[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 49 - Siege of Sardath

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to settle straight down to sleep this time. I don't think Quincy Stridemoore should visit the tomb without any additional items yet.

[Thaluikhain]

Hmmm, might not get a chance later, but ok, the tomb is a bit dangerous, avoid that at least for now.

[SGamerz]

During the night there is a noise near by and you wake up instinctively. Cautiously you open your eyes and slowly turn your head. Several metres away stands a Giant Spider, its bulbous body sagging down between its mottled red legs. It leers at you with its myriad eyes, obviously intent on attacking. Will you leap up and charge at it or draw your bow swiftly and fire an arrow?

First opportunity to use our bow thus far. (OK, there was also the Giant Eagle, but for that one there was clearly a better way resolve the encounter without having to fight at all.)

Do we want to shoot it?

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to leap up and charge at the spider, as I don't think we will have the opportunity to fire an arrow and be able to draw our weapon fast enough to finish it off.

[Queen of Swords]

I'd like to try firing an arrow. It does say the spider is "several meters away", so we may have time to do this.

[SGamerz]

As you charge towards the Spider, it ejects a thin stream of sticky silk in your direction. You are closer than it would ideally like, so the threat arcs over your head, missing you completely. This is a Giant Spitting Spider, not one of the more ferocious hunting varieties, so, before you can reach it, it turns and scuttles off into the trees. You walk back to your camp, feeling good about resolving this encounter so well (regain 1 LUCK point). You lie down, wrap your blankets around you, and settle back down to sleep. Turn to the paragraph whose number you wrote in a circle on your Adventure Sheet.

We were told to note down the section 178 earlier, and this is where we'd turn to.

The morning arrives (regain 1 STAMINA point and tick off the next day on your Adventure Sheet), and you climb out rom under your thick, frost-covered blankets, the chill morning air reviving you and making you eager for the day's adventures. You climb into the boat, and sail on. The Forest is as dark as ever, and the reeds seem to be encroaching more and more on the river. Twice more you see amphibian eyes watching you, but again they disappear as soon as you look at them. It is soon after the second of these sightings that the boat lurches to a sudden halt. You let go of the tiller and look over the stern. Some reeds have tangled round the rudder; cursing, you reach over and try to pull them free, but they swirl in the water and wrap themselves round your wrist. As the tiny, needle-like hairs pierce your skin, sucking the blood from your arm (deduct 4 STAMINA points), you realize that the plant in River Bloodweed, You jerk your arm back and the Weed flops back into the water, now a full red colour. If you have the Mystery Potion, you could pour it over the Weed. If you don't have it, or if you don't wish to use it, will you hack at the Weed with your sword or reach back into the water to remove the plant by hand?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Quincey Stridemoore
SKILL 11/11
STAMINA 11/15
LUCK 10/10
Equipment: Sword, leather armour, bow, quiver, Council Signet Ring, 1: Dried Chameleonite Blood, 2: Condensed Mist from the Mithrir Forest, 7: Pickled Whole Shapechanger Brain, Four-leaf Clover, Sleeping Draught, Potion of Fortune, Mystery Potion X (turn to 96 when used as an arrow)
Arrows: 6
Bundles of Herbs: 5
Gold: 6 GP
Day of the Week:
Stormsday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Moonsday (2/3 extra lives remaining)
Fireday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Earthday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Windsday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Seaday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Highday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
[/spoiler]

[SGamerz]

Unfortunately, I was already typing up the update by the time QoS made his vote.

However, it turned out to be a blessing of sorts, since charging seemed to be the right move.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to reach back into the water to remove the plant by hand. Hacking at the weed with Quincey Stridemoore's sword risks destroying the rudder, and the Mystery Potion will not necessarily help the situation here.

[Queen of Swords]

Yes, we should save the Mystery Potion for something more important than a river weed. Remove the plant by hand.

[SGamerz]

Realizing that the Bloodweed has gorged itself on your blood and so is no longer dangerous, you plunge yours hand back into the ice water. The weed lets you untangle it from your rudder without fighting back (regain 1 LUCK point). With your boat now free, you can sail on. An hour or so later, you spot another pair of amphibian eyes gazing at you. This time, instead of looking back at them directly, you keep on looking forward but you watch the eyes at the edge of your field of vision. Not realizing that you have seen it, the creature stays in view. Will you quickly grab your bow and shoot an arrow at it, or wait to see what it does?

I think Siege of Sardath is better-written and designed than the average FF book, but it does share one flaw that you can find in a lot of them: information that ought to have been known to the PC being withheld from the players. Stuff like the nature of the Bloodweed and the Spitting Spiders look like information that the experienced forest ranger really ought to already know before he makes to wrong choices and comes out looking stupid and amateurish. Thankfully, we made the right choices both times.

Another chance to use our bow! Do want to use it this time?

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to wait to see what it does, as the owner behind the pair of eyes is not necessarily hostile, and I do not want Quincey Stridemoore to go down the psychopath route yet.

[Queen of Swords]

Yes, wait to see what it does.

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, we're all about not attacking the forest or whatever, talk to the amphibian.

[SGamerz]

After a few minute, the eyes vanish beneath the water. You look around but can see no sign of where the creature went. Towards midday, you ready your bow again, for you are entering Slykk territory. The reeds here are denser than ever and it is difficult to keep your boat in clear water. While you are maneuvering through a particularly narrow channel, a group of the slimly frog-people rise out of the reeds on either side of you, spear raised.

One of them moves forward slightly. Being heavily laden with jewellery and other plunder, he must be the tribe's chief. He makes a gesture to the rest of the Slykks and they hold their fire. Then he gestures and croaks at you. He doesn't look threatening, but he doesn't look particularly friendly, either. He hands his spear to the Slykk nearest him and makes some more croaking noises. Then he points first at you, then at himself. This is a very delicate situation, requiring a careful response. Will you lay your sword in the bottom of your boat and sail towards him or draw your sword and hold it in front of you in the salute for single combat?

[Thaluikhain]

If the chief put their weapon down, we should do the same.

[Queen of Swords]

Agreed, put our sword down.

[SGamerz]

The chief of the Slykk stabs his sword into the clump of reeds in front of him and the warriors lower their spears. The Slykk on his left steps forward. "Rurkk," he says, pointing to himself and rattling the chain of dried fish-heads around his neck. "Slykk magic." In stilted Allansian and improvised sign language, you parley, with Rurkk translating for his chief. After several minutes of this, the chief croaks at Rurkk and makes a strange facial gesture. "Must know where boats," Rurkk says to you.

You tell Rurkk in some details about your mission and the events that led you to undertake it.

"Know this creature!" says Rurkk when you tell him about Morn Preeler. He then describes an Elf-like creature, but with jet-black skin, who magically impersonated a Slykk and mixed with the tribe - until Rurkk exposed him. "Elf carry this," Rurkk says and hands you a small bundle wrapped in a piece of leather (which you may examine at any time by turning to paragraph 278). Rurkk says, "Will now go." You look up, but the Slykk have vanished into the reeds. You must move on: will you now sail on up the river, sail to the east bank and walk north into the forest, or sail to the west bank and walk south-west into the marsh?

I'm just going to show what's in the bundle right away:

Inside the bundle are six ivory squares; each is of beautifully smooth workmanship, with dedicate carving. The engraved lines are filled with a black pigment, which makes them stand out vividly. From the strange shapes that the lines form, you can tell that this is some kind of puzzle, but there is no indication of how to solve it. While you still have the ivory squares, you may unlock their secret at any time. Whenever you want to re-examine them, return to this paragraph, first making a note of the paragraph you have come from. Once you have solved the puzzle, it should become clear how to proceed.

The puzzle doesn't need to be solved now, but if any of you manage to do so, please post the answer at any time.

For now, which way do we go?

[Thaluikhain]

The pieces can be arranged so they look like they'd be the 6 faces of a cube. Looks like there's 57 there, with an L and maybe an I or a 1 either before or after it, assuming it's not upside down.

Oh, and keep sailing.

[Queen of Swords]

I think now that we've got something useful from our river trip, we should return to land. I'm just not sure whether to search for anything valuable in the marshes or go straight into the forest.

[JourneymanN00b]

The pieces can be arranged so they look like they'd be the 6 faces of a cube. Looks like there's 57 there, with an L and maybe an I or a 1 either before or after it, assuming it's not upside down.

Oh, and keep sailing.

Maybe it is indicating the number 157? Not sure if it points to a reference or is part of another puzzle.

I feel that landing the boat is the smartest option if Quincey Stridemoore is to get every essential item. I vote to sail to the west bank and walk south-west into the marsh in order to make another clear stand against the rising threat of fascism.

[Dogopolis]

https://imgur.com/a/kekCLZt.png

Can't get the image tags to work.

[SGamerz]

Let's take a look at what's in section 157:

You fit the ivory squares together into cube so that all the carved lines are aligned. As you turn it round in your hands, you see that the shapes form a word: ISTU. "Istu," you say out loud. You feel a great power flow through you (regain 1 LUCK point) and by your side appears an immense demon with fiery eyes and great talons that are as potent as finest silver sword. "I am Istu, the Twelfth and Last of the Veiled Guardians. I am invisible to all except you and other Demons. I will remain with you and fight by your side until I am destroyed. I will fight any adversary that I can rend with these claws - unless you command me otherwise." This means that Istu fights only when you yourself are actually in hand-to-hand combat; he does not fight if you are still firing your bow, for example. Since he is invisible, your opponents will still attack you, you you will take all the damage from the fight. However, even though Istu does no take any damage directly, he does lose 3 STAMINA points for each fight he takes part in and he cannot be healed; once his worldly form is killed, he will be dispelled back to his own magical plane.

VEILED GUARDIAN SKILL 12 STAMINA 15

Now turn back to the paragraph you came from.

Congratulations on successfully solving the puzzle and unlocking a powerful ally!

And since only other demons can see him (besides us), we now know why he was specifically checked for when we encountered the Mirror Demon.

And now we've got 1 vote to keep sailing and 2 to leave the boat and walk. But one of the latter wasn't sure which way to walk, so we'd go with the confirmed vote of walking south-west into the marshes.

Walking through the marsh is difficult and uncomfortable and, no matter how hard you try, you cannot keep your feet dry. You see no sign of any Slykk, though you are sure they are watching you. Some time later, you leave the marsh and make your way back to the dry forest you prefer. After a kilometre or so, you come to a small grove of rowan trees, with some fine healing herbs growing round their roots (add 2 to your Herbs). For the rest of the day, you walk through the ever-darkening forest, carefully avoiding the webs of Giant Spiders. Towards evening you arrive at the Elf-path near Ash Cleeve.

You stop and wait, knowing that the Elves must be aware of your presence and that they will come to greet you in their own good time. Very few humans have had much contact with the Elf village and you are the only one every to have been trained by an Elf. When you, and adventurers like you, were trying to open up the Elf-paths, Sorrel, whose Elven name is Eledorn Falestien, befriended you and taught you not to fear the Forest but to understand and respect it. He also shoed you how to use a bow, how best to track, and how to heal yourself using herbs and mosses. In return, you taught him swordplay. A scar across his ight eye is testimony to this. As you stand there, thinking of your old friend, a small band of Elves steps out of the trees with Sorrel at their head. You raise your hand in greeting and move to approach.

"Hold," shouts Sorrel. "Go no further, imposter, we know what you are." You stand there for a second, baffled. Sorrel lifts his hand and the Elves raise their bows. You must act quickly or die. Will you shoot Sorrel, try to prove who you are, or turn and run?

The shape-shifting imposters have been everywhere, it seems. Both the Slykk and the Elves have had run-ins with them.

Other than voting on how you react to the Elves, please also indicate if you prefer any generals rules on when to use Istu. Since he loses 3 STAMINA each time, we can use him for up to 5 combats. We also know that there are specific encounters that check for him (like the Mirror Demon), so do we want to save him only for these encounters? Or use him every combat? Or only use him against opponents with SKILL above a certain level.

You can, of course, prefer to have no set rules, and I can pause before every combat to check if you want to use him.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Quincey Stridemoore
SKILL 11/11
STAMINA 11/15
LUCK 10/10
Equipment: Sword, leather armour, bow, quiver, Council Signet Ring, 1: Dried Chameleonite Blood, 2: Condensed Mist from the Mithrir Forest, 7: Pickled Whole Shapechanger Brain, Four-leaf Clover, Sleeping Draught, Potion of Fortune, Mystery Potion X (turn to 96 when used as an arrow)
Arrows: 6
Bundles of Herbs: 7
Gold: 6 GP
Companions: Istu (SKILL 12, STAMINA 15, can fight alongside us in combat, does not take damage from opponents, but lose 3 STAMINA per use)
Day of the Week:
Stormsday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Moonsday (2/3 extra lives remaining)
Fireday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Earthday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Windsday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Seaday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
Highday (3/3 extra lives remaining)
[/spoiler]

[Beroli]

This is a sufficiently overt clue that I am wondering that no elf noticed it, but I suppose the shapeshifter duplicated Sorrel's form like someone looking into a mirror.

In other words: Shoot the guy claiming to be Sorrel who has a scar across his left eye.

[Queen of Swords]

Good point. Why didn't the elves notice that the scar is across the wrong eye?

So, shoot him.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to shoot the imposter since the scar is across the wrong eye. I also vote not to use Istu until we face another demon like the Mirror Demon.