[Let's Play] Blood Sword II - The Kingdom of Wyrd

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sun May 24, 2015 3:46 am

Stab rinse repeat.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun May 24, 2015 11:33 am

pew pew arrow shots

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sun May 24, 2015 4:34 pm

Darth Rabbitt wrote:pew pew arrow shots

You're adjacent to an enemy.

Kiki and Reed, let me know your preferred targets (Kiki's between both at once).

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun May 24, 2015 5:12 pm

Oh. Quarterstaff technique the one I'm adjacent to. If successful, I'll pull back and fire on the next turn. If unsuccessful I'll defend on the next turn. I figure by the third these two bitches will be...
(•_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)
on ice.

Shiritai · Post by **Shiritai** » Sun May 24, 2015 8:24 pm

Bit of a revision for my plan: I'll NB the one with highest endurance, then cast Sheet Lightning next round. After that I'll do the NB cycle.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Sun May 24, 2015 8:31 pm

If the Nemesis Bolt doesn't drop its target, I'll try to finish it off. If it does drop it's target, I'll start on the other one.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Mon May 25, 2015 3:46 am

Since Starmaker mentioned he'll be away from the internet for some time, and the Trickster is next to 1 opponent, I'll proceed with the battle and just have him attack normally....

COMBAT LOG:

Round 1 ... FIGHT!

Awareness 8 acts ...

Trickster fights Vampire #1. Roll = 8 (Miss).

Vampire #1 fights Trickster. Roll = 9+1 = 10 (Miss).

Vampire #2 fights Warrior. Roll = 5 (Hits!) Damage = 1+3-3-1 = 0! (Shielding charm and chainmail protects Warrior from damage!)).

Awareness 7 acts ...

Enchanter attempts to cast Nemesis Bolt. Roll = 8 + 5 = 13. (Success!) Damage = 25+7 = 32. Vampire #1 is killed.

Awareness 6 acts ...

Warrior fights Vampire #2. Roll = 3 (Hits). Damage = 4+2 = 6. Vampire #1 has 19 END left.

Sage fights Vampire #2 with Quarterstaff Technique. Roll = 17. (Miss!)

Quick Thinking bonus:

Trickster Moves next to Vampire #2.

Round 2

Awareness 8 acts ...

Trickster fights Vampire #2. Roll = 9 (Miss).

Vampire #2 fights Trickster. Roll = 8+1 = 9 (Miss).

Awareness 7 acts ...

Enchanter attempts to cast Sheet Lightning. Roll = 7+4 = 11. (Success!) Damage = 6+2 = 8. Vampire #2 has 11 END left.

Awareness 6 acts ...

Warrior fights Vampire #2. Roll = 6 ( Hits). Damage = 6+2 = 8. Demon has 3 EN left.

Sage fights Vampire #2 normally (it's near death, no need for the extra damage). Roll = 11. (Miss!)

Round 3

Awareness 8 acts ...

Trickster fights Vampire #1. Roll = 2 (Hits). Damage = 4+1 =5. Vampire #2 is killed.

Vampire #2 fights Warrior. Roll = 7 (Hits!). Damage = 3+3-3-1 = 2. Warrior has 15 END left.

Damn, it got a hit just before it dies!

The full red flesh withers away, leaving only a pile of ancient bones where the vampires fell. Dried blood covers the bones like rust.

You wearily tread back to the foot of the crag and slump down at your camp to rest. With harrowed nerves and limbs that ache with exhaustion, you soon fall into a sound sleep.

The star known as Red Death hurtles high across the heavens, casting its baleful light upon you. In your sleep, you moan and turn over.

Any players wounded by the snow vampires, except the player holding the Blood Sword scabbard, should turn to 558. If no players were wounded fighting the vampires (or if the only wounded player is also the one holding the scabbard), turn to 91.

The Warrior is the only one wounded....and fortunately he's carrying the Scabbard!

Wounded players not protected by the scabbard may get turned into vampires on a failed Psychic roll check, so we were pretty luck with how this turned out. There's a chance to restore the undead players after that, but depending on the options we make then, it could have turned real nasty with living players forced fight their own undead companions!

You awaken lethargically to find the morning heavy and grey. If you have rations, then you may take breakfast. Each player who eats must cross off one day's rations. Any player who does not have breakfast loses one Endurance point.

You pack up the camp and then, turning your eyes to the north-east, you set out on the long journey to Wyrd.

The Enchanter shares his rations with the Warrior and Sage. All meals carried by the party have been consumed....

If you expected that the frozen surface of the Mistral Sea would be flat and smooth, you soon learn your error. It is an undulating expanse of pitted ice, as hard and grey as iron. A shroud of sparkling snow lies over the petrified seascape, and sometimes the ice juts up in baroque tors and bergs carved by the wind. A persistent, keening gale rushes down out of the north, cutting through your clothing and chilling you to the marrow.

Days and nights pass as you trudge ever nearer to your goal. You feel suspended like dust in a relentless white glare by day, stranded in an illimitable void by night. In all, you spend three days on the ice - and the cold takes its toll. Each player loses five Endurance points for each day, with the following modifiers:

one less point lost each day if you wear a fur cloak;
one less point lost each day if you have rations to eat;
one less point lost each day if you have a bedroll;
one less point lost each day if the party owns a brazier.

Also, a player who does not own a pair of gloves will suffer frostbite and must subtract one from Fighting Prowess for the rest of the adventure.

Hey, the Enchanter actually doesn't suffer any loss for his lack of gloves, because his FB is already at 0!

So what we lack here is food....3 days' worth of food. Everyone loses 2 END per day, so that's 6 END overall!

Any players who survive the three-day ordeal at last catch sight of land. It is the coast of Wyrd.

Well, no one is dead from hunger yet, since we were all at full END.

The pack-ice underfoot seems to become thinner as you approach the shoreline. There are none of the high and fancifully shaped ice tors, and in places you notice cracks through the ice to the chill grey sea beneath.

You are a little over a kilometre from the coast when you spot a fur-clad figure lying on the ice. He is not moving. You had hoped to make all haste in order to reach solid ground before nightfall, but if you detour to see if this stranger is alive then that may not be possible.

If you go to the stranger's assistance, turn to 465. If you decide you cannot waste time on someone who's probably dead anyway, turn to 365.

Do we want to go loot the dead guy and eat his corpse help the poor stranger?

Adventure Sheets:

WARRIOR:

NAME: Dame Caecilia Wither-Stoat
RANK: 3rd

Battle Order: 1

Fighting Prowess: 10
Psychic Ability: 6
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 9/17
Damage: 1 Die+2

Items:
1 Sword
2 Chainmail armour (Armour Rating three)
3 Money pouch (94 gold pieces)
4 Gloves
5 Blood Sword Scabbard
6 Healing Salve (5 applications, restores 1 Die of END each)
7 Shielding Charm (+1 AR)
8 Silver crucifix (with finger-bone of St Ashanax)
9 Fur Cloak
10 Bedroll

TRICKSTER:

NAME: Benedict of the Crimson Spires, Honourable Duelist
RANK: 3rd

Battle Order: 2

Fighting Prowess: 7
Psychic Ability: 6
Awareness: 8
Endurance: 13/19
Damage: 1 Die+1

Items:
1 Sword
2 Ringmail armour (Armour Rating two)
3 Pouch of Tahac
4 Fur Cloak
5 Gloves
6 Bedroll
7 Harp
8 Silver Wolf's head clasp
9-10 Empty slot
*11 Screebo the Raven

SAGE:

NAME: "Pepito" Cascadero, Master of the Mystic Way
RANK: 3rd

Battle Order: 3

Fighting Prowess: 7
Psychic Ability: 7
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 10/16
Damage: 1 Die+1

Items:
1 Quarterstaff
2 Breastplate (Armour Rating one)
3 Fur Cloak
4 Bedroll
5 Magic Bow (Damage 1 Die+1)
6 Quiver (3 arrows)
7 Chequers board and pieces
8 Blue Crystal Eyes
9 Clay Pipe
10 Gloves

ENCHANTER:

NAME: Enchanter Reed, Ninth of the Inverted Tower
RANK: 3rd

Battle Order: 4

Fighting Prowess: 0
Psychic Ability: 15 (+1 from Ring of Sorcery)
Awareness: 7
Endurance: 10/16
Damage: 1 Die

Items:
1 Brazier
2 Silver armour (Armour Rating two)
3 Bedroll
4 Golden Snuffbox
5 Fur Cloak
6 Money pouch (84 gold pieces)
7 Ring of Sorcery (+1 PA)
8-10 Empty slots

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon May 25, 2015 4:03 am

I'd want someone to come help me, so I vote to be a good samaritan.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon May 25, 2015 4:19 am

Help out the guy.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Mon May 25, 2015 4:28 am

You reach the stranger and roll him over. No, her - it is a young girl with raven-black hair, wearing a peasant's homespun under her thick cloak. She is very weak and her flesh is as white as alabaster, but she is still breathing.

If a Sage wishes to heal her, he should roll for this in the usual way, and once she has regained at least one Endurance point, turn to 48.

If the party has no Sage but you do have a brazier and rations that you are prepared to share, turn to 533.

Failing either of these, turn to 59.

Unfortunately, we have no food to share, so it's all up to the Sage. For some reason, the Warrior's healing salve doesn't work here.

Pepito needs to decide how much END he wants to spend (note that he's not at full END at the moment).

Shiritai · Post by **Shiritai** » Mon May 25, 2015 4:33 am

Each player who eats must cross off one day's rations.

iron rations (one week), two gold pieces each

I'm pretty sure we suffer no END loss, since each iron ration is good for seven days. So we started with 28 day's rations, and consumed 16 days worth, leaving us with 12 days of food. Plenty for the girl we just found!

Edit: Nevermind, I see we still take 3 END damage each.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Mon May 25, 2015 4:44 am

Good point, I should have copied down the one week note when I update the Equipment list....

Let's share food with the girl, then:

She is barely strong enough to speak, but her mind is lucid. 'I am from Wyrd,' she says in a small voice. 'I tried to escape, along with my two brothers, for our family had suffered too long under the Warlock-King's tyranny. But the Eislaken rose up to slay my brothers, as it slays ... all who try ... to flee ...'

Her voice begins to trail off. You realise she is going into shock, a coma from which she will never awaken. She lost too much body-heat before you found her, and no ministrations of yours can save her now.

Will you ask her a question: 'What is the Eislaken?' (turn to 135), 'What is the source of the Warlock-King's power?' (turn to 544), 'How can the Warlock-King be defeated?' (turn to 284) or will you let her die in peace (turn to 59)?

What do we ask her?

Adventure Sheets:

WARRIOR:

NAME: Dame Caecilia Wither-Stoat
RANK: 3rd

Battle Order: 1

Fighting Prowess: 10
Psychic Ability: 6
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 12/17
Damage: 1 Die+2

Items:
1 Sword
2 Chainmail armour (Armour Rating three)
3 Money pouch (94 gold pieces)
4 Gloves
5 Blood Sword Scabbard
6 Healing Salve (5 applications, restores 1 Die of END each)
7 Shielding Charm (+1 AR)
8 Silver crucifix (with finger-bone of St Ashanax)
9 Fur Cloak
10 Bedroll

TRICKSTER:

NAME: Benedict of the Crimson Spires, Honourable Duelist
RANK: 3rd

Battle Order: 2

Fighting Prowess: 7
Psychic Ability: 6
Awareness: 8
Endurance: 16/19
Damage: 1 Die+1

Items:
1 Sword
2 Ringmail armour (Armour Rating two)
3 Pouch of Tahac
4 Fur Cloak
5 Gloves
6 Bedroll
7 Harp
8 Silver Wolf's head clasp
9-10 Empty slot
*11 Screebo the Raven

SAGE:

NAME: "Pepito" Cascadero, Master of the Mystic Way
RANK: 3rd

Battle Order: 3

Fighting Prowess: 7
Psychic Ability: 7
Awareness: 6
Endurance: 13/16
Damage: 1 Die+1

Items:
1 Quarterstaff
2 Breastplate (Armour Rating one)
3 Fur Cloak
4 Bedroll
5 Magic Bow (Damage 1 Die+1)
6 Quiver (3 arrows)
7 Chequers board and pieces
8 Blue Crystal Eyes
9 Clay Pipe
10 Gloves

ENCHANTER:

NAME: Enchanter Reed, Ninth of the Inverted Tower
RANK: 3rd

Battle Order: 4

Fighting Prowess: 0
Psychic Ability: 15 (+1 from Ring of Sorcery)
Awareness: 7
Endurance: 13/16
Damage: 1 Die

Items:
1 Brazier
2 Silver armour (Armour Rating two)
3 Bedroll
4 Golden Snuffbox
5 Fur Cloak
6 Money pouch (84 gold pieces)
7 Ring of Sorcery (+1 PA)
8-9 Iron Rations (11 days)
10 Empty slot

Shiritai · Post by **Shiritai** » Mon May 25, 2015 4:53 am

Go for broke: "How can we defeat the king?"

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon May 25, 2015 4:59 am

Agreed. If offered the chance to find out the BBEG's weak point, you take it.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Mon May 25, 2015 5:07 am

She shakes her head weakly. 'First. . . you would have to find the Palace of Eternal Dusk. Some say it lies at the northernmost tip of Wyrd . . . but I was told it exists only in . . . our dreams ...' Her eyelids flutter and her voice becomes almost inaudible. 'Dreams that...'

Quite frankly, none of her answers are particularly important or informative here.

Her eyes close as death comes for her at last. It is the very moment of sunset. You are sorry for her, but you have done all you can and now you must get to the coast while you still have the twilight to see by. If you wish to take the fur cloak and/or gloves from the body, you can do so.

Of course, you can never have a death scene in a gamebook (no matter how tragic) without a looting reference.

Unless the Enchanter wants to grab the gloves in anticipation of future as-yet-unrevealed ill effects, there's not much else here....

Slight pause here to see if Reed wants the glove. If Pepito or Kiki want to distribute some healing around, they might want to do it now, too.

Shiritai · Post by **Shiritai** » Mon May 25, 2015 5:18 am

I'll take the gloves as a.... memento. Right.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Mon May 25, 2015 11:25 pm

You hurry towards the bleak grey cliffs that rim the shoreline of Wyrd. You feel a tremor run through the ice under your feet. Staring down, you see through the thick distorting sheet of murky ice a single glaring red eye. Your hackles rise under its vile scrutiny. Suddenly the ice cracks at eight points in a circle around you, sending up a flurry of splinters as eight huge tentacles thrash at the air and then stretch to converge on where you are standing.

If you wish to use an item, turn to 549. If you would rather run for the shore, turn to 316. If you decide to stand and fight, turn to 457.

Run, fight or plot token?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon May 25, 2015 11:37 pm

Is it too late for me to fire off some healing? I was actually planning on it before I saw you had replied...

I doubt this thing wants a smoke or to play a game of checkers. But maybe one of the other items will work on it? Half a vote to use an item.

Shiritai · Post by **Shiritai** » Mon May 25, 2015 11:59 pm

Sure, let's see the items we can choose, though I kinda doubt we have anything that would work. Maybe if we picked the orb of death...

Oh, and I'll prepare Nemesis Bolt and Sheet Lightning.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue May 26, 2015 12:07 am

I don't have access to dice at the moment, but I will roll for the Sage's healing before the fighting starts. Let me know how much END you wish to spend.

Meanwhile, here're the items you can use here:

The thick tentacles snake in towards you, but you keep your thoughts calm as you consider the item that might be of use to you now.

If you activate the orb of fire, turn to 78. If you have a scroll of invisibility and wish to use it, turn to 22. If you play a harp, turn to 340. If you look through two blue eye-jewels, turn to 401. If you don't have any of these items, or if you decide not to use them, you must either fight the monster or make a dash for the shore.

We have only 2 out of 4 items listed, and no clue as to whether they will work.....

Shiritai · Post by **Shiritai** » Tue May 26, 2015 12:28 am

Neither of those options sound good to me; I vote we get kracken and slay this beastie.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue May 26, 2015 1:16 am

I'll use 4 END on healing with order of priority being:
Kiki (up to full)
Pepito (also up to full, if possible)
then (if any left) the remainder on Reed.

I'd be slightly in favor of trying out the eye-jewels. They might let us see a glowing weak point for this boss.

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Tue May 26, 2015 8:11 am

Shiritai wrote:Neither of those options sound good to me; I vote we get kracken and slay this beastie.

This. Also, ouch.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue May 26, 2015 2:59 pm

Healing Roll: (6-2)x4 = 16 END regained! Everyone is back to full health.

(Good thing....I think we'll need it)

You move quickly, turning your gaze this way and that. You must be alert to signs of impending attack from any or all of the eight tentacles.

Eislaken
Fighting Prowess: 7 Awareness: 7
Damage per blow: 2 Dice Armour Rating: 2
Endurance: 11 per tentacle

Note that you are essentially fighting the Eislaken's tentacles as though they were eight individual monsters. In order to fight a tentacle, you must move to one of the holes where they emerged through the ice. Since the tentacles can stretch far overhead, they can fight any player, no matter where he or she is standing. The creature is immune to Psychic spells.

Once you have managed to destroy six of the tentacles, turn to 525.

Unfortunately, we lacked the exact 2 possible plot token that could have helped us avoid this fight. Yes, the Orb of Fire was probably the most useful of the 5 orbs to pick up...mostly because of this fight.

The scroll of Invisibility would have worked, too, and this would have been from the last book....but you guys were too busy abusing the ADJUST scrolls to pay attention to any other scrolls.

In a way, I was almost looking forward to this encounter, since I want to find out whether our magically-enhanced Enchanter may actually make this fight doable without losing any party member. I don't think it's likely for a normal party to survive this without at least losing a few members.

Strategies?

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Tue May 26, 2015 3:16 pm

Sheet Lightning, Defend, pour salve on Reed?