Hadean Lands: Wreck - Walkthrough by metzomagic.com

Q. I found a huge wreck outside with what seems to be a hexagonal door on the side of it. Can I get in there?
A. Perhaps you can get in there. But take a good look at the area description first, especially this excerpt from it:

"... A hexagonal outline on the wall, to the east, might be a door. If so, it is closed. A small black
knot, a tangle of strokes, is drawn on the hexagon.

Next to the hexagon, a small circular arc is incised into the metal.

A small puddle of mercury gleams in the dust."

> x knot
The knot of script is no more comprehensible than the markings you've seen on the Retort.
Except that there's something about it... again, that itch of familiarity.

You stare harder. It's...

comprehension

That meant something. You don't know what, except that you're lying flat in the dust and you
can't remember falling. The hexagon is blank now; the script is... somewhere in the back of your
head... You can remember the glyph now. You roll over and push to your feet, hoping that you've
gained something besides permanent brain damage.

Wow. Does that mean what I think it means? Remember those mysterious black marks scrawled on the walls back in the marcher? I think we can - somehow - read them now :-) So let's head back in and have a look:

> go to grand stair bottom (don't worry, this doesn't disturb the F-sharp chime that's embedded in the Portico window)
> x black marks
Twisting, involuted strokes of black are scrawled across one wall.

You stare at the black script. It's definitely familiar now; something like an echo in the back of
your mind. It's something about a vibrating film of quicksilver...

Comprehension blasts you. You gasp and clutch at your head, but the pain is entirely
metaphorical, a shift of context worse than any headache... The black marks describe the
activation of machinery. The mechanism of command is a circular mark on a wall - like the one
you saw outside the Retort; but the circle in your mind is filled, or covered, with liquid metal.
One concentrates on a sequence of geometric transforms, and the metal resonates in response.

Way cool! Looks like we need to pick up that mercury by the wreck and put it in the circular arc next to the hexagonal door. But then where do we get this "sequence of geometric transforms"? Oh, wait. There were some more black marks elsewhere... in Lab Hall Northwest:

> go to lab wing hallway
> e
> x graffiti (Yeah, I spelled that wrong on the map)
Twisting, involuted strokes of black are scrawled across one wall.

You stare at the black script. It's definitely familiar now; something like an echo in the back of
your mind. It's something about the root, the entry point, gaining entry...

Comprehension blasts you. You gasp and clutch at your head, but the pain is entirely
metaphorical, a shift of context worse than any headache... The black marks represent a
sequence of geometrical transformations. They mean radix access, the passage of the root. You
stare at them, blinking tears from your eyes, until you have them memorized.

> go to wreck
> take mercury
> put mercury in arc
> recite radix access
You begin running through the radix access geometric sequence in your head. The quicksilver
circle vibrates in response; complex ripples refract across it.

When the sequence is complete, a metal panel neatly and silently rotates, hiding the quicksilver
circle from view. Instead, a small niche is now visible, containing a vial of black oil and another
knot of marks.

> take black oil
> x knot
You glare at the knot, willing understanding.

comprehension

This symbol resembles the first, but it comes with a new image: the black oil, magnetic oil,
flowing over indigo stone. An indigo stone column. A familiar column, in a twisty maze of
underground cracks! It must have magnetic properties, which the alien oil will respond to.

Looks like we're on a roll now:

> go to confusing cracks
> pour oil on column
You splash the black oil onto the column. It drips... upward.

The fluid flows up the violet stone, clinging in fine inky trails. The marks slowly resolve into the
familiar (if you can call it that) alien script, which spirals up the column. The strokes spread
across the roof and disappear into a gap to the southeast - a passage you had not noticed until
now.

> se
You follow the trail of script.

Dead End Passage
The passage ends here. You can return to the northwest.

The trail of black marks ends here as well, swirling back on itself across the ceiling. The marks
hint at meaning, but... wait.

> x black marks
Twisting black strokes curve up the passage and wrap themselves into an obscure mandala
around the ceiling of the dead end.

You concentrate on the black script, fishing for the echo of meaning. Something about the core...
travel to the center, or from the center...

Understanding hits like a migraine. You memorize caudex access, the passage of the spine -
another sequence of geometric transformations.

Well now... you can head back to the wreck once more, and see if reciting 'caudex access' will open the hexagonal door. But it won't, because the arc filled with mercury has been replaced by an open niche. So to try that out, you need to reset first :-\ But now it's real easy to get back to the wreck, because the game has conveniently memorised everything for you :-)

> reset
> create oculus
> go to wreck
> take mercury
> put mercury in arc
> recite caudex access
You begin running through the caudex access geometric sequence in your head. The quicksilver
circle vibrates in response; complex ripples refract across it.

When the sequence is complete, the panel silently slides up, hiding the quicksilver circle from
view. Then, more slowly, the hexagonal door begins to move. It only slides about halfway open,
but that is enough to enter.

I think it's "...one small step for a swabbie, one giant leap for swabbie-kind" time:

> e

Strange Airlock
This chamber is not hexagonal, but it reminds you of a hexagon in all directions, if that makes
sense. Perhaps it doesn't.

Strange as the architecture may be, an airlock is clearly an airlock. The outer door to the west is open; the inner door to the north is closed.

A small knot of black marks is drawn in the center of the inner door. Next to the door is another
small circle. This one contains a film of black liquid.

Hmm. What the heck should we do now? This is what:

> recite radix access
You begin running through the radix access geometric sequence in your head. The black circle
vibrates in response; complex ripples refract across it.

When the sequence is complete, the inner door begins to slide aside. Simultaneously, behind
you, the outer door closes. Both move in silence - of course - and in moments the way inward is
clear.

No vapor rushes into the airlock; you are still in vacuum. But an intangible strain seems to
pervade the space from the open door. Your bones and teeth ache.

Well, it would appear that breathing in a vacuum is one thing, but breathing in an alien atmosphere is something altogether different. We're going to have to find another alchemical formula for that. Let's cycle the doors again:

> recite caudex access
You begin running through the caudex access geometric sequence in your head. The black circle
vibrates in response; complex ripples refract across it.

When the sequence is complete, the inner door begins to close again, and the outer door starts
sliding open. The ache in your bones trickles away, leaving a faint warmth.

Hey, wait a minute... there was another knot of black marks on the airlock's inner door:

> x knot
You stare at the knot, willing understanding.

comprehension

This third symbol brings you a new image: a sheet of paper, buried in rubble. Again, the scene is
familiar... a crack in a wall... the crawlway under the Nave. You do your best to memorize the
paper's exact location.

Might as well continue this wild-goose chase:

> go to nave crawlway
You push through the glass.
You make your way to the Nave Crawlway.

Nave Crawlway
This was once the north end of a crawlway, but the passage has collapsed, leaving only this
small space. Debris is heaped up to the south. Light slants in from a gap in the ceiling.

> search debris
You locate the correct slabs and dig between them, trying to disturb the earth as little as
possible. After a few moments, the corner of a dirty sheet of paper becomes visible. You work
your fingers in and yank; the sheet falls to the floor.

> take sheet
You pick up the sheet. It's a potion receipt. "A POTION to RESIST FOREIGN AITHER: The most
hostile lands are those where the very processes of life alter. This potion allows your body to
adapt to these conditions - for a time. Like many life-sustaining concoctions, this begins with an
exhilarant environment and a beaker of saline. Use the Hermetic sealing. Add a measure of
zafranum to the arc. Ensure that the atmosphere is filled with an exhilarant aroma; tinct it by
igniting the zafranum. Speak the Anodyne Evocation; place a sample of salt on the gestalt shelf;
close with the Chi Binding."

Oh dear. We seem in a bit of a bind now. Both the aither-resistance potion and the glass permeability chime require zafranum :-\ Do we need to revive Pneuma to get the Airlock back in the Retort operational? Maybe. But let's stop here, as that is the subject of another FAQ.