[Let's Play] Blood Sword I - The Battlepits of Krarth

[Darth Rabbitt]

Talk, and if it gets hostile I'll exorcise it.

[SGamerz]

The ghost speaks to you with a voice reaching across a thousand years of history. 'In life I was Magus Zyn,' it says. 'I was mightiest of the True Magi, and would have ruled over all, but petty jealousies among my peers brought about my downfall. The fools slew my servant, the giant Skrymir, and though they had not the power to destroy me utterly they yet imprisoned me here. And here I have lain for ten centuries. Ten centuries! They have passed like the slow tread of Leviathan, like the measured rumble of the gods as they snore beneath Spyte ... Ten centuries to plot and scheme. Now my plans for vengeance come to fruition - but I need your help to execute my plan. What say you?'

If you agree to help Zyn's ghost, turn to 116. If you refuse, turn to 378.

Do we want to help the ghost?

[angelfromanotherpin]

This 'offer' has a fatal lack of specifics. Aren't the True Magi all dead? What does the vengeance entail? Breaching the afterlife? Sinking the country with us on it? Is there even any reward?

[Darth Rabbitt]

Refuse. If at all possible I'll exorcise this guy.

[Shiritai]

Yeah, weren't the True Magi bad news anyways? Refuse to help.

Edit: Though, if the return of the True Magi is a bad thing, and this dude hates all the other True Magi, maybe we can play them against each other? Especially since this guy is stuck here.

[SGamerz]

Edit: Oh, and shouldn't Kiki have 5 END rather than 4? It looks like the Retributive Fire only deals 1 damage, not 2.

Sorry, missed this last night. You are right, the Warrior had 5 END left, and actually now has 6, since he still had food for healing.

Seems like most of the party is leaning towards refusing....

Then you shall remain here forever!' shrieks the ghost.

Only a Sage could hope to dispel the ghost, using his or her power to Exorcise. If you have a Sage in the party who wishes to try this, turn to 182. If there is no Sage present, you must either agree to help the ghost or else reaffirm that you will not aid it under any circumstances.

The Sage already expressed his wish to try it, so:

SAGE:

You concentrate your mind on stifling the cosmic energies that surround and sustain this immaterial spirit. Its translucent image begins to dim, but then it senses what you are trying to do and starts to fight back.

Roll two Dice. If you score 11 or 12, turn to 239. If you score 10 or less, turn to 497.

Dice roll = 7.

The ghost seems slow to react at first, as though it has difficulty adjusting from the reference-frame of eternity to one where rapid action is required. Its long-dead features acquire a look of astonishment, then black rage. It easily resists the power of the Exorcism, drawing energy from the cosmic flux into itself until it blazes like a human torch.

'You dare to assail the spirit of Zyn?' it hisses. 'Begone!' It gestures, and a crackling web of mystical lightning envelops you. You scream at an instant of blinding agony. Each player loses two Endurance.

If still alive, you dematerialise and reappear on the cave floor underneath the floating platform. Glancing up, you see no sign of Zyn's ghost. An unpleasant and pointless encounter. You turn towards the atoll where the Emblem awaits.

Ouch, that hurts.

Rolling low was actually the better outcome. If we succeeded in exorcising Zyn by rolling a 11 or 12, there'd be no way for us to get back down, and it's straight to Game Over as the entire party is stuck on the floating platform.

Now for the damage each of you took:

Warrior: Damage = 7! Kiki is killed by the mystical lightning!

Trickster: Damage = 7. Benedict has 6 END left.

Sage: Damage = 9! Pepito has 2 END left!

Enchanter: Damage = 7. Reed has 4 END left.

The party is in bad shape (down by member) and the Sage has very little END to spare for healing!

At last you reach the base of the atoll. The plain was deceptively wide, and you feel as though you have walked almost three kilometres across the blasted waste. The mist falls back in forlorn wisps as you reach the higher ground climbing up to the atoll. High above, the tassels of the Emblem of Victory stream in the ghostly winds that shriek about this desolate place.

A slope leads up into a crevice in the side of the atoll, and passing through this you find a path winding up and around it like a helter-skelter. The way is steep, and you are glad when you reach a small chamber where you can rest your aching legs. Pausing to gather your strength for the climb, you become aware of a reddish glow suffusing the back of the chamber. It illuminates a skull - but what a skull! It must have belonged to a man nearly four metres tall. As you stare dumbfounded, a groan comes from out of its fleshless lips. Then it speaks ...

'I was Skrymir the Giant, who dared to challenge the True Magi,' it tells you. 'This was in olden times, before the Blasting of Spyte which placed modern usurpers on the old thrones. The True Magi were wizards indeed! They blew spells that shrivelled my flesh into dust, turned my mighty heart to stone with their fierce glares, boiled my blood with their rage, cracked these old bones with shouted incantations ... But with your aid I could rise again and sweep away these capricious prattlers who now call themselves magi. Collect my bones together - this skull through which I now speak to you, and the other sundered fragments you will find. At the summit, join them together. Give me life and your rewards will be beyond the dreams of avarice!'

You may take the skull if you wish. If you have the fossilised heart then you must take the skull as well even if it means discarding some important item such as a sword.

Do we want to take the Skull?

Also, please distribute the Warrior's equipment between the remaining 3 of you, since she's dead:

Adventure Sheets:

WARRIOR (Deceased):

NAME: Dame Caecilia Wither-Stoat
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 1

Fighting Prowess: 10
Psychic Ability: 6
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 0/11
Damage: 1 Die+1

Items:
1 Sword
2 Chainmail armour (Armour Rating three)
3 Money pouch (15 gold pieces)
4 Opal Medallion
5-7 Food (eat one for +1 EN after combat)
8-10 Empty slot.

TRICKSTER:

NAME: Benedict of the Crimson Spires, Honourable Duelist
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 2

Fighting Prowess: 7
Psychic Ability: 6
Awareness: 8
Endurance: 6/13
Damage: 1 Die

Items:
1 Battleaxe
2 Breastplate (Armour Rating one)
3 Food (eat one for +1 EN after combat)
4 Bottle of Chimera Spittle
5-10 Empty slot

SAGE:

NAME: "Pepito" Cascadero, Master of the Mystic Way
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 3

Fighting Prowess: 7
Psychic Ability: 7
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 2/11
Damage: 1 Die

Items:
1 Quarterstaff
2 Ringmail armour (Armour Rating two)
3-10 Empty slot

ENCHANTER:

NAME: Enchanter Reed, Ninth of the Inverted Tower
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 4

Fighting Prowess: 0
Psychic Ability: 14
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 4/11
Damage: 1 Die-1

Items:
1 Sword
2 Silver armour (Armour Rating two)
3 Opal Medallion
4 Golden Snuffbox
5-6 Food (eat one for +1 EN after combat)
7-10 Empty slot

[angelfromanotherpin]

Each player loses two Endurance.

Pretty sure that's not two dice of damage.

[SGamerz]

Yikes, 2nd time in a row where my brain auto-input the word "dice" when it's not there. Methinks I've been reading too much of the Wheel of Time series recently and inherited Matrim Cauthon's bloody dice in my head.

Sorry, will change that when I'm home.

Meanwhile, you guys can still decide if you want to take the skull.

[Starmaker]

I was trying to make sense of the npc motivation here and found this:

It's a real pity here that the Sage didn't use ESP before, because
if we weeded out the Assassin before he could try to attack Balhazar, our boss would have rewarded us further with a cool Giant-slaying magic sword.

Let's assemble the body. And since we missed out on the heart, I hope Skrymir would accept a lump of silly putty as a replacement.

[SGamerz]

Updated Adventure Sheets (END adjusted, Warrior returned to life):

WARRIOR:

NAME: Dame Caecilia Wither-Stoat
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 1

Fighting Prowess: 10
Psychic Ability: 6
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 4/11
Damage: 1 Die+1

Items:
1 Sword
2 Chainmail armour (Armour Rating three)
3 Money pouch (15 gold pieces)
4 Opal Medallion
5-7 Food (eat one for +1 EN after combat)
8-10 Empty slot.

TRICKSTER:

NAME: Benedict of the Crimson Spires, Honourable Duelist
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 2

Fighting Prowess: 7
Psychic Ability: 6
Awareness: 8
Endurance: 11/13
Damage: 1 Die

Items:
1 Battleaxe
2 Breastplate (Armour Rating one)
3 Food (eat one for +1 EN after combat)
4 Bottle of Chimera Spittle
5 Skrymir's Skull
6-10 Empty slot

SAGE:

NAME: "Pepito" Cascadero, Master of the Mystic Way
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 3

Fighting Prowess: 7
Psychic Ability: 7
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 9/11
Damage: 1 Die

Items:
1 Quarterstaff
2 Ringmail armour (Armour Rating two)
3-10 Empty slot

ENCHANTER:

NAME: Enchanter Reed, Ninth of the Inverted Tower
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 4

Fighting Prowess: 0
Psychic Ability: 14
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 9/11
Damage: 1 Die-1

Items:
1 Sword
2 Silver armour (Armour Rating two)
3 Opal Medallion
4 Golden Snuffbox
5-6 Food (eat one for +1 EN after combat)
7-10 Empty slot

Benedict has chosen to pick up the Skull, and he has more than enough encumbrance slots to carry it.

You follow the path up inside the atoll until you reach another chamber. Here, a rib-cage of colossal proportions hangs from a petrified tree. A large padlock attaches it to one of the stone branches. From the other branches, grinning severed heads dangle by their matted scalps. A crack in the outer wall affords you a view across the Battlepits - of the floating basalt platform above the plain of standing stones, of the chasm where the Dirge-Men fly, of the pylon in the middle of bubbling lava pits and of the shrine and temple beyond it. You have come so far, but now you feel a terrible depression of the spirit. Your quest begins to seem almost pointless. How much better to slump here, to rest devoid of cares. To submit to defeat...

A whistling wind blows from the tree. A thousand grinning mouths appear across its stony bark, screaming and calling for you. A thousand fire-blackened fingers stretch out from the gulf beyond your imagination, beckoning for your company. You feel the lure of insanity ...

Do you have the fossilised heart? If so, turn to 176. If you do not have that item you must rely on your force of will to see you through this ordeal.

A pause here to see if the Sage or Enchanter wants to try any healing before I move on. The Warrior may not be dead, but she's hardly in good shape.

Also, do you want to me to automatically proceed with picking up Skymir's body parts from here as we encounter them (as long as you have the equipment space), or pause for votes each time?

[angelfromanotherpin]

Yes, heal plz. Also, *I* won't be picking up any body parts (unless healing is contingent on doing so), but I don't object to others doing so.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Perhaps we should each grab a piece?

Pepito will spend 3 EP on healing, focusing on Dame Kiki. He'll get her up to 9 if possible, at which point he'll use the remainder (if any) on himself.

[Shiritai]

Yeah, may as well try and revive this dude.

[SGamerz]

The Sage spends 3 END to heal:

Dice roll = (6-2) x3 = 12.

That's enough to restore almost everyone's END to the full...except one. Warrior and Sage himself get the priority as he stated, so....who will be left missing 1 END? Trickster or Enchanter? Peipto must decide.

Or maybe we should just wait till next section before we decide.....

The maddening shrieks of the phantasms present you with a mighty psychic challenge. Each player rolls two Dice and compares the score to his or her Psychic Ability. (Sages may subtract two from the Dice roll - their ascetic serenity is more difficult to break). Players who roll over their Psychic Ability are driven into permanent madness and simply squat on the floor gibbering, but those who roll equal to or under their Psychic Ability manage to drive the chattering demons from their thoughts.

If any players survive the mental assault with their sanity intact, they can turn to 272.

Ok, I double-checked and made sure the words "Dice" actually exists in the text this time....

Sanity Checks:

Warrior rolls a 6 and (barely) survives the onslaught.

Trickster rolls a 7 and is driven mad.

Sage rolls 4-2 = 2 and retains his sanity!

Enchanter is protected by his sky-high 14 Psychic Ability and shrugs off the attack.

Oh dear, I guess, the healing should go to the Enchanter, since the Trickster is out of the game!

Do you have the giant's skull? If so, turn to 161. If you do not have this item, turn to 159.

Benedict is down, but since Pepito and Reed agreed on trying to revive Skrymir, I'd assume 1 of them picks up the skull.

A harsh command issues from the skull, sounding like the tolling of a death-knell. The padlock opens and the rib-cage falls at the base of the petrified tree. You may take this if you wish. (If you have the fossilised heart, then you must take it, and you can discard neither it, the heart nor the skull.)

I'd pause here for a while let the rest of you split the dead Trickster's equipment among yourselves....and decide who to pick up the rib-cage.

TRICKSTER'S POSSESSIONS:

1 Battleaxe
2 Breastplate (Armour Rating one)
3 Food (eat one for +1 EN after combat)
4 Bottle of Chimera Spittle
5 Skrymir's Skull
6-10 Empty slot

[Starmaker]

Hey, I'm not dead. I'm just stuffing leaves sand down my shirt and making choo-choo noises at uninterested worms.

Meanwhile, the silly putty got lost. Looks like a copypasta error, it used to be in Pepito's inventory.

[SGamerz]

Right...

WARRIOR:

NAME: Dame Caecilia Wither-Stoat
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 1

Fighting Prowess: 10
Psychic Ability: 6
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 11/11
Damage: 1 Die+1

Items:
1 Sword
2 Chainmail armour (Armour Rating three)
3 Money pouch (15 gold pieces)
4 Opal Medallion
5-7 Food (eat one for +1 EN after combat)
8-10 Empty slot.

SAGE:

NAME: "Pepito" Cascadero, Master of the Mystic Way
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 2

Fighting Prowess: 7
Psychic Ability: 7
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 11/11
Damage: 1 Die

Items:
1 Quarterstaff
2 Ringmail armour (Armour Rating two)
3 Sharp Knife
4 Silver of Kalium
5-10 Empty slot

ENCHANTER:

NAME: Enchanter Reed, Ninth of the Inverted Tower
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 3

Fighting Prowess: 0
Psychic Ability: 14
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 11/11
Damage: 1 Die-1

Items:
1 Sword
2 Silver armour (Armour Rating two)
3 Opal Medallion
4 Golden Snuffbox
5-6 Food (eat one for +1 EN after combat)
7-10 Empty slot

Also, with 3 surviving characters remaining. the Sage and the Enchanter are shuffled forward into positions 2 and 3 respectively. Let me know if you wish to change this.

[Darth Rabbitt]

I'll take the skull if you take the ribcage (or vice versa, it really doesn't matter). I'll also take the food and the poison.

[Shiritai]

Sure, I'll take the ribcage.

[angelfromanotherpin]

Wow, that is weapons-grade bullshit. 'Hey, have an unavoidable AoE SoD that half the party is more likely than not to fail.' It would be even worse to be playing as a solo character and just get Game Over'd out of nowhere, except that I don't think any solo player would honor the roll. Because it's bullshit.

[SGamerz]

Wow, that is weapons-grade bullshit. 'Hey, have an unavoidable AoE SoD that half the party is more likely than not to fail.' It would be even worse to be playing as a solo character and just get Game Over'd out of nowhere, except that I don't think any solo player would honor the roll. Because it's bullshit.

It's not unavoidable.

Magus Zyn would have helped us pass that obstacle if we took his offer and got the heart from him.

The Sage picks up the skull, food and poison, the Enchanter picks up the rib-cage.

You pass on up the tunnel until you reach another chamber. You must be halfway to the summit by now. Another tunnel leads up from the far side of the room, but to reach it you must pass a roughly carved throne of rock to which a giant skeletal pelvis and legs are shackled.

If you have the giant's skull, turn to 433. If you do not have this item, turn to 538.

We know what's coming: more body-part collection.

The skull speaks again, and the shackles open and slither away, rustling their rusted links on the stone floor as they retreat into the shadows. If you have the fossilised heart, you must take the skeletal legs, even if it means dropping something else. (You may not drop the heart, skull or rib-cage.) Otherwise you have a free choice whether to take them or not. Note, however, that the legs count as two items for encumbrance.

Both Sage and Enchanter still have more than 2 slots left each, so either of them can pick the legs up.

You know what to expect before you reach the next chamber. It is malformed and fused, like an ancient fane blasted by tremendous heat. Worshippers stand frozen into pillars of salt, locked forever in the stances of dismay and panic they adopted at the moment of disaster. Beyond them are the items you knew you would find: two massive skeletal arms affixed to shoulder-blades like plates of armour. One fleshless hand still wears a spiked gauntlet of iron.

If you have the skull, turn to 394. If you do not have the skull, turn to 396.

Our slots are running out at this rate.....

You may take the skeletal arms if you wish. They count as two items of encumbrance. The iron gauntlet counts as a third item. (If you have the fossilised heart, you must take the arms, of course - and you still cannot discard the heart, arms, rib-cage or skull. You may take the gauntlet or not, as you wish.)

The salt-encrusted, sad faces of the dead worshippers make you uneasy. You hurry up the steps that lead from this chamber to the summit.

The gauntlet is not part of the necessary bodyparts collection, it seems (the heart doesn't compel the players to grab that).

Do you want to pick up the gauntlet? Both Enchanter and Sage have 1 slot left after picking up all the bodyparts).

WARRIOR:

NAME: Dame Caecilia Wither-Stoat
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 1

Fighting Prowess: 10
Psychic Ability: 6
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 11/11
Damage: 1 Die+1

Items:
1 Sword
2 Chainmail armour (Armour Rating three)
3 Money pouch (15 gold pieces)
4 Opal Medallion
5-7 Food (eat one for +1 EN after combat)
8-10 Empty slot.

SAGE:

NAME: "Pepito" Cascadero, Master of the Mystic Way
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 2

Fighting Prowess: 7
Psychic Ability: 7
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 11/11
Damage: 1 Die

Items:
1 Quarterstaff
2 Ringmail armour (Armour Rating two)
3 Sharp Knife
4 Silver of Kalium
5 Bottle of Chimera Spit
6 Skrymir's Skull
7 Food (eat one for +1 EN after combat)
8-9 Skrymir's legs
10 Empty slot

ENCHANTER:

NAME: Enchanter Reed, Ninth of the Inverted Tower
RANK: 2nd

Battle Order: 3

Fighting Prowess: 0
Psychic Ability: 14
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 11/11
Damage: 1 Die-1

Items:
1 Sword
2 Silver armour (Armour Rating two)
3 Opal Medallion
4 Golden Snuffbox
5-6 Food (eat one for +1 EN after combat)
7 Skrymir's rib-cage
8-9 Skrymir's arms
10 Empty slot

[angelfromanotherpin]

The gauntlet feels a little like a trap, except that it's coming at a time when inventory space is being deliberately squeezed. I'll take it if no-one objects.

[Shiritai]

Yeah, let's take it. We even have some items we could part with if it comes to that (sharp knife and Reed's sword).

[SGamerz]

Kiki picks up the gauntlet before the party continues....

You emerge from the tunnel. Standing at the very summit of the atoll now, you are barely a dozen paces from the Emblem of Victory. You are high up, away from the glimmering fires and phosphor streams, but the Emblem is bathed in bright light - a grey-white Illumination spell cast by the magi. Perhaps more than just an Illumination spell - you see a pillar of light stretching up towards the ceiling of the cave and realise that it is the Teleportation spell that will convey you to the surface. You have only to step up and take hold of the Emblem ...

Propped against the rock on which the Emblem stands is an iron frame. You hadn't noticed it at first, as it lies half in shadows. Going over for a closer look, you see that it is a framework in which you could place the giant's bones if you have them.

If you have all the sections of Skrymir's skeleton and the fossilised heart, turn to 412. If you have all the sections of skeleton but do not have the heart, turn to 213. If you do not have all the skeleton, turn to 361.

We're missing the vital organ! Can this still work?

An insubstantial figure appears - not even a ghost, but the spell-projected image of a ghost. Magus Zyn, undying and eternal enemy of the magi. The last of the True Magi.

'You have the means to resurrect Skrymir,' says the ghost. You start to reply before realising that it cannot hear you. It is just like a recorded message, a spell cast here to instruct any who should arrive with all the fragments of Skrymir's skeleton.

If you wish to assemble Skrymir's bones together, turn to 33. If you do not want to do that, turn to 361.

Apparently the heart isn't that vital an organ if you're Skrymir.

DO we still want to do this? Last chance to back out!

[Shiritai]

We've already lost one comrade; I'm not leaving until we break even.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Assemble the skeleton. I'm assuming the heart would've controlled us rather than the other way around, so Skyrim Skrymir won't be (too much) trouble.