[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 64(?)-Night of the Necromancer

[Mr Shine]

half hearted vote, on an "anywhere except the moat" basis, Feast Hall. Anybody who actually has a preference though, I'm happy to go with.

[Darth Rabbitt]

The kitchen is less likely to have guards in it. So go there first.

[Mr Shine]

Fine, changing my vote to kitchens then.

[SGamerz]

The door to the kitchens is open and you can feel the cauldron heat of the ovens radiating from inside as smoke rises from the large chimney in the cookhouse roof. The Cook and his staff are obviously busily engaged in preparing an almighty banquet. Ingelnook was Cook here in your father's time as well as when you left to go crusading. But what possible reason could there be for preparing such an incredible feast at this time?

Ingelbook, an obese, blubbery man, wasn't a particularly pleasant person, but there was no denying that he was very good at his job. You didn't get on with him in life, and you're sure that your death won't have made your relationship any easier. If you want to enter the kitchens in full view of everyone there, turn to 355. If you have the Shade special ability and would like to enter the kitchen unseen, turn to 385. If you would rather not enter the cookhouse after all, turn to 445.

I'll go ahead and use invisibility here.......

As you enter you are met by the roar of Ingelnook the cook furiously berating the servants scurrying about him, in the shadow of his blubbery, cleaver-wielding mass. His face is flushed red from shouting and his multiple chins ripple and he takes his wrath out on the unfortunate page boy whose only mistake was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But Ingelnook knows ho things used to be before you left to fight in the Crusade against Evil and he is one of those who has been permitted to remain within the Inner Ward of the castle and so may know more about what's going on at Valsinore than others in the castle's Outer Ward. If you want to reveal yourself to the Cook, turn to 355. If you feel that to do so would draw unwanted attention to your presence within the Inner Ward, there is nothing for it now other than to quit the kitchens.

Yeah, if we reveal ourselves we turn to the same reference as if we entered the kitchens without invisibility, which is why I didn't bother to pause for votes earlier.

Reveal ourselves or not? If not, where do we go after this?

[Mr Shine]

Let's not reveal ourselves to the asshole we hate.

[angelfromanotherpin]

I presume revealing ourselves would be for the purposes of terrifying information out of this Swelter-expy, but he doesn't seem like a reliable source of intel in any case. Move along.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Ignore Gordon Ramsey.

[Mr Shine]

Oh, and I vote feast hall next.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Agreed.

[MisterDee]

Yeah, the cook seems like an awesome opportunity to pick up another Screams-in-terror-alerts-the-guards keyword. Go to the Feast Hall instead.

[SGamerz]

As you enter the castle feast hall you are surprised to be met by the sounds of carousing. A travelling troop of tumblers, acrobats, jugglers, fire-eaters and mummers are doing their best to get those present into the spirit of celebration but it doesn't appear to be working.

The top table groans under the weight of the food arrayed upon it. There is everything from suckling pig, to peacock, to quails and honeyed hams, and all manner of drink to wash everything down with. It is a veritable feast, but despite the great quantities of food on display, nobody seems particularly interested in consuming any of it.

Seated at the table is Chamberlain Unthank, who is watching the players and tumblers with a disdainful look on his face while beside him sits your sister, the lady Oriana, who is staring unhappily at a plate of untouched sweetmeats. In a nearer corner of the hall Blondel the Bard is coaxing a reluctant melody from the lyre he holds in his lap.

If you want to reveal yourself, in all your ghostly glory, to those present, turn to 348. If you would rather remain unobserved and already have the Shade special ability, turn to 65. If you do not have this ability, roll two dice. If the total rolled is less than of equal to your WILL, Test your Skill; if you pass this test, write the number 65 on your Adventure Sheet and turn to 230. If you fail the roll, turn to 348.

We've been opting to stay out of public view so far, so I'll go ahead with going invisible again....

And in the blink of an eye, you become invisible to human sight. As you slip between the jugglers and fire-eaters, Chamberlain Unthank suddenly gets to his feet and, having banged on the floor with the metal-sheathed tip of his staff and achieved silence, he raises his goblet and announces, 'To absent friends!' No one responds to his hail.

Unseen as you are you could approach anyone you wanted to and eavesdrop on their conversations or observe them to work out what is going on here. Will you:

Approach your sister?
Approach Chamberlain Unthank?
Approach Blondel the Bard?
Move among the acrobats and mummers?

So there's no one else we know at the feast? Or did they prepare a huge feast just for the Chamberlain, the lady and the bard? There's no mention of any guests (and surely we'd know some of them if there are any)! Weird.

Anyway, who do we want to approach?

[Darth Rabbitt]

Observe the chamberlain, he seems the most suspicious.

[MisterDee]

Sure, look at the chamberlain.

[SGamerz]

As you approach the Chamberlain, he snaps his fingers and summons a serving boy to pour him more wine. He appears distracted as he observes the players perform before him and keeps glancing towards a passageway half-hidden by a grand tapestry showing the defeat of the Sourstone Worm by your ancestor Agravain Wormslayer.

We actually get to encounter and fight the undead remains of said Sourstone Worm if we'd tried to enter the Catacombs via the well earlier.

The door to the feast hall bangs open and the entertainment abruptly stops. A tall, imposing figure, wearing the tabard and armour of a crusader knight enters the chamber, his anxious squire trotting to keep up. Chamberlain Unthank is on his feet immediately and at his sycophantic best.

'My lord,' he simpers, bowing obsequiously, 'what a pleasant surprise. We were not expecting guests at our lowly feast.'

'Then whose benefit is this for?' the crusader snaps, indicating the table groaning with food.

'Ah, this was to honour the return of one of our own from the Dark Crusade,' Unthank invents quickly.

You know this man!

'That is who I have come here to pay my respects to,' the crusader announces. 'We fought together at the Siege of Sanctiphrax. I have undertaken a pilgrimage to cleanse my soul after witnessing the horrors I did in Bathoria. I was in the region and remembered my old friend and thought I'd pay a visit.'

You were right! It is Marrok of the Eldermark. Yours was a friendship forged in battle. You saved his life when an undead wyvern attempted to carry him from the field of the battle, and he saved you from a pack of rabid Werewargs.

'Then I am very sorry to inform you that you journey has been a wasted one,' Unthank says with false gravitas. He then goes on to tell the crusader of how you were struck down within sight of the castle by a band of bloodthirsty cut-throats.

'A pox on this place!' Marrok exclaims in grief and anger. 'What has befallen this accursed castle? On the way here my squire and I were also beset by a pair of undead Golems until they were repelled by the strength of our holy purpose.'

You are overjoyed to see your brother-in-arms again but are also fully aware of your precarious position here within the castle. Do you want to reveal yourself to him and recruit him to your cause that he might help you discover what is going on here yourself, or would you prefer to keep watching and see what befalls?

Ah, so this was supposed to be our welcoming party....

Reveal ourselves now or continue spying?

[Darth Rabbitt]

I think we should show ourselves to our battle bro.

[angelfromanotherpin]

This guy seems like he is:
1) Inured to scary shit, and so unlikely to freak out at sight of ghost, and
2) A new arrival and thus had no opportunity to be caught up in foul conspiracy.

In short, exactly the sort of person we should be talking to.

[maglag]

Bros before foes.

[SGamerz]

'What in Telak's name?' Marrok exclaims as you materialize out of thin air in front of him, drawing his silver sword immediately.

'A doppelganger!' Unthank gasps. 'An evil spirit has taken the guise of our dearly departed! Oh, sir knight, banish it now before it murders us all!'

Marrok doesn't need any further encouragement and, shouting the war-cry, 'For Telak and for Valsinore!' he charges at you, his weapon raised. If you would allow the noble knight to cut you down, rather than draw your own sword against him, write the number 445 on your Adventure Sheet and turn to 100. If not, you have no choice but to defend yourself.

CRUSADER SKILL 11 STAMINA 11

Marrok's sword Deathsbane, like your own blade Nightslayer is a holy weapon and so will harm you in your undead state. In fact, for every successful strike that the crusader makes against you, roll one die and on a roll of 5-6 you lose 3 STAMINA points instead of the usual 2. If Marrok slays you, write the number 445 on your Adventure Sheet and turn to 100. If you cut him down first you must lose 1 LUCK point and 1 WILL point for having to kill your battle-brother. Then turn to 348.

First Van Richten and now this guy. This place seems to attract the trigger-happy sort of heroes.

I guess revealing ourselves in front of the suspicious-looking Chamberlain wasn't the smartest thing to do, either.

There's a rare option for us to deliberately lose the fight. Do we want to do that (we know now that 100 isn't an automatic game-over, but we don't know how many chances we'd have before the book decides we've died 1 time too many)?

[angelfromanotherpin]

I'd risk the game over rather than kill this dude.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Throw the fight. At worst it's gonna lead to a fairly unique Game Over.

[SGamerz]

Back to 100 we go....

And then you are no longer upon the Earthly Plane and the Dead Winds are carrying you over to the Other Side of the veil that exists between the world of the dead and the world of the living...

Before you lies a barren expanse of grey rock and sand. Above, the sky is as grey as the ground, and full of dark storm clouds in turmoil. Thunder rumbles over distant mountains that rise to jagged black peaks that seem to claw at the storm-wracked sky.

If you have the codeword Endgame written on your Adventure Sheet, turn to 400. If you have the codeword Judgment on your Adventure Sheet, turn to 279. If you have the codeword Watcher, turn to 286. If you have the codeword Devourer, turn to 327. If you have non of these codewords recorded on your Adventure Sheet, turn to 78.

Hmmm....if we were to count the number of codewords that implies we may have up to 2 more chances at least before we run out of luck.

No matter how much you fight their pull, the Dead Winds draw you onwards, ever closer to the black gate. And then you see something else dragging itself towards you along the avenue of stones. It appears to be incorporeal like you, with a squat, ethereal toad-like body - although this particular toad would be the size of a horse! - broad front limbs and a gaping, shark-like maw. Everywhere it goes it leaves a slimy trail of ectoplasm behind it. From the top of its head myriad eye-stalks sway like the fronds of a sea-anemone while other tendrils emerge from the side of its body.

As you are drawn towards the hideous apparition by he relentless wind you are even more horrified to see that the waving fronds of its eye-stalks are not eye-stalks at all; each one ends in a small, snapping mouth. The creature raises a slime-dripping foot and you see that that too ends in a toothed maw. The phantasmal creature is almost nothing but mouths. And then, with a croaking cry, the Sin Eater is upon you, ready to devour your soul. Restore your STAMINA score to half its Initial level, plus as many more STAMINA points as is equal to your current WILL score and prepare to fight.

SIN EATER SKILL 8 STAMINA 8

If the Sin Eater wins an Attack Round, roll one die. If you roll a 6, as well as taking the usual damage you must also reduce your SKILL by 1 point. If you defeat this ghost eater, add the codeword Watcher to your Adventure Sheet and turn to 46. If the ectoplasmic horror wins the fight, it hurls your savaged soul even closer to the Gate.

Half our Initial STAMINA is either 9 or 10. Annoyingly, the book doesn't say to round up or down. Fortunately, the fact that our WILL is 13 means that we get restored to full STAMINA either way.

COMBAT LOG:

Sin Eater 14, Isolde 18. SE is at 6.
SE 13, Isolde 20. SE is at 4.
SE 16, Isolde 19. SE is at 2.
SE 16, Isolde 17. SE is defeated.

Quick and easy....

You will not go willingly into the dark; you have yet to avenge your untimely death! You feel the pull of the Dead Winds lessen and then a sensation as of rising from the depths of some fathomless ocean overwhelms you and you are floating upwards towards a brightening light high above you. The light is blinding, forcing you to close your eye.

The sensation of upward motion ceases and you open your eyes to find that you are back in the real world. You have been given another chance and, more than that you have been revilatised. Restore your SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK scores to their Initial levels and add 1 to your WILL score. Now turn to the paragraph with the number you wrote down before you found yourself at the very threshold of the afterlife.

Back to full stats again, and we've regained the WILL that we lost at seeing our own dead body earlier!

We're now back at the Inner Ward courtyard. Only the well hasn't yet been investigated. Look at that or cross the moat now?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Isolde Laodegan
SKILL: 12/12
STAMINA: 19/19
LUCK: 7/7
WILL: 14
Equipment: Nightslayer
Abilities: Apparition, Poltergeist, Shade, Spook, Fizzgig the Homunculus (3 uses out of 4 following spells: Banish Undead, Luck, Skill, Strength)
Codewords: Ironheart, Barking, Best Friend, Steed, Gateway, Devourer, Rest In Peace, Banshee, Catacombs, Watcher

Note: When fighting opponents with physical forms, opponents' Attack Strength is reduced by one while Korzen ("Best Friend") is with us.

[Mr Shine]

Let's check out the last thing: go for rthe well.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Check out the well.

[SGamerz]

Peering down into the well you can just about make out the reflection of moonlight on the black mirror of the water far below. It is supposedly possible to get into the castle catacombs from the chamber that lies at the bottom of the well. However, legend also has it that after your ancestor Agravain fatally wounded the Sourstone Worm, which had been terrorizing the area for some months, it slithered into the castle well to die, polluting the water until a priestess made it whole again with a spell of cleansing. (If you have the phrase Best Friend written on your Adventure Sheet for as long as you are underground you must lose the benefits usually gained from this.)

Cautiously you clamber into the well, your faintly glowing form illuminating hand-holds between the moss and fern-covered stones that line the inside of the shaft. Eventually the well opens out into a large natural chamber within the bedrock of the Sourstone headland on which Valsinore stands. Making use of clefts in the rock now you manage to make it down to the edge of the pool from which the well's water is drawn and are stunned by what you see there.

The northern edge of the pool is littered with millions of bleached white bones. There are so many, piled in great mounds at the water's edge, that some have tumbled into the pool itself, creating calcified islands formed from the skeletons of everything from men to dogs to cattle and even horses. Beyond this bone-yard a circular passageway does indeed lead away into the darkness, under the foundations of the castle chapel.

Fizzling and sitting like Dwarfish black-powder igniting, sparking green witch-lights rise like will-o'-the-wisps from the still black waters and then vanish, at speed, into the piles of bones loud enough to wake the dead, a massive skeletal form rises from out of the pile of broken skeletons in front of you. It has the appearance of a monstrous serpent, formed from the strange conglomeration of bones that liter the cave, and its head is the skull of some huge snake, or possibly even a basilisk. Green witch-fires blazing in its eye-sockets, the spirit of the Sourstone Worm strikes.

SKELETAL SERPENT SKILL 9 STAMINA 12

If the serpent wins an Attack Round, roll two dice and if you roll a double, turn to 202 immediately. If the ghost of the Sourstone Worm should 'kill' you, write the number 88 on your Adventure Sheet and turn to 100. If you manage to defeat this monstrous Undead creature, turn to 292.

Our doggie couldn't follow us, so no -1 bonus in this fight. Still, there shouldn't be too much problems for Isolde to perform the same feat by her distant ancestor.....

COMBAT LOG:

Skeletal Serpent 17, Isolde 17. Tie.
SS 16, Isolde 18. SS is at 10.
SS 14, Isolde 21. SS is at 8.
SS 16, Isolde 15. Isolde rolls 4 & 6 (avoids whatever special effect there could have been). Isolde is at 17.
SS 16, Isolde 19. SS is at 6.
SS 14, Isolde 17. SS is at 4.
SS 21, Isolde 20. Isolde rolls 4 & 3 (no special effect) Isolde is at 15.
SS 20, Isolde 22. SS is at 2.
SS 18, Isolde 24. SS is killed....again.

Wondering what else might be lurking down here in the darkness, will you climb back up out of the cave of bones to the castle's inner courtyard above, or proceed along the passageway in front of you?

Unfortunately, choosing to proceed leads to a very familiar section.....the same catacombs section that we already explored earlier under the chapel! (To be fair the text indicated as much when we first entered the Inner Ward courtyard.) So that fight was meaningless.

It was a good thing that we did enter via the chapel earlier, because our dog can't follow us down this alternate entry, so Isolde might have had more problems against that Death Spider without its bonus.

Anyway, nothing left for us except to cross the moat....

As you approach the gatehouse that guards the entrance to the bridge spanning the castle's sea-moat by the wan light of the moon you see that there are no guards present, the portcullis is raised and the way onward appears clear. If you want to approach the moat-bridge on foot, turn to 276. Alternatively, if you have the Spirit special ability and want to use that as a way to approach the Keep and avoid having to cross the bridge altogether, turn to 214.

We never learnt to fly, so no choice here....

Do you have the codeword Hellfire on your Adventure Sheet? if so, turn to 122; if not, turn to 394.

No such codeword...

As you approach the shadowed archway of the gatehouse at the nearside of the moat-bridge, you see two red-glowing coals in the darkness ahead of you. With a furnace roar, and a great claking of metal, something truly monstrous rises to its full height before you, blocking your way to the bridge. Made of interlocking plates of iron, like some goliath living suit of armour, at the joints you can see the intensity of the inferno raging within that gives it its unnatural life. The face of this engine of destruction has been fashioned to look like that of some hellish horned skull. Its huge jaw drops open and a searing blast of flame pours forth, the cobbles of the courtyard glowing red under this intense heat-blast. If you have any of the codewords Revenant, Host or Armoured written on your Adventure Sheet, turn to 194. If not, turn to 93.

We don't have any of those...

You can feel the relentless volcano-fury of the Golem coming off it in waves. How are you going to get past such an awesome obstacle as this?

Attack the Hellfire Golem?
Try to dodge past it?
Use the Shade special ability (if you have it)?
Use the Spirit special ability (if you have it)?

Finally, an option! How do we get past this?

[Darth Rabbitt]

Blue option.