This Broken Age (Act1) walkthrough is divided into 8 total pages.
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Broken Age (Act1) Walkthrough Finding our lightness in Meriloft
Once Vella is done being awesome, and then not long after being dropped (thusly losing her knife), take a moment to survey your surroundings.
I want to note here that this particular point and click adventure game does not have a "look at" verb in the ordinary sense. You can look at items in your inventory by clicking on it once (instead of clicking and dragging), but there is no way to look at things in the world unless that is their only purpose (for example the meaningless signs around this cloud village). So, when I say to examine something, usually you just click on it in the world.
Once you've had your fill of looking at this new place (and you can click on the blue bird, whom we now know is named Jessie, to hear a short comment by Vella) go ahead and talk to the weird guy with the birds nest filled with eggs around his neck and a little boy who appears to be dressed up like a sowing needle and thread (probably a robins nest or something of that sort, but it makes me think of a sowing needle, ok?).
You find these two are named Walt'r and Ch't. They are preeners and take care of the birds nests. Mostly this seem to consist of them standing next to the flat fountain.
Further conversation reveals that the people here focus on lightness in all things- including their names. This kind of makes some sort of sense if you live on clouds as you need to be able to stay on the cloud. The most important point here, though, is lightness which will be important later.
You will also discover that Shellmound is having their maidens feast next. Meriloft (this cloud village) has already had theirs.
Another important thing to note is that Jessie (the big blue bird you flew in on) lost her real egg which is making her very grumpy. Walt'r and Ch't indicate Gus may be at fault for this, but they wont tell you where he is. They imply he is "dense" and may have fallen through the clouds.
They also give some interesting (if not at all possible) insight on how Meriloft stays afloat. It's all about surface area "pounds per square inch".
Lastly, you discover that this place is run by Harm'ny Lightbeard who Walt'r gave all his money to, but he hasn't mentioned that to his wife. It's entirely possible Harm'ny is ripping people off.
When you're done go ahead and head right to the Cloud Shoes booth.
Talk to the woman in the cloud shoes booth. When you speak to her this will spook her and cause her to drop her knife which falls down out of the clouds.
This is Car'l, Walt'r's wife. The most important thing with Car'l is the importance of her knife as she makes cloud shoes which allows the people of Meriloft to walk on the clouds. She can't make you any now that she doesn't have her knife. I do recommend talking to her about everything, though, as she has some of the funniest dialogue choices and responses.
Just so you know; you may have noticed sometimes you have multiple options on how to respond to something. I wouldn't worry about which one you choose, some are goofy and others are straight forward. You won't lose out on anything by which one you choose and they don't seem to be meant for stressing over so just have fun with it. I always picked the most honest answers but you can go loopy with it too. Don't worry about it when you get those. Pick the answer you enjoy most.
When you're done talking to Car'l go ahead and walk further to the right.
You'll come up on a menagerie with a whole lot more nests. Car'l also mentioned that her daughter, M'ggie, is here. It appears that she is sweeping eggs with a leaf broom.
Remember that you can't stand on the clouds here, so walk all the way to the right until you are standing on the wooden walkway.
While we're here we might as well talk to M'ggie. I recommend speaking about everything.
The most important thing to note with M'ggie is her ladder. You ask her how she gets to high nests to start getting to that dialogue option. This will eventually open up the ability to ask her for the ladder, which she is fine giving to you without any hassle.
She also gives some interesting information on how Harm'ny took out the feathervator so no one can leave. She will tell you that if you try to leave by jumping (or falling through the clouds) "whoops-a-biridie" guards will bring you back as well. So, in essence, you need a really long ladder. Much bigger than the one M'ggie gave you.
M'ggie also tells you about the golden eggs which you may have noticed laying around. There's even one in the background of this scene.
When you're done talking to M'ggie head to the right, basically right next to where M'ggie is, to check out the nest above and to the right of her. Click and drag your ladder over the nest to go up to it.
Once you are on top of the nest you can click on the knife to pick it up and then click on your ladder to head back down.
Go ahead and head back to the left now.
Head back up to the cloud shoes store and give Car'l the knife from your inventory.
Now that she has a knife again she promptly makes Vella some shoes. Of course, being a mom, she thinks more about what Vella will need in 30 years and less about what fits her now. So, you'll find that these shoes are too big.
Oh well. Go ahead and head to the ladder that leads down.
What... is up with this place? You'll notice a lot of broken bird cages shaped like birds strewn around and a maiden on a perch on the far right.
If you talk to her she mentions her shoes not fitting. If you ask about her shoes she will just give them to you.
When you're done talking to her (there isn't really much more of importance from her) go back left and head back up to the top of the ladder.
Before we move on, you can check out those smaller cloud shoes and you'll find they are a much better fit for Vella so go ahead and put them on. This way Vella can stand anywhere (even on cloudy areas) and not fall through. You do still have to watch out for the vortex holes, as they will always cause you to drop out of the clouds, so be careful where you click.
Now that we have that out of the way go ahead and go to the right again back to where M'ggie is.
From here head up to where the golden egg is.
You'll notice this area has no wooden walkway- other than the entrance- so without the cloud shoes increasing the weight distribution through your feet you wouldnt be able to go here without the shoes. This is why the shoes are so important.
Click and drag your ladder over the nest ahead- where the golden egg is- so Vella can go up there and grab it.
When you do an orange bird will appear and knock the ladder off so it isn't hanging on the nest.
Vella doesn't think it matters, but when she starts to climb up she quickly discovers the ladder sinks through the clouds.
Don't you worry, reader. We got this. In your inventory, combine the ladder with the big shoes by clicking on one and dragging it to the other.
Now, when the orange bird knocks the ladder off the nest, it doesnt matter because it can distribute the weight more evenly on the surface of the clouds allowing Vella to climb up and get the golden egg.
The orange bird is really unhappy with that, but he isn't wearing any pants so alls fair in golden eggs... and... bird pants.
Remember to click on the golden egg to pick it up and then head back down the ladder and down back to where M'ggie is.
We're just passing through. Head back to the left towards the town square.
Keep on trucking- heading to the left. Don't stop for nothin'.
You'll come up on a platform with 3 nests, a guy, and a ladder that goes up.
Talk to the guy to find his name is F'ther. He is guarding the ladder.
The most important thing you'll find in this conversation is that you need to give an offering to climb the ladder, which you may already know by what he says when you walk up. More important than that, though, is that what you offer doesnt matter (its the thought that counts).
After you finish talking to F'ther you can decide what you want to put in the offering bowls. If you've followed this guide all you have is the golden egg and the ladder. I recommend using the golden egg. This will become more clear why later.
After you put it down in the nest, you will now be free to climb up the ladder...
which goes up for a long long ways. Wow, that's a long ladder. Hmm...
When you reach the top you'll find a weird looking man sitting in a strange cloud nest with clouds all around it tied to ribbons with what look like feathers hanging on them.
This is Harm'ny; the guy you've heard so much and yet so little about. He is the head of Meriloft, and most importantly he is the one that does not allow others to leave.
The only thing important in this conversation is you need to tell him you want to kill Mog Chothra. This will appear to make him lay a golden egg which he then dismisses. If you ask him if he is done with the egg he drops it to the area below. I do recommend speaking about everything with him, though, as this conversation is one of the funnier ones.
After you're done speaking with Harm'ny head back down to where F'ther is.
You will notice that F'Ther was knocked out by the falling egg and the golden egg is laying on the right side of the screen.
Go ahead and pick up the golden egg and place it on another of the empty nests. When you're done head back to the right again.
This time we want to head up towards where Jessie the blue bird is nested.
Use the ladder on Jessie's nest to put the ladder down and head up and then walk to the left. Don't worry, Jessie won't get mad at you as long as you leave her alone. Just keep going and don't look back.
Once here make note that there is a lot of those vortex holes in this area. One wrong step and you'll be riding the "whoops-a-birdie" back to where you started (here, basically).
Click on the left side of the screen, making sure Vella doesn't walk into any vortex holes, and stand in front of the tree. If you fall through a vortex you'll start over from the right side of the screen but it doesn't really set you back that much.
Click where she is standing in this picture above to move to the left side of the tree. The reason you should click here first is the game's pathing isn't incredibly sophisticated so if you just click where you're going she will go in a straight line and fall into the hole in front of the tree.
From here click on a fruit on the tree over to the left. Vella will attempt to get a fruit down.
Well, the fruit fell down into the clouds. So, we're going to have to go and get it. We might as well there's also someone yelling for help somewhere around here. Go to the front of the tree and then walk slightly toward the tree. Vella should fall in to the gap between the clouds and the tree.
Vella does her best Tony Hawk impression and will land safely at the bottom where the roots are.
First you should head left and pick up the peach sitting in one of the nests on the roots.
Then head to the right.
This is Gus and Gus is stuck to the tree branch by his underwear. Most people would help a guy out but Vella doesnt want nothing to do with the weird man stuck by his underwear in the tree.
If you try to head to the right where the blue egg is Gus will grab Vella and this will make Vella freak out. This, in turn, causes Vella to fall out of the clouds and be safely escorted back to the top by a "whoops-a-birdie". You should do this, though, as it will drop you back off at the top where we want to go.
You will land back where the tree is near the top. Head to the right a little bit and you'll see one of the vortex holes in the cloud just a little above where you are standing on the wooden walk way. Click on it to fall through.
This will cause Vella to fall on Gus knocking him off the branch and both of you land safely in a "whoops-a-birdie".
When you land back at the top next to the tree again, go ahead and go towards the tree to fall back down to the roots area.
Head to the right to pick up the egg. This is the egg that Jessie lost when Gus was trying to clean.
After you've picked up the egg head back to the left and go inside the tree to climb back up to the top.
From here head back to the right.
From your inventory click and drag the egg over to Jessie and Vella will give Jessie her egg back.
Looks like Jessie is happy to have that.
Now that Jessie doesn't have paternal feelings for it go ahead and click on the golden egg to pick it up.
Then click on the ladder to head back down.
Then head to the left again towards F'ther and the offering nests.
If you recall Meriloft requires lightness in all things. I wonder what would happen if things got to heavy. Try placing the third golden egg into the last empty nest .
Then click on the ladder to start heading up.
When Vella stands on the ladder this mostly adds enough weight to get the platform to begin collapsing under the weight. Vella gives it some encouragement to finish the job.
More Broken Age (Act1) Walkthroughs
This Broken Age (Act1) walkthrough is divided into 8 total pages.
