Let's Play Fighting Fantasy no 46: Tower of Destruction
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(Two votes to press on, one to investigate. Pressing on.)
The afternoon passes slowly; you soon work up a sweat as you stumble along paths littered with treacherous rocks half hidden under a blanket of snow. The smoky, hazy valley of the Spheres seems never to get any closer, and you haven't made much progress by nightfall. But you do manage to find a cave, and within it is a little dry wood, a flint and some tinder. You bless the traveler who left this here for others to find, and soon you have a small fire cheering you with its warmth. You can even warm the Provisions you use for the meal you must eat here. Soon the warmth of the fire makes you doze off, and you get a good night's rest.
[…]
ln the morning, you must eat a meal. Then you go outside to stretch your legs and the first thing that catches your eye is a winged shape in the sky, just to the south. It looks sizeable and, if it’s a White Dragon, then it is a formidable beast indeed. You decide to wait for an hour and then look again, but when you venture outside once more, the creature is still there, circling in the sky. What are you going to do? You can set off outside and head north or stay inside the cave.
The afternoon passes slowly; you soon work up a sweat as you stumble along paths littered with treacherous rocks half hidden under a blanket of snow. The smoky, hazy valley of the Spheres seems never to get any closer, and you haven't made much progress by nightfall. But you do manage to find a cave, and within it is a little dry wood, a flint and some tinder. You bless the traveler who left this here for others to find, and soon you have a small fire cheering you with its warmth. You can even warm the Provisions you use for the meal you must eat here. Soon the warmth of the fire makes you doze off, and you get a good night's rest.
[…]
ln the morning, you must eat a meal. Then you go outside to stretch your legs and the first thing that catches your eye is a winged shape in the sky, just to the south. It looks sizeable and, if it’s a White Dragon, then it is a formidable beast indeed. You decide to wait for an hour and then look again, but when you venture outside once more, the creature is still there, circling in the sky. What are you going to do? You can set off outside and head north or stay inside the cave.
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Darth Rabbitt
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You set off in a northerly direction, hoping that the creature flying around behind you won't notice you. Now you must Test your Luck. lf you are Lucky, you can press on northwards; If you are Unlucky, the creature flies down to investigate you.
(We are lucky.)
You must eat a meal at the end of the day, and you manage to find somewhere secure to sleep. In the morning, when you must eat another meal, you find that you are on a clifftop, overlooking the valley. The smoke is clearing and in the valley lies the large rocky Sphere, still spitting forth gouts of fire and plumes of filthy black smoke. There are a few, small, human-sized figures around the Sphere. You are going to have a tricky climb down from here. Roll two dice and add 2 to the total rolled, unless you have Climbing Gear; if you do have Climbing Gear, you may subtract 2 from the total rolled.
If the adjusted total is greater than your SKILL, you will stumble, grazing your limbs, and suffer various knocks and scrapes; deduct 4 points from your STAMINA. If the total rolled is less than or equal to your SKILL, you get down safely enough.
(a 9; we made it, thanks to our Climbing Gear.)
Now you stand a few hundred metres from the Sphere, creeping forward through burnt and blackened tree stumps and rocks. Unfortunately, you have little cover, and you are soon spotted by two guards. They look like animated corpses, but they are blue-skinned, the water in their bodies is solid ice, and what seems to be breath is frosting on the air before them. Their eyes are vacant and their faces expressionless. You have to fight the two Ice Ghosts here, together. Each Attack Round you must roll dice to determine the Attack Strengths for yourself and both your opponents. The combatant with the highest Attack Strengths is the one who gets in a damaging blow that round.
First ICE GHOST Skill 7 Stamina 7
Second ICE GHOST Skill 7 Stamina 6
Combat log
You are now heading straight towards the Sphere, and there isn't a great deal of cover directly ahead. You can continue in the same way or sweep around to approach the Sphere from the other side, where there appears to be better concealment for an approach.
(That was close. Dammit, Furryborn, why don't you have more than one weapon to overcome various types of damage reduction? That's fighter 101 right there. I assume we're going to eat provisions and/or drink brandy or our stamina potion. We can only eat one provision a paragraph, and we might not want to use up all of them in case some free healing happens to be coming up, so what combination of healing items do you all think we should use?)
Furryborn the Honourable
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 2/20
LUCK 7/10
Honour: 7
Time Elapsed: 5 days
Equipment: Sword, Furred Leather Armour, Shield, Backpack, Lantern, Climbing Gear, Brandy (2 swigs), Potion of Stamina, 3 gold pieces, Snow Fox, 4 Provisions
(We are lucky.)
If the adjusted total is greater than your SKILL, you will stumble, grazing your limbs, and suffer various knocks and scrapes; deduct 4 points from your STAMINA. If the total rolled is less than or equal to your SKILL, you get down safely enough.
(a 9; we made it, thanks to our Climbing Gear.)
Now you stand a few hundred metres from the Sphere, creeping forward through burnt and blackened tree stumps and rocks. Unfortunately, you have little cover, and you are soon spotted by two guards. They look like animated corpses, but they are blue-skinned, the water in their bodies is solid ice, and what seems to be breath is frosting on the air before them. Their eyes are vacant and their faces expressionless. You have to fight the two Ice Ghosts here, together. Each Attack Round you must roll dice to determine the Attack Strengths for yourself and both your opponents. The combatant with the highest Attack Strengths is the one who gets in a damaging blow that round.
First ICE GHOST Skill 7 Stamina 7
Second ICE GHOST Skill 7 Stamina 6
Combat log
(Targetting second ice ghost first, as it has less stamina, so we'll kill it quicker.)
Furryborn 16, First Ice Ghost 11, Second Ice Ghost 17. Furryborn at 18.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 14, Second Ice Ghost 12. Draw.
Furryborn 18, First Ice Ghost 12, Second Ice Ghost 14.
(When we first strike an Ice Ghost:)
Unfortunately swords don't do as much damage as you would expect. The bodies of the Ice Ghosts are frozen solid, and a piercing weapon doesn't work as well as normal. Roll one die. If you roll 1-3, your blow does only 1 point of damage to the targets STAMINA. If you roll 4-6, your blow does the usual 2 points of damage.
(We do not have a heavy mace. Rolled a 4. Second Ice Ghost at 4.)
Furryborn 19, First Ice Ghost 14, Second Ice Ghost 16. 2 rolled, Second Ice Ghost at 3.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 15, Second Ice Ghost 14. Furryborn at 16.
Furryborn 17, First Ice Ghost 18, Second Ice Ghost 17. Furryborn at 14.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 14, Second Ice Ghost 11. Draw.
Furryborn 12, First Ice Ghost 13, Second Ice Ghost 13. Furryborn at 12.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 13, Second Ice Ghost 13. 4 rolled, Second Ice Ghost is at 1.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 13, First Ice Ghost is at 5, Second Ice Ghost 10. Second Ice Ghost is dead.
(When we kill an Ice Ghost:)
The peculiar, Undead creature slumps forward. From its gulping throat the spirit imprisoned within rises into the air in a frosted wisp, a faint moan of torment left hanging in the air by its passage. The Ice Ghost clutches at your legs in a final convulsion and its filthy claws rake at your legs; deduct 2 points from you STAMINA.
Furryborn 13, First Ice Ghost 14, Furryborn at 8.
Furryborn 15, First Ice Ghost 17, Furryborn at 6.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 16, Furryborn at 4.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 11, 4 rolled, First Ice Ghost is at 5.
Furryborn 19, First Ice Ghost 10, 5 rolled, First Ice Ghost is at 3.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 15, Furryborn at 2.
Furryborn 18, First Ice Ghost 12, 5 rolled, First Ice Ghost is at 1.
Furryborn 18, First Ice Ghost 13, First Ice Ghost is dead.
Furryborn 16, First Ice Ghost 11, Second Ice Ghost 17. Furryborn at 18.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 14, Second Ice Ghost 12. Draw.
Furryborn 18, First Ice Ghost 12, Second Ice Ghost 14.
(When we first strike an Ice Ghost:)
Unfortunately swords don't do as much damage as you would expect. The bodies of the Ice Ghosts are frozen solid, and a piercing weapon doesn't work as well as normal. Roll one die. If you roll 1-3, your blow does only 1 point of damage to the targets STAMINA. If you roll 4-6, your blow does the usual 2 points of damage.
(We do not have a heavy mace. Rolled a 4. Second Ice Ghost at 4.)
Furryborn 19, First Ice Ghost 14, Second Ice Ghost 16. 2 rolled, Second Ice Ghost at 3.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 15, Second Ice Ghost 14. Furryborn at 16.
Furryborn 17, First Ice Ghost 18, Second Ice Ghost 17. Furryborn at 14.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 14, Second Ice Ghost 11. Draw.
Furryborn 12, First Ice Ghost 13, Second Ice Ghost 13. Furryborn at 12.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 13, Second Ice Ghost 13. 4 rolled, Second Ice Ghost is at 1.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 13, First Ice Ghost is at 5, Second Ice Ghost 10. Second Ice Ghost is dead.
(When we kill an Ice Ghost:)
The peculiar, Undead creature slumps forward. From its gulping throat the spirit imprisoned within rises into the air in a frosted wisp, a faint moan of torment left hanging in the air by its passage. The Ice Ghost clutches at your legs in a final convulsion and its filthy claws rake at your legs; deduct 2 points from you STAMINA.
Furryborn 13, First Ice Ghost 14, Furryborn at 8.
Furryborn 15, First Ice Ghost 17, Furryborn at 6.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 16, Furryborn at 4.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 11, 4 rolled, First Ice Ghost is at 5.
Furryborn 19, First Ice Ghost 10, 5 rolled, First Ice Ghost is at 3.
Furryborn 14, First Ice Ghost 15, Furryborn at 2.
Furryborn 18, First Ice Ghost 12, 5 rolled, First Ice Ghost is at 1.
Furryborn 18, First Ice Ghost 13, First Ice Ghost is dead.
You are now heading straight towards the Sphere, and there isn't a great deal of cover directly ahead. You can continue in the same way or sweep around to approach the Sphere from the other side, where there appears to be better concealment for an approach.
(That was close. Dammit, Furryborn, why don't you have more than one weapon to overcome various types of damage reduction? That's fighter 101 right there. I assume we're going to eat provisions and/or drink brandy or our stamina potion. We can only eat one provision a paragraph, and we might not want to use up all of them in case some free healing happens to be coming up, so what combination of healing items do you all think we should use?)
Furryborn the Honourable
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 2/20
LUCK 7/10
Honour: 7
Time Elapsed: 5 days
Equipment: Sword, Furred Leather Armour, Shield, Backpack, Lantern, Climbing Gear, Brandy (2 swigs), Potion of Stamina, 3 gold pieces, Snow Fox, 4 Provisions
Last edited by SlyJohnny on Sun May 12, 2013 4:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Shouldn't we have lost 2 stamina points when we killed the first ghost too?
And since the story is harping on about cover, lets sweep.
And since the story is harping on about cover, lets sweep.
Gary Gygax wrote:The player’s path to role-playing mastery begins with a thorough understanding of the rules of the game
Bigode wrote:I wouldn't normally make that blanket of a suggestion, but you seem to deserve it: scroll through the entire forum, read anything that looks interesting in term of design experience, then come back.
There's only a "when you first hit one, turn to-" and a "when you first kill one, turn to-" instruction. Presumably we aren't surprised by the same trick twice or aren't distracted enough for the death throe clawing to work, when we're only facing one of them. It seems like a bit of a "screw you" passage anyway. There's no reason why it should happen without requiring a successful attack roll on part of the ghost, weird vapoury exorcism nonwithstanding.ishy wrote:Shouldn't we have lost 2 stamina points when we killed the first ghost too?
And since the story is harping on about cover, lets sweep.
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Darth Rabbitt
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Get our crunk on with Brandy and Stamina Potion.
Also, let's try to ambush the sphere which may or may not be able to see us by sweeping around it; you gotta attack a hump from the rear.
Also, let's try to ambush the sphere which may or may not be able to see us by sweeping around it; you gotta attack a hump from the rear.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
You move round to the far side of the Sphere, doing what any sensible person trying to sneak up unobserved would do - which is precisely why there is a guard here, of course. Suddenly a pair of skeletal talons tear at your back, deduct 2 points from your STAMINA. If you are still alive, you tum to face a grinning, robed, skeletal figure rending at you, and you must fight it.
DEMONIC SERVANT Skill 8 Stamina 7
Combat Log
You edge forward behind what little rock cover there is, and you manage to get to within a few metres of the Sphere. It now seems smaller than you remembered; maybe only ten or twelve metres across. But it lies in an area of shattered rock and melted snow and ice, and it radiates evil as well as heat and stench. You can see what could be an entrance to one side of it: it looks like a wedge cut into the surface of the Sphere, but all is blackness inside. So you wait for cover of darkness, and at dusk you creep forward towards the Sphere, right up to the entrance; then, with a deep breath and a prayer to the Gods of Good, you step inside.
(Seems odd to me that we decided to hang around and wait for the cover of darkness after we snuck up right next to it during daylight hours and killed three guards, but whatevs. I assume we eat a meal to max out our health before we enter?)
[...]
You walk a few stealthy paces down a dimly lit passageway with smooth black walls, looking out for guards - but you see none. You soon come to a three way junction within the gently humming, warm and slightly smoky body of the Sphere. It is obvious that each of these passages continues for some distance; the interior of the Sphere is clearly bigger than the outside size would seen to indicate was possible. This is obviously a very magical creation!
Will you:
Take the right-hand passage?
Take the left-hand passage?
Head straight on?
Furryborn the Honourable
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 20/20
LUCK 7/10
Honour: 7
Time Elapsed: 5 days
Equipment: Sword, Furred Leather Armour, Shield, Backpack, Lantern, Climbing Gear, Brandy (1 swig), 3 gold pieces, Tasrin's Ring, Snow Fox, 2 Provisions
DEMONIC SERVANT Skill 8 Stamina 7
Combat Log
Furryborn 16, Demonic Servant 11. Demonic Servant at 5.
Furryborn 13, Demonic Servant 15. Furryborn at 16.
Furryborn 20, Demonic Servant 14. Demonic Servant at 3.
Furryborn 16, Demonic Servant 15. Demonic Servant at 1.
Furryborn 16, Demonic Servant 16. Draw.
Furryborn 16, Demonic Servant 15. Demonic Servant is dead.
Furryborn 13, Demonic Servant 15. Furryborn at 16.
Furryborn 20, Demonic Servant 14. Demonic Servant at 3.
Furryborn 16, Demonic Servant 15. Demonic Servant at 1.
Furryborn 16, Demonic Servant 16. Draw.
Furryborn 16, Demonic Servant 15. Demonic Servant is dead.
(Seems odd to me that we decided to hang around and wait for the cover of darkness after we snuck up right next to it during daylight hours and killed three guards, but whatevs. I assume we eat a meal to max out our health before we enter?)
[...]
You walk a few stealthy paces down a dimly lit passageway with smooth black walls, looking out for guards - but you see none. You soon come to a three way junction within the gently humming, warm and slightly smoky body of the Sphere. It is obvious that each of these passages continues for some distance; the interior of the Sphere is clearly bigger than the outside size would seen to indicate was possible. This is obviously a very magical creation!
Will you:
Take the right-hand passage?
Take the left-hand passage?
Head straight on?
Furryborn the Honourable
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 20/20
LUCK 7/10
Honour: 7
Time Elapsed: 5 days
Equipment: Sword, Furred Leather Armour, Shield, Backpack, Lantern, Climbing Gear, Brandy (1 swig), 3 gold pieces, Tasrin's Ring, Snow Fox, 2 Provisions
Last edited by SlyJohnny on Mon May 13, 2013 5:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Darth Rabbitt
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You hurry on down a very long, meandering passageway, which eventually opens into a circular chamber of black rock. Around the smooth walls are bronze rails, and a circular stone staircase cut into both floor and ceiling leads up and down. Will you take the steps leading up or those leading down?
Furryborn the Honourable
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 20/20
LUCK 7/10
Honour: 7
Time Elapsed: 5 days
Equipment: Sword, Furred Leather Armour, Shield, Backpack, Lantern, Climbing Gear, Brandy (1 swig), 3 gold pieces, Tasrin's Ring, Snow Fox, 2 Provisions
Furryborn the Honourable
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 20/20
LUCK 7/10
Honour: 7
Time Elapsed: 5 days
Equipment: Sword, Furred Leather Armour, Shield, Backpack, Lantern, Climbing Gear, Brandy (1 swig), 3 gold pieces, Tasrin's Ring, Snow Fox, 2 Provisions
Last edited by SlyJohnny on Mon May 13, 2013 5:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Darth Rabbitt
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Darth Rabbitt
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That's exactly why I recommend we look there; there's probably some nifty thing down there needed for the control room, and time is no longer an issue since we've made it to the damn thing.
Pseudo Stupidity wrote:This Applebees fucking sucks, much like all Applebees. I wanted to go to Femboy Hooters (communism).
The air gets hotter as you descend the stairs, and they end in a circular, plain chamber with a single passageway leading off it. The heat feels even greater in that direction, and the smokiness of the air makes your eyes water. If you have to fight down here (before taking the stairs back up), you will have to subtract 1 from your current SKILL for as long as you remain. So will you:
*Climb the stairs back up to where you came from?
*Climb the stairs up two flights, if you havn't been there before?
*Follow the passageway here?
*Search this plain chamber?
*Climb the stairs back up to where you came from?
*Climb the stairs up two flights, if you havn't been there before?
*Follow the passageway here?
*Search this plain chamber?
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Ancient History
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Darth Rabbitt
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Roll two dice.
(10; The total is greater than our skill, so we find nothing here. We're instructed to return to the previous paragraph and pick another choice. So do we:)
*Climb the stairs back up to where you came from?
*Climb the stairs up two flights, if you havn't been there before?
*Follow the passageway here?
*Search this plain chamber?
(10; The total is greater than our skill, so we find nothing here. We're instructed to return to the previous paragraph and pick another choice. So do we:)
*Climb the stairs back up to where you came from?
*Climb the stairs up two flights, if you havn't been there before?
*Follow the passageway here?
*Search this plain chamber?
Last edited by SlyJohnny on Mon May 13, 2013 1:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Darth Rabbitt
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