[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy #54 - Legend of Zagor!

[SlyJohnny]

And murder her cat, yes.

[SGamerz]

And murder her cat, yes.

Anyway, here's a look at the "nice old lady":

Behind the door, alone in a very long, narrow chamber, an old crone sits at a spinning wheel, absent-mindedly toying with strands of oddly shimmering silver thread. She is clad all in dusty, filthy black, and there are cobwebs in her hair. Her eyes are opaque, afflicted with cataracts, but she sees you - you have no doubt of that. A black cat beside her hisses as you enter. The room is full of junk, bric-a-brac, a total muddle of rubbish and dusty things you can hardly make out in the gloom. The hag cackles as you stand uncertainly in the doorway. 'Well, dearie, what is it you want with old, Grizzell, eh? Speak up!' If you want to attack the hag, tum to 290. If you prefer to talk to her, turn to 109. If you simply want to leave here, go back to the passage and make for the iron door, turn to 233.

No option to kill the cat, but we do have the option to kill her. What do we do?

[SlyJohnny]

She's an evil witchaccording to the elf, let's work on the assumption that this is a trick and pre-emptively stab her.

[Sirocco]

I'm undecided, I don't like the idea of fighting when we get the option not to. Half a vote to talk.

[SlyJohnny]

Okay, changing my vote to talk, let's see what the wicked witch has to say.

[SGamerz]

The hag isn't interested in any sort of parleying or small talk. She is interested in whether you have any Potions, however; she can use these to wet the spindle she works at, and they help her create her dark magic. If you are prepared to give up any Potions, she will give you the following in exchange (one item per Potion); a Magic Ring, a vial of Plague Antidote, or a scroll containing a Magic Screen spell. If you want to trade with the hag, amend yow Adventure Sheet accordingly then leave and head for the great iron door to the north; tum to 197. If you don't want to trade, or if you have no Potions to trade with, turn to 233.

We have 2 potions with us, one of LUCK and one of STAMINA. We certainly don't need her scroll, but do we want to trade for a ring or an antidote?

[Mr Shine]

Nope, refuse her. Watch out for the cat!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEmMKKGk0aI

[SlyJohnny]

Not worth it.

[SGamerz]

'Now, don't you go leaving old Grizzell and poor little Wacket here,' the hag says threateningly as you tum to go. You look around, to see the hag toying with a discoloured silver dagger, and her pet licking its lips in that certain way cats have when they're anticipating a tasty morsel. You will have to give the hag 4 Gold Pieces or any one Potion as a bribe to leave you alone, If you do, you can head for the wrought-iron, door in the passage outside turn to 192. If you can't, or won't, pay the bribe, you'll have lo tight; turn to 290.

Essentially, witches in Amarillia are like lawyers in real life: even if you end up deciding not to do business with them, they will charge you money just for taking up their time.

Note that this bribe is purely to get her and kitty to leave us alone, we don't get any of the trade items mentioned in the previous section in return.

We actually don't gave enough Gold left to bribe her, so it'll have to be a Potion if we want to avoid a fight.

But I did left out one choice (of potion) earlier: we have a Potion of Invisibility that I forgot to note down in the Adventure Sheet earlier.

So, do we want to offer one of our 3 potions as a peace offering?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Jallarial
SKILL 11/11 (+1 from Ebony Wand)
STAMINA 13/23
LUCK 7/9
MAGIC: 5/9 (+2 from Ebony Wand)
Equipment: Staff, Leather Armor, Shield, Lantern, knife, Potion of Stamina (restores half your Initial STAMINA), rope, Iron rod (-1 to Die roll when opening doors via Skill Test), Potion of Invisibility (opponent -2 Attack Strength if drank before combat), Flask of Herbal Restorative/Liqueur x3 (+4 STAMINA), Golden Talisman (x2), Silver Dagger (x6), Magical Oil of Enchantment (enchants non-magical weapons for one combat), Jailor Keys (70), Wand of the Hawk, Vials of Acid (does 4 STAMINA damage if used during combat), Lava Sphere (does 1D6 damage to all opponents in a room when used in combat), Onyx Staff, Oatmeal x3 (counts as 1 meal each), Potion of Luck (restores 1-3 LUCK), Orc-slaying Sword
Provisions: None
Treasure: 3 GP
No. of Deaths: 1

Additional bonus from Wand of the Hawk: 1) +2 Attack Strength once Jallarial's entered Great Tower, 2) enchants weapons, 3) restore Magic OR STAMINA to full once

[Darth Rabbitt]

Fight!

[Mr Shine]

No giving up our potions.

[SlyJohnny]

Get the witch, and her little cat, too!

[SGamerz]

You have to fight the hag and her cat, Wacket, together. The hag will cast a Fireball spell at you in the first two Attack Rounds (if she has the highest Attack Strength, you will have to lose 5 STAMINA points from the fiery assault). Afterwards, she will attack you with her poisoned dagger (lose 1 point from your STAMINA because of the weapon, plus 1 extra point from the poison). The cat will try to bite you; if it succeeds, you must lost 1 STAMINA point, but, if you roll 11 or 12 on the dice for the cat's Attack Strength, you must turn immediately to 336. If at any time you cast a spell against the hag, turn to 209.

HAG SKILL 8 STAMINA 9
WACKET THE CAT SKILL 8 STAMINA 4

If you win, turn to 575.

The wording here is weird, since there's no need for the book to tell you that the dagger does 1+1 damage....normal combat attacks inflict 2 points damage anyway, so it's kind of pointless.

The stats aren't too threatening, but the witch's got spells and the cat's got some unknown special attack. Do we want to do anything to help our chances (note that casting an attack spell leads to a special section)?

If we resolve combat normally, which opponent do we aim at first? Do we want to use LUCK to finish off the cat quick?

[Mr Shine]

The wording here is weird, since there's no need for the book to tell you that the dagger does 1+1 damage....normal combat attacks inflict 2 points damage anyway, so it's kind of pointless.

Judging by other FF books, there is sometimes a "poison antidote" that enables recovery/immunity to specifically poison attacks, maybe there's one in this book.

Just go straight combat, cat first. The witch has probably got protection from magic and the cat is very unlikely to get a special attack in, let's not waste our MAGIC.

Edit: misread it the first time as cat has to win attack round and get 11+. The cat not needing to win changes things somewhat, but our LUCK isn't great, and MAGIC is precious. I'd still go hit and hope, starting with cat.

[Omegonthesane]

Maybe they felt the need to stick with a default of 1 damage for daggers and adjusted it up, out of some misplaced desire for consistency in the FF series.

Splat the cat then shank the hag.

[SlyJohnny]

Edit: misread it the first time as cat has to win attack round and get 11+. The cat not needing to win changes things somewhat, but our LUCK isn't great, and MAGIC is precious. I'd still go hit and hope, starting with cat.

I think the cat does need to win, the wording is "IF it manages to bite you, go do this".

Hit the cat first.

[SGamerz]

Edit: misread it the first time as cat has to win attack round and get 11+. The cat not needing to win changes things somewhat, but our LUCK isn't great, and MAGIC is precious. I'd still go hit and hope, starting with cat.

I think the cat does need to win, the wording is "IF it manages to bite you, go do this".

The way I read it, the word "immediately" indicates that if the cat rolls 11 or 12, we must turn to the special section without stopping to compare Attack Strength.

Anyway, straight combat it is:

COMBAT LOG:

Hag 12, Cat 12, Jallarial 16. Cat is at 2.
Hag 17, Cat 18, Jallarial 18. Cat avoids our blow, but we also avoid Hag's second fireball.
Hag 20, Cat 10, Jallarial 23. Cat is killed.
Hag 14, Jallarial 18. Hag is at 7.
Hag 20, Jallarial 21. Hag is at 5.
Hag 16, Jallarial 13. Jallarial is at 11.
Hag 18, Jallarial 17. Jallarial is at 9.
Hag 14, Jallarial 15. Hag is at 3.
Hag 14, Jallarial 19. Hag is at 1.
Hag 15, Jallarial 22. Hag is killed.

The cat very nearly got us in the second round (rolling a 10 for AS), but we managed to avoid all the worst attacks, and only got nicked by the poisoned dagger.

For those curious, the cat's special bite

paralyses us with its saliva, and it's an immediate Game Over.

The hag has some items of treasure concealed in a false compartment in the chair she was sitting on - you find a vial of Plague Antidote, a scroll of a Magic Screen spell and a Magic Ring. You are intrigued by her spinning wheel; it is clearly magical, and the thought crosses your mind whether or not you could somehow use it for your own benefit. If you want to take a chance by spinning it yourself, turn to 247. If you don't want to take the chance, you leave here and head for the wrought-iron door at the end of the north passage outside.

Nice, we're slowing regaining the Magic points we've lost.

Do we want to try spinning some magical clothes for ourselves?

[angelfromanotherpin]

Magic duds would be cool, but touching evil caster juju very rarely ends well. We already got a decent haul here, let's not get greedy.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Agreed.

[SlyJohnny]

I think it's worth a punt, and it doesn't seem like a particularly malign spinning wheel. It's probably the same one she used back when she was a good witch?

[Omegonthesane]

Spin the wheel!

[Sirocco]

Take a chance. Life is short!

[SGamerz]

Test your Luck. If you are Jallarial, you may subtract 2 from the total rolled on the dice; if you are Stubble, you must add 1 to the total rolled; if you are Anvar, you must add 2 to the total rolled. If you are Lucky, turn to 270. If you are Unlucky, tum to 360.

Hey, Jallarial is the only one who gets a bonus! So spinning is a woman's job? Sexist!....

...oh wait, the original text actually says Sallazar. Nevermind, moving on.....

Thanks to the bonus, our chances aren't too bad despite our pretty low score.

Dice roll = 8-2 = 6 (Lucky)

As you seat yourself in the hag's chair and begin your work, the spindle moves faster and faster until you become dizzy, trying to keep your eyes focused on it. Then it stops abruptly - it has fashioned a magical garment for you! Roll one dice and consult the table below to see what you have made for yourself.

Dice Roll Item
1-4 Lucky Neckerchief
5 Neckerchief of Invisibility
6 Neckerchief of Wizardry

A Lucky Neckerchief adds 1 to your Current and Initial LUCK (your Initial LUCK cannot exceed 12, however). A Neckerchief of Invisibility can be used twice during your adventure and its effect lasts for the duration of a single combat: during this time you can subtract 2 from the Attack Strength of any and all enemies, since they cannot see you easily (this does not work against Zagor or any Dragon). If you have a Neckerchief of Wizardry, gain 1 point of LUCK, for this garment raises your Magic Points score to its full Initial level - you car put this on at any time, except during a combat (but its magic will work only once for you). Now you leave and head for the great wrought-iron door in the passageway outside.

Die roll = 5! We get a Neckerchief of Invisibility

Essentially, it means our Potion of Invisibility now has 3 doses instead of 1.

Onwards to the wrought-iron door....

You know that a truly awesome challenge awaits you beyond the wrought-iron door. The sheer scale of the noise in there tells you that the place is full of monsters. Make a careful note of the precautions you wish to take and what you plan to do when you enter. When you are ready to move on, turn to 300. If you aren't yet ready to make an assault here but prefer to backtrack south and east to explore an area you haven't entered yet, turn to 43.

Unfortunately, going back to 43, does NOT give us the chance to go for the door we missed earlier...that section is right before 43. So basically, we've already examined most of the places beyond that point.....unless you guys actually want to check out the Orc barracks that you already voted to skip earlier?

Even if you don't want to go back to the Orcs barracks, the text indicates that we should probably take "precautions" before we enter this next room, so if you have any ideas what kind of preparation we should make, shout out!

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Jallarial
SKILL 11/11 (+1 from Ebony Wand)
STAMINA 9/23
LUCK 6/9
MAGIC: 6/9 (+2 from Ebony Wand)
Equipment: Staff, Leather Armor, Shield, Lantern, knife, Potion of Stamina (restores half your Initial STAMINA), rope, Iron rod (-1 to Die roll when opening doors via Skill Test), Potion of Invisibility (opponent -2 Attack Strength if drank before combat), Flask of Herbal Restorative/Liqueur x3 (+4 STAMINA), Golden Talisman (x2), Silver Dagger (x6), Magical Oil of Enchantment (enchants non-magical weapons for one combat), Jailor Keys (70), Wand of the Hawk, Vials of Acid (does 4 STAMINA damage if used during combat), Lava Sphere (does 1D6 damage to all opponents in a room when used in combat), Onyx Staff, Oatmeal x3 (counts as 1 meal each), Potion of Luck (restores 1-3 LUCK), Orc-slaying Sword, PLague Antidote, Neckerchief of Invisibility (2 charges, opponent -2 Attack Strength if used before combat)
Provisions: None
Treasure: 3 GP
No. of Deaths: 1

Additional bonus from Wand of the Hawk: 1) +2 Attack Strength once Jallarial's entered Great Tower, 2) enchants weapons, 3) restore Magic OR STAMINA to full once

[Mr Shine]

down all 3 herbal restoratives and march in.

[Sirocco]

Use the neckerchief, Jallarial.