[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 49 - Siege of Sardath

[Dogopolis]

(The optimal strategy is to try and use Istu in combat at every opportunity after the Mirror Demon encounter (in some cases by looking for extra fights where necessary, like joining the Dwarven axemen to fight the Toa-Suo up close) so that we can "use him up" before this encounter, and therefore won't trigger this combat. In such a case, the knocking sequence would be sufficient to get past this encounter. Of course, that's very hard to do without the advantage of hindsight or a lot of luck.)

Doing it this way highlights one of the stupidest sections of the book. You need to give the password. It's in a language you don't speak, could be anything and there's no point in the book it's given to you: the book gives you 2 choices, one of which kills you and the other is the correct password. If you choose the correct password it's effectively like the PC made a random guttural sound that just happened to be the password.

[SGamerz]

(The optimal strategy is to try and use Istu in combat at every opportunity after the Mirror Demon encounter (in some cases by looking for extra fights where necessary, like joining the Dwarven axemen to fight the Toa-Suo up close) so that we can "use him up" before this encounter, and therefore won't trigger this combat. In such a case, the knocking sequence would be sufficient to get past this encounter. Of course, that's very hard to do without the advantage of hindsight or a lot of luck.)

Doing it this way highlights one of the stupidest sections of the book. You need to give the password. It's in a language you don't speak, could be anything and there's no point in the book it's given to you: the book gives you 2 choices, one of which kills you and the other is the correct password. If you choose the correct password it's effectively like the PC made a random guttural sound that just happened to be the password.

Huh, I actually completely forgot about that part.

It's true that this part doesn't make a lick of sense from the story point of view.

Even as a puzzle it can be considered pretty obscure (although still a solvable one, as the password's alphabets corresponds with the numbers of the knocking sequence).

[Dogopolis]

(although still a solvable one, as the password's alphabets corresponds with the numbers of the knocking sequence).

OK, that I never noticed. It still doesn't make any sense, but at least it isn't completely random.

[SGamerz]

2 days without a tiebreaker, so I'm resolving this by random die roll: odds left, even right.

Die roll = 1. The god of communism triumphs over the god of fascism.

You follow the walkway as far as an archway in a plain stone wall. But something about this archway is wrong, as if you would have to cross a great gulf to reach it. The world begins to spin and you lose all sense of where you are. Test your Luck. If you are Unlucky, you feel an intense dizziness and begin to stagger from one side of the walkway to the other. Unable to control yourself, you fall to your knees and pitch over the side - your adventure ends here. If you are Lucky, you recover at the last moment and find yourself gazing down into what looks like an infinite abyss. if this is the first time you have experienced this effect, you will be disoriented for days (lose 1 SKILL point). If you've suffered from this effect before, the symptoms are not worsened. When you finally come to your senses, you can't quite make out where you are, except that you are on a walkway. Roll one die. If you roll:

1-2, Turn to 77
3-4, Turn to 112
5-6, Turn to 146

Unfortunately, I don't think our crystal ball protects from this Luck test, since the text stated that it works when we "take the option" to look at the architecture, which we didn't.

Luck test roll = 7 (Lucky).

We survive, but still lose 1 SKILL point.

Now, to find out where we are:

Die roll = 5.

You continue along the walkway until you reach a narrow tunnel in the cavern wall. You are just about to go through it when you realize that this is the way you came in. You turn and glance across the cavern, once again catching a terrifying glimpse of that wild architecture. You have no choice but to turn around and try to complete your mission. Will you force yourself to look at the city before you go or walk back across the walkway, keeping your eyes down?

We already looked earlier, and this one goes to the same section, so let's just keep walking:

If you ever change your mind and decide to take a look at your surroundings, make a note of the number of the paragraph you are reading at the time, then turn to 153 (make a note of this number for future reference). For now, you walk tentatively along the walkway, keeping your eyes on the path just in front of you. It is unnerving not knowing where you are going, but you force yourself to walk on. Eventually the walkway meets another. Will you go left or right?

This is actually pretty much the same option we were stuck on earlier, and now we know what's on the left. There's a dangerous LUCK test which is lethal if we fail (although at least the SKILL penalty won't stack), followed by a random roll. We don't know what's on the right.

Do we want risk another Luck test and random relocation, or risk the complete unknown?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Quincey Stridemoore
SKILL 11/12
STAMINA 11/15
LUCK 9/10
Equipment: Sword, leather armour, bow, quiver, Council Signet Ring, 2: Condensed Mist from the Mithrir Forest, Four-leaf Clover, Sleeping Draught, Potion of Fortune, SevenFourteen-coiled Snake Ring, Brain Slayer Amulet (symbol 'IX' carved on its back, 'XX' carved on its front, -2 SKILL when worn, currently not worn), Climbing rope, Brass Key, Fangnir's Encyclopedia of Subterranean Flora, Lightning Sphere, Red Gem, Small Crystal Ball (when looking at Dark Elf architecture, automatically Lucky from resulting Luck test, and does not need to spend LUCK point)
Arrows: 6
Bundles of Herbs: 10
Gold: 6 GP
Companions: Istu (SKILL 12, STAMINA 1, can fight alongside us in combat, does not take damage from opponents, but lose 3 STAMINA per use)
Notes: Currently disguised as Dark Elf, subtract 10 from section number when encountering the phrase 'because you are human'.
Day of the Week:
Stormsday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Moonsday (2/3 extra lives remaining)
Fireday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Earthday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Windsday (2/3 extra lives remaining)
Seaday (2/3 extra lives remaining)
Highday (1/3 extra lives remaining)
[/spoiler]

[Queen of Swords]

2 days without a tiebreaker

I posted on Tuesday that I'd change my vote to right to resolve the tie. It's the last post on the previous page.

[SGamerz]

2 days without a tiebreaker

I posted on Tuesday that I'd change my vote to right to resolve the tie. It's the last post on the previous page.

Oops, sorry, the very next post after yours was on a new page, and my habit of always reading from the last page caused me to miss yours.

In that case, Quincey Stridermoore went right at the junction the first time, and did not incur the SKILL penalty:

You follow the walkway for some distance, keeping your eyes down while still trying to walk as naturally as possible. Eventually you come to a junction; will you go left or carry straight on?

Going straight from here actually leads to the same section as going left on the previous one (with the dangerous Luck Test and SKILL penalty). Going left leads to a new section.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Quincey Stridemoore
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 11/15
LUCK 10/10
Equipment: Sword, leather armour, bow, quiver, Council Signet Ring, 2: Condensed Mist from the Mithrir Forest, Four-leaf Clover, Sleeping Draught, Potion of Fortune, SevenFourteen-coiled Snake Ring, Brain Slayer Amulet (symbol 'IX' carved on its back, 'XX' carved on its front, -2 SKILL when worn, currently not worn), Climbing rope, Brass Key, Fangnir's Encyclopedia of Subterranean Flora, Lightning Sphere, Red Gem, Small Crystal Ball (when looking at Dark Elf architecture, automatically Lucky from resulting Luck test, and does not need to spend LUCK point)
Arrows: 6
Bundles of Herbs: 10
Gold: 6 GP
Companions: Istu (SKILL 12, STAMINA 1, can fight alongside us in combat, does not take damage from opponents, but lose 3 STAMINA per use)
Notes: Currently disguised as Dark Elf, subtract 10 from section number when encountering the phrase 'because you are human'.
Day of the Week:
Stormsday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Moonsday (2/3 extra lives remaining)
Fireday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Earthday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Windsday (2/3 extra lives remaining)
Seaday (2/3 extra lives remaining)
Highday (1/3 extra lives remaining)
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to go left to avoid the Skill penalty and dangerous Luck test.

[Queen of Swords]

Going straight from here actually leads to the same section as going left on the previous one (with the dangerous Luck Test and SKILL penalty). Going left leads to a new section.

Let's go left.

[Beroli]

Go left. Dark elf architecture can mousetrap us multiple times apparently.

[SGamerz]

This walkway leads almost immediately to a stairway, which you climb up carefully until you come to a small landing. Straight ahead there is an archway and to your right is another walkway. Will you go straight on or turn right?

Both options lead to unfamiliar sections this time.

[JourneymanN00b]

Let's try right, since i have a bad feeling about the archway for some reason.

[SGamerz]

You follow the walkway until it comes to a wide staircase. This is less unnerving to climb than he other stairway, but you are glad when the archway at the top leads to an enclosed tunnel. However, this tunnel decorated with shadowy wall-paintings whose gruesome effect is made worse by the unnatural light coming from the surrounding fungi. With this sickness as a spur, you hurry through to the next cavern.

Half expecting some unknown horror, you take a tentative glance at your surroundings. You are standing at the beginning of a long walkway in a huge cavern. On your right there are some tall buildings of a bizarre construction; to your left, a row of impossibly slender pillars rise up beside the cavern wall. You go along the walkway for some distance until you come to a stairway which soars up towards the ceiling on the pillars you saw before; it ends at a balcony high above the archway through which you came. If you continue along the walkway, turn to 369. If you climb the stairway, you eventually reach the balcony; you walk to the edge and look out.

[Queen of Swords]

Continue along the walkway.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to continue along the walkway. Going to the stairway to the balcony sounds like it will be trouble.

[SGamerz]

After going along the walkway for some distance, you reach a junction. Straight ahead of you are many Dark Elf warriors, apparently engaged in training or some other military activity. They haven't taken any notice of you so far, but it would be foolish to tempt providence, so you decide to keep well clear of that direction. To your left a stairway leads up to a huge oval building; to your right, there is another stairway, this time leading down to the floor of the cavern, where you can see a lot of building work in progress. If you have already spoken with any of the Dark Elves in the oval building, turn to 338. If you have not will you go left or right?

[JourneymanN00b]

With no indications on which direction is correct, I vote to go left to reject the rising evils of Nazism.

[SGamerz]

At the top of the stairway is an immense door, about ten metres high and three metres wide. It opens as you walk towards it, closing behind you once you have stepped through. This room is roughly the same shape as the building, except that it is about half the size. In front of you, there is an immense cylindrical cage with some sort of magical energy oscillating between its bars. Standing inside the cage, almost filling it, is a Storm Giant, apparently in some kind og tortured trance. Behind the Giant are two groups of Dark Elves. The ones on the left are seated round a table, eating and drinking, laughing and screaming, oblivious to the torment of the Giant. The others, on the Giant's right, are standing in a circle round a magical diagram on the floor, chanting and swaying, performing some dark ritual. If you have a Lightning Sphere, it begins to crackle, indicating an urgent desire to be used. If you throw it between the two groups of Dark Elves, turn to 382.If you don't have a Lightning Sphere, or if you don't want to use it, no one has noticed you yet, so you may leave. If you decide to stay, will you go up to the Storm Giant, walk round him to the left, or walk round him to the right?

Looks like we've found Corianthus, but he's in no condition to help us at the moment.

And we've apparently just found the darkest of the Dark Elves that the Sphere is able to sense.

What do we do here?

[Beroli]

Put the amulet on and throw the sphere.

[JourneymanN00b]

Yeah, I vote to use the Lightning Sphere. I also vote to wear the amulet, as the Dark Elves could use mental attacks here.

[SGamerz]

Quincy Stridermoore puts on the Brain Slayer Amulet, bringing his working SKILL down to 10.

You take out Thyra's Lightning Sphere and hold it in your hand. It spreads and crackles, and you can feel its restless power almost willing you to throw it. You draw your arm slowly back, then launch the Sphere past the Storm Giant, to a point between the two groups of Dark Elves. For one heart-stopping second, nothing happens. Then there is a sudden blaze of light and you clap your hands over your eyes. A volley of deafening explosions follows, and then nothing. When you look again, all that remains of the Dark Elves is a cloud of fine grey powder. Fortunately, the Storm Giant is unaffected; whether the cage protected him, or he is immune to Thyra's power, you don't know. You are just glad that he is unharmed. You walk towards him to see whether you can free him, but you are repulsed by some great power. No matter what you try to do, you cannot get close to him.

"What has happened here?" demands a Dark Elf voice from the archway. For a second, you are taken by surprise, but then you explain that a terrible power flashed out from the Giant and killed them all. "Oh well," he says, "they were all drunken scum anyway. But you had better go and inform the Sorcerer." You hesitate. "Go!" he shouts. By now, other Dark Elves have joined him, so you are forced to leave.

More effective than nuclear weaponry (with less collateral damage too)!

And apparently the darkest of Dark Elves are the drunken scums of their society.

You walk back to the huge door and wait as it opens for you. You step through and go back down the stairway to the junction. Some distance along the walkway, to the left, the warriors are training, so you decide to take one of the other options. If you go straight ahead and down the stairway, turn to 391. If you go right, you soon reach a junction where a stairway goes off to the right. Will you go up these stairs to the balcony and look out or continue along the walkway to an archway in the wall of the cavern?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Quincey Stridemoore
SKILL 10/12 (while wearing Brain Slayer Amulet)
STAMINA 11/15
LUCK 10/10
Equipment: Sword, leather armour, bow, quiver, Council Signet Ring, 2: Condensed Mist from the Mithrir Forest, Four-leaf Clover, Sleeping Draught, Potion of Fortune, SevenFourteen-coiled Snake Ring, Brain Slayer Amulet (symbol 'IX' carved on its back, 'XX' carved on its front, -2 SKILL when worn, currently not worn), Climbing rope, Brass Key, Fangnir's Encyclopedia of Subterranean Flora, Red Gem, Small Crystal Ball (when looking at Dark Elf architecture, automatically Lucky from resulting Luck test, and does not need to spend LUCK point)
Arrows: 6
Bundles of Herbs: 10
Gold: 6 GP
Companions: Istu (SKILL 12, STAMINA 1, can fight alongside us in combat, does not take damage from opponents, but lose 3 STAMINA per use)
Notes: Currently disguised as Dark Elf, subtract 10 from section number when encountering the phrase 'because you are human'.
Day of the Week:
Stormsday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Moonsday (2/3 extra lives remaining)
Fireday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Earthday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Windsday (2/3 extra lives remaining)
Seaday (2/3 extra lives remaining)
Highday (1/3 extra lives remaining)
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to go straight ahead and down the stairway, as this section has presented us with no valid reason to take the fascist option.

[Thaluikhain]

May as well.

And apparently the darkest of Dark Elves are the drunken scums of their society.

Hey? Does it say they were the darkest, or have I missed something?

[Queen of Swords]

Sure, let's try straight ahead and down the stairway.

[SGamerz]

And apparently the darkest of Dark Elves are the drunken scums of their society.

Hey? Does it say they were the darkest, or have I missed something?

It was a reference to Thyra Migurn's claim that her sphere only reacts to the darkest of Dark Elves. That was the first time the sphere actually reacted so far.

At the foot of the stairway is a long road: it is well constructed but is littered with rubble from the building work which is going on. When you get on to the road, you follow it, ignoring the many side turnings which lead into the heart of the city. In these streets there are dozens of Dark Elves on high scaffolds, building twisted houses and passageways or carving hideous statues and gargoyles. They are attended by Dwarf slaves, who are being whipped and made to work by Dark Elf slave-drivers.

As you walk along, a Dark Elf artisan emerges from one of these streets, holding a small bundle wrapped in sackcloth. He stops you and starts gabbling in his own language. Since you have no idea what he is saying, you demand that he speak Allansian.

"Why am I have to speak this low tongue?" he says, looking angry and insulted. "I am stonemason, high-born artist. Not warrior. It is lower than me." Will you apologize to him or pretend to be angry and threaten him with your sword?

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to pretend to be angry and threaten him with Quincey Stridemoore's sword, as the Dark Elf we are impersonating is obviously high in rank, and it is obvious that our hero needs to act like it.