Part 16: Wherein Zanthia has Had Enough, and the World is Finally Saved

Welcome back to Kyrandia. Last time, we fixed the Rainbow Machine and conjured up a rainbow. Let's go outside and observe our handiwork.



Aha. Maybe I can climb up from the roof.

There's only one thing to do with a rainbow: cross it. To get up there, we'll be pulling the same trick we tried earlier: icicle pitons.



Huh. Okay, the other one, then.



Dang it. Okay, we've got this. Good old telekinesis to the rescue...



Right, okay. It's really kind of strange how the right thing to click is pretty consistently the least likely one. At any rate, we can climb out of here now.





Pretty, but precarious.



Oh, look who showed up at last. Our newly-discovered nemesis.



How dare you?

Hey, no pushing.

I'll teach you to push me around!



Good effort, Zanthia, but I don't think the Hand has easily accessible vitals to kick.



The Hand just leaves us hanging, assured of Zanthia's imminent doom. However, with a little more clever icicle use, we can make it back up.



My icicle...



I've had it! You don't know who you're messing with!





Watch out Mr. Hand, now I'm mad!

Zanthia has had enough of everyone's shit. This ends now.



Continuing along the rainbow takes us to this rather nice view of the world.

So long, Enchanted Forest.



Okay, let's just move on. The end of the rainbow is right there.



We're here at last! The entrance to the Wheels of Fate. Pretty weird-looking place even by Kyrandian standards.

Is that supposed to be Father Time?

Unfortunately, gaining entry is not going to be as simple as walking through the door. There's a highly focused beam of light blocking our way.

That light beam is too hot to get past.

Well, the light is geing emitted from that... weird bubbly thing on the left, and there's a reflector dish up top there that might be doing something. Let's look around a bit.



For some reason there's a Disney reference here.



I bet the Hand bent it on purpose.

The reflector dish is the key to the place. Our inventory is starkly empty of items, so let's try the only thing we really can try: rub the magnet against the dish.

This should do the trick...



For some reason, this is the only time in the game where Zanthia has to physically maneuver herself to the target in order to manipulate a far-off item. It's especially strange considering all the telekinesis we've been doing recently. Either way, the path is now clear, and we can go inside.



Music: Wheels of Fate (Tindeck)

Kyrandia wheels... Kyrandia wheels... where are you?

There are two places we can go from here. There's what looks like a control booth of some kind in the top left, and some weird thing with three holes in it in the top right. The control booth sounds like the most likely place to find the controls to this place, so let's head up.



Guys, I think I found the problem.

At last! My feminine intuition, my Mystic's vision, and... the sign on the door... all tell me that the Kyrandian wheels must be in this room!



It looks like there's a gear missing from the Kyrandia console there. It seems kind of irresponsible for the powers to be to make it this easy for someone to just erase a country from existence. Then again, our journey up here has been ludicrously bullshit, so maybe it's not that easy.

Okay, so we know what to do: we need to find the missing gear. There's only one other place around here we haven't been yet.



And oh my god fuck this place. Welcome to the other stupid puzzle in this game. It should be instantly recognizable what's going on here, if the name of the room wasn't clue enough: we have to solve a Tower of Hanoi. Not only is this puzzle trivial to solve if you know how it works, it's also tedious as hell even when you do. Worse yet, this is the last real puzzle in the game, which adds an anticlimactic pallor to the whole situation.



I won't show you all of this. All you do is click one slot to pick up the topmost disc, then click another slot to drop it. There are five in total.



After a bunch of clicking, all the discs are in the leftmost slot and the mouth underneath opens up, revealing that stick again.

I've never heard of a walking stick walking around by itself.

This alone is not enough, though. We need to find that gear, and I'm sure you've all figured out where it is by now. Adding insult to injury, the game expects you to solve the Tower of Hanoi twice - both the stick and gear are necessary to complete the game.



Some more furious clicking later, and the gear is ours.



Okay, time to fix the machine and save Kyrandia once and for all.



That's what the stick is for, which makes it absolutely necessary to solve the Hanoi puzzle twice.



Kyrandia is saved!

We did it! The world is safe again! Good thing the Hand just took off like that, leaving us all alone to meddle with his plans. Too bad the stick had to give up its life to save the world.

My poor stick.



Well, shit. But hey, at least Marko is safe! All right, Mr. Smarty-gloves, it's time to take you down.

Music: Confrontation (Tindeck)

At this point, you're given back control, and this next part is on a timer, much like the confrontation with Malcolm in the first game. Hesitate for too long (which means about two seconds), and...





Gross. The same also happens if you try to click anywhere outside the playfield (such as the menu), just like when fighting Malcolm. We need to figure out the right thing to click on in time in order not to die. Okay, new plan: punch him in his stupid... palm, I guess, by clicking the Hand.



Well, that did nothing. You can keep doing this for essentially as long as you like, and the same sequence of events will keep repeating itself. There's only one thing left to do - dodge! Let's try clicking on the right side of the screen.





That didn't quite go as planned, either. We're on the right track though: we do need to dodge the Hand's assault, but we need to do it by clicking on the left side of the screen, near where Zanthia is standing.





Okay, we're still alive. Beyond clicking before the Hand decides to jump on you, there's no timing element to any of these. There's only too late, not too early.





Oh, whoops. We waited too long again, and got flattened. Once again, we have to reload from before the fight started and do it over. Maybe we can dodge to the right this time?





Man, this is hard. I think this scene alone accounts for like half the ways you can die in this game, each lovingly animated by someone. Let's try dodging to the left again, even though that's towards the hand.





Okay, we're back on this side again. Our positions have changed ever so slightly, but we're still not really in any position to actually fight off the Hand. What do we do?



All right, Marko broke free of the ropes! Uh, what's he doing, though?



Marko you're not making any sense with this frog dance you're doing, just talk to us or jump the Hand or something.





Oh, too late. We're dead again. We can't actually interact at all during this scene; as soon as Marko breaks free, you're already dead. However, seeing this scene might give you a clue to what you're actually supposed to do, now that you know Marko is going to break free at this point: it's time to attack the Hand dead on.



Music: Happy End (Tindeck)

Ugh! How disgusting.

At least Kyrandia is safe now.



Did I hear you say "Thanks Marko, for all your help?"

Thanks, Marko, for all your help.

Please stop. You're making me blush.

Okay! Okay! I couldn't have done it without you. Happy now?



I've got two magic parachutes hidden outside.

Sweetheart!?!

We did it! Kyrandia has been saved from annihilation and the Left Hand of Bal-Rom has been torn to shreds, never to bother anyone again. Marko managed to steal a kiss from us, too. Now, all that's left to do is sit back and watch the ending.

The video below also contains the final confrontation with the Hand. The credits have a few jokes and looks back at some of the characters we met on our trip, so I'll transcribe them, but really, watch the video.

Video: Finale (Youtube)



Music: Credits (Tindeck)

Boy, that was a close call!

You said it, pal. I for one am never going hunting again.

Looks the hunters have seen the error of their ways, though in a strange, disturbing roundabout fashion.



How many times do I have to tell you? You're a toad.

I don't get it.







Ew. Gross.



We could never have done it without you, Theodore A. Morris.



I don't get it.



You people are all right. For its flaws, this game is gorgeous-looking.



Looks like the scarecrow never did come back.





No. You cut and I'll choose.





Aw, you still wouldn't recognize iambic pentameter if it bit you on the butt!



After this follows a long, scrolling list of all the voice credits for the game.



Brandon is, as you may remember, Joe Kucan.



The Hand gets credited to about half a dozen different people, despite having no spoken lines.



For some reason, the mustard clerk isn't credited.



There's the Frauds of Volcania. "Smarmy" is the guy with the red folio. "Bureaucratress" is a character we didn't see, because we didn't take that path. She comes out if you talk to the grey-looking guy on Volcania long enough.



There are some more credits following this. Go watch the video if you'd like to see them.



Well, that's it! The game is over, and we are victorious. There is one more update to come, though - there are some easter eggs to show off. For now, thank you so much for reading this LP. It's been fun.

...

Oh, and there's one tiny little cutscene left after the end of the credits.

Music: Dark and Stormy Night (Tindeck)