[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy #54 - Legend of Zagor!

[SlyJohnny]

Eat at least one meal before door-ing it up, yeah.

[Sirocco]

I don't like "one-way" doors, so I'm going to vote to go back. We might miss on something.

[SGamerz]

We down another meal to bring STAMINA up to 14....

Predictably, the king's art gallery has been desecrated by the Orcs of the castle: broken sculptures and shattered crystal lie everywhere, and the Orcs have daubed moustaches and beards on the paintings of the queens and princesses. Paintings of Elven Masters of the King's Hunt have been contemptuously sliced up with swords, and the hall has been thoroughly vandalized. However, a large portrait of an old, grey-haired wizard is still intact in its frame at one end of the gallery; if you wish to examine it closely, turn to 151 Otherwise, you leave by the west door and go north to the crossroads, turn to 92.

I'm getting the impression that the Orcs of Amarillia are like naughty school kids and juvenile delinquents, first jumping on beds and now drawing moustaches on paintings.

Examine the painting?

[Darth Rabbitt]

Look at it. This isn't a UK Steve book so I doubt it'll be a spoopy Scooby-Doo painting that penalizes us.

[SGamerz]

As you look closely at the painting, the face of the wizard changes swiftly and dramatically! His kindly features seem to swim out of focus and mutate into the livid, red face of some horrific Demon from your worst nightmares! It is Zagor himself, and his eyes move as if searching for something. They meet yours and the visage breaks into a crooked grimace of hatred. Words form with your mind, a telepathic scream from the enraged monster: 'You dare challenge me?' Lose 1 LUCK point! Filled with fear, you rush out of this room and press on northward.

Seems like Ian or Keith picked up a trick or two from UK Steve.

Standing at the crossroads, you see that the passageway going east has no doors. To the north, there is one door on either side of the passageway, which terminates in another east-west passage. To the south, there are two doors in the east side of the passage, which then turns westwards, back to the area where you entered this castle level. If you want to return south and west to where you have entered this castle level, turn to 399. To the west, the Passage of Hawks continues for some distance; if you want to head this way, turn to 5. Otherwise you must open a door you haven't opened before; will this be:

Either of the doors to the north?
The first door to the south?
The second door to the south?

We are n a different passage now, but note that we can still go back to the previous passage (399) if we think we're not finished there yet.

Where to go now?

[Sirocco]

Ominous. Yeah, go back to 399 and exhaust the first set of options.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Agreed.

[SGamerz]

By "exhausting the first set of options" I assume you want to open the last door in that passage (the one on the left).

Test your Skill at opening the door. If you are successful, tum to 529; if you fail, turn to 251.

The text here is actually kind of misleading. It sounds like the roll is to determine whether we succeed in opening the door. Since our SKILL is 11 and we have an iron bar to help open doors, we can't fail a roll like that. However, the roll is in fact to determine whether we make enough noise to alert the guards (which we will only find our by turning to one of the next sections), so I'd make the roll normally:

Dice roll = 7 (success)

You have been fortunate enough to come upon two Orc guards sleeping in dereliction of their duty, so you dispatch them swiftly. Gain 1 LUCK point. Their armour and weapons are of little use to you, but you gather some food from this guardroom (add 2 to your Provisions) and there is a lantern here should you need it. Leaving this room, you can head back east to explore or go to the west to the north turning of the passage.

We regain the LUCK we just lost from looking at the painting.

Going "back east to explore" leads back to 399, while going "to the west to the north turning" goes to 134.....which is also accessible from 399 anyway, so let's go back there. Seriously, whether this is written by Martin or Livingstone, the way directional options are presented in this book feels more confusing than any other books written by either of those guys, at least to me.

Where to we go next from 399:

Head north to the Passage of Hawks? (section 5)
Head west along the passage to where it tums north? (134)
Head east along the passage to where it turns north? (139)

[Darth Rabbitt]

Let's go to the Passage of Hawks.

[Mr Shine]

Head back east and north and try one of the northern doors.

[Sirocco]

Hang on. The previous passage said:

To the south, there are two doors in the east side of the passage, which then turns westwards, back to the area where you entered this castle level.

Does that mean that those two doors are also accessible from 139? Have we even visited those doors yet? I think one of them is the art gallery with the wizard painting. We should make a friggin map!

So, 92, the crossroads is part of the Passage of Hawks (it says "the PoH continues for some distance"), also it's probably the east end of the PoH, given that "the passageway going east has no doors".

5 is a place west of 92, on the PoH, which we haven't been to, yet.

399 is where we came in on this level.

139 is a section between 399 and 92 (???)

So this is something like:
(Edited to reflect the doors more accurately)

Code: Select all

                                     ...----...
                                        D| D
                                         |
                                         |
? --Passage--of---- 5 ---Hawks---------- 92 -----------|
  \                 |                    / D (art gallery)
   \                |                   /  S (lava sphere) 
     134 --------  399 -------------- 139 D (dwarves)
            D            D      D    
          (orcs)      (cstln) (lckd) 

Where D: door, S: Secret door                   

Am I reading this correctly?

If yes, my plan is:
- Open the door south of 92 (not the art gallery one, the other one), then It's probably the Dwarves' hall.
- Go to 134 and explore.
- Go to 5 and explore.
- Leave for last the 2 doors north of 92, since beyond them there is yet another passage, with presumably even more doors.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Changing my vote to Sirocco's plan because of the map and solid reasoning.

[Mr Shine]

Sirocco's sounds good.

[SGamerz]

Heading to 134 first as per Sirocco's plan:

About half-way along this north-facing passageway there is a lone single door to the west, then the passage meets the long east-west Passage of Hawks. If you want to return to the south to explore an area you haven't yet entered, tum to 399. If you want to open the door here, not having done so before, turn to 39. If you want to male for the passage of Hawks ahead of you, tum to 111.

There's only 1 door here, and I assume you want to finish exploring this passage before going somewhere else, so we'll open the door:

The legendary Hall of Heroes lies behind this door. All the greatest warriors and knights in Amarilla had their portraits placed here and, surprisingly, they have not been defaced. Entering, you gaze sadly at the pantings, realizing that so many of Amarillia's finest warriors must have perished in the terrible war against the Bone Demon and its armies. One painting in particular catches your eye: it depicts a plate mail-clad knight with flowing auburn hair and green eyes; this youth is hewing down a group of Orcs single-handedly while an airborne sword flies about him striking at Orcs as well! Unfortunately the plaque under this painting has been torn away - possible by irate Orcs. Test your Spot Skill; if you are successful, turn to 381. If you fail, you spot nothing unusual, so now you must leave and explore elsewhere; you can go south and then eastwards or northwards to the Passage of Hawks.

Nothing can escape notice from our hawk-eyed wizard!

There is a well-concealed sliding panel behind one of the paintings on the west wall. If you want to open it, tum to 236, If you do not wish to do this, you must leave and explore elsewhere; you can head south and then eastwards or northwards to the Passage of Hawks.

In a cramped chamber behind the sliding panel you find a dark-haired, middle-aged man sitting on a dilapidated bed with his head in his hands. A small oil-lamp burns on a table beside him, and you can see the corner of a wooden chest poking out from under the bed. The man is wearing plate mail armour and he reacts with alarm to your entry; you can see from his demeanour that he knows how to use the heavy broadsword he is gripping firmly in his left hand while raising a shield with the other. He is also wearing a curiously ornate gold ring on his right index finger. He yells at you to leave and is clearly going to be a tough opponent to fight. If you want to attack him, tum to 29. If you try to parley with him, turn to 129. If you back away and leave, you must explore elsewhere; you can set off to the south and then eastwards or northwards to the Passage of Hawks.

I'm wondering whether the specific mention of the gold ring is meant to trigger the ever-present "kill and loot" response from the average gamers....

What do we do?

[Darth Rabbitt]

Give peace a chance (try to parley).

[Sirocco]

Agreed.

[Mr Shine]

If it's not green and scaly or grey and rotting, don't hit it.

[SGamerz]

If it's not green and scaly or grey and rotting, don't hit it.

Yeah, I thought that Dark Elf's colour looked a bit off.

You decide to take a risk and tell the man that you have come to destroy the evil that is ruling the castle. He looks first confused, then despairing, and blurts out that your quest is hopeless. He is Sir Davian, one of the last Argent Knights, and it is all he can do to keep the Orcs at bay and delay his own death. He breaks down and admits that he had been afflicted with magical fear by one of the War Dragons which assaulted the castle during the wars, and that he literally fainted with fear after fleeing - and found himself here. Now he hides, in fear for his life. If you are Braxus, tum to 178. If you are any other character, turn to 250.

We're not Braxus....

Braxus will convince the knight to give him his magical plate mail, which would be part of his ideal equipment set.

The wretched knight is sunk in depression and despair, clearly he can offer you no help. If you want lo ask him about the knight with the magical flying sword in the painting you have seen, though this may be tactless, turn to 202. Otherwise, you must leave and explore elsewhere; you can head south and then eastwards or northwards for the Passage of Hawks.

Personally, I don't see what's so tactless about the question....

Do we ask the question?

"South and eastwards" leads back to 399. I will assume we continue with the previous exploration plan from Sirocco and head for the Passage of Hawks next (of course, if you want a change of plans, you can always vote otherwise.).

[Sirocco]

Yes and yes.

[SlyJohnny]

It's tactless because, as far as we can tell, every single one of his friends in the whole world was either horribly murdered, sewn into a flesh golem, or tortured and then horribly murdered. There's a good chance he watched comrades die and was unable to intervene due to his fear-curse. He probably has PTSD even discounting the permanent magical fear (if he's even telling the truth about that, rather than telling himself a story to assuage his guilt), so asking an already massively depressed person to recount what happened to anyone in particular probably isn't terribly good for his mental state.

That said, let's tell this wuss to man the fuck up and tell us where his dead buddy's magic items are.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Agreed.

[SGamerz]

'Sir Bethel was my friend. He was a mighty warrior, and he used a magical flying sword. It would fight independently of him, dancing in the air and slicing through Orcs like a knife through butter. Alas, he perished in the wars, of course. To find his rooms, when you leave here you should head northwards, then east along the Passage of Hawks to the crossroads. Once there, you should travel northwards and take the eastern route at the end of that passageway. That is where you will find the chambers of the Argent Knights.' You thank Davian for his help. Now you must leave and explore elsewhere; you can head south and then eastwards or northwards.

Since no objections were voiced, we head to the Passage of Hawks next:

You stand looking up and down the long east-west Passage of Hawks, with several doors and passages leading from it. You decide to make for the mid-way point of the passage and take careful stock of everything you can see.

This is pretty much just a transitional section, which only leads to section 5 (where we would turn to if we had gone straight to the PoH from 399).

You are standing mid-way along the Passage of Hawks. Looking south, you can see the door by which you entered this level of the castle. To the east, there is a green door in the south wall, then a crossroads, then the passage continues east without any further doors leading from it. To the west, there is a white door in the south wall, then a corridor leading south, and finally, some metres before the end of the passage, there is a door in the south wall directly opposite a northwards leading passage. You should head for an area you haven't explored before. Will you:

Head due south? (this takes us back to 399)
Open the green door to the east?
Make for the crossroads to the east? (this goes to 92)
Open the white door to the west?
Open the second door to the west?
Go west and down the south passage? (we've just been there and explored the only door in that passage)
Go west and down the north passage?

[Sirocco]

Updated map:

Code: Select all

                                                    ...----... 
   |            
   |                                                    | 
   |                                                    | 
   \-----------111 --Passage--of-- 5 ---Hawks---------- 92 -----------| 
   D             \        WD       |        GD         / D (art gallery) 
                  \                |                 /  S (lava sphere) 
                    134 --------  399 ------------ 139 D (dwarves) 
                           D            D      D    
                         (orcs)      (cstln) (lckd) 
               
Where D: door, S: Secret door   

Plan:
Let's try the doors first (green, then white, then the other one), and then try the northwest passage, see whether it dead ends or it goes on to join the other passage north of 92.

[Mr Shine]

Sounds good.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Thirded.