[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice

[SGamerz]

If you have not yet seen it, there is a huge wall ahead of you. It is very high, and protected by watch-towers at intervals of 200 pace3s. You feel safe in the mist but wonder how you are going to get over the wall. Suddenly you come across a flat, polished inscribed stone, marking out the Xokusai Orc defensive segments of the wall: ARROW, AXE, DAGGER, SWORD. It seems you are in the Axe sector. Do you wish to climb the wall here, at the Dagger sector, the Sword sector or the Arrow sector?

[Thaluikhain]

On a section of the wall, distinguished by a dagger symbol, there is a scrawled cross, and you suspect this is where the breach is.

To dagger section. Not sector, as that refers to part of the circumference of a circle, and the wall isn't specified to be circular.

[Beroli]

Dagger sector.

[SGamerz]

You find a breach in the wall, but are cautious when you see two Stone Guardians placed on either side of it. Looking carefully, you see that one of them is cracked down the middle and falling apart. The other creaks to life and attacks you with its strong beak.

STONE GUARDOAN SKILL 7 STAMINA 10

If you win, you pass through the breach.

COMBAT LOG:
Stone Guardian 17, Sir Gareth 15. Sir Gareth is at 10.
Stone Guardian 12, Sir Gareth 24. Stone Guardian is at 8.
Stone Guardian 18, Sir Gareth 18. Tie.
Stone Guardian 13, Sir Gareth 16. Stone Guardian is at 6.
Stone Guardian 12, Sir Gareth 19. Stone Guardian is at 4.
Stone Guardian 11, Sir Gareth 21. Stone Guardian is at 2.
Stone Guardian 17, Sir Gareth 21. Stone Guardian is defeated.

The ground rises until you suddenly come to a sharp drop. You can hear sniffing and snarling getting closer, so you decide to leap into the mist. Test your Luck. If you are Unlucky, you land badly and break both legs. You lie there until a clumsy Troll falls over you. He sees you, licks his lips, and you are never heard of again. If you are Lucky, turn to 364.

Die roll = 5 (Lucky).

You land safely. Add 2 LUCK points. Slowly, menacingly, the mist clears, and you see Orghuz's Tower: a huge block of stone with one entrance, surrounded by a wide moat of green slime. On each of the four corners stand Gargoyles that snap, snarl and flap their black wings. The mist begins to close in again and you walk towards the tower. Occasionally you pass an Orc, but disappear into the mist before he decides to challenge you. In the thick mist you get to the bridge across the moat, past two Trolls, and stop at a metal door. You may not use the Bazouk beyond this point. In the grime you feel this shape:

If you know the secret Cyphers, go to that number. If not, you look up to see a small, grubby chute. You must climb up to the hole, holding on to the cracks between the stone blocks. Throw a die twelve times. To succeed you will need eight throws of 1 to 4. If you fail, you fall into the deadly slime. If you succeed, you climb through the chute and into the smelly room.

Regarding the instructions not to use the Bazouk past this point, this means we cannot use her for the LUCK restore or extra provisions. However, since using her for extra lives for a house rule implemented by me, I won't apply this for that. So we still have the last 2 uses to save us from potential sudden deaths.

Got back the LUCK point we just used up.

Can you de-cypher the symbols?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Sir Gareth
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 10/15
LUCK 11/11
Equipment: Shining Sword, Leather Armor
Provisions: 5
Fuel: 0
Tabasha's Favour: 2/9 (can be used once to restore LUCK to max and increase Initial LUCK by 1)
Abilities: Life Spell (can be used once, when killed in combat, to proceed as it the battle was won, with 4 STAMINA remaining and SKILL deducted by 1)
Khuddam killed: 1 (Barkek)
Extra Lives remaining: 0/8
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

The secret cypher is 258, so I vote to head to section 258.

[Darth Rabbitt]

258.

[SGamerz]

The door opens easily. You walk into a well-lit room. There are several torches on each wall. Suddenly they flare up and you hear a booming, rasping voice: "So, you are here, blood heir. You have come for the Shield. You are very welcome. But first you must find ME!" The otrches go out and you are left in complete darkness. Something crawls across the back of your neck. The Sword does not shine and feels very heavy. You remember from when you walked in that there are two exits. Do you go through the door leading north, or the door west? On the west door you feel the following pattern:

[JourneymanN00b]

The west door has a danger rune, so I vote to go north.

[SGamerz]

The door snaps shut after you enter. You realize that the doors allow easy access, but will not let you return the way you came. You find yourself in a kind of trophy room: there are swords, spears, suits of armour and stuffed heads of strange, horned beasts. In the corner you see a set of crossbows and then suddenly hear the twang of the arrows being shot. Test your Luck. If you are Unlucky, then you are hit by an arrow whose fatal poison acts very quickly. If you are Lucky, all the arrows miss and you find three exits. Which do you choose:

North?
West?
East?

Dice roll = 9 (Lucky). Sir Gareth avoids another insta-death!

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Sir Gareth
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 10/15
LUCK 10/11
Equipment: Shining Sword, Leather Armor
Provisions: 5
Fuel: 0
Tabasha's Favour: 2/9
Abilities: Life Spell (can be used once, when killed in combat, to proceed as it the battle was won, with 4 STAMINA remaining and SKILL deducted by 1)
Khuddam killed: 1 (Barkek)
Extra Lives remaining: 0/8
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to go east, since Sir Gareth is forced to follow fascism or die.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Sure, east works by me.

[SGamerz]

You are in a small room full of old bottles, jars, dried bats and spiders. It reminds you of the Apothecary on Gorak. Three old hags sit by a roaring fire in the corner. They whisper to each other and laugh. They see you and slowly they begin to change into large wolves. You try to lift your Sword but it feels very heavy. The hags have now completely changed, and you are standing in front of three wolves, who begin to stalk you. You look for exits and find a door heading north, and a door heading south.

Which way do we run?

[Beroli]

North.

[Darth Rabbitt]

North is fine by me.

[SGamerz]

You shut the door and you can hear scrabbling and howling. The door stays shut as you turn around to look at the room, which is long and thin, with exits north and west. Many swords and daggers are suspended from the ceiling by thin twine. Suddenly, a deep, evil laughter booms out, and one of the swords drops. It crashes into the floor close to you. Choose an exit. If you go west, throw a die for your position and a die for where the sword drops. If the two match, you have been struck and killed. Repeat three times and, if you survive, turn to 40. If you go north, repeat, as above, five times. If you survive, turn to 297.

Obviously, the north exit is more risky right for us right now, but the exits lead to different sections, and we have no way of knowing whether the west exit, despite being less dangerous to reach, leads to something better or worse than the north one. Which one do we try?

[Beroli]

West.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to go north, as apparently trying to resist fascism in this book just results in bad things.

[Darth Rabbitt]

North seems like a death sentence, while west is merely "rather likely" to be an instakill.

[SGamerz]

Heading for west exit:

1st rolls: 2 & 4.
2nd rolls: 3& 1.
3rd rolls: 3 & 6.
4th rolls: 3 & 2.

Sir Gareth makes it to the exit to the west, and...

You step into an empty room and hear the voice of Orghuz: "You cannot escape from me, blood heir, but I will not kill you; you will kill yourself. In this room your worst nightmares will come to life and grow in intensity, until death."

...hits a Game Over.

In a more lenient book with less arbitrary bullsh*t deaths, I might have tried to fit in some life story about how one should look beyond the obvious and how the seemingly easier way doesn't necessarily lead to something better, but screw that, for something like this book, one might as well be using coin-flips to navigate his way anyway.

Rewinding and going north:

1st rolls: 4 & 6.
2nd rolls: 4 & 3.
3rd rolls: 3 & 2.
4th rolls: 2 & 3.
5th rolls: 4 & 2.
6th rolls: 3 & 6.

Ahead of you is an intricately carved, stone staircase, depicting various exotic creatures. Some of them appear to move. There is also another door that does not open. You step over a brightly coloured snake and make your way upstairs.

When you reach the top of the stairs, you find yourself in a dark chamber; the only light comes from a firing-slit in the wall. Suddenly there are the sounds of scuttling and a chain rattling. Something snarls and rushes towards you from the direction of the stairs. You see two doors; do you go through the exit south or the exit west?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Sir Gareth
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 10/15
LUCK 10/11
Equipment: Shining Sword, Leather Armor
Provisions: 5
Fuel: 0
Tabasha's Favour: 1/9
Abilities: Life Spell (can be used once, when killed in combat, to proceed as it the battle was won, with 4 STAMINA remaining and SKILL deducted by 1)
Khuddam killed: 1 (Barkek)
Extra Lives remaining: 0/9
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to go through the exit south, since taking the communist direction leads to bad things in this pro-fascist adventure.

[SGamerz]

We have zero information on which way we were facing when we reached the top of the stairs in this room, so there's no way of knowing which way is left or right anyway. Compass directions don't really help unless you know your facing the north.

[Beroli]

West.

[Darth Rabbitt]

West, because I think this adventure's directions are entirely random.

[SGamerz]

You are in another room. In the corner stands a figure wearing a black cloak. You grasp your Sword firmly and approach the figure, fearing the worst. But the figure does not move. When you get close enough you find that it is made of some powdery substance. It changes as you watch it and begins to resemble a Khuddam. You guess that the power of the Shield is waning and that the Seven Fell Servants of Orghuz are beginning to multiply. You know that you must hurry. You find a door heading south and a door west. Which do you choose?

[JourneymanN00b]

I choose the south door.