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

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Tue Jul 05, 2016 3:24 pm

Drink luck potion and search. Take new way out if search finds something bad, nothing or something minor. Ask again if it finds something quite good.

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Tue Jul 05, 2016 7:26 pm

Agreed with above.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Jul 06, 2016 1:21 am

You find nothing of value in the course o[ your thorough search (you must eat a meal), but you manage to cut your hand badly on some broken glass equipment; lose 2 STAMINA points. Do you now want to open the south door or make for the main passage outside?

STAMINA down to 9, and we also just ate our last regular meal. We still have 3 units of oatmeal left, though.

Now, to the south door, since we found nothing....

You stand, open mouthed, gaping at the monstrosity that rears up before you. You're not sure what it is - or what it was, more likely. Perhaps, judging by its size, it was an Ogre once. But its feet and hands have been greatly enlarged, and its fingers and toes have long, raking, hardened nails the size of daggers. Its belly is hugely distended, and it appears to be blind, or maybe its eyes are just sunk back into the flesh of its puffy, reddened face, above a band of livid purple stitching round its throat. Various tentacles link its body to pulsating bellows, flasks and jars; and the rise and fall of a great rubbery valve, dripping with thick slime, is what is making the ghastly noise in here. You think you can see a wooden chest half hidden in the pile of debris round the room, though you cannot be certain. If you want to flee this lumbering horror as it squelches towards you, turn to 302. lf you decide to fight it, whatever it is, tum to 167.

Of course, all those mention of hybrid monsters created in experiments, it's only a matter of time before we actually find on in a lab. In fact, I'm surprised there isn't a whole zoo of them here.

Fight this thing (whatever it is)?

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Wed Jul 06, 2016 10:12 am

Mmm, I'm thinking we take a bath on this one. It's big and mean and probably has nasty special rules for fighting it, and "debris" doesn't sound especially lootable, so all we're fighting for here is the vague promise of a possible chest that doesn't appear to have a picture on it. Tower chests are normally described as tower chests, right?

Retreat.

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Wed Jul 06, 2016 1:46 pm

Half a vote to flee, I'm not sure it's worth fighting a nasty monster over rubble, flasks and jars.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Wed Jul 06, 2016 2:39 pm

Let's give this one a miss. (That miss not being Jallarial)

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 11:52 am

As you race away, a deep rumbling sound rises from the belly of the Mutant behind you and a wave of corrosive acid splashes across your back; lose 4 STAMINA points. If you are still alive you run for dear life back to the passage beyond the laboratories, then down to its end, vowing never to return here!

Ouch! STAMINA down to 5!

Also, the bad news is that the next section takes us straight to section 43....bypassing the door opposite the rom where we met Elranel. Yeah, we missed the chance to check out another room.

You are standing in the middle of an east-west passageway, and the stink of Orcs is very strong here! To the east, you can see two doors, one to your left and another one, further along, to your right. The left-hand door is, unmistakably, the entrance to an Orc barracks; here the smell is strongest. To the west the passageway swings round lo the north. Explore an area you haven't entered before. Will you now:

Open the door to the Orc barracks?
Open the further door lo the east?
Head west and then northwards?

No, we can't turn back and go back to the door we missed.

Where do we go now?

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 1:32 pm

God d%$#@ mother@#$ !
*sigh*
When we finish this playthrough, can you tell us also whether we made the right call here, and whether we missed out on anything good in the room opposite?

So. Give the barracks a wide berth, but check out first the other door to the east, before haeding west.

ETA: I caught that "haeding" as soon as I had submitted this post, but found it too funny to correct. Let's haed for that door.

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 3:17 pm

Agreed, but let's use a couple healing items first, either a potion of Stamina or a couple of the small ones.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Jul 07, 2016 11:36 pm

I'd eat the STAMINA potion, myself. Otherwise agreed.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Fri Jul 08, 2016 12:26 pm

We down one of the Stamina Potions - STAMINA now up to 17.

You have entered the rooms of the Argent Knights, the elite defenders of the castle. This network of rooms, though very extensive, has been thoroughly pillaged by the Orcs. However, most of the doors still bear the shield designs of the Argent Knights, together with their names. lf you are Sallazar Jallarial, turn to 395.

Blue option!

You find a concealed magical portal in one of the smallest chambers of the knights' quarters. If you want to cast a Teleport spell here, it will convey you past some of the greatest dangers of this castle level - and past some treasures, too. If you want to use this portal. you must cast a Teleport spell and walk into it; turn lo 41. If you don't wish to use this portal now, you may be able to do so later. Make a note of this paragraph number; you can return here to teleport from any chamber on this level of the castle (not during combat, of course, and not once you have crossed any staircase on this castle level). Now, if there is a specific knight whose name you know and whose room you want to find, turn to 117. Making a search of even a few rooms will be time-consuming; if you want to do this, turn to 159. Otherwise, you leave the rooms of the Argent Knights; you can open the doors to the Orc barracks if you haven't done so before or make your way west lo the point where the passageway bends north.

I think I'll save you guys the trouble of going back to the older pages for the knight's name.....

Convert the name of the knight into a number using the code A = 1, B = 2, C = 3 and so on. Add the numbers together, multiply the total by six, then turn to the paragraph with that number (if the knight's name isn't the first word you read, you are incorrect and you must tum to 159)

B = 2
E = 5
T = 20
H = 8
E = 5
L = 12

Total = 52x6 = 312

Bethel's chambers have been ransacked but, to your surprise, a shortsword is lying on the table- and three dead Orcs are lying on the floor! The bloodstains round their bodies look relatively fresh, too. As you are pondering this scene, the sword speaks to you!

'l'm an Orc-slaying sword,' it murmurs nonchalantly (and a bit needlessly, given the presence of the corpses here).' lf you have magical strength, I can help you. I just love killing Orcs! But I need magic to help me to fight to the best of my ability!'

If you want to take and use this sword, you need Magic Points to use it effectively. If you are fighting any kind of Orc, you can spend 1 Magic Point to activate the sword. This can be done in addition to making a normal attack, but not in addition to casting a spell. When you have done so, roll one dice, and add 2 to the number rolled. For this number of Attack Rounds, the sword will fly through the air and attack any single Orc (including Great Orcs, Mutant Orcs, etc., but not Thulu, the Orc chieftain) you can see in the room where combat is taking place. You may choose which Orc to strike. Each time it strikes, its target must lose 3 STAMINA points. The sword attacks only Orcs in this way, however, not any other kind of monster. Once its attacks are expended, you can always use another Magic Point to activate it again. Now you can make a general search of the rooms here, if you haven't done so, or return to the main passageway outside and search elsewhere.

In the novel, there's a magical flying sword too....except it doesn't talk and is NOT restricted to just killing Orcs. And Braxus took ownership of it after the heroes defeated the undead/reanimated knight that was using it against them (it wasn't mentioned whether that reanimated zombie was named Bethel, though).

Personally, I can't see this being too useful, since Orcs are usually weak opponents and not really worth spending Magic points over....well, not when our SKILL is at 11, anyway. But there's certainly no harm in taking it with us.

Do we want to search the barracks some more before we move on?

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Sat Jul 09, 2016 1:21 am

I think this place has been thoroughly tossed except for the sword, so there's no point trading the food for a "lengthy search" for whatever scraps we'd get.

Move on down the corridor.

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 4:24 am

Sounds reasonable. Move on. Skip the barracks.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 5:05 am

Agreed.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 12:11 pm

Since most of you already agreed to also skip the Orcs barracks opposite, we continue down the passage:

Just beyond the point at which the passage turns north there is a door in the west wall. Some metres further along, at the end of the passageway, is a forbidding black door with wrought-iron decoration all over it; a racket of noise is coming from behind that door: creatures are shouting wildly and discordant music brays forth If you want to open the door to your left, turn to 341. If you want to move on northwards, turn to 11.

Sounds like a party! Shall we join?

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 1:00 pm

Elranel did mention a hag guarded by Hellhorns before the throne room (which is probably the source of all this racket). So let's pay her a visit first. 341.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Mon Jul 11, 2016 7:46 pm

PARTY TIME

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 12:12 pm

Jallarial is a party girl!

The guards here are formidable - and horrible enemies The Hellhorns, which Zagor drew with him from some plane of nightmare and chaos stand well over two metres tall and hold great whips in their monstrous clawed hands. Powerful and muscular, these creatures are nevertheless tainted with chaos and disease; rotting flesh hangs from their skeletal faces and they are well named - their horns are powerful and they will use them to butt you with, as well as wielding their whips. Fortunately, one of the two Hellhorns here was dozing when you entered and is not immediately ready to fight. For the first three Attack Rounds, you fight, one against one, with a single Hellhorn; thereafter, you must tight both. Tum to 174 to fight!

As Sirocco expected, this is where the Hellhorn guards are!

The Hellhorns are ferocious enemies and you will be lucky to survive the onslaught of butting horns and flailing whips!

First HELLHORN SKILL 9 STAMINA 10
Second HELLHORN SKILL 9 STAMINA 10

If a Hellhorn hits you, you must roll one dice and consult the table below to see the extent of the damage it does to you:

Dice Roll Effect
1 Glancing blow from whip: loser 1 STAMINA point
2-3 Whip blow: lose 2 STAMINA points
4 Head-butt: lose 2 STAMINA points
5 Special whip blow: lose 2 STAMINA points and 1 SKILL point
6 Special headbutt: lose 2 STAMINA points, plus 2 extra STAMINA points from poisoned horns!

Any SKILL points you may lose because of a special whip blow are only temporary and are regained when the combat ends. If you win, you enter the Hellhorns' guard chamber through the open west door.

Good to know that the SKILL penalty won't be permanent, at least.

Straight combat? Or is there anything we want to do to help make this fight easier?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Jallarial
SKILL 11/11 (+1 from Ebony Wand)
STAMINA 17/23
LUCK 6/9
MAGIC: 4/9 (+2 from Ebony Wand)
Equipment: Staff, Leather Armor, Shield, Lantern, knife, Potion of Stamina (restores half your Initial STAMINA), rope, Iron rod (-1 to Die roll when opening doors via Skill Test), Flask of Herbal Restorative/Liquer x3 (+4 STAMINA), Golden Talisman (x2), Silver Dagger (x6), Magical Oil of Enchantment (enchants non-magical weapons for one combat), Jailor Keys (70), Wand of the Hawk, Vials of Acid (does 4 STAMINA damage if used during combat), Lava Sphere (does 1D6 damage to all opponents in a room when used in combat), Onyx Staff, Oatmeal x3 (counts as 1 meal each), Potion of Luck (restores 1-3 LUCK), Orc-slayting Sword
Provisions: None
Treasure: 3 GP
No. of Deaths: 1

Additional bonus from Wand of the Hawk: 1) +2 Attack Strength once Jallarial's entered Great Tower, 2) enchants weapons, 3) restore Magic OR STAMINA to full once

SlyJohnny · Post by **SlyJohnny** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 2:05 pm

These are a tempting target for a death spell, as killing one right off and having some free attacks on the sleepy one would be cool, but we probably need to save the magic for the throne room. Let's cast the skill boosting spell.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 4:07 pm

I'd cast Death now; these bastards look pretty nasty. We can restore our Magic to full with the wand (only once, but we haven't done so yet).

I think it's funny that headbutt and whip blow are different effects on the table despite doing the same thing.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 5:24 pm

Skill spell puts us at Skill 12, so ~75% chance to hit until and unless the skill penalty kicks in. Death spell requires us to win a combat round. Skill it is.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 5:24 pm

Casting Death is the equivalent of a 20 STAMINA hit in lost potential provisions, (and it still might not connect). I think we can take them with just the Skill spell and then use 3 points on create food to compensate for our lost STAMINA.

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Tue Jul 12, 2016 6:58 pm

My instinct was to cast Death, but math says otherwise. Skill it is.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Jul 13, 2016 12:39 pm

Jallarial uses a spell to boost her SKILL to 12 before charging into combat:

COMBAT LOG:

Hellhorn#1 16, Jallarial 17. HH1 is at 8.
HH1 14, Jallarial 19. HH1 is at 6.
HH1 14, Jallarial 21. HH1 is at 4. HH2 joins the combat.
HH1 13, HH2 12, Jallarial 21. HH1 is at 2.
HH1 18, HH2 16, Jallarial 17. Jallarial rolls a 4 and takes a headbutt - STAMINA now at 15.
HH1 18, HH2 15, Jallarial 19. HH1 is killed.
HH2 14, Jallarial 19. HH2 is at 8.
HH2 14, Jallarial 17. HH2 is at 6.
HH2 17, Jallarial 19. HH2 is at 4.
HH2 17, Jallarial 16. Jallarial rolls a 5 and takes a specia whip blow - STAMINA is at 13 and SKILL at 11.
HH2 14, Jallarial 21. HH2 is at 2.
HH2 16, Jallarial 17. HH2 is killed.

Well, the spell did save us from taking 2 extra hits, which usually adds up to 4 STAMINA, and therefore can be considered equivalent to the 1 Magic point we spent. But there's also potential for Hellhorns to do extra damage due to the special rules, as well as the fact that without the spell we couldn't have killed HH2 in that last round yet.....so all in all, I think the spell turned out to be the right choice.

The chamber of the Hellhorn guards is nothing more than a befouled, hideous abattoir: gnawed bones and chunks of rotted flesh lie everywhere. Forcing back your disgust, you search for anything that may be of value to you when, lo and behold, you find a small copper urn which has a secret compartment in the bottom - containing 2 Magic Rings! Gain 1 LUCK point, but there is nothing else here you might wish to take. There is, however, a door at the western end of the north wall here; it is unmarked and quite ordinary in appearance, but who knows what kind of horror may be a neighbor to the Hellhorns? If you want to open it, turn to 68. If you prefer to leave and go north to the great wrought iron door, turn to 197.

Again, I'm using the rings immediately, unless there are objections.

We do have some information about this entity who decided to become neighbours with Hellhorns. Are we sure we want to meet her?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Jallarial
SKILL 11/11 (+1 from Ebony Wand)
STAMINA 13/23
LUCK 7/9
MAGIC: 5/9 (+2 from Ebony Wand)
Equipment: Staff, Leather Armor, Shield, Lantern, knife, Potion of Stamina (restores half your Initial STAMINA), rope, Iron rod (-1 to Die roll when opening doors via Skill Test), Flask of Herbal Restorative/Liquer x3 (+4 STAMINA), Golden Talisman (x2), Silver Dagger (x6), Magical Oil of Enchantment (enchants non-magical weapons for one combat), Jailor Keys (70), Wand of the Hawk, Vials of Acid (does 4 STAMINA damage if used during combat), Lava Sphere (does 1D6 damage to all opponents in a room when used in combat), Onyx Staff, Oatmeal x3 (counts as 1 meal each), Potion of Luck (restores 1-3 LUCK), Orc-slayting Sword
Provisions: None
Treasure: 3 GP
No. of Deaths: 1

Additional bonus from Wand of the Hawk: 1) +2 Attack Strength once Jallarial's entered Great Tower, 2) enchants weapons, 3) restore Magic OR STAMINA to full once

Sirocco · Post by **Sirocco** » Wed Jul 13, 2016 1:52 pm

Let's meet the nice old lady.

The Gaming Den

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

Which of the below meatgrinders do you prefer to play first?