[Let's Play] Fighting Fantazine Adventure #17 - Barbarian Warrlord!

[JourneymanN00b]

Thank you for running this, SGamerz. Please get well soon.

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, both thanks for running, and get well soon.

(If they'd said that destroying Salamonis was the endpoint, probably have voted to do other stuff).

This, IMHO, is the best gamebook in a while, I like the open world ness, (but working out how to get from hither to yon was tiresome), though some point to what we were doing and why, rather than just killing everyone we come across, would have been nice.

[SGamerz]

(If they'd said that destroying Salamonis was the endpoint, probably have voted to do other stuff).

The book did not say so, but I did state in the beginning that the ending will be triggered once we conquer the most challenging city on the map. When you look the map and the descriptions in the text when we visit each city, that can only be Salamonis or Fang (especially since Port Blacksand isn't on it), and once we conquered Fang and the game didn't end there was literally no other city left anyway.

Anyway, a quick sum up of the remaining things we didn't uncover:

Stonebridge:
- The Diamond can be used to forge a shield. But we already bought a superior one anyway, so we wouldn't have needed it, although it can sold for extra gold if you run into the trade caravan at Moonstone Hills. The Diamond Shield only has a 1/6 chance of reducing damage and has no special effect against Darkmane's weapon like our Dragonscale shield did
- If we find a Yellow Stone Ore, we can forge a Golden Hauberk. Probably the best damage reducer in the game, with 50% chance of deducting damage by one. Combined with our helmet and shield it would have gotten us 100% rate.

Darkwood;
Doesn't yield much actual direct reward for conquering (gold gained is determined by 1 die roll). Upon revisit, we get 1 of 3 random outcomes:
1) Loot extra gold
2) Recruit more troops by either spending gold or Honour (same as most other places)
3) Run into a Shapechanger disguised as a Gnome. After we kill it, can loot the Eye of the Dragon gem (presumably the half that was already found at the beginning of the book). There are references to the other half of it being hidden in some dungeon. The only use for this item is to sell for gold (to the trade caravan)

Moonstone Hills:
If we explore the Lost Lake, we find Kull's skeleton holding the sword, which we can take. We're not told directly that it's cursed (although old FF fans can make a good guess), but to turn to a reference the first time we kill someone with it - where, of course, we get turned into a skeleton. If we show the cursed sword to the Healer, he offers to remove the curse in exchange for gold. The sword will do 3 STAMINA damage per hit whether cursed or uncursed. But since we're bound to find a better weapon if we want to eventually win the book anyway, I personally wouldn't bother, and usually just use it as my sacrifice item at the Chaos Shrine. Speaking of which...

The Flatlands:
...you guys missed out big by always taking the same option here. Both the remaining unexplored options lead to good stuff. Resting and training restores some STAMINA as well as allowing you to trade gold for HORD STRIKE (above Initial score). We started with a high one, so it's not that important to us, but for anyone who started low this is all but vital for them to win.

The Chaos Shrine actually gives us one of the two code words which helps as against magical enemies. In fact it gives us the best one: Storm. Storm, as in, VOLGERA DARKSTORM. That guy who taught the Demonic Three and got murdered by them. The sacrifice brings up back as undead (but intelligent) ally, and he would have made a lot of battles easier, countering the presence of any magic-wielding opponent. These include the battles against; Zagor, Balthus Dire, Zharradan Marr, Yaztromo, and even the Grand Wizard of Yore! The only one he cannot counter is Libra at Salamonis, who will banish him the moment he appears (so anyone who makes the mistake of invading Salamonis too early will lose his aid).

He can also help us with that Spectre at Trolltooth, but not by fighting it this time, but by recognizing it as a old friend, and the 2 will chat through the night leaving you unharmed.

However, if we ever decide to flee from any battle where he's helping us, it means we abandon/leave him behind, and we lose his help for the rest of the adventure.

Fang/Deathtrap Dungeon:
The golden beetle amulet which we chose not to pick up is a cursed item which we cannot remove and will reduced out stats, but we having it will trigger an event at Dree (which we can unlock after we defeat Marr), where one of the witches offers to help remove it, and in the process offer advice about us getting magical aid from the Chaos Shrine.

The rockpile that we chose not to search (because our LUCK was too low) hid Throm's skeleton. We can take its eyepatch, which can be sold at the trade caravan, but can also be worn for SKILL and STAMINA bonuses - both allows us to exceed the initial values. This is probably the best prize we can find in the Deathtrap Dungeon. Alas, we chose to enter while our LUCK was rockbottom, so one can say we're out luck(LUCK) with that!

We could, however, have taken that golden left hand that we chose not to (the right one is trapped, as you can probably guess). It's made of real gold, and counts as a gold talent.

Trolltooth Pass

The last random encounter we never triggered is a bandit encounter. This is best for low--Honour character, as if they fail an Honour check, they manage to convince the bandits to see them as friends and can even recruit some. For high-Honour characters, it just leads to a fight (but not a very difficult one).

Firetop Mountain:
The last random encounter we never triggered is an encounter with an NPC adventurer (one who features regularly in this author's works). Can't be killed, but if we win a combat against her and drive her away, we find the Eye of the Cylcops, which can be traded for gold at Trolltooth.

Forest of Yore:
Direct reward gained from conquest is randomized between 3: a Diamond, a Potion of Skill or Potion of Strength. If we revisit it, we get attacked by a young sword-wielding sorcerer who claims to be the Grand Wizard's Star Pupil (could be the PC of Citadel of Chaos), who has SKILL 9 ST 12.. Killing him gets us a Potion of Fortune.

Forest of Spiders:
After defeating Marr and revisiting the place, we can 4 places to explore: Marr's dungeon, Dree, Bu Bon Fen, and Yellowstone Mine.

Yellowstone Mine, as you can probably guess, gives us the Yellowstone Mine (only on the first visit, just like the other mines). Dree has been mentioned above regarding the cursed beetle amulet. We can also buy a Fate blessing, which allows as to ignore the result of any singe die/dice roll. The Bu Bon Fen does give us anything except a fight against a wild Marsh Wraith (although we do gain an Honour for beating it).

Exploring Marr's dungeon also triggers 1 of 3 random results:
1) Loot extra gold
2) Find the Crystal Club (which, like in Creature of Havoc, can be used to deliver a 1-time, 1-shot kill when used).
3) Get doused in Elven Dust. This is the second of the 2 codewords (Dust) that helps us against magic-user opponents.

The Elven Dust and Darkstorm's presence are mutually exclusive. If we were already covered in the dust when we sacrifice of at the Chaos Shrine, the sacrifice will remove the Dust code word (which presumably removes the dust protection from us as well). If Darkstorm was already with us when we trigger the Elven Dust, he leaves us in disgust because the dust will block his magic.

The dust's protection isn't as powerful as Darkstorm's protection. They will still make the battles against the various magic users easier, but by a smaller margin. It also protects against the spectre, and will get removed by Libra if we attack Salamonis too early without the green metal blade.

Other giving us less potent help against spellcaster compared to Darkstorm, there are also 3 key differences. The first is of course it won't help us against Zharradan Marr, since we need to beat him in the first place to get the dust. The 2 other times are the battles against the good wizards. Both Yaztromo and Vermithrax Moonchaser are allied with the Elven folks, who will recognize our protection and dispel it. The dust will still protect us for that battle, but it will not remain after the battle is over. So if we rely on that protection instead of Darkstorm's help, we're definitely better off taking out the evil wizards first before the good ones.

[Thaluikhain]

Firetop Mountain:
The last random encounter we never triggered is an encounter with an NPC adventurer (one who features regularly in this author's works). Can't be killed, but if we win a combat against her and drive her away, we find the Eye of the Cylcops, which can be traded for gold at Trolltooth.

Oh, who is the NPC?

[SGamerz]

Firetop Mountain:
The last random encounter we never triggered is an encounter with an NPC adventurer (one who features regularly in this author's works). Can't be killed, but if we win a combat against her and drive her away, we find the Eye of the Cylcops, which can be traded for gold at Trolltooth.

Oh, who is the NPC?

Melric Moonblade. She also has a regular male adventuring companion (forgot the name). The 2 feature often in the author's mini-adventures, although usually as minor NPCs.