Myth@Bungie.Org

Thank you for choosing Old Crow Airlines!

Laughter.

You are in an ancient artifact called the Tain, with a federally rated capacity of over two million entities. The Tain is a completely sealed pocket universe with only one unidirectional entry point located on the exterior of the transfer mechanism.

During your stay there are a few safety rules you need to observe:

• All passengers should keep alert at all times to defend themselves against Spiders, Ghôls, and Fetch.
• The Spiders are notorious troublemakers and have a habit of dropping in just when you thought you could relax.
• In the event that it is necessary to evacuate this level, passengers should approach the four mysterious columns until they are all glowing to activate the exit bridge in the center of the Tain.
• As each one of the columns is made to glow, the bridge will materialize in stages until it becomes solid enough to walk on.
• Once the bridge is in place all passengers not engaged in making the columns glow can exit this level of the Tain in an orderly manner.

Thank you again for choosing Old Crow Airlines. We hope you enjoy your stay.

Laughter.

Tonight's movie will be the Oscar award-winning Bridge Over the River Kwai staring Sir Alric Guinness.

In Heart of the Stone it is necessary to put units next to the glowing columns to make the bridge appear. That means four guys get left behind just to keep the bridge solid so everybody else can make it across.

Well, we've done our guys wrong. It is sad but true. How many Berserks? How many Spider bitten Dwarves and Archers? How many healed-out JMen? Now, thanks to The Seeker, we can avoid those needless losses evermore!

True, he discovered this gem while trying to kill his own guys, but we shouldn't hold it against him:

I found this because I really wanted to see what would happen if I plunged my guys into lava! ; P

Old hands at this level will remember that as soon as you get a unit on that bridge, you lose control of him and he will waltz right across. Turns out there is a thin zone where a unit can stand on the bridge without 'going blue.'

And as long as one unit is on the bridge, it won't evaporate on you. Your boys out in the field can bring it home and the bridge stays put. Nobody gets left behind!

But setting it up can be tricky. When I was trying the one-guy-at-a-time approach I ended up with a Dwarf I couldn't control standing on the bridge. Even though all the other units had exited, the game refused to end! The Seeker suggests:

Have all your guys (exc. the 4 pillar guys) do a short line formation diagonally on the bridge, straddling the seam where the bridge starts, then make them stay put. This will guarantee at least one guy is standing on the bridge proper. It can be tricky to do it other ways, since they often want to just walk right out the exit once they get on the bridge, but if you try my trick at least one will be near the very beginning of the bridge, or sometimes they get moonwalk stuck on the seam. Then bring your 4 pillar men in & walk everyone off.

'Moonwalk stuck,' indeed! I think the Seeker has also coined a new Myth slang term. Now we need one for that thing a Berserk does when he endlessly prances around the pack trying to get to his inaccessible spot.

Here is a 6 law Mythmaster film by Devin "Soulblader" Pierce [mac | win] that shows how to save everyone.

Also interesting to note that the units you leave behind on the pillars don't officially 'die', as far as the game is concerned. I usually name all of them "Martyr" followed by a number (1 through 4), and sure enough, they're right there on The Smiths Of Muirthemne, fighting right along side the friends whom they supposedly gave their lives for.

The tain is really a work of art from our world? Look at the this picture that looks remarkably like whats shown in the journal entry for this level, "Double Planetoid" by M. C. Escher.

When all else fails we can always turn to runic symbols for providing us hours of stereogram practice.

Reid McDonald, of the Northern Manitoba Bagpipe Evangelists' Corps, was kind enough to point out:

I noticed for "The Heart of the Stone" you did not mention the runes on the glowing pillars. If you look closely and squint just right, they seem to give instructions on how to escape. Try it out!

Very true Reid! Note that some of the runes look like a bridge. The other runes seem to say to me:

• Look out, there is a spider on your shoulder!

Please put the lid down after you are done.

• I worked on Myth for a year and a half and all they kept was this stupid pillar.

Of course, maybe it is just the way I squint.