[Let's Play] GrailQuest 4: Voyage of Terror

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 1:50 pm

Half a vote for beating him to death.

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:20 pm

Changing my vote to that. Maybe the grog will heal us.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 1:49 am

SlyJohnny wrote:Changing my vote to that. Maybe the grog will heal us.

What grog? If you read the text, we're instructed to leave and pick another room whether we win the fight or retreat, so we don't get any grog from this room, at least. That's why I said there's no reward beyond the Exp point.

Anyway, the vote is to fight, so:

COMBAT LOG:

Old Sea Dog rolls 7 and hits for 1+1 = 2 damage. Pip is at 58.
Pip rolls 5 and misses.
OSD rolls 3 and misses.
Pip rolls 3 and misses.
OSD rolls 8 and hits for 2+1 = 3 damage. Pip is at 55.
Pip rolls 4 and misses.
OSD rolls 11 and hits for 5+1 = 6 damage. Pip is at 49.
Pip rolls 6 and hits for 0+2 = 2 damage. OSD is at 23.
OSD rolls 3 and misses.
Pip rolls 8 and hits for 2+2 = 4 damage. OSD is at 19.
OSD rolls 5 and misses.
Pip rolls 4 and misses.
OSD rolls 6 and hits for 0+1 = 1 damage. Pip is at 48.
Pip rolls 2 and misses.
OSD rolls 9 and hits for 3+1 = 4 damage. Pip is at 44.
Pip rolls 10 and hits for 4+2 = 6 damage. OSD is at 13.
OSD rolls 6 and hits for 0+1 = 1 damage. Pip is at 43.
Pip rolls 10 and hits for 4+2 = 6 damage. OSD is at 7.
OSD rolls 6 and hits for 0+1 = 1 damage. Pip is at 42.
Pip rolls 6 and hits for 0+2 = 2 damage. OSD is at 5.
The Old Sea Dog is knocked out.

We just had our first taste of how much more difficult things are without good 'ole EJ and the Dragonskin Jacket. That Exp cost us 18 LP!

Which room do we try next?

QUEST JOURNAL:

Pip's LIFE POINTS: 42/60
Permanent Life Points: 12

EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Rusty Dagger (+2 damage)

MONEY:

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 1
ENEMIES DEFEATED:
Old Sea Dog
PUZZLES SOLVES:

No. of Deaths:
None yet

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Sun Mar 18, 2018 10:06 am

Next door, 64?

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 11:34 am

This place is full of foodstuffs--sacks of grain, dried fruit, vegetables and what looks like dried meat.

Have a little munch on anything you fancy before moving on to any other section shown on Plan 1.

Unfortunately, this isn't Fighting Fantasy, so Pip can't regain STAMINA/LIFE POINT be stuffing his face.

Where to next?

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 2:28 pm

Across the hall to 47, and zig zag our way forward?

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:34 am

Now this is interesting. Not very useful, but interesting. This room is full of provisions; sacks mainly. And when you investigate, as you surely do, you find they're full of grains, dried fruit, vegetables and some utterly revolting leathery stuff which might be dried meat (or then again might be the remains of old boots). That's about all there is in here, apart from the poisonous spider.

The Poisonous Spider? On your bike--this means action!

The Spider has only 6 LIFE POINTS and, since you were very quick to notice it, you have first strike. As against that, if the insect survives your blow, it will strike successfully on 5 or better and kill you outright. If you squash the Spider, you may proceed to any other section shown on Plan 1. If not, you may proceed only to 14.

This is basically a "first to hit wins" fight, and it has a slightly better chance to hit than us. We're going to need luck on this one....

Poisonous Spider roll 8, Pip rolls 8. Tie.
Poisonous Spider roll 6, Pip rolls 8. Pip strikes first!

COMBAT LOG:

Pip rolls 8 and hits for 2+2 = 4 damage. Poisonous Spider is at 2 and is knocked out.

That was 3 rolls of '8' in a roll for Pip. Hmmm.....

Now, Pip zig-zags his way to 18:

This door's locked, which probably means there's something interesting inside. Now how does a seasoned young adventurer tackle a problem like that?

Kick the door in? Go to 105.

Pick the lock? Go to 139.

You can, of course, always try any other section on Plan 1.

How do we get in?

QUEST JOURNAL:

Pip's LIFE POINTS: 42/60
Permanent Life Points: 12

EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Rusty Dagger (+2 damage)

MONEY:

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 2
ENEMIES DEFEATED:
Old Sea Dog
Poisonous Spider
PUZZLES SOLVES:

No. of Deaths:
None yet

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 1:00 pm

Try picking, though I don't expect that to work.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 3:47 pm

Do we even have lockpicks? Lockpick anyway.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 4:36 pm

Lock-picking is a skilled job. Roll two dice and we'll see if you have the knack.

Score 9-12 and go to 150.

Score anything else and the lock resists your best efforts so you will have to pick another section from Plan 1.

Dice roll = 10!

Strewth, this is a find and no mistake. The place is full of weapons. Good ones, too. Swords, spears, javelins, daggers and arrows (no bows, unfortunately, which is a bit of a disappointment). There are also several pieces of armour: unusual breastplates, helmets, leg-guards, arm-guards and so forth. Greek design, by the look of them, which is peculiar considering the fact you're in Avalon. Since you don't have old EJ with you at the moment and no armour whatsoever, you may feel tempted to kit yourself out here. If so, the following information may prove useful:

Swords
The swords here are not magical, but they are extremely well made and unused, with a fine edge. Any one of them will allow you to strike at +3 damage in a fight. (But unlike EJ, you will have to roll 6 or better to hit with them.)

Spears
Spears are funny things to fight with, especially if you're not used to them. They can be used for jabbing or throwing.

Since you've not really been trained to it, you will need to roll 8 or better to throw a spear successfully. As against that, it will strike with a massive +10 damage when you do succeed. Unfortunately, once you've thrown it, successfully or not, it will take you three combat rounds to get it back.

Jabbing with a spear requires a 6 or better, exactly like a sword, and does +5 damage, which is better than the swords here and, in fact, as good as old EJ. The drawback is that spear is more unwieldy than a sword, so you can only get in one jab for every two swipes your opponent takes with a sword. Of course, if your opponent is jabbing with a spear as well, you're evens.

Daggers
These daggers only do +1 damage, but they have certain other benefits. First they are extremely well balanced and light, so you can get in two strikes with a dagger for every one your opponent might get with a sword (and three strikes for every one if your opponent is jabbing with a spear).

Armour
You can wear up to three different items of armour in this heat. (Any more will leave you prostrate before you walk a hundred yards.) Each item deducts 2 points from any damage scored against you, which means if you kit out fully, there is a -6 on any damage scored by your opponent.

But before you start buckling the stuff on, you need to know this isn't the world's greatest armour. After the first strike in every combat, you need to roll two dice to find out if it's going to last the pace or shatter. (If it does shatter, it will do you a straight 20 damage, which is not good news and may quite possibly kill you.)

If you are wearing one piece of armour and throw a 12 on the dice, the armour shatters. If you are wearing two pieces, 11 or 12 on the dice shows it shatters. If you are wearing three pieces, 9, 10, 11 or 12 on the dice shows it shatters. Armour is tricky stuff, but it's up to you what you wear.

When you've made your decision about weapons and armour, you may go on to any other section of Plan 1.

I'm going to have Pip take one of each type of weapon, since they're all potentially useful depending on the situation. Let me know which weapon you want to use as Pip's default weapon.

Armour is a risk. Two pieces of armour give the same bonus as the Dragonskin Jacket, but has a 1/6 chance of shattering.

How many pieces of armour does Pip put on?

Also, I know Thaluikhain voted to zig-zag our way through the rooms, but there was a sort of anti-vote from SlyJohnny to avoid the bigger rooms, and the next room (26) is one of them, so I'm pausing here to wait for more votes on where to go next.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 4:41 pm

One piece of armour.

Dagger by default. More actions is generally the best offense.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 3:24 am

Are there any rules on how many items you can take? Cause if you had multiple spears you could keep throwing, and if you had (but didn't wear) lots of pieces of armour you'd had spares for when it breaks.

And yeah, skip the big room, got to 47.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 3:42 am

Thaluikhain wrote:Are there any rules on how many items you can take? Cause if you had multiple spears you could keep throwing, and if you had (but didn't wear) lots of pieces of armour you'd had spares for when it breaks.

While the text doesn't state any carrying limits for spears, the rule about "only throwing once every 3 rounds" indicates that we're not supposed to be allowed to carry unlimited spears. I'm ruling that we can only carry one of each weapon type. But we can always come back to grab a replacement if we lose our weapon somehow, as long as we're still on this ship.

As for armour, the text says wearing more than 3 will weigh us down too much, so I'm interpreting that as a weight limit. So I rule that we can take up to 3 pieces of armour. If we only wear 1, we can use the other 2 as spares if the first one breaks (but we can't put on spares in the middle of a fight).

Thaluikhain wrote:And yeah, skip the big room, got to 47.

We already checked 47, that was the spider room.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 3:57 am

Oops, meant 57 there.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 11:24 am

B**

Here's trouble. One glance tells you instantly that this is a guardroom. Another glance tells you instantly there are twelve guards in here. A third glance tells you instantly they are not at all pleased to see you.

You're free to try Bribery, if you have any money. Those who accept a bribe will not harm you.

You're also free to try for a Friendly Reaction, which may cut down the odds a bit.

You may decline to fight and pretend you've simply lost your way, in which case the guards will beat you up and throw you out for the loss of 10 LIFE POINTS (which may kill you, of course, in which case go to 14).

You may decide to fight, in which case you are welcome to collect 10 gold pieces from every Guard you slaughter; or, if you lose, you will be equally welcome at 14. Each Guard has 15 LIFE POINTS, each hits on 5 or better with a +2 sword and wears -2 leather armour. If you win, return to your Plan.

Damn, that penalty for retreating is rather harsh.

They can be bribed, but Pip is broke.

Let's try the safest-but-not-likely-to-work things first: Friendly Reaction.

Guard#1 - Guard rolls 1. Pip can't roll below that on 3D6, so he's not Friendly.
Guard#2 - Guard rolls 5, Pip rolls 3+3+6 = 12. Guard is not Friendly.
Guard#3 - Guard rolls 5, Pip rolls 5+2+6 = 13. Guard is not Friendly.
Guard#4 - Guard rolls 5, Pip rolls 5+4+1 = 10. Guard is not Friendly.
Guard#5 - Guard rolls 1. Pip can't roll below that on 3D6, so he's not Friendly.
Guard#6 - Guard rolls 4, Pip rolls 3+4+1 = 8. Guard is not Friendly.
Guard#7 - Guard rolls 5, Pip rolls 5+4+2 = 11. Guard is not Friendly.
Guard#8 - Guard rolls 1. Pip can't roll below that on 3D6, so he's not Friendly.
Guard#9 - Guard rolls 1. Pip can't roll below that on 3D6, so he's not Friendly.
Guard#10 - Guard rolls 4, Pip rolls 6+5+5 = 16. Guard is not Friendly.
Guard#11 - Guard rolls 2. Pip can't roll below that on 3D6, so he's not Friendly.
Guard#12 - Guard rolls 2. Pip can't roll below that on 3D6, so he's not Friendly.

Rather amazing how many of the guard rolled either 5 or 1. Unfortunately, Pip isn't the one who continuously rolled 1. ALL the guards are hostile.

Do we think we stand a chance in a 12-on-1 (yes, I have to ask)?

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 11:30 am

10 gold from each guard? Great...

Run away.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 11:34 am

Depart with great haste.

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 11:53 am

I am withdrawing my objection to searching the larger rooms, as this was a tiny room that still contained 14 angry soldiers, so my “large rooms must be guard rooms!” theory is obviously wrong.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:01 pm

Oh, need to specify where we are running away to, so try the big room 26.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 2:25 pm

Pip takes a beating from the guards as he retreats. His LP is down to 32/60.

He flees to 26:

'Out!!!'

The greeting comes from a fat man with a meat cleaver, who is (perhaps fortunately for you) all alone in what appears to be an extremely large kitchen. He seems to be in the process of preparing food for quite a lot of people. He also seems to resent interruption.

'Excuse me, sir,' you begin politely.

But he does not let you finish. 'Out!' he says again. 'Out! Out! I know what you young people are like--always trying to scrump an extra share of nosh. Well, I won't have it! Out!'

He speaks with a most peculiar accent, as if he wasn't a native-born Englishman and his skin in very deeply tanned, despite the fact he's stuck in here cooking. Odd that.

But enough of these philosophical mysteries. If you want to search this room, you're obviously going to have to fight the fat man. Alternatively, you can withdraw gracefully.

If you want to withdraw gracefully, simply go to any other section shown on Plan 1.

If you want to fight the fat man, you should know that cleaver will do you +3 damage and despite his size, he can hit you successfully on a roll of 5 or better. He has 30 LIFE POINTS. IF you kill him (or better yet, knock him unconscious, you can search the place at 4. If he hacks you up with the meat cleaver, go to 14. (If he only renders you unconscious, you can visit any other section on Plan 1 but this one.)

....and runs into the cleaver-wielding cook.

At least this is one fight we may be able to win. However, note that this time we don't take damage for retreating, so you are free to go check out the other rooms first and come back to kill him later if you want.

Do we want to fight? If we do, let me know if you prefer to switch weapon (we're currently using the new +1 dagger with double-attack per round).

QUEST JOURNAL:

Pip's LIFE POINTS: 42/60
Permanent Life Points: 12

EQUIPMENT CARRIED:
Rusty Dagger (+2 damage)
Sword (hits on 6, damage +3)
Spear (hits on 6/thrown 8, damage +5/thrown +10, only attack once every 2 rounds/thrown once every 3 rounds)
New Dagger (hits on 6, damage +1, attack twice per round)
One-piece armour (worn) (damage -2, shatters on 12 after taking the 1st hit in every combat)
Spare armor x2 (damage -2, shatters on 12 after taking the 1st hit in every combat)

MONEY:

EXPERIENCE POINTS: 2
ENEMIES DEFEATED:
Old Sea Dog
Poisonous Spider
PUZZLES SOLVES:

No. of Deaths:
None yet

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 2:42 pm

Yeah, I suggest going to 67, but coming back and murdering him later.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 4:28 pm

Go to 67, don't rush to a decision about whether or not to murder him at all.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 2:22 pm

B**

The door opens easily enough, but as you step inside, you can see a series of three further barred doors, with a villainous-looking Guard before each.

If you want to find out what's behind those barred doors, it looks as though you will have to fight the Guards. Each has 25 LIFE POINTS and carries a short sword which will do +2 damage and a shield which will save them -2 damage. Fortunately they're a bit arrogant and will elect to fight you one at a time if you attack, which could be their fatal mistake (or yours). If you fight and lose, go to 14. If you fight and win against all three, go to 95.

Alternatively you may Bribe the guards with a bit of luck, if you happen to have any money.

Or you may tug your forelock, smile ingratiatingly, cringe a little and back out to try another section of Plan 1.

What you can't do is get a Friendly Reaction: these three are too bad-tempered for that.

More guards! Even fighting one at a time, it won't be easy to beat all 3. Again, at least we can retreat without damage.

Fight now? Or wait till we fight better gear (or more gold to try bribing them with)?

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 2:46 pm

Run away to 74

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:49 pm

There's a whole lot of gear in here. A lot of it could be quite useful to an adventurer like yourself. You might reckon on carrying half a dozen items before you collapse with exhaustion, so pick carefully. In the room are:

Rope (50ft coil)
Grappling hook
Backpack
Flint and steel (for lighting fires)
Drinking horn
Blowing horn (i.e. a sort of trumpet)
Small, ornamentally carved rosewood box (empty)
Packet of salt crystals
Bone needle and spool of rough thread
Cooking utensils
Leather belt
Spare sandals
Spare tunic
Container of olive oil
Ceramic lamp
Wooden mallet
Bone saw (i.e. a saw made from bone, NOT a saw for cutting bone)
Box of biscuits
Kite
Goosefeather quill and parchment
Small drum (musical variety)

When you've picked six, take them with you to any other section of Plan 1.

Finally, a room without hostile enemies and contains free loot!

Please pick 6 items from above and then vote which room to visit next.