[LP] Fighting Fantasy 46 - Tower of Destruction (Take 2!)

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Mon Dec 02, 2019 9:57 am

Half vote for demon.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon Dec 02, 2019 2:37 pm

The controller is a great Demon of immortal power and force; a mortal opponent must have the most powerful magic created here to have any hope of banishing him!

Demon.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Dec 02, 2019 2:44 pm

Demon for sure.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Dec 04, 2019 1:22 pm

Tassaskil places a last spell on the sword and says with exhausted satisfaction, "Any Demon will fear this sword in your hands." Note that you gam an extra bonus of 1 point to you SKILL when fighting any Demon. This adds to the basic bonus from the Magic Sword, and makes it a very powerful weapon against Demons! In addition, the sword inflicts an extra point of damage on a Demon - your hits reduce the Demon's STAMINA by 3 points rather than the usual 2 points. You are delighted, and thank Tassaskil for his work. It's time lo leave and think about putting this sword to good use.

Our fighting SKILL against demons is now 14!

You make your way down to the crossroads with your superb sword, feeling strengthened and strong.

You stand at the middle of the crossroads. Which part of the crypts which you haven't yet visited will you visit now? Will you go:

Down the ice steps?
Down the left-hand passage?
Down the right-hand passage?
Up and out of the Ice Crypts?

Which place do we check now?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Jefferson Tallpipe
SKILL 11/12 (13 in combat w/ Magical Ice Sword & 14 vs Demons)
STAMINA 9/24
LUCK 8/12
Honour: 8
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern, Backpack, Blanket, Climbing Gear, Tasrin's Ring, Potion of Stamina (restores 1/2 of Initial STAMINA), Crowbar, Crossbow (w/ 3 normal bolts & 4 magical bolts), Magic Sword (+1 SKILL unless it's already 12), Shield of Warding (deflects missile attacks on roll of 2-8 on 2D6), Mealin's Silver Amulet, Singing Ice Bird (10 arcs of 7-coloured rays in each wing), Potion of Flying, Potion of Speed (gives extra 2nd attack for first 3 rounds in the first combat after the potion is drunk), Stone Jaguar (SKILL 8, STAMINA 8, can be animated to fight one combat on our behalf), spare lantern oil, Magical Ice Sword (+2 SKILL, +3 SKILL and +1 damage when fighting demons)
Spells: Linkcut, Coldwarding
Gold: 21
Provisions: 8/10, +3 elven weybread
No. of Failures in this playthrough: 2

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Dec 04, 2019 2:21 pm

Go right this time.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Wed Dec 04, 2019 8:44 pm

Right to get things moving.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Thu Dec 05, 2019 12:14 pm

You follow the long, dank passageway as it winds down and round a long, curving corner and then opens into a vast, snow-misted graveyard. The scene is atrocious: some warped horror has run amok, smashing open the resting places of the Elves, leaving long shards of shattered blue ice and shrouded Elven bodies behind in a wake of senseless destruction. There is a strange and disturbing atmosphere here too, as if some angry spirits were still watching over this terrible scene. What will you do here? Will you return to the crossroads or enter, in order to put the disturbed dead back to rest?

Do we stay to fix the tombs?

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Thu Dec 05, 2019 12:16 pm

Enter

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Thu Dec 05, 2019 3:02 pm

Put the dead to rest. Might as well make up for our earlier grave robbing.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Fri Dec 06, 2019 3:33 pm

You begin the laborious work of laying the Elven bodies to rest and repairing their graves as best you can. But soon after you begin you feel a cold presence behind you, and you tum around to see a grey, wispy Elf-Ghost flying towards you, its arms extended to strike at you face. You sense the Elf-Ghost is quite insane, perhaps driven mad by whatever destroyed the resting place of its physical body. So you are force to fight it.

ELF-GHOST SKILL 8 STAMINA 9

If you win, what will you do? You've done a fair bit of repair work here. You could leave and go elsewhere without being dishonourable. If you want to do this, turn to 3. If you prefer to continue here, turn to 179.

COMBAT LOG:

Elf-Ghost 18, Tallpipe 18. Tie.
EG 18, Tallpipe 23. EG is at 7.
EG 13, Tallpipe 17. EG is at 5.
EG 19, Tallpipe 21. EG is at 3.
EG 14, Tallpipe 21. EG is at 1.
EG 16, Tallpipe 17. EG is defeated.

Our new sword saved us from taking a blow in the first round respite rolling badly. Another flawless!

Do we want to continue?

MisterDee · Post by **MisterDee** » Mon Dec 09, 2019 1:13 am

We can probably farm another honour point here. More corpse-tending.

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Mon Dec 09, 2019 1:34 am

Says leaving isn't dishonourable, but yeah, second staying.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:07 am

Stay. Even if leaving is not dishonourable that doesn't mean there is no honour to be gained in sticking around.

(Long and sophomoric essay on how English makes it difficult to clearly distinguish between things it is praiseworthy to do and things it is shameful to not do)

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Mon Dec 09, 2019 11:54 am

You continue your work until your back and arms ache with the effort. Gain 1 HONOUR point, but now you must sit and eat a meal. Just as you get up to finish repairing the last few tombs, you espy another Elf Ghost flying to the attack! You try to point lo your work, but this wretched spectre must be half-crazed too, for it will not listen. Its pale, wasted form strikes out implacably at you. Again, you are forced to fight.

ELF-GHOST SKILL 8 STAMINA 9

lf you win, you may complete your work here...but how many more times will you be attacked? Can you endure such assault? You could not be blamed for heading off elsewhere now. If you want to do this, turn to 3. If you are content to go on toiling here, turn to 21.

COMBAT LOG:

Elf-Ghost 13, Tallpipe 17. EG is at 7.
EG 15, Tallpipe 17. EG is at 5.
EG 16, Tallpipe 20. EG is at 3.
EG 14, Tallpipe 22. EG is at 1.
EG 13, Tallpipe 17. EG is defeated.

Quick and easy this time.

Well, we got the HONOUR bonus as expected! Should we leave now while the going is good? For persist in finish the good work?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Jefferson Tallpipe
SKILL 11/12 (13 in combat w/ Magical Ice Sword & 14 vs Demons)
STAMINA 9/24
LUCK 8/12
Honour: 9
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern, Backpack, Blanket, Climbing Gear, Tasrin's Ring, Potion of Stamina (restores 1/2 of Initial STAMINA), Crowbar, Crossbow (w/ 3 normal bolts & 4 magical bolts), Magic Sword (+1 SKILL unless it's already 12), Shield of Warding (deflects missile attacks on roll of 2-8 on 2D6), Mealin's Silver Amulet, Singing Ice Bird (10 arcs of 7-coloured rays in each wing), Potion of Flying, Potion of Speed (gives extra 2nd attack for first 3 rounds in the first combat after the potion is drunk), Stone Jaguar (SKILL 8, STAMINA 8, can be animated to fight one combat on our behalf), spare lantern oil, Magical Ice Sword (+2 SKILL, +3 SKILL and +1 damage when fighting demons)
Spells: Linkcut, Coldwarding
Gold: 21
Provisions: 7/10, +3 elven weybread
No. of Failures in this playthrough: 2

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Mon Dec 09, 2019 12:14 pm

Half a vote for continuing to fix things.

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Mon Dec 09, 2019 2:43 pm

Do we get hitpoints back for meals we must eat?

Continue to fix things. Because things are not totally fixed yet.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Tue Dec 10, 2019 3:19 am

Omegonthesane wrote:Do we get hitpoints back for meals we must eat?

It's SGamerz's call but I always figured that was the case.

In any case, this book has rewarded persistence so far, so keep at it.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:12 pm

Darth Rabbitt wrote:
Omegonthesane wrote:Do we get hitpoints back for meals we must eat?
It's SGamerz's call but I always figured that was the case.

Actually, no, the rules are quite specific that we don't regain any STAMINA for meals that we must eat. They are used to prevent loss of STAMINA. We lose 2 STAMINA every time we are told to eat but don't have any meals on us.

This isn't the first time Keith Martin has used this mechanism in his books, Master of Chaos (FF41) being particularly memorable for this due to the long journey and the HUGE amount of food the PC has to consume on the way.

Eventually you place the last frail shrouded body in its sarcophagus. There is a sudden, deeply aching sigh all around in the vastness of the vault, and you feel a sudden chill on your forehead which wasn't there before - a star-shape, as you see by gazing into a shard of reflective ice. It doesn't hurt, but you're a little troubled by it nevertheless. Now you return to the crossroads.

Another gamebook that gives the PC a mark on the head.....at least Tallpipe can take solace in the fact that it's not a unicorn-shaped tattoo.

You stand at the middle of the crossroads. Which part of the crypts which you haven't yet visited will you visit now? Will you go:

Down the ice steps?
Down the left-hand passage?
Down the right-hand passage?
Up and out of the Ice Crypts?

Do we want to descend the steps now?

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:13 pm

Down the steps!

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Tue Dec 10, 2019 8:22 pm

Go all the way down.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Wed Dec 11, 2019 8:34 am

Not far down the steps is a pair of arched gates which reach from the ceiling to floor. They have no handles, latches or any other obvious way of opening. There is just one word etched into them: 'Call'. If you know how many times to call, turn to the paragraph with the same number. If you don't know how many times to call, you cannot enter here.

And this is where the puzzle solved by angel can be put into use:

The great ice gates open, and you are almost blinded by the brilliant blue-white light which streams out and up the steps behind you. Squinting through the light you cannot see how large this chamber is, but you can see a tall, fair, slender Elf-spirit, clad all in white, and you are almost shaking in awe of him. The spirit of Elokinan, the Mage-Architect, chieftain and last of his race, stands resplendent and majestic before you. His noble face and centuries-saddened eyes tum to face you. Eloknm looks directly into your soul. What happens now depends on your HONOUR score. If your HONOUR is:

4 or less Turn to 119
5-8 Turn to 327
9 or 10 Turn to 251
exactly 11 Turn to 207
12 or higher Turn to 343

Our good work in restoring the graves was just enough to boost our score up to the mid-high level!

Do you have a mark on your forehead? If you have, turn to 264. It you haven't, turn to 128.

And it looks like staying to finish the work on the grave is about to reward us even further!

Elokinan holds out his arms in greeting. "Come, my friend, you are good of heart and you have suffered to return my people to peace. I give you a gift of greatness," and between his hands is a great chalice of silver, chalcedony and moonstones, brimming over with a nectar so sweet and intoxicating to the senses you long to drink it. He holds the chalice as you drink deeply from its draught.

You almost reel back as the superhuman power of the magical liquid courses through your entire body. You feel almost impossibly strong and enduring. This draught raises both you Initial and current STAMINA scores to 25, and grants you 2 LUCK points as well! Elokinan looks delighted
and pleased and he has yet more for you.

Elokinan draws off a draught from the chalice into a small vial. "Many are its magics,"'he says softly, holding up the vial of golden liquid in front of your eyes. The liquid dances with motes of blue light, and Elokinan tells, you the magic within is that of invisibility. "Drink this before you ascend to the Tower," he murmurs, "it will conceal your flight, and even that of any flying mount you may have."

Now, if you have a magical Ice Sword, it is time for Elokinan to return you to the outside, to wait tor the Tower; turn to 309. If you don't have a magical Ice Sword, but you have a sword of ice you found in the Ice Cathedral, tum to 42 If you have neither again it's time to return to
the surface; turn to 3o9.

If we found the Ice Sword but hadn't enchanted it yet, Elokinan will direct us back down the path to Tassaskil (although he won't tell us the right name). If we never found the sword, we're essentially screwed anyway.

You are standing just outside the gates of the Ice Palace, looking up into a cloudy blue sky. As you are getting your bearings, the sky turns ominously dark to the north: the clouds seen almost to be boiling, and a shape is beginning to materialize over the horizon. Gradually the black monolith glides into view, and you are transfixed by how huge the Tower of Destruction is. It dwarfs the Ice Palace; even so far up n the sky, the Tower is immense: a gigantic, flying, buttressed, black horror. Suddenly, from its base a wide pillar of fire cascades to the ground, and a thick black cloud of smoke arises from the base of the flame as a village is incinerated. The massive gouts of flame sputter and are gone; the Tower glides onwards towards you on its atrocious mission.

If you have a Potion of Flying, tum to 290. If you don't, but you do have a bronze medallion (or if you'd rather use the medallion!) turn to 328. If you have neither, turn to 215.

We have the potion.....

Surprisingly, not have anything that can help you fly is NOT an automatic game over here. It just means you have to go through one more fight.

You swallow your Potion of Flying and rise into the air, heading for the Tower. Now, if you have a Potion of Invisibility, turn to 51. If you don't have this, turn to 391.

We just got this one from Elokinan not too long ago (and this saves me the trouble of adding it to the Adventure Sheet since it's used almost immediately.

To your own eyes, your appearance changes somewhat: you look less substantial somehow, a little shimmery round the edges, and you feel lighter (all these changes also affect your Pegasus, if you are riding one). You hope the magic will work to get you past the Tower guards. You soon find out, because you fly right past a two-headed Giant, on lookout close by one entrance door, and he doesn't react to you at all. You think that this invisibility is pretty strong magic...Now you're at the entrance. If you're with a Pegasus, he flies off after setting you down. You summon all your courage, grip your sword, and walk into the Tower of Destruction.

Yes, if we'd used the medallion we'd have gotten a Pegasus, but as I mentioned earlier a bug in the book meant that it's actually not possible for a player to reach this point with the medallion without cheating.

On tiptoe, you move quietly down a smoothly sculpted passageway of black stone, lit only by a dull red glow which emanates from within the stone itself - as does the oppressive heat in this place. Above you, infernal engines whir and hum. You move cautiously towards a bend in the passage leading to the left. There's a closed door to your right facin8 down the passageway, and an open doorway, just visible in the gloom, half-way down in the distance.

Will you:
Open the dosed door?
Walk on and look through the open?
Walk on past the open doorway?

Are we interested in any of the doors here?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Jefferson Tallpipe
SKILL 11/12 (13 in combat w/ Magical Ice Sword & 14 vs Demons)
STAMINA 25/25
LUCK 10/12
Honour: 9
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern, Backpack, Blanket, Climbing Gear, Tasrin's Ring, Potion of Stamina (restores 1/2 of Initial STAMINA), Crowbar, Crossbow (w/ 3 normal bolts & 4 magical bolts), Magic Sword (+1 SKILL unless it's already 12), Shield of Warding (deflects missile attacks on roll of 2-8 on 2D6), Mealin's Silver Amulet, Singing Ice Bird (10 arcs of 7-coloured rays in each wing), Potion of Speed (gives extra 2nd attack for first 3 rounds in the first combat after the potion is drunk), Stone Jaguar (SKILL 8, STAMINA 8, can be animated to fight one combat on our behalf), spare lantern oil, Magical Ice Sword (+2 SKILL, +3 SKILL and +1 damage when fighting demons)
Spells: Linkcut, Coldwarding
Gold: 21
Provisions: 7/10, +3 elven weybread
No. of Failures in this playthrough: 2

Omegonthesane · Post by **Omegonthesane** » Wed Dec 11, 2019 9:10 pm

Closed door first.

Kind of interesting that exactly 11 gets a separate section to 12+, but part of me suspects the 12+ section is "Naughty kitten, we didn't actually add enough Gain Honour sections for you to do that".

Thaluikhain · Post by **Thaluikhain** » Thu Dec 12, 2019 2:00 am

Try the closed door.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Thu Dec 12, 2019 10:20 pm

Omegonthesane wrote:Closed door first.

Kind of interesting that exactly 11 gets a separate section to 12+, but part of me suspects the 12+ section is "Naughty kitten, we didn't actually add enough Gain Honour sections for you to do that".

Yes 12+ is the "cheating bastard" response. 11 recognizes the game is over as he chides you for missing opportunities and you don't get the Uber version of the potion, even if your head is marked.

SGamerz · Post by **SGamerz** » Sat Dec 14, 2019 6:15 am

This is a very bad move. You open the door to a guardroom where two bizarre creatures from the Demonic realms react immediately to your intrusion. Their faces are completely smooth, black and blank and their cloaked and cowled bodies shine black as ebony. The Nightgaunts scream for help as they fly at you to fight!

First NIGHTGAUNT SKILL 8 STAMINA 8
Second NIGHTGAUNT SKILL 8 STAMINA 8

The problem is that two more of these horrors appear from the opened doorway and attack from the opposite direction!

Third NIGHTGAUNT SKILL 8 STAMINA 8
Fourth NIGHTGAUNT SKILL 8 STAMINA 8

You have to fight four opponents! Mercifully, only two at a time can attack you in this narrow passage. Each Attack Round, roll two dice for yourself and for two of your opponents; the combatant with the highest Attack Strength wins that round (and inflicts damage to the STAMINA of the
opponent). When you kill one Nightgaunt, another takes its place. When you kill a second, yet another takes its place. When you kill a third, you are left fighting one enemy only. If you manage to survive all this, you decide to get down the passageway and away from here fast.

Okay, 4 opponents is gonna be tedious, but I don't think we're in that much danger. With the rules here, Tallpipe still can't be hit more than once per round, and we just got a full restore from Elokinam's chalice. And of course, their SKILLs are all low.

COMBAT LOG:

Nightgaunt#1 18, Nightgaunt#2 15, Tallpipe 20. NG1 is at 6.
NG1 16, NG2 18, Tallpipe 19. NG1 is at 4.
NG1 15, NG2 13, Tallpipe 21. NG1 is at 2.
NG1 14, NG2 13, Tallpipe 19. NG1 is killed.
NG2 15, NG3 16 Tallpipe 19. NG2 is at 6.
NG2 12, NG3 14 Tallpipe 18. NG2 is at 4.
NG2 16, NG3 13 Tallpipe 15. Tallpipe is at 23.
NG2 14, NG3 16 Tallpipe 25. NG2 is at 2.
NG2 14, NG3 13 Tallpipe 21. NG2 is killed.
NG3 14, NG4 18 Tallpipe 24. NG3 is at 6.
NG3 16, NG4 17 Tallpipe 23. NG3 is at 4.
NG3 17, NG4 14 Tallpipe 19. NG3 is at 2.
NG3 11, NG4 16 Tallpipe 24. NG3 is killed.
NG4 12 Tallpipe 15. NG4 is at 6.
NG4 13 Tallpipe 21. NG4 is at 4.
NG4 14 Tallpipe 15. NG4 is at 2.
NG4 12 Tallpipe 20. NG4 is killed.

As expected, tedious but easy. Tallipipe actually rolled 3 double-2s in this fight but only got hit once.

At the end of the passage there is a sharp right-hand turn, then the passage ends in a set of steps which lead upwards and another set leading down. Will you go up or down here?

We can't apply our usual "left is always right" strategy here, since there's no left. Up or down?

Adventure Sheet:

Name: Jefferson Tallpipe
SKILL 11/12 (13 in combat w/ Magical Ice Sword & 14 vs Demons)
STAMINA 23/25
LUCK 10/12
Honour: 9
Equipment: Sword, Leather Armor, Lantern, Backpack, Blanket, Climbing Gear, Tasrin's Ring, Potion of Stamina (restores 1/2 of Initial STAMINA), Crowbar, Crossbow (w/ 3 normal bolts & 4 magical bolts), Magic Sword (+1 SKILL unless it's already 12), Shield of Warding (deflects missile attacks on roll of 2-8 on 2D6), Mealin's Silver Amulet, Singing Ice Bird (10 arcs of 7-coloured rays in each wing), Potion of Speed (gives extra 2nd attack for first 3 rounds in the first combat after the potion is drunk), Stone Jaguar (SKILL 8, STAMINA 8, can be animated to fight one combat on our behalf), spare lantern oil, Magical Ice Sword (+2 SKILL, +3 SKILL and +1 damage when fighting demons)
Spells: Linkcut, Coldwarding
Gold: 21
Provisions: 7/10, +3 elven weybread
No. of Failures in this playthrough: 2

The Gaming Den

[LP] Fighting Fantasy 46 - Tower of Destruction (Take 2!)

Which do you prefer out of the 3?