[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 6: Deathtrap Dungeon Redux

[Beroli]

Going through the north door wins 2-1.

The door opens into another tunnel, which rises gently into the distance. After walking uphill for a while, the tunnel levels out and you soon arrive at a door in the righthand wall, to which a withered hand is nailed.

Open the door?
Keep going north?

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 12/12
Stamina 18/18
Luck 7/9
Gold Pieces 3
Provisions 6/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Immune to melting-point temperatures

[Queen of Swords]

Open the door.

[SGamerz]

Open every door!

[JourneymanN00b]

Withered hand nailed on the door? Being on the right? I vote to keep going north, as I have very bad feelings about it.

[Beroli]

Opening the door wins 2-1.

You enter a room in which a man in tattered clothing is standing chained to the wall by his left arm. You see that his right hand is missing and realize that his must be the hand nailed to the door. Pleading for mercy, he cowers back from you as far as his chains will allow.

Cut him free?
Leave the room and keep going?

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 12/12
Stamina 18/18
Luck 7/9
Gold Pieces 3
Provisions 6/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Immune to melting-point temperatures

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to cut him free, since Hai Tien is in the room now and it does not look like to be an instadeath yet.

[SGamerz]

Give him a hand. >.>

Ok, terrible pun. But cut him free anyway.

[Darth Rabbitt]

No reason not to cut him free. I kind of doubt the baron is relying on fame and fortune seekers' sense of compassion to bait a trap.

[Queen of Swords]

Sure, cut him free.

[Thaluikhain]

Cut him free and then probably have to kill him anyway.

[Beroli]

You step up to the frightened man and cleave the chain with your sword. Much to Thaluikhain's disappointment, he drops to his knees and bows, thanking you over and over again. He tells you that four years ago he entered the Trial of Champions but failed. He fell down a pit and had to be rescued by a Trialmaster, one of Baron Sukumvit's dungeon administrators. He was offered a choice between death or servitude in Deathtrap Dungeon as the Trialmaster's minion. Choosing the latter, he worked like a slave until he could stand it no longer and tried to escape. Alas, he was unsuccessful and was captured by the Trialmaster's wandering Orc guards. To teach him a lesson, they cut off his hand and condemned him to a year's imprisonment in this cell. You ask him whether he has any information that might be of use to you. He scratches his head. 'Well, I haven't exactly done very well in here myself,' he says, 'but I do know that you need to collect gems and precious stones if you hope to get out. I don't know why, but there it is.' Without another word, the ragged prisoner dashes out of the room, turning left into the tunnel. You decide to keep heading north and tum right into the tunnel.

There is an open pipe in the right-hand wall, about a metre in diameter. It is too dark to see far down it. You shout into it and hear your voice echoing down the iron pipe until eventually the sound fades away.

Crawl down the pipe?
Continue past it north?

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 12/12
Stamina 18/18
Luck 7/9
Gold Pieces 3
Provisions 6/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Immune to melting-point temperatures

[Queen of Swords]

Crawl down the pipe.

[Thaluikhain]

Down the pipe.

(Oh, and if that guy is going the other way, isn't he going to come to the entrance and not be able to get out? Still, better odds than traveling with a FF player, I guess)

[Queen of Swords]

Oh, and if that guy is going the other way, isn't he going to come to the entrance and not be able to get out?

Maybe he can get out under some pretext, like saying he still works there and dragging out a contestant's corpse as evidence.

[SGamerz]

(Oh, and if that guy is going the other way, isn't he going to come to the entrance and not be able to get out?

Officially, he already lost, so does it really mater which end he comes out? I don't know, can he still claim that 10000 gp 4 years after he entered the dungeon?

If he can't win the prize anyway, the entrance is probably less guarded than the exit (because the whole purpose of the dungeon is to stop contestants from coming out of the exit). Not to mention the fact that 6 people recently went in that way and probably already cleared out most of the obstacles in that region while most contestants never got anywhere near the exit, so going for the former probably makes more sense for him.

[Thaluikhain]

That's true, was forgetting there'd be lots of people at the exit, only they'd let us out once we do the arbitrary tasks.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Crawl down the pipe for sure.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to crawl down the pipe.

[Beroli]

The imprisoned man unfortunately probably can't escape. Later passages make it clearer just how concerned Sukumvit is about anyone telling future candidates "so, if you go west to begin with, you'll find a rope..." and so on; no one who enters the dungeon is ever allowed to leave. Even the Trialmasters effectively agree to "you'll have dictatorial control over this area" in exchange for "you can never again leave the dungeon." And the spectators who watched you go in are still there.

Best-case scenario, just after you win, he can pop up and say, "No secret to keep anymore, so I can go."

The pipe is wet and slimy, but you crawl on into the dank darkness, slithering and sliding as you go. Suddenly your hand touches something hard and square which feels as if it is made of wood. It rattles as you shake it, and you decide you must be holding a box.

Crawl back out of the pipe to examine the box?
Continue down the pipe, taking the box with you to examine later?

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 12/12
Stamina 18/18
Luck 7/9
Gold Pieces 3
Provisions 6/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Immune to melting-point temperatures

[Queen of Swords]

Crawl back out and examine the box.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to crawl back out and examine the box, as I would like to know what our hero has before progressing further.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Crawl back out and examine the box.

[Beroli]

Removing the box lid by the light of the tunnel, you find an iron key and a large gem. It is a sapphire. Add 1 LUCK point. Placing the items carefully in your backpack, you set off north once again.

There is a new branch in the tunnel on your left, and ahead you see two bodies lying on the floor. You stop and peer down the new tunnel, but seeing no doors or creatures you decide against walking down it. With your sword drawn, you walk over to where the bodies lie.

The bodies are those of two Orc guards. At least one of your rivals in the Trial of Champions must still be ahead of you. A quick search of the bodies produces nothing apart from a necklace of teeth hanging around the neck of one of the Orcs.

Wear the necklace?
Leave it?

Adventure Sheet:
Hai Tien
Skill 12/12
Stamina 18/18
Luck 8/9
Gold Pieces 3
Provisions 6/10
Sword
Leather armor
Shield
Backpack
Potion of Fortune
Rope
Hollow wooden tube
Left emerald eye
Ring of demon banishing
Dagger
Ruby
Mallet
10 iron spikes
Sapphire
Iron key
Immune to melting-point temperatures

[JourneymanN00b]

Sure, I vote to wear the necklace.

[SGamerz]

Wear the necklace so the teeth can animate and bite our throat.