Walkthrough III: The Portal and the Red Eye

Continued from Walkthrough II. Walking out of the election starts five new threads, and they serve two aims. One is the portal in the Astrologer’s Tower, which takes seven fragments; you’ll collect five of them in this part. The other is the Old God, hiding in a cheese cellar under the town, whose eye shapes the ending. Meanwhile, the six characters who have to stand at the portal in the finale each climb from 60 to 80 reputation.

Plan around town quality 100 from the start, since two of the six depend on it. Linda’s Wealthy Clients asks for it outright. Gunter’s Why don’t you like me? asks for 100 happiness instead, which amounts to the same thing: happiness can never exceed town quality. You raise town quality by building and upgrading the town’s shops, so keep at it all through this part.

Five new threads

Quest	From	Asks for	Opens up
A Cure for Wellness	Linda	A conversation about Albert’s cough	The western floodgate and Wealthy Clients; a ship’s captain and seven refugees arrive at the port
Notorious Nun	Agatha	A conversation (10 reputation)	The lake battle, Herbert’s armour, and church quality 50
Goddess in the Swamp	Jully	100 Faith for the ritual	The hunt for the Old God
Front-of-the-Envelope Calculation	Jack	A conversation, at 60 reputation	A water tunnel to the Royal Foundry by way of the western and eastern floodgates
Press for Cash	The twins, Januarius	20 Printed Money	A Mysterious Chest, 3 Town Gratitude and Januarius’s shop at tier three

The Printing Press turns out Printed Money in batches of 10 bills, each batch costing 10 Clean Paper and 1 Paint, so you’ll run it twice for Press for Cash. Januarius puts his stamp on 10 of the 20 and has you take those to the twins.

Battles across the river

Herbert has four more offensives planned for the infected side of town, and each camp opens when you talk to him in the Barracks. Apart from the bathhouse basement, every one of them waits for Sloth day.

Battle	Squads / defence	Unlocked by	What winning does
Closing the Western Floodgate	3 / 56	Either A Cure for Wellness or the water tunnel	Drains the canal. The next two open according to which of those two you’ve finished
Closing the Eastern Floodgate (Parts I and II fought back to back)	3 / 80	The western floodgate plus the water tunnel	Opens the bathhouse basement, and Davy’s orders start letting you choose tech book colours
Break Through to the Bathhouse Basement	3 / 96	The eastern floodgate; any weekday	Leads to the Royal Foundry and the Bishop
Operation POTATO (Parts I and II)	3 / 72	The western floodgate plus A Cure for Wellness	Refugees move into the Sluice Area, and its teleport stone unlocks
Battle at the Lake	3 / 64	Still Standing on Stilts, which Notorious Nun starts	The Stilt Houses, Harold the woodcarver, and the teleport stone there

The areas these battles open are described in The North of the Town.

The Bishop’s foundry

Beneath the bathhouse is the Royal Foundry, worked by the Bishop and three monks. The Bishop is useful for two things.

Steel. Bring it up with him (Man of Steel) and he begins selling Steel Ingots through dialogue at 1 silver apiece. Take 3 of them to Jack (Man of Steel) for 10 reputation. Jack then asks to be shown your factory (Factory Tour), which requires a factory rating of 20: that means 20 or more belt cells running on 20 or more power (The Factory explains). It’s worth another 10, taking Jack to 80.

The portal, provided you’ve already raised it with Gunter (Magic Mirror). The Bishop’s magic mirror shows where the fragments are, and the first one, Sloth, is “right behind you”: the Bishop owns it. His price is 3 Zombie Power. A Bioreactor in your factory makes it from 5 wheat per unit; the machine comes with the Bioreactor technology.

One of the monks wants 2 three-star Wine (The Lord’s Vintage). He hints at giving you a sword for it; in fact the reward is just 3 Town Gratitude.

Portal fragments one to five

The portal quest begins when you ask Larry, and then Gunter (Any Portal in a Storm). All fragments are installed in the portal in the Astrologer’s Tower. Installing one removes it from your inventory and rewards you with a Story.

#	Fragment	Source	Available
1	Sloth	The Bishop, in exchange for 3 Zombie Power	Once you’ve reached the Royal Foundry and asked Gunter
2	Gluttony	Gunter held on to one (The Hungry Cosmos)	At the same point; it also opens the portal in his tower
3	Lust	Gunter sold this one. Buy it back from the Trademaster at the Main Pier (High Price) for 1 gold; Lust day only	After Gluttony
4	Envy	Among the debris in the Sluice Area (Green Fragment)	Once Lust is installed and Operation POTATO is won
5	Pride	Jack (More Portal Parts). He’ll discuss it at 60 reputation and hands it over at 80	Once Lust is installed

Installing Lust is a turning point. It earns 10 reputation with Gunter, starts the Envy and Pride quests, and brings up Gunter’s final request, Why don’t you like me?: visit him with 100 happiness for another 10. Add Jack’s Pride fragment at 80 and both men are at 80; the next time you sleep, they ask to meet you at the Main Pier. That meeting begins the ending.

The two remaining fragments belong to the final part, after these five are in place.

A cure for Albert

Linda is anxious about Albert’s cough. Three quests, done in any order, raise both of them to 80:

Quest	What to do	Reputation
Wealthy Clients	Get town quality to 100 and report to Linda	Linda +10
Coughing it Up!	Ask Albert how he is. It becomes available with the Old God search, below	Albert +10
Hot Potato Delivery, then Heal the Healer	Give Linda all 3 potatoes, then tell Albert	Linda +10, then Albert +10

The potatoes come from the refugees. Once Operation POTATO is won, they ask for land in the Sluice Area (Green Men From Far Lands) and then for 3 Steel Shovels, and they pay you in Po-ta-to, three of them.

Don’t eat or sell those potatoes. They’re the only three in the game: no one sells them and you can’t grow them.

An organ for the church

Before the ending, Agatha’s and Herbert’s last favours revolve around getting an organ into the church.

1. See You in Church. Reach church quality 50 and speak to Agatha for 10.
2. Special Wood. Following the Battle at the Lake, look for Harold in the Stilt Houses (Organic Music). His timber-catching machine needs repairing with 2 Building Kits I and 1 Iron Kit II. After that he sells Special Wood at 1 silver each. He is the only seller, and you’ll need more of it for the ending.
3. The Organ. It takes 4 Special Wood and 6 Steel Details and is unlocked by Church Music II, which sits under Church Illumination, which in turn needs 50 reputation with Agatha. Tell both Agatha and Herbert once it’s built, for 3 Town Gratitude from each.
4. The House at the Crossroads. With the church at 50 and the organ in place, Agatha brings up a sensitive subject: her house. Provided you’ve also finished her second body upgrade in Brawns and Brains, bring 2 Wooden Kits II and 2 Furniture Kits II, and your bodies move up to their third tier.
5. A Good Example is the Best Sermon. A sermon that uses the organ gives 10 reputation each with Agatha and Herbert, plus the achievement An Unlikely Pair.
6. Not in Shining Armor Yet. Herbert’s guards need 5 Steel Armor; that’s 10 with Herbert.

When the organ sermon and the armour are both done, sleep: afterwards Agatha and Herbert ask you to come to her house, which is their share of the ending.

Tracking down the Old God

1. Goddess in the Swamp. Hand Jully 100 Faith and he performs the ritual at the Heart of the Swamp. Speak to the Goddess before leaving; she gives you a three-star Story and reveals that her brother is hiding in a cheese cellar in the sewers.
2. Finding Old God. Linda, at the Dockside Club, sends you to Davy the Dagger at the sewer entrance by the west gate. He’s after the same cellar, for the cheese. Get his men inside and half the cheese is yours. He hands you 2 Cheese, and if you’ve won Sewer Brawl I, the town’s sewer entrance opens.
3. The cellar wall. Climb down into the sewers and talk to Davy’s men at the wall. There’s no door, and blasting would collapse the street above.
4. A visitor. After you’ve been down in the sewers and installed the Lust fragment, sleep; a stranger named Dig will be waiting in your house. He gives you the Old God’s Red Eye.
5. Friend or Foe. Present the eye at the cellar wall. A door appears, and the Old God is behind it.

Give the eye or keep it

Ask the Old God every question you can. He tells you what the portal needs: all seven fragments, plus six people, one for each weekday, standing beside it and trusting you completely. If he gets his eye back, ninety percent trust will do. Then comes the decision:

	Give the eye	Keep the red eye
When the option appears	Right away	Only once you’ve asked him all seven questions
What follows	Eye, Red Eye: a sermon using his prayer, which he hands you	You build him an attic at home (Fix the Attic) and he moves in
Reputation needed with each of the six	90	100
What the last 10 cost you	Nothing	Three hidden blue talents, three dark dreams and three more gifts (covered in the next part)
Reversible?	No	Yes, he keeps offering to take the eye back until the final battle shows up on the map

Whichever you pick, you reach the same portal and the same final decision; returning the eye is simply the quicker road. Walkthrough IV handles both routes, and the story side is on the Old God page.