Agon: The Mysterious Codex – AGON – Ancient Games of Nations
TABLUT
Following
is my solution to the game in the NORMAL mode. [Please, remember: you
can go to the main menu, click on Game Options, and then change the difficulty
level to EASY to no doubt come up with a shorter/easier solution.] Please,
note the following in "deciphering" my solution: I have labeled the
rows A-H, and the columns 1-9. Thus, the first cell in the upper left corner
is read A1 and the last one at the lower right as I9. The red squares in my
diagram correspond to the red squares in the game, to hopefully make it easier
to compare the two boards. The green squares in my diagram represent the cells
occupied by your pieces at the start of the game. Finally, the red
square in the center is occupied by your KING, of course. Please, note also that
you need to make ONLY the moves indicated in BLUE at the left in the following
directions. Moreover, here is an example of how to follow those directions:
The first move (E7 à D7)
means that you must move your piece from cell E7 to cell D7.
As for the parenthetical statements after each move, they are for reference
purposes only, to confirm you have made all the "right moves" so
far. Feel free to ignore these notes completely, of course. If you decide to
use them, however, please note that these parenthetical notes indicate: the result(s)
of your move, if any; the computer’s response; and the result(s) of the
computer’s response, if any. With all this in mind now, let’s play TABLUT!
E7 à D7 … [E8 moves to
D8]
E6 à D6 … [I6 moves to
E6]
C5 à C6 … [D1 moves to
D3]
F5 à F6 … [E6 killed; F1
moves to F5, killing your G5]
E4 à F4 … [F5 killed; H5
moves to F5]
C6 à C3
… [D3 killed; A4 moves to E4, killing your E3]
D5 à D4 … [E4 killed; E2
moves to E4]
F4 à G4 … [E9 moves to
E6]
G4 à F4 … [E4 & F5
killed; E1 moves to E4]
F4 à G4 … [I5 moves to
F5]
G4 à F4 … [E4 & F5
killed; B5 moves to D5]
D6 à C6 … [I4 moves to
I2]
C6 à D6
… [D5 & E6 killed; A5 moves to D5]
D6 à C6 … [A6 moves to
A2]
D7 à D6 … [D5 killed; D8
moves to D7]
C6 à C8 … [D9 moves to
D8]
F6 à E6 … [F9 moves to
F5]
E6 à E8 … [D8 killed; I2
moves to E2]
E8 à D8 … [D7 killed; E2 moves to E4]
D6 à F6 … [F5 killed; A2
moves to A4]
D4 à C4
… [A4 moves to B4]
C4 à D4 … [E4 killed; B4
moves to B8]
C3 à A3 … [B8 moves to
B2]
D4 à D2 … [B2 moves to
C2]
F4 à B4 … [C2 moves to
B2]
C8 à C2 … [B2 moves to
B3]
C2 à C3 … [B3, the last
enemy piece, killed].
* * * * * * * * * * * *
As the
second episode concludes, we are once again presented with a map and the
professor’s travel to his next destination, Madagascar, is marked across it.
As the marking is completed, read the correspondence between Smythe and the
professor. There are two letters from Smythe to the professor at the left side
of the map; another letter from Smythe to the professor at the top of the map;
and then, a letter from the professor to Smythe at the right side of the map.
Finally, read the eight pages of the professor’s biography, written by his
wife, at the lower right portion of your screen.
[Note:
Again, this might be a good spot to save your game, just in case you
might want to come back and reread any of these documents or the biography.]
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Episode
3: Madagascar
We find the
professor at the beach. As the cut scene ends, you should be looking out to
sea. Turn a little to your right and take two steps forward (moving away to
the left from the boat) to arrive at an apparent dead end by the rocks. Turn
right, and go back along the beach to return to the boat. Keep going forward
(to the right of the boat this time), and go to the other end of the beach.
Pan the camera to your left and note the fishing net. Now turn a little to the
left, step forward. Turn right, take another step, and hear the professor’s
comment about the wall around the village. Turn right and step forward to approach
the guard at the village entrance. The dialogue box will indicate many
possible topics as the conversation develops. Exhaust all of these topics.
Don’t worry even when the guard threatens you with his spear. Just keep on
clicking on the speech icon on the guard, covering the topics, until that icon no
longer appears on the guard. Thus, you find out about the villagers’ distrust
of pirates, a little bit about the forest, and about the fact that there is
apparently one last and old pirate still to be found in the clearing beyond that
forest.
Follow the
guard’s suggestion to use berries to lure a lemur into leading the way through
the forest. So pick up a handful of red berries from the pan sticking out of
the wall slightly to your left. Turn slightly further to your left and note
the narrow path leading into the forest. Take two steps down this path, and
the camera will automatically pan down to your right to show you a lemur
sitting on the ground. Close up on the stone in front of him. Place the red berries
on the stone, and a short cut scene will show the lemur taking them. You will
be automatically brought out of the close up. Step forward into the forest.
You hear nothing, and you will find arrows pointing in four different
directions. Step forward again. "Where are you my little helper…?"
Almost as if on cue, you will hear the lemur’s cry. You must now follow those
cries to help you reach that clearing the guard had mentioned.
Note:
Every time you take a step, there will be arrows pointing in four directions. The
trick is to pan the camera around to a point where the lemur’s cry sounds the
loudest. Click on the arrow in that spot to move forward. Wait to hear the
sound of the lemur again, determine where that sound is the loudest, and then
click on the arrow appearing in that spot. Some people might do the whole
thing in eight clicks; others will take ten. But don’t despair even if it
takes you longer to get through. Just keep following the lemur’s cries in this
way. [I also got the feeling that it is best to click in the middle of the
lemur’s cry itself. So maybe this part of the game has as much to do with
coordinating with the sound as well as the spot where that sound is heard
the loudest.] When you take the last step, a cut scene will show the professor
stepping out of the forest. The camera will pan down to the right
automatically, to show the lemur sitting in front of yet another stone. We
will need him again on our way back. But for now…
Step
forward, turn right, and step forward to approach the fireplace on the ground.
Look down to your right, and pick up the rags. Turn back to the fireplace, look
up and take two steps forward. Turn right, step forward, and pick up
the firewood on the ground below. Turn back around and step forward. Turn
right, step forward, turn right again, step forward, to arrive at yet another
clearing. Pick up the "slats" (wooden planks) from the pile behind the
crate with some kind of a device sitting on the top. Close up on this device then
and find that it is some kind of a presser: when you click on the handle in the
back of the "head," the upper part of the "mouth" presses
against the lower part. Hmmm…
Step out of
the close up, and note that you can go either left or right. Take a step
towards the right, turn left, and take another step forward. Now pan the
camera around to your left to find a large tree with some wooden planks
attached to serve as steps. This is the tree that the professor was talking
about when we had initially arrived at the area with the fireplace. Click on
the UP arrow, and the professor indicates that some of the steps are missing. No
problem. Open your inventory, click on the slats and then on the rags, to make
two temporary steps. Pick up one of them and click on the top hole you see on
the side of the tree – in the empty part, under the steps already there [your
step will begin to glow when you hover it over the correct spot]. Now pick up
the other temporary step and click on the tiny spot under the step you
just attached (note where the second step glows) to attach this one to the tree
as well. The professor will indicate that the row (of steps) is still
incomplete, but that he can manage.
Go up a
step, to find that you cannot go further. Note the large wooden board below, practically
at your feet, serving as a kind of landing. Turn around, look down, and pick
up one of the temporary steps you had just attached to the tree. With this
step still in hand (appearing as your cursor), turn back around and look down under
the landing for a spot where the temporary step will glow again. Click, and
that step will now be attached in front of you. Go up, and a cut scene will
show the professor going up the rest of the way and arriving at the entrance to
the tree house. Turn to your right and step through the reddish curtain.
Turn left
and look down at the middle shelf. Note the brown bowl of rice on the left
side of that shelf. But you don’t have anything you can use to take some rice
out, nor does there appear to be any reason just yet to do so. So look back in
front of you, step forward, and close up on the table down to your right. Pick
up the matchbox sitting behind the hand sander. Then pick up the ENINA
card to its left.
Step out of
the close ups, turn right and step forward. Turn right and close up on the wall
painting. Make a note of the letters etched at the side of the sail ship: ABE. Step out of the close up, and
turn around (to the left of the ladder). Pick up the "missing step"
leaning against the wall in front of you. Then pick up the EFATRA card
from the bucket to the left of where the step had been sitting. You might have
to pan the camera slightly to the right to pick up the IRAY card from
the floor, immediately to the left of the doorway. Turn right and go up the
ladder to arrive at the second level. Turn right and step through the curtain
of vines. The old pirate lies on a bed in front of you.
Turn right
and pick up the ROA card from behind the bag of mushrooms on the top
shelf. Now step towards the old man and the camera will automatically pan down
on him. Bring out the wine from your inventory and give it to the old man. A
cut scene follows. You must now find some food for the old man. Look to your
left and pick up the DIMY card from the right of the wash basin, on the
table next to the bed. Turn around further to your left and close up on the
corner shelf. Pick up the lantern from the top shelf to the left of the
pole holding up the shelf. Pick up the "bowl" (it is actually a deep
frying pan) from the top shelf to the right of the same pole, and a
handful of brown berries from the shelf below. Step out of the close up. Go
back down to the first level. Go over to the entrance but before you leave,
turn right and use your recently acquired "bowl" to take out some
rice from the middle shelf.
Step out of
the hut and take two steps down to find that you can go no further. There is a
gear icon right at your feet. Bring out the step you had found in the hut and
click where you had seen the gear icon (the step will glow when you hover it
over that spot). Now step down and forward, to reach the fireplace clearing.
Turn left to look at the fireplace. Bring out the bowl of rice and click on
the pot over the fireplace, to pour the rice into that pot. Look up, step
forward and turn around to your right to see a barrel full of water. Fill your
bowl with some of that water and return to the fireplace. Put the water in the
pot over the fireplace, only to find that it is not enough. So go back to the
barrel of water and fill your bowl with some more water. Return to the
fireplace and pour that water into the pot. Bring out the firewood from your
inventory and place it under the pot. Finally, click on the matchbox and then
on the firewood below, to light a fire under the pot.
Hanging
around and waiting will not do any good. You are supposed to do something else
before the rice is cooked. So look up, and take two steps forward. Turn left
then, step forward, turn right, and step forward, to reach the second
clearing. Close up on the device on the crate, place the brown berries in the
"mouth," and press the handle at the back of the "head."
The brown berries will turn into red berries. Pick up those red berries, and
step out of the close up. Note, once again, that you can go either left or
right. Turn left this time, step forward; turn slightly to the left again, and
take another step forward; then, turn right and take two steps forward,
to return to the fireplace. The rice is cooked now. Fill your
"bowl" with some of that "steamed rice." Turn left and step
forward to reach the big tree. Go up to the second level and give this bowl of
rice to the old man.
Click on
the speech icon now appearing on the man. When he asks, "who are
you?," you can actually pick either of the answers given, because you will
get the same information in response. I prefer the second choice though:
"Adventurer (in search of the Agon)," because the old man
seemed to become a little hostile when I had tried the first choice in playing
this portion of the game earlier.
The dialogue
moves forward and the old man is reluctant to go in details for fear that it is
a long story. Click on "Please, tell me…" to encourage him to
continue. A cut scene follows in which you learn all about the old man –
Jonathan Morgan, and the late Captain Jeremiah Dodd. As the cut scene ends,
click on Morgan, to gain more information. You will have to do this several
times, but be sure to keep clicking and asking all the questions that appear in
the dialogue box, until the professor indicates that we should not disturb the
man any further. Now turn right and step towards the ladder by the window.
Turn around to face the ladder, and click to go up. Turn around then to face
another ladder. Go up that ladder as well, to reach the third level, and inside
the Captain’s "quarters."
There is a large
window-like opening on your left. Click on the cards hanging on the wall to
the left of that window, and thus pick up the VALO, FOLO, FITO,
and SIVY cards, one by one. Turn around to your right, and look down on
the ground, under the hammock. Feel free to leaf through the book in the front
but it is the one in the back, almost hidden in the right corner under the hammock,
which we really need. It is called "Vocabulary of the Malgasy
– The language of Madagascar" and is stated to be "The
Most Detailed English-Malgasy Dictionary." "Well, well…"
And there is good reason for this comment by the professor. As you leaf
through the pages, note that the words on the cards we had picked (Dimy, Enina,
etc.) represent numbers. Feel free to make a note of the Malgasian equivalent
of the ten numbers [1-10] you find in this dictionary, or wait for my
diagram that shortly follows.
Turn left
to face the central part of the quarters now. Look down on the floor. Again,
feel free to pick up and leaf through the two books in the box to your right. Next,
pick up the TELO card lying on the ground to the left of the box full of
books. You will see it sticking out from just above the book you find leaning
against a pile of other books on the floor. Thus, you should now have a total
of ten cards. [Note: you can click on the "F" on the dial in
the upper-right corner of your screen, thus opening up the Table of Contents
where you can click on any one of the ten cards you collected in this tree house.
Thus, you can refer to these cards at any time that you wish.]
Now pick up
that dark book leaning against the pile of other books: "Falconer’s
Marine Dictionary." Note the three questions on the left page as
you open the book: Where? What? When? The professor is right that
these are supposed to serve as some kind of reminders for us as well. In fact,
the next time you open the book, a key pad will appear to your right and you
will actually have to answer these questions. But we don’t have enough
information to do that just yet. So just flip through the pages and, as you
begin the actual dictionary portion of the book, note the letters ABE at the
top of the second column on the left page. Recall that these are the same letters
that we had seen on the side of the ship in the wall painting at the first
level. The text following the letters in the book, although hard to read, is actually
irrelevant to our quest. The letters are all that matter. But again, we don’t
have enough information yet to figure out what they mean. So let’s move on for
now…
Close up on
the telescopic apparatus in front of the window to your left. Close up first
on the settings to the left of the telescope. Note the three levers. The one on
the left can be set at Roman Numerals I, II, or III. The one in the center
moves horizontally, from left to right, and can be set at 10, 20 or 30.
Finally, the one on the extreme right moves vertically, from bottom to
top, and can be set at 10, 20 or 30 as well. Feel free to try different
settings. Every time you change the setting for any lever, step out of the
close up on the settings and into the one on the telescope, to check the
result. You will find that some settings will show writings on objects, indicating
different times (at dusk, at midnight, etc.) and places (behind
the village, on the forest path, etc.), while others indicate nothing
at all. Again, we don’t have enough information yet to find the answers that
we need. So let’s move on again for now…
It is time
to visit the Captain’s grave. So step out of the tree house, and take a step
towards the fireplace. Take another step forward, on the path to the right of
the fireplace, to return to the edge of the forest. The camera will automatically
pan around to focus on the lemur sitting on the ground below. Close up on the
stone in front of him, place the red berries, and watch the lemur take them. You
will be brought out of the close up automatically. Take two steps into
the forest, and you will hear the lemur’s cry. So as before, just click on the
arrow in the spot where the lemur’s cry appears to be the loudest, to return to
the village.
As you thus
step out of the forest, take two steps forward (away from the forest) to
approach the guard. There is no need to talk to him, however. Just pick up
another handful of berries from the pan to his left, turn slightly further to
the left, and take two steps down that narrow path back to the edge of the
forest. Close up on the lemur sitting on the ground to your right, place the
red berries on the stone, and watch him take off. As you are brought out of
the close up automatically, step forward to enter the forest yet again. But this
time, we are not going to the clearing on the other side, but to the Captain’s
grave in the forest itself. So you can ignore the lemur’s cry altogether.
Just keep clicking on the arrow right in front of you to keep going forward. Not
counting that step you took to enter the forest after the lemur took off, you
should find yourself facing the grave at the fifth click.
Note: Please, SAVE your game at this point and read
the following instructions carefully, to avoid possible frustration in attempting
this puzzle.
There are
nine poles on the left side of the grave. Note the colored shapes on the poles,
under the ox figurines, and you will find that each of these patterns on the
different poles is comparable to a pattern (also under an ox figurine) in one
of the cards you collected in the tree house. The English-Malgasy Dictionary
had helped us determine the correct order (1-10) of those cards. Thus, we can
see that the poles here are "out of order." We need to rearrange
them now in the correct order, left to right, going from the foot to the head
of the grave.
But we had collected ten cards,
and there are only nine poles by the grave. Hence, one of the cards should be
redundant. In my case, it was number ten, Folo. However, I played this
game twice and found the poles set up in a different order around the grave
each time. So I have included the tenth card in the picture that shortly
follows, just in case that pattern happens to pop up in your particular game.
It is also for this reason that I cannot give you an exact solution to this
puzzle. But I hope, the following suggestions will be helpful.
1. Take one step to the left of the
grave, and turn left to face the three poles presented to you. Note that you
can pick up any one of these three poles, but DON’T do that just yet.
Rather, refer to the cards in your File (or to my diagram below) and make a
note of each of the three poles in the order that they appear, left to right
(For example: Is it 7, 6, 8? or 9, 6, 4?, etc.).
2. Take another step to your right, and
turn to face the second group of three poles. Again, determine and make a note
of the order in which these three poles appear, left to right.
3. Finally, take another step to your
right, and turn around to face the last group of three poles. Determine and
make a note of the order of these poles as well.
4. This will be a good point to save
your game, now that the computer has already established the order of the nine
poles and before you move any one of them.
5. Once you have noted the order of all
nine poles, you must now rearrange them in the correct order. In this
connection, please, keep two things in mind.
(a) You do NOT have to
put a pole into your inventory and then bring it out again to put it in a
different position. It would be much easier just to carry the pole. So
when you pick a pole out of its original position, move it to the left or right
(depending on where you want to go) of the group of three poles in front of you
and click where the pole (in your hand) glows. You will be moved to that
position, with the pole still in your hands, appearing as your cursor.
(b) Don’t forget that when
you pick up a pole, you will then be able to see only 8 poles on the ground.
This is probably the trickiest part of the puzzle – keeping track of the order
of the remaining poles after you have picked up one of them. Taking notes to
indicate what you have moved where will be really helpful for
this purpose.
The cards,
numbered 1-10, are as follows:
Once again, remember that you
have to rearrange the poles so that they will appear in the correct order, left
to right, i.e., starting from the pole at the foot of the grave to the one at
the head of the grave. The correct order most likely will be 1-9 (but
try 2-10, if the pattern from the tenth card happens to pop up). As
soon as you place the last pole in its correct order, the professor will
confirm, "Yes, no doubt, this must have been the original order."
Let’s find out now what we accomplished by arranging the poles in the correct
order.
Go to the last pole at the head
of the grave. Look down to your right, and close up behind the
headstone. Etched in the stone, you will see twenty-six letters of the English
alphabet, and a foreign symbol above each of these letters. Thus, each foreign
symbol is supposed to represent the letter of the English alphabet appearing
under it. Go back to the poles (now to your right), and note that one or more
of these same symbols have been carved on the wooden portion of each pole,
under the colored pattern we had been examining up until now. So now that the
poles are in their correct order, the symbols are in the correct order as well;
and all you have to do is to make a note of the symbols on the poles, and then refer
to the back of the headstone to see what English letters they represent, to decipher
the message on the headstone.
When you
are ready, click on the back of the headstone and a
piece of white paper will appear to your left and a key pad to your right.
Click in the following message, using the NEXT button at the lower-left
corner of the key pad to leave a blank space between words:
UNDER THOSE DATES WK
Press ENTER
on the key pad. The professor will confirm the solution, and indicate that we
must now figure out what the reference to those "dates" means.
Go back to the foot of the
grave and step towards the right side of the grave this time. Close up
on the front of the headstone. Open your inventory, click on the knife,
and then click on the dates (1821-1875) written on the headstone. Thus,
that part of the headstone is removed, revealing a compartment inside. Click
on the piece of paper to the right, to retrieve the third page of the
mysterious codex. Now click on the notebook to the left, and flip through the
pages. Note the diagram at the very end of the notebook.
We must now return to the
Captain’s quarters back in the tree house. So step to the foot of the grave, and
then into the forest. Step forward again, and you will hear the lemur’s cry. Once
again, follow his sound to return to the clearing by the fireplace. Step
forward and then to your left, to approach the tree. Go all the way up to the
Captain’s quarters. Close up on the telescopic apparatus, and then on the
settings. Now click on the F, on the dial in the upper-right corner of your
screen, to bring up the Table of Contents. Click on "Captain Notebook."
Go to the end of the notebook and look at the following diagram again.
Recall the letters we had seen
on the wall painting on the first level of the tree house: ABE. This is the code to the settings
as well as the clue to the answers to the questions in that book on the floor.
Here is how to decode both. Note that the diagram is actually divided up into
three separate sections, each consisting of nine boxes each. Find the letter
"A" in the left section, under Roman Number I. Note
further that the numbers written vertically to the left of the diagram
represent the settings of the lever that moves vertically (i.e., the lever on
the right side of the settings). There are no numbers written horizontally
under the diagram. You must assume that they are and that they represent
the settings of the lever that moves horizontally (i.e. the middle lever in the
settings). Thus, we see that the "A" in the left section of the diagram
requires us to set the left-most lever to I, the
middle lever to 10, and the right-most lever to 10 as well. Click the
X/Exit to step out of the close up on the notebook and set the levers to these
positions. Then step out of the close up on the settings and into the one on
the telescope, to find the words "on
the Beach" written on a board on a tree branch.
Next, we look at the "B"
in the middle section of the diagram, under Roman Number II, to find
that it requires a horizontal setting of 20 and a vertical setting of 10. So
set the left-most lever to II, the middle lever
to 20, and the right-most lever to 10. Now close up on the telescope,
to see the words "the skull rock"
written on an object. Finally, look at the "E" in the
right-most section of the diagram, under Roman Number III, and find that
it requires a horizontal setting of 20 and a vertical setting of 20 also. So
set the left-most lever at III, the middle lever
to 20, and the right-most lever to 20 as well. Close up on the
telescope again, to see the words "at
ebb of tide" written on a broken wooden crate.
We are now ready to answer the
three questions in that book. So step out of these close ups and look down at
that book, "Falconer’s Marine Dictionary," leaning against the
pile of other books on the ground. Close up on that book and, as indicated
earlier, a key pad appears to the right while the cursor appears after the
first question "Where?" Click in the words
"on the beach"
(using the NEXT button at the lower-left corner of the keypad to leave a
blank space between words). Press ENTER on the keypad to go to
the next question "What?" Click in the words "the
skull rock" and then press ENTER on the keypad
again to go to the last question "When?" Click in the
words "at ebb of tide"
and press ENTER on the keypad to finish. The professor will
confirm the correctness of the solution.
Step out of the close up and go
down to the second level of the tree house. As you step forward, be sure to
grab a handful of brown berries from that corner shelf to your left. You can
leave the tree house now. As you get off the last step, pan the camera to your
right (just to the left of the tree steps) and step forward. Pan the camera to
your right again, and step forward. Now pan the camera to your left and down
to find that presser. Close up on the presser, put the brown berries in its
"mouth" and then press the handle at the back of its "head,"
to turn the brown berries into red berries. Pick up the red berries, and step
out of the close up. Again, note that as you turn around, you can go either
left or right. Step forward to your right. Turn left, and step forward (to
return next to the tree). Step forward, to find the path towards the forest either
to your right or in front of you. Step forward on this path and then pan the
camera down to your left, to find the lemur sitting on the ground. Close up on
the stone in front of him, put the red berries on the stone, and then wait to
be automatically brought out of the close up. Now turn slightly to your right
and step forward to enter the forest.
You will be happy to know that
you don’t have to follow the lemur’s cries all the way back this time because,
as soon as you take that one step into the forest after the lemur, a cut scene
will show the professor back at the beach. It will be dusk already. Wait for
the professor to finish his comment and then step forward to your left. The
camera will pan to the right automatically, and the professor will exclaim
about seeing Skull Rock clearly from that position. Look down and pick up one
of the green strands from the ground. "A strong water plant, and very
flexible, too." Pick up another strand.
You must now go along the beach
to the rocks on the other side. So turn slightly right and step forward. Turn
slightly left then, and step forward again. Turn slightly to the left yet
again, and step forward to finally reach the rocks. Now turn left, and step
forward, in the direction of the sea. Step forward in the same direction,
reaching the sea. Turn right now and step forward to the left of the huge
rocks. Turn slightly to the right and step forward in the direction where you
see some bright orange bamboos lying up ahead. At this point, you can either
go forward or to your right towards the bamboos. But you cannot pick up any of
those bamboos just yet, so step forward instead, to arrive at the mouth of a
cave. As you approach it, the camera will pan slightly to focus the view
directly over this cave, as the professor makes a comment about the cave.
Step into the cave, and a cut
scene will follow. Step forward, turn slightly to your left and click on either
one of the bamboos in the water. The camera will automatically pan down to
your left to show the two bamboos now arranged horizontally on the ground. The
gear icon on the bamboos indicates the need for further action. Step back out
of the cave, turn left, and step up in the direction of those bamboos you had
seen just before entering the cave. Pick up all eight of them (five from the
front and three at your back) and return to the cave where the first two
bamboos had been laid out for you. Open your inventory, click on a bamboo and
then on the spot between the two already on the ground. Thus, put all the
bamboos on the ground to see them arranged in the form of a raft. Now click on
the two strands of seaweed in your inventory, one by one, and then on the
"raft," to tie those bamboos together at the top and bottom ends of
the raft. Click on the completed raft, and a cut scene will follow.
As the cut scene ends, step
forward, and hear the professor complain about the darkness. So open the
inventory, click on the matchbox and then on the lantern, to light up the
place. [As in the beginning of the game, the lantern will stay in the
inventory, but you will now have some light.] Turn back around and step
forward, to see the raft in the distance. Click on the forward arrow to hear
the professor explain that the raft has drifted away, so you will have to find
another way of getting out (after you are done in this place, of course).
Turn around and take six steps
forward, until you hear the professor’s comment about the fact that this is the
place where only the Captain had set his foot. Pan the camera down to your
left, to see the chest on the ground. If you click on the gear icon at this
time, you will see a cut scene showing that the chest is too heavy for the
professor to move it just yet. So close up on the chest instead, and find that
it is full of rocks. Click on the rocks, one by one, to remove them. You will
find a white box at the lower-left corner of the chest. As you click on this
box, you find that it is a board game. Click on the X/Exit, to step out of
this close up. Be sure to remove any remaining rocks from the chest, and then step
out of the second close up in the chest itself. Now click on the gear icon
appearing on the chest, to see a cut scene showing the professor moving the
chest aside and discovering "another tunnel" behind it.
Before we go into this tunnel,
however, turn right and take two steps forward. The professor indicates that
we cannot go any further this way. Close up on the rocks in front of you.
There is a pickaxe-head caught between the rocks. Try to pick it up and the
professor indicates that you cannot free it by hands alone. Step out of the
close up, turn around and take the two steps to come back to the chest. Step
into the tunnel to the right of the chest and another cut scene follows.
Apparently, the professor has tripped or fallen, but don’t worry! You can
still come back to the chest. You would just have to go UP to do so.
For now though, take eight
steps forward, adjusting your view as you go along to keep moving in that
direction. You will find yourself at the end of the tunnel with a ladder lying
against the wall to your right. Step towards the ladder and pick it up. Now
turn left and step towards the pool of water. There is a rope dangling down
from above, with a bucket tied to the bottom end of the rope. Look up and move
your cursor around on the well’s wall, to the left of the rope. You will see a
gear icon where the well’s natural wall ends and a man-made brick wall rises
above it. Bring out the ladder from your inventory and click where it glows,
to place it against the natural edge of the well’s wall. Step up on the ladder.
Click on the arrow pointing up to hear the professor’s comment that you cannot
go any further and that even though some of the bricks can be moved, "hands
are not enough for such an operation."
Look down to the right of the
ladder and pick up the pole standing in the shadows, against the well’s wall, some
feet away from the ladder. It turns out to be a pickaxe-shaft. Step down the
ladder, and go all the way to the other end of this tunnel. Pan your camera UP,
to find a hole in what appears to be the ceiling. This is the spot through
which the professor had apparently fallen. Click on the arrow appearing in
this spot, to climb back up next to the chest. Move your cursor around to find
the chest and then take two steps into that very short, dead-ended tunnel, to
the right of that chest. Close up on the rocks we had seen earlier.
Now open your inventory, click on the pickaxe-shaft and then on the pickaxe-head
stuck among the rocks, to use the shaft to pry out and pick up the pickaxe-head.
The shaft is still in your hands. So just click on the pickaxe-head now in
your inventory, to attach the shaft to the head, thus getting a whole pickaxe.
Go back to the chest and into
the tunnel behind it. Go all the way to the other end and step up on the
ladder. Close up on the brick wall in front of you. Bring out the pickaxe
from your inventory, and click on the brick at the lower-right corner of
the screen. Thus, that brick is removed, leaving behind an empty slot. You
can now use that slot to move around the bricks, so that some of them would serve
as steps to help the professor climb out of this well.
Here is the order in which you
should place the bricks. The two "columns" in the center of the wall
is where the bricks will serve as steps. The two slots on either side of those
columns are for "spares." Note that you need to place a total of eight
bricks, four in each of these two central columns. Note also the number of dashes
after the "X" on each brick. The two bricks with only one dash each are
too short to serve as steps, and need to be discarded in the spare
slots. The rest of the bricks need to be arranged in the order shown below. [Note:
the number after the dash in the following picture represents the number of dashes
on the right edge of the bricks in the game itself. Thus, for example, "X
– 4" refers to any brick with four dashes on its right edge.]
As you place the last brick in
the correct order, the professor will confirm the solution, and a cut scene will
follow immediately. The professor climbs out of the well only to be struck by
the guard from behind. He wakes up in the Chief’s hut, and must now explain
why he was found entering the village in such a suspicious manner. At the end
of the cut scene, click on the Chief to start a dialogue. You are given a
choice of three statements. Use all three, by picking the choice at the top
every time. At the end of the third statement, a gear icon will appear on the
Chief. Bring out the board game from your inventory and give it to the Chief.
Another dialogue follows. Again, click the choice at the top first and then
the second one that follows. The Chief is convinced of the professor’s good
intentions, and asks him what he would like in exchange for the favor he has
done the Chief. You get only one choice: ask him to help old Morgan. The
professor then asks that they start playing the board game immediately. So you
are presented with the rules for the board game. Be sure to read all four
pages of these rules. We are now ready to play our second and last board game
of this AGON installment.
FANORONA
Following
is my solution to this board game. Again, it is for playing the game in the NORMAL mode. [Feel free to change the difficulty level to EASY, to no doubt come up
with a much simpler solution.] Please, note that this time, I have not
indicated the results of your moves, nor the enemy moves and their results.
Given the nature of this particular game, it would have made things only more
complicated, rather than simpler, if I had done so. There are more columns and
fewer rows in this solution than there had been for the first one, because of
the difference in the two boards, of course. Otherwise, the format of the
solution is the same. Thus, the first move [C4 à C5]
means that you must move your piece from cell C4 to cell C5. Note also that
this is the only move I have recommended that will require you to choose
which enemy piece should be removed from the board. As I have indicated
parenthetically, pick the piece on cell C6. So with all this in mind now,
let’s play FANORONA!
C4 à C5 (pick C6 to be removed from the
board)
C5 à D6 à E6
D3 à D2 à E3 à C3 à E5 à C7 à B6 à C6 à C7
D1 à C1 à C2 à B2 à B4 à D4 à B6 à B1
E2 à D2
D5 à C5
C5 à C6
C6 à B6
B6 à B7
B7 à B8
B8 à C9
Sit back now and enjoy the
ending. But don’t doze off altogether or you will miss what is obviously meant
to serve as a prelude to the first episode ("The Lost Sword of
Toledo") in the next installment of AGON that the developers have
promised.
Have a Safe and Happy Spring Break!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * *