!!!Act IV :

<- Act III

You go to the First Infernal Plane, where all the demons – or almost all of them – attack you: the Carrot Djinn has found refuge here, and became its master (fancy that, a Djinn becoming a Demon Overlord). Weird, that means he's working for someone with a *great* influence over Hells. You fight your way through the bodies of your enemies up to said Djinn, and spear him: agonizing, he confesses to working for the Supreme Ov… aaargh. He dies before he has had time to finish. Such a Shame. Upon his passing, a whisper, maybe an incantation, can be heard, and the following words can be made out: “The blood of a Djinn, Gabriel”. Weird...

Choice : you can teleport to any of the infernal planes, where you'll have to fight each time a handful of demons, all wearing the Ozhall Guard suit (you don't know yet Ozhall). Furthermore, on the Head Guard's corpse, you'll find each time a parchment, signed by the «Chaos Overlord», demanding your execution, and finishing with those intriguing words: «Do not let him near the Blade». In each of the 6 first infernal planes (the first one once cleaned up and the following five), you have access, too, to secondary quests*, shops, etc. Most of the demons and damned souls have not much against you: they'd rather not get involved in all of this, and are afraid of you. %%%NB: it could be fun to meet the souls of those you killed in preceding acts.

Or, you can also directly teleport into the Seven Circle of Hell, Ozhall, without going through all the other – in fact you go from one to the next as you wish, using an item that symbolizes your extraplanar powers. However, in the Fifth Circle, you can find Yamma, a merchant who you should probably visit.

Ozhall, Seven and Last Circle, Second major Circle and Supreme Circle, then: throngs of demons attack at every turn, passer-by won't talk to you, the shopkeepers are so awed by you they can't sell you anything: either you're very popular around here, or a very powerful someone has put a reward on your head. Odds are the answer is at the palace.

A very huge palace too, sinister to boot, filled with people wishing you the best: after saying hello to them, and abate their sufferings, you wander leisurely the halls, torture chambers and dusty rooms: you'll find there treasures, enemies, prisoners, and, in the Demon Overlord's chambers, guarded by some aggressive creatures, a mysterious, anonymous letter, ordering the attack on the Yzgull Temple.%%% You then steer towards the throne room: said Overlord, forewarned in spite of your innate stealth by the pained shrieks of his fighters, is waiting for you with his elite guards. He sends them to fight you, while he's casting spells from behind them. Once the guards have been sent to a better world, you attack the Supreme Overlord of Chaos; once down with agony, he surrenders, and tries to bamboozle you. He asks you why you're attacking, praises you, deny any and every connection to the Yzgull incident… Quite logical, he's a demon, and not the least tricksy of them. During the discussion, having the anonymous letter from his bureau will be of a most precious aid.%%%Finally, you understand he doesn't know the name of his mysterious ally, who just promised, if he was satisfied with his works, access to the other plans and freedom from his grounding in Hells. That's more than enough to get a demon to salivate, he who's been fretting since the Chaos Wars and is dreaming of wrecking despair and destruction on every plan. Then he tries to coax into sparing him – that's for you to decide: kill him to rid the universe of this brood, finish him off to take his stead, or spare him ‘cause, in the end, you like him and are sharing his dreams. Note that trying to kill him means facing a demon in fine fettle: he's recovered his strength, the bastard, while you were talking. %%%If you kill him, as you exit the palace, all the demons look up at you as their new master and with fear: assassination is the «regular» succession rule around here. Quite handy to get low prices. On the other hand, if you didn't kill him, some could look you down, but the Overlord will offer you a reward.

Upon exiting the palace, however, a damned soul comes to meet you, distraught: it tells you it was the Yzgull Priest of Hyveun'h killed in the temple destruction. Clearly upset, it reveals it has got much time, and that the Demon Overlord didn't spill everything: for the destruction, he was sided along with a strange old man, then the souls keeps on raving on a mysterious god-killer blade, that you have to find in the First Circle… upon uttering these words, the soul bursts in flames, shrieking. After a small detour through said circle, Xaztoclnph, to get that mysterious blade, you decide to pursue your investigation in Yzgull, to learn more. (if you didn't killed Demon Overlord and decide to go back to him, he'll deny everything.).%%%You can also decide not to get the weapon as of now and go directly to Yzgull, but you'd better come back for it: you can't finish the game without it.

You teleport to Yzgull, changing planes – you now access this plane too, but you can't leave the city. Passers-by wander in the street, muttering about a mysterious prophecy and a dark god, gaining power. You can interrogate them, to know what they are talking about: you'll learn that the prophet met during the Second Act has gather disciples, and more and more people are afraid of the imminent advent of this mysterious god, this Gabi. You can try to go and talk to that prophet, or keep on walking through the street up to the destroyed temple's location.

Now, providing you freed the auks in the First Act, A priest of Pingu comes to you and offers to reveal what he knows, as a token of gratitude. He was near the temple as it was brought down and saw everything: a hunched old man came near and utter some incantations; a demon had raised from the ground, talked to him, then magisterially blasted the temple. Finally the demon disappeared, and so did the old man – in the nearby streets.

When he had approached, once things had cooled down, of the place the old man had stood upon, the priest had found a medallion, with a strange symbol on it, that the old man had lost. This symbol, he's seen again since – on the clothes of the old prophet that preaches on the public place. That said, the priest gives you the medallion and wish you luck.

So, you go see this prophet. If you don't have the medallion, you'll have to make him confess he's an accomplice in the assault, through rhetoric or persuasion. If you have it, he'll admit it right away. %%%Whatever the case is, once he's been forced to confess, he invokes, right on the public place, several creatures: a djinn, a dragon, and an athaumos, all quite powerful. He's not a sham prophet, that guy. %%%Once this gentle beings have been finished off, the prophet surrenders and spills everything: his family has been perpetuating the memory's of Gabi for generations; priesthood passed from father to son and they swore an oath to find away to restore the dark god in all his powers and to save him from oblivion – that explains he survived, he still had a handful of followers. %%%A long time ago, one of the prophet's ancestors read in a ancient book an old inscription revealing a antic ritual to make a god gain in power: a sacrifice; But not any sacrifice: had to be performed, in the right order the sacrifice of the seventh son of a seventh son, then of a part of another god's power, then that of a djinn. All as the Rebirth Symbol – a very rare configuration of stars - was visible in the sky. Each of the sacrifices gave back part of his power to the recipient god, and as the last was made, he had recovered all of it and then some more.

For the first time in centuries, the stars had formed the Rebirth Symbol, and that would last less than a year. The zealot prophet had launched his scheme: having seven sons, and being himself the seventh son of his father, he had sacrificed one of his children, the flesh of his flesh, in Gabi's name. The latter had thus partly come back, and had allowed him to go on with the second phase of his plot: ally himself with a Major Demon, to destroy the temple of Hyveun'h – sacrificing part of the power of another god to the Dragon Lord.%%%Was only left the last part: the Djinn. The scheme got Machiavellian there: by framing you, you were going to die, sentenced by Hyveun'h… who would have participated, unwittingly, in the advent of his worst enemy, Gabi! The prophet, with the help of Gabi's powers, who, despite still being little more than a shadow, had already recovered most of his powers, imprint in the temple's ruins the signature of a Djinn: you.

However, not everything went as planned: obsessed with his lawnmower, Hyveun'h hadn't kill you on the spot and, in spite of all the occasions you've had of getting yourself killed, you never managed it. %%%Happy to learn the ritual isn't complete yet, and dying to avenge yourself, you kill the old man, solely responsible for your predicament. However, at the last moment, the latter sniggers: not only had Gabi been gaining more followers and thus more strength for the whole duration of your quest, but the ritual was completed… by you, who killed the Carrot Djinn, entirely devoted to Gabi as he was!

(By the way, if you haven't gotten "Gabi's Bane" in the First Circle, he lets out a sarcastic comment on how, without this weapon, you don't stand even a shadow of a snowflake chance in hell.)

So Gabi is coming back, and is gaining in power by each passing second. If you don't stop it quickly, you'll suffer when he decides to get revenge on you: you've just killed his most loyal servant, haven't you?%%% You'll have to do him in, before he does you. But where to find him? Probably in the Divine Planes. He should logically go there, to get revenge on the other gods… So, off you go! You have access to the Divine Plans and teleport there right away, baring the exception of your returning to Hell to find that infamous blade. (clip).

There, you're faced with a succession on floating islands, looking like huge, moss-covered blocks of rocks, suspended in the clouds and linked by rope bridges. On the biggest one, far in the distant, you can see a gigantic building, all in marble and very impressive: the theoretical dwelling of the gods, protected by powerful spells. On a nearby island, you can see sort of a large, black fog, with ominous lights coursing through it, in the centre of a big pentacle. Gabi, no doubt.

On each of the islands separating you from this two anchor points, are quite sinister creatures, invoked by Gabi. From what you can gather, the Gods have retreated into their dwelling, panic-stricken, while Gabi patiently waits until he's recovered enough power to destroy their thaumaturgic barriers. A countdown is ticking away: once the zero reached, the Rebirth Symbol will have disappeared from the sky and Gabi will have enough power to be invincible. However, if you manage to cut off his head before the prophecy is completed, his very essence will dissipate and he will cease to exist.

You have to find the shortest path and to fight your way to Gabi through the invoked creatures. Before the Dragon God, suspended in the airs, the latter is not too thrilled about being interrupted. As you talk, that he'll try and lengthen as mush as he can, he'll try to get you on his side, to show you that you have reasons to resent the other gods, and especially to Hyveun'h, he'll promise you power… whatever the result, he will end attacking you; before you can really hurt and maim him, you'll have to destroy his wings, that he's using to stay out of reach. Good luck: not only are battling with Gabi, but with Time too…

If you win, Gabi vanishes in a long moan… the invoked creatures disappear, and the road to the Palace of the gods is open. On the door is a small sign: "S.O.S.". You open, in the manner that suits you, and find yourself before a group of frightened Gods. It's up to you to assuage their fears, or blackmail them by saying Gabi's not dead, or whatever you choose… You can also demand a reward (to that end, I'd like to remind you that Lada is in the room), or indeed kill one of the gods to take his stead – the others will let you, too relieved that you didn't choose them.

And the game's over ...