Part 51: Truth and Lies
Music - "Dimensional Doorways"
Download (Thanks to Grawl)
Chapter 46 - Truth and Lies
Mort went back to the philosopher.
The answer, tell me the answer?
Welllll… what is the question? The answ…what? What are you saying? … Question? … QUESTION! … The question… what's the question… of course… I'm going to have to think about that one… for a very long time… A new thought! You gave me a new thought… thank you… so nice… so nice… I can feel it tingling in my brain… Take this token…
Is now the time to tell him that we got that from a rat? … I think not.VIDEO: Time Travel for Dummies
Do you have the backbone to do it? What do you mean? See the door next to me? The ceiling of the next room collapsed, burying one of the most precious symbols in the Academy. What can be so precious? It's the bone of our founder. I would give a lot to get it. But we can't reach it. … But I figured out a way to get to it… I've created this rift here, leading to past times… The idea of messing with time chills me to my black heart, human. I can't get through it… I have to maintain the rift from here… 
If you go through… you can name anything you like as a reward… anything… Hmmm… I could do with a powerful weapon. If you bring the bone, I will give you the most powerful weapon in all Nemesis…
Everything looks so clean, and intact. This must be the past.
What are you doing? You're not allowed to be here… They are after the remains of the founder! You will rot in hell for this!
Got it!Mort and D.K. rushed back to the rift.
Greetings, strangers. Here is the bone. What bone are you talking about? The bone of the Academy founder. The bone of the founder? Hah, ridiculous… everybody knows it disappeared long ago. In fact, it was stolen… I told you it was a bad move to mess around with time… as far as he knows, the bone disappeared long ago… What about the reward? What kind of reward are you talking about? For what? Save your breath, human."About the Game" posted:
TROLLED!
Seriously, what did you think was going to happen? For agreeing to do this quest, you get… absolutely nothing! The only way to get experience points for this is to decline the quest.
This guy here is the ONLY one in the game who can teach ANY of these skills. The problem is that the game is nearly fucking over. This makes the "Discourage" skill near-worthless, because you need to pump in 7 points just to be able to affect the level 31 enemies already around.
I bought all these skills because they're unique, and it cost me under 2000 gold for the lot.
Whirlwind - All characters have this skill by default. It costs stamina to use. Points into this increase the damage by a pathetic amount, give a 1% chance of stun per level, and reduce the stamina drain by 10 points per point. I don't really use this in the first place, and there's not enough benefit from pumping points into it. Crap!
Feign Death - Lets a character pretend to be dead for a while (12 seconds at level 1, up to 66 at level 10). Since you can pause the game and drink instant-effect potions, why bother feigning death? I'll only use this for narrative-helping screenshots.
Berserk - This gives massive boosts to all your stats for 11-19 seconds… and then cripples you for 45 seconds after it wears off. This has the effect of making it an all-or-nothing skill. If you don't kill your opponent before it wears off, the penalty to your attributes will make you unable to use your best weapons and armor for a really long time. This is the thing which the Ancient Stone Biters use, it explains why they become so hard to hit and so dangerous while they're berserked. Still… I might find a way to use this.
Discourage - It makes enemies run in fear. There doesn't seem to be a mana cost associated with it, but the problem is that it works on enemies of up to 5*Skill Level, and since you can't get this skill until you're facing level 31 enemies, you need to flush 7 points down the toilet before you can use this at all. Crap!
Ranger Sight - Increases your sight radius. By default, I can already see to the edge of the screen, what more do I need? Crap!
Bait - The opposite of discourage. The caster becomes a target. It might be useful for a tank. Like Discourage, it works on enemies of up to 5*Skill Level, and since you can't get this skill until you're facing level 31 enemies, you need to flush 7 points down the toilet before you can use this at all. Still, I might be able to find a use for this in the playable postgame…
VIDEO: Truth and Lies
Welcome, Damian… congratulations on your excellent performance so far… nobody has ever been so successful in the art of summoning… Thank you. You are in the Level of Philosophy now… it might be far less exciting for you… although… it might also be interesting… Is your race familiar with the concept of lies and deception? Lies and deception? Yes, let me show you…
Suddenly, Mort, D.K. and the teacher were teleported to a new place.
Do you know how to lie, Damian?
Ha ha ha ha… We don't… but we are aware… how other races can be… Maybe you should take lessons from Donhoram. He wasn't a very good one, but he was definitely a liar. We have to teach our students… they must be prepared… for lies and deception in other races… we must test… How do you test that? Only practical experiences… teach you a real lesson… Does no one have anything better to do around here? In the next room… two doors… and two golems… one door leads to a safe passage… the other one… well… it's unpleasant! … The golems know… ask each of them one question… one of the golems always tells the truth… the other one always lies… and you will not know which one is which… Choose wisely, Damian… Unfortunately… the golems answer only *yes* or *no*… What do they call you? My name is Elder Anbotar. What is the ultimate answer? The answer of all answers you seek, Damian? The answer is wisdom. Only with wisdom are you able to distinguish between truth and lies… Shall I begin the test? By all means…
Choose your question carefully, human. Hmmm…Mort spoke to the golem by the left-hand door.
Does the left door lead to the safe path?
No. What kind of question was that? We don't know whether that was a truth-teller or a liar! Patience. I only need one question.Mort spoke to the golem by the right-hand door.
If I asked the OTHER golem if the left door led to the safe way, would he say "Yes"? No. How did that help? It's simple. Pay attention for a moment: Assume for the moment that the right-hand golem is the truth-teller, and the left-hand golem is the liar. Alright… Now, if the left-hand way was safe, then the left-golem would lie, and say that it was not. The truth-telling golem, knowing that the left-hand way is safe, and knowing that the left-golem can only lie, would honestly reply "no" if asked if the lying left-golem would say "yes" if the left-golem was asked if the left way was safe. … Follow that? … Yes. But if the left-hand way was dangerous, and the left-golem was a liar, then he would reply "yes" if asked if the left-hand way was safe. And if the left-hand way was dangerous and the right-golem was a truth-teller, then the right-golem would answer "yes" if asked if the left-golem would say that the left-way was safe. But what if the right-golem is the liar? If the right-golem is a liar, and the left-hand route is safe, then the honest left-golem would say that yes, the left-hand way was safe. The lying right-golem, knowing this, would say "no". If the left-way is dangerous, and the right-golem is a liar, then the honest left-golem would say "no" when asked if the left-hand way was safe, and the lying right-golem would reverse that and say "yes". … So if the left-hand way is safe, the right-golem would always say "no", regardless of whether it is a liar or honest, and if the left-hand way is dangerous, then the right-golem would always say "yes". Exactly. … So the left-hand door is the safe one.
"About the Game" posted:
Picking up the gem produces a hostile water elemental, which I killed for experience.
Other rewards
If you go through… you can name anything you like as a reward… anything… I want to go home. If you bring me the bone, I will personally open a rift to anywhere you want… If you go through… you can name anything you like as a reward… anything… I would like 200,000 gold. That's a lot of gold… but if you can get the bone, I will find a way to pay you… If you go through… you can name anything you like as a reward… anything… I only ask that you teach me… Agreed… bring me back the bone, and I will teach you a couple of very powerful magic skills… If you go through… you can name anything you like as a reward… anything… I'm not interested. Sorry to hear that… I'll have to wait for another… one who isn't as cowardly as you… 35904 XP
The wrong door in Truth and Lies
Choosing the wrong door doesn't affect anything, you still complete the test.
The only difference is that you are forced to fight a Fire Elemental first.
Reader Feedback
This is the very last Reader Feedback. After this, I'll try and record the rest of the game. We're very nearly done.
1) There are two prisoners in two cells - a man on the right and a woman on the left. Each cell has a candle in front of it. Both prisoners say that the only way out for them is to extinguish the candle in front of the OTHER cell. Both prisoners say to ignore what the other prisoner is saying.
a) Listen to the man and extinguish the candle in front of the woman's cell.
b) Listen to the woman and extinguish the candle in front of the man's cell.
c) Do nothing and move on.
2) There are two monsters fighting each other.
a) Kill them both.
b) Wait for one to kill the other and kill the weakened survivor.
c) Ignore the distracted monsters and sneak past them.
3) Two nations are at war. One king says that his people are starving, and he needs a weapon to conquer his neighboring country so his people will live. The other king says that if he tries to shares his food, then his country will also starve. He asks for a shield to defend his country.
a) Give the sword to the starving king
b) Give the shield to the besieged king
4) A woman in a cell begs to be freed. She says she has committed no crime. The guard says that she is dangerous and he has his orders.
a) Free her
b) Leave her in her cell