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

[Thaluikhain]

I don't have any preference, we are in pretty good shape, so may as well.

[SGamerz]

The strange eastern city of Zengis is capital of the barony of Kaypong and lies on the banks of the River Kok, near the looted ruins of the ancient city of Gar-Goldoran. If you have the Code word Overlord, turn to 138. If you have the Code word Slayer, turn to 123.

Zengis is at the centre of the great northern trade routes between Fang and Sardath, and its potentate, Baron Kognoy, has grown fat on taxing the profits of merchants. He has also become lazy. The walls of the city are in need of repairs, and the few patrols your horde sees (and avoids) are ill-disciplined and poorly equipped.

"It will be like chasing an old bull mammoth through heavy snow," whispers Nharog, after one guard patrol has passed by. "An easy slaughter!"

If you want to attack the city of Zengis, turn to 177. If you want to leave instead, turn to 141.

Zengis the city is no longer. Now it is a ruin, a twin to what was left of Gar-Goldoran, but obviously more recent; a stinking, burning pile of rubble and timber, through which scrabble carpetbaggers and miscreants, looting the homes of the dead. If you have 4 talents of Gold and wish to spend it rebuilding the city (and your HORDE STRENGTH is at least 2), turn to 135. If you do not have enough Gold (or HORDE STRENGTH), or you just wish to leave here, turn to 141.

You and your horde are leaving Zengis and the eastern Allansian province of Kaypong. Its willow-clad riverbanks and bambooshrouded foothills are picturesque, but perhaps too peaceful. Could greater glory lie elsewhere?

"Look lively, lads!" says Nharog. "Heads high and axes low!"

Where will your horde venture next?

If you want to go east to the Flatlands, turn to 10.
If you want to go south into the Moonstone Hills, turn to 100.
If you want to go southwest to Firetop Mountain, turn to 30.
If you want to go west to the city of Fang, turn to 70.

Fang is the capital of the northern barony of Chiang Mai, and lies on the banks of the River Kok, while behind it foothills rise up to the jagged peaks of the Icefinger Mountains. If you have the Code word Warlord, turn to 31. If you have the Code word Marauder, turn to 106.

The city is ruled by the infamous Baron Sukumvit, builder of Deathtrap Dungeon, and under this devious satrap the settlement has flourished. An endless series of trading caravans and barges stop or dock at the city, and of course once a year would-be heroes and nameless adventurers journey here for ‘The Walk’, the Trial of Champions in Deathtrap Dungeon itself that claims so many victims.

"Fang is the greatest city in the north, greater even than Zengis," says Nharog. "Baron Sukumvit has well-trained troops and solid walls. Victory is possible, but hard."

If you want to attack the city of Fang, turn to 78. If you want to leave instead, turn to 61.

The walls of Fang are guarded by mail-clad soldiers brandishing halberds, but you are confident your horde can match them. Advance scouts have hidden bamboo ladders around the city walls, and you plan to charge through the surrounding rice-paddies, shields held high to deflect arrow-fire, scale the walls, and engage the enemy.

"For the glory of the Ancestors, warriors attack!" you scream, pointing your weapon at the walls of Fang. This truly will be a battle for the annals of history!

FANG SOLDIERS HORDE STRIKE 8 HORDE STRENGTH 11

Your horde must reduce its Attack Strength by 1 for this battle due to the walls and fortifications of Fang. If you wish to Escape, you order the retreat and flee from the soldiers; deduct 1 point of HONOUR and turn to 61. If the soldiers of Fang reduce your HORDE STRENGTH to zero or less, turn to 13. Otherwise, after two Attack Rounds, turn to 95.

Fortunately, despite the Attack Strength penalty, we still have the advantage in stats.

COMBAT LOG:
Fang Soldiers 17, Fire Axe 15. FA is at 12.
FS 17, FA 21. FS is at 9.

Your horde has stormed the walls of Fang and fighting rages across the battlements. Some Barbarians have already infiltrated the city and set distracting fires, whose flames rise high and give off enormous dark clouds of smoke.

Suddenly a black-clad figure with only its eyes visible leaps onto the city wall, landing in front of you and hurling a razorsharp shuriken in your direction. Test your Luck; if you are Unlucky, the shuriken bites deep into your flesh and you must deduct 2 STAMINA points. If you are Lucky, the shuriken goes whizzing past your head and buries itself in the stonework behind you.

You face a NINJA, a deadly assassin trained since childhood to slay and sow havoc. He advances towards you across the smoke-wreathed battlements, armed with a short curved sword that glistens in the firelight. You must battle for your life!

NINJA SKILL 11 STAMINA 9

The Ninja’s sword is poisoned; every time you lose an Attack Round you must deduct 3 STAMINA points instead of 2. If you wish to Escape, you sound the retreat and your horde flees; deduct 1 point of HONOUR and turn to 61. If the Ninja reduces your STAMINA to zero or less, turn to 13. If you defeat the Ninja, he falls like a brick from the city walls, grievously injured and his black robes slick with blood; turn to 83.

He does the same damage as us! And he would have the same SKILL as us if it weren't for our new Enchanted Broadsword!

Luck test roll = 2 (Lucky). We avoid the shuriken!

COMBAT LOG:
Ninja 20, Grom 20. Tie.
Ninja 17, Grom 15. Grom is at 14.
Ninja 19, Grom 22. Ninja is at 6.
Ninja 14, Grom 17. Ninja is at 3.
Ninja 16, Grom 19. Ninja is killed.

Add 1 point to your HONOUR score for slaying the Ninja sent to assassinate you.

Baron Sukumvit, wearing crimson robes and an elaborate golden headdress, is mounted atop a large black stallion and guarded by knights clad in lacquer armour and armed with barbed lances. He awaits your horde in the city square, augmented by surviving guard units. With the blowing of a horn, the soldiers of Fang charge towards you in a last-ditch effort to defend their city!

FANG SOLDIERS HORDE STRIKE 8 HORDE STRENGTH as before

The HORDE STRENGTH score of the soldiers is the same as it was after the two Attack Rounds you fought. If you wish to Escape, you order the retreat and flee from the soldiers; deduct 1 point of HONOUR and turn to 61. If the soldiers reduce your HORDE STRENGTH to zero or less, turn to 13. If you defeat the soldiers, turn to 92.

I believe the HORDE STRIKE penalty no longer applies, since we've gotten past the city walls.

COMBAT LOG:
FS 15, FA 18. FS is at 7.
FS 14, FA 18. FS is at 5.
FS 16, FA 20. FS is at 3.
FS 17, FA 21. FS is at 1.
FS 14, FA 20. FS is defeated.

You have defeated Sukumvit’s knights and the professional soldiers of Fang! Add 1 point to your HONOUR score for your victory.

Most soldiers surrender once they realise the game is up, but some fanatical Ninjas take their own lives by disemboweling themselves with their short-swords. Baron Sukumvit himself is cut down while fleeing up the hillside steps in the direction of his infamous Deathtrap Dungeon.

"Thus do perish all cowardly tyrants," says Nharog contemptuously, pulling a throwing axe from the back of Sukumvit’s cloven skull.

If you have at least 2 points of HORDE STRENGTH and wish to occupy the city of Fang, turn to 55. If you wish to raze it to the ground, turn to 65.

I wonder if Lord Carnuss would be happy to learn about this...

Do we want to leave a garrison here? If we do, how many HORDE STRENGTH do we leave behind?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Grom the Dark
Tribe: Fire Axe
SKILL 11/12
STAMINA 14/17
LUCK 5/11
HORDE STRIKE: 12/12
HORDE STRENGTH: 12/19
HONOUR: 19
Equipment: Sword, King Gilibran's Warhammer (+1 Attack Strength, can be thrown before combat for 2 STAMINA damage if SKILL test is passed), Diamond, Horned Helmet (+1 Attack Strength), Dragonscale Shield (reduce damage taken by 1 if we roll 5 o or 6 on 1D6 when taking a blow in battle), Enchanted Broadsword (+2 Attack Strength and does 3 STAMINA damage per hit in individual combat)
Gold: 3 talents
Codewords: Trollslayer, Dwarfslayer, Ravager, Slayer, Raider, Looter, Nemesis
Blessings:
Doman:
1) City: Stonebridge / Garrison Strength: 3
Notes:
1) Some claim that Chadda Darkmane, who guards Salamonis, is an avatar of Libra, the Goddess of Justice, and unbeatable in combat. Only weapons forged from Green Metal can harm agents of the gods. Green Metal can be found in Craggen Rock.
[/spoiler]

[Thaluikhain]

I vote for the full 5, as this is probably somewhere we want to keep. And we'll probably want to go recruit some more right away again.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to leave the full 5 soldiers in the garrison as well.

[SGamerz]

I realized that I forgot to factor in the combat bonuses we got from the equipment we bought at Trolltooth Pass during the ninja combat. Unfortunately, even with the extra bonus from the Horned Helmet, we still could not have avoided that one hit we took from the ninja. What I can do, however, is to do a delayed check on whether the shield could have reduced a point of damage we took.

Die roll = 4. Nothing is changed, sadly.

Fang has fallen to the might of your horde! You will have to garrison it, however. Write the name ‘Fang’ in an empty City slot on the Your Domain box of your Adventure Sheet. Next, deduct a minimum of 1 point and a maximum of 5 points from your HORDE STRENGTH score and add it to the city’s GARRISON STRENGTH box. Note that you cannot reduce your own HORDE STRENGTH to zero or less. Fang is now garrisoned with your own troops. Also, write the Code word Warlord in the Code words box on your Adventure Sheet. Turn to 46.

You are the overlord of Fang, and your residence is the citadel of the former Baron Sukumvit. The citadel looks out across the city, but higher still, up on a hillside, is the menacing entrance to Sukumvit’s most enduring creation: Deathtrap Dungeon. Despite the strange view, you can rest and recuperate in the citadel: roll a die and restore this many points to your current STAMINA score. Remember, though, that you cannot exceed your Initial score.

You can also collect taxes on the traders that come into the town via barges on the River Kok or the caravans trekking across the Pagan Plains from southern settlements like Stonebridge, Mirewater and Kaad. Add 4 talents to the Gold box on your Adventure Sheet.

If you want to increase the size of your garrison, deduct a minimum of 1 point from your HORDE STRENGTH score and add it to the city’s GARRISON STRENGTH box. If you want to decrease the size of your garrison, deduct a minimum of 1 point from the city’s GARRISON STRENGTH score and add it to your HORDE STRENGTH box. Remember, the GARRISON STRENGTH and HORDE STRENGTH must both have a score of at least 1 point each, and that GARRISON STRENGTH can only have a maximum score of 5.

What do you wish to do now?

If you want to enter Deathtrap Dungeon, turn to 190.
If you wish to leave Fang, turn to 61.
If you wish to sack the city, cross the Code word Warlord off from the Code words box on your Adventure Sheet. Reduce the GARRISON STRENGTH to zero (and add these points to your HORDE STRENGTH), and turn to 65.

Die roll = 5. At least we more than recovered the STAMINA loss we took from the ninja thanks to the rest!'

The extra 4 talents of gold is also very welcome, since we were starting to run low on that after our recent recruitments.

Only 1 special option here, and one we probably expected. Do we enter the Deathtrap Dungeon?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Grom the Dark
Tribe: Fire Axe
SKILL 11/12
STAMINA 17/17
LUCK 5/11
HORDE STRIKE: 12/12
HORDE STRENGTH: 7/19
HONOUR: 19
Equipment: Sword, King Gilibran's Warhammer (+1 Attack Strength, can be thrown before combat for 2 STAMINA damage if SKILL test is passed), Diamond, Horned Helmet (+1 Attack Strength), Dragonscale Shield (reduce damage taken by 1 if we roll 5 o or 6 on 1D6 when taking a blow in battle), Enchanted Broadsword (+2 Attack Strength and does 3 STAMINA damage per hit in individual combat)
Gold: 7 talents
Codewords: Trollslayer, Dwarfslayer, Ravager, Slayer, Raider, Looter, Nemesis, Warlord
Blessings:
Doman:
1) City: Stonebridge / Garrison Strength: 3
2) City: Fang / Garrison Strength: 5
Notes:
1) Some claim that Chadda Darkmane, who guards Salamonis, is an avatar of Libra, the Goddess of Justice, and unbeatable in combat. Only weapons forged from Green Metal can harm agents of the gods. Green Metal can be found in Craggen Rock.
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to enter Deathtrap Dungeon, of course.

[Thaluikhain]

Enter the dungeon!

[SGamerz]

Empty box

If the box is ticked, Deathtrap Dungeon has been boarded up with bamboo screens and you are unable to enter. Turn back to 46. If the box is not ticked, read on below.

The entrance to Deathtrap Dungeon is a dark tunnel-mouth disappearing into the inner depths of a looming hillside. Two great stone pillars flank the entrance, covered with ornate carvings of writhing serpents, demons and deities, all seeming to scream a silent warning to those who would pass beyond them.

"It’s not the season for the Trial of Champions," says Nharog. "And even if you do go in there, we can’t follow you."

Several dungeon overseers, known as Trialmasters and wearing violet robes stand nearby, eyeing you warily.

If you want to enter Deathtrap Dungeon, tick the box above and turn to 85. If you want to leave Fang, turn to 61.

[Thaluikhain]

Enter.

(And, c'mon, we own the town, and we've got a horde of barbarians, we can all come in if we want)

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to enter the Dungeon, of course.

[SGamerz]

(And, c'mon, we own the town, and we've got a horde of barbarians, we can all come in if we want)

I think Nharog may be saying that the tribe doesn't want to enter it, similar to how they didn't want to come into Firetop Mountain with is.

As you enter Deathtrap Dungeon, one of the Trialmasters says "You fool! It hasn’t been tested yet."

You ignore them and proceed north up a dank corridor lit at irregular intervals by flickering glowstones. Here and there the walls and ceiling are braced with tangled stacks of bamboo scaffolding. After a while, you come to a T-junction. If you wish to go west, turn to 28. If you wish to go east, turn to 147.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to go west to reject fascism, of course.

[Thaluikhain]

If we had bought a map of the dungeon, it would have said to take the sinister path, which going north is the west one. So west.

[SGamerz]

After a while the western corridor enters a small stone-walled chamber whose floor is covered with a mosaic of large red and blue glazed tiles. There is another corridor leaving the room from the north wall. If you wish to get to it by stepping on a blue tile to your left, turn to 73. If you wish to get to the corridor by stepping on a red tile to your right, turn to 49.

[Thaluikhain]

Blue tile.

(also, who has to test the dungeons? Do they get well-paid?)

[JourneymanN00b]

Also voting for the blue tile to stand against fascism and its red colors.

[SGamerz]

You step gingerly on the blue tile, but nothing happens! Hopping from blue tile to blue tile, you enter the northern corridor.

The corridor heads north, entering a pillared hallway with a high ceiling. This suits its inhabitant, a three-metre-tall humanoid with grey skin and silvery eyes, clad in a loincloth and swinging a stone club. Seeing you, the CAVE GIANT strides down the hallway to attack. You must fight!

CAVE GIANT SKILL 8 STAMINA 10

If you wish to Escape, you dodge past the Cave Giant and flee northwards; turn to 189. If the Cave Giant reduces your STAMINA to zero or less, turn to 13. If you defeat the Cave Giant, turn to 24.

COMBAT LOG:
Cave Giant 14, Grom 23. CG is at 7.
Cave Giant 20, Grom 24. CG is at 4.
Cave Giant 17, Grom 24. CG is at 1.
Cave Giant 14, Grom 20. CG is killed.

Even rolling a double-6 couldn't help the giant score a hit on us, and Grom gets an easy flawless victory.

With a crash, the Cave Giant topples to the floor. You find nothing of interest except a golden beetle amulet on a piece of string around its neck. If you wish to wear the amulet, turn to 107. If you wish to ignore it and continue north, turn to 189.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to ignore it.

[Thaluikhain]

I'm curious, but we are doing well enough without it, so leave it be.

[SGamerz]

The hallway ends in a large square chamber whose floor is covered in bones, all of which appear to have been deposited by several chutes in the ceiling. Another passageway heads east. If you wish to search through the bones, Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 35. If you are Unlucky, turn to 104.

If you do not wish to search through the bones, you head east. Turn to 126.

Just a reminder that our LUCK is now at 5...

[Thaluikhain]

Don't try testing luck, move on.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to head east without searching through the bones.

[SGamerz]

The passage you are following meets another coming from the opposite direction at a point where a third corridor heads north. Reasoning that the passage straight ahead will likely lead back to the entrance, you turn and trudge north, flickering glowstones fitfully lighting your way. Turn to 191.

The passage enters a large pillared room dominated by a giant carved-stone statue of some weird god from distant Eastern lands, with a fanged mouth and ornate body armour. Both of its hands are held out in front of it, palms upward, and each appears to be made of solid gold and detachable from the idol. If you want to try to take the hand on your left, turn to 87. If you want to try to take the hand on your right, turn to 143. If you want to ignore the golden hands and leave this room via an arched exit to the north, turn to 184.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to ignore the golden hands, as the map warned about the path of Dragons, and I assume that the statue is a dragon.

[Thaluikhain]

Hmmm...makes sense, keep going north.