Let's Play The Gates of Death: Fighting Fantasy (Sch#12)

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Thu Apr 18, 2019 6:51 am

Grab it.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Thu Apr 18, 2019 11:33 am

Try to pull seems like something interestingly bad will happen, so try that.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Apr 18, 2019 2:15 pm

You take hold of the blade and tug it—the khopesh slips through the door like a knife through butter. There are glowing splashes on the steel where it has been washed with a magical liquid of some sort. You recognize the distinct smell of "Pretty as a Picture" potion. Now you are armed with an enchanted weapon and ready to take on Ulrakaah. (If you have a different khopesh, you can choose to use either one.)

You walk deeper into the cavern, trying not to think about how strange and unnatural this all is. You come to an archway of rock and walk through it into an even bigger cavern where you see the remains of an ancient building, perhaps a temple, half buried by rocks. You see ruined pillars and walkways, cloisters, buttresses, and, in the center, a huge pit of purple fire.

The cavern looks deserted, but as you walk towards the fire pit you see movement. Demon soldiers have appeared on a high walkway. They jeer down at you and, as they do so, more demons appear, from holes in the3 walls and cracks in the ground, from tunnels and caves and ruined doorways. Their armor and weapons are rusty, their flesh decaying, many are missing limbs...but there are hundreds of them. An army. And alongside them, emerging from the shadows, are other creatures, dead things, monstrous things, twisted things, hopping, crawling, flapping squirming. You see giant insects and deformed Lizardmen, and nameless creatures from your nightmares, half bird, half fish. Several huge tusked beasts lumber in to block the way back to the gates. The ghouls riding on their backs are wielding cruel, barbed weapons and screaming with laughter.

Hearing the ghouls, all the monsters now start to laugh and chant, louder and louder... 'Ulrakaaah! Ulrakaaah! Ulrakaaah!' Some turn their naked behinds towards you, other spit and curse, some just stare in silence, sharpening their blades.

And now, from the fiery pit in the middle of the cavern floor, something monstrously huge begins to rise up...You see two great twisted horns, and then a helmet, and then a face that you know you will never forget as long as you live...which might not be that long at all. This was once a woman, but now she has the face of death. The teeth are yellow and pointed like the teeth of a cat. The flesh, which is peeling and rotten, is a corpse-like bluish grey. The eyes burn with a red fire of hatred.

And still the figure rises up...and up, and up, and up until its head almost touches the roof. And now this awful thing tilts back its head and lets out a terrible shriek...

'Uuuuurrrrrrraaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwrrrrrrr...'

You realize it is calling out its own name. This is Ulrakaah, Queen of Darkness, Mother of Demons. She who was once a beautiful high priestess of Throff has grown huge and vile by feasting on the demonic energies of this realm.

'Who is this who has come into my realm uninvited?' she howls, staring at you. 'Like a slug from a midden heap? Well, we shall show this scrap of nothing, this fleck of dung, our hospitality, shan't we, my little children, my dear ones?'

She laughs at you, the sound echoing inside your skull, and raises two massive swords, one in each hand, while her horde caper and scream and howl all around her.

'I will give you the gift of death,' she says and now her army marches towards you. There are so many of them, with more pouring in from the caves and tunnels on every side. It is going to be a hard battle to win.

Make a note of the attributes of the DEMON HORDE.

DEMON HORDE SKILL 400 STAMINA 800

(Colin ate some of the Holy Man's seeds of Galana before passing through the gates.)

If you are to stand any hope of getting to Ulrakaah, you must first stop the army from attacking you, and the only way to do that will be by using magic. You realize that the seeds you have swallowed have given you the powers of a great sorcerer in this realm, and the khopesh in your hand feels as if it is filled with a demonic energy.

Use the power of the Seed of Treachery?
Use the Seed of Change?
Use the Seed of Destruction?
Use the power given to you by the Seed of Doubt?

Adventure Sheet
Colin Hunt
SKILL: 14/14
STAMINA: 18/18
LUCK: 4/11
Weapons: Lord Azzur's Khopesh (+1 Attack Strength, extra +1 attack/damage vs. demons), Black Khopesh (ditto, also washed in 'Pretty as a Picture' potion)
Magic Seeds: All eaten.

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Thu Apr 18, 2019 10:57 pm

I think maybe treachery? Turning multiple enemies against each other seems like a better shout than making any enemy lose the will to fight. Or whatever the Change or Destruction seeds are supposed to do.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Apr 19, 2019 10:50 pm

You summon magic from deep within your soul and point your khopesh at the advancing Demon Horde. Taking a deep breath, you yell the words 'Seed of Treachery!' and a blast of pure blue fire shoots out from your khopesh.

The blast hits the demons and they stop marching and stand befuddled, starting now at you, now at each other, and now at their queen. Ulrakaah snarls at them and screams, 'What's the matter with you? Fight! Kill the insignificant worm. You are legion and this warrior is only one...'

But instead of fighting you, the army turns on itself. Some demons even rush at Ulrakaah and try to attack her, but she swats them aside with one of her swords as if they were gnats. Soon all the demons are cutting and slashing and biting and clawing and piercing and hacking at each other in a bloody fury.

Reduce the STAMINA points of the Demon Horde by half.

Fight the horde?
Use the Seed of Change?
Use the Seed of Destruction?
Use the power given to you by the Seed of Doubt?

Demon Horde's current stats: SKILL 400 STAMINA 400

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 10:43 am

Assuming the options don't change and the fight doesn't become winnable earlier, Destruction, Doubt, and Change, in that order, I reckon.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:39 pm

Seed of Destruction:
You point your khopesh at the advancing Demon Horde and yell the words, 'Seed of Destruction!' and a swarm of flies buzzes from the tip of the blade and streams across the cavern before tearing into the demons, biting and stinging. More and more flies shoot out and the demons are soon covered with them. They stagger about, flailing, falling, choking as the flies suffocate them and they become a horrible, writhing black mass.

Reduce the STAMINA points of the Demon Horde by half.

Seed of Doubt:
Your khopesh is pulsating with stored power. You aim it towards the advancing Demon Horde, yell the words, 'Seed of Doubt!' and silver fire spurts out, washing over them. The effect is immediate, many of the demons lose the will to fight and drop their weapons, but not all...some are still willing to battle on.

Reduce the STAMINA points of the Demon Horde by half. Reduce their SKILL points by half.

Seed of Change:
The demons are climbing over each other to get to you in a churning mass of corrupted flesh. You slash your khopesh towards them and shout the words, 'Seed of Change!' A green flame blasts from the tip of the blade and a ripple passes through the horde, changing the demons as it goes. They are transforming back into harmless birds and beasts, some have even changed into fish and are flopping about on the ground, but not all...

Reduce the STAMINA points of the Demon Horde by half and reduce their SKILL points by half.

And with all these, the Demon Horde is now SKILL 100 STAMINA 50. All that's left to do now is attack:

You raise your khopesh and prepare to take on the Demon Horde. There are a huge number of them, and they are far more powerful than you, but you are pure of heart...and armed with a blade as sharp as a razor! The khopesh is an enchanted weapon that was made for Ulrakaah herself, and is enormously powerful against her underlings.

You raise the khopesh, pointing it towards the roof. It glows with a purple light and instantly the SKILL and STAMINA of the Demon Horde are reduced to a tenth of their power (simply remove the 0 from the end of the two attributes. Now you can do battle with them.

DEMON HORDE SKILL 10 STAMINA 5

Combat Log:

Demons 16, Colin 20. Demons are at 2.
Demons 19, Colin 26. Demons are dead.

Yeah, seems about right.

Here's the original version of the book's cover art (the actual cover just shows her face, which is a shame because this is the best art in the book.) I figure that this is the best place to put it.

You have devastated the Demon Horde. While the confused remnants fight amongst themselves, you advance on Ulrakaah, who is furious, squealing at you like a cornered cat.

'I am Ulrakaah, the All-Powerful. No tiny grain of salt like you can hope to defeat me! I have been trapped here for two hundred years, growing stronger every day, and now it is time for me to return to your world and devour it!'

She walks towards you, her giant feet shaking the ground and rattling stones loose from the roof. Even over the stink of this place and the reek of the Demon Horde, you can smell her, a sickening concoction of rot and filth, and as she shouts, the hot, rank blast of her breath makes your head spin.

'I will turn all upon Titan as ugly and foul as I have become,' she screams. 'But first I will crush you...'

Ulrakaah might be a giant, but she is slow and clumsy. As she lifts one foot to stamp on you, you dart towards her, ready to strike with your khopesh.

So now there's a prompt to check if we're wearing magic boots, which we were before entering the Gates of Death...I assumed they were left behind since nothing indicated they ever belonged to Ulrakaah, but apparently we can take them with us too? Otherwise this is nonsense, since there's no chance to pick up magic boots after going through the Gates of Death. So yes, we have them written down on the non-abridged version of our Hero Sheet, and apparently managed to take them with us through the Gates:

The magic boots give you enough speed and power to run clear of Ulrakaah's stamping foot, which crashes down behind you, splitting the ground. You race over to her back foot and spot a hole in her boot where it has rotted away, exposing bluish-grey flesh. You stab your khopesh into it. The blade pierces the skin and you are splashed by a spurt of vile, black blood. (The blade of Colin's khopesh was washed in 'Pretty as a Picture.')

A burst of blue light flashes from the wound all the way up Ulrakaah's leg, surrounding her body in a cage of pale fire. She tilts her face to the roof and wails in agony...And then she starts to shrink—smaller and smaller and smaller—and as she does so, she returns to how she looked before she was banished to this realm.

At last Ulrakaah completely loses her demonic form and is the same size as you, but she still has her two swords, which have shrunk with her. She stalks towards you and you back away until she suddenly stops. She has seen something. You glance over her shoulder. The two of you are reflected in the back of the gates. Ulrakaah runs past you to get a closer look, mesmerized by her reflection.

'I'm beautiful again,' she says. 'I am as I was. You have saved me.' She turns and smiles at you, and her smile feels like the warmth of the sun. She is indeed beautiful, the most beautiful woman you have ever seen.

'Come to me so I can thank you properly.'

Go to her?
Attack her?

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:49 pm

Attack her. Though, it'd be odd if she really was cured of evil and we offed an innocent person.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:52 pm

Has FF ever had a snuggle option that wasn't a trap?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 3:02 pm

If you go over to her she gets a free hit off on you.

It is your enchanted khopesh against ULRAKAAH'S twin blades...

ULRAKAAH SKILL 10 STAMINA 10

Combat Log:

Ulrakaah 14, Colin 21. Ulrakaah is at 8.
Ulrakaah 20, Colin 26. Ulrakaah is at 6.
Ulrakaah 16, Colin 22. Ulrakaah is at 4.
Ulrakaah 19, Colin 23. Ulrakaah is at 2.
Ulrakaah 20, Colin 19. Colin is at 16.
Ulrakaah 17, Colin 21. Ulrakaah is dead!

Your khopesh is too powerful for the demon queen, and you strike her dead. Her last cry of 'Ulrakaaaah!' echoes around the cavern as her body collapses and dissolves into a pool of purple slime. You slump down on to a rock, exhausted, relieved that it is over at last. You have defeated the demon queen and her army, but now you realize that you are trapped here, in her realm, for ever. You did it by using her own dark power against her, and you look at the khopesh in your hand. You know how dangerous it is, the dark power it holds. You force yourself to stand and walk over to the fiery pit.

You look down at the flames.

Drop the khopesh in?
Keep hold of it, just in case?

Adventure Sheet
Colin Hunt
SKILL: 14/14
STAMINA: 16/18
LUCK: 4/11
Weapons: Lord Azzur's Khopesh (+1 Attack Strength, extra +1 attack/damage vs. demons), Black Khopesh (ditto, also washed in 'Pretty as a Picture' potion)
Equipment: Flea Boots

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 3:26 pm

I think we're supposed to throw it in, even though there's no obvious narrative reason that we would.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 5:06 pm

Yeah, probably it's the One Khopesh or something for no reason.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:19 pm

We have two khopesh, and I say we throw in Azzur's just to piss him off.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 8:14 pm

You stare at the khopesh for a moment and then drop it over the edge of the pit, watching as it spins end over end, catches fire...and is gone. As it disintegrates, you feel yourself growing weak. Without the power of the blade, you cannot survive here in this realm. You hurry back to the Gates of Death, feeling weaker and fainter with each step. Just as you get there, your new body collapses to the ground and your spirit rises up from it. You look down at the warrior's corpse turning to dust.

You are a wandering spirit again. You float back out through the gates.

You emerge on the other side of the Gates to find your own body lying lifeless on the floor. Quickly you return to it and the next moment you are alive again.

You stand up, wobbly and weak and gasping for breath. You hear a voice thanking you and turn to see Alesstis, holding out her hands towards you. With her are the Fish with a Thousand Voices, Castrabel, the young acolyte, and the Wooden Scribe. They hug you and thank you and press gifts on you—magic potions and gold and enchanted weapons.

'You have saved us and you have saved all Titan,' says the High Priestess. 'You are no longer a mere acolyte. You are now a fully-fledged sorcerer. Together we can make more smoke-oil, enough to cure all the demons that remain in Allansia, and after that I am sure you will do many more extraordinary things and save many people, and your name will go down in history. Good luck on your adventures and may your stamina never fail.'

And that's the book. Questions, comments, concerns?

Adventure Sheet
Colin Hunt
SKILL: 11/11
STAMINA: 16/18
LUCK: 4/11
Equipment: Traveling Clothes, Lucky Anchor Charm, Silver Ring, Bier Goggles, Flea Boots
Vials of Smoke-Oil: 0
Gold Pieces: 18
Weapons: Black Khopesh (+1 Attack Strength, extra +1 attack/damage vs. demons, also washed in 'Pretty as a Picture' potion), Temple Guard's Axe (+1 Attack Strength, +1 damage on doubles rolled in combat), Fire Iron (-1 Attack Strength)
Items: Fishhook, Jar of Healing Ointment (+4 STAMINA when used), Poison Antidote, Silver Trowel, Map of Trolltooth Pass, Flask of Firewater, Bronze-Colored Jewel, Cold Sausage, Cookbook, The Book of the Dead, Vial of Weakwater (reduces SKILL to 2)
Compasses: Brass Compass, Silver Compass, Bronze Compass
Provisions: 2 meals (+4 STAMINA when eaten each), Dates (+3 STAMINA when eaten)
Keys: Icefinger Key
Magic Potions: 'Collywobbles', 'Dragon's Breath,' 2 bottles of 'Nostalgia' Perfume, 'Pretty as a Picture,' 'Thick as Thieves'
Magic Seeds: All eaten.
Running Total of Bad Puns: 2
Bum-Faced Monster: Bum-Faced Monster.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Tue Apr 23, 2019 2:54 pm

Eh. Read bad things about this one, and it didn't start off great. You know what sort of people will want to see Port Blacksand because it's in old stuff? People who will notice if you clash with old stuff.

The zombie demon city with randoms suddenly turning into monsters, ok, that's good stuff, I always like that sort of thing. After that, went downhill again. Admittedly, 5 months of online gaming isn't the way it's intended to be played, but my interest started to wane with lots of wandering around the temple.

And some parts were just embarrassing. Ok, bad jokes have long been part of FF. In earlier books set in Blacksand you had Bays playing their favourite ball game. Fair enough. Bier goggles and holey man are pushing it. And, yeah, Robot Commando has you pilot Transformers to wrestle with dinosaurs, which is not particularly intellectual. But a lot of this was puerile nonsense. I will accept no defense of the bum-faced monster. Flat out, no.

Also, potion naming conventions

Whiysper · Post by **Whiysper** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:25 am

Largely agree - the demon-infested city section was pretty good fun, still think the Smoke Oil bullshit was just that. I guess I'd have hoped for more improvement in the last 2 decades, but... well.. yeah.

Still, fun, and appreciate the time you took to run it

.

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:35 pm

Is there any check in the later stages about which khopesh we're using? Like does using Azzur's get us a bad end?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Apr 25, 2019 2:54 am

Thaluikhain wrote:Eh. Read bad things about this one, and it didn't start off great. You know what sort of people will want to see Port Blacksand because it's in old stuff? People who will notice if you clash with old stuff.

The zombie demon city with randoms suddenly turning into monsters, ok, that's good stuff, I always like that sort of thing. After that, went downhill again. Admittedly, 5 months of online gaming isn't the way it's intended to be played, but my interest started to wane with lots of wandering around the temple.

And some parts were just embarrassing. Ok, bad jokes have long been part of FF. In earlier books set in Blacksand you had Bays playing their favourite ball game. Fair enough. Bier goggles and holey man are pushing it. And, yeah, Robot Commando has you pilot Transformers to wrestle with dinosaurs, which is not particularly intellectual. But a lot of this was puerile nonsense. I will accept no defense of the bum-faced monster. Flat out, no.

Also, potion naming conventions

Whiysper wrote:Largely agree - the demon-infested city section was pretty good fun, still think the Smoke Oil bullshit was just that. I guess I'd have hoped for more improvement in the last 2 decades, but... well.. yeah.

I agree with just about everything both of you have said here (one exception: I will defend Robot Commando's premise to the death.)

Still, fun, and appreciate the time you took to run it .

Thank you.

SlyJohnny wrote:Is there any check in the later stages about which khopesh we're using? Like does using Azzur's get us a bad end?

Nope. Which is kind of a shame, since we're told that the khopesh will transfer Ulrakaah's power to Azzur (it seems to be the deciding factor in him giving us the khopesh) and giving an already powerful (and corrupt) priest-king a bunch of extra dark power seems like a bad idea. The book is 470 sections long so it could have had multiple endings after killing Ulrakaah if it trimmed some fat.

There's one interesting thing we missed: an alternate route that you can take through the book involving getting potions from Nicodemus (and keeping all 10 vials of smoke-oil,) so basically you can just avoid demon fights by running (in some cases) and chucking vials at them in the others, and some of the potions can avoid non-demon fights (such as the bandits at the beginning of the book). It's the easier route overall, since I don't think it's possible to run out of smoke-oil on that route even if you chuck it at every demon you encounter.

On to (more of) my thoughts about the book itself:

The good:
-Working for Lord Azzur is conceptually really cool, especially with the added complication of his khopesh making him more powerful if you kill Ulrakaah with it, so you're thinking of ways to thwart Azzur's greater plan while still stopping the demons. Unfortunately this is dropped in the finale.
-You don't need really high rolls to win the book. If you know what you're doing, you can win the book with minimal starting rolls. I really dig when the "One True Path" advertised is actually a thing that can be done.
-There are essentially two different paths through the book that converge at the endgame, with radically different playstyles. This is a potential way to have replay value without making the book overly difficult or random (unfortunately, that potential isn't fully realized. Even then, though, it's appreciated.)
-The different weapon stats are neat.
-For all its faults, this book is a masterpiece compared to The Port of Peril, Bum-Faced Monster and all. But so is literally any other Fighting Fantasy, so I probably shouldn't list it as a plus.

The bad:
-As Mr. Shine pointed out, the book has a rather big bug in being able to take on Ulrakaah without giving Alesstis the smoke-oil, but then assuming that you've given it to her anyways. With a bit of tightening up, the book could have had a "you defeated Ulrakaah but without any smoke-oil the demon plague rages on" ending. There are smaller bugs but a lot of FFs have those, while this is a rather game-breaking one.
-This isn't really a bug, but it's really weird. If you make it to Nicodemus' place he just straight up murders Brother Tobyn, saying that he's bound to go demon anyways. But people who had been demons for much longer can be cured with smoke-oil, so why Dr. Nico doesn't let or advise you to use one on Tobyn is beyond me. It seems to exist solely to get Tobyn out of the picture, but that could have just as easily done with "Tobyn is cured of the demon plague, but is still recovering and thus can't come with you on your journey."
-The visit to Port Blacksand is worse than in earlier books not called The Port of Peril. Exploring the dungeons of Port Blacksand could probably sustain a book on its own, but in this book it's just a tacked-on STAMINA sink. While Port Blacksand is a cool setting I'm tired of FF books constantly revisiting the place unless they have something to really add to it. And this book doesn't really add anything to it.
-The temple could have easily been trimmed down a bit without losing anything (and allowing other sections to make more sense).
-Running out of smoke-oil could have easily had rules in the intro saying "you lose if you run out" or there could have been opportunities to potentially get more. Or both. The delayed game over we got is UK Steve Jackson levels of bullshit.
-The art style is still terrible.
-Bum-Faced Monster. Just why.

Final Thoughts:
I have a very mixed opinion of the book, slightly leaning towards negative. I think I liked this book more before running it. Not because running it was particularly taxing (although running it at the same time as DestinyQuest 2 was taxing, something that I only have myself to blame for) but just because an extended playthrough makes a lot of the problems more visible. I think after finishing DestinyQuest 2 I'm going to take a break from running gamebook LPs. This is just standard fatigue, not the soul-crushing feeling that The Port of Peril gave me. I've got a few gamebooks that I'd be willing to run in the future (everything mentioned in this thread that hasn't already been run, plus a few more) but before that I need another break.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Thu Apr 25, 2019 10:03 am

Darth Rabbitt wrote:I will defend Robot Commando's premise to the death.

Oh, I'm not saying it's a bad premise, it's just that it doesn't even pretend to be deep or sensible or anything, it's just going for fun. And it works because of that. Well, that and being sandboxy, which is nice for older gamebooks.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Fri Apr 26, 2019 9:17 am

Well done on a successful runthrough, Darth.

I don't have any problem with the fact that it's possible to use your last smoke oil and lose early. Enough people told you you needed to keep at least 1 that you should really be expecting a "fuck you, game over" in the late game.

However dealing with Fossick's daughter on the Azzur route is somewhat bullshit. As far as I recall the only 2 ways to escape are smoke oil and Collywobbles+magic sword. I'm not sure, but I don't think you can get collywobbles before Fossick on the Azzur route or a magic sword on the Nicodemus route, leaving smoke-oil or death. Given you don't know what exactly you're agreeing to when you offer to help his daughter this is a flat-out troll on the Azzur route.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Apr 26, 2019 12:12 pm

Thaluikhain wrote:Oh, I'm not saying it's a bad premise, it's just that it doesn't even pretend to be deep or sensible or anything, it's just going for fun. And it works because of that. Well, that and being sandboxy, which is nice for older gamebooks.

True dat.

Mr Shine wrote:However dealing with Fossick's daughter on the Azzur route is somewhat bullshit. As far as I recall the only 2 ways to escape are smoke oil and Collywobbles+magic sword. I'm not sure, but I don't think you can get collywobbles before Fossick on the Azzur route or a magic sword on the Nicodemus route, leaving smoke-oil or death. Given you don't know what exactly you're agreeing to when you offer to help his daughter this is a flat-out troll on the Azzur route.

I thought that you could get Collywobbles from the bandits on the Azzur route, but I checked, and...you're right. That is a massive troll job.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Sun Apr 28, 2019 2:19 pm

Oh, was going to ask, if you don't have all the seeds, then you can't win? Or rather, the demon horde is perhaps reduced in stats, but remains greater than you've got any hope of defeating?

If so, that looks a little different from "have X, Y and Z or die", but isn't really. I think I prefer those ones where each item reduces enemy stats (or increases yours), so it's easy if you have them all, but sitll doable if you've missed some.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun Apr 28, 2019 3:40 pm

Thaluikhain wrote:Oh, was going to ask, if you don't have all the seeds, then you can't win? Or rather, the demon horde is perhaps reduced in stats, but remains greater than you've got any hope of defeating?

It's the latter. Without any seeds they're SKILL 40 STAMINA 80.

If you have the two that cut both their SKILL and STAMINA (Doubt and Change) they're SKILL 10 STAMINA 20, which if you keep in mind that the khopesh gives +2 Attack Strength and +1 damage per hit really makes them the equivalent of SKILL 8 STAMINA ~14. Even a character with minimal rolls has a chance of taking those down (and if such a character ate all of the Seeds of Mastery and Strength then they're almost guaranteed a win.)

If so, that looks a little different from "have X, Y and Z or die", but isn't really. I think I prefer those ones where each item reduces enemy stats (or increases yours), so it's easy if you have them all, but sitll doable if you've missed some.

Agreed. That's another cool thing about the book. There really is a lot I like about it, but there's also a lot that I dislike about it.