[Let’s Play] ACE Gamebook 07 – Ronin 47

[JourneymanN00b]

Alright, so I put the remaining boost in the mech’s Armour, as voted upon by deaddmwalking. Commander Oishi will next walk to the shrine and arrive at section 521 and gain 1 Endurance. The next morning, Commander Oishi wakes up and renames the mech as Ronin 47 on section 561. I will break the 2-2 tie by having Commander Oishi travel northeast in the hope of intercepting the Gojira by going to section 114. With Ronin 47 being fitted with Enhanced Scanners, our hero goes to section 171, and decides to follow the will of the voters by taking Ronin 47 to the bottom of the ocean to investigate the shipwreck even at the risk of encountering the creature that the Enhanced Scanners detected. On Section 218, Commander Oishi prepares Ronin 47 to face the threat from the black depths of the ocean. Ronin 47 faces the Isonade on section 120, with the fight proceeding as follows:

The fight:
Round 1: Ronin 47’s Combat Rating: 4+6+5+3=18, Isonade’s Combat Rating: 2+3+4+1+1=11;
Damage Rolls: 4, 5, 5, 1, 6; five dice scored 1 or higher
Ronin 47’s Integrity: 50, Isonade’s Integrity: 10
Isonade’s Integrity is fewer than 15 points

With Ronin 47 flawlessly damaging the Isonade to a critical level, Commander Oishi enters the the shipwreck and proceeds to section 277. Once there, our hero will exit the mech in order to enter the sunken wreck and follow the will of the voters, which will put Commander Oishi at section 451.

451

The Kevlar-weave bodyglove you wear should protect you from the freezing cold of the ocean while the helmet of your Samurai pilot’s suit also has a limited air supply. It should be enough for a thirty-minute foray into the bowels of the Gojira, providing nothing goes wrong.

Donning your helmet and having checked that the in-built aqualung is fully functional, you disengage the seat-harness and make your way to the airlock built into the back of the mech, via a hatch behind your seat in the cockpit. You take your katana with you, of course, just in case. (Please note that you cannot use your blaster underwater.)

Moments later, you exit the airlock into the freezing depths of the ocean. Swimming to the dock in the bottom of the keel, you turn the wheel-handle of a door which then opens easily, admitting you to the flooded passageways and internal spaces of the ship.

Almost immediately, the body of a drowned sailor drifts past you, its flesh grey and bloated from the time it has spent in the water, the eyes glassy and lifeless. This apparition brings home to you how careful you are going to have to be whilst on board the Gojira, if you are to avoid the sailor’s fate becoming yours.

You set your chronometer to countdown from thirty minutes. That is how long you have until you must be back inside Ronin 47, if you want to avoid ending up like the drowned wretch. The ship is huge, so which way do you want to head in your search for secrets.

Towards the bow?     Turn to 476.

Towards the stern?     Turn to 530.

Please make your votes before 7:00 PM PDT or a choice receives 2 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

Commander Oishi’s Adventure Sheet
Agility: 12
Combat: 12
Endurance: 21
Equipment:
Bodyglove
Blaster
Katana
Ration Packs: 5
Medi-Packs: 5
Notes and Code Words:
Connected
Resurrections: 4

Ronin 47’s Adventure Sheet
Speed: 4
Armour: 5
Melee: 5
Artillery: 3
Integrity: 50
Reactor: 1
Upgrades:
Electro-Katana
Enhanced Scanners (-1 from opponent’s Armour in close combat)
Upgraded Hull (+1 Armour, +5 Integrity)
Depth Charges: 2
Drones: 0
Flares: 0

[Thaluikhain]

May as well go to the bow.

[deaddmwalking]

If I were on an aircraft carrier, I would want to find the bridge. They're usually located from about half-way along the deck to about 3/4 of the way toward the stern. Since Stern is likely closer to the interesting stuff, I'm voting for that.

[Thaluikhain]

Ok, change vote for the stern, as I had no reason to choose bow, and that looks like a good reason to choose stern.

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes registered; heading towards the stern.

530

Making for the stern, you eventually come to a steel antechamber, and in front of you a wall constructed of glass panels. The central one is actually a door, with a keypad attached.

The much larger room beyond the reinforced glass is lit by an icy blue glow that reminds you of the bioluminescence given off by many deep-ocean dwellers. You can see banks of computer consoles, dissecting tables, high-powered microscopes, and aquarium tanks that still appear to be occupied by all manner of corals, molluscs, gastropods, and arthropods.

You try the door, but it is locked. Considering what was probably going on in the lab beyond, you doubt you would be able to break through the glass using your katana. Clearly you are going to need to type a code into the keypad if you want to enter the lab, but what could that code possibly be?

You take a closer look at the lock. It is a conventional ten-digit keypad beneath a glowing panel, on which the following image is projected:

There are four numbers missing from the grid. Perhaps if you could work out what they are and enter them into the keypad, you might unlock the door.

If you know what the missing numbers are, add them together and then turn to the section with the same number as the total. If you cannot work out what numbers need to be entered, you will have to search elsewhere – turn to 550.

Please make your votes before 7:00 PM PDT or a choice receives 2 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

[deaddmwalking]

This appears to be a Magic Square where all columns and rows add up to 65.

The first row is short by 19.
The second row is short by 33.
Added together that would be 52.

The first column is short by 17.
The second column is short by 35.
Added together that would be 52.

Usually with Magic Squares, each number is used only once. If that were the case, the missing numbers are 5, 12, 14, 21

That would put 5 and 14 in the first row (19) and 12 and 21 in the second row (33).
That would put 5 and 12 in the first column (17) and 14 and 21 in the second column (35).

Having looked at this a couple ways, I'm pretty confident that I didn't make a simple mistake.

[JourneymanN00b]

Okay, so there is actually a good chance that I can get internet access this weekend, so I can update at that time period. Deaddmwalking hit the nail on the head when it comes to the solution. Adding the missing numbers yields a total of 52, so we will turn to section 52.

52

As you enter the last of the four numbers into the keypad, you hear the whirring of servos, and the door opens.

As you swim past the tanks of invertebrates and crustaceans, you feel a hundred eyes following your progress.

One large computer console attracts your attention. Judging by what is still displayed on the screen, it looks like the scientists here were analysing genetic material taken from creatures mutated by the K-Compound to see if there was a way they could reverse its effects, testing various new compounds on kaiju cells and assessing their effects. While the compounds themselves have doubtless dissipated into the ocean long ago, the geneticists’ findings are still displayed on the screen.

Having memorised this potentially valuable information (write it down on your Adventure Sheet if you need to), you exit the lab.

Checking your chronometer, you see that you have just ten minutes of oxygen remaining.

Turn to 550.

550

Trailing bubbles from your aqualung, you start to retrace your route through the wreck.

You are startled when you detect movement ahead of you in the water. Something with elongated, chitinous limbs, is plucking at the corpse of a drowned scientist and dining on the briny flesh. As you move closer, the crustacean feels the need to defend its prize catch. You have no choice but to fight the Giant Spider Crab. (In this battle, you have the initiative.)

GIANT SPIDER CRAB     COMBAT 7     ENDURANCE 6

If you kill the decapod, turn to 572.

The fight:
Round 1: Commander Oishi’s Combat Rating: 5+12+1=18, Giant Spider Crab’s Combat Rating: 10+7=17;
Commander Oishi’s Endurance: 21, Giant Spider Crab’s Endurance: 4
Round 2: Commander Oishi’s Combat Rating: 8+12+1=21, Giant Spider Crab’s Combat Rating: 7+7=14;
Commander Oishi’s Endurance: 21, Giant Spider Crab’s Endurance: 2
Round 3: Commander Oishi’s Combat Rating: 11+12+1=24, Giant Spider Crab’s Combat Rating: 5+7=12;
Commander Oishi’s Endurance: 21, Giant Spider Crab’s Endurance: 0

To nobody’s surprise, Commander Oishi flawlessly kills the Giant Spider Crab.

572

Where do you want to go now?

If you want to explore the other part of the ship, turn to 391. If you think you have gleaned all that you can from the Gojira and want to return to Ronin 47, turn to 592.

Please make your votes before 9:00 AM PDT or a choice receives 2 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

Commander Oishi’s Adventure Sheet
Agility: 12
Combat: 12
Endurance: 21
Equipment:
Bodyglove
Blaster
Katana
Ration Packs: 5
Medi-Packs: 5
Notes and Code Words:
Connected
Amabie affects Arachnida, Byakko affects Aves, Chochinbi affects Crustacea, and Datsue-ba affects ???
Resurrections: 4

[deaddmwalking]

Little worried about the 10 minutes left, but books like this tend to be sloppy with that type of time-keeping so half vote for more exploration.

[Thaluikhain]

I vote that we are done and return...unless the section number we are told to go to is the same as if we went there first.

(Hey, why can't we return and get an air-refill and keep exploring?)

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes counted, deciding to return to Ronin 47 won by a 1-0.5 vote.

592

You make it back to the dock and the waiting mech with five minutes of air still remaining. Entering via the airlock in the back of the war-suit, you take your place once more in the pilot’s seat. Turn to 8.

On section 8, Commander Oishi does not have the code word Hunted written on the Adventure Sheet, so our hero will proceed to section 55. It is there that the Isonade deals 5 Integrity points of damage to Ronin 47 and continues its battle with the mech.

The fight:
Round 1: Ronin 47’s Combat Rating: 2+2+5+3=13, Ronin 47 Rolled Doubles;
Ronin 47’s Integrity: 45, Isonade’s Integrity: 0

To nobody’s surprise, Ronin 47 kills the Isonade and proceeds to section 132. From there, Commander Oishi heads off northwards by going to section 141, where he arrives at the Tengu Satellite Array. With Ronin 47 equipped with Enhanced Scanners, our hero proceeds to section 187, where the mech detects movement close to the parabolic antenna. Since Ronin 47 has no Drones, Commander Oishi heads to section 313, where our hero primes the mech’s weapons and goes to section 159. It is there that two Ogumo-mechs appear and attack Ronin 47.

The fight:
Round 1: Ronin 47’s Combat Rating: 5+1+5+3=14, First Ogumo-Mech’s Combat Rating: 4+3+2+3=12, Ogumo-Mech’s Combat Rating: 5+3+2+3=13;
Ronin 47’s Damage Rolls: 4, 4, 1, 1, 5; three dice scored 3 or higher
Ronin 47’s Integrity: 45, First Ogumo-Mech’s Integrity: 9, Ogumo-Mech’s Integrity: 6
Round 2: Ronin 47’s Combat Rating: 3+3+5+3=14, Ronin 47 Rolled Doubles;
Ronin 47’s Integrity: 45, First Ogumo-Mech’s Integrity: -1, Ogumo-Mech’s Integrity: -4

Ronin 47 flawlessly destroys the two Ogumo-mechs, to some mild surprise, and proceeds to section 111. Exiting Ronin 47, Commander Oishi encounters four figures destroying the computer consoles and data-screens. Our hero now has the choice to charge in with weapons in hand or sneak into the control room and try to take down as many as Commander Oishi can before being detected.

Please make your votes before 7:00 PM PDT or a choice receives 2 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

Ronin 47’s Adventure Sheet
Speed: 4
Armour: 5
Melee: 5
Artillery: 3
Integrity: 45
Reactor: 1
Upgrades:
Electro-Katana
Enhanced Scanners (-1 from opponent’s Armour in close combat)
Upgraded Hull (+1 Armour, +5 Integrity)
Depth Charges: 2
Drones: 0
Flares: 0

[Thaluikhain]

Try running in guns blazing this time? Half vote for that.

[deaddmwalking]

I'm afraid that will let them destroy more equipment, but maybe that ship has sailed. Let's try it! Guns blazing it is.

[deaddmwalking]

I'm afraid that will let them destroy more equipment, but maybe that ship has sailed. Let's try it! Guns blazing it is.

[Beroli]

Sneak into the control room.

[deaddmwalking]

I'm a coward at heart. Change my vote to sneak.

[JourneymanN00b]

Sneaking into the control room got 2 votes, so Commander Oishi will do this.

Commander Oishi faces an Agility test that our hero is guaranteed to pass on section 72, which puts Commander Oishi on section 49. Our hero kills three of the black-robed figures and faces the fourth Traitor Agent in combat. Since Commander Oishi has the initiative and can pass any Combat test at present, our hero deals 6 Endurance points of damage to the Traitor Agent from the two blaster shots before beginning the fight.

The fight:
Round 1: Commander Oishi’s Combat Rating: 8+12+1=21, Traitor Agent’s Combat Rating: 8+8=16;
Commander Oishi’s Endurance: 21, Traitor Agent’s Endurance: 0

To nobody’s surprise, Commander Oishi kills the Traitor Agent and proceeds to section 13. With the traitors destroying every terminal and screen that could have given our hero access to the array or the satellites’ view, all seems to have been lost. Fortunately, Commander Oishi has the code word Connected recorded on the Adventure Sheet and Ronin 47’s uplink is working, so we will go to section 594.

594

Returning to Ronin 47, you succeed in connecting the Combat AI to the satellite dish’s systems and piggyback on the signal to access the array itself.

You punch the air in delight when the message ‘CONNECTION COMPLETE’ appears on the cockpit screen, but immediately feel deflated when the words ‘ENTER ACCESS CODE’ appear beneath it, followed by the following sequence of numbers:

Three slots remain blank. If you can work out what the missing digits are, turn to the matching reference.

If you cannot work out what the missing numbers should be, or the reference you turn to makes no sense, meaning you have got the answer wrong, turn to 568.


Please make your votes before 7:00 PM PDT or a choice receives 2 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

[Thaluikhain]

Square numbers, so 481

[deaddmwalking]

Good call. Agreed.

[JourneymanN00b]

With two votes for 481 as the solution cast, we will turn to section 481.

481

You enter each of the three digits in turn and then punch the air again when text and numbers vanish to be replaced by a wireframe model of the Earth, surrounded by dozens of satellites in geostationary orbit.

Through an amalgamation of the information stored in Ronin 47’s data core and the real-time information relayed via the Tengu Array, you isolate the Shogun-mech’s energy signature – which Ronin 47 detected when Kira made his escape from Ako Base – and then track it to a location fourteen hundred kilometres almost directly north of your current position.

As the satellites home in on the spot, first a projection of the kaiju devasted islands of Japan appears on the screen, and then the AI zooms in on Honshu Island, until finally you are looking at a detailed aerial image of Mount Fuji and the ruins of Tokyo.

Heat-scans reveal that there is activity among the ruins of Tokyo, while there is also an energy spike on Mount Fuji itself. Could it be about to erupt?

If it is, you need to act fast, before natural forces and tectonic activity rob you of your chance to be avenged against the traitor Kira and his followers.

Now that you know where Kira is, how do you want to proceed from here?

If you want to take to the sea again and pilot your mech towards Japan, turn to 270. If you would rather engage Ronin 47’s flight systems, turn to 96.

Please make your votes before 7:00 PM PDT or a choice receives 2 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

[deaddmwalking]

Half vote for taking to the sea. We have been warned about overusing the flight systems.

[Thaluikhain]

Hmmm...sea makes sense but flying seems faster. Half vote for traveling by sea.

[JourneymanN00b]

Vote registered; taking to the sea again and piloting Ronin 47 towards Japan.

270

Striding back into the sea, until the continental shelf drops away beneath it and the robot is forced to assume its torpedo-like posture, Ronin 47 resumes its submarine journey through the Pacific Ocean, heading north.

Roll one die (or pick a card). If the number rolled is odd (or the card is red), turn to 168. If the number (rolled) is even (or the card is black), turn to 193.

Rolling the die yields a 1, so we will turn to section 168.

168

As you set off once more, the mech’s proximity alarms start to chime. Something is approaching from both left and right, but not just one thing. There are several somethings.

Ronin 47’s Combat AI soon identifies the genus of kaiju that is approaching, at speed; they are Ikuchi, monstrously mutated eels. While individually not as large as many kaiju, only growing to ten metres in length, they hunt in packs. In addition, they visibly generate hugely powerful electrical discharges – which crackle across their writhing forms in blinding arcs of purple lightning – thanks to an electrogenic tissue in their makeup. This means they are more than capable of taking on a mech like yours and winning!

How do you want to counter the threat-posed by the approaching Ikuchi? Will you:

Launch a Hunter-Killer Missile (if you can)?     Turn to 265.

Deploy Depth Charges (if you can)?     Turn to 225.

Launch Flares (if you can)?     Turn to 245.

Engage the mutated eels in battle?     Turn to 292.

Ronin 47 can deploy Depth Charges, but not launch a Hunter-Killer Missile or Flares. Please make your votes before 9:00 AM PDT or a choice receives 2 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

[Thaluikhain]

We have depth charges, shame not to use them, so depth charge away.

[Beroli]

Deploy depth charges.

[deaddmwalking]

Sure. Might as well.

Usually depth charges are dropped from above and set to detonate at a particular depth - not launched sideways like a torpedo. So I'm curious how the book will let them be used. If they don't work it'll be a shame that our character suffers from our lack of knowledge of his military training; on the other hand, if it does work it might be because of the author's own confusion. Or, this being the future, maybe things work differently by design.