[Let's Play] Fighting Fantazine Adventure #2 - Shrine of the Salamander

[SGamerz]

The tunnel opens out into a small cave that is absolutely crammed to capacity with an assortment of artefacts, equipment, trinkets and plain junk. Sitting behind a desk in the middle of the cave is an aggressive-looking Man-Orc - a SVINN from the village of Torrepani in the Shamutanti Hills. He wears a heavy blue robe and does not appear to be armed, though you cannot see his hands from where yo ustand as they are folded on his lap behind the desk.

"Wotcha traveller!" says the Svinn. "I be Hagla the Unbidden, sole licensed trader for the Crystal Mines on orders of the Gaping Maw. Can I interest you in anyfink to buy on this fine day?"

Do you want to trade with Hagla. or do you want to attack the merchant instead?

[JourneymanN00b]

I say trade with Hagla, as there is no telling what weapons or magic he has at his disposal.

[Queen of Swords]

Agreed, trade.

[Thaluikhain]

Trade

[SGamerz]

Hagla seems genuinely excited to strike a deal or two with you.

"Most of the Goblins in these parts have bugger all moolah to spend," he says, shrugging his shoulders. "Ere! Wot you fink of these magic artefacts? Nicked 'em off some luckless Analander who was staggering around out in the steppes. He won't be needing 'em anymore!"

You can sell any of the following to Hagla if you possess them, for the prices listed:

Crystal Staff 15 Gold Pieces
Potion of Healing 3 Gold Pieces
Potion of Transformation 5 Gold Pieces
Crystal Jar 4 Gold Pieces
Chainmail Hauberk 10 Gold Pieces
Ring of Flame 4 Gold Pieces
Shroomshine Gourd 2 Gold Pieces

You can buy any of the following from Hagla if you wish, for the prices listed:

Rope 4 Gold Pieces
Knife 2 Gold Pieces
Provisions 1 Gold Pieces per meal
Bomba Fruit 2 Gold Pieces
Galehorm 4 Gold Pieces
Potion of Fire Water 5 Gold Pieces
Cloth Skullcap 4 Gold Pieces

Apart from Provisions, Hagla has only one of each item available to sell to you. The Rope, Knife, and Provisions are all self-explanatory. The Bomba Fruit will double the gain in STAMINA point if eaten along with a meal of Provisions (by itself it only restores 2 STAMINA points). The Galehorn, Potion of Fire Water and Cloth Skullcap are all spell artefacts and may prove useful if casting spells.

When you have finished here and recorded all necessary alterations to your Adventure Sheet, you can leave. "Pleasure doing business with you!" says Hagla.

We don't have any of the items he's willing to buy, so we can only buy from him. With the 3 gold that we looted off the Dark Goblins earlier, we have a total of 8 gold pieces.

What do we buy?

[Thaluikhain]

Recommend the rope and the Galehorn.

[Queen of Swords]

Agreed, those would be the most useful.

[SGamerz]

John Constantine spends all of his gold to purchase a rope and a Galehorn. He then leaves the Gear area.

Does he now go down the 'Boss' tunnel, the 'Mines', or leave the cave?


Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: John Constantine
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 22/23
LUCK 10/10
Equipment: Warhammer, Lantern, Cloth SkullCap, Small Pebbles (x3) Stone Dust, Sand, Rope, Galehorn
Provisions: 2
Gold: 0
Boons: Galehorn, SkullCap, Giant's Tooth, Potion of Firewater
Notes:
1) Anyone entering the maze of tunnels that forms the mine itself, must first turn left and then travel in a clockwise direction if they wish to remain safe.
[/spoiler]

[Queen of Swords]

"Boss" tunnel.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to check out the 'Boss' tunnel now.

[SGamerz]

The tunnel open out into a spacious, well-appointed chamber. The floor is covered in rugs made from Snattacat hide, and the heads of various creatures - a Baddu-Beetle, a Fire-fox, several Birdmen, and even a few unfortunate Klatttamen - are mounted on the walls as hunting trophies.

The occupant of the room is a big Orc with a scarred face, wearing black studded leather armour and holding a barbed whip in one hand. On seeing you he starts howling: 'Bleedin' yoomans! Come to steal me diamonds, by Hashak! I'll show you, or my name ain't Cap'n Morgul!"

You can fight, or cast a spell:

HOT
ROK
WOK

[Queen of Swords]

Let’s try Hot.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to try Rok.

[Thaluikhain]

Hot seems like fun, but might wreck the loot in the room, so try ROK.

[SGamerz]

Hot seems like fun, but might wreck the loot in the room, so try ROK.

Ironically, it turns out that HOT was actually the better choice in terms of loot. There's no real explanation in the text itself, but the most logical explanation is that some of the loot is on the Orc himself, and you can't go through his pockets after his clothing is turned to stone.

The difference isn't too much: if we use HOT, we find 10 Gold Pieces instead of 3. However, the afore-mentioned diamonds are nowhere to be found, and not mentioned again either way.

Deduct 1 STAMINA point. Do you have any stone dust with you? If not, return to 61 and choose again. If you have some stone dust, you throw it over the Orc and cast your spell. Within seconds, Morgul's movement becomes slower and he starts to turn a pale grey in colour. Too late he realizes what is happening and before long, the Orc Overseer of the Crytal Mines has been transformed into a stone statue, his face frozen in a mask of abject terror. Cross the stone dust off your Adventure Sheet.

A quick search of the room yields 3 Gold Pieces, 2 meals worth of Provisions, five jagged lumps of coal, and a stoppered Crystal Jar. Note whatever you wish to take on your Adventure Sheet. You leave the chamber.

John Constantine grabs the loot and returns to the previous location. I'd assume you want to visit the mines after the information we learned about it:

The mines themselves are a maze of low tunnels braced with crude beams of driftwood and bamboo. As you venture into the mines, a rusty portcullis drops from the ceiling and blocks your path of retreat. Simultaneously, you hear an alarm bell start ringing somewhere in the depths and the sounds of footsteps running down passageway towards you!

You could flee to the north, deeper underground, or cast a spell:

WOK
PEP
MUD

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: John Constantine
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 21/23
LUCK 10/10
Equipment: Warhammer, Lantern, Cloth SkullCap, Small Pebbles (x3), Sand, Rope, Galehorn, Lumps of coal (x5), Crystal Jar
Provisions: 4
Gold: 3
Boons: Galehorn, SkullCap, Giant's Tooth, Potion of Firewater
Notes:
1) Anyone entering the maze of tunnels that forms the mine itself, must first turn left and then travel in a clockwise direction if they wish to remain safe.
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to cast MUD.

[SGamerz]

Deduct 1 STAMINA point. Do you have any sand with you? If not, return to 16 and choose again. If you have some sand, you cast your spell and sprinkle the grains of sand on the floor around the portcullis (remember to cross the sand off your Adventure Sheet). As the spell takes effect, the ground begins to bubble and heave, turning into a viscous pool of quicksand. Sure enough, the portcullis slips from its wall housings and sinks slowly into the quicksand, eventually vanishing from sight. With the alarm bell still ringing in your ears, you leap over the quicksand and rapidly flee the Crystal Mines before any more Dark Goblin guard squadrons show up!

Unfortunately, while the spell works, this action means that we choose to escape from the mines, so we won't be able to use the information we found from our mind-reading earlier.

Once again you find yourself standing on the sands of the Earth End Coastline, pondering a way onwards. You also notice plenty of material here that is useful for casting spells. Add any of the following to your Adventure Sheet if you wish: three small pebbles, stone dust, and some sand. Then, choose - where will you go? Bear in mind you cannot return to any place you have already visited, no matter how briefly.

The Under-Temple of Throff
The Crystal Mines
The Tunnels of Ooze
The Croaking Caves

It seems like my memory was faulty. This is the central hub we will return to after each location, not section 1, but this is the place we can pick up the same ingredients each time we return, and there's no reason not to do so.

Where do we go next?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: John Constantine
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 20/23
LUCK 10/10
Equipment: Warhammer, Lantern, Cloth SkullCap, Small Pebbles (x6), Sand, Rope, Galehorn, Lumps of coal (x5), Crystal Jar, Stone Dust
Provisions: 4
Gold: 3
Boons: Galehorn, SkullCap, Giant's Tooth, Potion of Firewater
Notes:
1) Anyone entering the maze of tunnels that forms the mine itself, must first turn left and then travel in a clockwise direction if they wish to remain safe.
[/spoiler]

[Queen of Swords]

Might as well do the safer place first, so the temple.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote for the temple.

[SGamerz]

Many of the caves on the southern part of the cliffs have been walled up with crude bricks and mortar. One cave, though, boasts two huge oaken doors, originally painted red, but now bleached and weathered through exposure to the elements. Carved into the stone lintel above the doors are symbols and runes dedicated to Throff the earth goddess. You could knock on the doors, or cast a spell:

TEL
HUF
PEP

[Queen of Swords]

Cast TEL.

[JourneymanN00b]

I also choose to cast TEL.

[SGamerz]

Deduct 1 STAMINA point. Do you have a Cloth Skullcap with you? If not, return to 43 and choose again. If you have a Cloth Skullcap, you cast your spell, close your eyes and concentrate, trying to detect the thoughts of any intelligent creatures nearby. Immediately, you sense the mind of an old human priest lurking directing behind the doors. The priest is thinking about gold, or more specifically, how much you should pay him to enter the Under-Temple of Throff. If you are given the option in the future to bribe the priest, you may deduct 2 from the die roll, down to a minimum score of 1, to reflect the insight gained here. For now, you step up to knock on one of the doors.

So apparently, he already knows there's someone outside the doors wanting to enter, before we've even knocked on the doors, and has been lurking behind the doors waiting for us to knock the whole time?

You step up and rap your knuckles on one of the doors. There is a faint sound of shuffling feet, and the door slowly opens inwards a little. Standing in the gap is a bald, bearded priests in long robes and holding a crystal-topped staff, which he lowers towards you in a menacing, spear-like manner.

"No visiting unbelievers!" he croaks. "The Under-Temple is closed."

Will you try and bribe your way into the temple, or will you attack the priest? Or, you could leave this area entirely, and try somewhere else in Daddu-Yadu.

For some reason, even though he was already lurking behind the doors before we knocked, he made the pretense of having to walk over to open them by making sounds of shuffling feet.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: John Constantine
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 19/23
LUCK 10/10
Equipment: Warhammer, Lantern, Cloth SkullCap, Small Pebbles (x6), Sand, Rope, Galehorn, Lumps of coal (x5), Crystal Jar, Stone Dust
Provisions: 4
Gold: 3
Boons: Galehorn, SkullCap, Giant's Tooth, Potion of Firewater
Notes:
1) Anyone entering the maze of tunnels that forms the mine itself, must first turn left and then travel in a clockwise direction if they wish to remain safe.
[/spoiler]

[Thaluikhain]

Bribe, unless we roll a 6 we have enough.

[JourneymanN00b]

I also vote to bribe the priest.