No Whammies
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There are some vague or non-exact figures and information on this page. Some spading is required.
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Eventually, the dim forest trail leads you to the side of a large, rocky hill that sticks out of the woods like a stunted mountain struggling from lack of sunlight. Your stomach churns as you contemplate being forced to climb over it or go who knows how far out of your way to go around it.
Fortunately, on closer inspection you discover a cave entrance. With a bit of luck, it might lead straight through. You light a torch and investigate cautiously. The tunnel is remarkably straightforward -- it twists and turns a bit, but doesn't branch, and the footing is solid.
Eventually, you come to a large chamber, lit by sunlight streaming in through fissures in the rocky ceiling.
The sight is astonishing. Not the sunlight itself, though it has been a while since you saw any, but what it illuminates: a room full of treasure chests of every size and description. So many you can't even count them!
It is basically an adventurer's wet dream!
- Or, if you've already encountered the mimic failure option:
After some walking, you arrive back at the forest cave, and then at the room of treasure chests. The view is just as breathtaking as the first time you discovered it.
Treasure chests! Treasure chests as far as the eye can see!
| Investigate the chests |
There are too many treasure chests to describe all of them, but the three closest to hand are a[sic]? small oak chest with dented gold fittings, a huge cedar chest with ancient aluminum fittings, and a little cedar chest with glossy bronze fittings.
Your adventurer senses tingle -- one of them is certainly trapped. But your meat radar is way louder than your adventurer senses.
| Open the first chest |
| Open the second chest |
| Open the third chest |
- First success:
With a creeeaaaak of ancient hinges, the lid of the treasure chest opens...
...revealing 400 meat! Yahoo!
| Examine some more chests |
- Allows you to pick another chest and adds the "Leave the treasure chamber" choice.
- Subsequent successes:
With a creeeaaaak of ancient hinges, the lid of the treasure chest opens...
...revealing X meat! Sweet!
That makes Y meat you've found in here so far! Schweet!
| Examine some more chests |
- Allows you to pick another chest and adds the "Leave the treasure chamber" choice.
- Trapped chest:
With a creeeaaaak of ancient hinges, the lid of the treasure chest opens...
...revealing the sharp white teeth of a mimic!
It clamps down over your head and shoulders, shaking you like a terrier shakes a rat. You quickly pass out from a combination of pain and the fetid stench of the creature's breath, a horrible combination of rotten meat and mothballs.
Some time later, you wake up, battered and bruised, at the entrance to the cave. The Y meat you'd found in the treasure chests is gone.
Crap. | You acquire an effect: Beaten Up (duration: 3 Adventures) |
| Leave the treasure chamber |
You step away from the chests and inspect the passageway ahead. Unlike the tunnel you took to get here, the way out appears to be filled with mazelike branching paths.
You're pretty sure that you'll never find your way back here if you leave.
Biting your lip, you turn back to look at the chests. There's so many of them left to be opened! You've found Y meat so far, just imagine how much meat there is in this room!
They're so shiny...
| Return to the chests |
- (Lets you pick another treasure chest or "Leave the treasure chamber".)
| Leave the treasure chamber |
With a sigh, you pack the Y meat in your meatpouch and set off down the tunnel.
 | You gain Y Meat. |
The tunnels twist and turn in labyrinthine fashion, and you soon find yourself hopelessly lost. Your torch gutters and dies, leaving you in darkness, shuffling carefully down the tunnel with one hand trailing the wall. Eventually you emerge, blinking, into daylight.
Down a steep and rocky but climbable hill, and perhaps a mile up the road, you spot the object of your quest, the White Citadel. Sunlight gleams on its white-plastered concrete walls and buttresses, and it shimmers almost like a mirage in the reflected heat of its asphalt parking lot. Those weird little hamburgers are so close, you can practically taste them already.
It won't be that easy, of course, you reflect as you pick your way cautiously down the hill and then start off along the road. There's always one final trial.
As the forest parts and the White Citadel comes into view, you steel your nerves for what lies ahead.
Hopefully it's not too anti-climactic, considering how it's been built up now.
| Ignore the chests and keep walking |
Yes, the situation is a bit fishy, but come on! Treasure chests! Tons of them! You could hardly pass up this opportunity and still call yourself an adventurer.
There are too many treasure chests to describe all of them, but the three closest to hand are a medium-sized ivory chest with engraved gold fittings, a big pine chest with vintage zinc fittings and a large ironwood chest with shiny brass fittings.
Your adventurer senses tingle -- one of them is certainly trapped. But your meat radar is way louder than your adventurer senses.
- (You are presented with the same choices as "Investigate the chests")
Occurs at The Road to the White Citadel.
Notes
- The first chest will always be a success (?).
- X is N*400, where N is the number of successes including that success.
- Y is the total of all meat found in chests so far. It is not known if there is a maximum value of meat that can be gained.
- The expected values for meat gain are calculated based on the assumption of a 2/3 chance of success for each chest and the first chest always being a success.
| Chests Opened | Meat Gain | Expected Value | Total Meat |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 400 | 400 | 400 |
| 2 | 800 | 400 | 1200 |
| 3 | 1200 | 400 | 2400 |
| 4 | 1600 | 266.66 | 4000 |
| 5 | 2000 | 0 | 6000 |
| 6 | 2400 | -400 | 8400 |
| 7 | 2800 | -933.33 | 11200 |
| 8 | 3200 | -1600 | 14400 |
| 9 | 3600 | -2400 | 18000 |
| 10 | 4000 | -3333.33 | 22000 |
| 11 | 4400 | -4400 | 26400 |
- Although it is not shown, encountering the mimic will cause you to lose all of your HP.
- This adventure will be the only encounter in this zone until the player receives meat from it.
- For the first 4 chests, the gained meat outweighs the risk of losing all gathered meat, for the fifth chest, gain and loss balance out and from the 6th chest on, the risk of losing all gathered meat outweighs the potential gain. This does not take into account, that you are losing health and get beaten up, if you encounter the mimic.
References
- In the 1980's game show Press Your Luck, encountering a "Whammy" would result in contestants losing all their winnings.
