[Let's Play] Virtual Reality Adventure Book: Heart of Ice

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Door.
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Post by SGamerz »

You are in a dimly lit room with a number of smaller rooms leading off it. You guess that this was where the acolytes of the Volentine cult lived. Even after two hundred years, there are still signs of the rioting that led to the city’s downfall. You clamber through a wreckage of broken furniture and toppled cupboards. Crumpled sheets of writing-plastic litter the floor.

Boche picks up a book, ruffles the charred pages and drops it to the floor. ‘There’s nothing here to interest us,’ he says. ‘Let’s press on.’

If you insist on searching the wreckage, turn to 412 if you have ROGUERY, or to 242 if you do not. Otherwise you can go back to the antechamber and take either the passage to the left or the passage to the right.
Since there's a blue option, I'm assuming that you guys want to keep searching....
After fifteen minutes of careful searching, you find a secret compartment under one of the pallets in a side room. It slides open at your touch to reveal an ornamental knife. You have no idea why the knife’s owner went to such lengths to hide it. ‘The Volentines were all barmy,’ is Boche’s dismissive opinion. ‘If you’d been High Priest, would you have allowed them to keep sharp implements?’

Baron Siriasis drifts across the broken furniture and glances at the knife. ‘Probably the acolytes were not supposed to have any personal possessions,’ he says. ‘The idea of them all living together here would be to focus their spiritual identity. Now, if you have quite finished looking for mementoes, let us be on our way.’

Add the knife to your list of possessions. Returning to the antechamber, you can decide whether to take the left-hand passage or the right-hand one.
We still have one empty slot, so I'm taking the knife, too.

Back to left or right!
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Right.
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Right for no reason.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Right, by which I mean...oh, right.
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Post by SGamerz »

The passage brings you to a series of galleries, each consisting of a cloister running either side of a central concourse softly illuminated by chandeliers. Many of the heavy buttresses have been defaced, leaving chunks of broken masonry scattered across the marble floor. 'No doubt this devastation was wreaked in the city's collapse,' says Boche in a hushed voice. 'It's said that the populace of Du-En went mad and turned against their leaders.'

Baron Siraisis drifts to halt and peers off into the gloom of the cloistered walkway at the side of the room. 'I sense a presence,' he says after a moment's concentration. 'Something is stalking us.'

Quickening your pace, you hurry on through the galleries until you see a heavy iron-bound doorway ahead. A rasping sound echoes out of the cloisters to one side. It sounds like chitin slithering across stone. You are about to break into a run when the lights go out and you are plunged into darkness.

If you have the codeword Scotopic, turn to 302. If not, you can use ROGUERY, ESP and a psionic focus, SHOOTING and a charged barysal gun, or light a flashlight or lantern if you have one.

Failing any of those options, turn to 260.
Lots of options listed here.....but only one is actually available to us. We even dropped the flashlight earlier.
You are used to sneaking about in the dark, and you have learned to rely on your other senses almost as well as on your sight. Even as the huge predator comes darting out from the cloisters to attack, you are racing nimbly ahead to the feeble glimmer of light from the doorway.

Reaching it, you turn to see Boche and the baron fleeing in terror. In the light of Boche's flashlight you have a brief glimpse of a gigantic centipede with flanks like polished steel. As the others dive through, you slam the door shut and drop the bolt. A second later the door judders as the monster throws itself against it. 'Let's hope it holds,' says Boche grimly. 'I wouldn't want to fight that beastie!
You enter a lofty room plunged in gloom. Boche flicks his torchlight around and it falls on a curious sight. The light seems to spill slowly, like a puddle of oil, through a zone several metres across. In the middle stands a man in old-fashioned military dress. Beside him on the floor lies a metal globe about the size of an egg, covered with glowing studs.

‘It is a stasis bomb, I believe,’ announces the baron in his stern clipped tones. ‘Watch.’

He glides off, skirting the zone where the torch beam slowed down. You see him drifting around the far perimeter. But then suddenly he comes back into view around the edge of the zone, even though you can still see his image moving beyond it.

‘The stasis bomb slows down time in a two-metre radius,’ explains the baron. ‘Light takes several seconds to cross the zone, which is why you can still see my image floating on the other side.’

As you watch, the image moves around the zone, disappearing like a ghost as it reaches the edge. ‘How long has that man been frozen there?’ wonders Boche.

‘Probably since the fall of Du-En. Almost two hundred years. That period will have seemed to him like only a few seconds.’

If you have LORE, turn to 323.

If not, you can try to free the man using either a charged barysal gun or PARADOXING and a psionic focus, or you can leave him frozen and continue on your way.
Ok, this time we don't need SHOOTING to use the gun (but it does use up one of our 2 charges), so we've got 2 options available. Gun or mutant powers?

Adventure Sheet:
Name: ??
Skills: AGILITY, CUNNING, PARADOXING and ROGUERY
Life Points: 8
Possessions:
1) Psionic focus
2) Little Gaia
3) Rope
4) Barysal Gun (2 charges)
5) Gas mask
6) Medical Kit
7) Speculum jacket
8) Knife
9) *Burrek
Money: 20 scads
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Huh, normally stasis fields in sci-fi somehow don't affect light. Only this one affects the light from someone going around the outside at a different rate to the light going in and reflecting off the person inside...and shouldn't it be red or blue shifted in parts and with some weird refraction...and...actually, nevermind.

Using mutant powers doesn't use up ammo and also seems cooler.
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Cray-cray mutant pay-pay.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Paradox that shit up.
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Post by SGamerz »

Using the sheer force of your mind, you reach into the time distortion zone and deactivate the stasis bomb. As the flow of time returns to normal, the man stares at you in surprise and takes a hesitant step forwards. He has no idea that that step has taken him two centuries to complete.

You can pick up the stasis bomb if you want. Add it to your list of possessions and turn to 409.
Our slots are full, so we will need to drop something if we want to take the bomb.
Using the gun will free the man, but won't get us the stasis bomb, so this is probably the better option.
The man tells you that he is Captain Casimir Novak, commander of the High Priest’s personal guard. ‘The populace became crazed,’ he says indignantly. ‘They stormed the temple. I was escorting the High Priest to safety when a group burst in here and hurled that stasis bomb. It is the last thing I remember.’

‘It was all a long time ago,’ you say.

‘One thing I must know. Did the High Priest get away?’

You spare Novak the details. Let him have the satisfaction of having succeeded in his duty. ‘Picard? He got away. No one else did.’ Boche and Baron Siriasis are both looking at him guardedly. You can guess what they’re thinking. How will Novak react when he learns you have come here to take the Heart – the sacred object of his faith?

‘Let us worry about explanations later,’ says the baron, reading your mind. ‘For now, we must hurry or the others will reach our goal ahead of us.’

Record the codeword Mallet and then turn to 388.
Ok, this may get awkward......maybe we should have left him stuck there?
You make your way along a wide passage where your footsteps echo stonily on the hard tiles. As elsewhere in the catacombs, light comes from a row of globes along the ceiling. Some have dimmed over the years, but most still burn brightly. When you wonder aloud what the power source is, the baron is in no doubt: ‘The Heart itself. The tiniest fraction of its power is enough to illuminate all the cities of the world.’

At last you arrive at a domed hall. Beyond lies a network of tunnels. ‘Scout ahead,’ the baron tells you. ‘One of those tunnels must lead to the Shrine of the Heart.’

If you do as he says, turn to 430. If you bridle at being ordered about, turn to 450.
1) Shall we obey the crazy psychic cripple?
2) Do we want to drop anything for the stasis bomb?

Adventure Sheet:
Name: ??
Skills: AGILITY, CUNNING, PARADOXING and ROGUERY
Life Points: 10
Possessions:
1) Psionic focus
2) Little Gaia
3) Rope
4) Barysal Gun (2 charges)
5) Gas mask
6) Medical Kit
7) Speculum jacket
8) Knife
9) *Burrek
Money: 20 scads
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Rope has already been checked, and wasn't necessary in that instance, anyway. Ditch that for the bomb.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Bridling at being ordered seems petty and foolish, so scout ahead.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Drop rope for bomb, and scout.
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Post by SGamerz »

We drop the rope for the new shiny bomb, and scout ahead:
You have gone no further than thirty metres along the first tunnel when there is the roar of an explosion from behind you. Running back towards the hall where you left the others, you see a cloud of smoke swirling in the air. In the rubble-strewn hall beyond, someone gives a feeble cough. The force of the blast has cracked the stone lintel above the tunnel, and rock dust is trickling to the floor. It looks as though the tunnel could cave in at any moment.

If you have the codeword Mallet, turn to 19. If not, turn to 41.
We do.....
Captain Novak comes racing towards you out of the smoke. His uniform is torn and singed by the explosion and he has a wild look in his eyes. You are not sure whether to block his way or stand aside, when suddenly a barysal shot streams through the air, piercing his brain. A second shot hits him as he falls, but glances off his armour and ricochets into you.

You are badly burned, taking 6 Life Points damage (unless you have a speculum jacket, in which case lose only 4 Life Points). If you can survive this injury, delete the codeword Mallet and turn to 41.
Well, that sure didn't last long. Perhaps we really should have left him in stuck in stasis mode.....

Our jacket gives us some protection against the rebounded shot. Our Life point is now at 6.
Boche comes along the passage with gun in hand. He is covered with dust from the explosion and has a gash across his forehead where he was hit by a splinter of masonry, but he is smiling. 'The baron's dead,' he tells you.

'How? What happened?'

He swells with pride. 'I got him with a grenade. I'd been carrying it all along, but the joke was that I didn't even know it myself. It was the only way to foil his mind-reading, you see.'

'I don't understand.'

Boche coughs rock dust out of his throat and then goes on: '‘I knew the baron was heading for Du-En and that he’d be the hardest foe I’d have to face, so I got myself hypnotized to forget that I was carrying a grenade. I had a post-hypnotic suggestion planted that I should use it at a key moment. He never knew what hit him.'

'Ruthlessly cunning...'

If you intended any sarcasm, Boche fails to notice it. ‘Thanks,’ he says. 'Now, let's get going before the tunnel collapses on us.'
Goddammit, Boche! Even when he does something that might have been useful (taking out a rival), he inadvertently hurts us doing it.

We really ought to shoot him here and now in case he has a second post-hypnotic suggestion to chuck another grenade at us, but alas, there's no option to do so.
There is a sound from somewhere ahead in the maze of tunnels. Boche cocks his ear. ‘It’s old-fashioned laser fire,’ he says, adding significantly: ‘But none of the others were carrying lasers.’

The mystery is soon explained. Turning a corner, you find yourselves facing three hover-droids that resemble large silver eggs with a rotating gun-turret mounted underneath. They are gliding directly towards you, the aiming-lights of their lasers playing across your vision. Boche throws himself down a side tunnel. You are in motion an instant later, just as three laser beams lance out, burning a patch of molten stone on the floor where you had been standing.

Racing headlong through the tunnels, you reach a circular room with a violet starburst set in mosaic on the floor. Several other tunnels lead into the chamber, and down one of them you see Vajra Singh, Thadra Bey and Chaim Golgoth running from another group of hover-droids. ‘We stirred up a whole nest of them,’ shouts Golgoth. ‘Too many to fight!’

As he enters the room, Vajra Singh whirls and fires his mantramukta cannon over the heads of Bey and Golgoth. Four hover-droids explode in a blossom of plasma, but you can see others converging on the room from the other tunnels.

Across the sweep of the opposite wall are seven glass-fronted elevators, each large enough for one person. Thadra Bey lopes across to the nearest and the door slides shut behind her. In moments the room will be swarming with hover-droids. The rest of you have no choice but to follow her lead. As you step into an elevator, the door closes and an electronic voice says: ‘Identify yourself, please.’

Will you tell it the truth, or will you pretend to be a follower of the Volentine cult?
Do we want to be honest?

Adventure Sheet:
Skills: AGILITY, CUNNING, PARADOXING and ROGUERY
Life Points: 6
Possessions:
1) Psionic focus
2) Little Gaia
3) Stasis bomb
4) Barysal Gun (2 charges)
5) Gas mask
6) Medical Kit
7) Speculum jacket
8) Knife
9) *Burrek
Money: 20 scads
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Pretend to be Novak.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Yeah, we have Cunning and Roguery so that should be doable for us.
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Post by SGamerz »

‘What is the Truth?’ asks the computer enigmatically.

If you have the codeword Lunar, turn to 322. If not, turn to 61.
Oh no, we don't have the password!
If you have ESP (and a psionic focus) turn to 344. If you have ROGUERY, turn to 365. If you have LORE, turn to 387. If you have CYBERNETICS and possess Little Gaia, turn to 408. If you have none of those, turn to 429.
Once again, lots of options listed, but only one (ROGUERY) is available to us....
Through the glass door you see Boche pull out a scrap of paper and recite from it. The computer is obviously satisfied with his response, because his elevator stars to descend. Having read his lips, you know the words he used. Now to find out if they will also work for you.
As always, the only times when Boche is being useful to us is when he not aware of it.
‘The Truth is a flame,’ you say.

‘What ignites the flame?’ intones the computer. So far so good.

‘The spark ignites the flame.’

‘What is the spark?’ it asks.

‘The Heart of Volent.’

You wait with bated breath. Then, with a hum, the elevator starts to descend. You are being conveyed to the Shrine of the Heart.
You step out of the elevator to find Singh, Boche and Golgoth already here. Thadra Bey didn’t make it.

You are in a dome so vast that it feels like a gulf in the black void of intergalactic space. Boche’s flashlight does not reach the far wall. In the centre of the chamber, on a raised dais at the end of a ramp, lies a purple gemstone almost two metres in diameter. Scintillant sparks stream from deep in its core, giving off a violet radiation that causes a pain at the back of your eyes.

‘The Heart of Volent…’ breathes Boche in a voice of awe. ‘The key to ultimate power.’

If you have the codeword Red, turn to 303. If you have the codeword Blue, turn to 346. If you have the codeword Yellow, turn to 324. If you have none of those, turn to 367.
As you might have guessed, each of those codeword represents an alliance with one of them, which means it's possible to form alliances with all 3 of these guys....but not simultaneously. We chose Boche.
Boche suddenly yells: ‘Let’s get him, Golgoth!’

Vajra Singh, whirling, makes a split-second decision as to who is his most dangerous adversary. Pressing the power button on the mantramukta, he directs a blistering torrent of raw energy at Golgoth. Golgoth reacts by flinging himself into a sideways roll, firing a continuous barrage at Singh as he moves. Both blasts find their target at the same time. Singh falls with a pencil-thin barysal burn through his eye-socket. Golgoth is engulfed and blown to cinders.

It has all taken place in seconds. Now only you and Boche are left. He smiles and winks at you. You start to smile back, but it freezes on your face as he turns to show you the barysal gun he has trained on you.

‘Well, Boche,’ you say, ‘is this post-hypnotic treachery, or the regular kind?’

‘I knew you’d turn on me if I didn’t act first,’ he replies with a shrug. ‘Only one can have the Heart.’

It is not pleasant to stare down the barrel of a gun. You had better decide what to do.

You can use SHOOTING if you have a charged barysal gun of your own, use PARADOXING if you have a psionic focus, or try throwing a knife if you have one. If you have none of those, turn to 411.
Anyone surprised? Not me.

We can't use the gun this time without the skill.

Mutant powers again, or do we prefer to get more physical?
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Mu-u-u-tant powers.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Paradoxing seems more likely to get us not killed.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Yeah, knife seems riskier, got for psychic thingy.
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Post by SGamerz »

Barysal guns sometimes misfire. It is a slim chance, but with our psychic powers to alter the odds that is enough. As Boche squeezes the trigger, the gun explodes in his hands. He is killed instantly. But you do not come off entirely unscathed, since a flying fragment of shrapnel slices through your thigh, inflicting the loss of 2 Life Points. If still alive, turn to 415.
Down to 4 LP, but still alive. And it's all worth it for the chance to blow something up! Especially when it's in Boche's face.
Squinting in the flux of radiation from the Heart, you approach it with a sense of wonder.

This is the artifact created in the Big Bang, the key to infinite power. Many people gave their lives for the chance to possess it. Now it lies within your grasp.

If you have the codeword Nemesis, turn to 153. If not, turn to 174.
We do.....
If you touch the Heart, you will attune its power and create a new universe in which you wield the power of a god. But in doing so you would wipe out this universe and everything in it. You stand and gaze into the flickering facets. You can feel the palpable power within it. Can you resist its lure?

If you release the Heart’s power, turn to 174. If you have a stasis bomb and wish to prevent the Heart ever falling into anyone’s hands, turn to 197.

Otherwise your only option is to reject the chance for power. If you decide to do that, turn to 354 if you have the codeword Focus, or to 454 if not.
Okay guys, crunch time!

Do we want Godhood?

Do we want to be some self-appointed guardian?

Or do we just walk away?
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

While I don't trust the book to give us a good ending for it: go for Godhood! You just don't get the chance very often.
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Post by SlyJohnny »

But think of all the nice people we'd be killing in this universe :( like that innkeeper from the start of the book. And... er... that innkeeper from the start of the book.

And those gorgon-babies you guys insisted on sparing.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Take a stab at godhood and unlock the dark side ending.
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Post by Starmaker »

SGamerz wrote: turn to 354 if you have the codeword Focus

This option doesn't exist either in my crappy electronic version or (if I recall correctly) in the Virtual Reality paper version.
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