The Gaming Den

I vote to help her.

Yeah, let's help her.

With one swipe of your trusty blade you behead the Boa Constrictor. You uncoil its massive body from around the Elf and try to resuscitate her. Her eyes open a little, but you can see that there is no hope. She looks at you and smiles, then says in a whisper, 'Thank you. I know it's too late for me, but I will tell you what I have learned. Your way out lies ahead, but you need gems to unlock the final door. One of them is a diamond, but I do not know what the others are. Alas, I have not found a diamond, but would urge you to look for one. Good luck.' Her eyes close and she slumps down onto the cold floor. You watch sadly as she breathes her last. Knowing she would not mind, you take two of her daggers and search her leather backpack. Inside you find some unleavened bread, a mirror and a bone charm in the shape of a monkey. You automatically take the mirror and charm.

Eat the bread and return to the tunnel to head north?
Leave the bread and return to the tunnel to head north?

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 12/12
Stamina 18/18
Luck 8/9
Gold Pieces 2
Provisions 2/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Doppelganger Potion
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Sapphire
Iron key
2 daggers
Mirror
Bone monkey charm
Amulet of strength (worn)
Immune to melting-point temperatures
Will detect hidden traps

Eat the bread, head north and look out for a diamond.

I doubt the bread will do anything since Hai Tien is at full health, but I vote to eat it anyway and return to the tunnel to head north.

So, we're looking for a diamond. Between the ruby, sapphire and emerald I think we're fine for any others needed.

Eat the bread, though it probably won't do anything since we already stuffed our face earlier. Guess it's at least different from whatever we carry around for provisions.

Given we are at max stamina, the bread probably can't help so may as well leave it.

Eating the bread wins 3-1.

The bread contains secret elven healing herbs. Add 3 STAMINA points. Feeling sad yet strong, you pack away the mirror and the charm and leave the cavern to head north.

Walking along the tunnel, you notice an iron grille in the floor.

Stop and lift it up?
Keep walking?

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 12/12
Stamina 18/18
Luck 8/9
Gold Pieces 2
Provisions 2/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Doppelganger Potion
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Sapphire
Iron key
2 daggers
Mirror
Bone monkey charm
Amulet of strength (worn)
Immune to melting-point temperatures
Will detect hidden traps

Stop and check out random thingy

(Oh, and does that mean that everything we've fought so far has had to be re-stocked since the Elf got past?)

Yes, stop and open the grille.

Grille might contain diamonds, or random items needed to get diamonds.

I vote to stop and lift it up.

Thaluikhain wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 30, 2022 10:18 am

(Oh, and does that mean that everything we've fought so far has had to be re-stocked since the Elf got past?)

I'm not sure what you're thinking would be "re-stocked," especially in terms of things you fight. The orcs with the necklace stayed dead. You know the elf (also the knight, and the ninja) went east at the first split when you went west, because of the footprints; other than that you have no real way of knowing what path she took to get here. (You can probably guess safely that she had to get by the dwarf Trialmaster, and since there you have fought exactly...nothing).

Lying in a hole about a metre deep, you see a grappling iron and a leather pouch.

Reach down for them?
Continue without them?

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 12/12
Stamina 18/18
Luck 8/9
Gold Pieces 2
Provisions 2/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Doppelganger Potion
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Sapphire
Iron key
2 daggers
Mirror
Bone monkey charm
Amulet of strength (worn)
Immune to melting-point temperatures
Will detect hidden traps

We can't leave potential loot unlooted unless there's a really compelling reason to do so. Reach down for them.

I vote to reach down for them.

You reach down into the hole. Suddenly your blood runs cold as you feel something warm and sticky wrapping itself around your arm. You manage to pull your arm out of the hole, but a hideous tentacled limb with unbelievably strong suckers is clingrng to your arm. By the time you manage to cut yourself free, your arm ls trembling with pain.

Test your Luck; a 4 passes.

Having had the sense not to put your sword arm into the hole, the effects of the tentacled arm are not too serious. Lose 1 SKILL point. You reach back into the hole and pull out the grappling iron and the leather pouch. Inside the pouch you find a tiny brass bell You pack away your new possessions and continue north.

A door comes into view in the left-hand wall of the tunnel. You listen carefully at the door but hear nothing. The door is not locked and the handle turns easily.

Open the door?
Keep walking along the tunnel?

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 11/12
Stamina 18/18
Luck 7/9
Gold Pieces 2
Provisions 2/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Doppelganger Potion
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Sapphire
Iron key
2 daggers
Mirror
Bone monkey charm
Grappling hook
Pouch with brass bell
Amulet of strength (worn)
Immune to melting-point temperatures
Will detect hidden traps

I vote to keep walking along the tunnel, as our hero needs to show some moderation to avoid being called an anarchist.

Ouch, the skill point loss hurts. And that’s on a Lucky roll. Though the grappling hook could reasonably prove very useful.

Yeah, I don’t trust this door. Keep walking.

I'd hate to get to the end and find out the diamond (or something we needed to get the diamond) was behind the door. So, open it.

Yeah, open the door.

Need a tiebreaker.

I’ll change my vote to opening the door.

The door opens into a small dark room, which is empty apart from a sturdy wooden chest lying on a shelf on the far wall. The floor is thick with dust, and you can clearly see fresh footprints leading from the door to the chest and back again. You wonder whether one of your rivals is still ahead of you on 'The Walk' (based on those you've already, one way or another, seen dead, there is exactly one who could be), or whether the chest has only recently been placed on the shelf by one of the Trialmasters.

Enter the room and open the chest?
Keep walking down the tunnel?

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 11/12
Stamina 18/18
Luck 7/9
Gold Pieces 2
Provisions 2/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Doppelganger Potion
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Sapphire
Iron key
2 daggers
Mirror
Bone monkey charm
Grappling hook
Pouch with brass bell
Amulet of strength (worn)
Immune to melting-point temperatures
Will detect hidden traps

Pretty sure this is just a trap. But we do have a potion of trap detection that should warn us about that. So it should be safe to investigate and if not I think that’s on Ian Livingstone and not us.

It doesn't seem likely that a Trialmaster should be restocking the dungeon halfway through the Walk. But I don't want to leave anything uninvestigated, just in case. So, open the chest.