Alabaster is a huge Age. It is also non-linear, meaning that you can take many different routes or even climb the mountains outside of the path. It is easy to get lost in this Age. That's not only because the Age is so big, but also because you will find clues to several puzzles before you can even begin solving the first one. (That is, not counting the triple gate.)
Because the Age is so big, it is impossible to do in a single run. (Unless you know the solution to all the puzzles beforehand.) The journey cloths are not placed in suitable locations to serve as save points. I recommend using the '/spawn' command a few times to get your avatar somewhere near where you were the last time you visited Alabaster.
This Age is still being updated: a lot of rooms that were empty in the previous versions, now have furniture in them. As big as the Alabaster Age is now, it will become even bigger as soon as 'Alabaster Sanctuary' and 'Alabaster Depths' are finished.
Note: Because of the size of this Age, I had to turn down the graphic resolution from 1280x1024 to 1024x768, otherwise the game would crash each time I took a picture. But even then, it still did that at a few locations.
You start out in a small room with a closed gate. Turn to the left and walk out of the room. The camera movement here can be awkward but once you're out of the small room it will return to normal. Walk or jump over the rocks to get past the pile of rocks. Turn to the left and walk towards a few pedestals. On one pededstal you'll find a linking book to Elodea, another big Age. Turn around and you'll see another pedestal between the rocks in the middle of the room. Walk towards the pedestal. It's a journal about this Age. It contains important background information that will help you understand some of the things you will see in this Age.
Turn right and walk towards the three empty pedestals. Before the one on the left lies a book but you cannot use it. To the right is a large sun symbol on the wall. In the middle of the sun symbol is a hand symbol. Whenever you touch that, it will link you to the last journey cloth that you have touched. That seems to be all there is to find in this room. But wait, left from the pedestals with the book on the floor, something on the wall is glowing...
Walk towards the glowing symbols on the wall. There are three symbols at the top and one symbol below them. The top three symbols are a clue, no doubt. Write them down or take a picture and press the circular symbol below them. A door opens on the other side of the room. Turn right and make your way to the door that is now open.
In the next area, turn right. This tunnel runs all the way around the first room you came from. Skip the first tunnel to your left and walk into the second tunnel that has a lantern at the entrance. Walk all the way to the end of the tunnel where the path is blocked by vertical bars. To the right of the bars you'll see a rock with the first glowing symbol on it.
Touch the glowing symbol. This will open the first of three gates at the end of the third tunnel. It will remain open only for a short time, so turn right and head back out of this tunnel. At the end, turn right twice to enter the first tunnel. At the end of this tunnel is another gate and a rock with a glowing symbol to the right. Touch the glowing symbol and turn right. Run as fast as you can to the third tunnel. Follow it to the end where you'll see another gate and a rock with a glowing symbol on it. Touch the glowing symbol and the last of the three gates will open. There is a fourth gate that keeps going up and down but you can ignore it most of the time. Walk into the next area.
The next area has three stones with a glowing symbol, should you ever want to go back again. There is another gate that cannot be opened. Exit the room and walk down the stairs into a large open area.
This area is very rocky. The ground is so dry it has cracks everywhere. The only living plants seem to be the cactusses and a few small bushes. A few rocks are lying around and a few strangely colored pilars. Some are still standing, others seem to have fallen down and broken into pieces. Up on the rocks in the distance you can see buildings and railings.
With your back facing the stairs, look left. You should see a cactus and above it on the cliff, a wooden walkway. A little more to the right you should see a stairs leading up. Walk up the stairs and climb the ladder at the end. On the platform you'll see a door to your right. There are a few more along the way up here, but none of them open. Continue climbing the stairs until you reach a path with rather large railings on one side.
Here you can go left or right. Go right, so follow the path with the railing. At the end of the path is a stairway leading to a building. Climb the stairs and walk around the building. It looks like a monument as described in the Alabaster journal. It has animal paintings all around and underneath all but one of them a button. No doubt, these buttons will have to be pushed in a specific order. Along the way, you'll find area's with the shape of one of these animals and a D'ni number closeby.
Look for the animal that looks like a bird with long bony legs. On this side of the monument is another stairway down. This one is longer than the first and ends near a large door. Above the door is a large eye symbol. Next to the door is a button. Push it to open the door. Enter the building and keep walking forward until you see six banners on the wall, three on each side of the room. Take a few pictures as these are no doubt clues to yet another puzzle.
Walk down the stairs until you're facing a small pond. Turn right and walk down the stairs. At the end is a hall where you can go left or right. In the middle is a half round structure. On the right side is an entrance. Walk to the entrance and into the narrow corridor. In the middle is a stairs spiralling up. Follow the stairs all the way up.
The spiralling stairs leads to an office with a desk and some other furniture. There is a picture of a bird underneath the book. It's probably a picture of the bird that the owner of this place kept in the cage next to the desk. There's nothing else to do here. To the right is another part of the room with some more furniture. The doorway at the end leads to another room with a bathtub. Above the bathtub is a painting with D'ni numbers and beetles. I will refer to this as the beetle chart. Take a picture, including the D'ni numbers along the sides.
To the left of the bed is a bookshelf. You can't read any of the books, but in the middle of the books is an ornament in the shape of the D'ni number 5. Touch it and a hidden niche will be revealed behind the painting of Elodea. It contains a very short journal: "... Only a photo reminds me on her." He is talking about the bird of which you found a picture on the desk in the other room. So, the bird with a large beak is associated with the D'ni number 5. That's the first animal clue for the animal monument.
Turn around and leave the room. Near the desk is the exit of this room. Walk down the spiralling stairs and out of the half-round structure. You're back in the hallway. Walk forward and you should see a stairs going down. Walk down the stairs. At the end is a large door opening to your right and a smaller opening in front of you. Take the larger door to your right. It's a community room like in Bevin. The button on the podium makes a sound but contains no message.
This room has two entrances or exits, the one you just came from and one on the other side of the room. Go to the one on the other side of the room. Go through the door and turn left. (To the right leads to a stairs going up to the hallway with the spiralling stairs.) Follow the path until the end. To your right is a wooden door with a button. To your left is a small storage area but nothing of interest is in there. Walk towards the wooden door and press the button next to it.
The door opens and you can walk through. You are now at a fork in the path. You can go forward or to the right. Take the path forward first. Along the way you will pass by a few windows through which you can look out over a lake or ocean. A little further away are no more windows and rock walls blocking your view over the beach. If you switch to first-person view here (F1) then you will be able to view more of the beach itself. On a rock on the beach you should be able to see a D'ni number. Judging from what should be the top and bottom line, it's the D'ni number 1. To the left of the rock with a number, you should see a fish shape on the ground. This is the second animal clue.
The path to the left runs all around the mountain with the animal monument. So, if you should follow that path you would eventually end up where you are now. Instead, turn right and walk back to the fork by the wooden door you just came from. This time, follow the other path. After the fourth window in the rock wall you come at a gap in the path. Although you could easily jump over it, there's something else down in the gap. Look down in first person view and you should see a journey cloth down there. Jump into the gap and touch the first journey cloth.
* End of Part 1 * Next: Alabaster - Part 2: Searching For More Clues