This is one of the most interesting Ages among the Fan Ages. It is a large Age and it has therefore a lot to explore. You want to go off the beaten path? No problem, in this Age you can climb the hills and take an alternative route. It has many places to look around and enjoy the view or places that are very detailed like many of the rooms you'll find here. Pretty good textures are used in general. A true Myst-like Age in those regards. And, the Age is still in development, so it is likely to improve even further over time.
But what about the name: Elodea? It is the name of aquatic plants often called the waterweeds. It lives in fresh water and is also widely used as aquarium vegetation. How does that fit in the Age? I'm not sure yet. The name suggests an Age with a lot of details in vegetation and maybe even animals. I have to admit, the ponds look nice. But as peaceful as that is, I am still missing the occasional duck passing by and quak-ing around. (Even in another universe they have ducks, don't they? ;)
When you link to the Age, you arrive in a large round room with a round structure in the middle with a nexus linking book on a pedestal. A little bit further is a notice board and a large sunray like symbol on the wall. In the middle is what looks like a journey cloth, but it is infact a linking panel to skip the first section of the Age. As the notice board explains, you should only use it after you have done the first section of the Age at least once. As there are 7 journey cloths in this Age and the first 3 cloths are in the first section, you can therefore not touch it (yet).
Turn around, on the opposite side of the room is a corridor. Walk all the way to the end of the corridor. In the wall are steps visible you can climb. Climb up the stairs. You are now in a room with a window on the left side, another round structure in the middle and a scrolling noticeboard behind it.
The scrolling noticeboard contains a word of thanks to all who helped the creator of this Age. (Only in german though.) Near the window on the left side is a book containing a word of welcome from the creator of this Age. The book on the right is a word of thanks to those who helped the creator of this Age, this time in english. To the right of the window is a button on the wall. Past it, further to the right is a pole with a button on top. Press it to hear a word of welcome from the creator in german. Head back for the button on the wall and press it. You should hear a rumbling sound. Walk towards the front of the scrolling noticeboard while the round structure raises. When the way is clear, walk into the middle to climb down here.
After you climbed down the ladder, walk forward. In front of you is a button. That one is for re-opening the stairway you just came down from. On the opposite side of the room is an exit. Walk over there and turn left. Walk the corridor until you find the first journey cloth on your right. Touch it and continue walking the corridor until you find another exit on your right. Take the exit and walk down the stairs to the end of the corridor. Climb down the ladder here.
You are now standing next to a window overlooking the ocean. You can go in two directions: left or right. Go right first. Walk the corridor until you can take a right turn. Here you'll find a balcony overlooking the ocean. Not much to see here though. That will probably come in a later version. Head back and continue walking the first corridor until the end.
The corridor leads to a wooden walkway that extends just outside of the cave. From here you can see another part of the island. Head back into the corridor until you are back at the location with the window. This time take the left corridor. This one leads to a room with two doors and a walkway going further down.
Enter the first room on the left. On the desk you'll find a journal. On one of the bookshelves you'll find a black book containing a hint where to find a certain book. Nothing else in this room, so head over to the other room. In the other room is only one thing of interest: a piece of paper with two colors on it. Take a picture as you will need this one combined with the other half at some point. Notice how much detail is in these two rooms: many objects, half open drawers with items in them. So much detail, yet one detail is still missing: light. There is no window of any kind in either room, so where is the light coming from?
Exit the room and take the walkway leading downwards. When the path forks, turn left. It leads to a dead end. But wait, those light colored rocks are blocking an exit going outside. No way to move them away though. Walk back and continue the corridor until you find a small storage room on your right. Nothing you can do in there. Past the storage room is a dead end. But there's a button on the wall. It's hardly noticable but it's there. Press it and hear the sound of rocks sliding. Could it be the exit? Walk back to the other dead end. The exit has indeed been cleared. You can exit the cave now.
Follow the path until you hit a fork in the road. To the left leads into a mine, to the right leads further along the island. Let's do the mine first.
Take the left road leading into the mine. At the first fork take the left tunnel as the tunnel forward leads to a dead end. Halfway the left tunnel you see an opening in the left wall. It is not large enough to squeeze through, but you can see a piece of paper lying on a rock on the other side of the wall. Let's head over there. Continue walking through the tunnel until you reach another fork. Again, straight forward leads to a dead end, so take the left tunnel. After only a few meters you hit another fork. Take the left tunnel first. Jump over the debris to reach to torn piece of paper.
Now that you have seen both torn pieces of paper, you can combine them to get a color combination. It should be either 'yellow green red orange' or 'orange red green yellow'. Jump over the debris to get back at the last fork. Walk forward and follow the other tunnel until you reach another fork. The tunnel forward leads to a closed gate. As there is no lever or switch to open it from here, head back until you reach the fork just past the rocks. Follow the other tunnel on your right. On the right wall you will see three colored buttons: yellow, green and blue. If you walk a few meters past them you'll see three more buttons on the left wall: red, blue and orange. Past the buttons on the wall you can see a dead end with an opening in the wall that allows you to look outside. Outside you can see a journey cloth but no way to reach it from here. Maybe the cloth can be reached through the gate in the other tunnel? But how to open it?
In order to open the gate you need to press the colored buttons on the wall. The torn pieces of paper combined, give the combination to use. You only have to choose between two possible combinations. So, head over to the colored buttons and start pressing them in the following order: orange, red, green and yellow. As far as I know there is no time constraint on pressing the buttons, but as soon as you pressed the last button, head over to the gate as fast as you can, as the gate will close after a certain amount of time. Behind the door is a rather small ledge, so be carefull not to run off the ledge. When you're on the ledge, turn left and do a standing jump to the ledge on your left. Touch the second journey cloth. If you're quick enough, you could jump back and make it through the gate before it closes. However, it is my understanding that you are supposed to get locked outside, with nowhere else to go than to jump into the ocean.
* End of Part 1 * Next: Elodea - Part 2: Caves & Water