one of them is more important
than the others. Before you start moving it around, trigger the memory
sequence. This is where Sirrus discovered that this Age has no bottom and the
link book was lost forever.
First hotspot is at the bottom of the stalactite which is currently shown in
the viewer. Click on the blue button to zoom in and again to zoom out. Second
hotspot is almost at the top of this stalactite. Again click the blue button
to zoom in and again to zoom out. To the left of this one is the most
important one: it shows a crystal jutting out from a windpipe (circular in
shape) and the white mark on the scale is in the third position (again with
position one being the first where the middle indicator is). Zoom out from the
viewer and go to the machine at the end of the other path.
This one had me banging my head on the wall for a while. The gears won't turn
not because there's no power (as I first assumed) but because there's a
floating stone wedged against them to prevent them from turning. Touch the
stone (on the right side of the screen) to set it free, then pull the lever.
This will enable a floating stone to form a bridge near the stone ship. Return
upstairs.
Cross the walkway and use the floating stone to cross to the other side.
Continue to the end to find another circuit board. Zoom in and use the amulet.
Return to the floating stone and step left to the control box. I forgot to
mention we are trying to power an artifact that lets you access the bottom
most point of the Age. That object looks like a chair with spiders legs. I
shall refer to it as the spider chair. For that we need exactly 36 conductors
to be lit.
Zoom in on the closed lid and trigger a memory. The symbol here looks like a
three stringed lyre. Open the lid. Wow! That's a lot of conductors! After much
experiment, the sequence for the slider here, after flicking down the switch,
is: move slider right, right, left, left and right. You need to light up 29
LEDs which this sequence does. Return to the stone ship and to the main Spire.
Now, 29 conductors from the island plus the 7 from the dock station makes 36.
All you need to do is turn off the ones above the area where the metal exit
pole leads (to the upper magnet control room). Go there and turn them off by
flicking the switch up. Climb down and this time, go to the right, towards
Sirrus' rest area and second workbench. On your way there, notice a piece of
paper on the floor. It's close to piece of square rock. This is the first note
on the Quartz crystals. Zoom in and take a picture.
Keep going until you get to the third crystal jutting out from the windpipe.
This one is broken and there's no scale, but the shape is a hexagon. Zoom in,
take a picture and trigger the memory sequence. This confirms the shape of the
pipe and also the position for the last indicator, which is set to the seventh
position.
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Note: Here is some additional information about a feature I missed. Thanks to
Anthony Germon for sending it to me.
"[...] when you are near Sirrus' rest area, in front of the third (hexagonal)
crystal, jutting out from the windpipe, you can indeed notice that there's no
scale. Of course you may get the position for the last indicator during the
memory sequence. But, when facing the crystal, if you turn yourself 180
degrees, just above the chessboard and a little to its right, you can also see
the missing scale, which is damaged and stuck in some pillar, and you can zoom
on it."
This will also provide you with the correct setting for this cable.
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Turn around and go to the cot area. Zoom in on the chess set to trigger a
memory that completes the other one (triggered on the chess set back in the
Kitchen in Tomahna). Turn around to the water bucket. Notice a piece of paper
on the floor. Zoom in and take a picture (this is the first note about the
blue crystals). Now go to the workbench.
On the left there's a rotating display with crystals inside. Below it there's
a note about Nara. Take a picture. On the top and to the right, there's a note
on rock. Take a picture. Now open the small compartment to find two more
notes, the one on top is about blue crystals and below this one, is another
about rock. You'll have to move the small gear aside to be able to lift the
note about the blue crystals. Take a picture of both notes.
Now, turn to the right, walk forward and examine the hole there. Jump into it.
At the bottom you'll be faced with the spider chair. To the left of the chair
there's a statue with a list of numbers. Take a picture of it (as it will help
determine the correct frequency for Rock). Open the gate in front of the chair
by pulling the lever down. Leave the lever with the lightning bolt symbol as
it is. Exit through the gate to the other side.
Climb up the stairs and look on the floor. Zoom in on the note and take a
picture. This is the second note about Quartz. The elevator cab is here, but
you won't be needing it. Return to the spider chair and sit down. Press the
button on the right. A control panel closes over you and everything lights up.
If you look carefully to the left side you'll see numbers next to symbols.
These indicate the amount of energy needed to access a level, and this is how
I knew that 36 was the correct number. Pull the knob on the left down one
position.
The chair will descend and the statue will travel down with you. Zoom in on it
and use the amulet. There seem to be a lot of flasks around. On the control
console of the spider chair pull the knob to the left down another position.
Again you will descend. This time you will see four displays in front of you.
Inside each there's a different piece of crystal. On the left there's Quartz
and Stone and on the right Nara (in the form of a Knight chess piece) and Blue
Crystal. These are locks and the notes you have been collecting help you find
out which are the correct frequencies that will make them vibrate (and thus
open). Before you do that, however, you need to tune the machine.
Click on the button in the panel that looks like three capital 'E' letters.
You'll have to open the panel first to reveal the button. Once at the bottom,
you'll see three gears each with a different geometric symbol: a pentagon, a
circle and a hexagon. Each corresponds to one of the windpipes I told you to
take a picture of. On the right there are some tools. Zoom in on them and
trigger a memory sequence. After this, set the gears accordingly. Remember
that the first position counts. The first position on each gear is number one,
not zero. The correct positions are:
Gear one (pentagon) in 4th position
Gear two (circle) in 3rd position
Gear three (hexagon) in 7th position
If you make a mistake, the white handle in each gear can be used to reset the
indicator to its original position. Once they are properly tuned, return
upstairs by pressing the big black button up and to the left. When the ride
ends, save the game. Get ready for another annoying puzzle. Seems to be one
per Age. But first let's find out the sequences.
Open up the notes on the Quartz crystal. The first one says the first slider
should be set to 6. The second one says the optimum setting is near 8-12-4.
Push the sliders on the chair control panel to these positions: the first one
to 6, the second one to 12 and the third one to 4. The quartz crystal begins
to vibrate (the lights on the conductors turn off meaning that energy is being
spent to make the crystal vibrate). You have the correct frequency for Quartz:
6-12-4. Notice that there's only a hole on the Quartz ring and that it spins
slowly.
Now for the Rock. The notes for Rock say that the total power is 20 and that
the last slider must be set to 5 (seen in one of the notes). This means that
the power distributed to the other sliders has to add up to 15. There are a
lot of combinations, but the notes also say that the lab vibrated strongly
with one of the melodies from the music chart. So that reduces it to 10-5 (as
found on the last three lines of the chart), since this is the only pair from
the melodies chart that adds up to 15. The correct frequency for Rock is 10-5-
5. Test it and notice the lock behavior. This one has three holes.
Now for the Blue Crystal. The notes let you know that the setting for the
first slider is 3. The other ones must be set to the total output from the
garden, which is 4, and docking station which is 7. The total is 11. So if the
total is 11 and the first one is set to 3 and one of them has to have the full
power from the docking station, which is 7, the sequence is either 3-7-1 or 3-
1-7 (since both add to 11). Testing these reveals that the correct one is 3-1-
7. Notice the lock behavior by zooming in on it. This one has two holes.
And now for the final one, Nara. This is the easiest one. The only note on
Nara says that it will have to be all the power the board can generate,
equally divided by three. Since the full power is 36, dividing it by three
means the frequency is 12-12-12. Zoom in on the lock and see that it has four
holes.
So frequencies we have, now to determine the order. Since the slower vibrating
materials take longer to get to a hole in the ring, it's better to have them
set up early. In order of the number of holes, this means the correct order
(along with frequency settings) is:
Quartz: 6-12-4
Blue Crystal: 3-1-7
Rock: 10-5-5
Nara: 12-12-12
Now for the really annoying part. You have to get all four locks vibrating at
the same time and this requires speed while setting up the sliders. This would
be easy if the control system wasn't so clunky and the mouse hovering
sensibility was a little more sensitive. My suggestion, at least for the first
setting is to set up the first and third slider to the correct positions and
leave the second one to the end. As this involves cranking it up to the
maximum, it buys you some time. Once it starts vibrating, set the next
combination and so on. With a bit of luck you'll get it right and the bridge
in front of the chair will rise.
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Note: Here's an alternative way of solving this puzzle, provided by Greg
Diroll. Thanks for sending it to me.
"As you state, the clumsiness of the mouse control makes it difficult when
time is so important while trying to get all the pieces to vibrate. The key to
speeding up each code is knowing that the 3rd number selected in each sequence
only has to be crossed and not "set." For example, the quartz code is 6-12-4
and Blue is 3-1-7. Starting from zero, I set 6 and 12 on the 1st 2 cables. I
then went directly to 7 on the 3rd cable, hence passing 4 and activating the
quartz, and setting the 3rd number of the 2nd sequence. I then reversed to the
2nd cable, set 1, and then slid the 1st cable back to zero quickly(passing 3
and activating Blue) and then up to 10 to start the Rock sequence. Then to 5
on the 2nd cable and so on."
And here's a trick sent by Mark Neil. I haven't tested it though:
"If you set the first crystal and then wait 45 seconds or so, before resetting
to the vibration pattern for the second crystal, you have a full 50 seconds to
complete the set. This is because the crystals only stop vibrating when the
locking holes align with the crystals themselves. This happens on the blue
crystal after 30s, because there are 2 holes, and the rock after 15s, but I
was well away by then."
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Once this happens, click the blue button on the right to lift the control
console and free you. Walk over to the bridge and cross it. Save the game.
Climb to the new area and you'll see a huge stone slab in the elevator to your
left. You need to remove it. To your right is a panel with two settings. Move
the slider to the right (below the drawing for what looks like a Bishop chess
piece).
Move forward and you'll see a figurine inside an electrical cage. Zoom in and
trigger the associated memory. Oh, so the crystal figurines will act as bombs
once they are grounded. Continue to the second of Sirrus' Journals. You'll
learn of Sirrus' bitterness, his trickery of his mother as well as taking
advantage on her feelings and that he is not in the least bit sorry for what
he did: he's quite blase about it. You'll also learn of his plans to blow up
the linking chamber, how he tricked Atrus into giving him some Nara (in the
form of chess pieces) and his surprise at finding out he has a sister and the
anger/envy he feels towards her because Atrus chose to teach her the Art of
writing Ages and didn't do the same for him.
Approach the nearby dispensers and zoom in on each one. You'll have the
opportunity to trigger two memory sequences, showing a figurine being
retrieved and deposited into the sliding container. The one on the left is
made of rock and the one on the right is made of Nara. Since you need to blow
up the rock slab that is blocking the elevator, Nara would be the right way to
go. You'll have to make sure that the container is pushed to the left so that
the Nara figurine will fall to the ground and blow up.
Slide the container to the left and return to the spider chair. Set the
sliders to 12-12-12 and watch the cutscene. A figurine slides to the back of
the other area and an explosion will be seen. In fact, it's similar, if you
remember, to the one you were part of on Tomahna, back when that unexplained
quake took place. It now seems that both brothers had a hand at that event.
Return to the area that just blew up. The elevator is now unblocked.
I suggest you save your game at this point as you are about to take a fun
ride. ^_^
Enter the elevator, lift the lever and enjoy it! The ride ends at the shaft
chamber near the beginning of the Age. By the way, the ride up here should
explain why this elevator wasn't working: beside the slab of stone blocking it
downstairs, there was a missing section of the shaft that Sirrus substituted
with electromagnets.
Turn around and zoom in on the medallion next to the lever. Flick the little
latch and take a picture of the color scheme that appears. This changes from
game to game, so I can't tell which scheme you'll get. It's also part of the
solution to another puzzle in Serenia and the reason why you needed to visit
Spire before going to Serenia. Zooming in on the lever, replays the elevator
ride. Exit the elevator and proceed to the linking chamber. Return to Tomahna.
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