9: The Last Resort Walkthrough Version 1.1 Djibriel, March 2013 "Lost Your Muse? The Last Resort is an Effective Way to Help You Find Her Again." - Thurston Last, 19XX Contents No number: Contents Foreword (05/21/2008) 1.0 Version History 2.0 Introduction and Feelies 3.0 Characters 4.0 Walkthrough 5.0 Teleport Code 6.0 Thanks and Credits No number: Disclaimer ********************************** Foreword (05/15/2008, by Djibriel) ********************************** While it's certainly very artistic to cross logical boundaries when it comes to titles, giving a game the title '9' poses several problems. Like the 2002 Vin Diesel flick XXX, it's not very easy to find through Google. In addition, you have no idea where to search for the game in your local alphabatized bargain bin. Finally, it's being really hipster, even before hipsters were a thing. That's like a few Inception-layers deep into hipsterdom. This game's thick- framed glasses have thick-framed glasses of their own, and its ironic indoor scarf listens to bands you've never heard of. The title does have one thing going for it, though. It being Artistic Yet Commercially Problematic is not only descriptive of the title, but it's this game all over. It had everything going for it; state of the art prerendered images, an all-star cast of voice actors and a release at what the producers undoubtedly felt as being the peak of graphic adventure genre. However, 9 tried to leap for the heavens a bit too late. The high hardware requirements and high cost of the game should have produced a perfect example of its genre, and while that may be close to the truth, the buyer felt that the genre of the point and click adventure games was starting to become stale. Sales were poor. However, it's exactly games such as this one that can be a treasure to find years later. No matter the commercial situation at the time, when you're looking for a graphic adventure game, 9; The Last Resort is a fine example indeed, rich with surreal environments, a large cast of equally bizarre allies and antagonists and a heavy sense of wonder at every turn. Why, the only thing the modern player needs to enjoy this game is patience, and while that may be a scarce thing these days, going back to a game such as 9; The Last Resort gives you something very, very original. Well anyway, I started writing the first few words around 2008 and finished the last in 2012. If you're one of the (lucky) few to read this document and play the game, I hope you have fun. ********************************** 1.0 Version History ********************************** Version History: - Version 1.1 (03/16/2013) Added some stuff, mainly about playing the game when you already know the music puzzle solution and the 'alternate ending' where you complete the Twins' MUSE Machine. Uploaded only a day after the initial release, this is a testament to my inability to wait for the right moment to do anything. - Version 1.0 (03/15/2013) Initial release on GameFAQs and my own website, the Collapse. ********************************** 2.0 Introduction and Feelies ********************************** You have received a mysterious package... An enigmatic relative, your distant Uncle Thurston, has bequeathed you his entire estate, including the centerpiece of his holdings, the famed Last Resort... A will, a postcard, a tourist's brochure... all indicative of the splendor that once graced this faded temple to the creative spirit... but those days, apparently, were long ago... Now you are entrusted with the care of The Last Resort... and soon you will realize you've inherited not just a deteriorating mansion, but also your family's twisted legacy... Honest buyers of this game received a box filled with several pieces of 'merchandise' of the Last Resort, and the last will and testament of your uncle, Thurston Last. This real-world items held some clues you could take with you even before you started the game for the very first time, and for that reason I've chosen to type them out for you. There are also links to uploaded .png files to high-definition scanned images of all the 'feelies'. Table of Contents: 2.1 The Last Will and Testament of Thurston Last 2.2 Tourist Brochure 2.3 Postcard ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 The Last Will and Testament of Thurston Last ********************************** (The text typed below is in handwriting, on somewhat yellowed paper, folded four times, printed with a large LR logo. Note that 27,Lat, 153 Long is a long way south-east of Japan, in the middle of the Philippine Sea, where no islands are known to exist) The Last Will and Testament of Thurston Last I, Thurston Last, of the island of Era, latitude 27 South longitude 153 West, do make and publish this my last will and testament. Though I do so in haste, with the sound of drums pounding deafeningly in my ears (Note: I must fix that boiler), let no other documents supercede that which is written hereupon. Let the reader beware of that which has transpired, the attacks, the ringing, and the invisible doors into creative satisfaction that must be reopened. I do not have the strength. First: I give, devise and bequeth to my closest living relative, whomever that may be as judged by my lawyer at Levine & Levine, the deed and title to The Last Resort and all its property therein. It shall in no way fall into the hands of the twins. Their toxicity, though delicious and reassuring, is not alone satisfying. Remember these and all other notations. Second: To Salty, my trustworthy servant, I give you your place in The Last Resort, to help with the care of the machines there-in. Keep up the sound- ware my good friend. Third: The drums have stopped. However my works stand on their own. Beware of the false temple that has been built, formed from the sweat of wine, women, and song. Fourth: To Isadora, my siren of riddle, please help those that dance at your feet paying tribute to strict interpretations of house lore. We must keep the rats at bay. Fifth: God speed to Charlie, play fast and dirty. I give you care of the tools in the shed. Sixth: I hereby revoke all the wills by me heretofore made. Let all eyes link on this tapestry of tribute. Those illiterate fiends are looking for the notes to play, don't let those fall into their hands. In Testimony Whereof & hereunto subscribe my name at the island of Era, the twenty-first day of April, in the year of our Muse, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Ninety-Six. Sound has stopped, soon only the deaf will be able to hear. Thurston Last Open: 0821-1996-A92C copies to: Salty, Isadora, and Muses: Drum God, Lucille, Aura, Charlie, T. Bear, Voodoo Man, Mr. Bones, (Twins, crossed out) Here's a scanned image of the letter: http://tenchinohoukai.cavesofnarshe.com/WillTestament.png ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2 Tourist Brochure ********************************** The tourist brochure is a pamphlet with both sides printed on, folded three times to make six different 'pages'. (Page 1 shows a black-and-white drawing of the entrance door of The Last Resort, with "The Last Resort" printed underneath.) (Page 2:) Lost Your Muse? The Last Resort is an Effective Way to Help You Find Her Again. ---------------------------------- Reputable - Discreet - Instructive ---------------------------------- Relax in Our Care and Recover Your Inspiration ---------------------------------- Strengthening to your Body and Mind. Fortifying to the Nerves. ---------------------------------- Come and See Us. (Page 3 shows a black-and-white drawing of the main hall of The Last Resort, and the following text:) Restore Your Inspiration. Luxury accommodations, fine dining, recreational activities, and the elusive spark of creativity are all to be found when you visit the seclusion of our facility. Unburden yourself from the worries and aggravation of modern times in a private setting custom-tailored to the forward thinker and creative artist. No One Needs To Know. At The Last Resort we take your privacy very seriously. Our loyal staff prides itself on tight-lipped exclusivity. You won't even know we are here, unless of course you call upon us. Take your mind away from the public and work on your Craft. (Page 4 shows a black-and-white drawing of the one-man music machine found in the game, with the following text:) A Modern Marvel. Enjoy the benefits of our world-famous MUSE Machine, built atop the legendary Wellspring of Inspiration discovered by Thurston Last. Utilizing up-to-date scientific advances, the Machine will help you channel the creative energies of the ancients. Board an authentic gondola and take an experiential excursion limited only by your capacity for imagination. All the Conveniences of Home. Our exclusive shopping arcade provides all the comforts of civilization. Barber Shop - Beauty Parlor - Garage Sports wear & Formal wear Jeweler - Chemist - Psychic Sundries - &c. (Page 5 shows a black-and-white drawing of the guitar room you'll find in the game, with the following text:) Personalized Experiences. Do you desire communion with other creative types, or complete isolation from humanity? Our staff of professional muses will attend to your every need. A variety of cottages and apartments await your inspection, from primitive to contemporary decor. Select an environment as refined or decadent as your needs dictate. Readily Accessible. Don't concern yourself with the hazards and delays of maritime travel. Our modern Aeroport, complete with Fire Brigade, makes The Last Resort a brief propellor hop away from most metropolitan centers. (Page 6:) Apply Today for Reservations. The Last Resort Thurston Last, owner and proprietor. Tel. MUses-369 Printed in U.S.A. by the Due-And-Dye Corp. 04-1126AD2 Here's a scanned image of both sides, containing all six pages: http://tenchinohoukai.cavesofnarshe.com/TouristBrochureFront.png http://tenchinohoukai.cavesofnarshe.com/TouristBrochureBack.png ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3 Postcard ********************************** A simple postcard of the Last Resort. It looks like the Last Resort as it shows in the opening of the game, before it shifts to its current state. Here's a scanned image of both sides: http://tenchinohoukai.cavesofnarshe.com/PostcardFront.png http://tenchinohoukai.cavesofnarshe.com/PostcardBack.png ********************************** 4.0 Characters ********************************** Thurston Last Your... enigmatic uncle. Tragially deceased, Thurston will nevertheless have a profound impact on your quest to rid The Last Resort of its poison. Though the several depictions of him you encounter in the Last Resort paint him as looking more like a sad clerk than a well-traveled man with a taste for the bizarre, he most definately is the latter. When he first came to the place in the jungle that would later carry The Last Resort, Last drank from some spring water that would 'hit him like ten too many beers'. He spent 10 years contemplating near the Totem Poles before deciding to build The Last Resort, a physical representation of imagination itself, where one can meet nine muses, a pit-stop for 'worn-out creation types'. It took him 10 more years. Thurson dissappeared from The Last Resort after banishing the Toxic Twins, and was found killed later. The Toxic Twins have returned to The Last Resort to twist its powers for purposes unknown. He left the fate of The Last Resort and inspiration itself into your hands... The Toxic Twins Your demonic antagonists. All who live in The Last Resort resent the strange beings yet seem powerless against them. Thurston Last banished them from The Last Resort, but they returned after his dissappearance and subsequent death. What exactly they're planning and how they have defiled The Last Resort so thoroughly already is beyond your current understanding, but they cannot be allowed to wreak havoc much longer. They are two of the nine Muses as mentioned by Thurston Last himself, who described their "toxicity" as: "delicious and reassuring", but "not alone satisfying". The Toxic Twins are voiced by Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, two members of the band Aerosmith who are themselves nicknamed the 'Toxic Twins' for their heavy partying and drug use. Salty Once part of a military-industrial complex, Salty crashed on the jungle island but was found, fixed up and taken in by your uncle Thurston Last. He's been carin' for the place ever since. Salty has struggled in vain to keep The Last Resort from the Toxic Twins. The unusual nature of Salty's body is a question left unanswered, perhaps justafiably so. Salty's not too impressed by you and lacks the hope the muses put in you, but he's not too bad and the main source of backstory on your uncle and the history of The Last Resort. Salty is voiced by John Belushi. Isodara One of the nine muses which inhabit The Last Resort, Isadora is a mechanical fortune teller whose advice is often more puzzling than helpful. In addition, her services require a small fee... and pocket change is hard to come by in The Last Resort. Isadora handles the menu screen. She is voiced by Cher. The 9 muses Just for the record, the title is supposed to be a reference to the nine muses which inhabit The Last Resort. These are all the other characters in the game. In order of likely appearance: Toxic Twins Drum God Aura Mr. Bones Lucille Charlie T. Bear Voodoo Man ********************************** 4.0 The Walkthrough ********************************** Table of Contents: 4.1 The Entrance 4.1 The Lobby 4.2 The MUSE Machine 4.3 The Drum Room 4.4 The Hallway 4.5 The Tapestry 4.6 The Chasm 4.7 The Garage 4.8 The Dali Room 4.9 The Attic 4.10 The Cellar 4.11 The Jungle This game relies on careful note-taking from your end. While playing, always have a notebook ready. I find that switching between 9 and a software text editor may have it problems; your experiences may differ. This game also features a musical puzzle that serves as the main puzzle of this game. There are six possible puzzles that every new game may include in its game, so the contents of several slips of paper, as well as the solution to the puzzle itself, may differ from game to game. This means that I can only explain the puzzles to you, as my eventual answers may differ from yours. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1 The Entrance ********************************** The game will start with an old postcard of The Last Resort, the deteriorating mansion and your uncle's legacy, placed on the "Island of Era" a jungle island far, far away from civilization. The exterior of the place certainly has seen better days, it seems, as waiting for a bit or clicking the picture will reveal its current state. A far cry from the image of The Last Resort on the postcard your uncle sent you. Clicking again will take you to The Last Resort. At the front door you'll see a number code lock. The doors are closed, and trying to open them (or using the keypad) will summon Salty, whose odd movements and accompanying chopper humming surely will have your eyebrows raised. If you recognize the voice, you might be on to something; Salty's voice actor is none other than John Belushi! Salty'll yammer endlessly while you rummage around for your dear uncle's will, which contains the entry code. Make no mistake; I'm talking about an actual letter which accompanied the game in its original box. Hardware, see? While buying this game in a sealed box is surely both the most legal and most rewarding option, finding one in this day and age is a feat alltogether. Wanting to enjoy The Last Resort without spending long nights on eBay is no crime, and there are undoubtedly those who want to enter yet lack the necessary code. Alternatively, you lost the letter. Luckily, unlike several other bits and pieces within the Last Resort, this code is the same for every game, so I can give it to you: 0821-1996-A92C (OK) Don't forget the dashes. If you take too long, Salty will be gone already; if timely executed, Salty will leave to 'lay out your red carpet'. Typing in a wrong code will obviously get you nowhere, though there is a single alternative one which will open the doors while unlocking a teleport cheat code (noted in section 5). Note that the middle part, 1996, is the year of 9's release; if the other two sections have a specific meaning, they are lost on the author. When you enter, the gate leading to the staircase will close and you'll see the Toxic Twins, the menace of The Last Resort. They're voiced by Steven 'The Demon of Screamin' Tyler and Joe Perry, resp. lead singer and lead guitarist of Aerosmith, and who will immediately dissappear. Before you open the gate, have a look around; you'll see a picture of your dear uncle Thurston Last, a picture of Isadora, a woman we'll soon encounter outside of File I.O., a painting of a crowned monkey and a bizarre creature in front of a jungle shack. When you open the door by pulling down the lever, the voice of Thurston Last (Reeve!) appears. He'll grant you the Monocle, which appears to be vital in discovering the truth behind The Last Resort. However, as you take the Monocle and descend the stairs, the Toxic Twins will leap from the darkness, throw you down and take the Monocle away. Salty'll help you get up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1 The Lobby ********************************** Welcome to the lobby of The Last Resort, the most surreal hotel this side of the Sombrero Galaxy. Take a look around, nothing makes sense here. Salty will, on occassion fly by for some random advice or sneer if you stand still for a while. If you hear his chopter coming, stand still for a bit so you won't miss his sometimes amusing but rarely useful advice. I'll walk you through all the features of the Lobby step by step. You can take the stairway back, but the gate will close. It looks like you're trapped in The Last Resort. To the right of the staircase, you can find Isadora, but outside of File I.O., she won't function without a coin. We don't have one yet, so abandon the machine for now. To the right of her hangs an LP 'Sounds of War'. As opposed to all other LPs on the wall, this one can be flipped to see its contents. One of the songs, Dogfight, will have a red asterisk which points to THUNDER! Write down the number of this song, as it has some special meaning to Salty and is required to advance the game at some point. To the left of the entrance is the Boiler! This is where and how steam is made. You'll need fuel to create heat and water as the base ingredient for steam. For what exactly? Do you see the crowned monkey image? This is the Monkey King, who sits atop of the large organ which is instrumental (heh) to solving the truth behind all this. But this all in the future; we still have no idea how to get fuel into the boiler. If you try to set the boiler without the fuel, Salty will scold you for your stupiditiy. Look to the right of the boiler. You'll see some LP albums hanging above their covers, but the album of the Panty Slice cover seems to be missing. Ascend the ladder to find it! If you pick it up, the Toxic Twins will get their panties in a bunch over you taking it, but will not stop you. Place the disc on the empty spot to reveal the fuel control wheel. Turn the wheel clockwise as far as you can to allow Fuel to enter the boiler. Now, operate the boiler by turning the wheel on the boiler from E(mpty) to F(ull) with a clockwise motion, push the button to initiate the process of creating steam and pull the lever to send steam to the organ. If you hear the Monkey King of the Organ make noise in the back, you've succesfully powered the organ! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.2 The MUSE Machine ********************************** On the same wall that holds the Panty Slice over, there is a large pathway leading somewhere else, but two Tiki Gods will stop you from entering. Further down the same wall, you'll seem an empty indoor moat of some sort, which makes the large wheel down the stream turn. This wheel powers some unknown device somewhere, undoubtedly. If you pull the lever towards you, you'll open the hatch and make the wheel turn, but when you let go the hatch closes again. You'll see a neon sign that says: "Muse" flicker red when you've made the wheel turn. Nearby the neon sign, to the right, you can see a coin! Pick up this coin and take it to Isadora. Isadora will speak in riddles, much like a true oracle. The comments she makes come from a long list and tips that range from barely helpful to pure nonsense, and are randomly delivered. You won't hear all lines in a single game. When facing Isadora, there's a vertical stairway to your left. You should find a door that can't be opened. Instead, a puzzle will jump from the door at you. This is a kind of musical memory game; tap the two squares with the same sound behind it consecutively and they dissappear. Once all are gone, the door is open to you. It should take a while for you, but it's doable. The image that appears is that a skeletal creature holding blueprints away from you. Enter the door, and before you proceed turn around to see the other side of the door. You see the blueprints of the MUSE Machine, which contains several key components. You recognize the Monocle which was bestowed upon you by the spirit of Thurston. This is a list of components: Vacuum Tumbe Spark Plug Tuning Fork Maraca Monocle It IS 1 of 2, though, so apparanly there is another part of the Machine we don't know about yet. Walk over to the MUSE Machine and be not at all surprised; befitting of an adventure game such as this one, all components are missing and must therefor be restored. We'll need all of them if we are to 'gaze upon the primal soup of man's imagination'. We have none now, so return to the Lobby. Now try to reach the organ. You'll need to pull a lever to raise a bridge to the other side. This is not possible if you didn't power the big wheel earlier by pulling the lever to your left. If you look up, you can see the Monkey King. If you examine the sheet music (Fun with Music!), you discover that the organ has something to do with the Tiki Gods guarding the pathway to your left. Isadora may have talked about the 'flattering one' which resides in that place. We want to go there. Write down these symbols and the keys they correspond to on a sheet of paper , as you'll need to know which symbol corresponds with which key. If you have photograhic memory, good for you. Leave the five brown buttons alone; one the sheet music, they were blank. You'll need to play both sequences of four symbols from left to right in order to proceed. If you are succesful, you'll hear a riff. Note: since the game chooses out of six pre-determined 'sets' of puzzles in this game, it is possible that you already know all the sequences to play that you would normally learn throughout the game. It is possible to play them now and get the rewards for this. I'm not counting on you doing so, though. Before you leave the Lobby, check out the big stairway to the left of the organ. You can't proceed past the moving floor and to the right is nothing but the entrance to a stuck elevator, but there is one thing you should take note of: a painting of your uncle to your left. Lift it to see a guitar Neck. Describe it on paper or copy it; you'll need to recognize its shape later on. Now, move past the Tiki Gods, who'll let you enter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.3 The Drum Room ********************************** There's a bit of music to indicate your succes. You can now pass the Tiki Gods into the new room! To your right is a drum set with a serene and slightly eerie moon face on it. Examine it to show a creature pointing to four different symbols which look like organ notes, but you don't know the sequence. There's a figure in the far left corner which is likely the flattering one Isadora mentioned, though he refuses to talk to you Babylon man unless you show him rhytm. Luckily, a drum machine is nearby. Sit down and pull the lever on the left to open up the machine and excite the being that Isadora called the 'flattering one' and Thurston Last referred to as the Drum God. The Drum God will want you to copy his moves; he has six of 'em, and you have six buttons. Funny how that works out. You'll have to copy him six times, too and each string is the same as the previous one with a new bit attached. Not too hard. Eventually, he'll reward you with a piece of the MUSE Machine: the Maraca! Sweet. The Drum God calling you "Babylon Man" and mentioning 'Jah' indicates he's a Rastafari, who use the term 'Babylon' to describe western culture by likening it to the ancient oppressive and evil Babylon that fell. Before you go, examine the board full of masks in this room. You may recognize some of them from paintings in the Lobby. They'll start to jitter when you move up close. If you don't do anything for a while, they'll start to mix around on the board. Just as Salty says if you back off and wait a bit: There's a certain order in which things get done around here. You'll have to create order amindst the chaos; match the masks in this order: - Grey mask with large eyes - Red skull with large eyes and Satanist's sign - Frightened brown skull with Satanist's sign and five feathers - Mask with pig nose, five features and beady red eyes - Long mask with beady red eyes and tongue sticking out - White mask with tongue sticking out and black curved line on forehad - Horned red mask with curved black line on forehead - Horned green mask with long fangs - Red mask with long fangs and normal eyes - Yellow round mask with normal eyes The masks paired up with the right neighbour on both sides will stop shaking and start nodding a bit. When it's all done, you'll hear some insane laughter and four masks are shown. Note which masks these are and note the background color; write these down as you'll need this sequence. Past the Drum God is a door with a skull doorknob. If you enter this new room, you'll hear the same insane laughter you heard before. It seems it comes from the Clown Music Machine. It's very annoying. By setting different masks and different background colors, you can change the LP and get different kinds of laughter. They all suck. Only putting in the sequence you got from the masks will make it shut up; the Machine will take a broken record, thus ending the horror. Also, a cog will fall, which you can pick up if you look down and pull down the grate. Let it rest there for now, as you're still holding onto the Maraca. To the left of the Clown Music Machine, you'll find a flashing painting containing the three primary colours. Write down how many beeps are given by each colour. Also note the image with the four faces, containing a fourth colour: green, a mixture of yellow and blue. Also, note that Salty will not randomly fly by in this area; this is only in the Lobby and the room of the Drum God. Return to the Lobby and ascend the vertial stairway on the other side; both Thurston and the Drum God hinted that this MUSE Machine will be the key to the defeat of the Toxic Twins. Plug in the Maraca, and the voice of Thurston Last will congratulate you. The MUSE Machine already has a function; if you synchronize the button pressed above the building panel (this will also show a room of The Last Resort, all equally bizarre but otherwise featureless) and the position of the lever, the voice of Thurston Last will come to you, messages from back when your uncle built the Last Resort. Do this whenever you acquire an additional piece of the MUSE Machine; while not directly useful, Thurston's voice will provide interesting details about the game's story. You'll meet the Toxic Twins once you leave the room of the MUSE Machine. Let's look further beyond the Drum God. If we can find the other parts of the MUSE Machine. First, let's take the cog from the Clown Music Machine. The rest here is all silly. A neon-painting of primairy colors flashes in a pattern we'll need later, and you can touch the painting of the cartoon cat to get a new piece of the guitar, the Body. Describe this form on your notebook. Now, walk to the door. Salty will stop you; the Toxic Twins are behind this door, cooking up something or whatever. Whatever, we're not afraid. Open the door. Salty'll do battle with the other chopper but lose, rendering the area off-limits. If you try to open the door again, Salty'll rival will just close it again. So, what now? We have no coins for Isadora, no sheet music for the organ, no pieces of the MUSE Machine. We're going to try to reach a new area; get behind the moving floor. To do so, we'll need to tinker with the conveyer belt of whatever it is. The black-green pillar with the heart on it can be opened to show the mechanics of it. The heart on the pillar is identical to the heart that featured on the Clown Music Machine. If we take it apart - all four cogs can be moved - it just reverts. Luckily, we have a spare cog! Move down the bottom and left one and place the fifth cog in the middle to revert the floor and send it the other way. We won't be able to go back... but it's a risk we'll have to take. We arrive in a new hallway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.4 The Hallway ********************************** To the left there's a new painting of Thurston. You can look at it thrice for a memory (or ghostly voice?) of your dear departed uncle. Just fun stuff. To your right a pathway to a locked door. How nice. Further down you can find a microwave containing a slip of paper. The third picture of a part of a guitar, this time the Head. We could assemble an entire guitar by now. The microwave stands in some sort of circle with symbols that look like the symbols used in the organ puzzle, but it's a useless wheel. A garage door plated by silver mirrors can be opened, but the darkness behind it contains a vicious guard dog called the Hellhound that doesn't allow us to pass. Also, behind you is a gramaphone with the LP 'Sounds of War' on it; you can set the number and hit the button, but it doesn't appear to do anything. The 'Sounds of War' LP cover is hanging next to the Isadora machine. Salty lamented earlier he wished he knew how to get that old Thunder back. If you still remember, somebody marked the number 'Dogfight' with an asterisk on the LP cover If you wrote down the number, you can set the correct number and press the button to pay the song. Salty'll go berserk, chasing out the presence which kept you out of the room so far unseen. If you picked the good one without having been denied entrance to the Tapestry, you'll hear Salty go "Ya-hoo!", but it won't have any effect on the upcoming sequence where you open the Tapestry door for the first time. Even further down is an elevator door. Great, this can take us back to the Lobby if we're done here. We're not, though. At the very end of the Hallway, a pair of binoculars stares into a kind of Void, where you can see the Toxic Twins drifting. Other things to note are a bar, a large skull and a lonely figure sitting on one of the drifting islands. To the left of the binoculars, a game board of some sorts with moving pieces can be flipped over. It's a new piece to play on the organ! These are the same four notes the strange being in the Drum Room indicated, but now you know the sequence as well. Note how one of the organ stops is indicated black and that the four notes are grouped as such: 1 note, indicated on the picture and circled below, and a 3-note sequence, indicated by the partly-filled square. Due to the fact the game chooses one out of six sequences, it's possible you know how to play all notes of this piece. More likely though, you can't since it contains at least one note you can't 'translate' for the organ. In that case, we'll have to find a more extensive book on how to play the organ if we want to play this sequence. Write down the sequence regardless, in addition to the specific kind of black/white divided square and the If you can play the sequence, the Monkey King will reward you with a coin for Isadora. Let him keep the coin in his paws for now. That's all, let's get back to the Lobby. If you want to use the elevator, it'll refuse to function. Though it seems a piece is missing in the image to your right, just pushing a single part will get the elevator moving. The A(ttic) is offlimits, the 2nd floor is the hallway, the 1st floor is the Lobby and the elevator will simply refuse to go down to the B(asement). Open the door with the red button. Go to the Lobby. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.5 The Tapestry ********************************** Enter, and Aura will speak to you. Slowly examine the room and all its corners and Aura may speak about its specific purpose to you. Apparantly, Aura holds something the Toxic Twins want; that probably means we want it, too. The Wheel of Fortune is behind the tapestry to your left when you enter. Though it appears it aligns letters of the Latin alphabet with notes from the organ, you soon discover you can turn the wheel. Since we have no idea it was set at the right place when we entered, we can't deduct anything from it now. While you examine the Wheel of Fortune, you may hear some squeaking. This is caused by a torn corner of another tapestry which holds a mouse. Look below the Wheel of Fortune, and pick it up. Behind you, to the right of your entrance, is a tapestry with an image of Aura, created by your uncle Thurston. Also note that Salty's enemy crashed here, apparantly... Behind it a sort of control room, perhaps for the eyes you've seen in this room. If you linger a bit in this room, Aura will mention how the throne was the most beloved focal point of both Thurston and Aura herself. You can set the three eyes to focus on the throne; if you've got the right angle, the iris' of the three eyes will shrink and expand on occassion. If you get all three, a faint drumming heartbeat will start. Now, go to the throne. Sitting in the throne will hand you a control panel for... something. It will fail to initiate normally, but now that you've set the three eyes correctly, they'll project an image of the Wheel of Fortune, showing a certain alignment on it. Write it down; THIS is the correct alignment of the Wheel! Get to the Wheel and set it accordingly. Now, write down all letters and symbols and get the notes of the Organ. You'll note that the alphabet can be laid across the Organ from left to right, excluding the letters 'M' and 'R'. You now have, for every key of the Organ, the corresponding symbol (and, should it prove necessary, the corresponding letter)! I suggest you write this out on a sheet of paper. We can now play the riff we found on the muscial slip on the bottom of the game in the hallway, regardless of its form. We'll do it later. Look behind the tapestry of the fool to the right of the little room of the Wheel of Fortune. There's a small desk where Thurston 'penned his greatest melodies'. In the How to Play Guitar booklet, you can learn how to tune a guitar! Write the sequence of tones down from bottom-left to top-right; obviously this has no basis in real-life guitar playing. There are three drawers. The middle one contains a new tune for you to play on the Organ. Though it seems clear enough for now, notice how the black arrowheads match if you count them; they indicate the steps necessary to jump from one key to the next one. Write down the sequence and the proper Organ peg pulled. The right drawer contains a small hint that the letters are also tied to the Organ, though it's interesting to see that the letters 'M' and 'R' are featured in this alphabeat. The left one simply contains an item, a new E-string. We have no business with it now and are still holding onto the mouse, so just let it be for now. To the left of Aura's tapestry, there's a guitar tapestry. If you examine it, you'll be granted the ability to pick a body, neck and head. Did you remember the three guitar pieces you found so far? The body can be found by examining the cat painting near the Clown Music Machine, the neck can be found by pulling up Thurston's picture near the moving floor in the Lobby and the head could be found in the microwave in the hallway on the second floor. If you pick these three choices, the tapestry will go up, letting you pass into the movie projector room. You can flick the switch on the movie projector, and play a small sample movie about The Last Resort. If you look under the movie projector, you'll see a small door. You can only open it if you played the movie, otherwise a film reel will be in the way. If you open it, you'll find a missing piece of the MUSE Machine! Jubilations were in order, had it not been for the Toxic Twins quickly stealing it from under your watch. Thieving bastards. Aura will urge you to go into the Chasm and find it. You saw the Chasm earlier, from behind the binoculars. But how to get there? The tapestry of the cat will often move as if a draft is blowing on it from behind, and a single time it is even possible to see the Toxic Twins spy on you from behind the tapestry. Aura herself, too, will comment on the airing. The cat, however, will not let you pass. If you feed it the mouse, it will devour its treat and allow you to continue into the Chasm. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.6 The Chasm ********************************** By far the most architecturally impossible place, the Chasm is sheer infinity. You'll be able to jump from island to island while several objects you may recognize float around you. This is the lair of the Toxic Twins, and it is here that you must recover the vacuum tube the Twins stole from you. There are four places of the interest. The entrance/exit, the bar, the skull and Mr. Bones. Below is a crudely executed ASCII map of the place. The dimensions are way off, but hopefully you understand how to move throughout the Chasm. !--------------------------! ! ! ! Mr. Bones <> D ! ! ! !--------------------------------- ----------- ^ ! ! ! ! Skull <> ^ C ! ! ^ v ! ! v ^ ! ! --------------------------- ! ! G <> Bar ! E <> F <> B ! ! ! ----------------------- ! !----------------------! ^ ^ ! ! ! ! Start <> A ! !------------------------------------! You can get to Mr. Bones by, starting at the entrance, turn to the right once, jump to platform A, turn left once, jump to platform B, then C, then D. Then, turn left once, and jump over to the location of Mr. Bones. Mr. Bones, though amusing is ultimately useless. He'll jammer about hobo-related issues and misses his rotgut, which the Twins stole. We might be able to please him with liquor, though it's doubtful he'll be any help. Whatever. Facing Mr. Bones, turn right once, jump over to platform D, turn right once, jump over to platform C, turn right once, then jump over to the Skull. The Skull has a device under it which we can tinker with for the moment, but it seems a piece is missing so we can't really do anything. It seems we might as well press on. Facing the Skull, turn left once, jump over to platform G, then turn left once again and jump over to the Bar. It's here where things get interesting. Up front are two compartiments. The right one contains the bottle of whiskey the Mr. Bones was lusting after, brand Blackeye Booze. The left one contains an ACME G-string. However, we can also leap over the bar and do an 180 to discover the Twins have built a kind of MUSE Machine of themselves. Though it resembles the MUSE Machine of Thurston, it doesn't appear to have any function, though the scripture on top of it indicates malign intent. Open the thing and pull out the Vacuum Tube. We'll be down here later; for now, let's take the Tube to the MUSE Machine. Note: it is possible to complete this 'evil' MUSE Machine by leaving the Vacuum Tube and finding and installing the remaining pieces (Tuning Fork, Spark Plug and Monocle). Upon completion, the Twins will say: "Duplicated dread unbound!", the MUSE Machine will start glowing and the game will appear to crash. Aside from the final confrontation, it's the only way to get a Game Over. Exit the Chasm. With your back to the bar, jump to platform G, turn right once, jump to the Skull, turn right once, jump over to platform C, turn right once, jump over to platform B, then A, then turn right once to jump to the platform with the entrance door. Now, make your way back to the MUSE Machine. Plug in the Tube, and Thurston will congratulate you. Again, align the lever and the button pressed for more fun stuff. Nothing useful, though. When you're done, you can leave. So.... now what? We've got two tunes to play on the Organ, that's what! If you correctly filled in all keys with both symbols and letters, you should have two riffs laid down for you. Play both of them with the correct organ pegs pulled and both times the Monkey King should make a ruckus. When you look up, he'll have a coin for each time you succesfully played a tune. Don't take them yet; the Monkey King will guard the coins for now. Note that the Monkey King has two more hands. We can sca-doodle around in the Chasm. Get there and bring the bottle of Whiskey from the bar to Mr. Bones. Turn right, then jump to platform A. Turn left once, jump to platform B, then C. Turn left once, then jump to the Skull. Turn left once and jump to platform G; turn left once more and jump to the Bar, where you can find the Whiskey. Then, with your back to the bar, jump to platform G. Turn right, then jump to the Skull. Turn right, and jump to platform C. Turn left and jump to platform D. Turn left once more, and jump to Mr. Bones. You can tease him a bit by holding out the bottle while he's offering his bone. In the end though, you'll need that bone. What do we know about bones? They carry our body, sure. Beyond that? Dogs like 'em. Let's get to the hallway on the second floor and pull down the silver-plated garage door. Facing Mr. Bones, turn right, then jump to platform D. Turn right again, and jump to C, then B, then A. Turn right once more, then jump to the platorm with the exit door to your left. Make your way to the garage. The Hellhoud'll arrive and remain docile while you're holding out the bone; eventually, give the bone to the dog and you'll be allowed into the garage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.7 The Garage ********************************** Welcome to the garage! The scenery is quite extraordinarily odd, even for The Last Resort. There are but two items of interest, though. The race-car 34 holds a slip of paper in the driver's seat that could potentially be played on the organ. However, only the first key is given, and only the first jump after that. We currently have no idea how to fill in the rest, too bad. It seems the black/white divided square is some kind of code for which jumps to make, but we don't know which ones even if that is true. Let it rest for now and make your way to the robot. Charlie the Robot. Charlie will challenge you to a game of Stock Cars. He doesn't talk a lot beyond the subject of his racecars. Take your pick: Widowmaker 120 MpH Cornering: OK Accel/Decel: Slow Wedgie 100 MpH Cornering: Good Accel/Decel: Slow Santa's Nemesis 120 MpH Cornering: OK Accel/Decel: Fast Quarkmobile 45 MpH Cornering: Poor Accel/Decel: Fast While possessing the worst attributes, the best and perhaps only way you'll ever win is with the Quarkmobile as the others have way too much power and will easily fly out of the track at every turn. And the track is nothing but turns! You can finish with the others, and it may even be possible to win with expert timing, but I've never made it that far. With the Quarkmobile, there's no need to hold yourself back; just press the lights to start the match, then keep the Quarkmobile at its measly top speed to win it all! When you win, you'll be granted acces to the toolshed by Charlie. Well, okay. It's the mirror-plated thing near the entrance that was sealed earlier. You can still play Stock Car Nationals with Charlie, but it won't help you in your mission anymore. The toolshed is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It contains a few key items you'll want to take a look at. First: the Spark Plug! The third piece of the MUSE Machine found. Pick it up. A gear with a few holes filled with pink whatever. This is the fourth gear needed to complete the puzzle below the Skull in the Chasm. We can't pick it up now as we're carrying the Spark Plug, but we'll be back for it. Finally, the key to solving the relation between the Organ riffs and the black/white divided squares! Copy the entire thing down carefully. The trick here is that both tables are the same. Take the information of one table and put it in the other one. Note that vertically, the numbers add up; if you take arrowheads pointing to the left as negatives and those pointing to the right as positives, the bottom one will be the sum of the two above. Of the nine fields we have now filled five, but we still couldn't play four of the black/white divided squares as we lack the information here. Too bad. However, since we know entire tunes and their corresponding black/white divided squares, we may be able to reverse-engineer the thing. With the Spark Plug, leave the Garage and go to the game in the hallway. Flip it to find the slip of paper we knew was there. Write out the jumps between the keys and fill in this information in the row of the corresponding black/white divided square. That's one row! And since we know the numbers add up vertically, we can also deduce the other row. We have now filled the entire table and can figure out the missing notes of the riff in the car. Get back and write the thing out. Take the starting note and pick the sequence of the corresponding black/white divided squares. Write down the entire thing. Don't forget the proper peg we need to pull! Play this tune on the organ. The third coin! Whatever, leave it there, not all hands have been filled yet. Take the Spark Plug to the MUSE Machine. Thurston will comment that inspiration once again flows through The Last Resort and warn about the machine of the Toxic Twins. No images of the Muse Machine this time, but music! If you turn around, you see the walls flashing. What is the MUSE Machine? 'Total immersion, beyond illusion'? What was Thurston planning? Return to the garage and pick up the missing piece of the Chasm Skull puzzle and go to the Skull to complete it. If you look down, you can use the pole to enter the Chasm! I trust that by now, you've learned how to navigate the place. Place the missing part on the reel. The key here is that all pink dots must be shown when they're all in place. It's tricky but entirely doable. It's best to start with the green disc, then the silver disc, then the bronze disc, and finally the gold disc. Keep all pink dots exposed. You can turn all parts. A sound will be made when you're done, and the Skull's mouth will be opened a bit. You can enter the Skull, and you'll be taken to the Dali Room, from where the Toxic Twins will quickly flee. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.8 The Dali Room ********************************** The Dali Room is home to two entities capable of speech. A female voice coming from the guitar case will ask for a G string. We don't have one, but we know where we can find one; in the bar in the Chasm. In addition, there is the ball game where the Voodoo Man invites you to play a game of chance. If you can guide the ball to the exit, you win. The key to victory is testing the path in front of you; if the part in front of you can make a 360 turn, you're good to go. Examine the little grey ball for what probably is the final musical riff to play on the Organ. Disregard the first two letters, as they're not on the right statue (as in, it does not contain a black/white divided square. The first of the three-note sequence is missing, but you can either look at the black arrowheads and deduce the missing note from there, or check your table and look at the relevant jump sequence. If you stare at the clue long enough, the Voodoo Man will mention how Isadora may 'accomadate you with a particular something'. Perhaps this something is the key drawn on the clue? At any rate, copy down the sequence for later. Enter the Chasm (you can use the Skull), grab the G string and head back to the Dali Room. Give the G string to the woman in the guitar case, who is a muse called Lucille, and out she comes. Lucille'll ask you to tone her. If you didn't write down how to do this, head back to the Tapestry Room and find the ACME booklet. If you use the door, you'll see that you appear in the Clown Music Machine room. Note that Lucille bends over for you, so you must reverse the order in which you found the strings. Use the tuning machine to the left. Press the tone you're going for and adjust the pegs on Lucille until the arrow is right in the middle. Do this for all six pegs and Lucille will thank you and retreat in her case again. The tuning machine will open up and grant you the Tuning Fork, the fourth of the pieces of the MUSE Machine. After this baby is plugged in, only one more to go! Grab it. You can simply leave through the door this time, to find yourself in a familiar hallway. This will actually create the door in this hallway, it wasn't there earlier. Go to the MUSE Machine and lay in the Tuning Fork. Thurston will talk about the various lever results. When you exit the room, the Toxic Twins will pay you a visit, and imply that they murdered Thurston after his dissappearance. Rascals. Walk over to the Organ and play the fourth and final tune. You now have four coins, each waiting for you to take them to Isadora. Do so. She'll warn you about the Toxic Twins over and over again and talk mystical gibberish. One of the sessions, not necessarily the last one, will have Isadora give you a key. If you want to watch more of her, you can just give the key to the Monkey King. You'll be able to pick it up later. When you're done, carry the key to the hallway on the second floor and turn to the right immediately. Open the door to the attic by using the key and turning the doorknob. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.9 The Attic ********************************** Creepy music. When you cross the attic, you'll suddenly find yourself one a life-size game board. The creepy pieces here will move as they do on the miniatiure game board in the hallway. All you have to do is try to cross the board when none of the cretins are in your way, so for all their creepy bravado, this is actually a very easy thing to do since you can just try over and over again. When you reach the other side, the muse T. Bear will yammer on and on. In his toybox, you can find the missing piece of the elevator, labeled 'Bammo'. Grab it and summon the elevator. Introduce the new piece and now go where no man has gone before: the B(asement). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.10 The Cellar ********************************** As soon as you get out of the elevator, you'll be sucked into a mini-game. The rat shoot. You took the (B)ammo box from upstairs, and will now use it. Ah, the dreaded rat shooting. Its system is simple, it's completion pretty horrible. You now have a gun for no apparant reason. It's a five-shot, and you have unlimited ammo, though you'll have to reload by clicking on the chamber. You need to shoot the rats here; they have little marks on them. For every rat you hit, a light bulb goes on. That's right; you'll have to light ALL of them. There are 50 light bulbs hanging in the cellar. In addition, every now and again a real rat will appear; they take four shots to take down. If you fail to kill a real rat before one reaches you, it's (Mini) Game Over and you'll find yourself back in the elevator. If you hold Ctrl (or the Apple button) while you shoot a rat, your barrel will become a clip holding 50 shots. It will last until it's empty, or until 15 seconds have passed. When you're done, you're free to explore the Cellar, though little of interest is there. When you turn to look at the elevator, you'll see the guns you've been using. Further on, you can peek through some woodwork to see some buildings and totem poles in the jungle. To the left of this view, you can see a faded image on the wall; this is actually an easter egg, since it's the solution to a puzzle in Myst, a point-and-click puzzle game similair in nature to The Last Resort. There is also a wooden drawer attached to the wall. In it... the Monocle, wrapped in the second part of the plans for the MUSE Machine. Whatever, grab it and hurry back to the MUSE Machine. We're almost there! When at the MUSE Machine, open up the thing and plug in the Monocle. This is it! The finished MUSE Machine! We're done! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.11 The Jungle ********************************** Like the final piece of a badly written comedy, things fall apart. The MUSE Machine blows up, as does the balustrade behind you. The Toxic Twins invite you to your demise. After descent, you find yourself in the dying jungle, passing the second part of the MUSE Machine. It is here that Thurston Last found himself 20 years before The Last Resort was created, and it is here that everything shall be decided. Use the gondola to reach Last's old house. The Totem Poles in front of which Thurston meditated for 10 years are now keeping the Toxic Twins at bay, but only temporarily. The Voodoo Man mentions how everything you've learned up 'til this point will be required. You'll need to listen to the Totems so they can use your energy to destroy the Toxic Twins. "Music by the sheet renders pleasure by the yard" The totems will show you letters of a primary colour. Think back to the painting near the Clown Music Machine; a colour significes a number. If, say, red flashed four times, red means playing the note signified by that letter four times. The Twins will make noise as much as possible, and you can't sound the note when other noise is being made. Simply hold down the mouse button over the key, and it'll play as soon as possible. If the totems show you a letter, play that key. If the totems show you a symbol, play that key. If the totems show a half-filled square, play the four-note sequence indicated by that square, starting with the letter or symbol given. If the totems give you such a square, but coloured, play that sequence start to finish as often as the colour indicates. The Voodoo Man mentions that the clock starts ticking, and failure is not an option. This is the moment of truth; you will either get a Game Over, or win the game. If you wait too long, the totems will come crashing down. If you make a mistake, the totems will close and open to the same sequence. If you make three mistakes, the totems will come crashing down. If you lose, you'll get a Game Over, and Thurston will speak to you from beyond the grave: "I thought I was stronger than the Twins' chaos. I made my machine too powerful. It was so beautiful for a little while, until it was wrenched out of my hands. I am the guilty one. You have helped the abomination. The twins are tripled. The muses are mutilated. You are a traitor to the Last legacy, cast amongst the cannibals forever!" There's five sequences given to you by the totems. The fourth sequence will feature the colour green; green means three times, since red and blue combined will be three. The fifth and last note will be one of the two letters not given by the Wheel of Fortune; what to do? You will note that the letters should be between two white keys. Press both keys simultaneously to complete the sealing process of the MUSE Machine. You won the game! Just don't think you did it by yourself, kid. ********************************** 5.0 Teleport Code ********************************** The programmers coded a second sequence you can enter a the very start, at the code number lock at the entrance of The Last Resort. This special sequence allows the player to type words during gameplay which allow you to teleport yourself through The Last Resort. Fun for beta-testing and showing your friends stuff you don't want to bother play for. The special sequence: 120763-090665 The words: lobby The Lobby drum The Room of the Drum God hall1 The Hall with gramophone and binoculars tapestry The Tapestry garage The Garage chasm The Chasm dali The Room of Lucille and the Voodoo Man game attic The Attic cellar The Cellar vrroom The MUSE Machine jungle The Jungle ********************************** 6.0 Thanks and Credits ********************************** iconoclast187 for uploading a playthrough of the game that sparked some good debates in the comments as well, teaching me about the Myst easter egg. Mega Products, for posting online the text of the old "GT Interactive computer and console / video game hints and tips phoneline", helping to make sure I got it all right and tight. You can find it here: http://www.megaproducts.co.uk/games/nine/ ********************************** Disclaimer and legal necessities ********************************** This was written in 2013, by Djibriel, and is copyrighted by me. You are unauthorized to present this document, partly or whole, as written by somebody else as the authors of the respective bodies of text. You are unauthorized to change anything in this document for any other purpose than personal use without my explicit permission. All rights reserved.