[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 9 - Caverns of the Snow Witch Redux

[Beroli]

By the time you reach the top of the hill, you are panting heavily. Lose 1 Stamina point. Feeling exhausted, you stand and look around you. The hill slopes down into a gorge which runs east to west. You walk slowly down the hill into the gorge and turn left. After walking for a while, you see the entrance to a cave half-way up the lefthand side of the gorge.

Climb up to the cave?
Keep walking up the gorge?

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 10/11
Stamina 12/16
Luck 6/11
Provisions 0
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Cloak
Amulet of Courage
Magic Flute
Sling
1 iron ball (sling-sized)
Large dragon egg
Star-shaped disc
Square-shaped disc
Boots of the elder elves
Shield
148 Gold Pieces
Air elemental protection spell
Deaths: 7 (chomped by white dragon, blasted with magical energy by the spirit of the Snow Witch, blasted with magical energy by the spirit of the Snow Witch and then mauled by zombies, converted into Provisions by a hungry werewolf, slaughtered by two Hill Trolls, slaughtered by a different two Hills Trolls, killed by a Death Spell)

[Thaluikhain]

Cave, I guess.

[Queen of Swords]

Sure, let's try the cave.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Try out the cave; maybe the healer lives in a cave.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to climb up to the cave.

[Beroli]

You scramble up the side of the gorge to reach the cave entrance. It is too dark to see inside and you do not have a lantern.

Shout in the hope that the Healer lives here and will respond?
Enter the cave without shouting?

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 10/11
Stamina 12/16
Luck 6/11
Provisions 0
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Cloak
Amulet of Courage
Magic Flute
Sling
1 iron ball (sling-sized)
Large dragon egg
Star-shaped disc
Square-shaped disc
Boots of the elder elves
Shield
148 Gold Pieces
Air elemental protection spell
Deaths: 7 (chomped by white dragon, blasted with magical energy by the spirit of the Snow Witch, blasted with magical energy by the spirit of the Snow Witch and then mauled by zombies, converted into Provisions by a hungry werewolf, slaughtered by two Hill Trolls, slaughtered by a different two Hills Trolls, killed by a Death Spell)

[Queen of Swords]

I suspect shouting leads to “stalactites rain down from the roof of the cave and kill you”. Enter quietly.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to enter the cave without shouting to avoid alerting any enemies living in there.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Enter quietly.

[Beroli]

Inside the cave it is so dark that you can hardly see your hand in front of your face. As you walk on blindly, you stumble and trip. Test your Luck; a 10 fails.

You fall to the ground, hitting your head on a rock.

You are not wearing a helmet.

You are knocked unconscious by the blow to your head. Already weakened by the Death Spell, the injury is more than you can withstand. Your adventure ends here.

Rewinding, you decide to swallow the fake Healer's pills.

[Beroli]

The herbalist was true to his word. The pills reduce the pain and you feel marginally better. Restore 4 Stamina points. Intent on finding the real Healer, you walk back down the path and up the river valley.

You spot a small open space between the rocks and trees on the far bank of the river. Something is cooking over a fire, you can see the smoke rising; but there is no one to be seen--perhaps they saw you first and are hiding. The river runs fast and is quite narrow at this point. Large rocks jut out of the river and it would be possible to cross over by leaping from rock to rock.

Cross the river?
Keep walking up the river valley?

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 10/11
Stamina 15/16
Luck 6/11
Provisions 0
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Cloak
Amulet of Courage
Magic Flute
Sling
1 iron ball (sling-sized)
Large dragon egg
Star-shaped disc
Square-shaped disc
Boots of the elder elves
Shield
148 Gold Pieces
Air elemental protection spell
Deaths: 8 (chomped by white dragon, blasted with magical energy by the spirit of the Snow Witch, blasted with magical energy by the spirit of the Snow Witch and then mauled by zombies, converted into Provisions by a hungry werewolf, slaughtered by two Hill Trolls, slaughtered by a different two Hills Trolls, killed by a Death Spell, bashed head in a dark cave)

[Queen of Swords]

If our Stamina is now at 15, we don't need the food, and somehow I doubt the Healer lives in this completely dark cave. So keep walking up the river valley.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to keep walking up the river valley.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Yeah, keep walking.

[Beroli]

Through the trees to your left, you see a man with pointed ears and fair hair. He is wearing a green cloak and is busy carving arrow shafts with his knife. He is an ELF, similar in appearance to Redswift.

Elf.PNG (176.57 KiB) Viewed 1156 times

Ask him if he knows where the Healer lives?
Attack him with your sword?

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 10/11
Stamina 15/16
Luck 6/11
Provisions 0
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Cloak
Amulet of Courage
Magic Flute
Sling
1 iron ball (sling-sized)
Large dragon egg
Star-shaped disc
Square-shaped disc
Boots of the elder elves
Shield
148 Gold Pieces
Air elemental protection spell
Deaths: 8 (chomped by white dragon, blasted with magical energy by the spirit of the Snow Witch, blasted with magical energy by the spirit of the Snow Witch and then mauled by zombies, converted into Provisions by a hungry werewolf, slaughtered by two Hill Trolls, slaughtered by a different two Hills Trolls, killed by a Death Spell, bashed head in a dark cave)

[Queen of Swords]

Unless he’s hostile, why would we attack? Ask if he knows where the healer lives.

[Thaluikhain]

Ask him.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to ask him where the healer lives, as Robert Scott is in no condition to act the psychopath when he needs help.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Ask him about the healer.

[Beroli]

The Elf asks you why you are looking for the Healer. You tell him about your battles in the ice caverns, the Death Spell and how poor Redswift met his end. 'Redswift!' cries the Elf. 'He's my brother!' He explains that his name is Ash and he never knew that his brother had been enslaved by the Snow Witch. Suddenly, saddened by the news of Redswift's death, he walks away and stands silently in the sunlight. After a few minutes, he says, 'I will help you to find the Healer but you will have to face him alone, because he will only make contact with the sick. He was disfigured and cursed with disease and pain by The Dark Ones, the evil spirits of the night, for ridding a wizard named Nicodemus of a Death Spell they had cast on him. Now he practices his work in the solitude of the hills. Follow me, it looks as if we have no time to lose.' Ash walks ahead of you, constantly alert for danger. You climb up the valley for an hour before reaching a rope bridge which spans the river. Ash says that you will have to cross the bridge. You tell him that you will have to rest first as the Death Spell continues to drain your life force. Lose 1 Stamina point. Later you tell Ash that you are ready to continue and step on to the bridge. You are about half-way across when you suddenly hear voices shouting. You look around and see two HILL TROLLS cutting the ropes which secure the bridge to its supports. You hurry as fast as you can toward the far bank. Test your Luck; an 8 fails.

Before you can scramble on to the far bank, the bridge collapses under you and crashes into the river. Test your Luck; an 8 fails.

Ash is strong enough to keep hold of the rope bridge, but he cannot reach you. You are thrown into the water and swept away downstream. You are too weak to survive the white-water rapids, and your adventure ends here.

Rewinding, you pass the first Luck test.

[Beroli]

You just manage to scramble up on to the far bank as the bridge crashes down into the river. Ash urges you to follow him as quickly as possible along the footpath which leads up the side of the hill away from the bridge.

By the time you reach the top of the hill, you are panting very heavily. Lose 1 Stamina point. You are so exhausted that you do not look about you, and you only hear Ash's warning cry as a DEATH HAWK swoops down to attack you. Ash fires an arrow at the bird of prey. Test Ash's Skill of 9; a 9 succeeds.

Ash fires a perfect shot; his arrow pierces the head of the diving Death Hawk. Its wings stop beating and it crashes into the side of the hill. The other side of the hill slopes down into a gorge and Ash tells you you must now journey alone to meet the Healer. He tells you to walk east up the gorge until you see the head of a phoenix carved in the rock. The Healer lives in a cave in the side of the hill above the carved rock. You thank Ash for his help and walk slowly down the hill into the gorge. At the bottom you follow Ash's instructions and turn left up the gorge.

You see a rope-ladder hanging down from one of the trees on the left side of the gorge. Looking up, you can just make out the frame of a wooden hut, almost hidden among the branches.

Climb the ladder to the tree-house?
Keep walking up the gorge?

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 10/11
Stamina 14/16
Luck 5/11
Provisions 0
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Cloak
Amulet of Courage
Magic Flute
Sling
1 iron ball (sling-sized)
Large dragon egg
Star-shaped disc
Square-shaped disc
Boots of the elder elves
Shield
148 Gold Pieces
Air elemental protection spell
Deaths: 8 (chomped by white dragon, blasted with magical energy by the spirit of the Snow Witch, blasted with magical energy by the spirit of the Snow Witch and then mauled by zombies, converted into Provisions by a hungry werewolf, slaughtered by two Hill Trolls, slaughtered by a different two Hills Trolls, killed by a Death Spell, bashed head in a dark cave)

[Thaluikhain]

Climb ladder.

And we've been killed by two different Hill Trolls. Again. This is getting tedious.

[Darth Rabbitt]

This book should be called "Wilderness of the Hill Trolls."

Really it's a question as to whether we're more or less likely to get Luck from entering the treehouse or not; that's what keeps on killing us. Doing things is more fun than not doing things so without knowing the answer I suggest we enter.

[Queen of Swords]

And we've been killed by two different Hill Trolls. Again. This is getting tedious.

Exactly. It's not even interesting, like the enemies are trying to defend their master. They're just random encounters to pad out the book and make it a meatgrinder.

Climb the ladder, I guess.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to climb the ladder as well.