Let's Play Fighting Fantasy #45: Spectral Stalkers

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 7:07 am

I'm sure it's yet another prank. What I'm not sure of is whether the guy will respect us more for being a good sport or for not falling for the prank. In the interest of preventing ties, let's drink.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:09 pm

You put the bottle to your lips and take a mouthful of bitter liquid. Before you can spit it out, Wayland slaps you between the shoulder-blades and you swallow it. 'Wonderful stuff!' exclaims Wayland. 'See? You're dry as a bone already.' He is right: somehow, the drink has evaporated the water that had been soaked into your clothes and hair. 'Keep the bottle; there's plenty more where that came from. It's called Siccator and one swig'll keep any liquid off your person. Might come in very handy if you come across any more practical jokers like me.' If you decide to keep the bottle, remember to note it on your Adventure Sheet.

(I assume we keep it.)

'Well, sit yourself down,' says Wayland. 'No! Not there! That's the Automatic Impaler. Sit over here. That's right. Now then: what can I be doing for you?' You unwind the cloth that covers the small ball. Grey clouds are covering the ever-changing landscapes in the sphere, but Wayland recognizes it instantly - and for several moments he sits open-mouthed in amazement. 'By my hammer and anvil!' he mutters at last. 'And by all the microparticles in the Macrocosmos! It's the Aleph, the one and only sphere of all the spheres! There in your hand, warrior, you hold everything - everything that exists, everywhere. Except here in Limbo, of course. But everything else, everywhere else. Wise men have hunted this object since the birth of the universe. You should take it away from here; the Aleph cannot reside in Limbo. But I beg you, tell me how you came by it.'

If you want to leave the Library in Limbo, Wayland allows you to return to the booklined corridor. Or do you tell Wayland how you received the Aleph?

G.I. Average Joe
SKILL 10/10
STAMINA 18/19
LUCK 9/9
TRAIL: 0
Equipment: Trusty Sword
Provisions: 2 (+4 STAMINA each)
Gold Pieces: 4
Items: Bottle of Siccator

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 1:15 pm

Tell him, obviously.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 2:03 pm

Wayland listens to your story, then ponders silently for some time. 'I'm an Artifacts expert,' he says at last. 'And, strictly speaking, the Aleph isn't an Artifact. It’s not anything, really, on account of it being everything, if you see what I mean. Be that as it may, your real problem is the Spectral Stalkers. This fellow Globus may be anxious to take delivery of this here Aleph, but clever folk have been looking for this item for more years than there are books in this library, and waiting a while longer won't hurt anybody. But those Spectral Stalkers, they don't sound as if they're inclined to wait. Once you're away from Limbo, use the Aleph to travel. It will take you where it wants to go. Keep moving and the Stalkers won't find you. Also, look for Signs and Portents. Round, the signs will be, like the Aleph itself. And if you don't understand them, let the Aleph take you to the sage Semeion Cryptoglyphos: he'll explain them. But keep moving to avoid danger. And now, you must leave Limbo.' Wayland points to a doorway engraved with the word EXIT. Dazed by his words, you step through it.

On the other side of the doorway you stumble down a step and into a vaulted corridor. At the other end is a doorway identical to the one you have just stepped through. A counter runs along one side of the corridor, and behind it is a room containing rows of empty hatstands. Asleep on the counter is an old Dwarf. He opens one eye as you approach.

'Good day, I suppose,' he grumbles. 'And I hope you had a fruitful visit to the Library in Limbo. Don t bother to tell me, I don't really care. If you left a cloak or a hat on your way in, don't try asking me for it. This is the way out, and I haven't got anything of anybody's. There's the door from Nowhere to Somewhere.'

'But to where, exactly?' you ask.

'Exactly anywhere you like. Of course, if you want to go somewhere particular, it helps to think about it while you're walking through the door.'

You stride to the doorway and step across the threshold. Do you fill your mind with thoughts of your homeworld, Khul; do you try to imagine the Ziggurat World, or do you think about your mysterious burden, the Aleph, and rely on its influence to choose your destination?

(Story-wise, this book is basically The Phantom Tollbooth meets Doctor Who meets Planescape. And lots and lots of Jose Luis Borges, who even had a short story called The Aleph. And Spectral Stalkers manages to make it all work, which is a big part of why I love it. But it's also extremely well-designed, but I'll get to that after the book.)

EDIT: fixed some typos.

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 2:38 pm

Trust the Aleph. There are infinite worlds, and trying to imagine something lolrandomly will take us exactly to what we imagined. Plus this:

Wayland wrote:use the Aleph to travel. It will take you where it wants to go.

(Does anyone know whether Fighting Fantasy reprints are any good? Did they keep the old interior art?)

Korgan0 · Post by **Korgan0** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 3:45 pm

Yeah, trust it.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 4:31 pm

(I have the reprint of City of Thieves. They keep the old interior art, but I do not believe that they have reprinted any books that weren't written by either UK Steve Jackson or Ian Livingstone. Which is a shame, because I think they're the two worst authors in the series. Peter Darvill-Evans [author of this book, Portal of Evil, and Beneath Nightmare Castle, the last of which I own but haven't run] and US Steve Jackson [author of Scorpion Swamp, Demons of the Deep, and Robot Commando] are the two best by far.)

You are in an unlit tunnel. You can see nothing and can feel only the cool, smooth stones on both sides. You grope towards the indistinct sound of chanting voices. The chanting becomes louder, urgent and frenzied. You take one more step, the floor gives way beneath your feet, and you are sliding helplessly down a chute and into flickering light. You land on a dais of rune-carved flagstones and, as you pick yourself up, you see that you have emerged from the mouth of a gigantic stone skull that forms one wall of the torchlit hall. The voices are suddenly silent. You turn to find yourself looking up into the fiery eye-sockets of another skull - but this one is the living face of a giant warrior-priest, who howls with joy as he thanks his grim deity.

'As I foretold, mighty Glund, you have given us an omen. This creature will be our victory sacrifice. I, Syzuk the Devastator, will shed its lifeblood at the battle's end on an altar of a thousand vanquished foes. Warriors! Can you now doubt our victory? To arms!'

Two soldiers begin to climb on to the platform. Will you fight them, wait for them to capture you, or try to escape by reentering the mouth of the stone skull?

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 7:01 pm

(Thank you. Good to know, in a sense - I already noticed the unfortunate absence of the better authors, and the fewer individual rare books I have to hunt down, the better.)

Good job, Aleph.

If they worship the skull we just climbed out of, reentering it might not be exactly advisable. Fight.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 8:12 pm

You retreat towards the gaping mouth of the stone skull as the two soldiers clamber on to the dais and advance towards you. They are emaciated, almost like skeletons, with pale skin stretched tightly over their bones and eyes that gleam like their leader's. They move slowly, but wield their black battle-axes with unnatural ease. One of them is almost upon you: you must fight.

SKELETAL WARRIOR SKILL 9 STAMINA 4

Combat Log:

Skele 14, Joe 15. Skele is at 2.
Skele 17, Joe 20. Skele is dead.

As you fight, you are too preoccupied to heed the strange disturbance in the air above you. The Spectral Stalkers are beginning to recognize the patterns of your mental energy: add 1 point to your TRAIL score. If you defeat the first Skeletal Warrior, there is no respite: the second is facing you, and more are climbing on to the stone ledge. You cannot fight them all. You must surrender, or try to escape by running into the mouth of the stone skull.

G.I. Average Joe
SKILL 10/10
STAMINA 18/19
LUCK 9/9
TRAIL: 1
Equipment: Trusty Sword
Provisions: 2 (+4 STAMINA each)
Gold Pieces: 4
Items: Bottle of Siccator

Korgan0 · Post by **Korgan0** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 1:03 am

ARE YOU KIDDING ME

let's try to escape.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 2:05 am

(There's explicitly an army of these guys; if this was any other FF author we'd have just died for trying to fight the skeleton warriors at all.)

You flee beneath the pointed slabs of stone that are the upper teeth of the enormous skull, and find yourself in the dark cavern of its mouth. Looking back you see the dull glow of the bony warriors’ eyes: they seem to be reluctant to follow you into the mouth of their god Glund. You breathe a sigh of relief, but you are not safe yet. As you become accustomed to the gloom, you see that the chute down which you slid is above you and out of reach, and both of the two tunnels at the back of the cavern look dark and dangerous. Your pursuers, urged on by their leader Syzuk, are advancing hesitantly behind you. You choose one of the tunnels and trust to your good fortune. Test your Luck. (3,3=6; Lucky.)

You follow the twisting tunnel, aware of side-passages and junctions, and soon you are blundering about in a black labyrinth of subterranean paths. At last you see light, the shape of a door outlined by a yellow gleam. You step through into a small room furnished as a study. Avoiding an area of the floor on which arcane symbols have been chalked, you move towards the log fire that is blazing in the fireplace, only to awaken the red-robed old woman who is dozing in an armchair. She stares at you in horror before stammering that you should not be here in her workroom. You try to assure her that you mean no harm, and she begins to relax. You explain that you are trying to escape from Syzuk the Devastator, and she smiles at you. 'Drink this,' she says, pouring a thick brown liquid from a bottle into a pewter flagon. 'It will restore your strength and calm your nerves.' You sniff the liquid: it smells wholesome like a good vegetable soup, and you drink it. The old woman—Glund’s Chief Priestess—told no lies: the drink restores up to 4 points of STAMINA. It also relaxes you, and within a minute you are completely paralyzed. She summons a squad of Skeletal Warriors who knock you unconscious and carry you away.

Your head feels like an overripe melon and your body is being shaken like a sapling in a gale. You come to your senses and realize that you are lying on the floor of a moving vehicle. You open your eyes: towering above you is Syzuk the Devastator, his eye sockets blazing like beacons as he cracks a whip in one hand and brandishes a flaming longsword in the other. You are in his war chariot in the thick of a bloody battle. The day is Syzuk's; his Skeletal Warriors, marching toward in endless ranks, cover the land like a flood. Like storm-battered islands, small bands of Syzuk's enemies—humans, mainly, and some Elves—die fighting to hold back the tide. A solitary, desperate Elven arrow arcs across the sky and lands in Syzuk’s shoulder. He falls alongside you. The Elven arrowhead is poison to him and he pleads with you to help him.

Decide to do so, and you have a bottle of Corrective Fluid
Want to help but have no fluid
Finish off Syzuk and bundle him out of the chariot

G.I. Average Joe
SKILL 10/10
STAMINA 19/19
LUCK 8/9
TRAIL: 1
Equipment: Trusty Sword
Provisions: 2 (+4 STAMINA each)
Gold Pieces: 4
Items: Bottle of Siccator

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 7:00 am

Darth Rabbitt wrote:(There's explicitly an army of these guys; if this was any other FF author we'd have just died for trying to fight the skeleton warriors at all.)

(To be fair, the bears army only appears after we finish off that single skelly; before that, it's just the priest and his two guys. But yes, UK Steve Jackson would've killed us with surprise bears anyway.)

Finish the guy off and steal his ride.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 11:53 am

The chariot is pulled by two black horses with red eyes and bronze armor. They are whinnying in confusion, pulling the chariot in circles and trampling the wounded under their hooves. Several Elves fight their way towards you, but they cannot reach the chariot. The wheels, glowing with a pale luminescence, seem to terrify them. You can do nothing but cower in the chariot as the horses career across the moorland. Suddenly a wheel hits a boulder. The axle snaps, you and the broken wheel are thrown clear and the horses drag the wreckage in to the distance.

You recover your breath, and inspect the wheel: its luminosity comes from the circular, rune-engraved bronze cover of the hub. The metal roundel is apparently dangerous to Elves, but it causes you no harm. (If you keep it, make a note on your Adventure Sheet.) You scan the landscape: you are alone. You take the Aleph from your pack and lose yourself in studying its myriad moving pictures. It seems to expand and surround you. Roll one die. (3; the result is an odd number.)

The Aleph's floating images condense into the glowing sphere that you hold cupped in your hands. You replace it in your backpack and look up. You are standing on a weathered stone table in the middle of an overgrown garden. You know at once that you are not on your home world of Titan: the sky shimmers like purple velvet, and floating in it are a vast pale sun and clouds like goose-down. The garden's plants are like rambling roses, but with dark leaves and aromatic magenta blooms; they have invaded the lawns, climbed the crumbling walls and embraced the carved figures of fabulous beasts that sit scowling on pedestals. There is a gate of wrought iron set into the wall and through it you see sharp-peaked mountains and a grim fortress. The gate opens; a procession enters the garden. The people are humanoid: small, with pale green skin and green hair that rises in stiff spiral curls. They are wearing torn and dirty rags, but their leader has a fur-trimmed robe. With heads lowered they approach the stone table and the leader begins a solemn prayer for the return of his people's champion. At the end of the incantation, he looks up – and his jaw drops in astonishment as he sees you. Will you greet these people, or jump from the table and run out of the garden?

G.I. Average Joe
SKILL 10/10
STAMINA 19/19
LUCK 8/9
TRAIL: 1
Equipment: Trusty Sword
Provisions: 2 (+4 STAMINA each)
Gold Pieces: 4
Items: Bottle of Siccator, Rune-Inscribed Wheel Hub

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 12:01 pm

Say hi.

Korgan0 · Post by **Korgan0** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 2:01 pm

I assume we keep the roundel, too.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 3:20 pm

(Yeah, I forgot to write that I assumed such, probably because I was in a hurry. Unless someone specifically wants to do otherwise, I assume we take any free shit we come across. Also, it's a shame that we didn't have the Corrective Fluid to use on Syzuk; the result is awesome. More on that once we finish the book.)

The robed being interrupts your greeting. 'You are confused, Lord,' he says.' That is not surprising. We, the few remaining Feliti—the last of your people—have waited long ages for your return. Now we will prepare the Jewel of Sleep with which you will defeat our evil ruler.' The Feliti busy themselves plucking the purple blooms from the garden plants, while their leader in a mystical trance, begins another incantation, his hands outstretched over the growing heap of blooms brought to his feet by his people. You are sure that he is reciting a magical formula, but you are not so sure you want to find out what it does. Do you decide to take out the Aleph and use its power to travel elsewhere in the Macrocosmos; or you would rather wait until the spell is cast?

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 3:26 pm

We don't have anything round yet, so wait.

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 5:26 pm

Wait.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 3:13 am

As the Feliti leader finishes his incantation, the heap of soft petals begins to glow. Now we must wait until night,' he says, 'and then I will explain our plight. If I may say so, Lord, you look weary. May we refresh you?' Without waiting for your reply, he orders several of the Feliti to bring you sweetmeats and wine. You taste the food: it seems wholesome. 'We will leave you now, Lord,' says the robed Feliti, 'and I will return after dark to speak with you. Have no fear. The eyes of the Tyrant cannot penetrate the thickets of the Eternal Garden.' You decide to follow this advice and concentrate on eating (restore up to 4 points of STAMINA). When you look up from your meal, the sky is darkening—and in the place where there was a heap of flowers there is now only a glittering gem. The Jewel of Sleep has been created. You pick it up and see that it is a hollow crystal containing a purple liquid. If you want to take it and then use the Aleph to travel away from this world, note the liquid on your Adventure Sheet. Or do you want to wait in the garden?

(I'm copying this one from a PDF, since I actually found PDFs of a lot of these recently. It makes writing up things faster, but the text doesn't always copy properly.)

'We will leave you now, Lord,' says the robed Feliti, 'and I will rectum after dark to speak with you. Have no fear. The eyes of the Tyrant cannot penetrate the thickets of the Enema Garden.'

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 4:29 am

... take the jewel and wait? I want to know what's the deal with these guys.

Dr_Noface · Post by **Dr_Noface** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 8:06 am

Enema Gardens? Take the jewel and bail on this POS world.

angelfromanotherpin · Sat Oct 19, 2013 12:31 pm

Wait. The jewel isn't described as especially round, so we haven't yet seen the round thing this world has for us.

Dr_Noface · Post by **Dr_Noface** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 3:04 pm

You've convinced me. Steal jewel and wait.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 10:30 pm

In the dark the garden is an eerie place. The statues seem to be watching you; the fragrance of the flowers is overwhelming. You decide to leave, but at that moment the robed Feliti appears at the gate. 'We were once a proud and populous people,' he says as he walks into the garden,' with many fine cities and palaces and parks. Now all is waste, and only this garden survives. But the centuries of watching and waiting were not wasted- because you have arrived to save us. Go now in darkness, my poor accursed people hunt in their animal forms only in daylight, so you will be safe from them until dawn. Go to the Tyrant's castle, find him and kill him and release the Feliti from his curse.'

Will you go to the Tyrant's castle, or use the Aleph to leave this world?

Dr_Noface · Post by **Dr_Noface** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 4:43 am

Sure why not, punk that tyrant