[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 26 - Crypt of the Sorcerer

[Darth Rabbitt]

Yeah, I don't think Ninja Honesty is the way to go here.

[Beroli]

Say we've been in Port Blacksand.

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes registered, Dirk the Impaler will answer that he has been in Port Blacksand to buy weapons and persuade Lord Azzur to join Razaak in conquering Allansia.

364
‘If what you say is true, I am sure my master will want to hear of Lord Azzur’s allegiance. But before I allow you entrance to my master, I must ensure that you are not a spy from the outside world. I will ask you some questions,’ continues Ungoth. ‘Should you answer them correctly, then I will be convinced you are a true servant of Razaak. You say you were in Port Blacksand, that venerable city of thieves, to buy arms. Now tell me, how many Gold Pieces would you pay for a war-hammer?’ If you know the answer, turn to the number that it would cost. If you do not know the answer, turn to 291.

Dirk the Impaler knows the answer, which is 35 Gold Pieces. So, we will turn to section 35.

35
‘Yes, Port Blacksand is a city of thieves,’ continues Ungoth. You breathe a sigh of relief and prepare yourself for the next question. ‘As you know, Razaak has already secured the support of all the Trolls of Allansia. Our friends the Trolls have some peculiar habits, the most ridiculous of which is their delight in eating Hobbits’ ears, especially in a competition. What is the record for the most eaten at once?’ The thought of the disgusting spectacle fills your mind and you have difficulty concentrating on the answer. However, if you know it, turn to the number equivalent to the current Allansian record. If you do not know the answer, turn to 303.

Dirk the Impaler also knows the answer, which is 119 ears. We will thus turn to section 119.

119
‘Stupid Trolls. But we need them in the short term, although Razaak will no doubt dispense with them when he has conquered Allansia. They are merely servants to tend the Gargantis which Razaak has reared and will use to spearhead his army against the forces of Allansia.’ You think of the white horn hidden in your robes, and gulp and look away, hoping the Skeleton Lord does not detect your guilt. ‘Anyway,’ continues Ungoth, ‘what I would like you to tell me is this: What number does Razaak tattoo on the arms of his Zombie tunnellers?’ If you know the answer, turn to the relevant number. If you do not know the answer, turn to 291.

Dirk the Impaler knows the answer, which is 5. Onwards to section 5.

5
‘It will not be long before Razaak raises all the dead of Allansia to fill his army’s ranks with Zombies. It will be a great day. I am beginning to believe you, but I will ask you one more serious question,’ says Ungoth, rising from his throne. ‘How old was Razaak’s father when he died?’ If you know the answer, turn to the number that was Tamal’s age. If you do not know the answer, turn to 303.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Yet again, Dirk the Impaler knows the answer, which was 108. Therefore, we will turn to section 108.

108
‘Yes, that is correct,’ says Ungoth. ‘I will now let you enter the crypt. Go through the granite door. You know the combination, of course.’ Almost unable to walk due to nervous expectation, you walk over to the granite door. You see a row of nine metal rods, numbered 1 to 9, protruding from the wall. If you know which three to pull, turn to that number. If you do not know which ones to pull, turn to 291.

Dirk the Impaler also knows which three rods to pull due the granite door rhyme. The numbers are One eight four, so we are going to section 184 next.

184
The huge granite door slowly slides open and you are hit by a gust of cold mist. You see the outline of a figure shrouded in the mist and walk forward to meet it. If you are wearing a bronze talisman around your neck in the shape of a Horned Demon, turn to 125. If you are not wearing a talisman, turn to 276.

Dirk the Impaler is not wearing a talisman.

276
[spoiler][/spoiler]

The figure steps slowly towards you and then through the mist you see that it is your old friend, the great wizard Yaztromo. ‘Hello,’ he says in a jovial voice. ‘You didn’t expect to find me here, did you?’ If you are wearing a gold ring set with an iridescent jewel, turn to 326. If you are not wearing this ring, turn to 164.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Dirk the Impaler is wearing a gold ring set with an iridescent jewel.

326
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Although you did not know it, the jewel in your ring is known as the Seeing Eye. Its wearer will see through all illusions, even if cast by the most powerful magic. Slowly the features of Yaztromo disappear to reveal the hideous figure of Razaak in his true form. His body is grotesque, with a large domed insect-like back which curves up to his oversized head. One arm trails on the floor, while the other is withered and stunted. One eye bulges from its socket and a twisted smile warps the left of his deformed face. Red veins pulsate on his bald skull, and you have never felt so repulsed in all your life. ‘I know you were an outsider,’ he sneers. ‘I can feel the presence of my sword hidden in your robes. But you are out of your depth, worm.’ Suddenly he points his stunted arm at you and a fireball shoots out from his scrawny fingertip straight at you. If you have inhaled the smoke from inside a smashed globe, turn to 351. If you have not inhaled the magic smoke, turn to 259.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Dirk the Impaler has inhaled the smoke from inside a smashed globe.

351
You detect surprise on Razaak’s face as the ball of fire veers away from your body. He releases another fireball, but it too veers away. Realizing that you have protection from fire, he starts to mumble words which you do not comprehend. Immediately, his fingertips are crawling with giant, bloated insects which swarm towards you as if Razaak were holding the end of a massive pulsating cone. If you possess a Hamakeian parchment, you should use it now by calling on the Hamakei and turning to the number on the parchment. If you do not possess a parchment, turn to 242.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Dirk the Impaler does possess a Hamakeian parchment, so he will call on the Hamakei, and we will turn to section 66.

66
The Hamakeian spell is cast and an invisible barrier forms around you. Hundreds of stinging insects fly into the barrier, until a dark dome forms around you. But frustrated by your unexpected defence, Razaak dispels the insects to use even more powerful sorcery against you. If you are carrying the Defender, turn to 271. If you are not carrying this item, turn to 209.

Dirk the Impaler is also carrying the Defender.

271
You see a flash of white light as a jagged bolt of lightning blasts from Razaak’s fingertips. But instead of killing you instantly, the lightning is drawn to your shield and is harmlessly discharged. Even on Razaak’s deformed face, you can see a hint of worry. He hesitates for a second, and seizing your opportunity, you rush at him with his own sword. Ignoring the blows of the sword, his only concern is to touch you with his fingers.

RAZAAK SKILL 12 STAMINA 20

If Razaak wins two consecutive Attack Rounds at any time during combat, turn to 14. If you win without losing two consecutive Attack Rounds, turn to 84.

Important Note: I will have Dirk the Impaler add 2 Luck points for surviving the many tests and Razaak’s magical attacks, as it truly takes great luck from an adventuring perspective to survive such a grilling. Given that Razaak is vulnerable to his own sword, I will also have Razaak’s sword add 3 additional points to Dirk the Impaler’s Attack Strength in this fight.

Rolling the dice due to the Helmet of Cowardice’s effect yields an 11, which is unsurprisingly lower than Dirk the Impaler’s Skill, so he summons up enough courage to fight.

The fight:
[spoiler]Round 1: Razaak Attack Strength: 19, Player Attack Strength: 27;
Razaak Stamina: 18, Player Stamina: 20
Round 2: Razaak Attack Strength: 22, Player Attack Strength: 22;
Razaak Stamina: 18, Player Stamina: 20
Round 3: Razaak Attack Strength: 24, Player Attack Strength: 26;
Razaak Stamina: 16, Player Stamina: 20
Round 4: Razaak Attack Strength: 17, Player Attack Strength: 23;
Razaak Stamina: 14, Player Stamina: 20
Round 5: Razaak Attack Strength: 18, Player Attack Strength: 27;
Razaak Stamina: 12, Player Stamina: 20
Round 6: Razaak Attack Strength: 18, Player Attack Strength: 29;
Razaak Stamina: 10, Player Stamina: 20
Round 7: Razaak Attack Strength: 22, Player Attack Strength: 28;
Razaak Stamina: 8, Player Stamina: 20
Round 8: Razaak Attack Strength: 20, Player Attack Strength: 27;
Razaak Stamina: 6, Player Stamina: 20
Round 9: Razaak Attack Strength: 23, Player Attack Strength: 26;
Razaak Stamina: 4, Player Stamina: 20
Round 10: Razaak Attack Strength: 20, Player Attack Strength: 25;
Razaak Stamina: 2, Player Stamina: 20
Round 11: Razaak Attack Strength: 14, Player Attack Strength: 20;
Razaak Stamina: 0, Player Stamina: 20[/spoiler]

Thanks to the edits, Dirk the Impaler flawlessly destroys Razaak.

84
[spoiler][/spoiler]

You know what you have to do to completely destroy the necromancer. You pull the white horn from your robes and plunge it into Razaak’s chest. A soul-chilling scream breaks the silence of the crypt and within seconds nothing more than dust lies on the floor where Razaak had fallen. The mist falls away and you see the great stone sarcophagus in which Razaak lay for over one hundred years. If you wish to look inside the sarcophagus, turn to 390. If you would rather leave the crypt as quickly as possible, turn to 233.

Please vote on whether to let the changes to the Razaak fight stand (if not, the fight can be adjusted to follow the original rules) and what to do next before 12:00 PM PDT to guarantee that it will be counted.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Dirk the Impaler
SKILL: 12 Initial Skill = 12
STAMINA: 20 Initial Stamina = 24
LUCK: 7 Initial Luck = 12
NOTES:
Dabbed self with Chameleonite blood
Memorized the rhyme: To go beyond A granite door, Press the numbers One eight four.
A Gargantis purportedly dwells in the Howling Tunnels of the Western Flatlands
Immune to any fire attacks
Call out “Suma 11” to summon Suma for aid
Record for the number of Hobbits’ ears eaten by a Troll in a competition is 119
It costs 35 Gold Pieces for a war-hammer
Razaak’s father, Tamal, died at age 108
Razaak’s zombies are all tattooed with the number 5
To activate magic screen against conjured animals or insects, say “Hamakei” and call out 66
Upon slaying Razaak, escape from the crypt immediately or die
TREASURE:
7 Gold Pieces
EQUIPMENT:
Leather Armour
Backpack
Healing Potion (four tots, +6 STAMINA per tot)
Skull Ring
Cracked Silver Mirror
Silver Rod with the Inscription “37”
Candle
Crystal of Sanity
Gargantis Scroll
Defender Shield (+1 Attack Strength)
Gold Ring with Iridescent Jewel
Razaak’s Sword (+1 Attack Strength)
Piece of Faded Parchment with the Number “66”
Polished Stones
Helmet of Cowardice (Roll two dice before combat, player dies if total is greater than Skill)
Gargantis Horn
Bronze Key
Robe
Copper Identity Tag with the Number “283”
Five Black Candles
RESURRECTIONS: 0[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

Since nobody voted, I will have Dirk the Impaler leave the crypt as quickly as possible.

233
As you make your way out of the crypt, you hear a rumbling sound, and small stones and dirt fall from the ceiling. You realize that the tunnels are about to cave in and you must run for your life. If your current STAMINA is 6 or higher, turn to 400. If your current STAMINA is less than 6, turn to 58.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Dirk the Impaler’s Stamina is higher than 6.

400
You reach the steps leading out of the fissure just as the tunnels start to cave in. You run up the steps and are greeted by Borri, Symm and Yaztromo. ‘I thought you were …” you start, but collapse from exhaustion before you can finish the sentence. When you wake up, you find yourself in a comfortable bed, with your three friends sitting in chairs at the end of the bed. ‘Well done,’ says the wizard with a great smile. ‘You did it! And as promised, you have not turned into a skeleton. But it was close, mind you. I was terribly worried when you collapsed by the fissure. It was with some difficulty that I neutralized the power of Razaak’s sword and took it from your grip. It is now buried under tons of rubble and rock at the bottom of the fissure. And that should be the end of that. Come on, get up – it’s time to start celebrating!’ And celebrate you do.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Bonus victory entry:
With great relief and liberation, Dirk the Impaler celebrates his survival from his truly awful ordeal. He drinks a lot of wine from the partying and retires to his bed several hours later. As he lies down and releases his body from the massive amounts of stress, he decides to return to the Lion Inn at Chalice.

There he is showered with rewards from the townspeople for dispatching Razaak. After selling his rewards for gold and using it to buy the finest set of armor as well as the best sword that a smithy could forge, he declares his intention to continue adventuring. “On to the next battle folks!”

Well, it took a rather large number of edits and resurrections, but we actually managed to survive this abomination of a gamebook! So give yourselves some massive praise, as we can now say that we conquered the granddaddy of hardest Fighting Fantasy gamebooks!

To answer Queen of Swords' question, jumping into the water was indeed a game over situation, as a hideous tentacled monster would have grabbed our hero and caused him to drown in the dark pool.

Some of the critical mistakes that we made that needed intervention on my part started with crossing the river and riding east rather than keep going north. Succumbing to fascism so early resulted in missing out on getting Chainmail Armour and normally getting the Crystal of Sanity Talisman. The next mistake happened when we decided to stay at Yaztromo’s tower overnight instead of setting out, as that caused us to miss the graveyard. Because of that, we missed out on Tamal’s age and the second half of the Rod of Paralysis that would have made the Gargantis fight much easier to win. Finally, the last mistake we made was when we turned left after arriving at the Western Flatlands. The right junction was host to the Bronze Key and the Zombie tunnelers that we needed to observe in order to find the number “5” tattooed on their arms. The alternate options that I provided were not perfect, but I viewed them as plausible story-wise in order to keep the adventure winnable and improve the gamebook’s entertainment factor.

I will start a new thread for the next book that I acquired very recently later today. Thank you all for playing, and I hope to see all of you in my next thread. The next book is far more reasonable than Crypt of the Sorcerer was in difficulty, so I think there is potential for an enjoyable experience there!

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Dirk the Impaler
SKILL: 12 Initial Skill = 12
STAMINA: 20 Initial Stamina = 24
LUCK: 7 Initial Luck = 12
NOTES:
Dabbed self with Chameleonite blood
Memorized the rhyme: To go beyond A granite door, Press the numbers One eight four.
A Gargantis purportedly dwells in the Howling Tunnels of the Western Flatlands
Immune to any fire attacks
Call out “Suma 11” to summon Suma for aid
Record for the number of Hobbits’ ears eaten by a Troll in a competition is 119
It costs 35 Gold Pieces for a war-hammer
Razaak’s father, Tamal, died at age 108
Razaak’s zombies are all tattooed with the number 5
To activate magic screen against conjured animals or insects, say “Hamakei” and call out 66
Upon slaying Razaak, escape from the crypt immediately or die
TREASURE:
7 Gold Pieces
EQUIPMENT:
Leather Armour
Backpack
Healing Potion (four tots, +6 STAMINA per tot)
Skull Ring
Cracked Silver Mirror
Silver Rod with the Inscription “37”
Candle
Crystal of Sanity
Gargantis Scroll
Defender Shield (+1 Attack Strength)
Gold Ring with Iridescent Jewel
Razaak’s Sword (+1 Attack Strength)
Piece of Faded Parchment with the Number “66”
Polished Stones
Helmet of Cowardice (Roll two dice before combat, player dies if total is greater than Skill)
Gargantis Horn
Bronze Key
Robe
Copper Identity Tag with the Number “283”
Five Black Candles
RESURRECTIONS: 0[/spoiler]

[Queen of Swords]

Thanks for hosting this and satisfying my curiosity about the pool. The quantity of items and numbers that we needed just to get to Razaak, let alone defeat him, boggles the mind.

[Beroli]

And don't forget, without house rules, we would have been dealing with that "two rounds and you die" thing with Attack Strength that couldn't be higher than Razaak's, and could easily be much lower.

Thanks for running this, JourneymanN00b.

[JourneymanN00b]

I appreciate the thanks. I just set up my next Let's Play, so I hope everyone sticks around for that.

[Thaluikhain]

Thanks for hosting. I seem to remember if we make a wrong choice or don't have the right item or something, we have to fight a Sk12 St 24 monster,where was that? And if it isn't for not answering the skeleton's questions about Blacksand and so on (only FF that has a quiz, IIRC), what happens if you get those wrong?

[Darth Rabbitt]

Certainly better than The Port of Peril but after going through most of his work here it feels like Livingstone peaked with the City of Thieves/Deathtrap Dungeon/Island of the Lizard King trilogy. With this and Trial of Champions it feels like he was just trying to do extra Nintendo Hard stuff. Since this came out right after Creature of Havoc, were he and UK Steve Jackson under the assumption that readers thought their books were too easy? Were kids in the UK at the time gluttons for punishment?

[Beroli]

Thanks for hosting. I seem to remember if we make a wrong choice or don't have the right item or something, we have to fight a Sk12 St 24 monster,where was that? And if it isn't for not answering the skeleton's questions about Blacksand and so on (only FF that has a quiz, IIRC), what happens if you get those wrong?

That was the Gargantis, who we fought, but with house rule=bonus to attack power and house rule=it took 1 damage per round from Symm and Borri. We found one-half of the Rod of Paralysis that would have defeated it without a fight, and, due to being psychopathic at the appropriate time, got the Skull Ring that would have gotten us the other half, but then we stayed in Yaztromo's hut and didn't actually find the graveyard with the other half of the rod.

Failing any of those questions ("selling weapons in Port Blacksand? Then you must know the record for number of halfling's ears eaten!") is instant death.

On an unrelated note, Symm and Borri both survived the entire book.

[Thaluikhain]

That was the Gargantis, who we fought, but with house rule=bonus to attack power and house rule=it took 1 damage per round from Symm and Borri.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten that, thanks.