Part 4

When we last left our hero, he had just received a warning about a mysterious creature.

Continuing through They May Be Slow (which is 5.1 meters above ground, by the way), we find that the enemy presence is still ramping up. Zombies are common enemies now, but I can still pop them with 1 pistol shot and 3 .

This pyramid looks pretty rundown. Having a custodial staff that consists entirely of armless monsters that spit acid might not have been the best plan.

Hold on a minute. A room full of bones? Was there something I was supposed to remember about it?

For the record, this is the only place in the entire game where using the Search command on something other than a dead body has any effect.

Down this long hall...

...we again face a choice. That headless came from the left, so let's go kill his friends if there are any.

My progress so far. Down the left hall, we find a save rune- and another ladder!

We've climbed 9 meters up the pyramid now, and the walls are looking a little different. Maybe the zombies are in charge of cleaning this stage.

...uh oh.

[sfx: ]

[sfx: ]

No effect. It's still coming toward us.

Wait, what happened to "There's this horrible, chilling moment when they scream and your vision flickers and you wonder if you're going to"-

WAAUUGH

Whoopsie.

When you die in Pathways Into Darkness, you get a dialog box with snarky commentary on exactly how you screwed up. We haven't seen this dialog yet because I haven't been killed before now For some reason, Bungie never quite decided what to call this monster, so the Germans and the game and the hint book all use different names.

The message for death by headless is "You have died a horrible and nasty death. Wipe off that green goo and try again." The message for death by zombie is "You've just been killed by a Zombie. They're pretty good with those bones, aren't they?".

We can't get past the phantasm, so let's go check out the unexplored branch of They May Be Slow.

Maybe this guy can tell us more about those darn phantasms. But before we talk to him, let's search through his pockets. (Remember kids, this is only polite with dead people.)

This guy's carrying so much stuff it doesn't even fit in the list. A bunch of ammo, and a Silver Medal.

The silver medal is worth $100. Let's ask this decorated veteran to tell us boring war stories.

Years ago? He can't be talking about my Special Forces team, then.

If you ask him about "group", he says the people spoke Spanish. I forgot to get screenshot of this

Wait, he did what?

No need to get huffy about it.

Hey, some differently abled persons lead long, fulfilling lives. I didn't want to jump to conclusions

Walk through the wall, huh? Well, even if I bang my nose and look stupid, there's no one watching

You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt, and disbelief.

Free your mind.

Whoa.

The blue crystal is worth 2 points.

Past the guy and his magic wall is a dead end with something lying on the floor.

At least now I can make these cans of instant ramen I brought with me. MREs are for suckers.

The bowl is worth a cool $15,000 and 1 point.

Now, back to our other new toy. Let's find some dudes to try it out on.

It doesn't hurt him that much, but he does freeze for a second or two.

May as well clear this section before going back to try the blue crystal on that pesky phantasm.

Another rune and another ladder beyond it. Another way up to But They're Hungry? Maybe I can sneak around the phantasm this way.

No such luck, but this time we came prepared.

Unlike the yellow one, the blue crystal has a limited number of uses. There's no way to keep track of how many are left, but it will take longer and longer to recharge between shots until it finally shatters. It's also the only way to kill phantasms that we have right now, so I have to not use it on anything else if I can avoid it

As we leave the ladder room, the door locks behind us. No problem, I know there's another way down somewhere else on the level.

Fortunately, phantasms are not very common (yet), so back to the same old trudge, stab, lather, rinse repeat.

A long hall, with zombies hidden in alcoves.

At the end, a very welcome save point.

This level has kind of a funny shape, and so far I haven't found the second ladder down to They May Be Slow. Nowhere to go but forward.

Another new friend! He's just carrying pistol ammo, so I'll skip the screenshot.

I wonder how he likes living in Phantasm Central.

Way ahead of you, chief. And would it be too much trouble call them phantasms like everyone else?

Nuh uh!

Well, you're boned

He won't respond to anyone's name, including Muller. Like warning me about Specters is so damn important.

After you talk to a dead guy, don't forget to switch back to the blue crystal. Nothing's worse than having a Phantasm charge up to you, hitting the crystal button, and just getting a loud "FOOP" while the Messages window helpfully says "The crystal discharged, but nothing happened!" and then you die.

Beyond the dead guy is another ladder. We've got to be getting pretty near the top, right?

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