[LP] Lesser-Known Gamebooks: The Cretan Chronicles.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun Aug 10, 2014 11:49 pm

East is fine by me.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 4:58 am

Lying forlorn on the floor is a broken lyre, its strings rotted away from the damp. The golden instrument is age-twisted and will play no more songs. Grime-encrusted on the floor is a mosaic of Apollo the music god, his lyre for ever bright and shining.

• Pick up the lyre?
• North?
• South?
• East?
• West?

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 11:42 am

According to Ariadne, there's supposed to be a pattern that we can follow to help us get through the maze. The specific words were "Follow the footsteps of.....". Since there are no actual footsteps that we can see, I think the most logical assumption is that we should follow some sort of pattern in the paintings....following the storyline of a certain character? We just saw Herakles performing his first labour, so I vote that we try to look for more paintings with Herakles in it. That is to say, if we go down one route and don't see any paintings, or we see paintings of a different character, we backtrack and try another direction to see if we can find another picture of the character we are following.

In short, I vote we backtrack and try west (since we came from south) to see if we can find more Herakles.

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Mon Aug 11, 2014 12:15 pm

Nice! I like that. ^

angelfromanotherpin · Mon Aug 11, 2014 11:52 pm

Painted on the wall in sombre and faded colours you see proud Hreakles performing his first service for his treacherous cousin Eurystheus. In a green-clad valley the mighty hero strangles the Nemean lion, tearing at its shaggy mane, as the beast cries out in its death-agony, crushed by the powerful hands of Zeus' son. No drop of the hero's blood pollutes the place, yet beside him clubs and arrows lie, broken and useless.

• East?
• South?
• West?

And then west.

Now Herakles performs his second labour. He goes against the Lernaean Hydra. A ghastly shade, almost glowing in the gloom, radiates sickness and death, as its serpent heads hiss defiance at the hero. As he severs one, another pair springs up, and his servant Iolaus, clad in a plain white tunic stained in blood, burns out the stumps with his sun-bright torch. Meanwhile the forest animals flee at the sight of this battle of the powers.

• East?
• West?
• North?

Torch at 31/40.

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 6:11 am

Hm...Let's try north again?

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 10:15 am

Herakles' second labour.....sounds like we may be on the right track. North sounds as good as any other option (well, only one other option, really). North first, and if there's no Herakles backtrack and west again.

angelfromanotherpin · Tue Aug 12, 2014 11:25 am

A stag with shining golden antlers, and brazen hooves that beat the air and send up little storms of sand, is depicted on the walls here. Behind it Herakles, his mighty lungs wheezing with the effort of a year-long pursuit, draws his bow in a final attempt to best the animal, and bring it back from Arcadia, thereby completing the third of his tasks.

• South?
• North?
• East?

Torch at 30/40.

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Tue Aug 12, 2014 11:44 am

So: NWN until now.

In the same spirit, first east and if no Heracles, backtrack and north.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:05 pm

^Yep, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

angelfromanotherpin · Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:57 pm

The fresco here shows a great-muscled man with shaggy brown hair trapping in a net a huge boar, dripping with white froth. Around him the snow on the mountain is deep and crisp, while the green woods can barely be seen under its covering. In the boar's blood-red eyes is fear, for it has been destroyed by Herakles, performing his fourth labour for Eurystheus, and its resistance has been as a bronze-tipped shield against the arrows of Apollo the archer.

• East?
• West?

As we came from the west, I'll continue us east.

Herakles is shown on the wall-paintings in his battle against the fierce Centaurs, half man, half horse. Again and again they charge him, but he does not flinch, like the oak tree which withstands the constant batterings of the sea-sent storms. Armed only with a club, and protected only by his lion-skin, he wreaks bloody war amongst the Centaur's ranks.

• North?
• East?
• West?
• South?

Torch at 28/40

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Wed Aug 13, 2014 2:03 pm

(NWNEE)

North, East and South, in that order of preference.
(Again, stop if we find Heracles, bactrack and select the next one if not.)

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Aug 14, 2014 2:13 am

Agreed with Sirocco's plan.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Thu Aug 14, 2014 2:29 am

A mass of great-horned cattle mingling with rushing water fill the walls, as Herakles clears out the stables of Augeas, his fifth task. The accumulated detritus of thirty years rush forward to pollute the Elian land, while Herakles stands, his arms raised in triumph amidst the tumult.

• North?
• West?
• South?

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Thu Aug 14, 2014 6:59 am

(NWNEEN)

West and North, in that order of preference.
(Again, stop if we find Heracles, bactrack and select the next one if not.)

Also, ew. Gross.

The description of this feat is also used in contemporary Greek in a figurative sense, the equivalent of "taking out the trash".

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Aug 14, 2014 9:13 am

We've been lucky with Sirocco's directions so far (he keeps finding us Herakles on the first try), so no reason not to keep following his plan! West!

angelfromanotherpin · Thu Aug 14, 2014 12:46 pm

Birds of unnatural form beset brave Herakles on his sixth task. Their claws are bronze, as are their wings and beaks. They shoot their feathers at the hero as arrows, when he dares disturb them with Athena's rattle, gift of the goddess. Herakles stands pulling back his great horn bow, preparing to shoot a death-bringing arrow up and out over the lake, sending a bronze bird to its doom.

• North?
• East?
• West?

I don't know if it's intentional, but the descriptions often don't even mention that these scenes are murals, and the effect is kind of trippy, like the distinction between art and reality is blurred and Altheus is wandering from vision to vision.

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 4:16 am

OK, to save time, does anyone else agree to this plan: follow the left-hand rule traversing the maze, proceeding when we find Heracles, backtracking when we don't, and stopping when something interesting is found, or when we reach the 12th feat? The definition of "interesting" is a paragraph with something more than directions to the next.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 5:28 am

I agree.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 6:54 am

West.

Suddenly a sweet smell fills the air, and you feel heartened, for it is the smell of roses somehow filtering in from the air above. Yet it cannot be; more likely it is the incense used by the effete Cretans to banish the stench of their city. Whatever it is, the scent is more pleasant by far than the musty reek which has till now filled your nostrils.

• West?
• North?
• East?
• South?
• Take a hint?

Only slightly more than directions to the next, but still...

Torch at 25/40.

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 9:25 am

Hints haven't been overly helpful in this book, and we're off the "true" path. I think at best it'll just tell us to go back. I vote continue with the plan.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 11:50 am

Backtrack and North.

angelfromanotherpin · Fri Aug 15, 2014 12:45 pm

East.

A stag with shining golden antlers, and brazen hooves that beat the air and send up little storms of sand, is depicted on the walls here. Behind it Herakles, his mighty lungs wheezing with the effort of a year-long pursuit, draws his bow in a final attempt to best the animal, and bring it back from Arcadia, thereby completing the third of his tasks.

• South?
• North?
• East?

Well, that's not supposed to happen. I assume the hint would have had something to do with that not happening. Fortunately, we know the way from here. East.

The fresco here shows a great-muscled man with shaggy brown hair trapping in a net a huge boar, dripping with white froth. Around him the snow on the mountain is deep and crisp, while the green woods can barely be seen under its covering. In the boar's blood-red eyes is fear, for it has been destroyed by Herakles, performing his fourth labour for Eurystheus, and its resistance has been as a bronze-tipped shield against the arrows of Apollo the archer.

• East?
• West?

East.

Herakles is shown on the wall-paintings in his battle against the fierce Centaurs, half man, half horse. Again and again they charge him, but he does not flinch, like the oak tree which withstands the constant batterings of the sea-sent storms. Armed only with a club, and protected only by his lion-skin, he wreaks bloody war amongst the Centaur's ranks.

• North?
• East?
• West?
• South?

North?

A mass of great-horned cattle mingling with rushing water fill the walls, as Herakles clears out the stables of Augeas, his fifth task. The accumulated detritus of thirty years rush forward to pollute the Elian land, while Herakles stands, his arms raised in triumph amidst the tumult.

• North?
• West?
• South?

West.

Birds of unnatural form beset brave Herakles on his sixth task. Their claws are bronze, as are their wings and beaks. They shoot their feathers at the hero as arrows, when he dares disturb them with Athena's rattle, gift of the goddess. Herakles stands pulling back his great horn bow, preparing to shoot a death-bringing arrow up and out over the lake, sending a bronze bird to its doom.

• North?
• East?
• West?

North.

Here Herakles performs one of his lesser labours, depicted in fresco on the walls. He seizes a bull sent by Poseidon for a sacrifice, which Minos kept as a token of his power. In his hands the hero holds the knife-sharp horns, and bears it on his great shoulders, heading for Athens and the plain of Marathon, in fulfilment of his seventh task.

• South?
• West?
• East?
• North?

Left-hand rule says West.

Attached to the wall here are brackets, in which you can see the burnt-out stumps of torches. Soot-blackened, the walls reveal nothing of their nature, save for the lintel of a doorway at the north end, on which is inscribed the letter M.

• Go through the doorway?
• West?
• East?
• South?

Torch at 18/40.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 12:56 pm

....What? That re-location makes no sense.

Door with an M sounds a little too obvious for this sadistic book. I think it's a trap. I say backtrack and north to look for more Herakles.

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Fri Aug 15, 2014 9:36 pm

Stick to the plan.