[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 23 - Masks of Mayhem!

[Queen of Swords]

Oy vey. Can't tell if there's any difference between the directions.

Straight on is as good as any, I guess.

[SGamerz]

After a spell of this tiring way of moving along, more solid ground appears to your right and left. Will you turn left or right, or continue jumping from mound to mound straight ahead?

[pragma]

Changing course indicates a lack of character, straight ahead.

[Queen of Swords]

Why not. Straight ahead.

[JourneymanN00b]

My vote is to continue jumping from mound to mound straight ahead. No point changing now.

[SGamerz]

The mounds became fewer. Will you go left, half left or straight on?

[JourneymanN00b]

My vote is to go half left. That way King Arthur can still make a stand against fascism, but not be too far left as to be called a communist.

[Whatever]

"Half left" is a really stupid name for a direction. Let's see where it leads.

[pragma]

Half left it is!

(I wonder how many of these dumb paths lead to instant deaths. This feels like mazes in 90s adventure games: wander randomly until something happens.)

[Queen of Swords]

"Half left" is a really stupid name for a direction.

Agreed. This is starting to feel both dull and random, so I'm hoping we either come across something interesting/useful or reach the end of the marsh soon.

Half left.

[SGamerz]

The mist becomes thicker and more menacing. Strange lights flicker and fade. You can see nothing but water ahead, but there are mounds to the right and left. Will you go right, left or straight on?

[JourneymanN00b]

My vote is to go straight on. This is getting ridiculous and is basically poor design on the author's part to score some cheap deaths.

[Thaluikhain]

I want to think there was some instruction on how the navigate the marsh we missed, but I'm guessing this is just dull padding.

May as well go straight away.

[Queen of Swords]

No option to drown ourself in the marsh and get this over with?

Straight ahead, then.

[pragma]

Straight ahead.

[SGamerz]

I want to think there was some instruction on how the navigate the marsh we missed

There was.

That warrior blocking up the river whom we failed to heal (and promptly left to continue clog up said river) would have told us to always go take the middle way while we're in Marsh Vile if we'd revived her briefly (she still dies).

Also, as to what pragma was wondering, yes, every direction that we've chosen not to go while in Marsh Vile led to an insta-death section.

This was similar to the Manticore's lair in the Shamutanti Hills (and also a certain cave maze in FF35: Armies of Death) - if you don't know the "formula" to navigate the maze, then there's a 66% or 50% chance of insta-fail for every option you take.

As you step out, a magical causeway solidifies out of the mist, and you follow it to the home of the Juja. No person and no legend knows his real name, only that this wizard retired here when the world became evil, long ago. His body sits in a shack, surrounded by old books and alchemical apparatus, but his mind journeys far and wide.

When you enter his shack, he greets you and gives you a meal (restores 4 STAMINA points). During the meal, you tell him of your quest. "Hmm...well," he replies. "You'd better see Vashti in Maiden's Vale. She knows more than I do about this business." You ask him how to get to Maiden's Value. "Oh, I don't know how you get into it," he says. "You should know already. But I did find in one of my books a clue about how to get out, which is just as important, you know." He gets a tome down from a shelf. "Yes, here it is, on page 208: "The land of no time - oak for in and apple for out." I hope that will help you. Is there anything else you'd like me to do?" Gain 2 LUCK points for this vital information. Will you ask him to restore any of your faculties, or how to get into Morgana's lair?

We also missed at least 2 encounters with NPCs who might have advised us to seek the Juja for help (not that they offer much information exactly who or what the Juja is, but at least we would have had some reason to enter Marsh Vile other than meta-gaming that there may be some important side-quest here).

Anyway, even before we received his refreshments, we were only 1 STAMINA short of full stats, so there's no reason to ask him to restore anything. I think it's safe to skip the voting here and just ask for information on Morgana's lair:

"You will come to three doors," he says. "Be sure to take the wooden one." Then guides you back to Pikestaff Plain and points you in the direction of the foothills.

His advice is every bit as abrupt and lacking in context as this entire encounter with him, but I guess that is to be expected. Like I said earlier, before I ran this LP, I'd actually forgotten that Robin's Waterfield's writing was almost as abrupt and brief in providing details as Luke Sharp's when he first started writing gamebooks.

You travel by easy stages to the foothills of the northern mountain range. There is quite a bit of game, so you use up only 1 lot of Provisions. Once night you camp by a copse. In the morning, will you walk through the copse or around it?

How do we handle this vital matter of how to navigate a random copse?

[Queen of Swords]

How do we handle this vital matter of how to navigate a random copse?

No indication of what's the better route. Typical.

Go around it.

[Omegonthesane]

Going straight through worked for the swamp, I vote we go through.

[Thaluikhain]

Check out the copse.

Also, how often do people run into the word "copse" outside of fantasy themed books? Doesn't happen much to me.

[pragma]

Wow, our dumb navigation luck is spectacular.

Check the copse. I feel like checking the copse is inviting an ambush or a side-quest, and I think we should do those. Moreover, our hints are apple and oak, both of which show up in copses.

[JourneymanN00b]

Because of my distrust of forests in general, even small ones, my vote is to go around the copse.

[Queen of Swords]

Moreover, our hints are apple and oak, both of which show up in copses.

Agree with this. Into the copse.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Moreover, our hints are apple and oak, both of which show up in copses.

Agree with this. Into the copse.

Same here.

[SGamerz]

Took me close to a week to realize the forums are back up (though I much prefer the old colours, personally), and had to reset my password before I can log back on. I hope most of the readers are coming back! Would hate to leave this hanging.

The easy journey of the past few days has made you careless. As you walk whistling down the path through the trees, you are set upon by a Giant Bloodsucking Spider. This vile beast, already bloated with the blood of woodland creatures, is delighted to find larger prey, and drops in front of you from a tree. Sheer repulsion at the signal freezes you for an instant, but then your sword is out and ready. You have no time to get anything out of your pack.

BLOODSUCKING SPIDER SKILL 6 STAMINA 14

The Spider is too heavy to move very fast: you could try to escape, if you want to. If you stay and win the fight, you continue cautiously through the copse.

This must be one evil spider: there're no instructions telling you that this predator isn't affected by Hever's Horn! Clearly it's our duty to destroy it.

There's the option to flee, but with that SKILL level I don't think it's necessary.

COMBAT LOG:

Bloodsucking Spider 12, Arthur 22, BS is at 12.
BS 15, Arthur 20. BS is at 10.
BS 18, Arthur 23. BS is at 8.
BS 9, Arthur 18. BS is at 6.
BS 13, Arthur 15. BS is at 4.
BS 17, Arthur 18. BS is at 2.
BS 11, Arthur 17. BS is killed.

Flawless, as expected.

You leave the copse behind you and continue up towards the mountains, which now loom large and forbidding in the near distance. The hills grow more steep and bleak, so it is strange to seem crowning one hill, two large and flourishing oak trees, like a portal to the sunset beyond. Will you climb the hill and investigate the trees, or carry determinedly on with your journey?

Check out the trees (and yes, still have to ask despite the clear-as-day hint the players got earlier)?

[Omegonthesane]

Investigate the trees. Wooden want to miss anything that might help later.