Part 36: Level Two: Our Foe, The Whirlwind

Level Two: Our Foe, The Whirlwind

The answer that Timbir is looking for is oxymoron, the juxtaposition of two contradictory elements.

"That's it!" shouts the hermit gladly. He leans over his manuscript and scribbles furiously for several minutes.

"Umm, uh... the whirlwind," you say.

"What?"

"The whirlwind. You said you'd tell me how to..."

"Oh yes," says the hermit. "Bother. Look here. Aboud obviously used a magical lamp, like those things djinni come in. They can be used to hold air elementals, too. You must find the lamp Aboud used, take it to the whirlwind, and chant... bother, where is that spell?"

He shuffles through piles of paper, muttering to himself. It takes several minutes before he finds what he wants. "Ah, here it is. 'Scirok danae, Aboud demeke.' Chant that and hold up the lamp. That should do the trick."

Well, we do already have the lamp, so that takes care of that. Now all we have to do is...


Hey, we met your cousin!

...Confront the whirlwind.



Let's see what those Atarri are doing here.

You enter the Atarri camp. "Hail, Frank," they say. "It is of no use; the storm blocks the way."

"These storms are but transitory in nature," you say. "On Wednesday, Saturday, or..."



They have no more information than to tell us to visit Sunit, which we've already done. Let's see if we can get around this thing, though I have the sneaking suspicion it's not quite so easy.

You skirt the whirlwind's edge. But the whirlwind shifts, and moves ahead of you. No matter how you turn, the whirlwind stays before you. Clearly, the only way to cross this plain is through the heart of the storm. But how can you survive such a journey?

If Timbir and our explorations are accurate, we should get closer to this thing.



We'll use the lamp. We are asked, in turn, what the symbol and word stamped on it are; we must answer hornet and spirit or the game will conclude that whatever lamp we produced is not Aboud's. But if we do produce the right lamp...


I am as disappointed as you are that 'A Fimbator Baragon' is not an option again.

And now we must say Scirok Danae, Aboud Demeke or the lamp won't work, even if it is the right one. But again, if we do it right...

Nothing seems to happen, except that the wind continues moving toward you, drawn by the lamp...



The whirlwind sucks down into the lamp, the storm subsiding in size, the funnel spiraling into the lamp's spout. It takes several minutes, but at last the storm is gone. You stare at the lamp, astonished that such an object can hold so much fury.

And now we have a lamp with a tornado inside.

The Atarri who camped nearby come to you. "Thank you. You have saved our city. Listen, my friend," says one, the oldest of the group. "Should you come to Osmet's palace, remember this: It is said that only the brave may cross the Serpent Field." They nod their heads and stroke their beards wisely.

Fair enough. And now the way north is clear, into the final maze of the second level. This one will introduce a rather interesting new feature, so I'll hold off on it until the next update as not to spoil the surprise. All I'll say is we're close to Osmet Khan's palace, but not as close as a single maze worth of PoPs.

Alternate Solutions & Deaths

First, they put an amazing degree of effort into Timbir's dialogue for something that's an easy single question puzzle. Every single wrong answer gets a unique response from Timbir:

Analogy: "No, that's a comparison of the similarities of two things. For instance, 'Love is like a knife; one cuts through the flesh, the other through the heart.'"

Chiasmus: "No, that's the emphasis of a clause by repeating it while inverting its structure. For instance, 'Chugotai Khan conquered half the world; half the world did he subdue.'"

Dysphemism: "No, that's the opposite of a euphemism. Calling a knight a man in a tin can, for instance."

Metonymy: "No, that's the use of one word for another, cause for effect, or sign for thing signified. 'They keep a good table' to mean 'they serve good food,' for example."

Prolepsis: "No, that's the use of an adjective that foretells events that have not yet occurred. For instance, in Starvan's ode to Fenn's youth, he refers to Fenn as a 'fell warrior,' though Fenn was then but a lad."

Simile: "No, that's an explicit comparison. For instance, 'The enemy cut through our army like a knife through butter.'"

Synecdoche: "No, that's a phrase in which an attribute is used to refer to the whole; for example, using 'crown' to refer to the monarchy."

Zeugma: "No, that's the incorrect use of a word to link two thoughts. For example, 'He ate his sandwich and beer.' You can't eat beer."

...Needless to say, I learned a few things while playing this game, and not about the subjects I expected. Note that zeugma can also refer to two things using the same word but with a different meaning intended for each thing, e.g. "he drowned his wife and sorrows" or "he and his library card expired the same week."

Supposing that we didn't know where to get the lamp. We could pester Timbir further and ask him about it.

He turns away and picks up a manuscript. "Still here?" he says, glancing at you meaningfully.

Where can we find such a lamp?



That last option is far too tempting.



What I just said one sentence ago.



Oops. Guess old Timbir actually was a wizard the whole time.

Speaking of things done by wizards that are obviously fatal, let's just ride straight into the whirlwind and die (the same would occur if one produced a false lamp, naturally).

Onward you ride; onward into the whirlwind's heart.



Yeah, that's pretty much the way a whirlwind kills you.