Part 4: Interlude: The Caldorre Towers

In which we explore the first mysterious tower of Caldorre, train, meet Ruawl, and engage in star pilot diplomacy.

Before we move on to the next mission, I think we should pay a visit to the Caldorre Towers already mentioned in the Caldorre description posted in update #2. Doing that will not only allow me to demonstrate the way improving attributes works in Sentinel Worlds, but also expand on the game's lore a bit, which is always a good thing.


There are three Towers on Caldorre, but their content is mostly identical, except for some NPCs you can only find in a specific Tower, so in this update we'll only focus on one of them; as for the remaining ones, I'll make a brief tour of them later, after the next main quest mission.



When orbiting Caldorre, we can press 1, 2 or 3 to dock at the Towers. We press 1; first Tower, here we come!



Unsurprisingly, we find ourselves in the Tower's spaceship port. This is the top, 801th, level of the Tower.



Uncooperating star pilots wander around the area.

Do you know of the transport raids?

Why don't you go stop them like you're supposed to?



The Caldorrians are the Tower dwellers. We try chatting them up.



(The Towers are a mystery, you see, in both their origin and their purpose. Which makes them a precursor to -- and perhaps an influence on -- Mass Effect's Citadel.)

Do you know of the transport raids?

Why don't you leave me alone and go catch the raiders?

A lot of Caldorrians around, so we interrogate them all.



Can we speak with you?

I haven't the time to talk with you right now.

But they never give us any answers. Nor do the star pilots.

Do you know of the transport raids?

I know OF the raids, but I don't want to talk about them.



The Towers are supposedly eternal. Their origins seem to be lost in time, at least.

Tell me about the towers.

I'm here to serve, not inform.

Do you know of the transport raids?

Of course I do! Everyone does! Now leave me alone!

Can we speak with you?

I haven't got the time to gab.

Do you know of the transport raids?

Someone else can help you more than I can.



Boarding other ships doesn't work from here. :P



Some observation points along the way.



As we approach the Tower's main core, we're introduced to the local glider system. Gliders allow us to change levels.



801 levels ain't a joke.



Reaching the glider station, we choose to go down a level.



Here's level 800.



This Tower's Barracuda Bar is located here. There's one in every Tower. Gimmel appreciates the idea.



The hottest club in the whole damn system!



No surprise we meet our first female Caldorrian in here. No cooperation from her, either.



Investigating the Towers' origins looks like a dangerous idea for some reason.



One funny thing about the Caldorre Tower bars is that the Caldorrians really love picking up a bar fight and attacking whoever is nearby, so we frequently get caught up in good old-fashioned bar brawls. Bar fights is an RPG classic, as you surely know. (Pool of Radiance or Buck Rogers, anyone?) In this game, a bar brawl is initiated by some of the nearby NPC dots suddenly turning red; simple as that.



Inside the Barracuda Bar, we also come across a (plot-relevant) character called Ruawl. The problem with many NPCs in this game is that they refuse to continue talking after a certain number of dialogue lines, so we make sure to save our game beforehand and reload when necessary in order to explore more dialogue options. Another slightly annoying thing is that bar brawls go on around us as we talk to Ruawl, which would've been okay had the attackers not killed Ruawl a couple of times, making us reload the game!



Do you know of the origin of these towers?

They've been here forever. No one knows of their beginning.

I wonder who could have built these towers..

Whoever it was, he's a hell of an architect.



Are you a star pilot?

I used to be a Federation grunt like you. I'm retired now.

Living the easy life, eh?

No hardly. It's too boring. I ship out for hire on short jumps.



Don't they have peacekeepers?

Just the Federation. And they only police their own people.

What do you know of the transport raids?

Not much. They seem to occur at random.



Do you think the raiders are alien to this system?

Look, they just warp in and out. Must be another system.

What race would attack commercial transports?

Who knows? There's lots we don't understand. Lots.



What happened?

Just when I thought we were dead, the raiders vanished. Poof!

Why do you suppose the raiders just vanish at times?

I don't question my own good fortune. Ever.



Done chatting with Ruawl, we explore level 800 further.



We come across a passageway opening up into some office space.



Nothing of much interest here...



..except, occasionally, a piece of equipment. Gyro Pike is the most powerful of the legal contact weapons, so we equip it on Beth.



Going back to the glider station, we reach floor 799.



A long balcony leads us to..




...another office area. Female Caldorrians abound in here for some reason.



Tell me about the towers.

I'd love to chat, but it's late..



An... "expansion"?



There's a tennis club on this floor, one of the five attribute-improving facilities.



It lets us train a character's Dexterity. It is by no means cheap, though.



We train Aleph's Dexterity. The number of times he can further train is determined by his Athletics skill.



And then we reach level 798.







It is mostly a luxury apartment area. The apartments are fairly large, with a grand view from the balcony.



There's also an Aerobics studio nearby.



Training here increases our Stamina.



More classy apartments, but nothing much else.



On 797, there's Wallace Bar.





Nothing we can do here except grab the Power Fist hidden in the kitchen, of all places.



The storage area is chilly, so we leave.



At the Weight Gym, a character's Strength can be improved.



No need of that at the moment, though.



Yet another bar!



A place where star pilots gather.



And another hidden kitchen item we can grab and sell.



At the Thompson Inn, we accidentally come across a particularly talkative star pilot. In Sentinel Worlds, you sometimes meet NPCs who are optional, not plot-critical, and therefore marked not as a light blue dot, but rather as an ordinary, dark blue one. They're very easy to miss, since you pretty much need to talk to every NPC in the area to find them, so I doubt I'll be able to locate them all in this playthrough.

Have you been operating in this sytem for very long?

For a while. Maybe six Earth years.

Do you come through this system often?

The pay's good. But it's getting pretty hot around here.

Do you like working the frontiers?

Yeah, I'll work the next system that opens up. More money on the edge.

Are you thinking of working a different cargo run?

I will pretty soon if you Feds don't take care of the problems here.

The money won't hold you to this sytem?

Money's no good if you're not alive to spend it.



Oops. This conversation didn't go very well, so we reload and try exploring other dialogue options.

What cargo do you carry?

The usual -- tools, spices, luxury items for the shops on Norjaenn.



Do Grager's trading rights bother you?

Yeah, he just sits in his yacht with his "friends" while I work.

Ever been approached by mercenary groups?

Lots of times, but never accepted. None of your business, anyway.

Do you know of the raids on cargo ships?

Of course I do. Creeps nearly got me two weeks ago.

Why do you still fly here if you've nearly died?

Hazard pay is three times normal cargo pilot pay.

Is it worth the risk?

I have to do it. My ship's all shot up. Gotta pay for the repairs!



Do you know where the raids are originating?

I haven't seen one during launch. They just seem to pop in and pop out.

Who will gain from a disruption of the local economy?

I'm not sure who, but I know Grager stands to lose.

Could Grager's enemies be behind the raids?

Make it worth my while and I will tell you.



Yeah, the bastard wants 600 credits for an irrelevant piece of info. Still, this is the first time we encounter the Bribery skill used, so let's roll with it.



What's special about the raider ships?

They're fast, that's what. Now, if you'll excuse me..

Quite long for an optional and easy-to-miss conversation, isn't it?



Level 796 boasts a Weapon shop and a General store.



The Weapon shop is pretty basic, really.




And the General store has a bunch of useless items of no specific purpose for sale.



In contrast to the apartments on floor 798, the floor 795 living areas aren't exactly luxurious.



Only one TV channel; you can't get lower than that.



Actually, you can.

We pick up a Power Axe and a Cyberdisk along the way...



...and reach the local Library.



The Library mysteriously raises a chacter's Comprehension. If only things were that simple in real life...



More offices on 794.



Not much work around here? Or are these offices abandoned?



A nanobot! Cool, I guess.



Plastic Surgery is the fifth and final attribute-improving facility.



Unsurprisingly, it is meant to enhance Charisma. As such, it isn't really of much use to us.



Level 793 is the last one we can access. Levels below are restricted.



In each of the Towers, there's a club that can only be accessed via an attribute check. To enter the Vainamon Club, for example, the party's current leader must have 20 points in Charisma.



The elite are the most charismatic. At least according to this game.



What's this with kitchens and hidden items? Anyway, we find Crysprism, the blaster ammo; it'll only come in handy much later, but it's a nice find.



There's also an Armory here; supplies for the elite in case of an emergency, I guess.



We find an EA passcard; this item will have some... special use later on.



Having explored the Tower, we go back to FSS Awful. Lots of questions remain to be answered...