Hadean Lands: Wreck Interior - Walkthrough by metzomagic.com

Q. How do I visit the interior of the alien wreck beyond the Strange Airlock?
A. You've no doubt discovered the aither-resistance ritual by now, which we need to perform to make that alien atmosphere inside the wreck breathable. However, it requires zafranum, and so does the metal attractor that we've been using to make glass permeability to venture outside. Well, once Pneuma is operational, we can obviously use the Airlock to get outside instead. So let's do that:

> recall aither-resistance (Nave Crawlway, search debris after learning third alien glyph)
"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."

It may not be exactly clear from those instructions, but you need to start with the rotor card set to 'windy day' on the gestalt shelf, and also open the impet of kelp when prompted. So to make the aither-resistance potion: Click here to show/hide ritual steps

Remember to drop anything fragile before we go outside. You also need to make and drink vacuum-protection... and drink the aither-resistance we just made, because that vial might shatter in vacuum too. Then make your way to the marcher's Airlock and:

> close inner door
> pull lever
> open outer door
> go to strange airlock
> recite radix access
> n

Bent Chamber
This chamber has odd angles, but you're pretty sure they're not all intentional. The walls look
crumpled and the ceiling is bent downwards. Hallways may have once run in several directions,
but the only one that remains wide enough to pass is to the east.

The airlock door to the south is open.

> e

Ruined Hallway
This hall runs east and west, but to the east the walls are crushed together like a paper
sculpture.

A wide trapezoidal window is set into the north wall. It looks like ordinary glass, although you
suppose one never knows.

> look through window
You can see a chamber on the other side. There's a smudge on the far wall which just might be another knot of marks.

Oh noes! Another bloody window we need to get through. How the *heck* are we going to make glass permeability again to get through that window if we need the zafranum for the aither-resistance potion that we are now breathing? This is actually one of the toughest puzzles in the whole game. Well... suppose there is a way to get the bronze F-sharp chime from the slab hanging out over the chasm, without using the metal attractor (which consumes the zafranum)? Click here to show/hide spoilers concerning how to get the bronze F-sharp chime without using the metal attractor

Perhaps if we could find something heavy to anchor the slab with (like a lead counterweight perhaps? :-), then we'd be able to just crawl out onto it and retrieve the chime that way. In fact, here's how you can do that: Click here to show/hide further spoilers concerning retrieval of the bronze F-sharp chime

Once Pneuma is functional (and he/she/it is, or you wouldn't be here :-) you can pressurise the Exoscaphe Bay by turning the valve wheel in the Scaphe Arcade. Then you have access to the Exoscaphe Dome. There is a key up there that unlocks the Tertiary Alchemy Lab. And inside there is a vial of 'anti-Tellurian distillate' (know your earthly adjectives: Gaian := Tellurian, so anti-Tellurian distillate should be the equivalent of counter-Gaian precipitate). So now we can make both lead weight increase and lead weight decrease on the same run. Figured it out yet? If not, here ya go:

> perform lead weight increase
> create dispersal brush

We need to make the lead weight decrease from scratch because we've never used the anti-Tellurian distillate before:

> put horn coin on shelf
> put sandstone in bound
> recite simple sealing
> wave rosemary
> recite essential nature
> pour anti-tellurian distillate on sandstone
> recite celestial sphere
> take sandstone
> take horn coin

OK then:

> go to observatory
> touch counterweight with granite (or whatever stone you used to make lead weight increase with)
> touch counterweight with dispersal brush
> touch counterweight with sandstone (or whatever stone you used to make lead weight decrease with)
> take counterweight (oh really now :-)
> go to edge of chasm
> s
> put counterweight on slab
> touch counterweight with dispersal brush
> take chime

Personally, I'd save my game here. Then:

> perform glass permeability (and drop anything that might shatter in a vacuum)
> go to strange airlock (even though you've already been inside the wreck, the game only seems to remember this room)
> recite radix access
> n
> e
> strike chime
> put chime in window
> n
You slide through the vibrating glass.

Ruined Chamber
This chamber is empty and derelict - cracked, crooked, uneven. The only exit is a dark gap to
the east; you can't tell if it's the remains of a hallway or just a hole in the wall.

A wide trapezoidal window is set into the south wall. The F-sharp chime is embedded in the
window.

A small knot of black marks is drawn on one wall.

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

comprehension

This fourth symbol brings you a new image: the black magnetic oil flowing over ceramic shards.
You recognize the debris which lies outside the wreck.

Great. You know what this means, right? In order to get the black oil again, we need to reset. But... it's still progress :-) So reset, go to the wreck, put the mercury in the arc, and recite 'radix access'. Then:

> take black oil
> pour oil on debris
You look for a large bit of ceramic, and pour the black oil onto it. It flows off in inky streams,
which branch and ramify in the Hadean dust.

For a moment you are looking at familiar - that is, familiarly strange - twisted black markings.
They refer to calyx access, the flowering of knowledge... not a physical transition, but a pathway
of communication. It has the odor of dragons about it.

Then the oil sinks into the dust, all at once, and is gone without a trace.

Ooh! I'm betting if we recite 'calyx access' in the presence of our active dragon, we'll gain some vital knowledge. Let's go try it... Click here to show/hide spoilers concerning 'the flowering of knowledge'

My active dragon was Pneuma for the run I wrote the walkthrough on, so this bit of exposition is particular to that dragon. However, there is something important you learn that doesn't depend on the dragon:

> go to paper maze center
> recite calyx access
You run through the calyx access sequence in your head. Pneuma's runes quiver in response. You
have a sudden sense of the Retort's operation: the routine balancing of air and light, structure
and position, coherence and integrity, weight and gravity.

A thought flows from the dragon to you: "Marcher systems are alive; transition may now be
possible. Please attempt reanimation procedure in the Chancel. Extended status report via
memory dump, this location."

You catch a glint of light in the oculus. You're pretty sure it wasn't there before.

> look through oculus
> x spark
You focus on the colorless spark through the oculus. A new memory comes into focus. "The
weather symbolism in the paper garden has slipped; air quality is impaired. Marcher transit in
this state is risky. Recommendation: inscribe an intensional ballast and place it below the
garden."

And then: "An intensional ballast may serve to support a failing alchemical construct, though
simply a refinement of the universal tarnish cleansing. Add zafranum after the lubanja spirit,
and conclude with the Greater Phlogistical Saturation instead of the Lesser. The brass token will
then be able to infuse phlogiston, at need, directly into the nearest construct."

Hmm. We can perform this variation on universal tarnish cleansing, and leave the inscribed brass pin in the Paper Garden pool (you'll know to drop it there because the pin will start glowing once you enter the pool). But when should we do this? The dragon seems to think we are ready to "...attempt reanimation procedure in the Chancel.". Well, I think that's a pretty big hint that we need to perform "The Great Marriage" again, this time in the Chancel (a piece of paper we found in the Nave also hinted at that). We need to create and place the intensional ballast right before we do that.