Judging__Eagle wrote:Also, we picked up a Barysal gun charge; and they're useless w/out one. So that might be handy in the future.
Well, we actually didn't. Boche got that half of the loot, we just got the goggles and the flashlight.
Anyway, we decide to keep our
meatshield companion, and our money is down to 70 scads.
After fifteen minutes, a pale green light flashes through the murk out to sea. The assembled travellers start to rise and gather their belongings as the ferry comes sweeping in towards the dock. A massive hovercraft of three tiered decks surmounted by a high conning-tower, the ferry glides up the frosty foreshore and settles on its metal skirt. Workers immediately rush out with planks to assemble a boardwalk, and you go aboard with the others.
There is a delay while supplies are loaded. You find a couch on the middle deck and gaze out to sea. A polarizing tint in the glass adds to the gloominess of the scene, with tall iron-black clouds piled high above a sea of grey swell and ice floes.
Eventually the craft raises itself and you are under way. Stewards come round and lunch is served at long curved tables in the central lounge. You chew at a stodgy gruel formulated from sea algae, washed down with spiced tea.
You take a promenade of the outside deck, but the chill of the afternoon soon drives you back inside. Some of the other passengers have started card games. As the daylight fades, a gap in the louring cloud reveals a handful of diamond-bright stars. The bar is opened and the atmosphere aboard gradually acquires a current of bonhomie, but you remain aloof and troubled. Most of these people have no further destination in mind than Kahira, no ambition beyond a small profit and a frisson of petty adventure. But your own goal is direly remote: the lost ruins of Du-En, in the far hinterland of the Saharan Ice Wastes. It seems impossible to believe, but there in Du-En you will either grasp the ultimate power – or perish.
At dawn the ferry enters the Isis estuary and skims upriver towards Kahira. Taking a stroll on the deck, you notice a waft of warmth rising from the river. It eases the bitter chill of the morning air. Questioning one of the sailors, you learn that heating pipes are laid along the river bed. No one knows the source of energy, but the effect is to keep the Isis from freezing, with the result that river-plants and fish are more plentiful than you would expect. ‘That is the basis of Kahira’s prosperity,’ he tells you. ‘But one day the pipes will fail. Then the river will freeze and Kahira must die.’
You glance to the east, where the sun struggles morosely behind a drape of stern grey cloud. ‘That is the whole world’s eventual fate.’
Kahira hoves into view around a bend in the river. It stands on massive concrete buttresses straddling the Isis, a huge fortress-city with towers like spines along its back, looking like a beast of mechanical Armageddon against the wintry surroundings. The ferry glides to a halt, the gang-ramp is extended, and you disembark in front of the city gates.
If you have the codeword Diamond, turn to 251. If not, turn to 229.
Yep, the companion is still with us.....
The city gate is a metal shutter that opens into a wide cargo lift at the bottom of a concrete abutment. Those entering are conveyed up inside the abutment to the lowest street level twenty metres above. You have arrived just before the gates are closed for the night, and as you step out into the street you draw the attention of a man in blue-&-grey combat dress.
Boche recognizes him, throwing out his chest in a display of wary truculence. The man stops and nods, a relaxed smile on his slim features. ‘Kyle Boche. And is this your accomplice, or your latest victim?’
‘Chaim Golgoth! Are you still a hired murderer?’ pipes up Boche in a tone of bravado.
He turns to you. ‘This man kills people for a living.’
You notice the insignia on Golgoth’s sleeve: the blazoned silver eagle and blue stars of United States Intelligence. Even with the world close to collapse, the United States remains a force to be reckoned with. If Golgoth really is a USI assassin, Boche is being reckless in bantering with him like this. You size up what you can see. Golgoth has a holstered barysal gun and, to your surprise, a steel crossbow slung behind his hip. At a glance he looks open and friendly, his voice mild with wry amusement. But there is something almost chilling about the eyes. Those are the eyes of a man who is always alert.
If you have ESP (and a psionic focus) and want to probe Golgoth’s mind, turn to 121.
Alternatively, you can query him about Giza, or his reason for carrying a crossbow, or simply pass by him into the city.
Minor continuity problem here, since I don't think our PC has any reason to want to know anything about "Giza".
We missed the opportunity to learn something about it back in Venis.
Still, the option is available without any codeword check, so I guess we can still ask him about that. Do we want to?