Mortalus Walkthrough

Mortalus
Walkthrough

(H+A Entertainment,
1997)

21 July 2002

Here is a walkthrough that is
truly epic, not because the game itself is, but because it has taken me
three years of hair pulling to get to the end. Every time I finished another
game, I’d reinstall Mortalus to see if I could get any further. Today, I
finally got rewarded with the game ending. Those in the know are aware that
Mortalus was universally panned and subsequently forgotten when first released.
The Canadian firm, H+A, maker of UFOs, Celtica, and Gems of Darkness (later
released as Jewels of the Oracle 2) is now defunct, so this game has become
a rarity. A greater rarity, though, is a walkthrough for the game. I even
wonder if I am the only person to ever have finished this game, such is
the difficulty in the arcade sections of the game. Now, I hope I haven’t
turned you off by mentioning this, because I now know there is a CHEAT CODE
to avoid unnecessary arcade sequences. I may have finished this game years
ago if I’d known. Despite these sequences, this is an adventure game full
of puzzles and inventory management. It has a confusing storyline that manages
to be engaging even though you aren’t always certain what you are doing.
It uses QuickTime to render full motion video and other animations so they
often have a blurring pixellated effect. Some of the background graphics
are quite stylish and dark, setting an interesting medieval scene. Many
reviewers criticized the graphics, but they are more than adequate for the
game. Likewise, the acting was unfairly criticized in most reviews and is
above average in my opinion. It would have been good to have a text option
(anyone heard this criticism before?) to make out some of what was said.
The background music could be a little intrusive, making voices difficult
to understand. The voice acting of the protagonist must be highlighted as
the best actor in the game. Ambient and background noises complemented the
game adequately. One area that could have been tightened was the story.
Although it sounded intriguing, I came away from it uncertain about what
was happening and how I was supposed to effect it. The interface is accessed
through different letters on the keyboard. Making the “ESC” key an instant
return to desktop was not the brightest piece of programming. Similarly,
the game would have been stronger if it avoided the use of dead ends. It
is possible to neglect to pick up an inventory item early on in the game
that prevents you from going any further. Naturally, there is no way to
return to the earlier part of the game. The inclusion of “health” as registered
on the palm of your hand did not affect gameplay but added to the feeling
of urgency, knowing that you could be “overtaken by the curse” and die.
Considering these flaws, this is not the best game in the world by any means.
But it is far from the worst and well worth a look. No game has made me
feel so euphoric to finish it-I really have a sense of accomplishment to
have completed it. I wonder if much of the bad press that was received by
this game was because it was an adventure game, and based unfairly on the
usual adventure-centered criticisms (i.e. not enough blood, too much thinking
required, little replayability).

TIPS:

1.
DO NOT PRESS “ESC” AT ANY TIME-THIS WILL RETURN YOU TO THE DESKTOP
WITHOUT SAVING.

2.
ARCADE SEQUENCES MAY BE BYPASSED BY PRESSING “K”.

3.
CONSULT THE BOOK WHEN YOU ARE UNCERTAIN WHAT TO DO-THERE ARE MANY
HINTS THERE.

CONTROLS:

Most of the time, the game is
mouse driven. However, the keyboard is used for the following interface
functions. These are the important ones:

1.
“B” accesses the Book of Dark Knowledge (full of hints, clues, and
tips).

2.
“O” accesses inventory items.

3.
“P” displays your palm, showing you the extent of your curse.

4.
“S” saves the game.

5.
“X” exits the game.

There is occasional simple fighting.
During sword fights, the following keys are used:

1.
“A” thrusts your sword.

2.
“D” makes an overhead swing.

3.
“S” attacks right.

4.
“W” attacks left.

5.
“TAB” blocks.

For crossbow attacks, the “TAB”
key is held and the mouse is used.

INTRODUCTION

The background to the story is
introduced in a voice over and slide show leading to a mysterious citadel.
You are the squire of Sir John. The character intrigued me because of his
Irish accent and how well spoken he was for a squire. The citadel of “The
Brotherhood” is seemingly abandoned. You lose Sir John in your travels but
meet Brother Peter, a novice in the “Dark Brotherhood”. Unfortunately, he
is unwell, and in addition to giving you the Book of Dark Knowledge, gives
you the “Curse of the Black Hand”. At this time, you are treated to a brief
fly over cutscene to an abandoned cottage.

ABANDONED COTTAGE

Pick up the rock at the right
outside the cottage. (This is essential-if you do not pick this up, you
will run into a dead end in the game). Enter the cottage. Pan to just right
of the door. Pick up the bowl. Open your inventory to find you have a bowl,
a stone, a rock, and some water. Go forward to the left wall. Use the water
with the plant. It blooms and wind blows through the cottage revealing an
inscription in the floor: a triangle with a line through it and a single
“i” underneath it. Drag the two sticks at right to either side of the “i”.
These symbols change to form the word “air”. The camera angle changes such
that you are above the floor. It is a map to a chalice associated with immortality!
A triangle appears on the floor citing a destination. Click on it and each
subsequent triangle that is revealed. The last destination is a circle.
Take note of the order of the symbols: a crossed triangle, an inverted triangle
with a dot in it, a triangle with a dot in it, and an inverted crossed triangle.
When you click on the circle at right, it shows that it is a chalice that
you are seeking. Return to the floor. Exit the cottage.

OUTSIDE

Immediately
on leaving the cottage, you are set upon by members of the Dark Brotherhood
(who have obviously had training at the Monty Python School of Caricature)!
Pick up the crossbow at left. You must dispatch all the bandits. In these
types of sequences, the “K” key is ineffective. When you have done so, you
flee by way of a cutscene. You arrive in a forest.

FOREST

In this forested area, you hear
a disembodied voice tell of a time long past when “the sisters” guarded
against the tide of shadows. You now have a sword piece in your inventory.
Exit this area down to the river.

RIVER OF SHADOWS

Approach the ferryman, Serlibus.
He agrees to ferry you across the river in exchange for half your soul.
Decline his offer as it may not be possible to finish the game with so much
life-force depleted. (If for whatever reason you decide to cross with Serlibus,
you will end up in the Dark Forest). Turn around and follow the path to
the clearing.

Follow it to a clearing up to
the left.

CLEARING

Go straight over to toward the
water. There is an island blocked by a gate puzzle. You must position the
millstones on the gate so that the arrangement looks like this (an inverted
triangle marked by dots at each point and lines connecting each dot):

You make your way to the little
island upon which are four rocks and a depression for another. Place the
rock in the depression. (If you don’t have this rock, you may as well start
the game again as this is a dead end. You must retrieve the rock from the
cottage at the beginning of the game). The five sisters (apparently trapped)
are freed. They give you a magic skiff that need only be folded correctly
to be used to cross the River of Shadows. Turn around and follow the path
back. Just before you reach Serlibus, turn left to find a cleverly concealed
path:

This leads to a bank of the river
(not where Serlibus was).

RIVERBANK

Get out the skiff from inventory
and go forward. The instructions are presented to you. They take a little
working to see, but once found, the directions are pretty straight forward.
Explicit instructions to make the skiff are to:

1.
Fold the solid green circle to the transparent red square.

2.
Fold the transparent brown square to the solid red circle.

3.
Fold the transparent orange square to the black transparent circle.

4.
Fold the transparent purple circle to the solid orange square.

5.
Fold the solid yellow triangle to the solid white square.

6.
Fold the transparent brown square to the transparent blue circle.

7.
Fold the transparent white triangle to the transparent yellow circle.

8.
Fold the solid orange triangle to the solid red circle.

9.
Fold the transparent red square to the solid green circle.

10.
Fold the solid white square to the transparent brown square.

11.
Fold the transparent orange triangle to the solid green circle.

12.
Turn it over.

13.
Fold the solid white square to the solid purple triangle.

Go forward to set sail.

SAILING THE RIVER OF SHADOWS

This is an arcade sequence that
cannot be bypassed. As the boat moves across the river, huge stones rise
to block the way. By trial (i.e. you get another set of rocks) and error
(i.e. you sink to the bottom), it is easy to find your way to the other
bank. You are presented with the exits between the rocks (red squares).
If you number them as they are presented, you must take the 2nd exit
for the first set of stones. For each subsequent set of stones, you must
take the following exits: 2nd, 1st, 2nd,
1st. You arrive on the other side and go to the Dark Forest.

DARK FOREST

You can go either left or right
on a “rail” arcade sequence which can be bypassed. If you do not move quickly,
you will be set upon by more of the Dark Brotherhood and will have to have
a crossbow fight. Following a short cutscene showing a desolate, corpse-ridden
place in the forest, you arrive at the entrance to a village.

VILLAGE ENTRANCE

Enter the village. Take the path
at left. You need to go through an arcade sequence. Turn and pick up the
cogs:

You have three in your inventory
if you check. Return to the gate. Take the path to the left of the wagon.
You have to go through an arcade sequence (which can be bypassed). You end
up at a well.

WELL AND HUT

Get the cogs from under the stocks
(at right):

You now have six cogs. Enter
the hut to the right of the well. Another arcade sequence ensues and you
are outside. Turn around to get the cogs:

 

Now there are nine in your inventory.
Go over toward the church.

OUTSIDE THE CHURCH

Turn around and pick up the cog
from near the chopping block:

You should now have all ten cogs.
Go up to the church.

CHURCH

As you enter the church, you
are met by a kindly monk who offers you sanctuary. Take him up on the offer.
Exit and re-enter the church. Pick up the other piece of the sword:

Go up to the lectern and open
it. You must place the ten cogs you found in such a way that the top cog
powers the left cog and the bottom cog powers the right cog. There is a
catch, however: you must turn the puzzle around 180 degrees (using the pan
cursor) and complete it on the back! You will be offered the opportunity
to download other puzzles when you are successful:

Completion of this puzzle also
opens a secret door at left of the exit doors of the church. Return to the
back of the church to the secret door.

SECRET PASSAGE

Go down a winding staircase to
the bottom of the stairs. Turn right. Go forward once. Turn left to an alcove
in which sits a locked book on a locked chest. Go up to the book. Click
on the bookmark to look at it. To the left and right of the book are two
hidden pages with letters cut out, which, when used with the book, explain
what is required to open the locked chest:

The left page is used with the
left hand pages in the book and vice versa. The cutouts reveal the following
message:

IF DEXTRA IS RIGHT, YOU ARE LEFT
WITH SINISTRA. FIND PAGE SCRIPTED LAST, THEN TRACK ORDER OF FIRST FROM HERE.
SET THE COURSE TO THE KEY THAT YOU SEARCH.

Starting with the red “dextral2”
sheet, because it is the only sheet that doesn’t have a footer, just
go backwards matching the top of the first sheet with the bottom of the
next and so on. The headers of the sheets go in this order:

1.
Red dextral 2

2.
Blue sinistral

3.
Yellow sinstral 2

4.
Yellow dextral

5.
Green sinistral 2

6.
Black sinistral

7.
Red sinistral

8.
Black dextral 2

9.
Black dextral

10.
Yellow sinistral

11.
Green dextral

12.
Green sinistral

13.
Red dextral

 

The symbols indicated by the
pages are important. The first (from red dextral 2) is three circles with
dots in them. The next is an inverted triangle with a line through it (from
yellow dextral). The third is a triangle with a dot in it (red sinstral).
The next is two inverted triangles with dots in them (black dextral). The
last is a triangle with a line through it. Close the book. Look at the cover.
Click on the symbols that correspond with the symbols above in reverse (i.e.
the last is first) but be aware there is no response until you have pressed
all the symbols:

1.
Bottom right once.

2.
Top right twice.

3.
Bottom left once.

4.
Top left once.

5.
Center three times.

The center piece opens, revealing
a key. Take the key and back away. Approach the locked chest. Use the key
in the lock. Take the elixir and scroll from inside the chest. Turn around
and walk down the corridor into the darkness. You are nearly overcome by
despair and dark images before you arrive at the ruins.

RUINS

You are in the ruins of a two-storey
house. Ignore the rickety stairs at left going up. Instead, go over to the
left corner in front of you and proceed down to the basement.

BASEMENT

Go over to the far side of the
room. Climb up a ladder (this arcade sequence can be bypassed). Get the
stone at the end of the sequence. Return to the ground and the to the foot
of the basement  stairs. Turn left and go forward to a floating ball puzzle.
You must arrange these balls such that the top three are swords pointing
up on stone backgrounds, the bottom three should have swords pointing down
on wood backgrounds, and the middle four must be two swords on each ball.
The right button rotates the balls, the left button rotates the topmost
ball with the middle and one out of sight. Your book illustrates this. The
solution looks like:

The best way to achieve this
is to get the top three, then the bottom three, and then do the middle four.
If you don’t get  the middle four right, swap the first and third balls
in the top and start again. Pick up the bowl. A ghostly figure appears and
begs that you use the demon bowls. Do as he asks. Return to the floor above.
Go upstairs to the upper floor.

UPPER FLOOR

A glowing blue sword hangs in
midair. Turn right. Go over to the right hand corner. Be sure to get the
stone at the bottom of the stairs. Go up these stairs. The hilt flies to
you and mystically rejoins with the other pieces as a full sword. hat, where
it does not obtain bricks. Be sure to examine your book at this time. Inspect
the picture of the three pieces of the sword. They magically become one,
and the sword becomes magical. Return to the basement.

BASEMENT

Go out through the hole in the
right hand wall. Ensure your sword is ready in inventory.

OUTSIDE

You are met by a small boy who
is almost impossible to understand. He mutters something about proving yourself
worthy and morphs into a huge knight. The magic you received from the demon
bowls and use of the magic sword should allow you to prevail. ENSURE YOU
HAVE INSPECTED YOUR BOOK PRIOR TO THIS FIGHT-YOU CANNOT WIN WITHOUT FORMATION
OF THE MAGIC SWORD. You must click the icon of the sword onto William to
enable the sword to work. When the dark knight falls, you find yourself
in the forest.

FOREST

You can walk in either of two
directions: down a road or down a dirt track.. Neither seems to be any better,
and in fact may be exactly the same! The road is the path of faith, while
the track is the path of power. Both paths lead to a tree-the “Monolith”.
You must arrange the dials such that the upper “North”, “Cold” on the left,
and “Cold”, “Faith” on the right. You are given multiple opportunities to
correct any errors you make. Once the dials (correct or incorrect) are set,
you need to drag the triangles from the corners of the word puzzle to letters
to form a word. This is akin to “find a word” puzzles. The words are limited
to those words on the dials. All letters must be in a direct line. Sometimes
multiple words need to be found. If you drag the triangle around the board,
it will jump magically to a correct letter as you pass it over the space.
When all dials are in their correct placement, a hand appears in a flash
of light over the correct board placement:

A passage with stairs leading
down appears. A cutscene plays and William feels he is close to the object
of his search. A dark night awaits you in a final battle near a chasm with
a bridge of hovering stones forming a bridge across it.

CHASM

Now is the time to drink the
elixir. If you do not have the elixir, you cannot win the fight. Defeat
the dark night. You are transported to the edge of the chasm. The rocks
forming the mystical bridge each have a symbol atop them. You must use your
stones to cross the bridge. Using the stone, you must click on the symbols
in the order seen on the map at the very beginning of the game: a crossed
triangle, an inverted triangle with a dot in it, a triangle with a dot in
it, and an inverted crossed triangle. Use your stone on the crossed triangle
to begin. When you move to that hovering stone, use the stone on the inverted
triangle with a dot in it and so on until you are at the other side. You
approach a carved entrance into the sheer rock and enter into a hidden chamber.

CHAMBER OF IMMORTALITY

A chalice sits on a rock surrounded
by the four symbols that represent the four elements. Approach and touch
the chalice. It disappears in a blaze of magical smoke. The final cutscene
plays, wherein it is revealed that you are in a fortress that is now destroyed.
William enters a door behind which he hears a sound. He makes a grisly finding-his
master, Sir John, crucified and stripped of flesh. A cloaked figure reveals
himself to be the monk you met in the church. He tells you he is Antelus,
a brother of Mortalus. William is also a brother of this order-one of which
immortality is a trait. The mark on William’s hand is gone-the Dark Brotherhood
has been destroyed! If the Mortalus website were still up, you would now
have been able to access more adventures online. Alas, or perhaps not so
alas, the website has been gone for years. Too bad, because I was hoping
it might have had some answers to the questions the game created through
its absence of a coherent plot!

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Screenshots