Part 15: Interlude: A Matter of Conscience

Interlude: A Matter of Conscience



A little while ago, when Malcolm returned from the Underworld to the land of the living, we were asked to choose which half of our conscience to keep. At that time, we chose to keep both Gunther and Stewart around... but what if we'd chosen differently?

Let's explore Gunther's path first.



Stewart poofs out of existence, and we're left with good ol' Gunther, just the way we like it. Like before, our mood meter is busted, so we can't choose how to approah people anymore. However, choosing only Gunther instead of both halves of Malcolm's conscience will impact future conversations.



For now, we're getting captured by one of Barbecue's pirates, just like before, and dragged back to the castle lobby.



Well, here I am. How about letting me become a pirate? It looks like fun!

As you can see, this time Malcolm is a lot more enthusiastic about the current situation.

Maybe. Maybe not.

So, what do I have to do? Is there a handshake to learn, or dues, or what?



Hmm... in order t join this club, you'll have to prove your devotion by bringing us all the jewels from the Isle of Cats!

This part feels familiar. Just like before we're tasked to go back to the Isle of Cats and bring back the jewels from the cat monument. Well, we know how to do that. First, let's go back to the prison and free Zanthia so we can get a new pegasus potion.



Like before, we swing by the dump first to get a nail. The nail opens the lock to the jail, and then we unlock the stocks, just like before.

Okay, I'll let you out.



No, on second thought, I don't think I will.

... or not. Without Stewart to guide Malcolm's conscience, he will just flat-out refuse to release the prisoners. Zanthia won't be brewing us any potions while locked up, so we need another plan.



Remember this rug? Way back at the beginning of the game we used it to teleport to Darm's hut. As it happens, the rug still works. Clicking the green apple then the red apple activates it.



Hello Darm, how's tricks? Do you have any portal potions or anything I can borrow? I've got to get to the Isle of Cats.

Portal potions? Ask Brandywine.

Malcolm gets straight to business.



I guess I'm hard to get rid of. Do you have any of those portal potions? I've got to get to the Isle of Cats.



Are you going to help, or not? Somebody has to rescue Kyrandia?

I suppose you're right. Bring me a squirrel as a gesture of good faith, and I'll see what I can do.

This, too, is familiar. We know where to get a squirrel.



There is a problem, though. In order to hypnotize the squirrel, we need it to come closer. To do that, we need to lure it in with some sesame. Well, no problem, right? We'll just go get some from the dairy.



Alas, it is not so simple. The bag of sesame that was sitting right here earlier is gone now. Since Malcolm refuses to help the prisoners in the jail, we can't get their sesame either. There is only one source of sesame available to us on this path.



This guy. We didn't need to use him before, but in order to get that sesame we need, we need to conduct some business with Herman.



He asks for random items we might have. We don't have any fondue sets, though, so I'm just going to leave the pawn shop and immediately re-enter it.



No machetes either. I do this three or four more times until Herman starts asking for something I can actually get.



I don't, but we do have access to the toy factory and plenty of random firewood lying around.



Making a new toy horse is a piece of cake. Back to Herman!





What's your gripe? All my other customers love them!

Sure, I'll bet most of your customers are mice, too!

All Herman will ever give us in exchange for anything we give him is a pile of sesame. It's a rip-off, but coincidentally also exactly what we need right now.



Put sesame on ground, lure squirrel, hypnotize squirrel.



Feed squirrel to dragon.



... Cupcake?



... well, we got the potion we wanted, at least. Like before, we need to go to the Arena to activate it.

First, though, we're going to check out something you can do in this location only after coming back from the Underworld that poster Zeniel pointed out and I wasn't originally aware of: You can attempt to leave Darm's hut and go outside. The game doesn't indicate that you can do this - the cursor normally changes to an arrow when you can leave a room, but it doesn't here. However, clicking on the right side of the screen still triggers it.



Shadow wraiths are those things that attacked Brandon in the first game if he went into the maze without a source of light.



How embarrassing! That whole scary Shadow Wraith thing is a fraud!
Cute little creatures, weren't they?



Whelp, that's something all right. Let's just get to the Arena and get the heck out of here.





Wow! What a ride! Let's do that again if we get the chance!

We're back on the Isle of Cats. You'll recognize this as the underground temple in the old Dog Fort. The machete is sitting on the ground just outside, ready to help us hack our way through the jungle again.



And just like before, we need to talk to Fluffy.

Fluffy! Is that you?

Aha. You are back.

You look like you're still rebelling. Why?

Now we are fighting against the Fat Cats. We have grown lazy. We must return to our natural ways.



I guess that's what activating the cat monument did? I feel like this might be something that got cut, because no one ever actually explained what activating that thing really did.

Well, gee, any chance I could get a few of those gems from the Colossus?



Use it to topple the decandent colossus!

For some reason, Fluffy is a lot more generous this time around and doesn't ask for any bones. Instead, he just gives us the cheesemaker right there. Well, I'm not complaining.





From here on, everything is almost exactly the same as the Gunther + Stewart path.



We use the same can of cat food to get back to Kyrandia...



And once there, we use the same trick to get captain Barbecue whisked off to Limbo, and we're back where we left off in the main timeline. As you can see, Gunther's path is a bit different from the one we'd seen before, with a completely different puzzle replacing the pegasus potion one, and for unknown reasons we also didn't have to go digging for any bones.



But what if we'd made a different different choice way back then?

Groannnn!



With Stewart in tow, things might be different for Malcolm.



We still can't avoid getting captured the second we try to go anywhere, though.



Yes, Stewart, I'm sure a kind word and diplomacy is all it takes.

We didn't think we were ever going to see YOU again!

Tough luck, Hopalong. Here I am. Hey, you up there, Mister bigshot Barbecue. Remember me?



His eminence, huh. When did HE become King of Kyrandia?

Well, actually, your little Mousification spell turned out to be a very effective weapon.

Don't tell me you've turned all the Kyrandians into mice!

You thought it was pretty funny when you did it to me!

Well, he's got a point. This is the only path on which the game explicitly tells us what the pirates did to take over. I mean, it's pretty obvious, but still.

And I think it's about time you joined them!

Wait, hold on, there's no need to do anything rash now.





Well, that's different. This time, the pirates threw us straight in jail with the other Kyrandians.



It will take more than a band of pirate rejects to get rid of this jester!

They don't really have anything interesting to tell us, though. We're chained to the wall there. If we had a nail we might've been able to pick the manacle lock, but we don't. Oh well. Nothing to do but laugh.





Using the Jester's Staff twice on the mousified fish cream clerk will make him laugh hard enough to dislodge a nail from the stocks there, which conveniently lands right next to us. I'm not sure how you're supposed to know to do this, but oh well. Also, since the Jester's Staff is an optional item and it's entirely possible to come all this way without ever picking it up, the game is generous enough to spawn it just sitting on the floor next to Malcolm if you ever make it to this scene without it.

Time to get out of these chains!



Some quick nailwork later, and we're free of our chains, and the rest of the mice, too.

Good! See, generosity and forgiveness feels good, doesn't it?



However, we still have a problem: we're trapped in here. The lock is on the outside of the door, so we can't lockpick it from here. Freeing the mice did leave us with their uneaten lunch, though.



Fish + sesame = fertilized seeds.

Ah, perhaps the old botanical bomb will pop this door open.

Putting the fertilized seeds by the door, then pouring the water on it should do the trick.

Well, let's see if this works.



Sure did. The door is open, and we're free to leave. By the way, this is one of the few places where I think you can get legitimately stuck in this game: if you use the water bottle on the fertilized seeds in your inventory, you'll get a sesame sprout instead, and I don't think there's any way to get more sesame or another eel from in here.



We're free, but still a mouse.

Hey, Zanthia, I don't suppose you have any cheese?



This stuff is strong.



Wow, that WAS strong! Hmm, maybe Zanthia isn't so bad after all.

Zanthia! What an angel!

All right, that takes care of that. Next would be making our way to the Isle of Cats, and with Zanthia freed, she should be waiting for us in the town hall.



Except she isn't - because, actually, the pirates never asked us to get any jewels this time around. They just threw us in jail. Before we can continue, we have to go back to the castle and confront them again. You'd think that would be the dumbest thing you could possibly do, but that's the right answer here.



So I escaped from your jail. Can you blame me? I demand that you release all the entranced Kyrandians!

Again, mousified, not entranced.

Oh, you demand, do you?



Rest assured that we Kyrandian patriots will never cease in our opposition to pirate rule!

Good-conscience Malcolm sure feels different. It's pretty weird.

Since you are so confident, we will make a deal with you... bring us, shall we say, six large jewels, and we will allow you to ransom your beloved kinglet.

And there we go. Ransom demand made. By the way, if you'll recall, the first time we got to here they specifically asked for "the jewels from the Isle of Cats", which made a subsequent piece of dialogue where Malcolm extrapolates that maybe if they went to the Isle of Cats they could get some "large jewels" seem pretty strange. Here's the reason why: They likely designed this path first and didn't mind the details too much.

Getting back the Isle of Cats works the same way on this path as the both-consciences path: talk to Zanthia, get a toy horse, use it to make a pegasus potion, and fly over there. We can go talk to Darm instead for some amusing dialogue, though.



We try to stay out of Kyrandian politics these days.

Surely you'll help me? Everybody has been turned into mice!



This must be some sort of trick, and I'll have none of it!

Let's try Brandywine.

Can't you go torch those pirates?

I tried that. They turned me into a mouse. Luckily, I have my last piece of cheese with me.

Are you going to help, or not? We must rescue Kyrandia!



Yep. Darm and Brandywine refuse to help Malcolm, because he's too nice now that Stewart's around.

Anyway, the pegasus potion is all we need to get where we need to go.



Things play out the same way as they did before: get machete, hack your way through the jungle, find Fluffy.



The conversation with Fluffy plays out exactly the same as it did on the Gunther path, and once again we're spared the trouble of collecting bones for the revolution. Fluffy just gives us the cheesemaker, and we use it to get the jewels back, then teleport back home via can of tuna.

There. Somebody trusts you. Doesn't that make you feel better about yourself?



Interestingly, Stewart is much less concerned about the well-being of the statues this time around.



Once back in Kyrandia, we use the same trick a third time to get rid of Barbecue.

See? Finally, virtue is triumphant!

And with that, we're joined up to the main timeline once more. Next time, we'll finish this once and for all.