Lets Play - Falcon 4: Lost in Time

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

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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

While we have no guarantee that we can help them, I suspect that we are supposed to do this side quest.
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Fuck this timeline, we're outta here and back to the canon ASAP.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by SGamerz »

Yeah, GTFO of this universe.

Why is every alternative universe a darker/worse scenario? Can we go find a world where Falcon is the local rockstar or something?
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Post by Thaluikhain »

They look at you, disbelief plain in their faces, but Jonjoe just says, 'Fungbrain', by way of explanation, and they turn their backs on you. You step out of the door which leads along a moss covered corridor and walk towards the twisted streetmetal outside. You duck out into the street and begin to run towards Falcon's Wing.

298
As you run down the curving span of twisted streetmetal, you are relieved to see Falcon's Wing, a hundred metres away, still intact. To reach it you must cross an offset junction where two more arcing bridges of streetmetal join what were once warehouse areas to the main cityway. There is an ominous metal clapping and grinding from the street off to the right. Will you:
Turn left into the warehouse area before you reach the right hand turning?
Sprint across the crossroads towards Falcon's Wing at full speed?
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Move directly to exit, do not pass go, do not collect 200 bullets.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by SGamerz »

Sprint
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Post by Thaluikhain »

384
As you sprint across the open space at the crossroads you look to the right to see a tank as large as a small stratocruiser rolling towards you on broad metal tracks. It has an energy cannon mounted on a revolving armoured turret and pulse lasers, pointing forward, along its sides. You run on, but the turret whirs menacingly as it tracks you and an energy projectile from the cannon explodes on the streetmetal behind you. You are hurled thirty feet down the cityway and your neck and back are damaged. You lose 12 Endurance points. If you are still alive, the Death tank will trundle around the corner in five seconds' time and you are seventy metres away from Falcon's Wing. Will you:

Pick yourself up and run on?
Lie motionless and hope that it goes the other way?
Turn and blast as it rounds the corner?

(There is a picture here)
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Attack the tank. 70m in 5s is faster than Usain Bolt in premium condition, and I suspect these things have bullshit "life signs detectors" or just plain heat vision.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I'd rather play dead but I also don't want to force a tie.
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Post by SGamerz »

Attack!
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Post by Thaluikhain »

As the Death tank lumbers into sight, its grinding and clanking a loud roar, you blast at the nearest set of caterpillar tracks. The links break and the machine slews round to crash into a building. Its weapons cannot reach you and you sprint to Falcon's Wing and are drawn up inside.

Once inside Falcon's Wing you move quickly to the console to
switch on the Variac Drive once more. If the number of polybdenum rods you have used is at eight, turn to 21. If not, CAIN chimes, 'Falcon, this is not our universe, we must jump again.'

Used 7, -2 for the refuel

'What do you think I'm doing,' you retort, as you scan the psychic flux of the universe.
'We are running short of polybdenum rods, Falcon, it might be sensible to jump to the planet Thrix, since this is the only planet on which it occurs naturally.' The outside scanners show a flying Death machine closing in on Falcon's Wing so you take a snap decision and type in the co-ordinates of planet Thrix, where a timehole has recently opened up. The greyness of null- space envelops you and the Variac Drive whines complainingly. 'I'm trying to send us back to our own timeline, Falcon.'
'I hope you make a better attempt than you did last time, CAIN,' you say.

'Really, Falcon, I don't understand why we computers bother with organic life..'

'You can't fly through time without me, CAIN. You have no Psychic Awareness to find your destination.' CAIN makes a noise which sounds like an out-of-tune bell and you decide to relax in your Autodoc. You may restore up to 11 points of lost Endurance. At length, Falcon's Wing rematerialises and you turn on the outside scanner.


243
As the scanner screen lights up you notice that the digital readout shows that you are in the year 1923, but which universe are you in? You travelled to Thrix when the traitor Agidy Yelov was building his warfleet on Mechanon, but you were forced to change history and although you remember, dimly, this planet, CAIN does not realise you have been here before and gives you a full datadump. The surface of Thrix is rocky and there is a thick soup of yellow atmosphere all around. The atmosphere is highly corrosive and you put on your environment suit. The Thrix have space travel, in the form of steel girders welded together with a primitive chemical type rocket like those used on Earth in the 21st and 22nd centuries, strapped to the back. They are slow, but the Thrix have a lifespan of many millennia and being composed almost entirely of glass like silica can exist in deep space. The rock-like Thrix are telepathic and can move objects by thought alone. They are dormant at deep space temperatures but regain the capacity for thought whenever their ship nears a sun. Less than fifteen hundred remain on their homeworld - the reason for their decline is not known. Very little is known about their attitude to aliens in 3034 let alone at this time. They are not members of the Federation (they will not
become members, that is), but they will trade polybdenum for certain other minerals.

CAIN reminds you to look for chunks of pure polybdenam of the right size to fit into the Variac Drive and you leave without preparing a disguise (CAIN does not have the relevant data stored in his memory banks in any case) and set out to explore. You wade through the sea of soupy gas for half a mile towards a deep valley that shows darkly below you when you catch sight of a shiny black boulder, faceted like a diamond, but three metres tall. It is a Thrix. Will you:

Ignore it and walk on?
Try to communicate with it?

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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

The Thrix were pretty cool back in book 2 so let's talk to this one.
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Agreed.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by SGamerz »

Darth Rabbitt wrote:The Thrix were pretty cool back in book 2 so let's talk to this one.
If this were like all the alternate universes we've been to so far, the Thrix here will probably be some dark-side equivalent that will be polar opposite to the ones we met and be totally un-cool.

But yes, try to communicate anyway.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

206
You speak into the helmet mike and a stream of clicks is synthesized by your translator. A part of the alien's mind reaches out to touch yours and you realise that it wants to know what you are. If you tell it too much about yourself, you risk breaking the First Law of TIME and changing history. Will you:

Try to use your Power of Will to control the Thrix?
Risk putting your mind in full contact with the alien using your Psychic Awareness?
Last edited by Thaluikhain on Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Psychic Awareness it is.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Go-Go-Gadget Psychic Awareness!
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Post by SGamerz »

Mind attacks hasn't gone well so far in this book, has it?
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Post by Thaluikhain »

As you open your mind to the alien you find yourself having to make a great effort to remain sane and regain your human sense of perspective. The Thrix live for millennia on a cold and lifeless world, barren of architecture - they have no need of buildings, and of almost everything else that you associate with civilisation. It has recently seen another being like you, walking down into the valley and it wants to show you this creature. The Thrix's name translates as Carborundum. If you believe you have met Carborundum before...

Yes...but that was an alternative Carborundum, so no. I think we are supposed to go with yes, though, so:

211
The Thrix rolls down a steep gully towards the dry floor of the valley and you follow behind. It is slow going in the heavy gravity and the rock crumbles underfoot. You almost fall when some rock gives way and find yourself staring at a pool of rock dust that has been recently disturbed. It bears the unmistakable footprint of someone in an environment suit. You make your way more carefully now towards a set of caves which you hope may contain a seam of pure polybdenum. Carborundum clicks a warning to you that a 'thief is in the caves. You are twenty metres from the cave opening when a figure appears, swathed in the yellow fog of the thick Thrixian atmosphere. With a flash of insight you recognise Agidy Yelov; you can just make out his face, half covered in the metal mask which he wears over the side of his head which you blasted away. At the same instant he recognises you. He drops two pieces of polybdenum which he was carrying and goes for his plasma pistol. The Thrix begins to roll away down the valley at breathtaking speed and is soon lost in the yellow fog.

Guessing that he is wearing a Psionic Damper, you reach for your blaster. You must make a split second decision, fire or dodge. If you choose to fire, make an Attack Roll and if you score 7-12, turn to 84. If you score 2-6, turn to 73. If you choose to dodge, make an Evasion Roll instead. If you score 6-12, turn to 106. If you score 2-5, turn to 139.

-2 on rolls because of itchy poison, but +1 to evade because of thing in previous book.

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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

It's significantly harder for us to get the good result for attacking (we need to roll a 9 or higher) than for evading (7 or higher.) So dodge and hope that we still get the chance to finally put this asshole out of commission in at least one timeline.
Last edited by Darth Rabbitt on Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Dodge.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by Thaluikhain »

2 and 3, so:

You are too slow to dodge the blast of superheated plasma from Yelov's pistol which ionizes the gas of the atmosphere, turning it from yellow to red in a stream, but, incredibly, the stream bends around your body, hitting the side of the gully sending a great geyser of rock shards and dust into the yellow fog. Carborundum has caused a sonic force shield to appear between you and Yelov. The yellow atmosphere swirls in a dense ball in front of you and the Thrix rolls slowly back into sight. Yelov's pistol blasts the faceted being but nothing happens so he ducks back into the cave, out of sight.

You dare not go in after him - you would be a sitting duck out in the dim red sunlight of this cold planet. You think to Carborundum that you need the polybdenum rods to save your own life and to your surprise they suddenly fly into your hands. Carborundum has used his power of mind over matter. You decide to leave Yelov and return to Falcon's Wing while you still can and stagger up the steep gully with the heavy rods, looking over your shoulder as you go. Carborundum guards the entrance to the cave and you arrive back at Falcon's Wing unmolested. But as you rise through the Access Disc your suit radio picks up a message from Yelov. 'You can run, Falcon, but you can't hide - wherever you go I'm hot on your trail.'

265
If you have brought back two pieces of polybdenum to Falcon's Wing reduce the number of rods you have used by two. If you have not brought any back and the number of rods you have used stands at eight, turn to 278. Otherwise, you quickly consult CAIN telling it what has happened. CAIN chimes, 'This is encouraging, Falcon, the facts suggest that we may have entered our own universe once more.' Cheered, you decide to jump back to the Eiger Vault straight away, but scanning the Winds of Time you realise that the psychic flux has been disturbed. All of the timeholes are closed save for two. One is on Earth in North America, at the time of white settlement, the other is a planet you know nothing of but the psychic impressions suggest a near-human type civilisation exists there. Yelov is on your trail - you will have to try and outguess him. He may expect you to travel to Earth, but if he thinks you will realise this he may go to the other planet. Your only concern is to stay alive long enough for the Winds of Time to calm so that you can return to earth in 3034 AD. Will you jump to:

North America in 1866 AD?
The unknown planet?
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Clearly Yelov thinks we're going to Earth, so let's gamble on an unknown planet.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

As much as I'd like to see how racist the author's depiction of Native Americans is, I have to agree with Omegon that the wiser move would be to go to the unknown planet.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

[Score an L]
Falcon's Wing warps out into null-space and you hope that Yelov has guessed wrongly and opted to jump to North America, if he is following you at all. Note that you have used another polybdenum rod on your Agent Profile. After an uneventful hour in null-space, during which time you rest in your Autodoc, you rematerialise once more. You switch on the scanners to look at this new and unknown world. All around you stretches a sea of yellow sand dunes. A large white planet looms oppressively close above the horizon and the sun is a fiery orange ball in an orange sky, but the strangest thing is that the winds of this arid planet carry a floating population of white spores and orange creatures which look like a cross between a jelly-fish, amoeba and squid rolled into one. It is almost as if the air is a sea in which a myriad life forms drift aimlessly. You can see no sign of intelligent life but CAIN reports on the conditions outside. It is hot, sixty-nine degrees Celsius and even if you could breathe the air your lungs would eventually dry out and you would suffocate. The gravity is only a half of that of Earth. The Winds of Time are still confused, obscuring all other timeholes now, so you settle down to wait. After a time, the feeling that you are just waiting for Yelov to come and destroy Falcon's Wing is too much for you. CAIN disguises the Time Ship as a dune and you go outside in your environment suit to explore.

You have gone only a hundred metres or so when the most incredible pair of beings seem to swim into sight ahead of you from behind a low dune. One is a creature like a fin-less angel fish the size of a giraffe in its shape and colouring, but there the resemblance ends. It seems to glide effortlessly on two slender legs like rubber tubes. It has cord-like tentacles which loop and curl in the air. One trails a near-transparent globe holding another smaller creature. Where you might have expected eyes to be there are only two holes into which the second creature has placed various unusual looking objects. This second creature is harder to believe in than the first. It looks very much like a beautiful woman wearing little bar a black cloak that floats in the breeze. She is riding the land fish beast and she carries a polished metal shield, a tall silver sceptre and a sword which looks more like a technological device than a weapon for hacking and hewing at flesh with. Her face seems slightly bloated as if the low pressure of this world was allowing her cheeks to swell and she has a look of sleek haughtiness which combined with the unexpectedness of what you see leaves you, for once, at a loss for what to do. They float towards you, her long black hair trailing in the wind, like a bizarre apparition, and the land fish stops ten metres away without any command from the woman. She speaks and your translator makes sense of the strangely distant sounding uttering, 'Is that a machine? I thought you would float down from the stars.'

374
The woman's red eyes plumb your own and her dark bluish lips part in an inscrutable smile. You are thinking of a suitable reply when there is the muffled crack of displaced air behind you. Turning, you see that Yelov's Time Machine has materialised near your own. The outside camera swings towards you, then stops. You pull your blaster as Yelov is lowered, his own plasma pistol at the ready, to the sandy ground below his machine. Tut the hand-machine away,' the woman says in a voice of command, and the land fish floats towards you. Yelov is aiming his pistol at you. Will you:

Do as the woman says?
Blast Yelov?
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