Day 6

My D'ni woes continue.

Just a few days after solving the modem issue I start having trouble with Game Tap when I launch Uru - an error saying that files cannot be accessed. I went to their support chat and was told to make a ticket at the support message board. I did that but there still is no reply three days later. I started going through the message boards and discovered that I am hardly the only one with this issue and that it appears to be a result of a bug in the game. I tried deleting and reloading Uru anyway, of course without helping anything.

Unfortunately, it being the Easter weekend, support from either Game Tap or Uru is pretty limited. Fortunately, I have the game installed on the kids computer to, so at least I can get in some exploring until I get a chance to use the 888 number on Monday.

So yesterday I decided to leave Yeesha's quest for a bit and actually try working with some other people. I began in the Beginner's Bevin where there are orientations on the hour in the evening. It was just me and one other, asiram, with the first DRC type I've met, Res Eng T. Bailey. He started talking about D'ni history, explaining how the Cavern was first settled by them 10,000 years ago but how a gas attack by a disgruntled citizen forced them to evacuate about 600 years ago. What happened to them is a mystery. Having played all the Myst games, and even read a few of the books, I know full well what happened (the disgruntled citizen was Yeesha's great grandmother - Ti'Ana - yes, they are that long lived). I found staying in character difficult and blew it a bit at the beginning when I told T. Bailey I had played the previous Myst games to which I just got an "O-kay".

There was a brief question and answer afterwards in which I stayed quiet and listened to asiram and Bailey talk of the nature of the attack that drove the D'ni away. I meant to talk to asiram afterwards and learn a bit about how new she was but she had to go - the story of my life.

After that I went to the Greeter's Bevin which was packed. There is a small garden Age linked to from each Bevin called Eder Tsogal - the place with my aborted attempt to help solve with Bill and company earlier. There was only one other there, but you really need at least four or so to pull off all the touching of the journey cloths that are necessary. He offered to round up some friends, but I figured I could come back later to give the place a try again.

In my earlier exploration of the Cavern to collect markers, I noticed that there are three linking books in the Ae'gura museum. The link to three different Ages - Negilahn, Dereno & Payiferen. I decided to try each of these. Unfortunately, they link into the interior of pods, in each of which are view windows that you can see outside. There are a number of blue buttons that I can't see the function of and a power switch that allows you to get glimpses of what is outside through viewing windows. Payiferen was storming and desolate. Dereno was in a large, frozen, lake, the lower windows of which are underwater. The lake is teaming with life. I messed up my notes for Negilahn, so I'll have to go back there to describe it. Each also has a D'ni numeral on the floor: Negilahn - 18, Payiferen - 13, while Dereno is marked with an X - I don't know what this means. I'm also unsure if these numbers are different if I return.

Anyway, back in Greeter's Bevin, I noticed that a screen to the left of the entry points displays a lot of messages to explorers, one of which were a series of portal opening times for Dereno and Negilahn. Like a twit, I didn't take a screen shot so I'll have to go back and to get the times and then try linking to Dereno and Negilahn at the appropriate moments to see what happens.

One last thing I finally clued into. Your home neighbourhood Bevin is the home neighbourhood of 19 other explorers. A display screen in my home Bevins shows their log in times. There's king-kai-5, muggles, & sherryhollis. I should see if there is a way to get a hold of them so we can proceed through the game together.

I'll remember to get some screen shots next time too.

HC