470 "Make your bets! Not more than 10 Dinars!" the game master calls into the crowd. Hastily you get out ten coins and place them on number three. "No more bets!"
Hopefully, you watch the wooden wheel spinning while something under the table creaks and scratches. When the wheel stops, the game-master announces somewhat surprised: "Number five... number five wins!"
Angrily, you climb under the table, tear open the small door and gaze into the empty opening below the wheel. The iron chains dangle abandoned above a tiny hatch in the floor. As you open it, there is a soft giggle in the darkness. The half-pint has cheated you! Angry at both the Mungol and yourself, you return to the alley.
Remove your bet of 10 Dinars from your adventure sheet.
Turn to375.
375 After taking your first few breaths on the open street, you realize how bad the air in the tavern was. You look up at the bright stars, enjoying the cool breeze, when you hear the sound of an animal – the call of a velvet owl.
> Strange, a velvet owl so far north? <
If you want to draw your weapon, turn to408. If you want to run and return to the Mexez as quickly as possible, turn to461.
408 Obviously the ruffians have not had enough yet. "So, friend, now we're going to teach you a lesson!" you hear their leader taunting from the twilight of the narrow houses. A dozen thugs have surrounded you, and almost simultaneously they draw their swords, sabers and cutlasses. Screaming, you throw yourself at your first four opponents and fell two of them with precise blows. A moment later, however, you find yourself in the middle of an unleashed mob.
THUGS
ATTACK
13
ROUND
OOOO
If you are still alive by the fourth COMBAT ROUND of this hopeless fight, turn to461.
Unfortunately, we made the objectively wrong choice, because all we get is four rounds of being whaled on before being sent to the other choice. I'm not going to type out the defense rolls, we got lucky enough to get through unharmed.
461 You do not deliberate very long; instead you just run. At once, the remaining thugs jump from their cover to follow you. But, in the darkness of the narrow harbor alley, you have and advantage, pushing two surprised men to the side. Then, with a powerful leap, you grab the edge of a warehouse roof, pull yourself up, and continue your escape across the battlements of Port Baylock. After only a few jumps from roof to roof you have lost your pursuers and safely reac the pier with the Mexez.
Turn to543.
543 You're glad to be back in your cramped cabin on board the Mexez, especially in view of the fact that the next few days will bring the final battle that decides the war. You prefer to rest in the remaining hours of the night.
Turn to433.
433 is another passage that's stupid long for no good reason, so I'm summarizing: You wake up and go to Admiral Grobrig's impressive ship. Somehow you have barely slept but also slept in, so you take an astonishing amount of shit from common sailors for being disheveled and late. Even the admiral makes fun of you to your face.
Sidebar: I don't understand why this book is so determined to shit on the PC that it attempts to strike multiple contradictory tones simultaneously to do so. It's like that town in Cryx which is both eerily silent and also deafeningly loud. The PC is important when it creates stress-inducing expectations, and frightening when it alienates us from humanity, but neither for the purposes of getting Mean Girls'd by ordinary seamen. It also badly undermines how threatening the evil theocratic empire is, if significant authority figures like the PC can be openly mocked with no apparent consequences.
475 When the hot rays of the midday sun spread over deck, Port Baylock is already many leagues behind you. The unbearable heat tires the men, but no one wants to show weakness. You have been freed from all duties by the Admiral's command, a cause of some embarrassment for you. This means that you spend hours in the half-shade of the bridge, watching the crew at their backbreaking work.
In the evening of your second day at sea you are standing next to Admiral Grobrig and the helmsman. "Sir, a heavy wind is coming," the man at the helm whispers in an ominous undertone.
"I know," growls Grobrig, gazing fixedly at the sky and nervously pulling on his silver earring. "Madness. It's just madness in this season..." Finally, the admiral turns to you, smiling sarcastically, and says, "But orders are orders, are they not?"
Then everything goes very quickly: In no time at all, the crew completes preparations for the coming storm. Grobrig commands the rest of the fleet to maintain a greater distance to avoid collisions when the sea gets rough. "Go below deck! I don't intend to lose to the icy sea the only Ugarith we have on board!"
If you want to do what the Admiral asks and wait for the storm to pass below deck, turn to485. If you want to help the crew during the storm, turn to545.
Darth Rabbitt wrote:Was the thing with the Mungol a Ninja Honesty moment or is it just a "no good outcome" moment?
There's no good outcome. Revealing the con starts a giant brawl that deals 1 damage to you. Indeed, there's nothing to be gained from the entire bar encounter, the best thing to do is:
My mental model for the book is that it wants us to act like a renegade knight in shining armor in spite of casting us as a soldier in a rigid hierarchy. Put another way, we're definitely working for the bad guys, and might be rewarded for disobeying them.
My mental model for the book is that it wants us to act like a renegade knight in shining armor in spite of casting us as a soldier in a rigid hierarchy. Put another way, we're definitely working for the bad guys, and might be rewarded for disobeying them.
I was going to suggest going below, but that makes sense. Voting for helping.
My mental model for the book is that it wants us to act like a renegade knight in shining armor in spite of casting us as a soldier in a rigid hierarchy. Put another way, we're definitely working for the bad guys, and might be rewarded for disobeying them.
I was going to suggest going below, but that makes sense. Voting for helping.
Same here.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
Let's help out. Best case scenario from hiding below decks is that nothing interesting happens at all. Phooey.
Koumei wrote:...is the dead guy posthumously at fault for his own death and, due to the felony murder law, his own murderer?
hyzmarca wrote:A palace made out of poop is much more impressive than one made out of gold. Stinkier, but more impressive. One is an ostentatious display of wealth. The other is a miraculous engineering feat.
545 At first the ocean looks as if it may remain calm, but from one moment to the next, the first heavy gusts of salty water lash against your face. A few minutes later and the black wall of clouds has reached you, making the Nargus only a plaything of the storm. Admiral Grobrig roars his commands as loudly as he can, but many of his orders are lost in the thunder of the waves and the groaning of the ship. In a flash of lightning you are horrified to seejust how much the main mast is bending.
> I should have gone under deck! <
Mercilessly, the storm hurls one wave after another over the deck. By now the crew have given up fighting the primal power of the storm. The sails have been hauled in, the cargo secured. Desperately, you cling to a rope poorly knotted and attached to the railing.
Test your STRENGTH against 14 and your DEXTERITY against 16!
If you are successful with both tests, turn to520. If you are successful with only one, turn to388. If you fail both, turn to440.
Some Math Later, I calculate our odds (including Full Moon autohits) as 24% of getting both and 86% of getting one if we spend no Karma. If we Karma the harder test (Dex), we have a 72% chance to also land the Strength test. We can Karma both tests, but we would have no Karma left afterwards.
My model seems to have failed miserably here. Perhaps there's a caveat like "don't fall into obvious traps"? Regardless, I'm disappointed with the amount of crew saving we've done.
520 You try to make out something in the salty foam, but only sporadic flashes of lightning give you a fleeting impression of the desperate situation on deck. As you are about to withdraw inside the ship, from the corner of your eye you see a sailor being dragged away by a wave. Not until the masses of water have receded again do you see the poor fellow clinging desperately to a post of the rail. His cries for help are almost inaudible. Unsteadily, you stagger towards him, grab his arm and pull him back onto the Nargus' slippery planks. You receive 1 point of KARMA!
Turn to535.
535 The swaying and creaking of the ship grow stronger and stronger, causing dark thoughts to arise of the ship's doom. Deciding to wait below deck for the end of the storm, you crawl into your bunk. When one of the masts breaks and shatters part of the deck, however, your rest is over. You pray to Ugar that he may show mercy to the crew of the Nargus.
Turn to443.
443 The past storm has damaged the Nargus badly. Its mizzen mast, broken at mid-height, damaged the upper deck when it came crashing down, but the crew is already busy with the repairs. With a stern expression, Admiral Grobrig views his battered ship and the crippled fleet all around him.
"It is going to be damn hard to break the blockade in this state." His icy tone leaves no doubt, however. Orders are orders. He intends to go through with the planned attack.
Barely two hours later, there is contact with the enemy. The ships of the Allied fleet traverse the narrows between the six Trachtian Islands and constitute a massive naval blockade before Leenhaven. This action can hardly be a coincidence. The traitors arrayed against the empire have done their work well.
"What ship is that?" Admiral Grobrig mutters to his mate and points to a large three-masted ship of noticeably pale wood, visible in the horizon's haze. But not even the man in the crow's nest can determine the ship's identity. "Too far away!" he shouts down.
If you have the ability Sharpened Senses and want to use it, turn to376. If not, turn to467
I assume we choose to use our ability instead of not.
376 You concentrate on the flags waving on the massive ship and with your keen eyes recognize the fallen star on a blood-red field. The Menokians! It takes you only a moment to realize that you are witnessing high treason against the Empire. The northern folk have defected and are now battling side by side with the fleet of Leenhaven!
If you want to inform the admiral of your discovery, turn to432. If you want to keep your knowledge to yourself, turn to467
By now the crew have given up fighting the primal power of the storm. The sails have been hauled in, the cargo secured.
Sounds like someone doesn't know how ships work. The natural action of the waves is to turn the ship sideways and then flip it. You need the sails out to keep the ship turned into the surf. Bah, well.
Definitely tell the admiral. All warfare is deception, so more information is always better.
Koumei wrote:...is the dead guy posthumously at fault for his own death and, due to the felony murder law, his own murderer?
hyzmarca wrote:A palace made out of poop is much more impressive than one made out of gold. Stinkier, but more impressive. One is an ostentatious display of wealth. The other is a miraculous engineering feat.
432 "Those bastards!" Grobrig grumbles into his beard. "We have to regroup. Where there's one traitor, there are more." With a nasty expression, he gives the signal for full reverse. The sailors strike the sails and turn the Nargus using the auxiliary oars.
Battling the wind and the waves, the other ships in the fleet also attempt to set their new course to the north. Suddenly, however, a bugle call sounds, carried from one of the following ships by the gusty wind. "Contact with the enemy! Contact with the enemy!" constantly screams the sailor in the crow's nest.
"They've surrounded us!" the crew shout again and again.
"Shut up, all of you!" The admiral loses his composire for a moment, but then, with a veteran's resolve, he commands his men, "Make ready for combat!"
Shocked, you realize that the ships of the Alliance fleet, which were idling in the water a moment ago, are setting sail simultaneously to pursue you. The formation is perfect. The Menokians' trap has sprung and the Empire's fleet is caught!
Turn to539.
539 In the strong wind, the sail of the Nargus swells out almost to the point of ripping. "We have only one chance! We have to get out of the bay and redeploy at the base," Admiral Grobrig explains his commands. "The Menokian Ships are smaller and don't have much draft. They could outmaneuver us in the shallow water between the islands and gut us like fish!"
The enemy ships, twelve in all, draw their net tighter and tighter. It appears that they have even anticipated the Empire's escape maneuver. A few minutes later the hazy shapes on the horizon have become heavily armed ships and their crews. Men and women, scarred and disfigured by their past battles, their faces covered with the colors and symbols of the Menokian warrior caste, these desperate freedom fighters stand ready to board the Nargus. Their eyes blaze in fierce determination.
"Go below deck and pray! If the Moon will hear any voice tonight, it will be yours!" barks Admiral Grobrig.
If you want to obey, turn to380. If you want to join the battle, turn to427
