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	Message: : : Last time on Tour of Duty, we welcomed back one PerseusSpartacus to : philosophise about the situation we found ourselves in with Tycho, as he : helped us escape from the Pfhor prison, gave us vague details of what had : been going on, and then explained his motive, that he was kind of a : prisoner as well and wanted our help to get free. : Perseus took us on a journey with huggable BoBs, exploding BoBs, burning : BoBs, and BoBs that appeared as enemies and read from the wrong script. A : journey with cyborgs best avoided, lava best avoided, and crushing prison : cell doors … best avoided. And an intense secret involving a switch that : wanted pressing for only like half a second, to open a secret weapons : cache in the dungeon. Amazing stuff. Fascinating theories, mystery second : only to the dream levels themselves … and then we got found out by Tfear, : who promised to kill us. But first he wanted us to help the Pfhor kill the : humans. : And for once in this labyrinthine scenario of the Blood Tides of Lh’owon, : that is actually what we’re going to do now! Out of the lava and into the : sewer, we find ourselves on a platform, with a river rushing past, and : some stairs leading up over the top to higher ground. There are bits of : dead Pfhor around the place, and from some spawn points we can just make : out a BoB across the way, through a small window. My first action here, : though, is usually to go for a swim. It’s a nice peaceful way to start. : West as far as we can go at this point, there is a nice ammo stash, and a : 2x health canister – mmm. Closer to the start, there is also an assault : rifle and some grenades! I don’t think I actually knew that before prep : for this writeup. There’s also a sleeping potato anus! There is no oxygen : charger on the level, which became a problem for me when I was filling out : the map, for the image below, so don’t spend too long down there. The ammo : is arranged on a series of small steps at differ heights, in a kind of : honeycomb configuration, a design that is a signature of this level, as : you can see just by looking (I’m OneDriving it, as I seem to have lost : contact with PS and his magical uploading skills): : Returning to the start at the northeast point, and getting out of the river, : which is a bit harder than usual due to its having quite a big range in : the water level, and also quite a current. Taking the stairs up across the : river, we see a closed door and more windows with BoBs behind. There are a : couple of sewer pools here, but nothing to write home about. As we move : closer to the door, things start to get real: it starts opening; BoBs : start shooting; more BoBs teleport in around the place, and so do a bunch : of Troopers and Hunters, ‘help’ for the likes of us. We can pretty much : let them clear out the room behind the door, which is handy as those damn : magnum BoBs are still really accurate! The Troopers keep respawning, but I : believe the Hunters are just a one-off. Having said all that, it seems : like a good idea to, and I think I might have at times, set the Pfhor : a-spawning before going for that swim – both safer and more : time-economical, and given that the Pfhor just got owned in my current : game, they can require a bit of time on the job, as well. : The BoBs still seem surprised that we’re shooting at them, but ... they’re : quite happy to open fire from the outset! Okay, so, with the first room : here clear, we get to explore. The heights here are done quite : complicatedly, so we have to climb stairs, run around, and jump down to : get to the 1x charger that is here. On the way around, we actually look : into what turns out to be the final area, but the opening is too small – : where the hell is that Drink Me potion? Carrying on further, as we are : still quite healthy from the 2x canister, we see another opening, wherein : a Compiler is trying to read a Pattern Buffer ... uhh, buddy, that’s not : for you! Although I guess it’s not the first time; Ne Cede Malis springs : to mind. Compilers are not on our side here, and fair enough, but it : becomes a proper issue later, on TC at least. For now, this guy is just : begging for a couple of grenades. Also in that room we look into, there’s : a solitary BoB, who gets another grenade, and a switch, which gets a : fourth, and opens a door to let us get into that room, in a nice circular : way. The only other way in would be via the level’s main secret, on which : more later. : Next there are some stairs down to the left, or more likely just a dropoff, : as they’re not all that obvious. This reveals a largish area on the map : with various obstacles along the way. There’s a stairway to the left that : leads to that pattern buffer, another one a bit further on that takes us : further into the level, and at the end of this area, there’s a pit wherein : BoBs are already fighting, or rather thrashing, Troopers. Our helper ones : are pretty good at being active and coming into the level this far, which : can mean they get in the way, but it is nice that we’re not quite alone. : Once everyone here is dead, we find our first terminal for the level. : : So the humans are working on an escape plan. There is no mention of a certain : S’pht AI, or anything like that; I guess now is not the time. Up by the : pattern buffer, we also find another 2x health canister, handy for : BoB-inflicted wounds. And of course there’s the other locked door to the : secret. Carrying on into the level via the other set of stairs, we get a : glimpse into that secret, as well, with SPNKR and 3x health canister among : other things, mmm indeed. We then find more BoBs and Compilers shooting at : us! This can be a painful area as they are also shooting from higher : ground across the river here, and hitting those guys is harder than it is : for them to hit us! After it’s clear, we find a terminal embedded in a : central platform. This is something we haven’t seen much of before, an : intra-level teleporter via a terminal. The first that occurs to me is the : last one on Hang Brain if we don’t smash the circuit. Then there’s the : start of IIHARL, oh, and OF COURSE Son of Grendel, but that’s still to : come. Other than that I think it’s pretty rare! : : A river crossing reminiscent of the jump between Where Some Rarely Go and : Thing What Kicks…. And it’s a two-way deal, as on the other side we find: : For now, at least. : Around this point, we can also incur a bunch of Compilers coming down the : river, and better some now than an even bigger bunch in a little while! : There is also a stair puzzle in the middle of the river here, this being : the only useful way out if we fall in anywhere in this quite maddeningly : large body of water! Upriver to the north, on the other side of the : barrier from where we found ammo right at the start, is more ammo to : match, this time of the shotgun variety, but it’s a pretty unlikely place : to go! And I don’t think there’s much to speak of if we swim the other : way; just a lot of disappointment, including another in vain glimpse of : the way to the end room. : Conveniently, there are some stepping stones down from this side of the : river, along a new path; unfortunately, there are more BoBs on the : platforms at the bottom. Most of them can be dealt with by hiding behind : various walls; the next area is especially well set up for this, with : narrow ledges and blindspots, provided we still have grenades. There are : more Compilers as well, and a couple of potato anuses just to look scary : on the radar. After a narrow opening with BoBs on ambush duty left and : right, the ledge gets very narrow, perfect for taking out the next ones, : who happen to be guarding a room with a pattern buffer, 1x charger and : switch – our next base of operations. The switch opens the barrier that : the BoBs had tried to put up here to keep us out of the next area, I : guess. : The next area allows us to kill more BoBs ... does this make you happy? That : includes some that are on higher platforms, which are actually later parts : of the level – it’s quite a stark diagonal line here on the map that : divides these areas, and I guess one might be able to grenade jump up : there instead of doing the honeycomb stair puzzle? : We jump across the river again to find yet more BoBs; there’s also a : suspiciously shaped recess in the wall, but no, it’s not a terminal. Then : there is an ammo cache – fusion batteries and some magnums, which I guess : would be handy for dual wielding; I haven’t actually noticed if the BoBs : here drop weapons. And the ammo is at the bottom of a narrow staircase in : the level’s hex design. It leads to a ledge where BoBs seem to be shooting : at potato anuses – actually that seems to happen a bit around here ... : odd. And with that it seems like we hit a dead-end, but the map clearly : shows the stair puzzle just out in the sewer. This part of the river is : separate from that where we started, but I still don’t think there’s much : else to be found in it. : The stair puzzle requires us to ascend around a central pillar, with really : just one annoying jump where one tends to hug the centre too much. Then we : repeat pretty much the same thing, higher up, and find ourselves jumping : across to the higher area we looked at not long ago, behind that diagonal : line. From here we can get to the way to the final room, but there is a : platform in the middle of the sewer that needs to be raised to make things : easier; as Narcogen showed, a grenade will do the trick if needs be. : Instead, we’ll go through the other narrow opening and on to an even more : annoying set of hex stairs, with BoBs shooting at us from ... somewhere, : seemingly through a platform! If we make the climb up the right hand side, : there is almost an illusion of safety, as there is no sign of BoBs ... : until we drop off the edge and suddenly get hit through their little : window to the left! Of course, once we know about it, it is we that do the : hitting, but it is a hell of a trap. : This particular area is otherwise empty, with a couple of doors that really : make me want to know what is behind, and only one switch, to open a door : up to those BoBs from the window, and more BoBs, and boy are they quick on : the draw. I just now thought I had made it to the 2x charger, before : getting finished off by the last man standing. So yeah, there’s a 2x : charger! And a pattern buffer. And a switch. The switch. It raises that : platform in the sewer that lets us across to the final room, and it : represents a race against time that is easy when you know how, but can be : kind of a pain, requiring another honeycomb puzzle run and good : directional awareness. The reward is another pattern buffer, and a switch : to open the door to the final room. : Not sure if it’s this switch or something earlier, but at this point, if we : take a long swim and head back to the jump teleporters, the b-side becomes : a secret c-side, something that records never had, and that takes us to : the secret room and all those goodies, including a flamethrower! : : Of course, heading back like that does mean we have to repeat the switch : race, but hey, that’s worth it :). Also convenient as the BoBs in the : final room seem quite keen to come up the stairs towards us, and the : flamethrower seems to be quite keen to light up those stairs as we : descend! : Then a few shotgun shells and a shotgun, a view back to that first room with : BoBs, and the final terminal. A puzzlier level than we have had recently – : well not really, Eat the Path was fairly puzzly, especially the secret : way; it has just been a while for ToD. On which point, I’m not sure about : the status of the next level. PS, could you please post here or email with : your intentions of doing it or not? I’m quite happy to do the rest at this : point, and get ready for whatever comes next. I had a plan to do Tempus : Irae, but not sure about the interest it would generate, and I don’t have : what I need to get full pictures of some of the maps. : Anyway, that last terminal: : : Some further insights into just what Tfear has planned for the humans, and : us, “our kind”. The Empire before the Self! And again, the details on : where we’re going next are totally accurate ... maybe it would have been : nice to have had Tfear commanding us all along!
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