GameBoomers
Walkthroughs and SolutionsMyst:
A Walkthrough
By Dan Kennedy
November 2001
Your Virtual Tour
Falling! Listen to Atrus speak as his book falls into the starry chasm. Once the book lands, give it a mouse click, and wait for it to open up. Watch the island flyover mini-movie play on the first page. Should we touch the picture? Of course…oops, looks like we've been transported to Myst Island.
Your starting point on the island is the dock. Since this game is about immersion and exploration, feel free to wander around and get to know the island. Try your hand at some of the puzzles, and fiddle with knobs and such. If you want to dive right into the story and start solving puzzle, skip down to the Getting Started section below. Otherwise, let's take a tour of our new surroundings. Don't worry about getting lost - the island is relatively small, and a few clicks will most likely get you back somewhere that you recognize.
Leave the dock via the rounded staircase straight ahead, and go to the right up a longer staircase to the lookout point (with what looks like a gigantic gear sticking out of it). By now you've noticed the wooden signal markers that are located at various points around the island - there's one at the lookout, and one on the dock near the stairs. A click raises the switch on the top of the marker, which effectively turns the signal marker on, and another click lowers the switch, turning the marker off. More about that later.
Go back down the stairs, past the dock, and turn right to go up towards two buildings, both on your right as you travel up the incline. The first building (located next to another signal marker) is round, and contains what looks like a dentist chair. The other, a little further along the path, is 8-sided, and contains books, some pictures, a fireplace and a map. Back outside, go to your right again - you'll see a Spaceship off in the distance along a raised walkway (there's another signal marker by the Spaceship as well). You can also veer off to the left, down towards the brick tower that supports some electrical wires running from the Spaceship.
Go back up the hill to the octagonal building, and go to the right towards the water basin surrounded by 8 small boxes on platforms (and another signal marker). Each box has a symbol on it that glows red when the mouse cursor passes over it. There's a sunken ship in the fountain - more about this later. Go four clicks past the basin, and turn to your right - here's the entrance to a small brick building (plus another signal marker). Notice a second brick tower hidden behind and to the right of the small brick building.
Return to the path and go towards the big waterlogged clock - click once ahead and turn to the left - here's a small wooden building with equipment inside (plus another signal marker by the door). Behind the cabin (off to the right) is a path and staircase up to a tall tree surrounded by a fence. Interesting. Backtrack and go towards that clock to check out the last destination on the island. Notice that the final (eighth) signal marker on the island is located beside the clock - looks like it's untouchable for now.
Getting Started
Did you notice that note on the ground as you came up the hill from the dock towards the round building? If not, its time to go find it (the note is located on your left going towards the dock or on your right moving away from the dock). Click on the note and read the message from Atrus to Catherine (if your name isn't Catherine, then obviously the note's not for you - but feel free to be nosy anyway).
Go back to the dock to the end opposite the stairs and turn to your right. Click on the door and go down the staircase into the fore-chamber.
Altered Images
Go to the imager (the round basin with the water image displayed). Try pressing the button located on the front of the imager - the water changes to a grid with circular markings. Hit the button again, and the water image returns. Turn around towards the stairs again. Notice the shiny spot on the wall just left of the staircase. Click on it - it's a list of numerical commands for the imager.
Hit the hard-to-see button just up and to the left of the list, and a numerical entry panel comes into view. Currently, the dial shows "67" which matches the "Water Turbulent Pool" setting. You can try changing the setting to Marker Switch Diagram "47" and Topographic Extrusion Test "40" by changing the numbers using arrow buttons - to view them, click on the red light to close the panel, go back to the imager and click on the button on the front.
But what about Atrus' message to Catherine? For that we need the number of marker switches on the island, which we already counted as eight (lookout, round building, water basin, Spaceship, brick building, wood building, dock, water clock). Punch in "08" into the panel, close it, hit the imager button and listen to the message. Catherine is Atrus' wife, and their two sons are up to no good. He also mentions something about the "tower rotation".
Time to hit the 8-sided library building. Leave the dock, go up the hill past the round building and into the library.
The Library Room - Shh!
There is quite a bit of material to go through in the library, so if you don't relish the thought of some journal reading, you could probably just skip the books in the bookcase entirely.
Approach the room's bookcase, and try clicking on a few of the books - most if not all should be burned beyond repair, as Atrus mentioned. There are, however, five books that can be perused. The contents of all but one of the books are journal entries of Atrus' travels - try to soak up some of the atmosphere and the story, but don't worry too much about the specific details or sketches.
The first book (with a vertical green and red spine near the left end of the top shelf) tells of Atrus' first visit to another world of water and trees called the Channelwood Age. Keep in mind that Atrus originally constructed this world (and the others you'll be visiting) by writing a book about it, however the book you are reading is simply a journal of his travels there.
The second book (with a vertical grey spine near the right side of the top shelf) speaks of Atrus' visits to the Stoneship Age, and a few of his experiments with altering worlds after he created them (i.e. the failed ship in his story). You'll need to access the constellation maps and symbols at the end of the book later on (do those symbols look familiar to you??)
The third journal (with an angled blue spine on the second shelf) describes a world that Atrus created which was not particularly stable - the Selenitic Age. Be sure to copy down the piano keyboard as it is shown in the journal - this information will be very important a little later on.
The fourth book (a brown horizontal spine on the bottom shelf) tells of the Mechanical Age, and Atrus' attempts to help the people there defeat an enemy.
Note that Atrus makes mention of a number of other ages throughout the journals, but we will only be visiting these four during the course of the game.
The fifth and final book (the burnt book at the right end of the middle shelf) contains 300 pages of a strange grid-like code. You'll need this much further along in the game.
Meet the Brothers Grim
Move on to the Blue book located 2 walls to the right of the bookcase. Click on the book, and click again to open it up - all you get is static. Close the book, and now try picking up the page beside the book. Click on the book to add the page, and open it up to see a very static-y message from Achenar - he seems a bit off his rocker, but wants you to bring more blue pages.
Try the same routine with the red book located across the room. This time you'll meet Sirrus, who certainly seems more even-keeled that his brother. Sirrus wants the red pages brought to him.
Map o' Myst
Have a look at the map of the island located to the left of the red book. If you haven't turned on any of the signal markers on the island, the only highlighted areas of the map will be the library, and a blinking circle representing the island's tower. If you've turned on any of the 7 accessible signal markers already, the corresponding landmark will be displayed. This is a good time to go back out to turn on any markers that you have not done yet.
Return to the map in the library - all seven of the landmarks should be highlighted. Try pressing the left mouse button on the blinking tower symbol - a line coming from the blinking circle will rotate around the island, and TOWER ROTATION will appear at the bottom of the map. Notice during the rotation that the line turns red when it is over one of four locations: the Spaceship, the Lookout, the Dock, and the Tree behind the wood building. Listen to the tower creak and moan afterward as it changes position.
Now its time to travel to the four Ages. Note that you do not have to visit the ages in the order that I have listed them here. However, remember that once you transport to an Age, you cannot return to Myst until you find another Myst linking book.
A note about the pages - if you are holding one loose page (red or blue), and click on another, the second replaces the first in your grasp. The original page will immediately be transported back to the location you found it in.
Selenitic Age
A Shocking Clue
The Selenitic Age is accessed via the Spaceship. Let's first have a look at it through the tower. Revolve the Tower so that the rotation line on the map lies directly above the location of the Spaceship (in the top-right corner of the island - the line should turn red when it is in the right position).
To get to the island tower, move 2 walls over to your right, and click on the picture of the wood staircase. Right away, the picture does a swirly dance, and the bookcase immediately to your right folds down into the floor revealing a passage. Also note that the building's exit is now blocked - you will have to click on the picture of the doorway located immediately to the right of the bookcase in order to close up the passage and reopen the door.
Proceed down the new hallway until you reach an elevator - get in, and press the button to the right of the door. The elevator will creak upwards, and let you out on the Tower level. Go up the ladder located immediately in front of you (its beside a "book" symbol on the wall), and enjoy a view of the Spaceship.
Turn around, and go back down the ladder. Walk around the level to the opposite side of the tower where an identical ladder is located by a "key" symbol on the wall. Again, proceed up the ladder, and jot down what is written on a plaque on the wall: 59 Volts. Go back down the ladder, take the elevator back down to the Library level, and go back out the passageway to the library room. Click on the doorway picture to open up the outside door again, and go back outside.
Fight the Power
If you've already visited the Spaceship, you know that the door is locked, and you have probably seen the wires running from the Spaceship back to the brick building located past the water basin. We gotta power this sucker up. Walk past the water basin, and turn to your right to access the brick building. Go in the doorway, down the long staircase, and open the door at the bottom by pressing the button to the right. Straight ahead is a power control panel for the Spaceship's generators. A guide to the control panel is posted on the wall to the right of the door behind you.
According to the tower plaque, 59 volts are required to power up the Spaceship. Too much power and we'll overload the system, and have to reset it. The buttons for the individual generators, however, are not marked, so we are not sure what combination of buttons will get us to 59 volts. Some trial and error will show that pressing each button adds a certain amount of voltage to both the Power and Power to Spaceship dials. If we number the buttons one through ten, with Buttons 1 and 2 along the top row, through Buttons 9 and 10 along the bottom row, the voltages associated with each button are as follows: #1 - 10 volts, #2 - 1 volt, #3 - 7 volts, #4 - 2 volts, #5 - 8 volts, #6 - 22 volts, #7 - 16 volts, #8 - 19 volts, #9 - 5 volts, and #10 - 4 volts.
Several combinations of these buttons will get the Power to Spaceship gauge up to exactly 59 volts; for example the combinations of Buttons 1, 5, 6 and 8 will do the trick, or Buttons 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, and 9 will also work.
If for whatever reason you add in too many volts, the Power to Spaceship gauge will go back to zero and you will have to reset the electrical system before trying again. To reset the system, you have to first turn off all of the generators, then go to both of the brick electrical towers on the island, climb them (via a conveniently placed ladder), and pull down on the handle located at the top of each tower. The first tower is in plain sight when looking towards the Spaceship's elevated walkway - just go left towards the tower to access it. The other tower is a little more hidden - stand facing the door to the brick building, and click immediately to the right of the building to get to the second tower. Remember to pull down on those reset handles with some force - the system had not reset until you hear a distinct clicking sound at each tower after pulling the handle.
Tickling the Ivories
Proceed directly to the Spaceship, and open the door. We now have to input an aural access code into the mechanism to your left as you walk in. You'll also notice a piano conveniently placed opposite the mechanism. According to Atrus' journal sketch, you have five piano notes to play (marked in order 1 to 5) on the piano keyboard - they are easy to find, since the left side of the keyboard drawing corresponds to the left side of the keyboard on the ship.
What makes this puzzle difficult is that you have to reproduce the exact same five notes on the other piece of equipment in the Spaceship. The notes must be set using the 5 sliders located on the front of the equipment, again in order 1 to 5. Pull down the lever to the right to see whether you've got the right five notes - if you do, a linking book will appear in the window above allowing you to enter the Selenitic Age. If not, try again.
A lot of people have trouble with this puzzle - namely people that have hearing difficulties, or who are just plain tone deaf. I suggest you beg or borrow a musical instrument (say a keyboard, or guitar) and use it to "transfer" the right note from the piano over to the sliders. Or ask a musically inclined friend for help.
Once you solve the puzzle, click twice on the book to reach the Selenitic Age. You've arrived in a rocky, sunny world. Proceed along the walkway (yes, the door shuts behind you, and you can't get back into the Spaceship) until you reach dry land, and turn to your right to check out a doorway. Notice the entry panel - on closer inspection it looks very similar to the music panel in the Spaceship. Try pressing the bottom right button - a whistling sound is heard 5 times. Looks like you need a series of five sounds played in order to get in. We'll have to come back later.
Turn it On
Go ahead one click on the path and turn to your left. Take the path straight ahead - go up and down the stairs, across a bridge, and up a short treed incline towards a water basin with a dish suspended above. You'll also see a small table with a red button on it - press the button to activate the signal dish for the water basin. Note the symbol here (dripping water). Turn around and note the location of a blue page - gee, Achenar will be happy. Go back along the path to its starting point.
Turn to your left, and go towards the water. Turn left again, and climb the stairs to another signal dish - this one is for the lava bubbling away below. Activate it by hitting the red button, note the symbol here and retrace your steps. This time keep going straight towards those big clocks in the distance. There should be another signal dish to turn on for the ticking clocks (hit the button, and note the symbol). Back on the path, click two steps forward, and turn to the right. Follow this path into the chiming crystals and activate the signal dish there (note the symbol again, and the fact that there is a red page by the red button - go Sirrus!). Retrace your steps back to the main path, and go right. Continue along this path until you reach the fifth signal dish and activate it (this one is for the whistling wind). You will also note that there is a ladder sticking out of a vertical passageway. Go down three steps, and turn the light switch to the up (on) position (the switch is on your left).
Turn around, and travel along the underground passage until you reach another ladder, and go up to surface. Climb up the short staircase, and click on the two metal doors to reveal a piece of equipment with several buttons and a view screen.
Searching for Sound
This equipment can be used to find the precise compass direction of each of the 5 sounds that we activated the signal dishes for (clicking clocks, chiming crystals, whistling wind, dripping water and bubbling lava). First press one of the five symbol buttons (for instance, if you want to search for the clock sound, you must press the clock button beforehand), and use the left and right arrow buttons to change the compass direction. Once you get within 5 degrees of the sound's location, you will begin to hear the sound over the general hiss of the sound system, and one of the two directional arrows will blink to point you in the direction to turn. Note that you must find the one and only compass point where the sound is crystal clear with no interference.
A good sound to start with is the clocks - they are easy to spot. Hit the clock symbol button (the middle one) and using the arrow keys pan across the horizon - the clocks should come into plain view. Once you get close, listen for the ticking sound, and follow the blinking green arrow to make your move. The precise location of the clock sound is at 55.6 degrees. The lava sound is also in plain sight to the right of the clocks (at 130.3 degrees), and the wind signal dish can easily be seen as well (212.2 degrees). The other two sounds are harder to find since the dishes aren't really visible. The chiming crystal sound is found to the left of the clocks at 15.0 degrees, and the dripping water sound is found just to the right of the lava sound (at 153.4 degrees). Remember to change the symbol button each time you search for a new sound.
Once you've located the five sounds exactly, press the big button at the bottom of the panel - if you've got the five sounds located perfectly, it will play them in an order that you must jot down - chiming crystal, water, wind, lava and clocks - we'll need the order to get into the locked doorway you passed earlier. On your way back to the locked door, go back to the chiming crystals, and pick up the red page by the signal dish. You will carry it until you link back to Myst Island.
Back at the doorway, click on the panel, and adjust each of the five sliders to play the sounds in order. Note that there are a number of other sounds on each slider, so try not to get confused. Once you've got the order correct, press the button, and the door should slide open. Proceed in, down the stairs, and around the corner to the underground train car.
Booo! Underground Maze
Press the blue button to the right of the door to open it, and step into the car. Sit down in the pilot's seat and press the button marked "FORWARD". Your car will be lowered into the starting point of the tunnel maze.
From each point in the maze there are eight sets of tracks leading away from your car, corresponding to the directions north, south, east, west, northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest. You can always tell which direction you are facing by the abbreviated direction displayed on the right. You can rotate your car to face a different direction by clicking on the two arrow keys. Most of these tracks are blocked - if you see a red light in the distance, you cannot proceed in that direction. For instance, from the starting point the only direction open is to go north.
Be forewarned: if you save your game before you complete the maze, the game will place you back in the Selenitic Age Spaceship when you return to the game, and you'll have to start the maze over again. I would also be careful about using the BACKTRACK button - it takes your car back to the last place you left - I found it an extremely efficient way of becoming disoriented very quickly.
There are three methods for getting through the maze:
(i) Map the whole thing: This isn't really that hard since you always know which direction you are facing, but it certainly takes some time. If you do map, watch out for some of the twisty paths that curve around to have you facing a different direction that the one you left on.
(ii) Use the sounds to guide you. As you come to a stop at each location, listen for a sound - this sound is your guide as to which direction to select next (if you miss the sound, hit the red button on the left to replay it). A "Ting" sounds indicates go north, a "Clong" sound (like a cowbell) indicates south, a "Prrrrrrip" sound means to go west, and a "Foish" sound means to go east. The sounds are combined for the other four directions (for example, southwest would be represented by a "Clong" and a "Prrrrrrip" sound together). Be forewarned though- I found it difficult to make out some of the sounds at certain locations, and if you wander off the correct path, sometimes the sounds send you down dead ends (the dead ends are easy to spot since they don't have any sounds associated with them).
(iii) Just follow this handy guide to find the end of the maze! N-W-N-E-E-S-S-W-SW-W-NW-NE-N-SE.
Once the car stops at the end of
the maze, get out of the chair, and press the blue button on the wall to open
the door. Proceed straight ahead until you enter a chamber - you should see a
Myst linking book straight ahead. Click on it, and it takes you back to Myst.
Back in the library, go over to the red book, and add the red page by clicking
on the book. Now open the book, and listen to Sirrus again - he's happy to see
you were successful, but he wants more pages so that he can get out of his book
prison. But do we trust him? We'd better hedge our bets, and go back to the
Selenitic Age for Agenar's blue page.
Proceed back to the Spaceship, and repeat all of your actions to bring the blue page back to Myst Island (remember, the blue page is by the dripping water basin). Don't worry - the underground train car will have magically returned to its starting point for another trip through the maze. Once you are back in the library, add the blue page to the blue book, and listen to Agenar rave on about imprisonment, his untrustworthy brother, and the blue pages.
Stoneship Age
Getting a Date
The Stoneship Age is accessed via the dock area. On the island map in the library, revolve the Tower (by clicking and holding the tower symbol) so that the rotation line lies above the location of the dock - the line should turn red when it is in the right position.
Open the Tower passageway by clicking on the picture of the staircase. Proceed down the passageway to the elevator, and go up to the tower level. Go up the ladder immediately ahead of you for a view of the sunken ship by the dock. Go back down, around the tower, and up the opposite ladder. You will see a plaque on the wall that reads: OCTOBER 11, 1984 10:04 AM - JANUARY 17, 1207 5:46 AM - NOVEMBER 23, 9791 6:57 PM. Go back down the ladder, into the elevator, press the button to go back down to the Library level, and back out the passageway to the library room. Click on the doorway picture to open up the outside door, and go outside.
This Isn't "Laser Floyd"
Proceed into the round building containing the dentist's chair. Once inside, turn around to face the door, and hit the button to the right of the doorway to turn off the lights. Hey, look at the stars on the ceiling - It's a planetarium! Turn around, and click on the close-up of the chair to sit down. Click anywhere on the black panel suspended above your head to bring it into your main view.
Use the up-down arrow buttons to input each of the dates into the display and hit the centrally located flashing button after each one. A constellation map will appear on the left side of the panel - be sure that you carefully copy down the locations of the stars for each of the three dates. Once finished, lift the panel by clicking beside it, and go back to the library. Go to the bookcase - you may remember that the Stoneship Age journal (vertical grey spine near the right side of the top shelf) has a series of symbols and constellation maps in the back. Look through the 8 pages of symbols and match up the three constellations with the ones you copied down from the planetarium - the three matching symbols should be the Beetle, the Snake and the Leaf.
Salvage Operation
Now, where were those symbols? Of course, on the raised boxes that surround the central basin. If you are standing outside the library looking at the basin, the Leaf symbol is located on the third box to the left, and the Snake and Beetle symbols are on the second and third boxes on the right (respectively). Approach each of the three boxes and click on the symbol - each one should turn green. Once all three are activated, you should hear the roar of gushing water. Have a look at the basin - the model ship has now been raised out of the water. Go down to the dock to see that the submerged ship off the dock has been raised as well.
Go ahead and climb aboard the now-floating vessel - not much to see, but an interesting looking door leads to…another linking book! Click on the book twice, watch the Stoneship Age flyover, and click to enter the age.
The Boat that Wouldn't Float
You arrive in the Stoneship Age on the aft of Atrus' ill-fated ship. From the aft you can access a semi-submerged lighthouse (note the locked attic inside, and the immovable key on the ground here) via a set of planks, a umbrella covered contraption via another set of planks, and the fore section of the ship, which is reached by a set of stone steps. A doorway leading directly into the rock appears to be filled with water, as is the access into the ship's interior. From the fore section, another submerged doorway into the rock is present, as well as a staircase up to the top of the island (complete with telescope at the very top).
Go to the contraption, and note the three knobs. Press the left knob, and listen as some sort of pump begins to work. What has happened? Go back to the aft of the ship - you can now access the interior of the ship down a stairway (opposite the doorway into the rock). Take a peek inside - everything is dark; we'll have to turn on the lights somehow. Back at the contraption, hit the second knob, and go back to the ship. The water is back in the ship access stairway, but the two doorways into the rock are now dry - we'll need to get the lights on in here as well before proceeding. Now try the last knob, and go to the lighthouse.
We can now access a staircase within the interior of the lighthouse. Go down the stairs and note the locked trunk. In order to float the trunk up to where that key is, click on the drain valve on the trunk's left side to empty the water; be sure to close the valve once the trunk has drained to trap the air inside. Now go turn the pump off (hit the right knob on the contraption so the light goes out) and come back to the lighthouse. The trunk should be waiting for you. Click on the key to unlock the trunk, pick up another key you find inside, and take it up the ladder to unlock the attic door.
Inside the attic you will find a hand crank generator and a battery - the light supply for the interior of the rock. Click and hold the mouse on the hand crank for a while until the red light on the battery strength gauge turns green (about 6 complete turns should do it). Go back to the contraption once more, press the middle knob (to drain the island), go back to the doorway into the rock (the one off the aft of the ship).
O' Brother, Where Art Thou?
Go down the staircase until you reach a door, and click to enter. This is Sirrus' bedroom - pretty nice digs! Have a look at the two orbs on either side of his bed - they light up when the cursor touches the glass. Have a look at his desk to the right - click on the small silver ball on a pedestal on the desk surface, and watch it dance. Open up his desk drawer - drugs, pills, a syringe, and a knife - maybe Sirrus isn't as well adjusted as we thought. Cross the room, and look in each of his dresser drawers - coins, jewels, dishes, some cloth, and a red page in the bottom drawer. Pick it up, and go back to the surface. It might be prudent to go and crank up the battery again before heading down the other staircase into the rock (the one off of the fore section of the ship).
Go down to the bottom of the second staircase, and proceed into Achenar's bachelor pad. He has quite the skeleton light fixture here. Note that a blue page is present on his bed to the left - we'll come back for this later. Walk across the room, and look at his decorative masks (nice), and the imager on the top of his map case (hit the button to see a rose, but slide the bottom lever to the right to see the creepy skull). Open each of the map drawers - the second from the bottom contains a note that you will want to copy down - looks like we've got half of a message that will probably be important. Go back up the staircase and onto the ship.
Light of My Life
Now, how do we turn on the light for the interior of the ship? Go down the stairs towards Sirrus' room. Do you see the three black archways you pass through as you go down the stairs? Stop just before going through the third one, and click near the base of the black wall within the archway on the left side (this may take some time to find the right spot). A small doorway will open up. Follow the crawlspace to a large painted compass located here. There are 32 buttons spaced out along the 360-degree circle. You must figure out which of the buttons will power the light for the interior of the ship. Hit the wrong button, and the lights inside the crawlspace and staircases go out; if this happens, you'll have to make your way back up to the surface in the dark and re-power the battery.
To find the proper button, go up to
the top of the island and peer into the telescope. Using a dragging action with
the mouse, turn the view-screen until you see something that could provide
light. At 135 degrees, you should see the top of the light source sketched in
Atrus' journal back on Myst Island. But which button does 135 degrees correspond
to on the compass? Well, 32 buttons spaced out over 360 degrees means that each
button represents (360 degrees / 32 buttons) = 11.25 degrees per button. So, in
order to get to 135 degrees, we have to move
(135 degrees / 11.25 degrees per button) = 12 buttons. Go back to the compass,
and starting from the top button (marked by the little arrow at the top of the
compass, count off 12 buttons as you turn clockwise and hit the twelfth one. A
light ahead of you should come on. Go back up to the surface, back to the
contraption once more to hit the left knob, and go down the ship staircase to
enter the hold. Go to the bottom of the stairs, and click on the table in the
centre of the room - a linking book will rise out of the surface. Two clicks and
you are back to Myst Island.
Back in the library, go over to the red book, and add the red page by clicking on the book. Now open the book, and listen to Sirrus again - his message is becoming much clearer now. Proceed back to the ship at the dock, and link back to the Stoneship Age for the blue page. Once you've got the blue page, you will have to find the secret crawlspace to the compass again (the game closed up that trap door when you left the first time), and turn on the lights before linking back to Myst Island. Once you are back in the library, add the blue page to the blue book, and listen to Agenar's ravings.
Mechanical Age
Screw's Clues
The Mechanical Age is accessed via the lookout. On the island map in the library, revolve the Tower so that the rotation line lies above the location of the lookout - the line should turn red when it is in the right position.
Open the Tower passageway by clicking on the picture of the wood staircase. Proceed down the passageway to the elevator, and go up to the tower level. Proceed up the ladder immediately ahead of you for a view of the lookout. Go back down, around the tower, and up the opposite ladder. You will see a plaque on the wall that reads: 2:40 2,2,1. Go back down the ladder, take the elevator back down to the Library level, and go out the passageway to the library room. Click on the doorway picture to open up the outside door again, and go back outside.
Telling Time
The time, you say? Let's have a look at that waterlogged clock. Go down past the basin to the wheel valves that are by the water's edge in front of the clock. The big wheel valve on the left controls the minute's hand - one click moves it ahead 5 minutes. The other, smaller wheel valve to the right controls the hour's hand - one click moves the clock ahead one hour. If you've left the clock alone up to now, it should still read 12 o'clock, in which case 8 clicks on the big wheel and 2 clicks on the small wheel will get the clock to 2:40. If you've played with it, and it doesn't read 12 o'clock, I'm going to assume you'll be able to get it to 2:40. Once at 2:40, hit the red button, and watch the stepping stone gears come out of the water to provide a route to the clock.
Playing the Slots
Once you're there, don't forget to turn on that last signal marker. Click on the door and go in. Remember that three number code from the tower (2,2,1)? In order to proceed you want to have the three numbers displayed on the wall (that are now reading 3,3,3) to show 2,2,1 from top to bottom. There are 2 pull down levers on either side of the mechanism. The left lever, when pulled (this is done by clicking on the lever and pulling it down with the mouse), spins the bottom two numbers one turn ahead - unless you keep holding the lever down, in which case the middle number keeps spinning. The right lever, when pulled, spins the top two numbers ahead one number, and like the other lever, if you keep holding it down, the middle number keeps spinning. You also have a limited number of pulls before the metal weight (located to the far left of the mechanism) lands on the ground and you run out of leverage. A pull of the lever to the far right of the mechanism brings the weight back to the ceiling, and returns the numbers to 3,3,3.
The quickest way to solve the puzzle is to pull the left lever first, only holding it down so that the middle and bottom numbers only advance one number (the sequence should show 3,1,1 at this point). Then, do the same with the right lever, only advancing the top and middle numbers by one (the sequence should now read 1,2,1). Finally, pull the right lever again, and this time let the middle number spin around again so it read 2. The sequence should now read 2,2,1, and a grinding noise indicates something is happening somewhere else on the island. Don't worry if you mess this puzzle up - keep trying and resetting the mechanism until you get it right.
Go to the lookout - the big gear has spun open to reveal a linking book to the Mechanical Age. Click on the book twice, watch the Mechanical Age flyover, and enter.
Fortress of Solitude
You've arrived on Atrus' mechanical fortress. Note the control panel immediately to your right, which is unlocked by inputting a series of symbols - better save it for later. Go across the walkway, and enter the front door of the fortress. Go down the left hallway, and turn the corner to go into Sirrus' fun room. There's lots to look at in here: his blurry telescope, clock, models of the Spaceship and the sailing ship, a few paintings, a mechanical bird that chirps when you wind him up, a chess board, and Sirrus' throne (you can even sit down and survey your kingdom). Try clicking on the wall immediately to the right of the throne (near the floor, just left of the bottom corner of the wall hanging). A secret door will open. Go in and check out his hoard of treasure. A letter from his brother can be found in the wine rack on the right (it's the rolled up parchment) - they don't appear to have been very civil to each other. Click on the treasure chest in the back corner - you'll find a red page. Grab it and go back out.
Continue along the hallway - you will pass a red button on the wall, and a short passage that ends at a large glass cylinder. Ignore this for a moment and keep going along the hallway until you reach Agenar's playroom. He's got a lot of weapons in here, his own throne, and a nasty surprise in the wind up box - try it and see. Click on the imaging equipment located to the left of the throne, and a schematic of the island comes up. Note how the controls work here. The left knob when pushed up unlocks the controls to spin the fortress, while the right knob controls how far the fortress spins. Get a feel for how long it takes for the fortress to turn one quarter of the way around.
Click on the metal door with the horizontal line on it that is located between the imager and the throne, and go inside to see what Agenar likes to do with his spare time. Looks like he may fancy himself an amateur surgeon. Check out his skull in a box, the chopping block, his poisons, and his holding cell complete with shocker. Don't miss the blue page sitting below his potions - you'll come back for it later.
Spinning Your Wheels
Back in the hallway connecting the brothers' rooms, click on the red button to activate a staircase downstairs. Go down and approach the small set of controls here. With the mouse, push the lever on the right upward, and watch the small circle, located inside a larger circle, rotate around. Stop the rotation when the two circles are aligned with the open ends both pointing downward (the circles will also turn red when this happens. Go back up the stairs, and hit the button. The staircase will disappear, allowing you to access an elevator straight ahead.
Inside the elevator, click on the centre button and see what happens - the elevator stops between floors, halfway up the shaft. Now, hit the up button to go to the top level. Once the door to the elevator opens, hit the centre button again, and immediately leave the elevator. The elevator will close, and lower to reveal the controls to rotate the fortress. Remember the image - first push the left knob up to unlock the mechanism, and then push the right knob up to rotate the fortress. Holding the right knob up for a good two seconds should rotate the fortress a quarter-turn. Once completed, hit the small button below the knobs - this will call the elevator back up, and go back downstairs. Go out the front door, and across the walkway to a small island where two of the four symbols are located on a pedestal (copy these down).
Go back inside, and rotate the fortress another quarter turn to access another small island the same way, and the remaining two symbols. Make sure to peer into the telescope in Sirrus' room while the fortress has rotated half-a-turn from its starting point - you will see more evidence of what the lads were up to in this age. Once you've collected all of the symbols, rotate the fortress back to its original position, and proceed across the walkway to the symbol control panel. The symbols to be inputted in order are a horseshoe, two thin triangles surrounding a thin rectangle, two triangles below a small circle, and a half-circle. Do so, and press the red button - a staircase will appear to the right. Go down the stairs to the Myst linking book waiting below, and go home.
Back in the library, give Sirrus the red page, and listen to him again - does he sound trustworthy to you? After, go back up to the lookout, link back to the Mechanical Age, collect the blue page from Achenar's evil lab, and go beck to Myst to give him the page. Both of these guys appear to be equally untrustworthy.
Channelwood Age
Clue Combination
The Channelwood Age is accessed via the big Tree behind the wooden building. Revolve the Tower so that the rotation line lies above the location of the Tree on the island Map (the Tree symbol is a 6-sided shape in the bottom left corner of the map - the line should turn red when it is in the right position).
Open the Tower passageway by clicking on the picture of the wood staircase. Proceed down the passageway to the elevator, and go up to the tower level. Proceed up the ladder immediately ahead of you for a view of the tall tree. Go back down, around the tower, and up the opposite ladder. You will see a plaque on the wall that reads: 7,2,4. Go back down the ladder, back into the elevator, press the button to go back down to the Library level, and back out the passageway to the library room. Click on the doorway picture to open up the outside door again, and go back outside.
Feed the Flame
From the library building, go ahead seven steps directly towards the central fountain, turn to your left, and move to the wooden building. Click on the doorway to open it, and go inside. You will see a boiler in front of you, a red-coloured wheel to its right, and a window showing the big tree to the left. Turn around to face the door again, and notice the safe immediately to its right. Click on the safe to get a closer view of the three-numbered locking mechanism. Can you guess what the combination is? Yes, 724! Hit the three buttons until 724 appears, and then click on and drag downward the safe door handle. The safe should open to reveal a box of matches (what a treasure!). Click on the box to open it, click again to get a match, and wave the match over the starter strip (no clicks necessary) on the matchbox to light the match.
Take the match over to the boiler, and click on the small square box near the bottom left corner of the equipment. A red dot should appear in the box. Now, move to the red wheel valve, and press and hold the left mouse button down when you find the clockwise cursor symbol on the right-hand side of the valve - the wheel will turn, and a fire will be lit at the base of the boiler. Keep the wheel turning clockwise until the pressure in the boiler begins to build up (the needle gauge starts to move to the right), and a nasty banging sound starts up. Let it bang about a dozen times before going further.
Going Down?
The banging is the sound of an elevator that is built into the giant tree. Building the pressure up has caused the elevator car to raise up high above the ground. Now turn the pressure off so that the elevator car will begin travelling downward. Click and hold over the left part of the valve (the counter-clockwise symbol will be present) until you notice the pressure dropping on the boiler (the needle gauge starts to move to the left). At this point, move back outside, turn to your left, and click to the right of the wooden building to go to the big tree. You may notice the elevator car dropping quickly - if you miss the opportunity to get in, just repeat the steps with the red valve back inside the wooden building.
Go up right to the tree and wait for the descending car - once it's at ground level, hop in, and enjoy the ride down underground. If you somehow end up in the elevator going up into the treetops, use the button immediately to the left of the doorway to quickly lower the car back to ground level (just click on the button several times quickly).
The elevator takes you down into a secret underground room that contains a book straight ahead - your entrance to the Channelwood Age. Click on the book twice, watch the Channelwood flyover, and click the picture to enter. However, if you for whatever reason want to wait to travel to this Age, use the red wheel valve to the left of the elevator car to send it back upward (rotate the wheel clockwise, and then hop in - but remember to jump out back at ground level!).
The Power of Fluid
You arrive in the Channelwood Age standing on one of a number of wooden walkways spread out over the water beneath the trees. Take a few moments to acquaint yourself with the surroundings - some walkways are dead ends, others lead to non-functioning pumps and elevators. Notice that there are pipes running along the walkways, with valves located where the walkways fork. Make your way towards the windmill located at the beginning of the walkways, and climb the rocky hill towards the door. Once inside, you will see that the wind power is being used to pump water from below up into a large tank. At the base of the tank, you will see a small metal valve - click on this vale to get the water running down into the pipes.
Now we'll use water power to get some of this machinery working. Go back down the hill onto the walkways to the first fork, and click on the valve to get a close-up. We want the water flowing to the left here, so push the red handle over to the right. Take the left walkway to the second fork - we want the water flowing right here, so the red handle should be over to the left. Take the right walkway to the third fork, and send the water again to the right. Go right once more to the fourth fork, and again send the water to the right. Proceed right again, and go to the elevator straight ahead - you should hear the pump working if you have correctly routed the water here. Click on the elevator to go in, click on the door to shut it, and pull the red lever to the right of the door to start your trip.
Lost in the Branches
Open the door onto the "second floor" of the Channelwood Age. This is where the monkey people must have lived, although the decay and destruction here indicates that they've been gone for a while. Warning: its quite easy to get lost on this level since most of the buildings look exactly alike. If you really get stuck, go back to the Channelwood Age journal, and copy down the map of this portion of the Age.
Go straight to the first circular platform and go to the right as you pass through it. Go ahead into a rectangular building (monkey house?), and turn to your right. Go straight into the next building in front of you, and again turn to your right. Go towards another circular platform straight ahead, pass through it to the left, and go into the next one, which happens to be a dead end. However, you should see a red handle mounted on a post within this structure. Pull the handle, and watch a gate on the far side of the paths open up.
Turn around and go back to the previous circular platform, go right, and then back into the building straight ahead. Turn to your right, and go towards the next circular platform. Pass through to the right and go straight into the next building. Keep going straight, and go directly into the next building. Turn to your right, and approach the gate that has just been opened for you (note that there is another elevator here to take you up higher). Go through the open gate, down the circular stairway, and click on the door to open it. You are back on "ground" level.
To get that upper elevator working, go back to the first walkway fork, and redirect the water flow over towards the gate you just emerged from (flow to the right). When you return to the stairs, you should hear the pump working now. Go back up the stairs, and turn to your left to face the elevator; open the door, go inside, close the door, and pull the handle to go up.
In the Treetops
Step out onto the top level, and go straight forward, then off to the right until you come to a wood building. Click on the door to the left, and enter the room for a surprise message from Achenar. Go over and check out his "table" - try clicking on it - ouch, got your bum! Go out the door behind the table, down the hall, and back out onto the wood path. Straight ahead you will find Achenar's room, which is quite stark in terms of furnishings. Grab the blue page, and take a look at his image recorder, being sure to press each of the buttons. Was he trying to boss around the monkey people? Be sure to press the far right button, and listen to Sirrus as he mocks his brother. His last statement about the pages seems to suggest they may have been working together!
Backtrack along the path past the first building, and go to the right when you get to the elevator - you'll soon come to Sirrus' room - a big improvement as usual. Seems like he's been into the booze a bit though. The red page can be found in a table drawer under the window that has a view of the windmill. Be sure to check the two drawers along the base of the bed - one contains a knife, while the other contains the other half of the note that we found in the Stoneship Age. Be sure to copy it down, and compare it with the other fragment to learn about the Myst signal marker vault. Once you've looked around, go back to the elevator, go down one level, the down the staircase to ground level.
Now its time to harness the water power again. At the first walkway fork, send the water flowing to the left. Go left to the next fork, and send the water to the left again. Again go left to the next fork. Send the water to the right, and go to the right. Keep going straight ahead until you get to a pump sitting alone at the end of a walkway (the pump should be running, confirming you've routed the water the right way). Pull the red handle on the pump, and a set of steps will rise out of the water connecting you to another section of the walkway.
Go straight until you approach another elevator, but go right when you see a path branching off. Go straight until you reach a dead end. Here the water pipe is not connected over the gap. Click the gear handle located here, and the pipe will telescope across the gap connecting the two pieces. Now go back to re-route the water to this new elevator. From the first fork way back near the windmill, set the water to go left. At the second branch, send the water right. At the third branch, set the water right again, and at the fourth branch send the water left. Proceed back around to the new elevator (once more, the pump by the new elevator will be working if you've routed the water correctly), go in, close the door, and pull the handle to go up. Once the door opens again, a Myst linking book is in plain view straight ahead.
Link back to Myst, and add the blue page to the book. Listen as Achenar accuses his brother of greed and murder. Apparently Sirrus murdered Atrus, who as he died, imprisoned both his sons in the books. Achenar tells us to copy down Pattern 158 from the codebook (far right book on the middle shelf of the bookcase), and input it into a panel within the fireplace to get the last blue page. He tells us not to touch the red page also located there, or the green book that will trap us for all eternity.
Now go back to the Channelwood Age to pick up Sirrus' red page. Remember to raise and lower the tree elevator on Myst by turning the red handle in the wooden building. Once you've got the red page, link back to Myst again, and give Sirrus his red page. We get a detailed description of how Achenar went mad, and burned all of Atrus' books. He implores us to give him the final red page by inputting Pattern 158 from the codebook into the fireplace.
Red, Blue, or Neither?
First, let's check out the marker switch vault mentioned in the secret note. Since all of the switches are on, go down to the dock, and switch off the marker switch here. The front of the marker switch opens, revealing a piece of paper. Grab it - since we cannot look at the page, it must belong in another linking book - interesting! Go back to the library, pull out the codebook, and copy down Pattern 158. Once completed, close the book, and go inside the fireplace. Press the button to the left of the opening, and a grey screen will appear. Reproduce Pattern 158 on the screen and press the button again - the entire fireplace rotates around, and the screen lifts to uncover the green book and the final red and blue pages.
Now, what to do? We've seen enough evidence on our travels to indicate Sirrus' greed and ego, and Achenar's madness. Since we've got a linking page in our hands, why not try the green book? Open it up, and listen to Atrus, who is trapped in another age (he calls it D'ni), tell the tail of his sons' greed and betrayal. He needs a single page to be able to return to Myst. Since we've got the page, go ahead and link to the D'ni Age.
Give Atrus the page when he asks for it, and watch him link back to Myst. Wait a few moments for him to return and thank you. He gives you the run of Myst and the 4 ages, and tells you he may need your help in the future (can you say sequel?). He's too busy to talk much though.
That's it - a pretty anti-climactic ending.
Alternate Endings
Since there isn't really any way to die in Myst, there are only three alternative endings to the story (besides getting completely stuck!): giving Sirrus the last red page, giving Achenar the last blue page, or linking to D'ni without the missing page for Atrus' book. Use a previously saved game to go back and try any or all of these endings. As you may have guessed, adding the last red or blue page to the books sends you into that book - the monologues that Sirrus and Achenar deliver as they rip out the pages to trap you forever are quite amusing. Almost equally funny was to hear Atrus dressing you down for showing up in D'ni without the last linking book page.