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

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Feb 06, 2021 7:26 am

I’m down with that.

pragma · Post by **pragma** » Sat Feb 06, 2021 8:29 am

North. Sure.

Queen of Swords · Post by **Queen of Swords** » Sat Feb 06, 2021 12:06 pm

The true north strong and free.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sun Feb 07, 2021 1:18 am

No serious obstacles present themselves for quite a while: the streams are either small enough to jump or shallow enough to wade; the land is covered in heather or bilberry shrubs, which often make the going awkward, but no means impossible (and provide some food).

In the later afternoon of the second day after leaving the grass, you come across a strange sight in such surroundings. A gaily painted caravan is being drawn by a water buffalo, heading west. A robust old man is sitting on the seat of the caravan; the reins hang limply in his hands, and he doesn't seem very concerned about where the caravan goes. The pots and pans strung up around the caravan clash and clang as it passes over the rough terrain. A sigh on the side reads: 'Canches - Alchemist & Trader'.

You call out and Canches stops the caravan; the buffalo immediately begins to tug at some coarse grass. Canches offers to sell you some of his home-made wares. If you have money and want to see what he's got, remember this paragraph number and turn to 80. If you have no money, you can either pass the time of day and then continue north, or attack the alchemist to try to steal his goods.

2 more options for the King of Arion to partake in established adventuring traditions: go shopping, or killing random people to take their stuff? Or does he do neither?

Queen of Swords · Post by **Queen of Swords** » Sun Feb 07, 2021 1:33 am

We robbed the fatherless Doragar family and the Treasure Ants, but we do have money now. So let's see what he's selling.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Sun Feb 07, 2021 2:18 am

See what they have.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun Feb 07, 2021 5:40 am

Check out what the guy has for sale; we have gold to spare and it doesn't seem like we're going to be forced to buy anything if he just has junk.

pragma · Post by **pragma** » Sun Feb 07, 2021 6:16 am

See what he's selling.

JourneymanN00b · Post by **JourneymanN00b** » Sun Feb 07, 2021 8:06 am

My vote will be to see what he has got, as King Arthur could always use supplies.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Mon Feb 08, 2021 9:38 am

Some of the alchemist's wares are of interest to you: a Potion of Luck, for 3 Gold Pieces, which will restore your LUCK to its Initial level; a Potion of Healing, for 5 Gold Pieces, which will restore up to 6 STAMINA points (you can use it not or save it for later); a Cloak of Temporary Invisibility, for 10 Gold Pieces; an Antifreeze Potion, which will protect you against cold, for 5 Gold Pieces; and, for 6 Gold Pieces, Boots of Agility. But what you want and can afford, and then return to the paragraph you were at before, and continue on your way.

Not a very long shopping list, but it's just as well, since we don't have a lot to spend. The cheapest item is essentially something we already have...well, we actually have a slightly better version that boosts the Initial value.

Do we want to buy any of these?

JourneymanN00b · Post by **JourneymanN00b** » Mon Feb 08, 2021 10:29 am

My vote will be to buy the Cloak of Temporary Invisibility, as being able to disappear is stupidly powerful in role playing games.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Mon Feb 08, 2021 2:03 pm

Given that it's all we can afford, seconded that we should get the invisibility cloak.

Queen of Swords · Post by **Queen of Swords** » Mon Feb 08, 2021 3:39 pm

That sounds good. Pity we cant afford more.

pragma · Post by **pragma** » Mon Feb 08, 2021 6:35 pm

I wonder about the antifreeze potion, but the cloak seems fine.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue Feb 09, 2021 8:47 am

Arthur spends all of his stolen hard-earned riches on a nice cloak before continuing on his way.

Several days later (reduce your Provisions by 2) you are faced with your most dangerous situation yet. A bush-fire starts in the south and is racing in your direction, driven by the wind. The front of the fire is many kilometres long: at any rare, even from a distance you cannot see the ends of it. The dry heather and shrubs are excellent kindling for it, and it leaps the streams and small rivers with no apparent pause. It is still a long way away, but you know the speed at which such fires travel. Will you:

Stay where you are?
Race north away from the fire?
Try to find the fire's western limit?
Try to find the fire's eastern limit?
Move towards the fire?

Canches was selling an anti-freeze potion, but there was no anti-burn. Hm....

How do we deal with this?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: King Arthur Anric
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 14/15
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), rusty nail, Bejeweled Choker, Cloak of Temporary Invisibility
Provisions: 5
Treasure: Nil
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 · Post by **JourneymanN00b** » Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:06 am

My vote is to have King Arthur stay where he is, as many firefighters have tried attempting to outrun forest fires over a long distance and died in their attempts. Since there appears to be no safe spot for King Arthur to take shelter in, he should hunker down and make his own safe spot by burning out a spot using his flint and tinders, as this guide states.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Tue Feb 09, 2021 9:54 am

Yeah, staying seems best, based on limited information.

Queen of Swords · Post by **Queen of Swords** » Tue Feb 09, 2021 4:32 pm

JourneymanN00b wrote:Since there appears to be no safe spot for King Arthur to take shelter in, he should hunker down and make his own safe spot by burning out a spot using his flint and tinders, as this guide states.

Sounds good, let's do this.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Tue Feb 09, 2021 4:53 pm

Even if we don't have the savvy to start a counterfire, we might pull a Yamato Takeru and sword a bare spot for ourselves, but that also requires staying put.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue Feb 09, 2021 5:08 pm

I have to wonder if listening to the song of Pyke and the Firefox would have given us a hint here.

Staying put seems as good as any.

pragma · Post by **pragma** » Tue Feb 09, 2021 7:01 pm

Sure, stay put.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Feb 10, 2021 1:25 am

Roll two dice. If the total is greater than your SKILL score, turn to 134; if the total is less than or equal to your SKILL score, turn to 206.

With our MAX SKILL there's no need to roll for this.

You realize that there is little point in running, and that your only hope is to create a fire-break between yourself and the bush-fire. The only means you have of making such a fire-break is to start your own fire, which will burn up the shrubs and leave the bush-fire nothing to catch on. Will you start a fire to the south of where you stand, between yourself and the bush-fire, or north of where you stand?

pragma · Post by **pragma** » Wed Feb 10, 2021 1:52 am

North, because the wind is blowing the fire towards us.

JourneymanN00b · Post by **JourneymanN00b** » Wed Feb 10, 2021 2:53 am

My vote is to start a fire north of where King Arthur stands, as the wind is blowing to the north and we do not want him to get caught in his own blaze.

Queen of Swords · Post by **Queen of Swords** » Wed Feb 10, 2021 6:07 am

Good thinking. North it is.