Do you have an Ebony Key? If you do, turn to 386. If you don't, tum to 171.
Indeed, we've found a good one! Finally, a plot coupon we actually have!
The Ebony Key slips into the lock and the door opens soundlessly, revealing a small room, featureless save for a sealed chest which stands on a central plinth. Do you want to enter this room and open the chest or leave it and head back east?
Why would we waste our time using a plot coupon and then just leaving without getting anything from it? I think we can skip the voting for once.
Inside the chest is a simple Silver Ring which bear strange runes and glyphs that you cannot decipher. You have no way of knowing what this ring's powers might be. If you want to carry it, or wear, add the Silver Ring to the list of Equipment Carried on your Adventure Sheet, then turn to 114.
I'll be taking the ring unless there're any voiced objections.
You stand before a door marked with a black and amber cross. You decide to open it, to see what lies on the other side.
Oooh....that's the door we just saw in the vision earlier! We know there's gonna be a fight and more, so I'm taking another meal....STAMINA up to 13.
You enter a well-lit room where an Orc is standing at a table, pouring oil into an intricate brass vessel of some kind. Around the table stand a few chairs, but there is no other decoration, save for a crude bunk bed. Two other doors lead south and east from this room.
The Orc snarls and draws his sword, and you must fight him; but what really worries you is that as you enter he shouts, 'Master! Master!' . . .
ORC SKILL 5 STAMINA 6
If you win, turn immediately to 202, without taking any further actions of any sort! The Orc's master is about to arrive!
Yet the master won't come in until after the Orc is dead! How considerate of him!
COMBAT LOG:
Orc 13, Harry 18. Orc is at 4.
Orc 11, Harry 18. Orc is at 2.
Orc 14, Harry 16. Orc is killed.
The Orc is puny like most of its kind, so we get another flawless easily....but we know there's a bigger foe coming...
The southernmost door in this room flies open, and a cowled figure stands framed in the doorway. A livid blue scar bisects the left side of his expressionless face, and he waves his thin, almost skeletal, long-nailed fingers as he chants a spell.
You rush him with your sword. Roll two dice and add 1 to the number rolled; if the total is less than or equal to your current SKILL score, tum to 11. If the dice-roll total is greater than your current SKILL score, turn to 66.
Dice roll = 6+1 = 7 (Success)!
You take a swing at your enemy with your sword, galvanized by fear of what the effect of his spell might be. You don't hit him, but you do force him to duck, ruining his concentration so that his spell-casting is spoiled, Cursing you, he draws from his belt a vicious double-thonged flail with wicked strips of jagged metal studded into the thick leather! You will have to overcome him in physical combat now; turn to 321.
Failing the roll means the spell takes 1d6+1 STAMINA off us......which probably means we would lose the upcoming fight....
You arc now in hand-to-hand combat with the evil Dark Priest, overseer of this part of the dungeon, and you will not find him easy to overcome!
DARK PRIEST SKILL 9 STAMINA 12
If you win, turn to 167.
Just like the last Dark Priest we fought, this is almost an even fight....well, since we have 13 STAMINA we can take one extra blow, but that's it. We may need luck (and LUCK) again.....
COMBAT LOG:
Dark Priest 12, Harry 16. Dark Priest is at 10.
DP 17, Harry 13. Harry is at 11.
DP 16, Harry 14. Harry is at 9.
DP 16, Harry 16. Tie.
DP 15, Harry 20. DP is at 8.
DP 15, Harry 15. Tie.
DP 16, Harry 19. DP is at 6.
DP 14, Harry 18. DP is at 4.
DP 20, Harry 16. Harry is at 7.
DP 17, Harry 20. DP is at 2.
DP 15, Harry 18. Dark Priest is dead!
Not bad, our luck on the dice is relatively good this round.
Such a hard fight, and an adversary who used magic against you! Could it be . . . ? Surely not. Although you were told that only Mordraneth's own would work in the Iron Crypts, this must have been a minion instructed by Mordraneth. And your job is to find Alsander in any event. . . Will you:
Search the bodies?
Try the east door in the Orc's room?
Look through the south door the Dark Priest entered by?
Where do we want to loot?
Adventure Sheet:
Name: Harry Balzac
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 7/20
LUCK 7/10
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Lantern, Jar of Ointment, Message Scroll ('350'), Silver Medallion, Luck Powder (x3, +1 LUCK each), Silver Feather, Ebony Key, 15-foot length of rope, Phial of White Oil, Pair of Bone Dice, Silver Ring
Provisions: 2 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Treasure: 6 Gold Pieces