[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 43 - The Keep of the Lich-Lord

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 12:31 pm

Screaming a war-cry, you charge towards the shaman. He whirls in horror but just has time to reach into his pouch, pull out a small ball and throw it at you. Roll 2 dice. lf the total rolled is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 215. If it is greater than your SKILL, turn Lo 158.

Dice roll: 5+7 = 7 (Success)

With a deft flick of the wrist you manage to hit the ball to the ground with your weapon. It rolls into a corner and then, to your surprise, explodes with a loud bang. Snarling in frustration, the shaman pulls an ironshod staff from across his back as you close with him. The staff is covered in strange-looking runes.

We just busted the guy's ball, time to penetrate his recesses!

You must fight.

CHAOS SHAMAN SKILL 8 STAMINA 9

During each round of combat, the shaman's staff pulses with a dark light that seems to drain your strength. Win or lose, each round you must deduct 1 extra point from your STAMTNA because the shaman's sorcery is draining you. You must kill him quickly or die! If you win, turn to 305.

Ok, this can get pretty nasty if we don't finish the fight quick, as it pretty much negates our armour protection and some. Still, we have LUCK to fall back on (and lots of that to spare) to finish him off quick if we need to, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem....

COMBAT LOG:

Shaman 17, Gonad 15. Gonad is at 12.
Shaman 13, Gonad 17. Shaman is at 6, Gonad is at 11.
Shaman 13, Gonad 15. Shaman is at 3, Gonad is at 10.
Shaman 20, Gonad 16. Gonad is at 8.
Shaman 14, Gonad 16. Shaman is killed, Gonad is at 7.

The shaman breathes his last. His staff shatters to the ground, but it is still draining your life force! Will you leave immediately or stay and take the time to restore the altar of the White Queen to its original state?

Yikes! As a precaution I'm gulping down another meal to bring STAMINA back to 11.

And strangely, there's no option to hack up the staff into bits, or just grab it and throw it a long distance away. We're limited to running from an inanimate object or ignoring it so......run or ignore?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Gonad the Penetrator
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 11/18
LUCK 12/15
RESOLVE: 10 (11 for next test)
Equipment: Sharpened Sword (+1 damage), Leather Armor, Ring of Communing (1 charge remaining), Spear of Qadarnai (double-damage when fighting undead), Golden Whistle, Elixir of Lhyss, Suit of Fine Armour (-1 to all damage taken), Ring of Fays, Polished Shield (-1 SKILL to 1 Undead opponent during combat at a time)
Provisions: 4 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold: 35
Codeword: PIRATE

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 2:21 pm

I imagine that restoring the altar will restore our stats (and possibly give us some sweet loot). So let's do that.

CapnTthePirateG · Post by **CapnTthePirateG** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 4:31 am

Restore altar...this is the goddess who teaches Destroy Undead right?

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:50 pm

You start to gather up the White Queen's holy objects which belong on the altar. The staff continues to drain your strength: lose 2 STAMINA points. If you still live, to your relief the staff stops pulsing after a moment or two, leaving you free to clean up the temple. As you leave, you receive the blessing of the Goddess; add 1 to your RESOLVE.

You may now search some of the larger houses in the village, if you have not already done so. Alternatively, you can investigate the village hall or leave the village and go to the cove where the fishing boats should be.

We're now practically immune to normal RESOLVE test failures. There's still the occasional tests where modifiers are involved, but for the most part we can probably point and laugh at most of the 'spooky' stuff in this book.

CapnTthePirateG wrote:Restore altar...this is the goddess who teaches Destroy Undead right?

Yes, but apparently this personal favour isn't enough to convince Her that we're holy enough to learn it.

Where to next?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Gonad the Penetrator
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 9/18
LUCK 12/15
RESOLVE: 11 (12 for next test)
Equipment: Sharpened Sword (+1 damage), Leather Armor, Ring of Communing (1 charge remaining), Spear of Qadarnai (double-damage when fighting undead), Golden Whistle, Elixir of Lhyss, Suit of Fine Armour (-1 to all damage taken), Ring of Fays, Polished Shield (-1 SKILL to 1 Undead opponent during combat at a time)
Provisions: 4 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold: 35
Codeword: PIRATE

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:56 pm

We know that investigating a large house doesn't kill us so let's go penetrate one.

Shiritai · Post by **Shiritai** » Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:18 am

Delve into that doomed domicile.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Wed Feb 25, 2015 8:16 am

Have a snack to recover from our vigorous session of penetrating, then break and enter.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:16 pm

We stop to pop a pill eat a meal to regain some energy before we go searching for a largest entrance to plunge into.

If you have already searched all the places of interest in Keladon, tum to 91. If you have not yet searched all these places, turn to 211.

Again, with the question of whether we've already searched every place. Not yet, but we only have one other place left (town hall).

Most of the buildings are simple huts, now empty or on fire. However, there are larger houses (other than the temple and town hall) that may be worth investigation; one is a large thatched bungalow, one a two-storeyed brick house, and the last is the smithy with a large stable attached. Will you search the bungalow, the house or the stables?

So many holes! Which one do we choose?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Gonad the Penetrator
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 13/18
LUCK 12/15
RESOLVE: 11 (12 for next test)
Equipment: Sharpened Sword (+1 damage), Leather Armor, Ring of Communing (1 charge remaining), Spear of Qadarnai (double-damage when fighting undead), Golden Whistle, Elixir of Lhyss, Suit of Fine Armour (-1 to all damage taken), Ring of Fays, Polished Shield (-1 SKILL to 1 Undead opponent during combat at a time)
Provisions: 3 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold: 35
Codeword: PIRATE

Shiritai · Post by **Shiritai** » Wed Feb 25, 2015 1:36 pm

Brick > Wood > Straw

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Feb 25, 2015 2:34 pm

Yup. Three Pigs FTW!

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Feb 26, 2015 1:57 pm

Ok, I get that you guys want to search the brick house first, but just to be sure, I need a confirmation whether you want to search the stable next, followed by bungalow, since it wasn't explicitly mentioned that the stable is made of wood (even though it would be logical for it to be).

Moving to the brick house:

The front door of the house is hanging brokenly on its hinges. Stepping inside, you find yourself in a simple hallway, with stairs leading up and doors to either side. Will you first search the ground floor or the upstairs?

Where to search?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Feb 26, 2015 2:09 pm

OK, I'll confirm that plan right now.

Search the ground floor first.

Shiritai · Post by **Shiritai** » Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:27 pm

Agreed; start with the first floor.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Feb 26, 2015 3:45 pm

You discover nothing of interest until you come to a cellar door that seems to be barred from the inside. It is only of light construction and you could smash it down easily if you wished. If you want to go into the cellar, tum to 371. If you want to search upstairs, turn to 191. Alternatively, you can leave here and search elsewhere. You may enter the bungalow or the stables, if you have not already searched through these two buildings. If you decide you have finished searching the houses, you can investigate the temple or the village hall; alternatively, you can leave the village and go to the cove where the fishing boats should be.

Do we want to search the cellar?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Feb 26, 2015 4:25 pm

Penetrate that cellar booty.

Shiritai · Post by **Shiritai** » Fri Feb 27, 2015 5:39 am

Plumb the depths like an Italian plumber.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Fri Feb 27, 2015 1:16 pm

The door splinters in two after a single powerful kick . Lighting a torch you descend into the gloom of the cellar. A low ceiling forces you to stoop slightly as you make your way among several barrels of dried fish and poor-quality wine. You hear someone whimpering fearfully, and huddled in the corner you find a fat boy, about six or seven years old and clearly terrified. He thinks you must be a pirate. It takes you some time to reassure him that he is safe and then he blurts out his tearful story. It seems a pirate ship arrived without warning at the cove, and fifty or more buccaneers stormed the village, marching off most of the villagers to the hold of their ship, to be sold as slaves. Those who resisted were brutally slain. The boy tells you that his name is Paz and that his father is Farmer Jervas, and his mother Mistress Mrynie, both of whom he thinks were taken away. 'Please help me,' he pleads pitifully as he wipes his eyes on your cloak. Will you tell him to stay hidden here while you try to find his parents or leave the house and take him with you?

Note that leaving him here does not mean that we choose not to help him.

Do we want to bring him along?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Feb 27, 2015 2:02 pm

I kind of doubt taking the kid along with us is a good idea. Tell him to keep on hiding while Gonad does the penetrating.

Shiritai · Post by **Shiritai** » Fri Feb 27, 2015 3:15 pm

^ This

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 2:30 am

He says he is starving and you leave some food for him (cross off one Provision from your Adventure Sheet - if you have none, you cannot help him). You reassure the boy that you will be as quick as you can and you tell him firmly not to leave the cellar under any circumstances, for it is very dangerous. He begs you to come back as soon as possible. You promise to do so and to bring those scum of the sea, the Chaos pirates, to justice. You may now search the bungalow or the stable, if you have not already done so, Alternatively, you can investigate the temple or the village hall; or, if you prefer, you can leave the village and go to the cove where the pirate ship should be.

Prior votes determined that we search the stables next.

The stable and smithy prove rather uninteresting. You do find 6 Gold Pieces in an old leather pouch under a pile of straw on the upper level of the stable, however. You are just pocketing it when you hear some noise outside. Looking cautiously out through a window, you spot two pirates, one an Orc and the other a large Ogre, laughing evilly outside and sharing a gourd of wine. One has a burning torch in his hand, and to your consternation he suddenly throws it into the stable. Within seconds the dry
straw goes up in flames, much to the merriment of the cut-throats. Desperately you make a run for the door, but the wooden building is rapidly catching fire. Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, tum to 206. If you are Unlucky, turn to 111.

Fortunately, thanks to Lhyss' blessing, we're currently immune to Bad Luck.

With only seconds to spare, you manage to leap from the raging inferno that was the stable, just as a flaming timber crashes to the ground behind you. Unfortunately you run straight into the two pirates; they step back in surprise for a moment before snarling unpleasantly.

It'd have been a real embarrassing end for a hero: accidentally burnt to death by a couple of goons who didn't even realize we were there.

But then

since this book wasn't written by Ian Livingstone or the UK Steve Jackson, failing the Luck roll would just have cost us a few STAMINA points. instead of insta-death.....unless we were already low on STAMINA.

'So, one more for my trusty axe,' growls the Ogre, an ugly hulking beast, all muscle and fur, and with a dog-like head. It swings its huge two-handed axe. The Orc chuckles horribly and hefts its saw-toothed cutlass. You must fight them both at the same time.

CHAOS PIRATE OGRE SKILL 7 STAMINA 10
CHAOS PIRATE ORC SKILL 7 STAMINA 7

If you win, tum to 62.

They're both at same SKILL, so I'm going for the Orc first as he can be taken down more quickly.

COMBAT LOG:

Ogre 9, Orc 16, Gonad 17. Orc is at 4.
Ogre 17, Orc 16, Gonad 15. Gonad is at 11 (1 STAMINA loss taken from each pirate).
Ogre 17, Orc 10, Gonad 11. Orc is at 1, Gonad is at 10.
Ogre 15, Orc 15, Gonad 21. Orc is killed.
Ogre 11, Gonad 12. Ogre is at 7.
Ogre 13, Gonad 12. Gonad is at 9.
Ogre 10, Gonad 13. Ogre is at 4.
Ogre 14, Gonad 17. Ogre is at 1.
Ogre 13, Gonad 19. Ogre is killed.

You find 10 Gold Pieces and a pack containing one lot of Provisions on the body of the Ogre, but nothing else (note them on your Adventure Sheet). Now you may search the large house or the bungalow, if you have not already done so. Alternatively, if you decide you have done with searching the houses, you can investigate the temple or the village hall; or you can leave the village and go to the cove where the fishing boats should be.

The Provision is a good find, considering we're running low on that despite all our bonuses.

Again, as prior votes dictate, we search the bungalow next:

Searching the bungalow proves fruitless. You find nothing except the body of a poor murdered fisherman. Cursing Mortis and his pirate allies, you leave. You may now make your way to the large house or the stables, if you have not already searched these two places. Alternatively, if you have not done so, you can investigate the temple or the village hall; if you would rather, you can leave the village and go to the cove where the fishing boats should be.

Brick > wood > straw was right. Brick house gave us a free quest (ok, not exactly free since it cost us 1 unit of Provisions), stables brought us a fight, but at least we got some minor loot for that. And Thatched bungalow gave us....nothing.

We have only one place in the village that we haven't search. Remember, the book keeps checking whether we have searched the whole village, so obviously something is happening, but we don't know if it's something good or bad.

Do we want to finish searching the last place in the village (town hall), or go find the ships now?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Gonad the Penetrator
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 9/18
LUCK 11/15
RESOLVE: 11 (12 for next test)
Equipment: Sharpened Sword (+1 damage), Leather Armor, Ring of Communing (1 charge remaining), Spear of Qadarnai (double-damage when fighting undead), Golden Whistle, Elixir of Lhyss, Suit of Fine Armour (-1 to all damage taken), Ring of Fays, Polished Shield (-1 SKILL to 1 Undead opponent during combat at a time)
Provisions: 3 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold: 41
Codeword: PIRATE

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 5:52 am

Go to the town hall. The Penetrator cannot leave any nook or cranny unpenetrated.

Shiritai · Post by **Shiritai** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 5:58 pm

I vote for going to the cove. We did promise to find that boy's parents quickly, and Gonad tells no lies (except that one time).

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sat Feb 28, 2015 11:41 pm

Fill every hole.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sun Mar 01, 2015 1:34 am

2 votes against 1, we search the rest of the village:

If you have already searched all the places of interest in Keladon, turn to 91. If you have not yet searched all these places, turn to 37.

Yes, our obsession with hole-penetration made certain of that.

As you are walking through the village, you notice a dash of colour on the horizon. You look out to sea. A large galley, sleek and low, with many banks of oars and black sails with a crimson skull embossed upon them, is passing by the headland where what remains of Keladon stands. You recognize a ship of the Chaos fleet. You can even make out its name, painted in large red letters on the bow - the Merciless. Its prow is a huge iron ram, fashioned to look like a scimitar. You decide to go down to the cove where the fishing boats should be.

Choosing to go straight to the cove will also bring us to a paragraph where we are asked whether we took the time to search the whole village. If the answer is "yes", this next section will be the exact same one we'll turn to....

Following the path from the village, you walk down a rocky hillside that leads to the beach. There is a wooden quay here, with the hulks of several burning fishing boats moored to it. The sand has been churned up by the passage of many booted feet, and various objects litter the ground: a broken sandal, a girl's small doll, an empty wineskin, and the like. Other than this, the place is deserted. Looking out to sea, you can just make out a sail in the far distance. t looks like a Chaos pirate warship to you. Evidently the whole population of Keladon has been carried off into slavery by the pirates. Dejected, you tum and leave Keladon to continue your mission.

Poor Paz, he never got his parents back.

(And apparently we forget about him if we don't find his parents, and just leave him there to starve.)

Yeah, if we'd come here earlier, we'd have had a chance to rescue the villagers before the pirate ships set sail.

Leaving Keladon behind, you set out on the road north again, heading for the crossroads at the inn, and then eastwards towards Bloodrise Keep. After a short while you notice a commotion off the road to the south. You can make out what looks like a horseman riding hard, apparently pursued by a pack of wolves, but the dust they are raising makes it hard for you to be sure. Will you press on or run towards them and see if you can help therider?

Investigate?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun Mar 01, 2015 4:30 am

Ironically I was actually going to change my vote, but the site crashed on me while I was posting my reply.

Anyhow let's go check out the new place.