Originally Posted by Xobim

Erm, is the wheel at Y7 turned so that the heat goes to the boxclaw or to the dome?

The dome.

I followed the pipe to my right, back to where it was connected to the cliff face. The other pipe, whch led across the river, was so cold it was painful to touch.

Tell Araches that she's lookin really pretty today, by the way.

Go back to the wheel, turn it so you can go to the clocktower. Try to open the door with the bar of crow.

Ah, balls. At least Shuri turned the valve first, so the party's not going to freeze.

Meh. Continue with the rest of my instructions... except we can't get to the boxclaw anymore. Hmm....

Head back to the dome, and crowbar the cupboard open.

Try tipping the cupboard in the dome so all of the objects on top slide off.

I'm going to skip Xob's command because:
A) Your party's probably a little (-) you turned the heat off on them once already.
B) Do you really think I'm going to let you crowbar a door open? Even Gordon Freeman can't do that.

Going back to the dome sounded nice. "Welcome back, Shuri," Faw said. I ignored him and began trying to tip the cabinent over or crowbar it open. Neither seemed to be working very well, as the cabinent appeared to be either very heavy or rooted into the ground, and, knowing whoever designed this place, it was probably welded shut.
"Not even a hello?" Araches asked, still leaning against the side of the dome. "Not nice playing with the heat pipes while we're in here. You know, hon, you're acting more and more like Uberbob by the minute." Uberbob looked at her, not as though he was hurt but as though he were perplexed at the very thought that being like him could ever be a bad thing.
I turned to Araches. I looked her straight in the eye. I raised a finger, opened my mouth, and said:
"You look really pretty today."
I couldn't believe I said that. Awkward silence. Even from Fooruman. Time to save it.
"I mean, since it's cold."
Awkward silence again. Fawriel backed up a little.
"Not like that."
Silence.
"Let's forget this ever happened."
She nodded. "Just this once."

I felt very scared. I was doing strange things. I wanted to get out of here and never look at these people ever again.

Break down crying, then apologize for it all.

Originally Posted by Radium

B) Do you really think I'm going to let you crowbar a door open? Even Gordon Freeman can't do that.

But you did let us enter the dome with two rocks, so I guessed it was going to be just as easy...

Anyway, commands:
"Sorry about that, but this place is really making me lose my mind. Especially since I just found out we've got one hell of a problem."
check the time on the clocks.

I almost started crying, but then it occured to me that's what the voices wanted me to do. They wanted to break me. They wanted to (-)ing win.
"I'm sorry about that," I explained to Araches and Faw, "but this place is really making me lose my mind. Especially since I just found out we've got one hell of a problem. Hey, what time is it?"
Araches cocked her head. "Wait, go back, problem? What is it?"
"I broke one of the valves. The one that leads to the light, the cave, the other cave, and the machinery."
"Wait, what?" Faw asked, "how are we going to get out? We'll freeze to death if we try to walk that in the cold."
"No problem," Araches encouraged, sounding oddly optimistic, "we have some tools, and there's some more stuff on top of that cabinent. I'm sure we can fix it."
Fooruman stood in his canoe. "Miss Poppins speaks the truth, Herr Shurismo. With our powers combined, there is no mountain we cannot tackle."
"I guess," Faw added, meaning he had nothing helpful to say.
"What kind of ITEMS do you have, Shuri?" Uberbob asked.
Despite feeling dirty for actually answering, I said "Sword, crowbar, magnifying glass, pants, armor, wheel.
"No bra?"
"..."
"... just asking. I think the answer's pretty clear: we need to build a car." He speculated this a bit, to himself.

Also, it was 3:18.

Push the cart over to the cupboard, get Faw to lift you up and see if you can get at the stuff on top of the cupboard.

Ask Fooruman if he can do a Quantum Squaredance with the first aid kit on top of the cabinet.

Can't we swipe the stuff off with the crowbar while Faw gives Shuri a lift?

"Fooruman," I addressed the wizard as I assessed the cupboard, "would you be able to get up there using your Quantum Squaredance spell?"
"Alas, no," he sighed, "I can only use that spell in combat. And we could never have a battle here! There was no lead-in, no villain, and no cryptic foreshadowing."
"Er, if you say so." I thought a minute, then pulled the trolley in front of the cupboard. "Faw, get on this."
"You're going to stand on me again, aren't you?"
"Yes. Now get on the trolley."
He reluctantly complied, holding me up. I reached up with the crowbar to knock the things off the top, but evidently they were all nailed or glued down or something. And then the trolley slipped out from under Faw, which didn't help.

Attack Fooruman
Take the clock on the counter and try attaching the wheel to the trolley.

Maybe a clock will fit in the indentation in the boxclaw with the claws in it.

Well, I'm stumped. I'm sure the clocks have something to do with the puzzle. I'd guess we have to set the clocks to a specific time.

Ideas, folks?

Well, the pump ()
has a big clock-shaped circle on it. Maybe one of the clocks or a wheel can fit where the missing gear is or on that circle.

I decided to take the clock that was laying on the counter, quietly telling myself "it's because it's functional. It's not kleptomania. It's so we can tell the time. Wait, we?"
I considered also putting the wheel back on the trolley, but the bolt that one held it on was missing.
"Perhaps we should go fishing, Herr Shurismo," Fooruman proposed.
"Fooruman, we are in a cold, dry, barren, red wasteland"
"Hmm.. perhaps you are right after all. Though I could've sworn my acute elven senses picked up fish of the Clupeidae family, albeit they were camouflage..."

Ask L33tz4n if she can summon a water elemental to help get the bolt out of the water. And if it can look for more things in the river that might help.

The bolt broke, Ae, only the head of it fell in the water.

"Hey, Leetzan," I said while looking out the door towards the tower, "could you summon up a water elemental to search the river?"
No response.
"Er, sorry if I mispronounced your name. The pretentious numerals always throw me. L33tzan? L33tz4n?"
Still no response.
I turned to the party. "Hey, guys, is Leetzan oka-" I stopped suddenly, noticing Leetzan wasn't in the room. "H... have you guys seen Leetzan?"
Araches looked around, slightly surprised. "Er.. I presumed she was somewhere here."
"This room is twenty feet wide! How could you lose her?"
"It's not like she's very conversational. Excuse me, but I'm pretty sure you're the de facto leader."
I rubbed my head in anticipation of an upcoming headache. What about you, Uberbob? She seems to like you. Have you seen Leetzan?"
"Leetwho?"
Headache. "Nevermind. Faw?"
"Er.. I was trying to remember this movie I saw once. Just think, Shuri, what's the last time you remember seeing L33tz4n?"
I thought a moment. Very hard. "Er... honestly? Unfooruman's citadel."
Faw stared at me a moment, blankly. "You're kidding."
"No, really," I explained, "I mean, I know I've yelled 'summon this' and 'summon that' since then, but I never really thought hard about where they were coming from."
"Fooruman," Faw asked, "you know stuff. What was the last time you remember seeing L33tz4n?"
"Hmm..." the wizard muttered, "HMMM... Page Twenty."
"Oh. Thanks Fooruman, that's helpful."

Go East, North, West, West, South, West, West, North, West, South. Look for L33tz4n along the way.

There's a minor problem with that: we broke the valve at Y7, and can't go west from there.

Both the pump and the boxclaw are inaccessible due to the heat being directed at the dome instead of the rest of the area. We've got to use our inventory and the things found inside the dome.

Erm, lead the part to Y3 while looking for Leetzy on the way. Turn the wheel to search at AC2, and at the clocktower. Adjust the clock in your inventory to the time set on the clocktower.

"Follow," I ordered as I led Uberbob, Araches, Fooruman, and Fawriel out of the warmth of the dome and back towards the clocktower.

After a bit of walking and a valve turn, we reached the tower.
"Oh, nice find, Shur," Araches mocked, "another clock."
Ignoring her, I took out the clock I had taken off the counter top so I could make it match the clocktower. Upon looking at the clock, though, I remembered why I had not tried this sooner: the clock from the counter had no numbers on it (source). Both clocks represented about 30 degree angles, though, so chances are they were already coordinated.

Oh, and if you haven't, don't forget to give the art forum Uberbob contest a shot!

Load save.

Are we screwed?

I'd want a few more people to agree on that, Wallace, since there's still potential remedies. Admittedly, tearing off the valve was not the intended function of the crowbar, but I thought I'd have some fun. And I like how every time you interacted with the bolt, I described it as fragile and rusty. The one thing that puts a story like this above me just making a text based game is that I can have more fun with character interactions and allow more things to happen.

Looking back may reveal things you have not yet done. Or looking around harder in places you've been. And don't treat Fooruman like you treat Uberbob; things Fooruman says usually have meaning.

I had noticed the fragileness and rustiness of the bolt, which was why I was suprised it actually worked. And also suprised when you only let us shift it once (it didn't break the first time).

Anyway, here's another of my state-of-the-foo posts.

We currently can't go east of Y7, thanks to the bolt snapping. The valve at Y3 does still work, so we can get to the clocktower, but currently not beyond.

The dome contains a trolley with one broken wheel, a cupboard with a star, a sheet of paper ("The secret of happiness is...") and what looks like a first-aid kit superglued to the top, and some drawers with two rocks, a magnifying glass and a clock on top. The cupboard also has a clock on the doors, and all the doors appear to be made out of no-open-ium.

L33tz4n is not with the rest of the party. According to hints given by Fooruman, she is most likely in the pool of light near E10. Anywhere else, and she'd be a nice ice-cube by now. There's not much we can do with her, even if we can switch POV, as all the nearby pipes are cold.

I still think the clocks are an important part here, though if they're Fooruman's (possibly red) Clupeidae then I'm out of ideas. So let's try an experiment.

Go back to the dome, and set the clock that Shuri's holding to match the clock on the cupboard, assuming that the one on the cupboard is positioned with 12 o'clock at the top.

I agree with Torkells plan. According to the image all three of the clocks don't seem to show the same time. something inside the big cabinet is probably needed to activate the boxclaw and open the door of the clocktower.

On a sidenote: any ideas about the magnifying glass?

Would be, the light... but since Rad pulled that nasty surprise on us, I doubt we can get there...

How wide is the river, east from the broken valve?

*pokes Rad*

There is actually a command in the last paragraph of my post.

Sorry, had more award things. By the way, the US government does not hold very good parties.

Originally Posted by Wallace

How wide is the river, east from the broken valve?

Like, at this place? Around 1-3 feet. It's easily crossable, but the pipe that goes across it is not heated.

Much to everyone's dismay, we went back, turned the valve, and headed all the way back to the dome, without explanation.
I looked at the clock on the cupboard. 3:25. I looked at the clock I was holding. 9:55.
"Hmm," I thought aloud. I turned the clock upside down. As if magic, it now matched. I looked back up at the cupboard. Suddenly, I heard a slow, scraping noise, like something being dragged across metal. The noise got more intense, almost ear-piercing, and was followed by a lighter TINK TINK TINK TINK CLINK TINK TINK.
I turned around. Fooruman was dragging one rock across the metal counter top and beating the counter top with the other.
"Fooruman, you're doing something stupid. Why."
"Dramatic effect."
"Fair enough."

Apart from that, nothing happened.

++ dramatic effect.
"where did you get those rocks from? They aren't the ones used to open the door, right?!"
Turn the knob on the clock in your posession.

What Xobim said. Because, looking at the image you did, the only way the green clock and the clock on the cupboard can be showing the time is only if some combination of these are true:

# The clock on the cupboard does not have 12 o'clock at the top,
# The green clock does not have 12 o'clock at the middle of one of the 4 sides.

Originally Posted by Torkell

# The clock on the cupboard does not have 12 o'clock at the top,
# The green clock does not have 12 o'clock at the middle of one of the 4 sides.

Shuri was holding the clock from the table, not the green one (unless I made some horrible mistake). she is assuming -- based off the clock tower and the logo on the back of the green clock -- that the clock on the cupboard is rotated to the left.

"Fooruman, where did you get those rocks?" I asked the archmage, a bit concerned.
"The table. If you look at this picture from when we first entered the dome, Senor, you will notice that the table contains special BONUS ROCKS. If you had - without informing me - claimed these rocks in advance, I profusely apologize with all my arcane power for using them."
"Ah... " I wondered to myself what picture he was talking about, and how he managed to say "this" in a red, underlined tone.

I thought she was holding the green clock. My mistake.

Ah well, do what I said originally but changing the time on the green clock. And ask Fooruman what the rocks taste of.

I picked up the green clock and turned the knob on the back, making it read about 5:30-something. Much to my disappointment, nothing happened. Except now the green clock was probably wrong.

"Archmage Fooruman," I sighed, and continued, "I can't believe I'm actually asking this... but what do these rocks taste of?"
He lifted one - the larger of the two - to his face. He examined it, slowly rotating it in his hands as though it were a jewel, and then inhaled deeply, pausing to assess its odor. Most carefully, he extended his tongue and slowly and, as though savoring it, dragged it across the rock's rough surface. He closed his eyes, thinking deeply, moved his cheeks around as though swishing something through his mouth, then proceeded to spit off to the side. "This rock... it most definitely tastes of STONE, my good sir."
I was about to ask about the other but he swiftly raised a finger, signaling for my silence. He raised the smaller rock up to his ear, tapping it softly with a flaky old fingernail. He quickly changed his stance, hunching over the counter top. He dragged the stone across the surface, his keen old eyes watching the trail of brownish-gray residue it left behind. He meticulously swept this into a small pile and exhaled softly on it, watching its particles flutter away like butterflies in the dim red light.
The old man reached into the sleeve of his robe and, in four swift movements, withdrew two thin champaign glasses, a bottle, a jar of marmalade, and a butter knife. He whispered a few arcane words under his breath - words of a language long forgotten, a magic lost to time - and rays of light emanated from the bottle as its cork burned away. He slowly filled the two glasses, keeping the first on the counter and handing the second to me. He raised the knife and delicately spread the glistening orange marmalade over the surface of the rock, each stroke seeming as planned as calligraphy, as precise as math. He raised the rock, he looked me in the eye, he mouthed the words "it is time"...
And shoved the whole thing in his mouth. And started chewing vigorously, backed by the sounds of snaps and cracks that I could only assume were his teeth. He gnashed away with a dark glare of determination in his eye, accentuated by the CRUNCH CRAAKK SNAAP.
"Fooru-"
He raised his hand again, and I was silent. He ceased his chewing, leaned his head back, and then threw it forward, spitting directly down in front of him. Before him, webbed in orange-tinted saliva, lay some shards of wood, a bent piece of plastic, and a single, rusted key.
"It tastes of deception. Of secrets. Of hidden panels, false appearances, concealed answers. Shuriken Amanda Darkblade -" he took the glass of champagne off the counter with one hand, bent down, and took the key with his other. He held it out to me with two fingers. "- It tastes of destiny."
He clinked his glass against mine and then swigged it in one gulp.

My middle name was not Amanda.

"Who's?"

Any keyholes in here? My guess is that we need to go to I13 next, but we broke the way there...

Crowbar a bolt and wheel off the trolley.

"Whoa, talking about good taste.."
then follow Torkells plan. :P

Drink from your champagne glass. Take the key from Fooruman.

Should we have him do the same thing to the small rock outside the dome? We wouldn't be able to get back inside if he eats it.

Yeah, I was waiting for someone to bring up the key or the glass. It's hard to narrate when you completely ignore things that just happened.
And Tork, I'm assuming you meant "whose", because otherwise you'd have to be referring to the rock as a person.

Originally Posted by White Rabbit

Should we have him do the same thing to the small rock outside the dome? We wouldn't be able to get back inside if he eats it.

It's pretty easy to tell a fake rock if you pick it up, since they're usually notably light - especially considering the one Fooruman broke was made of wood. If you had picked up the rocks on the table, you would've found the key.

"Talk about good taste," I said, taking the key, wiping it off on my pant leg, and placing it in my pocket. I took a sip from the champagne glass. It tasted suspiciously like lemon Gatorade and seltzer, but even having something to drink in the first place was rather nice. "Whose destiny?" I asked Fooruman.
"That of the past, present and future, professor."
"Ah. That helps." It occurred to me that the trolley might be a good place to get a bolt to fix the valve. I took out my crowbar and tried prying one of the bolts off, but it simply snapped like the last one. If I wanted to get a bolt to fix the valve, my best bet would be to find one that was already loose.