I packed food and this journal along with my camera and a lot of writing material and then I linked to him in D’ni. I have just talked to him and he has explained that it is his father Gehn that is keeping Catherine imprisoned and he needs my help to go to a world named Riven to trap Gehn in a fake linking book (much like the ones that Atrus used to trap his sons) while he stays in D’ni and tries to keep the world stable. He also said that he may have a way for me to get back home if I help him and that sounded really encouraging. He talked about a fissure that links our worlds together. He held up a Riven linking book and with my packing I placed the hand on the linking panel.



When the bars had lowered completely, the cloaked person was gone and over the edge of the cliff lay the first person, and I saw him breathing so I’m assuming he’s just drugged. But I no longer have the linking book that defined the very purpose of me being here. I have no idea how this will go and I can’t signal Atrus without fulfilling my assignment.



Aha, I found a cave on the far side that gave me access to the room from another angle, and by opening levers and rotating the room I’ve managed to gain access to the dome, plus a secret room where steam pipes seem to run from the ground.



I also saw a rotating smaller dome off the shore, but I couldn’t access it. I have to draw some form of map of this island, obviously. Off the larger island there was a tall bridge that went over to a smaller island. The bridge ended with an entrance into a tunnel that had a door at the end and one in the middle. Inside the one in the middle was a strange looking chair that had a huge metal cage that could be lowered over it and something that looked like a microphone. Behind the final door was a huge room with pillars and some form of altar with the same type of metal cage.

The Age of Riven is by far much larger than Myst and all the Ages it links to together. I have only been to two islands but they are very large and it will take a long time to explore all of them, let alone map them out - something I feel is of great importance.



I’m going to ignore this for the time being, I need to find out more about this place. As usual, these Ages are filled with strange things that later will prove to be important to understanding them. One peculiar thing I found as soon as I got out of the “roller coaster” was a beautifully crafted tree ball embedded in the rock wall. It looked just like an eye and it could be rolled on an axle. There was a symbol on it’s back and it made a strange sound when it automatically rolled back to its original position. I naturally assumed that this is somehow important so I have to write it down for future reference. I feel how I’m instantly trying to figure things out. I blame my experiences back on Myst for this. 


There was also a walkway up to a large domed building that had levers that raised a chair that overlooked the entire village and lake. Another lever opened the floor on a platform over the small lake in the village below. Considering the paintings I would guess that this is where Gehn used to sit. But the sheer distance to the village meant that there wasn’t much use for preaching so the lever that opened the platform was obviously important for this position. The only thing I could think of was pretty terrifying - sacrifice. The platform is cone shaped and there is a chain going down the center of it above the part that opens. If this lake is the home of some predator creature, tying a victim to that chain would mean that opening the platform would make him or her an easy prey. I have cold chills running down the back of my neck now. This place is really ominous and I’m starting to regret I ever came here.



On my way back through the jungle I noted a second tree eye, with another symbol and another sound. There is no doubt that this is part of something that I need to keep track of.



Through a cave system I found myself to the village from the other side and the fourth eye in a small pool that I guess is for children. The funny thing was that when I filled the pool with water, the water seemed to form a very specific shape - that of a beetle. I thought that it couldn’t possibly be a coincidence so I made a note of it. The paintings in the rotating room was also kept inside beetles, a beetle that I saw live in the jungle earlier today. The funny thing is that the sound of the beetle flying (a very distinctive buzz from the wings) was the same sound this eye emitted when rotated. It seems I’m figuring out what the symbols are but not what they are supposed to do.



I also found rails on the bottom of the lake and a peculiar vessel on top of a rock that I couldn’t reach from this side. It looked like a cross between a submarine and a train so I’m assuming it’s supposed to run along the bottom of the lake. I hurried around to the other side (again, being noted by the locals who sounded the alarm) and when I reached the top of the rock I could quite clearly see the tracks and the amazing holes in the lake. Every hole had a small access construction built for climbing up and down to the track and the submarine.



The building was a school of some sort. Along the walls there were D’ni letters. I can’t read them but I recognize them from the books and maps back in the Myst library. There was also a small cage with a recording of Gehn in it. On the other side was what looked like a small game. Two poles with a man hanging from each in a string. On the base, the mouth of a fish and when turned the machine shows a symbol and the figure where the fish head is lowered a number of steps. A gruesome toy that further proves that the platform outside is for sacrifice. The symbols were the same as on the tree eyes and the number of steps the figures moved quite clearly meant that these are numbers. After checking a D’ni map I had in my bag I found that the same kind of symbols are found on it as well! I should have recognized them! This way, I’ve figured out the basics of these numbers, very good! It seems I keep figuring out the symbols, not what they are meant to show in the end, frustrating, but still...

I spent the rest of the day walking around the island, not wanting to leave yet. Trying to find clues to these numbers, animals and sounds. I went back to the eye down at the rocks where the sunning animals had been, and noted something that couldn’t possibly be a coincidence - the rocks themselves had a shape that when viewed from a certain angle most certainly resembled some sort of animal, something fish-like at least. I had to take note of that as well. It reminds me of the idols I saw in the throne room.

And this makes sense since there was the sound of a frog from the eye when it was turned, so it all makes sense, well how the sounds and the visuals match at least, what it is for remains a mystery.

I have looked over the entire island and finally found what I believe is the fifth eye. When travelling the lake with the submarine, there is a view from it where you can see a stick in the water and looking at it from the shore shows it to be an eye, but I can’t see from either point what its number is or what animal it could be associated with

Then, I was over the surface of the water, from this vantage point, I could see a building on the island, along with some catwalks - then I was back in earth again, and the ride came to an abrupt end. I was unceremoniously dumped into what, upon closer inspection, appears to be a wood chipper. Thankfully it was not in operation at the time.

There seem to be four pipes branching off of the central valve. By directing it towards the buildings, I learned I can power them. I think I’ll attack the boiler first.

Once inside, I can see a ladder leading down into the plumbing of the building. I believe I can fit. These pipes seem to lead up the cliffside, this may be an access point. All the other ways are blocked.

The building itself is interesting. Heavy double doors open to a metal catwalk that ends at a small device. It appears to be a pressure trap. There are brown food pellets that are light enough not to spring the trap, but the lightest touch seems to cause the dome to shut. Once I returned to the valve and directed power towards the cliff, I was able to lower the device into the cavern below.

To the left, I found myself in a room with a spinning dome, just like the one on Jungle island. Looking around, I saw the eyepiece of the scope. I walked back into the tunnel, but didn’t immediately see an access point. Then I remembered how I got here. I shut the door, and could then enter a small room with the scope. I was again watching the symbols flashing quickly before me through the scope. The scope also has a button so I am assuming that when the right symbol appears I am to press the button, but I don’t know what symbol to search for.

The fan! It turned off the fan over the trap.

With the fan off I was able to climb through the vent into the building, which certainly is Gehn’s laboratory. It will take me some time to catalog everything here. But he left a journal.

I feel that I have also made a breakthrough in understanding the numbering conventions. Gehn helpfully noted in his journal the D’ni’s fascination with the number 5. It seems to have been carried into Riven. The numbers are based on five. The number 10 is the second five (i.e. the number two tilted on its side), meaning 15 is the third five, 20 is the fourth five, etc.

There is a woodstove in the center of the room. It looks like he burns linking books that don’t work. There is still a burned book inside, but it isn’t functioning. I shudder to think of all the destroyed books. Not to mention the devastation that he seems to have bestowed on the island - the cut trees, the pulper - all to fuel his need to create books.

There is a button shaped like the others used to call the tram. I’ve hit it. There’s another door exiting the other direction. It leads to the platform, and I can see the tracks of the tram I came in on!

The catwalk goes into another cave, spans the vast waters and connects with the back end of the golden dome. There is a lever I can use to lower the catwalk to enter! This will allow me to travel much faster. I can now reach the wheel to expand the catwalk.

The trip on the rails over the water was thrilling. When I arrived at the platform I could see a door on the far side, but there was also a door to my left when I exited the tram. I entered the door and followed the path. As I emerged into the sunlight once more, I was astonished by the sight. Rocks jutted out from the blue water on this plateau as if the spikes of stone had exploded out from the ground. Walking along, I could see an orange glow, and I was bathed in heat. There’s certainly something down there, maybe accessible through that other door?

There is another one of the spinning domes on this island as well. As I climbed up I realized the structures below make up a map of all of the islands. There is a control panel that is the shape of all the islands, as they must have fit together before the instability tore them apart. When I press a shape, the structure fills with water that balloons out. It is truly a sight to behold.

Both the topographical maps and the rocks below show a grid pattern associated with each island, and I should make a map with this as well. It must be important since each dome seems to be located in one grid on each island. The purpose of this seems to be to keep track of the islands and their shapes perhaps?

I decided to try to get to that other door and walked back to the tram area, the gorge was way to wide to jump and I was stumped until I realized I could just get into the tram, turn it around and exit on the other side. The door led to a corridor and into a room filled with water lit red from below. A lever activated an elevator that rose from the water. A bit suspicious I got into it and rode down through the water to emerge a level below, yet not in the actual water. Very curious. When walking down the corridor I saw a man standing there reading a book, he saw me and quickly ran away, I followed him just to see him get on another tram and go away! I have so many questions and everyone just flees. There was a button to recall the tram but I decided that I wanted to go on down the corridor instead. At the end I found myself in a huge cavernous room with a large stairway up to a throne.

The other button that showed the rock wall could be turned though! I spun it around trying to figure out what I was seeing until I realized that this is showing the lake on Jungle Island! It’s some form of periscope from the water. And I also realized that from this view, I could see the fifth eye out in the lake! And not only that, from the angle of the periscope, the shadow of the rocks made out the shape of a fish in relation to the eye!

There is not much more to investigate on this island, but I do feel that these spinning domes is the key to something, the symbols and the colors. I got down to the second tram and travelled away, not knowing where it would lead me. Color me surprised when it led back to Jungle Island and the totem structure! Apparently you could also go down to a tram station from inside it, which explains the button I found earlier.

And when I did, something clicked and the dome stopped spinning and opened up! Walking up to it, I can see a book inside it and a combination lock to access it presumably! So there are other Ages here as well? Where does it lead? The code from Gehns journal is surely how to open it.