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

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Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Keep searching.
ashimbabbar
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Post by ashimbabbar »

keep searching ! if there's no secret door we'll build one !
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

Perseverance is a very worthwhile characteristic in an adventurer. Roll dice.

Score 4 or more and go to 143.
Score less than 4 and you find nothing. Go to 107 and reconsider your options.
Again, we're not told how many dice to use. Fortunately, no matter how many dice we use here, our Luckstone ensures that we automatically score at least a 4!
You just got lucky, Pip - you've found the Wizard Ansalom's Treasure Room. And what a find! Just look at it. Gold, silver and gems galore. A king's ransom here. Old Ansalom must have been thieving for years to amass this lot. There's even a pen in one corner full of honking pigs.

If you take time to count, you will find:
20,000 Gold Pieces.
18,000 Silver Pieces.
25 emeralds, each worth 500 Gold Pieces.
61 rubies, each worth 200 Gold Pieces.
77 diamonds, each worth 1,000 Gold Pieces.
18 pigs, each worth about 3 Silver Pieces.

What a find! And it's yours if you can kill the Wizard Ansalom. Nobody will begrudge it to you, since you earned it fair and square. (Except the pigs, of course, which will have to go back to their rightful owners.) You can take all the gems now and about 500 of the Gold Pieces - no more, gold is heavy - or you can come back later for the lot after you've put paid to Ansalom.

Either way, return to 107 before deciding where to go next.
We're rich! WE'RE RICH! Now that we've found the major loot pile we can go home!....

...oh wait, the Queen....yeah....

So which way to go from here, east or west?

QUEST JOURNAL:
Pip's LIFE POINTS: 33/29
Permanent Life Points: 1

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) 10 doses
Healing Salve (heals 3 LP) 3 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)
Tingling Silver Ring
Magic Wooden Duck (turn to 119 when used, best used when in danger from evil magic)
Luckstone (modifies all of Pip's dice rolls by 3 in his favour)
Double-headed Copper Coin
Scroll of Teleportation Spell (sends Pip to section 14 without losing LP or equipment)

MONEY: 648 GP
25 emeralds, each worth 500 Gold Pieces.
61 rubies, each worth 200 Gold Pieces.
77 diamonds, each worth 1,000 Gold Pieces.

MAGIC:
Firefinger Lightning Bolts (10 damage) - 8/10
Fireballs (6 to hit, 75 damage) 2/2

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 20 0
ENEMIES DEFEATED:
Wild Boar
Not-Friendly Animated Skeleton
2 Hounds
Old Watchman
Compost Heap
6 Zombies
Giant Spider
Poisonous Snake
2 Guards
PUZZLES SOLVES: 3

No. of Deaths:
1. Pecked to death by Ansalom's Savage Chickens
Last edited by SGamerz on Sat Aug 12, 2017 12:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
ashimbabbar
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Post by ashimbabbar »

go west, young man
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

SlyJohnny voted to go west too, so I count that as 2 votes for west.
The corridor runs west for thirty metres and ends in a door. At fifteen metres there is a second door in the north wall.

If you decide to try the door in the north wall, go to 89.
If you decide to go on quietly and try the door at the end of the corridor, go to 85.
Which door do we try?
ashimbabbar
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Post by ashimbabbar »

I guess the door in the north wall ? If we're not killed we can do the next after
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

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

* * B (Each)

Yipes! It's a Guard Room! Jam-packed with about a hundred hairy great Guards. They're sitting around playing dice, drinking ale and sharpening their swords. What a nasty-looking lot. You'd never have a prayer of surviving a fight with this bunch, Pip. Better check to find out if they noticed you opening their door.

Roll two dice.

Score 7 or more and go to 145.
Score below 7 and go to 140.
....I'm not sure why Brennan indicates that these guards can be bribed when there's no combat going on. I guess after looting the Treasure room, Pip does have the money to try bribing a hundred guards, but there's no mention in the text how this should be applied.

Dice roll = 5 (+3 w/ Luckstone) = 8!
Phew! They didn't notice.

Go to 107 and reconsider your options.
Once again, we're saved by the Luckstone
in this case from a trip straight to section 14.
We're directed back to the junction so:

1) Go back west again and try the west door?
2) Go east this time?
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

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

east
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

The corridor runs east for about twenty-five metres before you find yourself at a sort of corridor crossroads. A glance to the south shows you two Guards standing by a southern door. (Fortunately they didn't see you, but they undoubtedly will if you try to cross the corridor or go north.)

To the north, the corridor runs fifteen metres before ending in a solid wooden door. To the east, the corridor continues for a further ten metres ending in steps downwards; but to go this way, you must cross the north/south corridor.

By the looks of this, you can only tacke the Guards, unless you want to return to an earlier Section. Go to 95.
The only place we haven't checked out is the west door at the previous junction. Do we want to go back there first? Or tackle the guards now?
ashimbabbar
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Post by ashimbabbar »

let's tackle the guards and earn more XP
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Give the guards a big hug.
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.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

With EJ drawn, you launch yourself down the corridor like a tornado.

'Have at you, Guards of the wicked Wizard Ansalom!' you cry.

Brave words, Pip, but do they do you any good? You can claim first strike because of your surprise attack: after that it's out with the old dice to see how the fight goes.

The Guards each have 15 LIFE POINTS. Their swords will do +2 damage and their armour deducts 2 from any damage scored against them.

If the Guards kill you, go to 14.
If you kill the Guards, you now have the option of:
1. Entering the room they were guarding--go to 138.
2. Returning up the corridor and continuing east--go to 130.
3. Returning up the corridor and continuing north--go to 149.
4. Returning to any available earlier Section.
Their stats seem pretty standard, and with the advantage of surprise Pip should have no trouble with this.

COMBAT LOG:
Pip rolls 6+3 = 9 and hits for 5+5-2 = 8 damage! Guard#1 is at 7. (if it weren't for his -2 armour he'd be unconscious!)
Guard#1 rolls 7 and hits for 1+2-4 = no damage!
Guard#2 rolls 10 and hits for 4+2-4 = 2 damage. Pip is at 31.
Pip rolls 5+3 = 8 and hits for 4+5-2 = 7 damage. Guard#1 is killed.
Guard#2 rolls 7 and hits for 1+2-4 = no damage!
Pip rolls 5+3 = 8 and hits for 4+5-2 = 7 damage. Guard#2 is at 8.
Guard#2 rolls 4 and misses.
Pip rolls 7+3 = 10 and hits for 6+5-2 = 9 damage. Guard#2 is killed.
Pip's dragonskin jacket allows him to shrug off 2 of the blows from the guards, taking only minimal damage from this fight!

Where do we go from here?

QUEST JOURNAL:
Pip's LIFE POINTS: 31/29
Permanent Life Points: 1

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) 10 doses
Healing Salve (heals 3 LP) 3 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)
Tingling Silver Ring
Magic Wooden Duck (turn to 119 when used, best used when in danger from evil magic)
Luckstone (modifies all of Pip's dice rolls by 3 in his favour)
Double-headed Copper Coin
Scroll of Teleportation Spell (sends Pip to section 14 without losing LP or equipment)

MONEY: 648 GP
25 emeralds, each worth 500 Gold Pieces.
61 rubies, each worth 200 Gold Pieces.
77 diamonds, each worth 1,000 Gold Pieces.

MAGIC:
Firefinger Lightning Bolts (10 damage) - 8/10
Fireballs (6 to hit, 75 damage) 2/2

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 20 2
ENEMIES DEFEATED:
Wild Boar
Not-Friendly Animated Skeleton
2 Hounds
Old Watchman
Compost Heap
6 Zombies
Giant Spider
Poisonous Snake
2 3 5 Guards
PUZZLES SOLVES: 3

No. of Deaths:
1. Pecked to death by Ansalom's Savage Chickens
Last edited by SGamerz on Thu Aug 17, 2017 12:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ashimbabbar
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Post by ashimbabbar »

enter the rom they were guarding and loot it
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

This is explicitly a separate guard room from the one that has a hundred guards, right? If so, loot it. I can't imagine there are another 100 guards in there.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

In some ways this is the strangest room you've been in yet. It's empty of people, but not of clutter. In fact it's so jam-packed you can hardly tell what size it is.

There's a furnace and benches, racks, shelves, cabinets, sacks, drums, barrels... the list could go on forever. Hanging from the ceiling are stuffed lizards, dried herbs, shrunken heads, a few glistening skulls and one full skeleton. There are banners on the wall embroidered with mystic sigils. There is a circle drawn on the floor on one of the few open spaces; and the circle is inscribed with more mystic signs.

One glance would tell you all you need to know. This is obviously the Wizard Ansalom's magical workroom.

Want to search? Go to 128.
Interested to see what happens if you step into the magic circle? Go to 144.
Decide to get out of here as quickly as possible? Return to any available earlier Section since there are no other exits from this room.
Do we want to search? Check out the magic circle?
ashimbabbar
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Post by ashimbabbar »

search first, magic circle… I'm not decided yet. Maybe later.
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Search.
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.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Thirding searching.
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

Roll dice to see if the search produced anything worthwhile.

Score 2-6 and go to 123.
Score 7-9 and go to 148.
Score 10-12 and go to 133.
Dice roll = 7! I can modify this with the Luckstone, but I won't because the middle-range is actually the best result!

Yeah, Brennan's quirkiness sometimes makes it hard for the player to decide whether the Luckstone should be used without cheating and reading ahead, because it's often not clear whether a higher or lower (or like this case, neither) leads to better results.
Mmm, something interesting here. Looks like a wand of some sort... You lift the wand and wave it. Nothing happens. All the same, it looks like a wand... You point it. Nothing happens.

'Silly thing!' you mutter. And at once the wand emits a luminous green globule, which sticks to the wall, pulsating slightly. A little trial and error soon teaches you how to use the globule wand. You point and say, 'Silly thing' and a globule fires. Whether or not the globule hits the thing you're aiming at depends on whether you achieve your normal strike throw. If it does hit, the globule will do no damage, but it will hold your opponent perfectly still while you get four strikes at him without his being able to strike back.

Now roll one die to find out how many globules are left in the wand.

Since there's no exit from the lab, return to 96 before deciding where to go next.


Die roll = 5. We use the Luckstone to bring it up to 8! So the Globule Wand has 8 charges. :biggrin:

We're redirected back to outside the room (although going by the rules of the book there's nothing stopping us from going back in to check out the magic circle).

1) Up the corridor and north?
2) Up the corridor and east?
3) Backtrack to the previous junction, go west and try that west door?
4) Go back into the room and stand in the circle?

QUEST JOURNAL:
Pip's LIFE POINTS: 31/29
Permanent Life Points: 1

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) 10 doses
Healing Salve (heals 3 LP) 3 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)
Tingling Silver Ring
Magic Wooden Duck (turn to 119 when used, best used when in danger from evil magic)
Luckstone (modifies all of Pip's dice rolls by 3 in his favour)
Double-headed Copper Coin
Scroll of Teleportation Spell (sends Pip to section 14 without losing LP or equipment)
Globule Wand (roll 6+ during combat to hit, allows 4 free strikes before foe gets free), 8 charges remaining.

MONEY: 648 GP
25 emeralds, each worth 500 Gold Pieces.
61 rubies, each worth 200 Gold Pieces.
77 diamonds, each worth 1,000 Gold Pieces.

MAGIC:
Firefinger Lightning Bolts (10 damage) - 8/10
Fireballs (6 to hit, 75 damage) 2/2

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 20 2
ENEMIES DEFEATED:
Wild Boar
Not-Friendly Animated Skeleton
2 Hounds
Old Watchman
Compost Heap
6 Zombies
Giant Spider
Poisonous Snake
2 3 5 Guards
PUZZLES SOLVES: 3

No. of Deaths:
1. Pecked to death by Ansalom's Savage Chickens
Last edited by SGamerz on Sun Aug 20, 2017 1:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

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

I think there's a risk, Brennan put a goodie already in this room, I think it's more likely he'd put a trap as well than a second goodie.

I think that Ansalom's magic room is close to the end of the adventure so I vote for going back to that west door for completeness sake.
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

West door.
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.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

West door:
Busy, busy--it's the kitchens. Cooks and skivvies racing about all over the place making a great bustle but not doing very much. Fortunately, they're all so busy being busy, nobody notices you've opened the door. No sense in making trouble. Retreat quietly and return to 107 to reconsider your options.
With that we complete our exploration of the west junction. Back to the east junction where we can:

1) Go up the corridor and turn north
2) Go up the corridor and turn east
3) Go back into the guarded room and check the magic circle
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