Game 40: Future Wars - The Grate Escape

Hero Journal Entry 4: "What have I got myself into now!? After being captured and imprisoned on a Crughon ship, which I managed to escape through a combination of genius and luck (more of the latter really), I was then moments from being executed by the very council I'd been trying to find. Thankfully Lo'Ann came to save me, but there was very little opportunity to celebrate as we were soon afterwards travelling back into prehistoric times to find the third Crughon bomb. As soon as we arrived it became apparent that we were too late, as the Crughons had already activated the bomb. Somehow Lo'Ann and I managed to take out the congregating army and their leader in a shootout, but my new friend was seriously wounded in the action. I've sent her home to get her wounds treated, and am now facing the prospect of finding and detonating the bomb all by myself! I guess I'll save Earth or die. Perhaps both!"

Aaahhh...finally I can get some shut eye

My last post finished with me boarding a shuttle on my way to meet with The Council. I’d had a bad feeling that I was facing a dead end though, since I’d failed to do anything with the newspaper rack before boarding the train. This gut feeling turned out to be correct, but I won’t spoil the fun for those of you that haven’t played the game. Let’s play it out the way I experienced it. The shuttle took off and an announcement was made to inform myself and the other passenger that we would reach PARIS IV in exactly half an hour. For a while there I wondered whether I was going to have to sit through the entire thirty minutes, but then suddenly something rather dramatic occurred. A Crughon ship dropped down from above, situating itself on top of the shuttle I was in. My character froze while the other passenger opened the cabin door and jumped out! Two Crughons hopped down into the cabin and pointed rifles directly at me. “DON’T MAKE A MOVE, EARTHLING! ONE MOVE AND YOU’RE DEAD!” Rather unheroically, my character fainted at the sight of the aliens and awoke in a small prison. I immediately set about trying to find a way out, discovering an air duct on the wall that was covered by a metal grille. Looking at my inventory, I wondered whether the gas capsule would be the solution to this situation.

Oh come on! Can't I have a moment's peace?

The size of this frame makes me feel claustrophobic, let alone the prison cell.

I tried using the capsule on the air duct, but was informed that I would have to remove the grille first. Hmmm...how could I remove the grill? I tried using the key on it, and was actually surprised when it worked! “OK! You use the key to remove the screws that hold the grille in place. The grille is now removed.” Awesome! I once again tried using the gas capsule on the air duct and that also appeared to be successful! “So, you pull the cartridge open and throw it into the duct. A greenish gas begins to escape from it." Unfortunately, the gas drifted back into the room and suffocated me, meaning I had to restore and figure out a way to stop that from happening. I wasn’t even certain why I might want to put the gas capsule into the duct, but then when has this game ever had puzzles with real motivation?! I tried a few things, but as time went on, I started to think about that newspaper in the rack. Could it be that I was supposed to use the newspaper to cover the duct after throwing the capsule in? The more I thought about it, the more certain I was that it was so. I restored my game back to the train station, and instead of hopping on the train, spent some time trying to figure out what I was supposed to do with the rack.

Finally our hero had simply had enough! No longer would he battle against obstacle after obstacle without proper motivation!

Did you really have to make the coin slot accurately proportional to the rest of the environment?

It didn’t take me long to realise that I hadn’t pixel hunted as carefully as I should have the first time I tried. I guess I was distracted by the train constantly arriving and departing, particularly as I wasn’t able to do anything while it was in the process of doing so. This time I found not only a tiny coin slot towards the top, but I also discovered a coin collector at the bottom. Examining the collector revealed a coin that said “1 ecu” on the reverse! I picked it up and eagerly put it into the coin slot. “Nothing happens! Maybe you didn’t put it in properly...” Well that was surprising! I knew that the cubicles in the toilets at the next stop required 1 ecu to enter, so perhaps I was supposed to go there? Maybe the coin was all I needed and not the newspaper? I thought I would try putting the coin in one more time to make sure, and this time it worked!!! I now had a newspaper! I made my way back to the prison and this time after using the capsule on the air duct, I used the newspaper on it. “A good idea. You use the newspaper to block the duct, so that the gas cannot drift back into the room.” Eventually, in what is a very unlikely turn of events, there was a click as the door to my cell opened. I walked out to find myself in a room filled with dead Crughons! Clearly the gas had flowed through into this room from the duct, and then one of the aliens had fallen onto the cell release button.

Caption contest

Haha! My plan to open the door by randomly putting gas in this duct has worked perfectly!

Actually they are still in uniform motion, but let's not be picky.

This solution was completely ridiculous of course, but I was just happy to be out of there. I was about to start investigating the room when an announcement was made. “CROUTONS! THIS IS THE CAPTAIN OF THE EARTHSHIP ANDROS II. IT IS USELESS TO RESIST! WE ARE HOLDING YOU IN OUR TRACTION BEAM!” As if my release wasn’t miraculous enough, now the ship I was on was being boarded by my people the moment I was free. I watched the two ships landing back on Earth, and then found myself standing in front of The Council for judgement. A man spoke to the President: “Sir, here is the Crughon prisoner whom we detained. He was carrying documents on him which came from Crughon headquarters.” Clearly he was talking about the documents I’d picked up way back when I was in my boss’ office. I argued that I was an Earthling, but the President wouldn’t have any of it. “SHUT-UP, CROUTON! You’ll speak when you’re asked to!! Carry on, Captain.” The captain went on to inform the President that they’d conducted a DNA test, and while the result was negative, the fact that my genetic code wasn’t in their database meant I had to be a Crughon spy. Things were not looking good for me, and they were about to get much worse when the President expressed his views on my role in events. He blamed me for the air raids that killed thousands in PARIS II and PARIS VII before asking for the jury’s verdict. It was guilty of course, and I was sentenced to death!

Here we find a male of the spaceship species, having impressed the female through numerous acts of superior maneuverability, claiming its prize.

Can I at least have a lawyer?!

Before I knew it I was facing the firing squad, my hands locked behind my back. I figured one of two things was going to happen. I was going to be shot and forced to avoid this situation somehow, or Lo’Ann was going to save me in the nick of time. Just as the guns were pointing at me and the Captain’s arm was raised and ready to command my death, a voice was heard shouting “STOP! STOP!” Lo’Ann ran into the room with a written order from The Council to stop the execution. I faced up to The Council once again, but this time they were extremely apologetic for their actions against me. The President then went on to explain the history of the war between humans and Crughons, although I don’t believe he told me anything I didn’t already know. Century long battle, space colonies wiped out, forced back to Earth, built SDI shield to defend people, years of peace, Crughons hatching a plan to go back in time and plant bombs in the locations where the SDI’s three poles would eventually be placed. At the end of this long-winded story, the next part of my journey was revealed. While Lo’Ann, her father and I had stopped the bomb from being set in the middle ages, The Council was unable to find the second bomb which they believe was planted in my time. It was this bomb that destroyed pole 3 and gave The Crughons the opportunity to attack.

"I ... am ... a ... man!"

This is one of those moments where sorry doesn't quite do the job!

And they say chivalry is dead!

The third bomb was still out there somewhere in space and time, and the documents I’d had on me apparently revealed its location. The Council announced that Lo’Ann had already volunteered for the mission to go back in time and destroy it, at which point my character eagerly volunteered also. With this decided we made our way to the Chronoporters and prepared to time travel. This preparation included me being given a crash course in hypno-education. I sat in a small alcove in the room and a machine was attached to my head. My brain was barraged with information and I was taught everything I needed to know about the mission in mere moments. When it was over, my character apparently knew lots of new stuff, but I didn’t. I assumed this newly gained knowledge would be passed on to me at appropriate times. Lo’Ann and I readied ourselves, at which point she informed me we were about to go back to the Cretaceous period, which is about 65 million years ago!!! In two flashes of light, we were gone, reappearing in some sort of cave system. Lo’Ann was standing on the cave floor while I was on a higher level. I climbed down to meet her, and she handed me a compressed airgun. Clearly she expected a fight, and after we walked to the left off the screen, we soon found ourselves in the thick of one!

It's gonna happen! It's gonna happen!!!

Hang on a second! Is this Total Recall? That would seriously explain a lot!

The first time is always a bit surprising!

We stood overlooking a vast area where Crughons ran around in front of one of their ships. Lo’Ann was in a panic. “THE CRUGHONS! We’re too late. The Scorzuum has been activated!” My hypno-educated brain started to come to the fore, informing me that Scorzuum was the delayed-action bomb that the Crughons planted. “Once the timer has been started, there’s no way of stopping it!” Thankfully Lo’Ann had a plan: “We’ve somehow got to smuggle ourselves onboard the Crughon shuttle! It’s our last chance! We must get the bomb to go off in THIS era, but to do that we have to gain access to the master computer inside the Crughon space fortress!” This sounded difficult, and it was made even more difficult when our presence was detected and the Crughons began firing at us! I was now required to shoot the Crughons by moving the cursor over them and pressing the left mouse button. They swarmed from the left and the right, and the ones positioned at the front of the charge were highlighted in red and marked as dangerous. These highlighted Crughons were the ones I had to focus on, as failing to kill them quickly resulted in me being obliterated. I died many, many times until I finally got used to things. The real aim was to kill the leader as he swept across the sky on his platform, but it wasn’t easy to even attempt that as failing to concentrate on the front line for long meant a game over screen. Eventually I cleaned up enough running aliens fast enough to be able to target and kill the leader, and then take out the remainders.

I think you might have been excused for including some really nasty expletives there Lo'Ann.

Well that's one way to explain the controls!

My celebration was short-lived however, as moments after victory, a lone Crughon appeared on a platform and shot Lo’Ann! I took him out and then checked out my friend’s health. She was alive, but I was told that to save her life I would need to send her back into the future for medical attention. Examining her uncovered a little box of invisibility pills. There was only one pill left, and the box informed me that it would last for only one minute. I was going to have to make good use of it! I also found the pendant I’d given to her previously, and figured it might help me get Lo’Ann back to her time. I used it on her and then heard a voice inside my head! “Albert II. Mental Programming system... Awaiting your orders, sir.”  My character asked Albert II who he was, to which he responded: “I’m Albert II! At least, that’s what Lo’Ann calls me. My real name is AX401ML367 II, which I admit is not quite as easy to remember. I’m a mental interface, part of CHRONOSYS, the master computer of the time travelling system.” I asked Albert if he could move Lo’Ann to the year 4315 for urgent medical treatment, and thankfully he replied in the affirmative. He couldn’t however take both of us, since the “positronic charge shows a serious loss in power”. That was fine by me, as I still had a mission to complete. Lo’Ann was whisked away to safety, while I watched my character slowly make his way toward the ship. It seemed likely that the end of Future Wars was now approaching. Join me in a few days to see how it all plays out!

If you've ruined my chance of getting laid, I swear I'll revive you just so I can kill you again!

I'd prefer it if you'd let me decide how excited I am.

Session Time: 0 hours 45 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours 45 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!

Guest Game 1: Circuit's Edge - Holding On By a Thread

Trickster's Note: The below post (and indeed all posts for Circuit's Edge) was written by guest blogger Zenic Reverie.

Night 3: "I'm down to my last lead. If it ends like all the others then I'm well and truly lost. My lead? I'm tracking down a Japanese daddie, apparently the only one in all the Budayeen, that should allow me to understand the rest of the message left on the answering machine. A jeweler has it, but he won't part with it until I retrieve some stolen goods for him. Why sure, of course I'll track down a big muscular man with serpent tattoos to find your stolen gem. With total disregard for my life as bodies keep popping up around me, I carry on."

Talk about a lead drying up completely.

I was grasping at straws once again in the sprawling Budayeen. My map needed some fleshing out, so I started visiting everywhere noting the options available. The acupuncturist, the pharmacist, and the smoke shop strangely offer nothing for sale (even though my Super Spy moddie has me jonesing for some imported cigs). A florist sells four kinds of flowers, and a pet shop has three animals. At present I don't see a use for them, but they were inexpensive enough that I bought them and dumped them in an alley to fend for themselves because my apartment was getting full. If someone takes it, then so be it... I can always buy more later.

Allow me to describe all the things you cannot buy.

During these exploits, name dropping Mack Dixon at every opportunity, I happened upon another fellow who had seen him. He had checked in early that evening at the Budayeen Hotel with a lady friend. Apparently even though he'd paid for the entire night, he was not satisfied with the accommodations and departed after a couple of hours. I have a feeling he was satisfied in other ways if his earlier habits are any indication. An interesting tidbit of information nearly sneaked by as the proprietor mentioned Mr. Dixon had a package delivered during his stay. Interesting I thought, and tried to pry a bit more from the man about this mysterious package.

I feel like the game is mocking me at this point.

As I wandered down the street in a haze after that conversation I stumbled into another  beggar, this time more conspicuously on the street. I passed the man 5 kiam and wished him good health. At the same time I was thinking how could I convince the attendant at the Eyes of Texas to trust me. Then it struck me... maybe I could bribe him. I don't know why I hadn't considered it in the first place; I mean this is the Budayeen, money talks here. I blame the interface partially, I mean there's no bribe option to guide a conversation in that direction. The only option is to give the money away, and hope for the best.

I could have tried a lower amount, but 100 seemed like a good round number. (Also, SUCCESS!)

At long last I'm standing in my apartment with Mr. Dixon's number in hand. I dialed it with much anticipation, and on the other end heard only gibberish, which must be English. Are you telling me even though this entire game is in English that Marid doesn't understand English? This confused me for a moment before I realized I'd bought an English 101 daddie. Popping that in I dialed him right back, and was invited to come by and speak with him in person.

We've traced the call, it's coming from inside your room!

I was now more convinced than ever that Mack Dixon wasn't the killer. The Hotel Del Palazzo is outside the Budayeen, but it's still a quick taxi ride away (still free). The hotel is a little nicer than the run down buildings of the Budayeen with a plush and elegant lobby. As I reached room 921, I noticed the door was ajar. That can't be good. As the first screenshot indicates, no more McDix. Somehow in a short time span (couldn't have been more than an hour) there are already flies buzzing around the body, and the blood is dried. Seems he was tortured rather mercilessly for unknown information. All this intrigue and no deadly connection between the three deceased leaves me quite confused.

That doesn't help me at all, and I don't think it's going to help the cops much either.

Before heading back to the Budayeen I stopped by Papa to see if he'd heard anything new, and maybe ask him what he knew about Mack Dixon; however, he was indisposed. I stopped by the police station (and the morgue as well), but they knew nothing about any 'Mack Dixon'. Seems he's not remembered by anyone. As I left the morgue two of Papa's thugs blocked my passage. Apparently my stop at his place was interpreted as a request for money, and he sent his muscle to deliver an envelope filled with 500 kiam. Dazed and confused, with little hope, I wandered the streets.

There's a murderer on the loose. He's wiedling an ice pick... no, I didn't say 'lock pick'.

In this round, I noted potentially valuable shops I might need to know about in the future. I marked down the ones that appeared to be out of business, which ones serve food, and special interest businesses that are not obvious based on their name. I ended up back at Chiriga's, and found a street dealer sitting in a dark corner. He was selling some interesting items, so I started buying them up. Once I got to something called a Tri-phet, I realized some of these were drugs, and I just bought one. Not only that, Marid took it right away.

What? I just wanted to buy them to get a closer look, I swear!

Once again, the interface is it at odds with my intentions. The only way to get a better description of items is to buy them, and then examine them in your inventory. The drugs never even hit my inventory, but I did get a nice description of them. Well, one hit shouldn't mess me up too much, but I'll try to be a little more vigilant when dealing with these guys. Unfortunately, word spread fast and as soon as I reached my apartment Habib and Labib (Papa's thugs) wanted a word with me. Papa's message is he doesn't want me investigating while hopped up. To show they mean business I'm suddenly stripped of my moddies and daddies, and beaten within an inch of my life. Luckily they didn't take anything, but it set me back some kiam healing up at the medical center.

A strange time to show your affection.

After healing up at the medical center--which offers various healing packages that all basically do the same thing--I started my rounds through the businesses on the south side of the Budayeen. I went on another spending spree, buying up the Kung Fu Master moddie (I'm hoping it increases my hand-to-hand fighting techniques) and The Phantom moddie (which implies it's useful for cat burglary). I ran into another street dealer, and this time avoiding the drugs, picked up a Korean language chip and a detective badge.

I just realized that "you can view your hologram disk" refers to the one in my inventory, not the one I just rented.

In the many times I visited Adult Video Holos (you know, for science) I had glossed over, failed to make the connection, and was oblivious to the fact the holovideo that showed the Japanese girl was the same one in Kenji Carter's possession. I'm guessing it's of his daughter, but you can see how a girl coming on screen after renting an adult holo could give the wrong impression, right? Anyway, this new insight led me to believe the oriental language on the answering chip was Japanese, but after going through all the shops, hotels, and dark alleys, I could find no one selling it.

Distant cousin of Crazy Gideon.

I ended up at Leather Goddesses at the end of my search for the missing daddie. Strangely, I found myself falling back on old habits and asked about Mack Dixon, even though that lead went dead (literally) earlier in the night. I found out he was something of a regular there, had a specific girl he liked to see and all, Stormy. The only way to spend time with her though is to pay. She mentioned he had plans to amuse himself, with no further explanation, in the Budayeen. It's strange to get more information about someone who's no longer living. There's no way to break the conversation and report his death either. We put that business aside and got on to the other; I mean I did pay for the time, might as well enjoy it. I'm not even sure how to describe what happened next, but it was rather unexpected. I guess they couldn't do much different.

Done what one? What's happening?

Oh it's like role-playing.

If you're wondering what that red arrow is, it's an expensive signal detector that hasn't detected anything since I got it.

I'd prefer a good or sufficient massage if you can manage.

Yes, I'm all better now, so now we can get on with more strenuous activities.

Hmmm, should have played hurt more.

And that concludes today's lesson that sex does not exist in this game, and drugs are bad. Back to mindless exploration of a city I've rounded through nearly three times. At the tattoo parlor I realized that Franco, the guy who runs the place, must have put the tattoo on the girl in white. I mean he's the only tattoo artist in all the Budayeen. He did remember doing such a tattoo, and the woman was bragging about her boyfriend who was some hotshot Japanese businessman. She went on and on about some plan to make a million kiam. Maybe all the killing is about a bad business deal, or just money.

Oh yeah, tell me more... maybe her name?

I keep setting myself up for this thinking the game is smart enough to follow conversation threads.

Following that, I asked about the Japanese businessman hoping for another lead. Turns out the parser only picks up on a single word at a time. This time it took Japanese, and thought I was asking about a daddie that instilled Japanese in the mind. This got me thinking... there really was such a chip out there, somewhere. I started asking everyone about it, until someone told me I should check out one of the mod shops. Of course! Why hadn't I thought about that? I stopped by Laila's who said she had one, but already sold it. (No I couldn't order another; that's the only one in existence.) She remembered the man was a jeweler, but nothing more. I looked through my list of businesses for my answer.

Name your price, I'll whip up a few thousand from the gambling hall.

Or you can send me on a wild goose chase.

Well it turns out the jeweler fellow (still don't know his name) has a bit of a problem. His prized star sapphire was pilfered. He suspects to get past the security system would take an expert, and that someone must have staked the place out prior. Quite clearly the jeweler remembers a man with serpent tattoos on each arm came into the store twice before the gem was stolen. My prize for bringing the sapphire back is the chip I desire and an extra 300 kiam. This small pittance has me convinced his exorbitant price for the chip could be met easily in less time at the gambling hall than it would take to track this gem down. I suspect there really is no price that would allow me to skip all this nonsense. At this point though, the Japanese chip is my only lead. The tattoo parlor seems like a good place to start since Franco was so helpful already.

I thought businesses like this keep records of their transactions.

Sounds like I have a full night of name dropping these two blokes to anyone that will listen.

The name Marco sounded familiar. I'm fairly sure I ran across him during my travels, but I didn't mark down any names (a large oversight I know). The used holosystem didn't click at the time, but I could try one of the many hologame shops (or even the adult holo videos again, you know for research). So, I focused on Manny. There were the docks outside the main street, but "worked with sharks" had me thinking "card shark" for some reason. I stopped by the gambling hall. Karim, who runs the place, immediately knew who I was talking about.

It's a good thing no one has the same name; otherwise, this could get confusing.

Karim went on to describe a girl that came around with Manny. She had red hair and green eyes, a not too common sight in the Budayeen. I stopped by every bar looking for such a girl. It didn't take long to find her working at the Red Light Lounge. I'm sure it was just dumb luck, but Fanya was most helpful in directing me towards Manny.

I wonder how Guido took it.

The ad-Dur House looks like every other apartment building. I found Manny on the nameplates in the lobby only knowing his first name. His door was unsurprisingly locked. I spoke to the landlord hoping to find out where Manny had gone. His only response (summarized) was, "What? I'm not unlocking that door for you. Manny is a big guy." I think he protests too much. Slipping him 100 kiam convinces him I'm a stand up citizen who won't get into trouble, and he unlocks the door. Inside the apartment I found a crumpled note. The note suggests a meeting at one of the warehouses with someone named Tamara. Well this can't be good, meetings in this game always seem to end up with someone getting killed.

Definitely not looking good for Manny.

The crate was tied with a rope, which required a knife. I happened to get one from a fallen mugger. The sight was rather gruesome. A body, who Marid immediately identified as Manny, tumbled out. His limbs were beaten to a pulp, all identifiable bits (toes, fingers, eyes) had been snipped off. Lastly, he was flayed, so I'm not sure how the body was identified as Manny). With very little blood present, it seemed the body was only stored there. Strangely there was something in his mouth glinting off the dull light. Marid suppressed instinct to run out while gagging, and took the metallic object. A half a ring made of brass.

1 AM, got it... what day? Why is this engraved on a ring? Why is the ring broken into two?

At least I'm not without leads now. Sure Manny is a dead end (I should probably stop using that term), but there's still this Tamara to seek out. Marco may prove to be another avenue. I wish the game was sophisticated enough to allow me to question the jeweler to find out if it was a big guy or not. Also, the messages (QUE 1 A.M. SHI -- MAAL MOS) on the ring parts seem to spell out Shimaal Mosque 1 A.M. Seems like a strange time to go to a mosque.

Session Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Total Time: 7 hours 30 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of Zenic requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for him...unless he really obviously needs the help...or he specifically requests assistance. In this instance, he's not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!

Game 40: Future Wars - Back to the Future

Hero Journal Entry 3: "I have saved Lana! Well, her name turned out to be Lo'Ann, but I definitely saved her. She's really smart and beautiful too! Her father explained this whole situation to me once I'd returned her safely, and it involves a century old war between humans and an alien race called the Crughons. Lo'Ann and her father are agents of TRIANGLE and were sent 3000 years back in time to 1304 to investigate potential Crughon activity. I still don't completely understand everything that is going on, but Lo'Ann and I have now been sent to the year 4315 to meet with the Supreme Council. They will decide what to do about me, as I now know way more than a normal person of my time should. Typically, things haven't gone to plan, and I'm having to make my own way to the Council without Lo'Ann. I sure hope I get to see her again!"

...and then spend half an hour trying to find a use for it.

At the end of my last post I’d been feeling a bit perplexed. I’d collected the remote control from the now drunk Father Superior in the monastery and then used it to uncover a magnetic card hidden within some furniture in his room. Despite a lengthy effort, I’d not been able to figure out what to do next. There appeared no way of leaving the monastery and yet there appeared to be nothing that I could use this magnetic card on. My post finished with me committing to using every item on everything I could interact with in the monastery before requesting assistance, so that’s exactly what I did. I started in the alcove where I’d originally collected the golden cup, but my pixel hunting once again uncovered nothing I could interact with. I moved onto the cellar, where I was convinced the only items I could interact with were the eleven barrels. I’d already retrieved the alcohol from the barrels, so it seemed unlikely I would find anything there, but I tried anyway. I examined every barrel, but was told repeatedly that they weren’t interesting. I operated every barrel, but was given no further information apart from the fact they were empty or full. I used the magnetic card on every one of the barrels, but achieved nothing in the process. I’d already found the use for the remote control, but I used it on every barrel anyway. When I clicked on the second barrel, something happened!!!

Of course! Why wouldn't I use the remote control on an empty barrel!!??

Using the remote control on the second barrel caused it to open up. I have no idea how I was supposed to know to do this, and it’s just as well that the monastery area overall isn’t very large, as I may never have tried it otherwise. Did I miss some piece of information that suggested one of the barrels might be more than it seemed? Anyway, I’d got past my game-halting obstacle, so was just happy to be able to move on. While the opening in the barrel didn’t look very big, it turned out that I could actually crawl through it into a room beyond. There I discovered Torin’s daughter Lana held captive in some sort of glass case! Examining her gave me the following: “She seems to be asleep... the young girl is extremely beautiful and you ask yourself whether she is not the reason for your feeling of disquiet.” There was a console near the case, but when I tried to use it I was told that “there are some strange signs on the keyboard, but no letters of the alphabet”. Pixel hunting revealed a little gas capsule on the ground near the case which I picked up, but that didn’t seem of much use for my current predicament. I tried using the magnetic card on the console and it worked, releasing Lana from captivity! She was now awake and strangely unaffected by her recent condition: “Thank you for setting me free, stranger. My name is Lana, daughter of Torin.”

You mean to find Lana? Well, yeah, it's approaching pretty damn quickly actually!

Of course she's beautiful! Any decent damsel in distress would be!

My character showed her the pendant to convince her that I was a friend sent by her father. This indeed gained her trust, and she expressed an urgent need to leave. “We must be quick now, I hope they have not yet begun phase two.” Lana typed something into the console keyboard before telling me that she’d programmed the destruction of the Crughon’s Scrugh. She told me a few other bits of information, but none of it meant anything to either me or my character. One thing was clear though...we needed to get out of there...now! Lana pointed at my pendant and then the two of us were teleported to her father in the castle. The relatives were clearly overjoyed to be reunited, and Lana informed Torin of my role in her rescue. Once the small talk was out of the way, the next stage of the plot began to come out. Both father and daughter recognised that my character was not only foreign to this land, but also to this time! I explained everything that had occurred since the incident in my boss’s office, after which Lord Torin asked me to follow him. “I think we owe you an explanation, young man.” The three of us walked to another room, which once again was clearly too advanced to be in a medieval castle. There he began a lengthy spiel which I’ll summarise below.

You mean the game?! Oh please tell me you mean the game! (No, it really isn't that bad.)

Yes, which is why I took on a cleaning job back in my time.

Alright! Let's hope the father leaves us to it soon!

“First of all, you need to know that we are in the year 1304!!! The time transporter took you back hundreds of years into the past. Lana and I were born in the forty-first century. We have travelled three thousand years back in time. So in a sense we are your distant descendants! My real name is Lear Bailey and this is my daughter Lo’Ann. We are agents of TRIANGLE, the institute of the research. We were sent here to investigate possible Crughon activity. They are a nation which originated on Betelgeuse. They are violent and bloodthirsty humanoids with whom we have been at war for more than a century. They possess a technology which is far more advanced than ours and, thus, they have the advantage in this war. Luckily for us, they have not completely mastered their technology because they did not create it. They use the artifacts left behind by a civilization that has disappeared. It was a civilization which must have had immeasurable power, if the wonders of their technology are anything to go by. These wonders enabled our civilization, and that of the Crughons to take a giant step. The art of time travel was revealed to us when we translated their ancient writings. But even though we can use it, I must confess that the technique uses laws which are very far from being perfectly understood. Unfortunately, the Crughons also took over this invention, and we are afraid they will use it against us. So we took the place of Lord Torin and his daughter in order to pursue our investigations.”

In other words, the writers could come up with no scientific explanation that made any sense whatsoever.

The lord went on to explain that the real Torin and Lana were under psycho-hypnosis, and would believe they’d been living a normal life for the last few days upon being awoken. It soon became apparent that I too might be put into a trance: “By rights, I ought to put you into a psycho-hypnotic trance as well but, to be honest, I find it difficult to make that decision in view of all the help you have given us. I think it would be better to refer the matter to the Supreme Council.” Lana gave me more modern clothes to get changed into, and once done we used the teleportation system (called Chronoporters) in the room to travel to the year 4315! Something must have gone wrong on the way, as I arrived on my own! Lo’Ann was nowhere to be seen, and there was no way for me to know whether the ruin I found myself in was actually in 4315 or some other year. There was nothing else to do but to investigate and see what I could find. There was debris and rubble everywhere, but on the right side of the screen I could see an item that stood out. It was a blowtorch, which I picked up, and then walked east. On the next screen I could see another item that stood out from the orange and red surroundings, but at first I couldn’t see how to get to it. There was a steep ledge in front of me and there appeared no way to climb up it.

We're about to see some serious shit!

Oh man! I finally meet a hot chick and then...

Say it again! I dare you to say it again!!!!

After revisiting the first screen to make sure I hadn’t missed an item or path, I came back and found the solution. All I had to do was walk to the right of screen along an upward sloping path that I couldn’t see due to the foreground landscape. Once I was up on the ledge I was able to check out the box, but on the way I found a manhole that had been covered in rubble. I thought I’d better look in the box before attempting to open the manhole, and doing so revealed some fuses. I picked up the whole box and then successfully removed the manhole. I descended beneath the surface and reappeared in a sewer. Since there was only one direction I could go in, and nothing to interact with, I walked through a few screens until I came to a tap that was sticking out of the pipes on the wall. I tried using a few items on it and discovered I could fill my blowtorch up with whatever was coming out of the valve. I continued following the sewer through quite a few more screens until a woman’s voice was heard crying for help. I found her on the next screen with her child, and both of them were facing a nasty looking sewage-mutated water creature! “Help us, sir, please!!! Save my child!” My first attempt at doing so resulted in me being eaten, but the second attempt saw me using my recently filled blowtorch to fry the vicious monster.

Town? We're calling this a town are we!?

Aha! That's where that stench came from! And I thought it was the interface the whole time!

Never fear m'lady! I am an expert at removing sewage-mutated water creatures!

The mother was extremely grateful for my assistance. “OH THANK YOU!!! You saved our lives. We took refuge here during the Crughon attack. The muta-octopus smelled our scent and without you – ugh, I prefer not to think about what might have happened. Generator Three blew up about an hour ago and the evil Crughons took advantage of the gap to get inside and attack us!” My character informed the woman of my need to find the Council, and she helpfully gave me some directions. “We are just below the underground station. The metro will take you to the shuttle port, and all you have to do is take the first shuttle to Paris IV.” This sounded easy enough, but how was I going to get out of the sewers and into the station? Thankfully the woman could help me on that front too, using some sort of little metal tube called a Metamol to create a ladder leading up right near us! We said our goodbyes and then I climbed the ladder, soon finding myself standing outside what I assumed was the metro station. I walked up to the doors and was surprised to find that they didn’t open for me. I didn’t seem to be able to manually open them either. There was a little video camera just above the door that I thought would detect my motion and open the doors, but examining it revealed that it was “in very poor state of maintenance”.

You know you could always come up with me? Or you could stay down here with the muta-octopi!

They still have standard videocameras in 4315?

I wasn’t able to go back into the sewers or leave the screen in any other direction, so figured there must be a way to get the door open somehow. I didn’t have too many items in my inventory, so I just tried using some of them on the camera. When I tried “use lance on videocamera”, the following occurred. “You have a good idea! You clean the camera viewfinder with the tip of your lance. Bits of dried earth which were blocking it fall at your feet.” Clearly no-one had used this entrance to the station in a long time! The doors were open now though, so I walked inside. As I did so, a female voice made an announcement across the station: “This is a priority 5 bulletin from the Council. Citizens, Crughon spies have infiltrated our ranks. Martial Law has been declared. Please inform the control units of any suspicious person. We remind you that DNA fingerprinting is COMPULSORY. Any obstruction will be severely punished! This is a Council bulletin.” Hmmm...that didn’t sound promising. I didn’t have a hope of passing a DNA fingerprinting test since technically I didn’t exist! All I could do was focus on the task at hand though, so I checked out my surroundings. There was an empty teller window and a newspaper rack, but I could only interact with the latter. Before I could get a closer look, a train arrived and the doors opened. Should I get on now or look at the rack? Would the train wait!?

Oh yes...what a good idea I had!

Let's hope there are no conductors on this line.

I saved my game and investigated the rack. When I operated it, my character gave it a kick which achieved nothing. A quick look at my inventory gave me no ideas as to how I might use it, and while I was thinking, the train pulled away! Thankfully another arrived pretty soon afterwards, but it was quite annoying that I couldn’t do anything while the trains were arriving and departing (I couldn’t click on anything). This gave me only a short window to try things on the newspaper rack. I hopped on the second train, feeling quite certain that I’d missed something, but not having any decent ideas. Shortly afterwards I arrived at the destination, where a hostess sat at a desk, a man guarded what appeared to be an ascending escalator, and some stairs led downwards. There was a TV floating in mid air too, but it wasn’t turned on. I tried talking to the hostess, but she paid no attention to me. “JUST A MINUTE!! Can’t you see I’m busy?” Examining the guard revealed he was carrying a weapon on his belt and he requested my ticket as I approached him. I didn’t have one of course, so I took the stairs leading down, not having a clue where I was going to end up. I reappeared in a bathroom that contained a couple of cubicles and a fuse box on the wall. I had some fuses, but I didn’t have a clue why I might want to use them on the box. Still, after discovering I couldn’t enter the cubicles without paying with a card, I tried using the fuses on the fuse-box. “Try and find something else.” Huh!?

I get the feeling I'm supposed to go right!

Is that something I should be excited about?

Surely the fuse-box wasn’t there for no reason at all!? Eventually some pixel hunting revealed that I was able to interact with the tiny fuses that were visible in the box. “The second fuse has completely burned out.” I used my fuses on the fuses: “OK! You replace the defective fuse. Nothing happens.” Awesome result! I failed to find anything else to do in the bathroom, so I made my way back upstairs. When I got there I found that the TV was now on, and the guard was giving all his attention to it. This is yet another example of solving a puzzle in Future Wars before I’ve even realised there’s a puzzle to be solved. I carefully walked behind the guard and got onto the escalator, removing the need to get a ticket. The escalator took me up to some sort of aerial transportation, and my character walked on and sat down in a vacant seat. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard. We’ll be taking off in a few seconds and reaching our destination, PARIS IV, in exactly half an hour. We hope you will have a pleasant trip on our line." I was flying off to meet the Council, but beyond that I had no clue what further adventures awaited me. What had happened to Lo’Ann? Would I see her again? And most importantly, was I supposed to do something with the newspaper rack? Join me in a few days to find out!

Worst...guard...ever!

Um...is anyone else concerned about that huge hole in the side of the plane?

Session Time: 1 hour 00 minutes
Total Time: 4 hours 00 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!