The dark frieze · Velstraven · Morass Games Wiki

A major room of chapter 1. When you walk in, the room card reads: The rail's ornaments do not answer the frieze above; the archive latch beside the rail holds shut.

Narrated walkthrough

The dark frieze from its entrance — The dark frieze: how to solve it

Getting there

Chapter 1, ground floor, through the Entrance court's north arch. Solving it raises the gate signed "Shut until the dark frieze is solved" in the passage east of the room; beyond it the winding stair climbs to the sagging gallery.

What is wrong

"The rail's ornaments do not answer the frieze above; the archive latch beside the rail holds shut." The room is darker than most. Three carvings run along the high frieze; three loose ornaments (a ring, a fork and a diamond) stand on keyways in a table rail below. Each ornament must be the same shape as the carving above its rail position and stand upright like it. A small dark plaque with one, two or three brass studs sits under each carving and on the worktop edge below each rail position: the same count marks the same place.

What you can work

Ring ornament / Fork ornament / Diamond ornament: The three rail positions, each named after the piece standing in it now. The card says whether its shape and facing match the carving above.
Archive latch: A small ring beside the rail. Keyed followers under the rail hold it until all three ornaments answer the frieze.
Tray: A soil tray on a low support below the frieze; a light rooted in it can be raised toward the carvings.
Blossom: The flame blossom once one is rooted in the tray (works as the tray).
Wall: A sheer wall below a maintenance ledge that looks along the frieze from the side.

Solution

A nudge

Place light roots a lasting flame blossom in the soil. Suspend takes the tray's weight off its low support, and each Draw lifts it about a metre, so after two it hangs level with the frieze and lights it.

The full solution

Optional, to see the carvings: cast Place light (Fire + Growth + Growth) on the Tray, then Suspend (Will + Will + Will) on the Tray, then Draw (Wind + Will + Water) on the Tray twice.
Place light roots a lasting flame blossom in the soil. Suspend takes the tray's weight off its low support, and each Draw lifts it about a metre, so after two it hangs level with the frieze and lights it.
What you see: "A flame blossom roots in the supported soil tray." / "The tray's weight is held; it floats free of its low support." / "The supported tray travels upward toward the observation bracket." The Tray card ends "the tray hangs high, level with the frieze."
Read the frieze against the studs: the one-stud carving is the diamond, the two-stud carving the ring, the three-stud carving the fork. The rail starts with the ring in the one-stud position, the fork in the two-stud position and the diamond in the three-stud position.
The followers under the rail key to the carving above each position. The ornament cards confirm it, for example "This is the ring ornament. Its shape does not match the frieze carving in the same place; it stands a quarter turn from upright."
What you see: Each ornament's card names the piece, whether its shape matches the carving above it, and how far it stands from upright.
Handle the Ring ornament (one-stud position) to lift it, then Handle the Diamond ornament (three-stud position).
Lifting one piece and handling another makes them trade places. Each keeps the facing it had.
What you see: "You lift the ring ornament off its keyway. Aim at another ornament on the rail and Handle it: the two trade places..." then "The two physical ornaments exchange rail positions. Now none of the three ornaments yet answers the frieze carving above in shape and facing."
Handle the Fork ornament (two-stud position), then the Ring ornament (now in the three-stud position).
Ring and fork trade places. The rail now reads diamond, ring, fork, the same as the carvings.
What you see: "The two physical ornaments exchange rail positions. Now one of the three ornaments answers the frieze carving above in shape and facing." The fork was already upright.
Turn the Diamond ornament twice and the Ring ornament three times: press X (pad Triangle) with each under the crosshair, or cast Orient (Will + Will + Water).
Each press is a quarter turn, always the same way. The diamond started upside down and needs two turns. The ring started a quarter off and needs three more to come round to upright.
What you see: "The ornament turns on its supported base. This is the diamond ornament. Its shape matches the frieze carving in the same place, and it stands upright like the carvings."
Handle the Archive latch beside the rail.
With every piece in place and upright, the keyed followers under the rail pass through their slots and let the latch go.
What you see: "The aligned followers pass through and release the archive latch." Then "The dark frieze settled." The gate in the east passage rises.

Other ways that work

No spell at all: the swaps and the X turns need none, and the plaques and ornament cards tell you everything. This is the By Touch Alone route.
Other light: Handle the Tray to move it between its two lamp positions, Handle the Reading lamp, or open the Reading shutter. Supply liquid (Water + Water + Water) on the Tray quenches the blossom ("Water quenches the blossom and wets its roots."); Heat (Fire + Fire + Growth) relights it ("The blossom dries and its flame returns.").
Climbing growth (Will + Water + Water) on the Wall: "Frozen holds give a supported approach to the maintenance ledge." The ledge gives a second view along the frieze from the side.

Watch for

Handling the lifted ornament again sets it back down: "You set the ring ornament back on its keyway." Its own empty keyway also takes it back.
The names under the crosshair follow the pieces, so after a swap the same position has a new name.
The latch handled too early answers "The keyed followers still meet the sides of their relief slots."
Draw on the Tray without Suspend is refused: "The tray drags against its lower support; upward travel needs support." Dismissing the Tray lets it settle back down.
The room card counts three ornaments; the latch is the fourth repair it names last.

If it goes wrong

This room has no failed state. To put it back as you found it, hold R for one second (pad: Start, then Restart from autosave); that reloads the autosave made when you entered the room.

Achievements here

Light on Old Stone: Solve the dark frieze.
By Touch Alone: By Touch Alone (focused): solve it without casting any spell in this room. Personal spells, Stilling ward and spells on the reading lamp all count. Use only Handle (E) for swaps and X for turns, read the plaques and cards, and Handle the Reading lamp if you want light.
Light in the Dark: Light in the Dark (aimed): cast Place light here, on the Tray or into the Reading lamp's soil cup. That is a cast, so it rules out By Touch Alone on the same visit; the stalled orrery in chapter 3 also earns Light in the Dark.
Float and Fetch: Float and Fetch (aimed): the light route's Suspend then Draw on the Tray within twenty seconds earns it.
A Warm Bath: A Warm Bath (aimed): Supply liquid on the Tray, then Heat on it within twenty seconds (quench, then relight the blossom).

Spells used

Orient, Place light, Suspend, Draw, Climbing growth, Supply liquid, Heat.