The Gaming Den

Sure, let’s take the unaccustomed right path.

Passing under the archway, you find yourself following another tunnel even deeper into the mountain. Then there is a click as your foot touches a fixed stone and for a split second you wonder if you have made a mistake. Reacting instantly, you throw yourself forward to avoid the trap. Test your Luck; a 7 succeeds.

Poison darts shoot out of the walls just above your head, missing you by millimetres.

Continuing along the passageway, you follow it as it turns right and reaches a junction. The passage you are in soon comes to a dead end in a chamber which holds the bizarre statue of some kind of lizard. The new tunnel bends round to the left after a few metres so you cannot see what lies along it.

Enter the statue room?
Take the new path?

Name: Bonnie Blood
Sex: Female
Age: 22
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 15/20
Luck: 8/11
Weapon: Bone Sword
Backpack contents: Lantern, Tinderbox, Shark's Teeth Bracelet, Magic Compass, Rope, 3 Gas Globes (when you choose to smash one before an enemy at the start of a battle, that enemy fights the battle with a -2 Attack Strength, provided they are not immune; Undead, Demons, and magical creatures are immune), Bolarang (Test Skill before a fight to do 2 damage), Throwing Dagger, Crab Doubloon, 5 Meals, candle, 2 dice, burned letter, Bottle of Rum (+4 Stamina), Map of Bone Island, Sword
Spells: Insect Repellent (will repel any number of insects of any size for the duration of one encounter; inflicts 2 damage on caster when cast)
Gold Pieces: 38
Time Elapsed: 7 Hours
Deaths: Contracted fast-acting malaria from a giant mosquito

I vote to take the new path, as I don’t like the sound of the lizard statue.

Half vote for investigating statue.

I'm guessing there will be a medusa or a basilisk associated with the lizard statue, so I'm in favor of taking the new path.

The new tunnel leads you through an archway and into a great cavern. The path you are on curves around the side of an abyss, descending slightly as it does so. Peering over the ledge you can just make out the jagged stalagmites on the bone-littered cavern floor. Bravely, you step onto the path. Instantly you feel it giving way beneath your feet and start to run. Roll two dice, four times. 2 and 6, 4 and 2, 5 and 3, 2 and 3: no pair is a double.

Resounding booms echo around the cavern as the ledge falls away behind you onto the rocks below. And then around a bend you see another archway in the cave wall. With one final spurt of energy you throw yourself through it, into the passageway beyond.

After recovering your breath,

Go right?
Go left?

Name: Bonnie Blood
Sex: Female
Age: 22
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 15/20
Luck: 8/11
Weapon: Bone Sword
Backpack contents: Lantern, Tinderbox, Shark's Teeth Bracelet, Magic Compass, Rope, 3 Gas Globes (when you choose to smash one before an enemy at the start of a battle, that enemy fights the battle with a -2 Attack Strength, provided they are not immune; Undead, Demons, and magical creatures are immune), Bolarang (Test Skill before a fight to do 2 damage), Throwing Dagger, Crab Doubloon, 5 Meals, candle, 2 dice, burned letter, Bottle of Rum (+4 Stamina), Map of Bone Island, Sword
Spells: Insect Repellent (will repel any number of insects of any size for the duration of one encounter; inflicts 2 damage on caster when cast)
Gold Pieces: 38
Time Elapsed: 7 Hours
Deaths: Contracted fast-acting malaria from a giant mosquito

I vote to go left, as I think our hero has indulged enough of fascism and needs to resist it now.

May as well.

Sure, left.

You pass several recessed, grilled doors through which are cramped, dank cells, their only inhabitants creeping, slithering things and the yellowed bones of former prisoners. At the end of the passage you enter a large cave-like chamber with more doors leading from it. However, standing on guard are two peculiar creatures. Their flesh is grey and withered and their faces are covered by tribal masks. Each holds a spear and on seeing you they move towards you.

Fight the guards?
Run back down the tunnel and past the T-junction?

Name: Bonnie Blood
Sex: Female
Age: 22
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 15/20
Luck: 8/11
Weapon: Bone Sword
Backpack contents: Lantern, Tinderbox, Shark's Teeth Bracelet, Magic Compass, Rope, 3 Gas Globes (when you choose to smash one before an enemy at the start of a battle, that enemy fights the battle with a -2 Attack Strength, provided they are not immune; Undead, Demons, and magical creatures are immune), Bolarang (Test Skill before a fight to do 2 damage), Throwing Dagger, Crab Doubloon, 5 Meals, candle, 2 dice, burned letter, Bottle of Rum (+4 Stamina), Map of Bone Island, Sword
Spells: Insect Repellent (will repel any number of insects of any size for the duration of one encounter; inflicts 2 damage on caster when cast)
Gold Pieces: 38
Time Elapsed: 7 Hours
Deaths: Contracted fast-acting malaria from a giant mosquito

I vote to fight the guards. There is zero reason to be a coward here.

Yeah, fight the guards.

Thirded.

Your attackers are Mask Zombies, created through dark rituals to be guards and servants in Quezkari's temple. The Zombies thrust at you with their flint-spears as you unsheathe your own weapon.

First MASK ZOMBIE Skill 8 Stamina 6
Second MASK ZOMBIE Skill 8 Stamina 6

You throw the Bolarang, hitting the first Mask Zombie.

Bonnie Blood wins two rounds, destroying First Mask Zombie.
Bonnie Blood Attack Strength: 23, MASK ZOMBIE Attack Strength: 15. MASK ZOMBIE's Stamina is 4
Bonnie Blood Attack Strength: 18, MASK ZOMBIE Attack Strength: 18.
Bonnie Blood Attack Strength: 16, MASK ZOMBIE Attack Strength: 11. MASK ZOMBIE's Stamina is 2
Bonnie Blood Attack Strength: 14, MASK ZOMBIE Attack Strength: 12. MASK ZOMBIE is dead.

As the last Zombie slumps to the floor, you hear a voice calling for help in a strange tongue, but one that you understand, from one of the cells.

Help whoever is imprisoned here?
Continue your search of the temple to find Cinnabar?

Name: Bonnie Blood
Sex: Female
Age: 22
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 15/20
Luck: 8/11
Weapon: Bone Sword
Backpack contents: Lantern, Tinderbox, Shark's Teeth Bracelet, Magic Compass, Rope, 3 Gas Globes (when you choose to smash one before an enemy at the start of a battle, that enemy fights the battle with a -2 Attack Strength, provided they are not immune; Undead, Demons, and magical creatures are immune), Bolarang (Test Skill before a fight to do 2 damage), Throwing Dagger, Crab Doubloon, 5 Meals, candle, 2 dice, burned letter, Bottle of Rum (+4 Stamina), Map of Bone Island, Sword
Spells: Insect Repellent (will repel any number of insects of any size for the duration of one encounter; inflicts 2 damage on caster when cast)
Gold Pieces: 38
Time Elapsed: 7 Hours
Deaths: Contracted fast-acting malaria from a giant mosquito

Help them.

I vote to help whoever is imprisoned here.

Sure enough, in one cell you find five, half-starved tribespeople, whom you release. Having thanked you profusely for freeing them, they return the favour by giving you any information they can that may help you. They know nothing about the Pirates of the Black Skull but do know the Mask Zombies' secret: the masks themselves imbue the Zombies with Quezkari's power, and if removed the undead become severely weakened. Knowing this, if you ever find yourself in combat with Mask Zombies, rather than fighting them in the usual way, you can try to remove their tribal masks. To do this very specific task you will have to reduce your Attack Strength by 2 points but as soon as you win an Attack Round you grab the Zombie's mask and cast it aside; the Zombie loses 3 Skill and 2 Stamina. If you had not saved the tribespeople, their fate would have been to be turned into Mask Zombies too. The prisoners also overheard the temple's High Priest telling one of his acolytes about a code or something. He repeated the phrase, 'Back two, forward two. Back two, forward two.' Regain 1 LUCK point for this knowledge.

Following the passageway right past the T-junction, you pass between walls crudely daubed with images of Quezkari and other evil deities dealing out death in its various forms to humans. Feeling the floor shift, you immediately know what is happening: a balance trap has been triggered and the floor is tilting up to reveal a deep, spiked pit underneath it. Your only hope is to leap over the treacherous gap now opening up before you. Test your Skill; a 5 succeeds.

Agilely you throw yourself over the pit and land in a forward roll on the other side. Up on your feet again, you step under another macabrely carved archway into a rough-hewn corridor, which runs both left and right.

Go left?
Go right?

Name: Bonnie Blood
Sex: Female
Age: 22
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 15/20
Luck: 9/11
Weapon: Bone Sword
Backpack contents: Lantern, Tinderbox, Shark's Teeth Bracelet, Magic Compass, Rope, 3 Gas Globes (when you choose to smash one before an enemy at the start of a battle, that enemy fights the battle with a -2 Attack Strength, provided they are not immune; Undead, Demons, and magical creatures are immune), Bolarang (Test Skill before a fight to do 2 damage), Throwing Dagger, Crab Doubloon, 5 Meals, candle, 2 dice, burned letter, Bottle of Rum (+4 Stamina), Map of Bone Island, Sword
Spells: Insect Repellent (will repel any number of insects of any size for the duration of one encounter; inflicts 2 damage on caster when cast)
Gold Pieces: 38
Time Elapsed: 7 Hours
Deaths: Contracted fast-acting malaria from a giant mosquito

Argh, stupid choices based on no information. Go left, I guess.

Sure, might as well go left.

I vote to go left so our hero can reject fascism.

The funnel ends at a semicircular room on the far side of which is an ornately carved stone door flanked by two Zombie-like creatures with strange tribal masks covering their faces. As soon as you enter the chamber, the mindless guards shamble towards you.

Engage in combat (if you choose this one, vote on whether to try to remove their masks as the prisoners described, or just fight conventionally)?
Flee?

Name: Bonnie Blood
Sex: Female
Age: 22
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 15/20
Luck: 9/11
Weapon: Bone Sword
Backpack contents: Lantern, Tinderbox, Shark's Teeth Bracelet, Magic Compass, Rope, 3 Gas Globes (when you choose to smash one before an enemy at the start of a battle, that enemy fights the battle with a -2 Attack Strength, provided they are not immune; Undead, Demons, and magical creatures are immune), Bolarang (Test Skill before a fight to do 2 damage), Throwing Dagger, Crab Doubloon, 5 Meals, candle, 2 dice, burned letter, Bottle of Rum (+4 Stamina), Map of Bone Island, Sword
Spells: Insect Repellent (will repel any number of insects of any size for the duration of one encounter; inflicts 2 damage on caster when cast)
Gold Pieces: 38
Time Elapsed: 7 Hours
Deaths: Contracted fast-acting malaria from a giant mosquito

I vote to engage in combat normally.

Armed with polearms, the Mask Zombies are dangerous enemies.

First MASK ZOMBIE Skill 8 Stamina 7
Second MASK ZOMBIE Skill 8 Stamina 6

You focus on the second Mask Zombie first, throwing the bolarang for 2 damage.

Round One: Bonnie Blood wins against her target but loses against the first Mask Zombie. Second Mask Zombie Stamina 2, Bonnie Blood Stamina 13.
Round Two: Bonnie Blood wins. Second Mask Zombie is destroyed.
Bonnie Blood Attack Strength: 24, MASK ZOMBIE Attack Strength: 13. MASK ZOMBIE's Stamina is 5
Bonnie Blood Attack Strength: 19, MASK ZOMBIE Attack Strength: 19.
Bonnie Blood Attack Strength: 20, MASK ZOMBIE Attack Strength: 10. MASK ZOMBIE's Stamina is 3
Bonnie Blood Attack Strength: 17, MASK ZOMBIE Attack Strength: 20. Bonnie Blood's Stamina is 11
Bonnie Blood Attack Strength: 22, MASK ZOMBIE Attack Strength: 10. MASK ZOMBIE's Stamina is 1
Bonnie Blood Attack Strength: 21, MASK ZOMBIE Attack Strength: 20. MASK ZOMBIE is dead.

With the zombies disposed of, you can now see that the intricate carving on the stone door is quite clearly a puzzle of some sort, which must be linked to the opening mechanism somehow.

Try to solve the puzzle to open the door?
Leave this semicircular chamber and follow the corridor in the opposite direction?

Also highlighting the option to eat.

Name: Bonnie Blood
Sex: Female
Age: 22
Skill: 12/12
Stamina: 11/20
Luck: 9/11
Weapon: Bone Sword
Backpack contents: Lantern, Tinderbox, Shark's Teeth Bracelet, Magic Compass, Rope, 3 Gas Globes (when you choose to smash one before an enemy at the start of a battle, that enemy fights the battle with a -2 Attack Strength, provided they are not immune; Undead, Demons, and magical creatures are immune), Bolarang (Test Skill before a fight to do 2 damage), Throwing Dagger, Crab Doubloon, 5 Meals, candle, 2 dice, burned letter, Bottle of Rum (+4 Stamina), Map of Bone Island, Sword
Spells: Insect Repellent (will repel any number of insects of any size for the duration of one encounter; inflicts 2 damage on caster when cast)
Gold Pieces: 38
Time Elapsed: 7 Hours
Deaths: Contracted fast-acting malaria from a giant mosquito

I vote to eat two meals and to try to solve the puzzle.

Agreed.