Part 35: The Secret

The Secret (It's Not Positivity)



Rhakkus will seek you out every time you enter Drayk's Vale to give you his spiel. Unless he's dead, that is.

You return to the drayk's wasteland. As you walk south, you realize that the terrible paranoia you suffered from on your last trip here wasn't entirely unwarranted. Shades keep silent vigil in nooks and crannies in the rock. You don't need to see their eyes to know that they're watching you.



These creatures are not stealthy. Brush and bones crunch beneath them. You hear the drayk's servants before you see them. Either they're unskillful or they wish to terrorize you.

Your creations kill the first cryodrayk before it reaches your front line. Then Geokinesis turns on the second...



It falls. The third and fourth cryodrayks don't get to show their snouts before you; the terror vlish destroy them.



Even arrogant drayks are not immune to fear.





The cryodrayks are strong, but unless they organize before attacking you, they can't overcome your creations. One cryodrayk spews a gob of bluish energy at RickVoid. Frost races over the artila's skin. The attack looks like a significantly more powerful ice lance, much like what some of your crystals are enchanted to mimic.





The last cryodrayk flees after the artilas cover it in acid. You hear its pained hisses whisper through the canyons, but you're not going to chase after the beast. You don't know your way around this area, and you don't want to throw yourself headlong into an ambush.

Instead, you pause to investigate another pylon.


For now, you regretfully leave the treasure behind. You can't be too sure who -- or what -- is watching, and there's still at least two cryodrayks out here.



Another drayk passes by north of you. After a taste of vlish terror and artila acid, it retreats.





There's a tunnel bored into the southern canyon wall. The rugs laid out in its mouth catch your eye and draw you in.



The resident even has their own storage cellar.



You meet an old, hunched over, servile hermit. Despite his age and physical weakness, he has a strange, authoritative aura around him. You have to remind yourself that you are dealing with a creation here, not an equal.

With difficulty, the hermit stands up straight when you enter. "I am Halm. Welcome to my cave."

If we had a token of alliance with the Takers, Halm would not deal with us.

"What are you doing out here?" you ask. This canyon is far from the servile societies to the south and deeply embedded in rogue territory.

"I prefer to live alone. To think. To give advice when advice is sought. I used to live close to the cities. No longer. Their sects have gone mad. Each sect began with a grain of wisdom. But that grain has, in each case, been blown away by the winds of rigidity and fanaticism."

"Why did you move?"

"The rogues. The warfare, servile versus servile. The outsiders. The madness. I had to leave," Halm says. "To come up here was dangerous. Though the shades of these ruins did not, for some reason, attack me, it was a terrifying journey. Now that I am here, I will remain until sanity returns."

You don't think you could remain sane with the shades watching you for very long. You might decide to disperse them... but that probably doesn't matter to Halm. The serviles are almost irrelevant at this point, but perhaps Halm has some useful insights. "What do you think of the Awakened?"

"They want equality from the Shapers. But the Shapers will never give it. They are questing for the impossible."

You must agree, but you can't say so, not to a servile. "What about the Obeyers?"

"They worship you as Gods. But you are not Gods. There is no truth to this path."

"And the Takers?" you ask.

"They wish war. War is not necessary. They throw in with your enemies. This path will only get them destroyed," he replies.

Unless you can convince Gnorrel otherwise... you know this prediction is also true. And you doubt you have the power to turn her and the rest of the Takers from their course.

"I have another question," you say.

"What else would you like to know?" You marvel at how calm and resonant this small servile's voice is.

You clear your throat. "What can you tell me about these ruins?"

"They are very old. But I am sure you know that. They are full of capricious ghosts, who may attack outsiders. That much is clear as well," Halm says. "To the west, you will find the core of the ruined city. There are many living chambers, and shops, and an enormous temple."

The temple seems to loom in the local imagination. "What do you know about the temple?"

"There is another Shaper here. I don't know anything about him but his name. Goettsch. I have never been there. Too dangerous. Too many shades."

It's hard not to wince. Your latest battles with shades have been quite costly. Still, it seems you don't have much of a choice if you want to find another Shaper. It's sounding less and less, though, like you need to rescue him from hiding, and more like you only need to let him know about the existence of a boat. Maybe he can clear the path where you cannot.

"Do you know that drayk?"

"Rhakkus. We are cordial. I was able to convince him that I was no threat. He respects my wisdom and I respect his age." You're not sure if that's an oblique insult.

"You are strangely confident for a servile," you say.

"Perhaps. Perhaps I am. I have spent my life learning how to best communicate, to convince others of my point of view and my good intentions. I have, in the past, shared my rhetorical gifts with others. Convincing others of things is a skill. It can be learned."

"Would you teach me your secrets?" you ask.

He nods. "I can. I can teach you, for a donation. Give me 2000 coins, and I will tell you some of what I know."

"You're a hermit," you say. "What would you do with all that money?"

"I would use it. Turbulent times are coming. We serviles will need to interact with others. We will need to trade. When that time comes, I will use your donation to better the lot of my kind."

"I'll consider your offer." Two thousand coins is a lot, and at this point, you're confident in your ability to persuade and even intimidate. You've learned a great deal about how to handle independent, rogue creations in ways that don't require magical fire and acid.

So the benefit of racing to this area without joining the Takers is that Halm can teach you Leadership. One point per 2,000 coins, and you can buy points multiple times as long as your money holds out. We have long since passed the point where more leadership is useful, though.



On your way out, you encounter another cryodrayk. This one has violated the sanctuary of Halm's cave to track you down. You take care of it.





You follow the canyon west, past a pylon without a gem, and find another hunting drayk.



After it falls, you investigate the nearby pylon. It too has a large emerald.






The interior is littered with remains in various states of decay. The arms and armor of challengers have been left among the limbs and bones out of laziness or to signal that the master of this place is not to be trifled with.

As you head north, Rhakkus clears his throat. "Stop, Shaper. I will not tolerate outsiders approaching my hoard."

This is where the generic cryodrayks would be chilling if we had bribed Rhakkus.

You shrug and leave. By now, Rhakkus must know that you've killed dozens of his hunters.

Seriously, Solution has killed a lot of cryodrayks. They don't match up well against terror vlish.





The canyon narrows as it heads north, then widens to reveal still another pylon. South of this fifth and final pylon is a glade tucked in the middle of the massive rock formations. The trees here barely provide any shade from the sun.





You return south to rest, then head north and west, past the drayk's vale and into the ruined city Halm described.


This isn't an idle warning. If you take anything from the huts, ghostly witnesses will turn hostile. Nothing is marked as "not yours."





You enter one of the simple homes and kneel to examine an intact plate. You turn it over, which proves to be a mistake. Something howls outside -- it seems your simple curiosity has been mistaken for an act of theft.

You rally your creations to your defense.





These ghosts are much stronger than their counterparts to the south. Perhaps this city is the heart of their power, or maybe these ghosts are just newer by comparison, and haven't lost as much of themselves to time.

In the furthest chamber, you find something interesting.


You've already drunk the better part of your water, and this pool doesn't seem tainted like the other pools you've found in the northern wastes. Besides, the last time you risked a ghostly pool, it actually turned out to be quite nice.


This is a nice little healing spot and it doesn't murder you if you've already pissed off the shades.



You find what must be the entrance to the temple. There's no sign of recent habitation -- this must not be where Goettsch has holed up.





You touch the bare spot, like you have many times before.


This pylon must be related to all the other pylons that have stung you. The design is very familiar at this point. You shake yourself in an attempt to be rid of the intense pins and needles feeling, but it doesn't help. Eventually, the sensation ebbs away.




You think back to the ruins where you saw fyora art by fyoras. It doesn't make sense. Nothing makes sense.

For now you leave rather than risk whatever surprise is in store for anyone who crosses the glowing runes. One thing is clear: the ancients here had potent magic.

You need to think on this a little longer. Clearly it's all tied to the pylons you've seen. The ancients had some sort of pilgrimage rite, you think, that required paying their respects at pylons. You've visited many of them, and they've almost all been up here at the wastes. In fact, the pylons depicting figures touching them were all wasteland pylons.



Outside, you find the ruins of what must have been a tavern or communal dining area. Some of the pitchers are even intact.





You also find a large patrol of powerful creations -- battle betas, terror vlish, and even a battle gamma. This will not be an easy fight.



A second hostile vlish approaches from the south and targets Geokinesis. Fortunately, Geokinesis resists the rogue's psychic pressure. Two battle betas flank it while your other creations concentrate fire on a third, crippling it.





This is one of the largest scale battles you've fought so far, with at least seven betas or gammas and two hostile vlish. The only times you've been pitted against more foes were when you assaulted the ghost gate and when you stumbled into the standing stone circle near Kazg.





You focus on thinning the attackers out by using your vlish to terrorize them. Lack of focused fire means enemies aren't falling before they can hurt your creations, but if some of the betas and vlish flee, then you can focus more on those who remain.

Meanwhile, the ghosts of the waste flit through the battle, ignoring both sides.





Even as you direct your vlish to scare off the betas, the rogue vlish are trying to do the same with your forces. Geokinesis, who has taken the brunt of the betas' attacks, breaks and tries to flee.



You break out a bag of healing spores to restore your creations and keep Geokinesis from dying when it withdraws. Then you cast a speed spell on your team. Meanwhile, your artilas and TooMuchAbs turn their attention on the rogue vlish.





The terror tactics yield fruit. The battle betas flee, and the new focus on the rogue vlish fells one. The battle gamma tries to pull back now that more of your creations are free to repel it.





You focus on reinforcing your creations, though there's only so much you can do to maintain their morale while the last terror vlish tries to chase them off. The battle gamma falls, but your creations can't resist the vlish.

Placid saviour and RickVoid both fall prey to the rogue, scattering to the winds before cowering. You're left with TooMuchAbs, Talow, and titty baby.



At last, it finally dies. You head south into another ruin before the battle betas can gather their senses and come after you. Fortunately, your own creations have already recovered their wits.



There's a chest in here. You wait until the coast is clear before you open it, but... once again, there's a howl from outside. A wastes ghost races in to confront you.



You withdraw deeper into the ruin.


"What are you doing here?" you ask.

The ghost either doesn't understand or can't respond intelligibly. "Aaaaahhh! Aaaaahhhh!"

It's cruel to shackle someone even into the afterlife.


Hell yeah, a point of luck! Freeing this phantom seems to piss everyone off, though.





You nearly die when you head south to engage another wailing ghost. It reaches into your chest when you draw too near and you feel just for a moment the agony and horror of a stopped heart.





Your creations step in and destroy the ghost, then lead the assault against those waiting outside of the ruins. You heal yourself in the wake of that near death experience.





But with those ghosts out of the way, you seem to have the full run of this dead city.



Maybe.






The strange witch spirit is quickly torn asunder by your trio of vlish. Something brilliant and green glints on the ground where she hovered -- it's a large, flawless emerald, much like those on the pylons east of the city.



In addition to the emerald, the witch has quite a lot of pods and spores. It's our first time picking up restoration spores, which are basically the ultimate one-use healing item. There's also a steel dagger among the spores, but that's a case of too little, too late.



Our magic shaping is so buff.

The only thing left to do in these ruins is pass the runes and enter the heart of the temple, but you need to figure out what the pylon there requires of you first.

Solution could cross the runes, of course, but she'd take massive damage. It's not worth it when there's another way.

So you return to the drayk's vale and head north instead.





Battle alphas are one of the most difficult and powerful creations. They are massive slabs of muscle, with dedicated (if tiny) brains. This creature has clearly been given a series of instructions, which he is carrying out now.

He lumbers up to you and says, "You in home of Goettsch now. Goettsch say he see and talk with you. You follow me. Stay close. Other creatures here kill you quick." The creature turns to walk off.

"Tell me about Goettsch?" you try. You've got a really bad feeling about this.

"I take you to Goettsch now. He tell you all about Goettsch. You follow me." The gamma turns around again.

"Uh, lead on. I will follow," you say.

"Yes. You follow me. You not follow, and guards kill you. Follow now." The battle gamma strides off faster than you can manage.

Not that you even make an effort. Instead, you immediately turn around and leave.



Back in the drayk's vale, you return to the emerald pylons. First of all, you're almost flat broke thanks to your lessons with Flig. If you want to bribe your way through future encounters with rogues like Rhakkus, you'll need more money. The ghosts out here almost certainly won't like it, but they're dead and don't need any damn jewels.






The quiet shades pour noiselessly out of the cliffs. They're powerful, and soon, they have numbers on their side.







But even the dead know fear, and more importantly, they aren't proof against any of your weapons, magical or mundane.





Titty baby fights to the last. You grit your teeth; the poor fyora was far outmatched, and now goes to join GreatEvilKing, for whom it was shaped as a companion.



Geokinesis flees as its wounds mount.





But the last three ghosts fall one by one. You heal yourself and the survivors before taking care of the rest of the jeweled pillars. No more ghosts attack -- you've banished them all.



Then you visit the ritual pylon.


This is the message you should receive when you rub the correct pylon in the correct order. First, we start in Drayk's Vale.



Another ritual pylon is tucked all the way at the end of a dull, undecorated corridor in the ancient crypts. You rub it.



You proceed to Diarazad. This pylon is tucked away in a curve of the canyon. You rub this one, too.



While you're in Diarazad, you unlock the lever using the tricks Flig taught you. The door slides open, revealing a pile of ghosts thirsty for blood.





This greeting party wasn't ready to be met with equal enthusiasm, though.



When the last of the ghosts is dispatched to their final reward, you walk into the corridor. Guardian statues stare out of the alcoves. You don't think you want to meet with whatever protectors are further inside this so-called Diarazad.



You return to the junkyard and drop off more Shaper equipment, then return to the mineral-covered pylon across the valley. You rub the spot and nothing happens. Maybe you really weren't meant to be stung all those other times... or maybe you're just doing it wrong now.



A few more clawbugs cross your path in the dry wastes, but they hardly qualify as a hardship now. You return to the pylon in the breeched chamber and rub the bare spot.



Then you do the same with the pylon in the western wastes. You're gradually tracing a circuit through these lands that mimics the rise of the sun in the east and its circuit to sunset in the west.

Yup, we're going clockwise on the world map, folks.



Then you return to the valley of the wind where the ghost gates cost you so much. The out of the way pylon here seems as inert as the others now.



No ghosts get in your way when you come back to the dead city. You step into the temple once more.


This message indicates success. So here's the rundown: going clockwise on the map, start with the pylon in Drayk's Vale > Ancient Crypt > Diarazad > Junkyard > Dry Wastes > Western Wastes > Valley of the Wind > then the ultimate pylon is in Spirit's City. The messages for pylons touched in the correct order are that you don't feel anything. If you get the stung message, you fucked up, so go reset at the Spirit's City and try again.

Don't feel bad if you didn't figure this puzzle out; there's really no reason to "get" it, because there really aren't any clues in game about what order you should touch the pylons in, nor is there any list of where they're all located. You get one Shaper diary that touches on the mystery, but that's it. This is just an easter egg for nerds.

What you're about to see is never mentioned again in the entire series.



Without the blessing from the ritual pilgrimage, they would have flared up and burned the shit out of the party.






You meet yet another ancient ghost. It surprises you in two ways. First, it doesn't attack you. Second, it begins to speak, and you understand it! It speaks your tongue perfectly clearly. Perhaps some magic is at work.

"Hello, visitor. I welcome you, as long as you bring peace and do not go where you are not bidden. Have you found the secret yet?"

"What secret?" you ask. As far as you're concerned, the means of entering this temple safely are the real secret.

The shade points at the northeast passage. "There. You may go there. Only there. There is the secret. When you have seen the secret, return."

A brief, un-screencapped interlude where I mistake cardinal directions and go into the wrong hallway, all the ghosts scream, and the party is swiftly blown into gory chunks.






"Now we will speak further," the priest spirit says. "I will discuss the secret."

"Are you the ancestors of my people?" you ask. Your voice is low and filled with awe by what you've found here.

"Yes. That is the secret. You performed the rituals, and you entered, and I share with you what has been shared with no other."

"What happened to you?" These people, your predecessors, were long gone before the Shapers came to this island. Before the Shapers returned to this island.

"We had magic. Our people, we had magic. We did all we could with it. Then we used it to discover things. We looked deep below the earth and beyond the sun. And then we looked within. We looked deep within ourselves, our bodies."

"And what did you see there?"

"You know. You know the secret. You know how to use magic to rebuild life. It all started in here, in this temple. We turned it from a place of worship to a place of work," the priest says. "We worked on warping life, remaking it, reshaping it for our purposes. And thus this building was the seed of our doom."

That last chills you. Doom doesn't sound like a frivolous word when it's pronounced by a ghost who might well be one of your direct ancestors. "Doom? How?"

"We used the power as a weapon. And as a bludgeon. We were not careful. Not precise. Our magicians randomly warped our enemies. Twisted their parts, destroyed their organs. Made them fall." You shudder at what the ghostly priest describes. Such methods are forbidden... And now you know that this proscription came not from careful consideration, but from direct observation of the outcome. "We tried to form an empire against the savages around us, starting here. But the random way we attacked changed things. Created horrible creatures, stronger than what we attacked. Made diseases."

"And then?" you prompt the ghost.

"Most of us died. The rest fled this place, fled these green lands, which became infected, dusty wastes. Taking with us our secrets and our wisdom. We went to the mainland. And then, I would guess, we became you. There, the story ends."

You become silent for a while, contemplating the priest's words. This is the last place you expected to find answers to the question of what is killing Sucia Island. So it wasn't the Shapers of two hundred years ago who set off the desertification. You're sure they didn't help the situation, but they didn't cause it. Your people's predecessors did, and in so doing, gave birth to the first restrictions on the magic of Shaping. Uncontrolled Shaping yields monstrous results -- this isn't hypothetical, but simply the truth, which you can see all around you. Sucia Island is the embodiment of the cautionary tales of what can happen with unrestricted Shaping.

Finally, you say, "I have another question."

"Now we will speak further," the spirit says. "I will discuss the secret."

"If our people are the same, can you get the ghosts to stop attacking me?" you ask.

"Not ghosts. Some of our kind, with magic and knowledge of Shaping, they adopted that form, striving for long life. I was one such. OnIy I maintained my thoughts. All the rest became mindless, haunted beings, waiting for the release of death. The mercy. I cannot control them. Nobody can. They have no minds to control anymore."

You blanch. All the things you thought were ghosts -- alive? Near immortal? They aren't so different from the shade-creations in the High Defense Holding Cells. At least you granted them mercy of a kind...

"My people were here for a while, researching. Did they ever contact you?"

"No, but had they stayed longer, they would have. And I would have spoken with them. But they were too distracted. So they never came." That seems like the true tragedy. Perhaps if the Shapers of two centuries ago had been confronted by the consequences of recklessness, this might not have come about.

"There are enemies of our people on this island. Will you help me?"

"I have little mind left, only enough to tell stories and to defend this sacred place. That is all I can do. I cannot even understand what you just said."

Your heart drops a little at that. All this power, all this wisdom, and the longevity that these people Shaped into themselves resulted in little more than a curse. You leave without straying into the other corridors. They are not for you, and, at least for now, you will try to respect these spirits' efforts to preserve the secrets and dignity of your predecessors.

But even they deserve the mercy of rest. You think you will try to return before you leave Sucia Island.



Next time: ???