[Let's Play] Fighting Fantazine Adventure 11: Ascent of Darkness

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to say that Hermes still wishes to become an acolyte.

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, we still do.

[Beroli]

‘If you wish to become an acolyte of light, then you must face the darkness,’ says the priest as he beckons you to follow him down some stairs into the depths of the temple and below the city. ‘Much darkness is buried but a true acolyte of Ashra must bring it forward and banish it.’ As he finishes speaking, he comes to the end of a corridor where he lifts up a flagstone to reveal darkness. ‘You must face the creatures of darkness down there,’ he says. You descend the steps into the inky blackness. The scant light from the surface is extinguished as the priest moves the flagstone back into place.

You cannot see a thing. The warm damp air gradually gets colder but you cannot see why the temperature should decrease. Then you feel something cold on your arm. The cold spreads through your body. In one fluid motion, you pull away from the cold feeling and draw your weapon, lashing out in its direction. You hear an unearthly scream as your weapon connects with the thing.

You do have a torch.

Your light source banishes the darkness except for a patch in front of you. Your enemy is the darkness itself! The shadow monster momentarily shrinks from the light but then starts to advance upon you. You fight it and try to avoid its chilling touch.

SHADOW Skill 10 Stamina 12

Hermes Conrad Attack Strength: 22, SHADOW Attack Strength: 16. +4 damage. Stunt result autosuccess. Shadow bleeds for 1. SHADOW's Stamina is 3
Hermes Conrad Attack Strength: 21, SHADOW Attack Strength: 11. Stunt result 5, success. SHADOW is dead.

Your last blow causes the thing to scream. Then its assault stops. The priest opens up the flagstone to reveal an empty room. Where has the thing gone? You climb the stairs and follow the priest back to the temple where he picks up a masterfully made staff with a large crystal on top of it.

‘You have that divine light within you,’ says the priest. He lowers the crystal tip of the staff to your forehead and starts to mumble. As he does, the crystal starts to glow. The glow gets brighter until there is an almost blinding flash of light. ‘It has never done that before,’ says the priest, shocked. ‘It appears that Ashra has chosen you for something great and wants you to use her staff to fight a great darkness in this world. If you were to strike a follower of the Old God of darkness, Elim, with this staff they would be obliterated forever.’ You return to the city.

Will you next go to:

The docks?
The temple of Pangara?
The temple of Telak?
The temple of Logaan?
The temple of Vuh?

Name: Hermes Conrad
Sex: Male
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 21/24
Luck: 13/14
Cunning of Logann
Hubris
Inventory: Enchanted warhammer, spear, reflective shield (-1 to enemy Attack Strength), steel helmet, 200 Gold Pieces, food, 4 torches, flint and tinder, water skin, leather gloves covered in thorns (once per combat, you may either automatically win one combat round or automatically succeed at one heroic stunt), bracelet of green metal (immune to poison, regain 3 Stamina at the end of each combat), obsidian bat amulet (once per combat, you may either increase your Attack Strength by 2 for one round or, when you have hit an opponent, deal an extra 4 damage to them), ring of charm, magical silver throwing dagger (2 damage to enemy at the start of combat), Staff of Ashra.

[JourneymanN00b]

I half vote to go to the temple of Vuh.

[Thaluikhain]

May as well

[pragma]

Temple of Vuh

[Beroli]

The temple of Vuh has seen better days. A headless, armless statue to Vuh stands before what was once a spotless white marble building. You enter through the wooden doors to find a hall devoid of worshippers. It’s only occupant an old priest in white robes approaches you. ‘Welcome to the temple of Vuh, the life of the world. How may I help?’

You do not have a golden chalice.

You are already an acolyte of the Temple of Ashra and thus cannot join the Temple of Vuh.

You leave.

Will you next go to:

The docks?
The temple of Pangara?
The temple of Telak?
The temple of Logaan?

Name: Hermes Conrad
Sex: Male
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 21/24
Luck: 13/14
Cunning of Logann
Hubris
Inventory: Enchanted warhammer, spear, reflective shield (-1 to enemy Attack Strength), steel helmet, 200 Gold Pieces, food, 4 torches, flint and tinder, water skin, leather gloves covered in thorns (once per combat, you may either automatically win one combat round or automatically succeed at one heroic stunt), bracelet of green metal (immune to poison, regain 3 Stamina at the end of each combat), obsidian bat amulet (once per combat, you may either increase your Attack Strength by 2 for one round or, when you have hit an opponent, deal an extra 4 damage to them), ring of charm, magical silver throwing dagger (2 damage to enemy at the start of combat), Staff of Ashra.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to head to the docks next.

[pragma]

Docks

[Beroli]

You go down to the docks where you see your trireme, a fine ship, ready to sail. All she needs is a crew and a destination.

You have both.

You head down to the docks to meet your crew. Then you hear a whistling sound and an arrow hits you in the chest. Lose 4 stamina points. You look around to see that the archer from outside Carsepolis is now on a boat some way down the harbour, and he is firing arrows at you at an alarming speed. Another arrow grazes your shoulder (lose 2 stamina points).

Throw your spear at him?
Run to meet him in hand-to-hand combat?

Name: Hermes Conrad
Sex: Male
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 15/24
Luck: 13/14
Cunning of Logann
Hubris
Inventory: Enchanted warhammer, spear, reflective shield (-1 to enemy Attack Strength), steel helmet, 200 Gold Pieces, food, 4 torches, flint and tinder, water skin, leather gloves covered in thorns (once per combat, you may either automatically win one combat round or automatically succeed at one heroic stunt), bracelet of green metal (immune to poison, regain 3 Stamina at the end of each combat), obsidian bat amulet (once per combat, you may either increase your Attack Strength by 2 for one round or, when you have hit an opponent, deal an extra 4 damage to them), ring of charm, magical silver throwing dagger (2 damage to enemy at the start of combat), Staff of Ashra.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to meet him in hand to hand combat.

[Thaluikhain]

Half vote for throwing spear.

[pragma]

Throw spear. I bet hand to hand triggers a "speed of whomever" church.

[Beroli]

Throwing the spear wins 1.5 to 1.

You hurl your spear at the archer as he looses off more arrows at you.

Your spear is not enchanted at all, never mind specifically enchanted against this archer.

As the spear flies through the air, another arrow hits you. The spear strikes the archer, but he continues to fire arrows at you relentlessly. You try to run to the boat to fight him, but you are peppered with arrows and you cannot make it. Eventually, with a dozen arrows sticking out from your body, you collapse at the docks, never to get up again.

Rewinding...

[Beroli]

Your journey takes you through a land which gets more and more wooded as you travel it. Eventually, you must force your way through the undergrowth in order to continue. At dusk, you stop to rest, but, anxious to get home and save your mother, you press onwards. When it gets dark, you light a torch, but this brings little comfort as the fire pinpoints your location to beasts and bandits. After several hours of walking, you come to a clearing. At the centre of the clearing is a very tall tree bearing beautiful apples. These are not just any apples, as they have metallic colourings: gold, silver and bronze. You have heard of the remarkable power of such apples, and they are much sought after.

You want to get some apples.

Try to climb the tree?
Try to shake the tree?
Try to knock them out of the tree?

Name: Hermes Conrad
Sex: Male
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 24/24
Luck: 14/14
Cunning of Logann
Hubris
Inventory: Sword, spear, shield (-1 to enemy Attack Strength), Steel helmet, 50 Gold Pieces, food, 5 torches, flint and tinder, water skin
Deaths: Shot full of arrows by an archer

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to climb the tree.

[Thaluikhain]

May as well.

[Beroli]

Climbing the tree is going to be difficult as it is tall and has few low branches. Test your Skill, with a -4 penalty unless you have the Speed of Pangara; a 15 fails. You fall out of the tree halfway up, taking 3 damage.

(Unfortunately, you didn't catch that one of those methods lines up with each of the three heroic powers you could have.)

Just as you have finished with your first attempt, you hear a rustling in the leaves behind you. You turn around and you are amazed to see a tree moving towards you. It is a TREEMAN. ‘You shouldn’t be trying to take my apples,’ it says in a slow booming voice.

Tell the Treeman your story?
Fight the Treeman?
Run?

Name: Hermes Conrad
Sex: Male
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 21/24
Luck: 14/14
Cunning of Logann
Hubris
Inventory: Sword, spear, shield (-1 to enemy Attack Strength), Steel helmet, 50 Gold Pieces, food, 5 torches, flint and tinder, water skin
Deaths: Shot full of arrows by an archer

[JourneymanN00b]

I say we have Hermes tell the Treeman his story, as attacking it probably is not a good idea.

[Thaluikhain]

Talk to the Treeman.

[pragma]

Tell the treeman our story

[Queen of Swords]

Agreed, tell him our story.

[Beroli]

You tell the Treeman of the Caarth, the growing desert and of the insidious threat to Carsepolis. ‘Hmmm,’ responds the Treeman, ‘I care little for the affairs of humans but I do not want the land to become a desert. Here – take this. It is food of the gods. Something you will need for your quest.’ The Treeman lowers its branches to present you with a bronze apple. One time, when you are asked if you have the Speed of Pangara or the Strength of Telak, you can eat the Bronze Apple of Prowess and answer "yes." You thank the Treeman and bid it farewell.

The forest begins to thin out a little again. After several days’ travel, you come to a camp full of rangers dressed in green and druids in white robes. Upon seeing you, two dozen rangers grab their bows and point them at you, ready to pincushion you with arrows if you make one false move. One of the druids approaches you. ‘Welcome, hero of Carsepolis. We know who you are and why you are here. Nevertheless, you have trespassed on our lands and we require you to prove your worth. If you can do so, then you will be free to travel through our lands. Otherwise, you will have to turn back and skirt our woodland. It will add an extra day to your journey but that will be no great hardship for you, I’m sure. This may be the best option for you if you are faint of heart, for the penalty of failing our challenge is death.’

You have Hubris.

You boast that you will beat any challenge that the druids could give you. The old druid merely smiles and tells you to follow him.

The druid takes you to a young woman in short white robes. ‘This is Atalanta, our fastest runner. If you beat her in a footrace, you may continue your journey with our blessing and gifts.’

The populace of the camp gathers round to see your race. The druid waits until all are quiet and you and Atalanta line up. ‘Go!’ shouts the druid, and Atalanta sprints off at an alarming pace, leaving you desperately trying to keep up with her.

Here it checks if you have the Speed of Pangara.

Use the Bronze Apple of Prowess?
Use the Bronze Apple of Prowess to pass the following Strength of Telak check?
Attempt both rolls unaided?

Name: Hermes Conrad
Sex: Male
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 21/24
Luck: 14/14
Cunning of Logann
Hubris
Inventory: Sword, spear, shield (-1 to enemy Attack Strength), Steel helmet, 50 Gold Pieces, food, 5 torches, flint and tinder, water skin, bronze apple of prowess (Speed of Pangara or Strength of Telak once)
Deaths: Shot full of arrows by an archer

[JourneymanN00b]

I half vote to attempt both rolls unaided.

[Beroli]

You do not have the Speed of Pangara. Test your Skill with a -5 penalty; an 11 succeeds.

Surprisingly to everyone, not least yourself, you manage to close the gap between yourself and Atalanta until you and her are neck and neck. Can you manage one final push to victory?

You do not have the Strength of Telak. Test your Stamina on three dice with a -11 penalty; a 22 succeeds.

Against all odds you pass the finish line before the fleet footed druidess. The crowd is flabbergasted, but the druid declares you the winner. Later that day, you are initiated as part of the tribe of the woodland with a feast and dancing. You are taken away from the merriment by the old druid to be given gifts upon becoming part of the tribe. You may pick any three of the following items.

A wooden ring
A copper ring
Leather gloves covered in thorns
An obsidian bat amulet
A polished pebble
A bracelet of green metal
A wooden sword

Vote on which three to take.

Name: Hermes Conrad
Sex: Male
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 21/24
Luck: 14/14
Cunning of Logann
Hubris
Inventory: Sword, spear, shield (-1 to enemy Attack Strength), Steel helmet, 50 Gold Pieces, food, 5 torches, flint and tinder, water skin, bronze apple of prowess (Speed of Pangara or Strength of Telak once)
Deaths: Shot full of arrows by an archer