[Let's Play] Fighting Fantazine Adventure 9: Return to the Icefinger Mountains

[Thaluikhain]

May as well.

(And we seemed to have missed finding the Flame Sword again)

[Beroli]

Indicating to Denati to stay where he is until you have investigated the far side of the cave, you edge past one monstrous elbow and out in front of the Demon’s chest. As you pass beneath the creature’s bowed head, it breathes out, and you gag on the noxious fumes exhaled. Take 3 damage. If you survive, you keep moving, now holding your breath, and are pleased to see that there is another way out of the cave, just beyond the Demon’s other elbow. Leaning back the way you came until your companion comes into view, you beckon to him to follow you, and then carry on to the exit.

After a short wait, you see your companion come into view, and the two of you hurry away from the Demon’s cave. A short distance along the passage, light from your lantern reveals a small alcove containing what appears to be a shrine, covered with intricate carvings. Denati asks if you could stop and let him take a closer look at it.

Agree?
Tell him you don't have the time?

Name: Edmund Pevensie
Sex: Male
Skill: 11/11
Stamina: 15/19
Luck: 10/11
Inventory: Sword, Winter clothing, Rucksack, Lantern, Blankets, Circular Disc, Bone Die
Provisions: 3
Deaths: Turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch, turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to agree.

[Thaluikhain]

Agree.

[Beroli]

You may eat a Meal while your companion examines the shrine, if you wish. It is a six-sided bronze pillar a little over a metre high, with symbols carved on its sides, and a bowl-like depression in the top.

Denati scrutinises each side of the pillar in turn, his lips moving as he translates the inscriptions to himself. As he cranes round to see the back, he rests a hand on the edge to steady himself, and with a low rumble the whole pillar rotates slightly. This takes the scholar by surprise, but he manages to keep his balance and, when nothing untoward occurs as a result of his moving the pillar, he asks your assistance in turning it so he can properly see the carvings on its rear. You do as requested, and ask what the symbols mean.

“The first few sides tell of how the god to whom this is dedicated overpowered and imprisoned the Demon through there. This one is about being tested by the god in order to receive some kind of blessing. Would you mind giving it another turn, please? There’s still one side I haven’t seen.”

Again you oblige, and note with some surprise what appears to be a keyhole set into the side thereby revealed. This interests Denati less that the carvings above it, which he slowly translates, speaking the last few words out loud: “...cast the die within the dish.”

You do have a bone die.

Suddenly excited, Denati asks to see the die you found in the upper level of the caves. You show it to him and he again studies the symbols on each face.

“Yes, this is what it’s for. You throw the die into the bowl, and it determines the kind of trial you must undergo to prove yourself worthy of the prize, whatever that may be.” He hands the die back to you with a quizzical stare. “Are you willing to face the challenge?”

Cast the die in the bowl?
Leave the cavern?

Also vote on whether to eat a Meal.

Name: Edmund Pevensie
Sex: Male
Skill: 11/11
Stamina: 15/19
Luck: 10/11
Inventory: Sword, Winter clothing, Rucksack, Lantern, Blankets, Circular Disc, Bone Die
Provisions: 3
Deaths: Turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch, turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to cast the die.

[Queen of Swords]

Yes, cast the die.

[Thaluikhain]

Cast the die.

[Beroli]

You shake the bone die in your fist, then cast it into the concave depression. Roll one die; the result is a 1.

The die rattles around inside the bowl-like cavity, and as it comes to rest, a soft chime sounds overhead. You look up to see a shining key made of crystal or ice, hanging in the air a couple of metres above the shrine. The glow of the key fades, and suddenly whatever force was suspending the key in mid-air ceases to hold it there, causing it to fall. Instinctively, you attempt to catch it. Test your Skill; a 9 succeeds.

Your fingers close around the falling key before it can smash in the bowl, from which the die has inexplicably vanished. As you had thought, the key is made of ice, and consequently is likely to melt before long, but if, as seems probable, it fits the lock in the side of the shrine, it should last long enough to do what you need it to do. You insert it into the keyhole and turn it.

The side of the shrine swings open to reveal a hollow interior, which contains a bronze helmet of unusual design. The faceplate is made of clear crystal.

Curious, you try the helmet on, and find it to be a perfect fit. The crystal very slightly distorts your view of what is in front of you, but after just a few seconds your vision seems to return to normal. As far as you can tell, the helmet neither improves nor impairs your capabilities, but it does at least provide additional protection for your head.

With or without the helmet, you leave the chamber.

After a while the passage widens out into a small chamber with a frozen fountain in its centre. On your right, a flight of worn stone steps leads up and around to a passage entrance high up in the right wall. Directly across the chamber is the foot of a second stairway, in better condition, which ascends to the same exit.

Take a closer look at the fountain?
Leave the chamber immediately by the closer steps?
Leave the chamber immediately by the further steps?

Also vote on whether to keep the helmet.

Name: Edmund Pevensie
Sex: Male
Skill: 11/11
Stamina: 15/19
Luck: 10/11
Inventory: Sword, Winter clothing, Rucksack, Lantern, Blankets, Circular Disc
Provisions: 3
Deaths: Turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch, turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to take a closer look at the fountain and keep the helmet.

[Thaluikhain]

Second that.

[Queen of Swords]

Thirded.

[Beroli]

The fountain must once have functioned normally, but now the water in its basin has frozen solid, and icicles hang down from the central spout. You ask Denati if there are any records of Cyrantis containing a fountain with any special properties, and he answers that he has never heard of anything like that.

Break off an icicle and taste it?
Ascend the worn staircase to your right?
Ascend the more intact staircase to your left?

Name: Edmund Pevensie
Sex: Male
Skill: 11/11
Stamina: 15/19
Luck: 10/11
Inventory: Sword, Winter clothing, Rucksack, Lantern, Blankets, Circular Disc, Bronze and Crystal Helmet
Provisions: 3
Deaths: Turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch, turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch

[JourneymanN00b]

I am against tasting icicles on principle. I half vote to ascend the more intact staircase on the left.

[Thaluikhain]

Normally I'd not eat random icicles, but under the circumstances I think we should try.

[Queen of Swords]

I once tasted an icicle, so I think we should do that.

[Beroli]

As soon as the ice touches your lips, it animates and squirms out of your hand, dropping down into the frozen basin. With a grinding noise, the whole block of ice that fills the basin reshapes itself into a humanoid form, which steps out of the fountain and takes a swing at you with an icy fist. You dodge the blow and draw a weapon to fight back against this bizarre enemy.

ICE SENTINEL Skill 9 Stamina 9

If your weapon is a Flame Sword, it will be destroyed as soon as you win an Attack Round. If your weapon is the Shaman's bone club, it will do normal damage. Unfortunately, your weapon is a normal sword, which does 1 damage per round, or 2 points if you successfully use Luck (0 points if you Test Luck and fail).

Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 19, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 11. ICE SENTINEL's Stamina is 8
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 22, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 14. ICE SENTINEL's Stamina is 7
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 14, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 19. Edmund Pevensie's Stamina is 13
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 13, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 13.
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 22, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 17. ICE SENTINEL's Stamina is 6
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 15, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 19. Edmund Pevensie's Stamina is 11
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 23, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 21. ICE SENTINEL's Stamina is 5
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 19, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 13. ICE SENTINEL's Stamina is 4
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 14, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 17. Edmund Pevensie's Stamina is 9
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 23, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 14. ICE SENTINEL's Stamina is 3
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 20, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 16. ICE SENTINEL's Stamina is 2
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 19, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 20. Edmund Pevensie's Stamina is 7
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 19, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 18. ICE SENTINEL's Stamina is 1
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 15, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 20. Edmund Pevensie's Stamina is 5
Edmund Pevensie Attack Strength: 19, ICE SENTINEL Attack Strength: 14. ICE SENTINEL is dead.

Chunks of the Ice Sentinel strew the floor around you, and you can now see that some of them have small metal discs frozen into them. You point these out to Denati, who identifies the discs as gambling tokens, and suggests that people might have thrown them into the fountain like some do with coins to this day in other parts of Allansia. He also theorises that the waters could have been enchanted to keep anybody from stealing discs, and advises you to leave the ice as it is, in case the Sentinel can reconstitute itself. This sounds like a good idea to you, and you decide to move on.

Ascend the worn staircase to your right?
Ascend the more intact staircase to your left?

Name: Edmund Pevensie
Sex: Male
Skill: 11/11
Stamina: 5/19
Luck: 10/11
Inventory: Sword, Winter clothing, Rucksack, Lantern, Blankets, Circular Disc, Bronze and Crystal Helmet
Provisions: 3
Deaths: Turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch, turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch

[JourneymanN00b]

Sigh. I hope that our hero can now go to the left, now that he has learned his lesson about tasting icicles. I also vote to eat every provision as soon as that is possible.

[Thaluikhain]

Second that.

(And that monster has to sit around and wait for an adventurer to lick the icicle to let it out? Boring job)

[Beroli]

You lead the way up the steps, and just before you get to the curve at the half-way point, you feel a sharp pain in your leg, which causes you to cry out. Take 3 damage. Denati asks what just happened, and you explain.

“Oh dear!” he says. “I think you might have just resolved a dispute that’s been going on among scholars for decades.”

You ask him what he means. He tells you, “It concerns a legend of one of Cyrantis’ mightiest gladiators. The details of all the contests he won aren’t relevant here – the significant thing is the account of his death, ‘on the stairs of hurting and healing’. Nobody knew exactly what that meant, but one of the less popular theories is that it referred to an actual flight of steps, which would randomly emit bursts of energy, occasionally beneficial, more often harmful, when trodden on. It appears that that might be correct after all.”

Your heart sinks a little as you regard the steps ahead of you, and the ones you have already climbed. Stepping on any one of them could mean more pain, but short of jumping off – which could lead to injury anyway at this height – you have no choice but to use some of them.

Take your chances with these stairs?
Jump off (Test your Luck) to attempt the other stairs, which you now realize are likely more worn because most people chose to use them and avoid these stairs?

Name: Edmund Pevensie
Sex: Male
Skill: 11/11
Stamina: 2/19
Luck: 10/11
Inventory: Sword, Winter clothing, Rucksack, Lantern, Blankets, Circular Disc, Bronze and Crystal Helmet
Provisions: 3
Deaths: Turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch, turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to try to take our hero's chances with these stairs.

[Beroli]

Having looked ahead, let me call for a more detailed vote in the interests of saving time.

If you choose to stay on this staircase, there are twelve steps between you and the top. You can choose to step over one or two of them at a time (so you could, e.g., go from your current position to Remaining Step #3, then to Remaining Step #6, and so on).

So the current vote is:

Take your chances with these stairs?
Jump off (Test your Luck) to attempt the other stairs, which you now realize are likely more worn because most people chose to use them and avoid these stairs?
If you wind up continuing with these stairs, which steps do you choose to skip, if any?

Name: Edmund Pevensie
Sex: Male
Skill: 11/11
Stamina: 2/19
Luck: 10/11
Inventory: Sword, Winter clothing, Rucksack, Lantern, Blankets, Circular Disc, Bronze and Crystal Helmet
Provisions: 3
Deaths: Turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch, turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch

[JourneymanN00b]

I half vote to skip every other step.

[Beroli]

Edmund decides to step on steps #1, #3, #5, #7, #9, and #11. Rolling (or actually using a simple Twine program I wrote for this):

Stair number 1 is charged and will heal you for 6.

Lucky!

Denati follows in your footsteps and reaches the top unharmed. You both head along the passageway that leads out of the chamber.

The passage leads into a spacious chamber with a stone pillar in its centre. The pillar. is pentagonal with inscriptions on it, and grouped around it are several carved stone benches in varying states of disrepair. Each side of the pillar is lined up with one of the many exits from the chamber.

Examining the pillar, Denati excitedly tells you, “It’s the Cyrantian equivalent of a signpost, and indicates that we’re almost where we need to be. Just through there.” He indicates one of the passages that lead out of the chamber.

Unless the Snow Witch’s followers have perished on their way here, it is likely that you will end up confronting them soon, and this is likely to be your last opportunity to stop for a meal before facing your foes and avenging Reniso’s murder. You may eat a Meal here if you wish. With two preemptive votes, you do so.

You can make out a faint gleam of light at the end of the passage, and press on towards it. As you draw closer, and see what lies ahead of you, your pace slows.

A hole in the roof of the cavern ahead – if it can be called a cavern – allows enough daylight through that you can see as far as the tunnel entrance in the far wall. However, this light does not penetrate to the bottom of the fissure that gapes before you, stretching as far as you can see to either side. A narrow bridge appears to be the only way across, and not a remotely safe one, by the look of it. For starters, it has no sides, no handrails, nothing whatsoever to prevent its users from falling off if they should misstep. Or even just slip, for the other alarmingly distinctive thing about it is that it is made of ice. Thick enough that you have few doubts about its structural integrity, but that does not make the thought of crossing it any less alarming.

You do not have Dragonskin boots.

You do not still have your rope.

The only thing you can think of to reduce the risk of crossing the bridge is tying blankets together to make a crude rope. Once you have established that Denati can do knots, you set him that task while you return to the previous chamber and manhandle the heaviest piece of broken bench you can move down the passage to the end of the bridge. Deduct 2 Stamina points for the exertion. Using this to secure one end of the makeshift rope, you tie the other end around yourself and set out across the bridge, trying not to think about the possibility of falling over the edge. Test your Skill with a -2 penalty; a 14 fails.

Just after you cross the central span of the bridge, your foot hits a slippery patch, causing you to lose your balance and topple sideways over the edge. Test your Luck; a 6 succeeds.

Your blanket rope arrests your fall, but you only have a split second to celebrate your survival before hitting the wall of the crevasse. An arduous climb back up to solid ground follows, and you lose 5 Stamina points from the impact and subsequent ordeal. Assuming you survive to make it to safety, you manage to cross the bridge without incident on your second attempt.

Once you are safe on the other side, you undo the rope so that Denati can use it, and while the crossing is obviously a harrowing experience for him, he completes it without coming to grief. As soon as has pulled himself together sufficiently to continue, the two of you set off down the passage towards your goal.

Top of Snow Witch.JPG (184.03 KiB) Viewed 913 times

Bottom of Snow Witch.JPG (220.05 KiB) Viewed 913 times

The passage leads into a small chamber, and you come to a dead halt when the light from your lantern falls on the object in its centre. On a low pedestal is a transparent coffin of ice, which contains the body of the Snow Witch. A body which crumbled to dust thirty years ago, yet has somehow been reconstituted and lies as if asleep, clad in a scarlet robe. Is it still waiting to receive the vile spirit that once inhabited it, or are you already too late?

You can just make out a few lines of Cyrantian script carved into the lid of the coffin. Denati pushes past you in order to look more closely at the inscription, and the contact breaks the hold that dread had on you, enabling you to walk over to the coffin and more closely inspect its contents. The occupant looks very similar to the way she appeared in your dreams of late, but her eyelids are unmoving, and the malicious smile is not so pronounced. You may yet have time to prevent her from rising.

“How long is it since she was killed?” asks the scholar. You tell him that it has been around thirty years, and he gulps loudly. “Then we don’t have much time. This says, ‘The one who lies here shall rise with great power after thirty years have passed...’”

You look back from him to the figure in the coffin, half expecting to see that she is now exactly like your nightmare vision, but she remains motionless, her hands folded over her stomach.

“Wait, the rest of the inscription is better news,” Denati adds. “Yes, it says she will rise again, but it goes on to specify that that’s ‘unless her heart is pierced with an icicle.’ We’re not too late!”

You do not know a means by which Denati can make icicles fall.

Ask him for input?
Look around for an icicle?

Since you are here a third time, I'll give you clues; use ROT-13 to translate as many as you wish to, in descending order.

Jura gur Fabj Jvgpu'f urneg jnf cvreprq jvgu na vpvpyr, fur vzzrqvngryl jbxr hc.

Fb gelvat gb svther bhg n jnl gb nppbzcyvfu cvrepvat ure urneg jvgu na vpvpyr vf jbefr guna hfryrff.

Gurer zhfg or fbzrguvat jebat jvgu Qrangv'f genafyngvba bs gur eharf ba ure pbssva.

Vaqrrq, gurer'f fbzrguvat bss nobhg gur vqrn bs gur Fabj Jvgpu'f jrnxarff orvat na vpvpyr, vfa'g gurer?

Vf gurer n jnl lbh pbhyq purpx gur eharf' zrnavat sbe lbhefrys?

Creuncf xabjyrqtr, abg vgrzf, vf jung lbh fubhyq unir orra ybbxvat sbe rneyvre.

Name: Edmund Pevensie
Sex: Male
Skill: 11/11
Stamina: 7/19
Luck: 9/11
Inventory: Sword, Winter clothing, Rucksack, Lantern, Blankets, Circular Disc, Bronze and Crystal Helmet
Provisions: 2
Deaths: Turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch, turned into an Ice Ghoul by the Snow Witch

[JourneymanN00b]

Since each of these two choices are dead ends, we are probably looking at a Crimson Tide situation. Taking a look at the runes that we have seen in the past two runs, and assuming Denati’s translations were correct then, I have made a partial translation of the inscription on the Snow Witch’s tomb (with X being an unknown word):

The one who lies here
Shall rise with great power
They and X X have X
And X X X X with
X to A hundred and forty four

I assume the last line is the most important (which I translated from the chamber of the four winds and the Mayar/Switor tomb inscriptions), so maybe section 144 has something for us? Again, this is a shot at the dark. Given that Beroli said that he does not revert us back to the walking dead states, I am guessing that this is the proper direction, though.