[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 11 - Talisman of Death

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 11:20 am

I hate blind choices.

I don't know...Left?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 12:27 pm

This isn't Ian Livingstone or UK Steve so left should be OK.

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 12:53 pm

^ I distinctly remember

a cavern sequence with a manticore

at the end of The Shamutanti Hills where if you

didn't go left at every junction, you got hosed

...

ETA: Duh, spoilers.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 1:44 pm

You take the left-hand tunnel, which soon turns to the right, and leads into a bare stone room with a small rectangular pillar in the middle. The tunnel continues on the other side of the room. Will you:

Examine the pillar?
Go straight through to the tunnel opposite?
Return to where the tunnels crossed and choose again?

You can still turn back if you want....do you?

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 2:18 pm

Check out the pillar.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Dec 10, 2014 2:40 pm

Sirocco wrote:^ I distinctly remember

a cavern sequence with a manticore

at the end of The Shamutanti Hills where if you

didn't go left at every junction, you got hosed

...

ETA: Duh, spoilers.

Ha! I remember that. We totally fucked up precisely because of my insistence on going right. Although IIRC there's a hint to go left in that book that we missed. So I should clarify: avoid going left when presented with completely blind choices in Ian Livingstone and UK Steve books.

Let's check out the pillar.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 12:50 am

Captain Double D just can't resist checking out some long, hard, and stout length of material.

An inscription on the rectangular pillar reads:

Put yourself in the place of the monkey.
To the left is danger; the idle shall act.

As you ponder the meaning of the strange message, a trickle of sand falls on your head. You look up to see the roof cracking and an avalanche of sand starts pouring down. With a grating rumble, a slab of rock starts to fall across the exit ahead. Your only hope is to hurl yourself through the narrowing gap. Roll two dice. If the total is equal to or less than your SKILL score turn to 103. If the total is greater than your SKILL score turn to 215.

SKILL of 12 + a bunch of bonuses > Dice rolls

You roll through just as the rock slams down with a reverberating crash, inches from your face. You walk down the tunnel until you come to a dark iron door. A message has been painted in shimmering letters upon it - 'One only can be read.' You swing the door open and enter a rectangular room with an iron door in each wall. In the centre of the room stand three pillars, one rectangular, one circular and one square. Will you:

Leave the room through one of the doors?
Examine the rectangular pillar?
Examine the circular pillar?
Examine the square pillar?

More long hard stuff! Check them out? Which one?

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 5:37 am

Start with the rectangular, then circle, then square.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 6:27 am

^ Sounds like a plan to me! Let's go with that.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 6:50 am

Sirocco wrote:Start with the rectangular, then circle, then square.

Unfortunately, you were literally only just told that "only one can be read"!

In the flickering torchlight you read an inscription on the rectangular pillar.

Put yourself in the place of the monkey.
To the left is danger; the idle shall act.

Suddenly the three pillars disappear. You step back in amazement. The room remains empty and nothing else untoward happens, so you decide to leave.

Yep, the exact same words we already read from an identical pillar earlier.

You try all the doors, but you can only get one of them to open. You seem to have no choice and you go through into the room beyond. It is a wide hall, stretching away to the left and right. In the centre of the room stands a hideous idol. Its base is the coiled tailed of a huge serpent. Its muscular torso sprouts four clawed arms, two gruesome heads and bat-like wins. An inscription on the floor reads, 'Damolh, son of the God Nil, Mouth of the Void. In the opposite wall are four doors, two to the left and two to the right. Each door bears a symbol. Furthest from you on the left is a green serpent. The next door bears a grinning monkey; the third, a black scarab beetle and the fourth, furthest to your right, a red dragon, breathing fire. Which door will you open:

The serpent door?
The monkey door?
The scarab beetle door?
The dragon door?

About the 'blind choice' of the 3 tunnels...there was basically no right or wrong choices. Each tunnel contains a pillar of different geometrical shape with a different clue about these 4 doors. Finding those same pillars again in the previous room basically gives us the opportunity to read 2 of the 3 clues.....but we read the same one both times.

Which animal do we want to penetrate?

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 7:05 am

^ That makes sense, yeah.

Left of the monkey is the serpent, so that is out. So we have an 1 in 3 chance to pick the right door.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say dragon, because we want the dragon-killing ivory spear depicted in the entrance... what do you think?

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 9:24 am

Thanks to the earlier vote we have nothing better to go on, so dragon.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 11:39 am

You open the door and step through into a passage. You have only gone a few steps when you hear the rattle of a falling chain as a portcullis drops behind you, blocking the tunnel. You can only go on into a small room ahead of you. It is a dark crypt, at the end of which lie a sarcophagus, thickly covered in grey mould. You search every nook and cranny, but you cannot find a way out. You are trapped. Eventually you decide to lift the lid of the sarcophagus. The rank and fetid air, trapped inside since time immemorial, smell sickly sweet. Inside lie the mummified remains of a warrior, his skin stretched taught over brittle bones. His skeletal hand is curled around and ancient scimitar encrusted with emeralds and an ebony spear with an ivory tip lies across his chest. Will you take the sword or the spear?

Shiny! Which implement of penetration do we prefer?

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 12:22 pm

The spear, because it gives a blue option.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 1:27 pm

Spears have maximum penetration value.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:07 pm

You take the heavy spear and, looking closer, see that the 'Dragonsbane' is carved on its shaft. It is obviously magical and you may add 1 to your SKILL score when wielding it. With a creak of old bones the MUMMY rises from the sarcophagus. It lumbers drunkenly towards you, clutching its scimitar, bent on destroying the despoiler of its tomb.

MUMMY SKILL 8 STAMINA 10

If you win, turn to 350.

Who didn't see that coming?

Since the Spear's bonus only applies in combat, I rule that we can take advantage of it.

COMBAT LOG:

Mummy 14, Double D 24. Mummy is at 8.
Mummy 10, DD 21. Mummy is at 6.
Mummy 14, DD 22. Mummy is at 4.
Mummy 12, DD 20. Mummy is at 2.
Mummy 14, DD 23. Mummy is destroyed.

Flawlessed.

You notice that the base of the sarcophagus is hollow and you through it to find a tunnel below. You jump down and feel your way along its damp-walled windings. At last, you see a circle of daylight ahead. You emerge on to the steps again, some way above the roaring waterfall, and begin to climb.

Yes, this leads back to the same section we would have gone if we ignored the waterfall and continued up the stairs.

As you climbed the steps the temperature and humidity increase. Dripping with sweat, you look up and see that the lip of the cliff is only sixty metres above you. Suddenly, several boulders crash down from the top. Roll two dice. If the total is less than or equal to your SKILL score, turn to 308. If the total is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 277.

Again, Captain Double D with her SKILL of 12 can't fail any SKILL tests.

You flatten yourself against the cliff just in time. The boulders hurtle past and explode as they hit the step just below you. You carry on, warily climbing up the steps.

At last you reach the floor of the plateau itself. It seems your aching legs have forgotten how to walk on level ground. The vegetation is lush like a tropical rain forest, and your clothes cling to you, damp with perspiration. As you pause to listen to the screech of a scarlet macaw a group of HOGMEN bursts from the vegetation in front of you. They are blue-grey, hairy and have heads like tusked boars. Will you tell them that you mean no harm, or attack them?

We just ran into a bunch of Bebops! Attack or talk?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Captain Double D
SKILL 12/12 (13 in combat)
STAMINA 15/21
LUCK 11/12
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Golden Apple (+4 STAMINA), Chaimail (+1 SKILL), Apothecus' Ring (+1 SKILL) , Jade Rose, Talisman of Death, 'Dragonsbane' Spear (+1 SKILL in combat)
Gold: 14
Provisions: 6 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Potion: Potion of Fortune (restore Luck to Initial value, +1 to Initial Luck)
Misc Notes: At time of greatest need, cry: "All-Mother, nature herself, preserve me."
No. of Re-boots in this playthrough: 2

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:18 pm

Captain Double D does not want that pork in her mouth. Talk.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:56 pm

Talk to Bebop.

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 6:03 pm

Talk.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Fri Dec 12, 2014 12:34 am

They stare and you cannot be sure what effect your gestures are having, or even if they can understand you at all. Will you:

Offer them some dried meat, if you have any left?
Offer them a ruby, if you have one?
Attack them?

Again, I'm pretty sure 'dried meat' refers to our Provisions (just like with the She-Wolf earlier), even though the text does not make that very clear.

Do we think Bebops like dried meat? Or do we TURTLE POWER on them now?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Captain Double D
SKILL 12/12 (13 in combat)
STAMINA 15/21
LUCK 11/12
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Golden Apple (+4 STAMINA), Chaimail (+1 SKILL), Apothecus' Ring (+1 SKILL) , Jade Rose, Talisman of Death, 'Dragonsbane' Spear (+1 SKILL in combat)
Gold: 14
Provisions: 6 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Potion: Potion of Fortune (restore Luck to Initial value, +1 to Initial Luck)
Misc Notes: At time of greatest need, cry: "All-Mother, nature herself, preserve me."
No. of Re-boots in this playthrough: 2

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Fri Dec 12, 2014 11:57 am

Offer them some dried pork.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Dec 12, 2014 12:50 pm

Yeah, at worst it'll be hilarious.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 1:30 am

Starmaker wrote:Offer them some dried pork.

Ok.....

Deduct one unit of Provisions from your Adventure Sheet. Too late, you realize you are handing them salted pork. The Hogmen are offended. They demand in grunts that you go off with them to their village. Will you go with them, or refuse?

No, we did not realize too late, dammit! We totally knew what we were giving him and just did it for the lulz!

Refusing leads to the same section as attacking them in the first place, by the way.

Let the Bebops take us to Shredder their village? Or go Turtle Power on their ass?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Captain Double D
SKILL 12/12 (13 in combat)
STAMINA 15/21
LUCK 11/12
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Golden Apple (+4 STAMINA), Chaimail (+1 SKILL), Apothecus' Ring (+1 SKILL) , Jade Rose, Talisman of Death, 'Dragonsbane' Spear (+1 SKILL in combat)
Gold: 14
Provisions: 5 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Potion: Potion of Fortune (restore Luck to Initial value, +1 to Initial Luck) Misc Notes: At time of greatest need, cry: "All-Mother, nature herself, preserve me."
No. of Re-boots in this playthrough: 2

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 3:55 am

Let's check out the Technodrome.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sat Dec 13, 2014 8:05 am

Let's not walk into a trap. Eviscerate the pigs.