Make-believe machines

The Soapbox Racer

Remember the wooden cart with pram wheels, and racing it down the steepest street? Rill the Otter does. After the Sky Rower and the quests before this one (from level 8), he tells you about his old racing cart in his story The Soapbox Racer.

1. Rill's racing cart. Talk to Rill at the pier.
2. Build the Soapbox Racer at a Workbench: 8 planks, 2 logs for the axles, 2 rope, 1 cloth for the cushion and 1 resin.
3. Vesper's honey tonic. Mira has a tickly cough. Talk to Vesper by the wardrobe and she gives you a Honey Tonic for her.
4. Race the market bell. A start flag stands on the highest hill near the village. Take your cart there, climb in and roll down to the village square before the market bell rings.

Driving the cart

• Set it down: hold the Soapbox Racer and use it on dry ground. E climbs in, and E again climbs out once you have slowed down. Crouch and E on an empty cart packs it back up.
• Downhill it rolls by itself, faster and faster, up to 15 m/s. Uphill it slows down, and a steep one rolls you back.
• Steer with the move keys: slow carts turn tightly, fast ones in wide curves. Back is the brake.
• On the flat, hold forward to scoot along with your feet (up to 3 m/s), or press Space (A on a gamepad) to kick off. A kick works below 6 m/s and costs a little stamina: a full bar pays for 24 kicks.
• Walls, fences and tree trunks stop you with a bonk, and carts don't float, so steer clear of the river.

The race

A panel at the top of the screen shows which way the start flag is. Roll into the flag's circle in your cart, with the tonic in your satchel, and you're ready. The clock starts as you roll out past the flag. The bell gives you the way down at 3.2 m/s plus 20 seconds, so a good line down the hill makes it with time to spare. If you climb out on the way, or the bell rings first, nothing is lost: roll back up to the flag and try again.

Reach the square in time and Mira gets her tonic. Then comes your proud moment: the controls rest while your cart rolls a slow victory lap round the square on its own, the camera watches from outside, and Rill comes over to stand beside you.

The Great Ball Machine

Remember the marble run of toilet rolls and books across the whole living-room floor? This one is giant, and it has a job. Rain in the hills has the river rising, and the fishers out on the water can't hear a shout. From level 12, Rill asks you to build The Great Ball Machine by the river and ring a warning bell.

1. Rill's marble run. Talk to Rill at the pier.
2. Three chutes. Make 3 Ball Chutes at a workbench and set them down on a river bank, end to end.
3. The seesaw. Make a Ball Seesaw and set its cup under the end of your last chute.
4. The bell. Make a Ball Bell and stand it beside the seesaw's high end.
5. Set the wheel turning. Stand a Waterwheel in the river's current, about knee deep, beside your first chute.
6. Ring the flood warning. Press E on any part of the machine.

How the machine works

The machine puts itself together, like a game of make-believe. Starting at the waterwheel, every chute whose end is within 4.5 m of the last part joins the run. Its high end turns toward the part before it, and its legs grow or shrink so the ball always rolls downhill. The seesaw joins with its cup under the last chute and turns its knocker toward the bell, which must stand within 3.2 m of it.

When you start it, the wheel lifts a wooden ball up its side and drops it into the first chute. The ball runs and hops from chute to chute, lands in the seesaw's cup, the seesaw tips, and its knocker swings up and rings the bell. Everyone within 40 m hears it. If something is missing, the machine tells you what: a chute too far away, no seesaw, no bell, or a wheel that isn't turning. A waterwheel only turns in moving water.

When the bell rings for the fishers, your machine runs once more while you have your proud moment: you stand beside it and watch every little part do its job. Crouch and E packs a part back up.

The heart lines

Every one of Rill's quests ends with a few words from the heart, kept in your journal.

• The Soapbox Racer: "You were fast, but you won because you carried medicine for someone else. The best race is the one you run for others."
• The Great Ball Machine: "Every piece did one small job, and together they warned the whole village. Nobody is too small to matter."