I sort want to see if we can make some horrible monster out of multiple bandits with Mutation, but that's getting into really weird and dark places, so disrupt away.
Lrf, jr gbgnyyl pna. Vs Orebyv qbrfa'g cbfg gur cvpgher sbe gung ng gur raq bs gur cynlguebhtu, V jvyy.
****
Go to the bar, of course. Always get the booze. And the tavern gossip. And the inevitable bar fights?
The battered entrance-hall of the ale-house is littered with piles of filthy, stinking clothes; you notice that the stone floor is slick with water. A toothless youth sidles up to you and nervously slobbers, 'You ain't from here, are you?' When you fail to answer, he asks, 'Shall I take your clothes and things 'fore you get a soakin'? I'll get 'em cleaned good and proper.' You are cold and dirty. The village store is closing up, and only the travellers remain in the square, camped round their fire.
Take off your clothes and enter?
Return to the square and join the drifters?
You pass your clothes to the boy, keeping your most valuable possessions with you (I don't want to know where you're storing Izkhao...), and push open the tavern door. A thick wall of steam prevents you seeing into the centre of the room. Carefully you step inside and notice that there are rows of pegs set into the wall on which clothes and weapons are hung. Your suspicions aroused, you swing back around--just in time to watch the urchin race away with your robes. Muttering oaths, you walk out into the steamy haze...and fall headlong into a pool of water.
You surface, spluttering and gasping. Gradually your eyes become accustomed to the steam rising off the bubbling surface of the water. You are floating in a huge communal bath, the villagers' place of entertainment. Bobbing around its sides are its patrons, guzzling cups of ale served from a network of pipes that hang over the pool. These characters must come from every corner of the land, for no two look alike. Your sudden arrival went unnoticed and the bathers are talking and quaffing heartily. You relax and lie back, appreciating the water's invigorating qualities (restore 2 points of STAMINA).
Swim over to your neighbor and talk?
Take a drink from the ale pipes?
I do not think that drinking ale and getting drunk is a good idea.
Why not? Alcoholic drinks are treated like food and water in FF. In some rare cases, they are harmful because there're deliberately spiked/poisoned (e.g. Earl of Drumer's white wine), but this is highly unlikely to be the case in a public bathhouse where it's accessible to all their clients.
I am quite certain that I remember "the wine restores some of your Stamina but also makes you fight your next three fights at a -1 Skill penalty" or something like that in an FF book.
You wade up to a large, pock-marked gentleman. Choking on his ale in between sentences, he tells you all about his journey across the island to meet up with old mercenary friends. 'There's talk,' he says, 'that one of Feior's men is arrivin' from the war in the south, lookin' fer men to train his troops. Now, fightin's all well and good. But the real money's in slaves.' He is about to continue when the tavern door bursts open.
Framed in the doorway is a short, scrawny fellow. He eyes the bath's occupants with deep scorn. 'Greetings, you worthless hulks of wasted flesh. How can you wallow in luxury while outside the people of this land grow weak with hunger? How can you live with the guilt, knowing the misery your slavery [ed: this should probably be "slaving," but there it is] has caused to countless families, eh?'
'l manage all right, thank you very much!' shouts one bather, sending his friends into howls of laughter.
'Enough!' screams the little man. 'I am Merzei, Defender of the People, Righter of Wrongs, and Future Grand Councillor of the Isles.' He struts around the edge of the pool brandishing a thick scroll, which he uses to direct his insults with. 'I will ask you once, and once only. Are there any among you who will join me and fight for justice? Answer now, before your chance takes flight!' The laughter subsides, and Merzei scans the room slowly, waiting for a reply.
Well, will you join him and fight for justice?
Or will you keep quiet?
Future Grand Councillor of the Isles? This guy has a lofty opinion of himself. On the other hand, I can't see what we'd gain from either wandering around aimlessly or chatting to slave traders, so let's join him and fight for justice.
You realize that these fellows are indeed all that he claims, and that the brave man stands little chance of escaping alive. You wade past the other astonished bathers, climb out and quickly wrap a towel round you. Merzei beams at you. 'I'm glad to see at least one of you has the good sense to follow me. Take this.' He throws you a jewelled dagger, and you turn to face the cut-throats as they advance. 'Now, to work! Let's cleanse the land of this scum!'
As you consider how to fight the menacing slavers even now wading toward the edge of the water, another spell surfaces in your memory: a Lock spell, which would solidify the water into something as hard as rock. Your memories are unclear on how long it would last, however.
Will you cast a Lock spell?
Or a Mutation spell?
A Disruption spell?
Call upon Izkhao?
Or fight with the dagger?
Lock seems cool, and very situational and something we are unlikely to get to play with too often.
Mutation seems like it'd turn a bunch of normal slave traders into one giant Lovecraftian horror who is also a slave trader, which seems less than ideal.
In some rare cases, they are harmful because there're deliberately spiked/poisoned (e.g. Earl of Drumer's white wine), but this is highly unlikely to be the case in a public bathhouse where it's accessible to all their clients.