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

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

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Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

As far north as north goes.
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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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I'd take the road less traveled, as it's most likely to take us to the head werewolf.
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You walk mile after mile along the road north, through bleak grey hills, without seeing another soul abroad on this late autumn day. The road rises out of the desolate valley onto a stretch of windswept moorland. You continue your way under a leaden sky as the sun sinks towards the horizon. If you have the codeword Enirhs recorded on your Adventure Sheet, turn to 511; of not, turn to 190.
No codeword.....
Image
Preoccupied with thoughts of how long you have left until the next full moon, you barely realize that the sun has set and that the last splashes of colour underlighting the clouds is fading to dusky amethyst. The moon is rising and, with no shelter in sight, it looks like you are going to have to camp in the open on these dark moors. Just then you come in sight of a coaching inn. A light flickers in a window, like a beacon beckoning you on. Eagerly you quicken your pace, determined not to be caught out on these desolate moors after what you have heard about the ghosts that stalk the land of Lupravia.

Slowly, over the unsettling keening of the wind, you become aware of the jangle of harness behind you. Hearing hooves pounding the road you turn to see who is following you, but there is no one there; no horse, no rider, nothing. But you can still hear the drumming the beat of the hooves pounding the road. You peer through the darkness, back the way you have come. And then you do see something. Materialising out of the gloom, in a haze of greeny-yellow luminescence twenty paces from you is the figure of a phantom rider on horseback. A cape streams out behind the rider and you see he is wearing finely worked, knee-length black leather boots.. He lashes the reins of his horse as it tears along the road towards you, foaming at the mouth, its eyes burning witch-lights. As if that were not horrifying enough, the rider has no head, and yet from somewhere you can hear the cry of 'Yaah! Yaah! On, Barushka. On till morning!'

The phantom rider and its steed are closing on you fast. Will you turn tail and run, trying to reach the safety of the inn before the rider catches you, or will you stand and face the rider?
Ah, this must be the Headless Highwayman those villagers mentioned....

Flee or stand?
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Let's see if our sword is still blessed. We rolled the first member of the Terrible Trio easily enough, and trying to outrun a ghost horse seems a suckers game.
Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

I doubt the blessing will still work, but stand and face the highwayman anyway.

(Is that a pistol he or she is holding?)
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Post by SGamerz »

Thaluikhain wrote:(Is that a pistol he or she is holding?)
Yes, it is....
Standing your ground you unsheathe your sword, ready to face the approaching rider. The phantom reins in his wild steed with a shout of, 'Whoa there, Barushka!' The greenly glowing apparition trots the last few paces before coming to a halt directly in front of you. The headless rider drops the reins and reaches under its cloak with both gloved hands. When it withdraws the right one again you see that it is now holding a cocked flintlock pistol. In its left hand it is holding a man's head by the hair. The eyes in the head fix you with a needling stare, while a cruel smile spreads across its lips. 'Stand and deliver!' the head declares. 'Your money and your life!' And with that the ghostly highwayman pulls the trigger. Test the Skill of the Headless Highwayman, who has a SKILL of 8. If he passes the test, turn to 374. If he fails, his shot misses you; turn to 501.
.....and he's not afraid to use it!

"Your money and your life" is a pretty apt opening line for 99% of gamebook PCs.

Dice roll = 7 (Pass....not good for us!)
There is a loud Crack! as the pistol fires. A split second later you gasp in pain as the bullet hits you (lose 2 STAMINA points)! How can ghostly bullets injure a living being, you wonder, looking down at the splash of ectoplasm on your leather tunic where the bullet struck, feeling a numbing, ice-cold sensation in your chest. You are dragged back from your musings by a shout of, 'Have at you!' from the phantom Highwayman.
Ouch! STAMINA down to 12.
Stuffing the discharged pistol into the leather belt looped around his torso, the Headless Highwayman unsheathes a basket-hilted sabre, ready to face you in hand-to-hand combat. Ready with your own blade, you prepare to defend yourself.

HEADLESS HIGHWAYMAN SKILL 8 STAMINA 8

While you are fighting, the Highwayman maintains a grip on the head in his other hand, which shouts encouraging comments to its body as it fights, which you find most off-putting! You must also reduce your Attack Strength by 1 point because your opponent is still in the saddle and so has an advantage over you. If you defeat the phantom felon, turn to 411.
With that penalty, we only have a 1-point advantage over him.....

COMBAT LOG:
Headless Highwayman 14, Wolfgang 18. HH is at 6.
HH 15, Wolfgang 11. Wolfgang is at 10.
HH 14, Wolfgang 14. Tie.
HH 19, Wolfgang 19. Tie.
HH 13, Wolfgang 16. HH is at 4.
HH 17, Wolfgang 16. Wolfgang is at 8.
HH 18, Wolfgang 17. Wolfgang is at 6.
HH 18, Wolfgang 21. HH is at 2.
HH 14, Wolfgang 16. HH is defeated.
Extremely even fight, there!
You plunge your sword into the rogue's chest, right up to the hilt. The Highwayman's head lets out a shrill death-cry, its eyes rolling up into its head. Pulling your sword free, you stagger back from the rider as the horse snorts and stamps the ground with its glowing hooves. But the horseman's wailing cry does not stop but turns into a grotesque, gurgling cackle once more. His dead eyes fix on you again and you feel the blood in your veins turn to ice-water. 'Oh dear, what a shame,' he says with mock regret, 'it would appear that I am already dead, and you cannot kill that which is not alive!' (Lose 1 LUCK point.) 'I would suggest you run. I'll give you a head start,' the Highwayman laughs. Without a moment's hesitation, you sprint for the safety of the inn. You hear the phantom horse's hooves on the road behind you again but then you are at the door to the stone-built coaching inn and suddenly both rider and steed are gone, like mist on the night-breeze. The echo of maniacal laughter lingers for a moment and then that too is gone.
Well, turns out that the holy water effect doesn't last that long....
Lifting the latch, you push open the heavy door of The Gibbet Tree. The inn sign, which depicts an empty gallows scaffold and swinging noose, creaks rustily in the night-breeze above you. Shutting the door, you enter the bar room beyond. It is relatively large, with a number of tables and chairs dotted around, but other than you, there appears to be only one other customer: a young man with an intensely serious expression on his face. The last embers of a fire smoulder in the grate, which is set into a large chimney breast. Standing behind the bar is a blubbery, bald-headed man whom you take to be the landlord, lugubriously rubbing a tankard with the skirts of his filthy apron, and the girl of no more than eighteen or nineteen, whose black hair is an unkempt mess, her vacant eyes staring into the dying coals of the fire. No one speaks, making the whining of the wind in the eaves even more unsettling. A night at an inn such as this shouldn't cost more than a couple of Gold Pieces, but you can imagine you would receive a warmer welcome from a pack of snow wolves in Cloudcap Mountains in mid-winter. Do you want to spend what remains of the night at The Gibbet Tree, or would you prefer to risk a night out on the moors under the stars?
I'm pretty sure I'd prefer this over a "warm welcome from a pack of snow wolves"......actually, no, wait, we're part-wolf now, so being legitimately welcomed by snow wolves my not be that farfetched.

Stay for some booze?

Adventure Sheet:
Name: Wolfgang W. Wolfenstein (a.k.a Triple W)
SKILL 10/10
STAMINA 6/15
LUCK 11/12
CHANGE: 1
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern & Tinderbox, Signet Ring
Gold: 17
Provisions: 8 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Codewords: Avokez
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Given our situation, we should try our best to live like a human rather than a wolf. Stay at the inn.
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

We still can't "pass" a Change roll so trusting the wolves seems a little risky. Stay at the inn.
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
Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Stay and hope stamina is regained.
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Post by SGamerz »

Taking a deep breath you approach the bar and enquire as to the cost of a room for the night. 'Three gold pieces, half board, 'he says, 'one gold piece for just the room.' If you are winning to pay the 3 Gold Pieces, you find that half board includes a tankard of ale and a cold, spit roast chicken, which restores up to 4 STAMINA points. If you only pay for the room you will have to eat one meal's worth of Provisions to restore any energy. Whatever you decide, you may now either retire to you room, or stay in the bar and try speaking to the landlord, the barmaid or the intense young man.
1) How much do we want to pay?
2) Do we want to talk to anyone?
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

Let's see what's bithering the vacant-eyed girl.

Edit: half a vote not to pay, as we'll probably make it to civilisation and have a better rate of exchange for gold to provisions before we run out.
Last edited by SlyJohnny on Thu Jan 19, 2017 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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angelfromanotherpin
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Pay 3, talk to distressed damsel.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

I suggest paying 3, and may as well talk to the barmaid.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I'd pay for everything as we can't be sure of being able to buy more Provisions later on and need the healing right now, and then attempt to seduce talk to the barmaid.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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Post by SGamerz »

I may not be able to do any updates for this week. It's close to the Lunar New Year season where I live, and a holiday season always guarantees a ****load of work and OTs the week before. Sorry for the wait.
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Post by SGamerz »

I'm back! For those still waiting, thank you for your patience.

We spend 3 gold on the food. Our gold is now at 14, but our STAMINA is up to 10.

We then approach the barmaid:
'Good evening,' you say, flashing the barmaid your most winning smile. 'How's trade?'

The barmaid continues to stare at the fire and says nothing. The landlord is watching you edgily from the other end of the bar. Then the girl speaks, her voice having a faraway quality. 'He still comes to me, you know? They say he's gone, but he's not. A love like ours can never be broken. Not even death can keep us apar...'

'Meg!' Snaps the landlord, silencing the girl. That's enough, daughter. Get back to the kitchen. There are dishes to wash and the floor needs scrubbing!'

Meg turns to go and then glances back over her shoulder, fixing you with her stony amethyst gaze for the first time. 'Not even death,' she repeats and then she is gone. The girl's look unnerves you. You suddenly feel that you would prefer just your own company for the rest of the evening and so you retire to your room.
Yes, this closes off the options to talk to the other 2 guys, so this should probably have been the last choice....fortunately, talking to the other others isn't essential either.
Stifling a yawn you make for the stairs that lead out of the bar and up to the guest-rooms. As you leave, you hear the landlord making his demands of the barmaid finishing with, 'And lay a new fire in the grate, daughter.' To which she mutters something undoubtedly disrespectful in return. Leaving the miserable pair to their bickering, you head upstairs for bed. The room is sparsely furnished - a small table, a chair and a pallet bed - but you do not care. You feel shattered after your meeting with the phantom Highwayman, not to mention the wearying march. You are asleep from almost the moment your head hits the pillow.

You wake from a dream (in which you are chasing through the woods barefoot after a stag) due to your bed being shaken. You open your eyes blearily. You cannot see anyone else in the chamber with you, by the thin shaft of moonlight entering your room between the shutters, but there is the sound of wood scraping on wood, as if the furniture is being moved across the bare floorboards. Cautiously, you ease yourself out of the bed, which has stopped shaking, and pull your sword from its scabbard. You watch dumbfounded as the table and chair rise into the air in front of you. They hover there for a moment, three feet off the ground, and then suddenly hurl themselves at you. Incredibly, you find yourself fighting for your life against a table and a chair! Fight the two pieces of furniture at the same time.

TABLE SKILL 5 STAMINA 6.
CHAIR SKILL 6 STAMINA 4.

If you win, turn to 72.
Good thing the bed decided not to join the fight!

Since their SKILL are both pretty feeble, I'll target the weaker Chair first in hopes of taking it out first.

COMBAT LOG:
Table 15, Wolfgang 14. Wolfgang is at 8.
Chair 10, Wolfgang 18. Chair is at 2.
Table 14, Wolfgang 19. Table misses.
Chair 10, Wolfgang 14. Chair is destroyed.
Table 13, Wolfgang 13. Tie.
Table 17, Wolfgang 16. Wolfgang is at 6.
Table 11, Wolfgang 17. Table is at 4.
Table 12, Wolfgang 19. Table is at 2.
Table 8, Wolfgang 19. Table is destroyed.
Can you believe how many times we got hit by that shoddy table?!
The table and chair clatter to the floor, now just chopped firewood. You freeze, your heart racing, your breathing shallow. Someone must have heard the fight and you remain exactly where you are, half-expecting the landlord to burst in any moment. But no one comes. With the poltergeist activity apparently done with, you try to settle down again. As you lie awake, unable to sleep, thanks to the adrenalin still coursing through your system, you hear the sound of a door opening followed by the creak of floorboards as somebody makes their way down the corridor to the stairs. But who would be moving around the inn in the middle of the night? Will you satisfy your curiosity and investigate further, or will you stay where you are for the rest of the night?
Shall we go looking for the summoner of evil moving furniture?

Adventure Sheet:
Name: Wolfgang W. Wolfenstein (a.k.a Triple W)
SKILL 10/10
STAMINA 6/15
LUCK 11/12
CHANGE: 1
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern & Tinderbox, Signet Ring
Gold: 14
Provisions: 8 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Codewords: Avokez
Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Investigate the...actually, whatever I guess will probably be wrong, but investigate.
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

The Table, Triple W's greatest foe.

Eat a meal and then investigate.
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

TripleS ain't afraid of no ghosts. Let's go investigate stabbing the possessed barmaid.
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Post by SGamerz »

Peering around the door jamb, and seeing no one outside in the corridor, you set off towards the stairs. As you creep along the darkened corridor you pass another door which stands slightly ajar, the room beyond it lit by the soft yellow light of a guttering candle. Perhaps this is the room that the mystery midnight wanderer vacated. Glancing through the open door you see an empty unmade bed, a rickety bedside table, on which stands the dripping candle, and a large wooden chest against one wall. The room appears to be empty so will you enter and explore further or will you continue after whoever it was who just left this chamber?
Enter and loot "explore" the room or not?
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SlyJohnny
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Post by SlyJohnny »

mmrph. Half a vote to explore. There might be a plot coupon in this room.

Edit: I have a nasty feeling that if we tarry, the girl will go to find the highwayman or whatever, and we'll be too late.
Last edited by SlyJohnny on Wed Feb 01, 2017 7:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Omegonthesane
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Post by Omegonthesane »

LOOT ALL THE THINGS
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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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

I'd be more willing to risk losing the girl than a MacGuffin, so loot the room.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
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Post by SGamerz »

Let's hope the table here doesn't animate and attack us!
A floorboard creaks ominously under your foot as you enter the room and you step swiftly inside. Shutting the door, you make your search undisturbed. There is nothing unusual about the bed or the small table next to it, but the chest is another matter altogether. Inside you find a number of folded dresses, which leads you to believe that you are actually inside the bedchamber of the landlord's daughter. Underneath the dresses you find a strange collection of objects that includes bundles of herbs, dried powders in small glass bottles and a book covered in unsettling symbols. You decide to leave these well alone, as their connection to the practice of witchcraft is obvious. However, you also find a bundle of letters, tied up with pink ribbon. A quick glance at these reveals that they are love letters, written and signed by 'Meg' to someone simply referred to as 'My love' or 'My fine gentleman'. This is a curious mix of possessions to find in a barmaid's bedroom. Right at the bottom of the chest you find an ornately carved wooden box secured with a brad lock. There is no key but you think you could force the box open with your sword. Do you want to force the lock, or will you leave the room and continue your pursuit of the person who you now suspect is in fact Meg the landlord's daughter?
Do we want to keep digging into the deepest secrets in a young woman's bedroom like some old pervert?
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Post by Thaluikhain »

In for a penny, in for a pound.

Actually, that saying works if someone comes in to bludgeon thieves, so open the lock.
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