RPG Gamebooks

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Heart of Ice Spy Playthrough Part 1


Bond.  James Bond.  The Spy class has a license to kill, but no starting weapons or combat Skills to abuse that at the start.  Not even gadgets, because the apocalypse cut Q's budget.  Instead, the Spy must rely on computer knowledge, acrobatics, and social Skills to succeed.


Will Bond battle Boche?  Codewords may change the quest for the Heart of Volent in ways I can't anticipate.


Some CHOICEs and plot details were covered in previous playthroughs, so I may abridge the narrative until I find new content.


In CHOICE #1, I refuse Kyle Boche's company.  James Bond may not have ESP, but I have something better than in-story psychic powers:  metagaming.  Unfortunately, I cannot trick Kyle Boche into pulling the pin on the grenade he was hypnotized to forget about. 


"You look at Boche's hand but do not take it.  In these latter days, with humanity on the brink of extinction, you have learned to be wary of strangers."


"I travel alone".  Boche says "Come, that's hardly friendly.  I've paid your bill."  Bond's response is "I did not ask you to.  Landlord, return this man's money.  I shall settle my own account".


CHOICE #59 is to either pay 3 Scads to stay the night at the starting inn, or go to CHOICE #2 with the treacherous companion.  It's not like money has been much use to me in previous campaigns.


Boche comes back to attempt to railroad me onto the main plot.  "We may as well travel together for mutual convenience, at least for a while".


CHOICE #60 is to either agree with him, or insist on going solo.


"Why won't you see sense?' asks Boche in an affable tone.  'Two can travel more safely than one.  The road is plagued by robbers.'  You find Boche's sincerity to be as false as a serpent's smile, and you have no desire to wake up one morning to find he has made off with your money and possessions.  'For all I know, you are the robber', you tell him to his face".


Bond's one-liners have suffered in his Ice Age incarnation.


CHOICE #61 is to go to Venis or the Lyonesse jungle.  The latter leads back to the Visionary's path on CHOICE #4, minus 3 Scads from refusing Boche paying for my stay at the inn.  The former goes to a new page since I don't have a companion now.


Once again, I'm in the artificially-warm jungles of France.  But CHOICE #4 will take a different direction without the Visionary's psychic powers.  Bond can use his physical training to attempt to dodge the monster.


"You react instantly, flipping backwards over the log an instant before the jaws strike.  The creature rears back, spitting out soil and twigs, head bobbing on a long grey cable of neck, and lunges again.  You slip aside, snatch up your belongings, and race off through the trees".


The page that follows is the same as if I had used ESP, so it's just an alternate Skill check. 


I follow the avenue into the Marsay ruins to meet Fax in CHOICE #5, and fail his LORE check in CHOICE #6.


In CHOICE #7, Bond collects the Vine Killer when he asks Fax why the ground is barren near his home.  Before CHOICE #8, I ask him where he gets his food and stock up on 7 Skudge Bars (i.e. Food Packs).  Bond can't afford casino accommodations, so he has to resort to robbing malfunctioning vending machines.  I can always drop some Food Packs if I need other Possessions.


But CHOICE #8 is different.  The Visionary didn't have CYBERNETICS, but the Spy does.  This computer regulates Marsay's "generator and lighting systems, as well as hydroponic gardens".


Bond is about to contact Gaia, but Fax "utters a doleful bleat".  He thinks Gaia will "switch off the sun" if I draw her attention.


CHOICE #62 is to either call Gaia anyway, explore the subway tunnels, or leave Marsay and go west.


-GAIA, ARE YOU THERE?


>WHERE IS THERE?  HERE IS EVERYWHERE.


-HOW MUST I REACH DU-EN?


>GIZA FIRST.  THE PYRAMID.  YOU CAN FIND A FRIEND IN GILGAMESH.  ENTER HUMBABA. . .


I shut down the computer to prevent any nearby nuclear reactors from melting down, because it's probably infected with Gaia's viruses now.  This means Fax will be out of power in a couple of days at most unless he finds another way to get electricity.


"What have you done?  You have wrecked my little paradise, all for the sake of a word with your precious Gaia?"


"You shrug.  'Those few words might mean the salvation of mankind-if I can work out what they meant".


Bond never had much regard for minor NPCs.  The book returns me to CHOICE #62 with the Humbaba codeword, so I can go into the tunnels now.


In CHOICE #9, I take the subway, and this time go to Giza.  CHOICE #63 prevents me from visiting the Great Pyramid directly.


"We have arrived in a restricted area.  We will now proceed to Maka, where you will be able to transfer to another vehicle for your onward journey.  We apologize for any inconvenience". 


Bond could go to Tarabul like the Visionary did, but that would lead to a disastrous trek through the Sahara.  So the best path in CHOICE #63 may be to disembark where I am and hope for the best.


"There is not much room, but you manage to squeeze through, emerging onto a broad expanse of tarmac with a few single-storey buildings nearby.  The air is crisply cool but there is no snow here.  To the south, outlined against a china blue sky, you can see a cluster of ancient spires surrounding a high stone fortress wall".


One jet is about to take off.  CHOICE #64 is to either yell at the pilot, or hide in the subway entrance.


"You are halfway across the tarmac when you realize your mistake.  The pilot of the flyer has already engaged the boosters.  You see him at the cockpit window, his face contorting in surprise and shock at the sight of you racing towards the craft.  Your last image is of him jabbing desperately at the controls, but he is too late to abort the booster ignition.  An instant later, a blast of white-hot gas bursts from the landing jets and billows up to press a wave of solid heat into your face.  Blinding light burns into your retinas, followed by darkness and oblivion".


OW!  James Bond just lost 5 Life Points from that mistake.  This is a decision more suitable for other secret agents whose names I may be stealing for future Spies.


But there may be some redemption for this playthrough.  I learn the codeword Talos, one solution to the beam-phantom in CHOICE #45 in the future.  It's unlikely it has anything to do with the Nine Divines of the Elder Scrolls games.


I'm in a room that smells like antiseptic and has a white ceiling.  One man asks how I am, and Bond responds "I've got pins and needles".


"Reaching across to rub your left arm, you feel the unyielding hardness of metal in place of flesh.  You sit bolt upright with a thrill of horror, throwing off the sheets.  You can only stare at what they have made of you:  a being half of robotics, half of living tissue.  A cyborg".


I tried to play my Spy as James Bond, and turned him into Adam Jensen instead.


The man was the same one who flew the jet that burned me.  He's been trying to heal me for a few weeks.


But there's another plot twist.  Bond isn't on Earth right now, but somewhere named al-Lat, after a pre-Islamic goddess of the Arabian peninsula.  CHOICE #65 asks whether Bond wants to tell the truth about how or why he was in Maka.  If Maka is the city I think it is, Bond traveled further east than he expected. . .


ROGUERY seems more like a sneaking Skill than a lying one, and STREETWISE is probably to get information.  So Bond will have to reveal his secrets.


I tell the man I was trying to follow Gaia's advice.  He warns me not to contact Gaia on al-Lat to protect their computers from viruses.  He then introduces himself as Riza Baihaqi.


CHOICE #66 is to either tell Riza about Du-En, or say I want to go back to Earth.




Character Sheet
 
Spy
 
Life Points:  5
Possessions:  Vine Killer, 7 Food Packs
Special Items:  Nothing
Money:  27 Scads
Skills:  AGILITY, CYBERNETICS, ROGUERY, STREETWISE
Codewords:  Humbaba, Talos

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Heart of Ice Spy Playthrough Part 2


I tell Riza about my quest for the Heart of Volent, emphasizing the desire to restore my body.  Riza says "It seems far-fetched".  He offers me the opportunity to look at the computer files if it will be helpful.


CHOICE #67 can be either a LORE check, deciding to look at the computer files, or walk around al-Lat.


One video from 200 years ago has an interview with Eleazar Picard after he escaped Du-En.  He says "It was the light at the end of Time, and my sanity is blinded!" under the effects of a truth serum.  A colonel asks how he escaped, and he responds "The Truth is a flame.  What ignites the flame?  The spark ignites the flame.  What is the spark?  The Heart of Volent!"


Yes, it's the answer to the elevator quiz at the end of the game.  The Lunar codeword represents James Bond having this knowledge.  I then go to the same page as what would have happened if I had taken a stroll in CHOICE #67.


One anonymous technician says the al-Lat space station is self-sufficient, so Gaia hasn't affected them like the people of Earth.  "Supercooled chambers" contain neural networks designed to use the original Gaia programs that aren't infected with viruses.  The al-Lat residents want to terraform Venus, where Gaia's influence cannot reach.


"You give a snort of incredulous laughter.  'Why not use your skills on Earth?  Although inhospitable, it is still a better place than Venus!"


"He smiles.  'We thought of that, of course.  Any attempt to alter the Earth's current climate might meet with Gaia's displeasure, and al-Lat would be targeted by nuclear missiles against which we have no defense".


CHOICE #68 sounds like the setup to an ending.  Either Bond can say al-Lat shouldn't leave Earth behind, or join the Venus terraforming plan instead.  The Heart of Volent's power may go to one of the other adventurers, thus allowing them to create a new universe anyway.  Or there's some details I missed in the Scientist playthrough.


Let's go to Venus and see what happens!


But I don't get to do that.  "It is not so simple as all that.  Our way of life here on al-Lat is governed by a complex creed, of which you know nothing.  We are a society which is closed to outsiders".


Riza Baihaqi says he'll send me to Sudan, so I'm forced to continue the quest anyway.  Before we land, Riza shows me how his people improved al-Lat.  "Did you expect a cramped space-station in the ancient style?  We have enlarged al-Lat over the centuries until it is what you see today:  a cylinder some two kilometres wide and half a kilometre long.  Rotation provides us with gravity, the sun's rays with light and heat".


CHOICE #69 is to either shop in Sudan, or travel to Du-En immediately.  Sudan in Heart of Ice isn't a country, but "a fishing village" on "the shore of the Sea of Reeds".  (Possibly today's city of Port Sudan?)


I have 27 Scads left and it's not like I'm going to use them on anything else.  It's fortunate that I did, because a Fur Coat is for sale for 5 Scads.  If I didn't already have more food than Bond will ever need, I could buy Food Packs made of "fish, oil, and grain dried into blocks" for 4 Scads each.


One girl from Sudan sings:


"Out across the Ice Wastes
Yellow steam and snow,
Cough your guts and freeze to death,
A silly way to go".


The narration says the player character wonders if it's mad to go west.  "Still, when life on Earth is guttering like a candle about to blow out, only a fool makes plans for the future".


Bond drops one of his Food Packs and pays 5 Scads for the Fur Coat, leaving him with 22.


My path is now redirected to the march the Visionary had to endure, but Bond is a little more prepared.  The Fur Coat saves me from losing a Life Point on page 234.  But I do lose 1 Life Point on page 393 for having a Fur Coat, but not SURVIVAL.  In CHOICE #12, Bond has neither the Polarized Goggles nor SURVIVAL.  The penalty is losing 3 Life Points, but the Fur Coat barely protects Bond from Death.


In CHOICE #13, Bond can eat 2 Food Packs.  I don't gain any Life Points from this, but it does keep Bond from losing his last.


CHOICE #14 forces Bond to run to the hot spring, where he'll pick up the debilitating Hourglass codeword if he leaves in CHOICE #17.  3 Life Points is Bond's current health.  But he loses 2 of them for having a Fur Coat without SURVIVAL and a Burrek.  CHOICE #70 offers an chance to use 2 Food Packs, only 1, or nothing.


Bond limps into Du-En on CHOICE #36.  He does not have the Diamond codeword because I refused Boche's company at the beginning.


"Kyle Boche', you mutter wryly.  'What a small world".


"So', he says with a wide grin, 'you have also come to seek the ultimate power!"


My old foe is still here even though I ditched him in the first CHOICEs.  Maybe he caught up because Bond burned himself on a jet and was forced to stay on a space station for weeks.


CHOICE #37 proceeds as normal with the adventurers introducing themselves.  But CHOICE #38 does not go the same way as it did in the Visionary playthrough.  It has an option for the evil codeword Hourglass. 


"You pass a restless night troubled by bouts of nausea.  As the sky begins to show the dim silver burnish of predawn light, you rise and run trembling fingers through your sweat-matted hair."


CHOICE #71 is ominous, because it's an Antidote Pill check. 


"The truth dawns on you with chilling horror:  you have a wasting disease.  It will spread, gnawing away at you from inside.  Now the race for the Heart takes on a vivid new importance, as it is only by obtaining its power that you can cure your body of the sickness".


Heart of Ice's final act of mercy is to offer a check for either a Medical Kit in my Possessions, or withdrawing one from the Manta car.  Bond did not come prepared for this.


CHOICEs #39 and #40 are the ones about going into the catacombs or resting for a day.  Rest is almost certainly Death, so Bond might as well go for it, even without the Enkidu codeword.


CHOICE #73 is another Enkidu check.  Chaim Golgoth, the Gargan clones, and I explore a Du-En bomb shelter and an auditorium with puppets wielding scimitars.  These swords aren't props.


CHOICE #74 is how to deal with the living puppets.  Either pass another Enkidu check, use AGILITY, or nothing.   

"Grabbing the stage curtain, you haul yourself up hand over hand until you reach the machinery that moves the puppets' wires.  Swinging out, you gather up the wires and snag them into the rotating cogs.  Down on the stage, the puppets are jerked off their feet and lifted up as their wires snarl inside the machinery".


Chaim Golgoth praises my performance, calling it a deus ex machina.  Though it's clear this path is a dead end.  No way to get to the Heart of Volent from here.  Golgoth speculates the Heart is a failed universe formed during the Big Bang, and compares it to a twin that dies in the womb by being absorbed into its sibling.


One of the Gargans says "That is only true for those born in the inferior natural way, inside a womb.  My sisters and I were carefully nurtured and grown to maturity.  The artificial wombs guaranteed perfect nutrient balance".


Golgoth has this to say.  "Your own sisters were all fine specimens of womanhood.  I should know; it was me that killed all twelve of them".  After Golgoth confesses his murders, Gargan XIII slaps aside his gun and kicks him in the stomach.  Gargan XIV grabs him by the neck.  "Like all so-called natural humans, he is nothing compared to our pure racial stock".  Are there Nazi scientists hidden somewhere in the Heart of Earth world?  The way the Gargans talk, you'd think they were created by them.  They won't be love interests for Bond, that's for sure.


CHOICE #75 reveals the purpose of Enkidu for players who never found it.  It's meant to order an "automaton" companion, probably Gilgamesh from Giza.  The alternatives are to fight the Gargans or wait and see what happens.  1 Life Point and no combat Skills?  Better not risk it.


Golgoth isn't dead yet.  "Gargan XIII draws a knife and looks down at Golgoth, in no hurry to finish him off.  Suddenly he looks up with a broad smile.  She was wrong in thinking him beaten.  To the contrary, he has the look of a cat who has trapped two very large mice".  He's poisoned them with cyanide.


"They went two seconds sooner than I thought', says Golgoth in a curious tone.  'Must've been their faster metabolisms".


Golgoth offers me 4 items out of the following from the Gargans' corpses:  2 Barysal Guns with 3 charges each, a Flashlight, a Medical Kit, a Stun Grenade, and 3 Food Packs.  Bond will take the Stun Grenade, a Medical Kit, a Flashlight, and a Barysal Gun.  They may have come late, but at least our Spy finally has some gadgets.


CHOICEs #40-41 proceed as normal.  But let's talk to Chaim Golgoth in CHOICE #42.  He reveals his motive is to either take the Heart of Volent to the United States, claim it for himself, or destroy it, to prevent it from being held by a hostile power.


"Quite the professional killer, aren't you, Golgoth?" 


"Don't get far if you only make it a hobby".


I can then propose an alliance with Nemesis, but I don't have that codeword.  I can talk to Kyle Boche or go to sleep. 


Before the final journey into Du-En's dungeon, I gain 2 Life Points from consuming a Food Pack and a Medical Kit, but lose 1 from Hourglass afterwards.  So at least Bond is up to 2 Life Points for the endgame.    


I then advance to the part where Bond can finally use his Talos cyborg powers against the beam-phantom in CHOICE #45.  But that will have to wait until the next post!



Character Sheet

Spy
 
Life Points:  2
Possessions:  Vine Killer, 1 Food Packs, Fur Coat, Flashlight, Stun Grenade, Barysal Gun (3 charges)
Special Items:  Nothing
Money:  22 Scads
Skills:  AGILITY, CYBERNETICS, ROGUERY, STREETWISE
Codewords:  Humbaba, Talos, Lunar

[Gustaran]

In CHOICE #13, Bond can eat 2 Food Packs.  I don't gain any Life Points from this, but it does keep Bond from losing his last.

You're cutting it rather close...

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

In CHOICE #13, Bond can eat 2 Food Packs.  I don't gain any Life Points from this, but it does keep Bond from losing his last.

You're cutting it rather close...

James Bond burned half his body chasing down a jet engine, became a cyborg, limped through the Saharan blizzards without full protective clothing or SURVIVAL Skills, and contracted a wasting disease from a hot spring.  I'm amazed 007 is still alive!  


Heart of Ice Spy Playthrough Part 3


Now that Bond has lasted long enough to travel to Du-En, let's see if he can make it through the CHOICE #45-#58 gauntlet.


He can't.


"The glowing phantom is leeching the strength from your living tissue, but your artificial body parts are not affected.  Lunging out with your metal arm, you seize it by the neck.  Your cyborg leg carries you forward with a lurching gait until you stand on the brink of the chasm.  The phantom squirms in your unbreakable grip, its form twisting and flowing like melting wax.  As the fingers penetrate the circuitry of your arm there is a flash of sparks and the feedback causes you 2 Life Points of damage."


Not only did my character lose 5 Life Points from becoming a cyborg in the first place, the Talos codeword power he got was no more efficient than defeating the beam-phantom with the Scientist's LORE.  007 collapses after one last round of Life Point attrition.


Will another Spy avenge 007, or should I move on to another class?


This playthrough taught some useful lessons.  Never try to go directly to Giza from the Marsay subways, or else you'll be re-routed to Maka and miss out on the treasures of the Great Pyramid.  Cyborg powers sound cool, but the Life Point penalty is far too costly to be worth it.


Other than my main mistake, the Spy class seems competent enough.  Getting the Enkidu codeword would probably have saved me a lot of trouble.

[Gustaran]

Now that Bond has lasted long enough to travel to Du-En, let's see if he can make it through the CHOICE #45-#58 gauntlet.

He can't.

Well, that was rather anticlimatic.  I was hoping for glorious comeback win with 1 HP left.

Will another Spy avenge 007, or should I move on to another class?

If you decide to try a new class, my vote would go to the "Bounty Hunter" - just sounds like a cool class. Maybe you can shoot someone...

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Heart of Ice Trader Playthrough Part 1


I may do another Spy playthrough if this character fails, but I'll play a Trader this time.  Might as well call him Taloon after the Dragon Quest 4 character.  The Trader starts with ESP, LORE, SHOOTING, and STREETWISE Skills, and a 6 chage Barysal Gun and a Psionic Focus as Possessions.  The first 3 Skills are useful, but STREETWISE may require sticking around in towns longer than I am accustomed to.


One way to get more Barysal Gun shots in the late game is to go with Chaim Golgoth and wait for him to poison the Gargan clones.  Two weapons with 3 charges each can be found on their corpses.  Other SHOOTING-related CHOICEs probably have another method to get around them without wasting ammo.


To begin, I accept Kyle Boche's offer to pay my Etruscan Inn bill in CHOICE #1, then reject him as a companion in CHOICE #2 by going west to Lyonesse.  Taking advantage of a future antagonist in a petty way like this is fun!    


Kyle Boche arrives at Du-En no matter what, so there's no point in Taloon wasting 3 Scads in the beginning by paying the bill himself. 


CHOICEs #3-#5 proceed as they did in the Visionary playthrough because Taloon has ESP to dodge the jungle monster.


CHOICE #6 is different because Taloon can pass the LORE check during the conversation with Fax.  Without CYBERNETICS to pass CHOICE #76, this new information is useless.  


"Electric lighting is rare in this age, and is usually arranged by means of a coal or oil-fueled generator.  For there to still be electricity here, when Marsay has been abandoned for nearly two centuries, there must be a nuclear power source.  Presumably such a power source would have to be regulated by computers, which means the possibility of a link to Gaia".


The only preset class to come with both LORE and CYBERNETICS is the Scientist, but that lacks AGILITY or ESP to deal with the jungle monster.  Maybe failing the encounter with that merely drains a few Life Points or something?  Or is the reader expected to use a custom character?


Back to CHOICE #7, Taloon stocks up on 6 free Food Packs from the Marsay vending machine.  CHOICEs #8-#9 are to get on the subway.


CHOICE #10 will have a different destination.  Tarabul and "Giza" are traps, though Karthag may be promising in some variant playthrough where I don't care about the Great Pyramid for some reason.  So Kahira it is.


Future Cairo looks like "a grey concrete lobster winking with a thousand eyes of light through the haze of mist."  There's a curfew, which seems to mean shutting the gates in this context instead of preventing people from moving around at night.  But I get in the city before that happens.


"The city gate is a metal shutter opening into a wide cargo lift at the bottom of a concrete buttress.  You hurry through just before the gate closes for the final time this evening.  Standing in a crowd of people, donkeys, and camels, you wait while the lift rattles up to the street level and opens to disgorge its passengers onto a fog-draped plaza."


The air smells like mist and wet concrete.  A man named Bador, a "dracoman" greets me and offers information in exchange for 1 Scad.  CHOICE #77 is to either listen to him or tell him to leave. 


A single Scad probably won't hurt me considering I don't have to buy food, so I'll hear him out. 


CHOICE #78 is to either ask about Giza, the Saharan Ice Wastes, Kahira, or where I should stay for the night.  To start out, I'll try Giza.  Maybe Bador knows the codeword Humbaba?


"Later, men from the distant corners of the globe with a great warrior they called Gilgamesh, who had skin of iron and eyes of fire.  They told him to watch across the snows for stirrings of life in the ruins of Du-En and, if any threat arose from there, he was to take up his sword and venture forth".


Guess not.  As far as I can tell, the other questions are free because there's no instruction to pay after the first.


When Taloon asks about the Sahara, Bador shouts "By your father's beard!  Do you wish to become a corpse with hoarfrost in your veins?  Put aside all thought of such a scheme, I pray you!"


Pressing Bador for more information reveals that only the "barbarian Ebor" tribe go into the Saharan Ice Wastes, and only the edges at most.  "It is a place of ghosts and devils, and the wind is like flint". 


Burreks are fat animals with long necks.  The Ebor survive by staying near them and eating their blood.  "Bador grimaces to show what he thinks of such a custom".


Bador offers several possible origins for the name Kahira.  "I would be untruthful if I pretended to know with adamantine certainty".  But Taloon doesn't care about this, and wants to learn modern history.  Kahira was once an anti-Volentine military base, and fish continue to live in the river because of artificial heat from pipes.


As for lodgings, Bador recommends avoiding Claustral Park at all costs.  Claustrals are "rank fiends-creatures that are the reverse of men", and are implied to be like zombies.  The Ossiman Hotel is preferred, though Fishmonger Plaza is decent.  Muggers attack travelers on the backstreets.


Staying at a fancy hotel will probably deny me the chance to use STREETWISE, so I'll take my chances.


CHOICE #79 can be used as either an ID Card check, or ask about Baron Siriasis, Chaim Golgoth, Gilgamesh, or the Sphinx.  The last alternative is to rest.


Baron Siriasis is a member of the Compass Society and a "psi-lord of Bezant", according to a member of the Kahira militia.  Bezant was once Istanbul, and received a massive amount of "radiation" from the Paradox War.  When people returned, it turned out psychic powers were stronger there.  These psi-lords are famous for "arrogance and disdain for the common herd of mankind".


CHOICE #80 is our first STREETWISE check!  This returns me back to CHOICE #79.  It allows the player to gather more information without having to rest. 


Searching for information about Gilgamesh reveals it was a prototype for a robot meant to be immune to PARADOXING to fight against Du-En.  But Du-En's civilization collapsed before the program was completed.  To go back to CHOICE #79, I need LORE instead of STREETWISE.  Taloon has both.


To ask about Chaim Golgoth, I need to find Harek Asfar, "the chief of the city's criminals" in "a dingy smoke-filled gambling hall".  Asfar says Chaim Golgoth goes by the codename Vector, and killed 15 of his best men when he tried to trick Golgoth with a fake message.  The United States in Heart of Ice claims to rule the entire planet, due to having the majority of the world's population,


So far, STREETWISE is still a useless Skill, because you learn about your rivals while camping at Du-En anyway.  The relevant information regarding the Sphinx and Gilgamesh is based on LORE checks instead.


Pindar the Copt is our source of information regarding the Sphinx.  His room smells like "must and incense".  Pindar's companions tell me about the myth of the riddle of the Spinx, but Pindar himself says "That was the Greek Sphinx.  The Egyptian Sphinx is male.  He sits at Giza and watches over Kahira, keeping the Saharan snows from overrunning the city".


Kahira's power comes from a nuclear reactor under the Sphinx.  Pindar says "the answer to the Sphinx's riddle these days is Humbaba".  That's where you get the codeword if you don't learn it from CYBERNETICS checks in Venis or Marsay.


With all the necessary information gathered, it's time to pick where Taloon will spend the night for CHOICE #80.  Either the Ossiman Hotel, or "rough on the streets".  I may be STREETWISE, but I don't know if the risks would be worth saving 5 Scads.  Money is useless in the Sahara and Du-En, after all.  That takes me to 24 Scads.


The night passes without incident.  Taloon goes to the bazaar, which is still thriving "even in this impoverished age".  One man smoking a clay pipe offers to sell me a Fur Coat for 3 Scads.  Hey, it's cheaper than buying one in Sudan!  I'll drop a Food Pack in exchange for some protection from the cold.  The Trader is now down to 21 Scads.


CHOICE #81 is to either head to the market for "animals and slaves", or look around the rest of the bazaar.  Maybe that market will have a Burrek?


I'm correct.  Burreks are 10 Scads after I haggle the price down from 30.  This animal with "shaggy white fur and a lugubrious snout" is incompatible with the Manta car, because it's too big to fit inside.  But it also doesn't count as a Possession slot because it walks with me.  Taloon now has only 11 Scads after his shopping trip.


The next shopping menu looks like this:


Gas Mask-15 Scads
Flashlight-8 Scads
Medical Kit-8 Scads
Food Packs-2 Scads each
Polarized Goggles-6 Scads
Rope-3 Scads


I can't afford the Gas Mask, and haven't seen any checks for it anyway.  The one use for the Flashlight that I've found is in CHOICE #49, but ESP can deal with that.  Polarized Goggles have a check in CHOICE #12.  Rope is allegedly used in the Du-En dungeon, but I've never seen a check for it in the Scientist playthrough, so it's unnecessary.


Will there be a Flashlight check in Giza?  That's the only part I'm worried about.  I'll take my chances and see if I can get through the Great Pyramid without extra lighting.  If players need one only for Du-En, the deaths of the Gargans can provide a Flashlight.  (Or the Manta car if you have it.)


Ehh. . .Taloon will buy the Polarized Goggles to avoid Life Point loss in the Sahara and drop a Food Pack.


CHOICE #82 is a Diamond codeword check, probably for an encounter with Kyle Boche if I had him with me.


CHOICE #83 offers the options of visiting the Great Pyramid, go to Du-En on foot, or take the Manta car there if I had it.


"It looks to you as if the Sphinx carries in its proud impassive face a clear warning about the Sahara.  You are reminded of the words written over the gates of Hell:  Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate.  Abandon hope, you who venture here".


In this frozen future, people not only know ancient mythology, but also Dante's Divine Comedy.  My character may be a little more justified in knowing this because he's Italian.  At least if starting in the Etruscan Inn and the fact that the rest of the world is new to him are any indication.


CHOICE #30 is the next destination, where I use Humbaba to open the Great Pyramid.


I have nothing to gain from going to the Research Level, because I already have too many Possessions, and stupidly wasted money on a Fur Coat when Cold-Weather Suits are available.  Oh well!  It wouldn't be a Herman Gigglethorpe playthrough without bad decisions.


In the next post, Taloon will visit the Military Level in CHOICE #31.  Will he be the first character to find Gilgamesh?



Trader
 
Life Points:  10
Possessions:  Psionic Focus, Barysal Gun (6 charges), 4 Food Packs, Fur Coat, Polarized Goggles
Special Items:  Burrek
Money:  5 Scads
Skills:  ESP, LORE, SHOOTING, STREETWISE
Codewords:  None


EDIT:  Humbaba is deleted after entering the Giza pyramid.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Heart of Ice Trader Playthrough Part 2


Going to the Military Level in the Great Pyramid has this occur:


"You step onto the hovering platform, surprised and relieved that it remains steady under your weight and does not go plummeting to the bottom of the shaft.  Once again, as is so often in the past, you have cause to marvel at the technology of your ancestors.  Touching the lowest button, you activate the elevator and the platform glides gently down the shat, depositing you in a circular chamber from which several doors lead off.  All are closed.  As you stand pondering which way to go, an automatic circuit engages and a synthesized voice speaks from a slot in the wall, enquiring your reason for being here".


CHOICE #84 is to answer Gaia, Gilgamesh, Du-En, or the Heart of Volent.  Taloon is here for the robot.  But I don't have the Enkidu codeword for CHOICE #85!  Though this is actually a good thing.


"A door opens, admitting you to a short passage that gives onto a dimly lit room.  On a podium in the centre stands a bulky humanoid figure whose violet-and-black armoured body gleams with a dull lustre."


Gilgamesh tells me that we're going to Du-En together because Gaia ordered him to. 


"The heavy armoured plates of his body leave you with no doubt that he was designed for battle.  Along the back of his forearm is a blaster tube connected by cables to a power pack across his wide shoulders".


I get the Enkidu codeword at last and get CHOICE #86 to either ascend to the Research Level or leave the Great Pyramid.  If you are a decent player (i.e. not Herman Gigglethorpe), you'll notice the Research Level supplies make buying Food Packs, Medical Kits, and the Fur Coat in Kahira pointless.  There's no point in lingering in the pyramid any longer, so it's time to start the Sahara trek on foot.


In CHOICE #12, Taloon loses 0 Life Points.  The usual 2 Life Point penalty is decreased by 1 for having the Fur Coat, and drops to nothing because of the Burrek.


Now is the time to use the Polarized Goggles I bought in Kahira, which nullify a Life Point penalty the Visionary suffered.  Two Food Packs are sacrificed in CHOICE #13.  In CHOICE #14, Taloon has two options to deal with the "sabre-fanged bometh":  Enkidu, or SHOOTING.  No need to waste Barysal Gun charges.


"Target identification:  bometh', grates Gilgamesh.  'Mutant wolf/bear hybrid.  Predator.  It presents a danger.  Immediate elimination is called for".


His energy blast "turns the dusk to day", boiling the snowflakes and destroying the bometh in a single shot.


CHOICE #87 is a different check than the usual ones:  Knife/Shortsword, or CUNNING.  These are meant to cut up the bometh corpse.  Without any of the options available, Taloon is forced to move on as if he had sneaked away.


In CHOICE #15, Taloon has full health and does not need the Hourglass disease.  So Gilgamesh, the Burrek, and I leave immediately.  Before moving on to CHOICE #70, I would lose 4 Life Points. . .if I didn't have the Fur Coat and Burrek combination, which reduces the penalty to 1. 


My final Food Packs are gone after CHOICE #70, and I make it to Du-En with only minor losses.  In case any players want a checklist for what supplies are recommended for crossing the Sahara on foot, here goes:


Free Stuff

4 Food Packs:  Marsay vending machine, Giza pyramid Research Level
Cold-Weather Suit:  Giza pyramid Research Level
Gilgamesh:  Giza pyramid Military Level


Purchases

Polarized Goggles:  Kahira bazaar for 6 Scads
Burrek:  Kahira animal market for 10 Scads


With all that, you should only lose 1 Life Point. 


The usual meeting in Du-En happens in CHOICEs #36 through #38.  To replenish some of my Possessions, I'll enter the catacombs with Golgoth and the Gargans.


A different CHOICE #40 route opens when I have Enkidu.  Or so it seems.  Gargan XIV shouts "You heard Vajra Singh's stipulation.  Hirelings and servants are not allowed to join an expedition into the catacombs".


CHOICE #88 is to ask Singh's opinion, insist that Gilgamesh joins me anyway, or leave him behind and replace Enkidu with Uruk.  Might as well talk to the guy with the mantramukta. 


But talking to a more honorable opponent and getting a non-committal answer allows the other rivals to destroy Gilgamesh behind my back.  "His brain case has been split open by an armour-piercing grenade".  It might have been Golgoth rather than the Gargans, because the clones look at him as he whistles. 


I was counting on Gilgamesh to help me in the final dungeon, but all he managed to do was shoot a bometh which I could have easily sneaked away from.


Character Sheet
 
Trader
 
Life Points:  9
Possessions:  Psionic Focus, Barysal Gun (6 charges), Fur Coat, Polarized Goggles
Special Items:  Burrek
Money:  5 Scads
Skills:  ESP, LORE, SHOOTING, STREETWISE
Codewords:  Nothing

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Heart of Ice Trader Playthrough Part 3


Without Enkidu or AGILITY, I'm forced to see the worst result of the puppet battle in CHOICE #74.


"The puppets are programmed to fight each other in an epic theatrical battle.  But you doubt if the programmers ever expected a group of spectators to wander onto the stage during the performance.  Dodging the sword-blows is almost impossible."


Taloon loses 2 Life Points.  He could have had a penalty of 1 if he had CLOSE COMBAT.  In CHOICE #75, I sit back and let Golgoth murder the Gargans.  Serves them right for being Gilgamesh murder suspects.  My Possessions now include a Stun Grenade, a Food Pack, a Medical Kit, and a 3 charge Barysal Gun.


Taloon immediately consumes the Food Pack and Medical Kit to regain the 2 Life Points he lost in the puppet fiasco.  He needs these for using LORE against the CHOICE #45 beam-phantom, which drops him back to 7.


CHOICEs #46 through #48 go normally when Taloon crosses the bridge and enters the right passageway.


Against the chitin creature in CHOICE #49, I'll use ESP to conserve SHOOTING ammunition.


"Without the forewarning of your ESP you would have been torn in half by the monster's mandibles.  As it is, you lose 1 Life Point".  Maybe I should have shot it after all.


In CHOICE #50, I use my LORE to identify the Monitor Corps man frozen in time, and then shoot with a Barysal Gun to free him.


"It is strange to witness the barysal beam slowing down as it enters the time-distortion zone, like watching a white-hot needle pressing through ice.  As it strikes the stasis bomb, there is a muffled explosion and the bomb splits into molten fragments.  At the same instant, the man takes half a step forward and then jerks back into surprise as he sees the three of you standing around him".


The officer introduces himself as Captain Casimir Novak of High Priest Picard's guard.  Boche and Siriasis both wonder what will happen when Novak learns we're here for his sacred meteorite.  I learn the codeword Mallet as a reward.  (Or perhaps a punishment based on whatever it does in CHOICE #52.)


In CHOICE #51, I obey Siriasis and go ahead.  Time for the moment of truth concerning Mallet. . .


"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 armor 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".


That was worse than James Bond getting burned by a jet engine.  Saving an NPC means I lose to a stray laser bouncing off of him?!


Some people on Goodreads claim to have won Heart of Ice on the first try.     They are lying.


EDIT: The author did a good job with the LORE check, hinting that you shouldn't wake up Novak.  But he can't even be a human shield in the final battle, I guess.

[Gustaran]

Some people on Goodreads claim to have won Heart of Ice on the first try.     They are lying.

I bought the e-book for Kindle for 99 cents and died a few choices into the story - it's probably difficult to get yourself killed faster.

My second try with the Bounty Hunter is going much better, I decided to go with Boche to Venis and there is a lot of interesting stuff going on. You can find out that Boche is known as a traitor (ok, no real suprise there) and sell out his location to some guy he betrayed earlier for 10 scads...  

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

I bought the e-book for Kindle for 99 cents and died a few choices into the story - it's probably difficult to get yourself killed faster.

My second try with the Bounty Hunter is going much better, I decided to go with Boche to Venis and there is a lot of interesting stuff going on. You can find out that Boche is known as a traitor (ok, no real suprise there) and sell out his location to some guy he betrayed earlier for 10 scads...  

Glad to see you're enjoying Heart of Ice too.  It's probably my favorite English gamebook.  I'd love to know how you got killed so early in the story.  Did it involve being eaten by the monster in Lyonesse or something?


Today, I was planning my next character, named Samus.  Guess which class she's going to be?


Bounty Hunter Playthrough Part 1


Samus Aran isn't satisfied unless she has a new planet to destroy, so she lands near the Etruscan Inn.  Gaia infected her spaceship and weapon upgrades, so she's down to a 6 charge Barysal Gun, 30 Scads, and her CUNNING, PILOTING, SHOOTING, and STREETWISE Skills.


But enough with the made-up backstory.  Samus travels with Kyle Boche to Venis in CHOICEs #1, #2, and #18.  She loses 2 Life Points from the cold along the way.


Samus wouldn't be much of a Bounty Hunter if she didn't stay at the disreputable Doge's Inn in CHOICE #19.  CUNNING and STREETWISE have to justify themselves somehow! 


The Doge's Inn got its name from its owner, Scarlatti.  The Doges of old Venice had courtiers called "scarlatti".  The accommodations are "a group of iron-roofed shacks clustered along one of the town's seedier alleyways."


The shower is too hot, because no one "invented a shower that can be set to a comfortable temperature".  Is this a Europe joke?  Showers are pleasant in the United States!


Two men are behind me, and are about to attack. 


CHOICE #89 is to run to the steam room, fight, or try to run away.  Let's fight!


The shower jet puts out the oil lamp nearby.  "He lunges, his knife gashing across your ribs to inflict the loss of 3 Life Points".  If I had CLOSE COMBAT, that penalty would have only been 1.  My enemy is impaled on his own knife after a short struggle.


On the CHOICE #90 page, I learn that my surviving attacker wanted to sell Samus to body snatchers.  They sell organs on the black market.  "It is a foul trade, lacking even the relative honesty of conventional mugging".  My options are to use STREETWISE/a Vade-Mecum, ESP, or nothing.


Samus's street smarts tell her body snatchers don't attack with knives because of the risk of organ damage.  This assassin is actually Baron Siriasis's employee.  This reveals more about his character than any of the previous playthroughs.  Siriasis always treated the other characters fairly until either they died of unrelated causes, or I reached the point where Boche threw a grenade at him.


I tell the hit man to run away and have the option of taking both Knives and 10 Scads.  Probably not worth losing 3 Life Points, but some of those can be recovered in the Du-En camp.


Telling Scarlatti about the assassins gives me no new information.  "I cannot keep track of all the riff-raff of Venis".  Samus then goes to the same page she would have visited if she had stayed at the Hotel Paradise.


In CHOICE #20, I'll go shopping to see what the menu is for Venis.  CHOICE #91 is ordinary goods, weaponry and other devices, or the tempting option "genetic enhancement".  It turns out I shouldn't be attempting this option without a LORE character or knowledge from a previous playthrough.


"You see a selection laid out on a tray that Malengin carries with him.  It occurs to you that he is like a sorcerer in one of the old fairytales, an alchemist peddling dubious potions".  You should know how I feel about wizards at this point!  Only LORE can tell you what the "retroviruses" do.


The options are:


Exalted Enhancer-10 Scads
Virid Mystery-7 Scads
Mask of Occultation-9 Scads
Peerless Perceptivate-6 Scads


One of these is going to be "lose 5 Life Points and gain the Hourglass codeword", I'm sure.


So I am NOT buying any for Samus.  Sorry to disappoint any readers hoping for a Metroid Fusion playthrough.  STREETWISE takes me back to CHOICE #20.  Samus investigates Kyle Boche, which reveals he betrayed a companion in a failed fur smuggling operation in Daralbad.  This companion is now in a "drinking parlour under the Bridge of Sighs".  He lost 2 fingers in this incident.  Another man in the bar says this about Boche:  "If he is treacherous or self-serving, he is not aware of being so, for he is a man of such prodigious vanity that he can admit no faults".


Samus earns 10 Scads for betraying Boche.  Since this is not actually a CHOICE, it doesn't affect the story other than losing the Diamond codeword.


The weapon shop includes the following items:


Barysal Gun 6 charges-16 Scads
Flashlight-10 Scads
Psionic Focus-18 Scads
Gas Mask-10 Scads
Polarized Goggles-8 Scads
Stun Grenade-8 Scads
Knife-4 Scads


Possessions can be sold to the shops with half Scads.  STREETWISE as usual returns the player to CHOICE #20.  Perhaps I've underrated this Skill in previous playthroughs, because it's quite useful for shopping in Venis.


Why is a Psionic Focus for sale if PARADOXING and ESP characters already begin with one?  Is it possible to lose one in an awful CHOICE result, or can you gain Skills via the retrovirus potions?  With all the spare change, I'll buy a spare Barysal Gun and sell the Knives.  31 Scads after the purchases, and 35 Scads after selling the Knives.


Asking about the missing travelers implies there are mutants attacking people in the Appenine Hills.  Someone from the Compass Society will hire one of the drunks once he arrives in Venis.  The drunk says the Compass Society man has "three Fijian bodyguards", so he doesn't need to fear the mutants.  So Fiji still exists in the future?  Wonder what its Gaia-induced climate is like. . .


The Compass Society is essentially the "old boys' club" of the future.  A membership card provides special resources to the wealthy.  Its branches are in Daralbad, Bezant, and Kahira.


Since I forgot to mention them earlier, "ordinary goods" in the Venis shop look like this:


Rope-2 Scads
Lantern-3 Scads
Medical Kit-12 Scads
Food Packs-2 Scads each


CHOICE #94 when I ask about the Heart of Volent reveals that my rivals have been here before me.  Janus Gaunt came last week to hire guides for the Sahara Ice Wastes.  Thadra Bey came from al-Lat and bought a retrovirus potion from Malengin "the Gene Genie".  The guide in the black cloak demands 1 Scad for this information.


I failed to find the way back to the Manta car (i.e. go to contact Gaia and either accept or refuse to do so), and so I'm on the road.  Samus meets a legless man who is of course Baron Sirasis.  He tells me "Of course I can read your mind.  Have you never heard of Baron Siriasis?  I don't need your help either!"  One final telepathic warning to me is "Don't go to Du-En if you want to live".


CHOICE #95 is a Diamond codeword check, which I don't have.  CHOICE #96 is to either pay the 10 Scad ferry to Kahira, or to refuse.  Both are new pages according to my Word document.


The ferry is a hovercraft, and lunch is "a stodgy gruel formulated from sea algae".  CHOICE #96 is another Diamond codeword check.


One of the sailors has a gloomier forecast for Kahira than other NPCs:  "But one day the pipes will fail.  Then the river will freeze and Kahira must die".


In CHOICE #77, I pay Bador 1 Scad and ask about Giza to get the Humbaba codeword.  But I forgot it was actually the following CHOICE.  This is not an auspicious playthrough!


Might as well see what happens in CHOICE #80 when I sleep on the streets because Samus is already a doomed character.  A STREETWISE option is available, which means I may not have to try the park or back alley.  It does have the same result as the open plaza.  Samus steals a pastry for breakfast because she's cheap and doesn't want to buy Food Packs.  This isn't a CHOICE; she just does it automatically.  Then I go to CHOICE #81 and buy a Burrek for 10 Scads and Polarized Goggles for 6 Scads.  Only 7 Scads left!


Samus makes the mandatory stop in Giza to get Gilgamesh, a Cold-Weather Suit, and 4 Food Packs.


I lose 0 Life Points from the first Sahara check, 0 from the Polarized Goggles check, and 0 from the 2 Food Pack check.  Gilgamesh kills the bometh.  CHOICE #87 with the bometh corpes offers the first opportunity to use Samus's CUNNING.  This replenishes my Food Packs.


Samus loses 1 Life Point from the final checks due to not having SURVIVAL, but possessing the Burrek, Cold-Weather Suit, and 2 Food Packs.  4 Life Points total.


After the Du-En meetup, Samus rests in the camp for a day instead of risking the Gargan clones destroying Gilgamesh again.  This recovers her to 5 Life Points.  Samus heals to 6 total Life Points from a Food Pack.



Character Sheet
 
Bounty Hunter
 
Life Points:  6
Possessions:  Barysal Gun (6 charges), Barysal Gun (6 charges), Polarized Goggles, Cold-Weather Suit, 1 Food Packs
Special Items:  Burrek
Money:  7 Scads
Skills:  CUNNING, PILOTING, SHOOTING, STREETWISE
Codewords:  Enkidu