The Let's Play Archive

Escape from Hell

by CrookedB

Part 20: Tower of Myraglen, Part 2/3: The disease

This update was getting a bit long, so I decided to cut it in two after all. I'll show off the last two floors and the endings next time.


We make our way to the safe corridor and head north.




The throne in the centre of the screen is the Throne of the Gods. We can only activate it if we're carrying the Poseidon statue we can get from a chest earlier.



"You are so kind. Thank you very much for bringing the power of Poseidon back to this throne of the gods. For so long Poseidon has not come here; it has been too hot. Now you have revived my defense against the scorching force of hell fire. For equal trade, I give you a ring that will allow you to resist the horrible fiery force. Thank you very much."

Our HP is greatly increased, and we receive a ring of fire protection:



We can now cross the lava tiles safely, which will be of great help to us on the last floor.

Then we head east, slay the nasty centipedes that have their lair there...



quote:

Centipede, Giant: Through magic the ordinary centipede was expanded to a huge size, making it capable of vanquishing human opponents.

...and run through the next door so as not to take too much damage from the invisible enemy, the Unseen Force.

quote:

Unseen Force: These creatures are not invisible, as their name suggests. They are rather like a blanket; when they move over other objects, such as chests, they make them invisible. They can usually be found by the displacement of things around them.



Other enemies include Hades' Hounds and Giant Lizards.

quote:

Hades' Hound: These creatures belong to Hades, serving as bringers of death and destruction. They breathe fire, just as the demons throw it, at their intended victims. Their sole purpose is to destroy!

Lizard, Giant: These creatures seem to be comprised of tremendous jaws and a body to carry them. One bite can remove the side of a man. Be careful of these creatures, they are extremely deadly.



The next room isn't exactly a cakewalk. It has us pitted against two ghosts (one of them not pictured), three skeletons and an axe-wielding demon.

quote:

Demon: These creatures are among the most deadly known to man. They wield huge axes and throw balls of fire at their opponents. Their accuracy in combat is unmatched by any mortal.



The fight costs us a thousand HP.

Oh well, we couldn't have avoided this room anyway. And... see that coffin? Coffins are basically Tower of Myraglen's über-treasure chests.



Not bad, huh? Gold isn't useless, by the way. We'll find a use for it a bit further down the road.

We leave level 4 now and climb up to level 5...



"With the forge of Satan this level hath been wrought. And through its heat thou shalt die a most hideous death! I am filled with hatred for the likes of you. Before you were safe from my wrath, but now I rule... and the old fool is only a weak pathetic voice. Of course, that's all he ever was... a mere childish fool babbling about his naive dreams. Your only hope is for me to take pity... but I am not affected by such impracticality. Poor luck, child!"

The villainous speech gives us an important clue: the evil side is going to be dominant from this level on, and we can only trust the faint voice now, not the loud one. Disregarding that can lead to disastrous consequences on the next, sixth floor.

A vision of Mendalick appears as we take the next step:



As he struggles to stand upon his staff, he attempts to speak clearly. Unable to do so, he begins to say his words with a raspy voice, "I am much weaker here. My skill is lost to the dark side. Here I am not the good mage Mendalick. I am rather Ernton Von Todsfall, the distant relation of Unheilig Gottos-Teufel ().

Every man has a dark side... Each man carries with him desires, and his evil heart. Most men are fairly balanced. I was not at equilibrium when I lived. I was too good, so good that I could not see myself killing anything, evil or not. I believed that one must cut off a limb, if he intends to prevent the spread of an infection. I cut off my dark side, locking it here and beyond. I warn you. He is very willing to kill his opponents!" The apparition fades...

So the evil apparition is Mendalick's dark side.



We're a disease, apparently, and the Repair Zombies are the Tower's white corpuscles.



"Answer a riddle true I ask of you, and perhaps I will not make your body into glue. A creature of your world that spins reality into dreams, and puts hope in the hands of the forgotten. This creature also paints the image of death and slaughter so well, that a man may even cry from its force. What is the title of such a beast?"



I agree, Waste!

We answer KING. It makes some sort of sense, I guess, but it's still far from an obvious answer.



The next room has a bunch of skeletons, and a secret passage we can use to reach all those nice little chests. One of them even contains a strength potion.



quote:

Wasp, Giant: These creatures, once a dangerous insect with their poison, were enlarged by sorcery to a size more deadly than an entire wasp nest could be. The poison one giant wasp injects could kill any man instantly!

Those four treasure chests aren't really worth the stinging. So let's go south instead.



That's probably my favourite line in the entire game.

quote:

Slime: Creatures without form are very difficult to kill. You must actually pulp the thing so much that it can no longer ooze in one piece. They aren't very dangerous, as even leather armor completely negates any danger they pose. They're still obstacles in any case, and they can be a nuisance to get rid of.

The slimes are harmless yet quite resistant and take some time to kill.



The toothy chests are mimics, called Guisers in this game.

quote:

Guiser: This creature must be considered one of the most adaptable beasts of Myraglen, for it assumes the appearance of its surrounding, surprising its intended victims. Most often, the creature appears as a chest.



The coffins are exploding traps. No way we should come near them, even with the ring of fire resistance equipped.



The game just keeps insulting us.



And here's the point where all the previously useless gold we've been hoarding becomes useful all of a sudden.

By giving gold to the needy we can build up our HP. 10 gold points are traded for 1 HP point. We give 50,000 gold and receive 5,000 HP.

The needy thank you.

Then we exit the room with the brazier and head west.



There's some gold inside the chests, but more importantly, there's a hidden passage right behind them.



We discover a Magic Chain Mail inside one of the coffins; that'll do wonders for our defence. Then we backtrack and enter another secret passage.



Only to reach the stairs up to level 6.



Level six contains what is probably the meanest puzzle so far, as well as two trap rooms.

We start in a room with two wooden doors, an open gate leading north, and two hidden passages. We first take the western one.



Had we taken the regular door into this area, by the way, we would've been hit by the stone block above.



We find a Magic Axe in one of the coffins, and now not just our armour, but also our weapon is enchanted.

To the north is the exit to floor 7, but we shouldn't take it just yet. Instead, we return to the starting area and head east through another secret door.



You have found the fabled Medallion Of Soul Stealing! You only have but to return to your world... to leave the Tower Of Myraglen. One sad thing, though, still remains -- you don't know how to use the medallion.

Don't let the game fool you. This ISN'T the real medallion. We'll only get the real deal from Mendalick himself on the last level of the tower.

Back at the starting place, we proceed north through the gate.



quote:

Fire Beetle: These creatures are unusually hard to kill due to their hard shells. They are also unusually dangerous because they breathe bursts of fire. It has been noted that they cannot continuously breathe these fiery balls for any length of time. You could use this to your advantage by waiting until they cannot breathe such fire for a while.

Note that the loud, i.e., evil, voice exclaims it rewards us with a gift. The gift is located inside that chest. Given that the heavy voice is evil, we should just disregard the chest and the "gift".

Let us, however, claim it for the LP's sake:



If you save the game (remember: there's only one save slot) after taking the scarab, you're pretty much screwed. As in, you'd have to restart the game.

Why?



A voice yells in victory, "The scarab protects the Tower's soul, not yours!"

Because the scarab kills you as attempt to climb up to floor 7, and there's no way you can remove it from the inventory.



And that's why we shouldn't accept the "gift".



Another crossroads. To the east is a trap room somewhat similar to the lava room back on floor one:



No escape from here.



The northern room has the Unseen Force again. You can press V to view the surrounding monsters, by the way, which helps a lot when those are invisible.

We've cleared floor 6, but now it's time to revisit some of the areas that were previously too tough for us on the earlier levels of the tower.



Such as the room full of water elementals back on level three, which rewards us with a Jeweled Gold Key.

As well as a couple of areas on level 4.



We are now heading towards the toughest encounter in the game. An encounter we cannot win even at this point.



An encounter against an Indescribable Beast.

quote:

Indescribable Beast: Such creatures are beyond words. They roar, squeak, and scream unknown noises. Their appearance is hideous, though comical in a tragic way. They adhere to no logic, and serve nothing. Their powers have never been understood or seen in their fullest form. One thing that has been said. They are the embodiment of everything imaginable, totalling one indescribable beast.

Note: Never in recorded history has one been killed - they may be protected by some godly force!

No upper hand for us this time.

Oh yes, I totally forgot.



Inside one of the rooms on level six, there's an item hidden in a feeding trough.

It's a book authored by Mendalick himself.



It is heavy reading, but is summarized as follows:

1. Man must follow his own instincts, and shall have total power over himself at all times. Though he may allow greed, violence, or idiocy to control his actions, it is his destiny to be free.

2. I believe that all men will learn that I am right in this dream -- that to find true peace, he must trust others, never lie, and absolutely always be as responsible as he can be. This will test man. Through such an examination, man may find that he does not have to wait to receive the ultimate in gifts, Peace.

3. Organized religion seems a farce to me. It is too often filled with hypocrisy. It speaks of truth, justice, peace, happiness, tranquility, and of eternal awful agony after death for the non-believer. If I am such a person, I do not relishe the idea of suffering in the inferno. Surely, you must feel the same.

4. Man must be true, which means he must follow through on his virtues. He must:





Onwards, to floor seven!



Level 7 is really small. There are, however, two crucial items we should get here, as well as a new kind of enemy.



The new kind of enemy are Doppelgänger, our protagonist's doubles, and they're pretty tough. The best tactics here is to rush for the chest while trying to avoid their blows.

The chest contains another key. All the keys we're so meticulously collecting will be required later.



Another double, and an aged music box.

After grabbing the music box, we must run through either of the two rooms and south.



There's a teleporter here that we should enter while avoiding the foes. It takes us to level 8.



This is an interesting floor. Earlier I said the visions in Tower of Myraglen somewhat reminded me of Dark Heart of Uukrul's visions. This area, in its turn, is basically a much simpler version of Dark Heart of Uukrul's Chaos dungeon.




This is probably the most annoying part of the game.



Any tile of the bridge can randomly have you slip and die, meaning the bridge can only be crossed by way of save/reload. The only viable "tactics" here is to save the game every time before stepping on the next tile. The whole thing is completely random. It isn't even a puzzle, it's just "haha random death!"

But finally we make it to the other side and enter the Dark Planes.



The Dark Planes are appropriately dark. They take up most of floor 8.



We head all the way north until we hit the wall and then go all the way east.



Every of the four corners of floor 8 has several coffins we can loot.



Some of the areas have enemies and plot-relevant chests containing the keys we're going to need later.



We grab all the keys and head for the exit.

Next time: the endings!