Heresiarch's Seminary: Solving the Puzzle of the Planets



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Before you start looking for the missing planets, you first need to get

into the Seminary. The portal from the Hypostyle in episode 2 takes you to

a tower in front of the Seminary (as the story tells you). Take the

elevators down and enter the Seminary, which is very, very dark at this

point. (Watch out for the Dark Bishops!) You need to enter some distance

into the Seminary, and then a small earthquake occurs and the lights in the

hall will light up. The chart with the missing planets are on the other

side of the wall facing the entrance to the Seminary.



As an interesting aside, go to the north part of the Seminary (the far

end), where there's a hole in the ceiling with a roughly square wall under

it. This is a magical area; stepping close to the wall lowers it and

randomly teleports monsters and goodies into the area enclosed by the wall.

To get the goodies (some of them are quite worth the trouble... such as

Kraters of Might), you must get inside the area enclosed by the walls

before the walls rise again, because after they rise, they won't lower

again for quite some time. Once inside, you can collect all the stuff, and

the walls can be opened from the inside when you want to get out again.

(Note: if you are low on life/ammo, you shouldn't try this because the

monsters that teleport in are among the tougher ones.)



OK, back to solving the puzzle. The five planets that you need are not

found in the Heresiarch's Seminary itself, but on two sub-levels:



   * Orchard of Lamentations (two planets)

   * Silent Refectory (three planets)



There are stained glass walls on the northeastern and northwestern corner

of the Seminary. Go and smash these glass walls and pull the switches

behind them (there should be six switches). This opens the corridors on the

northeast and southeast corners of the Seminary.



Silent Refectory



Go down the northeast corridor that just opened in the Seminary. At the end

of the corridor, there's a switch on the wall on the left. Pull this

switch, and quickly run to the far end of the corridor, and jump on the

elevator that is lowering. You have to get on the elevator quickly,

otherwise it'll be too far down and you'll get hurt jumping on it.



In some difficulty settings, there may be a nasty surprise waiting for you

when the elevator reaches the bottom, so prepare your weapons... At the

bottom, you'll see the portal leading to the Silent Refectory. The switch

on the wall is to lower the elevator so that you can get out when you come

back from the Silent Refectory.



The Silent Refectory looks like some kind of storage area with piles of

wooden boxes. But the name is misleading, though... just take a few steps

forward and you'll see what I mean :)



Emerald Planet



From where you start in the Refectory, turn right and go south. Jump up

onto the box in front of you, and turn left (east). Go straight and jump

into the corridor. Now turn right and go south. When you reach the stack of

boxes in front of you, follow the right side of the boxes (you should be

going south here). When you reach the wall, turn left and look into the

dark area. Pull the switch inside there. Now go east, around the boxes

hiding the switch, and stairs should have lowered. The portal at the bottom

of the stairs takes you back to the Heresiarch's Seminary. Don't enter the

portal now; go to the room behind the portal where the Dark Bishops are.

There's a switch on the raised walkway at the far end of the room. Pull

this switch, and a small area behind the portal opens. One of the Emerald

Planets is on the shelf inside.



Sapphire Planet



Go to where the portal is and climb up the stairs. Now turn right and go

all the way until boxes block your way. Turn right, and you should see a

stack of two boxes marked with some symbol. Jump on the boxes on your right

(south of you), and go inside the dark area. The switch inside here lowers

the pile of marked boxes I just mentioned. Pull the switch and quickly

climb out of the dark area. Jump into the hole where the marked boxes have

lowered (of course, if you prefer to shoot at the slaughtaurs from above,

you can always go pull the switch again when the boxes rise up.) Climb up

the spiral staircase, brace yourself (you can guess what's coming...) and

pull the switch at the top. If you survive the surprise (find out what it

is yourself :) go back to where the marked boxes are and activate it. The

boxes will lower. Step on it and it will take you back to the area with

many boxes.



After you step off the marked boxes, go west and turn right (face north).

Climb over the box in front of you and go all the way to the northern wall.

Turn left and jump on the box that's also marked with a symbol. Walk on the

boxes into the small at the back, and pull the switch there. (If I've lost

you, this switch is on the northwest corner of this storage area.) Now, a

door is open on the northern wall next to the marked box. Go into the room

behind this door, which has windows looking into some kind of dining room.

Enter the dining room and go to the southern end. There should be an

opening here (the switch you pulled in the room with the spiral staircase

opens this). This opening leads to an ascending passage which has windows

looking into the room with the spiral stairs (you've probably been shot at

from here when you were in that room).



At the end of the passage there's a switch that opens a door on the east

side of the dining room. Pull the switch, go back to the dining room and

enter the opening on the east side. There's a large pillar rising from the

pit in the middle of the room. When you approach the edge of the pit, the

pillar begins to open, and reveal a Sapphire Planet on a smaller pillar

inside. To get the Sapphire Planet, aim carefully and jump onto the pillar.

Don't panic! The pillar will start to lower when you jump on it. (I guess

this is for those who missed and fell into the pit). Just wait a while and

it will rise again. Jump back out, and return to the dining room.



As an aside, go to the northern wall of the dining room and push the wall

with a purple dot a the top (push, ie., walk against it). If you push far

enough, you'll see a small hole on the right with an item in it (Chaos

Device?).



Ruby Planet



OK, back to your quest. Enter the door on the west side of the dining room.

There are two doors here; you can pick either one. The one on the left goes

into a room with a lava pool and the one on the right into a room with a

water pool. Each of these rooms has a revolving door (which is not

automatic... you have to push it to open it), which leads into a chamber

with the Ruby Planet on a shelf. A word of warning: be careful when you

grab the Ruby Planet: don't just stand there and admire it...



That's all for the Silent Refectory. Now it's time to go to the Orchard of

Lamentations. Note: if you go to the room with the lava pool, notice that

one of the dark openings is taller than the rest. This is a hidden passage

that leads right back to where you first enter this level. Go to the portal

now and get back to the Heresiarch's Seminary.



Orchard of Lamentations



Go down the southeast corridor in the Seminary. Look for a switch on your

right (before you come to the end of the corridor). Pull this switch, and

turn around. After a short pause, the stairs you just came down on will

lower, revealing a secret passage on the south wall beside the stairs. Go

inside this secret passage, and climb up the stairs. Kill the Dark Bishops

here. The southern wall of the room will open to the area outside the

Seminary.



Now, a similar room will open on the other side (the WEST side) of the

Seminary. Go west (outside the Seminary) and enter the room there. Go down

the stairs, and follow the zig-zagging passage. Note that this passage is

magical; after going along it for a distance you'll find yourself on the

ledge at the east side of the Seminary, at the end of the southeast

corridor, where the slaughtaurs are. (Actually what happened is that in the

middle of the zig-zagging passage there is an invisible teleport that warps

you to a similar passage behind the ledge where the slaughtaurs are.) There

is a switch on the ledge; pull it, and a door will open on the wall in the

area below the ledge. The portal behind this wall takes you to the Orchard

of Lamentations.



Emerald Planet



Don't worry, I didn't make a mistake. There are two Emerald Planets and two

Sapphire Planets. In fact, there are two Ruby Planets too, except that one

of them is already on the chart, so you only need to find the other one.

So, now, in the Orchard, follow the path from the portal (there's nowhere

else to go). Be careful of the muck here (you know why). You'll reach an

area with slaughtaurs on two high ledges. Go further, and go down to the

roundish area with ettins, slaughtaurs and quite a few poison mushrooms. Go

down the stairs on the south side of this area.



Now you have to very, very fast in making your moves. Pull the switch,

which you lower the platform at the end of the path. Quickly jump down and

run as fast as possible to the nearest corner, before the entire floor

rises and crushes you to death! Now you'll be in a small room with a switch

that lowers the floor again. Your goal is to reach the middle, southern

room in this place (look at the map). You do this by pulling the switch in

each of the rooms and going quickly from room to room as the floor lowers

and rises. When you reach the middle, southern room, there should be two

switches. The switch on the east wall opens the central room in this

crushing-floor area (look at the map and you'll know what I mean). Once

this is opened, you can reach it from any of the seven rooms. There are

also two switches in this room; one of them activates something on this

level, and the other lowers the floor so that you can get out.



Once you pulled the switch, lower the floor and run to the north side where

the exit is. Go back to the area with the slaughtaurs on the two ledges.

The high place on the east has lowered; climb all the way up until you

reach the slimy river at the very top. The Emerald Planet you're looking

for is near the edge of the slime-falls (don't fall though, it hurts).



Sapphire Planet



Go to the raised ledge in front of the slimy river. You should be able to

see one of the ledges with the slaughtaurs. Now, aim carefully, run as fast

as you can and jump onto that ledge. If you can't make it, keep trying!

(Hint: holding down your jump key longer helps.) Once on the ledge, enter

the misty passage behind it. This is a magical passage similar to the one

in the Heresiarch's Seminary: it teleports you somewhere along the way to a

similar passage that leads into the west side of the area with the four

paths.



If you're greedy, or feel like bashing up some baddies, notice that the

northern wall here has opened. Get your weapons ready, and go grab the

porkalator. Monsters will appear at the sides where two other walls will

open.



Whether you're greedy or not, notice that the east side of this area is

also open now. Go down the stairs into the misty passage. This is another

of those magical passages. It teleports you to the other ledge with the

slaughtaurs. The Sapphire Planet is here. Grab it, and jump down the ledge.



There's nothing much else to do here, so go back to the portal and return

to the Heresiarch's Seminary.



The Last Segment of your Fourth Weapon



This is an aside... but since finding the parts of your fourth weapon is

also a puzzle, I guess I'll include this one as well.



At this point, you should have found the first two parts of your fourth

weapon. Go to the end of the southeast passage in the Heresiarch's

Seminary. There's a switch here that you must pull: see if you can find it!

(no, it's not the one on the ledge that opens the portal to the Orchard of

Lamentations.) Hint: remember the first thing you did when you entered the

Darkmere in Episode 2? (Remember what those trees looked like??) This

switch will start rotating the four doors along the passage. Two of these

doors lead to the ledges with the Chaos Serpents overlooking this area. The

door we're interested in here is the southwestern one.



It leads to a room with many pitchers. The last segment of your fourth

weapon is in this room. The pitchers also have lots of ammo in them. But

watch out, though. One of them contains no ammo but a nasty, nasty surprise

(I won't tell you which one it is: find out yourself... hehe)



Icon of the Defender



Another aside... (if you're itching to solve the puzzle, you can skip this

section).



So, you're greedy to get the Icon of the Defender. Well, go through the

northwestern door on the southeast passage in the Seminary (see the

previous section). This leads to a U-shaped passage that goes around the

area with many Chaos Serpents (you've probably seen them through the window

from the main hall of the Seminary). At each end of the passage there's a

wall with a purple gem at the top. Activating either of these walls lowers

elevators around the passage that takes you right into the room with the

Chaos Serpents (have fun!). The Icon is on the water in the middle of the

room.



Fitting the Planets on the Chart



Go to the chart, select a planet, and use it on the chart. You should be

able to figure out which planet belongs where on the chart: the game won't

let you put a planet in the wrong place so just try another spot if it says

"you can't use this here". Before you go on, check that you've fitted five

planets on the chart. There should be six planets on the chart now,

including one of the Ruby Planet that was already there before.



Once you've fitted in all the planets, go to the north part of the Seminary

where the magical area is. Doors will open on the side walls and on the

wall behind the area. The door behind the magical area leads to a room with

three portals and nine panels on the wall. Now, it's time to solve the next

puzzle in this episode: the puzzle of the chapels.



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