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Let's Try to Avoid a Fate Worse Than Death in Plundered Heartsquote:>SHOOT THE PIRATE Infocom posted:In the 17th century, the seas are as wild as the untamed heart of a young woman. But when you set out on the schooner Lafond Deux, bound for the West Indies, your thoughts are only of your ailing father who awaits your care. Little do you know that your innocent journey will soon turn to dangerous adventure. Published by Infocom in 1987, Plundered Hearts was author/developer Amy Briggs' first game for the interactive fiction giant. As the first and only entry in the company's library to have the "romance" classification, Plundered adopted a more scripted, story-heavy approach than their other more exploration-focused titles. It was pretty ambitious for the time, and from what I can find the game was fairly well-received. Unfortunately, by this point Infocom was on its way out; the company closed its doors two years later and Plundered ended up being one of its last releases. Amy Briggs moved from Infocom to 3M, and as far as I know, has done nothing more in the gaming field since. So it goes. I started LPing this a few years ago and ended up having to stop due to personal reasons, but with things a little more stable in my life right now, hopefully we can get all the way through it this time around. Also I finally found a WinFrotz-compatible version of the game, making transcription easier. I'll shoot for at least one update a day, and we'll see how long that lasts. CONTENT WARNING In this game, Infocom's traditional **** You have died **** game-over message is supplemented by a new one: **** You have suffered a fate worse than death **** ...Which is to say that we're going to get raped a lot. From what I can recollect the descriptions are all brief and discreetly fade to black right away, but I'm just going to put that out there immediately so nobody gets any nasty surprises.
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# ? Jun 14, 2021 18:22 |
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# ? May 5, 2024 07:07 |
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The game starts us off with a letter (included separately in the game packaging, as was Infocom's common practice):quote:St. Sinistra, 5 January So there we go. A sick dad, a suspiciously French governor who names his flagship after himself and rules an island called St. Sinistra, and a long journey by sea. Hopefully Captain Davis is trustworthy. Let's get started, shall we? quote:PLUNDERED HEARTS So much for Davis doing anything for us. That's downright ungentlemanly. By the sounds of things, we don't have any time to spare. We'd better take stock of things - and quickly. quote:>get up A reticule is a little pouch for carrying things. Infocom actually included a felt pouch in the game materials (as well as a copy of the banknote, which we'll be getting to later). Note also the list of what we're wearing - most of Infocom's games don't bother cataloguing your clothing. For now, we'd better figure out how to get out of here. It sounded like Davis locked the door, but maybe... quote:>open door Well, it was worth a shot. How about the porthole? quote:>look out porthole Huh. Also, somebody's not having a good time up top. All right, so we're locked in here, nothing but the bed... what can we do? Davis sounded like he was looking for something, but the room is pretty short on hiding places. quote:>look under bed Ah-ha! Maybe there's something in here we can use! quote:>get coffer Drat. quote:>break porthole with coffer Double drat. We're running out of options here... quote:>hide under bed quote:Crash! You whirl around to see the door shatter, kicked by a hulking man, his Uh-oh.
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# ? Jun 14, 2021 18:23 |
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With a death message like that, we need to establish something real quick: Can we kick this man in the groin? Probably not, but I'm hoping the correct answer to every handsy man is a quick shot to the jimmies.
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# ? Jun 14, 2021 22:26 |
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Agreed >Kick man in Groin
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# ? Jun 14, 2021 23:36 |
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bbcisdabomb posted:With a death message like that, we need to establish something real quick: Can we kick this man in the groin? I certainly hope so, because if not, we're in trouble! quote:>kick pirate in groin Well, I'm all out of ideas. Looks like we're helpless! quote:>look at pirate That's very clever, Andy. Ha ha. Ha... quote:Crulley drags you, despite your resistance, towards him. Then suddenly he Huh? Are... are we saved? quote:A tall form blocks the shattered door, one fist still raised from striking I guess we're not. But at least we've traded up to being menaced by a higher class of villain. quote:To your surprise, the stranger bows. "Well met, my lady." His accent is Or... maybe we are? quote:>read missive All right, I guess that will have to be good enough. I'm sure a pirate would never forge a signature. quote:The pirate captain glances around the empty room, then notices the coffer in I don't see how we have much choice in the matter. Even if Davis somehow survives this, I doubt he has anything pleasant in store for us either. quote:>yes Don't copy my commentary, Jamison! quote:Deck Hi, Davis! You don't mind if I leave without you, do you? quote:>look at davis Bye, Davis. quote:Swooning, you fall into the Falcon's arms. You are dimly aware of being Swoon count: 1
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# ? Jun 15, 2021 00:38 |
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Short as it is, there are still a couple little branches in the game's opening scene. The coffer - or rather, its contents - will be important later. Thankfully, unlike some other adventure games, this one won't doom you to failure for not picking up an item at the very beginning: quote:>z And even if you try to ignore it, Jamison picks it up on his own. quote:The pirate captain glances around the empty room, then notices the coffer. You also have the "option" of refusing Jamison's help... quote:The pirate bows. "My lady, may I offer my protection and my ship until your ...Which goes about as well for you as you'd expect. This is also what he does if you don't answer him for a couple turns. On the subject of the other NPC in this scene, there's a little "fun" we can get up to with Crulley. quote:>kiss andy Yuck. Also I have no idea what he just said. We can also ask him about his other distinguishing feature... quote:>ask andy about hook Now, the game may not let us kick Crulley in the junk properly, but that doesn't mean we're defenseless. We have a convenient heavy object right here, after all. quote:>hit crulley You have to hit him twice, so if you waste any time with non-whacking-related activities, you still have to be rescued. On the bright side, the game does acknowledge your initiative here. quote:The door creaks slightly as a tall form bends through its smashed remains. Of course, the rest of the scene still plays out the same way, even if we try to make it go otherwise. quote:>hit crulley And that's about it for the intro... that said, this unconscious pirate is a bit unsightly. We really should tidy up after ourselves. quote:>put crulley under bed ...Wait. You wouldn't let me hide under there, but Crulley can fit? I need to revise my mental image of our heroine. quote:>put myself under bed (Of course "the ship rolls to one side and X rolls out" is the generic message for putting something under the bed, and it's probably there mainly to stop you from re-hiding the coffer. On the other hand, you can get some... unusual effects here.) quote:>put head under bed
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# ? Jun 16, 2021 02:16 |
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All right, where were we?quote:Swooning, you fall into the Falcon's arms. You are dimly aware of being Oh, right. Pirate ship. quote:TWO DAYS LATER... Eek! quote:Captain's Quarters, on the bed Our home away from home, I guess. Let's see what the game has to say about our rescuer/captor. quote:>look at falcon He does cut a dashing figure, I'll give him that. His description doesn't acknowledge the ring despite it being pointed out in the earlier narration. quote:look at ring Some light googling suggests that this is the motto ("salt savours all"), and likely the crest, of the Worshipful Company of Salters, a London trade guild: But what could that have to do with Jamison? quote:"We have anchored off St. Sinistra," says Captain Jamison, "and I must look And he's going to leave us stuck in here, no doubt. We can assume Lafond had something to do with our father's troubles, which makes him a target for our revenge, too... quote:>ask jamison about lafond Wait. How am I supposed to talk to Cookie without encountering the rest of the crew? I don't think you thought this through, Jamison! quote:>ask jamison about father And like that, we're alone again, left with just an early outline of our hero and villain - Jamison, a man of formerly good name turned to piracy, and Lafond, a former pirate who wriggled his way into power and authority. Anyway, we could just wait for Jamison to finish the game for us, but that'd get boring pretty quick. Let's have a look around! quote:>get up Yup, it's the Caribbean. The game pointed out the "messy table" as an example of the room's "masculinity." Anything of interest? quote:>look at table Nope. Screw this noise, we're going exploring. quote:>open curtain We'd better be able to squeeze past it, or this is going to be a short game... quote:>n Squeeeeeeeeeeeze! quote:Landing This must be a really cramped landing. Anything inside the cupboard? quote:>open cupboard Meh. quote:You hear the door being unbarred, and turn to see Captain Jamison. "Hello! You can wait in the bedroom for Jamison back and give you this, but you'll miss his reaction. quote:>look at brooch Seems a bit ostentatious for us, to be honest. Let's see what else is around... quote:>up No surprises there. quote:>d It's a hold. It's aft. Hence the name. Moving on... quote:>n Um. Jamison? quote:Hold Um, Jamison!? quote:>look up No sign of our mystery firelighter. quote:>open cage This isn't good. Maybe there's something we can use to put out the fire down here? quote:>n Bottles hold liquids. It seems like a long shot, but... quote:>get all This definitely isn't good.
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# ? Jun 17, 2021 02:30 |
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*Gasp* That scoundrel Crulley! IF that doesn't stick to the usual genres is interesting.
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# ? Jun 17, 2021 06:12 |
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Go to the cupboard, get clothes and throw clothes onto fire?
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# ? Jun 17, 2021 11:47 |
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All right, looks like it's going to be up to us to save the ship.quote:>s Let's try the bottle first. quote:>open bottle Oh, okay then. quote:>squeeze bottle on fire You know, maybe we should actually check what's in the bottle first. Wouldn't it be funny if it turned out the bottle was full of oil or something? quote:>examine bottle Good thing we checked! It'd be a shame to waste this. quote:>drink bottle Aww. I could've sworn there was a way to dose ourselves and sleep through the ship exploding, but if there is, I'm not seeing it now. All right, the bottle's out. There has to be something we can do! Slaan posted:Go to the cupboard, get clothes and throw clothes onto fire? As good an idea as any! quote:>s Oh, it's one of those cupboards that's also a room. You know. quote:>enter cupboard Two clothings for the price of one! Score! Back to the hold... quote:>n quote:>throw breeches at fire quote:>l Well, smothering the fire didn't work. For the record, it is supposed to be possible to toss things into the cage: quote:>examine cage Just not these things, apparently. Maybe there was something in the captain's quarters that we overlooked? quote:>s Crulley! quote:>look at man But... you just... quote:The end of a rope ladder blows past the window. ...Huh. Well, it's something. quote:>open window We do have one heavy object in our possession. But first... quote:>open coffer Squee! No, wait. Not getting blown up takes priority. Heave-ho! quote:>throw coffer at window So satisfying to break something every once in a while, don't you agree? quote:>sit on ledge Oh right, long skirts, not conducive to climbing ladders. My mistake. quote:>in An extremely useful command, given that when you're playing blind, you're probably going to be changing back and forth between outfits a few times. quote:>wear breeches Disguise complete! Let's try this again... quote:>sit on ledge Made it! Now at least we have the option of jumping overboard if we can't figure out how to douse that fuse. This seems like as good a time as any to bring up that this game has points, and we've already picked up a few! quote:>save Your rank changes every five points, so hopefully we'll be sporting a more dignified title before long. Plundered Hearts gives out its points one at a time, so thus far we've been rewarded for the following: * Picking up the bottle of laudanum * Picking up the clothes from the cupboard * Breaking the window * Standing upon the Poop
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# ? Jun 18, 2021 01:51 |
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Let's go Forewards
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# ? Jun 18, 2021 04:17 |
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All right, I guess I didn't leave us with much in the way of options, did I.quote:>n Cannons! Oh boy oh boy oh boy! quote:>fire cannon All right, fine. We'll just look at things like a good little girl. quote:>examine cannon quote:>n Our disguise seems to be working well, at least. What's in these barrels? quote:>x barrels *sniff* Yep, smells like water! quote:>drink rum I think ratafia is a liqueur of some kind? In which case, yeah, it's a little bit stronger. Just a bit. quote:>drink water ...Wait, why are we so far from the island? quote:>examine reefs That's, uh... running into those is bad, right? quote:>n Looks like there's a building here we can examine, but we did say we wanted to go foreward... quote:>n ...God drat it, Crulley.
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# ? Jun 19, 2021 04:21 |
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Can we drop the "main" anchor somehow? If so, we probably should.
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# ? Jun 19, 2021 23:46 |
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Rogue AI Goddess posted:Can we drop the "main" anchor somehow? If so, we probably should. That seems like it might be a good idea. Alas, we're just a poor lass from London who's never set foot on a ship before! quote:>s Well, nothing of interest here. Let's check out that one place we skipped! quote:>enter shack So here's Rodney, a.k.a. Cookie, the guy Jamison told us to ask if we needed something. Hopefully he can help us here. quote:>tell cookie about fire Okay, evidently we're completely on our own here. In case it wasn't obvious, the mooring winch we walked past twice is for the main anchor, which we need to drop. Let's get to it. quote:>get dagger After we're suitably armed, of course. quote:>out Now then--- quote:The sound of splintering wood reverberates through the ship as it drifts onto Or... not. So, because I spent all that time farting around trying to talk to Cookie, we ran out of time and the ship hit the reefs. On the whole Plundered Hearts isn't a particularly mean game, but it does start you off with two ticking clocks right at the beginning. So, rewinding back to before we entered the galley... quote:>s PRESS UP TO SAVE SHIP quote:>push lever up Ten-year-old me had a terrible time with this because I couldn't wrap my head around the idea that the ship had two anchors. The anchor was already cut, so what was messing with the winch going to accomplish? I was pretty dumb. quote:>score In any case, lowering the anchor got us another point, and our first rank upgrade! ...What else did we need to deal with again?
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# ? Jun 21, 2021 01:42 |
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Well, there's the matter of the ship blowing up. Can we empty the Laudanum bottle, fill it with water from the barrel, and snuff the fire with that?
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# ? Jun 21, 2021 02:05 |
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Use laudenum on Cookie and search cookie to see if the old guy has anything
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# ? Jun 21, 2021 04:05 |
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Really hoped I'd last more than a week before falling behind on updates. Oh well.Slaan posted:Use laudenum on Cookie and search cookie to see if the old guy has anything It's everyone for himself (or herself) out here on the high seas, after all. quote:>in Hmm. quote:>squeeze bottle drat it, game, do my bidding! quote:>squeeze bottle into cookie's toothless mouth quote:>sigh The game can't even interpret that right. BraveLittleToaster posted:Can we empty the Laudanum bottle, fill it with water from the barrel, and snuff the fire with that? All right, maybe if we don't have to interact with an NPC we can make the parser understand us. quote:Main Deck Maybe if we... squeeze it out while dunking it in the barrel, it'll work? quote:>put bottle in water Uh. quote:>get bottle ...Oops? quote:>overturn water barrel Well, if you say please... quote:>get in water barrel All right, so we've got to reload. I will say that we have either seen or acquired everything we need to extinguish the fuse. quote:>i
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# ? Jun 25, 2021 02:49 |
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Dip linen chemise into the water and then throw that on the fire?
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# ? Jun 25, 2021 03:04 |
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Can we pick up Cookie himself and toss him on the fire? Try the salts on the fire too, alternatively.
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# ? Jun 25, 2021 05:40 |
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Huh, somehow I'm not surprised that a Bodice Ripper novel became a computer game.
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# ? Jun 25, 2021 10:06 |
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It's interesting that the game makes you wear a disguise before you can climb. Can you strip in sight of crew? Does that have an unfortunate effect?
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# ? Jun 25, 2021 12:45 |
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quote:You will be safe -- but there is another for whom I fear! My horse is waiting and I ride to her rescue. I spent entirely too long staring at this sentence wondering why your father needs to go save his horse.
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# ? Jun 25, 2021 15:02 |
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Yep, I did it again. Work's been busy.Slaan posted:Dip linen chemise into the water and then throw that on the fire? Anything's worth a try. quote:>s Prude! Regallion posted:It's interesting that the game makes you wear a disguise before you can climb. Hmm. quote:>strip I'd call that unfortunate, yes. That's way more than "a bit" rough, game. Also, you don't have to be disguised before you climb the ladder; you just can't be wearing the cotton frock. You're perfectly welcome to climb the ladder in just your chemise, in which case you'll get pirated as soon as you step onto the quarterdeck. BraveLittleToaster posted:Can we pick up Cookie himself and toss him on the fire? Try the salts on the fire too, alternatively. Cookie's an old man, he can't weigh that much. Let's give it a shot! quote:>in I do appreciate that the game has some fun with a variety of messages for nonsense commands. Anyway, let's try the salts idea. We did see the door leading back belowdecks earlier, so with any luck we can save a little time on our return trip... quote:>s Or... not. So yeah, if you want to go belowdecks again, you have to go all the way to the ship's stern and back down the ladder. You have plenty of time, but when you're figuring out what to do, you can spend quite a few turns just traveling. quote:>s Thankfully it only takes you one turn to negotiate the ladder on the return trip. quote:>n Here we are. Now, where were we? quote:>throw salts at fire It's probably a good thing that the game doesn't let you just toss random junk into the ammo cage, never to be retrieved, but I would've enjoyed at least a couple ways to blow yourself up by tossing the wrong thing. Anyway, that's a couple possibilities eliminated, but we're on the right track! I can feel it! Seyser Koze fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Jul 1, 2021 |
# ? Jul 1, 2021 02:38 |
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the holy poopacy posted:I spent entirely too long staring at this sentence wondering why your father needs to go save his horse. nothing better for the inside of a man, et cetera
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 02:41 |
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I wonder what archaic solution the game could have in mind. Here’s some things to try: Steal Cookie’s pegleg. Retrieve torn scrap of cloth if possible. See if we can disrupt the fuse with our objects instead of the fire itself. Maybe an improvised cloth based slingshot? Using dagger or mirror shard as ammunition. Combine smelling salts and laudanum, add water optionally. Try it on Cookie and fire. Alternatively, cover clothes in mixture. Bribe Cookie with banknote or brooch. See if we can get above decks to the crows nest. I apologize if that’s too many requests.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 03:26 |
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My one thought is that, if it's a squeezable bottle and you can't get anything through the top, maybe we could cut open the lid with the dagger? Then you could use it to transport water to put out the fuse.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 09:53 |
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Certainly the only game I’ve seen that lets you get yourself killed via gang rape scenario. This is certainly interesting to me since I do like watching adventure games and this one’s setup and premise is definitely unique. Won’t be voting though since I find actually playing adventure games to be absolutely annoying and frustrating, especially the text based ones.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 12:39 |
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Keldulas posted:Certainly the only game I’ve seen that lets you get yourself killed via gang rape scenario. And now we are all worse off for the knowledge.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 15:45 |
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I feel it's dreadfully remiss of us to not have tried to use the dagger on Cookie at all. Obviously the Falcon would have entrusted the keys to the ammo cage to his most loyal subordinate, we need only retrieve the keys from his corpse and our way will be clear. If Cookie knows what's good for him perhaps merely threatening him will be enough to make him cough up the goods.
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 16:15 |
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Maybe the brooch can be used as a makeshift lockpick?
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 16:21 |
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I vaguely remember the original thread for this! Is good to see it back. Sadly I don't remember how to not explode. Try soaking the frock and throwing that at the fuse?
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# ? Jul 1, 2021 17:27 |
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BraveLittleToaster posted:Steal Cookie’s pegleg. I actually neglected to save after the last update, so we happen to be right next to the galley already. Convenient! quote:>in Well, so much for that idea. the holy poopacy posted:I feel it's dreadfully remiss of us to not have tried to use the dagger on Cookie at all. Obviously the Falcon would have entrusted the keys to the ammo cage to his most loyal subordinate, we need only retrieve the keys from his corpse and our way will be clear. If Cookie knows what's good for him perhaps merely threatening him will be enough to make him cough up the goods. You know, I've never even tried this. quote:>get dagger Aww. Sorry, Cookie. I didn't mean it. quote:>kiss cookie I... I do? *checks game genre* Oh. I guess I do. Huh. Asking Cookie about anything related to the fire or the ammo cage is incredibly unhelpful, so I guess it's on to the next suggestion: Arzaac posted:Maybe the brooch can be used as a makeshift lockpick? Making our way back down to the ammo cage... quote:>n They really should sand down the boards in this ship so that stops happening... quote:>x cage quote:>open gate No dice, although it's interesting to note that the game automatically recognizes the brooch as a lockpicking tool. Anyway, I confess. Slaan actually had more or less the right answer last time and I was deliberately obtuse to draw things out longer. Slaan posted:Dip linen chemise into the water and then throw that on the fire? The game is kind enough to give you a hint by having your clothes randomly get torn as you walk around the ship, calling to your attention that you're carrying a bunch of absorbent material. quote:>take scrap Hefty enough to soak up a fair bit of water, no doubt? Let's run back upstairs and check... quote:>n Yes! quote:Suddenly you appreciate what it is to be a ball in an exploding cannon. The intense heat, the push of fire, and the sense of release when spit from the cannon's mouth -- these you feel when the lighted fuse finally burns up to the largest keg of gunpowder in the hold. No! 120-ish turns (minus the time on the Lafond Deux at the beginning) is actually less time than I remember having. Either way, if we load our save from before we should be fine. quote:>s The entire soaking-wet frock seems like it'll be a bit much to toss into the cage, but we can solve that easily enough. quote:>tear frock Perfect. Now it's just a quick jaunt back downstairs... quote:>n Phew! There's some unintentional dickery from the game here. The message for throwing a non-valid object at the fuse is "You aren't anywhere near the fuse!" which would reasonably imply that throwing things into the cage isn't an option. But here we are. This is actually the first time that I've dunked the entire frock instead of tearing a piece off first, so, out of curiosity: quote:>strip Hopefully that doesn't come back to bite us later. And that's it for the other imminent crisis - no fanfare or dialogue moving the story along... so now what?
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# ? Jul 2, 2021 04:09 |
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I have a feeling we’ll need to get to that skiff at the stern of the boat, unmoor it, and go Sinistra-wards, at least by typical adventure logic. Let’s try to find a way to it.
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# ? Jul 2, 2021 04:19 |
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Cookie saw us coming with the dagger, so we need to get close to him with something that won't register as a weapon. Tear off another strip of cloth and use it to garrotte Cookie. The rest of the pirates will be so cowed and impressed by this feat of violence that they will undoubtedly yield control of the vessel to us.
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# ? Jul 2, 2021 04:39 |
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# ? May 5, 2024 07:07 |
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Mathwyn posted:I vaguely remember the original thread for this! Is good to see it back. Me too!
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# ? Oct 23, 2021 01:57 |