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

Stories about games that you run and/or have played in.

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SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

You enter a small storeroom, full of jars of wine and rotting food. The Undead have no use for this kind of nourishment any more, so no one has been here for some time. You may stay and hide here for a short while; or you can leave and open the door opposite or make your way down the corridor.
Wait, we found jars of booze and didn't bother to loot it? For shame!

Anyone fancy hiding in the larder? If not where do we go next?
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Stick around in the larder for a quickie with one of the servants and bemoan the lack of holes to penetrate.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Shiritai
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Post by Shiritai »

We have absolutely no reason to randomly hide in a storeroom... unless it decreases our alarm value. Sure, go for it.
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Post by Shrapnel »

Let's hide for a bit.
Is this wretched demi-bee
Half asleep upon my knee
Some freak from a menagerie?
No! It's Eric, the half a bee
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

You crouch down behind some jars in the corner of the room and drink all the booze wait for things to quieten down a bit. Reduce your Alarm Value by 2. After a short while you decide it is now safe to go on. Will you go through the right-hand door or straight ahead?
Good call! Alarm Value down to 1.

Now we can get back to the hole-penetrating....but which one?

Adventure Sheet:
Name: Gonad the Penetrator
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 11/18
LUCK 13/15
RESOLVE: 12
Equipment: Halberd, Leather Armor, Ring of Communing (0 charges 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), Heavy Iron Mace
Provisions: 1 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold: 41
Codeword: PIRATE
Alarm Value: 1
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Shrapnel
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Post by Shrapnel »

Penetrate down the long straight shaft.
Is this wretched demi-bee
Half asleep upon my knee
Some freak from a menagerie?
No! It's Eric, the half a bee
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Note: that was me. Shrapnel's been at my house and he surreptitiously logged in on my computer. I didn't realize that it was still on his account.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

Darth Rabbitt wrote:Note: that was me. Shrapnel's been at my house and he surreptitiously logged in on my computer. I didn't realize that it was still on his account.
I was just wondering what happened to his Transformer LR thread....

On that topic, would any of you be interested in a "LR" of gamebook after this one is done? I'm considering either running either the Blood Sword or Allen Sharp's Storytrails gamebook, and the latter is more of a straight CYOA without any complex rules. (In terms of the quality of writing, Sharp's possibly one of highest as far as gamebooks go, certainly way above the average FF).

Anyway, let's get on with this one in the meantime....
You pace quietly down the long, dark and dank corridor. Soon it begins to bend around to the left. Test your Luck. lf you are Lucky, turn to 164 If you are Unlucky, tum to 288.
Our Luck is 13....
The sound of slow, shuffling feet reaches your ears. You quickly wriggle into a narrow recess in the side of the corridor and conceal yourself in the shadows. A patrol of two Undead pass by; they reek of death, their flesh is a scabrous grey colour and their eyes are twin orbs of blank nothingness. Reduce your Alarm Value by 1. When they are out of sight, you come out of hiding and continue along the corridor.
And our Alarm Value back down to 0!
You continue along the corridor. After walking a short distance, you notice a door on your left marked 'Chapel of the White Queen'. The White Queen is a local goddess of love and life. Will you enter the chapel or keep going along the corridor?
Do we want to penetrate the sacred passage of love and life?

Adventure Sheet:
Name: Gonad the Penetrator
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 11/18
LUCK 12/15
RESOLVE: 12
Equipment: Halberd, Leather Armor, Ring of Communing (0 charges 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), Heavy Iron Mace
Provisions: 1 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold: 41
Codeword: PIRATE
Alarm Value: 0
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vagrant
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Post by vagrant »

Let's penetrate the fuck out of that sacred passage.
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Post by Shrapnel »

SGamerz wrote:
Darth Rabbitt wrote:Note: that was me. Shrapnel's been at my house and he surreptitiously logged in on my computer. I didn't realize that it was still on his account.
I was just wondering what happened to his Transformer LR thread....
Labor troubles. As soon as the police beat the Union leaders into submission, work will continue on Decepticon Poison II: Part 2.
Is this wretched demi-bee
Half asleep upon my knee
Some freak from a menagerie?
No! It's Eric, the half a bee
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Go balls deep into the sacred passage.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
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Post by SGamerz »

Stepping into the chapel you are struck immediately by the scent o{ the place: clean and wholesome and without that rotting smell of decay that permeates the rest of Bloodrise Keep. The chapel is small: just a few pews and, at the far end, an altar draped in gold-edged white linen. On it rests a beautiful ivory statuette of the White Queen. Someone dressed in rich black robes is sitting in front of the altar. It is a middle-aged woman, noble and beautiful. For a moment you stare at each other in fear, until you both realize that neither of you is undead. You tell her of your mission, and she says, 'I am Iola, the mother of Braxis, the castellan He has been taken prisoner and is held in the east tower. Please release him - if you do he may be able to help you destroy the evil Mortis.' You express concern over her safety. 'As long as I remain in the chapel I am completely safe. No Undead can enter here, not even Mortis himself; the power of the White Queen keeps them out. I will aid you in your noble quest, for I know a magic charm that I can teach you: it will disrupt all Undead within hearing, causing their bones to dissolve and their flesh to rot to dust. Use it wisely, however, for it can work once and once only. Now go,' she says. 'I will pray for you and for my son.' She turns to kneel at the altar of the White Queen.

You leave the chapel and continue along the corridor towards the east tower.
As if our Double-damage Spear + Mirror Shield combo isn't overpowered enough against Undead, we just met the Holy Milf who teaches us Destroy Undead (albeit a one-shot one)! Although, oddly, she only talks about teaching us the Charm, but the text doesn't say anything about her actually doing the teaching. Nevertheless, the power is ours:
You now have the Charm of Disruption. As Iola told you, you can use it once and only once, so choose your moment wisely. When you decide to invoke the Charm, note the number of the paragraph you are reading at the time, then turn to 253.
Essentially, using this charm is similar to the use of the Sleep/Pass Through Rock spells back in the Heroquest gamebook. Section 253 gives us a list of sections where the Charm can be used, and the corresponding sections to turn to. If we choose to use the Charm in a section that's not listed in 253, the Charm has no effect and is wasted. Using the Charm won't be listed as an option in our encounters, we have to decide on our own whether to use it.

So how do you guys want to do this? Do you want me to list it as a blue option every time we come to an appropriate section, or would you prefer zero hints on that and just leave it to you completely to decide when to trigger it? Let me know your preference.

A short distance further on, the corridor opens out into a vestibule, with ragged banners draped along the side walls. Three closed doors of wine-dark mahogany face you. Each has a symbol daubed on it in scarlet: the first (on your left) shows a picture of a poisonous serpent, the middle door has a picture of an upraised sword, and the right-hand door bears a stylized picture of an oak tree.

As you step forward across the hall, you get a sudden shock when you notice for the first time the grotesque figure of a hunchbacked jester sitting, slumped, against the wall. Instead of being dressed in the customary multi-coloured motley, his costume consists of drab patches of black and grey. His clowning stick is lying across his knees: on the end of it is a painted wooden skull with a movable jaw. This macabre fellow must be Mortis's jester; he seems to be asleep.

If you want to shake him roughly awake with the point of your sword at his throat, tum to 77. If you wake him quietly and ask him for directions from here, tum to 233. If you think it is wiser to leave him sleeping, you can press on through either the left-hand door, the middle door or the right-hand door.
What do we try to penetrate next? One of the doorways? The jester's neck? Or none of them?
Last edited by SGamerz on Thu Mar 19, 2015 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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vagrant
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Post by vagrant »

He's asleep, it's like he's asking to be penetrated. I mean, I don't really feel bad for him. Let's gently press our sharpened rod against his throat and see if he notices.
Then, once you have absorbed the lesson, that your so-called "friends" are nothing but meat sacks flopping around in the fashion of an outgassing corpse, pile all of your dice and pencils and graph-paper in the corner and SET THEM ON FIRE. Weep meaningless tears.

-DrPraetor
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Get ready to deep throat him.
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Post by Starmaker »

Question him at swordpoint. If he's Good, he'll realize Gonad is an ally because we're alive. If he's not Good, we might get to off him. Leaving him sleeping or being nice both feel like asking for trouble.

I vote No Blue Hints with the charm, and No Preference concerning the next Let's Play (I have Blood Sword but didn't read it hoping for a letsplay, and I don't have any Storytrails and those books sound awesome).
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I have two of the Storytrails books: The Evil of Mr. Happiness and The Haunters of Marsh Hall. So I'd sit either of those out if you were planning one of them.

I read the Blood Sword books a really long time ago but I don't remember much about them, other than their basic concept, and that I really liked them. So I'd probably be in favor of Blood Sword.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

Starmaker wrote:No Preference concerning the next Let's Play (I have Blood Sword but didn't read it hoping for a letsplay, and I don't have any Storytrails and those books sound awesome).
Darth Rabbitt wrote:I have two of the Storytrails books: The Evil of Mr. Happiness and The Haunters of Marsh Hall. So I'd sit either of those out if you were planning one of them.

I read the Blood Sword books a really long time ago but I don't remember much about them, other than their basic concept, and that I really liked them. So I'd probably be in favor of Blood Sword.
I have more than 10 Storytrail books (didn't count them), so there shouldn't be any problems with me picking a book that you haven't already read (I do have both of those books Darth mentioned, and really like Haunters of Marsh Hall myself). All of them are really short, though, as Darth would know, since he's read 2 of them. Maybe I'll do about 3 of them (preferably of different themes) before switching to another series.

The problem I foresee with a Blood Sword LP is trying to reap maximum potential out of the multi-player system. It's ideally designed for a 4-player (though we can make do with less, or just do what we did with Heroquest, everyone makes decision for everybody, although I think that'll be something of a wasted potential) If we count all the players who've participated in these LPs we certainly have more than 4, but most of them aren't that active (which is of course perfectly understandable). We saw how the lack of participation from 1 player can really stall a multi-player LP with the Riddling Reaver game. The best way to go about it will probably to have 2-3 players taking the role of each character so that there'll be someone to vote for that character even if another player can't be around....but I'm not sure we'll have enough people for that.

Unlike the Heroquest book (where the Battle Order was pretty much the only multiplayer mechanism that really meant anything), individual character options actually play a more prominent part in this series, so I'd probably prefer to run it if we can gather enough players to make use of the multi-player mechanisms while ensuring it won't stall too much (especially considering it's a 5-book series with a single plot, which means it's considerably longer than the average LPs I've been doing so far.)

Anyway, we can discuss this later. For now, let's get on with the deep-throat penetration!
He wakes without a sound and watches you with eyes like glassy pebbles. 'Well, you cur,' you say, glancing at the three doors, 'which way to the lair of your vile master?'

For a moment he still says nothing. Then his purple-stained lips break into a ghastly, maniacal grin and he raises his clowning stick. You think he is about to use ventriloquism and make the skull-head reply, but he is not so subtle. Uttering a bleak peal of laughter, he clouts you sharply across the face and runs off, leaving you alone, blinded by tears of pain.

You must now decide which door to take. Will it be:

The door with the snake-symbol?
The door with the sword-symbol?
The door with the tree-symbol?
That was.....embarrassing.

Serpentine phallic symbol? Pointy penetrative Implement? Or hard, stout wood?
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Post by Shiritai »

SGamerz wrote:The problem I foresee with a Blood Sword LP is trying to reap maximum potential out of the multi-player system. It's ideally designed for a 4-player (though we can make do with less, or just do what we did with Heroquest, everyone makes decision for everybody, although I think that'll be something of a wasted potential) If we count all the players who've participated in these LPs we certainly have more than 4, but most of them aren't that active (which is of course perfectly understandable). We saw how the lack of participation from 1 player can really stall a multi-player LP with the Riddling Reaver game. The best way to go about it will probably to have 2-3 players taking the role of each character so that there'll be someone to vote for that character even if another player can't be around....but I'm not sure we'll have enough people for that.
I'd certainly be more active if we ended up doing a 4-character gamebook.
SGamerz wrote:He wakes without a sound and watches you with eyes like glassy pebbles. 'Well, you cur,' you say, glancing at the three doors, 'which way to the lair of your vile master?'

For a moment he still says nothing. Then his purple-stained lips break into a ghastly, maniacal grin and he raises his clowning stick. You think he is about to use ventriloquism and make the skull-head reply, but he is not so subtle. Uttering a bleak peal of laughter, he clouts you sharply across the face and runs off, leaving you alone, blinded by tears of pain.

You must now decide which door to take. Will it be:

The door with the snake-symbol?
The door with the sword-symbol?
The door with the tree-symbol?
Let's make like a leaf and tree.
Last edited by Shiritai on Sat Mar 21, 2015 1:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Starmaker »

No +Alarm and no suspicious keywords, though, so, fine by me.
Tree.
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

The door opens without setting off any traps. You have made the right choice, it seems. If this was the first door you tried, regain 1 LUCK point. Beyond the door, a passage disappears into cob-webby gloom Steeling your nerves, you set off along it.
We got the right door on the first try, so LUCK is back to 13. We're indeed favoured by Lhyss (which reminds me, we still have the mysterious Elixir of Lhyss with us).
Image
The corridor runs for a short distance, then opens out into the stairwell of the east tower. A spiral staircase leads up and down. Beside it stands a Zombie guard; it tums its ravaged, dead face to you and its dead-fish eyes glitter menacingly in the torchlight. To your horror, you recognize an old friend and veteran of the White Tiger Legion, Davmori, who joined the border guards for a quiet life. He staggers towards you, spear in hand. He must have been killed by a blow to the body before he was brought back as undead, for a wound in his chest gapes horribly. A vile stench wafts over you, making you gag in disgust. You call out his name, but all intelligence has left this mindless thing. Revulsion and horror course through your veins like fire. Test your Resolve. lf you fail, you scream in horror and must add 2 to your Alarm Value. If you succeed, you manage to stifle your fear. Whatever the result, you must fight your old friend, Davmori.

DAVMORI THE UNDEAD SKILL 7 STAMINA 8

If you win, turn to 290.
Our Resolve of 12 gives us iron nerves, so our Alarm Value remains at 0.

Being Undead, he's vulnerable to Spear and Mirror Shield.

COMBAT LOG:
Davmori 14, Gonad 14. Tie. (saved by the Shield bonus)
Davmori 15, Gonad 16. Davmori is at 4.
Davmori 15, Gonad 15. Tie.
Davmori 15, Gonad 15. Tie. (yes, exact same rolls for 2 rounds)
Davmori 11, Gonad 17. Davmori is put to rest.
The Shield bonus literally saved us for 4 straight rounds and helped give us a flawless win!
You stand over the fallen body of your former friend, cursing Mortis's perverted mind for transforming Davmori into such a hideous unloving travesty. Wiping tears of rage from your eyes, you scan the stairwell for exits. A short distance along the wall, another archway leads out, but when you look down it you see it gives on to a long stretch of empty corridor. Squinting up the stairs, you see a golden shaft of sunlight, which must be shining through one of the arrowslits high in the wall, transforming the dust in the upper levels of the tower. From the angle of the beam of light, you judge there to be perhaps an hour of daylight left. In the other direction, the stairs descend to a padlocked door of stout mahogany. In the wan light filtering down, the dark wood seems the colour of bloodstain.

If you go up the tower, tum to 163. If you go down to the locked door, turn to 343. If you decide to lie low here for a while in case Mortis's undead patrols are scouring the castle for you, turn to 291.
Up, down or stay?

Adventure Sheet:
Name: Gonad the Penetrator
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 11/18
LUCK 13/15
RESOLVE: 12
Equipment: Halberd, Leather Armor, Ring of Communing (0 charges 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), Heavy Iron Mace
Provisions: 1 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold: 41
Codeword: PIRATE
Alarm Value: 0
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vagrant
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Post by vagrant »

No alarm value, so let's go up. We don't have a key for the locked door anyway (unless we can bash it down?)
Then, once you have absorbed the lesson, that your so-called "friends" are nothing but meat sacks flopping around in the fashion of an outgassing corpse, pile all of your dice and pencils and graph-paper in the corner and SET THEM ON FIRE. Weep meaningless tears.

-DrPraetor
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Go to the non-locked door. Still sad we couldn't penetrate the throat of the jester.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath, Justin Bieber, shitmuffin
SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

You climb the stairs as far as a landing. From here, through an arch you can see a long gallery, and the spiral stairway continues up into the topmost chambers of the tower. As you take a step back, debating which route to take, you stumble into a rack of weapons at the side of the landing. Several of the polearms are dislodged and, though you manage to catch them all, the disturbance sends a clatter echoing up the bare walls of the tower.
Uh oh.....
Your Alarm Value indicates how much attention you have drawn to yourself while penetrating castle's defences. If you have made too much noise or stayed in one place too long, the patrols of undead sentries may be alerted. To see if this has happened, roll two dice and add 3 to the total rolled. If the new total is less than or equal to your Alarm Value, you hear someone approaching - turn to 222. If it is greater than your Alarm Value, you have escaped detection as yet, and must now turn to 133.
Ok, false alarm (pun intended). Our AV is at 0, so there's no way we can roll less.
Image
You go to the end of the gallery and see that it is open along one side; it overlooks a great high-raftered hall where once the soldiers who defended the castle would have gathered. Now, huddled on the benches below, are a host of undead knights sitting in macabre silence, coal-black cloaks wrapped round them like bats' wings, tarnished goblets clutched in their pale hands. You reckon there must be two hundred of them at least. These must be the Knights of Alptraum, Lord Mortis's feared veteran guards. Doubtless they are sheltering here from the sunlight, awaiting the kiss of the night wind to restore their dark energies.

At the far end of the gallery you can just make out a doorway, barely visible in the gloom. You can walk along the gallery to it, but you run the risk of making a noise that will attract the attention of the grisly creatures seated in the hall below. If you decide to risk it, turn to 29. Otherwise, you must climb further up the spiral stairs towards the top of the tower.
Gallery or stairs?
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Post by MisterDee »

That sounds suspiciously like a good time to use the Charm of Pulverize All Undead.

Alternately, I suggest gallery there, then use the Charm if we're detected.
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Post by vagrant »

Yeah, let's do that. Walk along the gallery and if they notice, Destroy Undead.
Then, once you have absorbed the lesson, that your so-called "friends" are nothing but meat sacks flopping around in the fashion of an outgassing corpse, pile all of your dice and pencils and graph-paper in the corner and SET THEM ON FIRE. Weep meaningless tears.

-DrPraetor
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