[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 61(?) - Howl of the Werewolf!

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

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
SGamerz
King
Posts: 6293
Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2014 11:45 am

[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 61(?) - Howl of the Werewolf!

Post by SGamerz »

Image

The first actual new FF book published (well, there's Bloodbones, but it was technically written a long time ago and more like Jonathan Green's older works) by Wizard Books, Howl of the Werewolf has gotten good critical reviews and generally considered a good start to FF's apparent revival (which unfortunately seems to have died off since Blood of the Zombies). How would it fare in a single playthrough? Here's where we can find out!

Back cover blurb:
Lupravia is a cursed land; a chill place of snow-capped mountains, brooding forests and mist-shrouded moors, haunted by the spirits of the restless dead. Only the foolhardy or insane would enter that benighted realm of predators.

But enter you must, after a vicious wolf attack sets you on the path to murder and madness. Steadily succumbing to the beast within, YOU must seek out a cure to your condition before the next full moon. But how long can you survive in a land where all live in fear of the Howl of the Werewolf?
Surprisingly for a Jonathan Green book, there actually isn't a lot of new rules/mechanisms listed at the beginning - only one new stat to keep track of: CHANGE. But before we get to that, let's get the Standard FF Boilerplate Rules out of the way:

Skill, Stamina, & Luck
SKILL score: Roll one die. Add 6 to the result. We roll a 4 and get 10.

STAMINA score: Roll two dice. Add 12 points to the result. We roll a 2+1 (!) and get 15

LUCK score: Roll one die. Add 6 to the result. We roll a 6 and get 12

SKILL score reflects your expertise in combat, your ability with weapons, and your dexterity. STAMINA is your general constitution and "Life points" . LUCK score shows how lucky you are. None of them may exceed their Initial score unless specifically stated.

Eating a meal restores up to 4 points of STAMINA; you may only eat one meal at a time.

Testing your Luck: When instructed by the book to Test your Luck, roll two dice. If the result is equal to or less than your current LUCK score, you are Lucky. If the result exceeds your current LUCK score, you are Unlucky. Whatever the outcome, you must deduct one point from your current LUCK score every time you Test your Luck. The more you use your LUCK, the less likely you are to be Lucky.
Decent fighter, kinda squishy, but very lucky!

Combat:
SKILL and STAMINA scores are given in the text for each adversary that you face.

The combat sequence is then:
1. Roll two dice for your opponent. Add the total rolled to its SKILL score. This is the Attack Strength of your enemy.
2. Roll two dice and add the total to your own current SKILL score. This is your Attack Strength.
3. If your Attack Strength is the higher, you have wounded your opponent: deduct 2 points from your opponent's STAMINA..
If your opponent's Attack Strength is higher, it has wounded you: deduct 2 points from your own STAMINA.
If both Attack Strengths are equal, you have avoided each other's blows.
4. Begin the next Combat Round, starting again at step 1. This procedure continues until either you or your opponent has a STAMINA score of zero. If your opponent's STAMINA score reaches zero, you have killed it and can continue with your adventure. If your own STAMINA score reaches zero, you are dead.

Often you will have to fight more than one opponent at a time. Sometimes you will treat them as a single opponent; at others, you will be able to fight them one at a time; and sometimes all of them will be able to attack you, while you defend yourself and may attack only one of them. Against any additional opponents you must roll for your Attack Strength as normal, but cannot damage them if you have the higher Attack Strength.

Using Luck in Combat

You can use your LUCK in combat to inflict a particularly serious wound, or to minimize a wound that has been inflicted on you.

Whenever you wound an opponent, you may Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, you have inflicted a severe wound: deduct an extra 2 points from your opponent's STAMINA. If you are Unlucky, you have merely grazed it, and you deduct 1 point less than normal from its STAMINA.

If you have been wounded, you can Test your Luck in exactly the same way. If you are Lucky, the wound upon you was only a glancing blow and you can deduct 1 less point of STAMINA than usual. If you are Unlucky, the wound is serious: deduct 1 extra point from your STAMINA.
New stuff:

CHANGE:

As you can probably guess from the back cover summary and title, the book involves werewolves.....specifically, the PC being bitten by a werewolf and needing to find a cure before he gets turned into one himself. The CHANGE stat keeps track of how far gone we are in terms of our transformation.....and we would have to roll against it the same way we do for our SKILL or LUCK. Unlike the other 2 stats though, it's usually better(but not always!) to roll above it instead of below. It's probably not hard to figure out why: a higher CHANGE score generally indicates that you're losing control of your human side and giving in more to the Beast. It generally also makes your lycanthropy condition more detectable by others....and as you can imagine, folks generally don't react very well to people whom they know to have contracted lycanthropy.

Other the other hand, as the transformation gets worse you may also gain certain abilities, such as becoming stronger in combats, so there are definitely cases where having a suitably high CHANGE score may turn out to be a benefit. It's going to be a delicate balance.

The CHANGE score will of course gradually go up throughout the adventure. It starts at 0 in the beginning. During the adventure it's sometimes possible to lower the score if you come across something (an antidote, a blessing, healing magic, etc) that delays the transformation process. However, once rises above 0, it can never be reduced to below 1.

Starting equipment:

Typical FF starting gear: sword, leather armour, 10 meals worth of Provision and a lantern. We also start with some gold....specifically 2D6+6.

We roll 11 + 6 = 17 gold!

Good start.

There isn't much else in the rules beyond that.....although we do have a column in the Adventure Sheet for recording "codewords", so there'll be some of those, too!

And now, in place of the "Background" section that is in most FF books, we get....

BAD MOON RISING:
It was madness even to think that you could make it to the next village before nightfall. As dusk descended, what possessed you to leave the road and attempt to take a shortcut through the suffocating forest? An experienced sword-for-hire you may be, but your brash bravado has got the better of you this time once and for all. Your heart beats a tattoo of near-panic in your chest, your ragged breathing rasps loudly in your ears. You quicken your steps, just as you know that the creatures that are hunting you are quickening theirs.

You can hear the wolves panting as they run, easily keeping pace with you. The night closes in, a smothering shroud of darkness. You trip over exposed tree roots, the moon - only a matter of nights away from being full - casting its sickly light through naked, black branches above. To your agitated mind, the trees seem to claw at you with skeletal fingers.

Suddenly, the adrenalin rush to panic is replaced by that of desperate hope as you catch sight of a flickering light between the looming, leafless trees. It may be no more than a lone guttering candle-flame, but to you it is a brilliant beacon of hope amid the blackness. The light is shining from the window of an isolated hut, and suddenly you feel there is a chance you might yet escape the cruel fate that the encroaching night seems to have set aside for you.

A howl cuts through the chill night air, a mournful sound that freezes the blood in your veins. You immediately stumble to a halt: the animal cry came from somewhere close by. Your heart racing, your breathing shallow and fast, you spin round, scouring the oppressive forest for the tell-tale signs that you know must be there. And then you see them, a dozen blazing-red eyes, smouldering like coals, watching you from the darkness.

Growling, the wolves slink into the moonlight in front of you. The animals have a lean, hungry look, their grey pelts scabrous and patchy, their ear-tip pressed low against their skulls, lips curling back from yellowed, slavering fangs. Darting anxious glances around, you realize, to your horror, that you are surrounded.

You unsheathe your sword, the blade shining as it slides fro its oiled leather scabbard. You test its weight in your hand, knowing that it is only a matter of moments before you will be forced to fight for your life. In that moment, your mind is suddenly awhirl with memories of the last few months...

Growing weary of the comfortable security of the plains of Famphrey anf Lendleland, you ventured north into that cloud-capped, frostbitten realm of unforgiving mountain peaks and brooding forests that is Mauristatia. The pettily feuding principalities of that deadly land have histories as long and as bloody as that of the Old World itself. People talk in hushed tones of the Vampire Lords of Mortvania and the ghoulish death-cults of Bathoria. No land is more benighted and accursed than that of Lupravia. A chill place of primeval mountains, dark forests and mist-shrouded moorland, it is said to be haunted by the spirits of the restless dead. The wretched native folk of that land struggle to eke out even the meanest living from its thin soil and regularly suffer the predations of wild animals. Only the foolhardy or insane would choose to willingly pass beyond its borders and enter that desolate realm. And yet here you are on the very edge of Lupravia, and suddenly everything you have ever heard about that place seems so terrifyingly real...

A snarl more menacing and blood-chilling than any you have yet heard this hateful night brings you back to the present and the dire nature of your predicament. The wolves half as one. Pushing aside the other wolves as it moves through the pack is the undoubtable leader. It is caught for a moment in the washed-out light of the moon, which hangs like a mourner's corpse-watch candle in the pall of night. You have never seen its like before.

The creature is huge, a monstrous beast twice the size of any other wolf in the pack. Its pelt is utterly black, apart from the one long streak of grey that runs from the top of its head all the way down its back. The look of evil intent is in its eyes, something wholly unnatural in a wolf, something almost inhumanly human. A guttural growl that speaks of your imminent demise rises from deep within its chest and the wolf prepares to pounce.

Turn to paragraph 1.
Image
With the wolf pack steadily closing in on you, and the great wolf tensed ready to attack in an instant, you are going to have to act fast and use all your cunning of you are ever going to get out of this dire situation alive. Will you:

Turn your back on the wolf and try to run for it?
Stand your ground and prepare to meet the Black Wolf's inevitable attack?
Seize the initiative and charge the wolf?
Any ideas?

Adventure Sheet:
Name: ???
SKILL 10/10
STAMINA 15/15
LUCK 12/12
CHANGE: 0
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern & Tinderbox
Gold: 17
Provisions: 10 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Thaluikhain
King
Posts: 6143
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:30 pm

Post by Thaluikhain »

So...not yet werewolfed? Methinks the choice won't matter much then.

I'd suggest waiting for it to attack, but the text says act fast, so I vote for charging.
User avatar
SlyJohnny
Duke
Posts: 1418
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:35 pm

Post by SlyJohnny »

Running back the way we just came seems like a non-starter, so let's charge and try to break through to that light.
User avatar
angelfromanotherpin
Overlord
Posts: 9745
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by angelfromanotherpin »

We definitely can't outrun a wolf, and waiting just gives the wolf control of the engagement. Charge!
SGamerz
King
Posts: 6293
Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2014 11:45 am

Post by SGamerz »

Drawing on all your reserves of desperate, adrenalin-fueled courage, with your sword raised above your head, you charge the wolf even as it launches itself at you. But having seize the initiative, it is you who lands the first blow. The wolf squeals in pain, and then, its pain turned to anger, it is upon you.

BLACK WOLF SKILL 7 STAMINA 8

After two further Attack Rounds, of if you reduce the Black Wolf's STAMINA to 7 or less, whichever happens first, turn at once to 271.
We only need to hit it once, so this should be easy...

COMBAT LOG:
Black Wolf 14, PC 15. BW is at 6.
As you battle the Black wolf you become increasingly aware of the rest of the wolf pack continuing to close in around you, and that momentary distraction is all it takes. You stumble on an exposed root and lose your footing. The huge wolf seizes the opportunity with unnerving animal cunning. Your sword-arm flailing as you try to maintain your balance, the wolf smashes through your compromised defence and hurls you bodily to the ground. You feel its great weight on top of you, the breath knocked out of you. You can smell its fetid, carnivore's breath, hear its snarl in your ear. And then, with a savage cry of animal satisfaction, the wolf sinks its fangs into the flesh of your shoulder. (Lose 2 STAMINA points.) Your agonized cry is suddenly joined by a howl of pain as the wolf releases its grip. Your vision greying, you see a tall, thickset figure standing over the Black Wolf, a sturdy woodsman's axe raised above his head. The axe descends again and the wolf gives a strangled yowl and leaps off you. The woodsman swings his axe again and the wolf flees yelping, the rest of the pack skulking after their leader. Then the great figure is looming over you. Defeated by pain and blood loss, your body cannot take any more and you black out.
Well, it sure didn't take long for us to get bitten.....
You wake from a feverish and terrifying realistic dream, in which a wolf is snapping at you with slavering jaws. You open your eyes and find yourself looking up at the cobwebbed rafters of a wooden shack. You are suddenly brought back to the present with a start, a rush of unbidden and unpleasant memories whirling through your mind. You remember catching sight of the hut between the trees, a beacon of hope in the cold, wolf-haunted night. Your next recollection is a painful one - the savage attack by the Black Wolf - and then you recall the face of the woodsman peering down at you, his axe gripped firmly in his meaty hands, its sharp edge ruddy with the wolf's blood.

But now you are lying on the uncomfortable, straw-stuffed mattress of a pallet bed. You force yourself to sit up and gasp in pain from the savage wolf bite you received to your shoulder. 'You want to take care of that,' you hear a gruff voice say and you turn in surprise - wincing again as the wound smarts - to see a thickset, bearded man siting at a table next to a stone chimney breast, smoking a pipe. His careworn face is lit by the dull orange glow of a fire, crackling in the hearth. 'I've cleaned and dressed the wound as best I can but its going to take time to heal.' A candle burns in the window and outside all is shrouded in darkness.

Not really sure where you are, who the man is, or why he's chosen to take care of you, you mumble your thanks. 'Come, sit. There's something I have to show you.' Cautiously you rise from the bed and join the man at the table. 'I', Ulrich, and I make my living as forester in these wild woods,' he says, proffering his hand as you take a seat. On the table in front of the woodsman is a bundle of coarse, bloodstained cloth, and you find yourself wondering why a seemingly decent man would want to live out here in such a wild, isolated and dangerous place.

'What happened?' you ask, unable to take your eyes off the crimson bundle that lies between the two of you. And so Ulrich relates his version of events. He was inside his shack when he heard the wolves howling and your cries. Taking up his axe, he rushed to your aid.

'I managed to lay a savage wound on that black wolf,' he explains. 'Sent it packing, the rest of its sorry pack scurrying after, once they saw their leader bested.'

'You wanted to show me something,' you remind Ulrich.

'Indeed I do,' he mutters, and begins to unwrap the bundle in front of him. 'I told you I dealt the wolf a savage blow. Well, in fact, I cut off its paw. At least, it was a paw to begin with...' Ulrich peels back the last strip of bloodstained cloth, 'But tell me, does that look like a paw to you?'

Lying on the table in front of you is a gnarled black-furred claw, somewhere between a human hand and a wolf's paw. Horror twists your heart in its chilling grip. Before Ulrich even has a chance to explain, you already know what he is going to say. 'That wasn't a wolf that attacked you out there in the woods tonight. It was a ...'

'Werewolf!' you finish. You know what this means. It would explain your feverishness and horrible hallucinatory dream. For the bite of a werewolf - a man cursed to take on the form of a wolf when moonlight bathes the world - carries the dread disease lycanthropy, the selfsame affliction that is responsible for its own ghastly transformation. It is as good as a death sentence, for without a cure, the only future you can look forward to is one of madness and murder, as the wolf inside you struggles to free itself and satisfy its bloodlust.

You stare at the grotesque object lying on the table. Even as you watch, it appears to become more human and less animal in form. Seeing your reaction, Ulrich says, 'This is an evil thing and should be destroyed. Throw it into the fire and be done with it.'

Do you want to throw the changing hand into the fire immediately, or do you want to take a closer look at it first?
Do we want to check out this furry new toy some more?

Adventure Sheet:
Name: ???
SKILL 10/10
STAMINA 13/15
LUCK 12/12
CHANGE: 0
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern & Tinderbox
Gold: 17
Provisions: 10 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Thaluikhain
King
Posts: 6143
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:30 pm

Post by Thaluikhain »

Take a close look first.

Also, if Ulrich knows there's no cure, why help us anyway?
Starmaker
Duke
Posts: 2402
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Location: Redmonton
Contact:

Post by Starmaker »

Defnintely take a look. We might find out who it might belong to (and who we need to kill to get cured).
Thaluikhain wrote:Also, if Ulrich knows there's no cure, why help us anyway?
1. *We* think there's no cure. Ulrich might not.
2. To give us a chance to put our affairs in order, say goodbyes, write a will and die with dignity.
User avatar
angelfromanotherpin
Overlord
Posts: 9745
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Information is good.
SGamerz
King
Posts: 6293
Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2014 11:45 am

Post by SGamerz »

Thaluikhain wrote:Also, if Ulrich knows there's no cure, why help us anyway?
Ulrich did not say that there's no cure. In fact, he's about to suggest a few possibilities, as you shall soon see.....
Taking the hand in your own, by the flickering amber light of the fire you examine it. The hand is now almost completely human, except that it still sports particularly long and hardened claw-like nails. But there is something else. On the middle fingers there is a large gold signet ring bearing a remarkable crest on its circular face. The crest shows a howling wolf's head against a full moon. If you want to keep this morbid curiosity, add the Signet Ring to the Equipment list on your Adventure Sheet.
Picking up the transformed hand you hurl it into the fire with a scream of rage and then watch as the fingers blacken and burn, the flesh crisping and crackling in the hungry flames.

'Then I am doomed,' you say, in utter despair as you gaze into the fire. 'Doomed to become a creature of bloodthirsty appetites I shall be unable to control when the moon waxes full. I shall be an outcast, an animal, a murderous beast.' (Add 3 points to your CHANGE score).

'Maybe not,' Ulrich says, fixing you with an unnerving stare. There is something old and forbidding about the dark pits of his eyes, as if there is something else looking out of Ulrich at you. 'There may still be hope - for you.'

There is? Then what is to be done? You press the woodsman to tell you more. What does he know that you do not?

'I know of two cures for lycanthropy, but we will have to act quickly.' Ulrich will help you? But why? 'Let's just say that we all have out secrets.' So what are the cures? 'The surest way, is to find the werewolf that infected you with its bite, and kill it. You could also eat a sprig the herb belladonna, if you could find some. And there is one other course of action we could take. We could seek the assistance of Grandmother Zekova, the wisest person I know, who lives further into these woods, over the border in Lupravia. But it is up to you. What do you want to do? Will you choose to:

Pursue the wolves in the hope of hunting down the animal that bit you?
Search the woods for the herb belladonna?
Go in search of the wisewoman Grandmother Zekova?
Do we go hunting for wolf, herbs, or grandmothers?

Adventure Sheet:
Name: ???
SKILL 10/10
STAMINA 13/15
LUCK 12/12
CHANGE: 3
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern & Tinderbox, Signet Ring
Gold: 17
Provisions: 10 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Thaluikhain
King
Posts: 6143
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:30 pm

Post by Thaluikhain »

Well, that answers that question. Also, of course there's a ring, you'd not get any useful information otherwise.

Belladonna is a deadly poison...which would stop someone from turning into a werewolf, I guess, but looking for the wisewoman seems best to me.
User avatar
Darth Rabbitt
Overlord
Posts: 8869
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:31 pm
Location: In "In The Trenches," mostly.
Contact:

Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Seek out the wise woman, so we can figure out more of this shit.

Also I vote that our character be named Wolfgang W. Wolfenstein.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
MisterDee
Knight-Baron
Posts: 816
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:40 pm

Post by MisterDee »

The middle W. standing for Weiner, of course.

Seek the wise woman. Looking for herbs seems like a great way to run up our Change score pointlessly, and obviously we're not going to catch the BBEG so easily.
User avatar
SlyJohnny
Duke
Posts: 1418
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:35 pm

Post by SlyJohnny »

It seems like the belladonna might be one of those temporary cures the rules were talking about, and we should do that first before we go on a long trip. But the wise woman would be my second choice.
SGamerz
King
Posts: 6293
Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2014 11:45 am

Post by SGamerz »

Darth Rabbitt wrote:Also I vote that our character be named Wolfgang W. Wolfenstein.
A very interesting suggestion.....
Ulrich sets off through the night at such a pace that, in your current condition, you find it exhausting to keep up. Your panting breath mists before you in the night air, but Ulrich shows no sign of slowing: your predicament is just too dire. And so you continue, half running to keep up with the woodsman as he hurries through the brooding forest, leading you deeper and deeper into this dark domain.

You have bee travelling in this way for almost an hour when you come in sight of a stone cottage, complete with sagging thatched roof. Without breaking his stride, Ulrich marches up to the sturdy, iron-bound oak door and beats on it with the haft of his axe. From inside the cottage comes the sound of shuffling steps, followed by a cracked, irritable voice: 'Who's there? And what do you want?'

'Grandmother!' the woodsman calls. 'It's Ulrich with a friend in need of your help.' A tiny hatch in the middle of the door slides open and two cataract-blurred eyes peer out before the opening closes again. There is the grate of bolts being pulled back until at last the door opens. A hunched figure ushers you both into the warm glow before the door is slammed shut and rebolted.

Wrapped in a woollen shawl, the wizened old crone looks you up and down, suspiciously. She has a hooked nose and chin, and looks every part the witch, with a chain of silver charms hanging round her neck. 'So it's you who needs my help, is it?' Grandmother Zekova says. You listen in nervous anticipation, as Ulrich tells the old wisewoman of the fate that has befallen you. The old woman appears to take in what Ulrich says with dispassionate interest. When he is done she turns to you. Without saying a word she starts to prod and poke you, looking in your eyes and getting you to stick out your tongue. She also takes a look at the wolf-bite on your shoulder.

'Lycanthropy is a terrible and crippling curse indeed,' she says at last, 'but you are fortunate to have met trustworthy Ulrich here, who has had the foresight to being you to me. For I can help you, although I cannot cure you. The disease is still just taking hold and if we act fast we night yet be able to counteract the effects of the werewolf's saliva-venom. I can prepare a potion brewed from the belladonna weed, which will help, but with your consent, I would like to bleed you first so that the concoction might have a faster, more potent effect.'

Will you let the wisewoman bleed you before administering her potion, or will you refuse and simply ask her to prepare the belladonna concoction?
Do we want to give our blood to a witch?
Thaluikhain
King
Posts: 6143
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:30 pm

Post by Thaluikhain »

Bleeding sounds a terrible idea in practice, but a reasonable one in that sort of setting, so go for that.

(Also, I suggest "Claude" as the name of our werewolf victim)
User avatar
angelfromanotherpin
Overlord
Posts: 9745
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Give the woman some of our accursed blood. Our Stamina is crap, but we're still full of Provisions, so meh.
User avatar
Darth Rabbitt
Overlord
Posts: 8869
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:31 pm
Location: In "In The Trenches," mostly.
Contact:

Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Bleed.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
SGamerz
King
Posts: 6293
Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2014 11:45 am

Post by SGamerz »

Grandmother Zekova sits you down on a chair and then, without making any great show of what she is doing, pulls up the sleeve of your jerkin and puts a knife to an exposed vein. Your blood starts to flow hot and dark, and she collects it in a shallow wooden bowl. The wisewoman keeps the wound open for several minutes until you start to feel light-headed and woozy. (Lose 3 STAMINA points.) Just as you think you are going to pass out she staunches the blood-flow with a poultice of herbs and then quickly binds the wound with a strip of cloth bandage.

As you take a moment to recover from the bleeding, Grandmother Zekova takes a stoppered gourd-bottle from a shelf and warms it contents in a small cauldron over the fire. She adds a bundle of dried herbs and then leaves the concoction to simmer. The close air inside the cottage is filled with an acrid aroma. Another half an hour and the potion is ready. 'Drink this,' Grandmother Zekova commands, shoving a ladleful of viscous grey-green liquid in front of your lips. Holding your nose you swallow the potion in a single gulp, hoping not to taste it. Although you feel no obvious effects, the potion begins to act immediately, slowing the transformation that the lycanthropy is working upon your physical form. (Subtract 2 points from your CHANGE score.)
STAMINA down to 10, but CHANGE also down to 1.
'So, am I cured?' you ask the wizened wisewoman. 'Have you rid me of the curse of the werewolf?' Before Grandmother Zekova can answer, a chilling howl cuts through the night: it came from outside the cottage. 'Spirits preserve us!' you gasps, clutching the necklace of charms around her throat. 'They're back!' Ulrich hurries to double-check that the iron-bound oak door is secure.

The howl is joined by other lupine voices, coming from all around the cottage. The wolves have Grandmother Zekova's cottage surrounded. There is a sudden, and totally unexpected rap at the door, which makes the old woman start and Ulrich tighten his grip on the axe. And then comes the voice that you will never forget as long as you live: 'Little pigs, little pigs, let me in.'

'Begone, night creature!' Grandmother Zekova screams. For a moment the only sound is snuffling of creatures prowling the perimeter of the cottage. The relative peace is violently broken by furious fists beating on the door.

'Let me in, you wretched swine!' the malevolent - yet refined - masculine voice continues. 'My brothers and I wish to dine with you. And if you won't let us in, I'll huff and I'll and puff and I'll break my way in!' The unseen man's scream of rage seems to transform into and unearthly howl. The wolf pack take up the cry, and deep inside you, something inside you strains to answer their call. Roll two dice and if the total rolled is less than, or equal to your current CHANGE score, turn to 416. If it is greater, turn to 37.
Our CHANGE is now at 1, so there's no way we can roll less than or equal to it.
The cottage shudders with a resounding crash as something throws itself at the bolted door. Incredibly, the wolves are attacking the cottage, trying to force their way in. You are going to have to help defend Grandmother Zekova's home from the creatures' determined assault.

There are three ways into the cottage, the door by which you entered and two windows. Ulrich, Grandmother Zekova and you all guard one entrance each. Choose who is covering each entrance. Eight wolves will attempt to break into the building. Roll one die for each wolf. On a roll of 1 or 2 the wolf charges the door; on a roll of 3 or 4 it attacks the first window; on a roll of 5 or 6 the creature assaults the second window. The door can resist one wolf attack; Ulrich will be able to kill two wolves before any of the animals can get past him and into the cottage; Grandmother Zekova can dispatch one wolf with her trusty frying pan before any others get the better of her. Any wolves that you must face you fight one at a time, adding one to your Attack Strength because you are defending a narrow opening.

WOLVES SKILL 6 STAMINA 5
This may look familiar to some of you. Yes, it's pretty much exactly the same as the mini-quest in FF40 (Dead of Night), where the PC helped a farmer defend his home against a bunch of skeletons. Pretty sure Jonathan Green stole this from Jim Barbara and Stephen Hand.

Please assign the 3 defenders to each entrance!
Last edited by SGamerz on Thu Dec 29, 2016 1:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thaluikhain
King
Posts: 6143
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:30 pm

Post by Thaluikhain »

Grandmother Zekova guarding the door keeps two wolves from there, and while it doesn't matter who's on which window, I'll say Ulrich on one and player on two.

Also, in that LP people assumed that the player spent the night with the farmer's daughter...are Zekova or Ulrich single?
User avatar
angelfromanotherpin
Overlord
Posts: 9745
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm

Post by angelfromanotherpin »

I second Thal's plan.
Omegonthesane
Prince
Posts: 3680
Joined: Sat Sep 26, 2009 3:55 pm

Post by Omegonthesane »

Sounds like the best chance to me.
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
User avatar
SlyJohnny
Duke
Posts: 1418
Joined: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:35 pm

Post by SlyJohnny »

We should protect the helpful witch by putting her at the door, so yeah, agreed.

Edit: Also, let's eat a meal after the bleeding, in case case we have to to fight the black wolf again and get unlucky.
Last edited by SlyJohnny on Thu Dec 29, 2016 5:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Darth Rabbitt
Overlord
Posts: 8869
Joined: Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:31 pm
Location: In "In The Trenches," mostly.
Contact:

Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Count me both in favor of the current defensive plan and eating before going any further.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
SGamerz
King
Posts: 6293
Joined: Mon Jun 16, 2014 11:45 am

Post by SGamerz »

Our hero crams some food into his mouth as he rushes to defend the second window (STAMINA to 14).

Wolf#1 rolls 3 and jumps through the first window.....and Ulrich cuts him up.
Wolf #2 rolls 1 and knocks itself out on the door.
Wolf #3 rolls 1 and gets bashed over the head by a frying pan.
Wolf #4 rolls 1 and manages to enter via the door.
Wolf #5 rolls 2 and enters through the door.
Wolf #6 rolls 1 and enters through the door.
Wolf #7 rolls 3 and gets chopped up by Ulrich.
Wolf #8 rolls 1 and enters the door.

Wow, the wolves are smart, they all avoided the hero and go for the weakest guardian!
If you win, you will then have to do away with any other wolves that have managed to enter the cottage.
No mention of whether we fight them separately or at the same time, but I'm going to assume that without the narrow opening of the window/door we'll have to fight them all together.

4 wolves managed to get into the room.....

COMBAT LOG:
Wolf#1 10, Wolfgang 19. W1 is at 3.
Wolf#2 16, Wolfgang 18. W2 misses.
Wolf#3 12, Wolfgang 20. W3 misses.
Wolf#4 15, Wolfgang 16. W4 misses.
Wolf#1 13, Wolfgang 17. W1 is at 1.
Wolf#2 12, Wolfgang 17. W2 misses.
Wolf#3 13, Wolfgang 15. W3 misses.
Wolf#4 8, Wolfgang 12. W4 misses.
Wolf#1 10, Wolfgang 15. W1 is killed.
Wolf#2 13, Wolfgang 18. W2 misses.
Wolf#3 12, Wolfgang 17. W3 misses.
Wolf#4 14, Wolfgang 18. W4 misses.
Wolf#2 12, Wolfgang 13. W2 is at 3.
Wolf#3 13, Wolfgang 17. W3 misses.
Wolf#4 11, Wolfgang 18. W4 misses.
Wolf#2 11, Wolfgang 18. W2 is at 1.
Wolf#3 12, Wolfgang 14. W3 misses.
Wolf#4 13, Wolfgang 17. W4 misses.
Wolf#2 10, Wolfgang 13. W2 is killed.
Wolf#3 15, Wolfgang 14. Wolfgang is at 12.
Wolf#4 15, Wolfgang 17. W4 misses.
Wolf#3 15, Wolfgang 18. W3 is at 3.
Wolf#4 13, Wolfgang 18. W4 misses.
Wolf#3 10, Wolfgang 21. W3 is at 1.
Wolf#4 16, Wolfgang 20. W4 misses.
Wolf#3 11, Wolfgang 20. W3 is killed.
Wolf#4 11, Wolfgang 18. W4 misses.
Wolf#4 12, Wolfgang 16. W4 is at 3.
Wolf#4 11, Wolfgang 16. W4 is at 1.
Wolf#4 17, Wolfgang 13. Wolfgang is at 10.
Wolf#4 13, Wolfgang 15. W4 is killed.
Despite this being a 4-on-1, they're so feeble that we managed to win after only getting bitten twice.
Once you have dispatched any remaining wolves, with the pack's attack repelled the wizened old wisewoman turns to you, fixing you with her needling gaze. 'Tell me again about the creature that attacked you,' she says. If you have a Signet Ring, turn to 369. If not, turn to 326.
Our interest in severed body-parts pays off!
You tell Grandmother Zekova how Ulrich hacked off the werewolf's paw when you were first attacked, how it turned into a human hand afterwards, and of the Signet Ring you found on the middle finger. 'Let me see it,' the old woman demands, so you take it out and show it to her. She cannot suppress her gasp of dread. 'This is the crest of the House of Wulfen, the ruling house of Lupravia,' she explain, her voice quavering. 'Lupravia is a cursed land and theirs is a cursed bloodline. The stories surrounding the Wulfen curse are many and terrible, tales of nightmarish monsters, people being taken from their homes, murder and madness. Castle Wulfen lies at the furthest point of Lupravia, in the foothills of the Orsov Mountains. It is said to be a sinister shadow of what it was in more prosperous times. There are stories monsters roaming the streets of Wulfenstein, the village that lies beneath the castle, where people live in constant fear, as the howling of wolves and worse haunts their nights. The wretched people of that damned place rarely venture far from home. The tales of Mad Prince Garoul of the Wulfen family have reached even as far as these woods. It is said that he prefers the company of wild beasts to that of human beings, and from what we have witnessed this night I believe that the curse on the Wulfen line is the curse of the werewolf. It was Garoul who infected you with lycanthropy. If you are to escape that curse you must hunt him down and finish what you started here. You must destroy the head of the Were-bloodline before the next full moon.'

Grandmother Zekova has given you information that can do nothing but help you in your quest to rid yourself of the cursed disease you have contracted. (Write the codeword Avokez on your Adventure Sheet and turn to 124).
Now you see why I said Darth's suggestion was an interesting one?

Is Wolfgang W. Wolfenstein's distant ancestors in fact descended from the main family of the village Wulfenstein? Can Wolfgang's own bloodline possibly be related to the House of Wulfen, branched off from centuries ago? Is this link what really cause Wolfgang to subconsciously come back to the ancient home of his ancestry? Can it be his bloodline that drew Garoul all the way from his home village to make his hunt here??

Or do we in fact prefer to have nothing to do with this cursed family and just be Claude like Thaluikhain suggested?

Let me know your final decision!
Bidding Grandmother Zekova a hasty farewell, you head into the night once more, Ulrich at your side. You are determined to run the insane lunatic to the ground and put an end to this living nightmare. It is not hard to mark the wolves' passing. You soon find yourselves descending a path at a stumbling run, the trail strewn with exposed roots. You become aware of the distant yelps and howls. Behind you comes a sudden, snarling roar: you turn to see the Black Wolf launch itself from the deep darkness between the trees. But this time it is Ulrich who is the target - the creature has revenge on its mind. You hear a sickening crunch and Ulrich howls in pain as the wolf sinks its teeth into his throat. Then the woodsman lies still. You watch, frozen for a moment in disbelieving horror, s the wolf rises from Ulrich's prone form and you realize that it is now standing one its hind legs. Only th creature is a wolf no longer. Its body is shaped more like that of a man, although it is still covered in coarse black fur and has the unmistakeable snout and arrow-tip ears of a wolf. It has become something more than beast and less than human. Lip curling back from bloodied fangs, the Black Werewolf growls menacingly and turns towards you. You have no choice but to fight.

BLACK WEREWOLF SKILL 7 STAMINA 7

The beast will not run from this fight and you will not let it. One way for another, this will be a fight to the death. If you prevail, turn to 229.
.....and it didn't take long for Ulrich to suffer the fate of the classic FF PC companion.

COMBAT LOG:
Black Werewolf 19, Wolfgang 17. Wolfgang is at 8.
BW 11, Wolfgang 12. BW is at 5.
BW 16, Wolfgang 16. Tie.
BW 15, Wolfgang 16. BW is at 3.
BW 12, Wolfgang 15. BW is at 1.
BW 18, Wolfgang 17. Wolfgang is at 6.
BW 14, Wolfgang 18. BW is killed.
VENGEANCE!
With a final thrust, your sword enters the Werewolf's chest, sinks up to the hilt, piercing the creature's heart, until the tip emerges from its back. The beast dies, issuing one last howl as its limp body slides off your blade. Your attention immediately turns to the wretched woodsman, who lies some feet from you, where he was felled. You are about to rush to your friend's aid when you suddenly stop yourself. You have faced the beast lying at your feet more than once this night; can you be certain that the fiend is really dead at last? Will you make a closer inspection of the werewolf's corpse or go straight to Ulrich's aid?
Check out friend or foe first?
Omegonthesane
Prince
Posts: 3680
Joined: Sat Sep 26, 2009 3:55 pm

Post by Omegonthesane »

We don't have any reason to think that our own immediate medical attention will help Ulrich, so double tap the werewolf.
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
Post Reply