Let's Play Fighting Fantasy #12: Space Assassin

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 3:06 pm

Space Assassin didn't have his name legally changed to seem cuddly. Threaten it up!

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 3:50 pm

The occupant of the sleep capsule looks quite hurt, but, although he pouts a bit, he doesn't say anything. Will you stop threatening and try to be friendly or threaten the person some more?

MisterDee · Post by **MisterDee** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 8:17 pm

Jeez... so much filler.

Keep up with what we're doing.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 8:59 pm

(Filler is this book's greatest enemy; it's got like Dragon Ball Z levels of it. I have a lot to say about this book once we finish it, but I've probably actually said most of it already.)

Under your continually threatening gaze and provocative language the person suddenly metamorphoses into a hideous bat-like creature which swoops to attack you. Will you fight it or look in your pack for some other way out of the situation? (We have neither of the items we can use on it.)

You fight it in hand-to-hand combat.

THARN DOPPELGANGER SKILL 8 STAMINA 6

Combat Log:

Tharn Doppelganger 14, Space Assassin 17. Tharn Doppelganger is at 4.
Tharn Doppelganger 11, Space Assassin 15. Tharn Doppelganger is at 2.
Tharn Doppelganger 14, Space Assassin 15. Tharn Doppelganger is dead.

(This time Space Assassin rolls well and manages a Flawless. But if we had time enough to access our inventory, why didn't we just shoot it?)

The Tharn Doppelganger is vanquished. If you haven't already, you may open the first sleep capsule; otherwise you leave the room.

MisterDee · Post by **MisterDee** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 9:10 pm

Let's enjoy the content while there's some. Open the capsule!

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 9:25 pm

You start the revive cycle. After a few minutes some sounds of activity arise from within the capsule, which then swings open, letting out a monstrous spider-like creature - a bit bigger in the head (relatively) and smaller in the abdomen than most spiders, but nevertheless a spider. Will you fight it, run away, attempt to communicate with it, or search through your pack for some alternative? (Again, we don't have any of the items we can use here.)

MisterDee · Post by **MisterDee** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 12:20 pm

It's a mutant monster. Of course we talk (even politely, this time)

angelfromanotherpin · Tue Jul 23, 2013 12:31 pm

The normal person was a monster in disguise, so probably the monster is a normal person who just happens to be ugly. We talk!

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 12:36 pm

You wave your arms around, roll your eyes and make clicking insect noises - but you soon stop when you remember that spiders often eat insects. The spider, meanwhile, has been watching your antics very closely. "Very nice," it says, evidently thinking you were dancing for it.

(I love this book when it's not doing filler.)

You strike up a conversation, but the spider really doesn't know very much useful information -mainly stuff about insects and trees from its home planet Ti. It tells a sad tale about being captured by Cyrus for perverse experimentation and, in gratitude to you having effected its release, it gives you a small sachet of what it calls "Anti-Mollusk Formula Four" - evidently quite popular on the planet Ti. If you haven't already, you may revive the occupant of the second capsule; otherwise you leave the room.

The only exit from the room is through the door you entered by. Going through this, you trudge the kilometers back along the airborne path, past the T-junction and down the other, left-hand route.

The path flies straight for a long while before ending in another T-junction. Looking down, you can still see the alien countryside, while looking to the left and right the path hangs in the air, precipitous and unending. Which way will you turn - left or right?

Space Assassin
SKILL 7/7
STAMINA 18/19
LUCK 10/10
ARMOR 4/10
Weapons: Assault Blaster, 1 Grenade, Gravity Bomb
Pep Pills: 2 (+5 STAMINA each)
Items: Unknown Power Source, Orangey-Purple Fruit, Sachet of Anti-Mollusk Formula Four
Companions: Cephalo Squirrel
Running Total of Deaths: 1

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 1:41 pm

Right.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 1:51 pm

The path runs for quite a few kilometers before ending at a small aluminium cube which, like the path, is hanging in mid-air. As you get closer you see that the path ends at a door in the side of the cube, while beside the door is parked a rapid-transit two-seater commuter. Will you enter the cube or jump into the commuter and head back to the T-junction and down the left-hand branch of the path?

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 10:36 pm

CUUUUUBBBBEEEE!!!

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 10:59 pm

Behind the door is a biological laboratory and, evidently, museum. There are whole shelves full of grisly reminders of some of Cyrus' previous experiments on living creatures: whole organs and limbs are preserved in jars in long rows reaching to the ceiling. Not all the remains are human. On an operating table in the center of the room, surrounded by instruments of surgery, is the prone and unconscious figure of a man with tentacles instead of arms. He is strapped down. Will you go up to the man or give the whole nasty scene a wide berth?

Korgan0 · Post by **Korgan0** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 1:19 am

talk to tentacle-man

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 2:05 am

The man stirs as you approach and looks up with bleary eyes. He looks as if he has suffered terribly. "Who are you?" he croaks through cracked lips. Will you tell him that you are an assassin sent to get Cyrus or that you are one of the crew of the Vandervecken?

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 2:12 am

I assume he's been tortured by Cyrus, so honesty is the best policy.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 2:42 am

The man smiles, and tears of joy spring into his eyes: he tries to stroke your hand with a tentacle. The effort is a bit much though; his eyes start to roll and he looks as if he is about to lose consciousness. Before he does, he motions that he wants to whisper to you. "Take the middle, always the middle." He passes out.

You leave the room, leap into the waiting commuter and zip back to the path, past the T-junction and along the left-hand branch.

(Technically not an illustration from the book, but the UK cover seems like it depicts the scene we're coming across.)

You make good time. The path curves for a bit and then ends in a massive grey wall, which seems to extend down towards the alien countryside. Going through the door at the end of the path you find yourself in what is obviously a security nexus. Two dome-headed guards, dressed in black with matching leather straps, boots and holsters, are seated at a wide console, engrossed in a direct telecast from Epsilon-Indi of zero-G fangball which is showing on all ten security monitors in the room. The guards leap to their collective feet when they see you, shine the tops of their scalps and take up assertive postures.

"Who are you?" they ask suspiciously. Will you fight them, attempt to bluff them into thinking you are part of the ship's crew or look into your pack for some other means of overcoming this obstacle?

(Yet again, we have none of the things that can be used against them, and in every case so far we get the opportunity to choose again if we have none of them, so I'm really just speeding up this LP by not offering the choice.)

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 3:15 am

To fight, and...!

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 3:51 am

(I don't think the guards are a micro-cephalic three-headed giant, given that there are only two of them, and they each have separate bodies. Nor can we run away, bravely or otherwise. But we can definitely fight these guys.)

As you are standing in the cover of a doorway, you may throw a grenade in at them - however, as they have a console for cover, deduct 1 point from the result of the blast (thus the grenade will do from 0 to 5 points of damage). If the grenade fails to kill them, they will shoot at you simultaneously, whereas you may only fire at one of them at a time.

First SECURITY GUARD SKILL 6 STAMINA 4
Second SECURITY GUARD SKILL 6 STAMINA 4

(Do we want to grenade them?)

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 12:47 pm

(Since there's no response, I assume we don't grenade them; it's too unlikely to kill them, anyways.)

Combat Log:

Space Assassin 3, hit! Roll damage: 2. Guard A is at 2.
Guard A 7, miss.
Guard B 9, miss.
Space Assassin 3, hit! Roll damage: 6. Guard B is dead.
Guard A 9, miss.
Space Assassin 7, miss.
Guard A 12, miss.
Space Assassin 4, hit! Roll damage: 4. Guard A is dead.

(Flawless; Space Assassin is good at assassinating opponents with SKILL lower than his. Unfortunately, that describes very few of Cyrus' hench-beings.)

The guards are vanquished, but a red light is flashing on the video controls - perhaps somebody or something has been alerted. You had better hurry. The room has two other exits; one is a security door and the other is a simple manual sliding door. If you don't already have one, you may take an assault blaster from one of the guards. Which door will you go through - the security door or the sliding door?

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 3:05 pm

Sliding door seems suspiciously obvious. Let's take it anyway!

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Jul 24, 2013 3:11 pm

The door leads to a small kitchenette with a delightful aroma - a pot of coffee is sitting, begging to be drunk, and on a sideboard are some fresh sandwiches! Will you stay here for a while to eat or will you go back into the security nexus and through the other exit?

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 12:41 pm

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 1:06 pm

You sit back and take it easy for a bit - regain 5 points of STAMINA. After recuperating, you leave the kitchenette, and go into the security room and through the exit.

The exit leads you down a corridor and into a wide circular room whose floor-space is almost completely taken up by a deep, still pool; the only areas not covered with water are a path leading around the edge of the room and a very narrow bridge without handrails which passes over the middle of the pool. Both of these lead from where you stand to another opening on the other side of the room. Will you cross the room by taking the bridge or the path?

Space Assassin
SKILL 7/7
STAMINA 19/19
LUCK 10/10
ARMOR 4/10
Weapons: Assault Blaster, 1 Grenade, Gravity Bomb
Pep Pills: 2 (+5 STAMINA each)
Items: Unknown Power Source, Orangey-Purple Fruit, Sachet of Anti-Mollusk Formula Four
Companions: Cephalo Squirrel
Running Total of Deaths: 1

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon Jul 29, 2013 1:30 pm

My suspicion is that crossing the bridge calls for a SKILL check, and that the path has some sort of other bullshit.

So, the path.

The Gaming Den

Let's Play Fighting Fantasy #12: Space Assassin

What book should I run next?