Myststuck

Myststuck is a series of 3 interactive Flashes titled in Homestuck as [S] ACT 6 ACT 3, [S] Jane: Proceed. and [S] Jane: Cautiously approach. that are used as the opening of Act 6 Act 3 of Homestuck.

In the Flashes, the player plays as Jane as she explores her new planet after entering The Medium. It is similar to a point-and-click adventure game. Clicking on the arrows will cause Jane to move to another screen. Clicking on a Pesterchum dialogue balloon will open a new page (in another web tab so as not to interrupt the Flash) where Jane has a pesterlog with that character.

It was intended to be a single Flash but was broken up for technical reasons.

Information of Note

Part 1

The Flash begins by showing Jane's planet, the Land of Crypts and Helium.

Jane's house is on a balloon in her land that is slowly sinking into a hole in the ground.

• From the balcony Jane views her land. She then jumps off her balcony onto a walkway to escape before her house sinks into the ground completely.
• Lil' Sebastian and Jane's unprototyped Kernelsprite remain in the house and sink down into the ground.
• Jane subsequently realizes her Dad is still in the house and hopes he is okay.
• Two mirrored obelisks containing the Heart and Life symbols are next to the hole.

Jane walks down the path and comes to a fork in the road. Taking the right-most path, Jane comes across Lil' Sebastian and is contacted by uranianUmbra.

• UU congratulates Jane on entering her land, saying that while she saw Jane in the land before this is the first time she's contacted Jane here. She then apologizes to Jane for being grumpy, as she had a nap and did not sleep well. Jane laughs, saying UU wasn't really being grumpy.
• UU says that she awoke to find her coplayer has made a "mess in here", but that he has agreed to play with her. Jane asks how he could make a mess if UU had never met him in person. UU becomes flustered and changes the subject, telling Jane to save her "gUmshooery" for her planet. She then apologizes for acting grumpy again.
• UU asks Jane how she likes her new home. Jane says it's pretty desolate and thinks she's the only one here. UU agrees and thinks it's great. She says it reminds her of her own home, which has a lot of space for herself and time to think. She says she can't wait to get to her own planet.
• Jane brings up uu again. UU says she has to leave and stops cheering Jane.
• Jane wonders how Lil' Sebastian escaped the sinking house when it seemed he was going down with it, figuring that his speed had something to do with it. Jane captchalogues him.

At the end of the path, Jane comes across a group of holes and what seems to be a hot air balloon spraying water from the bottom.

• The narration comments the balloons are seeding and watering the planet, but nothing is growing.
• There is a carving of a Salamander on the cliff face. The narration comments that the race that carved it probably went extinct some time ago.
• Looking down one of the holes, Jane wonders if she can shine a light down there.

Returning to the fork in the road, Jane goes left, then hits another fork and goes right. She enters a cave near a waterfall. Inside the cave, symbols similar to the ones found on the Frog Temple line the walls. Going down further, Jane is messaged by Roxy.

• Jane tells Roxy she's in the game. Roxy then asks if Jane told her feelings to Jake. Jane admits that she blew it with him, making Roxy mad at her. Roxy then has to cut the conversation short because she says her whole neighborhood is burning down.
• Jane finds flowers in a crack in the cave. Jane thinks it's like the land wants to be fertile, but nothing can survive on the surface.

Moving down farther, she sees a young seed pod that needs more helium to reach the surface, a switch without power, tablets carved by the Salamanders, and more wall carvings. The wall carvings include more salamanders and a Fenestrated wall. The wall has a hole in it, leading to another area.

• Reading one of the tablets, Jane finds that the Salamanders were preparing for her arrival by building seed pods, but later found that she would not arrive for millions of years and they would not survive to welcome her. The Salamanders instead began building their own graves.
• Reading another tablet, Jane learns that some of the seed pods reach Skaia, and if there is a wish carved on the pod when it reaches Skaia it will come true. Jane decides to draw the face of Jake into the seed pod, but figures that not even Skaia can help her.

Entering the hole in the wall, Jane enters a room with a small chamber full of bones, a metal door with the Life symbol, and a Salamander skull on a pillar. *The engraving under the bones suggests the door leads to the "Maid's palace".

• Jane takes the skull, which was lying on a switch. The switch causes an obelisk with the Void symbol to arise from a hole at the end of the right-most path.

Jane returns to the second fork and goes left, entering an archway. More tablets litter the hallway inside the arch.

• One tablet indicates that Jane and her friends are considered Nobles, which are essentially the same as Heroes except the title is "reserved for martyrs or tragic figures who toil in futility".
• The tablet also states the myth tied to the land had actually changed over time, and that the Nobles will need divine intervention to be victorious.
• Another tablet is claimed to be from the words of Hemera. It reveals the acronyms and entry orders for the other planets: LOPAN, LOTAK, and finally LOMAX.The tablets further state the players will find the remains of those who once worshiped them, and their duty is to pave the way for others.
  • However, at the end of A6A3, Dirk's house was shown to enter before Roxy's.
• Yet another tablet states that the Salamanders will die waiting for the Nobles, and the Nobles will have to wait themselves for help. Together with the others they will summon the Speaker of the Vast Croak and fight invincible demons.

Going down further, Jane finds another tablet stating that the only one left alive when she enters her land will be Hemera. Jane also finds a Turtle skull on a pillar, which she takes.

Going up a flight of stairs, Jane is messaged by Jake.

• Jake tells Jane that he headed into the ruins of the Frog Temple to finish building the Uber-Bunny. He then says the volcano of his island has erupted, and his skull helmet computer ceases to operate due to a severe blow to the head.
• Outside, Jane sees a tower with four lanterns - blue, pink, orange, and green. The green lantern is burnt out.
• Messages around the lanterns state that one by one the lights representing the Nobles will be snuffed out. The light of Hope had already gone previously, and the light of Life went out but spontaneously re-lit. The lights of Heart and Void will apparently follow in the future, leaving only the light of Life.
• Jane puts the Salamander skull in an indentation next to the tower, causing the lights to go higher. Three beams of light shine throughout the land.
• Jane has Lil' Sebastian climb up and rotate the lights twice.

Taking back Lil' Sebastian, Jane returns to the first fork and goes right. Returning to the end of the path, Jane finds that the pink light has reflected off of the Void obelisk and is shining down a hole.

• Jane sends Lil' Sebastian down the hole. He finds a switch and hits it, causing a small mausoleum to rise up from another, bigger hole. Jane enters the mausoleum, which sinks down into the ground.
• Underground, Jane enters a room with a Crocodile skull on a switch and a lever. Jane takes the skull, sealing the entrance behind her.
• Next to the door of the Maid's palace, a wall with indentations of three skulls slides down over the chamber of bones.
• Clicking on the grate shows a bonus message with a subtle sbahj allusion.
• Jane pulls the lever, releasing scarab beetles. She then puts her cake on the switch, unsealing the room and causing the skull wall to slide up. When Jane leaves the room, the scarabs eat the cake, both sealing the room and causing the skull wall to slide down again.
• Jane then returns to the surface with Lil' Sebastian.

Jane returns to the lights and has Lil' Sebastian rotate them one more time. She then returns to the second fork in the road and enters the cave.

• Inside the cave, the light of Heart has reflected to hit the inactive switch, giving it power. Jane activates the switch, giving helium to the seed pod. The seed pod rises out of the cave, dislodging an Iguana skull.
• Taking the skull, Jane re-enters the hole in the wall and places the Turtle, Crocodile, and Iguana skulls in the proper indentations. The skull wall rises up again, revealing a Boonbuck. The entrance to the Maid's palace also opens.

Jane enters the door, ending the Flash.

• Walkthrough/Transcript (or pastebin)

Part 2

After checking to ensure the previous part was completed by the reader and providing a guide to those that haven't completed it, the Flash begins with Jane entering the door and proceeding further into the planet. She is contacted by Dirk's auto-responder.

• The AR tells Jane that it is monitoring her progress via its connection with Lil' Sebastian, which it is able to command remotely. It also informs Jane that her house is nearby, but her dad has gone missing.
• Walking down the trail, Jane finds a bridge leading to another crypt door. The ground is filled with small holes that allow helium to rush through.
• Jane notices that one of the holes has been clogged and retrieves the obstruction. It is her dad's hat, a clear indication that he was there earlier.
• Jane goes through the crypt door and discovers her house at the bottom of the pit, still floating on a seed pod. There are two switches nearby.
• Jane tells the AR to have Lil' Sebastian rotate the lanterns once. The orange light bounces off a series of mirrors embedded in the pit walls and hits the rightmost switch. If Jane uses the switch, a blast of helium from the ground pushes the seed pod upward, but it isn't powerful enough to get the house out of the pit.
• After rotating the lanterns once a second time, the blue light enters the pit and hits the leftmost switch. Jane uses the switch and the dam behind the pit opens, sending down a wave of water that pushes the seed pod back into the husk it launched from.
• Jane gets Lil' Sebastian to rotate the lanterns three times, and the orange light returns. The switch is activated, and this time the helium reinflates the seed pod. The pod floats back to the top of the pit, allowing Jane to get back to her house.
• As Jane retraces her steps and goes back to the house, she notices that someone is already there, waiting for her while standing on top of her fridge. It turns out to be a god tier Gamzee, who has somehow acquired Aradia's Music Box Time Machine.
• Jane is asked if she wants to have Gamzee be her guide. She refuses (the only choices are "no" or "fuck no") and the Flash ends.

• Walkthrough/Transcript (or pastebin)

Part 3

The Flash begins with Jane cautiously approaching Gamzee who strongly advises Jane to reconsider (she doesn't). Upon asking who he is Gamzee starts to offer to sell brightly-colored potions instead, each for 420 boondollars. If Jane attempts to refuse to buy a bottle Gamzee forces her to buy one anyhow. Jane can also examine Gamzee's codpiece, while she tries not to stare she is transfixed by it allowing Gamzee to catch her staring at it. When Jane looks at the rest of Gamzee, his ridiculous get-up is given a hand wave, both literally and figuratively.

• Bronze Potion - A potion that is Tavros' blood color. It apparently makes you lose the use of your legs but in return makes you a great kisser. If Jane buys a bottle she promptly throws it off a cliff while Gamzee isn't looking. If Jane refuses to buy a bottle Gamzee will instead force her to take multiple bottles.
• Fuchsia Potion - A potion that is Feferi's blood color. Supposedly has strong healing properties. If Jane buys a bottle she dismisses it as pointless slop. If Jane refuses to buy a bottle Gamzee will pressure her until she buys multiple bottles to shut him up.
• Indigo Potion - A potion that is Equius' blood color. It apparently makes you strong, however Jane dismisses this. If Jane buys one she just shrugs and thinks she won't use it any time soon. If Jane refuses to buy a bottle Gamzee pressures her into buying one at which point he gives her around 50 bottles.
• Olive Potion - A potion that is Nepeta's blood color. Touted as a powerful love potion, though Jane is wary of this claim. If Jane buys a bottle she thinks it will require a strong drink to hide the flavor from Jake any hypothetical person she might give it to. If Jane refuses, Gamzee sees her look of longing, and offers her one for free, which she blushingly accepts.
• Violet Potion - A potion that is Eridan's blood color. It fills the drinker with unabated lust towards everyone and makes them act like a douchebag. Jane wonders why anyone would want this as Gamzee gives her an enigmatic wink. If Jane buys it, she figures she might as well round out her potion collection. If not, Gamzee gives her twenty bottles.
• Cobalt Potion - A potion that is Vriska's blood color. Gamzee claims this potion bestows incredible luck and does a frisky fridge jig afterwards. Jane says that's hard to swallow, talking about the potion and not the claim, but he doesn't get the joke. If Jane buys it, he stuffs the money in his codpiece and commends her choice. If not, Gamzee quickly shoves a potion in her hand and gently shooshes her before requesting payment of "420 motherfuckin' boonies"
• Gold Potion - A potion that is Sollux's blood color. This potion increases the drinker's hacking skills and also makes a good grub sauce substitute. If Jane buys it, she wonders why they all cost 420 boondollars. If not, she insults Gamzee but he pretends not to hear her.

It should be noted that each of the potions corresponds to a dead troll, and they are listed in the order of those trolls' deaths. Additionally, the names given to the blood colors of each dead troll match the ones given to them in the "coloUrs and mayhem: Universe A" album.

• Walkthrough/Transcript (or pastebin)

Credits

• Music
  • "Rain" by Clark Powell (part 1)
  • "Ruins (With Strings)" by Erik "Jit" Scheele and Michael Guy Bowman (part 2)
  • "Elevatorstuck" arranged by Joren "Tensei" de Bruin (from "Homestuck Anthem" by Clark Powell) (part 3)

Trivia

• The collective title of this collection of Flashes is a reference to the defining point-and-click adventure game Myst, with a similar atmosphere of mystery and weird puzzle shit .
• One of the tablets is described as being fan fiction about Jane, as written by a Salamander.
• Gamzee claims the Bronze Potion makes you a great kisser; while Gamzee's kissed Tavros's corpse, it is unknown if they made out while Tavros was alive, leaving it unknown whether Gamzee's opinion is from when he made out with dead Tavros or not.
  • Also, Jane throwing the Bronze Potion off of a cliff is a direct reference to Tavros being thrown off a cliff by Vriska.
• All potions Gamzee offers cost 420 Boondollars. April 20th (4/20) is the 111th day in a leap year (such as 2012) and a reference to Gamzee being stoned all the time.
• The first part of the Flash's objective to collect 3 skulls to open a door is a reference to Problem Sleuth, where the skulls of Problem Sleuth, Ace Dick and Pickle Inspector are needed to open a double door.