One Clear Stroke

One Clear Stroke, a deliberate attempt. The game describes it as: Solve the Bell chamber within 20 seconds of entering it.

Narrated guide

Narrated video coming soon

What the game counts

The bell chamber must settle within 20 seconds (a provisional threshold) of its entry time on the journey clock. The entry time is set when you step into the unsettled room from anywhere other than this room, counting only puzzle rooms: going out into the passage and back keeps the old time, but standing in the Counterweight repair room and coming back starts a new 20 seconds. A restart from the autosave also starts it again, at the cost of Never Looked Back. Pausing stops the clock. The room settles when the clapper swings far enough to strike.

Before you start

• In the passage from the Counterweight repair room, bind Heat (Fire, Fire, Growth) and Cleanse surface (Fire, Water, Water). Binding outside the room costs none of the 20 seconds.
• If you have already stood in the bell chamber on this journey, step into the Counterweight repair room first so the entry time is fresh.

The route

1. Walk in, press T until the card reads Bearing, and cast Heat on it.
   Heat warms the bearing toward 95 °C. Past 55 °C, about two and a half seconds later, the resin starts running out of the pivot.
   What you see: "Heat enters the resin-fouled bearing."
2. Straight away cast Cleanse surface on the Bearing four times, pressing again as soon as it has recovered.
   Each warm rinse lifts a fifth of the resin and can be recast every 0.65 seconds. Four rinses leave a fifth, and the heat melts the rest within about three seconds of the first cast. Without Heat, a fifth rinse clears it on its own.
   What you see: "Warm rinse loosens removable softened resin at the bearing edge." The Bearing's card then reads "The resin has run out of the bearing; the pivot turns freely."
3. Handle the Pull (E, pad Square).
   On a clean pivot one tug swings the clapper past the strike point. While resin remains, the pivot holds it back.
   What you see: "The freed clapper swings on its clean bearing." The bell rings, then "Bell chamber settled."

Watch for

• Pull too early and you only get "The resin-coated pivot strains against the pull." Wait for the Bearing's card to say the pivot turns freely.
• Heat alone also works, but takes about seven seconds before the pull will ring.
• If you run out of time before the bell rings, walk into the Counterweight repair room and come back. The bearing stays as clean as you left it and a new 20 seconds start.

What breaks it

• More than 20 seconds between stepping in and the bell ringing.
• Standing in the room earlier without visiting another puzzle room since: the old entry time still runs.

Rooms involved

Bell chamber.

Spells

Heat, Cleanse surface.