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

[Beroli]

Deep within the Crystal Caves of the Icefinger Mountains, the dreaded Snow Witch of Allansia is using her dark powers to bring on a new ice age and thereby hold the world under her dominion. You know nothing of this until a brave trapper dies in your arms, having fallen victim to the terrible creature you are hunting, and lays the burden of his mission on your shoulders. But time is running out and YOU must take up the challenge without delay.

Unlike, say, Vault of the Vampire, this gamebook is known for being unforgiving. Unlike, say, Crypt of the Sorcerer, it is known for being winnable, as long as you make all the right decisions and have high stats. This gamebook was attempted here once before, but not completed. WhenIf you die, I'll note the number of times you've died and rewind to the place where you stepped off the gamebook's true path.

Standard Fighting Fantasy rules:
Skill, Stamina, & Luck
[spoiler]SKILL score: Roll one die. Add 6 to the result.

STAMINA score: Roll two dice. Add 12 points to the result.

LUCK score: Roll one die. Add 6 to the result.

SKILL score reflects your expertise in combat, your ability with weapons, and your dexterity. STAMINA is your general constitution and "Life points" . LUCK score shows how lucky you are. None of them may exceed their Initial score unless specifically stated.

Testing your Luck: When instructed by the book to test Test your Luck, roll two dice. If the result is equal to or less than your current LUCK score, you are Lucky. If the result exceeds your current LUCK score, you are Unlucky. Whatever the outcome, you must deduct one point from your current LUCK score every time you Test your Luck. The more you use your LUCK, the less likely you are to be Lucky.
[/spoiler]

Combat
[spoiler]SKILL and STAMINA scores are given in the text for each adversary that you face.

The combat sequence is then:
1. Roll two dice for your opponent. Add the total rolled to its SKILL score. This is the Attack Strength of your enemy.
2. Roll two dice and add the total to your own current SKILL score. This is your Attack Strength.
3. If your Attack Strength is the higher, you have wounded your opponent: deduct 2 points from your opponent's STAMINA..
If your opponent's Attack Strength is higher, it has wounded you: deduct 2 points from your own STAMINA.
If both Attack Strengths are equal, you have avoided each other's blows.
4. Begin the next Combat Round, starting again at step 1. This procedure continues until either you or your opponent has a STAMINA score of zero. If your opponent's STAMINA score reaches zero, you have killed it and can continue with your adventure. If your own STAMINA score reaches zero, you are dead.

Often you will have to fight more than one opponent at a time. Sometimes you will treat them as a single opponent; at others, you will be able to fight them one at a time; and sometimes all of them will be able to attack you, while you defend yourself and may attack only one of them. Specific instructions will be given whenever you meet more than one opponent.

Using Luck in Combat

You can use your LUCK in combat to inflict a particularly serious wound, or to minimize a wound that has been inflicted on you.

Whenever you wound an opponent, you may Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, you have inflicted a severe wound: deduct an extra 2 points from your opponent's STAMINA. If you are Unlucky, you have merely grazed it, and you deduct 1 point less than normal from its STAMINA.

If you have been wounded, you can Test your Luck in exactly the same way. If you are Lucky, the wound upon you was only a glancing blow and you can deduct 1 less point of STAMINA than usual. If you are Unlucky, the wound is serious: deduct 1 extra point from your STAMINA.[/spoiler]

Equipment and Provisions:
[spoiler]A sword, leather armor, a backpack, and 10 Meals. Eating a Meal restores up to 4 points of STAMINA; you may only eat one Meal at a time. In this book you may eat whenever not in combat. And you may occasionally be told "you have just enough time to stuff food into your mouth before the enemy attacks, if you choose." You will sometimes be told "you must eat a Meal"; when this happens, you don't gain Stamina from it, just deduct the Meal. If you're told that and you have no Meals, take 2 points of damage.

You also have a Potion of Dexterity, Strength, or Fortune. The Potion of Dexterity will restore your Skill to your Initial Skill. The Potion of Strength will restore your Stamina to your Initial Stamina. The Potion of Fortune will increase your Initial Luck by 1 and then restore your Luck to your (new) Initial Luck.[/spoiler]

Winters in northern Allansia are always cruel and bitter. The snow falls thick and the icy wind blows hard, chilling everybody to the bone. For the past few weeks you have been hired by a merchant called Big Jim Sun to protect his trading caravans as they roll their way slowly north to the frozen outposts. The horse-drawn carts are laden with cloth, utensils, weapons, salted meats, spices and tea, which are traded for furs and ivory carvings made from mammoths’ tusks. Big Jim is not usually worried about travelling north, as bandits only attack his caravans on the return journey – he is not alone in recognizing the value of the northern goods.

On this particular trip you are walking ahead of six carts across a frozen lake. In the distance you can see the snow-capped peaks of the Icefinger Mountains jutting out of low cloud. Your destination lies at the base of the mountains where the Northmen meet to trade. Snow is falling, but not too heavily. You stop to prod the ice with your sword to make sure it can bear the weight of carts, when suddenly the shrill call of a hunting horn breaks the silence. You stand up and run back to the carts to talk to Big Jim. He is sitting next to the driver of the second cart, puffing on a long briar pipe. A huge man, with a great bushy beard, Big Jim is obviously a man to be reckoned with. His bright blue eyes scan the horizon, searching for signs of life. In a deep voice he says, ‘Sounds like it came from the outpost. Reckon you better go and investigate. Could be trouble. And get back quick.’

You set off straight away towards the outpost at the base of Icefinger Mountains. You arrive two hours later at a scene of ugly carnage. The snow is red with blood and all the wooden huts are smashed and torn down. Six men lie dead, their bodies slashed, their axes at their sides in the snow. Judging by the size of the footprints, the creature that attacked the outpost must have been enormous. There is nothing you can do for the unfortunate Northmen, so you head back towards Big Jim’s caravan to report the news. You reach them in an hour, just as the daylight is fading, and relate the terrible events that have befallen the outpost. Big Jim orders the carts to be drawn into a circle to protect his men during the night. A large fire is built into the centre of the circle and you sit down beside it to talk to Big Jim. Everybody is nervous and a guard is posted to watch for signs of movement outside. In a low voice, Big Jim asks you if you will hunt the terrible creature, for otherwise his business will be ruined forever. You smile and reply that you will track down the beast, but only for a purse of 50 Gold Pieces. Big Jim’s jaw drops open, and it takes a great deal of persuasion before he agrees to your demand. The snow finally stops falling as you settle down for the night; sleep is a long time coming, for your mind is active with thoughts of the impending hunt.

When you wake just after dawn, the fire is reduced to dying embers. Wisps of smoke rise gently into the morning mist and not a sound is to be heard. You walk over to where Big Jim is sleeping and tap him on the shoulder. He wakes with a start and you tell him that you are setting off and hope to be back later in the day. You wave to the guard as the snow starts to fall again, and make your way back to the outpost.

By the time you reach the outpost again, the bodies are blanketed with snow and the beast’s footprints are covered over. The visibility is poor as you set off towards the mountains where you hope to find the abominable killer beast. The snow on the mountainside is soft and you sink in up to your knees as you climb slowly up. You soon find yourself at the edge of a crevasse which is spanned by an ice bridge.

Rolling for initial stats I get: 4, 2, 5, 2. As usual I will be letting you vote to distribute them.

Please vote on:
The PC's sex and name.
Where to place which die.
Which potion to take.
Whether to cross the crevasse by the bridge or walk around the crevasse.

[JourneymanN00b]

Arrgh, no 6 here. First of all, I vote to reroll the dice until we get at least a single 6, as doing this with less than 12 Skill is close to impossible without dying, even if we follow the one true path. If not, I vote to assign the 5 to Skill, the 4 to Luck, and the 2s to Stamina. Since we are going to be low on Stamina initially, I vote to take a Potion of Strength. Then, I vote to make our hero a male and name our hero Edmund Pevensie in honor of the Narnia books, and since Edmund was the closest to the series' Snow Witch. Finally, I vote to cross the crevasse.

[Darth Rabbitt]

We still have the 10 Meals so I'd take the Luck potion. I'd also name our character Captain Robert Scott because we're a soldier heading an ill fated cold weather expedition. I'd be willing to compromise for like Robert Pevensie or Edmund Scott. Otherwise I'm down with stat assignments and going down the crevasse.

[Beroli]

Sorry, no rerolling, with those stats; if I'd rolled 3, 1, 1, 2, then I would.

Need a tiebreaker for name and potion.

[Queen of Swords]

I'll vote for our character to be named after Captain Scott and for the Luck potion.

[Beroli]

The bridge is quite narrow and very slippery. Test your Luck. A 5 succeeds.

You tread carefully over the bridge. Safely across the crevasse, you continue your slow trek through the snow.

The wind starts to howl, blowing gusts of snow into your face. You put your head down and stride into it. Above the howl of the wind you suddenly become aware of another sound--the howling of wolves. You draw your sword while trying to peer through the snow. As if out of nowhere, two SNOW WOLVES appear in front of you, hunched ready to pounce. They are completely white except for their blood-red eyes. Suddenly one leaps at you. Fight them one at a time.

First SNOW WOLF Skill 7 Stamina 8

Round One: Robert 17, Wolf 12. Wolf is at 6 Stamina.
Round Two: Robert 17, Wolf 13. Wolf is at 4 Stamina.
Round Three: Robert 21, Wolf 17. Wolf is at 2 Stamina.
Round Four: Robert 21, Wolf 10. Wolf is dead.

Second SNOW WOLF Skill 7 Stamina 7

Round One: Robert 19, Wolf 10. Wolf is at 5 Stamina.
Round Two: Robert 18, Wolf 15. Wolf is at 3 Stamina.
Round Three: Robert 16, Wolf 9. Wolf is at 1 Stamina.
Round Four: Robert 18, Wolf 14. Flawless victory.

You step past the still bodies of the Wolves and continue your journey through the swirling snow. The climb becomes steeper and the going is slow.

The snow is beginning to fall very heavily, swirling around in the strong wind. A blizzard is starting.

Use your sword to dig a shelter in the snow?
Press on?

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 11/11
Stamina 16/16
Luck 9/10
Provisions 10/10
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Potion of Fortune

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to use his sword to dig a shelter in the snow.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Dig a shelter in the snow. Pressing on in freezing weather didn't help Robert Scott's namesake, and I doubt it will help us here.

[Queen of Swords]

Agreed, let's find some shelter rather than stumbling through a blizzard.

[Thaluikhain]

Shelter, yeah.

[Beroli]

You hurriedly cut blocks of ice out of the mountainside and build a makeshift igloo. You crawl into it as the blizzard blows down the mountainside with ferocious power. Your body-heat is retained inside the igloo and you keep warm. However, you must eat two Meals to regain your strength after the tiring walk and the effort of building the igloo. An hour later, the blizzard dies down and you crawl out of your shelter to continue your quest.

Underneath an overhanging rock, you see a small wooden hut built against the side of the mountain. Its roof is piled high with snow and long icicles hang down from the window ledges. You see a set of deep footprints leading from the hut up the side of the mountain.

Enter the hut?
Follow the footprints?

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 11/11
Stamina 16/16
Luck 9/10
Provisions 8
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Potion of Fortune

[Thaluikhain]

Enter hut.

[Queen of Swords]

Enter the hut.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Enter the hut.

[JourneymanN00b]

I also vote to enter the hut.

[Beroli]

The front door of the hut is frozen shut and you have to batter it with your shoulder to open it. There is only one room inside the hut containing the belongings of a fur trapper. Traps, furs and sacks are stacked in a corner of the room. A wooden bed, a table and chair and some cooking utensils show sign of recent use, and the ashes in the fire are still warm.

Put some logs on the fire and warm up the cold stew in one of the pans?
Leave the hut and continue your search for the Yeti?

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 11/11
Stamina 16/16
Luck 9/10
Provisions 8
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Potion of Fortune

[Queen of Swords]

Our stamina's high enough that we don't need to eat but I vote we do so anyway, just in case the text gives us the option to take some of the food as extra provisions or look around for items.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to put some logs on the fire and warm up the stew.

[Beroli]

The fire is soon roaring and crackling in the hearth. The heat of the flames radiates through your body and you revel in the warmth. The stew is delicious and you feel your strength returning. Add 3 STAMINA points. With renewed energy, you decide to leave the hut to continue your quest.

As you are about to leave the hut, you catch sight of some weapons lying under the bed.

Take a couple of them with you?
Leave without them?

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 11/11
Stamina 16/16
Luck 9/10
Provisions 8
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Potion of Fortune

[Queen of Swords]

Take weapons.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Yeah, take the weapons.

[Beroli]

You take a war-hammer and a spear before leaving the hut.

Outside again in the deep snow, you set off on your trek up the mountainside, following the footprints in the snow.

The high altitude and thin atmosphere make you pant for breath as you continue your steady climb. Lose 1 STAMINA point. Suddenly you hear the cry of a human voice followed by a ferocious roar. Not far ahead you see a fur trapper fighting for his life against a gigantic bear-like beast with long white fur and sharp teeth protruding from its jaws. It is the killer beast that you have been hunting – the abominable YETI. You watch the unfortunate trapper being gashed by the Yeti’s claws and falling face down in the snow. Incensed by the vicious attack, you scream at the Yeti and run through the snow to attack it.

Vicious attack Who came out here to trap whom.png (222.01 KiB) Viewed 1982 times

You are carrying a spear. You do not have frostbite.

Gripping the shaft tightly, you pull back your arm and hurl the spear at the snarling Yeti. (Roll 1d6.) You roll a 1.

The shaft is icy and it slips from your grip as you release it. The spear misses the Yeti, plummeting harmlessly into the snow.

You draw your sword and lunge at the huge white beast.

YETI Skill 11 Stamina 12

Pause for votes on how to use Luck here.

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 11/11
Stamina 15/16
Luck 9/10
Provisions 8
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Warhammer

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote not to use Luck until we reach 5 Stamina. Then, I vote to use it to deal extra damage.

[Thaluikhain]

That seems reasonable.

(Also, I like that it's called the Abominable Yeti)

[Beroli]

Round One: Robert 18, Yeti 18.
Round Two: Robert 22, Yeti 22.
Round Three: Robert 16, Yeti 19. Robert is at 13 Stamina.
Round Four: Robert 21, Yeti 19. Yeti is at 10 Stamina.
Round Five: Robert 18, Yeti 15. Yeti is at 8 Stamina.
Round Six: Robert 19, Yeti 18. Yeti is at 6 Stamina.
Round Seven: Robert 22, Yeti 16. Yeti is at 4 Stamina.
Round Eight: Robert 19, Yeti 23. Robert is at 11 Stamina.
Round Nine: Robert 17, Yeti 18. Robert is at 9 Stamina.
Round Ten: Robert 16, Yeti 19. Robert is at 7 Stamina.
Round Eleven: Robert 19, Yeti 20. Robert is at 5 Stamina.
Round Twelve: Robert 14, Yeti 16. Robert is at 3 Stamina.
Round Thirteen: Robert 21, Yeti 20, Luck Test fails with an 11. Yeti is at 3 Stamina.
Round Fourteen: Robert 22, Yeti 21, Luck Test succeeds with a 2. Victory.

You kneel down beside the fur trapper and turn him over slowly. His eyes are barely open and blood trickles down from the corner of his mouth. The Yeti has gouged deep wounds in his chest and you realize that there is no hope of saving him. With a great effort he reaches up and grabs you round the neck, pulling you down so that you can hear his dying words. He thanks you for trying to save him, and insists on telling you his secret. In terrible pain he struggles to whisper his story. He tells you that he has lived in the mountains for most of his life, hunting animals and trading their furs, but for the last five years he has been searching for the legendary Crystal Caves. These caves have been cut out of a glacier by the followers of the Snow Witch, a beautiful yet evil sorceress, who is trying to use her dark powers to bring on an ice age so that she can rule supreme over the whole world. The entrance to the Crystal Caves is high up on this very mountain. It is open, but hidden by an illusion. The unfortunate fur trapper found it by accident only yesterday, when he saw one of the Snow Witch’s warriors seemingly walk straight through an ice wall and disappear. The trapper left a piece of fur hanging over the entrance so that he could find it again the next day. Sadly, the Yeti has put an end to his hopes. He asks you to enter the caves to slay the vile Snow Witch and leave her followers without their leader. There are legends about great treasures being frozen into the wall of the Snow Witch’s lair which would provide ample reward. The fur trapper suddenly grips you hard and then falls back silently into the snow – he’s dead. You cover him with snow, before deciding what to do. 50 Gold Pieces await you if you return with evidence of the Yeti’s death to Big Jim Sun; but the thought of a quest through the Crystal Caves beneath Icefinger Mountains excites you, and you decide to set off to find them.

Now that the snow has stopped falling, the sky is clear and blue. The air is cold and crisp and the snow crunches beneath your feet. Slowly you make your way up the mountainside looking for the cave entrance marker left by the fur trapper. Suddenly you hear a distant rumbling from above – the terrifying sound of an avalanche. Test your Luck; an 8 fails.

You look up and see great cascades of snow tumbling down the mountain. With horror you realize that you are standing in the path of the avalanche. You look around and see an outcrop under which you could shelter. The approaching mass of snow is no more than a hundred metres away and you struggle to run for cover. Test your Skill; a 9 succeeds.

You dive under the outcrop as the snow crashes down all around. Pressing yourself as close as you can against the ice-covered wall of your shelter, you wait until the avalanche has passed by. With a sigh of relief you set off again in search of the Crystal Caves.

You make your way slowly up the mountain until you reach a rock face that is too steep to climb. You walk round the side until you see a massive wall of ice which completely blocks a gully between two peaks of the mountain – the glacier. Your heart leaps as you catch sight of the piece of fur left hanging on the wall of ice by the trapper. Although you cannot see the entrance, you walk straight ahead. You shut your eyes as you think you are about to walk into the wall of ice, but you walk straight through the illusion and find yourself inside a long tunnel carved into the ice. You walk down it and soon arrive at a T-junction.

Turn left?
Turn right?
Also vote on whether to eat and how much.

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 11/11
Stamina 3/16
Luck 6/10
Provisions 8
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Warhammer