The Let's Play Archive

MadMaze

by Nakar

Part 63: Level Three: Our New Pal

Level Three: Our New Pal

As pointed out by a few people, this one is actually a little easier than it might look, as it quickly makes certain combinations impossible. I'll go with Rebonack7's explanation here:

Rebonack7 posted:

To start, we know from the first clue that the decapitated husband comes immediately before Humm, the green one comes after Humm and the decapitated one, Zziggy comes before the one who was thrown to the ant-lions, and there is at least one husband between Zziggy and the ant-lion guy. From here, we know the only possible arrangements are as follows:

However, we also know that Zziggy is brown (2), and the first husband was not brown (4). Since Zziggy can't be first, the only possible order is: decapitated, Humm, Zziggy, green, ant-lions.

Zziggy can't have been decapitated or thrown to ant-lions, because that would cause an overlap in clue 1. He also can't have been drowned (2) or implanted with eggs (5). Therefore, Zziggy was strangled.

Mmanny obviously isn't Humm or Zziggy, and since we know his cause of death from clue 5, he can't have been decapitated or thrown to the ant-lions. Therefore, Mmanny has to be the green one.

As stated earlier, the first husband can't be brown, and since Mmanny - the only green bug - clearly wasn't decapitated, process of elimination tells us the first husband was yellow. We know the yellow bugs are Buzz and the one thrown to the ant-lions (3), and since the one thrown to the ant-lions is fifth, Buzz has to be the first husband - and consequently, the husband who was decapitated.

From here, we can simplify the order as: Buzz, Humm, Zziggy, Mmanny, guy eaten by ant-lions. By process of elimination, Zzammy is the fifth husband, who was thrown to the ant-lions. Furthermore, now that we know the C.O.D of four of the husbands, we can deduce that Humm was drowned.

At this point, all that's left to do is to figure out the colors of Humm and Zzammy. Luckily, clues 2 and 3 tell us that the drowned husband was brown and the husband thrown to the ant-lions was yellow. The final answer is:

BUZZ was the FIRST husband, was DECAPITATED, and had a YELLOW exoskeleton.
HUMM was the SECOND husband, was DROWNED, and had a BROWN exoskeleton.
ZZIGGY was the THIRD husband, was STRANGLED, and had a BROWN exoskeleton.
MMANNY was the FOURTH husband, was IMPLANTED WITH EGGS, and had a GREEN exoskeleton.
ZZAMMY was the FIFTH husband, was THROWN TO THE ANT-LIONS, and had a YELLOW exoskeleton.

Dang, Mmanny gets to have the unique exoskeleton color and the coolest death. Lucky guy. You know, except for the "dying horribly" part.
Quite. Now let's test that against the Prime Mother's recollection.

"Who was our first husband?"

That's Buzz.

"That's right," says the Prime Mother in fond remembrance. "And our second?"

Things go on like this for a while, as we recount how everyone was killed. We must then tell her the color of each husband. Here, the game actually uses a pop-up in an unusual way: Remembering something!



This pops up the first time you select one of the appropriate yellow/brown husbands' names, and lets you pick another. I guess the game can remember some things? Anyway, we answer the husbands who are yellow and brown, and...

"Yes," says the Prime Mother dreamily. "And Mmanny was the most beautiful green." She seems lost in her memories.

"Magnificence?" says a warrior after some time has passed.

"Hmm?" says the Prime Mother.

"What are we to do with this worm?"

"Eh? We did promise not to slay it, didn't we? Throw it in the dungeons, with that other strange beast."

Now hold on a second, that wasn't the deal!



Well then. That's a pickle. Guess we're going to jail.

Warriors hustle you down long corridors. The guards hurl you into a cell and lock the door behind you with a clang.



Yeah, real nice to meet you. If you'll excuse me a second, Iggy.

"I demand justice!" you rant, banging on the cell doors. "Free me!"

The guards ignore you utterly.

"Smart one," mutters Iggy to himself.

Whatever, we can just bust out of here. The dumb bugs forgot to take our stuff.



...Actually now that you mention it, that might not be the best idea.

Sensible. It gets pretty dull in the cell, though.

Whatever, it's cool.

"Talkative sort, I see," says Iggy. "You savvy talk-talk, chief?"

Shut up, Iggy.

"Fine," snorts Iggy. "Suit yourself."

After a long time, an Insectid comes with food -- live grubs. Iggy eats them with apparent pleasure. You force yourself to choke down some food. Days pass like this.

Alright fine, let's introduce ourselves to this Iggy character.

"Pleased to meet you," says Iggy.

Likewise. So what're you in for?



That sounds awfully familiar.

"Oh, she ran you through the same drill, huh? Amazing. You'd think she'd remember from when I told her who was what. Must have a terrible memory. Anyway, I solved the damn thing, and she chucks me in here. Nice lady. And that's about all she wrote. What about you?"

Oh, we're nothing special. Let's hang out in the cell some more!



...I guess at some point we should probably get on with talking about our quest, huh?



"I never figured there was much point in leaving the other way, 'cause the Pyramid is a death trap. And even if you got through the Pyramid, where do you go? To the Moon of Madness. No thanks, boychik."

"What other way?" you say.

"Huh? This one." Iggy walks to the wall and removes a brick. "I figured out how to get out of here ages ago." He pulls bricks out of the wall until there's an opening.

I should've probably asked you about this days ago, in hindsight.

"What's out there?" you say.

"More maze," says Iggy. "But the only place it leads to is the Pyramid of the Insectidae. That's why I came back. At least they feed you here."

"I can get through the Pyramid!"

"Uh... sure, chief. Look, it's filled with traps. They say nobody's ever lived who entered it. They..."



Time to blow this joint with our new pal Iggy. I'm sure we won't regret this move. The guy's a wizard, right? He's bound to help out at least once or twice, and hopefully not die instantly in a trap-filled pyramid.

Alternate Solutions & Deaths

We can fight the Prime Mother when she orders us jailed, but those outcomes were already covered last update. There's a slightly different ending if we make a break for it while being escorted to jail:

You slay thousands before you are brought down.

No good there. Supposing we got pissed off enough at Iggy to kill him?

You kill the irritating wizard. You spend days in the cell, sulking. Nobody comes but guards. The only way out is through the bars. Eventually, you tire of this, and use the Talisman to free yourself. But you are lost in a vast insect city; and wherever you go, its citizens either flee in terror or attack you. You slay thousands before a lucky warrior kills you.

Lastly, we can choose to rot in our cell forever.

Oh, well. If you insist.