Let's Play The Gates of Death: Fighting Fantasy (Sch#12)

[SGamerz]

Wheat.

[Darth Rabbitt]

You are in a room with a long table down the middle of it. This must be the refectory where the temple workers eat. There are two doors there, one leading to the dormitory and one with images of cooking implements carved into it. There is also an opening in the east wall where someone—or something—has smashed a hole through the brickwork.

Investigate the hole in the wall?
Go back to the dormitory? (returns to previous section)
Go through the door with the images of cooking implements carved into it?

[Thaluikhain]

I think there is a tradition involving hole and penetrating that needs to be followed.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Colin's gotta penetrate!

The hole is just big enough for you to squeeze into. You climb through it and find yourself in a narrow tunnel that has been crudely hacked out of the rock. You hurry down it as fast as you can go. (Colin does not have a bronze-colored jewel.)

You follow the tunnel as it twists and turns, going ever downwards. You can hear a dreary, moaning sound, like wind forcing its way through a crack, or the howling of a wounded dog.

At last you come to the end of the tunnel where you find a bronze-colored jewel glinting in the dirt and pick it up. (Add the Jewel to your Equipment List.)

You carry on as the tunnel emerges into a vast underground cavern. To your left you can see a monumental entranceway, now blocked with fallen rocks and boulders. To the right, the cavern grows even larger. There are several demon portals in the floor here with purple gas rising from them, making it hard to see very much. You look up to see two tiny windows, high up in the cavern wall.

You push through the curtain of purple steam and find you have reached your destination at last. There before you stand the legendary Gates of Death. They are jet black and so tall that you have to tilt your head back to see the top of them where they disappear into purple clouds of gas near the roof of the cavern.

As you step closer you see that the Gates are covered with black carvings and figures in relief—the figures of dead people. You can make out the shapes of countless skeletons and corpses in various stages of decay, showing the wounds of how they died. They have been carved in such a away that it looks as if they're trapped inside the solid body of the gates trying to force their way out. Skulls leer at you, hands reach out towards you.

As you get nearer still you see that these are not carvings at all. The figures are moving slightly. They are the actual bodies of dead people embedded in the gates. The eyes of the corpses really are looking at you, their hands really are reaching out to you, but they're held within the gates, like flies trapped in honey. They are packed in so tightly that they must be what the gates are actually made of. And now you realize that the eerie sound you can hear is these poor souls moaning.

There are two iron rings hanging from the gates, one on each side. You realize they must be handles. Can it really be so simple? Do you only have to turn the rings to open the gates and confront whatever lies on the other side?

Now you notice that all over the ground near the gates are armored skeletons, with bits of them hacked off. There is also another body that looks like it has been more recently killed. This one is different from the bodies trapped in the Gates. They look like warriors who have tried to fight something down here. But what? And now you find a body that looks like it might have been killed yesterday.

Explore the cavern?
Try the rings?
Investigate the fresh body?
Leave the cavern and go back up the refectory? (leads back to previous choice.)

Adventure Sheet
Colin Hunt
SKILL: 11/11
STAMINA: 17/18
LUCK: 4/11
Equipment: Traveling Clothes, Lucky Anchor Charm, Hero's Medallion (+2 SKILL), Silver Ring, Bier Goggles
Vials of Smoke-Oil: 0
Gold Pieces: 18
Weapons: Lord Azzur's Khopesh (+1 Attack Strength, extra +1 attack/damage vs. demons), Temple Guard's Axe (+1 Attack Strength, +1 damage on doubles rolled in combat)
Items: Fishhook, Poison Antidote, Silver Trowel, Map of Trolltooth Pass, Bronze-Colored Jewel
Compasses: Brass Compass, Silver Compass, Bronze Compass
Healing Items: Harp of Healing (+8 STAMINA when a combat would be lost), Horn of Plenty (restores STAMINA to Initial level), Healing Ointment (+4 STAMINA), Dates (+3 STAMINA when eaten) 1 meal of Provisions (+4 STAMINA when eaten)
Keys: Icefinger Key
Magic Potions: 'Collywobbles', 'Dragon's Breath,' 'Nostalgia' Perfume, 'Pretty as a Picture,' 'Thick as Thieves'

[Thaluikhain]

So if we don't have the bronze-colored jewel we get it a few sentences later? Huh.

Anyway, check out the dead person.

[SGamerz]

Search corpse for loot.

[Darth Rabbitt]

You go over to the fallen warrior. He's clad in blue steel and his face is blackened as from a blast of fire. As you search his body for anything that might be useful, he suddenly grabs you with his left hand, and his eyes spring open. He's not dead at all. His grip is weak, however.

He stares into your eyes and starts to speak in a language you do not understand. (Colin does not have a Seed of Knowledge).

Leave him and try the rings in the Gates of Death?
Go all the way back to the refectory?

[SlyJohnny]

Refectory. Clearly we can return here, which is why it checks whether we already have the jewel.

[SGamerz]

Agreed.

[Thaluikhain]

I agree with agreeing to that.

[Darth Rabbitt]

You are in a room with a long table down the middle of it. This must be the refectory where the temple workers eat. There are two doors there, one leading to the dormitory and one with images of cooking implements carved into it. There is also an opening in the east wall where someone—or something—has smashed a hole through the brickwork.

Investigate the hole in the wall?
Go back to the dormitory?
Go through the door with the images of cooking implements carved into it?

If we go back to the dormitory, do we want to go to the smaller door or go all the way back to the Walkway of Night?

[SlyJohnny]

Go back and go through the sun door.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Back to the dormitory:

You are in a long hall running roughly east to west, with wooden walls and a high ceiling. It is full of bunk beds. This must be the dormitory where the priests and the acolytes and the temple workers sleep. The walls are covered with paintings of Glantanka, the Sun Goddess, and there are three doors here: the heavy iron door leading to the Walkway of the Dawn, another at the eastern end of the dormitory with a sun symbol on it, and a third in the same wall as the one leading to the Walkway of the Dawn with a symbol of wheat on it.

And heading into the sun door:

You push open the door with the symbol of the sun on it and walk through into a stone-walled corridor with prayer cells on either side. You walk along, checking each cell. They all appear to be empty, but then, as you step into the last one, you find a hideous creature squatting there. It has no body, only a giant head, with arms and legs sticking out of it. It has five black eyes, a wide mouth with broken teeth and a snout like a pig.

Run back to the dormitory?
Fight the hideous creature?

[SlyJohnny]

It just said all the cells are empty. Run and try the cooking implement door.

[SGamerz]

I say fight.

[SGamerz]

Fine, checking the cooking implement door first, but come back and fight after if the choice is available.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Out of the sun room:

You are in a long hall running roughly east to west, with wooden walls and a high ceiling. It is full of bunk beds. This must be the dormitory where the priests and the acolytes and the temple workers sleep. The walls are covered with paintings of Glantanka, the Sun Goddess, and there are three doors here: the heavy iron door leading to the Walkway of the Dawn, another at the eastern end of the dormitory with a sun symbol on it, and a third in the same wall as the one leading to the Walkway of the Dawn with a symbol of wheat on it.

And back to the wheat room:

You are in a room with a long table down the middle of it. This must be the refectory where the temple workers eat. There are two doors there, one leading to the dormitory and one with images of cooking implements carved into it. There is also an opening in the east wall where someone—or something—has smashed a hole through the brickwork.

And finally to the cooking implement door:

You are in the temple kitchens. There's a huge fireplace with grilling racks and hooks for cauldrons. Shelves of pots and pans line the walls and there's a great chopping block in the middle of the room with a meat cleaver embedded in it. At the end opposite the door, there are stacks of crates and baskets filled with food. (If you want to take the cleaver, add it to your Weapons List.)

This chopping blade will cause 2 STAMINA points of damage when used as a weapon.

The food looks like it has been here for some time and most of it is moldy or rotten. You are hungry, though, and search among it for something to eat. You find some apples, some stale bread, some dried fish and some stinky, rancid cheese on a metal dish, crawling with maggots.

Examine the food more closely?
Return to the refectory?

[SlyJohnny]

Sweet, now we can do the Finding Offering from before?

Examine food.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Choose an apple?
Pick up some bread?
Choose some dried fish?
Pick up the dish of cheese?
Return to the refectory?

[SlyJohnny]

The dried Fish of a Thousand Voices.

If it doesn't work, we might still be able to come back here and grab the apple, there being no sausage here (which means the breads probably 2 stamina rations like the last bread we found, and the cheese is a trap somehow, unless one of them has sausage inside.).

But it's also possible that Lunara was previously established to be vegetarian or something, and the "fish of a Thousand Voices" was in reference to something else. I feel like Lunara has been referenced once or twice before, but I can't be bothered to check).

[SGamerz]

With the threat of a plague being the central theme, I vote apple in the hopes that they can keep the doctor away even in Titan.

[Darth Rabbitt]

We can do both:

You pick up some dried fish. To keep it for later, simply add it to your Provisions. (If you want to eat it, add 1 STAMINA point.)

You pick out an apple that doesn't look too rotten. To keep it for later, simply add it to your Provisions list. (If you want to eat it, add 1 STAMINA point.) But you need to get on with your mission. Time is running out.

Pick up some bread?
Pick up the dish of cheese?
Return to the refectory?

If we return to the refectory, then let me know where you want to go from there (back to the cell with the monster and back to the offering room seem to be the most popular options.)

Adventure Sheet
Colin Hunt
SKILL: 11/11
STAMINA: 17/18
LUCK: 4/11
Equipment: Traveling Clothes, Lucky Anchor Charm, Hero's Medallion (+2 SKILL), Silver Ring, Bier Goggles
Vials of Smoke-Oil: 0
Gold Pieces: 18
Weapons: Lord Azzur's Khopesh (+1 Attack Strength, extra +1 attack/damage vs. demons), Temple Guard's Axe (+1 Attack Strength, +1 damage on doubles rolled in combat)
Items: Fishhook, Poison Antidote, Silver Trowel, Map of Trolltooth Pass, Bronze-Colored Jewel
Compasses: Brass Compass, Silver Compass, Bronze Compass
Healing Items: Harp of Healing (+8 STAMINA when a combat would be lost), Horn of Plenty (restores STAMINA to Initial level), Healing Ointment (+4 STAMINA)
Provisions: 1 meal (+4 STAMINA when eaten), Dates (+3 STAMINA when eaten), Apple (+1 STAMINA when eaten), Dried Fish (+1 STAMINA when eaten)
Keys: Icefinger Key
Magic Potions: 'Collywobbles', 'Dragon's Breath,' 'Nostalgia' Perfume, 'Pretty as a Picture,' 'Thick as Thieves'

[SlyJohnny]

I want to go straight back and try offering the fish first, but maybe the monster will drop a "what to offer Lunara" phamplet or something, so I'll get behind voting for that fight.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Back to the refectory:

You are in a room with a long table down the middle of it. This must be the refectory where the temple workers eat. There are two doors there, one leading to the dormitory and one with images of cooking implements carved into it. There is also an opening in the east wall where someone—or something—has smashed a hole through the brickwork.

Then back to the dormitory:

You are in a long hall running roughly east to west, with wooden walls and a high ceiling. It is full of bunk beds. This must be the dormitory where the priests and the acolytes and the temple workers sleep. The walls are covered with paintings of Glantanka, the Sun Goddess, and there are three doors here: the heavy iron door leading to the Walkway of the Dawn, another at the eastern end of the dormitory with a sun symbol on it, and a third in the same wall as the one leading to the Walkway of the Dawn with a symbol of wheat on it.

And then back to the sun room:

You push open the door with the symbol of the sun on it and walk through into a stone-walled corridor with prayer cells on either side. You walk along, checking each cell. They all appear to be empty, but then, as you step into the last one, you find a hideous creature squatting there. It has no body, only a giant head, with arms and legs sticking out of it. It has five black eyes, a wide mouth with broken teeth and a snout like a pig.

And fighting the creature:

You raise your blade to strike the creature and...it jumps up and turns around. You're amazed to see that it's not a monster at all, but a young acolyte like yourself.

'Please don't hurt me!' the acolyte bleats and you put your weapon away. 'My name is Castrabel, and I was praying. All the others have gone, but I stayed. I thought my prayers might help. I'm wearing a cloak of protection. If you look at it from behind, it appears to be the face of a monster. Castrabel turns around again and you see that the hideous creature is only a magical moving image on the cloak.

'Until now it has scared everyone else away,' Castrabel says. 'Who are you that is brave enough to fight such a thing? Have you come to save us?'

Ask Castrabel where the High Priestess is?
Ask about the Gates of Death?
Ask about the temple?
Return to the dormitory? (and presumably to the offering room, in this case?)

[SlyJohnny]

Where is the high priestress, then temple, then gate.