[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

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[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by SGamerz »

Image

Back Cover blurb:
Gorak is under threat from the evil which haunts the dark chasms beneath it.

"The great seals of Gorak have been broken and the True Shield is gone - the Malice of Orghuz has again been unleashed! As a direct descendant of Tancred the Magnificent, it's up to YOU, a simple assistant in the underkitchens, to undertake the awesome quest for the Shield. With the Shining Sword in your hand and the cat goddess Tabasha the Bazouk at your side, YOU must enter the Chasms of Malice to seek out and destroy the evil Orghuz..."
I don't know if you still remember the name, but Gorak was the land where the PC in Daggers of Darkness was just arriving from before he entered Kazan, so the 2 places border each other.

Unlike past LPs, where I would first post the rules before going into the background, I'm going to do the reverse here, because the rules include certain things (like the Khuddam) that were brought up in the Background which really wasn't sufficiently explain. Actually, the Background doesn't do a good job of explaining them either, because this is a Luke Sharp book, and he often seems to believe the readers can easily imagine what he's talking about when he brings up a random new name he just created, but never mind, let's just look at whatever little information he's willing to provide us first.

BACKGROUND:
Gorack. A minor kingdom, situated between the rivers Dart and Dagger - tributaries of the river Swordflow. Gorack was founded by Tancred the Magnificant after his adventures with his brother Orghuz in the Dark Chasms. The kingdom was to be the gateway between the area of Khul and the caverns, chasms and tunnels of the Gaddon people. Gorack has been without a monarch for many years and has been governed by the Lords of Ridermark.

Gaddon (or Feelbrethren). The Gaddon people are originally from south-west Khul. They migrated to the deep chasms (for no known reason, although some authorities claim religious persecution) and created their own culture. They began to give birth to blind babies soon after constructing their complex systems of tunnels. Their other senses were greatly enhanced and they became masters of the dark. The Gaddon Knights - the Sensewarriors - are supreme fighters in the dark. They are rarely to be seen in the Toplands (as they call Khul) since the time of Tancred the Magnificant.
From Treatise on the Kingdoms of South-west Khul by Ignatius Pommfritte
...in that year did We halt the Malice that was afflicting our Kingdom. But at great cost! We lost our beloved brother Orghuz to the Evil, and in a mighty struggle We cast him in the Dark Chasms, and did entrust the noble Gaddon Warriors to guard Him and His Kuddam spawn, for all eternity. The Great Seals were bound to the True Shield, and placed in the darkest vaults of Gorak Keep. Pray God that none will have to...
Fragment from The Annals and Histories of Tancred the Magnificent, King of Gorak

While flying in the guise of a hark over south-west Khul, on his way to the gathering of the Mage Order, the Wizard Astragal is summoned by the Lord Ridermark, Regent of Gorak, to investigate the sudden change in the fortunes of the small kingdom. Lord Ridermark Explains that strange, dark creatures are abroad; people are attacked and killed for no reason but sheer Malice. The vital truffle trade-route along Tancred's March is no longer safe, and the popular Azleff, leader of the stalwart knights of the Grey Order, has disappeared. Nobody can understand what is happening in what was, until recently, a peaceful land.

Astragal assumes a worried expression and rushes off the consult the Annals and Histories of Gorak. The great dusty tome conforms his memory of the story of the True Shield. He slams the book shut and makes his way to the deepest vault of Gorak Keep. By the light of blazing torch he finds the great Seals broken and the Shield GONE! Across the floor is a wide crack leading to the Dark Chasms.

Astragal explains to Lord Ridermark his fears that someone has unleashed the Malice of Orghuz and the KHuddam, by breaking the Great Seals. If Orghuz has the Shield he will be trying to break the spells of its age-old power. If he succeeds, the Seven Khuddam will then have the power to multiply: first there will be 49, then 2401,, then 5764801, until become uncountable hordes, and Orghuz becomes invulnerable. Astragal emphasizes that to kill Orghuz it is necessary first to destroy all the Khuddam, and only a direct descendant of Tancred the Magnificent can then hope to stand up to the evil power of Orghuz himself.

Lord Ridermakr tells Astragal that Tancred's line of descendant ended many ages ago. Astragal ignores the remark and pulls out the Crystal of Bahriyya, which shows him the way to the blood heir of Tancred the Magnificent. Astragal finds YOU, working in the under-kitchens as third-assistant=rabbit-skinner. He grabs you and, before you have had the chance to wipe your hands, whisk you away to the vaults. He stands you in the middle of a dusty room and whispers some strange incantations. You stare in wonder as a Sword rises from the dirst and lodges itself firmly in your hand. Astragal stands back and proclaims you 'Trancred's Heir'.

Astragal explains the quest for the Shield that no other may undertake. No other can strike fear into the Heart of Orghuz or wield the Shining Sword. He also warns you about the traotor in Gorak: 'You must be on your guard at all times, especially if...er, when you return."

You strap on plain leather armour and a simple cloak; Astragal announces that he has no potions with him to help you in your quest. Instead, he picks up a small cat and passes it to you. "This is Tabasha the Bazouk, from the line of the cat goddess. She will stay close to you and help you in your quest. Use her cautiously and wisely; nine times, no more. Now, there is no time to lose." He urges you on to the deep chasm in the great vault. Turn to 1.
So, after reading all that, I hope you all understand what you're up against....

...because I don't. Not really. :/

Alright, just like Daggers of Darkness, there's just about enough information to paint a very blurry background picture, but not more than that. The Big Evil Force of this book is called the Malice, which can apparently be taken quite literally as it somehow cause people to ravage and kill for no apparent reason. It's not clear whether it's some sentient being or just some wild primal force or something else, but apparently the brother of the kingdom's ancient founder fell prey to it and turned evil, and had to be banished and sealed away into the dark chasms with his followers after he was defeated. Said followers are also known as the Khuddam, which again we're not given any descriptions, but they certainly sound more dangerous than Mamlik just from the fact they can some how spawn themselves rapidly by squaring their own numbers each time. The fact that Trancred's line of descendants was thought to have ended "ages ago" indicates that if Orghuz or his Khuddam had ever been human and mortal, they no longer are now. The encounters with the Khuddam during the adventure show them to be of at least humanoid form visually, and are all highly-skilled opponents who can also use magic.

Maybe they're like the Ringwraiths to Orghuz's Sauron?

More importantly, Astragal never even specified what we're supposed to do. Find the True Shield and recover it? Kill Orghuz and all the Khuddam? Confront the Malice and somehow banish it? All of the above? Something else? Yeah, this one is even more vague than Daggers of Darkness.

The Gaddon, aka Sensewarriors, made an appearance in Daggers of Darkness...well, 1 of them did. Alkis Fearlicer, would might actually make an appearance in this one as well. They're apparently some sort of guardian to the banished Orghuz, although again nothing specific is given. The backstory about how they evolved to the point of being born blind after the moved to live underground is an interesting one. The text certainly indicate that they were on Tancred's side and helping him perform this guardian duty, although it's also slightly confusing in the sense that, if they went underground due to supposed religious persecution, and if they were almost never seen on the surface since Tancred's time, then doesn't it hint that Tancred was part of the persecuting group...?

Anyway, once again, we're playing the potential heir to a throne in a Luke Sharp book. Sounds like Tancred or one of his descendants might have dallied with some kitchen staff and spawned an illegitimate child long ago. And this time we don't seem to have any other apparent contenders since Tancred's line apparently died out except for us. Well, except for Orghuz, who technically can be considered our Great (Great-Great-Great-etc) Uncle of uncountable generations back. Royalty bloodlines are always messed up, even in Titan.

And with all that, let's get to the rules.

Standard FF Boilerplate Rules:

Skill, Stamina, & Luck
[spoiler]SKILL score: Roll one die. Add 6 to the result.

STAMINA score: Roll two dice. Add 12 points to the result.

LUCK score: Roll one die. Add 6 to the result.

SKILL score reflects your expertise in combat, your ability with weapons, and your dexterity. STAMINA is your general constitution and "Life points" . LUCK score shows how lucky you are. None of them may exceed their Initial score unless specifically stated.

Eating a meal restores up to 4 points of STAMINA; you may only eat one meal at a time.

Testing your Luck: When instructed by the book to Test your Luck, roll two dice. If the result is equal to or less than your current LUCK score, you are Lucky. If the result exceeds your current LUCK score, you are Unlucky. Whatever the outcome, you must deduct one point from your current LUCK score every time you Test your Luck. The more you use your LUCK, the less likely you are to be Lucky.[/spoiler]

This book is one of the most difficult in the series...but its difficulty has little to do with stats. Basically, we're every bit as likely to be hit by arbitrary sudden deaths at SKILL 7 as at SKILL 12, so I will take the dice as they fall for this playthough.

SKILL: We roll 6 and start with a SKILL of 12.

STAMINA: We roll 3 and gets a STAMINA of 15.

LUCK: We roll 5 and get a LUCK of 11.

Just our luck to roll a SKILL of 12 when it's not as important...still not complaining. That low STAMINA can be a real problem, though, if we get hit by constant STAMINA drops like we did in Daggers of Darkness through all the random dice trails.

Combat:
[spoiler]SKILL and STAMINA scores are given in the text for each adversary that you face.

The combat sequence is then:
1. Roll two dice for your opponent. Add the total rolled to its SKILL score. This is the Attack Strength of your enemy.
2. Roll two dice and add the total to your own current SKILL score. This is your Attack Strength.
3. If your Attack Strength is the higher, you have wounded your opponent: deduct 2 points from your opponent's STAMINA..
If your opponent's Attack Strength is higher, it has wounded you: deduct 2 points from your own STAMINA.
If both Attack Strengths are equal, you have avoided each other's blows.
4. Begin the next Combat Round, starting again at step 1. This procedure continues until either you or your opponent has a STAMINA score of zero. If your opponent's STAMINA score reaches zero, you have killed it and can continue with your adventure. If your own STAMINA score reaches zero, you are dead.

Using Luck in Combat

You can use your LUCK in combat to inflict a particularly serious wound, or to minimize a wound that has been inflicted on you.

Whenever you wound an opponent, you may Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, you have inflicted a severe wound: deduct an extra 2 points from your opponent's STAMINA. If you are Unlucky, you have merely grazed it, and you deduct 1 point less than normal from its STAMINA.

If you have been wounded, you can Test your Luck in exactly the same way. If you are Lucky, the wound upon you was only a glancing blow and you can deduct 1 less point of STAMINA than usual. If you are Unlucky, the wound is serious: deduct 1 extra point from your STAMINA.[/spoiler]

So far, so FF. Now let's take a look at the stuff that are unique to this book...

One-Strike Combat is something we should get out of the way from the start. It's probably the biggest reason for this book's notorious difficulty. It's really a very simple mechanism, and a frustrating one. Basically, there are a lot of combats in the book that take place on some high and precarious location, and in those cases the first to land a hit gets the insta-kill by knocking his opponent off said precarious position and sending him plummeting to his doom. The rule of this combat is simply to roll 2 dice for both combatants and see who rolls higher. SKILL is NOT taken into account. So basically, every One-Strike Combat the PC has to go through means a 50/50 chance of insta-death. And even on an "optimal path" there's more than 1 of those...

Equipment is kind of relatively familiar. We start with Sword and leather armour. The rules text actually makes a point of capitalizing the first letter of 'Sword', although we wouldn't have known why until we read the Background, which tells us that it's a special Sword that Shines and can only be wielded by Tancred's bloodline. I assume that it being a special sword is also the reason we can actually fight and harm Oghuz and the Khuddam with it, so there's no need to hunt for another magic weapon in this book...although it gives us no combat bonus whatsoever. At least we don't need to start with a lantern (which is why we don't) thanks to our Sword's Shininess.

Despite being a kitchen assistant (and now an heir to the throne), we actually start with less Provisions than most FF PCs, with only 5 to start. However, a special rule in this book is that we may pick up Fuel in this book, and if we use them to cook our meal before eating, we can restore an additional 2 STAMINA on top of the usual 4.

And last but not least, we start with the cat, Tabasha, apparently descended from some divine bloodline of the cat goddess and therefore has magic powers. It can help us up to 9 times throughout the book, and 1 of them (and only 1) involves restoring EITHER our SKILL or our LUCK. We need to choose which before the adventure begins.

We are also told that we can use Tabasha to gain extra Provisions. Since the text doesn't get more specific than that, I assume it's 1 meal per use, also there's apparently no limit to how many times we can do that (well up to a max of 9 times, of course).

There's also a box on the Adventure Sheet that lists all the names of the 7 Khuddam, and we're supposed to marked off each one that we encounter and manage to kill during the adventure. I'm going to reveal a spoiler here: contrary to what Astragal said, it's NOT essential to kill every Khuddam in order to defeat Orghuz. In fact, in the "optimal path" (if there can be said to be one in Luke Sharp's books) it might possibly be better to avoid them, since they're all high-skilled opponents.

Another thing to note is that, just like Daggers of Darkness, while the rule pages don't say anything about them, the Adventure Sheet actually contains separate boxes for Abilities and Spells, which indicate that the PC can learn them during the game.

Special House Rule Imposed for this LP:

Like the last LP, I will be granting extra lives in this playthrough. For this, I will making use of already existing mechanisms are resources and modifying them. Basically, there are 2 way to gain extra lives:

1) Use Tabasha's favours. Each extra life uses up 1 of the 9.

2) Khuddam. As mentioned earlier, it's actually not mandatory to seek out and kill of them, so matter what Astragal said. And they're all tough to kill. So as a reward, for every Khuddam killed and "marked off" the Adventure Sheet, I will grant another extra life.

That gives us potentially 16 (although we probably won't unlock all of them. And believe me, they may not be enough. Keep in mind that we died 6 times in Daggers of Darkness.

Of course, the fact that we can use all of Tabasha's favours for extra lives doesn't we will or have to. As mentioned earlier, 1 of the 9 times can be used exclusively to restore either SKILL or LUCK to initial. Before we begin the adventure, we must determine which stat we're going to use her for.

So, before I proceed further, please vote whether you want to have a 1-shot full SKILL restore or LUCK restore.

It's basically like the old-school 3-potions option, except we have only 2 choices and STAMINA is not available (although since she can also bring us extra Provisions, that's sort of covered too.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by JourneymanN00b »

Oh boy. Chasms of Malice was definitely a tough customer. If my memory serves correctly, there are quite a few Luck tests that will kill our hero if we fail them, so I vote for a Luck restore option from Tabasha.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by angelfromanotherpin »

This is one of those books that makes me want to do a rewrite of it. The setup is great: you get your magic sword, your Kill Bill hit list, and nine favors from your divine kitty to cover your ass. Sign me the fuck up for that. But then the actual game is absolutely bullshit in the sense that even if you make all the correct decisions and have cheatmax stats, you still lose the book three times out of four, what the hell.

It's actually still more forgiving than Trial of Champions, though.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by Beroli »

Pretty sure the deal with Tabasha and Provisions is that when the text specifies "add this to your Provisions because of something Tabasha did," we do so; this does happen multiple times during the book.

Luck restore.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by Thaluikhain »

Beroli wrote:
Sat Apr 30, 2022 2:10 pm
Pretty sure the deal with Tabasha and Provisions is that when the text specifies "add this to your Provisions because of something Tabasha did," we do so; this does happen multiple times during the book.
Ah, we aren't refilling our provisions with cooked cat then. I guessed we weren't, but it did seem a bit vague there. :cool:
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Luck is typically drained more often than Skill (and it seems a lot of these fights are coin flips anyways), so I'd go with luck restore.

I suggest we name our character Butcher Pete, since we're a rabbit skinner, are going off to cut up some fools with a magic sword, and dick jokes are a running theme of these LPs.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by Beroli »

I decided a while ago that if I ever ran this, I'd replace One-Strike Combat entirely with "Test your Luck; if you succeed, gain back the lost Luck point," since as written, One-Strike Combat is simply "get lucky or die, written by someone who thinks having an actual Luck stat is too forgiving."

Not hinting or anything, just an anecdote.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by SGamerz »

Beroli wrote:
Sat Apr 30, 2022 2:10 pm
Pretty sure the deal with Tabasha and Provisions is that when the text specifies "add this to your Provisions because of something Tabasha did," we do so; this does happen multiple times during the book.
The rules text state:

"You may call on Tabasha the Bazouk to bring you extra Provisions at any time. She may occasionally bring you extra Provisions without being asked."

So, the way I read it, when the story tells you that Tabasha brings you extra food, those are bonuses that do not count towards the 9-times-usage.

Anyway, one thing I did neglect to mentioned is that Tabasha's LUCK restore actually really acts like a Potion of Fortune, and will actually boost our Initial LUCK by 1 too. But it looks like the LUCK restore wins the votes anyway.

Let's proceed.

We start our first visual view of Astragal:

Image
You leap into the darkness and land on a rocky slope. It is VERY dark. Looking up at the hole, you see the Wizard Astragal waving to you and saying: "Remember that you are Tancred's Heir and...well, good luck." You turn back to face the darkness; Tabasha nestles in your hood and begins to purr. At the same time the Sword starts to vibrate and shine. You see the path ahead: several small furry creatures rush for cover. You walk along the rock tunnel for a long time, until it opens out into a larger cavern. You find three exits. Which one will you take: the one on the left, a narrow crack in the middle, or a wider crack on the right, which drops down almost vertically?
And of course, true to tradition, we open with blind directional choice!

Which way do we proceed?

And as usual, suggestion for the 3rd-assistant-rabbit-skinner-turned-Tancred's-Heir are welcome.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: ??
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 15/15
LUCK 11/11
Poison: 2/24
Equipment: Shining Sword, Leather Armor
Provisions: 5
Fuel:
Tabasha's Favour: 9/9 (can be used once to restore LUCK to max and increase Initial LUCK by 1)
Abilities:
Khuddam killed:
Extra Lives remaining: 0/0
[/spoiler]
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by Beroli »

The crack in the middle.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by SGamerz »

Beroli wrote:
Sat Apr 30, 2022 3:34 pm
I decided a while ago that if I ever ran this, I'd replace One-Strike Combat entirely with "Test your Luck; if you succeed, gain back the lost Luck point," since as written, One-Strike Combat is simply "get lucky or die, written by someone who thinks having an actual Luck stat is too forgiving."

Not hinting or anything, just an anecdote.
I contemplated turning it into a normal 1-round combat with Attack=Strength rolling, but decided to run it as it is.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I think the left is the way to proceed. Wider crack probably is a pitfall, narrow crack might have something good. So take the narrow crack first, I suppose.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by JourneymanN00b »

Hmm, so the player is not trying to be king? I vote to take the left exit to take a firm stand against fascism. There is also the fact that Luke Sharp does not seem to be a fan of fascism.

And I vote to name the player Sir Gareth due to his kitchen origins.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by Beroli »

Sir Gareth is good.
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Post by Queen of Swords »

Narrow crack sounds fine to me.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by SGamerz »

Darth Rabbitt wrote:
Sat Apr 30, 2022 5:31 pm
I think the left is the way to proceed. Wider crack probably is a pitfall, narrow crack might have something good. So take the narrow crack first, I suppose.
Except the narrow crack is in the middle, not the left.

Since I can't determine Darth's vote, we're left with 1 definite vote for left, and 2 for narrow crack, which means we go down the middle route.
You squeeze through the narrow crack and find yourself in a cavern full of old, dry, woody roots, stacked neatly in the corner. As you examine the cavern, you find a small metal trap with a recently killed rabbit inside. You take the rabbit (add 2 meals to your Provisions box) and some of the wood (add 2 points to the Fuel box of your Adventure Sheet).

There are sharp tools and old skins scattered around the cavern and you decide to leave by the only other tunnel. When you have been walking for a few hundred paces you hear a shriek behind you, and then the sound of pursuit. You being to run, but you stop at a deep chasm, which is crossed by a narrow, stone bridge. Across the chasm stands an evil-looking Dark Elf holding a large staff. Do you attempt to cross the chasm, or stay where you are to await your pursuer?
How appropriate, the former 3rd assistant rabbit skinner found some rabbit for his meal.

Cross the bridge or face the Dark Elf?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: ??
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 15/15
LUCK 11/11
Equipment: Shining Sword, Leather Armor
Provisions: 7
Fuel: 2
Tabasha's Favour: 9/9 (can be used once to restore LUCK to max and increase Initial LUCK by 1)
Abilities:
Khuddam killed:
Extra Lives remaining: 0/0
[/spoiler]
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by Beroli »

The Dark Elf is ahead of us, with the unidentified shrieking pursuer behind us, are they not?

If my reading is correct, then cross the chasm and deal with the Dark Elf on the other side. If not, I am confused and abstain.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by SGamerz »

Beroli wrote:
Sun May 01, 2022 1:38 am
The Dark Elf is ahead of us, with the unidentified shrieking pursuer behind us, are they not?

If my reading is correct, then cross the chasm and deal with the Dark Elf on the other side. If not, I am confused and abstain.
Yes, I was the confused one. The question should be to confront the Dark Elf or the unknown pursuer.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by JourneymanN00b »

I vote to cross the chasm to avoid getting surrounded.
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Post by Queen of Swords »

I'm worried the Dark Elf might do something that knocks us off the narrow bridge, so I vote for confronting our pursuer on our side.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by SGamerz »

Image
The Dark Elf stares at you with glowing red eyes and fingers his staff, which radiates a bluish light. "Who dares cross Midnight Chasm?" he shouts, and walks on to the perilous bridge. He looks you up and down. "Aye, you'll be fine for my lord's slave battalion, when you wear the collar." he begins to cross the bridge, but stops when he sees you pull out your Sword. He realizes that he has got a fight on his hands.

DARK ELF SKILL 8 STAMINA 6

If at any time double 1 is thrown, then that combatant has fallen off the bridge. If you win, you cross the bridge and carry on along the path.
Our very first combat and already we face a potential risk of sudden death. At least we do have a clear SKILL advantage so the chances of us losing here is minimal.

COMBAT LOG:
Dark Elf 13, Rabbit Skinner 19. DE is at 4.
DE 18, RS 20. DE is at 2.
DE 17, RS 22. DE is killed.

Flawless win.
The path is very rocky and sometimes the tunnel nearly closes up. After a long time, you begin to get tired and hungry. You sit down and look at your Provisions. If you have enough for a meal, have it now and add 4 STAMINA points. If you have the means to cook the food, add an extra 2 STAMINA points. If you cannot eat, deduct 2 STAMINA points.
Sucks that we have to use up a meal when we haven't taken any damage yet, but at least there's been precedence in these cases before in past gamebooks (although in those cases we usually only eat to prevent further damage and can't restore anything). I don't think we should be forced to use our Fuel though, so I rule that we just use up an uncooked meal.
You carry on walking along the tunnel until yo stumble on what looks like a large claw, stuck in the earth. Fascinated, you pull at it and are startled to see it move! The claw rises out of the ground, followed by another; then a black, bird-like creature springs out of its hiding-place. It has four arms and two wings; you cannot pass it without fighting.

GRIPHAWK SKILL 9 STAMINA 10

If you win, turn to 74.
This thing is another of those creatures that are related to Gryphons, Gyrpvultures, Grypfalcons and other crossbred bird-creatures that Sharp has also written of in his other books....but I think this is the first time I've even seen a bird-type monster ambushing players by burying itself in the earth?

COMBAT LOG:
Griphawk 19, Rabbit Skinner 18. RS is at 13.
Griphawk 14, RS 18. Griphawk is at 8.
Griphawk 16, RS 19. Griphawk is at 6.
Griphawk 14, RS 19. Griphawk is at 4.
Griphawk 16, RS 14. RS is at 11.
Griphawk 15, RS 21. Griphawk is at 2.
Griphawk 16, RS 22. Griphawk is killed.

Tancred's heir doesn't roll very well in this one...he even rolled a double 1, although at least it's still better than if we'd rolled it in the last fight.
You walk down the tunnel. In the distance you can make out some blazing torches and, as you get nearer, the tunnel opens out into a cavern. On the right is a stone building with small round windows and six torches blazing above the entrance. Standing outside are two large-horned Koyunlu, harnessed to a cart. Just below the torches is the famous Dragon's Breath Inn and Alehouse. As you stand there, a large figure in a black cloak comes out of the building and falls flat on its face. Do you help, or do you prefer to keep a low profile?
Should we help the drunk?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: ??
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 11/15
LUCK 11/11
Equipment: Shining Sword, Leather Armor
Provisions: 6
Fuel: 2
Tabasha's Favour: 9/9 (can be used once to restore LUCK to max and increase Initial LUCK by 1)
Abilities:
Khuddam killed:
Extra Lives remaining: 0/0
[/spoiler]
Thaluikhain
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by Thaluikhain »

Help the drunk.

Also, there's a famous pub there? Ok...is it famous becase you have to get past monsters to drink there?
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Beroli
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by Beroli »

Keep a low profile.

If the problem is that the number of Khuddam will start being squared, doesn't that mean we can prevent that by killing six of them, it doesn't have to be all seven?
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Post by Queen of Swords »

Help the person, maybe we can get something out of it.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I’d be in favor of helping out.
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Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

Post by SGamerz »

Thaluikhain wrote:
Sun May 01, 2022 9:19 am
Also, there's a famous pub there? Ok...is it famous becase you have to get past monsters to drink there?
Don't see a problem here. You can have a famous pub any place where there's civilization, and the entire Gaddon civilization lives down here in the chasms. The fact that they have more acute senses in every other way besides vision probably makes them better cooks and brewers too, with their superior senses of smell and taste.

There are also wandering monsters all over Titan. To get to any famous pub that's in another civilization you pretty much have to brave monsters in the process.

And for all we know, this might have been a fairly safe and secure place maintained by the Gaddon before the Malice broke free and random creatures start attacking and killing randomly. We don't really have enough information about this setting to tell one way or another.
You help him get to his feet. He looks at you and you realize that he is a Troll, rather the worse for drink. He shouts at you: "How dare you touch me, you scum. Kneel down and have your head chopped off." He pulls out a scimitar and takes a swing at you.

DRUNKEN TROLL SKILL 6 STAMINA 6

If you win, you hide the body and go into the Dragon's Breath Inn.
COMBAT LOG:
Drunken Troll 13, Rabbit Skinner 15. DT is at 4.
DT 15, RS 16. DT is at 2.
DT 14, RS 21. DT is beaten.
It is very smoky inside the Dragon's Breath Inn. As you stand in the dark corridor, a Goblin comes out of a door on the right. He is chewing a large bone. He looks you up and down. spits and then enters a door in front of you. You catch a glimpse of a roaring fire as he shuts the door behind him. Do you wish to go through the door in front of you, or prefer to go into the room on your right?
So it's an establishment that serves Trolls and Goblins. It's not known whether humans are welcome here yet, although since the Goblin didn't react violently towards us in any way, there are probably humans here too.

Which door do we go through?

Also, the Rabbit's Skinner's name will be finalized by the next update. I was hoping there'd be at least 3 votes to a name before I do so, but as it is, right now we've got just Sir Gareth with 2 and Butcher Pete with 1.
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