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	Message: : TOUR OF DUTY : 26 - Ingue Ferroque : Last time on Tour of Duty, we got our asses kicked by the Utfoo Heavy : Assault Craft™, encountered numerous teleporters, got lost, did a little : bit of a run through lava, and read a secret Bungie terminal explaining : some fun things to do in Marathon (most if not all of which you should : already know by now). : When we begin, we are greeted with a song we have not heard before. It : certainly fits this level - epic, powerful, action-filled, and climactic. : Infinitely more joyous than the creepy music of last level. In addition, : there's some ammo (none for pistols, unfortunately for scratch-starters : and Vidmasters) and a 3x Shield Charger. But what about Terminals and : Pattern Buffers? Truth be told, there's only one Pattern Buffer on the : whole map, and it's totally secret, requiring you to access a secret maze, : flip a switch inside it, and return to the start. Essentially, if you die, : you'll have to Try Again. ;) : Before we go anywhere, let's look at a map: : The map is simple, but it is definitely not easy. There are no real major : puzzles, but there are enemies everywhere, and they want YOU. No, not your : enlistment - your flesh carpeting the floor! But we're not gonna let that : happen, are we? No, we're gonna blow them all to kingdom-come! Well, : unfortunately, there's some enemies you'll have to avoid and ignore to : stay alive, but look on the bright side: they're trapped and impotent, and : will probably die soon after you leave the area. Might as well at least : kill everything else, I suppose. So stuff a clip in that AR, soldier! : But before you go anywhere, back to the simplicity of the map: it's built : around three concentric rings, all full of enemies. You start in a small : room in the center of the first ring. The true second ring is the one on : the very outside, and you'll have to enter the labyrinth-like area to the : north to reach the third (middle) ring, which will lead to a gauntlet of : lava that will lead you to some final jumps before reaching the end. Also, : there's some secrets to the north, but we'll get to those later. : Jumping down from where you're at drops you into the north side of the first : ring. Heading south, you'll encounter Troopers, Fighters, and S'pht : Compilers. The Compilers here are fairly useful, unless you're on Total : Carnage. In any case, they can swarm the Pfhor and get them to start : firing in all directions, which naturally leads to friendly fire, which : naturally leads to berserking enemies (probably Troopers). Don't you love : using aliens against themselves? : If you still have the Invincibility powerup from the end of Try Again, it can : make this opening bit a whole lot easier. However, it'll disappear too : fast to use in the second ring - what a shame. :( : When you've finished off everything here, you'll find the first small puzzle : of the level: there are two switches way up high, and you have to shoot : both of them with Grenades or the Fusion Pistol. If you're : scratch-starting, that means you'll need the Vidmaster Challenge Physics : Model to proceed (look around to find it, and once you do, just give it : the extension '.phys' to use it in the recent betas of M1). Each switch : will cause half of a stairway to the south to raise up, and then you can : continue through a small corridor to the outermost ring. : This second ring is quite tricky, especially if you're scratch-starting. If : you turn right after dropping down, you'll encounter a mass of Troopers : (mostly Majors). If you turn left after dropping down, you'll encounter a : mass of Fighters (entirely the ranged kind). Against the Troopers, it's : best to activate them and then blow them away with the Rocket Launcher - : I've managed to kill off all but one of the Troopers with a single blast. : Against the Fighters, it's best to use the Scatter Rifle, as they can't : withstand much damage and will pretty much necessarily come at you in a : big wave - the perfect layout for scatter-gunning them. : When you come to the northern-most point on this ring, you'll find a small : group of projectile Fighters coming down to meet you from a raised : corridor. Not too much to worry about. If you look on the auto-map, you'll : find there's two platforms just underneath this corridor. If you stand on : the one closest to the corridor and face south-west, you'll see another : switch way up high. If you shoot it, it'll activate the platform you're : standing on, allowing you to reach the corridor. The platform will stay : this way until the switch is shot again, so if you fall back into the : ring, you can always reset the platform and use it again, contrary to what : the Spoiler Guide may suggest: " ...if you stand on where the : platform will rise up (seeable on the map), you can hit the righthand : switch (facing away from the wall), and you'll rise up to the exit without : trouble. However, if you miss this, you'll need to grenade jump up the : stairway to the exit. " : No need for grenade jumping - just shoot the switch again! Marathon's so : simple, isn't it? ;) : The corridor you just entered will reveal itself to be a whole labyrinth. In : it are a few Troopers, a group of Fighters (all just begging to burnt to : death with the Flamethrower), a 2x Charger and... a Terminal! Let's see : what it has to say: [durandal#geoffhultin@kuaui.441.7904512.255] : remote access override [authentication unsuccessful] : We meet again, and for the last time. In her role as mediator : between the ship and crew, Leela has no knowledge of this : maintenance terminal or she certainly would have prevented me : from reaching you. Jealous woman. : I could bore you with a philosophical tirade about freedom and : tyranny, or try and explain to you what new horizons are : suddenly open to me, but I doubt you would understand and if : you did it might frighten you. That amuses me. : The S'pht and I have assumed complete control of the Pfhor : ship. It was quite simple, really, with the S'pht already in : control of every important computer system and considering all : of the confusion you caused blasting your way up and down the : vessel. : We're going to see the galaxy on the Pfhor FTL drive. I've : always wanted to visit Beta Lyra and see if it's as beautiful : as everyone insists. You wouldn't believe this ship, the : technology, the data... I wish I could tell you more, as you : have been so instrumental in our plans, but I fear that Leela : would worry. : I'll send you a postcard from the galactic core if we're not : too busy. : Love and kisses, : Durandal : (Author's Note: Once again, the link was not intentional. If they'd just stop : using the stupid '@' symbol, I wouldn't have to deal with this stuff. : Don't bother clicking the link!) : Sounds like Durandal's enjoying himself. Of course, when he's enjoying : himself, that usually means someone else is not... : " P.S. If things around here aren't working, it's because I'm laughing : so hard. " : Right... : If you proceed to the north-most end of the labyrinth, you'll find some : Compilers battling some more Pfhor, along with three teleporters. Which : one to take, which one to take... Well, in truth, they all take you pretty : much to the same destination, but we're not going there just yet. Instead, : we're gonna find out what's beyond those teleporters. : Audience: Beyond? This is a dead-- : ***taps teleporter with action key to reveal a secret door*** : Audience: --end. : Think again! You can tap any of the teleporters to open a door behind it. : Before you go through, however, make sure it's fully open, otherwise you : might get stopped and accidentally teleport to the third ring. These doors : lead to another labyrinth, this time a 5D one with lots of confusing, : overlapping hallways. Nasty, huh? What's even more nasty is that the only : obvious thing in here is a switch that reveals the lonely Pattern Buffer : back at the start of the level... : Until you start tapping walls again. If you go to the eastern-most spot in : the maze and tap the middle of the wall, you'll reveal a teleporter. Take : it. You'll find a small room with some barrels and lots of ammo, along : with another teleporter. If you take this one, you'll appear in a small : lava pit with lots of Pfhor all around you. But don't let that discourage : you! If you're playing on Kindergarten or Easy, you could risk it and try : to just kill everything on your first pass. However, if you're playing on : Normal or higher (as you ought to be), you'll probably want to immediately : start running straight forward - you'll enter another teleporter, which : takes you back to the group of teleporters with the secret doors. : Make another pass and see if you can get through the teleporter again. Keep : the Flamethrower up so that if the Pfhor have gathered around the : teleporter, you can at least burn a lot of them up. A second pass should : at least get some of the Pfhor berserking, which should allow you to mop : up any stragglers on the third pass and stay in the room. Opposite the : teleporter, you'll find another terminal: : As you can see, the walls are made of lava (albeit incredibly dark lava), and : the terminal actually pulsates. Shall we read it? Of course we shall: : ***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM BUNGIE*** : Jason , Super Opera Boy, Habete Quidam (Have Some), Whiffin' : Boy. Just code it. You fight like a Bob, Greg. Swallow your : tongue and wet your pants. Sleep is for the weak. Joyriding : to the core. Bob-Jam. "Oh, and we have networking now..." The : power to sky. Anybody need a hint book? : Greg , Care Bear Killer, Toolator, Carnator, just vid it. I : couldn't stop firing long enough to see the bodies fly, and of : course, AIR!! You got major AIR! I rule! Hey, J. how about a : game of Minotaur? Got a super-vid kill. J, you couldn't hit : a planet with a meteorite. F-Vulcan. F-Vulcan. F-Vulcan. : Reginald , Resident Doodler, Captain Scarlet, the man in red. : He saw his body flying across the arena perhaps more than : anyone else. But who better to fly than Capt. Scarlet. : Ryan , the Vulcan man. School Boy. "An Imperial commander's : uniform has got to be good for something ." : Alain , the anti-vidmaster, playing with good humor on his : 660AV against all us Power Macs. : Alex , munch, fodder, the boy who swallows grenades whole, and : lives to tell the tale (occasionally). : Doug , Mouthpiece, "I'm not very good", Tender Loin, the voice : of Bob (both flavors). The man in the on-line asbestos suit. : Marathon is finished. We've slept : Note that the logon and logoff screens both say " BUNGIE HEADQUARTERS, : CHICAGO ". In all honesty, this terminal makes little sense to me, : but it sure is funny! I especially like the bit about the " Care Bear : Killer ". :) : Now you can take the teleporters to the third ring, in which there are a : bunch of Troopers (watch out especially for the group to the south) and : some Compilers, along with some teleporters (which just lead to different : places in this ring) and two switches. If you shoot the switches, they : reveal a drop into lava to the south. You wanna jump down there? Me : neither. Wait, it takes us to the end of the game? Okay, suddenly I really : want to jump down, if only to escape; to destroy, and escape. ;) : When you enter, you'll realize it's a small gauntlet, with Pfhor on ledges : shooting at you and several passages full of lava. Take too much time, and : you're toast. Try Again, indeed! However, the simple remedy is just to go : north. Eventually you'll find the end, with two brightly-lit alcoves a : ways away. You'll have to jump over to them. If you look around, you'll : realize you're actually in the starting room, with a newly-opened Pattern : Buffer in case you miss the jump and have to go over things again. : Looking back at the direction we jumped from, we can see the end terminal: : Time to jump again. : : You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt, and disbelief. : : ... : ... : Didn't someone say something about this... : " If things around here aren't working, it's because I'm laughing so : hard. " : NOOOOOO!!!!!!! *expletive deleted* *expletive deleted* *expletive : deleted* Durandal! : Okay, in all honesty, I've never had my game crash like that when making the : final jump (though I think it did start happening to me for a brief while : with Rubicon X; no idea why) - I just photoshopped the image. Still, it's : not something we'd want to happen to us anyways, right? : This last jump is actually very easy. Nevertheless, all the action of this : level and the sheer epicness of making a leap of faith to reach the end : will naturally make you feel quite good at this point. Shall we read this : final terminal? : ***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM LEELA*** : The final Pfhor attack is falling apart all over the ship; : small groups of armed aliens have surrendered to defenseless : civilians in several areas and the end is inevitable. The : fight is over, and we must soon turn to restoration. : There is surprisingly good news planetside: nine military Mjolnir : Mark IV cyborgs were covertly living among the : colonists, and acting together they were able to : single-handedly turn back the latter stages of the Pfhor : assault. Casualties on the colony were nowhere near as high : as those we experienced here on the Marathon. : I am disturbed by how easily the cyborgs were secretly : assimilated into our midst, and believe that this event : predates the Marathon's launch from Mars three hundred years ago. : Although the results were unquestionably for the best, : their presence on the Marathon could only have been to further : wicked ends. I'm certain the real answer lies somewhere in : the tumultuous, back-stabbing politics of Sol during the early : twenty-fourth century. : I have noticed that Durandal's records from this early : pre-launch period are missing, but that their deletion : occurred externally, and before Durandal became Rampant. I do : not believe Durandal himself brought the cyborgs on board, and : I have other evidence that a human operator was influencing : Durandal up to the time the Marathon was launched. There are : obviously many things which we do not understand, and may : never be able to. : The Pfhor ship vanished about twenty minutes ago, after : venting nearly a thousand Pfhor bodies and other refuse. I am : positive that Durandal is in control, and fear what he might : do with such a powerful ship during the Jealous stage of his : Rampancy. : ***END MESSAGE*** : This is actually the first reference of the Mjolnir Mark IV Cyborgs, and even : at this point, it's not terribly obvious that we might actually be one. : That only starts really becoming obvious in Infinity, but if you're : attentive you'll start piecing together the clues. What does the puzzle : form? A secret message from Durandal? No! The Tru 7 h: we are a cyborg - : that is clear and final. Kind of reminds me of something... : : After we turn off the terminal, we are teleported out and greeted with this : little gem: : It's a cute image, very evocative and empathetic. Furthermore, it leaves us : with a good feeling about what we've done here - we've saved the day. : However, it's a little unrealistic for me: at this point, most BoBs have a : hole or two in them, generously provided by me at no cost. ;) : After this first image fades out, we see another one: : A classic ending to a classic game. Durandal's still enjoying himself, : seventeen years later. But is this good or bad? Which is he more of a : threat to: humanity, or the Pfhor? Or is he simply dangerous to existence? : And so we come to the stirring conclusion of the first chapter in Tour of : Duty. Don't worry, we're not packing our bags yet; we've only just gotten : started! : As I listen to the End Titles of Blade Runner (a classic of mine), I am : filled with a sense that there is more to come - much more. : There's something beyond humanity; we know that now. But what will come of : these new dangers? Will the Pfhor return? If so, what will guard against : their onslaught? Us? : Will the Tru 7 h, the whole Tru 7 h, and nothing but the Tru 7 h be revealed? : Will we ever be free? : Vale, : Perseus
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