[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 32 - Slaves of the Abyss

[JourneymanN00b]

Sure, I also vote to give him the Arahl potion.

[Thaluikhain]

This demonstrates the importance of keeping junk items, give the Arahl potion.

[SGamerz]

Whatever you give Barolo, cross it off your Adventure Sheet. Barolo thanks you for your gift, and wishes you good luck in your mission. You wave him goodbye and ride off. Tick off a time box and turn to 290.

Well, since he doesn't even ask us what the potion does, at least we don't have to tell him that we have no idea what it does and only gave it to him because we had no idea what to do with it.

More importantly, since he never asked, it's not really our fault if he drinks it and dies...right? Right?

You pass through rich cultivated lands, the estates of the wealthy nobles of Kallamehr, until you see the welcoming sight of the Rangor Tower up ahead. Tick off a time box and turn to 67.

Rangor Tower! Another familiar name, although by the timeline we visited it in a much later period with another character in Magehunter. Presumably, no evil wizards currently inhabits it.

We're not at half-time!

You spur your horse once more to a gallop, race through the city gates and along the Way of Flint to the palace. There you confront two of the palace guard, the only soldiers left in the city. "State your business, peasant," one of them grunts, "we have no need of kitchen hands." You step back in astonishment at their impudence. Surely they must know of you? If you insist that you are on a vital mission, turn to 49. If you decide to draw your sword and threaten the guardsmen, turn to 210.

Shall we show them how good we are at being a kitchen hand by demonstrating our meat-chopping ability on them with our Kitchen Cleaver of Fangthane steel?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Dastan
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 17/17
LUCK 10/10
Equipment: Sword of Fangthane steel, leather armour, Sige's Pomander, Reaver's bottle, Blowpipe, Ghulsh' potion (turn to 258 when drunk), 'Zazzaz' potion (turn to 369 when drunk), Barolo's buckler (+1 SKILL during combat)
Provisions: 5
Gold & Treasure: 21 GP
Time remaining: 10/20 (turn to 57 when crossing off 18th time unit, and to 326 when crossing off the last time unit)
[/spoiler]

[Queen of Swords]

I'd rather we didn't try to kill the palace guard right away. Tell them we're on a vital mission.

[JourneymanN00b]

I say we go the psychopath route and draw our sword and threaten the guardsmen. After all, that is how the optimal paths in books like Crypt of the Sorcerer and Caverns of the Snow Witch went.

[Beroli]

Tell them we're on a vital mission.

[Thaluikhain]

Tell them we are on a vital mission, though if there was a rat around we could throw our sword at it to look cool.

[SGamerz]

When you tell them that you were sent out by Lady Carolina personally, they raise their eyebrows and look you up and down. One of them disappears inside the palace while the other still bars your way.

After some while the first one reappears." They're too busy with the Lady Carolina's funeral arrangements to see you today - you'll have to come back tomorrow. I suggest you have a bath, too, if you want to be allowed in." If you wish to bribe the guards, note down how much you propose giving them, then turn to 387. If you wish to threaten them with your sword, turn to 210. Otherwise you must take their advice and go back to the town. Turn to 130.

And that explains the confusion...ruler dead, change of regime and all that.

As stated, please state how much gold to spend if you wish to bribe them.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Dastan
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 17/17
LUCK 10/10
Equipment: Sword of Fangthane steel, leather armour, Sige's Pomander, Reaver's bottle, Blowpipe, Ghulsh' potion (turn to 258 when drunk), 'Zazzaz' potion (turn to 369 when drunk), Barolo's buckler (+1 SKILL during combat)
Provisions: 5
Gold & Treasure: 21 GP
Time remaining: 10/20 (turn to 57 when crossing off 18th time unit, and to 326 when crossing off the last time unit)
[/spoiler]

[Beroli]

Edited: Go back to town, actually.

[JourneymanN00b]

My vote will be to take the psychopath route and threaten them with our sword.

[Queen of Swords]

I'd like to try bribing them. Say, 12 GP.

[Thaluikhain]

To avoid a tie, I vote for bribing with 12gp.

[SGamerz]

The guards are very happy to accept your Gold Pieces. Cross off the number you give from your Adventure Sheet. If you gave the guards fewer than 6 Gold Pieces, turn to 30. If you gave them 6 or more Gold Pieces, turn to 185.

We paid double the necessary amount.

The guards chuckle with glee and pocket the money. One of them leads you through the gates and into a small antechamber. "I'll fetch someone who can help," he says and slips out of the room. You wait for a while.

After several minutes, the slight form of Dunyazad breezes into the chamber, accompanied by a hulking bodyguard and a shifty, travel-stained individual whom you recognize as Luthaur, one of the other heroes who stayed behind to protect Kallamehr. "What is it you want?" she snaps abruptly at you. You explain to her what you have discovered during your journey, and noticing as you do so a smirk appear on the face of the hero. When you finish, Dunyazad turn to him. "If this true?" she asks. "No, my Lady," he replies, "As you know, I myself have just returned from scouting those very lands, and I saw no invading horde. It was just a wild story spread by some irresponsible rumour-monger - the superstitious villagers had merely abandoned their villages and hidden in the forests. Does this wastrel think to impress you with these ridiculous claims?" Dunyazad turns back to you and frowns. "I am too busy with the arrangements for Lady Carolina's funeral to listen to you two bicker. I will use my own methods to ascertain the truth. Meanwhile you will spend the night in the palace." You are led off to the servants' quarters and given a hard pallet to sleep on.

Eh, why was he out scouting the army when it was supposed to be our task?

As darkness falls, you lie awake on your pallet, trying to make some sense of the day's events. As you ponder, you feel the hairs on the back of your neck rise. Straining your senses, you make out a faint, familiar buzzing. Your enemy is within the palace! You snatch up your sword and rush into the courtyard. Looking across at the keep, you see a black shadow rise from it and disappear into the night sky. The keep is the dwelling-place of Kallamehr's nobility: its central tower contains Lade Carolina's private suite and audience-chamber. The winged creature flew not from the tower itself but from one of the windows of the keep from which the tower springs. Tick off a time box. If you go and investigate the keep, turn to 342. if you return to your pallet, turn to 165.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Dastan
SKILL 12/12
STAMINA 17/17
LUCK 10/10
Equipment: Sword of Fangthane steel, leather armour, Sige's Pomander, Reaver's bottle, Blowpipe, Ghulsh' potion (turn to 258 when drunk), 'Zazzaz' potion (turn to 369 when drunk), Barolo's buckler (+1 SKILL during combat)
Provisions: 5
Gold & Treasure: 9 GP
Time remaining: 9/20 (turn to 57 when crossing off 18th time unit, and to 326 when crossing off the last time unit)
[/spoiler]

[Queen of Swords]

Investigate the keep.

[Beroli]

Go and investigate. Also I am glad to see my memory failed me there.

[Thaluikhain]

Investigate.

(Was expecting to have to roll equal or under our bribe amount there, so 12 seemed a safe number)

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to go and investigate the keep.

[SGamerz]

The main door into the keep will undoubtedly be well guarded. However, by climbing a flight of stairs in the palace walls and slipping along the walkway that runs along their top, you will be able to reach its roof. Glancing round the courtyard, you notice a coil of rope hanging from a hook outside the stables, so you whip this round you and make your way up the stairs. You keep an eye open for any sign of the guards who occasionally patrol the walkway. Roll two dice. If the result is less than your SKILL, turn to 71. If the result is greater than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 371.

They clearly don't want characters who rolled a maxed SKILL 12 to get automatic passes on these tests.

Dice roll = 4 (Success).

You creep along the walkway until you reach the point where it meets the keep. From here it is only a short drop on to the slightly sloping roof of the keep of the palace. Above you rises the keep's tower; but you devote your attention to the keep below. The winged creature came from one of the windows below, but you're not certain which one. The keep has four walls looking into the courtyard, and each has a small casement window. Around the edge of the keep runs a row of ornamental spikes, round which you will be able to loop the rope. You will be able to lower yourself down the wall to peer in at each of the windows. Which wall do you lower yourself down first:

The far left wall?
The left centre wall?
The right centre wall?
The far right wall?

Which window does Dastan the Peeping Tom which to peep in?

[JourneymanN00b]

I choose the left centre wall. That way we can clearly resist fascism, but not be called a radical communist by peers.

[Beroli]

By that logic, whoever we can trust least will surely be over the far right wall. So...the far right wall.

[Queen of Swords]

Left centre.

[SGamerz]

You lower yourself slowly down the wall until you are level with the window. Then you crane your head round to peer in. The room is quite sparingly furnished, containing nothing more than a bed, a couple of chairs and a dressing-table with mirror. On the bed, Asiah Albudur sits bolt upright, fully dressed. She stares at one of the empty chairs and seems to be conducting a conversation. You catch brief snatches: "...I remember when you first came to Kallamehr and I introduced you to Baron Bluestone. Who would have known that you were to marry him?...Such a sweet innocent young thing, you were...What's that?...You must stop worrying about Kallamehr, Carolina, I'm sure Madhaerios has everything under control..."

There's no more you can learn here. You pull yourself back up the wall of the keep. If this is the third window you have looked in, turn to 25. Otherwise, you may return to your quarters, or investigate any of the following, if you have not done so already:

The far left wall
The right centre wall
The far right wall

Whom do we peep on next?

[Beroli]

Far right.

[Queen of Swords]

So we have two more chances to learn something useful? Sure, try far right.

[Beroli]

I would venture that since it's separate from the "you choose to return to your bed" option, entry 25 is one it would be preferable not to see and, thus, that we have one, not two, more chances to learn something useful and also get back to our bed.