Part 9: The Lands Above - Torin, Friend To Olympic Hopefuls

(In retrospect, I think the "Boogle, can you be an axe?" joke might have been a reference to the "Chuck Berry" joke that immediately follows it. You know, cause he has the urge to rock and roll after making chuckberry juice? It still falls flat.)

09. The Lands Above - Torin, Friend To Olympic Hopefuls

Having left the guardhouse, we return to the last known location of slugs.





(Hmm, that tree is just covered with exotic, high-speed, caffeine-laced slugs!)

Of course, getting a hold of them is another challenge--



--as they'll retreat up the tree when ever we reach for them.

What you'll want to do now is ask around the Lands Above for anyone who has knowledge about caffeine slugs. There's Herman, the Crystal City gatekeeper (his name is Zax, incidentally), and Slim and Slime. The first two are write-offs, as Herman will only insist that he wants slugs, and Zax will insist he's still asleep. That leaves Slim and Slime. I suppose it's a bit racist speciest of Torin to assume that snails would know about slugs, but really, they're the only option available.



Say guys, could you help we with those slugs over there on the next tree? I cant even get close to them. How can I trap them?
Trap them? Yeahhhh, you could--if you had bait.
And we know just what they like, don't we Slime?
Sure do, Slim! But we can't tell you, Torin "Farm-hand."
Why not? I'm honest, trustworthy, sincere--
Oh, it's not that.
Nah, it's because you haven't done anything for us yet.
What could I do for you?
Help us turn over a new leaf!
Ahahaha! turn over a new leaf! Good one, Slim!
Thanks, Slime. EYE FIVE!
Alright!


We'll, I'm not totally unfamiliar with twelve step programs--
Hahaha, that's not what I meant by turn over a new leaf!
What he meant was: we need a new leaf to practice our pair figure sliming.
Yeah, a big leaf.
A reeeeeally big leaf.
You know, something with style.
Class.
Chlorophyll!
Retsin.
Something to give us that competitive edge.
Something that will put us over the top, slime-wise!
Yeah, you got anything like that?
So, if I can find you a really big leaf--
We'll tell you everything you always wanted to know about slugs.
But we're afraid to ask.
Which is more than you know now.
Sure!


Okay, let's see, big leaf, stylish, classy, with chlorophyll, retsin, uh, retsin--what is retsin anyways?

http://www.retsin.be/bio.html

http://carrottoprecords.com/artists/retsin/

http://hsionline.com/2005/03/24/wha...heck-is-retsyn/

That, uh, doesn't really answer my question. Maybe I'll stick to "big leaf."

Well, we know where a leaf pile is. Let's return to it and take a look. Torin isn't able to eye-ball which leaf is biggest, though, so we're going to enlist help from Inchie the Inch-Worm. What we need to do here is "activate" Inchie by "applying" him to the leaf pile. Now we can click around to find out which one is the largest. He'll give a variety of response that are mostly arbitrary numbers and nonsense measurements, such as "nine-hundred and seventy-eight duquans!" However ass this is an old Sierra game, the largest leaf sticks out pretty obviously.


(This might be the biggest leaf here--but then again, it might not!)
Too small. Too tiny. Nope. Stop! That's it! That's the biggest leaf of all!
Oh, nice call! Thanks, Inchie!
That's Mr. Worm to you!


Hey, come back here! Hmmm, now which one is it? Aww, not again--


Gotcha!
Oops... (Crud, did I just kill Inchie?) Eww, yuck!
Hey Boogle, get that will you?
*Learns Boogle Worm*



Returning to Slim and Slime, we can show off the wonderful leaf we found.




I found it boys, this is the biggest leaf in all the woods!
You?
You did?
You brought us a leaf?
Yup, and here it is! Now tell me about those slugs. How can I capture them?
Oooo, nice texture!
Nice structure!
Good size...
Professional markings
Okay, it's a deal.
Yup, done deal.
You wanna, eye five?
Yea--uh, no thanks, no.
You're loss. Okay, here ya go.
Slugs. Love. Scum.
Yeah, pond scum is good.
Nah, you can have your pond scum. Bog scum, now that's the best!
Bog scum? No, definitely moat scum! That's what you want.
Oh yeah, moat scum is choice.
Too bad you can't get it!
Whaddaya mean can't get it? I know where the moat is
Yeah, you know where, but do you know what?
Hahaha, yeah, like, what's in that moat?
Oh yeah--croctopus. And lots of'em.
Wouldn't lots of them be croctopi?
Croctopi, croctopusses, don't matter, you'll never get close enough to the water to get scum from the moat.
Wait a minute. Didn't you say you were going to the Moat Olympics?
Yeah, why?
Well, if I took you over there, would you help me get some moat scum?
Slim? What do you think?
Okay by me. Better than crawling.
Okay, big boy, let's go moatin'!
Here, hop on your leaf!




It only takes a few moments to return to the Crystal City gates:


Here we are boys, the site of the next Moat Olympics! I hope you win the gold medal!
Thanks, Torin. You're okay, for such a dry person.


Yeah, thanks. And in return, I'll put in a good word for ya with some of my croctopus friends!
Good word? I don't need good words, I need moat scum, and plenty of it!
Oh, you do do you?
And exactly where do you want it?
Why, right up here!
Hey croc! pass the boy some scum!




Great! Now we can lay a trap for the caffeine slugs. We have all the necessary tools to do it.


Well, I guess I'll just leave this delicious moat scum right here for a while! (Now I'm gonna get ya!)


(Those slugs are so fast I'll never catch them like this--if only i could make a trap!)

Uh, yeah, you're gettin' a bit ahead of yourself, there, Torin. This is the first opportunity we have to utilize Boogle in a puzzle. In this case, it's simple really. We'll use the Boogle Box.


Boogle, can you make a box? Right over that moat scum?

That's it, Boog! Now we got'em! No more caffeine for you guys. Thanks, Boogle!



That's one ingredient down. Now it's time to return to the peat bog.




(A peat bog, huh? But it's obviously too soft to walk on.)

Torin wisely notes the danger, rather than jumping in. If we want to commit suicide, we have to return to the higher branch first. Fortunate for us, we have a rope handy! So what we'll do is use the rope to bungee down safely to the bog--