Let's Play Fighting Fantasy 41: Master of Chaos

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 9:53 am

At that price? Agreed.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 1:51 pm

Yeah, don't eat any meal for now. We can probably regain some STAMINA at the tavern anyway. Everyone knows that in FF, alcoholic drinks are as good as any food or magical healing.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 2:10 pm

SGamerz wrote:Everyone knows that in FF, alcoholic drinks are as good as any food or magical healing.

Unless the alcohol is white wine.

That being said, given the prices I think the new plan is a good one.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 3:30 pm

Darth Rabbitt wrote:
SGamerz wrote:Everyone knows that in FF, alcoholic drinks are as good as any food or magical healing.
Unless the alcohol is white wine.

Well, alcoholic drinks in Titan, then!

House of Hell doesn't count, since it's not set in Titan.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 5:11 pm

SGamerz wrote:House of Hell doesn't count, since it's not set in Titan.

But Citadel of Chaos does.

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 6:53 pm

There was a red wine/white wine choice we missed earlier, but breaking with tradition, the white wine just gives you back 2 STAMINA and a temporary skill penalty, while the red wine gives you an opportunity to get roofied and then mugged for all your gold and magic items. The brandy we found gives us more health overall than a healing potion, so I guess the moral here is more that people who don't drink spirits are bad people.

Anyway, buying 8 provisions, and not eating yet, leaving our STAMINA at 10 and our gold at 7. Now heading to the tavern.

The solitary inn in Rahasta is the Scapegoat, and above it hangs a painted sign showing such an animal being pursued by cleaver-wielding mutants. You walk in and order some of the local beer (deduct 1 Gold Piece and add 1 STAMINA point). It tastes revolting, but after such a hot day you could drink almost anything. The hunchbacked landlord stares pointedly at you, and his cat (which actually has nine tails) tries to bite your hand as it paws in the air for one of the succulent fat blowflies hovering by the meat pies. The cat's baleful greeneyes gaze at you in dislike as its razor-sharp whiskers twitch; its mouth opens to reveal snagged, vicious fangs when it hisses and spits at you! Do you have a Bronze Bracelet? (We do.)

A cloaked figure moves quietly from the shadows to sit with you. 'Throw away that filth,' the Dark Elf says. 'Drink this,' and he produces a flask of fine liquor, which smells of herbs. Regain 4 STAMINA points for drinking his sustaining potion. 'You saved my life, and I am not ungrateful,' he goes on. 'We may have the same enemies, but at the last the Staff of Power will leave Kabesh in my hands and not yours. Do you understand me?' Your nod of reply is unnecessary. 'Let us not weaken ourselves by fighting now. And get out of here - the scum in this place will surely attack you if you don't.' The Dark Elf gets up and is gone.

The locals look surly and are muttering; you decide to take the Elf's advice. If you haven't slept here yet, you must do so now; turn to 166.

Do you have Jesper with you? (We are indeed accompanied by the most useful mongoose in the whole goddamn world.)

'Don't go to the hostelry,' Jesper tells you, 'it's a den of thieves and brigands. A former master of mine did a favour for a local family here, and we maybe able to get you a bed for the night with them.' Taking his advice, you knock on the door he leads you to, and, after a few words with the head of the family, you are taken in. Their eldest son was saved from a Rock Troll by a warrior whom Jesper once served, and they are glad to see the mongoose again. You only get porridge and scraps, but it's hot and the pan of porridge seems bottomless. You stuff yourself before sleeping well in front of the fire; regain 4 STAMINA points.

You wash off the dust of the Dead Lands, and walk out into the bleary morning sun. Will you:

Buy some food?
Buy a mount?
Leave for Kabesh at once?

Jesper uses Call In A Favour! It's super-effective! Between that and having a terse drink with our sworn frenemy, we're back up to full STAMINA.

Adventure Sheet

Huge Nuge

SKILL 11/11
STAMINA 17/17
LUCK 11/12

Skills: Blindsight, Acute Hearing, Tracking, Move Silently

Equipment: 8/12 Provisions
Boots with hidden coin compartments
6gp (hidden in boots)
Silver Whistle
Backpack
Waterskin
Leather armour and shield
Lantern
Ring of Endurance
Boots of Stealth
Medicinal herbs, 2 bags
Preservative spices, 1 bag
Potion of Healing
Bronze Bracelet
Iron Key
Sword
Crossbow, 5 bolts
Magic Scimitar (+1 SKILL when below 11, sheds light as a lantern)
Brandy, 2 tots
29-ray Silver Amulet

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 9:02 pm

See if we have enough cash to buy a mount, if not, fill up with Provisions and leave.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 2:56 am

I know I keep on saying "I agree to that," but ...I agree to that.

Dr_Noface · Post by **Dr_Noface** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:54 am

I agree to that.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 9:59 am

Mount if we can. Fuck walking that far again.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 12:14 pm

My vote doesn't make a difference, but I think we already covered most of the distance on foot, and buying a mount now will be a waste of money.

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 7:06 pm

You try your luck around Rahasta, but the few animals they have are in wretched condition, half starved and wasted. It's a miracle they are still standing up - although one parasite-infested camel drops to the ground, dead, just as its owner is extolling its virtues to you as a prize-winning racing animal. At length you give up in despair.

Now, will you:
Buy some food?
Look for an inn, if you haven't visited one yet?
Look for a place to sleep, if you haven't slept here yet?
Leave and head for Kabesh?

Nothing more to do here. We fill our pack with food and then leave.

As an aside, Rahasta is actually a crazy dangerous place with a couple of insta-death paragraphs, but Huge Nuge is being chaperoned by a combination of a mysterious Dark Elf and an overprotective mongoose, and between the two of them, they kept us out of trouble.

The weather has changed! Cloudy skies and a fresh wind bring cool weather and respite from the remorseless sun. You must eat 2 meals today, but your journey is safe as you stride out through the blasted Dead Lands. No creatures seem to exist here; no birds in the skies, no buzzing insects, no scurrying lizards on the broken fragments of rock, not even a straggly plant clinging to life in a rock crevice. At night, you sleep uneasily but safely below a gibbous moon which gazes balefully over the broken land, and you wake to early-morning sunshine that promises more oppressive heat.

On your second day you are getting close to Kabesh as you press on. Once again, you must eat 2 meals today. Further, if you do not have a Ring of Endurance, you must lose 3 points from your STAMINA due to the baking heat.

Wearily you stagger through the last stretch of the Dead Lands, leading to the ruins. Before you on your left you can see some tents pitched near a small pool, where beasts of burden are tethered, and swarthy, robed nomads are eyeing you suspiciously. Do you have a mark on your forehead? (We do not.)

The attitude of the nomads is not very friendly towards you, but they do offer you shelter, as their code of honour demands. Something in their eyes tells you they do not value gold highly, and you do not make the mistake of offering them any.

You are ushered into a small tent, but, just as you are looking fondly at the blanket they have offered you, a messenger comes over to invite you to the tent of their leader, who wishes to speak with you. You cannot refuse; tum to 131.

The Warrior-Savant of the nomads introduces himself as Baalberith, Servant of the Lord of the Suns and the Ways. You have no idea what that implies, so you decide to bow respectfully, and this seems to go down quite well. Baalberith explains that his people are in this defiled land on a sacred quest to recover a lost icon of great religious and spiritual importance to them: the Sacred Sphere of Hazdur, a golden globe set with moonstones. Obviously they do not know exactly where it is to be found. Baalberith says that, should you find this item here,you will be rewarded for your efforts! (If you find this object, and you decide to give it to Baalberith, you can do so by turning to a specific paragraph: take the numbers for the SKILL and STAMINA of the monster you fight immediately before finding the Sphere, multiply them together and this will give you the number of the paragraph to tum to. For example, if the monster has a SKILL of 9 and a STAMINA of 20, you would turn to paragraph 180. Make a note of this formula!) You say that you will do your best to help the nomads, and Baalberith seems satisfied with this. He will provide food and shelter for you tonight. Now, is Jesper with you? (He is.)

'Ah,' Baalberith exclaims, 'it is the Talking Snakebane!' He has heard Jesper mutter something about having had enough travel for a while. Jesper perks up at this grand-sounding title. 'Little one,' the Warrior-Savant continues, 'my father Qaaniqqatsi spoke to me of you, and he said you were a prize among prizes, better than flocks of goats and far better than many wives!' The mongoose purrs at the flattery. 'He was your father?' Jesper exclaims. 'Well, did he tell you about the time when we...'

Silently you slip away, leaving them together in animated conversation. Something tells you that the companionship of your little friend on your journey has come to an end. However, Baalberith will not let you go unrewarded for allowing Jesper to stay with him, as the mongoose wishes; he will provide sufficient food for 10 meals for you! (Add these to your Provisions). Now you head for the tent the nomads have set up for you.

Bye bye, faithful mongoose pokemon

In the morning, you stretch your limbs in the sun, then eat the breakfast which the shy, brown-eyed girls of the camp bring you. For rest and food, regain 4 STAMINA points. Now turn to 4 to decide where next to go.

The ruins of Kabesh contain several noteworthy landmarks; you may care to make a sketchmap of the area. You may visit each area only once- unless you are specifically instructed to the contrary in a later paragraph - so make a note of each of the areas as you visit them. You will not learn or find anything on a second visit which you haven't already discovered first time around, so return visits are pointless. After selecting one location, you will be referred back to this paragraph to select another place to visit. If after visiting all the locations you still have not found the entrance to the Chaos Pits of the Master of Chaos, your mission has failed and your adventure ends in disappointment and frustration!

The areas within the ruins, with compass notations for position, are:

Ruined Senate House (NW)
Ruined houses (W)
Old Temple (SSW)
Mausoleum (S)
Warehouses (SE)
Ruined Coliseum (ESE)
Nomad camp (E and NE)

Adventure Sheet

Huge Nuge

SKILL 11/11
STAMINA 17/17
LUCK 11/12

Skills: Blindsight, Acute Hearing, Tracking, Move Silently

Equipment: 12/12 Provisions
Boots with hidden coin compartments
2gp (hidden in boots)
Backpack
Waterskin
Leather armour and shield
Lantern
Ring of Endurance
Boots of Stealth
Medicinal herbs, 2 bags
Preservative spices, 1 bag
Potion of Healing
Bronze Bracelet
Iron Key
Sword
Crossbow, 5 bolts
Magic Scimitar (+1 SKILL when below 11, sheds light as a lantern)
Brandy, 2 tots
29-ray Silver Amulet

MisterDee · Post by **MisterDee** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 7:23 pm

Temple to look for pillars, I think.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Nov 19, 2014 11:33 pm

Checking out the temple seems like a good start. Even if it doesn't have what we're looking for, it should have something cool.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:18 pm

I think we should just go through all of them in order. There's probably something interesting in every place, except maybe the nomads' camp, which probably offers something after we've found the relic (but that's listed last anyway, so it isn't an issue).

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:23 pm

In order sounds good.

Dr_Noface · Post by **Dr_Noface** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:58 pm

half a vote for temple, then the other places that could have pillars ie coliseum and senate house

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 7:31 pm

Temple wins out by half a vote.

The old Temple was clearly built for the worship of some ancient and long-forgotten deity but was it one of Law or Chaos, Good or Evil? You cannot tell, but you enter, intending to find out. Inside, you find an intact altar standing in the centre of a large circle in which flames are etched. Round the edge of the circle is a ring of ten upright metallic torches, their ends composed of a hard, incense-like substance. On the floor, dust and debris made up of shrivelled cloth and paper and decayed wood hamper your steps slightly. Above you is a semicircular dome of dark-tinted glass in the ceiling; this allows a little light to enter the room. What will you do now? Will you:

Investigate the altar?
Take one of the torches?
Leave and go elsewhere?

Adventure Sheet

Huge Nuge

SKILL 11/11
STAMINA 17/17
LUCK 11/12

Skills: Blindsight, Acute Hearing, Tracking, Move Silently

Equipment: 12/12 Provisions
Boots with hidden coin compartments
2gp (hidden in boots)
Backpack
Waterskin
Leather armour and shield
Lantern
Ring of Endurance
Boots of Stealth
Medicinal herbs, 2 bags
Preservative spices, 1 bag
Potion of Healing
Bronze Bracelet
Iron Key
Sword
Crossbow, 5 bolts
Magic Scimitar (+1 SKILL when below 11, sheds light as a lantern)
Brandy, 2 tots
29-ray Silver Amulet

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 12:35 pm

Take a torch. Never turn down free loot.

Dr_Noface · Post by **Dr_Noface** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 2:27 pm

torch take

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 8:02 pm

Lewt.

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Sat Nov 22, 2014 12:51 am

You take one of the metal torches; add this to your posessions. Now, you can either investigate the altar, if you havn't done so already, or leave and go elsewhere.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sat Nov 22, 2014 4:02 am

Might as well take a look. Something sacred may very well be found on an altar.

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Sat Nov 22, 2014 4:07 am

Investigate the altar.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Nov 22, 2014 5:19 am