[Let's Play] GrailQuest 1: The Castle of Darkness

Ikeren · Post by **Ikeren** » Sat Jul 08, 2017 6:58 pm

Double doors via barrles.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sat Jul 08, 2017 8:19 pm

Barrel travel.

ashimbabbar · Post by **ashimbabbar** » Sat Jul 08, 2017 10:24 pm

direct to the doors, and drink a healing potion

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sun Jul 09, 2017 1:21 am

Pip drinks a dose of healing potion and regains (dice roll =) 7 Life Points. He's now at 21/28.

He then goes back to the barrels and makes a deliberate detour to the double doors.

The double doors are closed, but not locked. You step through to find yourself in a second courtyard, stone flagged this time and without Chickens. On the eastern wall this time is a flight of stone steps up to the battlements and towers. About thirty metres in front of you is a whipping post with a manacled Skeleton hanging from it. The total area of the entire courtyard is about eighty square metres. Along the north wall of the courtyard is a row of four three-metre-high stone buildings, each with a closed wooden door. Near the west wall is a three-metre-square wooden building, the door of which is closed and barred with a large iron bolt. By the east wall is another building of stone, six by three metres with its door slightly ajar.

If you decide to climb the steps and investigate the battlements, go to 29, but return to the present Section (33) when you've finished. (Unless you're killed, of course, in which case go to 14.)
If you decide to take a closer look at that Skeleton, go to 24.
If you decide to investigate the row of buildings near the north wall, go to 26.
If you decide to investigate the barred building to the west, go to 28.
If you decide to investigate the half-open door of the building to the east, go to 50.

We've already been to the battlements, so we're left with 4 options here....

QUEST JOURNAL:

Pip's LIFE POINTS: 21/28

EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Excalibur Jr. (hits on 4, damage +5)
Dragonskin Jacket (damage taken -4)
Dagger (hits on 6, damage +2)
Healing Potions (heals 2d6 LP) 17 doses
Healing Salve (heals 3 LP) 5 applications
Bully-beef sandwiches, two apples & some garlic
Parchment, quill and ink for mapping
Mirror made from polished metal
Hammer, nails and a saw.
Lodestone & twine to make a compass

MAGIC:
Firefinger Lightning Bolts (10 damage) - 10/10
Fireballs (6 to hit, 75 damage) 2/2

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 1
ENEMIES DEFEATED:
Wild Boar
PUZZLES SOLVES:

No. of Deaths:
1. Pecked to death by Ansalom's Savage Chickens

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Sun Jul 09, 2017 4:53 am

Investigate/be killed by the skeleton.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sun Jul 09, 2017 6:42 am

Poke the bones.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sun Jul 09, 2017 8:19 am

As you approach, the Skeleton moves!

No, you haven't imagined it: that Skeleton definitely moved! In fact it's springing up and shaking free of its manacles. This, looks like trouble. Big trouble. Still, there's always a chance even a Skeleton will be Friendly - how's that for optimism? Roll the dice to find out.

If it isn't friendly, draw your sword and go to 47.
If it is friendly you may be in luck. Go to 52.

Pip rolls 5.
Skeleton rolls 5+3+1 = 9.

The Skeleton is NOT Friendly....

Friendly, my foot! Who ever heard of a friendly animated Skeleton! That Skeleton is an evil old bag of bones and it's out to tear you limb from limb. Out with Excalibur Junior, Pip.

'What's this?' says EJ sleepily, having been suddenly awakened from a nap in the scabbard. 'Fighting skeletons now? Hey ho, why can't you make friends with somebody for a change?'

'Who ever heard of a friendly animated Skeleton!' you shriek in exasperation. 'Have a bit of sense, EJ!'

'Did you win the first dice roll?' EJ asks, more to the point. 'Can I hack at him first?'

Roll dice for the Skeleton and yourself. Highest score gets first strike. The Skeleton is in a funny position in that it hasn't any LIFE POINTS (what did you expect from a Skeleton?) so the only way you can kill it is to roil a straight 10 or 11 or 12 on two dice. Nothing else counts.

If you do manage to kill the Skeleton, go to 139.
If you don't and it kills you (which it may well do, even though it has no weapon and only scores damage indicated by the dice) go to 14.

Since it only does dice damage, that means (due to our Dragonskin Jacket) it can only hurt us by rolling 11 or 12! So we definitely still have the edge despite the difficulty in killing it (especially since we only need to hit once to win).

Pip rolls 7, Skeleton rolls 8. Skeleton gets to strike first!

COMBAT LOG:

Skeleton rolls 10 and hits but doesn't do any damage due to the Dragonskin Jacket.
Pip rolls 6 and doesn't kill the Skeleton.
Skeleton rolls 10 and hits for 0 damage.
Pip rolls 3 and misses completely.
Skeleton rolls 9 and hits for 0 damage.
Pip rolls 5 and misses completely.
Skeleton rolls 7 and hits for 0 damage.
Pip rolls 7 and doesn't kill the Skeleton.
Skeleton rolls 5 and misses.
Pip rolls 8 and doesn't kill the Skeleton.
Skeleton rolls 3 and misses.
Pip rolls 11 for the killing blow!

Whew, that took a while.....

The post doesn't uproot. But it does move sideways with a funny noise like the grinding of gears beneath your feet! A trapdoor has opened up under you! You're falling, Pip. You're falling!

Go to 36.

We pick up a second Exp point for defeating the Skeleton.

You are in a gloomy, stone-flagged corridor, three metres wide, three metres high, with rough stone walls, dripping slightly with dampness and covered in mildew. (If you fell in through the trapdoor, deduct 5 LIFE POINTS; there are easier ways of getting here.)

Behind you is the iron-runged ladder to the trapdoor and courtyard above, and behind that is a solid stone wall. Before you, running north-east a distance of twenty metres, is the unlit corridor. Better get your torch lit, Pip, or your lantern. When you do so, you will see dimly that the corridor seems to open up into some sort of cave mouth at the far end.

If you plan to follow the corridor (and, honestly, what else can you do?) go to 53.

Pip is now at 16/28 Life Points due to falling in (and yes, as the text says, there are safer ways of coming here).

Note that despite what that last line of bracketed text states, climbing bck out actually is an option in this book. We can climb back up to the courtyard and check the doors there if we prefer. Do we want to follow the corridor or climb back out.

And let me know if you want to heal again.

QUEST JOURNAL:

Pip's LIFE POINTS: 16/28

EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Excalibur Jr. (hits on 4, damage +5)
Dragonskin Jacket (damage taken -4)
Dagger (hits on 6, damage +2)
Healing Potions (heals 2d6 LP) 17 doses
Healing Salve (heals 3 LP) 5 applications
Bully-beef sandwiches, two apples & some garlic
Parchment, quill and ink for mapping
Mirror made from polished metal
Hammer, nails and a saw.
Lodestone & twine to make a compass

MAGIC:
Firefinger Lightning Bolts (10 damage) - 10/10
Fireballs (6 to hit, 75 damage) 2/2

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 2
ENEMIES DEFEATED:
Wild Boar
Nott-Friendly Animated Skeleton
PUZZLES SOLVES:

No. of Deaths:
1. Pecked to death by Ansalom's Savage Chickens

ashimbabbar · Post by **ashimbabbar** » Sun Jul 09, 2017 9:30 am

1/ drink potion

2/ climb out and investigate all buildings starting with the northern one, then western, saving eastern for last ( no particular reason )

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue Jul 11, 2017 11:41 am

With no other dissenting votes, Pip climbs out of the pit and check out the door to the north....but not before drinking another dose of healing potion:

Dice roll = 8! Pip is now at 24/28 LP.

The smell tells you what these are the moment you open the door. Stables. Not very well cared for, by the look of them. Full of rotting straw and manure, but otherwise empty.

If you don't want to waste time here, go to 33 and reconsider your options.
If you want to risk making a thorough search, go to 41.

Do we want to search the stables?

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Tue Jul 11, 2017 1:52 pm

Thorough search, says I.

Ikeren · Post by **Ikeren** » Tue Jul 11, 2017 7:25 pm

Sure, Thorough search. It'll probably turn up more murderous chickens.

ashimbabbar · Post by **ashimbabbar** » Tue Jul 11, 2017 8:03 pm

Pip doesn't balk before the risk a pile of manure presents

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue Jul 11, 2017 8:34 pm

Pip is not scared of horse shit. Thorough search.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Jul 12, 2017 12:14 pm

A thorough search of the stables will reveal a scrap of filthy parchment on which, there is a sketch map of the first courtyard showing a secret trapdoor between the portcullis and the doors to this courtyard. Open the trapdoor, lower yourself down and you can go direct to 36.

Yeah, this is one of the 'safe' ways of getting down that trapdoor.

Another way is to:

get a Friendly Reaction from that skeleton, who will tell you about the trapdoor.

Also if we approach the double door from anywhere other than the barrels, we fall into the trap too.

Again, since there was no dissenting votes against ashimbabbar's suggestion, let's look through all the other doors before heading down that not-so-secret trapdoor. We go for the western one next:

You approach the door and slide back the iron bolt. Next thing you know, the door bursts open and you are under attack by two savage Hounds. If you had your sword out and ready (tell the truth now) you can strike the first blow against one of the Hounds. If not, the first blow is struck against
you.

Each Hound has 20 LIFE POINTS. Each needs to roll only a 5 or better to hit you and scores +3 bite damage. If you have the first blow, the fight sequence goes:

1. You strike.
2. First Hound strikes.
3. Second Hound strikes.
4. You get to strike again.
And so on.

If you hadn't your sword ready, then the sequence is:

1. First Hound strikes.
2. Second Hound strikes.
3. You get to strike back.
4. First Hound strikes again.
And so on.

If the Hounds kill you, go to 14.
If you kill the Hounds, go to 141.

The question about whether we had our sword ready is weird. I'm just going to determine this the normal way: rolling dice.

Pip rolls 10, Hounds roll 2. Pip has his sword ready!

COMBAT LOG:

Pip rolls 10 and hits for 6+5 = 11 damage. First Hound is at 9.
First Hound rolls 9 and hits for 4+3-4 = 3 damage. Pip is at 21.
Second Hound rolls 8 and hits for 3+3-4 = 2 damage. Pip is at 19.
Pip rolls 8 and hits for 4+5 = 9 damage. First Hound is killed!
Second Hound rolls 11 and hits for 6+3-4 = 5 damage. Pip is at 14.
Pip rolls 7 and hits for 3+5 = 8 damage. Second Hound is at 12.
Second Hound rolls 5 and hits for 0+3-4 = 0 damage.
Pip rolls 4 and hits for 0+5 = 5 damage. Second Hound is at 7.
Second Hound rolls 6 and hits for 1+3-4 = 0 damage.
Pip rolls 7 and hits for 3+5 = 8 damage. Second Hound is killed.

Victory....but we're at half LP again. Pretty tough fight. However, having beaten 2 enemies in this fight, we gain another 2 Exp!

Those Hounds were put there for a purpose, Pip. Hounds are Hounds and if the Wizard Ansalom wasn't using them for hunting, he must have been using them to guard something. But what?

Cunning adventurer that you are, you take a careful look around... And find a casket! It's only a small casket and it smells a bit of Hounds, but you open it anyway. And inside, resting on one of those little blue velvet cushions jewelers use, is a diamond ring.

What an interesting find! Even to your inexperienced eye, it's worth at least 170 Gold Pieces. What's more, it may even be magic: you never can tell with rings found in a Wizard's castle. You'll need to rub the ring and throw two dice to find out if the ring is really magic.

Score 2- 6 and go to 146.
Score 7-9 and go to 153.
Score 10-12 and go to 156.

Dice roll = 7!

It's magic all right! If you wear it on your right hand, you get one extra Firefinger Lightning Bolt! If you wear it on your left hand, it will restore a total of 25 LIFE POINTS. The trouble is, you can only use it once. You don't have to decide right now which hand to wear it on, but once you do put it on, your choice is made.

Now better return to 33 and decide where you will go next.

Sweet! And since it was given a value (170 GP), that means it can be used as a bribe after we've used up its magic (well, we can use it for bribe without using its magic too, but it'll be a waste)!

We're now left with the east door:

'Who's there?' a quavering voice calls as you push the door gently.

You wait until your eyes become accustomed to the gloom inside, then make out the bent figure of a wizened old man seated on a wooden stool at a rickety pine table, eating what appears to be a loaf of stale bread and mouldy cheese. As you enter, he jumps up in alarm.

'Norn hit me, I'm only the poor old Watchman!' he whines. Take orl I 'ave, but norn hit me! Take my crust of bread. Take my bite of cheese. Only norn hit me!'

When you naturally reassure him that you have no intention of hitting him, the old maggot promptly tries to stab you sneakily with a dagger which he has concealed up his sleeve. Just shows you can trust nobody round here. Roll dice to see if he manages to get you with the dagger. If so, it does + 2 damage, with another LIFE POINT automatically lost in the next Section on account of blood poisoning. Now it might be wise to use EJ to slice him into stock cubes. He has 25 LIFE POINTS and will fight back like a demon.

If you kill the old Watchman, return to 155.
If he kills you, go to 14.

Cunning old bastard....

Another fight, not as tough as the Hounds, but we're aren't too healthy at the moment. Do we want to try for a Friendly Reaction (and miss the Exp if it works)? If not (or if we fail to get Friendly, which is likely), do we want to spend a Firefinger or two to make this easier? Or just a straight fight?

QUEST JOURNAL:

Pip's LIFE POINTS: 14/28

EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Excalibur Jr. (hits on 4, damage +5)
Dragonskin Jacket (damage taken -4)
Dagger (hits on 6, damage +2)
Healing Potions (heals 2d6 LP) 16 doses
Healing Salve (heals 3 LP) 5 applications
Bully-beef sandwiches, two apples & some garlic
Parchment, quill and ink for mapping
Mirror made from polished metal
Hammer, nails and a saw.
Lodestone & twine to make a compass
Diamond Ring (heals 25 LP OR +1 Firefinger, worth 170 GP)

MAGIC:
Firefinger Lightning Bolts (10 damage) - 10/10
Fireballs (6 to hit, 75 damage) 2/2

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 4
ENEMIES DEFEATED:
Wild Boar
Nott-Friendly Animated Skeleton
2 Hounds
PUZZLES SOLVES:

No. of Deaths:
1. Pecked to death by Ansalom's Savage Chickens

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Jul 12, 2017 12:48 pm

Firefinger the old man and then use EJ to slice him into stock cubes.

ashimbabbar · Post by **ashimbabbar** » Wed Jul 12, 2017 4:47 pm

Mean hounds !

AS to the vile old minion, he needs 9+ to wound us and we wound him on 4+ making at least 5 damage. So I don't think we need to waste a Firefinger on him, unless our rolling is extremely bad.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Wed Jul 12, 2017 5:51 pm

Yeah, keep the finger for later.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Wed Jul 12, 2017 8:37 pm

Just penetrate the old man with our sword, no need to warm him up with a finger first.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 11:40 am

We show the old man that we have the bigger and better penetrative implement.

Unlike the previous combats, it is stated that our devious opponent gets the first strike without having to roll any dice.

COMBAT LOG:

Old Watchman rolls 12(!) and stabs Pip for 6+2-4 = 4 damage! Pip is at 10.
Pip rolls 6 and stabs him back for 2+5 = 7 damage. Old Watchman is at 18.
Old Watchman rolls 3 and misses.
Pip rolls 7 and hits for 3+5 = 8 damage. Old Watchman is at 10.
Old Watchman rolls 8 and stabs Pip for 2+2-4 = 0 damage.
Pip rolls 2 and misses.
Old Watchman rolls 4 and misses.
Pip rolls 11 and hits for 7+5 = 12 damage. Old Watchman is killed.

Looks like that first sneak-attack really caught Pip by surprise.

Well, there's one consolation: the old fool was carrying 70 Gold Pieces, presumably stolen from adventurers he managed to kill with that dagger. You hold on to them now: they may come in handy for Bribery at some stage if you can get hold of a few more.

Now go to 33 and decide where you want to go next.

We lose an additional LP in this section due to blood poisoning as a result of being stabbed by that filthy dagger in the last fight.

Pip is now at 9/28.

We're now left with just the trapdoor to explore. Before moving on, let me know if you want to use any heal, and how much minimum HP you'd prefer Pip to have before going down that trapdoor.

QUEST JOURNAL:

Pip's LIFE POINTS: 9/28

EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Excalibur Jr. (hits on 4, damage +5)
Dragonskin Jacket (damage taken -4)
Dagger (hits on 6, damage +2)
Healing Potions (heals 2d6 LP) 16 doses
Healing Salve (heals 3 LP) 5 applications
Bully-beef sandwiches, two apples & some garlic
Parchment, quill and ink for mapping
Mirror made from polished metal
Hammer, nails and a saw.
Lodestone & twine to make a compass
Diamond Ring (heals 25 LP OR +1 Firefinger, worth 170 GP)

MONEY: 70 GP

MAGIC:
Firefinger Lightning Bolts (10 damage) - 10/10
Fireballs (6 to hit, 75 damage) 2/2

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 5
ENEMIES DEFEATED:
Wild Boar
Nott-Friendly Animated Skeleton
2 Hounds
Old Watchman
PUZZLES SOLVES:

No. of Deaths:
1. Pecked to death by Ansalom's Savage Chickens

ashimbabbar · Post by **ashimbabbar** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 5:15 pm

I think we should drink a healing potion right now, and a second one if the first regained us 7 LP or less; if 8 or more, use a healing salve. I think 20 LP is a bare minimum…

damn, I expected to find an ultrapowerful artifact or the secret entrance to the Queen's prison under a pile of dung.

Ikeren · Post by **Ikeren** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 8:30 pm

Agree with the healing. What were the page 33 options?

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:40 pm

Heal per ashimbabbar's guideline.

And apparently we have only the trapdoor to explore, so penetrate deep.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:35 am

Agreed on the healing plan.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 1:42 pm

Ikeren wrote:What were the page 33 options?

Section 33 is where we went after going through the double doors from the barrels. We had the options of checking out the skeleton (who attacked us) and 3 doors (all of which we checked in the sequence ashimbabbar voted, finding the stables, the hounds and that old bastard who stabbed us).

Pip drinks a dose of healing potion:

Dice roll = 3! Pip is up to 12/28......nowhere near good enough.

Pip drinks another dose:

Dice roll = 8. Much better. Pip's now at exactly 20/28. To play it safe, he applies some salve to get it up to 23/28.

Now he climbs back down that trapdoor to explore the corridor below....

You've fallen down a pit trap! It was ten metres along the corridor, a flagstone that swivelled, dumping you into the black depths five metres below. There are poison spikes set in the bottom of the pit trap. Roll dice to see if you missed being skewered on the spikes.

Score 2 or 3 and you were skewered. The poison will kill you in five seconds. Wait five seconds, then go to 14.
Score 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or 10 and you missed the spikes, but fell badly. Deduct 20 LIFE POINTS. If this kills you, go to 14.
Score 11 or 12 and you're shaken, but unhurt.

If you survived this nasty, use your rope and spikes to climb out and continue down the corridor to 40.

If this is your second time around and you're working from a map, it's obvious you would manage to avoid the trap, in which case go to 40 uninjured.

A pit trap within a pit trap!

Dice roll = 7! Pip loses 20 LP! He's down to 3/28.

We're going to run out of heals quickly at this rate!

At least the text tells us we can avoid this on replays. Still, let's hope a replay won't be necessary. Now that we actually have some nice loot, dying is gonna be more than just a minor nuisance.

Pip drinks another dose of potion before proceeding:

Dice roll = 8. Pip is up to 11/28.

The corridor slopes downwards quite sharply for most of its length, then widens abruptly into what seems to be a natural cave. Although far too irregular to map properly, the cave dimensions are roughly twelve metres north/south by fifteen metres east/west. There is a wide opening in the south-eastern wall, leading into a further cave. The floor of this first cave is littered with dried bones. Several of them look suspiciously like human bones.

If you want to search this cave in the hope of finding something useful, go to 51.
If you prefer not to waste time, go to 54.

Pip drinks another dose:

Dice roll = 10! Pip is at 21/28.

Shall we poke around those bones?

QUEST JOURNAL:

Pip's LIFE POINTS: 21/28

EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Excalibur Jr. (hits on 4, damage +5)
Dragonskin Jacket (damage taken -4)
Dagger (hits on 6, damage +2)
Healing Potions (heals 2d6 LP) 12 doses
Healing Salve (heals 3 LP) 4 applications
Bully-beef sandwiches, two apples & some garlic
Parchment, quill and ink for mapping
Mirror made from polished metal
Hammer, nails and a saw.
Lodestone & twine to make a compass
Diamond Ring (heals 25 LP OR +1 Firefinger, worth 170 GP)

MONEY: 70 GP

MAGIC:
Firefinger Lightning Bolts (10 damage) - 10/10
Fireballs (6 to hit, 75 damage) 2/2

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 5
ENEMIES DEFEATED:
Wild Boar
Nott-Friendly Animated Skeleton
2 Hounds
Old Watchman
PUZZLES SOLVES:

No. of Deaths:
1. Pecked to death by Ansalom's Savage Chickens

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:19 pm

Search the cave, we have time to kill.