[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 51 - Island of the Undead (Take 2)

[Thaluikhain]

This sounds like a job for the Blue Potion.

[Queen of Swords]

Sure, use the Blue Potion.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to walk along the corridor quietly. I think our hero can take on the skeletons here.

[SGamerz]

You swallow the potion and make a run for the door. Your pumping legs cany you along with incredible swiftness and the animating skeletons are too slow to stop you! However, by the time you get to the door the effects of the potion have worn off. You try to open the red door, and you must do this at once without carrying out any other actions first (such as eating a meal or drinking a potion); turn to 260.

Well, that kind of worked...

The door swings open and you hurriedly close it behind you and stand with it at your back to protect you, while you try to take in the sheer scale and majesty of the huge chamber which spreads out before you. You are standing on a stone balcony overlooking a great, circular chamber with a vast, arched ceiling which must be thirty metres above the floor. A swirling arch of steps leads down to the floor on each side of you; at the bottom of the left-hand flight of stairs stands a motionless Black Skeleton, armed with a two-handed sword and even in the heat haze here you can
see wisps of flame flickering from its jaws. In the middle of the room there is an unbroken circle of flame, within which something is beginning to materialize in the air above a slumped body that is seated on a thronelike chair. You can perform a single action (such as drinking a potion, putting venom on your sword, drinking grog or some Monks' Herbal Liqueur or cramming a very fast meal down your throat) before the Master of Fire's body is possessed by the
manifesting entity and is ready to fight. If you want to forgo any preparatory step and take offensive action, immediately turn to 86. Otherwise, turn to 17.

If you vote for "otherwise", please also clearly state what preparatory action you wish to perform.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Fred
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 15/19
LUCK 11/12
PRESENCE: 9
Equipment: Knife, Backpack, Waterskin, Leather Jerkin, Sword, Bottle of Blade Venom (+1 damage for one combat), Rope (x2), Wooden Pole, Gold Key (found in section 40), Potion of Stamina x2 (restores lost STAMINA points up to one-half of Initial STAMINA when drunk, rounding fractions up), Flask of Grog (+4 STAMINA, +1 Attack Strength for next combat after drunk), Magic Sword (+1 Attack Strength in combat), Shield (x2), Lantern, Bottle of Monks’ Herbal Liqueur x2 (4 doses in total, each restores 4 STAMINA when drunk), pestle and mortar, Herbiary (dog-eared pages: page 311 on the Rat-tailed Fungus, page 175 on the Pitcher Plant, page 266 on the Axeplant), Sapphire (50 facets), Topaz (24 facets), Skeleton Key, Small Pearl, Brass Orb (picked up in section 63), Fire Ruby (60 facets), Tiger Eye stone, stone axe, Tomb Dust, Empty Bottle. Diamond (280-carat), Ethereal Oil (1 dose), Sprectrebane (1 dose), Potion of Luck (restore 1-3 lost LUCK points (roll one die and divide by 2, rounding fractions up), Bottle of Acid (x2), bag of metal spikes and rods
Provisions: 2/12
Gold: 8
Afflictions: Lung Rot
Extra Lives remaining: 22/25
Notes:
1) Message pieced together from torn scraps of paper found in monastery: "There is conflict between the wizards, Caltarelair has certainly quarrelled with one of his fellows and a magic duel cannot be far away. One of them has begun to dabble in magic other than elementalism. Ralsteen the Hermit may have sensed any disturbance at the Circle; I am too weak to risk visiting it. I must hasten to hide the Crystals, and I will hide them in pairs, one pair in..."
2) Parraine will do us a service three times before we bury his bones. He can perform any of the following acts at any time as one service: cure one disease, strengthen our sword so that it inflicts 6 points of damage to the STAMINA of an enemy as the result of a successful hit in combat (can choose this service after we hit the enemy), and he can heal for up to 8 points of lost STAMINA (this cannot be carried out during a combat).
3) The magical password to a door without a lock or handle somewhere below in the dungeons is 'elementarae'.
4) +1 Attack Strength from port for next 2 combats (2/2 remaining)
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to cram a very fast meal before fighting.

[Queen of Swords]

Sure, let’s do this.

[SGamerz]

The Master of Fire suddenly stands upright beside his throne and begins to cast a spell. You cannot see him clearly through the heat haze, but he looks a powerful, tall and commanding figure in his red-and-black robes and you are in no doubt that he is about to unleash something very unpleasant upon you. What will you do now? Will you:

Run down the left-hand stairs towards the Black Skeleton?
Run down the right-hand stairs?
Throw acid at the Master of Fire, if you have some?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Fred
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 19/19
LUCK 11/12
PRESENCE: 9
Equipment: Knife, Backpack, Waterskin, Leather Jerkin, Sword, Bottle of Blade Venom (+1 damage for one combat), Rope (x2), Wooden Pole, Gold Key (found in section 40), Potion of Stamina x2 (restores lost STAMINA points up to one-half of Initial STAMINA when drunk, rounding fractions up), Flask of Grog (+4 STAMINA, +1 Attack Strength for next combat after drunk), Magic Sword (+1 Attack Strength in combat), Shield (x2), Lantern, Bottle of Monks’ Herbal Liqueur x2 (4 doses in total, each restores 4 STAMINA when drunk), pestle and mortar, Herbiary (dog-eared pages: page 311 on the Rat-tailed Fungus, page 175 on the Pitcher Plant, page 266 on the Axeplant), Sapphire (50 facets), Topaz (24 facets), Skeleton Key, Small Pearl, Brass Orb (picked up in section 63), Fire Ruby (60 facets), Tiger Eye stone, stone axe, Tomb Dust, Empty Bottle. Diamond (280-carat), Ethereal Oil (1 dose), Sprectrebane (1 dose), Potion of Luck (restore 1-3 lost LUCK points (roll one die and divide by 2, rounding fractions up), Bottle of Acid (x2), bag of metal spikes and rods
Provisions: 1/12
Gold: 8
Afflictions: Lung Rot
Extra Lives remaining: 22/25
Notes:
1) Message pieced together from torn scraps of paper found in monastery: "There is conflict between the wizards, Caltarelair has certainly quarrelled with one of his fellows and a magic duel cannot be far away. One of them has begun to dabble in magic other than elementalism. Ralsteen the Hermit may have sensed any disturbance at the Circle; I am too weak to risk visiting it. I must hasten to hide the Crystals, and I will hide them in pairs, one pair in..."
2) Parraine will do us a service three times before we bury his bones. He can perform any of the following acts at any time as one service: cure one disease, strengthen our sword so that it inflicts 6 points of damage to the STAMINA of an enemy as the result of a successful hit in combat (can choose this service after we hit the enemy), and he can heal for up to 8 points of lost STAMINA (this cannot be carried out during a combat).
3) The magical password to a door without a lock or handle somewhere below in the dungeons is 'elementarae'.
4) +1 Attack Strength from port for next 2 combats (2/2 remaining)
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to run down the left-hand stairs towards the Black Skeleton. I don't think that acid will work against the Master of Fire, and maybe taking out the Black Skeleton will weaken the Master of Fire.

[Thaluikhain]

Half vote for throwing acid, as we don't get to do that that often.

[Queen of Swords]

Try throwing acid.

[SGamerz]

The wizard is busy casting a spell; you are ln the middle of throwing some acid at him. Work out Attack Strengths for yourself and the Master of Fire (who has SKILL 11). If you have the higher Attack Strength, tum to 271. If he has the higher Attack Strength, turn to 81.

This actually brings the question of whether or not we should apply our Attack Strength bonus from drinking the port, since it's not a full combat yet, and if it does, should it use up one of the two "combat" durations that it lasts. To save myself the headache, I'm going to rule that it only applies in a full combat.

Master of Fire rolls 8 and gets 19 AS.
Fred rolls 11 and gets 24 AS.

We score even without applying the bonus!

The Master of Fire screams as you catch him in the middle of his chest with searing acid. He loses 4 points from his STAMINA (make a note of this), and you ruin his spell-casting. Now it's time to close in on him. You can dive down the left-hand stairs or the right-hand stairs.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Fred
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 19/19
LUCK 11/12
PRESENCE: 9
Equipment: Knife, Backpack, Waterskin, Leather Jerkin, Sword, Bottle of Blade Venom (+1 damage for one combat), Rope (x2), Wooden Pole, Gold Key (found in section 40), Potion of Stamina x2 (restores lost STAMINA points up to one-half of Initial STAMINA when drunk, rounding fractions up), Flask of Grog (+4 STAMINA, +1 Attack Strength for next combat after drunk), Magic Sword (+1 Attack Strength in combat), Shield (x2), Lantern, Bottle of Monks’ Herbal Liqueur x2 (4 doses in total, each restores 4 STAMINA when drunk), pestle and mortar, Herbiary (dog-eared pages: page 311 on the Rat-tailed Fungus, page 175 on the Pitcher Plant, page 266 on the Axeplant), Sapphire (50 facets), Topaz (24 facets), Skeleton Key, Small Pearl, Brass Orb (picked up in section 63), Fire Ruby (60 facets), Tiger Eye stone, stone axe, Tomb Dust, Empty Bottle. Diamond (280-carat), Ethereal Oil (1 dose), Sprectrebane (1 dose), Potion of Luck (restore 1-3 lost LUCK points (roll one die and divide by 2, rounding fractions up), Bottle of Acid, bag of metal spikes and rods
Provisions: 1/12
Gold: 8
Afflictions: Lung Rot
Extra Lives remaining: 22/25
Notes:
1) Message pieced together from torn scraps of paper found in monastery: "There is conflict between the wizards, Caltarelair has certainly quarrelled with one of his fellows and a magic duel cannot be far away. One of them has begun to dabble in magic other than elementalism. Ralsteen the Hermit may have sensed any disturbance at the Circle; I am too weak to risk visiting it. I must hasten to hide the Crystals, and I will hide them in pairs, one pair in..."
2) Parraine will do us a service three times before we bury his bones. He can perform any of the following acts at any time as one service: cure one disease, strengthen our sword so that it inflicts 6 points of damage to the STAMINA of an enemy as the result of a successful hit in combat (can choose this service after we hit the enemy), and he can heal for up to 8 points of lost STAMINA (this cannot be carried out during a combat).
3) The magical password to a door without a lock or handle somewhere below in the dungeons is 'elementarae'.
4) +1 Attack Strength from port for next 2 combats (2/2 remaining)
5) Damage inflicted on Master of Fire: 4 STAMINA points.
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I once again vote to run down the left-hand stairs.

[SGamerz]

Sorry, had no access to a workstation for a day due to unforeseen circumstances.

You rush down the stairs towards the Black Skeleton. If you &ark a Blue Potion when you entered this room, turn to 105. Otherwise, the horror is ready to fight you as the body begins to stir on its throne; turn to 224.

We drank the potion before that, so no, we have to fight.

The Black Skeleton blocks your way so that you are unable to reach the Master of Fire. The thing is more magical than most skeletons; it can breathe fire, as you're about to find out, In addition, its magical nature means that a magic sword will cause normal damage (of 2 STAMINA points) to it, as will a stone axe, if you have one. An ordinary sword, however, will cause only 1 point of damage if you manage to hit.

Each Attack Round, whether the Black Skeleton has the higher Attack Strength or not, it will breathe fire over you. Roll one die. If you roll 1-3 the fire
envelops you and you must deduct 2 points from your STAMINA. If you roll 4--6, you manage to evade the fiery breath and you sustain no damage. If you
have a Fire Ruby, you can add 1 to the dice roll. If you are in serious trouble, you can spend 1 point of LUCK each round (for as long as you have any left), and this will add 2 to the dice roll.

BLACK SKELETON SKILL 9 STAMINA 9

When you have reduced the Black Skeleton to 3 STAMINA points or less, turn to 301. If you destroy it outright when it had 4 or more STAMINA points left at the end of the last Attack Round, tum to 146.

The only way we could have killed it outright without triggering whatever happens when its STAMINA is at 3 is to use both the Blade Venom (which we already missed the chance to do) and LUCK when we reduce its STAMINA to 5 (or fail a LUCK roll when inflicting damage to set its STAMINA at 4 before using LUCK successfully to double damage next round, which is too convoluted and unlikely to be worth attempting, so we'll probably see what that triggered even is.

We do have a Fire Crystal though, so we get a bit of additional protection against its fire breath.

COMBAT LOG:
Black Skeleton 14, Fred 20. BK is at 7. Fire breath roll = 3+1 = 4 (miss).
BK 19, Fred 21. Fire breath roll = 2+1 = 2 (hit). BK is at 5, Fred is at 17.
BK 19, Fred 21. Fire breath roll = 6 (miss). BK is at 3,

So far, the Master of Fire has simply been observing you battling his guardian; now he unleashes one of his minor spells at you. A ball of flame erupts from his fingertips and roars across the room. Roll one die; you must deduct this number of points from your STAMINA. The Black Skeleton is unaffected. If you are still alive, continue fighting it to the death, then tum to 146.

Die roll = 6! Fred is at 11 STAMINA.

COMBAT CONTONUES:
BK 14, Fred 16. Fire breath roll = 3+1 = 4 (miss). BK is at 1.
BK 17, Fred 18. Fire breath roll = 3+1 = 4 (miss). BK is destroyed.

The Fire Crystal saved us from its fire breath 3 times!

With the remnants of the Black Skeleton lying al your feet, the Master of Fire is now ready for you, his hands weaving another spell as he stands behind his protective ring of fire. What will you do now? If you have a Brass Orb and want to try using it, you know the number of the paragraph where you found it. Double that number then turn to the paragraph with the same number in order to decide what to do with the Orb. If not, will you:

Throw acid at him, if you have some?
Run at him with a weapon?
Use a crystal or diamond here?

Quite a few blue options here...

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Fred
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 11/19
LUCK 11/12
PRESENCE: 9
Equipment: Knife, Backpack, Waterskin, Leather Jerkin, Sword, Bottle of Blade Venom (+1 damage for one combat), Rope (x2), Wooden Pole, Gold Key (found in section 40), Potion of Stamina x2 (restores lost STAMINA points up to one-half of Initial STAMINA when drunk, rounding fractions up), Flask of Grog (+4 STAMINA, +1 Attack Strength for next combat after drunk), Magic Sword (+1 Attack Strength in combat), Shield (x2), Lantern, Bottle of Monks’ Herbal Liqueur x2 (4 doses in total, each restores 4 STAMINA when drunk), pestle and mortar, Herbiary (dog-eared pages: page 311 on the Rat-tailed Fungus, page 175 on the Pitcher Plant, page 266 on the Axeplant), Sapphire (50 facets), Topaz (24 facets), Skeleton Key, Small Pearl, Brass Orb (picked up in section 63), Fire Ruby (60 facets), Tiger Eye stone, stone axe, Tomb Dust, Empty Bottle. Diamond (280-carat), Ethereal Oil (1 dose), Sprectrebane (1 dose), Potion of Luck (restore 1-3 lost LUCK points (roll one die and divide by 2, rounding fractions up), Bottle of Acid, bag of metal spikes and rods
Provisions: 1/12
Gold: 8
Afflictions: Lung Rot
Extra Lives remaining: 22/25
Notes:
1) Message pieced together from torn scraps of paper found in monastery: "There is conflict between the wizards, Caltarelair has certainly quarrelled with one of his fellows and a magic duel cannot be far away. One of them has begun to dabble in magic other than elementalism. Ralsteen the Hermit may have sensed any disturbance at the Circle; I am too weak to risk visiting it. I must hasten to hide the Crystals, and I will hide them in pairs, one pair in..."
2) Parraine will do us a service three times before we bury his bones. He can perform any of the following acts at any time as one service: cure one disease, strengthen our sword so that it inflicts 6 points of damage to the STAMINA of an enemy as the result of a successful hit in combat (can choose this service after we hit the enemy), and he can heal for up to 8 points of lost STAMINA (this cannot be carried out during a combat).
3) The magical password to a door without a lock or handle somewhere below in the dungeons is 'elementarae'.
4) +1 Attack Strength from port for next 2 combats (1/2 remaining)
5) Damage inflicted on Master of Fire: 4 STAMINA points.
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to eat a provision, and use the fire ruby if that is an option, or a brass orb if not.

[Queen of Swords]

I think we could drink the Flask of Grog at this point, and yes, use the brass orb.

[SGamerz]

The Fire Ruby is one of the gems that's for some reason referred to as a "crystal", so yes, it does count as an option. (I don't think there're any actual crystal items to pick up besides those.)

I will use the Orb if there's no tiebreaker at the end of the day, since JourneymanN00b named that as a backup option, but I will wait a bit to see if there's any.

[pragma]

Grog and orb

[SGamerz]

The grog restores Fred's STAMINA to 15, and add a further +1 to his Attack Strength for the next battle.

You can rub the Brass Orb, throw it at the Master of Fire or smash the Orb at your own feet.

How do we use the orb?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Fred
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 15/19
LUCK 11/12
PRESENCE: 9
Equipment: Knife, Backpack, Waterskin, Leather Jerkin, Sword, Bottle of Blade Venom (+1 damage for one combat), Rope (x2), Wooden Pole, Gold Key (found in section 40), Potion of Stamina x2 (restores lost STAMINA points up to one-half of Initial STAMINA when drunk, rounding fractions up), Magic Sword (+1 Attack Strength in combat), Shield (x2), Lantern, Bottle of Monks’ Herbal Liqueur x2 (4 doses in total, each restores 4 STAMINA when drunk), pestle and mortar, Herbiary (dog-eared pages: page 311 on the Rat-tailed Fungus, page 175 on the Pitcher Plant, page 266 on the Axeplant), Sapphire (50 facets), Topaz (24 facets), Skeleton Key, Small Pearl, Brass Orb (picked up in section 63), Fire Ruby (60 facets), Tiger Eye stone, stone axe, Tomb Dust, Empty Bottle. Diamond (280-carat), Ethereal Oil (1 dose), Sprectrebane (1 dose), Potion of Luck (restore 1-3 lost LUCK points (roll one die and divide by 2, rounding fractions up), Bottle of Acid, bag of metal spikes and rods
Provisions: 1/12
Gold: 8
Afflictions: Lung Rot
Extra Lives remaining: 22/25
Notes:
1) Message pieced together from torn scraps of paper found in monastery: "There is conflict between the wizards, Caltarelair has certainly quarrelled with one of his fellows and a magic duel cannot be far away. One of them has begun to dabble in magic other than elementalism. Ralsteen the Hermit may have sensed any disturbance at the Circle; I am too weak to risk visiting it. I must hasten to hide the Crystals, and I will hide them in pairs, one pair in..."
2) Parraine will do us a service three times before we bury his bones. He can perform any of the following acts at any time as one service: cure one disease, strengthen our sword so that it inflicts 6 points of damage to the STAMINA of an enemy as the result of a successful hit in combat (can choose this service after we hit the enemy), and he can heal for up to 8 points of lost STAMINA (this cannot be carried out during a combat).
3) The magical password to a door without a lock or handle somewhere below in the dungeons is 'elementarae'.
4) +1 Attack Strength from port for next 2 combats (1/2 remaining)
5) Damage inflicted on Master of Fire: 4 STAMINA points.
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to eat the sole provision Fred has left, and to smash the orb at his own feet.

[SGamerz]

Smashing the Brass Orb at your feet cloaks you in an aura of magical force. The Master of Fire flings a handful of white magical missiles at you, but they strike the aura and are dissipated, causing no damage! You can completely ignore the effects of the next two (and only two!) spells cast at you (this includes the effects of running through magical fire, if this would otherwise damage you). Regain 1 LUCK point for your wise action. Now rush the wizard; turn to 364.

Handy!

The Master of Fire casts a spell al you as you race towards him, but fear is beginning to show in his wide, possessed eyes. He flings a bolt of lightning at you, but it almost misses its mark and only just catches you; if you are prepared to lose 1 point of LUCK, you can dodge it altogether, otherwise you lose 2 points from your STAMINA. Now you're closing in on your target, so turn to 39.

Our new magical protection from the Brass Orb protects us from the lightning, so there's no need to spend any LUCK here.

You have to overcome a final barrier before you can attack the Master of Fire: his magical wall of fire. If you have a Fire Ruby, you know how many facets it has; multiply that number by two and add thirty, then turn to the paragraph with that number. If you don't have this item, turn to 308.

Another item check passed!

The flames do not harm you; the Fire Ruby glows and draws the magical strength of the flames into itself. A wave of powerful magical energy seems to be transmitted from the Fire Ruby into your own body; regain 3 points of STAMINA and gain 1 point of PRESENCE too! Now turn to 196.

This means we don't even have to use up our Brass Orb's protection here! We are still protected from one more damaging spell, if we even need it!

You finally confront the Master of Fire as you strike out with your weapon and he raises his sword. Through his weapon he is able to channel one final magical assault upon you. Roll dice for Attack Strengths of both yourself and the Master of Fire (he has SKILL 11). If you have the higher Attack Strength, turn to 295. If he has the higher Attack Strength, turn to 229.

It's another magical assault, so I'm sure the Orb's magic will protect us even if we lose the Attack Round, but if we win, we can save it even further (there's no time limit mention on the Orb's protection).

Master of Fire's Attack Strength = 6 +11 = 17.
Fred's Attack Strength = 7 + 14 (our SKILL 12 + 1 Magic Sword bonus + 1 grog bonus) = 21.

(We would have won on dice rolls anyway even without all the overpowered bonuses.)

Your sword strikes the Master of Fire and ruins his concentration so his magical attack is nullified. Your weapon's blow inflicts the usual damage, so turn to 375 and finish the wizard off!

And we still have +1 bonus from the port too! Since we already know his SKILL is only 11, I think we have this one in the bag...

Now you are battling the Master of Fire in hand-to-hand combat, with an end to sorcerous meddling! You should now deduct from the Master's STAMINA score any damage you have already inflicted upon him.

MASTER OF FIRE SKILL 11 STAMINA 1711

If you win, turn to 326.

COMBAT LOG:
Master of Fire 21, Fred 19. Fred is at 16.
MOF 18, Fred 22. MOF is at 9.
MOF 19, Fred 21. MOF is at 7.
MOF 17, Fred 25. MOF is at 5.
MOF 17, Fred 21. MOF is at 3.
MOF 19, Fred 24. MOF is at 1.
MOF 21, Fred 22. MOF is defeated.

At last the Master of Fire falls to the ground, his body lifeless and inert, and it slips into the ring of magical fire surrounding his throne. The body chars and begins to burn; the element he commanded will consume him at the end. Cain 1 point of PRESENCE. You begin to turn away, to seek a way out of this terrible place, or to search for treasures you can take home with you; but then the hair at the nape of your neck begins to rise. You spin round...to see that something is emerging from the charring body of the dead wizard. A spectral form is dragging itself out of the corpse, unharmed by the flames, and as you swing at it with your weapon you slice right through it, doing it no harm. Fool, a thought implants itself in your mind, you cannot harm me! I will find another body to possess, just as I took over this mortal who summoned me! Perhaps I will possess yours...

You now have a limited time in which you can carry out up to five actions. Eating a meal counts as one action (and you can't gobble down more than two meals). So does drinking a potion, coating a weapon with venom or bane if you have one, guzzling some Monks' Herbal Liqueur or grog, or coating yourself with oil (if you can). Decide which five actions you want to perform, then turn to 163.

Decide our 5 actions before the Boss Fight begins!

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Fred
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 16/19
LUCK 12/12
PRESENCE: 11
Equipment: Knife, Backpack, Waterskin, Leather Jerkin, Sword, Bottle of Blade Venom (+1 damage for one combat), Rope (x2), Wooden Pole, Gold Key (found in section 40), Potion of Stamina x2 (restores lost STAMINA points up to one-half of Initial STAMINA when drunk, rounding fractions up), Magic Sword (+1 Attack Strength in combat), Shield (x2), Lantern, Bottle of Monks’ Herbal Liqueur x2 (4 doses in total, each restores 4 STAMINA when drunk), pestle and mortar, Herbiary (dog-eared pages: page 311 on the Rat-tailed Fungus, page 175 on the Pitcher Plant, page 266 on the Axeplant), Sapphire (50 facets), Topaz (24 facets), Skeleton Key, Small Pearl, Fire Ruby (60 facets), Tiger Eye stone, stone axe, Tomb Dust, Empty Bottle. Diamond (280-carat), Ethereal Oil (1 dose), Sprectrebane (1 dose), Potion of Luck (restore 1-3 lost LUCK points (roll one die and divide by 2, rounding fractions up), Bottle of Acid, bag of metal spikes and rods
Provisions: 1/12
Gold: 8
Afflictions: Lung Rot
Extra Lives remaining: 24/27
Notes:
1) Message pieced together from torn scraps of paper found in monastery: "There is conflict between the wizards, Caltarelair has certainly quarrelled with one of his fellows and a magic duel cannot be far away. One of them has begun to dabble in magic other than elementalism. Ralsteen the Hermit may have sensed any disturbance at the Circle; I am too weak to risk visiting it. I must hasten to hide the Crystals, and I will hide them in pairs, one pair in..."
2) Parraine will do us a service three times before we bury his bones. He can perform any of the following acts at any time as one service: cure one disease, strengthen our sword so that it inflicts 6 points of damage to the STAMINA of an enemy as the result of a successful hit in combat (can choose this service after we hit the enemy), and he can heal for up to 8 points of lost STAMINA (this cannot be carried out during a combat).
3) The magical password to a door without a lock or handle somewhere below in the dungeons is 'elementarae'.
4) +1 Attack Strength from port for next 2 combats (0/2 remaining)
5) Damage inflicted on Master of Fire: 6 STAMINA points.
6) Magical Protection from Brass Orb: 1/2 remaining.
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to eat the last Provision Fred has, coat the magic sword with the bottle of Blade Venom and Spectrebane, and use the dose of Ethereal oil.

[Queen of Swords]

Sounds good, let's do all of that.

[SGamerz]

Although only 4 actions were voted for, I guess there really isn't anything else meaningful that we could have done, with all our stats at full after we take the last meal. I guess we spend the last action thumbing our nose at the spectre while waiting for it to manifest fully.

If one of your chosen actions was coating yourself with Ethereal Oil, turn to 312. If this was not one of your actions, turn to 278.

It was...

Your body becomes insubstantial, ghostly, almost transparent. The hideous Dire Spectre which has risen from the wizard's corpse stares at you in hatred and fear! Its face is lined, its shrivelled eyes are sunk back into their sockets and its clawed talons end in wisps and tendrils of acrid smoke. It is a little distance away from you, in a world which seems strange and only half real; you can make out the material worl4 including the wizard's chamber, but only as through a hazy fog; this Ethereal Plane has an elusive, fluid nature of its own. But you have to get accustomed to it quickly as the undead monster is waving its hands, and you guess that it possesses some magic of its own. Will you:

Throw acid at the Dire Spectre, if you have some?
Drink a Blue Potion, if you have one?
Move to attack the Dire Spectre?
Coat your sword with Spectrebane, if you have any?

We already used the Spectrebane and the Blue Potion (although the former presumably will still apply its effect in the upcoming fight, since we only just applied it). We do have an extra dose of acid, though, so this choice just boils down to whether or not you think it works on this spectre.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Fred
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 19/19
LUCK 12/12
PRESENCE: 11
Equipment: Knife, Backpack, Waterskin, Leather Jerkin, Sword, Rope (x2), Wooden Pole, Gold Key (found in section 40), Potion of Stamina x2 (restores lost STAMINA points up to one-half of Initial STAMINA when drunk, rounding fractions up), Magic Sword (+1 Attack Strength in combat), Shield (x2), Lantern, Bottle of Monks’ Herbal Liqueur x2 (4 doses in total, each restores 4 STAMINA when drunk), pestle and mortar, Herbiary (dog-eared pages: page 311 on the Rat-tailed Fungus, page 175 on the Pitcher Plant, page 266 on the Axeplant), Sapphire (50 facets), Topaz (24 facets), Skeleton Key, Small Pearl, Fire Ruby (60 facets), Tiger Eye stone, stone axe, Tomb Dust, Empty Bottle, Diamond (280-carat), Potion of Luck (restore 1-3 lost LUCK points (roll one die and divide by 2, rounding fractions up), Bottle of Acid, bag of metal spikes and rods
Provisions: 0/12
Gold: 8
Afflictions: Lung Rot
Extra Lives remaining: 24/27
Notes:
1) Message pieced together from torn scraps of paper found in monastery: "There is conflict between the wizards, Caltarelair has certainly quarrelled with one of his fellows and a magic duel cannot be far away. One of them has begun to dabble in magic other than elementalism. Ralsteen the Hermit may have sensed any disturbance at the Circle; I am too weak to risk visiting it. I must hasten to hide the Crystals, and I will hide them in pairs, one pair in..."
2) Parraine will do us a service three times before we bury his bones. He can perform any of the following acts at any time as one service: cure one disease, strengthen our sword so that it inflicts 6 points of damage to the STAMINA of an enemy as the result of a successful hit in combat (can choose this service after we hit the enemy), and he can heal for up to 8 points of lost STAMINA (this cannot be carried out during a combat).
3) The magical password to a door without a lock or handle somewhere below in the dungeons is 'elementarae'.
4) +1 Attack Strength from port for next 2 combats (0/2 remaining)
5) Damage inflicted on Master of Fire before close combat: 6 STAMINA points.
6) Magical Protection from Brass Orb: 1/2 remaining.
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I do not think acid works against spectres or ghosts, so I vote to just attack it with the Spectrebane coated sword.

[Queen of Swords]

Makes sense, let's do that.