Let's Play Fighting Fantasy: The Port of Peril

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Jan 25, 2018 6:10 am

(Thal, care to break the tie on Siff-Saff or Fireroot?)

You use the spare branches to make a fine crackling fire before crawling inside your bivouac. You roll your blanket and lie down at last to rest, enjoying the warmth of the flickering flames. A full moon rises into the night sky and you stare at the bright stars, thinking about the events of the day before drifting off to sleep. You have vivid dreams and are woken up a couple of times by creature noises, but the night passes without incident. You wake up early in the morning, gather up your belongings and begin your climb of Moonstone Hills, determined to reach Skull Crag by noon.

The grass-covered foothills are easy enough to climb, but the going gets harder when the incline becomes deeper, and you have to avoid loose rocks and stones. Each hilltop you reach, you look eastwards hoping to catch sight of Skull Crag. Finally you see what you are looking for in the distance. It's a hill which stands above all others and, more importantly, it has a rounded top which resembles a human skull. Spurred on by the sighting, you scramble down the hill and press on. It's not long before you arrive at the entrance to a small cave at the foot of the next hill, which is still quite some distance away from Skull Crag.

If you want to look inside the cave
If you would rather keep heading east

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Thu Jan 25, 2018 6:24 am

Oh right *rolls virtual dice*, take Siff-Saff.

Also, investigate the cave

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Thu Jan 25, 2018 7:27 am

All holes must be investigated.

Queen of Swords · Post by **Queen of Swords** » Thu Jan 25, 2018 10:07 am

Let's go spelunking.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Jan 25, 2018 11:32 am

Penetrate all openings.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Jan 25, 2018 12:19 pm

You step warily into the gloomy cave and notice small footprints on the sandy floor. Without warning, a soul-chilling howl breaks the silence. From out of the shadows at the back of the cave steps a shrivelled, hunched-over old hag with long, thick grey hair and ragged clothes. The skin on her face is dry and wrinkled, and her eyes are sunken in their sockets and jet black in colour. Her thin, loose-skinned arms and scrawny hands with blackened nils are stretched out in front of her. When she opens her mouth to scream again, you see she has no teeth at all. The wretched creature is a PLAGUE WITCH and you must fight her.

PLAGUE WITCH SKILL 5 STAMINA 5

If you lose any Attack Rounds during combat, the Plague Witch will have touched your skin and infected you with worm plague, which will quickly turn your eyes black and make you go blind, just like her. It will be impossible for you to continue your quest. Your adventure is over.

Combat Log:

She has to roll pretty high to hit us, so we should hopefully be able to kill her without being blinded.
Witch 9, Harry 21. Witch is at 3.
Witch 14, Harry 14. Tie.
Witch 15, Harry 17. Witch is at 1.
Witch 10, Harry 16. Witch is dead.

(There were a couple of distressingly high rolls on the Plague Witch's end, but no withered old hag can touch the Balzac.)

A search of the cave yields nothing more than an old clay pot with a cracked lid.

If you want to look inside the pot
If you would rather leave the cave and press on towards Skull Crag

Adventure Sheet
Harry Balzac
SKILL: 10/10
STAMINA: 15/20
LUCK: 10/11
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Bracelet of Power
Provisions: 10 Meals (restore 4 STAMINA each)
Potions: Potion of Fortune (restores LUCK to Initial+1)
Money: 2 Gold Pieces, 12 Copper Pieces
Keys: Iron Key, 20 Brass Keys
Items: Map, Ball of Twine, Candle, Small Brass Bell, Oil Lantern, Knife, 2 Pieces of Chalk, Brass Owl, Rope, Bag of Copper Nails, Water Flask, Unicorn-Head Goblet, 4 Teeth, Silver Button, Glass Eye, 3 Polished Stones, Dried Nettles, Cast-Iron Pig Trinket, Stikkle Wax, Long Knife
Jars: Rats' Tails, Small Bones, Worms, Dead Flies, Sheep Eyeballs, Lotus Flower, Noop Powder, Siff-Saff Paste

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Thu Jan 25, 2018 12:31 pm

Looks like a former rockstar come back for a nostalgia concert.

Open the pot.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Thu Jan 25, 2018 1:19 pm

Open the pot.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Jan 25, 2018 1:29 pm

We love pot almost as much as we love crack.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Jan 25, 2018 2:40 pm

You find 5 Gold Pieces and a locket of grey hair in the clay pot, no doubt from the head of the blind hag. You must decide if you want to take the locket of hair as well as the Gold Pieces before leaving the cave to make your way to Skull Crag.

(I'm assuming we want to take both, but if you don't just let me know and I'll edit our Adventure Sheet and this post accordingly.)

Clambering up and down hills, over boulders, rocks, stones and shale all morning is very tiring and thirsty work. You slip over several times, hurting your arm in one particularly bad fall. Lose 1 STAMINA point. You push on, reaching a narrow gully between two steep hills through which a stream is gently running.

If you want to stop to fill up your water flask
If you would rather keep walking east

Adventure Sheet
Harry Balzac
SKILL: 10/10
STAMINA: 14/20
LUCK: 10/11
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Bracelet of Power
Provisions: 10 Meals (restore 4 STAMINA each)
Potions: Potion of Fortune (restores LUCK to Initial+1)
Money: 7 Gold Pieces, 12 Copper Pieces
Keys: Iron Key, 20 Brass Keys
Items: Map, Ball of Twine, Candle, Small Brass Bell, Oil Lantern, Knife, 2 Pieces of Chalk, Brass Owl, Rope, Bag of Copper Nails, Water Flask, Unicorn-Head Goblet, 4 Teeth, Silver Button, Glass Eye, 3 Polished Stones, Dried Nettles, Cast-Iron Pig Trinket, Stikkle Wax, Long Knife, Locket of Hag's Hair
Jars: Rats' Tails, Small Bones, Worms, Dead Flies, Sheep Eyeballs, Lotus Flower, Noop Powder, Siff-Saff Paste

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Thu Jan 25, 2018 3:21 pm

Wait, lotus flower and hag hair? This smells like an encounter with Zanbar Bone (or someone with a similar set-up).

Yes, attend to the minutia of hiking.

Queen of Swords · Post by **Queen of Swords** » Fri Jan 26, 2018 12:03 am

angelfromanotherpin wrote:Wait, lotus flower and hag hair? This smells like an encounter with Zanbar Bone (or someone with a similar set-up).

Now all we need is a tattoo of a unicorn.

Get the water.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Jan 26, 2018 12:30 am

As you bend down to fill your flask, you suddenly hear the sound of rocks tumbling down from above. You spin round to see a huge boulder rolling down the side of the steep hill towards you, and dive sideways to try to avoid being crushed by it. Roll two dice. (10; the result is equal to Harry's SKILL score.)

The massive boulder thunders past you and crashes into the stream, causing a huge splash of water. You scramble behind cover and look up to see two sinewy men with long straggly hair and beards standing at the top of the hill shaking their fists. They are wearing animal skins, and they are both carrying a leather bag and a quiver of arrows across their shoulders. The WILD HILL MEN reach for their bows and fire two arrows down at you. Test Your Luck. (5; Lucky!)

The arrows hit the boulder you are hiding behind, bouncing off harmlessly to land on the ground. They shout down, shaking their fists angrily at you. One of them begins throwing rocks and anything at hand out of frustration, including his shoulder bag and bow, before walking off, cursing loudly. When you feel the coast is clear, you come out from behind cover to find 1 Gold Piece, a small box of fish hooks, and a small bag of salt. You take the items you want, and also the bow and six arrows fired at you, which are lying nearby. You fill your flask from the stream and take a long drink of cool water. Add 1 STAMINA point.

(I'm going to do the same thing with the fish hooks and the salt that I did with the Hag's Hair: I'm listing them as taken unless anyone objects, for the sake of not slowing down the book any further.)

The gully opens out on to a rock-strewn valley, at the end of which one hill stands out against all others. Its shape roughly resembles that of a giant human skull, almost as though somebody long ago had carved it that way. It is almost devoid of vegetation and has a rounded top. Two recesses high up resemble eye sockets, and a large rock sticking out below could pass for a nose. There is an entrance to a cave at ground level which could easily be mistaken for an open mouth. You hurry along the valley as quickly as possible, looking at your map, eager to explore inside Skull Crag. You arrive at the cave and peer inside to see nothing but darkness beyond the sunlit entrance.

If you want to enter the cave
If you would rather climb Skull Crag to find another way in

Adventure Sheet
Harry Balzac
SKILL: 10/10
STAMINA: 15/20
LUCK: 9/11
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Bracelet of Power, Bow (6 arrows)
Provisions: 10 Meals (restore 4 STAMINA each)
Potions: Potion of Fortune (restores LUCK to Initial+1)
Money: 8 Gold Pieces, 12 Copper Pieces
Keys: Iron Key, 20 Brass Keys
Items: Map, Ball of Twine, Candle, Small Brass Bell, Oil Lantern, Knife, 2 Pieces of Chalk, Brass Owl, Rope, Bag of Copper Nails, Water Flask, Unicorn-Head Goblet, 4 Teeth, Silver Button, Glass Eye, 3 Polished Stones, Dried Nettles, Cast-Iron Pig Trinket, Stikkle Wax, Long Knife, Locket of Hag's Hair, Box of Fish Hooks, Bag of Salt
Jars: Rats' Tails, Small Bones, Worms, Dead Flies, Sheep Eyeballs, Lotus Flower, Noop Powder, Siff-Saff Paste

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Fri Jan 26, 2018 2:07 am

Do NOT enter by the cave entrance. Climb the crag to a ledge twenty metres above. Move the standing branches aside to reveal the secret entrance. Enter here and turn left, right, right at the junctions. An iron chest will be found in the Crystal Cave. Good luck! Murgat Shurr.

Climb.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Fri Jan 26, 2018 7:36 am

Agreed.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Fri Jan 26, 2018 11:46 am

Go for the secret entrance.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Jan 26, 2018 1:42 pm

You begin your climb of Skull Crag, scrambling up the bare rock face with ease. You reach a ledge twenty metres up, and notice a stack of sun-bleached branches propped up against the rock face. You move the branches to one side to reveal a crack in the rock which is less than a metre wide. The opening is just as described on Murgat Shurr's map. You light your lantern and squeeze through the crack to find yourself in a narrow man-made tunnel which has a low ceiling. The air is cool and still, and has a slight musty smell. You walk along the tunnel for some fifty metres before coming to a junction.

If you want to go left
If you want to go right

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Fri Jan 26, 2018 2:46 pm

Left, as per instructions.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Jan 26, 2018 8:42 pm

You head down the narrow left-hand tunnel for twenty metres, the light from your lantern casting eerie shadows on the rough-hewn tunnel wall. You pass by a skeleton lying on the floor. One of its arms is pointed in the direction you are walking, the other is twisted up behind its back. Its upper torso is clad in chain-mail armour.

If you want to try on the chain-mail armour
If you would rather keep walking

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Fri Jan 26, 2018 9:17 pm

FASHION TIME

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Fri Jan 26, 2018 9:20 pm

Oo, I wonder what version of armor rules they're using. Find out. It's fun to find out.

Queen of Swords · Post by **Queen of Swords** » Fri Jan 26, 2018 10:32 pm

I can't help wondering if the chainmail is cursed and ended up killing whoever that was.

Only one way to find out. Put it on.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Jan 27, 2018 12:02 am

It is a finely crafted chain-mail coat and it fits you perfectly. Add 1 SKILL point. Pleased with your find, you walk on.
(Pretty standard in Livingstone FF books for armor to add SKILL points. It would be useful if we had lost any.)

You reach a section of the tunnel where the floor is littered with rocks and rubble. One of the rocks appears to move, and you realize that it is not a rock but a grey-coloured creature. It is no bigger than a cannonball, and its plated exoskeleton looks to be almost as hard. You watch the creature uncurl and flip over on to four spindly, crab-like legs. Its small head has large compound black eyes, long antennae, and mouthparts with three rows of sharp mandibles which it uses to inject venom into its victims to paralyse them and feed off their blood. Two more GRONKS flip over and scuttle towards you. Fight them one at a time.

First GRONK SKILL 5 STAMINA 5
Second GRONK SKILL 5 STAMINA 4
Third GRONK SKILL 5 STAMINA 4

Combat Log:

Gronk A 9, Harry 17. Gronk A is at 3.
Gronk A 9, Harry 19. Gronk A is at 1.
Gronk A 16, Harry 17. Gronk A is dead.
Gronk B 17, Harry 16. Harry is at 13.
Gronk B 13, Harry 18. Gronk B is at 2.
Gronk B 16, Harry 18. Gronk B is dead.
Gronk C 8, Harry 14. Gronk C is at 2.
Gronk C 8, Harry 18. Gronk C is dead.

(Harry won the battle but lost one or more Attack Round)

You see blood seeping from the needle-like punctures in your skin, and you know you will have to act quickly to prevent the onset of paralysis. You search through your backpack to look for an antidote.

If you want to try snake oil
If you want to try stikkle wax
If you want to try dried nettles
If you have none of these items, paralysis will soon set in and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Your adventure is over.

Adventure Sheet
Harry Balzac
SKILL: 10/10
STAMINA: 13/20
LUCK: 9/11
Equipment: Sword, Finely Crafted Chain-Mail Coat, Bracelet of Power, Bow (6 arrows)
Provisions: 10 Meals (restore 4 STAMINA each)
Potions: Potion of Fortune (restores LUCK to Initial+1)
Money: 8 Gold Pieces, 12 Copper Pieces
Keys: Iron Key, 20 Brass Keys
Items: Map, Ball of Twine, Candle, Small Brass Bell, Oil Lantern, Knife, 2 Pieces of Chalk, Brass Owl, Rope, Bag of Copper Nails, Water Flask, Unicorn-Head Goblet, 4 Teeth, Silver Button, Glass Eye, 3 Polished Stones, Dried Nettles, Cast-Iron Pig Trinket, Stikkle Wax, Long Knife, Locket of Hag's Hair, Box of Fish Hooks, Bag of Salt
Jars: Rats' Tails, Small Bones, Worms, Dead Flies, Sheep Eyeballs, Lotus Flower, Noop Powder, Siff-Saff Paste

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Sat Jan 27, 2018 12:10 am

Stikkle wax. No real reason why.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Sat Jan 27, 2018 3:40 am

Yeah, that is a thing we can try.