[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 59 - Curse of the Mummy

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to press the vulture.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Sure, why not?

[SGamerz]

You press the vulture symbol next and then the snake. There is a moment of tense anticipation as you wonder whether you have made the right choice, then the wall swings open. Stepping through the secret door, you find yourself in a short corridor which ends after only ten metres at a bizarre portal carved to resemble a gaping serpent's mouth. Between the fangs, pin-pricks of silver light swirl within a black void. There is no sign of the cultist, and the portal is the only way forward, so will you enter it or retrace your steps to the original tunnel, which tums right and leads you deeper into the tomb down a flight of steps?

Well, we seem to have gotten the combination right! But should we enter?

[Queen of Swords]

I'm uneasy about going through a portal shaped like a snake's mouth when we can't see what's inside.

Retrace our steps to the original tunnel.

[Darth Rabbitt]

After all this button pushing I assume something important is in there, though I suppose it’s possible we entered the wrong combination and this will kill us. Still, go in.

[JourneymanN00b]

I think we probably got the combination wrong, so I vote to retrace our steps to the original tunnel to avoid an instadeath.

[SGamerz]

Sorry for the longer gaps between updates recently. Been a busy weekend, and updates may remain sparse over the next week or so, although I will get in at least one each day.

Boris decides not to enter the mysterious entrance he'd just uncovered.

As you descend the steps you are amazed at the amount of heat, transmitted through the sand and rock of the desert above, in the tomb. Through your constant exertions, beads of sweat start to break out on your skin. The staircase leads into a low-ceilinged, square chamber, on the far side of which is a fine wooden door with gilded handles.

However, resting against the wall to the left of the door is a grotesque, mouldering, human skeleton, still wrapped in rotting clothes. The air round the corpse is heavy with disease and decay, and sunk deep in their sockets are two vacant, sickly yellow eyes. Cautiously you step towards the door and immediately the skeleton comes to life and lurches jerkily towards you, its claws raised. You are going to have to fight the foul Decayer! Will you use your sword or some other weapon?

[Darth Rabbitt]

Use some other weapon.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to use some other weapon.

[Queen of Swords]

Agreed, some other weapon.

[SGamerz]

You think that fire may be an effective method of attack against the Decayer. If you have some means of setting the skeleton on fire, such as a torch, Yokka Eggs or a skin of oil, and you want to try this, tum to 94. If you do not, or if you do not wish to waste a fire source (you cannot use your light, if you have nothing else, so leaving yourself in the darkness), turn to 258.

Oddly, Firepowder isn't mentioned as a possible fire source, but I'm going to assume that it can be used as one.

I also didn't call for votes on what you were using as your light source earlier since it didn't matter then, but now you need to make the decision whether you were using the lantern or the torch.

Right now, we have 1 torch, 2 skins for oil for lantern, and Firepowder as a source of fire attack. Please vote on which to use on the Decayer.

You can, of course, still choose not to use any of them and go back to using your sword if you think this creature isn't worth spending a fire source on.

[Thaluikhain]

We've got two skins of oil, so use one of those.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to use a skin of oil, and use the lantern as the light source earlier.

[Queen of Swords]

Yes, use a skin of oil.

[SGamerz]

Boris O’Connell ignites his spare skin of oil and throws it at the Decayer.

The Decayer bursts into flames on contact with the source of your fire and is soon consumed by fire. You carefully avoid the undead creature as it stumbles about in the chamber, screeching and deftly move towards the door.

Decayers are hyped up in Out of the Pit as dangerous encounters, not because of their stats (which are mediocre), but because they WILL infect you with a rotting disease if you ever fight them. Even just encountering them requires you to past Luck tests to avoid being infected, and while the disease will take some time to kill you (about over a week), there are also no visible symptoms until a week later, by which point the infected person will lose STAMINA rapidly over the hours till he dies and turns into a Decayer himself (and apparently also doomed to perform the same task that the original one was raised to do), so they're particularly bad for inexperienced adventurer who didn't immediately look for a healer or a cure. Or course, in most RPG games, it'll probably be used to kickstart a quest (whether main so side) to find a cure.

But in the only 2 FF gamebooks where they are actually featured (both by Jonathan Green) the Decayers actually aren't quite as dangerous as they were hyped up to be in the bestiary books. This is because in one of the books (Night of the Necromancer), the PC is a ghost, so he can't be infected (his host body may, but he wasn't going to keep it for long). And in the other book, specifically, this one, the PC is established to be more resistant to poison and disease than your average adventurer. So if we'd fought the Decayer with a sword:

we'd have gained 4 POISON units due to the infection, which is by no mean good, but certainly not as bad as it could have been compared to what most others might have suffered. Whether or not avoiding that 4 POISON units is worth the price of using up a fire source still remains to be seen.

The door is not locked, and on the other side is a regularly cut passageway leading both to left and to right. The walls are covered with stylized carvings of figures, human and semi-human, worshipping demonic idols. You decide not to gaze for too long at some of the scenes, so you move on swiftly. Will you go to the left or to the right?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Boris O’Connell
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 10/18
LUCK 9/12
Poison: 4/18
Equipment: Sword, backpack, Rope and Grapple, Firepowder (can be thrown at opponent at start of combat, hit after successful Skill test for 1D6 damage), Torch, Lantern + Skin of Oil (being used as light source), Oil of Lotus, Crystal Pyramid, Papyrus Scroll (subtract 20 from section number to translate hieroglyphic script), Statuette of Assamarra, God of the Sand, Ankh (Key of Life, set with 12 precious stones)
Provisions: 9
Gold: 3
Extra Lives remaining: 2
Notes: We received Cranno's Warning. "And all those who would despoil the shrine of Cracca, Lord of Rivers and Ferryman of the Gods, beware the wrath of the crocodile-headed one."
[/spoiler]

[Queen of Swords]

Blind choice? Might as well try left.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Left works for me.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to choose socialism and reject Nazism by going left of course. There is no incentive to do otherwise.

[SGamerz]

The passage continues for quite a Way without changing direction. At last you come to a black-painted door in the right-hand wall of the passage; a silver handle protrudes from it. Do you want to try to open this door or walk further along the passage?

[JourneymanN00b]

Do not fall to fascism. I vote to walk further along the passage.

[Queen of Swords]

I'm in favor of opening the door. We don't have to go in if it looks deadly.

[Thaluikhain]

Open door. We probably will go in even if it looks deadly, but it's hopefully just a one off room with a monster and maybe loot or something.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Open the door.

[SGamerz]

The door opens into an antechamber which is decorated with painted reliefs of the Djaratians at war with various nations and desert tribes. Beyond this room, through an archway, is another, smaller one. In the centre of this second room stands a plain alabaster pedestal on which, glinting in the light you are carrying, you see a small figurine of a cat made from jet. As you consider taking this treasure, you become aware of the two life-size statues of men, armed with spears, standing one either side of the archway. Do you want to enter the inner chamber and take the cat or will you leave this room and return to the passage outside?

Is Boris a cat lover?

[Darth Rabbitt]

Take the kitty. We’ll probably have to fight those two statues but it could be worth it.