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[AD&D Gamebook] The Sorcerer's Crown (Kingdom of Sorcery, book 2 of 3)
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<blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 9616841" data-attributes="member: 7737"><p><strong>Commentary</strong>:</p><p></p><p><em><strong>To whom are we speaking?</strong></em></p><p><strong><em>“MY NAME IS ARIOCH, SIMPLETON!”</em></strong></p><p></p><p>Arioch is a fun shout-out to Michael Moorcock's Elric series.</p><p></p><p>Also, Arioch accurately determines that OUR Carr Delling is a simpleton.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Our mind fills with a rush of words [...] in one great flash of awareness.</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>…</strong></em></p><p><strong><em>“YOU HEARD ME! WHAT IS IT YOU SEEK?”</em></strong></p><p></p><p>Sheesh, way to use imprecise language, Arioch. We didn't "hear" you. You communicated mind-to-mind.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>…we “shouldn’t go any farther into Yellow Marsh?”</em></strong></p><p></p><p><em>facepalm</em></p><p></p><p>Carr. Buddy. Ask your questions such that the yes/no answer is unambiguous, which means: avoid negatives. The proper question here is "Should we go farther into Yellow Marsh?"</p><p></p><p>"We shouldn't go any farther into Yellow Marsh" is not grammatically a question, and even if we stick a question mark after it, the yes/no answer will be ambiguous.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Dalris says we’re lucky to have escaped with our sanity, because Arioch is “an avenger for the archdevil Dispater” and therefore we can’t believe anything he said.</em></strong></p><p></p><p>That's mean, Dalris. Devils don't <em>always</em> lie. They tell the truth when it suits their purposes.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>"Then we can’t believe his name, and we can’t believe that the creature in the fog is evil," we mumble.</em></strong></p><p></p><p>Ah, the classic conundrum: "Given your interlocutor always lies, what <em>can</em> you believe?"</p><p></p><p>If literally everything the voice spoke is a lie, then:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">We haven't disturbed it and/or it doesn't mind being disturbed.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">We didn't hear it. (Fact! It communicated telepathically.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">"What is it you seek?" doesn't have a clean opposite, but perhaps it doesn't know nor care.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It is not possible we have risked insanity. (Fact! Given that we don't go insane here.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Our query is not foolish. (Take that, Dalris!)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Its name is not Arioch. (As Carr said.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">We are not a simpleton. (Yay!)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The thing in the fog is not evil.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The thing in the fog does not wish to kill us.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">And we get a divide-by-zero error on the "go any farther into Yellow Marsh" question because that question is already impossible to answer yes/no definitively. Thus a lying answer, reversed to truth, is still impossible.</li> </ul><p><em><strong>We must decide whether to</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>(179) continue through Yellow Marsh or</strong></em></p><p><strong><em>(31) go back to the road.</em></strong></p><p></p><p>I'll stop the alternate timeline here because we don't want to go back to the road and because continuing into Yellow Marsh puts us more-or-less back on the path we were taking before our detour to waste a couple of high level spells from the traveling spellbook.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Joshua Randall, post: 9616841, member: 7737"] [B]Commentary[/B]: [I][B]To whom are we speaking?[/B][/I] [B][I]“MY NAME IS ARIOCH, SIMPLETON!”[/I][/B] Arioch is a fun shout-out to Michael Moorcock's Elric series. Also, Arioch accurately determines that OUR Carr Delling is a simpleton. [I][B]Our mind fills with a rush of words [...] in one great flash of awareness. …[/B][/I] [B][I]“YOU HEARD ME! WHAT IS IT YOU SEEK?”[/I][/B] Sheesh, way to use imprecise language, Arioch. We didn't "hear" you. You communicated mind-to-mind. [B][I]…we “shouldn’t go any farther into Yellow Marsh?”[/I][/B] [I]facepalm[/I] Carr. Buddy. Ask your questions such that the yes/no answer is unambiguous, which means: avoid negatives. The proper question here is "Should we go farther into Yellow Marsh?" "We shouldn't go any farther into Yellow Marsh" is not grammatically a question, and even if we stick a question mark after it, the yes/no answer will be ambiguous. [B][I]Dalris says we’re lucky to have escaped with our sanity, because Arioch is “an avenger for the archdevil Dispater” and therefore we can’t believe anything he said.[/I][/B] That's mean, Dalris. Devils don't [I]always[/I] lie. They tell the truth when it suits their purposes. [B][I]"Then we can’t believe his name, and we can’t believe that the creature in the fog is evil," we mumble.[/I][/B] Ah, the classic conundrum: "Given your interlocutor always lies, what [I]can[/I] you believe?" If literally everything the voice spoke is a lie, then: [LIST] [*]We haven't disturbed it and/or it doesn't mind being disturbed. [*]We didn't hear it. (Fact! It communicated telepathically.) [*]"What is it you seek?" doesn't have a clean opposite, but perhaps it doesn't know nor care. [*]It is not possible we have risked insanity. (Fact! Given that we don't go insane here.) [*]Our query is not foolish. (Take that, Dalris!) [*]Its name is not Arioch. (As Carr said.) [*]We are not a simpleton. (Yay!) [*]The thing in the fog is not evil. [*]The thing in the fog does not wish to kill us. [*]And we get a divide-by-zero error on the "go any farther into Yellow Marsh" question because that question is already impossible to answer yes/no definitively. Thus a lying answer, reversed to truth, is still impossible. [/LIST] [I][B]We must decide whether to (179) continue through Yellow Marsh or[/B][/I] [B][I](31) go back to the road.[/I][/B] I'll stop the alternate timeline here because we don't want to go back to the road and because continuing into Yellow Marsh puts us more-or-less back on the path we were taking before our detour to waste a couple of high level spells from the traveling spellbook. [/QUOTE]
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[AD&D Gamebook] The Sorcerer's Crown (Kingdom of Sorcery, book 2 of 3)
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