Thank you for the answer.
The second strategy worked for me.
I used the grenade when only the Earth bot and The Water Bot were active and finished the Earth Bot last without taking damage to my party.
Now I dread what is next…
I apologize for an offtopic, but how to hide spoilery content, like you are doing for hints?
I cannot find the option and I am not sure if it is hidden somewhere or the screenreader does not read everything.
In some ways I found the gold tier a little easier than the silver one, so if you got this far, I think you’ve got this!
The blurry-text is done via the spoiler tag – just put square brackets around the word spoiler at the beginning of the text you want to make fuzzy, then at the end put /spoiler in another set of square brackets.
You are absolutely right.
For me the last fight was easy in comparison to the previous one.
Got it on the first try.
Although, I have a question.
Gwen healed her party when she was stunned.
Was that supposed to happen?
I also managed to edit my post for spoilers.
Thanks.
Yes, the healing is intentional. I’ve changed the phrasing in newer versions to say that stunned people ‘can’t shoot’, instead of ‘can’t act’.
My questions were not precise enough.
How do I get the bats back in the cage. I’ve only found three sheets of music, which make the bats move in different ways, but none of the three have been useful in any combination for getting them back in the cage.
These are the zoo-robot parts I’ve already found. There are no other visible parts in the zoo, some I’m not even sure where to look.
(a grabber arm, a comms circuit, a fuel storage, a hover module, a fuel core, a drone torso, a new logic ring, amobile field generator and a rocket pack)
Regarding the moss, I have a large ball of it in my possession. Is it useful for anything?
For the songs…
There’s something in the room that changes the songs.
There’s an organ stop that can be pushed or pulled. It reverses the properties of the song.
You need to get the bats in a ball, get them in the side of the room with a cage, and have one bat go in a circle to close the cage. So…
Advenit (Come Together), backwards Ad Sinistram (i.e. ‘To The Left’), and either backwards or forward Tu me Gyras (You Spin Me Right Round), whichever closes the door.
For the zoo, you’re missing ‘plating’ and a ‘recon scope’.
The plating is related to the moss you already have. You can give it to the cougar mother, or put it in her den, and she’ll give you the plating.
For the scope,
Have you looked at the swamp sign and area?
Examining the water should give you a topic to talk to the curator about.
Speaking to the curator raises a pipe.
You can TAKE OLD FILTER and PUT NEW FILTER IN PIPE. Then the scope would appear.
I’m on the gold level. How did you stun?
Never mind. I figured it out and finished the level.
Silver was tough. Gold was also.
Never mind. I figured it out on my own.
What do I do with the virox spell? Thought about the stalker, but that doesn’t work. Usually I try longer to get a solution, and this is the last area I can visit, but I’m a bit confused by this spell. The first time I tried it, I got sick and died after a few turns. When I use the spell now, the game says I am getting sick, but no more messages. It’s like the death timer didn’t restart again. Typing virox again just says that I can’t get any more sick.
Hmm, as to the puzzle, you’re on the right track… are there any other beasties, big or small, that you might want to infect?
But that spell behavior seems like it might be a little wonky so tagging @mathbrush just in case.
This is a bug in the game that will be fixed in the next version. However, there is only one place you need to use virox, and it is not affected by this bug. Rest assured that you are indeed very sick, whether the game acknowledges that or not.
Thanks for the hint. Sadly, I am completely stuck at the moment because
I don’t know which beastie to infect or even if I have met it yet. Here is what I did so far: I got the dirox spell, died in the crawl and gotten the mallox and exfil spells, then got through the crawl. I Got exklip from the angler.
I solved the whole puzzle with the column to get remox, then I burned the insects with remox and got virox. And that’s it so far. I don’t know how to infect anybody. At least staying in each room sick didn’t work so far. Places and things I think I have to solve yet: The wind in the alleyway, The house with the lantern, How to get down or north in the great cavern, How to open the portcullis, How to defeat the stalker, what to do with the creature and burning liquid in the dark room, and maybe: What to do with the labyrinth. But maybe the mark was the only thing in that area. Could you give me another hint what I should do next? Which puzzle is solvable now?
As an explicit solution:
You need to go north in the big cavern and get eaten by the giant monster while you are sick. Then you can fly across to the north without getting eaten.
Thank you. That helped. This was an absolutely awesome game. If a huge puzzlefest with creative puzzles left and right can be completed with just one hint request and without any other help, then that really speaks for its quality. Thank you for making this game.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for helping me identify that virox bug!
I am having a bit of trouble around the Horror Caves, and I’m afraid this is compounded by a bug. I mean a computer bug here. 
I am dealing with the Breaker after receiving the Collox spell. I’m guessing the way to deal with it has to do with luring the Stalker into the same room so that the Stalker takes out the Breaker. But I’ve started running into computer bugs. The most notable effect is that flying with exklip does not seem to end any more. In other words, the spell doesn’t end after 5 turns. It just keeps going and going.
What might help me here is: what is the solution to getting the stained scroll from the cage with the Breaker? Hints might help, but I’m not sure if this bug will get in the way of the solution.
(I’m more than happy to provide transcripts, etc. to help track down this bug. I just about always run a transcript, but in terms of saving it’s a habit I guess I’m going to have to learn. )
I’d love to see a transcript! There were two bugs before with spells never ending: one was that a scene was not set at ‘recurring’ so could occur only once. That’s what Virox currently does, as a bug. The other was that some spells were set to end exactly five minutes after they start, but the game sometimes skips a minute. But I’ve already set Exklip to end whenever the time is > 4 minutes (unless you happen to have started the game using an old version from github). So it seems like you’ve discovered a new way for things to go wrong!
It shouldn’t affect your progress, though; it’s completely unrelated to the beast in the cage, and really only comes up twice, both of which you’ve already solved if you’ve been able to see the beast.
As for what to do next:
-You’re completely on the right track. The question is…
-They need to be together to fight. so either
-The stalker needs to get in the cage or The beast needs to get out. Only one of those is possible.
-How did you get out of a tight situation before?
-Explicit answer: Use mallox on the beast when the bookmark is in.
Edit: For anyone interested, this is most of the flying/exklip code:
Exklip is a magic-spell. The spell-preview of Exklip is "[if bookmarkon is true]Allow the caster to fly[otherwise]Petrify the caster[end if]"
Exkliping is an action applying to nothing. Exkliping is spellcasting. Understand "Exklip" or "say exklip" as Exkliping.
Flying-player is a truth-state that varies. Flying-player is false.
Check Exkliping:
if Exklip is not in spell-book:
noscroll Exklip instead;
otherwise if the spell-book is not held by the player:
nobook Exklip instead;
otherwise if bookmarkon is false:
say "Your body seizes up in an instant. Your vision goes dark. You lose all sensation, for how long, you can't tell. Finally, eventually, there is release.
[sand-dying]";
now the player is in end-room instead;
otherwise if flying-player is true:
say "[We] [adapt the verb say] 'Exklip'. Golden sparks ignite all over your body, then disappear, but nothing happens. It seems that repeating the spell while it's working had no effect." instead;
Carry out Exkliping:
now flying-player is true;
Report exkliping:
if the player is in buried-room:
say "[We] [adapt the verb say] 'Exklip'. Golden sparks ignite all over your body, then disappear, burrowing into your skin.
You feel a horrible feeling inside, like you're wilting and having to vomit all at once. You cough, and a black cloud flows out and disperses into the air.
You feel like you could fly, if you weren't stuck in this tiny room. Unfortunately, while your mass decreased, your volume has not.";
otherwise:
say "[We] [adapt the verb say] 'Exklip'. Golden sparks ignite all over your body, then disappear, burrowing into your skin.
[first time]You feel a horrible feeling inside, like you're wilting and having to vomit all at once. [only]You cough, and a black cloud flows out and disperses into the air[first time]. Simultaneously, you feel much lighter, and much more frail[only]. [if the player is in vast-ladder]
[flyawaytext][otherwise][briefflying][end if]."
To say flyawaytext:
say "Unfortunately, the wind is now whipping your frail body around much more than before. It tears you away from the rock face before slamming you back into it like an egg cracking onto a pan.
[Sand-Dying]";
now the player is in end-room;
say "At least your body feels normal again"
To say briefflying:
say "You are flying [if the player is in air-region]very far[otherwise]several feet[end if] off the ground[first time]. It feels...good[only]"
Before going down from vast-room when flying-player is true:
say "[flyawaytext]." instead;
Flyingtime is a recurring scene. Flyingtime begins when flying-player is true.
Flyingtime ends abruptly when the player is not in spell-region.
Flyingtime ends bizarrely when the player is in end-room.
Flyingtime ends forgetfully when anghofiotime begins.
Flyingtime ends normally when the time since flyingtime began > 4 minutes.
When flyingtime ends normally:
say "The air around you condenses into a dark mist, which invades your mouth, eyes and ears. The gritty material pours into you, and you feel weight coming back into your body.
[if the player is in a vast-air]You lose control, and begin plummeting. Winds buffet you in every direction. You are falling![otherwise if the player is in air-scroll]You start to fall, and desperately grab onto the crack, barely holding on by your fingertips.[otherwise if the player is in buried-room]The spell wears off, and you get more stuck than you were before[otherwise]You fall heavily onto the floor. You are no longer flying.[end if]";
now flying-player is false;
When flyingtime ends:
now flying-player is false;
After I posted, I think I realized what was causing the bug, went back to an earlier save, and finished Horror Caves all by myself! Hurray! Well, I’m proud of myself anyway.
I’m using version serial number 231215 for the game file. I think what caused that bug was, after I was hanging from the Stalactite, I was so used to visiting the Graveyard, it never crossed my mind to just fly south. 
At one point I used “telox” and was told twice “The scene change machinery is stuck.” After another restore I “let go” from the stalactite and was told after coming to in the graveyard “You’re freefalling in the sky, being buffeted by the wind, and can’t control yourself!” Apparently my weird exits from the stalactite cannot be recommended. I can send you transcripts tomorrow.
That’s great you solved it on your own! That area has been the hardest; the first beta tester to play the game from start to finish spent about 25% of the transcript in that area.
From your description I already found one bug (the ‘freefalling’ one) but not the scene change machinery one, so I’ll definitely look forward to that tomorrow. Thanks!
I’m a bit stuck in the zoo!
I think I’m only missing the part in the wolf den, but I can’t figure out what Flash (red collar) wants. The Neckwear conversation hinted at possibly a rubber chew toy.