[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 6: Deathtrap Dungeon Redux

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to search the room, of course. There could be an essential item that we need to get there.

[Thaluikhain]

Oh, mean. Search the room and hope she doesn't wake up during.

[Beroli]

You search through the cupboards and boxes in Ivy's room, but you find nothing except for an old bone. A door lies in the east wall of the chamber and you decide to leave, taking the old bone with you if you wish. You now find yourself standing at the end of another tunnel.

The tunnel ends at a flight of stone steps leading downwards. From the floor below you can hear the sound of barking dogs. Have you got an old bone with you?

Immediate check for the item; I'm going to assume you did pick it up, which seems a safe assumption.

You take the bone out of your backpack and throw it down the stairs. The barking grows louder, changing to snarls and growls when the bone lands on the floor. You walk slowly down the steps with your sword drawn and see two huge black GUARD DOGS fighting over the bone. You run quickly past them and on down the tunnel.

The funnel veers sharply to the left and comes to an end at a high wall in which there is a door. You hear a ferocious roar from the other side of the wall and you wonder what gargantuan beast could make such a noise.

You do have a coil of rope and a grappling hook.

You tie the rope to the grappling iron and hurl it over the top of the wall. Its hooks dig into the stone and you begin to haul yourself up. Peering over the top of the wall, you see an enormous dinosaur-like monster thrashing about in a sand-covered pit. Its tough hide is a mottled green colour, and it stands some ten metres tall on its muscular hind legs. Rows of razor-sharp teeth line its gigantic jaws, which open and close with bone-snapping power. There is a large double door in the wall on the far side of the pit, which appears to be the only way out of this section of the dungeon.

Lower yourself down on the rope into the pit to fight the PIT FIEND?
Throw your bone monkey charm into the pit?
Try to hook the PIT FIEND with the grappling iron while sitting on top of the wall?

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 11/12
Stamina 18/18
Luck 7/9
Gold Pieces 2
Provisions 2/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Sapphire
2 daggers
Mirror
Bone monkey charm
Grappling hook
Pouch with brass bell
Amulet of strength (worn)
Immune to melting-point temperatures
Will detect hidden traps

[Queen of Swords]

Blue option.

[Thaluikhain]

Blue option (was this hinted at being a good item to use in this situation?).

I like the idea of trying to hook it like an optimistic angler, though.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to throw the bone monkey charm into the pit.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Throw the charm into the pit.

[Beroli]

Blue option (was this hinted at being a good item to use in this situation?).

Unfortunately not; for all the things I like about Deathtrap Dungeon, one thing that irks me is that it seems to be a gamebook of the "blue options are inherently good and your character will know what they're for but not share classified information with you" school of thought, not of the "you know what your character would know, and you can screw yourself over by trying the wrong thing whether you have that option special or not" school of thought.

So, I neglected to post some pictures earlier.

Emerald eye idol.PNG (160.31 KiB) Viewed 2330 times

Dorf Trialmaster.PNG (158.55 KiB) Viewed 2330 times

Chair of Doppleganger Potion.PNG (160.07 KiB) Viewed 2330 times

[Beroli]

Room of Crown and Bugs.PNG (142.9 KiB) Viewed 2328 times

Petrifying wizard.PNG (164.02 KiB) Viewed 2328 times

NO CROP IS.PNG (143.44 KiB) Viewed 2328 times

The Pit Fiend's jaws snap at the monkey charm and pluck it out of the air. Suddenly its jaws spring open again, forced apart by the charm, which has expanded to fill its mouth. While the Pit Fiend thrashes around in the pit, trying to get rid of the charm, you lower yourself down into the pit to reach the double doors. In its mad rage, the Pit Fiend tries to crush you against the side of the pit with its massive body.

Test your Luck; an 8 fails.

The huge beast slams its body against your arm, and you lose your grip on the rope. Crying out in pain, you tumble to the bottom of the pit. Lose 5 STAMINA points.

You stagger to your feet and draw your sword. You are only just in time, for the fearsome beast is closing in on you fast. This is going to be one of the toughest fights of your life.

PIT FIEND Skill 12 Stamina 15

Pausing for votes on how to use Luck here.

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 11/12
Stamina 13/18
Luck 6/9
Gold Pieces 2
Provisions 2/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Sapphire
2 daggers
Mirror
Grappling hook
Pouch with brass bell
Amulet of strength (worn)
Immune to melting-point temperatures
Will detect hidden traps

[Darth Rabbitt]

5 Stamina loss on a failed Luck test is pretty rough for an Ian Livingstone blue option, especially if this is the same "fight the Pit Fiend" section as just attacking it head on would have.

Luck is more likely to hurt us than not, so I'd only start testing it once our stamina drops to or below 5.

[Queen of Swords]

Can we drink our Potion of Fortune before the fight starts?

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to only use Luck when our hero gets to 3 Stamina or below.

[Beroli]

Can we drink our Potion of Fortune before the fight starts?

Probably shouldn't be able to, but sure, I'll say you can drink it as you're hurtling toward the ground, before you're technically "engaged in a battle." Make sure to vote on whether to use Luck to do damage or prevent damage (or both), everyone.

[JourneymanN00b]

In light of being able to drink the potion of Fortune before fighting, I will change my vote to use Luck to increase damage to the pit fiend and decrease damage to Hai Tien once he reaches below 7 Stamina.

[Queen of Swords]

Agree with this.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Thirded.

[Thaluikhain]

I'd agree with that, but only use luck three times, because once our luck hits 6 it's too risky.

[Darth Rabbitt]

I'd agree with that, but only use luck three times, because once our luck hits 6 it's too risky.

Actually 4 times before we hit 6 since the Potion of Fortune sets our LUCK to 10. But I could see an argument for saving some to ensure a good chance to make any future tests. Pretty sure there will be another one or two, though I think we just flubbed the worst one possible.

[Thaluikhain]

True, I'd overlooked that. I'm not so worried about needing to keep some for after this fight as I'm more worried about there not surviving after this fight.

[Beroli]

Trapped room.PNG (144.26 KiB) Viewed 2271 times

Trapped looted chest.PNG (152.98 KiB) Viewed 2271 times

Pit Fr--er, Fiend.PNG (178.24 KiB) Viewed 2271 times

As Hai Tien is falling to the floor, he somehow pulls his potion flask out and drinks its contents without choking or breaking his neck.

Round One: Hai Tien 19, Pit Fiend 21. Hai Tien is at 11 Stamina.
Round Two: Hai Tien 17, Pit Fiend 15. Pit Fiend is at 13 Stamina.
Round Three: Hai Tien 17, Pit Fiend 18. Hai Tien is at 9 Stamina.
Round Four: Hai Tien 19, Pit Fiend 17. Pit Fiend is at 11 Stamina.
Round Five: Hai Tien 22, Pit Fiend 23. Hai Tien is at 7 Stamina.
Round Six: Hai Tien 19, Pit Fiend 15. Hai Tien Luck Test 3=Lucky. Pit Fiend is at 7 Stamina, Hai Tien is at 9 Luck.
Round Seven: Hai Tien 16, Pit Fiend 19. Hai Tien Luck Test 7=Lucky. Hai Tien is at 6 Stamina and 8 Luck.
Round Eight: Hai Tien 17, Pit Fiend 18. Hai Tien Luck Test 6=Lucky. Hai Tien is at 5 Stamina and 7 Luck.
Round Nine: Hai Tien 17, Pit Fiend 22. Hai Tien Luck Test 6=Lucky. Hai Tien is at 4 Stamina and 6 Luck.
Round Ten: Hai Tien 19, Pit Fiend 22. Hai Tien Luck Test 10=Unlucky. Hai Tien is at 1 Stamina and 5 Luck.
Round Eleven: Hai Tien 19, Pit Fiend 19.
Round Twelve: Hai Tien 17, Pit Fiend 22. Hai Tien is dead.

Rewinding to when you're on top of the pit, you drink the Potion of Fortune there, dismissing the ridiculous image that popped into your head for no good reason of you drinking it while falling to the floor.

Luck Test: 4 succeeds.

As the Pit Fiend slams its body against the wall, you let go of the rope and drop safely to the floor. You run towards the double doors and are relieved to feel them swing open as you push on them. You let them swing shut behind you and head north along the tunnel.

Walking along, you see a red line painted across the tunnel floor and notice a sign on the wall which reads: 'No weapons beyond this point'.

Leave your sword and daggers before continuing past the line?
Continue past the line with them?

(Alternatively, you could leave 1-3 of them, but that seems unlikely to have a positive effect. Still, if that's what you vote for that's what you'll do.)

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 11/12
Stamina 13/18
Luck 9/10
Gold Pieces 2
Provisions 2/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Sapphire
2 daggers
Mirror
Grappling hook
Pouch with brass bell
Amulet of strength (worn)
Immune to melting-point temperatures
Will detect hidden traps
Number of deaths: 1

[Darth Rabbitt]

While I like the idea of dropping our sword but keeping our daggers hidden in our clothes (assuming we get no penalty for fighting with the smaller weapons), I think this is an all or nothing deal, and also a trap. So continue past the line carrying our weapons.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to continue past the line with them, as I am not willing to face any further threats in this dungeon without our weapons.

[Queen of Swords]

No weapons beyond this point... or what? Something will attack us? That'd be new.

Continue armed to the teeth.

[Beroli]

Troglodytes.PNG (168.96 KiB) Viewed 2247 times

The tunnel leads into a marble-floored hall with pillars rising right up to the ceiling. As you cross the floor, your footsteps echo through the hall. The hairs on the back of your neck start to prickle as you sense unseen eyes watching you. Unknown to you, one of your rivals is hiding behind a pillar. It is the (only one it could be) NINJA, the deadly assassin dressed in black robes. Without a sound, he steps out from behind the pillar and throws a star-edged disc at your back. Instinctively, an inner voice tells you to duck.

Test your Luck. 4 is successful.

The razor-sharp disc whistles past your head and bites deep into one of the pillars. Turning to face your would-be assassin, you prepare yourself as he advances, his long sword drawn.

NINJA Skill 11 Stamina 9

Pausing for votes on how to use Luck here.

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 11/12
Stamina 13/18
Luck 8/10
Gold Pieces 2
Provisions 2/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Sapphire
2 daggers
Mirror
Grappling hook
Pouch with brass bell
Amulet of strength (worn)
Immune to melting-point temperatures
Will detect hidden traps
Number of deaths: 1

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to use Luck to increase damage to the ninja and decrease damage to Hai Tien once he reaches below 7 Stamina.