[MEGATHREAD] Let's solve the lapis lazuli/crystal cave/secret tower mysteries (SPOILERS)

[5ro4]

If you don't have the achievement for discovering every part of the cave, you should stop reading now. Here's a guide that will guide you with minimal spoilers if you need help: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2019029857



Why this thread?

Everything about the game objectives/endings/achievements has been discovered already. However, some mysteries remain and no one yet seems even close to uncovering them.
This looks to me like one of those extra obscure mysteries that developers intended for the community to solve by joining forces. Maybe they are all part of the same secret. I'm making this thread to keep all the shared knowledge in one place. This first post will be updated with the current situation.

Also, the devs will probably enjoy reading all the speculation ;)



What mysteries are we talking about?

1) Lapis lazuli: This is the clearest one. The game has an option to make a blue fire using 5 lapis lazuli, yet no one has managed to find more than one piece of lapis lazuli. There is something yet to be discovered here. The developer confirmed the answer is time-related, "none of you could have found it by now, unless you cheated".

2) The "Secret" painting: If you use the colors yellow, red and blue, there are 6 possible paintings: Act I-III, Long, Secret and Gone (pic: https://imgur.com/a/P5qJxSa ).
There is something weird about Long, Secret and Gone: They show the color white instead of the color yellow.
"Secret" also looks very similar to the crystal cave (the one with white crystals and 3 waterfalls). This seems to be telling us that there is a secret in the crystal cave. No one has found anything about it yet.

3) The secret tower: What was going on at the secret tower? Why would one grind bones? Why does the crystal found there emit a melody? This might be either just lore or maybe part of the puzzle to uncover the other secrets.




----------Lapis lazuli----------

UPDATE: Disregard everything said below. You just need to [spoilers]wait until your birthday and it appears on the crystal cave.[/spoiler]

- No one has found more than 1 piece of lapis lazuli yet, even with the caves fully explored. This might indicate that instead of finding lapis lazuli, we need to somehow create it. However, the developer said "none of you could have found it by now, unless you cheated", so maybe it just appears/is created someplace on the cave eventually, or there is some extremely long process to get them.

About creating lapis lazuli:

Clues:

- Quotes from the internet/wikipedia:
· "Lapis Lazuli crystal one of the most powerful gemstones in the mineral kingdom is the combination of sulfur deposits and unique variations of gold and white specks from Calcite and Pyrite."
· "Lapis lazuli usually occurs in crystalline marble as a result of contact metamorphism."
· "Most lapis lazuli also contains calcite (white), sodalite (blue), and pyrite (metallic yellow)."
· "The change occurs primarily due to heat, pressure, and the introduction of chemically active fluids."

- There is a painting using white, blue and yellow titled "Marble" that depicts what could be a piece of lapis lazuli.
- The wikipedia image to illustrate metamorphism looks very similar to the painting titled "Or" (from the series "Stay Or Leave") https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamorphism

- If you make a hole on the glass of the treasure room, coins pour out. They appear to have no end, but maybe if you pick up an absurd amount of them something else comes out? Maybe the golden coins are somehow related to the lapis?

Things already tried:

- Making a sulfur fire while the following combinations of crystals were on top of the fire:
· All of them
· White
· White, blue
· White, blue, red
· White, blue, red, black
· White, pink (magical)



----------Secret drawing----------

Clues:

- In the painting, it looks like the crystal cave is being looked at through a hole/another room in the caves.
- The painting doesn't look exactly like the crystal caves (no crystals).
- White color instead of yellow.
- The order of the words doesn't make sense ("long secret gone" instead of "secret long gone", for example).
- What's up with the hands?
- The pink crystal from the secret tower emits a melody similar to the one you hear on the crystal cave.
- Autowalking to any point between the middle and right waterfall on the crystal cave doesn't work.
- The painting titled "The wonder" shows what appears to be red, white and blue crystals over a yellow background.
- You find chalk on the secret cave. Bones have chalk (related to the secret tower).
- The only pools of water with a white shimmer like the waterfalls in the crystal cave are the 2 tiny pools leading to the hallways of eternity.

Things already tried:

- Putting the drawings in different positions (there's still room to find something here).
- Placing the pink crystal in the bathroom and waiting.
- Placing the pink crystal in the mushroom room and waiting.
- Placing the paintings and the crystal on the bath and overdosing on mushrooms.
- Waiting/sleeping on the crystal cave.
- Attempting to play the crystal melody with the instrument.



----------Secret tower----------

Clues:

- Bone grinding. What was it used for? Calcium? Chalk?
- The musical crystal was there. Related to the bones?
- Caged animals. Their skeletons remain. Some cages are empty. There are 2 birds of different sizes and what appears to be a cat, but could be a different creature since it has bones on the ears area (maybe horns?) (pic: https://imgur.com/a/4Pdm8Zn )
- The bones of one of the cages look weird. They are coming out and don't have a proper shape, like if the animal exploded or something.
- The tower has no exit to the exterior. The windows are boarded.
- There is a skeleton under the tower. Apparently died when a stalactite fell on their head, impaling them through the eye. Was this the owner of the tower? (pic: https://imgur.com/a/HPZWjET )
- There is a mark in one of the steps that lead to the tower. A bird's foot? An arrow? (pic: https://imgur.com/4n9zzSy )
- There is a brick missing on the wall of the stairs that lead to the tower. (pic: https://imgur.com/a/eIboAKt )
- There is a weird chimney at the top of the tower. The ladder to get there is broken. (pic: https://imgur.com/a/pPFKrJ4 )
- There are three twinkling pixels in the darkness just as you exit to go to the secret tower. Graphical glitch or are they something more? (pic: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/770618511060540591/1A8CE83AC2BC8763592FF94843856CF32A6DD925/ )

Things already tried:

- Waiting for at least 10 minutes on the marked step and the 2 ones it's pointing at.
- Bringing a mushroom to the tower.

[Kohru]

Most of this questions can be answered by extracting assets and looking at the source code.

The developers clearly DON'T want that to happen and it would spoil all the fun. Since I know there are some others who have done this kind of stuff all I ask is for you to refrain from participating in this kind of thread. Thanks

[MassConnect]

Go nuts. How awful would it be if putting the right text into your infinite notebook unlocked something?

[MindBreak]

Pictures from the "secret" series I can decipher. Hands are simply attempts to climb the wall below. And behind all this is a waterfall. Question-answer for the initial stage of the game. And drawing from yellow because white is in the cave itself (it seems to be lying there). Everything is logical.

[Archemyre]

With the "long" "secret" "gone" paintings I'm pretty sure the "long gone" bit is separate and probably unrelated from the middle painting, similar to how with another color set you have reh and eh(her and he) on the bottom left and bottom right, both unrelated to the middle painting.

[Duffe]

I've been thinking about the missing lapis but haven't found anything either.

One theory i have is that maybe the lapis is for after waking the king. Perhaps the blue flame is used as some kind of ritual or as a signal to the world that the king has awoken, so perhaps we'll only get more lapis at the end of the 400 days.

[MindBreak]

In the tower, the skeleton belongs to the game tester. He continued and continued to search for secrets until Anselm Pyta dropped the stalactite on his head. You need to be very careful.

[BunnyHopeLess]

The picture of the achivement, which give for a complete exploration of the cave, depicts a strange place. It very much resembles a place above the king’s head. It is potentially possible to hide the passage, since the staircase is partially hidden behind the back of the throne. I regularly check this place, so as not to miss, if suddenly there really is a closed passage.

[Slashobi]

This thread will probably result in a DLC.

[Magicco]

Originally posted by BunnyHopeLess:

The picture of the achivement, which give for a complete exploration of the cave, depicts a strange place. It very much resembles a place above the king’s head. It is potentially possible to hide the passage, since the staircase is partially hidden behind the back of the throne. I regularly check this place, so as not to miss, if suddenly there really is a closed passage.

This is a very good idea. Whilst looking at the complete map, the black space above the kings head is really looking like hidden place

[Fracture94]

Originally posted by Slashobi:

This thread will probably result in a DLC.

I hope so, that will be amazing, but it'll be really hard to implement, since the timed-nature of the game will not allow many people to find the new areas unless they restart the game.

We are ANXIOUS for getting a hint from Anselm, thats all we need! Or maybe just a yes or no: there is more than one lapis in the game? Please, we need an answer.

[Arduous Wolf]

There are three twinkling pixels in the darkness just as you exit to go to the secret tower. Graphical glitch or are they something more?

The bottom two are very faint but the top one is clear. You can see them just above the cursor.

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/770618511060540591/1A8CE83AC2BC8763592FF94843856CF32A6DD925/

[Fracture94]

See? We are getting mad! Looking for hints even on graphical glitches! We need a hint! xD

[5ro4]

While he didn't confirm it, Anselm already heavily implied (in another thread) that there are mysteries yet to be unsolved. Here's what he said:

"I don't want to reveal any mysteries, that'd go a bit against the idea of the game. Although of course it's tempting to give clues to stop people from wasting their time on fruitless attempts. But I hope you'll understand that I will keep silence on that matter."

Also, what kind of ♥♥♥♥ move would it be to add the option for the blue fire but no way to get 5 lapis?

[Anselm Pyta]

Originally posted by Fracture94:

We are ANXIOUS for getting a hint from Anselm, thats all we need! Or maybe just a yes or no: there is more than one lapis in the game? Please, we need an answer.

There is, but if my calculations are correct, none of you could have found it by now, unless you cheated. And I don't like cheaters.

Remember, the essence of the game is to evoke feelings of longing and despair, so I think you are all doing pretty well :)

Originally posted by Fracture94:

Originally posted by Slashobi:

This thread will probably result in a DLC.

I hope so, that will be amazing, but it'll be really hard to implement, since the timed-nature of the game will not allow many people to find the new areas unless they restart the game.

I wanted to add some more books at least. Maybe some new decorations/activities for the home of the Shade will be fun to put in as well! Currently, my main mission is fixing bugs though.

[Fracture94]

So lapis is only available after a certain time has passed, or a certain tedious and really long activity has been done right? Ok, now thats a hint! Thanks!