Devokahn (a hub age)
Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 10:40 pmDevokahn is the hub age for The Ages of Devokahn storyline. It is a relatively large island that is partially forested, and has a sandy shoreline. This island is the former home of Tal'ri and Jean. It includes various structures which were constructed and used by Tal'ri. Currently, it is abandoned and contains mostly puzzles to guard Tal'ri's ages.
The Library
The library is where Tal'ri used to keep all of his books. There were originally bookshelves on all four walls where all of the linking books and descriptive books to other ages were kept. Since his linking books are now kept elsewhere, however, the library serves a different purpose. It now is a chamber with glass walls and four desks. On each desk is a book. These books contain important clues on how to gain access to each of the ages. In the middle of the room is an area surrounded by four columns. This is perhaps the most important part of the library, but I will get to that later.
Link-in area
This is where you link on your first visit to Devokahn. It is a small gazebo in the middle of the forest. You will find a linking book here that leads to the villa and farm, as well as a journal that will give you part of the storyline. There is also a third book that leads to a narrow alleyway in D'ni. You will not be able to explore further in this area for both possible directions are blocked by traffic barriers.
How to get to the Connection Age
In the library, you will find a yellow book on the northernmost desk. This book is a journal discussing Tal'ri's findings in the observatory. He mentions the names of several planets within the solar system. He also mentions the coordinates they were at on that particular night. At one point, he also states that Jean laughed at him when she found out that he was naming the planets after plants in the garden (this is an important clue.) He also discusses seeing strange, irregularly moving objects through his telescope. He is unsure what to make of them at first, but later theorizes these strange objects might not be natural phenomena, and might be, in fact, artificial. (these turn out to be spacecraft from the inhabited planet, but that is not revealed in this journal)
The last entry in the book was obviously made many years after the previous entries. It was written when Tal'ri was installing the puzzles to guard his ages. He says that he is converting the observatory into a place to guard the link to Connection. He also urges the reader to read through the journal once more, for it contains important clues that might be missed the first time through. At the very end, there is a sequence of pictures of plants titled elevator code
With this information, you should go to the garden. The garden contains many different plants that, while native to Devokahn, populated the island so sparsely that they were nearly nonexistent. With Tal'ri and Jean's intervention, however, they were made to thrive in the garden. They still grow in abundance there, even after Tal'ri left. Each type of plant is labeled in both English and D'ni. It is important that you write down the names of all of these plants, for they will be useful in getting to Connection. Once you have done this, you should enter the observatory.
The observatory is entered through a tunnel into the mountain (as seen on the map.) The tunnel ends in the center of the mountain, where you will find an elevator. Rather than having buttons with numbers for you to select your floor with, there is instead a keypad with different colored circles. Each floor has a specific combination of colors that is needed to travel there. Fortunately, there is a plaque on the wall of the elevator that reveals the codes for the observatory and the floor you are currently on. The code to travel back to the ground floor is simple, consisting of all red circles, but the code to travel up to the observatory contains a variety of colors. Enter that code to travel to the observatory.
As seen in the picture above, the telescope is mounted on a pivoting half-ring that can slide from one end of the dome to the other. Furthermore, the telescope itself can slide from one end of the ring to the other. These movements allow for the telescope to look at any part of the sky. There is a computer terminal within the observatory that controls the telescope. Here, you can enter any coordinates you desire, and the telescope will point in that direction. With this, you can enter the coordinates of the planets in the journal. There is, however, a problem. Since this age has day/night cycles, you won't be able to see anything half of the time, and even when it's night, there is still the fact that planets are constantly moving, so they won't be in the same part of the sky after all these years. There is no need to worry, though. You see, the computer terminal has the ability to take pictures of the heavens, and save them. When you enter a series of coordinates, the computer will give you a choice between viewing previously taken pictures or seeing what's currently there in the sky. If you select the former, it will give you a list of all pictures previously taken at those coordinates, from which you can select the one on the proper date. Of course, unless you have saved more pictures yourself, there will only be one listing for each of the coordinates in the book. The proper picture for the proper coordinates will show a planet. Each of the different planets in the solar system is a different color, so if you match the planets with the plants of the same name, and cross-reference them with the sequence of plants in the journal, you will get a new color code for the elevator.
Upon entering this code into the elevator, you will be taken down, past the ground floor, into an underground room containing the link to Connection
How to get to the Subaquatic Age
In the library, you will find a blue book on the southernmost desk. This book is a journal by Tal'ri that discusses living on Devokahn with Jean. It also discusses the marine lab. He never directly describes it, but through his various mentions of it, this description can be inferred: The marine lab was originally two stories; the top story was above the water and the bottom was an underwater viewing area. It was used to study various marine life. There was a bridge leading out to it from the island so he could easily access it.
The final entry in the journal, like that of the connection journal, is during Tal'ri's implementation of the puzzles. He says that he has chosen the marine lab as the place to guard the link to Subaquatic. He mentions dismantling the upper floor of the marine lab so that it is entirely underwater, and removing the bridge so that it's existence is less obvious. He then gives the cryptic clue that the key to the lab is guarded by Jean. At the very end of the book, he includes a diagram of a bedroom.
It is within the house that you will find this key. Go there. The house is two stories tall. The first floor includes the living area and kitchen, and the upper floor contains the bedroom. In this room, there are two portraits hanging on the wall. Although you are never shown outright what she looks like, it can be inferred that the portrait of the female is Jean. Clicking the portrait makes it swing away revealing a button. Pressing the button will cause a watertight elevator to rise out of the water by the lab. You will have to swim out to it in order to gain access. Now you can ride down and access subaquatic.
How to get to the Crystalline Age
In the library, you will find a red book on the easternmost desk. In this book, Tal'ri talks about a strange mineral he found in the Crystalline age. This mineral has some very unusual properties. It seems that, when it comes into contact with a linking panel, the mineral becomes basically an extension of the linking panel, and people can link by touching the mineral instead of the panel. However, the mineral immediately loses it's linking properties as soon as it stops touching the panel. Tal'ri is fascinated by this, but is unsure of how this can be made useful.
The end of the journal, which, as always, was made when Tal'ri was making the puzzles, states that Tal'ri found the perfect use for the mineral: since there is the possibility that his books might deteriorate, or potentially be damaged by visitors to his ages, he would place the books in vacuum-sealed vaults keep them perfectly preserved. Furthermore, he would create underground lines made out of the mineral leading from the books to special linking pedestals, so that the vaults would not need to be opened in order to use the books. (All of the links in the ages of Devokahn are through these pedestals)
Now you need to go to the laboratory. Here, there is a linking pedestal right by the entrance, but the link doesn't work. There is a puzzle here that involves moving pieces of the mineral so an unbroken path is made to the pedestal. I haven't fully developed the idea for this puzzle, so I might need your help here.
Returning to Devokahn
Near the library is a row of small nara huts. These are the code rooms. The entrances to these rooms cannot be opened from the outside, and the only way in is by linking. The linking pedestals that take you into these rooms are found at the end of each age. Upon completing an age, you will gain access to one of these rooms. Each room contains a small contraption on the wall with a lever. Pulling the lever will uncover a five digit combination. Note this combination down, then press the button that opens the exit. Be sure you have the combination down correctly, for upon leaving, the door will shut behind you and you will have to go back to the age to get back inside.
Within the library, there is a podium with a button on it, surrounded by four columns. Each column has a place to enter in a combination, as shown below:
Please note that there is a yellow diamond above the code panel. That is to represent what age to do the code for. You see, every age is assigned a color. Connection is yellow, Subaquatic is blue, Crystalline is red, and Devokahn is green (yes, Devokahn does have it's own code. I'll get to that next.) The colors of the ages can be inferred from the covers of the books, but because that might be a little too hard to figure out, the code rooms also include the colored diamond above the code to make it easier to figure out. Once all codes are entered correctly, you can press the button on the podium.
But wait! What about the fourth column? There were only 3 ages, weren't there?
Not exactly. Devokahn's an age. That's right, there is a code to be gotten there too. How? Well, take a look at the one remaining book.
The westernmost desk has the green book. This book, unlike the others, is not a journal. The book starts with a note from Tal'ri addressed to the reader. He states that the fourth code can be found, but it requires information from all of the ages, as well as from this book. The rest of the book is clues.
The first clue is for the observatory. It is a list of coordinates. The problem is, nothing is saved under any of these coordinates in the observatory. That's because you are looking in the wrong observatory. There is one in the connection age as well. Go there and try to enter them in. You will find colored planets. Enter these colors into the elevator back on Devokahn in the order the coordinates were listed and it will rotate 180 degrees, giving you access to a new area. All you will find here is a button. Press it. You are 1/3 of the way finished.
The second clue is for Subaquatic. It shows a picture of the elevator down to the marine lab, but you can see that there are rungs on the back of the elevator. Try calling the elevator, then swimming around back. You will find these rungs. Climb them to the roof of the elevator, where you will find a code panel. The code for this panel can be found at the end of Subaquatic, so go there if you haven't already written it down. When it is entered in correctly, another button will be unlocked. Press it.
The third clue is for Crystalline. I actually haven't thought of how this will work yet, but the end result is the same. Once all three buttons are pressed, the fourth code room will open. Go there and collect the final code.
What happens when all codes are entered?
When they are all entered, you will press the button on the central podium. When pressed, all codes will reset to zero, and then blast doors will come down on all sides. Once the blast doors are fully deployed, the floor will begin to descend. You will go slowly down a shaft until you stop at a door. Then, a tone will ring 10 times, giving you time to go through the door. Once the tone has sounded all 10 times, the elevator will ascent again. Once it reaches the top, the blast doors open again.
Now, you will find yourself in a cavernous corridor. There is another hallway branching out from this one that leads to a one-way elevator back to the surface. You can use that if you want, but more likely, you will want to explore down here. The corridor will lead you to a chamber with two doors. One door supposedly leads to the network of tunnels that contains the vaults with the linking books. You will not be able to go through this door. It just exists for story reasons. The other door is currently sealed, and you need one final code to pass. To get this code, you will have to complete the last major age, Duality. The Duality pedestal is in the center of the room, and you can link there. Once completed, you will link back from the age to the catacombs with the code. Entering the code will open the door, leading to a linking pedistel to the final reward (read the Ages of Devokahn thread for an explaination)
In the chamber with the Duality book are also books to isolated rooms in the three other ages. Each of these rooms has a button that will reset the puzzles of that age. There is also a button in the chamber in Devokahn which randomly generates new codes for the columns in the library (it's not advised you use any of these, unless you want to play the ages of Devokahn over again.) To prevent cruel pranks, only the person who owns that particular instance of the ages will be able to use these buttons. Furthermore, an "are you sure?" message will pop up when you try to press any of these buttons to make sure you don't accidently delete progress.
So, what do you think?
The Library
The library is where Tal'ri used to keep all of his books. There were originally bookshelves on all four walls where all of the linking books and descriptive books to other ages were kept. Since his linking books are now kept elsewhere, however, the library serves a different purpose. It now is a chamber with glass walls and four desks. On each desk is a book. These books contain important clues on how to gain access to each of the ages. In the middle of the room is an area surrounded by four columns. This is perhaps the most important part of the library, but I will get to that later.
Link-in area
This is where you link on your first visit to Devokahn. It is a small gazebo in the middle of the forest. You will find a linking book here that leads to the villa and farm, as well as a journal that will give you part of the storyline. There is also a third book that leads to a narrow alleyway in D'ni. You will not be able to explore further in this area for both possible directions are blocked by traffic barriers.
How to get to the Connection Age
In the library, you will find a yellow book on the northernmost desk. This book is a journal discussing Tal'ri's findings in the observatory. He mentions the names of several planets within the solar system. He also mentions the coordinates they were at on that particular night. At one point, he also states that Jean laughed at him when she found out that he was naming the planets after plants in the garden (this is an important clue.) He also discusses seeing strange, irregularly moving objects through his telescope. He is unsure what to make of them at first, but later theorizes these strange objects might not be natural phenomena, and might be, in fact, artificial. (these turn out to be spacecraft from the inhabited planet, but that is not revealed in this journal)
The last entry in the book was obviously made many years after the previous entries. It was written when Tal'ri was installing the puzzles to guard his ages. He says that he is converting the observatory into a place to guard the link to Connection. He also urges the reader to read through the journal once more, for it contains important clues that might be missed the first time through. At the very end, there is a sequence of pictures of plants titled elevator code
With this information, you should go to the garden. The garden contains many different plants that, while native to Devokahn, populated the island so sparsely that they were nearly nonexistent. With Tal'ri and Jean's intervention, however, they were made to thrive in the garden. They still grow in abundance there, even after Tal'ri left. Each type of plant is labeled in both English and D'ni. It is important that you write down the names of all of these plants, for they will be useful in getting to Connection. Once you have done this, you should enter the observatory.
The observatory is entered through a tunnel into the mountain (as seen on the map.) The tunnel ends in the center of the mountain, where you will find an elevator. Rather than having buttons with numbers for you to select your floor with, there is instead a keypad with different colored circles. Each floor has a specific combination of colors that is needed to travel there. Fortunately, there is a plaque on the wall of the elevator that reveals the codes for the observatory and the floor you are currently on. The code to travel back to the ground floor is simple, consisting of all red circles, but the code to travel up to the observatory contains a variety of colors. Enter that code to travel to the observatory.
As seen in the picture above, the telescope is mounted on a pivoting half-ring that can slide from one end of the dome to the other. Furthermore, the telescope itself can slide from one end of the ring to the other. These movements allow for the telescope to look at any part of the sky. There is a computer terminal within the observatory that controls the telescope. Here, you can enter any coordinates you desire, and the telescope will point in that direction. With this, you can enter the coordinates of the planets in the journal. There is, however, a problem. Since this age has day/night cycles, you won't be able to see anything half of the time, and even when it's night, there is still the fact that planets are constantly moving, so they won't be in the same part of the sky after all these years. There is no need to worry, though. You see, the computer terminal has the ability to take pictures of the heavens, and save them. When you enter a series of coordinates, the computer will give you a choice between viewing previously taken pictures or seeing what's currently there in the sky. If you select the former, it will give you a list of all pictures previously taken at those coordinates, from which you can select the one on the proper date. Of course, unless you have saved more pictures yourself, there will only be one listing for each of the coordinates in the book. The proper picture for the proper coordinates will show a planet. Each of the different planets in the solar system is a different color, so if you match the planets with the plants of the same name, and cross-reference them with the sequence of plants in the journal, you will get a new color code for the elevator.
Upon entering this code into the elevator, you will be taken down, past the ground floor, into an underground room containing the link to Connection
How to get to the Subaquatic Age
In the library, you will find a blue book on the southernmost desk. This book is a journal by Tal'ri that discusses living on Devokahn with Jean. It also discusses the marine lab. He never directly describes it, but through his various mentions of it, this description can be inferred: The marine lab was originally two stories; the top story was above the water and the bottom was an underwater viewing area. It was used to study various marine life. There was a bridge leading out to it from the island so he could easily access it.
The final entry in the journal, like that of the connection journal, is during Tal'ri's implementation of the puzzles. He says that he has chosen the marine lab as the place to guard the link to Subaquatic. He mentions dismantling the upper floor of the marine lab so that it is entirely underwater, and removing the bridge so that it's existence is less obvious. He then gives the cryptic clue that the key to the lab is guarded by Jean. At the very end of the book, he includes a diagram of a bedroom.
It is within the house that you will find this key. Go there. The house is two stories tall. The first floor includes the living area and kitchen, and the upper floor contains the bedroom. In this room, there are two portraits hanging on the wall. Although you are never shown outright what she looks like, it can be inferred that the portrait of the female is Jean. Clicking the portrait makes it swing away revealing a button. Pressing the button will cause a watertight elevator to rise out of the water by the lab. You will have to swim out to it in order to gain access. Now you can ride down and access subaquatic.
How to get to the Crystalline Age
In the library, you will find a red book on the easternmost desk. In this book, Tal'ri talks about a strange mineral he found in the Crystalline age. This mineral has some very unusual properties. It seems that, when it comes into contact with a linking panel, the mineral becomes basically an extension of the linking panel, and people can link by touching the mineral instead of the panel. However, the mineral immediately loses it's linking properties as soon as it stops touching the panel. Tal'ri is fascinated by this, but is unsure of how this can be made useful.
The end of the journal, which, as always, was made when Tal'ri was making the puzzles, states that Tal'ri found the perfect use for the mineral: since there is the possibility that his books might deteriorate, or potentially be damaged by visitors to his ages, he would place the books in vacuum-sealed vaults keep them perfectly preserved. Furthermore, he would create underground lines made out of the mineral leading from the books to special linking pedestals, so that the vaults would not need to be opened in order to use the books. (All of the links in the ages of Devokahn are through these pedestals)
Now you need to go to the laboratory. Here, there is a linking pedestal right by the entrance, but the link doesn't work. There is a puzzle here that involves moving pieces of the mineral so an unbroken path is made to the pedestal. I haven't fully developed the idea for this puzzle, so I might need your help here.
Returning to Devokahn
Near the library is a row of small nara huts. These are the code rooms. The entrances to these rooms cannot be opened from the outside, and the only way in is by linking. The linking pedestals that take you into these rooms are found at the end of each age. Upon completing an age, you will gain access to one of these rooms. Each room contains a small contraption on the wall with a lever. Pulling the lever will uncover a five digit combination. Note this combination down, then press the button that opens the exit. Be sure you have the combination down correctly, for upon leaving, the door will shut behind you and you will have to go back to the age to get back inside.
Within the library, there is a podium with a button on it, surrounded by four columns. Each column has a place to enter in a combination, as shown below:
Please note that there is a yellow diamond above the code panel. That is to represent what age to do the code for. You see, every age is assigned a color. Connection is yellow, Subaquatic is blue, Crystalline is red, and Devokahn is green (yes, Devokahn does have it's own code. I'll get to that next.) The colors of the ages can be inferred from the covers of the books, but because that might be a little too hard to figure out, the code rooms also include the colored diamond above the code to make it easier to figure out. Once all codes are entered correctly, you can press the button on the podium.
But wait! What about the fourth column? There were only 3 ages, weren't there?
Not exactly. Devokahn's an age. That's right, there is a code to be gotten there too. How? Well, take a look at the one remaining book.
The westernmost desk has the green book. This book, unlike the others, is not a journal. The book starts with a note from Tal'ri addressed to the reader. He states that the fourth code can be found, but it requires information from all of the ages, as well as from this book. The rest of the book is clues.
The first clue is for the observatory. It is a list of coordinates. The problem is, nothing is saved under any of these coordinates in the observatory. That's because you are looking in the wrong observatory. There is one in the connection age as well. Go there and try to enter them in. You will find colored planets. Enter these colors into the elevator back on Devokahn in the order the coordinates were listed and it will rotate 180 degrees, giving you access to a new area. All you will find here is a button. Press it. You are 1/3 of the way finished.
The second clue is for Subaquatic. It shows a picture of the elevator down to the marine lab, but you can see that there are rungs on the back of the elevator. Try calling the elevator, then swimming around back. You will find these rungs. Climb them to the roof of the elevator, where you will find a code panel. The code for this panel can be found at the end of Subaquatic, so go there if you haven't already written it down. When it is entered in correctly, another button will be unlocked. Press it.
The third clue is for Crystalline. I actually haven't thought of how this will work yet, but the end result is the same. Once all three buttons are pressed, the fourth code room will open. Go there and collect the final code.
What happens when all codes are entered?
When they are all entered, you will press the button on the central podium. When pressed, all codes will reset to zero, and then blast doors will come down on all sides. Once the blast doors are fully deployed, the floor will begin to descend. You will go slowly down a shaft until you stop at a door. Then, a tone will ring 10 times, giving you time to go through the door. Once the tone has sounded all 10 times, the elevator will ascent again. Once it reaches the top, the blast doors open again.
Now, you will find yourself in a cavernous corridor. There is another hallway branching out from this one that leads to a one-way elevator back to the surface. You can use that if you want, but more likely, you will want to explore down here. The corridor will lead you to a chamber with two doors. One door supposedly leads to the network of tunnels that contains the vaults with the linking books. You will not be able to go through this door. It just exists for story reasons. The other door is currently sealed, and you need one final code to pass. To get this code, you will have to complete the last major age, Duality. The Duality pedestal is in the center of the room, and you can link there. Once completed, you will link back from the age to the catacombs with the code. Entering the code will open the door, leading to a linking pedistel to the final reward (read the Ages of Devokahn thread for an explaination)
In the chamber with the Duality book are also books to isolated rooms in the three other ages. Each of these rooms has a button that will reset the puzzles of that age. There is also a button in the chamber in Devokahn which randomly generates new codes for the columns in the library (it's not advised you use any of these, unless you want to play the ages of Devokahn over again.) To prevent cruel pranks, only the person who owns that particular instance of the ages will be able to use these buttons. Furthermore, an "are you sure?" message will pop up when you try to press any of these buttons to make sure you don't accidently delete progress.
So, what do you think?
