Your Name:
	Your E-Mail Address:
	Subject:
	Message: : : Stage 7: The Library : Fight your way through an ancient security facility in search of the Index : ELSEWHERE ON THE RING… : Something nagged at him, but what was it? Something he’d forgotten? It came : to him all at once: he had nearly forgotten his own name. Keyes. Jacob. : Captain. Service number 01928-19912-JK. The droning chant that had lurked : at the edge of his awareness buzzed more loudly, and he felt some kind of : pressure-some sense of anger. Why was he angry? No, something else was : angry…because he’d remembered his own name? Keyes. Jacob. Captain. Service : number 01928-19912-JK. : Where was he? How did he get here? He struggled to find the memory. He : remembered parts of it now. There was a dark, alien room, hordes of some : terrifying enemy, gunfire, then a stabbing pain… : They must have captured him. That was it. This might be some new trick by the : enemy. He’d give them nothing. He struggled to remember who the enemy was. : He repeated the mantra in his head: Keyes. Jacob. Captain. Service number : 01928-19912-JK. The buzzing pressure increased. He resisted, though he was : unsure why. Something about the drone frightened him. The sense of : invasion deepened. Is this a covenant trick? he wondered. He tried to : scream, “It won’t work. I’ll never lead you to Earth!” but he couldn’t : make his mouth work, couldn’t feel his own body. As the thought of his : home planet echoed through Keyes’ consciousness, the tone and tenor of the : drone changed, as if pleased. He-Keyes. Jacob. Captain. Service number : 01928-19912-JK-was startled when new images played across his mind. He : realised, too late, that something was sifting through his mind, like a : grave robber looting a tomb. He had never felt so powerless, so afraid… : His fear vanished in a flood of emotion as he felt the warmth of the first : woman he had ever kissed…He tried to scream as the memory was ripped from : him and discarded. Keyes. Jacob. Captain. Service number 01928-19912-JK. : As each of the fragments of his past played out and was sucked into the : void, he could feel the invader enveloping him like an ocean of evil. But, : like the pieces of flotsam that remain after a ship has gone down, random : pieces of himself remained, a sort of makeshift raft to which he could : momentarily cling. The image of a smiling woman, a ball spiralling through : the air, a crowded street, a man with half his face blown away, tickets to : a show he couldn’t remember, the gentle sound of wind chimes and the smell : of newly baked bread. But the sea was too rough, waves crashed down on the : raft and broke it apart. Swells lifted Keyes up, others pushed him down, : and the final darkness beckoned. : But then, just as the ocean was about to consume him, Keyes became aware of : the one thing the creature that raped his mind couldn’t consume: the CNI : transponder’s carrier wave. He reached for it like a drowning man, : clutched the lifeline with all his might and refused to let go. For here, : deep within his watery grave, was a thread that led back to what he had : been. Keyes. Jacob. Captain. Service number 01928-19912-JK. : PRESENT LOCATION : Sorry to give you the bad news, but we’ve been kidnapped. We aren’t on : board Echo 419 en-route back to the control centre or alpha base, and we : surely won’t get there any time soon. The 343 Guilty Spark we learned : about in the primer and terminals has finally shown up in the game and so : has the Flood, for the first time in 100,000 years. : Stopping Captain Keyes from finding the weapons was a failure: we were : several hours too late. Escaping with some marines, we re-entered the : swamp where the quarantine labs were under. So when I brought the men down : to a tower for safety, only for them all to be infected by that greedy mob : while Spark spirited us away without consent to this dark, foreboding : complex. The passage above and at the end of the last stage is no fanfic: : they are passages from the novel about the fate of Captain Keyes and many : others infected by the Flood. Some sort of sacrifice to their brain : currently existing on another Halo ring. Though it seems I’ve not been : invited to the barbie! : So why are we here? Well, as you know, this is only Halo Installation 04 out : of 7. We recently found out in-game that it’s also a fearful weapon, : intended to wipe out the Flood, which was found still being studied in the : research facilities here and in a gas mining station in Threshold’s : atmosphere. The control room territory in the mountains is the primary : firing source for that weapon, a weapon that pierces stars: a gigantic : particle pulse cannon. However, it is currently sealed. In order to : activate it, enormous energy and a very specific encryption key are : required. That key is the Activation Index, kept in the centre of the : Library which is where we are now. Spark has a little game for us to play: : hunt the Index in the core of this security hall. If we win, we go free : and fire the ring, stopping the Flood. If we lose, we die. Unlike : Durandal, he does help us a little with the sentinels at key points. : Without further rambling stuff we already know, I begin. : Act 1: The Library – Hang Brain : : That is the index inside those blocks. It’s suspended in the middle of a deep : pit with no way to reach it. The camera goes through a doorway which opens : up (and promptly closes again after it’s through) to show the Monitor and : I teleporting into the Library. “We must collect the Index before we : connect the baby installation.” Spark says. Er, what? Since I never : played Anniversary with its subtitles on (And Halo 1 doesn’t have them : anyway), I still have no idea if that’s actually what he says or not. : Spark’s speeches here in general are a little off at times. : I’m still not thrilled about being kidnapped by this AI so I empty a good : deal of my heavy machinegun and pistol rounds into him, mainly just to : hear some funny lines. “Please stop firing your weapon!” he tells me but : if you don’t listen to him, he snaps “Please stop being human!” : Reloading to conserve ammo, I begin the long slog of following this guy to : the Index. The Flood soon arrive and they now include jackal and grunt : i.e. vanilla carrier forms. The whole level is one, long, hard battle : against the Flood in dark, bleak looking vaults, broken up by giant doors : where you hold the line, underground access ways where the fighting is : easier and giant anti grav elevators between floors. It’s pretty fun and : challenging on Heroic but a nightmare on Legendary if you don’t know the : little tricks you can pull to make surviving easier. Some of these I know : from my Halo Anniversary guide, and at least one from my Halo 2 one. : In vanilla and Anniversary, this is the first level in which carrier forms : appear. : : : And that’s how he washes, and that’s how he washes, and that’s how he washes : his dirty clothes! You may have noticed brown fog in the air that’s not : here in the main games. According to the Halo 2 guide when you see this in : its Flood levels, those are clouds of Flood spores. If you breathe them : in, the Flood don’t need flugs to infect you. The spores are basically : the “sperm” to the infection form’s larvae, but you don’t see the effects : of spores in the games; they’re just for show. : You want to get a shotgun, quick! The assault rifle and shotgun are your two : best friends when fighting the Flood: shotgun for combat forms and carrier : forms, rifle for flugs. You’ll want to replace the assault rifle with a : plasma rifle when the covenant return for both flug duty and shields. : Up ahead, Spark leads me into Index chamber from the cutscene. High above us : is a different shaped anti-grav elevator to the others we will be seeing, : in that its beam is on top instead of in the pit, and it has lots of : geometric shapes and blocks carved into it. “The energy field above us : contains the Index. We must get up there!” Spark says. He’s wrong: the : Index is in the middle of the pit on this floor. We do need to get up : there, but it’s only to ride the anti-grav lift right back down again, : just to bridge the gap. : I manage to find and wrangle a shotgun from a combat form before I reach the : first door. I also found out that elite form shields are weaker than : living elite ones so the assault rifle may still work, but you want to : switch to a plasma weapon anyway as SPV3 adds Covenant to this level too : whereas the original has none. : Spark says that the security doors have sealed automatically so he will go : access the override to open them. He’s not gone long: kill all the Flood : before getting here and you don’t have to play defence. The other doors : aren’t so lenient. The Monitor also says that this is the first of 10. : More doors, I can hardly wait. “Puzzling.” Guilty Spark tells me as we : enter the first of many vaulted galleries with wedge shaped blocks and : strange blue screens (plasma banks?), “You brought such ineffective : weapons to combat the Flood, despite the containment protocols.” He could : have built some Halo 4 Forerunner weapons for us to use instead, as those : would be quite handy, thanks! Instead of following him to the right down : the gallery, I head left instead. Spark warns I could get lost if I don’t : follow him, and there’s a Flood ambush down here to prove it, but SPV3 : adds a reward in the new hive in this dead end: : Remember Watch Your Step in Pathways into Darkness? There’s risk to coming : here, especially as honour guard combat forms rank with rocket and shotgun : forms as the worst of the worst, (their shields are completely unbreakable : except to plasma and explosives) but hidden in the remains of the growth : pod he came from is what I came here for: : There’s also a first aid kit hidden in the pod remains too. Taking my : Flamethrower, I head back to follow Spark. I stick with the shotgun and : only use the flamethrower if I’m forced to. I just got this thing from a : hard to survive hive, I’m not wasting it. Over some glass panels over deep : pits with infection forms under them, I hear the sounds of combat: the : covenant new to this level in SPV3 are just ahead, fighting a losing : battle against more of the Flood. “You can see how the bodies’ been : transformed by the genetic restructuring of the Flood infection.” The : Monitor gives us a little lesson on how the Flood work, albeit the : abridged version; “The small creatures carry spores that cause a host to : mutate. The mutated host then produces spores that can pass the Flood to : others. It is insidious and elegant. As long as enough hosts remain, the : Flood is virulent.” : A terminal lies on the floor where the covenant were. : : Urrgh, not again. I’ll go easy on the Gordon Ramsey clips this time. The last : stage was a bit overloaded with them. Here’s the real first covenant : terminal: : The Sacred Icon is what they call the Index. We get to see this for the first : time in Halo 2. Once again, I’d make a Hey Arnold joke, this time when the : Sewer King refers to Grandpa Phil’s pocket watch as a Royal Icon, but I : can’t find such a video clip to link to. : The blue screens on this level are weird. If they are plasma banks, that : doesn’t make sense. Isn’t this place a data centre? From a distance, they : shimmer with waves of blue light but up close they look like the second of : the groups of fountains that used to be in the mall in town 20 or more : years ago. : : : Up ahead near the first anti-grav lift, more covenant face off against Flood : before sentinels show up and toast them. The Flood destroy the sentinels : but like Halo 2, they drop their weapons now so I take an Extended Range : Incineration Beam. “Those sentinels will supplement your combat systems.” : Spark tells me. “But I suggest you upgrade to at least a Class 12 Combat : Skin. Your current model only scans as a Class 2! Which is unsuited for : this kind of work.” If there’s a battle suit that’s 6 times as powerful : as MJOLNIR armour, I’ll be first in line to try it on. Too bad the : Forerunners took all their combat skins with them. We’ll find out why the : Monitor seems to mistake us for a Forerunner ourselves despite clearly : recognising us as human in due time. : There’s a charger and Forerunner terminal in this area. : : In other words, he couldn’t teleport us directly to the final elevator : because the Index’s barrier could make us telefrag a wall. Yeesh. : : Normally you get showered upon by the other end of the tractor beam in the : middle of the lift, but those effects don’t seem to be in this remake. : : Act 2: Wait, it gets worse! - Elevator Trouble : “Ah, I am a genius! Hee, hee, hee, hee!” the Monitor giggles as he emerges. : A pain in the ass is more like it, as John Carver says in the novel around : here. Unlike the main game, every floor is now told apart by coloring the : databanks different colors per floor, keeping the original blue for the : ground floor only. The ones up here look like they’re filled with lime : jelly. : : The Monitor flies off again as he says that Flood activity has caused a : failure in a drone control subsystem. While he resets the backup, he tells : me to continue on but I cannot as the second door is in the way. To deal : with this area on Legendary, trigger the objective to wait and then hide : in the ramped pit with the medipacks. The Flood will continue to respawn : as you kill them until the door opens, but if you hide and wait it out : without them finding you, no extra ones spawn and the initial wave is all : you fight when the door opens. Sentinels show up at that point too. : The pit has a human terminal in it from Sergeant Marvin Mobuto, a character : from the book with practically no screen time. : : Not the brightest flying lightbulb is he? 343 Guilty Spark that is, not : Marvin. He shows up again when the door opens. “The sentinels can use : their weapons to manage the Flood only for a short time. Speed is of the : essence.” As in, we have to hurry, the Flood can destroy sentinels : easily, their weapons overheat quickly or all of the above? Through the : door is the second level of the Index chamber. Like the main pyramid shaft : over Nea Kameni peak in Tomb Raider’s Atlantis, we keep coming back here : now and then before reaching our goal at the top. : : That is the Sentinel Enforcer we learned about at the end of Assault on the : Control Room. As I said before, they’re from Halo 2. Unlike Halo 2, : they’re on our side for now. I misremembered their incineration cannons: : they must be their mortars as opposed to having a third weapon. : : The sentinel aggressor drones to my left are the normal ones that fire red : beams. You can’t see them but there’s also sentinel majors that use blue : beams like I’m holding here. Unlike Halo 2, those beams have a lot of : spread now, but the good kind of spread where the beam splits into : multiple ones in a just as accurate cluster, like the BFG 9000 when Doom : was still in development, back when the name meant “Billion Fireballs : Gun”. Up ahead is the first of the bad lot: mixed in with the combat forms : near the third door is one with a rocket launcher! You have plenty of time : to see it coming in the open space, but in later encounters, you won’t be : so lucky. : The door jams when it opens so Spark flies off to fix it. Infection forms : crawl on the ceiling before raining down from above and jackal carrier : forms show up. The enforcer helps out with its red needlers. Through the : door is the first underground access way, infested with carrier forms. Pro : tip, courtesy of the Halo 2 guide: stick a plasma grenade to the gasbag : and instantly open fire with the shotgun. Don’t use any other weapon or a : frag like the guide implies you can do, that’s a fucking lie. Other : weapons are too slow and the frag grenade fuse is too short. The carrier : form will explode but so too will your grenade, killing the infection : forms inside instantly. : : EEK! : “Your environment suit should serve you well when the Flood begins to alter : the atmosphere. You are a good planner.” Gee, thanks. That’s also a : warning that the next rocket guy is around the corner, past some honour : guards. Make sure you kill the elites before they get infected. Honour : guard Flood are no fun. : Remember the vent in Stage 4? The Flood use that against you. Looking for : easy food, the Flood take the vent shafts like Guilty Spark mentioned in a : Stage 4 terminal and stick their nosy little barbs into places they have : absolutely no right to be, such as the Library and Control Centre. They : continue to come out of those pipe shaped vents on the wall non-stop as : you pass through the databank halls so by the time you think you’ve : finally gotten rid of the stupid, venomous little Rocket launcher Flood, a : shotgun guy buts into Spark and I’s private business, slithers out of the : woodwork and blindsides you with another wave of poisonous mutants it : vomits onto the library floor just like what happens here; just such a : shotgun guy, mixed in with more combat forms and a swarm of flugs drop out : of a nearby air shaft behind me they shouldn’t even be inside in the first : place once the rocket guy dies, only going there as it followed the other : combat forms before it. Real classy of them. Seriously, those power weapon : Flood and honour guard forms can fellate Halo’s sun as far as I’m : concerned. Unlike most times in vanilla Halo the respawning vent shaft : Flood turn up, the ambush doesn’t kill me so I roast the little snakes in : return with the TOZT 7 before they do, for as we all know, not only do all : TOZTs toast toast, they can barbecue meat for our wholemeal beef burgers. : Or should I say bonemeal as the Flood feast on calcium, it being the main : resource required for a Gravemind. : : https://youtu.be/cyKGhXv3bXE?t=249 : Near the second elevator are two things: the next Forerunner terminal and a : charger. I’ve now replaced my flamethrower with a brute plasma rifle after : exhausting its fuel, so after reading, charge up before riding the lift. : You will need it. Obviously, it doesn’t work on the flamethrower and : sentinel beams are incompatible. : : Imagine making little figures out of mac and cheese (using rotten, stinky : cheeses) and smash them together. That’s what Spark’s description of a : proto-gravemind forming sounds like. Bleach. : Act 3: But I Don’t Want to Ride the Elevator! – Kill Your Television : And if you do, you literally will too as Halo 1 is an Xbox Classic game first : and foremost, though TVs used to be used in place of computer monitors as : the latter were expensive. The databanks are now bright red. Near the next : underground access way and Marvin Mobuto’s next terminal, Guilty Spark : figures that the Covenant are responsible for releasing the Flood as they : seem most persistent in their attempts to access restricted areas. He’s : changed his tune, considering he recognised my turning off of the : Cartographer building security also disabled containment lab security too, : like Lara Croft accidentally releasing Dr Kristina Boaz’s Proto Nephillim. : : : Spoiler alert, he’s fucked. Just like in the book though unlike Halo 1 where : he didn’t exist outside of an urban legend, we actually do find his body. : Or what’s left of it. Unlike Halo: The Flood he died in a different place : too. : : You can’t see it here but unlike the main games, sentinel beams in this mod : can set enemies on fire, mostly the Flood. Around the corner, the quieter : version of Shadows starts up by the next door. It was here when playing : this level in vanilla Halo 1 co-op for the third time or so that my : brother made a Kim Possible reference based on an episode we recently saw : at the time: “SNG. So Not Good.” : When the door to the Index Chamber opens, Covenant duke it out with Flood and : sentinels. More rocket launcher Flood are right around the corner, hiding : behind a metal wedge waiting to jump you. Hunters deal with them first : however. A plasma weapon charging column is by the edge of the ledge over : the main chamber. : “While naturally the Flood is simply too dangerous to release,” Guilty : Spark says, “and mass sterilisation protocols may once again have to be : enacted. Of course, samples were kept here after the last catastrophic : outbreak, for study. It seems, that decision may have been an error.” You : don’t say! : There seems to be a light glowing around the edge of the central anti-gravity : elevator shaft. I first thought the edges of the Index Chamber’s upper : levels outside the main ledges were steeply slanted until I played Halo : Anniversary, but they are not so it may pay to hop on over there… : : 343 Guilty Spark has been alone so long, he’s become rampant. So far, he’s in : the Melancholia stage. He will get to the angry stage in the distant : future… : That explains why he seems to mistake us as a forerunner despite knowing : we’re human, and seeming to contradict himself alongside his occasional : eccentric rambling and giggling. There’s a covenant terminal on the floor : near the hunters. : : And if the Flood capture the Index, what then? : There’s a wraith by the open door at the end that didn’t used to be there. I : can board it and take it for my own, though it must be left behind as it’s : too big for most of the halls. Makes me wonder how the Covenant even got : them in here. : “The Installation was specifically built to study and contain the Flood.” : Spark tells me as I go down the next databank hall. “Their survival as a : race was dependent upon it. I am grateful to see that some of them : survived to reproduce.” The way he words it, it sounds like he’s talking : about the Flood, which doesn’t make any sense. By “them” he’s actually : referring to the Forerunners and playing the pronoun game. What he means : is that the Forerunners depended on the research of the Flood to seek a : cure, like was seen in a past Anniversary terminal. As he thinks we’re a : forerunner, he says he’s grateful some of the Forerunners survived the : firing of the array. Yeah, we know what the rings really do especially if : you read the primer, but I’m still gonna sometimes be coy about it for the : moment until the start of the next stage. : This next bit can really make you tear your hair out on Legendary, which is : why my subtitle for this chapter is named after that bad Marathon 2 map. : Entering one door, it closes behind me and Spark goes off to unlock the : next one. This space is cramped, hardly any respite can be given from the : Flood that ambush you here out of the vent shafts and you have to wait : about 2 minutes. : I used to bottleneck the Flood by hiding in the corner by the exit door, and : letting them come to me, but I recommend cheesing it by just hiding there : before they appear like the Anniversary guide suggests. So long as you : don’t fire weapons, the Flood won’t know you’re there. That’s how I : learned to do it earlier too. : SPV3 gives you an overshield, a reflex enhancer and more health, and I’m on : Heroic anyway so I’ll try the normal way. I was tempted to cheese it as : I’ve been playing on Legendary so long, my Legendary tactics for Halo 1 : are hard habits to break. : : That’s in slow motion too, though you can’t tell. : The Monitor warns that time is short. That means 2 things. One, there may or : may not be another rocket launcher combat form ahead. There isn’t this : time as far as I can tell. Two, the last of the smaller giant anti-grav : lifts is ahead. The last Forerunner terminal here is between a pair of : databanks by some honour guards outside the elevator. : : So the energy tractor beam on the main anti-gravity elevator in the Index : Chamber was meant to burn the Flood? I guess the things I’ve called : databanks really are plasma banks after all, and the different colored : ones are probably malfunctioning. : Act 4: Fourth Floor: Tools, Guns, Keys to Super Weapons – Strange Aeons : An honour guard is infected but I kill it as soon as it is, as its shields : are still down. Hunters wait just ahead though they despawn when I die and : reload here. Turns out the plasma banks down below were actually orange: : these are the plasma banks that are red. : : Another Covenant terminal waits above the next underground access way. : : They do retake the Control Room as we are just about to see, but they’re in : for a shock as sentinels will be there now too. : Once again, I need to wait for the Monitor to open the door once I leave the : underground access way. Past a few final corners is the last door with : Covenant fighting outside it and a pile of gibs by some pillars. This is : what’s left of Marvin Mobuto. His body is so mangled, not even the Flood : can make use of him. His last words are recorded on a terminal beside the : giblets. : : : I didn’t know you, Sarge, but I sure as hell wish I had. You must have been : one hardass son of a bitch. : As you enter this area in at least vanilla, the Monitor warns us that the : Flood are already hard at work repairing the Pillar of Autumn with the : intent to try and use it to escape. “Its parasitic nature belies the : Flood’s intelligence.” He says. : The final door also jams but combat forms jump through the gap. It opens : fully immediately after. This part is what kills me more than any other : area in this level on Legendary. There’s too many Flood with assault : rifles, needlers and plasma rifles. While they aren’t hitscan unlike Bobs, : Troopers and scatter rifle Enforcers in Marathon are, they may as well be. : This is the top floor of the Index chamber and the different, main : anti-gravity elevator is here. I just have to run over the small bridge : onto it and sprint into the beam in the middle. Getting there is easier : said than done, but recently, I discovered in vanilla Halo 1 that I can : trick the Flood into following me into the dark area to the left, then : sneak over the wedges while they’re occupied and make a break for the : anti-grav lift. Geometric patterns split the floor of the elevator into : puzzlelike shapes, a series of raised panels stands guard around the : tractor beam and the whole thing seems to glow. : : As I run on board and into the beam, it starts up and grinds down with hollow : rumbling sounds. “The energy barrier surrounding the Index will : deactivate when we reach the ground floor.” The Monitor says. The lift : falls squarely over the star or 7th column shaped pit at the bottom of the : Index chamber with an invisible barrier in the tractor beam hole I’m : standing on bridging the gap to the Index. Geez, all of that for a stupid : bridge. : The Index blocks spin and release their hold on the artifact like they did at : the start, but now they raise slightly and it pops partway out of the : metal tube in which it’s been kept for so many millennia. I take it out : and examine it: It’s shaped like the letter T and the main body glows lime : green. Spark sends out a hard light beam as a claw of sorts and yanks the : Index out of my hand, storing it inside his body. “Protocol requires that : I take possession of the Index for transport.” He explains. “Your : organic form renders you vulnerable to infection. The Index must not fall : into the hands of the Flood, before we reach the Control Room and activate : the Installation.” : As he teleports us out, he warns us, “The Flood is spreading! We must : hurry!” : MEANWHILE : It wanted something. Keyes realised. The memories that replayed like an : endless library of video clips were being sifted for something. The : buzzing presence in his mind sought…what? He grasped at the thought and : pushed back against the wall of resistance the other that burrowed through : his consciousness had erected. He brushed up against it and it almost : slipped away… : Then he had it-escape. Whatever this thing was, it wanted off the ring. It : hungered, and there was a perfect feeding ground to be found. The other : plunged a barbed-wire tendril into his mind and ripped forth an image of a : lunar Earthrise, which blurred into images of cattle in a slaughterhouse. : He felt the other’s tendrils eagerly grasped at the image of Earth. : wHeRe? It thundered. TeLL. The pressure increased and battered : through Keyes’ resistance, and in desperation he summoned up a new memory. : The alien presence seemed startled at the image of Keyes and a childhood : friend kicking a soccer ball on a vibrant green field. : The pressure eased as the hungry other examined the memory. Keyes felt a stab : of regret. He knew what he had to do now. He dragged all he remembered of : Earth-its location, his ability to find it, its defences-and shoved them : down, as deep as he could. Keyes felt the gaping sense of loss as the : memory of the soccer field was ripped away and discarded forever. He : quickly summoned up another-the taste of a favourite meal. He began to : feed his memories to the invading presence in his mind, once scrap at a : time. Of all the battles he had ever fought, this one was the toughest-and : the most important. : With the Index in hand, 343 Guilty Spark and I head back to the Control : Centre at long last. I reunite with Cortana and activate the ring to wipe : out the Flood…or do I? Next time on Halo SPV3; Stage 8: Two Betrayals. Now : the adventure evolves.
	If you'd like to include a link to another page with your message, please provide both the URL address and the title of the page:
	Optional Link URL:
	Optional Link Title:
	If necessary, enter your password below:
	Password: