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The second installment of the Grimrock series takes place entirely on the Isle of Nex, in more open-world-like environment compared to its predecessor.

The Story[]

The game begins with cinematic intro showing a boat carrying a cage with four prisoners, sailing in a storm near the Isle of Nex. The ship compass is then seen to be affected by some magical power and starts pointing in wrong direction, which causes the ship to point towards the island, crash into rocks and sink, leaving only the four caged prisoners on the island beach.[1] According to later revelations the compass was supposedly affected by the Island Master's magic who has chosen the prisoners to end up on his island.

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The prisoners find themselves on the island.

The prisoners manage to get out of the cage and start exploring the island. One of the first things they find is a welcome letter, signed with "The Island Master", revealing that he knows about their presence and anticipates their deaths.[2] Other things they encounter include other shipwrecks and puzzles. After finding basic gear and food, they are faced with the challenge of facing Viper Root monsters in a battle. After defeating it, they find their first Power Gem and head towards Twigroot Forest

There they come along a mysterious shrine with three stone philosophers - large head statues that speak and give out useful information, though mostly in mysterious and unclear ways - who inform the heroes about existence of so called Elemental Shrines that once used to be houses of light but were refurbished by the master of the island.[3] The heroes are told the shrines hold key to their survival and that they should bring four power gems to the shrine to fuse them into the Elemental Essence, in this case fire. The four prisoners manage to find the remaining three power gems in the forest and dungeons, bring them to the shrine and fuse the essence of fire and start heading towards Forgotten River.

As they approach the river, they spot a great Castle Nex on the other side and they catch a glimpse of a figure flying on a dragon-like creature around it, watching the prisoners.[4] It is the Island Master riding his Lindworm. He then disappears and leaves the prisoners exploring the castle. They find out it is inaccessible as the main door is locked, but there are four suspicious statues in front of the castle. They later find that each statue is waiting for the essence of one element and as soon as each statue has its elemental essence, the door to the castle will open.

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Castle Nex

So the heroes start searching for power gems and elemental shrines in order to get the essences. They visit many dungeons, solve many puzzles, encounter many enemies and stone philosophers who mention that there are in fact not four, but five basic elements—the fifth one being Balance, which disturbs the equilibrium of fire opposing water and earth opposing air, thus making the world possible to exist. They also find passages about the legend of Kilhagan carved into stone in various places, together forming a story of a man searching for ascension by looking for the fifth element hidden on the island. He spent many years searching for the hidden fifth shrine and finally, when he was old, he realized that he had to cast not the most complex, but the most balanced spell to reveal the gate to the shrine.[5]

On their adventure the four characters found more letters from The Island Master, often expressing his surprise about how far they have gotten in their journey. They also often encountered a mysterious figure named Trickster, an agile short man with an old-fashioned hat that always appeared out of thin air, laughingly attacked the prisoners, and disappeared just as quickly before defeat.

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Trickster

Upon visiting places such as swamps, the island graveyard where The Island Master's servants were laid to rest, or an ancient pyramid holding the native inhabitants of the island, the four prisoners managed to find the four shrines and fuse all four element essences. After placing the essences in hands of the four statues in front of Castle Nex, its gates opened. Again, there was a letter left by the Island Master telling the heroes to meet him atop the castle. Writings on the walls explained how the universe was created: In the beginning there were only four elements forming void as they cancelled each other out, until the spirits came and created the fifth element with Creation Spell and left its words to be guarded so that the universe could continue to exist.

The castle was the highest-reaching structure on the island, and on the roof, they met with The Island Master riding his Lindworm. Even though The Island Master called all his minions to his help in the following battle, he was eventually defeated, or at least appeared to be. In one version of the story the prisoners then used the castle airship to escape the island and gained their freedom at last.[6]

In the other version of the story the characters descended the tower to search for the fifth element, just like Kilhagan once did. Right after leaving Castle Nex they spotted the Trickster heading towards the Hub, a place they discovered to hold his lair. When they entered, he wasn't present, but there was a statue just like those in front of the castle, waiting for the Essence of Balance to be placed in its hands. So they went on to search for the element on the island. They obtained another four power gems from all over the island and by reading Kilhagan's legend carved in stone and talking to stone philosophers they found a way to reveal the hidden gate to the fifth shrine—one had to stand right between the four elemental statues in front of Castle Nex, where the elemental powers are in perfect equilibrium, and cast a simple spell consisting of only the central rune. By this they fused the fifth element, Balance, and placed it in the hands of statue in the Trickster's lair.

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The Island Master fighting the prisoners

Upon this Trickster appeared and a tough battle followed. On his defeat, he became the Island Master in full power, revealing that the two had been the same entity all along. After a perilous fight, the heroes ultimately defeated the Island Master. He left only three things: his powerful staff, a unique golden key allowing access through any lock on the island, and his Testament.[7]

The testament, signed with "Jonandar of Malan Yera, Island Master 1325-1487", revealed that the Isle of Nex was once made a place to house and protect the words of creation. Many trials were invented and put on the island to test its visitors and decide who among them could succeed the current guardians. The heroes were ready to enter the Nexus and become the new masters of the island.[7]

They returned to the castle and opened the gates to Nexus with the Master Key. They entered the Nexus and became new guardians of the words of creation, gaining access to all the knowledge they presented. In the final outro there can be seen The Undying One, the boss of first Grimrock game, in the background and a book with the Master Key symbol in which all the knowledge of the Island and its mysteries are recorded.[8]

References[]

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