Part 26: Appendices

How do they summon the menkhu, those of the lineage of servants? By their hands they know them, the butchers. By their eyes they distinguish them, the surgeons, the healers of lines, the chieftains of Order, those who speak with udurgs, those who know the art of haruspicy. Who is called the haruspex? The diviner of entrails, he knows that the body is like the Universe. His scalpel follows the lines of the body, his feet follow the lines of the fate of his kin. They are entrusted with power, when they know which line they are to choose. They are buried deep into the black flesh of the earth when they lose their way.

This is a story of a man who walked away from a contradiction that threatened to destroy a doomed life and masterfully executed his true purpose.

Appendices

Things like the explanation of game mechanics and other various miscellanea.

APPENDIX A - The Theatre Scene

The scene occurs before you pick which character to play as.



So, you are an adherent of cunning? Where do the likes of you come from?

No, I don't like trickery, but if they want to trick us, then the situation unties our hands... What is this place that we've all ended up in ?

Well, the muscles are contracting. That means that we are already inside him. Feels like one of the ventricles.



What a stupid place. This is just a dummy! That means none of this is real. It hasn't started, not yet.

I don't care what he is made of. It's perfectly clear that something isn't right. We'll have to perform a transverse section. Cut open the wall, otherwise we won't get out of here. What else is there to do?

I know what to do! The one who will be tricked is the one who will act with honesty and straightforwardness. Only a miracle will let us get out of here and not ruin anything in the process, and I'm the only one here who can make miracles. Untie my hands.



Be quiet, for the love of God. You are a thief and a liar. How are we to trust you if you are lying even to yourself. My idol is the Truth. Whatever else happens, I will find the truth and will act justly. I will be operating.

Don't order us around, egghead. You will act justly, but your truth will blind you and you will simply kill him. The situation requires the steady hands of a surgeon. Everyone else – step aside.

Your steady hands kill much more often than they heal. You will inevitably cause harm! And this nerd here will never consider the losses. Both of you have no idea what mercy is!



Hmm... it looks like we won't be friends. In truth, though, there is only one Truth.

The Will will make any choice the correct one, that is the truth of it.

Only your heart will tell you which choice is the right one. Think about the sick one, not about yourself. He is suffering. I don't see it yet, but I can feel it.

This isn't even a trap. This is a grave. I have no love for it.



That is perfectly obvious. You are full of hatred. Dummy or no, it is still breathing, I can hear it. Heal it, do not kill it.

How will you not kill it? You will inevitably kill, mark my words. I, however, may not kill.

No, we won't agree on anything. I suggest we split up. The sooner, the better.

So, we split?

We split. The clock is now ticking.




APPENDIX B - MAPS

The town in this game is a very convoluted place – as if it's been designed by a madman, hellbent on torturing any poor player who steps his foot in here. Since a lot of the time will be spent efficiently navigating this town, the world of pain is one that will become very familiar to the player.



The town is split into three major parts – the Project of the Bulls, the Quarters and the Polyhedron.
Project of the Bulls is the industrial part of town and where the longstanding trade mainstay product of the town is packaged – meat.



The town is naturally divided into three boroughs by two tributaries of the major river Gorkhon – Vein and Throat. The three parts form boroughs and are called “The Stone Yard”, - the one by the Polyhedron - “Knots” - the residential area in the middle – and “Land” - the area near the Abattoir.



Each of the three boroughs also has multiple sub-districts. Stone Yard consists of the Crypts, Bridge Square and Folds. The Knots consist of Kidney, Heart, Seat, Rib, Spine, Womb and Muzzle. The Land consists of Skinflints, Tanners, Curriers and Raw Structures.



As you can see, these places are efficiently named, easy to memorize and navigate. There is also nothing malevolent and mysterious going on in this town. Not at all.

APPENDIX C - PLAYER STATS



Reputation – a measure of how well-liked in the Town you are. When it goes below 35%, the Town's shop keepers will refuse to sell things to you. At 30% or below, male passersby will begin randomly attacking you – the lower your reputation is, the likelier it is that you will be attacked.

Health – a common attribute in games, this functions in very much the same way as it does in other games.

Immunity – the measure of your immediate immunity to the effects of the disease. Is raised by various medicine and mixtures and gets lower and higher to a baseline of about 60% over time. Whenever the player character gets in contact with a source of the infection, he/she rolls their immunity stat – the higher the stat is, the higher the chance that he/she will shrug off the infection and walk away unscathed is. If the roll is successful, then the stat is lowered considerably. When you get infected, the stat drops to about 10%.

Hunger – in order to keep alive, one requires food. It takes about 30 in-game hours to go from 0% to 100% hunger. The best way to procure food is to buy it from storekeepers or break into people's houses and steal it from them. If the bar reaches 100%, health will be drained rapidly instead.

Fatigue – once in a while, the player character will need to rest from his daily toils. It takes about 13-15 hours for the bar to go from 0% to 100%. A player character can rest in most of adherents' houses. There are certain items that allow you to reduce the bar such as coffee, but they do so at the cost of health instead. If the bar reaches 100%, health will be drained rapidly instead.

Infection – the measure of how stricken with infection the player character is. Once infected, the player character cannot reduce the bar below 3% unless he uses some very particular items that are very hard to procure. There are certain items that lower the bar, but not below the aforementioned 3%. When a player character is infected, his or her health is constantly drained at a rate corresponding with the infection bar. The effect is not very noticeable at 3%, but at 15%-20% the player character will be dead in two to three hours.

Clothing – there are various articles of clothing available for purchase in the game. Most of these, however, aren't very practical, because the early versions of it break very easily, while the latter cost exorbitant amounts of money for little practical use.

APPENDIX D - The Kickstarter

If you like what you're reading, then you'd be happy to learn that there is an ongoing Kickstarter for a remake of this game. Planned changes include better game systems, expanded plot and better graphics. It has a lofty goal, and it may have a slight trouble reaching it, but you can help make it happen.

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...5364/pathologic