[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 70 – Secrets of Salamonis

[JourneymanN00b]

Okay, so it looks like Lee Miles will have his current and Initial Skill increased to 8, and pay the Royal Tax Collector 2 Gold Pieces.

308
You hand over the money and Pinchpenny accepts it without a word of thanks before wandering off to bother someone else. Turn to 369.

369
You are met at the door to the Adventurers’ Guild by the grizzled Guildmaster. ‘You’re back, then,’ he says as you proudly show him your Adventurers’ Permit. Turn to 120.



120

The Guildmaster asks you to examine the Quests Board

‘So, what’s it to be?’ the Guildmaster asks as you examine the Quests Board outside the Guild.

Take a look at the illustration opposite. On it you will see a list of available quests, with a job number next to each one. To embark on a quest, turn to the section that is the same as the number that has been allocated to that job by the Guildmaster. (Please note that you may only attempt each quest once unless expressly stated otherwise in the text.)



Please make your votes before 7:00 PM PDT or a choice receives 3 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

Adventure Sheet
Lee Miles
SKILL: 8 Initial Skill: 8
STAMINA: 11 Initial Stamina: 12
LUCK: 6 Initial Luck: 6
AMONOUR: 5
MONEY: 10 Salacoins = 1 Gold Piece
0 Gold Pieces
0 Salacoins
PROVISIONS REMAINING: 0
ITEMS OR EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Clothes
Trinket
Backpack
Short Sword
Spare Clothes
Purse
Holy Symbol
Longbeard’s Legends of the Windward Plains
Adventurers’ Permit
SPECIAL SKILLS:
Spelling
THE WHEEL OF THE WEEK:
Stormsday
NOTES:
If at 115, turn to 467 to visit the Testing Grounds in the Forest of Spiders
If at 115, turn to 357 to have Ruznik teach Spelling for 4 Gold Pieces
If at 115, turn to 150 to join Nanoc escorting Velenore Musek’s caravan

[deaddmwalking]

Solving a mystery seems the least likely to get us killed or to require abilities we haven't yet advanced. I recommend 203.

I don't know what is Screaming. Sky?

[Beroli]

Last time we presumed we had all the knowledge that was needed for an intellectual challenge we lost 4 gold and got laughed at. Let's catch a cardinal. 341.

[JourneymanN00b]

Thanks for voting. I will break the 1-1 tie by having Lee Miles attempt to solve the mystery of the Screaming Sky.

203
‘It’s a mystery sure enough,’ says the Guildmaster. ‘Vicious attacks on livestock, people going missing, and then there’s the screaming that seems to come from the sky, which heralds an attack.’ Your curiosity piqued, you set off for the village of Coven. It lies at the western end of Trolltooth Pass, south of Bu Fon Fen, and not far from the brooding Forest of Spiders. It is also well-known for its annual tuberbeet harvest.

Several days later, you pass through the acres of well-tended fields that surround Coven and make your way to the heart of the settlement. After asking around you are soon granted an audience with the village headman – a leather-worker of some forty winters called Tanner Hyde – and tell him your purpose in coming to Coven.

The man looks exhausted with worry, but when you announce that you are here to solve the mystery of the screaming sky, the tension in his body eases.

‘The most recent attack was last Highday,’ he tells you. ‘It happened at night – but then it always does – as the Sommer family was coming home from selling our tuberbeets in Chalice.’

‘What was it that attacked them?’

Tanner hesitates before answering. ‘The Swarm.’

‘And were there any survivors?’ you ask.

‘Yes,’ Tanner replies. ‘But just the one. The poor girl was terribly shaken but she managed to skewer one of the things that attacked them on the end of a pitchfork.’

‘And where is it now, the thing she killed?’

‘At Ludo Jaimes’s house. He’s an alchemist. We’ve been calling it a Shrieker.’

Your conversation with the headman has provided you with three different lines of enquiry. Which do you want to follow first?

     Question the survivor of the last attack?       Turn to 220
     Inspect the scene of the attack?       Turn to 236
     Examine the dead Shrieker?       Turn to 259



Please make your votes before 9:00 AM PDT or a choice receives 3 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

[Beroli]

Examine the dead Shrieker first.

[Thaluikhain]

Examine the dead thingy, yeah.

[deaddmwalking]

Agree. View the dead thing first.

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes registered; examining the dead Shrieker.

259
You find the hideous specimen pinned out on a board inside Jaimes’s work shop. It is truly horrible to behold. It has the body and mouth of a vicious, predatory fish, but with ragged, almost bat-like wings. A single, blind white eye stares from one socket and the thing is already half-decomposed. When you comment on this, Ludo Jaimes replies, ‘It was already like that when Eadel killed it.’

‘The Shriekers are undead creatures?’ you say.

‘It would appear so,’ the Alchemist replies. ‘It would appear that their blood has some potent properties too. I’ve been carrying out some tests with what little of it I could extract from the carcass.’ He turns to Tanner, who has accompanied you to Jaimes’s work shop. ‘I should have some more conclusive proof in the next day or two.’ (Make a note on your Adventure Sheet that your inspection of the dead Shrieker attack is worth 50 CLUE points.)

If you have a Swampsnake Skin and want to try to sell it to the alchemist, turn to 476. If not, choose something you haven’t tried already; do you want to:

     Question the sole survivor of the attack?       Turn to 220
     Inspect the place where the attack took place?       Turn to 236
     Continue your investigations elsewhere?       Turn to 279



Lee Miles does not have a Swampsnake Skin. Please make your votes before 7:00 PM PDT or a choice receives 3 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

Adventure Sheet
Lee Miles
SKILL: 8 Initial Skill: 8
STAMINA: 11 Initial Stamina: 12
LUCK: 6 Initial Luck: 6
AMONOUR: 5
MONEY: 10 Salacoins = 1 Gold Piece
0 Gold Pieces
0 Salacoins
PROVISIONS REMAINING: 0
ITEMS OR EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Clothes
Trinket
Backpack
Short Sword
Spare Clothes
Purse
Holy Symbol
Longbeard’s Legends of the Windward Plains
Adventurers’ Permit
SPECIAL SKILLS:
Spelling
THE WHEEL OF THE WEEK:
Stormsday
NOTES:
If at 115, turn to 467 to visit the Testing Grounds in the Forest of Spiders
If at 115, turn to 357 to have Ruznik teach Spelling for 4 Gold Pieces
If at 115, turn to 150 to join Nanoc escorting Velenore Musek’s caravan
Inspection of the dead Shrieker attack: 50 CLUE points

[deaddmwalking]

Question the survivor!

[Darth Rabbitt]

I remember enjoying this book quite a bit.

I’d be in favor of questioning the survivor.

[Beroli]

Question the survivor.

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes acknowledged; questioning the sole survivor of the attack.

220
The girl, whose name is Eadel Sommer, can’t be more than fifteen years of age. You find her at home, being looked after by her mother. Unfortunately, her father, two older brothers and an uncle were all killed during the attack.

‘They came down out of the sky on rotting ragged wings, screaming so loud that I thought I was going to go mad,’ she says when you ask her to tell you what happened. You cannot help noticing her hands are shaking and there is a haunted look in her eyes. ‘They came from the east, from the direction of the silver mines.’ And then she can speak no more.

You thank her for her help and commend her for her bravery, before leaving the girl and her mother to make the arrangements for four funerals. (Make a note on your Adventure Sheet that the girl’s statement is worth 10 CLUE points.)

Having heard the girl’s version of what happened, what do you want to do next?

     Inspect the scene of the attack?       Turn to 236
     Examine the dead specimen?       Turn to 259
     Leave the village and continue your investigation elsewhere?       Turn to 279

Lee Miles has already examined the dead specimen. Please make your votes before 9:00 AM PDT or a choice receives 3 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

Adventure Sheet
Lee Miles
SKILL: 8 Initial Skill: 8
STAMINA: 11 Initial Stamina: 12
LUCK: 6 Initial Luck: 6
AMONOUR: 5
MONEY: 10 Salacoins = 1 Gold Piece
0 Gold Pieces
0 Salacoins
PROVISIONS REMAINING: 0
ITEMS OR EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Clothes
Trinket
Backpack
Short Sword
Spare Clothes
Purse
Holy Symbol
Longbeard’s Legends of the Windward Plains
Adventurers’ Permit
SPECIAL SKILLS:
Spelling
THE WHEEL OF THE WEEK:
Stormsday
NOTES:
If at 115, turn to 467 to visit the Testing Grounds in the Forest of Spiders
If at 115, turn to 357 to have Ruznik teach Spelling for 4 Gold Pieces
If at 115, turn to 150 to join Nanoc escorting Velenore Musek’s caravan
Inspection of the dead Shrieker attack: 50 CLUE points
Girl’s statement: 10 CLUE points

[deaddmwalking]

Might as well inspect the scene of the attack. I was a little afraid we might also be attacked there, but I think we'll have to track them back to the silver mine.

I'm curious to see how Clue Points work - is solving the mystery simply a matter of accumulating enough of them? Or maybe we're not solving a mystery at all but instead putting down a monstrous invader. I'm having fun so far and curious to see where this quest takes us.

[SGamerz]

Ohh, this is the only new FF Scholastic publications that received better-than-negative reviews overall, too bad I missed the first part.

Inspect the crime scene!

(Btw, the most likely answer for Hasmaski's parent can be found on the Titannica wikia. Next time we're asked something about FF/Titan lore, it would probably pay to research a bit before answering.)

[deaddmwalking]

(Btw, the most likely answer for Hasmaski's parent can be found on the Titannica wikia. Next time we're asked something about FF/Titan lore, it would probably pay to research a bit before answering.)

There are certainly some things that we'll learn by playing through many games and it could be argued that our character ought to have information about their world that we don't, but I wouldn't feel right about researching something that we appear to be able to learn 'in character' but didn't choose the right options for. 4 GP was a pretty expensive penalty for not knowing more stuff, but I don't feel bad about it because it's not something that was mentioned in flavor text and I missed. Sometimes we'll have a choice of left or right and really no basis to make an informed choice - luck matters too!

[SGamerz]

(Btw, the most likely answer for Hasmaski's parent can be found on the Titannica wikia. Next time we're asked something about FF/Titan lore, it would probably pay to research a bit before answering.)

There are certainly some things that we'll learn by playing through many games and it could be argued that our character ought to have information about their world that we don't, but I wouldn't feel right about researching something that we appear to be able to learn 'in character' but didn't choose the right options for. 4 GP was a pretty expensive penalty for not knowing more stuff, but I don't feel bad about it because it's not something that was mentioned in flavor text and I missed. Sometimes we'll have a choice of left or right and really no basis to make an informed choice - luck matters too!

We don't know whether it's something that we might get the chance to learn in-character - FF has several instances where the author literally throws a random question to players to test their general FF lore (although I remember Livingstone being more guilty of this than Jackson - like asking us to give the names of the Grand Wizard of Yore's star pupils in Armies of Death) and reward dedicated FF followers for knowing stuff outside book. It's not exactly cheating anyway, since there's no official answer for this question, and the wikia only gives a common assumption. Us being a character that grew up in Titan actually means it'd make sense for us to give an answer that is considered a common belief.

And yes, we often have to make random uninformed choices in FF, which is why it might be wise to take advantage of occasions when we don't have to! Luck can only be stretched so many times (in both senses when FF is concerned) and should be saved for occasions when we have no other choice.

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes recognized; inspecting the scene of the attack.

236
Tanner Hyde and two other villagers accompany you to the place at the western end of Trolltooth Pass. The ground is a dark rusty red where the blood of the Shriekers’ victims has soaked into the ground, and you can see the impression of the footprints the panicked farmers made as they came under attack. It must have been savage indeed. There are no marks on the ground to show where the Shriekers went, but the prevailing wind direction here is from the east, so perhaps that is where the Swarm came from. (Make a note on your Adventure Sheet that your examination of the scene of the attack is worth 24 CLUE points.) What do you want to do now?

      Question the survivor of the attack?       Turn to 220
      Examine the dead specimen?       Turn to 259
      Continue your investigation elsewhere?       Turn to 279



Lee Miles has already examined the dead specimen, and questioned the survivor of the attack, so he will continue his investigation elsewhere.

279
Total the CLUE points you have acquired, and then turn to the section with the same number.

Lee Miles has acquired a total of 84 CLUE points, so we will turn to section 84.

84
You have collected a number of useful clues since arriving in Coven, and talk of how you are here to help has spread throughout the village. (Gain 2 AMONOUR points.) But where do you want to go next in search of answers to the mystery of the screaming sky?

Eadel said the Shriekers came from the direction of the silver mines. Could they be hiding there during the day, only coming out at night to feed? But then your visit to the place where the attack happened suggested to you that the Swarm might have been carried there on the wind from further along Trolltooth Pass. Then again, your examination of the dead Shrieker would certainly add weight to the argument that the creatures hide somewhere underground during the day, but would a mine be a safe enough hiding place? Perhaps they roost in a nearby cave network. So, what do you want to do now?

     Set off south, towards the silver mines (if you haven’t been there already)?       Turn to 273
     Head east, along Trolltooth Pass?       Turn to 24
     Ask the villagers if there are any caves nearby?       Turn to 50

Lee Miles has not already been to the silver mines. Please make your votes before 7:00 PM PDT or a choice receives 3 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

Adventure Sheet
Lee Miles
SKILL: 8 Initial Skill: 8
STAMINA: 11 Initial Stamina: 12
LUCK: 6 Initial Luck: 6
AMONOUR: 7
MONEY: 10 Salacoins = 1 Gold Piece
0 Gold Pieces
0 Salacoins
PROVISIONS REMAINING: 0
ITEMS OR EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Clothes
Trinket
Backpack
Short Sword
Spare Clothes
Purse
Holy Symbol
Longbeard’s Legends of the Windward Plains
Adventurers’ Permit
SPECIAL SKILLS:
Spelling
THE WHEEL OF THE WEEK:
Stormsday
NOTES:
If at 115, turn to 467 to visit the Testing Grounds in the Forest of Spiders
If at 115, turn to 357 to have Ruznik teach Spelling for 4 Gold Pieces
If at 115, turn to 150 to join Nanoc escorting Velenore Musek’s caravan
Inspection of the dead Shrieker attack: 50 CLUE points
Girl’s statement: 10 CLUE points
Examination of attack scene: 24 CLUE points

[deaddmwalking]

Toward the Silver Mine!

[Beroli]

Head toward the silver mines.

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes acknowledged; setting off south towards the silver mines.

273
The mines do not lie too far from Salamonis, in the hills that form the southern border of Trolltooth Pass. All approaches to the area are patrolled by the Salamonis soldiery and your journey passes without incident. Some time later, you find yourself approaching the main entrance to King Salamon’s mine. The place is busy with miners, including Dwarfs as well as humans, with carts being loaded with ore and rubble. You confidently stride up to the Half-Ogre who appears to be in charge and wave your Adventurers’ Permit at him when he asks what your business is here. ‘You here for the pest control job, then?’ he asks.

If you answer ‘Yes’, turn to 313. If you reply ‘No’, turn to 334.



Please make your votes before 9:00 AM PDT or a choice receives 3 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.

[deaddmwalking]

Yes. That was another quest and they might be related. And since we're here...

[SGamerz]

I think the king or whomever that may set us on that quest might have given us some paperwork to give us permission to enter, and we'd be checked for them if we say yes. I say no.

[Thaluikhain]

I vote yes.

[Beroli]

Let's not lie, and we didn't come here for a pest control job. Say no.

[JourneymanN00b]

Thank you for voting. I will break the 2-2 tie by having Lee Miles answer ‘Yes’.

313
‘That’s a relief,’ the Half-Ogre replies. ‘They’ve shut down production in the western galleries and none of the miners want to work those sections while they’re still down there.’ You ask the Half-Ogre foreman what ‘they’ are. ‘Didn’t they tell you? Rock Grubs, of course! But a brave adventurer like you will make short work of them, I’m sure. You just need to enter the mine there’ – he points to the entrance before you – ‘take the first left, then it’s left again, and then take the first right. Just bring back evidence of anything you dispose of down there and you’ll get paid 1 Gold Piece for each one.’

If you want to enter the mine, turn to 441. If you’ve had a change of heart and want to return to Salamonis and the Adventurers’ Guild in hope of picking up a different job, turn to 375.



Please make your votes before 7:00 PM PDT or a choice receives 3 votes to guarantee that they will be counted.