Completed Let's play Azrael's Tear - Redux

[SerratedBiz]

T-1

 

[Guido Fawkes]

If I bump more I will artificially raise my post count. I guess I am going to need help on this one. 2 updates per page and then the thread must be bumped into the next page.

 

[Azira]

You've been on the second page for 4 bumps now.. Slow down Fretty.

 

[Guido Fawkes]

Whoa, it is this new forum system... you don't see you reached next page until you leave the thread or reload the page it seems. Anyway, I will post the update now.

 

[Guido Fawkes]

After placing the last piece of tapestry into the last panel the optical system is activated and the passage is opened. There is just a small open space behind the passage and a shield just like the one we found in the other room. The optics system gives us a recording/transmission from "Baphomet", whoever or whatever he is. Here it is:



Anyway,after picking up the replica shield we move on to one of the now unlocked doors in the orrery. It leads to a mazy corridor with some documents lying on the floor:

The docs:

Year of our Lord February 1220
Grand Master,

That the Grail ceases ageing and promotes healing is well known to us; but the substance that has been named Grailstone; the raw stuff from which the grail was undoubtedly formed and which lies peppered within these caves seems to have other strange powers too.
We have all noticed that the caves seem less cold and dark of late, and have wondered why this is so. The foul beasts here have marvellous abilities for hunting in the Dark. Perhaps these abilities have developed in the unknowable ages they have inhabited this underworld. In short, I believe the Grailstone may have the ability to alter living things; to shape them to protect it in some way. Further reports will follow.
(signed by Tobias de Treece)

Another one:

Entry 959
March, Year of our Lord 1482 AD.

On my orders, the Earl of Ockney, one William Sinclair, a chief member of the freemasonry that is all that remains of the Templars beyond Aeternis, has constructed a well-fortified castle above. This will offer protection and improved discourse between myself and my mortal subjects.
Secret rooms and stairs were built without Sinclair's knowledge. he is unaware that most of his servants are my agents. Thus, my purposes of watch and ward are served doubly.
The effect of this upon the flow of information will be enormous. But I must ensure that the persona of Baphomet continues to inspire their awe.
(signed by Tobias de Treece)

Damned freemasons. It is always about them.

The raptor heads through the big metal doors in one of the corridors. MS2 detects a large gothic chapel ahead:

And it is so:

I have to say this is the only ancient real time 3d game that is able to showcase some visual style. It has aged pretty well considering it was the first fully real-time 3d adventure game.

Time to explore. One of the first things you notice besides the ornamented altar is this pianola:

There is a message on top of the keys:

I trust the pages you have found so far have proved useful. I acquired and distributed them (at some personal risk) to aid you in your task. I think it not unreasonable to expect some later favour or payment. We will discuss this in time.

Read on. There is more overleaf.

(drawing of a cobweb)

I can be a powerful ally, or enemy. All secrets are known to me. Go now into the confession booth. In there some confess their sins while quite unaware of it!

Seems I have a friend here. At least I hope so.

MS2 detects a hidden passage behind the altar and a mechanism at the pianola. Hopefully the raptor will be able to open it later.

Time to proceed to the confessionary, as "Cobweb" suggested:

There is a keyhole we can peak through. Why not?

We see Tobias de Treece himself, lifting his slave Lurka by the neck. He seems quite pissed.

Who have you seem enter here in my absence!?!? Who could he be?!?!?

(suffocating)I have seem nobody, my Lord! But you know I am generally here when you call!

(letting Lurka go) My apologies, old friend, I meant no blame for you. But this "Cobweb" vexes me at every turn! He seems to taunt me! All these long decades of silence and now he is active again. His black heart set on destroying the test! He is like a shadow! So often through the long years he has left his traces about the temple like an incontinent hag, yet nobody has once seem him...

I assure you lord, if I ever catch him I will CLAW out his eyes and bring them to you to adorn your robes!

(laughs) I know it, and I applaud your idea. It is no more than he deserves. But if you ever do catch him, be sure to leave him alive. I would like very much to know who his masters in this temple are. I suspect the priory has their leprous hands in this. How dare he interfere with the test! As if it has not been corrupted enough! How dare he invade the privacy of my personal diary! "

Calm yourself lord, he will trip himself in time! (pausing)For now, what can we do to lessen the damage?

As we move through the temple ourselves, we must stay one step ahead of the remaining thieves and search for all the possible places where this treacherous animal may have left the stolen pages. We must also search for other damage he might have done. He might even have disabled some of the prescious 'impedimenta' we have prepared. The balance of this test is so fine... so little and our long and hard toil may be for nought!

what can his motive be? Perhaps he serves a demon?

(sighs) Yes, a demon of greed. Or perhaps the demon that controls the priory, nothing more sinister, I am sure.(sounding tired) We best begin to search out his damage.

Both leave the room and the poor raptor is left wondering what the hell is going on. He eventually heads through the door to the west... the scanner warns of a human nearby.

Seems the next room is a vestry, we enter and meet "Phillip". He is behind a locked iron door:

Wait! Wait...please, don't be alarmed. I just want to speak to you for a moment. I could be of great service.

Who are you?

I am Philip, one of the twelve poor fools burdened with the honor of guarding the 'oh so holy' grail. We revered it, but over the decades I have seem it destroy the faith and fellowship we once had. The cursed thing is no good this side of Tartarus! I doubt Christ has ever even saw this cup! So you see, I want you to get us rid of it... please.

How has the grail affected the guardians like this?

The weight of it can affect the mind... years ago a number of us became dissatisfied with the ravings of our former leader Tobias de Treece, and a faction of knights split apart from him. He waited his time and ruthlessly destroyed us. When you meet him, do not believe the lies he will tell you about that time, about myself and Edgar, the last remnants of that faction...the last that are sane.

Do you know who Cobweb is?

I have no idea.

So how can you help me?

Well, it is not just me, you see. My friend Edgar, one of the last sane knights, and myself recognize this "test" as a manifestation of the madness of our former leader Tobias... I have been watching you, and you seem to be effective... When you meet Edgar, ask him about the chest at the docks and mention my name, he will help you in your quest. I'm sorry, I can talk to you no further right now(leaves).

The raptor can't follow him, being that the gate to the vestry where he stood is locked. He keeps going west:

It is a cloister, with a well in the middle and a wooden ladder. There is mutated rat moving around(doesn't attack the player) and a doc on the ground:

Entry 1243
August, Year of our Lord 1665 AD.

There was another structural collapse today. And several areas of Aeternis are lost or cut off. These include the vegetable pastures which we worked so hard to restore, and the printing room. We tried to re-open access to areas still intact, but the task was impossible.
Geffrye's grief is almost palpable as we are forced to witness this secret wonder of the world crumble around us.
Other parts of Aeternis are in a similar state of decline. Our efforts to prevent the decay are futile. Soon, we will have to use the drains for access - they are filthy, but structurally sound and free from beasts.
(signed by Tobias de Treece)

Time to go down those ladders and walk the sewers then. Seems it is the only way further. As soon as he gets down there, the raptor is greeted by a hulking knight in heavy armor. MS2 analisys shows he is heavily mutated:

You! Thief! Stop where you are. I warn you, I have no faith in the dreams of Tobias!

Who are you?

A reaper of thieves. What are you doing here? If you are seeking the grail in the dark, you are going the wrong way!

(lies) Grailstone? What Grailstone? What are you on about?

You lying dog! I can smell thievery in your clothing! I always smell a thief when the greed takes over!

And he attacks the raptor. This is but one of the parts of the game where things can go differently: if you quickly equip the elephant gun you can kill him(normal shots won't work).You can also quickly go up the ladder. Both of these will allow the raptor to tread the sewers without menace.

Getting killed by this juggernaut gives an interesting scene and a lot of extra exposition though, so I will allow the raptor to be raped.

To be continued...

 

[CappenVarra]

Geffrye's grief is almost palpable as we are forced to witness this secret wonder of the world crumble around us.
Other parts of Aeternis are in a similar state of decline. Our efforts to prevent the decay are futile. Soon, we will have to use the drains for access - they are filthy, but structurally sound and free from beasts.

There's a Codex joke waiting to be written right there...

 

[ghostdog]

It's interesting how Azrael's tear crappy 3d graphics have so much charm.

 

[Guido Fawkes]

I never seem any concept art for this, but it must have been quite good. Even with the poor graphics they managed to convey the idea of dark decaying gothic ruins and twisted and corrupted people/creatures. Of note though, it is known that the game was originally set to use an interface similar to Myst and have pre-rendered 2d graphics. In retrospect using real time 3d was probably a very bad choice, since the game was known to demand top hardware upon release and now requires heavy emulation to run well on modern pcs. The first is part of the reason the game flopped(along with poor marketing and being released in the same month as Quake was).

I will post another update tonight. I want to get this to the point where my botched LP stopped before slowing down.

 

[Gondolin]

Frankly, I fail to see the charm. This game is ugly.

 

[Guido Fawkes]

Frankly, I fail to see the charm. This game is ugly.

I think that is the impression of everyone upon first looking at the game(or any old fully 3d game, for that matter). However, there is so much atmosphere and the graphics work so well in conveying what they are meant to convey, that you quicklly forget the shortcomings of ancient low res 3d.

I won't dispute that if the game were to be 2d or pre-rendered it would have aged better, but the fact is that the 3d graphics worked well enough and still do.

 

[Guido Fawkes]

Something I should lay out before this update, something that is obvious to who is playing the game but might not be to who is following this: From the start you notice that there is some overbearing influence in Aeternis. MS2 shows that all creatures/persons that have been here long enough have at least a degree of mutation, and you notice that things don't stay dead here. What you kill usually remains somewhat alive(faint life signs, etc) and whatever damage you take heals itself in an unnatural manner, as detected by MS2.

At this point in the game, you learn that after enough exposure to grailstone only severe injuries(decapitation, severe mutilation, burning, etc) can kill you here, and when someone does die in Aeternis the spirit remains trapped to the proximities of the corpse, as a ghost.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


Last we left the raptor was about to be raped by a hulking mutant knight. And he does so:

Goodbye cruel world!

He doesn't die though.

(relieved)

He wakes up in Tobias quarters, with the Templar leader himself before him, holding the elephant gun(if you ask him about it he shoots you by accident and kills you).

Ah... you are conscious. I must apologize for the behaviour of my fellow guardian, the atmosphere at the temple has distorted Tallum's clarity of thought to some extent.

Where am I?

You are in the grand Library. This is my home. I am Tobias de Treece, the leader of the twelve Guardians charged to protect the Grail.

Why are you helping me like this?"

The actions of Tallum are outside the parameters of the test. It is my duty to ensure that nothing disturbs the natural course of these events.

Tallum. Remember him? From the testament of Sir Guy de Bramley quoted in the OP. He and guy were battle bros.

Tell me about this 'test'.

For now, I can only say that you are subject to it. It is time for the grail to pass from Aeternis back into the world of men... but no common thief can be worthy of it, the test is there to assure that the holliest of holies only passes into worthy hands.

Tell me about Grailstone.

Grailstone is a substance of angels. It was given by the grace of God and it heals like the saviour's own hand.

How many others like me have you seem around here?"

(laughs)I have seem you all! But it is beyond the parameters of the test to tell you what competition you have.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Uh oh... it seems competition is afoot.

Hopefully I can shoot them all in the back and steal their ammo like I did with Lincoln.


Hopefully.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who is baphomet?

(laughs) Ah... now, that would be telling!

Tell me about about the guardians

We were twelve. Now we number less than half that much, and of those, half are deranged or corrupted. The grail is a great burden, thief.

Why is Tallum so impossible to reason with? You seem unnafected in this way."

The weight of the grail hangs heavily on the soul. Few of us have carried it well through the long years. Tallum has survived it better than some.

What can you tell me about Edgar?

Edgar is a craving fool! Do not be mislead by him. He thinks himself a rival for the leadership of the knights, and only Philip follows him. If you meet him, you will be well advised not to listen to him.

What can you tell me about Philip?

Philip? He was once a good man, but he always had a weakness within him. Deep down he is a coward, self-serving and weak. Over the long decades, this aspect of his character has become dominant.

Lurka is an odd little creature. What do you know about him?

His appearance may be rude, but he is a loyal friend and faithfull servant for me. And he has been so for much longer than your lifetime.

The well is very ancient. It is much older than Aeternis.Do you know who may have built it?

Yes, I do. But I will not speak of this.

I saw what I think was a ghost by that well...

Yes, Niamh. She was part of a pictish tribe that lived outside Aeternis in I think the 4th century. They were a barbarous people and she was a sacrifice to the beasts. As for the presence of her ghost, this place has a certain reluctance to let the dead remain so. Even when the body can no longer support life, the sould will not leave it.

What do you know about a Sasha?

Only that she was Niamh's sister, and that she became mutated by her forays into the deeper caves.

I've heard mention of deeper realms. Wondrous places, they were described as.

Wondrous? Yes, such was the naivety of Niamh that she would believe this. No. They are places where horrors dwell. You will find ou more in the due course of the test.

Was the mine area once a cave filled with blossoms?

Indeed it was, but this is ancient history.

What do you know of Oisin?

Oisin was the lover of Niamh, the ghost you have seem by the well. (Sighs) A tragic story that I never could quite understand.

What can you tell me about the priory?"

They once claimed to be our friends. A sister order. But they vanished when they could have helped the templars in their darkest hour. They are not to be trusted, and I warn you, they have an agent amongst the guardians, one called 'Cobweb'. I never been able to ascertain his identity, but he wished to destroy the test, and I suspect, take the grail for himself.

Humm... "Cobweb" is an agent of the priory that has been sabotaging Aeternis since the templars had a falling out with them. He is one of the surviving knights. This is one of the many optional "sidequests" in the game that requires wits and digging out a lot of info. As soon as we meet all the knights you can start speculating and placing bets(so far we have only met 3 of them, Philip, Tobias and Tallum).

I heard mention of someone named Geoffrye, what can ou tell me about him?"

Geoffrye is one of the twelve knights. He was the architect, the grand designer of the whole of Aeternis.

What can you tell me about Sir Guy?"

A true and brave knight, as ever there was. His bravery lead him outside at the cost of his life. But I will not say much of that time. Except that I was mortified when I discovered that we would be long dead outside the influence of the temple.

There are dangerous animals down here. What are they? How did they get here?

The beasts come here from the earliest days of creation. They have lived here for a time beyond human comprehension.

(from a distance) Lord! I have removed the second message as you ordered.

Friend, can you not see we have a guest here? Forgive us for a moment, if you please.

Amd he leaves. Taking our dear elephant gun with him.

:angry:

We are now free to explore the library:

Above the table we find Tobias Journal. What is left of it anyway, "Cobweb" really did a number on it and most pages are now missing and scattered throughout the temple. We read it:

Entry 1177
March, Year of our Lord 1600 AD.

My earlier entry(number 887) mentioned the discovery of a vast Byzantine chamber in which Grailstone had been used to produce lush fruits and vegetables. Our restoration of these time-ravaged pastures has long been useful for re-stocking our much depleted storage vaults.
Unfortunately the whole area has become structurally unstable, to the extent that we can do little to prevent its imminent collapse. However, our reduced food requirements(due to the effects of Grailstone) means another few months harvest will fulfil our needs for several decades(Theos will continue to supply our meat).

"Theos"? Wonder who or what is that.

Entry 1205
February, Year of our Lord 1658 AD.

Malik and his rebels continue to flout my authority. He has secured an isolated Byzantine area. It has been heavily fortified. He had the severity to name this stronghold "Malik's Court". Strange noises and drunken yelling can be heard from the area.
I suspect the rebels may have revived some of the Byzantine religion's sacrificial cerimonies. Several servants have vanished - 6 in the last 3 months! The only other explanation might be the appetite of Theos, but if so, why there are no carcasses or ghosts? The fact that they were last seen near Malik's area seems to confirm my fears.

Entry 1269
August, Year of our Lord 1672 AD.

The overhead fortifications of Sinclair and Girnigoe have both been destroyed. A contest over the earldom of Caithness led to bitter fighting and it seemed the castles could well fall to political forces outside our influence.

To allow their destruction seemed the best solution. The secret enclaves necessary for our communications have remained intact, and our "friends" will continue to use them and watch over the site.

Entry 2399
September, Year of our Lord 2002 AD.

The Vision continues to hold true. The third seal(the burning sea) has signalled the coming of the holy Thief - he, along with false claimants, is now amongst us and undergoing the trials to determine worthiness and authenticity.
Today, our Masonic friends tell me that the plague has crossed the oceans, and that no country has escaped its evil grasp! The long foreseen destruction of humanity has begun.
The Grail alone can stop it.
Darkness and despair will now descend upon the world, for the Vision will run its terrible course. We here must be strong, for mankind's future now lies within our hands.

There are also pages on the floor:

Year of our Lord august 1193

In answer to your repeated enquiries, we can now release to you some limited information about Aeternis future role and the Order's plans in general. This is of course of the utmost secrecy. Aeternis has been designed and built to provide a new basic form of Christian religion for the civilised world. A religion based on the Templar tradition which, with the aid of Grailstone and its many powers, will enable us to overthrow the present religious dictadorship.
The financial benefits are obvious. Aeternis will be a repository for the Grail, a continuing source of Grailstone and a school for a new order of immortal priests. Your role is to prepare the temple and protect the Grail, until this plan is fully instigated.

We also find this book and a rusty key with Tobias seal on it:

The Holy Vision of Hugh de Payens

Founder of the Holy Order of Knights Templar
I here repeat the words written down by monks of the death-bed vision of the first, greatest master of the Order.
"I see Azrael on high. As he was in the earliest days, before God forced the ashes and dirt that we truly are through his fingers. God had made only beasts in that time; strange, disfigured horrors.
I see Azrael in my head. As clear as I see all you gentle men of God here about me.
I see him looking down on a land destined to be ravaged by mankind and weeping in his holy compassion.

He is like the sun; so vast; and his tears falling through the emptiness.
Now I see one of them brought to the earth by the Grace of God, changed to serve as unction for the coming sufferings of man.
I see it falling through the sky, flaming and bursting apart; falling into the earth itself, witnessed only by the witless monsters and myself.

I see him, his wings so vast they are dawn horizon. I see Azrael."

The Lord graced Hugh with this vision and since that blessed day of revelation we have seen the truth of the divinity of the illumination. The caves we have inhabited and chosen as the resting-place for the holies of all relics are peppered with the substance that forms the holy cup, and the beasts Hugh spoke of have survived down here in the grace of Grailstone. We cannot know how many countless ages they have survived.

And in all the world this is not the only place the tear of the Angel came to rest. Evidence of another site was found in Constantinople; though its Grailstone had long since been plundered. But the existence of the site proves the veracity of the theophany in the part concerning the tear "flaming and bursting apart".

In the middle of the room there are pipes connected to the nearby rooms.

Putting his ears against one of them, the raptor can once again eavesdrop Tobias and Lurka chattering:

You fool Lurka! There are enough things to corrupt the true course of the test without such inattention!

I am sorry, lord Tobias! My concerns for the test cause me to lose my sense of caution!

Let it pass. The question is, where can we hide the roll now?

I have a safe place in mind, lord, the other side of my sleeping quarters in the drains. I know a quick way to get to it through our guardian doors, but the thieves will have to go the longest possible route... (sounding incredibly malicious)across the water of the docks...

That is a worthy thought, my friend. The hellish creature that haunts the waters will doubly prove itself to be a part of the test. A second reason for its existence becomes apparent in this. Yes... yes, God truly moves in the most mysterious of ways... All these decades that we have pondered the origin of the monster...

Perhaps God himself created it purely to awake the test.

This is my thought, Lurka. Not one of these thieves will be able to move across the waters unwarned of its presence. It moves like a striking sea snake.

But my Lord... what of the test if none do succed?

Then the test, AND my suspicions will be proven correct.

My Lord, what suspicions are these? These dire words alarm me!

I have been watching these men of the new millenium. Their greed and lack of concern or reverence for this holy place astonishes me. They are godless and think of nothing beyond personal gain. They attack each other without compassion or compunction, like hundry dogs fighting over the bones of a betrayed master. The thought increasingly occurs to me that these are not the ones in the prophecy. Perhaps the holy thief is not amongst them.

Tobias knows all about the

If so, then the test will surely destroy them all! What will happen then?

Perhaps the will of God in this matter is more veiled and complex than we ever thought. I sense something coming. A momentous revelation. I feel God close to us, and the truth of these ancient destinies will reveal itself to me very soon. In the meantime, dear Lurka, hide the roll and we will see what transpires.

As you will, my lord Tobias...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Madness, madness and even more madness. It seems Philip is right, Tobias de Treece is stark raving mad. It also seems this "test" is a rigged game where every player must die. I hope to avoid this "hellish creature" that haunts the waters. It is a shame that Tobias took my elephant gun.

So Lurka has hidden the "roll" in the docks eh? Could it be a pianola roll? Hope the monster haunting those waters can be taken care off.

Behind these red curtains we find somekind of watch system using mirrors. A medieval security camera system if you will.

First mirror configuration allows to see what appears to be a huge dinosaur roaming an unknown underground location:

Second configuration allows us to see an even bigger dino on what appears to be a cathedral(a T-rex?)

Third and final configuration shows Philip walking a narrow passage filled with appears to be giant carnivorous plants:

Wonder what is this dude up to...

The raptor leaves the library and heads back to the sewers. This time he is free to explore without being chased by murdering juggernauts:

Moving east we find Lurka's quarters.

Nothing to get here aside from a broken quill lying under his filthy bed. The raptor takes it and moves on until he fins a metal gate to the south. Luckily it is unlocked.

Passing it we reach the point where the raptor was attacked by Tallum. Moving ahead we find another mirror behind a gate, but unfortunatelly it is locked.

The raptor needs a winch handle to open it. Further ahead we reach the Knight's court.

Inside it we meet another one of the surviving knights. Edgar:

Stop, thief! Let me have a word with you.

Who are you?

I am Edgar. And before you ask, I am no lapdog of Tobias! Perhaps the only one sane enough not to be.

I met a knight named Philip. He claims to be a friend of yours. He told me to come to you about a chest.

So, Philip has taken you into his confidence? Very well. I have no interest in Tobias or his wild imaginings. I can help you reach the grail and you can help me in similar ways.

Ok, help me get the grail and you can consider us partners.

(laughs) I think I have lived long enough to reason that once you have the grail you will leave the temple and forget all about me. I can help you, but you must help me first!

In what 'similar' ways I can help you?

I propose a little test of the spirit and sense of honor of a new 'partner'. There is an area of the temple into which we guardians can no longer enter. It is the old docks. In the long years into the influence of this place our eyes have grown so accustomed to the dark that any bright light causes us unbearable agony. There is a chest that was put in that area that contains personal items that are very dear to my heart. I haven't seem these in decades.

You can choose not to side with him, but for the purposes of this LP I will do it.

Very well, I accept.

Excelent! I will meet you in the minehead by the double doors to the dock. Please, before you go, is there anything else you would like to know?

Tell me more about yourself.

Me? I am outraged that I seem to be the only knight who can see through both Tobias and Malik. I was waiting for a time when the others would see sense and stop following one or the other of them like sheep. I am a loyal man to any who gives his loyalty to me, but those men are only interested in their own ends.

What can you tell me about Malik?

He was once second in command to Tobias. He was the instigator of the rift between the knights. In this, he was right, but later the burden of the responsability and the presence of the grail drove him into commiting acts of insane evil. He is the only knight to have ever escaped here and survived. He was an astonishing and frightening man.

Tell me about Tobias.

I once believed him to be a great man, possesed of a humility deeper than any I had seem. But over the long decades I suspect ths status of his holy charge as leader of the guardians has twisted his mind to the sin of pride.

Can you tell me where Malik's court is?

It was sealed long ago by Tobias.

Do you know if the pasture cavern is still acessible?

No, the walls collapsed long ago.

Lurka is an odd little creature, what can you tell me about him?

He is a disgusting little slave. I always done my best to avoid threading on him whenever possible.

What can you tell me about Philip?

Yes, he is my ally. A strange one, and mostly self-serving, but somewhat loyal. He can be trusted.

Who is baphomet?

The 'talking head of God', according to legend.

The well is very ancient, much older than Aeternis. Do you know who might have built it?

Yes, they were a proud and powerful people. Tobias called them Byzantines.

What can you tell me about Tallum?

His mind is tortured. If you have met him you know that his madness and distrust will lead him to attack with no thought and no quarter. I am the only one he trusts in, and even of that I am unsure.

What can you tell me about Geoffrye?

Geoffrye is a craving welp, highly favored by Tobias. He is his right hand. True, his genius is evident all about us in the formation of Aeternis ifrom the gut rock of the caves that were once here, but even then he was elevated beyond deserving. As a knight and as a defender of the grail he has always been a welping curr.

What can you tell me about the priory?

The priory? It was once a sister order. I never had anything to do with them, but they once attempted to steal the grail.

I saw what I think was a ghost by an old well.

Yes, a ghost indeed. The effect this place has is not only to extend life and warp the mind, but to stop the souls of the dead from ever leaving. If you have spoken to Niamh you know that a person less deserving of such a fate never lived.

I've heard mention of deeper realms. Woundrous places, they were described as.

Well, hardly wondrous I would say! The deeper you go the more horrific the beast you encounter.

What do you know about a Sasha?

She was the sister of the ghost by the well. What became of her I have no idea.

Tell me about Oisin.

I know nothing of him except that he was Niamh's lover and left the temple long before we arrived.

How many others like me have you seem down here?

I assure you friend, you are fortunate and wise to have formed a partnership with me. For one of the ways in which I intend to assist you is in the removal of your competition. And I already performed the removal of a fool that attempted to best me in combat.

There are dangerous animals in here. What are they? How did they get here?

(laughs) indeed, and more yet to come if you succeed in entering the deeper levels of Aeternis. They are another sort of Guardian, one that has always been here.

(more questions)"

Ah, I have to leave you a moment. One of your least cooperative rivals requires my attention!

He leaves the holy thief free to explore the court room. There is a shield and a chest for every one of the twelve knights in this room. If you are curious, here is the list of names:

William - ?
Odro - ?
Edgar - The axeman we just met
Philip - The knight we met at the vestry
Guy - The knight who died chasing Malik to the outside world
Vincent - ?
Ewatt - ?
Geoffrye - The architect, we are still to meet him
Malik - The rebellious knight that escaped the temple
Tobias - The leader of the knights
Tallum - The hulking psycho
Claude - ?

I write down the shields, we will need them to solve a puzzle later on in the game. In some of the chests we find useful items. Talums bench contains an inkwell, Philip's chest has a small key and Edgar's chest has a piece of cornmeal. In Malik's chest we find this "Byzantine" artifact:

Creepy...

And in Guy's chest we find a note from Tallum:

Guy,

Forgive me. I was the cause of your death. To protect my unworthy hide I locked you out without grailstone. I was bewitched of Malik, That demon in human guise you pursued into the world of men. Now I am sane once more. I ache with the guilt of my crime.

Tallum

So it was guilt that drove him insane eh? This knowledge will be quite useful later on.

Time to move out to the docks with our "partner" Edgar. In the next update, tomorrow and in the next page.

 

[SerratedBiz]

Killing that juggernaut fellow would just skip the whole scene with Tobias (and continue as you've shown) or does the game branch in any way?

And, whatcha gonna do when they come for you now that you have no gun?

 

[Guido Fawkes]

There's a Codex joke waiting to be written right there...

Tobias is VD and DU is Malik. Two leaders driven insane by the fight against the decline. Aeternis is the codex. The Priory is DAC. Read on, the parallels are actually shocking.

Also, Tallum is Cleve(invincible mad juggernaut that respects no authority) and Lurka is a Trash/Jaesun hybrid(deformed and hateful sodomite man-servant who runs the lower levels).

:parrot:

Killing that juggernaut fellow would just skip the whole scene with Tobias (and continue as you've shown) or does the game branch in any way?

It would skip the whole conversation with Tobias and you also wouldn't be able to eavesdrop his conversation with Lurka through those pipes. You would still be able to go the library later and do everything else save those two things. Basically you would lose a lot of content and hints about your way ahead in the game. This game does it very often and that is why every person who played it only once has a very different impression of what was going on. Also what I said about the limited conversation options... if you find threads here about the game you will see opinions and impressions on characters, grailstone and everything else diverse a lot.

The game branches in a big way further ahead(I will follow the two branches for LP purposes), but other than that and the tons of optional content and sidequests, it is quite linear. There are a few different "bad" endings you can get though(I will also go through then).

And, whatcha gonna do when they come for you now that you have no gun?

You still get to keep the standard issue Raptor's hand rifle(with all the ammo stolen from Lincoln's). It is weak and can't be used against the larger enemies effectively, but like I said, you can actually beat this game without firing a single shot.

There is a way to keep the elephant gun, but it is kind of a bug in the game. If you leave it in the ground and treck back to pick it up only after the first encounter with Tallum, you can get it and use it on your second encounter with him. I say it is a bug because it still shows up in Tobias hand even though you haven't picked it up.

 

[Azira]

 

[Guido Fawkes]

Fixed the OP(thanks Iqzulk!). Turns out that the game's events happen in 2012, and not in 2003 as I put. I don't know where I got the information wrong.

New update coming as soon as new page is reached.

 

[DraQ]

TBH I find the complaints about the graphics in AzT rather baffling. The game is Quake's contemporary and unlike Quake it focuses on detailed environments and characters, rather than large levels and dynamic action.

Yes, this means that sacrifices had to be made, for example by making individual sublevels (separated with loading zones) the size of cupboard and by cutting all the lighting system and baking the lighting directly into textures, limiting their reusability, but the effect is pretty damn good.


Also, I love the use of your computerized helmet as a narrative device and info-feed. Take the Baphomet "vision" for instance - thanks to your extra senses you learn of the stone head carving and complex optical apparatus beneath the pedestal putting the "vision" in much less metaphysical context.

And this is that thing DraQ was talking about. We know that grailstone was apparently a meteorite of some kind, but while it's good to not have the information served on a platter, it's still not enough to fuel some actual speculations on part of the player. AzT main failure is that your brain is milling about in vacuum, it doesn't throw you enough scraps.

 

[Guido Fawkes]

Damn right, dragon boy :brofist:

I like how everything is so very ambiguous that the vision book could be taken in many ways by the player. While it certainly exposes Grailstone as an alien element coming about in a meteor, it also gives you a bunch of freaking questions about the game's universe. How the hell did a dying elderly Templar in the 12th century had such an accurate vision of everything? What about his religious interpretation of all these events? Clarvoyancy is a theme explored more and even more shockingly in the game later on, as you know.

ITT, I am also putting up nearly all conversations and optional content that people usually don't get when playing it. I wonder if the folks following the LP will have such diverging opinions on Grailstone, the "Byzantines" and all else in the game as you, me, SCO and others who played the game did.

My "evolutionary adaptation" hypothesis is reinforced even more by some documents displayed in the next update, btw.

 

[Guido Fawkes]

Page 3 doesn't arrive...

can anybody bump this so that I can post the next update?

 

[DraQ]

Damn right, dragon boy :brofist:

I like how everything is so very ambiguous that the vision book could be taken in many ways by the player. While it certainly exposes Grailstone as an alien element coming about in a meteor, it also gives you a bunch of freaking questions about the game's universe. How the hell did a dying elderly Templar in the 12th century had such an accurate vision of everything? What about his religious interpretation of all these events?

Yeah, the thing with Grailstone is that it's HPL grade universefuck. Not only does it prevent stuff from dying 'for realz' in situations where this stuff really should have decency to croak, not only does it create mutations, not only does it get absorbed into the body and deposits itself in the bone tissue making the bones strikingly red, but it also

Spoiler

fucks with the spacetime itself

.

And yet we don't get any glimpse at the bigger picture, no matter how incomprehensible it might be.

Clarvoyancy is a theme explored more and even more shockingly in the game later on, as you know.

You mean that mosaic?

 

[CappenVarra]

Forgive me. I was the cause of your departure to the next page.

 

[dextermorgan]

Bump.

 

[CappenVarra]

To protect my unworthy hide I locked you out without brofists.

 

[CappenVarra]

And not only the OP; the contagion of this superstition is spread throughout the thread pages and notification alerts; but it appears to me possible to stop it and put it right.

 

[Guido Fawkes]

You mean that mosaic?

Specially that, but there is more. We wil see it in due time.

Page 3>>>>>>>

EDIT: Still not there>>>>

 

[ghostdog]

bump it up !