[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 58: Revenge of the Vampire

[Beroli]

While that's sort of a tie, I'm deciding that the one with an active rather than purely passive vote wins. You drink the Essence.

This powerful potion has an entirely unpredictable effect. Made from the vital energies of living creatures and the essence of certain of the undead, it may have a positive or a negative effect on you. Roll one die--but before you do, you can choose to spend 1 or 2 Luck points (no more than 2). If you do, add the number of Luck points you spent to your roll.

Please vote by 9 AM EDT and before there is a three-vote majority to be sure it will be counted.

[spoiler=Adventure Sheet]Name: Eric Cross Brooks
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 18/18
Luck: 11/11
Faith: 11
Blood Points: 16
Equipment: 2 Magic Swords (+1 Attack Power), Magic Gauntlets (+1 Attack Power), Nonmagic Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Backpack, Lantern, 3 Herbal Brandy (+4 Stamina), Resin, Garlic, Silver Stake, Mallet, Silver Mirror, Climbing boots for hill-climbing, Rope, 15 pages of sage correspondence, 90-Faceted Red Crystal Heart, 2 Potions of Stamina (+9 Stamina), Mystery Potion, Baleful Red Lantern, Mouldy Meat Pie (test Stamina on 4d6 when eating), Oil of Disenchantment 260, Cooking Oil, Blackfire
Provisions: 12 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold Pieces: 41
Special Notes: You know about the Ghoulcrypts.[/spoiler]

[SGamerz]

Spend 2 LUCK.

[Queen of Swords]

Spend 2 Luck Points and hope for the best.

[Thaluikhain]

Spend 2 luck and pray.

[Beroli]

[spoiler=Table]
1: Lose 2 Skill.
2: Lose 1 Skill.
3-4: You feel mildly sick. Lose 1 Stamina point.
5: You are strengthened. Your current and initial Stamina both increase by 1.
6-7: You are strengthened! Add one point to your Skill (cannot exceed 12) and your current and initial Stamina increase by 1.
8: You feel like a new person! Your Skill increases by 2 or to 13, whichever is lower, and your current and Initial Stamina both increase by 2.[/spoiler]

You roll...a 6! +2, for a result of 8.

Drink the alleged Skill restorative? Turn to 241.

Leave and go elsewhere? Choose somewhere else to go:

Door to the north? Turn to 274.

Go down the south passage and:
Left door? Turn to 29.
Right door? Turn to 85.

Return to the east wing and:
Open the first door to the south? Turn to 139.
Go to the end of the passage, turn south, and take the single unexplored door? Turn to 131.

Leave the mansion? Turn to 40.

Please vote by 9 PM EDT and before there is a three-vote majority to be sure it will be counted.

[spoiler=Adventure Sheet]Name: Eric Cross Brooks
Skill: 13/13
Stamina: 20/20
Luck: 9/11
Faith: 11
Blood Points: 16
Equipment: 2 Magic Swords (+1 Attack Power), Magic Gauntlets (+1 Attack Power), Nonmagic Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Backpack, Lantern, 3 Herbal Brandy (+4 Stamina), Resin, Garlic, Silver Stake, Mallet, Silver Mirror, Climbing boots for hill-climbing, Rope, 15 pages of sage correspondence, 90-Faceted Red Crystal Heart, 2 Potions of Stamina (+9 Stamina), Mystery Potion, Baleful Red Lantern, Mouldy Meat Pie (test Stamina on 4d6 when eating), Oil of Disenchantment 260, Cooking Oil, Blackfire
Provisions: 12 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold Pieces: 41
Special Notes: You know about the Ghoulcrypts.[/spoiler]

[SGamerz]

As already mentioned, our SKILL is at max, so no restore is needed.

South passage, left door.

[Thaluikhain]

We are at more than max skill, so even if it did restore it it would be bad for us.

Leave it alone and to the room full of jars, says I.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Agreed. But we might want to eat the moldy meat pie (rolling less than or equal to 20 on 4d6 is pretty good odds) in order to regain a point of Luck for avoiding food poisoning. Worst case scenario we just eat normal provisions to recover the health lost from food poisoning.

[Thaluikhain]

Didn't think of that, good idea, second eating the pie.

[Beroli]

Going to the right door in the south passage wins 2-1. Eating the disgusting meat pie wins 2-0.

(A 14 avoids food poisoning, and luckily you do not have a Sanity rating to lose; regain 1 Luck.)

(With the oil, you can automatically pick the lock on the door, so you do so.)

Behind the locked door is a room containing fragile glass jars that have been crafted in a very elegant but disturbing manner. Each jar has a thick glass bulb at its base, resting on a claw-shaped metal support; tapering above it is a long, curved, fluted neck. Each jar is stoppered with a cork, bound by a metal clasp and a red wax seal. There must be several dozen of these large vessels standing around against the wall of the otherwise bare room. Most are empty, but a few contain traces of grey ash or dust inside the bulb. Five of them contain a blue-grey mist in addition to the fine layer of dust, and sparks like tiny balls of lightning flicker in the mist. A palpable sense of evil lingers in this room and the hairs on the nape of your neck rise in alarm.

Smash an empty jar? Turn to 269.
Smash a jar with dust or ash only? Turn to 301.
Smash a jar containing mist and sparks? Turn to 96.

Leave and go elsewhere? Choose somewhere else to go:

West wing:
Door to the north? Turn to 274.

Left door at the end of the south passage? Turn to 29.

East wing and:
Open the first door to the south? Turn to 139.
Go to the end of the passage, turn south, and take the single unexplored door? Turn to 131.

Leave the mansion? Turn to 40.

Please vote by 9 AM EDT and before there is a three-vote majority to be sure it will be counted. If you choose to smash the jar with the Vampire-Ghost, in light of the risk of Skill loss, please vote on how and whether to use Luck in the resulting fight.

[spoiler=Adventure Sheet]Name: Eric Cross Brooks
Skill: 13/13
Stamina: 20/20
Luck: 10/11
Faith: 11
Blood Points: 16
Equipment: 2 Magic Swords (+1 Attack Power), Magic Gauntlets (+1 Attack Power), Nonmagic Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Backpack, Lantern, 3 Herbal Brandy (+4 Stamina), Resin, Garlic, Silver Stake, Mallet, Silver Mirror, Climbing boots for hill-climbing, Rope, 15 pages of sage correspondence, 90-Faceted Red Crystal Heart, 2 Potions of Stamina (+9 Stamina), Mystery Potion, Baleful Red Lantern, Oil of Disenchantment 260, Cooking Oil, Blackfire
Provisions: 12 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold Pieces: 41
Special Notes: You know about the Ghoulcrypts.[/spoiler]

[Queen of Swords]

We know that the mist-and-sparks jar contains a Vampire Ghost, so let's try the dust and ashes one.

[Beroli]

You smash the flask, and an intense chill emanates from it and freezes you to the bone. Lose 4 Stamina points. You decide it would be unwise to smash any more flasks, so you go elsewhere.

West wing:
Door to the north? Turn to 274.

Left door at the end of the south passage? Turn to 29.

East wing and:
Open the first door to the south? Turn to 139.
Go to the end of the passage, turn south, and take the single unexplored door? Turn to 131.

Leave the mansion? Turn to 40.

Please vote by 9 PM EDT and before there is a three-vote majority to be sure it will be counted.

[spoiler=Adventure Sheet]Name: Eric Cross Brooks
Skill: 13/13
Stamina: 16/20
Luck: 10/11
Faith: 11
Blood Points: 16
Equipment: 2 Magic Swords (+1 Attack Power), Magic Gauntlets (+1 Attack Power), Nonmagic Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Backpack, Lantern, 3 Herbal Brandy (+4 Stamina), Resin, Garlic, Silver Stake, Mallet, Silver Mirror, Climbing boots for hill-climbing, Rope, 15 pages of sage correspondence, 90-Faceted Red Crystal Heart, 2 Potions of Stamina (+9 Stamina), Mystery Potion, Baleful Red Lantern, Oil of Disenchantment 260, Cooking Oil, Blackfire
Provisions: 12 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold Pieces: 41
Special Notes: You know about the Ghoulcrypts.[/spoiler]

[Darth Rabbitt]

Huh, so is this a Zelda deal where the empty jars actually contain good stuff? Anyways, take the left door here.

[Queen of Swords]

Now I really want to know what happens if we break an empty jar.

Take the left door.

[Beroli]

If you reload again, you'll get a chance to find out. It will knock your socks off! (Disclaimer: I do not in fact know if Eric Cross Books wears socks.)

The Count's writing room lies behind the door. You rummage swiftly through the papers on the writing desk, but they are blank. There are no clues to be found here, but on the west wall are three portraits. In the center is one [that you somehow know is] of the Count himself; his dark, brooding eyes seem to be surveying the room. You don't want to look at this too closely. The other two portraits show a man and a woman. (You have not read the History of Mortvania and so they mean nothing to you and you leave the room.)

West wing:
Door to the north? Turn to 274.

East wing and:
Open the first door to the south? Turn to 139.
Go to the end of the passage, turn south, and take the single unexplored door? Turn to 131.

Leave the mansion? Turn to 40.

Please vote by 9 AM EDT and before there is a three-vote majority to be sure it will be counted.

[spoiler=Adventure Sheet]Name: Eric Cross Brooks
Skill: 13/13
Stamina: 16/20
Luck: 10/11
Faith: 11
Blood Points: 16
Equipment: 2 Magic Swords (+1 Attack Power), Magic Gauntlets (+1 Attack Power), Nonmagic Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Backpack, Lantern, 3 Herbal Brandy (+4 Stamina), Resin, Garlic, Silver Stake, Mallet, Silver Mirror, Climbing boots for hill-climbing, Rope, 15 pages of sage correspondence, 90-Faceted Red Crystal Heart, 2 Potions of Stamina (+9 Stamina), Mystery Potion, Baleful Red Lantern, Oil of Disenchantment 260, Cooking Oil, Blackfire
Provisions: 12 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold Pieces: 41
Special Notes: You know about the Ghoulcrypts.[/spoiler]

[SGamerz]

East wing, first south door.

[Queen of Swords]

If you reload again, you'll get a chance to find out. It will knock your socks off!

Tease! It's a good thing I have a copy of the book.

East wing and:
Open the first door to the south? Turn to 139.

Might as well take this one.

[Darth Rabbitt]

First door to the south works for me.

[Beroli]

The room on the other side of the door is in darkness, and you fumble to light your lantern in order to see beyond the thick satin drapes hanging behind the door. A sweet, rich perfume wafts from inside the room. You light your lantern and are just pushing through the curtains when they are drawn aside by eager female hands. You are greeted by two deathly pale young women, clad in ornate black gowns, their fingernails long and red-painted and their ruby-red lips parted to show long, canine teeth! Fresh blood drips from their lips, they have eaten recently--but they want your blood, too. You have blundered into the room containing the Count's enslaved Vampyres! You can fight them one at a time in the doorway.

First VAMPYRE Skill 9 Stamina 10
Second VAMPYRE Skill 9 Stamina 9

If either Vampyre has an Attack Strength of 21 at any time, turn immediately to 95 (and you know what happens there).

[spoiler=First Vampyre]
Round One: Eric 23, Vampyre 14. Vampyre is at 8 Stamina.
Round Two: Eric 24, Vampyre 18. Vampyre is at 6 Stamina.
Round Three: Eric 26, Vampyre 14. Vampyre is at 4 Stamina.
Round Four: Eric 21, Vampyre 15. Vampyre is at 2 Stamina.
Round Five: Eric 25, Vampyre 19. Flawless victory.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Second Vampyre]
Round One: Eric 20, Vampyre 20. Her teeth are so close to Eric's throat...but he shoves her back.
Round Two: Eric 21, Vampyre 18. Vampyre is at 7 Stamina.
Round Three: Eric 21, Vampyre 17. Vampyre is at 5 Stamina.
Round Four: Eric 22, Vampyre 12. Vampyre is at 3 Stamina.
Round Five: Eric 24, Vampyre 11. Vampyre is at 1 Stamina.
Round Six: Eric 24, Vampyre 14. Flawless victory.[/spoiler]

You can take trinkets and baubles worth 6 Gold Pieces from the Vampyres. In their over-decorated, rather lurid chamber you find a third woman sleeping on one of the silk-covered beds; there are bite marks on her throat. Now, she may be a Vampyre too, for all you know; they do feed on one another when desperate. But she may be an innocent victim, kidnapped perhaps, and it would be a cowardly and terrible thing to leave her here at the mercy of the Count's evil servants.

(Also you know who she is, so I'm confident that you automatically awaken her.)

You shake the sleeping woman and splash some water on her face. She wakes up slowly and you reassure her that you are not one of the castle's evil occupants. She says that she is a warrior herself, Vantiane from Gallantaria, on her way to the port of Arkleton in search of employment. She remembers walking into a mist along the road, then the swooping of wings--and nothing beyond that. She is weakened, but you give her some food (subtract 1 from your Provisions) and she rummages around in the room, coming up with her leather armour, shield and sword, which were stowed away under the sofa. Vantiane will help you in the next three combats you get into. For your next three fights or until you leave the manor house, whichever is earlier, add +2 to your Attack Strength. After that, she will bid you farewell and make for Arkleton.

Last door in the west wing? Turn to 274.
Last door in the east wing? Turn to 131.
Leave the mansion? Turn to 40.

Please vote by 9 AM EDT and before there is a three-vote majority to be sure it will be counted.

[spoiler=Adventure Sheet]Name: Eric Cross Brooks
Skill: 13/13
Stamina: 16/20
Luck: 10/11
Faith: 11
Blood Points: 16
Equipment: 2 Magic Swords (+1 Attack Power), Magic Gauntlets (+1 Attack Power), Nonmagic Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Backpack, Lantern, 3 Herbal Brandy (+4 Stamina), Resin, Garlic, Silver Stake, Mallet, Silver Mirror, Climbing boots for hill-climbing, Rope, 15 pages of sage correspondence, 90-Faceted Red Crystal Heart, 2 Potions of Stamina (+9 Stamina), Mystery Potion, Baleful Red Lantern, Oil of Disenchantment 260, Cooking Oil, Blackfire
Provisions: 11 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold Pieces: 47
Special Notes: You know about the Ghoulcrypts; Vantiane is with you for 3 fights.[/spoiler]

[SGamerz]

Last door in the east wing.

We may not need his affliction cure, but we can still benefit from the extra Faith point we get by rescuing the healer.

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, and it's heroic as well.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Agreed.

[Beroli]

The door is locked. (You automatically pick the lock, using cooking oil to oil the lock.)

You step through the open doorway into a spacious, sumptuously decorated room. Wooden stairs on the eastern wall lead up, and heavy black velvet drapes line the walls. What catches your attention, though, is the young man, gagged and trussed, writhing in a chair at the foot of the stairs. His simple grey robes have the rune of Good inscribed over his heart. He groans as you enter and wriggles furiously. Obviously he is trying to tell you something. Is this a trap, you wonder. You can't reach the stairs without passing close by him.

(You automatically approach him.)

As you are about to remove the gag from the young man's mouth, his eyes turn in the direction of the stairs at the same moment as a huge monster, clad in gleaming metal and yet with a body of rotting flesh, hurls itself down the steps from the darkened room above. This is a Ghoul, but one unlike any other you have seen. Bands of metal are sunk into its arms and legs, and from its hand protrude knife-long metal blades. It looks as if an insane creator had used fused metal into the Ghoul's body to strengthen it--and it is a formidably powerful opponent. Fortunately, given the warning of the young man's gaze, you are balanced and ready to fight it!

STEEL GHOUL Skill 9 Stamina 12
[spoiler=Steel Ghoul]
Round One: Eric 19, Steel Ghoul 19.
Round Two: Eric 26, Steel Ghoul 13. Steel Ghoul is at 10 Stamina.
Round Three: Eric 23, Steel Ghoul 12. Steel Ghoul is at 8 Stamina.
Round Four: Eric 29, Steel Ghoul 20. Steel Ghoul is at 6 Stamina.
Round Five: Eric 29, Steel Ghoul 21. Steel Ghoul is at 4 Stamina.
Round Six: Eric 24, Steel Ghoul 16. Steel Ghoul is at 2 Stamina.
Round Seven: Eric 21, Steel Ghoul 16. Flawless victory.[/spoiler]

Having destroyed the horror, you tend to the man, first removing his gag in order to hear what he has to say for himself. Mortus Mansion contains too many enemies for you to untie him immediately. He tells you that his name is Malkan, that he is apprentice to a healer of Arkleton, and that foolishly he wandered too close to the mansion, looking for rare curative herbs and plants. He came with his brother, Simeon, who--like himself--was overwhelmed by a pack of Ghouls, which rushed out of the mansion grounds and attacked them. Malkan fears that Simeon has been eaten by the flesh-eating Ghouls, and his grief-stricken expression persuades you that this is not some tall tale and you decide to untie him. As he rises unsteadily to his feet, you see that he is thin and is certainly no fighting man. You give him instructions for getting out of the mansion, and tell him to flee for safety. You promise that, if you find his brother, you will do your best to free him. He is deeply grateful to you. If you have any afflictions (Lung Rot or Latent Vampirism, say), he can cure one of them for you, but only one: he is too weak, and anyway is just a novice healer,to do any more. (You do not.) Gain 1 FAITH point for freeing the young healer. Now will you:

Head up the stairs into the darkness? Turn to 50.
Go to the one door in the mansion you have not opened? Turn to 274.
Leave the mansion? Turn to 40.

[spoiler=Adventure Sheet]Name: Eric Cross Brooks
Skill: 13/13
Stamina: 16/20
Luck: 10/11
Faith: 12
Blood Points: 16
Equipment: 2 Magic Swords (+1 Attack Power), Magic Gauntlets (+1 Attack Power), Nonmagic Sword, Leather Armor, Shield, Backpack, Lantern, 3 Herbal Brandy (+4 Stamina), Resin, Garlic, Silver Stake, Mallet, Silver Mirror, Climbing boots for hill-climbing, Rope, 15 pages of sage correspondence, 90-Faceted Red Crystal Heart, 2 Potions of Stamina (+9 Stamina), Mystery Potion, Baleful Red Lantern, Oil of Disenchantment 260, Cooking Oil, Blackfire
Provisions: 11 Meals (+4 STAMINA)
Gold Pieces: 47
Special Notes: You know about the Ghoulcrypts; Vantiane is with you for 2 fights.[/spoiler]

[Darth Rabbitt]

Go to the one door we haven’t been, and then up the stairs.

[Queen of Swords]

Agree with this.