Part XV: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the South Pacific
(Yup, this one’s gonna be pretty strange even by this game’s standards. buckle up, folks.)
Last time out we finally explored the dance studio and regions beyond, including opening a hidden exit via tap dance. We found a secret garden area, along with a trunk in Martin’s attic which opened via scents. We ended going back to the phone booth, because one of those scented items is in the general store and we have to pay for it. First, though, I want to try something upstairs.
>PRESS “4”
You pick up the receiver.You press “4”.
You hear the sound of a motor grinding, the door slams closed, and the phone booth suddenly rises upwards very quickly. Then, just as suddenly, the phone booth comes to a screeching halt. The phone booth door opens.
PHONE BOOTH, by the second floor landing
You see the second floor landing to the east.
>E
You drop the receiver.
SECOND FLOOR LANDING
>N
SHORT HALL
>GET SACK
Your arms are getting full, but a little rearranging lets you take it anyway. You take the small cloth sack.>W
FUZZY CHAMBER
>GET EAR TILE
Your arms are getting full, but a little rearranging lets you take it anyway. As you take the ear tile out of the sack, the gold thread begins to vibrate. Then, the tiny fuzzy dice on the gold thread emit a short high-pitched whistling sound.You hear a thump coming from the ceiling. Then you hear a grinding noise receding from the ceiling, while at the same time you hear a grinding noise approaching the south wall. This is followed by a thump coming from the south wall.
Suddenly the fuzzy chamber changes its orientation. The quarter flip pulls the floor out from under you, and you fall over. After you regain your footing, you see that the large round hole, which used to be to the east, is now beneath you. You manage not to fall through the hole by keeping to the side.
Suddenly the fuzzy chamber changes its orientation. The quarter flip pulls the floor out from under you, and you fall over. After you regain your footing, you see that the large round hole, which used to be beneath you, is now to the west.
>W
RACHEL’S BEDROOM
We solved the main puzzle in here, but now that we have flowers, it only seems natural to try putting one in the vase anyway.
>PUT DAISY IN VASE
The plucked daisy is now in the flower vase.The flower vase moves to the gold circle.
>X DRESSER
The dresser has a shiny black lacquer finish with a contrasting white top.Painted on the top of the dresser are six circles arranged in a loop. There is a seventh circle in the middle. The circles are all exactly the same size, packed tightly together so that their borders are touching each other. Each of the six circles is in contact with two other circles, and also with the seventh circle at the center.
Starting with the top circle and then going clockwise, the circles are painted gold, silver, red, yellow, blue, and green. The seventh circle is black.
A flower vase is on the gold circle.
Notice that gold and silver are the first two, which are indeed the first two elements in the combination we found. If it follows that order, that implies there’s some link between red/iron, yellow/mercury, blue/tin, green/copper, and black/lead. I can sort of see some of these correspondences, maybe? I’m not sure that’s the whole hint that might exist here.
>GET DAISY
Your arms are getting full, but a little rearranging lets you take it anyway. You take the plucked daisy out of the flower vase.The flower vase moves to the black circle.
>EFUZZY CHAMBER
>PUT EAR TILE IN SACK
As you put the ear tile into the sack, the gold thread begins to vibrate. Then, the tiny fuzzy dice on the gold thread emit a short low buzzing sound.Suddenly the fuzzy chamber changes its orientation. The quarter flip pulls the floor out from under you, and you fall over. After you regain your footing, you see that the large round hole, which used to be to the west, is now beneath you. You manage not to fall through the hole by keeping to the side.
Suddenly the fuzzy chamber changes its orientation. The quarter flip pulls the floor out from under you, and you fall over. After you regain your footing, you see that the large round hole, which used to be beneath you, is now to the east.
You hear a thump coming from the south wall. Then you hear a grinding noise receding from the south wall, while at the same time you hear a grinding noise approaching the ceiling. This is followed by a thump coming from the ceiling.
>E
SHORT HALL
>DROP SACK
The small cloth sack is now on the floor.>S
SECOND FLOOR LANDING
>W
PHONE BOOTH, by the second floor landing
>PRESS “9”
You pick up the receiver.You press “9”.
You hear the sound of a motor grinding, the door slams closed, and the phone booth suddenly drops very quickly. Then, just as suddenly, the phone booth comes to a screeching halt. The door opens and you see the kitchen.
PHONE BOOTH, in the pantry
You see the kitchen to the east.
You hear the computerized voice tell you…
Press “1” to be enlightened.
Press “3” to be cleansed.
Press “4” to be uplifted.
Press “7” to be moved.
Press “9” to be transmogrified.
If you do not have access to a touch tone phone, please remain on the line and an operator will assist you.>PRESS “7”
You press “7”.The computerized voice goes on to tell you
Please specify the destination to which you would like to be moved…
Press “1” to go to the zoo.
Press “2” to go to the beach.
Press “3” to go to work.
Press “4” to go to the store.
Press “5” to go to the veterinarian’s office.
Press “6” to visit Mom.
All other options will return you to the main menu. Please be advised that the previously mentioned destinations can be reached only through the Phantom Phone Booth object-oriented navigational system.>PRESS “4”
You press “4”.You hear the sound of a motor grinding, the door slams closed, and the phone booth suddenly rises upwards very quickly. It passes the second floor landing and goes through the roof, flying high into the air.
The telephone voice tells you, “Estimated travel time for this six mile trip is three minutes, using standard travel speed.”
The phone booth flies northwest. After about three minutes of flying it sets itself down. The phone booth door pops open.
PHONE BOOTH, in the WalMart parking lot
You see the WalMart parking lot to the east.
>E
You drop the receiver.
WALMART PARKING LOT
You’re at the far end of the WalMart parking lot, quite some distance from the WalMart entrance. The lot is jammed with cars and people, and you don’t see any empty parking spots.
To the west is the phone booth, which has managed to squeeze itself in between a little Nash Rambler and a big black Cadillac.
Throngs of people are hurrying southward, headed for the WalMart entrance. Even more people are streaming out of WalMart doors, bumping into each other and pushing through the crowd as they carry their bags back to their cars.
To the north is a much smaller store, rather oddly-shaped. It’s tall and narrow, with sloping eves that curve upwards like a pagoda.
>X RAMBLER
The little Nash Rambler looks rather run-down, with two flat tires and some missing hubcaps. It occurs to you that the car is likely to have been abandoned here weeks ago. You hear some mewing coming from under the car.>LOOK UNDER CAR
Under the little Nash Rambler you see a mother cat and several kittens that appear to be about six-weeks old. The kittens are nursing. The mother cat eyes you warily.>GET CAT
The mother cat hisses, and you quickly withdraw. She doesn’t seem inclined to let anyone touch her or her kittens right now. Perhaps you should come back later.
Apparently it’s still not time. I don’t know what the deal here is.
>N
You walk north and enter Takamine’s General Store.FIRST LEVEL
>U
You climb the stone staircase. It leads you upwards in a spiral to the Second Level.SECOND LEVEL
A black lacquer cabinet is on the north wall.
On the floor near the south wall is a stack of turtles leading up to the ceiling. Next to the stack is an antique washbasin.
Shelves cover the west wall. The shelves contain a variety of garden and pond supplies, including sand rakes, potting soil, and garden decorations. Most of the items on the shelves fail to hold your attention. However, your eye is drawn to a can of fish food, “So Long and Thanks for All the Fish”, and some electric hedge trimmers.
An open panel to the east reveals a stone staircase leading downwards.
Quoting this description because one of those items is going to be relevant in a bit.
>SIT ON TURTLE
You try to get on the turtle stack, but it begins to collapse. After several jerking moves downwards there is only one turtle left visible.You sit on the sea turtle, straddling it as if you were riding a horse.
Suddenly you hear some mechanical grinding noises coming from the floor and from inside the turtle. With a jerking motion the turtle rises upwards a little ways and then stops. You look down and see that your turtle is now resting on the back of a SECOND turtle underneath it!
Then comes another jerking motion that lifts you even higher. Now you find yourself sitting on the top of a stack of THREE sea turtles.
The process continues until you are lifted up through an opening in the ceiling to the Third Level. It’s turtles all the way down! You’re fairly certain that there aren’t any more turtles on the way, but you get off the turtle anyway, just in case.
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[more]
THIRD LEVELShelving covers the north wall. On the shelves you see a large array of incense supplies, much of which appears to have been imported from Japan. Since you don’t know much about incense, you find the variety of utensils, bowls, fragrant wood chips, and incense base to be rather confusing.
Losing interest in the incense you turn your attention to the small selection of candles at one end of the shelving. You notice a ivory-colored candle and a dark red candle.
In an alcove on the east wall is a statue of a warrior king, smaller than the one you saw on the First Level of the store.
A large box of white rice ash is sitting on the floor next to the west wall. A red rope ladder leads upwards from the box of rice ash to the opening in the ceiling.
To the south you see a round hole in the floor with a carving of a sea turtle.
Oh, right - we actually grabbed the green candle from here earlier, because (at the time) I thought a candle would be useful since we have no other source of light in the whole game.
>U
FOURTH LEVEL
>CLAP
(your hands)
You clap your hands.A panel in the north wall opens, revealing an elevator.
>N
ELEVATOR
The panel to the south is open, revealing the Fourth Level.
Painted on the wall you see five symbols. From top to bottom you see a tall brown rectangle, a silver circle, a red triangle, wavy blue lines, and a yellow square.
>PUSH RECTANGLE
You push the tall brown rectangle. The panel to the south closes, and the elevator rises. Then the panel to the south opens, revealing the Fifth Level.>S
FIFTH LEVEL
The room is filled entirely with extremely large barrels, most of which are marked to say which type of vegetable is inside the barrel. Your eye is particular drawn to the cabbage barrel, the broccoli barrel, and an unmarked barrel.
To the north you see an open panel revealing an elevator.
You don’t see any warrior king here. If there is a warrior king for the fifth level he’s either invisible, hiding, or on vacation.
>GET BROCCOLI
You can’t reach the broccoli that’s in the barrel.>X BROCCOLI BARREL
The broccoli barrel has a hinged lid, which is currently closed with a lock on it.The barrel is marked to indicate that there is broccoli inside. However, the price has been crossed out. You’re not sure whether this means that the broccoli is not for sale anymore, or whether it’s free, or whether you just are supposed to talk to Mr. Takamine if you want to buy some broccoli.
There is a small hole in the side of the barrel near the bottom, wide enough for a few of your fingers but not for your whole hand. You can see some broccoli but it’s too far away for your fingers to reach. You doubt that even long-nosed pliers would help you here.
Nevertheless, you remain convinced that there must be someway to get broccoli out through the hole. You just need assistance from someone suited to the task.
Wanted to take a look at this again while we’re up here. Someone suited to getting into a small space? We definitely have one candidate now we didn’t last time I was here.
>N
ELEVATOR
>PUSH SQUARE
You push the yellow square. The panel to the south closes, and the elevator drops. Then the panel to the south opens, revealing the First Level.>S
FIRST LEVEL
>GET CANDLE
Your arms are getting full, but a little rearranging lets you take it anyway. You take the green candle.>S
You find yourself unable to pass between the foo dog statues. They seem to be staring at you accusingly. Perhaps you should put some money in the east foo dog’s mouth to pay for what you’ve taken from the store.>PUT TEN IN EAST DOG
The ten dollar bill is now in the east foo dog’s mouth.>S
The east foo dog closes his mouth.Then the west foo dog opens her mouth and reveals your change, a five dollar bill. After you take the change, the west foo dog closes her mouth. The east foo dog opens his and lets out a deep “Mu-u-u!!”
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[more]
You continue leaving the store.WALMART PARKING LOT
Wait, those are dogs. We have a dog whistle now, so maybe this is the right place to use it? And we had a thought of that “mu!” sound when we blew it earlier, which is what I really remembered.
>N
You walk north and enter Takamine’s General Store.FIRST LEVEL
>BLOW WHISTLE
You blow the dog whistle. The whistle makes no sound that you can hear.For some reason this makes you think of a Zen monastery in southern China. Birds sing among innumerable kinds of fragrant flowers.
>E
You climb the stone staircase. It leads you upwards in a spiral to the Second Level.SECOND LEVEL
>BLOW WHISTLE
You blow the dog whistle. The whistle makes no sound that you can hear.
Same thing happens on the third level. However, on level 4 something very interesting happens:
>BLOW WHISTLE
You blow the dog whistle. The whistle makes no sound, but suddenly the painting moves sideways, revealing an open wall safe!But as you look at the contents of the wall safe, you suddenly are gripped with a sharp pain inside your head and an overwhelming feeling of nausea that forces you to double over and squeeze your eyes tightly shut.
You force yourself to look again, telling yourself that you need to brave the pain and see what is inside the wall safe. But a sharp bright light flashes inside of your eyes and then everything goes to black.
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For those counting, that would be the third time in the game where this exact thing happened to us. Previously it happened with the dirt in the courtyard and Rachel’s sketchbook. And this one somehow seems more severe than those other times.
[more]
Some time later you regain consciousness and find yourself lying on the floor. You hear two voices speaking mostly in Japanese, an older man and a young woman. You open your eyes and watch the two people talking. You realize that this is the store owner, Mr. Takamine, talking with his daughter Julie.
Julie is Martin’s vet, thus filling in that name connection for us (I noted the common last name at the time but didn’t speculate further).
Mr. Takamine seems angry with you, and it sounds like Julie is trying to get him to calm down.
Julie takes two objects out of the safe, an action which causes you to feel sick again. You grip your head in pain and look away, trying your best not to vomit.
Then there’s some more talking, which goes on for some time. At one point Mr. Takamine touches the motorcycle wheel that is on the metal work table. When he does this the hub of the wheel falls out and all of the spokes clatter onto the work table.
Mr. Takamine still appears unhappy about something, but fortunately his irritation doesn’t seem to center on you any more. You breath a sigh of relief as Julie puts the objects back into the safe and closes the painting.
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[more]
You pull yourself up to sit on the floor. Mr. Takamine and his daughter are still involved in an animated conversation with each other that seems to involve other important issues besides you. After a while, Mr. Takamine takes a yellowed newspaper clipping out of his wallet and gives it to you.You read the newspaper clipping, which has a date that is more than 25 years old. It’s an obituary for Martin’s father. The article says that Viktor Kessler died in his home on October 13 of that year, due to an accidental explosion in his laboratory. You look up to see Mr. Takamine watching you. He seems somewhat disappointed at your reaction. You hand the clipping back to him.
Then Julie and her father get into an argument, which causes Julie to break into tears. But her father comforts her. Too bad you can’t understand what they’re saying. The disagreement sounded like it had something to do with Martin. And you think you might have heard them mention Rachel’s name earlier.
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[more]
With a frown, Mr. Takamine claps his hands. A panel in the north wall opens, revealing an elevator. As he walks into the elevator you realize that he has decided not to interfere with your activities here. But Julie kneels at your side.“Go do what you’re going to do,” Julie tells you in English. “My father won’t hit you again. But please be careful! It sounds like this could be dangerous.”
As you stand up, Julie walks into the elevator to join her father. Mr. Takamine claps his hands and the elevator closes.
You find yourself alone again.
Oh, dear, oh dear. This might be one of the most important bits of the wider plot we’ve seen yet. At the very least, it confirms - for the first time I remember - a notion brought up when I first started this thread. That there is some reason for it to be us, specifically, sent on this massive quest. As for what this means in the immediate term: we can’t see what those objects were in the safe. All of those moments of nausea in the past were because we thought there was more than one possibility for what we were looking at, so maybe it’s the same thing here where we really aren’t sure what is in that locked safe.
This also tells you about the elevator if you somehow got through everything without discovering how to open it, which I suppose is technically possible.
>X PAINTING
The painting is abstract and yet full of power. With a few strokes of black pigment that look suspiciously like motorcycle grease, the painting seems to have captured something fundamental about life, the universe, and everything.As you look at the painting, you can’t help asking yourself questions. Can a cat bark? Can a dog whistle? Do water buffalo really “mu”?
Without speaking, without silence, how can you express the truth?
Is that greasy handprint in the middle of the painting supposed to show one hand clapping?
Will the answer that’s blowing in the wind settle the question once and for all as to whether or not pigs have wings?
And what is supposed to happen to the frayed knot, the talking dog, and the ten-inch violinist after they walk into a bar?
Ah, and there’s how we were supposed to know for sure the whistle would work here.
We summon the elevator and jump down to the first floor as before, and then head back home.
>S
WALMART PARKING LOT
>W
PHONE BOOTH, in the WalMart parking lot
>PRESS “9”
You pick up the receiver.You press “9”.
You hear the sound of a motor grinding, the door slams closed, and the phone booth suddenly rises upwards very quickly, flying high into the air.
The telephone voice tells you, “Estimated travel time for this six mile trip is three minutes, using standard travel speed.”
The phone booth flies southeast. After about three minutes of flying it drops down through an opening Martin’s roof and comes to an abrupt halt in the pantry. The phone booth door opens.
PHONE BOOTH, in the pantry
You see the kitchen to the east.
Alright. Now let’s try the beach, which we finally got to now that we have a towel.
>PRESS “7”
You press “7”.The computerized voice goes on to tell you
Please specify the destination to which you would like to be moved…
Press “1” to go to the zoo.
Press “2” to go to the beach.
Press “3” to go to work.
Press “4” to go to the store.
Press “5” to go to the veterinarian’s office.
Press “6” to visit Mom.
All other options will return you to the main menu. Please be advised that the previously mentioned destinations can be reached only through the Phantom Phone Booth object-oriented navigational system.>PRESS “2”
You press “2”.You hear the sound of a motor grinding, the door slams closed, and the phone booth suddenly rises upwards very quickly. It passes the second floor landing and goes through the roof, flying high into the air.
The telephone voice tells you, “Estimated travel time for this 950 mile trip is nineteen minutes, using accelerated travel speed.”
The phone booth flies west. After about nineteen minutes of flying it sets itself down. The phone booth door pops open.
PHONE BOOTH, at the beach
You see the beach to the west.
>W
You drop the receiver.
BEACH
The ocean is to the west, a seemingly endless expanse of dark green stetching across the horizon. Roaring waves lap against the shore. You find yourself wishing that you could fly. You long to soar over the ocean and travel as swiftly as the wind, exploring the exotic locations that lie beyond.
The phone booth is to the east.
You notice that you’re wearing a Superman costume.
>X COSTUME
The Superman costume is quite realistic looking. You feel as if you could fly!
Okay, unexpected. But I have a theory as to why, and sure enough:
>REMOVE GOGGLES
You take off the goggles.The Superman costume disappears.
The brightly colored machine flicker for a moment as if they are about to disappear. But then they regain their substance and stay with you. Apparently these particular brightly colored machine tools have a talent for being real in any dimension, even when other objects might disappear.
You notice that the Superman costume has disappeared.
Oops, I think that’s two messages telling us the same thing triggering. But yes, it’s another goggles exclusive. Of course we could only imagine it with no goggles, but I had them on since we needed them in the dance studio area anyway. I wear them again.
>FLY
You stretch your arms in front of you and push off the ground. You’re flying, just like Superman!You fly over the ocean, exhilarated by the cold rush of air against your face and the salty spray from the waves below. You seem to be travelling at an incredibly high speed, so fast that that the sky grows darker as the sun recedes in back of you towards the eastern horizon. You’re not sure at which point you cross over the International Date Line, but before long the sun falls below the horizon and the stars begin to appear. Dawn has not yet reached this part of the world.
When the third star appears you can’t help thinking of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. Was that a pirate ship you saw below? Too late, it’s gone from view. Flying at Super Speed has disadvantages for those not used to being Superman.
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[more]
As you continue flying into the darkening sky, the air gets much colder. The red cape is not much help for warmth. So you try to fly southwards as well as westwards. Eventually you notice that the constellations are no longer familiar to you. You conclude that you must now be somewhere in the southern hemisphere. This makes you think of Bora Bora.Wait a minute, that seems to be Bora Bora below you! The tourists on Bora Bora seem to be having a great time watching a performer juggle firesticks. You head downwards to join the party, and but by the time you are able to land you discover that you have ended up overshooting Bora Bora by two or three smaller islands. There doesn’t seem to be any party going on here on this island.
TROPICAL ISLAND BEACH
Palm trees are swaying in the light of the moon and the twinkling stars.
You see Clark Kent here. He’s sitting on a coconut, looking forlorn. He looks at your Superman costume with longing.
The ocean lies to the east, and a shadowy path leads west through lush vegetation.
We’ll explore first, but it seems like we have just the thing for Kent here.
>W
The path leads you deep into the interior of the island…EAST END OF ROPE BRIDGE
The ground drops in a sheer cliff. Below is a dark rippling lake, shimmering in the moonlight. Trees with lush green fronds surround the lake. Some of the trees have purple flower buds waiting to bloom. In the center of the lake is a volcano.
To the west you see a rope bridge, which leads across the lake to the top of the volcano.
A shadowy path back leads eastward through the thick vegetation.
>W
As soon as you step foot on the rope bridge, you find yourself surrounded by native islanders who glare at you in disapproval. You try to explain that you were just trying to get to the volcano, but one of the islanders sharply motions you into silence. In broken English he informs you that strangers are forbidden to approach the volcano. Since you have violated a sacred taboo, you must be brought to the Great Tiki so that judgement may be passed upon you and so that your fate may be determined.
Yet another “cutscene” moment here, as it turns out. Fortunately, we brought something important along.
The islanders take you by the arms, bringing you with them as they force their way through the thick vegetation. You can’t really see where you’re going with all of the green leaves slapping you in the face, but you have the general impression that you’re being taken around the lake to the other side, west of the volcano.
Suddenly there is a break in the vegetation and you see a wooden structure with a thatched door. The door opens and the islanders toss you inside.
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[more]
You are completely alone inside the Tiki Room. Music begins to play. Colorful birds sitting in a basket are lowered from the ceiling. The birds recite ritual incantations, potted flowers sing, fountain waters dance. Then there is a roar of thunder. Parts of the walls start moving. Totem masks snap open and closed, while drums pound in frightening rhythmic intensity. You begin to realize that you’re in big trouble.Desperately you search your brain, trying to think about movies that you’ve seen. You remember “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Haunted Mansion”, but did they ever get around to making one about the Tiki Room? How did it end? Wasn’t there a guy named Joe who got thrown into the volcano? No, no, that was a different movie, you tell yourself nervously.
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[more]
With a loud crash, all of the noise and movement comes to a sudden halt. A bright light shines down on you as a high priest in a red and orange fire-mask enters the Tiki Room through a secret side panel. The high priest examines you and what you are carrying. When he sees what is inside your headphones, he breaks into a big smile and steps back, clapping his hands twice. The islanders open the west wall of the Tiki Room, revealing the shimmering lake with the volcano in the distance. You see the stars twinkling above and the reflection of the moon upon the lake.The high priest takes the headphones away from you and places the headphones reverently in the water. They sink below the surface. After a while the volcano rumbles, but then grows silent. The islanders look worried.
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[more]
The islander who speaks English explains. Apparently the white fish has returned from her travels to take a mate. A mate has been chosen and the white fish is no longer alone, but the fruitfulness of the union has not been blessed by the fire of the volcano. Without the ash of the volcano the buds on the trees do not open their blossoms. Without the flowers to eat, the fish cannot produce offspring. The islander drops his voice to a whisper and tells you that if a way cannot be found to bring back strength to the volcano, the sacred lake may die. “No fish,” he explains sadly.------------- Press space bar to continue -----------------
We were, of course, told at the vet that the fish needed to go on a long journey across the ocean.
[more]
The headphones float back to the surface, and the high priest takes them from the water. You had expected the headphones to be empty, but inside the headphones you now see two fish! The islanders gasp with excitement as the high priest places the headphones on your head. The islander who speaks English explains to you that the fish have chosen to travel with you, to seek adventure and bring back stories.Then the high priest says something to you using the ancient language of the volcano. You look at the islander who speaks English, but he says nothing.
Suddenly you hear voices coming from inside your headphones. The fish are translating for you! “The high priest says that you are a friend of the lake, a brother to the volcano. He says that you will help us to awaken the volcano, and that we tiny fish will then help you to complete your own quest. We must travel very far and we must bring a message to the Senders. He says we must bring them the Fourth Book. We nust bring the Fourth Book of the great master who writes no more, the one who knows the answer.”
“What is the answer?” you ask the fish, but the fish remain silent. Apparently they are well equipped to do translating work, but it is not in their nature to carry on conversations of their own. “What is the answer?” you cry to the high priest, but he does not understand any English.
The islanders escort you back to the beach where you first landed. They leave you on the beach and go back into the vegetation, disappearing from your sight. But the islander who speaks English whispers something in your ear before departing.
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[more]
“42,” the islander says. “The answer is 42.” And then he is gone.TROPICAL ISLAND BEACH
You see Clark Kent here. He’s sitting on a coconut, looking forlorn. He looks at your Superman costume with longing.
The ocean lies to the east, and a shadowy path leads west through lush vegetation.
Wait, a fish that translates for us and “42”?
Is this whole thing just one long Douglas adams reference?
Those of you paying attention will know that we did in fact see one of his books on sale in the store earlier. So we do need to go get that, though there is the question of what to do with it. It sounds like it’ll be more elaborate than just bringing it back here, though.
