The Search for Freedom: Our Repeated Petitions

Which one? Frank Gorshin? Jim Carrey? Paul Dano?

       

Guest post by AlphabeticalAnonymous: 

 

As we have finally defeated the evil wizard Macabath and lifted the curse he placed on Smythetown, the city gates open, and we are finally free to explore the wide world. Our goal in doing this remains the same: to somehow find and defeat Kamazol, or at least prevent him from conquering the living world from his home in the land of the dead. However, we have few clues on how to accomplish this; the best hint seems to be rumors of a confederacy of rebels, all adorned with viper tattoos. A member of this group cryptically told us that Arthur (who lives in a blue house) will rendezvous with us and give us further instructions. 

      

Emerging into the fresh air, at long last.

              

We emerge from the town onto Devor Isle on the world map, where we are greeted by a tinny rendition of "Greensleeves" and a small window depicting our surroundings. Like the rest of the game, the design is tile-based, and we can only see 7 x 7 tiles at a time. The documentation tells us that the whole world is only two 32 x 32 screens (and three continents). Our party is represented by a small person carrying a sword and wearing a jaunty green cap, which displays a few frames of walking animation as we begin to march around. As we go, we’re treated to the occasional pleasant sound effect, such as birds tweeting and ocean surf roaring. The manual helpfully describes what we can expect:

         

On the north-west tip is located Smythetown, the island's main community . . . South-east of town is Darkenwood Forest, where it is rumoured that vicious Ogres roam. To the south of this is Ugoomba Swamp, next to Lake Lzumba. Beware of the swamp, for many dangerous creatures lurk within, so avoid it if at all possible. On the south-eastern end of the isle are the North and South Carpalas Mountains, separated by the valley of Hsaktoth. Past the mountains, to the east, Gustav's bridge leads to Raksta Isle.

          
In towns or dungeons each step takes just one minute, but outside the time per square depends on the type of terrain we’re moving across. In the grassy fields near Smythetown, moving one square takes 25 minutes of game time. In the nearby forest of Darkenwood, one step is roughly 1.5 hours. So each tile in the world map is something like two kilometers, more or less. Nonetheless, it quickly becomes apparent that this island is on the smaller side. Only five steps from Smythetown is Darkenwood, and directly south of it Ugoomba Swamp is only seven by five tiles.

As in the catacombs (but unlike the town), random encounters with monsters frequently occur out in the world. Each region of the map seems to contain a few different combinations of adversaries (just as each dungeon level has its own unique set of monsters). Each encounter is a variation on a theme: they ambush us, or we detect an ambush, or we hear them coming and set our own ambush, or we’re all just tossed directly into combat. As we head into the swamp, a "Scuzzball" approaches. The manual describes these as "big, slow, powerful, yucky." This green blob has 26 HP, 2 armor points, and is indeed big; I think it’s the first enemy since the Insane Creature in the jail that occupies 2x2 tiles in combat. It only provides 3 XP per character. Soon thereafter we face five vipers (fast, easy to kill) and two crocodiles (slightly tougher, but no real challenge).

      

Fighting scuzzballs in Ugoomba Swamp. Despite the graphic, it takes up 2 x 2 spaces.

      

We’ve heard of Ugoomba Swamp before: scrawled on the wall of the Insane Creature’s jail cell was the message, "The cape is in Ugoomba Swamp." The world map only allows us to Move, Search, or Encamp, so clearly we need to search the swamp. This doesn’t take long: in the southwest corner of the swamp, we find a "Red Cape." It can be readied as can other usable inventory items, but there’s no clue as to what it does. At any rate, it does not seem to affect any visible character statistics.

    

RIP, Superman?

       

We continue on, and about ten steps past the swamp we find what can only be Gustav’s bridge. The bridge is guarded by some trolls who are also large, 2 x 2-tile enemies. I don’t seem to have taken any notes about that combat, so I presume they didn’t pose too much of a challenge. Past the bridge lie the green fields of Raksta Isle; we go north through a narrow mountain-lined pass, at the end of which is our second town: Hythenforge.
    

At least I remembered to take a screenshot of the bridge battle.

       

This port city has a different layout than Smythetown but many of the same amenities: Bob's Training Center, the Jolly Orc Tavern, Art's General Store, Omar's Magic Store, the Inn of the Fallen Leaves, the Temple of the Rising Sun, Joe's Weapons & Armor, and another town square. Directly west of the magic shop, we find the Hythenforge Weight Training Center. There, we are asked "Do you want to exercise now?" and when we say yes, "It will cost us 200 gold to train him." Agreeing turns out to result in a +2 permanent bonus to the character’s Strength: definitely worth the price! 

      

Son strong! Though I do admit it came on fast.

       

In Hythenforge we also find a number of other unique locations and encounters:
      

• "There is a gigantic boulder here blocking the entrance to a dark tunnel. Try as you might, you cannot do anything to even so much as budge it." As I write this, realize that I still don’t know what this boulder or tunnel are about.

• A "small, locked combination safe" behind a secret door. If we answer that we want to open the safe, we are prompted to "Please enter the combination." We have no idea what it might be.

• Not far away, behind another secret door: "How strange! In this secret little shoppe, there is a gnome selling Riddle Books—only 500 gold pieces." We hold off for now.

• A set of deserted docks, with a layout reminiscent of Phlan’s docks from Pool of Radiance.

• A small, empty guard post. This never amounts to anything.

• Another secret room warns us: "Beware the Riddler!!"

• A series of locked and secret doors, ending in a larger room: "This is a torture chamber, hidden away in the corner of the city. Instruments of death line the walls, but it is otherwise empty. A piece of paper in the corner catches your eye. You pick it up and read it. It simply says: "PERSISTENCE IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS—perhaps the torturer's motto, you think to yourselves." Even now I’m not sure whether this meant something, or whether we were supposed to do something here.

• "In the corner of the town square is a statue of the city's mayor, Melvin B. Hythen.

• "On the wall is written: Riddle-de-dum, riddle-de-dee, Buy a riddle book, It's worth the fee."

        

Was this room here merely to provide atmosphere?

      

Examining the automap, I think it is clear that there are more hidden rooms north of the torture chamber. We find no secret doors from within that room, but from the main corridor in the city we find our way in. There: "A smoky face appears in the air before you. 'Welcome ignorant ones. I am the Riddler, and you have entered my lair. KEEP OUT!' It then disappears as it is dissipated by a weak gust of wind." We move forward a few squares. "The smoky face of the Riddler appears once more. He has a riddle for you: When is a wall not a wall?"

        

I'm surprised how much I like the pseudo-pointillist/digital airbrush style.

       

We think it over, and then (with a marked lack of confidence) answer WALRUS. Unfortunately, this seems to be incorrect: "You have failed to correctly answer one of the Riddler's riddles. The floor beneath your feet slides away revealing a pit. You fall several metres before being impaled on sharp, poison-tipped metal spikes. You are all killed upon impact. Your adventure ends here."
       
After reloading, we reconsider our options. We’re still roughly 400 XP from leveling up, but we can at least better equip the party. We have a lot of gold saved up, and with the new strength bonuses from the weight training center a number of the party members can equip better weapons and/or armor. We buy +1 armor, +1 shields, and +1 hammers for most of the party—only poor Becket, my cleric, is too weak to equip any worthwhile weapons (or most armor). We’re ultimately left tougher, and still with over 1000 gold in our pockets. 
     

Significantly better options than we had in Smythetown. Asterisks indicate items the current character can't equip.

     

We then continue systematically exploring the town. In the southeast corner is some sort of residential district. Through a door here, we find that:

         

An old lady ushers you into her home. You tell her briefly of your quest. She says, "Surely your quest will take you overseas to Shylyllia Isle. If you do me a favour, I will make sure you get across safely for a small, nominal fee. I have a friend who's a captain down at the harbour. Do this: go to the bottom of The Pit in the Forest of Shadows, and slay the Pitbeast. Then go to the docks and my friend the captain will be waiting. You'll need some viper tattoos to identify yourselves as allies, or he won't speak with you though. The Pitbeast has been terrorizing townsfolk for weeks now, and has forced us to temporarily close the harbour. It comes up out of the Pit every so often, taking back sacrifices to feed upon. We would all be grateful if you slay it. Good Luck!" As you leave, you notice a tattoo of a viper on her arm.

         
The next door is locked, "and you have no key that fits the lock." Isn't that the whole point of being able to pick locks? The next home we come to is deserted. And beyond that, we are told that south of us "stands a large blue house."     

        

The game tries to gaslight us: that house is green.

       

Regardless of color, this must be Arthur’s house. As instructed, we say WHITE KNIGHT SENT ME and are ushered into the house. Although he still says suspiciously little about Kamazol or the fate of the world, Arthur gives us our next set of instructions.

        

When you reach Birshada on Shylyllia Isle . . . seek out Dorf. You must first get a Viper Alliance tattoo. Search the Riddler's Den—he is rumoured to possess such tattoos . . . Dorf can also teach you the art of mountaineering . . . . recover the Red Sphere. Dorf can tell you about it . . . do not trust ANYONE without the mark of the Viper. Take these weapons and armor. There's no time to lose! Go find Dorf!

       
He then hands us a +2 hammer that I give to Durkon, a set of +2 chain armor that goes to Tyrion, and a +1 broadsword that Elphaba takes up. Our choices seem clear: to advance, we need to both (1) slay the Pitbeast, and (2) successfully visit the Riddler. Since we know that Riddlebooks are available for sale in town, the latter option seems quicker. 

        

I didn't have a better place to include this shot of the mountain pass to Hythenforge.

      

We head back to buy a Riddle-hintbook. "'Enjoy your purchase,' squeals the gnome, grabbing your money and running out the way you entered." We are slightly dismayed to find no new items in our inventory, but (hoping that the hintbook will invoke itself automatically) we head back to meet the Riddler. When we step into the riddling square and are asked a riddle, the following unexpected event occurs (as with most other encounters, this is all conveyed entirely via several short screens of text).

        

Your Riddle Book jumps out of your pack and begins to glow! It flips open to a page near the middle where one phrase seems to stand out from all the others. You ponder the word, then place the Riddle Book back in your pack. The book says "[whatever the riddle’s answer is]."

            

Let's hear your best alternate answers to this one in the comments.

        

The face says, "Very good" and vanishes. The process repeats as we cross through twelve different riddle squares. The process repeats as we cross through twelve different riddle squares. We see a few repeats, but the riddles we see (with answers provided here; highlight to read) are:

     

• What do you get when you cross an Orc with a Dragon? A: Fried Orc
• How long was the Hundred Years War" ? A: 121 years
• Who is the author of this game? A: Howard Feldman
• You don't get down off a horse, you get down off a? A: Duck
• What has hands and a face, but is neither human nor animal. A: Clock 
• When is a wall not a wall? A: When it is a secret door
• Why did the bird fly to Aegea for the winter? A: Too far to walk
• Why did the chicken enter the Portal? A: To get to The Other Side

         

A few of these riddles are funny, one or two I could guess the answer to on my own, but I don’t think anyone could figure these all out correctly on their own.
     
At the end of this passage, a single square is left unexplored. Entering this "hidden shack" reveals the Riddler in his home. Despite his deadly defenses I’m still expecting a civilized conversation, so I’m heartened when he tells us that "You are wise indeed, I grant you." Rather to my surprise, he goes on to say that "you shall never get my treasure! You shall now die." I hadn’t even realized that he had any treasure, aside from perhaps being the owner of some tattooing equipment. He flings a hidden knife at Elphaba, who dodges it (presumably after a dexterity check). We then enter combat.      

       

I knew the Riddler was a criminal, but I never thought of him as a common pickpocket.

       

The Riddler has 200 hit points and 5 armor points. I was hoping for a man in a green suit covered with question marks, but instead he looks just like one of the Smythetown Sentry guards. He is moderately tough, rarely misses, and hits hard. Each successful attack does 8-12 damage (even after our armor bonuses). A new game mechanic is also revealed: in addition to losing hit points, each of his attacks results in the theft of 20-40 gold. The thefts are more of a curiosity than a hindrance, since we have over 1000 gold. In any event, he isn’t a serious challenge and goes down without much trouble.

We’re rewarded with 84 experience each, a locked chest containing 900 gold, and then a second, unlocked chest "on the Riddler's lifeless corpse." It contains 837 more gold pieces (written as "GP" for perhaps the first time in the game), a speed potion, and a piece of paper with the number 3126 written on it. In a final amusing (but nonsensical) twist, we are told that "You all feel more Intelligent after successfully answering the Riddler's riddles. +2 intelligence and +2 wisdom for all!" To complete the Riddler quest, the number 3126 is of course the combination to open the safe we discovered earlier. It provides us with yet another 5000 gold, "and six self-adhesive tattoos of the Viper Alliance symbol. You each apply one to your upper forearm. Doesn't look half bad." My kids are always finding and bringing home self-adhesive temporary tattoos; if these viper tattoos stick on half as well, then we should be in no danger of them wearing off anytime soon.
         

The Vindow Viper? [Chet  here. I would have captioned this: "Dream about a reefer five feet long . . ."]

          

With no other obvious leads in town, it’s time to set out in search of the Pitbeast.

      

Time played: 25 hours. 6 party deaths. 2 reloads. 2 crashes. 

    

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06/18/2026