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

[Thaluikhain]

No opinion on what disc to try, but eat the last provision (that fight was harder on us than I was expecting).

[Beroli]

I'm going to say this still counts as "in combat." The Snow Witch is not willing to wait while you eat. You have seconds to choose, not minutes.

[Queen of Swords]

Since this is a random choice, I used a coin flip of a Canadian toonie where the head was the square and the polar bear was the star, and came up with a head.

[Thaluikhain]

In lieu of a better idea, second that.

I'm going to say this still counts as "in combat." The Snow Witch is not willing to wait while you eat. You have seconds to choose, not minutes.

That makes sense...and if it's an instakill for being wrong it won't matter, I guess.

[Beroli]

In lieu of a head-shaped disc, you conceal your square-shaped disc.

The Snow Witch stares at you for a long time before calling out 'Circle.' You smile and unfold your clenched fist, revealing the square metal disc. You have outwitted her and she realizes the consequences. The globe starts to fill with white smoke and suddenly it shatters, the image of the Snow Witch disappears. Her shrill cry fills the cavern, but she is defeated. The three of you slap each others' hands in celebration. However, your joy is short-lived as you hear an ominous rumbling. The ground beneath your feet starts to tremble and huge cracks appear in the ice walls. The roof starts to cave in. Is this the chance to escape that the Snow Witch promised? Test your Luck; a 9 fails.

A massive lump of ice crashes down on you. Lose 4 Stamina points.

Redswift and Stubb are not injured by the falling ice and they help you to your feet. Above, you are surprised to see the welcoming sight of blue sky. The three of you waste no time clambering out of the ice cavern, and you find yourselves on the side of the mountain. It is not even snowing and everything looks tranquil. As you climb down the mountain, you tell your friends about Big Jim Sun and the circumstances that led you to the caverns of the Snow Witch. You realize that Big Jim would have presumed you are dead, and you decide it is not worth chasing after him to collect your reward for killing the Yeti. Without any further ado you agree to accompany Redswift and Stubb to Stonebridge.

Your journey south is long and arduous, but your determination to leave Icefinger Mountains behind you spurs you on. Two days after leaving the ice caverns, you reach the River Kok. Fifty miles upriver lies Fang, the town where Baron Sukumvit's notorious Deathtrap Dungeon awaits its challengers each year for the Trial of Champions. However, at this time of year Fang is unlikely to be more interesting than any other river town. You decide against going there and walk down-river to find a bridge or a boatman. After walking for half an hour along the bridge of the wide, dirty-brown river, you see a man asleep aboard a raft moored to the bank. You shout to him and ask him to ferry you across. He tells you to go away as he is too tired to work today.

Offer him 10 Gold Pieces to change his mind?
Walk on?

Also vote on whether to eat your last Meal.

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 11/11
Stamina 1/16
Luck 7/11
Provisions 1
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Cloak
Amulet of Courage
Magic Flute
Sling
1 iron ball (sling-sized)
Copper ring of warrior summoning
Large dragon egg
Star-shaped disc
Square-shaped disc
Boots of the elder elves
Shield
150 Gold Pieces
Air elemental protection spell
Deaths: 3 (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)

[Thaluikhain]

Eat meal and offer 10 gold pieces.

(I like how we "outwitted her" by random rock-scissors-paper coupon game)

[Queen of Swords]

Eat a meal. And with our stamina so low, swimming across a river will probably make us die from exhaustion, so pay the man ten GP.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Eat the meal and pay the ferryman. This book honestly feels kind of disjointed.

[Beroli]

You convinced her to agree to a game that would destroy her when she lost when she could have just killed all three of you; that qualifies as outwitting her (though why the game had that effect when she lost is unclear, especially considering she was freely able to modify the rules on the fly; if you had been hiding a circle disc, she would have said that in the next round you'd auto-lose ties).

It does kind of show that this is an expansion of a much shorter previously published adventure; where House of Hell added a whole lot more stuff in the house before the final confrontation, the magazine version of Caverns of the Snow Witch ends at the part where you've defeated the guardian and can loot her treasure hoard.

The boatman jumps up and says, 'For 10 Gold Pieces, I'll ferry you all the way to Fang--jump abord!' You pay the greedy boatman his money and he soon ferries you across the river.

From the far bank you set off south across the Pagan Plain for Stonebridge. You have not been walking for long when you see dust rising in the distance. Redswift puts his ear to the ground and says, 'Horses or Centaurs, I can't tell which.'

Wait and see who or what is approaching?
Lie down in the scrub to hide from them?

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 11/11
Stamina 5/16
Luck 7/11
Provisions 0
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Cloak
Amulet of Courage
Magic Flute
Sling
1 iron ball (sling-sized)
Copper ring of warrior summoning
Large dragon egg
Star-shaped disc
Square-shaped disc
Boots of the elder elves
Shield
140 Gold Pieces
Air elemental protection spell
Deaths: 3 (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)

[Queen of Swords]

Lie down in the scrub to hide. With our stamina low and no food, we can't risk unnecessary fights.

[Thaluikhain]

Hide, centaurs near Stonebridge are nasty.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Hide.

[Beroli]

Lying behind the stunted bushes, you listen to the sound of the thundering hooves growing louder. Bending back a branch, you see four CENTAURS gallop by, each armed with a bow and a quiver of arrows. You lie quite still until the sound of their hooves fades. When you are certain that they are out of sight, you stand up and continue your journey south.

Marching quickly across the plain you do not encounter any evil creatures. To the east, you see the forbidding shape of Firetop Mountain reaching into the sky. 'Does the Warlock still rule the depths of Firetop Mountain?' Stubb asks inquisitively. You are just about to reply (a complicated reply that incorporates the adventurer who killed him being unable to loot his chest, and the adventurer who tried to re-kill him after he came back not getting anywhere near him, but him somehow dying a second time anyway, coming back as a demon, and being killed yet again by a sorceress on another world) when you see somebody walking toward you. You draw your sword, but when the person gets closer, you see that it is a little old man carrying a sack over his shoulder. He stops in front of you and says, 'Put that sword away, there's no point in killing me. The only thing I have to offer is information--and that costs money. Pay me 2 Gold Pieces and you won't regret it.'

Pay him?
Ignore him and keep going?

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 11/11
Stamina 5/16
Luck 7/11
Provisions 0
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Cloak
Amulet of Courage
Magic Flute
Sling
1 iron ball (sling-sized)
Copper ring of warrior summoning
Large dragon egg
Star-shaped disc
Square-shaped disc
Boots of the elder elves
Shield
140 Gold Pieces
Air elemental protection spell
Deaths: 3 (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)

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to pay him. And I believe this takes place between the Warlock's first death and his resurrection, so the answer to Stubb's question should be a straightforward "No."

[Queen of Swords]

All he wants is 2 GP? Sure, pay him the pittance (compared to how much we have, anyway).

[Thaluikhain]

Pay him, yeah.

And, in the novel series they had to kill Zagor twice on the other world.

[Darth Rabbitt]

We have a lot of money, we can afford 2 GP.

Zagor’s relationship status with living might be “it’s complicated,” but least at this point Zanbar Bone hasn’t been resurrected by Lord Azzur in a really bad book.

[Beroli]

After putting the coins carefully into a hidden pocket, the old man (gets robbed for showing three strangers that he has a hidden money pocket I mean) tells you to be careful of two things if you are traveling south to Stonebridge. Firstly, the nearest water-hole has been poisoned, and secondly, there are lots of Hill Trolls gathering to the north of Stonebridge. He bids you good luck and farewell and walks off. Stubb urges you to set off as quickly as possible, worried about the possible attack on Stonebridge by the Hill Trolls.

The flatness of the plain becomes monotonous and you forget to keep a constant lookout. The reflection of the sun on your armour has attracted a group of flying predators that you do not notice flying above you. They are green, with membranous wings, and they swoop down on their prey to kill them with their sharp claws. There are four of these BIRD-MEN above you and one of them suddenly lets out a sharp cry and swoops down to attack you. Test your Luck; a 3 succeeds.

Bird-Men.PNG (159.59 KiB) Viewed 373 times

You just manage to draw your sword in time to defend yourself against the diving Bird-Man. It veers away slightly but turns to attack again.

BIRD-MAN Skill 12 Stamina 8

Pause for votes on how to use Luck here.

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 11/11
Stamina 5/16
Luck 6/11
Provisions 0
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Cloak
Amulet of Courage
Magic Flute
Sling
1 iron ball (sling-sized)
Copper ring of warrior summoning
Large dragon egg
Star-shaped disc
Square-shaped disc
Boots of the elder elves
Shield
138 Gold Pieces
Air elemental protection spell
Deaths: 3 (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)

[Darth Rabbitt]

Holy fuck that's a high skill for a random mob.

Don't think we're likely to succeed with Luck tests but also no clue how we're supposed to survive this if we don't.

[Queen of Swords]

Skill 12? Seriously???

We're going to die here, and our luck isn't high enough to help. I don't suppose we could use the copper ring?

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote not to use luck here, as we don't have enough luck to have a good chance of getting any successful outcomes.

[Beroli]

Unfortunately, the gamebook only allows for using the copper ring in one place. None of the warriors it summons has Skill higher than 9 anyway.

Round One: Robert wins by 3. Bird-Man is at 6 Stamina.
Round Two: Robert wins by 5. Bird-Man is at 4 Stamina.
Round Three: Robert wins by 2. Bird-Man is at 2 Stamina.
Round Four: Bird-Man wins by 3. Robert is at 3 Stamina.
Round Five: Robert wins by 3. Victory.

On the other hand, you could have amazing rolls.

The other Bird-men, who were circling above you, fly east after seeing the first Bird-man killed. Frightened that they might return with a huge flock (which would be an army that would terrify Razaak if they all have 12 Skill), you decide to run across the plain. The sun is now overhead and you begin to sweat profusely. You become unbearably thirsty and curse the fact that you have not got a water-bottle. You finally reach a water-hole, but you feel like screaming when you see the body of an OGRE lying face-down in the water.

Drink the water?
Do not?

Adventure Sheet:
Robert Scott
Skill 11/11
Stamina 3/16
Luck 6/11
Provisions 0
Sword
Leather armor
Backpack
Cloak
Amulet of Courage
Magic Flute
Sling
1 iron ball (sling-sized)
Copper ring of warrior summoning
Large dragon egg
Star-shaped disc
Square-shaped disc
Boots of the elder elves
Shield
138 Gold Pieces
Air elemental protection spell
Deaths: 3 (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)

[Queen of Swords]

We were warned about the water, so don't drink it. Fingers crossed that we don't die of thirst.

[Thaluikhain]

If that isn't the nearest waterhole that was poisoned, it's now been poisoned anyway by having a dead ogre in it, so don't drink.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Even if we didn't get a warning, dead ogre-flavored water probably isn't good to drink.