[Let's Play] Virtual Reality Gamebooks: Twist of Fate

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Fri Jun 07, 2019 4:55 am

Stay stay stay

Not really a fan of her early stuff.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Fri Jun 07, 2019 12:21 pm

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Jun 07, 2019 12:53 pm

The sun buries itself in a dry red haze over the western hills. Velvet darkness slides down to cover the landscape. From the headman’s house you see a blaze of lights, but elsewhere the town is shrouded in darkness.
The stars emerge. As a chill breeze gusts along the river, Jumail the cook pulls his jerkin around his shoulders and says, ‘I don’t like it. What’s happened to the captain? He ought to have got back by now.’

Go ashore to look for him?
Stay aboard?

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Fri Jun 07, 2019 12:59 pm

Half a vote to stay and wait. We don't have roguery or anything that would let us sneak abiard, and if they ate him or something, they'd still have to take the ship.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Fri Jun 07, 2019 2:06 pm

Stay with staying.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Jun 07, 2019 3:11 pm

Around midnight you are all woken by the lookout. He points with alarm to a group of islanders advancing towards the jetty. The moonlight splashes on their naked knives, their open feral grins.
‘What have you done with our captain, you devils?’ a sailor screams at them, his voice trembling in fright. He turns to you. ‘We must storm the headman’s house and rescue him!’
Whatever you think, the decision is out of your hands. The others have already cast off. As the ship drifts out into mid-river, the islanders reach the jetty. In their midst is a withered old man with a skull-topped staff. He begins a low howling chant that reverberates off the hills. The sound of it prickles the hair of your scalp. You are sure it is a baneful spell. (D’Arcy has MAGIC and a ring.)

The jinni comes in answer to your summons. Surveying the chanting mage on the jetty, he turns to you and says, ‘What is it you would have me do?’
‘Deflect the curse!’
The jinni shrugs. ‘His curse has no power. You are in the lap of fate now. I can save you from what is to come, but how do you know that matters will then turn out for the best?’
‘This is meaningless prattle. Steer our ship safely to a friendly port. I command you.’
Still he demurs. ‘I say again, if I help you now then in the long run it may be worse for you. Will you bid me a third time? Then I must obey.’ What will you do?

Dismiss the jinni and trust to fate?
Insist that he does as he is told?

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 5:13 am

Trust fate (and our jinni)

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 9:31 am

Agreed - take our gin's advice.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 12:47 pm

You sail downriver to the sea. As you go, clouds thicken like soot in the sky and the sails flutter fretfully as the first stirrings of a high wind come howling down. Lightning spits across the sky, rattling great blows against the gong of the heavens. The waters surge around your prow, sending high spurts of foam across the deck.

The ship is tossed far out to sea. You can hardly see the others through the deluge of black bone-chilling rain. You hear a scream, drowned out by the storm’s roar, as the helmsman is pinned against the rail and crushed by the tiller.
‘She’s breaking apart!’ you hear someone screech as the mainmast splits and falls ponderously like a great tree. It brings the ragged sails with it. You are flung back as the ship gives a lurch, plunged into water which seems strangely warm after the icy rails of rain. It is like being submerged in blood. The muffled sounds of the undersea thunder in your ears. Your fingers find a plank of broken wood. You break to the surface with a gasp and look around, but there is nothing to see but the crashing waves. The ship has gone.

The surf pounds an accompaniment to your throbbing head. There is wet sand under your face. A crab is pinching your finger with its claws. You shake it off and sit up. You are on a lonely beach backed by high cliffs that shine with veins of blue and green rock. You realize you must have passed out. Getting shakily to your feet, you stagger along the beach.
Sick and dazed as you are, your first glimpse of the palace seems like a hallucination. It rises from a tumble of rocks at the end of the beach. Needle-thin spires of white marble rise around domes crusted with pastel mosaic. You stand in awe as figures emerge from the buildings and come to greet you. They are men and women with faces like angels. You swoon into their arms and feel them carry you to the palace, where you are laid on a soft silken bed. Gratefully, you sleep.
The next time you awaken, it is to see the faces of ordinary men – honest sailors, by the look of them. They are clustered around your bed. ‘What happened to the others?’ you say, sitting up. One of the sailors steps forward. His accent tells you he is from Basra. ‘The wizard’s beautiful servants, you mean? I saw them once. We all did, when we first arrived here.’ You swing your legs to the floor and test your strength. You feel fully recovered. Restore any Life Points lost earlier in the adventure. ‘What wizard?’ you ask as you get to your feet. ‘Are we his prisoners?’ They all laugh at this. ‘No, we’re his guests!’ says the man from Basra. ‘He saved us all when a giant fish swallowed our ship. He even gave us a new ship to journey home, but he told us we had to wait a week because he had seen in the future that another castaway would be swept up on the shore. We’ve been waiting for you.’ You notice that all your belongings are neatly piled beside the bed. Your money is there too. Your mysterious benefactor apparently has only the best of intentions – unlike most of the wizards you’ve heard of. ‘Now that you’re fully recovered,’ says one of the The surf pounds an accompaniment to your throbbing head. There is wet sand under your face. A crab is pinching your finger with its claws. You shake it off and sit up. You are on a lonely beach backed by high cliffs that shine with veins of blue and green rock. You realize you must have passed out. Getting shakily to your feet, you stagger along the beach. Sick and dazed as you are, your first glimpse of the palace seems like a hallucination. It rises from a tumble of rocks at the end of the beach. Needle-thin spires of white marble rise around domes crusted with pastel mosaic. You stand in awe as figures emerge from the buildings and come to greet you. They are men and women with faces like angels. You swoon into their arms and feel them carry you to the palace, where you are laid on a soft silken bed. Gratefully, you sleep.
The next time you awaken, it is to see the faces of ordinary men – honest sailors, by the look of them. They are clustered around your bed. ‘What happened to the others?’ you say, sitting up.
One of the sailors steps forward. His accent tells you he is from Basra. ‘The wizard’s beautiful servants, you mean? I saw them once. We all did, when we first arrived here.’
You swing your legs to the floor and test your strength. You feel fully recovered. Restore any Life Points lost earlier in the adventure. ‘What wizard?’ you ask as you get to your feet. ‘Are we his prisoners?’
They all laugh at this. ‘No, we’re his guests!’ says the man from Basra. ‘He saved us all when a giant fish swallowed our ship. He even gave us a new ship to journey home, but he told us we had to wait a week because he had seen in the future that another castaway would be swept up on the shore. We’ve been waiting for you.’
You notice that all your belongings are neatly piled beside the bed. Your money is there too. Your mysterious benefactor apparently has only the best of intentions – unlike most of the wizards you’ve heard of.
‘Now that you’re fully recovered,’ says one of the other sailors, ‘why delay any longer? Let’s set sail.’

Go with them to their ship right away?
Ask them to wait while you go to speak with the wizard?

And now we've converged with our second playthrough. I assume we want to take the item that allows us to not automatically die in jail:

You find him in the highest chamber of the palace. He is younger than you imagined, and much less sinister in bearing than the fearsome wizards of folklore. He is clad all in blue, with an azure cloak over sky-coloured robes, rings of indigo and cobalt, sapphire-hued turban clasped by an actinic jewel. His eyes also are blue, though he is not pale-complexioned like a Christian.
You bow to him. ‘I have you to thank for my health – and perhaps for my life. May I know my benefactor’s name?’
Instead of answering directly, he says, ‘I am only an apprentice. Not the master of this palace, but its custodian.’ The blue eyes crinkle in a smile. ‘You interest me. It’s rare I can see into the future. The weave of Fate’s tapestry is intricate and richly-dyed where it surrounds you.’
‘As to that, I cannot say. I have had my share of interesting adventures, certainly.’
‘And you have more to come. The curtain of time, opaque to other men, sometimes seems as a gauze veil to my eyes. I see you the victim of injustice. You will have sinister friends and unwitting foes. I see you ascending to the nest of the great rokh, the bird that lays eggs with diamond shells. You’ll ride on horseback through the air. Those are robes of honour that you wear. Or...’
‘Go on.’
He shakes his head. ‘I cannot tell if you will live. But I can give you a single gift that may help you.’ He brings forth a pair of embroidered slippers. ‘Whoever wears these becomes weightless. You can use them to ascend to the rokh’s lair.’
Add the magic slippers to your Character Sheet. Thanking the wizard, you rejoin the others. It is only after you’ve set sail that you realize you never found out his name.

In time, fair winds and fate carry you to safe berth in the port of Zeila. Here you bid your shipmates farewell, for their travels will take them back to Basra, while you have yet to find your fortune.
Nearby are carts loaded with a variety of goods. They are bound for the market, and you know that you have a good chance of a bargain if you buy anything here. You find the following items for sale:
Water bottle 1 dinar
Antidote 60 dinars
Sword 15 dinars
Veil 2 dinars
Candle 3 dinars
Note anything you buy on your list of possessions, remembering to deduct the money you spend.

Do we want to buy anything this time around? If we buy more than one thing mention what we ditch for it since we only have one free slot now.

Adventure Sheet:

Name: D'Arcy Windblade
Gender: Female
Skills: AGILITY, CUNNING, FOLKLORE, LUCK, MAGIC and SWORDPLAY
Life Points: 10
Possessions:
1) Ring
2) Sword
3) Water Bottle
4) Whistle
5) Gloves
6) Jasmine Flower
7) Magic Slippers
8)
Money: 5 dinars

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 3:41 pm

Buy another water bottle and a candle, ditch jasmine flower, check out the noise behind the door in the djinn's castle. Everything else the same.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 3:59 pm

Mr Shine wrote:Buy another water bottle and a candle, ditch jasmine flower, check out the noise behind the door in the djinn's castle. Everything else the same.

Concur.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 4:08 pm

Sounds like a plan.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 4:30 pm

The streets of the city are tiered thoroughfares that snake up between the clustered houses to the palace at the top of the hill. As you ascend the steps of one such street, you are shouldered aside by a patrol of stern-faced soldiers. Affronted at their rudeness, you give them a glowering look as they descend towards the docks.
A passing barber notices the incident and says to you: ‘The palace guards are looking for a thief who stole a ruby from the treasury. The Sultan is furious, and he has decreed that if the thief is not caught by the time the moon rises tonight, the captain of the palace guard will be crucified.’
Your pride is still ruffled. ‘I can understand their urgency, then. All the same, there is no excuse for manhandling an honest traveller in that way.’
He peers at you in the dusk. ‘Ah, you are a stranger to the city?’
‘Yes,’ you say, nodding. ‘What of it?’
He suddenly leaps back and cries: ‘Here is the thief! Here!’ Before you can react, the soldiers turn and race back up the street. As you start to raise your hands, the barber leaps on your back, bearing you to the ground.
The soldiers grab you. ‘Well done, friend,’ their officer says to the barber. ‘You’ll be rewarded for this.’
‘My reward awaits me in heaven,’ he says.
‘I’ll give it to you myself,’ you growl at him, ‘once I’ve explained there’s been a mistake.’

Despite your protests, you are dragged in front of the palace gates. The Sultan’s executioner was already preparing to execute the captain of the guard, who is relieved to see his men arriving in the nick of time.
The Sultan looks down from his palanquin. ‘Is this the thief?’
The captain barely glances at you. ‘Yes, O master of justice,’ he says.
The Sultan orders you to be thrown into prison while he decides your eventual punishment. You are too stunned by the sudden wretched twist of fate to react. Hauled away by guards, you are stripped of your bow if you have one. They also take any money you are carrying, although they leave your other belongings.
They lower you into an oubliette. The grating drops into place with a harsh clang. You listen in shock as the heavy iron padlock is sealed. You can hear rats rustling through the dank straw carpeting the cell. ‘So you’re the jewel thief, then,’ says a voice in the gloom. ‘Doesn’t look like much to us, eh, Shahrazad?’
As your eyes adjust, you make out a figure crouching beside you. He is an old man with limbs as thin and gnarled as twigs. On his lap he has a mangy cat which he is cosseting as though it were a princess.

Talk to him?✓
Ignore him and sit in silence?

You explain to the old man that there has been a mistake. You are not the one who stole the Sultan’s ruby.
Surprisingly, his answer to this is a thin wheeze of laughter. ‘Not the Shadow, eh? I thought not. I doubt they’ll ever catch that one.’
‘Who is the Shadow?’
‘The most daring of knaves. The rogue who purloined the jinn ring of Ala al-Din and the flying rug once owned by the Emir of Cordoba, as well as the crown of the infidel ruler Shah al Ma’in. He – or she, for the Shadow is a figure veiled in mystery – has vowed next to steal the diamond egg of the rokh.’ (D'Arcy does not have the codeword Kismet.)

You cannot help grinning at the old man. ‘Well, you certainly seem to have a fund of strange stories.’
‘You doubt them?’ he leaps to his scrawny feet, eyes flashing. ‘Watch, as I prove the truth of all I’ve said. You see my cat, Shahrazad? She has heard my words, yet you’ll note her tail is not an inch longer than before.’
You bite your lip and take half a step backwards. The old man is undeniably mad. ‘Incontrovertible proof,’ you say to humour him. ‘I no longer doubt you at all.’
‘Don’t talk to me like I’m daft, you young sprat. Now watch the cat’s tail while I tell her a few lies. Shahrazad, it’s my birthday today and I’m just ten years old. This morning the gaoler gave me a fine confection of dates, saffron rice, spiced mutton and buttermilk for breakfast. I ate so much my belly ached! The Caliph is my second cousin and I myself heard the Prophet’s last sermon, peace be upon him.’
You blink and rub your eyes, but there can be no doubt. With each lie, the cat’s tail grows a couple of inches, then after a few seconds it returns to its normal length.
‘What a miraculous animal,’ is all you can say.
‘She’s a sure indicator of when people are telling the truth,’ agrees the old man. (D'Arcy does not possess a coil of Indian rope, but she does possess a pair of magic slippers.)

The old man studies your slippers intently. ‘Such intricate embroidery,’ he says. ‘I don’t think I have ever seen finer workmanship. Surely these slippers are no ordinary footwear?’

Tell him about the magic slippers or not?✓

The oubliette is a bell-shaped chamber lined with muck and straw. There are several other prisoners here. Seeing you pacing around, one of them sighs and points to the grille in the middle of the ceiling. ‘Some of us have been here for years,’ he says. ‘Food is thrown down every day or so, if we’re lucky. Other than that we’re forgotten here. There’s no escape.’
‘What about water?’
‘You must lick what you can off the walls.’ He shows you his tongue – black and covered with sores.
You position yourself directly below the grille and stare up. A distance of almost twenty feet. The walls funnel in towards it, so there is no chance of climbing up.
If you possess either magic slippers or Indian rope and wish to use them now... Staying again.

A week later, the grille is hauled up and another prisoner is lowered into the oubliette. ‘Here is the real Shadow!’ calls down a guard. ‘Now you worthless wretches have got some distinguished company for a change.’
The grille drops back into place with a clang. ‘What about me?’ you shout up. ‘If you’ve got the real Shadow, you must know I’m innocent!’
The guard’s face reappears at the top. He has a broad smirk as he says, ‘Innocent? You can’t be innocent if you’re in gaol, can you? So maybe you didn’t steal the Sultan’s ruby – who cares? No doubt there’s some other crime we can mark down to you.’
‘This is rank injustice!’ you call back, but he has gone.
The newcomer places a hand on your shoulder. ‘I too am the victim of injustice, my friend, for I am not the Shadow. I thought you were. In fact, I got myself caught in order to meet you. My name is Azenomei.’
You turn and look at him: a handsome beardless young man with sparkling gaze. He has a small scar across the bridge of his nose.
‘In that case, you’re in for a big disappointment. And why are you smiling? Don’t you know we’ll probably stay here till we die?’
His grin grows all the wider as he brings out a huge bunch of keys. ‘Here I have the answer to nine hundred and ninety-nine locks. All we need is a way to reach the grille.’ (D'Arcy has a pair of magic slippers.)

In the still silence of midnight, with everyone else asleep, you crouch beside Azenomei and make your plans for escaping from this dark hole.
‘One of my keys will certainly fit the lock,’ he whispers. ‘Give me your magic slippers so that I can get up there. Once I’m out, I’ll drop them back down.’

Trust him?
Insist on being the one to go first?✓

Azenomei lends you his bunch of keys. Donning the slippers, you rise up to the grille and soon have it unlocked. Perched on the edge of the pit, you take a gulp of clean air – your first in over a week.
‘Come on!’ hisses Azenomei’s voice from the darkness of the pit. ‘Toss the slippers down.’

Do as he asks?✓
Leave him where he is?

The two of you manage to slip out of the city the next morning on the back of an ox-cart. The owner is startled when the sacks of grain on the back of his cart are suddenly thrown aside to reveal two scruffy young vagabonds.
Azenomei gazes back at the city and gives a hearty laugh. ‘A pox on that place. I’ll never go there again, I can tell you.’ He turns to you. ‘And where are you bound now, my friend?’
‘I left Baghdad in search of fame and fortune. But I was accused of being an infamous thief, and now I have no money.’
‘You could do worse than throw in your lot with me,’ declares Azenomei. ‘I’m heading across the desert to rescue my sister. She was spirited away by a jinni who imprisoned her in a bronze citadel. I can promise you as much adventure as you can take.’
If someone had said that to you just a few months ago, you would have assumed they were mad. Now you have seen many marvels with your own eyes. But you have not learned to be careless of risk.
‘A jinni’s citadel, you say? That may be a little more adventure than I can take.’
Azenomei waits for your decision.

Go with him across the desert?✓
Go your own way?

Azenomei leads you into the wasteland, where the hot air rasps your throat and each footstep raises a cloud of acrid dust. For days you travel without seeing any sign of life. From dawn to dusk you feel as though your flesh is being dried on your bones. Night makes the rocks colder than ice.
Lose 2 Life Points unless you have WILDERNESS LORE or a water bottle. If you use a bottle, note that it is now empty.
If you are still able to go on, you see a gleam of burnished metal in the thickening dusk. ‘It is the jinni’s citadel,’ breathes Azenomei. Taking your arm, he hurries on until you stand below the walls. The battlements and turrets are all of polished bronze, flickering like fire in the red sunset.
You find the doors – a huge double portal of ebony studded with iron. Putting your shoulders against the doors, you slowly push them open. Beyond lies a great hall with many passages leading off it.
‘Let’s split up and look for my sister,’ says Azenomei. ‘We’ll have to hurry, because the jinni might return at any moment.’
You gaze along the hall. ‘But there may be hundreds of rooms in the citadel. How will we find her?’
‘There are a thousand doors,’ says Azenomei, starting off down one of the passages. ‘Just be sure not to try and open any that are locked.’
Choosing a passage at random, you start to explore. Doorway after doorway leads to empty rooms. At last you find a door that will not open. You thought there was a muffled shout from the other side, but when you press your ear to the door you can hear nothing.

Break the door down?✓
Go looking for Azenomei?

The door frame splinters under the force of a kick, and you step through into a scented chamber curtained with diaphanous silks. A raven-haired girl reclines on a golden couch in the middle of the room. She looks up as you enter, and her expression is a mixture of fear and hope as she says, ‘Have you come to free me?’
You notice that her ankle is chained to the floor, the chain being fixed by a huge padlock. ‘Who are you?’ you ask.
‘Ayisha, the daughter of the Caliph. I was stolen from Baghdad in the middle of the night by a powerful jinni who brought me here to his citadel.’
You go closer and test the strength of the padlock. It is easy to see that you could never hope to break it. ‘Perhaps Azenomei has a key to fit it.’
‘Who is Azenomei?’
‘I am.’ You turn to see your friend standing in the doorway. He slowly runs his hand over the broken wood and then shakes his head regretfully. ‘I did tell you not to open any locked doors.’
‘Azenomei...’ You take a pace towards him. ‘Look, I’ve found your sister.’
His only answer is a soft mocking laugh. After a moment, Ayisha says, ‘He lied to you. He isn’t my brother. This is the jinni who abducted me!’
Get the codeword Harem.

Note the codeword Fabric. Azenomei looks different now. His eyes are gold-flecked, and a cast of evil shadows his features. He moves closer with the drowsy menace of a snake. ‘So, here I have you at last,’ he murmurs. ‘The infamous Shadow is more gullible than I’d have thought.’
‘What are you talking about?’ you reply angrily. ‘You know I’m not the Shadow!’
He shakes his head. ‘Of course you are. That’s why I allowed myself to be caught and put in the oubliette with you. I’ve pursued you for more than a year. Ever since you stole the gem from my citadel here.’
‘Gem? What gem? You’re talking nonsense. I’ve never been here before.’
He ignores your protests. ‘The gem – a ruby almost as big as the egg of the rokh that perches in its eyrie atop the Isle of Palms – had been given to me for safekeeping by the King of the Sea. If he learns I have lost it, he will sunder me into atoms and constrain my soul within a sealed copper jar for all time. So, here is your chance to save yourself. Tell me where you hid the ruby.’
‘For the last time,’ you reply between gritted teeth, ‘this is a case of mistaken identity. I never stole anything from you.’
‘You greedy fool,’ hisses Azenomei, raising his hands to weave a spell. ‘Now you will die!’ (D'Arcy does not possess a black jewel).

Cold tongues of magical flame blast from his fingers. They lick around your limbs and you feel as though shards of ice are being hammered into your bones. Lose 6 Life Points unless you have AGILITY, in which case you dodge the worst of the spell and need lose only 3 Life Points. (D'Arcy has the codeword Harem.)

Ayisha sings a spell which sends a hail of hard pebbles flying from nowhere into Azenomei’s face. He falls back, dazed, with blood streaming from a dozen wounds.
‘Quickly!’ shrieks Ayisha. ‘Get him while he’s still stunned.’

Attack him?
Run for it while you have the chance?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: D'Arcy Windblade
Gender: Female
Skills: AGILITY, CUNNING, FOLKLORE, LUCK, MAGIC and SWORDPLAY
Life Points: 7
Possessions:
1) Ring
2) Sword
3) Water Bottle (empty)
4) Water Bottle (full)
5) Whistle
6) Gloves
7) Magic Slippers
8) Candle
Money: 0 dinars
Codewords: Fabric, Harem

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 6:19 pm

Attack.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 6:59 pm

Attack.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 7:07 pm

You seize a candelabrum and raise it above your head. Azenomei looks up at the last moment, his mouth opening to start a spell. He is too late. The candelabrum falls, breaking open his skull.

Azenomei lies motionless at your feet. Slowly he begins to dissolve into a thick black miasma. A stench like burning sulphur fills the room. When his body has completely vanished, the only thing left is his sword, which you can take if you wish. (D'Arcy has the codeword Harem.)

Now that the danger is over, you find you are trembling in shock. You sit on the end of Ayisha’s couch while you recover. ‘Where did you learn sorcery?’
‘My old nurse taught me,’ she replies, smiling. ‘Alas, she never told me any spell to undo these enchanted chains.’
‘There must be a key.’
Ayisha nods. ‘There is. It is in the nest of the giant bird known as the rokh. If you’d agree to try and get it, I could send you there with another spell I know.’ She pauses and adds hesitantly, ‘It would be dangerous, of course.’

Agree to try?
Bid farewell to Ayisha?

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 7:09 pm

Let's give it a punt.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 7:48 pm

Try. Ayisha has no reason to betray us.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sat Jun 08, 2019 8:15 pm

Rukh and roll.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sun Jun 09, 2019 1:38 am