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

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 2:09 am

Half a vote for sheltering.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 11:48 am

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:25 pm

The fact that it's "run back" to the fort makes me think like we'd still have the option to do this, even if we'd mucked around the fort first. But for all we know, the caves close off the fort, which we absolutely need to get in to. Retreat to the fort.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 6:30 am

As you run back towards the fort, arrows clatter down all around you. You feel a sting in your shoulder and see that one has hit you, although the leather strap of your pack has stopped it from penetrating too deeply. You reach the safety of the fortified walls and crouch down to pull the arrow out.

If you have any healing ointment you can use it now and lose no STAMINA points, otherwise you will lose 3 STAMINA points.

(Weirdly, healing ointment normally heals 4 STAMINA points and can explicitly be used any time outside of battle. So this seems either pointless or to be a typo, possibly from an earlier draft where you couldn't use healing ointment as often or something. It's sloppy either way.)

You enter the fort, where you find a keep built into the cliff wall. The gates and roof have long since rotted away. You enter the walls and find a stairway leading up inside the solid rock. You climb it to the top and come out by the watchtower.

You are at the base of the watchtower on top of the cliff. The huge broken statue of the goddess Sindla stands nearby. Next to the watchtower is a ruined guardhouse, a small temple and a few newly built wooden huts. There is smoke coming out through the chimney of one of the huts. Four tracks lead from the settlement into the gloom and an old signpost points the way down into each one. You read the signs—North Foraging Path, West Foraging Path, Corpse Road, The Well.

Go into the hut?
Go into the watchtower?
Take the north foraging path?
Take the path to the well?
Take the Corpse Road?

Adventure Sheet
Colin Hunt
SKILL: 11/11
STAMINA: 11/18
LUCK: 7/11
Equipment: Traveling Clothes, Lucky Anchor Charm, Hero's Medallion (+2 SKILL), Silver Ring
Vials of Smoke-Oil: 0
Gold Pieces: 18
Weapons: Lord Azzur's Khopesh (+1 Attack Strength, extra +1 attack/damage vs. demons)
Items: Fishhook, Brass Compass, Poison Antidote, Silver Trowel, Silver Compass, Map of Trolltooth Pass
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'

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 7:48 am

Check the hut.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:29 am

Huthuthut!

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 7:25 pm

You enter the hut and find a family is sheltering inside: three children and their mother, who is bent over a table preparing food. For some reason the children appear terrified, and when their mother turns round you realize why. She has been cursed by the demon plague and become a monster. Her dark eyes fix on you as she bares her teeth that are as sharp as knives.

Fight the DEMON MOTHER?
Use smoke-oil on her?
Run out of the hut and abandon the children to their fate?

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Fri Jan 25, 2019 1:53 am

Leave. She hasn't killed them yet, and we can't "help" except to kill her.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Fri Jan 25, 2019 11:37 am

Agreed.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Jan 25, 2019 2:31 pm

The goddess Sindla does not look kindly on people who abandon children in danger. Reduce your LUCK score by 3 points.

And now we're led back to the earlier section with all the choices:

Go (back) into the hut (and fight the demon mother?)
Go into the watchtower?
Take the north foraging path?
Take the path to the well?
Take the Corpse Road?

Adventure Sheet
Colin Hunt
SKILL: 11/11
STAMINA: 11/18
LUCK: 4/11
Equipment: Traveling Clothes, Lucky Anchor Charm, Hero's Medallion (+2 SKILL), Silver Ring
Vials of Smoke-Oil: 0
Gold Pieces: 18
Weapons: Lord Azzur's Khopesh (+1 Attack Strength, extra +1 attack/damage vs. demons)
Items: Fishhook, Brass Compass, Poison Antidote, Silver Trowel, Silver Compass, Map of Trolltooth Pass
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 · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Fri Jan 25, 2019 2:37 pm

Ouch. Check the watchtower, I guess.

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Fri Jan 25, 2019 6:30 pm

Maybe we should go straight to the Corpse Road, where the adventurers magic items are going to be.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sun Jan 27, 2019 2:09 am

Corpse Road

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun Jan 27, 2019 6:09 am

You set off down the track that leads away from the fort. This is an old corpse road, the way that villagers would have carried their dead to the burial grounds. As the night turns darker, you hurry on.

It's a long way on foot. (Colin is not wearing the silver swift boots.)

It takes nearly all night for you to reach the burial grounds and you are exhausted by the time you get there. (Lose 1 STAMINA point.)

You eventually see some grave markers and mausoleums on either side of the track and finally, ahead of you, you see a circle of mighty stones, black against the starry sky. There are colored lights blazing inside the circle and a pillar of colored smoke rises up to the heavens.

You approach the circle and enter it. There are twenty stones standing upright, each one as tall as four men. In the center is a wide, rusted iron plate set into the ground, covered with strange runes that you cannot read.

Around the edge of the metal plate sits a ring of clay pots, filled with burning oil. The flames in each pot are a different color and colored smoke rises up into the night, creating a haze across the stars. Standing in the middle of the plate is a funeral brier made of dark, lacquered wood. It has four legs with a wheel fixed on to each one. There's a body lying on the bier under a heavy silk pall. At the body's head and feet are the sort of items that an explorer would carry with him, including some goggles, a pair of stout boots and a walking staff.

This must be Hikaz Mandeera, the adventurer you've been seeking. You'll never be able to ask him how to find the Invisible City now, but perhaps there might be some clues among his possessions. You step forward for a closer look and it's then that you notice a deep basin filled with liquid underneath the bier. You kneel down to inspect it. It smells like fire spirit, one of the most flammable liquids in all of Titan. You need to get off the metal plate—even the smallest spark from one of the clay pots could sit the fire spirit alight. The body hasn't been placed on the bier ready for burial, but for cremation!

Now you hear a noise and look up to see figures emerging out of the darkness between the standing stones, grunting, wheezing and clacking their teeth. They're small but there are a lot of them, maybe twenty. And you catch the glint of metal. As they move into the light, you see that they are GRAVEYARD IMPS, armed with curved knives.

They're half your height, with fat bellies, big heads, big hands, big feet...and big teeth. Their skin is yellow and warty, like toads' skin, their eyes small and crafty. They stop in surprise when they see you and one steps forward. He's wearing a crown made of sticks and leaves.

'What are you doing here after dark?' he asks, his voice rasping. 'At night, this is our place. Your people are not allowed. And we have work to do. Run! Run—or join the body on the bier!'

As he says this, he raises his hands and a much larger figure shuffles into the light. You see instantly that it is suffering from the demon curse. It is stooped and walks painfully, drool hanging from its mouth. Its eyes are a predator's eyes, filled with pure, unthinking hatred, and its skin has turned ridged and leathery. It's carrying a shovel and wears a battered top hat, muddy workman's clothing and a long coat. This must once have been a gravedigger. It moans and staggers towards, you, raising its shovel.

Use a vial of smoke-oil on the DEMON GRAVEDIGGER?
Attack it with your best weapon?
Throw one of the clay pots at it?

Adventure Sheet
Colin Hunt
SKILL: 11/11
STAMINA: 10/18
LUCK: 4/11
Equipment: Traveling Clothes, Lucky Anchor Charm, Hero's Medallion (+2 SKILL), Silver Ring
Vials of Smoke-Oil: 0
Gold Pieces: 18
Weapons: Lord Azzur's Khopesh (+1 Attack Strength, extra +1 attack/damage vs. demons)
Items: Fishhook, Brass Compass, Poison Antidote, Silver Trowel, Silver Compass, Map of Trolltooth Pass
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'

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Sun Jan 27, 2019 12:14 pm

Attack.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Sun Jan 27, 2019 1:02 pm

Clay pot it.

MisterDee · Post by **MisterDee** » Sun Jan 27, 2019 5:52 pm

Let's not piss off the imps anymore than we have to. Straight attack.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun Jan 27, 2019 6:51 pm

2-1 in favor of attacking the gravedigger.

This was definitely the better choice to make here. Tossing the pot sets off the fire spirit on the bier, which causes an explosion that would have been game over for us.

The Demon Gravedigger comes towards you, his shovel raised to strike. You see its sharp edge glinting in the light from the clay pots. Choose a weapon and prepare to fight

DEMON GRAVEDIGGER SKILL 6 STAMINA 8

Combat Log:

Gravedigger 14, Colin 18. Gravedigger is at 5.
Gravedigger 15, Colin 24. Gravedigger is at 2.
Gravedigger 11, Colin 16. Gravedigger is dead!

Flawless Victory. Demon killing sword is good at demon killing and our effective SKILL is twice what his was.

The King of the Graveyard Imps throws himself at your feet.

'Thank you, O mighty warrior,' he squeals. 'You have rescued us from the demon that has been haunting our burial grounds. We haven't been able to go about our business tending to the dead for days. Ask us anything you want and we will help you.'

Ask him about the adventurer?
Ask him about the Invisible City?
Go over to the funeral bier?

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Sun Jan 27, 2019 7:05 pm

Ask about the adventurer.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Mon Jan 28, 2019 11:32 am

I'm more curious about the Invisible City.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Mon Jan 28, 2019 1:32 pm

Ask about adventurer.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue Jan 29, 2019 1:56 am

We can actually ask him about both. I'll go in descending order of votes.

The Adventurer:
'His name was Hikaz Mandeera,' says the King of the Imps. 'He had come from the Icefinger Mountains to look for our funeral bier, but on the way he got ambushed in Trolltooth Pass by a bandit named Sinna the Sly, who stole his sword and wounded him. When Hikaz got here he tried to protect us from the Demon Gravedigger...' He points to the funeral bier. 'And that's what happened to him. It is now our duty to burn his body and send him on his last adventure.'

(The bandit must have wounded Hikaz really bad if he couldn't take on a SKILL 6 gravedigger afterwards...well, that or he just had really poor stats.)

The Invisible City:
'We don't know anything about the Invisible City,' says the King of the Imps, 'except what the adventurer told us when he was dying from his wounds. He said the city is on the Plain of Bronze, and if you stand in the right place and have the right magic items you will be able to see it. And then, once you see the city, you can enter it. The last item he needed was our funeral bier.'

(Now all we can do is go to the funeral bier.)

The Funeral Bier:
You walk over to the wooden platform.

'That is Pangara's Funeral Bier,' says the King of the Imps. 'It cannot be harmed by fire and has the power to carry you to any place of the dead...if you know its secrets.'

You look at the cloth covering the body lying on the bier. There are pictures stitched into it. You can see what looks like3 the image of a city, made to look as if it's glowing with a blue light. Nearby are three mountains, with a man standing on the peak of one wearing what look like goggles. There's a gold thread running from him to the city and above him is what looks like a bronze-colored star.

'We made the pall ourselves,' says the King, 'and showed everything the adventurer had told us about. He wanted to go to the Invisible City—so now he can. We will burn him, together with all the things he'll need for his journey into the next world.'

You look at the objects. The goggles are made of leather and brass with smoked glass lenses. There's also a rolled up map, a bronze star about the size of a dinner plate, a pair of stout boots, a walking staff, a drinking canteen and a bronze compass.

Explain your quest to the King of the Imps and ask him if you can take some of the items?
Kill him and simply take all the items?

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Tue Jan 29, 2019 3:26 am

Explain

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Tue Jan 29, 2019 11:01 pm

It'd be nice to get the map and the three potential key items, but we've got no guarantee that beating the imp up would actually let us keep all the items. Explain

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Jan 30, 2019 3:52 am

'Hikaz the adventurer must have his belongings with him,' says the King. 'Or he will become lost on the other side. But your quest is the same as his was, and you have rid us of the Demon Gravedigger, so I think he would want you to have something. I can let you take three items and you can borrow the bier itself. I have no idea which items you might need, so it is your choice...'

Kill the King and take all the items? (I assume that if we had wanted to do that then we would have stabbed him at the last choice. But let me know if I'm wrong.)
Otherwise, choose three of the following items—the bier goggles, the map, the bronze star, the boots, the staff, the canteen, the bronze compass.

So pick three loots to proceed, or stab the king.