Written by Michael
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| Seriously? |
Part 2 of our post-Halloween post. Or pre-Halloween post, depending on your level of optimism, I suppose.
When we last were here, I was making my way to the swamp creature from the blue lagoon, armed with a potion from the local sawbones. So, through the main gates to what I think of as a garden. A garden of evil, mind you.
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| In my last game for the blog, a flower gave me perfume. Now, the tables are turned. |
On to the swamp creature. As he comes after me, I whip out my trusty spray bottle, and poof! Since he's entirely plant life, he disappears completely. The trusty scarab in my pocket tells me I did a good job. Again, I'm reminded about how the defoliant stinks. This ends up being a clue for something later.
Near the man-eating flower in the center of the screen is a very pretty red flower. I know I need it, because it's a slightly different color than the rest of the items on the screen. But, how to get it?
First, I must point out another reference here, which I alluded to in the last post. The main plant head of the three I can see speaks very much like Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors. So much so that I doubt it's coincidence.
Actually, my conversation with the plant also gives another subtle hint about a later puzzle solution. In order to survive someplace else, they recommend packing lead in my corset. I don't want to spoil anything right now, but it ends up being useful advice.
If I get too close to the plant, it eats me. Well, if it's hungry for human, I have a takeout lunch ready for it. I toss it the bagged foot. The plant eats that, and while its mouths are occupied, I take the flower.
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| Stone cold. |
Passing the plant, I head a little bit east on the screen. Just before I approach a house, the troll king interrupts me, warning me that we are approaching Malicia's house. He tells us that the evil witch stole a device from him that could destroy her, and perhaps save us all. Therefore, we need to get inside her house, to retrieve the item. Also, he has heard a rumor about a secret entrance to the troll land underneath, located somewhere in the village of Folderal.
Hey, maybe we'll run into Mom soon?
Anyways, back to the house. There's a gargoyle on the front stoop. If I interact with it, it alerts the owner of the house to my presence. She arrives, and I am no longer of the living. So, we need to ignore him for now, and proceed around to the back of the house.
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| Certainly, the most obvious solution. |
At the rear of the house, I noticed one of the vines growing up the house is a different color than the rest. Of course, that's a sign that I can interact with it. When I do, Rosella yanks it from the ground. That softens the dirt and makes a small little hole. Not quite big enough for our use, so let's use the shovel to widen it.
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| In most games, the hidden treasure is beneath the floorboards. This game, it's above. |
After we've dug the hole, we're able to crawl underneath the evil one's house. We emerge in her bedroom, just peeking up from a lifted floorboard.
If I climb out and enter the room, I'm caught. So, the best thing to do is stay where we are. Notice there's a big giant knot hole in the floorboard?
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| Oh my, Grandma, what a big nose you have! |
As we wait, Malicia enters the room, with her pet dog. This obnoxious creature notices a sound or smell, something that causes him to check out the floorboard. Well, we're given a long pause while he looks in the hole directly at us. What item in our inventory might cause him to go away?
How about spraying him with some awful smelling plant killer? That certainly does the trick. The dog whimpers away, with her pet mother not understanding why she's unhappy. Nevertheless, they both end up leaving the room, allowing us to crawl back out from under the floorboards, and explore.
There's very little in the room of use, although we can look at some of the contraptions around. The place we need to end up is the dresser. One of the drawers contains a lot of clothing. If we were moving it, we look at it. And then, perhaps, we look at another item in the drawer throwing the first one to the ground. And we keep this up until we have a small pile of clothing, and a device.
The king is happy, but now we need to get out of here. For some reason, clicking on the clothing again causes me to put it away, but as I do, one item falls away. It’s a stocking. So, I keep that.
I then place all the remaining clothing back into the dresser and leave the same way I came.
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| All this fuss over an electric massager? |
Before I leave, I take a look at the new items I have picked up. The woolen stocking, predictably, is not interesting to look at. The mysterious device that the troll King sent us to find, that is a little unusual. In that, I mean that somehow it uses an American-style plug to connect to an outlet, looking at it right now.
Also, the flower that I picked up, is described as a fragrant flower. I wonder if this will have some relevance as well.
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| Really, this guy again? |
Continuing East from the front of the house, I come across the same scary woods that my mother came across from the other direction earlier in the game. As I try to cross through those woods, the same fate befalls me. There's a scary werewolf-looking creature that steps out of the trees, and proceeds to pummel me, perhaps as a way of tenderizing the meat before he dines.
The solution to this, hinted at earlier in the game, is to borrow a puzzle from the third Leisure Suit Larry game. Remember when Patti had to get past a wild boar blocking her path to a stream?
By putting the lump of lead into the woolen stocking, we can now whip it around our head and use it to bean the werewolf, much like a mugger might do to us on the streets of New York City in the 1970s.
Upon leaving the woods, we're able to remove the cloak, because we're no longer in the realm of the evil queen. It appears we can explore will, although there's not much to do on any of the screens outside of the town gates.
Approaching the gates of the town, again, we are told we cannot enter, and are given a ridiculous toll in order to do so. Just like my mother, I'm going to dart through the small door in the wall, much to the chagrin of the useless guard.
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| Archduke Fifi again. |
Inside the town, I come across the archduke chasing his own tail. When he notices me, he's surprised to see "yet another pink thing."
Wow, Al Lowe would have had a field day with that line.
Once we introduce ourselves, he recognizes our name, and says that they had previously arrested our mother, but now “we like her just fine.” Just as he told Valanice earlier, we should enjoy the town and take the Faux Shop with a grain of salt.
I don’t really feel like heading to the desert to look for salt, so hopefully we won’t need to go there. So, I make my first stop the China Shop. While friendly (and much happier with his companion), he’s no real use to me. So, I head to the next doorway, the town hall.
Inside, it is still decorated for the royal birthday, although the guests have since left. No one ate the cake?
The maze still works the same way, and I make my way to the powder room. I am still hit in the face with a burst of powder as I approach, making me think we are in some sort of vaudeville play of sorts.
Inside, the portal to the upside-down is boarded up, and there are no Eggo waffles in sight. The rest of the mirrors are of no use, except for attempts at humorous views of Rosella.
Even as a child, I was never overly impressed with funhouse mirrors, but to each his own, I suppose.
There’s a statue off to the left of the screen I can look at, and trying to read the inscription, I’m told it’s all tarnished. Fortunately, I still have a wool stocking in my inventory, and that’s the perfect cleaning tool.
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| The tarnished J.K. Rowling writes better poem clues than this one. |
Reading the inscription, I’m told the cherub statue is hungry, and wants a sweet fruit. Back out in the desert is a prickly pear plant, but I’m lazy, so first let us explore here. Clinging to a column next to the boarded-up mirror are some ornate golden grapes. Using the hammer and chisel yet again (useful tools!) produces a grape for me.
Feeding the cherub causes the top of the fountain-looking thing in the middle of the room to raise, exposing what Rosella thinks is the entrance to the Volcanix underground. But it doesn’t raise enough to get in!
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| He’s chivalrous and opens doors for women. |
Maybe the troll king can help? I use the magic wand on him, just like I did when I caused him to shrink, and he is restored to larger-than-life size. “Hurry, your majesty, before that horrible gargoyle finds us!”
Wait, I avoided the gargoyle on this playthrough (after that death). How would Rosella know about it?
Anyways, the king forces the door open the rest of the way, allowing us to enter the underworld.
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| Not quite chivalrous this time, though. |
Below Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom, we wind a cavern, leading to a locked door.
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| In a previous game, I was accused of pareidolia for seeing a face in a tree. Guess this door proves their point? |
There’s no puzzle here; the king wiggles a couple of knobs and opens the door for us.
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| I’m seeing double. |
Beyond the door, the king encounters his doppelgänger. They throw down, and the chapter ends, as will my post.
Session Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours 45 minutes
