[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 23 - Masks of Mayhem!

[Queen of Swords]

Does the bard even know what we've done here so far other than "he visited Hever, ate dinner, held on to all his belongings, and is now asking for a song to be made up about this"?

Sure, let's have a song about ourselves. At least it will be a short one and then we can go get some sleep.

[pragma]

Pyke and Firefox

I wonder if we'll get some useful lore out of the old song.

[JourneymanN00b]

My vote is to have the bard make up a song about King Arthur's visit to Fallow Dale.

[Thaluikhain]

Vote for old story and hope for exposition or the basis of a browser joke.

[SGamerz]

Does the bard even know what we've done here so far other than "he visited Hever, ate dinner, held on to all his belongings, and is now asking for a song to be made up about this"?

Hey, part of a bard's traditional job is to make stuff up when there isn't sufficient interesting facts to sing about. Kind of like reporters and journalists.

Not that King Arthur has had a lot of heroic exploits thus far anyway. Ok, so defeating the Kraken and setting a bunch of lost souls free would fit well in a heroic epic, but...that's pretty much it. Beyond that, we wandered around blindly in the mist, jumped/fell down an old mine shaft, wandered around blindly some more, stumbled into someone's home, murdered said someone, drove his wife and kids out of the home, looted said home, and bargained our way out of a fight with some farmer's dogs by giving him a statuette. Not exactly the stuff of heroes, even on paper.

The bard stumbles and hesitates a bit, but manages to concoct a short epic, consisting mainly of entirely fanciful episodes, about your trip to Fallow Dale from Arion. The end result is quite pleasing, and certainly flattering: he keeps going on about the power of a scepter and orb when wielded by a true ruler, until you almost feel that you could complete the rest of your quest, if only you had a scepter and an orb. Add 1 LUCK point. Afterwards, you go to bed.

Our LUCK is already, so no actual material gain, but I'm sure the not-so-subtle plot token hint will come into play at some point. Hey, we already have a Sceptre! That's 50% of the quest accomplished, right?

Too bad this Sceptre does have the same magical properties as the one wielded by Avenger in the Way of the Tiger. On the other hand, maybe Arthur should pray that he wouldn't have to lose an eye and insert the Orb into the socket to replace it when he finds the Orb.

You sleep long and well (restore 2 STAMINA points), and wake up in the morning refreshed and determined to ask Hever immediately about his horn. You find him in the Privy Chamber. He has shown himself to be both friendly and trustworthy, so you tell him about your quest and explain how useful his fabled horn would be. Hever is quiet for a while after you have finished talking. Then he says, "It is clear that your mission is so dangerous that, were you to take my horn, I might never see it again; and yet it is a bulwark of my reign. If I give it to you, I must have in return something of great value." If you have a magic crystal mirror, turn to 58; otherwise, turn to 149.

We came from a kingdom that couldn't even provide funds for its ruler's travelling expenses, and he expects us to be carrying something valuable?

Come to think about it, maybe Arthur wasn't really here for the horn. He probably came for the free feast and bedroom that he clearly can't afford without Hever's generosity. The horn stuff is just an excuse he made up for the visit so that Hever had to offer hospitality as a minimum requirement for good social etiquette.

We don't have the mirror...

...which is good, because that item is NEVER good to have.

"I have nothing of value to offer you except myself," you say simply. Hever thinks for a moment. "All right," he says finally, "there is something you could do for me. There is an exceptionally large Sabre-toothed TIger, which has its lair in Affen Forest, but occasionally emerges and roams my lands, killing my people and their flocks. If you can free my land from this beats, I will give you my horn. But it will not be easy: the Tiger is hard to get close to, and extremely dangerous when cornered." Will you accept the test or not?

Shall we go tiger-hunting?

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, I've totally forgotten what we are supposed to be doing, or why a king has to do it, but saving people from Smilodons is always cool. Accept.

[Queen of Swords]

Wait, this tiger is killing Hever's people, and his solution is... wait for someone who needs a favor to come visit? Wuss.

I guess since he can't be bothered to get out of his castle, we'll have to do it.

[JourneymanN00b]

Well since we need the horn so bad, my vote is to accept the test.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Agreed. We're Arthur, King of the Britons, not Brave Sir Robin.

[pragma]

Accept the test. Fights are fun, skipping fights is not.

[SGamerz]

We're Arthur, King of the Britons

Arthur Anric has no idea who the Britons are, but he'd gladly abandon the Arionese (?) and become the king of this new group if they can supply with some gold and some proper equipment other than a helmet with a funny symbol.

If they can get him a nice magic sword, he might even consider changing his last name to something grander, fit to be Penned by the bards in heroic epics and involving dragons.

Fights are fun, skipping fights is not.

Arthur might not consider fights to be much fun if he didn't have a SKILL of 12, but fair point.

Hever equips you with hunting-spear and a pack of hounds, and himself leads you to the part of Affen Forest in which the Tiger is known to be hiding at the moment. On the opposite page is a map of this part of the forest.

You and your hounds enter the forest at E12; the Tiger is hidden in its lair at E4. Track both your progress and the Tiger's in pencil on the map. Each turn, roll one die for your hounds and then one for the Tiger. These rolls are not simultaneous: your hounds may catch up with the Tiger after one of their rolls and before the Tiger has its roll. The effect of the rolls is shown in the following table:

HOUNDS

1. Your hounds have caught the scent. More one square closer to the tiger in any direction.
2. Move one square east.
3. Move two squares north.
4. Your hounds are well on the trail. Move two squares closer to the tiger in any two directions.
5. Move one square west.
6. Your hounds lose the scent, and do not move this turn.


TIGER

1. Move one square south.
2. Move one square north.
3. Move one square west.
4. Move one square east.
5. The tiger stops to investigate a tree, and does not move this turn.
6. Move one square north.

You have eight dice rolls to catch up with the Tiger. If you have not done so in eight rolls, or if the Tiger moves off this grid map, then it has escaped. If within eight rolls your hounds reach any of the eight squares surrounding the one where the Tiger is currently located, turn to 371. If you ever land on C9, turn to 262.

If that's what all the hunters have to go through when they try to track the Tiger, it's no wonder that Hever hasn't been able to do anything about this threat. Since our movements are random more than 50% of the time, and the Tiger's movements are completely random, it will take a lot of luck for us to reach it within 8 rounds (not to mention the Tiger may escape off the map at any point before that)...

TIGER HUNT LOG:

Round 1:
Arthur roll 4. Tiger rolls 3. Arthur is in E10, Tiger is in D4.
Round 2:
Arthur roll 5. Tiger rolls 3. Arthur is in D10, Tiger is in C4.
Round 3:
Arthur roll 2. Tiger rolls 6. Arthur is in E10, Tiger is in C3.
Round 4:
Arthur roll 3. Tiger rolls 1. Arthur is in E8, Tiger is in C4.
Round 5:
Arthur roll 3. Tiger rolls 5. Arthur is in E6, Tiger stays in C4.
Round: 6:
Arthur roll 4. Tiger rolls 2.

OK, I think we've actually had some pretty good rolls, considering all the odds. We have 2 rounds left, and might actually have a chance (provided the Tiger is cooperative). The Tiger is still some distance to the northwest. Since we can move 2 squares in any direction towards it, how do we move this round:

1) 1 square north and 1 west?
2) 2 north?
3) 2 west?

[Thaluikhain]

I recommend going 2 west, being directly south of the Tiger, as we can randomly move 2 north in a turn (if it's 1 north of us and we move 2 north, does that count as us catching it), but only 1 east or west.

And, this mechanic doesn't look great, but does look novel.

[pragma]

Wait, can't we move one west and one north to reach D5, which is "reach any of the eight squares surrounding the one where the Tiger is currently located"

[Omegonthesane]

Each turn, roll one die for your hounds and then one for the Tiger. These rolls are not simultaneous: your hounds may catch up with the Tiger after one of their rolls and before the Tiger has its roll. The effect of the rolls is shown in the following table:

Pragma is right - with the tiger in C4 and Arthur in E6, and two moves, we can go to D5 and thus be in one of the eight squares surrounding C4 before the tiger moves to C3.

[Thaluikhain]

Oops, yes, missed the part about us going first, and also the bit about only having to be adjacent to the tiger. Which is most of the rules, was a bit careless there.

[Queen of Swords]

I'd like to go with pragma's suggestion.

[JourneymanN00b]

My vote is to move one square west and one square north to get to the tiger.

[SGamerz]

Yikes, even though I understood the rules when I read them, I'd been rolling for both Hound and Tiger simultaneously to save time, so somehow I'd mentally placed the Tiger at C3 when it shouldn't have moved yet. Sorry for the delay. We have been even more lucky on the dice than I thought!

Arthur and his hounds catch up with their quarry:

The massive Sabre-toothed Tiger bursts out of cover, slavering at the mouth, and sets about the pack of hounds with its huge paws. You must fight it with your spear. First, roll one die: your hounds manage to injure the beats for this amount of STAMINA damage before you call them off and engage it yourself. If they cause 5 or 6 points of STAMINA injury, you may also reduce its SKILL by 1 point.

SABRE-TOOTHED TIGER SKILL 11 STAMINA 12

If you have not defeated it after four rounds of combat, turn to 348. If you win, turn to 333. If your STAMINA is getting dangerously low, you may decide that the Horn of Hever is not worth it, and break off from the fight.

There's actually a rare opportunity to break off from the fight with the SKILL-11 opponent, which is nice, although Arthur is probably badass enough not to have to do that, especially with the hounds' help.

Die roll = 4. Not bad, but we fell just short of making the fight even easier and giving the Tiger a SKILL penalty. Tiger is now at 8 STAMINA! We may be able to kill it in 4 rounds!

COMBAT LOG:

Sabre-toothed Tiger 14, Arthur 17. STT is at 6.
STT 22, Arthur 19. Arthur is at 13.
STT 16, Arthur 21. STT is at 4.
STT 14, Arthur 22. STT is at 2.

Damn, again we just barely fall short, 1 blow away from killing it within 4 rounds...

With a lucky strike of its paws, the Tiger splinters your spear as though it were made of straw. Now you will have to fight it at close quarters, with your sword. Return to 371 and continue the fight, but every time the Tiger's claws rake you, it will inflict 4 instead of 2 points of STAMINA injury.

Nasty penalty, but at least it's not a SKILL penalty, so with a bit of luck this won't come into play...

COMBAT RESUMES:

STT 17, Arthur 18. STT is killed!

And we just barely managed to win the final round, avoiding the additional damage!

You decide to take a set of the Tiger's claws as a memento of this epic battle. Then you return to where Hever is waiting with his village headmen at the edge of the forest. The blue sky, the pennants fluttering in the breeze and the sound of skylarks high above well match your elation at your victory. Hever is delighted with your success. "You have proven yourself worthy to carry the Horn of Hever," he says, "Let us return to the castle to celebrate." Add 2 LUCK points.

The celebrations continue well into the next day. The mead and medlar wine flow freely. You have to put up with a long procession of local dignitaries, each of whom wants to hear your story and thank you. Still, you gain 3 STAMINA points. As you prepare to leave the castle, Hever presents you with the horn. It looks just like an ordinary ram's horn, but it came from a Yachar, a Horned Demon, and hence has power over demonic as well as mortal evil. You hang it securely around your neck, so that it is as available to you as your sword. If you sound this horn, you may reduce any opponent's SKILL by 1, unless the book tells you otherwise.

Well, the scratch we got from the Tiger is restored. Back to full stats again.

A -1 SKILL modifier for enemies certainly isn't unwelcome, but I'm not sure it's worth all the trouble Arthur went through for it. Ironically a guy with low SKILL who might need it more is someone who's far less likely to have been able to prevail against that SKILL-11 Tiger.

Although I guess it makes sense from Hever's point of view. A guy's going to need legit good luck to track the tiger and SKILL to defeat it. If he's going to give the symbol of his rulership away, he'd want it to be someone who's both lucky and skilled enough to hold on to it long enough to finish the quest and be able to return it.

As you are taking your leave of Hever, a bruised and bleeding figure thrusts his way past the guards into the courtyard and collapses face down at your feet. You gently turn him over, and have difficulty at first in recognizing Kevin Truehand, your armourer from Arion. He is barely alive. He speaks through cracked lips with a great effort, as if resisting the approach of death or of something worse: "Majesty, I tried...black magic...must not give in..." Then he chokes and breathes his last. You jump to your feet. Will you go over to discuss this matter with Hever, or stay thinking about it yourself?

Oh no! The one person in Arion who cared enough about its ruler to see us off is now dead! Maybe it's time to give up and move on to greener pastures and leave that miserable kingdom to Tynin.

Do we go discuss with Hever about any potential new job opening here?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: King Arthur Anric
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 15/15
LUCK 9/9
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Backpack, Potion of Fortune (+1 to Initial LUCK, restores LUCK to new Initial value), Helmet, sorrels, Iron Sceptre ("There should be just one ruler"), Copper Nugget, Pick-axe head, Snatta-cat's Tusk (11 dragons engraved), Apple Pips (x8), Water Flask, Tiger's Claws, Hever's Horn (-1 SKILL to opponents)
Provisions: 7
Notes: 1) When allowed to call on Galrin's help, turn to section 100.
Number of failures:
1) Randomly shot in the back by a random Blackheart in some random mine shaft.
2) Fell down a chasm of unknown depths in the same random mine shaft

[JourneymanN00b]

My vote is to discuss the matter with Hever, as King Arthur cannot be trusted to deal with this sorcery by himself.

[Queen of Swords]

Sure, let's discuss the matter with Hever.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Talk to Hever.

[Thaluikhain]

Talk

[pragma]

Talk to Hever.

[SGamerz]

With death, Kevin's heroic resistance snaps once and for all, and the evil spirit implanted in his body is able to take control. It too jumps to its feet - that is, Kevin's feet - and it hurls an impenetrable magical barrier around itself and you. But because you have moved closer to Hever, he is caught inside the barrier and helps you in the fight. The spirit, cackling with glee and cracking a fiery nine-tailed whip, has eyes only for you; but every time you win an Attack Round, you may assume that Hever has been successful too, and reduce the fiend's STAMINA by 3 instead of 2. You cannot kill this demon, but if you win the fight, it will return to the nether regions, leaving Kevin in peace at last.

HELLFIRE SPIRIT SKILL 9 STAMINA 12

If you both win, the barrier dissolves.

Thanks to the Horn we just got, this thing is effectively at SKILL 8.

COMBAT LOG:

Hellfire Spirit 19, Arthur17. Arthur is at 13.
HS 13, Arthur 18. HS is at 9.
HS 14, Arthur 15. HS is at 6.
HS 13, Arthur 18. HS is at 3.
HS 13, Arthur 16. HS is defeated.

Lots of mediocre rolls all-round, but Arthur only takes one lash from the whip before he banishes the spirit.

You answer Hever's inevitable questions, but you can only guess what treachery lies behind this incident. Then you leave Fallow Dale. Hever has restocked you with the full amount of 10 lots of Provisions, and given you a new pack and water-flask.

Yes, the benefit to "discussing" with Hever is purely to force him to become an ally in the battle rather that get any real discussion out of him (we get sent here after the fight even if we picked the other option, where we'd fight the thing alone). Still, nice of him to re-stock our supplies. And we just got another new water flash, and the book had been pretty generous with restores in between this, so maybe it might have been more profitable to grab the gold at the Doragar's lair instead....oh well.

After half a day's travel through the chest-high grass of Pikestaff Plain, nothing more exciting has happened than pollen causing you to sneeze once in a while. The landscape is featureless - just the same grass all around. However, you do come across a ting trail. It is no more than fifteen centimetres wide, and therefore hard to spot among the stems, but it is a definite trail, running dead straight from southwest to north-east. Will you ignore it and carry on more or less due north, or wait by it?

I'm not sure what we thought we might want to wait for, but do we want to wait for...something?


Adventure Sheet:

Name: King Arthur Anric
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 13/15
LUCK 9/9
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Backpack, Potion of Fortune (+1 to Initial LUCK, restores LUCK to new Initial value), Helmet, sorrels, Iron Sceptre ("There should be just one ruler"), Copper Nugget, Pick-axe head, Snatta-cat's Tusk (11 dragons engraved), Apple Pips (x8), Water Flask, Tiger's Claws, Hever's Horn (-1 SKILL to opponents)
Provisions: 10
Notes: 1) When allowed to call on Galrin's help, turn to section 100.
Number of failures:
1) Randomly shot in the back by a random Blackheart in some random mine shaft.
2) Fell down a chasm of unknown depths in the same random mine shaft

[Queen of Swords]

We still need to find an orb. I'm not sure whether this trail will help us find it, but let's wait by it anyway.