[Let's Play] Rider of the Black Sun

[SGamerz]

Hide and wait.

[Omegonthesane]

Hide and wait; we're probably not opening that forcibly however hard we try.

[pragma]

Force the door. I imagine that it's empty inside or someone would have stopped the dam already. (Hide and wait seems like a good opportunity for gathering information, but I worry that we're racing a clock.)

[Zaranthan]

I have no idea what we would be waiting for.

Kick it in.

[Omegonthesane]

Changing vote to breaking and entering to break the tie.

[angelfromanotherpin]

452 You ram the door with your shoulder. A dull pain runs through your body when you bounce off it like an arrow striking a rock. With a curse, you hold your bruised shoulder.

Your VITALITY is reduced by one level!

If you want to hide and wait, turn to 546.
If you want to turn your back to the dam and go to Leenhaven, turn to 404.

[Omegonthesane]

As I expected.

Hide and wait and hope we haven't set off a new doom clock.

[pragma]

Hide and wait, I'm sure they just wanted the "gotcha" moment of having told us it was locked.

[angelfromanotherpin]

546 For an hour you have remained hidden and nothing has happened. Breathing a long sigh, you gaze at the sun – in a few minutes it will have reached its zenith. Suddenly you hear the soft sound of footsteps. A group of four are sneaking towards the dam. Hiding their faces behind dark cloth and pressing themselves against the protective wall, they advance with sabers drawn. Blood drips from their leader's blade. Tense, you withdraw even further into the shadows.

Only a few steps away from you, the masked figures position themselves in front of the metal door. All of them are wearing Venizian clothes, but the scuffed black boots of the gigantic leader reveal that he is probably from the desert realm. Only there can one find the leather of the rare Aijamu hippo.

With practiced teamwork, the group starts to work. While the two smaller men are inspecting the lock, their leader and his equally strong companion watch their back. Despite being perfectly concealed, you hold your breath.

If you want to attack the unit, turn to 422.
If you want to wait in your hiding place, turn to 355.

[pragma]

I think wait and attack once they have the door open. That seems easier to write into a gamebook than a negotiation with a locksmith.

[Zaranthan]

Yeah, wait again.

[Omegonthesane]

Hold off on ambushing them until after they've helpfully broken the lock. And maybe not even then if we can instead shadow them and confirm whether their purpose is in opposition to ours.

[SGamerz]

Hide and wait.

[angelfromanotherpin]

355 After barely a minute the leader becomes impatient and looks over the shoulder of the one picking the lock. The mechanism clicks and the man with the lock-pick bows jokingly, presenting the door as it swings open.

If you have the Pearl of Understanding, turn to 533.
If not, turn to 437.

437 Proudly, the leader slaps the locksmith on the shoulder and utters a few words to him. You cannot understand the melodious language. It is probably a dialect of Rhelih spoken only in the eastern desert realm.

Turn to 364.

364 With implied kisses to the cheek the four spies say their goodbyes. As the scrawny pair of locksmiths slip away into the dam, the two brawny Southerners withdraw over the palisade of the city wall. At the same time their leader keeps looking over his shoulder in your direction, as if sensing that his companions are being watched.

Once the two fighters are out of sight, you dare to sneak over to the door. You listen carefully, but besides a muffled rumbling filling the entire wall, there's nothing. Resolutely, you pull open the door and slip through.

Turn to 387.

387 Nimbly, you slip through the door and out of the bright midday sun into the dam's darkness. Seconds pass before your eyes become accustomed to the darkness. At first you hear only muffled sounds beneath you, just as if a blacksmith was hammering iron far away. You are standing on a rusty grate, a small platform of metal struts on the dam wall faced away from the sea with a ladder leading down from here.

The wet haze reeks of foul water and rotting creatures. A slimy carpet of algae has settled on everything inside the dam. The same goes for the metal rungs of the ladder bolted to the wall leading to another platform further below. Careful not to make any suspicious sounds, you climb down.

While descending, you see a high water gate made of black metal shimmering in the dim light at the foot of the dam. It obviously regulates the water in the reservoir. At the moment there is only a small trickle coming from the funnel-shaped drain channel.

From the second platform, a narrow bridge extends, about 30 feet into the void between the dam walls. There, a mighty black iron chain hangs from the ceiling to the bottom of the dam. It has to be at least 150 feet long! At its end dangles a gigantic pointed plummet.

Fascinated, your eyes follow the fist-sized links of the chain up to the ceiling. There, the other end is held by a huge deflection pulley and then led downward again. At the chain's short end, which stops just below the entry platform, you see the plummet's counterweight, a huge black iron cylinder.

The construction is as breathtaking as it is strange. The whole water system reminds you of a huge grandfather clock. You step out onto the shining bridge to take a closer look at the plummet when you notice a metal chest sitting in a dark corner of the platform nearby.

If you want to examine the chest, turn to 449.
If you want to climb down the ladder to reach the next platform beneath you, turn to 504.
If you want to walk across the bridge to examine the chain, turn to 541.

[Omegonthesane]

Examine the chest I guess.

New PHPBB doesn't like right leaning text it seems

[Darth Rabbitt]

Examine chest, it might have loot or a plot coupon.

[angelfromanotherpin]

It doesn't have [align] or tables implemented. Also the quote field color is now, like, parchment instead of white so my b/w images blend much less well. I can feel my latent OCD shrieking. But I'm happy that interest in the book has survived the long hiatus.

449 You quickly realize that it is the unspectacular toolbox of a mechanic working here. These items among its contents appear interesting:

— Mallet (Utensil)
— Bolt Cutter (Utensil)
— Tongs (Utensil)

If you are carrying too much, you may leave some items behind (mark them as stowed in the toolbox by checking the Save Point – it is possible that you can retrieve them on your way back).

If you want to walk along the gangway towards the metal chain, turn to 541.
If you want to climb farther down the ladder, turn to 504.

If you check the updated character sheet, you'll see that we only have room for one more utensil before we have to start leaving things behind.

Character Sheet

Stats:
STRENGTH: 8, DEXTERITY: 6, VITALITY: Normal (4/5)
KARMA: 2, RAGE 2/5

Weapons (max 3):
1: Captain's Sword +4 (+1 Defense if Strength 10+)
2: Menokian Short Sword +3
3: Knife +1

Clothing:
Body: Empire Uniform +1
Legs: Soldier Boots +1
Disguise: Fisher Coat

Special Items (max 12):
1: Figurine of the Ancients
2: Signet Ring
3: Lump of Gold

Utensils (max 6):
1: Prayer Book
2: Fig From Rohja (full heal)
3: Bomb
4: Wicker Basket
5: Bottle of Brandy

Abilities:
2: Sharpened Senses
3: Free Breath
4: Mental Focus
5: Magical Lore
6: History Knowledge
7: Good Fighter (+2 Melee Attack)
8: Power of the Full Moon
9: Immune to Sunlight

Money:
9 Dinars

[Darth Rabbitt]

Take the bolt cutter and try to use it on the metal chain.

[pragma]

Take all three utensils and leave basket and prayer book.

Walk to metal chain.

(For the sake of converging faster, we should break ties to Darth's suggestion, which also seems OK to me.)

[Omegonthesane]

Take boltcutter I guess.

[angelfromanotherpin]

Bolt cutters taken.

541 You normally don't suffer from fear of heights, but gazing down into the dam with its slippery wet walls, you become weak in the knees. Hesitantly placing one foot in front of the other, you finally reach the massive chain. Curious, you examine it. Its links are a bit rusty, but they still easily bear a weight of several tons. Surprised, you notice that the chain is moving slightly.

If you want to slide down the chain to the base of the dam, turn to 525.
If you want to return and use the ladder, turn to 504.

Character Sheet

Stats:
STRENGTH: 8, DEXTERITY: 6, VITALITY: Normal (4/5)
KARMA: 2, RAGE 2/5

Weapons (max 3):
1: Captain's Sword +4 (+1 Defense if Strength 10+)
2: Menokian Short Sword +3
3: Knife +1

Clothing:
Body: Empire Uniform +1
Legs: Soldier Boots +1
Disguise: Fisher Coat

Special Items (max 12):
1: Figurine of the Ancients
2: Signet Ring
3: Lump of Gold

Utensils (max 6):
1: Prayer Book
2: Fig From Rohja (full heal)
3: Bomb
4: Wicker Basket
5: Bottle of Brandy
6: Bolt Cutters

Abilities:
2: Sharpened Senses
3: Free Breath
4: Mental Focus
5: Magical Lore
6: History Knowledge
7: Good Fighter (+2 Melee Attack)
8: Power of the Full Moon
9: Immune to Sunlight

Money:
9 Dinars

[pragma]

Slide down the chain. I imagine it's an athletics test to bypass whatever nasty slime lives at the base of the ladder.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Slide down the chain.

[angelfromanotherpin]

525 You just barely manage to grab the wet chain. Nevertheless, you are determined to slide down on it if you can!

Test your Strength against 13 and your Dexterity against 12.
If you are successful with both tests, turn to 465.
If not, turn to 517.

Chance of making the Str test: 83.3%. Chance of making the Dex test: 58.3%. Chance of making both: 48.5%.
Do we want to spend any of our Karma on this?

Character Sheet

Stats:
STRENGTH: 8, DEXTERITY: 6, VITALITY: Normal (4/5)
KARMA: 2, RAGE 2/5

Weapons (max 3):
1: Captain's Sword +4 (+1 Defense if Strength 10+)
2: Menokian Short Sword +3
3: Knife +1

Clothing:
Body: Empire Uniform +1
Legs: Soldier Boots +1
Disguise: Fisher Coat

Special Items (max 12):
1: Figurine of the Ancients
2: Signet Ring
3: Lump of Gold

Utensils (max 6):
1: Prayer Book
2: Fig From Rohja (full heal)
3: Bomb
4: Wicker Basket
5: Bottle of Brandy
6: Bolt Cutters

Abilities:
2: Sharpened Senses
3: Free Breath
4: Mental Focus
5: Magical Lore
6: History Knowledge
7: Good Fighter (+2 Melee Attack)
8: Power of the Full Moon
9: Immune to Sunlight

Money:
9 Dinars

[pragma]

Go for it on strength, karma on dex.