Re: [Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 30 - Chasms of Malice
Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2022 11:36 am
Sure, why not?
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There's an option to turn to another section if we want to avoid the fight and take the east door. Do we want to pass through the trapdoor?You are in a room with one other door to the east. In the corner, to the right, is a heap of what looks like sludge. It is foul-smelling and steaming. As you walk around, the sludge shimmers and moves towards you. It reveals a trapdoor in the floor. Then three feelers spring out of the pile. They are covered in spiky thorns. Do you choose to go through the door east? If not, you'll have to pass the sludge to get to the trapdoor.
SLUDGE SKILL 8 STAMINA 12
If you survive, you open the trapdoor to reveal a tunnel heading southwest.
At this rate, I'm surprised Sharp didn't manage to fit in all 6 mazes in Daggers of Darkness considering his apparent fondness for writing sections with nothing but random directions to choose from.You crawl along the tunnel and open another trapdoor. You are in a room with a staircase leading up. You go up the stairs and find another room with doors heading east and south.
...to another random death.As you walk into the rom, two Dark Elves grab you from either side and a knight slips a metal collar on your neck. You hear the booming laughter of Orghuz and sees his bright red eyes as he orders you to kneel in front of his lieutenants. One of the Dark Elves get read to swing a sword...
EDIT: actually, I'm going to skip the voting for this section, because going north here leads to the EXACT SAME Game Over section as the one we just went through. Sir Gareth goes east.You walk in and the door closes behind you. You stand on a narrow stone path that heads south, then east. On either side of the path there is swirling blue smoke. It lies on the ground and seems to create strange and hideous shapes. Suddenly, the smoke takes the shape of a warrior. It stands behind you and swings its sword. The blade crashes on the path, just missing you. You thrust your Sword through its body, but to no effect. You run into the next room east and shut the door. The Shadow passes through the door. You rush on, but the path divides. Which path do you take: the one leading to a door north, or through a door east?
1st rolls: 1 & 6.Another door slams behind you, but this time the Shadow does not follow. The path is still surrounded by swirling smoke. Suddenly, the teeth of a metal trap snap shut. Throw a die for your position, and a second die for where the trap shuts. If the two throws match, you are caught and severely wounded (deduct 3 STAMINA points). Repeat twice and, if you survive, the path divides. It leads both to a door east and to an exit north. Which way do you go?
You might note that on the very next set of options, going north led to the same death, so again, I stress that trying to determine a fixed direction bias in Luke Sharp's book is an exercise in futility. I strongly suspect he assigns random deaths via some randomizer tool.JourneymanN00b wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 1:53 amSo going east resulted in a death? Interesting, as I though that fascism was the way to go for our fated future dictator. I vote to head east to see if the fascist way leads to victory this time.
Going west here will take us to the same familiar section that involves us being grabbed and collared, so skipping the votes here again and proceeding west (so yes, this time the opposite of east is the Game Over choice. And for the previous round of voting, east itself was Game Over, and the section before that, going north was Game Over, again proving there's zero consistency in the author's bias for any direction):You are in a room with two exits. Do you wish to go north or west?
Finally, we found the Boss! In fact we found 3 of him! Which is the real one?The room is pitch-black. Slowly, you begin to discern the sparkle of glass. It gets brighter and brighter until the room is full of mirrors. One of the mirrors shivers and there stands the Dark Lord Orghuz, in his diamond and glass armour. Strange beams come out of his eyes. Then you see two other figures of Orghuz. They all laugh at you, and arrogantly dare you to strike out with the Sword. Where do you strike? On the left-hand figure, the figure on the right, or the figure in the centre?
Oops, correct.
Th flaw in that argument is that if the right figure is the real Orghuz, then it means he chose to stand on his left, because he's facing us. So if attacking the right one works, it means our fascist attack defeats his communist stance.JourneymanN00b wrote: ↑Sat Jun 04, 2022 4:08 amOh, and I believe that attacking rival fascists is the right thing to do here.
It is now official: Sir Gareth's fascism triumphs over Orghuz's communism!You strike at Orghuz and he quickly backs away. You have chosen the correct image. Suddenly he holds a sword that looks just like yours. "No other dares to hold a sword in my presence. You have the blood of Tancred the Magnificent coursing in your veins, and you hold the Twin Sword of Light; but I am still your master. Prepare to die!"
And I guess this is why Astragal said that all the Khuddam need to be killed before Orghuz can be defeated. Apparently, he also uses them for "extra lives" (and so if they spawn to infinity he becomes unkillable). As you can also see above, there's potentially a way to defeat him after just winning one combat, but obviously we did not find the optimal path and wasn't able to temper our Sword in the Heartflames. This means we must beat him 6 times (we killed only 1 Khuddam). The Life Spell allows us to potentially auto-win once if he beats us, but this will be tough even with our slight SKILL advantage.You must fight Orghuz be the number of Khuddam left alive on your Adventure Sheet.
ORGHUZ SKILL 10 STAMINA 12
If you win, mark off one Khuddam on the Adventure Sheet.
If you win and you have tempered your Sword in the Heartflame of Minosaddurr, turn to 385. But if not, you must fight Orghuz again until you have marked off all the Khuddam lives on the Adventure Sheet.
Once all the Khuddam are accounted for, turn to 385.
There's no heel in the option, so where do we think is his proverbial Achilles' Heel?If there are any Khuddam still alive on your Adventure Sheet, Orghuz regenerates slowly into the guise of another Khuddam. You have a fleeting chance to strike unopposed at a part of his body.
If all the Khuddam are dead on your Adventure Sheet, Orghuz stands like a statue in front of you. The Malice still inhabits his body. You must strike the lethal blow to rid it of the evil. Where do you strike:
Left shoulder and upper arm?
Right shoulder and upper arm?
Left elbow and lower arm?
Right elbow and lower arm?
Left thigh and upper leg?
Right thigh and upper leg?
Left knee and lower leg?
Right knee and lower leg?