The Return of Dr Sloth Plot Guide!

by jennythegreat

Last Update: 03/11/08

Here you have it folks! Your step by step guide to the long awaited, much anticipated, Return of Dr. Sloth Neopets plot! I will update this regularly as steps come out! You need to be responsible yourselves for following the plot itself in the comic, but feel freeto discuss it with us at Heyitsbellagio or in The Midnight Garden guild! We’re always around to ask for help if you need it!

Comic: The Return of Dr. Sloth

Step One:

1. Head up to Virtupets Space Station and click the double doors at the bottom. Alternatively, you may click right here to head to the Maintenance Section.

Once you’re there, click the open blue doors on the left! You will find a maze puzzle in which you, as Gorix, need to make your way through the maintenance tunnels to a door with a green light over head. There are four mazes to get through before you’re done. There are also some obstacles beyond just finding your way through the maze! But fear not, if you mess up and poor Gorix dies, he comes right back to life again and you only have to restart the maze you were working on, not all of them.

At some intersections there are bubbles, with arrows pointing in a given direction. Before you start Gorix on his way, you need to point those arrows in the direction you want Gorix to go in when he reaches those intersections. Some of them are rather tricky! Also, there are open bay doors in the halls that will close after you pass them, and before you reach the door with the green light. If you or a maintenance robot don’t go through each of these doors, the green light will not flash and you can NOT get out! They are fun puzzles and not too difficult to work out on your own, except the last one which is a bit of a bear only because it’s a longer, slower one and if you mess up you just have to start it again. lol Nevertheless, if you don’t want to take the time, the solution to each of the mazes may be found here: Maintenance Tunnel Solutions

Step 2

Ok peeps, this step’s a real pain!

We have, however, tried to give you some steps to make it a bit easier, and there are a few petpages with reference charts for the two and three modifier ones that will save you guys the hours that we spent trying to work these out ourselves!!

1. Head down to the Maintenance Section of the Space Station again (the double doors at the bottom of the Station).

2. Click on the second open bay door in the back.

3. A computer screen pops up that you need to hack into. First select the number 4. The system will shut down and bring you to the administrative panel.

4. Select option 2. for Communications.

5. You will now be faced with a number of encrypted messages that you need to decode! The messages have between one and three “modifiers” each. Basically, the original message, plus the modifiers, will give you the desired “result” listed at the bottom. Once you get the original and modifiers to “add up” to the result, you have decoded the message and will see what it really says!

Update on February 7, 2008:

There is a new warning on the plot page on Neo, which states:

Please note that using any kind of external helper program or cheat program to solve this puzzle is against the rules and will likely get you FROZEN! So do the right thing and solve the puzzle yourself! (Discussions with friends and the use of reference charts is perfectly okay.)

– The Neopets Team

So, please refrain from using any of the calculators that people put up because we don’t want anyone of our friends and guild members in trouble!! And thank you Bellagio for looking out for us and catching that!!

This means, however, that the step is a VERY hard one, so here are some strategies and tips that should help:

6. Go through the messages and mark down which numbers have one modifier, two, and three modifiers. Then go back to your list and find the one modifier ones. For your very first one, I suggest just doing the drag and drop method. Drag a modifier into the box and hit GO. When you get one that works, you’re done. Pretty easy there, huh? Now once you’ve gotten your first modifier message decoded, write down what you’ve achieved like this:

Original+Modifier=Result

But write it out seperately for each letter (go down in a column)

So if you get this:

Original - XCLZ

Modifier - CZOZ

Result - CCLX

You write down the following:

X+C=C

C+Z=C

L+O=L

Z+Z=X

Got it?

The trick is that now those results will be true for ALL of the one modifier answers you’re looking for. So go to the next one. Say you get this:

Original: ZOZL

Modifier: ????

Result: CLXL

Take off the first column of letters and you get this

Z+?=C

If you look at your code, the answer is C!

O+?=L

Look at the code and your answer is L.

Get it? This same method is used to get all the answers all the way up to three modifier ones!! You may find the drag and drop method is faster easier to use for all of both the one and two modifier answers however. Just be sure when you hit the two modifier answers that you are keeping track of which combinations you’ve tried already or you can get yourself extremely frustrated!!!

There is also a great reference chart that will help a LOT with the three modifier solutions on Charmander2058’s Pet Page. Please note that using reference charts is expressly allowed in TNT’s warning, so we don’t need to worry about it!

Never the less, even with the chart this step is likely to take you a long time. Good luck, and if you need some help or more tips, please feel free to ask us here, or in the Midnight Garden! We’re rooting for you!

Step Three

More mazes! This time we are moving through the space station trying to avoid the guards and hook up with Cylara’s parents and the scout! You are Cylara and Gorix!

Head back up to the Virtupets station and back through the double doors. This time you’re heading into the third bay door! You will be presented with a square grid made up of blue and white blocks. On this grid are little critters, neopets visiting the space station. There are also dark blue grundo guards around and about. Amidst all of these, somewhere toward the bottom, beside a door, is you, Cylara! If you look towards the top of the grid you’ll see another door. That’s your destination!!

Only the blue grundo guards and you will be moving. The rest of the citizens around stay where they are. You move by clicking on the blue boxes one square away from you. You can only move from one blue square to the next one on one turn. Each time you move, the blue grundo guards will move too. If they turn to face you on a turn, the alarm will sound and you will be captured and have to go back to the beginning of that level. One neat trick is available to you however! If you can get next to a guard without his having spotted you yet, you can click on him and knock him out. Then you’ve got one less guard to contend with! Be careful though! They are tricky!

There are five levels to get through, each one harder than the last! But fear not! When compared to step two, this one is a breeze and quite fun really, especially if you enjoy puzzles! My best advice to you is to look around first and map your way to the door on each grid before you begin. I suggest this because in many of them, there are directions that lead to dead ends where you’re surrounded by neopets and/or a wall and have to turn around and head back the other way. Also, always look for ways to be able to get out of the way of guards that are nearby. You don’t want to be on the same column or row as one of them if at all possible!

Anyway, relax and enjoy this one!! Who knows what wicked step lies ahead??

Step Four!

Wow peeps! It’s a wave of Battledome challengers! There are three challengers so far, with beginning hitpoints at 8 and the highest at 175! The challengers are:

1. Garoo Elite Junior Squadron

Beginning HP = 8
HP increase per win = .5

2. Garoo Elite Strike Commanders

Beginning HP = 35
HP increase per win = 3

3. Garoo Elite Specialist Riilan

Beginning HP = 175
HP increase per win = 19

Good luck everyone!!!

Step Five!

Ack! There’s another wave of attackers in the Battledome, defenders!! So far, there are only two challengers, with beginning hitpoints at 10 and 66 respectively.

Your challengers this time are:

1. Mutant Grundo Scouts

Beginning HP = 10
HP increase per win = 1

2. Virtupets Militia

Beginning HP = 66
HP increase per win = 6.8

Both of these challengers have the red clockwork grundo, which does a LOT of fire damage. Pets with the special abilities Burrow and Sink should make liberal use of them, as they take the sting out of that attack pretty well. Also, the Virtupets Militia should be watched for their use of the H4000 Helmet, a 100% freezer. Having a freezing potion or a helmet yourself will help you get the most out of battling them! If you can’t afford either of those but want a cheaper alternative, you can try a Scroll of Freezing. They are usually around 70k, but right now have gone up to around 180k, which is a bunch, but less than the millions for the Helmet or the Potion. You will likely get only between 2 and 10 uses out of it before it breaks, however, so make sure you want to spend that money!

Gooooo! Sally forth!! Kick some Grundo tushy!