[LP] The Way of the Tiger. (Complete)

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Fri May 27, 2016 5:45 pm

No choice to just leave them all be? Free the warrior in silver armour.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Fri May 27, 2016 6:20 pm

Silver armour.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri May 27, 2016 6:34 pm

Nah, I think this is a goblet B scenario. So go with the man in gold robes.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Fri May 27, 2016 6:41 pm

Darth Rabbitt wrote:goblet B scenario.

Could you expand? I'm not sure what you mean by this.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri May 27, 2016 7:03 pm

It refers to a scenario from my City of Thieves LP. I'd link but I'm currently replying on my phone (which hates copypasta and linking).
(edit: here it is)
Basically there's a room with three goblets with no discernible features other than letters: "A," "B" and "C". B is the correct one but there are no hints to this other than the meta game assumption that the middle one is correct, so someone who started from one side or another would get dinged for it at least once. A lot of game books feature a similar scenario so the name "goblet b" became shorthand for it.

Now of course in I could be wrong (either because we missed a hint for the silver guy or just that the writers were clever enough to avoid such a common solution) but I'm guessing the gold one is the "right" choice.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sat May 28, 2016 6:57 am

You touch the amulet to the dark ice and it melts away in a gush to leave a tall handsome man dressed in silver armor. He lets out a blood-curdling scream and swings a meaty fist at you, ranting about Nullaq whispering inside his head. Your Defense against his attack is 8. If he hits, he does 1 Die damage.

If you still live, then after this attack he falls to his knees, clutching his head, then drops lifeless to the floor. Out of his left ear scuttle two small spiders - daughters of Nullaq - sluggish and covered in blood. You crush one as it leaps for you whilst Glaivas steps on the other. Glaivas looks down at the corpse and shudders.

'A paladin. It seems they gave him two of the creatures before they froze him, to torture him for all eternity at the point of possession.'

• Free the man in gold robes? √
• Free the stocky man in a white surcoat bearing a red cross?

The poor guy's attack roll was 8, too close.

You touch the Amulet to the dark ice and it melts away in a large splash to reveal a man in flowing robes of gold. The skin of his face is burnt and flaking, and he reaches down to his belt to cover it with a smiling golden mask.

'You are no torturers,' he croaks.

You tell him that you are here to effect a rescue, although the place is now surrounded by the Black Widow's forces.

'I do not have long,' the mage says, grimacing, 'for I was made to drink some poison of Nullaq just before I was frozen - a way to preserve my pain for an eternity - my punishment for taking the Talisman of Death.' The mage convulses. 'We had a Tool of Fate with our crusade who knew of a cave on the Sixth Tier. It is said that Fate holds sway there, through her representative Fortuna, and offers a swift escape, but may exact a toll. My strength withers and my staff is gone, but I sense a power from that torch you carry. If you let me draw upon its power, then I can transport you both one tier directly above, nearer that cave.'

You consider whether to let him drain the power of the Torch of Lumen, created by your father's most powerful sorcerer.You must make your decision quickly, as poison is affecting the mage. Worse, you hear the sounds of enraged shouting coming from the next chamber - you cannot tell if it is priests or soldiers.

'We must seize this chance to escape, Avenger,' says Glaivas. 'I cannot let them take me again. I will not.'

• Let the mage drain the Torch of Lumen so that he can teleport you?
• Refuse and seek another way out?

Avarice · Post by **Avarice** » Sat May 28, 2016 8:56 am

I read my first way of the tiger books way before i picked up fighting fantasy ones.

When playing talisman of death, i thought the mention of orb and the tyutchev cameo were a weird but not unwelcome throw-in.

I would have never imagined this book would draw so heavily on the events from another series.

EDIT: Oh, and i vote for accepting the thinly veiled faustian bargain.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat May 28, 2016 9:24 am

Accept his offer. We're stuck in enemy territory with no clear route back out. Also the other two encounters were bad and neutral so this will be a good one.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Sat May 28, 2016 2:59 pm

This guy really is a glutton for punishment. I wonder what they'll do to him this time? Accept his offer, anyway.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sat May 28, 2016 8:16 pm

He said he doesn't have long; I guess he dies after pulling this.

Trade torch for escape.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sun May 29, 2016 2:23 am

The book made us free the guy, so I guess his action has to be mandatory for the plot to move on. Let him to what he wants.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sun May 29, 2016 7:27 am

The wizard touches the alabaster cone at the tip of the Torch of Lumen, and as you hold the ebony rod you can feel the magic of the item drain away.

'I have imprinted the location of the cave onto this rod,' he says. 'Its lingering strength will guide you to Fortuna's cave after my spell.' He speaks the words of magic, tottering as he does so due to the effects of the poison coursing through his veins. The wizard rushes the end of the spell.

The scene before you abruuptly changes.

There's a die roll here with three possible outcomes.

You find yourself a little disoriented, standing next to Glaivas in a tunnel lit by phosphorescent algae floating on a pool of water. A slimy green creature with a dozen arm-like protrusions leaps out of the water at you. Your Defense against its sudden attack is 6. If it hits you, you must lose 1 Die of Endurance from its sharp bite.

...and we're got. It rolls an 8 to hit and deals 6 damage. Let me know where you'd like to rewind to.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Sun May 29, 2016 7:45 am

Rewind to before the fight with Amin, use Cobra spam from the start, go immediately to gold robe guy.

MisterDee · Post by **MisterDee** » Mon May 30, 2016 1:36 am

Agreed.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon May 30, 2016 3:31 am

Sure, that works.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon May 30, 2016 7:59 pm

Okay, Cobra spam won us the fight with 10 End left. We free Mr. Gold and take his bargain, then get a different result on the teleport table.

You find yourself engulfed in water in absolute daurkness, completely disorientated. You force yourself to keep calm and kick hard, rising up in the water, but find yourself blocked by a stone ceiling. You find a small pocket of air in a recess of the wall, too small to poke your head into, but you are able to use your breathing tube to grab a breath of precious air.

Something grabs your leg in the darkness.

• Stun it with a kick?
• Offer no resistance as if unconscious?

... a worse result on the teleport table.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Mon May 30, 2016 9:37 pm

I'm thinking the something is Glaivas. Don't kick.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue May 31, 2016 1:34 am

Agreed. Resistance is futile.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue May 31, 2016 6:36 am

Either it's dragging us to air so we'll live, or we're utterly screwed for lack of air. Don't resist.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue May 31, 2016 11:34 am

Keep calm and still to help save oxygen.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Tue May 31, 2016 9:33 pm

You are pulled downward and along, and then find yourself rising towards a blurry orange glow. You burst out of the water to see Glaivas alongside you, your savior from the depths who haos dragged you over to this exit. You both pull yourselves up into a rocky outcrop near an enormous fissure lit with the glow from a river of lava flowing through it. The heat is stifling in this chamber, making it difficult to breath.

A gigantic half-eaten creature is splayed on a rock promontory, the internal organs of the thing visible. You are little more than an ant to such a colossus. It is chameleon-like in shape, and you blink as you realize you have seen this before: on the fourth tier of the rift you ran for your life from the Krathak, a creature known to Sunlanders only as the servant of the Dark Elves. Apparently there are others like this that run wild in the depths.

It is slowly being consumed by countless slimy creatures each with more than a dozen arm-like protrusions to propel them along. Their gelatinous skin is green like a festering sore.

Glaivas' brow furrows. 'Some sort of abominations of Nil. We had best not tarry.'

There are countless exits of honeycomb tunnels in the rock nearby. The dark Torch of Lumen prompts you onward across a bridge of rock to one tunnel beyond.

The darkness is impenetrable, here in the depths of the Rift. You are forced to use either the Paladin's Sword or the Heart of Illustra as your light source, the soft white glow creating eerie shadows in the crevices that you pass.

'I can scarcely believe you made it all the way down here to this accursed place,' Glaivas says, his soft voice echoing, his face taut. 'Even the Valley of the Lich-Kings pales in comparison to this cauldron of Evil. At least there I could feel the breeze upon my face.'

You reply that you are quite far from the touch of nature here. Without sunlight either, time has little meaning here in the Rift.

If you have contracted the plague, you must lose 2 Endurance points from a shivering fever that grips you. If Glaivas does not have the Paladin's Sword, he asks for the Sceptre as he has limited skill in unarmed combat. If you agree to give him the Sceptre, then note that you have done so.

The tunnel splits off into multiple sections, and then branches off again, but you continue to follow the promptings of the lightless Torch of Lumen. The winding tunnel opens into yet another enormous chamber, blocked at one end by a tall basalt wall and a tall keep on the right hand side, presumably the gatecastle of the sixth tier. On the other side of the chamber is a sloped surface leading to a great pit.

You hear the sounds of running footsteps - possibly two or three humanoids - echoing along the tunnel behind you, coming closer. Glaivas looks to follow your lead.

• Use your flint to ignite flash powder to dazzle your pursuers as they round the bend?
• Hide either side of the tunnel mouth with Glaivas, ready to ambush your pursuers?
• Ready a shuriken, if you have any, to hurl at your pursuers?

Don't forget to mention if you want to give G the Sceptre or not.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue May 31, 2016 10:22 pm

My instinct is that bad stuff happens if we give Glaivas the Sceptre; half a vote to not do so.

A full vote for flash powder, it's dark so we'll probably miss with the shuriken and I just pushed for plan not relying on Glaivas to fight for us ever.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Tue May 31, 2016 10:29 pm

Keep the sceptre, ready shruiken.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue May 31, 2016 10:31 pm

I agree on the scepter but think that we should wait to ambush. Waiting is always the correct choice when available.

Dr_Noface · Post by **Dr_Noface** » Wed Jun 01, 2016 5:00 am

Yeah, keep the sceptre. We'll probabyl be able to kill some fool and give his weapon to Glave soon enough.

And yeah, wait with the shuriken. We only got one flash powder.