[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 11 - Talisman of Death

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I'll change my vote to fight.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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Post by SGamerz »

They lower their heads and charge at you. You wound two of them before another catches you with his tusks. The tremendous momentum of his charge pitches you in your back. Lose 2 STAMINA points. If you are still alive, they pin you down and drag you off to their village.
Run over like pedestrian on a RAILROAD!

At least it's not an autodeath...
Image
Their village is composed of several elegant buildings made from wattle, daubed with clay. A deep dry moat and spiked palisade surround it. You are led through the village to what must be the Headhog's dwelling, a two-storeyed building, part of which is built from crumbling green stone. A huge mud wallow lies nearby. The Headhog sits on a carved stone throne, his muscles rippling under his blue-black skin. He wears a red robe fastened at his thick neck with a necklace of amber. He seems at ease but he demands to know why you, a human, are on the plateau. If you say that you mean no harm - you are searching for the portals on Mount Starreach - turn to 110. If you tell him you are looking for a lost city, turn to 90.
Do we want to tell Hogfather the truth?

Adventure Sheet:
Name: Captain Double D
SKILL 12/12 (13 in combat)
STAMINA 13/21
LUCK 11/12
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Golden Apple (+4 STAMINA), Chaimail (+1 SKILL), Apothecus' Ring (+1 SKILL) , Jade Rose, Talisman of Death, 'Dragonsbane' Spear (+1 SKILL in combat)
Gold: 14
Provisions: 5 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Potion: Potion of Fortune (restore Luck to Initial value, +1 to Initial Luck) Misc Notes: At time of greatest need, cry: "All-Mother, nature herself, preserve me."
No. of Re-boots in this playthrough: 2
Hey, they never gave us our salted pork back! I thought they didn't like it?
Last edited by SGamerz on Mon Dec 15, 2014 3:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Ninja Honesty.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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Post by Starmaker »

Darth Rabbitt wrote:Ninja Honesty.
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Post by Sirocco »

Thirded.

(Is the Headhog Robb Stark's long-lost cousin? Hardy har har.)
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Post by SGamerz »

The Hoglord says, 'I will help you, man-thing, for you may help me. An ancient Red Dragon has its lair within Mount Star-reach. It is the guardian of the portals. The last time it awoke, which was before my children were born, it despoiled our villages. You must slay it before you can go through the portals. It breaths fire which one cannot withstand, save when one is sheltered by scales from the Dragon itself. You must steal three of the scales from its lair and fashion a shield out of them.' He gives you a parting gift, a stoppered gourd containing the Gum of an Amber Pine, with which to make the shield. You dine with them on mangoes, nuts and guavas (gain 2 STAMINA points). You thank them and leave. After a long climb you come to a wide cave mouth reeking of sulphur - the Dragon's lair. You decide to enter.
We got back the 2 STAMINA that his underlings gored off us.
You light a torch and enter the cavern, which stretches away into blackness. You scramble across the cavern floor until you see a small smooth-walled tunnel branching off from the main tunnel. The strong smell of sulphur seems to pervade both. Will you walk down the wide and rocky main tunnel, or investigate the narrow tunnel?
And we're back in familiar territory.

Do we want to take the same route we went last time (going down the narrow tunnel and stealing the dragon's scale)? Or try something different?

Adventure Sheet:
Name: Captain Double D
SKILL 12/12 (13 in combat)
STAMINA 15/21
LUCK 11/12
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Golden Apple (+4 STAMINA), Chaimail (+1 SKILL), Apothecus' Ring (+1 SKILL) , Jade Rose, Talisman of Death, 'Dragonsbane' Spear (+1 SKILL in combat), Gum of an Amber Pine
Gold: 14
Provisions: 5 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Potion: Potion of Fortune (restore Luck to Initial value, +1 to Initial Luck) Misc Notes: At time of greatest need, cry: "All-Mother, nature herself, preserve me."
No. of Re-boots in this playthrough: 2
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Don't we have a specific use for dragonscale now?
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Go the same way as before, spear the dragon and steal its scales.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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Post by Sirocco »

Agreed.
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Post by SGamerz »

Sorry for the late update guys. I've been sick the past couple of days. Still am, actually, but well enough to not have to sleep through the whole day.

So our choice is for Captain Double D go into the narrow corridor and stick her long shaft into the beastie? Alrighty!

Skipping forward.....
The Dragon bellows with pain but the thick scales on its back give it some protection even from Dragonsbane. Its tail whips round and catches you across the shoulder. Lose 2 STAMINA points. A wave of fear hits you as the Dragon turns its head, its yellow slitted eyes glinting with malice and pain. 'For that cowardly blow you shall die,' it roars. Will you:

Run back down the tunnel?
Try to grab some scales?
Try to grab some of the dragon's treasure?
Well, we were primarily interested in the scales in the first place, so I think it's safe t skip the voting.....
Test your Luck. If you are Lucky turn to 324. If you are Unlucky turn to 314.
What a nice padding section.

Dice roll: 5 (Lucky)
You make a grab for one of the scales but trip over a golden goblet studded with fire opals. Recovering your balance, you snatch up three of the scales before the Dragon can turn around and run back down the narrow twisting tunnel. You leave the cave as fast as you can and continue up the mountain.
We've been to the next paragraph before:
Do you have a gourd filled with Gum of an Amber Pine? If you do, turn to 385.
The authors really make good, economical use of these 400 sections, don't they?

This time we have a blue option!
Pausing in a gully, you examine the scales. You fit them together to form a shield and, using the gum of the amber pin, you bond them together.
Image
You climb on, gasping for breath in the thin air. At last you reach the flat summit. The panorama is incredible. The whole plateau lies below you like a table, a college of tropical forests, mountains and huge lakes, which glisten in the sun. Thirty metres away is a rectangle of shimmering silver, handing in the air, unsupported. You realize that this is the portal. As you step towards it, you hear the rushing of wind. Looking up you see the ancient Red Dragon. It lands beside the portal. Outside its lair the Dragon is even more impressive and fearsome. Warmth and power seem to radiate from its body. 'I am bound by the Gods to guard the portal.' it says in its rich, mellow voice. Will you:

Run to attack the Dragon?
Tell you that Death threatens the world?
Threaten it?
Persuade it, bully it, or stick our weapon into it again?

Adventure Sheet:
Name: Captain Double D
SKILL 12/12 (13 in combat)
STAMINA 13/21
LUCK 10/12
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Golden Apple (+4 STAMINA), Chaimail (+1 SKILL), Apothecus' Ring (+1 SKILL) , Jade Rose, Talisman of Death, 'Dragonsbane' Spear (+1 SKILL in combat), Gum of an Amber Pine , Shield of Dragon Scales
Gold: 14
Provisions: 5 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Potion: Potion of Fortune (restore Luck to Initial value, +1 to Initial Luck) Misc Notes: At time of greatest need, cry: "All-Mother, nature herself, preserve me."
No. of Re-boots in this playthrough: 2
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Post by Sirocco »

Persuade it using the pointy end of our spear.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I think it's some time for more Ninja Honesty.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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Post by Mr Shine »

Darth Rabbitt wrote:I think it's some time for more Ninja Honesty.
Ninja stabbing.
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Post by SGamerz »

Sounds like two of you want to get stabby. And we have this long pointed stick that's just made for this purpose! How convenient!
As you charge at the Dragon it breathes a tongue of rolling flame at you. You crouch behind your shield which protects you from the fiery blast. Before you can attack, the Dragon, roaring in anger, swipes at the shield with massive claw. Roll two dice; if the total is less than your SKILL score, turn to 34. If the total is equal to or greater than your SKILL score, turn to 79.
Hey, this time we actually do have roll the dice! With a SKILL of 12 Captain Double can pass almost every SKILL test, but in this case rolling equal to her SKILL counts as a failure, so failure is possible (albeit unlikely).

Dice roll: 6+1=7 <12.
Deftly you dodge the flailing claw and move in to the attack. Do you have a spear? If you do, turn to 51.
Of course we do, Captain Double D never leaves home without bringing her instrument of penetration with her.
You attack the Dragon. 'I shall rend you limb from limb,' it roars. The great claws swipe at you as it tries to crush your head in its enormous jaws. You dodge to one side as it leaps at you and thrust your spear at its soft underbelly.

RED DRAGON SKILL 12 STAMINA 20

Each time you make a successful attack, deduct 5 STAMINA points from the Dragon's total, as the magical spear seems to bite deep into its flesh. If you reduce the Dragon's STAMINA to 5 or less, turn to 29.
Remember when I said Hawkana was arguably the hardest fight in the book? This would be the other contender. However, thanks to our Spear and the fact that he effectively only has 15 STAMINA points for this battle, this is almost a walkover for Captain Double D. Even without the Spear, his STAMINA is effectively only 1 point higher than Hawkana's.....and Hawkana can damage us with spells before the fight, so it all evens out.

Anyway, I digress. Let's get to the stabbing!

COMBAT LOG:
Red Dragon 21, Double D 21. Tie.
Dragon 19, DD 20. Dragon is at 15.
Dragon 21, 20. Double D is at 11.
Dragon 19, DD 22. Dragon is at 10.
Dragon 20, DD 24. Dragon is at 5.
Suddenly, your weapon is flailing at air. The Dragon has changed into an old man, with long white hair, wearing a white robe. 'Spare me, I beg you,' he implores, in a thin reedy voice. 'At last you have lifted the curse that was on me. Only a strong warrior like yourself could have done it. When I came through the portal, many centuries ago, I was doomed to stay in the form of a dragon until I was beaten in combat. Now that I am myself again I can return to my world. Will you step through the portal with me?' Will you agree and walk with him into the silver shimmering portal, or attack him?
Spare him or spear him?
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Post by Omegonthesane »

It is deeply strange that we can't just let him fuck off out of our way without first committing murder.

This book hasn't rewarded us for being Evil thus far, so spare the helpless suspicious old man.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by SlyJohnny »

This story reeks of bullshit, as does the request we go through the portal with him. We probably won't kill him in a single blow, and a dragon is unlikely to sink to playing possum or cowering.

Attack.
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Post by Sirocco »

Agreed with SlyJohnny. Murder the "helpless" suspicious "old man".
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Post by SGamerz »

Omegonthesane wrote:This book hasn't rewarded us for being Evil thus far, so spare the helpless suspicious old man.
Actually, murdering a helpless old man back when we were stealing the Talisman back from Hawkana can be seen as "rewarding'. Sure, we lose a LUCK point from that, but as have been pointed out, we still need to spend a LUCK point on a luck test anyway if we don't kill him, and then have to risk alerting the guards in the process, so cold-blooded murder could be seen as the better option.
Your first blow is fatal. Blood spurts from a gaping wound and the old man falls to the ground. You step back as he turns once more into his normal form, that of a Dragon. The Guardian Dragon of the portal is dead. You step towards the shimmering portal.
Choosing to spare him would have gotten us auto-killed and back to the mid-book "save point" resurrection, which I probably wouldn't have gone through again, since I don't think any of you will be keen to rewind that far back when we are literally one option away from completing the book.
Before you step through the portal you drink in the splendid view of this fantastic and magical world for a little longer. The glittering lakes and emerald forest shimmer in a haze of heat. The Talisman is heavy at your chest. With a final prayer to the All-Mother you step into the silvery screen of the portal, remembering the four crusaders who gave you your quest. You meet no resistance as you pass through the screen. All goes dark and then a very different landscape lies before you. You are within a circle of standing stones. The smells, the air, the birdsong - everything seems strange but know that you have found your way back to Earth. You are a hero, savior of the world of Orb, but there is no one here to herald your return. As you step away from the standing stones, voices speak within your head. The two beings who summoned you to Orb are thanking you for saving the world. At last they tell you who they are. Time, Eldest Father, Youngest Son, and Fate, Keeper of the Balance, both Gods of the Orb. As you leaving this sacred place, their final words ring in your ears.

'We may call upon you again!'
No, please don't call upon us again. You two suck at this sending-mortals-on-heroic-quest business. You didn't give us any direction on what to do with the Talisman and you didn't even warn us that we'd have to fight a bloody dragon to get back home! Why don't you just leave this to the All-Mother, who certainly seems more competent than both of you combined.

And yes, Fate is the only other god out of the list given to us earlier when we were calling to for aid against Tyutchev and gang that we have met before. That option actually highlights how pointless it is to expect actual help from her, because even though she does answer our call, the result is no different than us calling on some other random gods we've never heard about: all those options (besides the All-Mother) lead to us being beheaded by Tyutchev and sent back in time to restart this quest all over again.

Anyway, congrats to everyone for completing another FF playthrough! And many thanks to everyone who participated! :)

Due to the design of the book, there aren't many important stuff that we actually missed (because we pretty much played through 3 times). I will sum them up tomorrow. In the meantime, once again, any questions about the book that you wish to be answered?

Final Adventure Sheet:
Name: Captain Double D
SKILL 12/12 (13 in combat)
STAMINA 11/21
LUCK 10/12
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Golden Apple (+4 STAMINA), Chaimail (+1 SKILL), Apothecus' Ring (+1 SKILL) , Jade Rose, Talisman of Death, 'Dragonsbane' Spear (+1 SKILL in combat), Gum of an Amber Pine , Shield of Dragon Scales
Gold: 14
Provisions: 5 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Potion: Potion of Fortune (restore Luck to Initial value, +1 to Initial Luck) Misc Notes: At time of greatest need, cry: "All-Mother, nature herself, preserve me."
No. of Re-boots in this playthrough: 2
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Post by SGamerz »

Like I said before, there aren't too many notable stuff that we missed in this book, so I'll keep this short (especially since I'm still feeling a bit under the weather).

The boy who stopped us on our way to visit Apothecus is exactly what he claimed to be: he's acting on behalf of 2 scholars to hire a strong warrior for their experiment. The scholar study "Vivisection", which they describe as "using surgery and magic to create new lifeforms". They have just created this little beauty below:
Image
They want us to help test their newly-created war-beast and promise some monetary reward for doing so. They will also assure us that the experiment is safe, as they have a spell to put the "Vivisect" to sleep if we're in danger. However, if we were starting to lose the fight and call for help, it would turn out that the spell wasn't working as expected, and we'll be forced to fight to the death.

Fortunately, despite its intimidating appearance, the Vivisect only has a SKILL of 8 and STAMINA of 12, so unless the player is really unlucky or really weak, he should be able to survive the fight.

As it turns out, the scholar didn't really have the money that they promised, so to compensate for that they give us a scroll containing the Spell of Agonizing Doom. This can be used against Hawkana later, to bring her STAMINA down to 6 (although she'll still be at a dangerous SKILL 12_

The invitation from the death-loving Mortphilio was, as everyone here expected, a trap. Mortphilio is a necromancer who (although it's not directly stated in the book) is probably a worshipper of Death. After summoning a Winged Skull to attack us (which we should be able to smash pretty easily), he will proceed to bring out a whole Skeletal Army, forcing us to flee.
Image
The ruby that we could have given to the Hog Lord can be found in Greyguilds. After being dropped off in the city by Fell-Kyrinla's followers, one of the streets (that we did not choose to go) will lead us to where 3 thieves are plotting to rob a jeweler's store. We have the option to side with the thieves or the jeweler. Helping the jeweler is the right option as he rewards us with the ruby. Helping the thieves gains nothing, since the thieves refuse to share the booty with you, and try to trick you into opening the booby-trapped safe. Even if you see through their ruse and defeat them, you are still left with a booby-trapped safe with no knowledge of how to open it.

The ruby isn't really that important, though, since it basically just gains us the help of the Hog people without having to answer any questions.

And last but not least, the Brass Tiger Charm that we bypassed twice.

This is actually a pretty unique cursed magical item in FF, I don't think something like that has ever been used in any other gamebook, so it stands out as one of the more memorable encounters to me. What the charm does is to turn our character into a foul-mouthed lout who then proceed to go around insulting picking fights with everyone she meets (this was why we saw two men fighting and arguing furiously with each other when we found the charm and then apparently had no idea why they were fighting)). And since she'll be on her way to the Red Dragon Inn, she doesn't have to look far o get into a fight. :biggrin:

Here's an example of how we would have automatically responded to the various inhabitants of the inn:
You stop at the bar and are about to ask the barman what there is to drink, when you hear yourself saying, 'You fat pig, pour me a drink before the sight of your squalid pus-ridden face makes me vomit.' The barman stiffens, astonished and incensed. He gives a strangled cry of rage, grabs his club and hurdles the bar.
If we survive this fight (the Barman and his thug ally surrender once their STAMINA start to run low), we can test our Luck. If were Lucky, the charm falls off during the fight, and we will realize that it's the charm making us behave the way we did. If not, we will continue to wear the charm for a while before the GMPCs comes in:
The man, Tyutchev, strolls to the bar, but the woman called Cassandra comes over and sits at your table, looking you over. 'Find your own table, wrinkled hag,' you say before you can stop yourself. With a flash of insight you realize that the brass tiger charm must be cursed. Cassandra spits in your face and moving with the grace of a panther, draws her sword.
If we manage to injure Cassandra enough (SK 9, ST 10), she backs off and Tyutchev steps in. If we start to win against him as well, he will call upon his god cause a mini-earthquake before escaping with Cassandra in the confusion. We will do the same (and in this case gaining 1 LUCK point for surviving the Red Dragon Inn probably makes more sense than the path we took in this book).

Once our character figures out what the cursed charm does, she automatically discards it, which is a pity, since I think there could have been more encounters that could have been made interesting with it. :biggrin:

That's all I have for this book (that I can remember). Now I'll go back to sleeping off the effect of the medication I just took. :P Hopefully, I'll be back after a couple of days. See you guys till then.
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Post by Starmaker »

SGamerz wrote:And last but not least, the Brass Tiger Charm that we bypassed twice.

This is actually a pretty unique cursed magical item in FF, I don't think something like that has ever been used in any other gamebook, so it stands out as one of the more memorable encounters to me. What the charm does is to turn our character into a foul-mouthed lout who then proceed to go around insulting picking fights with everyone she meets (this was why we saw two men fighting and arguing furiously with each other when we found the charm and then apparently had no idea why they were fighting)). And since she'll be on her way to the Red Dragon Inn, she doesn't have to look far o get into a fight. :biggrin:
There was a cursed axe in Beneath Nightmare Castle, and, of course, the famous Ring of Contrariness in D&D. So, from this scene, it was pretty clear what the charm did. I thought it would've been way more dangerous, though, what with all the gods and DMPCs in the book.

(Damn it, Darth, I'm still apprehensive about googling Beneath Nightmare Castle because of that one picture.)
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