Part 48: The Road

I hope you enjoy this longer update. We're heading into the final stretch of the game, but we do have more dungeons to crawl, conversations to bungle, and characters to bother.

The Road





Now that you're further north, the land is much more verdant. It's a relief to escape the reach of the South Workshop and whatever is going on within the sealed lab. However, you can't miss the signs of sickness out here, either.

The road is in poor condition, but it looks like a main path is being maintained. This is probably the work of those outsiders.



The paths leading into the woods on either side of the road are all mined. You're not certain if those mines are there to protect the road or if they're to keep people out of the woods.



A Sholai mage walks quickly up to you. When he gets close, his form starts to blur. Time speeds up. You feel lightheaded. He brushes close to you. Then he steps away.

"I am Gavrila," he says, as you struggle to clear your mind. "You are approaching the place of your enemy. You should turn back." He knows your language, and he speaks it well.

"What are you doing here?" you manage.

"I am an enemy of Trajkov. We want to deal with your kind in peace. He wants to bring you war. The things he offers you are nothing compared to the destruction it will bring."

"What did you do to me?"

"Nothing," the outsider lies. "I did nothing." Gavrila must be one of the rebels -- do they think you've turned against them? They must.

"How can I get to Trajkov from here?" you ask.

"I do not want to help you to reach Trajkov. He is your enemy, despite what he says."

You shake your head. You have to reach him -- you have to make a decision. The Sholai must not be allowed to make it for you, neither the rebels nor those with Trajkov! "You're wasting my time!"

Gavrila steps aside. "Go then. But you go to your doom."

You push by... and later, when the patrols attack you and the turrets turn on you, you realize you've lost your amulet. Gavrila has stolen it!

This is a dirty trick. You can kill Gavrila instead of letting him go, but you know what? Let's rewind this playthrough...






Your brown spore baton takes out swathes of the deadly spore mines. Whatever the Sholai are hiding back here has to be good... or maybe there are more rogues that must be put down.



Some of the mines are cunningly hidden among the undergrowth and you miss them before they detonate. If you had unlimited wands, you'd be spraying spores every few paces, but as it is, you're stuck conserving them and hoping that you can survive surprise explosions.


Fortunately, you have spore batons for both colors.



The winding path doesn't reveal much useful treasure, but it does take you north to the gates of another massive Shaper installation. The structure is quite imposing. You haven't ever seen one of such size before. The four pillars before the gate are each thicker and wider than a whole squad of battle gammas, and even though the markings have faded over the centuries, the signs of the ancient Shapers are imposing...

The Sholai are nowhere to be seen, but there's a whole division of deadly turrets and a carpet of spore mines out here to protect the entrance.



There's also a small warehouse of sorts in the north that contains the remains of several augmentation canisters.

After detonating the spore mines where they seem most tightly clustered, you head east through the gates...

I missed snagging a screenshot of the gate proper, but you can get an idea of it from the minimap.

So, to summarize, there's a nasty little surprise at the Crossroads that you have absolutely no reason to expect. If you activate the event, you'll lose your amulet, and you'll need to kill every Sholai on this map to recover it. But as always, there's a way around this -- take the spore mines path and waste some baton charges!

We'll be revisiting this later as an experiment. I don't know if the event will fire if you meet Trajkov and then return, so let's find out!





This side of the grand gate is protected by real, living outsiders, not just by their creations.



The gate must have been built to make a bottleneck to and from these canyons and the installations beyond. The Shapers are always interested in controlling transit -- it's necessary to ensure that no Shaped contraband gets into the hands of unauthorized outsiders. Otherwise, rogues and horrific diseases might ravage the land, as they have in Sucia Island.








Ahh, your favorite: shades.



The ghostly visitors immediately rush your crew. You duck aside among some intact tables, intending to use them as cover.



The ghosts weren't ready to meet the kind of resistance your creations can muster, and soon there are only two ghosts left, then one, and, thanks to Geokinesis, none.



As you investigate the inn's rooms, you reflect on the changes you've observed in your creations over time. Your current creatures are mainly young, with the exception of your sole surviving artila. It is the most sophisticated in terms of behavior, but even RickVoid lacks the playfulness of your earlier creations.

Maybe you should be glad that the glaahks and vlish aren't prone to frivolity, but you miss the individual personalities that had begun to emerge with your old creations...





Strategically placed turrets guard the main road. Several have been placed along the service road to the inn, likely to keep those ghosts in check. The patrolling Sholai ignore you.



You meet a Sholai mage, stationed here at the entrance to Sucia Island's main research halls. She looks at you, taking a moment to take you in. Her revulsion is clear on her face.

She seems to have been using the augmentation canisters. Lots of them. She literally glows with power, her raw energy struggling to leak out through her skin. She also has a cold look, a look of almost total arrogance.

She doesn't say anything. She just smiles, probably fantasizing about how fun it would be to kill or absorb you.

"Where can I go to find Trajkov?" you ask in the Sholai tongue. You're sure that if you speak in your own, she will ignore you even if she understands what you're saying.

She looks confused, not understanding how you could bother her with such trivialities. "Find Ferapont. Such petty tasks are left to him." Then, without even a nod of farewell, she walks off.

If Trajkov is really controlling these monstrosities, he must either command their total devotion or be utterly terrifying.

"Wait!" you say, putting all your powers of command into your voice. "Is there somewhere around here where I could find some augmentation canisters?"

Her contempt turns to fear, then fury. "No! They are ours! Any others found? Ours! We must have them! Take them from us, and we will destroy you!" She turns and stalks off, probably to look for more Shaper artifacts.

She must have used many more augmentation canisters than you have, because you've not been overtaken by such an outburst yet.



The interior of the ruin has been patched up and civilized for use as a garrison and barracks.


You meet a Sholai warrior, guarding the front gate of the main research halls. You look at him. He looks right through you.

He seems to have been using the augmentation canisters. A lot of them. His muscles seem to almost be bursting out of his armor. He also has a cold look, a look of almost total arrogance. He barely seems to register that anyone besides him exists.

He looks at you, but he says nothing.

"Tell me about this place," you say.

There is a long pause. It seems to take him a moment to engage with the outside world. You wonder just how good a guard he could be if he struggles this much with paying attention to anything besides internal stimuli. "The entrance to the research halls. The domain of Trajkov."

"Where can I go to find Trajkov?"

He points north. "Through the halls. Through the great gates. To Trajkov. Find Ferapont In barracks. He will tell you more." Then, without even a nod of farewell, he walks off.

These mere menials can't even behave courteously to you, the one who is key to their hopes for gaining the Geneforge's power.



Unlike most of the strange, disconnected, augmented Sholai guarding the gates, this warrior seems receptive to talking to you. Not necessarily pleased by the prospect, but at least willing.

He looks like he was already a very well-muscled warrior before he arrived on Sucia Island. Now, after the use of many augmentation canisters, he is truly huge.

"I am Ferapont, loyal follower of Trajkov. It is good you are here. Trajkov is impatient for your arrival." Fortunately, he can speak your tongue.

"Can you teach me some of your language?" you ask.

One look tells you that he considers this task far below him. "No. I do not have time for such menial Iabor."

Ouch. "Tell me about Trajkov?" You hope Ferapont is more forthcoming about his leader.

"Trajkov is the hero who led us here and found the secrets of your people. Without him, we would not have been able to gain the awesome powers we have. And he can share those powers with you. But you should not talk with us here. We are just guards. Trajkov is that way." He points north.

"Which way should I go?" You expect more specific directions from Sholai squatting on the threshold of the Geneforge.

"Oh, it doesn't matter. Just head north, and you will find him without any problems."

Hmm. Strange. Something in his voice makes you think he isn't telling the entire truth.

"Trajkov would be very angry if anything had happened to me. Is there anything else I should know?"

Ferapont looks annoyed, but he does suddenly remember something. "There have been some rogue problems in the tunnels, and we had to trap them. Go north to the labs, east to the barracks, and then north and you should avoid the problems."

You struggle a moment to rein in your anger before you speak again. "Why is this gate so well guarded?"

"There is another Shaper on this island. Nothing you need to know about. But he is hostile. We need to make sure he doesn't go where he shouldn't." Goettsch, of course. Ferapont doesn't sound very concerned, but he doesn't understand the threat that a fully fledged Shaper poses. Or the canisters have made him not care. The Sholai no doubt wish to ensure that you only go where you're wanted, too.

"How many Sholai are on this island?" you ask.

"On the ships that arrived, there were about one hundred and fifty. Some died. Some were disloyal and had to be killed. Some wretches are hiding from Trajkov and his justice." Ferapont seems to consider the dead crew disloyal just for dying.

"How many augmentation canisters have you used?"

"Me? Forty. Some have used less. Some more. There were lots in the halls. Now there are less. We wish there were more. If you find some, do not take them for yourself. We need them."

That's laughable. You will almost certainly use any that you find, if only to deny them to these outsiders. "What will happen if you can't find more?" It sounds like the Sholai have not learned how to make canisters yet. You're sure you should be grateful, yet... more canisters...

He shudders at the thought. "Trajkov is trying to find a way to make more. We need more. We need to use more."



You walk to the east side of the gate complex.


The rage that has been simmering in your belly ever since finding these outsiders threatens to overflow. You approach one of the mages who is examining the dead serviles and nearly strike him. The glint in his eyes warns you that he would welcome any excuse to unleash his powers.

Your creations bristle and hiss, ready for whatever commands you give, but, though you hate it and yourself, you back down.





You loot the mages' personal belongings while they're not looking, though.



Just past the benches carelessly littered with Shaper instruments is a locked lever...

This next series of events never happened, I swear! But if Solution ignored the warning, this is a taste of what would happen.



It's a simple matter to unlock the lever. Inside is still another, smaller room with another lever -- but this one hasn't been secured.



And then all the NPCs turn hostile and you have to fight your way out. To pile insult on injury, you've also locked yourself out of the Geneforge compound, so you have to hunt around for another way in. This is seriously not worthwhile if you've already gone through the trouble of acquiring a Taker amulet, and it's downright stupid if you already fought your way into the Front Gate zone.

Now let's return to our canon timeline!



You go for a walk outside to clear your head. You don't want to enter the compound while angry -- these Sholai seem to want to provoke you, or are at least aggressively indifferent about maintaining cordial relations with you and with the creations on this island.

There's another dead servile well off the beaten track. You don't know if the creature died while spying or if it merely got unlucky and wandered too far into Sholai territory. You haven't seen any Takers since coming here, and you're not sure that Gnorrel would tolerate the Sholai killing her people. She's ruthless, but her goal is to protect the Takers and liberate them from the Shapers, not to see her kind wiped out for fun by maniacal outsiders.

That scene inside the mage barracks reminds you too keenly of the arena. Your people have abandoned that awful practice, but the Sholai...



There's little else to see among the canyons, and you don't want to risk more interactions with these canister-mad fools. You head north through the gates. They clunk open as you approach, permitting views of functional floor lamps, intact columns, and even cleaned-up sculptures.





You find another lever in a side room, but leave it alone for now.










You pass through a chamber full of Shaping platforms to reach another chamber with shaping platforms and control panels. On one such platform is the corpse of a robed servile.



Okay, this is lacking a little something in that we all know DNA isn't actually spiraling chains of letters and the language isn't quite floral enough to play that off as a metaphor for the four nucleobases (adenine, cytosine, thymine, & guanine just to refresh your memories). Nevertheless, this is a cool little scene which expands on what one of the servile sages told us months ago in real time.

You turn away from the lens, mind abuzz with the possibilities, then see one of the researches here watching you.

Staring into the glowing eyes of this augmented human, it is hard not to be afraid on behalf of your people. The canisters have rewritten this man's essence so many times that they have blasted the humanity out of him.

If he was a Shaper, he might have had the strength of will and the training to resist what happened to him. But he wasn't, and he didn't. In return for his identity, he was given raw power.

He says, in a deep, raspy voice, "Shaper. I am Vershinin. Yes. Shaper. You come. Come look. Come explore."

You wish that invitation came from another Shaper, but it does not. Reluctantly, you address the creature who calls himself Vershinin. "What can I find in this area?"

He doesn't seem to hear the question.

"Where is Trajkov?" you try. No one's failed to respond to that question.

But he doesn't reply.

"You mentioned exploring? Explore what?"

He points at the device in the alcove to the southeast. The device is pointing at a dead servile. "There. Look at the secrets of your people. The spirals. To find and see and read and change the spirals. That is magic! That is a fitting goal for a person!"

"The spirals?" you repeat, stupidly. You're still wondering if Vershinin is truly a person.

"The genes. Yes?" He shakes his head. "So little knowledge of the secrets of your people. They are the scrolls. The tiny scrolls which contain infinite knowledge. The instructions which make you. Soon, we will write on them, like you write on a scroll." He smiles.

"And what will you write?"

In an instant, his mood changes. He frowns. He looks bored. "What will we write? Whatever we want, fool!" Then he turns away.

You exhale, then examine the other equipment. Where the platforms are empty, the knobs and buttons on the control panels do nothing, and all you see through the eyepieces are darkness. You are tempted to put your own creations on the platforms and look into their scrolls, but you can't predict the outcome of carelessly rewriting their genes. Plus, they might need to be dead to successfully examine them, and you aren't interested in that.






This researcher is hard at work trying to figure out how to create more of the augmenting canisters. He is having little luck.

Your interruption annoys him. He says, haltingly, in your tongue, "Doing work now. Very hard. Busy. Leave us."

You make note of the power spirals in the back of the room. They all seem to be hooked into circuits powering experimental equipment as well as environmental controls.




You close the book, losing the previous reader's place in the process. The Shapers didn't take enough care to protect their secrets from the Sholai. The measures taken when Sucia Island was temporarily Barred were insufficient for an abandonment lasting hundreds of years. Even the Shapers who defied the Barring didn't take more steps to secure the canisters and other sensitive knowledge left behind here. Now you are being punished for their mistakes.



Nobody is using the library, so you read undisturbed for quite some time.


You wish this hopeful Shaper's dreams had come true. But in the last two hundred years, modifications to Shaper designs have been carried out the same way they were before the discovery of the gene -- through tedious, painful guesswork.


Interesting. You bet the missing procedures also mention the gloves that Goettsch stole.



The patrolling Sholai and battle creations don't stop you from poking your nose into everything. That includes these side rooms.

This canister improves your power to create glaahks. You turn your thoughts to what the books said about the augmentation canisters in order to master the euphoria of the changes being wrought on you. You aren't being granted knowledge or experience or even judgment, but simply power -- abilities like the fyora's power to spit fire, rather than the spells wizards master in hard years of studying.



This canister of domination is guarded by spore mines. You set off the first before you even open the door, but you successfully skirt the rest to get at the canister.



The last door is locked by a lever that requires your control baton to open. It's worth risking discovery, though, because you feel your nimbleness and speed increase as the canister changes your muscle fibers and reshapes the pathways that transfer commands from your mind to your body.



The next automatic door is locked and there seems to be no lever nearby. You nerviously finger the hem of one sleeve while a heavily augmented Sholai and a battle gamma pass you by.








The first Shaping chamber is empty, but as you enter the second, Dmar rattles its whiptail. Something glows up ahead, just out of sight.

Then the beta steps around the corner, body pulsating with fulsome energies.

It's still merely a beta, though, and susceptible to your terror vlish's mental attacks. RickVoid lands the finishing blow. Beyond the changed beta, you find the corpse of a Sholai near a Shaping platform.




The other side of the Shaping warren leads back to the main cistern chamber, but the path has been blocked by a tight double row of reaper turrets. You work your way back around the way you came instead of proceeding further into the trashed labs. The Sholai are clearly having trouble controlling this area, and it's not currently in your interests to pacify it for them.



The cistern itself seems clean enough, so you allow your creations to drink from it while you think about where to go next. None of these outsiders are interested in providing you with directions to Trajkov, but he must be deeper in the compound. None of the research happening here looks important enough to concern him. Most of all, the Geneforge isn't here.



Nearby is a room with a cold brazier and a bunch of levers. It must have been some sort of control station originally.



You meet the head of the guard in this section. He must have been an impressive figure even before he got here. Now, with the aid of augmentation, he is enormous.

Yet, despite his size, he is both quick and nimble. He nods to you and says, in your tongue, "Welcome. I am Serabryakov." He looks like he doesn't want to speak with you, but he is resigned to his duty.

"Tell me about these halls."

"This area is for research," Serabryakov says. "This is where we figure out what you people can do and learn to do ourselves. North is dangerous rogue area. Best stay from there. West is vats. We don't control. Very dangerous. East is our quarters. Safe."

"Why is the area to the north dangerous?" you ask, as though you didn't just slay an out of control experiment up there. Now that you think about it, the Sholai even abandoned one of their own up there. "What is dangerous in the vat area?"

"The north is where your kind stored creatures. But they are all loose and they tore down walls and attack us, so we seal it. Nothing valuable there. We stay out. Not a worry." He's either lying or talking about the door that you didn't pass through. You assume the latter for now. "One of your minds, the minds on the trays, is in the vats, and hates us. Fills with rogues and poisons. Makes us mad. We want things there. But we can't reach."

You hold back a smile. The servant minds are loyal to a fault. "What if I got rid of the mind for you?"

"That is good thing. I would give you secret to helpful thing if you did that. Save us trouble. Mind is to west in vat caves. Kill that nasty thing."

You decide to take a look and assess the mind's condition if nothing else. Slaying something that's impeding the Sholai doesn't really appeal to you, though. However, if the mind is in the same shape as the one back in South Workshop, releasing it from service may be the merciful choice.

"You look like you have been heavily improved."

"I have. Your magic, it was strong. And watch." He draws a dagger and slashes the palm of his hand with it. He doesn't even flinch. As you watch, the wound heals itself before your eyes. "Amazing magic. Your people are strong. And now we are strong," he says.

You really don't want to fight with these outsiders, but you suspect you'll be forced to eventually. In the meantime, you will take them for everything you can, just like you've done with the servile sects. "Can you give me assistance?"

He looks nervous. "You visitor, but you not have our trust. Your kind betray us before. I'll not give you my secret."

The same secret he promised for slaying a mind? Or does this Sholai pretend to a whole bevy of secrets? "And what will Trajkov say when I tell him that you could have helped me but didn't?"

"He... he will say..." He pauses. All the canisters haven't done anything to make him brighter. "Oh. I don't know. I... Trajkov can be angry." Unhappily, he says several numbers to you. "That is numbers to open locked door in quarters in my chambers. Leads to canister. We hate giving away canisters, but you are right. Trajkov makes us help you."

Unhelpfully, Serabryakov doesn't tell you where his chambers are. You press on. "Where is Trajkov?"

"Go east from here to quarters. Watch out for drayks. They can be dangerous. Instead go north. There, you find Trajkov." He thinks. "Oh. There's a door. To go east, there's a door. We keep it sealed because if something ugly is made, well, you know." He points to the southeast, across the pool. "One of the levers in there. It helps."

You thank him before returning to the four lever control room, where you promptly give into your base desire to pull every single lever. Then you return west and pass up the guard room entirely.



There's a rubbish-strewn antechamber here that leads directly into a sorting facility guarded by pylons. You carefully back away and turn south instead.






The hum of power is strong here, but these smaller rooms haven't been claimed by researchers. Damaged equipment like this must lead to unpredictable results.

You meet one of the Sholai guards, here to protect their mages and slay whatever rogue creations they make. The guard regards you with a combination of dislike and mistrust.

He has the arrogant expression and massive, misshapen body that seem to be the hallmarks of heavy canister usage.

"What should I know about this area?" you ask.

He shrugs. He says, slowly and clearly, "You go see Serabryakov. He will help you. I will not."

Your brows knit together of their own accord. "Do you have some problem with me?"

"I have no trust for your kind. Your kind lie to us before. Trajkov get one before you. I watch you. Not trust." Smarter than Serabrykov, but not very diplomatic.

You wave him away and move on.



All of the strange creations you've seen on Sucia Island, like the spawners, must have come from mages like this one. This is one of the intruders who have been tinkering with your people's dearest secrets.

She looks at you vacantly. You can see that though her body is here, her mind is wandering realms far away. The canisters have freed her thoughts, enabling her to perform great and dangerous acts.

You ask her your new favorite question now that you know where the boat is. "Where is Trajkov?"

"He is... he is... north. Go there through quarters." She points to the east. You've already opened up the door leading that way. It's good to know it's not a trap, not unless someone has coordinated this response with all of these augmentation-addled Sholai.

"What sort of research have you been doing?"

"Mastering your... your... your tricks. Making everything your people can. And better. Learning to read the gene. And breaking them. And reforming them."

That's a terrifying answer.



The hated crystal mine triggers are growing here under the power of another networked power spiral.



Someone is cultivating essence lattices here.



This appears to be a sort of alchemy research room, with a pair of acid vats linked into the power circuit. The smell makes your nose tingle, and you've seen all that you came to see, so you head east.