[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 39 – Fangs of Fury

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes registered, Hector Eliwood will help her.

182
[spoiler][/spoiler]

The girl is in tears. She thanks you, hands the sack to a waiting cart-driver and then runs off to the door of a building on the left. You guess that it is the village school. A minute or two later you hear screaming and a coarse, threatening voice, ‘I’ll teach you to get here on time.’ You hear the sound of a cane swishing through the air and then a tearful scream. You go to the window and look in. The teacher is hitting the little girl. You cannot hold back, so you enter the classroom to explain but the teacher does not listen. He attacks you with the cane and hits you over the shoulder. You get angry, pull out your sword, and slice the cane in two. You grab him by the shirt front and lift him off the ground until he has understood the reason for the girl’s lateness. Reluctantly, he accepts the story and you leave the classroom. Just then, a trumpet sounds and all the people in the road run towards the west side of the village. Do you follow them (turn to 158) or do you stay to see that the girl is all right (turn to 287)?

Please make your votes before 5:00 PM PDT to guarantee that they will be counted.

[Beroli]

Stay to see that she's all right.

[Queen of Swords]

Yes, stay and make sure she's all right.

[Darth Rabbitt]

We've already helped her out once, might as well do so again.

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes registered, Hector Eliwood will stay to see that the girl is all right.

287
The disturbance seems to get worse and a lot of the parents come to the school to take their children away. You notice that the little girl is met by an elderly monk. They pass you and the girl points you out. The old man smiles and thanks you; he then stops for a moment and comes to look you in the eyes. ‘Come with me,’ he commands. Do you follow (turn to 102) or walk away and head for the disturbance (turn to 158)?

Please make your votes before 7:00 PM PDT to guarantee that they will be counted.

[SGamerz]

Follow.

[Beroli]

Follow.

[Queen of Swords]

Yes, follow the monk.

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes registered, Hector Eliwood will follow.

102
They take you to their house. The old man asks the girl to prepare for her trip and when she skips away he introduces himself as Ono-maki, a monk of the Wazarri. The girl, he explains, is his ward. She is due to travel to the great monastery for initiation. ‘But these times are dangerous, the old religion is deemed heretical by those that conquer. I hope that you are the One that legends speak of but nevertheless I must put you to the Test.’ You agree to be tested. He takes you to a room full of circles painted on the floor and hands you a cube with dice markings.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

You stand on circle A. Ono-maki explains that you must throw the cube to find your True Path and to indicate the Awareness of your Being. Throw a die. If you throw 1-3, move up by one circle. If you throw 4 or 5, move right by one circle. If you throw a 6, do not move and deduct 1 point from your STAMINA. Repeat as many times as it is necessary to get to Levels 1-9.

If you achieve Levels 1 or 2, turn to 314. If you achieve Levels 3 or 4, turn to 343. If you achieve Levels 5-9, turn to 247.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

(For the purposes of this trial, the player’s position will be described by column and row. Circle A is on the bottom left of the triangle, and its position is noted at Column 1, Row 1. Level 9 is located on Column 1, Row 10, Level 8 is located on Column 2, Row 9, and so on.)

The rolls:
[spoiler]Roll 1: 1, Player moves to Column 1, Row 2.
Roll 2: 2, Player moves to Column 1, Row 3.
Roll 3: 1, Player moves to Column 1, Row 4.
Roll 4: 2, Player moves to Column 1, Row 5.
Roll 5: 1, Player moves to Column 1, Row 6.
Roll 6: 3, Player moves to Column 1, Row 7.
Roll 7: 3, Player moves to Column 1, Row 8.
Roll 8: 6, Player loses 1 Stamina and is now at 9 Stamina.
Roll 9: 5, Player moves to Column 2, Row 8.
Roll 10: 6, Player loses 1 Stamina and is now at 8 Stamina.
Roll 11: 6, Player loses 1 Stamina and is now at 7 Stamina.
Roll 12: 3, Player moves to Column 2, Row 9, Player achieves level 8.[/spoiler]

Hector Eliwood reaches level 8 in this trial and takes 3 Stamina of damage in the process.

247
[spoiler][/spoiler]

The monk smiles and leads you into another room. It has no windows and has been carved out of the solid rock. Two torches light up the room. He stands in front of a series of symbols that represent warriors holding daggers and shields in various positions of the compass. ‘Look carefully and learn the Alphabet of Talin. A warrior language that has long ago fallen into disuse among the others of this country, it is still taught to the young in this village, especially those destined to be Wazarri. It may be of great help when you need it most.’ He points at the symbols from top left to right, ‘These are the letters a to h in the vulgar tongue. The symbols from middle left to right represent the letters i to p, the third row left to right are those from q to x, and the last two symbols are y and z.’ He sits in silence for a while as you concentrate on the characters.

He then asks you if you know the name-that-cannot-be uttered. If you do, do not read the next paragraph.

He sighs, then begins to speak again. ‘I will now utter the name. It means that I will die in a year and a day, but, no matter, my time is soon. XEN is the secret name of the religion. Look for it and you may pass into secret places.’

The monk then pulls out a bag and hands you six Black Cubes (add them to your Cube box). You thank him for all his help, and he shows you the path to take out of the village: over a wall and into the nearby fields. You thank him again. ‘But it is we that must thank you,’ he replies, ‘for you have the great task. You are the Torchbearer who may save us from our oppressors.’ Turn to 164.

164
You do as you are directed and drop into a field. You look back at the road leading to the main village gate. Six-black-cloaked riders are patrolling up and down. You keep in low profile, cross streams back and forth, double-double-back, jump a few trees: in fact you do all the things that Captain Laski taught you in ‘losing the scent’ exercises. When you are sufficiently clear of the environs of the village, you climb a tree and look around. Ahead you see a great forest (turn to 367) and to the right is a road that may or may not be Salik’s Way (turn to 172). Which route do you take?

Please make your votes before 8:30 PM PDT to guarantee that they will be counted.

Adventure Sheet
[spoiler]Hector Eliwood
SKILL: 10 Initial Skill = 10
STAMINA: 7 Initial Stamina = 19
LUCK: 7 Initial Luck = 8
PROVISIONS: 10
CITADEL WALLS: 10/14
Notes:
Alphabet of Talin is provided on section 247
XEN is the secret name of religion
GOLD: 13
CUBES:
10 Black Cubes
GEMS:
1 Star Crystal
CLUES, OBJECTS FOUND:
Potion of Fortune
Sword
Leather Armour
Backpack[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

Since nobody voted, I will have Hector Eliwood follow the road that may or may not be Salik’s Way.

172
The well-made road enables you to travel at a good pace. You can also get warning of riders approaching from a great distance by listening carefully. You feel safer now, away from the siege lines. Suddenly, one of the cobbles in the road flips over and a metal trap springs out, catching your ankle. You are trapped! Then you see two rogues corning out of the bushes. They are dirty and ragged but have a wild look in their eyes. You pull out your sword as they approach. ‘Peace, traveller. We do not want to fight ... if you give us all your valuables. Now what say you?’ Do you agree to let them have all your Gold, Gems and Crystals (turn to 253) or do you sternly refuse (if you have no valuables, you must refuse; turn to 78)?

Please make your votes before 9:00 AM PDT or a 3-vote majority is reached to guarantee that they will be counted.

[Queen of Swords]

Of course we refuse.

[SGamerz]

Refuse.

(I do like that how the PC steps up to defend the schoolgirl against the abusive schoolmaster without the player having to interfere. We may be a sucker who got duped into taking the dangerous world-saving quest instead of the clichéd fearless, self-sacrificing noble hero who did it voluntarily, but we're still shown to have a strong enough sense of righteousness to stand up for the weak and defenseless. And given what we'd seen of our captain in the Background section, the PC probably (and understandably) empathize with her due to being a constant victim of a sadistic bully himself.)

[Thaluikhain]

Refuse

(Also, the True Path thingy was weird)

[Darth Rabbitt]

Refuse.

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes registered, Hector Eliwood will sternly refuse.

78
[spoiler][/spoiler]

You hack at the chains. Your sword is well-tempered but cannot cut through the hard metal. Suddenly, a war-chariot appears in the distance and hurtles down towards you. You strike at the chains even harder.

Throw five dice and total the result, this is the strength of the chains. Throw two dice and the result is the strength of the sword. Add this to your STAMINA. If the chain strength is greater than that of the blade and your STAMINA, turn to 190. If it is equal or less, then turn to 324.

Rolling the five dice yielded a 19.
Rolling the two dice and adding Hector Eliwood’s Stamina yielded a 17.

190
You cannot do it. The war-chariot thunders down at you. Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, the chariot wheels break the chains but you are hit by one of the horse’s hoofs and knocked out. Turn to 303. If you are Unlucky, you stare in horror as the chariot heads straight for you. The driver does not bother to stop. Your quest is over.

Rolling the dice yielded a 10, meaning that Hector Eliwood was Unlucky and that his life and his quest ends at Salik’s Way.

Bonus death entry:
As the war-chariot charges straight towards Hector Eliwood, frustration and regret fills him in his final moments. Why couldn’t he have trained harder as a soldier? What was he thinking, stepping forward to volunteer? It was always going to be a worst-case scenario for Hector Eliwood. And why didn’t he refuse the mission when he had the chance? Somebody else that was far more skilled than him could have accepted and completed the mission. Now, though, Zamarra was doomed to fall and the twelve Wizards would soon die. Jaxartes and Ostragoth would soon control all of Khul, and all of its inhabitants would soon be the slaves of these evil figures. Having made those thoughts, the war-chariot collides with Hector Eliwood, cracking open his skull and splintering his chest bones. As soon as his broken body hits the ground, the war-chariot’s horses’ hooves stamped down on his skull, scattering his blood and brains all over the path’s cobblestones. As a painful death soon follows Hector Eliwood, he wills himself to release his soul to the next universe. Upon the collapse of his mortal self, Hector Eliwood’s soul zooms out of Khul and into his next life. To add a final insult to his mortal injury, the two rogues from earlier robs his corpse and take all of his items, including the Star Crystal and 13 Gold Pieces that Hector Eliwood sternly refused to give to them. By the time the rogues finish their looting, all that is left of Hector Eliwood is a bloody mass of a corpse.

Truly a pitiful loss. I am surprised that there were no votes to eat Provisions from anyone in this adventure, as I felt that 7 Stamina was far too low a health level for our hero to be in when he still had 10 Provisions to consume. And it is not like I intended to hide that fact, as I posted his Adventure Sheet whenever his Stamina changed. I would have thought that sternly refusing would have at least prompted someone to vote to eat Provisions. I am counting this as a legitimate death, as I stated the need to take this Let’s Play seriously in order to put it in the win column.

As it stands, the first of the two life lessons in this thread is to be observant, as missing important details can cost you greatly, as it did when I missed several important details when conducting my research projects in college. The resulting mistakes that I made ended up costing the lab several months of work and thousands of dollars in research money, which ended up angering my mentors to no end.

The second life lesson? It is better to give up some of your valuables when robbed rather than risk your life to keep them. After all, would you refuse to give up your wallet or phone when somebody has you at a disadvantage and is in a fairly good position to kill you? I wouldn’t. See this sad story of a robbed person who got murdered because the victim went after a laptop that the robbers took from him. Hell, Hector Eliwood would have only lost *half* of his valuables if he chose to comply due to his smart thinking.

So now that I have finished giving my cringeworthy life lessons, I will start a new thread for the next book that I acquired later tonight. Thank you all for playing, and I hope to see everyone in my next Let’s Play. The next book I will run has a rather unique and exciting adventure, so I hope that all of you will participate in it!

Adventure Sheet
[spoiler]Hector Eliwood
SKILL: 10 Initial Skill = 10
STAMINA: 7 Initial Stamina = 19
LUCK: 6 Initial Luck = 8
PROVISIONS: 10
CITADEL WALLS: 10/14
Notes:
Alphabet of Talin is provided on section 247
XEN is the secret name of religion
GOLD: 13
CUBES:
10 Black Cubes
GEMS:
1 Star Crystal
CLUES, OBJECTS FOUND:
Potion of Fortune
Sword
Leather Armour
Backpack[/spoiler]

[Queen of Swords]

Wow, this was an ignominious death. And it wasn't even like Sword of the Samurai where we were close to the end.

Oh well. The story as a whole wasn't really enthralling me, and the Citadel Walls/Black Cubes deal felt meh. But thanks for hosting it. I look forward to the next adventure!

[Darth Rabbitt]

I just missed that we were low on Stamina.

[Beroli]

Well that's disappointing. Thanks for running as much of this as you did, JourneymanN00b.

[SGamerz]

Honestly, while it may not be realistic, the rules of FF is that we are allowed to eat meals at any time except in direct combat, and I'm sure this book is no different. So while it would certainly have been prudent to eat meals before hand, I see no reason why we shouldn't have been allowed to do it right before a random dice roll test that involves STAMINA. Certainly, when playing the books in solo, I think a lot of players would have chosen to eat right before they roll the dice if they were still at low STAMINA. We were not in combat, and it wouldn't have been against the book's rule to pause and eat. If the book tells you straight up that "you lose X number of STAMINA" and it takes your STAMINA to 0, then yeah, I agree it'd have been cheating to eat and keep yourself alive. But right before a stat test is fair game, since the penalty only comes in in the next section, not the same one (in a Luke Sharp book, the latter actually happens quite often, but it didn't, in this case).

[Darth Rabbitt]

I agree with SGamerz here.

[Thaluikhain]

Thanks for hosting.