[LP] Fighting Fantasy: Creature of Havoc

MisterDee · Post by **MisterDee** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 3:19 am

So if you don't find the pendant, you're dead-ended without a courtesy "you are fucked" death paragraph?

Wow... that is dickish.

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:52 am

angelfromanotherpin wrote:This is one of the book's most sadistic methods. If you don't have the pendant, you're basically doomed to wander around the opening dungeon with no notice that you've missed something and literally cannot find the way onward. You become a wandering monster in someone else's story.

The trigger is dickish. The outcome is pretty cool.

angelfromanotherpin wrote:Certainly there are no immediate consequences, but this book has several ways to bone you well in advance. Will using your just-acquired self-determination to feast on dead people come back to bite you in the ass? If so, how many choices later? I guess we'll find out.

I thought about it, but there doesn't seem to be an elegant way to implement the fuck-you (not that it will ever stop Steve Jackson). Morality-wise, we're fine.
(Clarifying edit: since the choice is a single sentence within another choice and the following paragraphs are otherwise identical, there's no way to call it other than a plaintext "if you ate an adventurer back at reference 117", a clear indicator of where the assbiting started, which means even a player without the benefit of a log can misremember to not have eaten and go ahead.)

Darth Rabbitt wrote:If not using our pendant leads to an infinite death spiral, why wouldn't we take the secret door?

It could have been an actual static dungeon that you could explore and exit when ready. It doesn't seem to be the case here.

Go in.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 2:49 pm

Darth Rabbitt wrote:If not using our pendant leads to an infinite death spiral, why wouldn't we take the secret door?

You need the pendant to exit the dungeon. That doesn't mean that any particular secret door is a good or bad thing.

You crouch low and squeeze through the narrow gap. As you pass through the doorway, a single glowstone flicks on to reveal the contents of the small chamber which you are now standing in. The room is completely bare except for a large chest against one of the walls. You step over and examine the chest. You push it, shove it and bash it, trying to break it open. Finally, a lucky push opens the lid. Inside, you find two mysterious objects. The first is a large circular plate made of strong metal. It has a sharp spike which protrudes from the centre on one side and two leather straps on the other. On the same side as the straps is attached a leather pouch which may be useful for carrying things. The other object is a piece of rough, coloured rock, about the size of your forearm. One end is wide and the other is much narrower. It is a dull green colour and glistens faintly in the light. But it appears very brittle. It may make a useful weapon gripped by the tapered end, but it would no doubt not last long in battle. You may take one of these items with you. Any metallic discs may be placed in the pouch on the plate if you choose this object.

• The plate?
• The rock?

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 2:56 pm

DIRK SMASH!!!!

Take the rock.

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 3:10 pm

Half a vote for taking the plate, because of the pouch. It might be a not-so-subtle hint it's time for us to enter the gold economy and pay for our food instead of killing it.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 3:23 pm

(Ah, I see.)

I think I remember what these items are, but I didn't make it far enough to find out which one was more useful (or, if I did, I don't remember it at all.)

But the rock seems like it would be more useful.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 3:43 pm

You have chosen a crystal club. It is not valuable but, to your way of thinking, it is a beautiful trophy. However, it is quite brittle. If at some time in the future you wish to use it in battle, turn to reference 333 to find out what happens. But you must remember the number of the reference you are on at the time you choose to use the club, so you may return there afterwards. Now leave the chamber and continue your journey.

You cannot see a thing. Your feet shuffle noisily through the straw which covers the floor, as you grope around the walls for a way out. If this cavern is the lair of another creature, then you may well be walking straight towards it! But you hear no sounds other than your own and eventually you reach a hole in the rock, which is large enough for you to walk through and leads to a passageway. You continue slowly along the passage, still groping your way, but you stop when a blue light flicks on in front of you. The welcome hue of a glowstone makes you blink and turn away until your eyes become accustomed to the light. When you are finally able to take in your surroundings, you find that you are at a junction where you may turn either to the east or to the west.

• East?
• West?

SKILL: 10
STAMINA: 17
LUCK: 11

marked piece of hide
secret door pendant
crystal club

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 3:50 pm

East.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun Jan 12, 2014 4:07 pm

Yay blind choice!

Go east.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:04 am

You turn east and follow the passageway. You pass under a narrow archway and find yourself in an open room, which is well lit by torches fixed high on the walls. You look around for a way onwards, but the only passage leading from the room is the one you arrived along. The room is bare except for a small pile of what looks like black cloth lying against one of the walls.

• Investigate the room further?
• Leave?

SKILL: 10
STAMINA: 17
LUCK: 11

marked piece of hide
secret door pendant
crystal club

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 6:05 am

This is probably a bullshit DNS but it could be another macguffin.

Investigate.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 7:18 am

investigate

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 7:21 am

Thirded.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 7:43 am

You wander around the room, but there is nothing particularly remarkable about it. You stop by the pile of cloth and bend down to pick it up. But, to your alarm, it springs into the air and disappears! Astonished at this strange occurrence, you look around the room for signs of the cloth. The flickering shadows make your search more difficult and in the end you shake your head and ignore the incident. You begin to move off towards the archway, when you suddenly feel a sharp stabbing pain in your back!

You spin round, roaring loudly, to face your attacker. There is no one there! But drops of dark liquid, rolling off your back and dripping on to the floor, confirm that you have certainly been injured. You must lose 2 STAMINA points. As you search round trying to spot your attacker, you get your first warning of the phantom you are facing. Your shadow shifts against the wall and, as it does so, it reveals another shadow, trying to remain concealed within your own! A spindly arm rises above your shadow with a sharp knife clutched in its hand. You leap to one side as the arm descends. The knife catches your shadow's arm as you jump away, and dark blood seeps from between the scales of your arm. You must lose 2 more STAMINA points. What do you want to do now?

• Attempt to fight the deadly Shadow Stalker you are facing?
• Grab for the torches?
• Flee from the area?

SKILL: 10
STAMINA: 13/17
LUCK: 11

marked piece of hide
secret door pendant
crystal club

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:59 am

Torch grab

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Jan 13, 2014 3:16 pm

Yeah, grab the torch.

angelfromanotherpin · Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:34 am

You reach up for the torch on the wall beside you, but it is just out of your reach. Meanwhile, the Shadow Stalker is once more poised for attack and only by shifting sideways quickly do you avoid a fatal blow. Instead, the plunging knife grazes your shadow's leg. Lose 1 STAMINA point.

• Try to fight the creature?
• Offer a gesture of peace?
• Flee as quickly as possible?

SKILL: 10
STAMINA: 12/17
LUCK: 11

marked piece of hide
secret door pendant
crystal club

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 12:46 am

This thing will probably kill us if we try to fight it.

I'm curious to see what happens if we try making peace with it, but I'm guessing we're supposed to run.

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 3:30 am

(I wonder if it's an existing monster in the FF RPG, and if yes, how one is supposed to fight it. Because it seems to be able to disregard other shadows or treat them as solid and stabbable when convenient.)

There isn't anything else in the room, so I guess it's a hp sink at best. Run.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 3:57 am

In a state of panic, you lumber towards the door as quickly as you are able. The Shadow Stalker, however, is quicker and its knife finds your back as you flee. Lose 3 STAMINA points. When you reach the archway, your two shadows separate. The Shadow Stalker becomes faint as the light fades. In the light of the glowstones you hardly cast a shadow at all and this seems to worry the creature. It slips back along the wall into the room and settles on the floor. You blink and look again. The creature now looks like a pile of black cloth! You turn and leave the room, still not certain of what has happened. Eventually you reach the junction and continue westwards.

The passage continues west, then turns sharply to the right. A few paces along the corridor you reach a junction where you can go either:

• West?
• Or north?

SKILL: 10
STAMINA: 9/17
LUCK: 11

marked piece of hide
secret door pendant
crystal club

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 4:03 am

North.

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 5:26 am

North.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 5:59 am

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 6:44 am

The passage runs straight ahead until you reach a junction, where you may:

• Continue north?
• Turn east?
• Return to the previous junction and turn west?

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Tue Jan 14, 2014 6:56 am

Continue as we were going. Man these blind choices aren't very exciting (or I just forgot that part where a dude told us whats to the west and all that)