Session 21

We stumble into the chamber where Brother Bero, the missing chemist, has been sat.

Quite what he was doing in here (or how he got here) is a bit mystifying - there's no way out of the room he's in and he must've fought his way down here on his own making him SERIOUSLY badass! I wonder if I can recruit him for my team?

On seeing his adopted dad, Mell rushes forwards to check he's ok - but then it turns out he can't speak and so just has to gesture and nod his head in a way to suggest "Are you ok? You're lucky to be alive you know! I'm so relieved to find you at last! These are strangers from far away who have helped to rescue you!"

Alas, Bero doesn't get the message and says "Ah excellent! My adopted moron has found me - presumably with the help of you good folk" (indicating Tom and the gang) "Well let's be off then!"

These aren't his exact words I grant you - but Bero seems exceedingly chipper considering his recent predicament, and it slightly feels like he's taking his rescue for granted.

But there's no time to dwell on it - the game pops up a message that the team "Hurries back as quick as possible" (which I estimate to have taken several days of in-game time considering the numerous monsters and assorted perils that I left active on my way down, not to mention the resting time and the waiting-to-be-allowed-to-rest-again time...) and cuts back to Nemo's office.

The team are all stood on one side of the room with Nemo (leader of the druids) and Bero on the other.

Nemo explains:

"I can't be bothered to tell you off for going down the catacombs Bero. Just go into the hall and give yourself a smacked bottom until you understand what a pain in the balls this whole thing has been" (Bero leaves the room)

"HANG ON!"

"Yes sir?" (Bero, sticking his head back round the door)

"This man" (Nemo points at Tom) "Needs one of your patented Can'tGetItUp amulets - I think it's the least you can do to hand one over?"

"Um! Well! It's not for me!" Splutters Tom "It's for a friend! But I'm not allowed to say who it is! Honestly, I don't have any trouble in that area..."

Bero hands him an amulet of SexualStamina +1 and shuffles out of the room

"Of course it's not for you young man. No one EVER comes here to get one for themselves... Now let me just have a word with Mellthas..."

turning to Mell he shouts slowly and clearly

"WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT? HMMM? WHAT'S ALL THIS?" (he points back and forth between Mell and Sira and it is understood he's refurring to their trans-species relationship) "YOU REALLY THINK THAT'S A GOOD IDEA DO YOU? HMMM? MAYBE YOU SHOULD SPEND SOME TIME AWAY FROM THE OTHER DRUIDS YOUNG MAN. I THINK MAYBE THIS SORT OF THING" (he does hand gestures to represent human-on-cat relations) "IS MORE THAN WE NEED TO SUBJECT PEOPLE WHO'RE ACTUALLY TRYING TO STUDY TO DON'T YOU?"

There's a brief awkward silence while Mell and Sira scuff their feet on the floor.

"YOU GO OFF WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND MAYBE YOU CAN COME BACK WHEN YOU'VE WORKED THIS OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM OK?"

Ok, so this conversation didn't happen EXACTLY like this. But during the real version I did jot down that Nemo does say to Mell and Sira : "Not everyone will understand your bond, so it's probably best you leave".

Whatever the specifics of what was said, the upshot is that Mell joins the team permanently so that his love for Sira doesn't get him beaten up by the other druids - that's it! We stroll out of Nemo's office, past Bero whos busy dishing out his corporal auto-punishment, past the healer (who refuses to give us free help now - even though the wounds the team's all suffering from were received in the course of rescuing stupid Bero) and off out through the door back into the daylight for the first time since we bought all that food.

Awesome! I'd almost completly forgotten what this game is like when you're just wandering around the islands. I've been in that dungeon for so long it feels like an age since I took a moment to swan around looking for seeds or secrets or the like.

I know that really I ought to go directly back to the king and give him his sex jewellery then head off to the next land (I'm really looking forward to that! I've enjoyed my time on Ancient Druid Island, but it has felt a lot like the plot has floundered since we got here - like how you have to take time out in Bioshock to do the stupid "Fort Frolick" level. It's ok in itself, but since it has no baring on the actual plot you could be forgiven for just wanting to get through it as quick as you can).

But today I feel like kicking back and just going for a wander. The gameplay in the dungeon is quite stressful and it's nice in an RPG to switch between stressful and ambling. Sometimes you just want to swan about looking at the scenery...

So I cruise around the place for a while - I love trying to get a feel for the shape of the island, so I head down the east coast until I hit a line of cliffs.

I can follow these along to the west (back towards the town I'm meant to be going towards anyway) and the line of the rock face starts to get distinctly curvy. There are numerous secluded indents into the mountains and I keep thinking I'm going to find a path round or through them - I really want to get a proper sense for the coast of this place and don't like thinking there's more of a landmass beyond these mountains that it's impossible to explore...

Eventually the cliffs lead me back to the starting town and I'm just about to give up on my desire to map the place when lo and behold! There IS a passage! A proper passage through the mountains!

Following one of the indents in the cliffs I find it genuinely forms a winding pass heading directly south - away from any civilisation!

I'm VERY excited by this! IT's a secret area I'm SURE of it! And it seems to go on for ages! In fact, this wiggly windy route takes me right off the bottom of the map!

I don't think I've encountered this anywhere else in the game so far - the environment scrolls and scrolls and scrolls, but then it's like I've hit the furthest extremes of it and as I walk off the bottom the game cuts to a totally new area. I guess this doesn't sound like a big deal - but it suggests there's a LOT more to this secret than just a treasure chest hidden out of sight!

As I creep further along the pass it winds left and right. This means that for a couple of seconds at a time the isometric view point puts me out of sight behind a bit of scenery. I don't think anything about it at first, but it soon becomes clear that danger lurks in the shadows of these protruding rock faces!

As a mountain passes between the camera and my team of heroes I'm abruptly told "ATTACK!!!"

Next thing I know I'm looking at 4 burly, blond Viking bandits! Bandits hiding on the mountain pass! This can't be a secret - these are new enemies being introduced, this must be the right way. Maybe I have to come down here after I've handed in my quest to the king...

The bandits are tough - they have a mage with them - but thankfully I can just zap him to sleep. I'm not looking forward to when enemies start being able to deflect this spell - I use it all the time to give me the upper hand!

I dispatch the bandits and carry on through the gorge until eventually I come out the other side of the mountain range! Seriously - this CAN'T be a secret can it? A whole new area of jungle lies in front of me. I should definitely turn back - I can explore this place when the plot needs me to.

But on the other hand, I could just have a little look around. So far I've spotted an eye in the rocks here (just like the one near the haunted mansion on the first island) and a sign post to Aballon. I could check out Aballon couldn't I?

I cross a bridge over a huge river and walk through the jungle for (in game) hours. This island is so much bigger than I thought - There must be half again at least on top of what I'd seen before.

Eventually I come across some weird people just wandering around in the trees. They're sort of like a strange folk who lurk in the swamps north of the Arjano - only not as rude when I talk to them. Instead of telling me to push off they're all "Good morning! How are you?" And "How lovely to have visitors in the area!" Considering they're wandering around in monster infested jungles they're surprisingly cheery!

Soon after I find the town of Aballon. Now I'm sure this can't be a secret. They wouldn't just put a whole town in through a windy mountain pass if they weren't expecting everyone to find it. I mean, putting a town in is quite big job - it'd be madness to just bung one in for the 50% or less of people who'll blunder across the passage through the cliffs... Wouldn't it?

I stop in to chat to the queen of the town who, when I ask her about the Toronto says "Are you SERIOUS?"

She doesn't actually have much to talk about beyond that. In fact, no one round here does... I wander about and notice that there's no round out of the town other than the one I came in on then step into the local shop.

WOW. The shop is AMAZINGLY well stocked! There's heaps of awesome treasures on offer - butter than anywhere I've been so far before! It's just a shame I can't afford to buy much of it - but I quickly sell off all my junk and then agonise over which of the (probably) unique items I should buy.

In the end I pick the "Monster Eye" (because it was very expensive and I don't know what it does - suggesting that it's going to be really cool) and an amulet of strength (which I give to Dirr immediately).

Stepping out of the shop I "activate" the monster eye and it appears on the screen along side the clock. It's sort of like a little owl's face with big eyes on it - but I can't tell what it would be for. I doesn't have any obvious read-outs and it's not something I've ever heard of from other games - so really it's anyone's guess what it might be about...

I explore some more in the area. And weirdly this seems to be a dead-end. South of the town are more cliffs and a little bit of exploration reveals there's no passage through them this time. In one of the other buildings in the town I meet a bolshy training lady who gives everyone some combat tips but after that, there's just nothing else to do here.

I'm starting to wonder if this town really WAS a secret? The only thing to do is turn back now - there's no other avenues to explore, no mission stuff to do or characters who're obviously waiting for the story to progress before they give me any missions... I feel like this is some kind of weird other-world - like a we-don't-speak-of-that-place neighbouring town on the island. They're cut off from the rest of their fellow space-celts by a bandit infested mountain pass and they've settled in the actual heard of an infested forest...

I think I'm going to decide for now that it was a secret. I love the idea that it was. I love the idea that at the time this game was made it was ok to put in this kind of enormous area just on the off chance of someone finding it. I love to think that someone thought "Instead of a chest, I'm going to have an amazing shop full of treasure. And I'm going to build this mad extra town to put it in and hide it down a secluded train inhabited by unique enemies (I guess they're not likely to be unique - they'll probably show up again elsewhere - but they're new to me for now!)

I love that this game has something like this hidden town in it to reward exploring. I simply can't imagine something like Oblivion having a secret area this big in it - not to mention having a secret town.

After I'd explored as much as there was to explore of the surrounding woodlands and satisfied myself that I'd mapped the furthest possible extremes of this island I set off back up the pass to carry on with my quest.

This game is just brilliant. What a fantastic surprise extra to find just tucked away on the map. I can't wait to get to the next environment and see what THAT has hidden away in it...