Since nobody voted, I will have Shaggy attack the creature here.
354
You draw back the black curtains and confront a creature warped almost beyond recognition. This thing was once a human monk: the fine quality of its now-shredded and filthy robe suggests that he may have been the senior monk in the monastery. Now the creature’s body is covered in mottled and calcified nodules, and it oozes a thick, acidic secretion which drips on to the wooden floor and hisses as wisps of acrid smoke rise from the blackening woodwork. The eyes are blackened and opaque, and its face is an impassive, stony mask. It has just wrenched open a wooden chest and has flung the contents – papers and maps – to the floor, where they are dissolving in the acid. The monster reacts swiftly to your presence. You have no idea what gross mutated thing the monk – once Father Honorton himself – has become, but it’s too fast for you to evade. You’ve got to fight!
FATHER HONORTON SKILL 10 STAMINA 12
If you win, turn to 170.
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]
The fight:
[spoiler]Round 1: Father Honorton Attack Strength: 15, Player Attack Strength: 24;
Father Honorton Stamina: 10, Player Stamina: 17
Round 2: Father Honorton Attack Strength: 14, Player Attack Strength: 18;
Father Honorton Stamina: 8, Player Stamina: 17
Round 3: Father Honorton Attack Strength: 14, Player Attack Strength: 18;
Father Honorton Stamina: 6, Player Stamina: 17
Round 4: Father Honorton Attack Strength: 13, Player Attack Strength: 20;
Father Honorton Stamina: 4, Player Stamina: 17
Round 5: Father Honorton Attack Strength: 17, Player Attack Strength: 17;
Father Honorton Stamina: 4, Player Stamina: 17
Round 6: Father Honorton Attack Strength: 14, Player Attack Strength: 21;
Father Honorton Stamina: 2, Player Stamina: 17
Round 7: Father Honorton Attack Strength: 16, Player Attack Strength: 18;
Father Honorton Stamina: 0, Player Stamina: 17[/spoiler]
Shaggy flawlessly sends Father Honorton to an eternal slumber.
170
What the monster was looking for in the chest surely can’t have been there, since the contents have been strewn around everywhere and are now disfigured through being splattered with acid. The chest is empty, but you spot that its base looks a little higher than it should be – it has a false bottom! Eagerly you prise up the panel in the bottom of the chest and find a secret compartment sunk into the solid wood surround. There is a small purple cloth here and wrapped within it are two crystals. Gain 1 LUCK point and 1 point of PRESENCE for this important find. You sense that these crystals are magical, but you know nothing yet as to their purpose or powers. One is a Sapphire, a fine blue gem with exactly 50 facets. The other is a Topaz, elegantly cut and with 24 facets (make a note of the number of facets each crystal has). You also find a small, glowing stone, with a hundred speckles of light on its surface, and with it a magical scroll on which is inscribed ‘Incantation of Light’; you also find a silver key fashioned in the shape of a bone (add the Skeleton Key to your Possessions).
You sense that the crystals are important, and you must find out how to use them. Excitedly, you head off down the stairs. If you have fought an Elemental, turn to 281. If you haven’t, turn to 31.
Shaggy has not fought an Elemental.
31
As you make your way back to the landing, you notice that a strange change has taken place in the pentagram. It seems to have expanded and now is pulsing slightly with a dim yellow light; it almost seems to be growing across the woodwork even as you look at it. It’s impossible to bypass it, and you take your courage in both hands as you step into it and cross to the stairs below. Turn to 392.
392
As soon as the pentagram is disturbed, an ominous grinding sound comes from beneath the landing, and a pillar of earth and stone erupts through the woodwork, smashing it into splinters and flying fragments. Lose 1 points from your STAMINA because of the cuts and abrasions you suffer from sharp splinters of wood and flying stones. You are faced with a hostile Earth Elemental here! If you want to fight it, turn to 264. If you prefer to flee, turn to 379.
Please make your votes before 9:00 AM PST or a 3-vote majority is reached to ensure that they will be counted.
Adventure Sheet
[spoiler]Shaggy
SKILL: 11
Initial Skill = 11
STAMINA: 16
Initial Stamina = 17
LUCK: 8
Initial Luck = 10
PRESENCE: 6
TIME ELAPSED: 0 days
ENEMY ENCOUNTER:
None
EQUIPMENT LIST:
Knife
Backpack
Waterskin
Leather Jerkin
Pot of Thick Glue
Sword
Potion of Stamina (restores up to one-half of
Initial Stamina when used)
Flask of Grog (+4 Stamina, +1 Attack Strength temporary bonus for one combat)
Magic Sword (+1 Attack Strength)
Shield
Rope
2 Small Bottles of Monk’s Herbal Liqueur (each half-bottle gives +4 Stamina)
PROVISIONS REMAINING: 11
POSSESSIONS:
Bottle of Olive Oil
2 Pouches
13 Gold Pieces
Small Gold Key (Found in paragraph 40)
Glass Bottle
Lantern
Pestle and Mortar
Herbiary with 3 Dog-eared Pages (page 311 on Rat-tailed Fungus, page 175 on Pitcher Plant, and page 266 on Axeplant)
Sapphire with 50 Facets
Topaz with 24 Facets
Glowing Stone with 100 Speckles of Light
Magical Scroll with ‘Incantation of Light’ Inscribed
Skeleton Key
Boons:
2 Entity Wishes[/spoiler]