Hehe, funny I'm not the only one to get stuck with that one. I think the atmosphere's great (although I found what I've seen of Telbin so far a little too un-SF-ish.) The fact that the game knows too little words and demands of you to guess what the pixel heaps are supposed to be on your own IS very frustrating indeed. Good thing, there's AGI studio!

I got as far as the cave in Telbin, then checked the room code because I couldn't figure how to match the stupid finger rhyme to the candles

I wonder what has happened to the project. Doesn't seem to get updated at all anymore (the AGS version.) Pity there's so many promising yet unfinished demos or nearly complete games out there. I'd love to play Operation Recon, Time Quest or the 13th Disciple.
Anyway, good to see someone is still interested in AGI except me; I thought after the hype over the last two or three years interest in AGI had faded completely.