In the Cleft

In this area I won some and lost some. I bumbled around and figured out the windmill, so got the power to the doors. I found the handprint on the trailer, the one in the room, and the one on the water lift. Then I figured out how to play the recording from Yeesha, so found the one she put ont he wall in that room.

The others threw me. You have to realize I'd done a sand sculpture the day before so my brain was running slowly. I missed all the obvious Myst clues, and didn't check. But I remembered that guy by the trailer saying that if I needed help, I could ask him.

I don't like walkthroughs and hints, but in this case it was an invitation. So, I went. He said something about the Riven ruins, which I'd already examined. The next time he mentioned the Wahrk skeleton. I'd already checked that, but I ran over to the other side of the mountain and took another look. Yep. I just missed it. Dork. Two more to find and a brain devoid of ideas.

I went back to Zandi. "Have you looked at the sign where you came in?" What sign? I ran over to the link-in point and sure enough there was a sign. Can you imagine? Basic Myst idea: look everywhere. I just started walking forward. On the back of the sign, of course, was another handprint cloth.

The final hint from Zandi talked about doors opening and closing. Of course. Another basic mistake. I found the last handprint on the outside of the door to the upper room.

Finally. Went over to the tree, touched its print and the door opened. Went down, found the linking book, touched it and the game blew up. I had to reinstall it. Then, of course, I had to play through the cleft again. The next time I linked out it worked, and I arrived in Relto.