Note: This file contains "spoilers". To see the text that is concealed by the solid blocks, hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor across.
Test spoiler: the evil which lies in the caverns below is unspeakable

Episode 4:Oracle of The Prophets - Walkthrough

This is a very different mission requiring an unconventional walkthrough. The setting is the surface and interior of an asteroid which has very low gravity and no magnetic field. Orientation is quite difficult - a compass will not work, and although Garrett can climb up very steep slopes and jump down from high places without damage, it is sometimes difficult to determine which way is up! With higher difficulties there are fewer weapons, more adversaries and a restricted choice of routes, but the gameplay is basically the same.

Start

The mission opens with Garrett riding a camvator up the outside of the asteroid. Scan left and right during the ascent - notice a glowing bluish egg-shape to the right, of which more later. The camvator stops by a metal contraption near a talkative madman. When he leaves, collect the various arrows and the holy water, and then head upwards on the right side of the metal device towards the blue planet. Soon you will see a ghostly sentinel facing right with an iron bar in his hand. Creep in behind him and collect the Journal of Arcelious. Read it to get a new objective.

The journal refers to the transporter orbs - you have already seen a blue one. In fact, there are four sets of transporter orbs - blue, white, green and red. Each set comprises four orbs. The orbs are equally spaced around the equator of the asteroid.

A little further on are two well-guarded lava lakes with several Fire Arrows around them - you can collect them if you are brave. Now work your way down to one of the ledges next to a transport orb (the easiest descent is on the red sun side). The further you go the more careful you need to be - a little bit too far and you will plummet to your doom. Save game often. Hold the "run" key down when falling, and face the cliff so you will stick to any reasonable surface on contact. Do a lot of leaning, looking and planning before taking any big jumps.

Going Inside

OK, you have made it onto one of the ledges. Walk into the orb and be transported to the interior. There are four different caverns, red, blue, green and white, identified by the coloured mound lights. Thoroughly explore the cavern you have entered because all the loot except for one piece can be found in these top-level caverns. Avoid the purple magic missiles and read any crumpled papers you find. One of these advises "The lava vents in the shape of eyes can be toxic if no fire crystals are present. If you see no crystal within, then do not closely approach such a vent." Good advice indeed! On this uppermost level there are also a few very dangerous fire-shot traps in vents that do have fire crystals. So, if you see a fire crystal, it's best to be quick about grabbing it. Bearing these facts in mind, collect all the fire crystals you can. You will also encounter particle curtains which may or may not have actuators to raise them (depending on difficulty).

There are some unfamiliar opponents to be found here. The floaters can always be destroyed with gas arrows, usually with fire arrows, and sometimes with broadheads.Walking monsters and mutants are best killed with fire arrows aimed at their midriffs. Back-stabs are often quite effective on floaters and monsters too. As usual, the best way of dealing with the fire elementals is to use water arrows.

If you are in the red cavern, you have been lucky - stay in it, and continue from the heading "Red Cavern". Otherwise remain with the current colour and look for a shaft leading down to the next level. Go down, and be careful - you will encounter some active opponents here. Explore this level, which is smaller than the level above, find a shaft leading to yet another level below and go down it.

In the central cavern here you will see a globe floating in the air above a lava pit. There are three side caverns, two of which contain particle curtains. Make your way carefully down the curtainless side cavern and find a tunnel slanting down. Follow it and jump over to the central dome in the magma chamber. Look around the outside wall to locate the green tunnel exit, and make your way towards it. About halfway down the side of dome below the green tunnel is a large hole which contains a crumpled note. Read the note, which explains the significance of the floating globes, and advises you to look for Kelvin in the red globe area. Now go anticlockwise around the dome. Down below the white tunnel is a platform with a white star (protected by a particle curtain) and some gas arrows.

Getting Out Again

The next star past the white star is the blue star. Go to the inside towards the volcano, and climb out on the rocky peninsula to the right to collect a gem. Return, jump across to the platform in the outside wall, go into the booby-trapped doorway, open the particle curtain and enter the transporter room. Collect all the weapons and potions and read what Cavador has to say. Listen to the phonograph. Note that the transport orbs here will deposit you on the surface near a transport orb of the diagonally opposite colour .

You want to go into the red cavern next; the white orb is opposite the red orb, so enter the white orb and emerge on the surface. Carefully creep, look, lean and descend to a ledge with a red transport orb. Go in.

Red Cavern

Explore thoroughly, collecting and reading all the crumpled papers, and make your way down to the Red Globe area. There are four side caverns here. Kelvin is behind the particle curtain that is guarded by the frightening monster. Get past the monster somehow, and go in to Kelvin's body. Read the journal and receive an objective change. The journal contents, together with the notes you have collected already, should give you a very good idea what has to be done now.

Make your way back to the globe chamber and locate the hanging red actuator. Frob it, and a particle cover extends over the lava pit. Run across it and into the globe; frob the inside, and then run onto solid ground to take cover until the fireworks cease. Now make your way down the side cavern which does not contain a particle curtain, run down the sloping tunnel and jump across to the dome in the magma chamber.

Star Activation

The protective particle curtain around a star can be lifted by operating the actuator after the matching colour globe has been touched from the inside. Then frob the star, and a coloured stream will drop from it. All the stars need to be activated - the order is not critical except that the white one should be last. Activate the red star now.

Go back to the transporter room near the blue star (see Getting Out Again), go up to the surface and then down to the next colour cavern. Go down two levels, touch the globe from the inside, jump onto the lava dome, and activate the appropriate star. Repeat the sequence until you finally arrive on the white star platform.

The White Star

This time, operate all four actuators, the white one last. Now activate the white star, and a particle bridge will extend out towards the volcano. Run across and bravely throw yourself down into the crater. A camvator sequence will start. Wait until it finishes, then enter the portal. MISSION COMPLETE!



Loot

Red caves, top level: gem (100 ) and nugget (50 - 150)
Blue caves, top level: gems (2 x 100 - 350)
Green caves, top level: nugget (100 - 450) and gems (2 x 100 - 650)
White caves, top level: gold nugget (100 - 750), silver nugget (50 - 800) and gem (100 - 900)
Rocks to the right of the blue star : gem (100 - 1000)

Playing Styles

After you have mastered the low gravity, two ways of making subsequent games into a real challenge are:
1. Play in ghost mode (perfect ghost is possible).
2. Try the complete opposite - attempt to dispose of all the opposition.



Freddy Fox - 22nd December 2003.