[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 20 - Sword of the Samurai

[Queen of Swords]

Definitely agree with not letting go of Singing Death. Walk around the pit.

[Beroli]

Walk boldly through the shadowy forms.

[Thaluikhain]

Stride boldly through, and off any that get in our way.

[angelfromanotherpin]

298

You skirt the pit and walk towards the throne, holding Singing Death in front of you. As you near it, the shadows fall back, unable to resist the power of the sword. Those that stray too close are instantly vaporized by its touch. Turn to 121.

121

You are in front of the throne. Ikiru rises up like a shade; you stare into the cowl, to see only shadowy nothingness, the face of evil. Ikiru points at you and bolts of dark energy leap from his fingers towards you.

• If your Honour is 6 or more, turn to 189.
• If it is 5 or less, turn to 131.

189

Suddenly, Singing Death flares brightly once more and the bolts of dark energy simply cease to be, extinguished in its bright light. Ikiru staggers back, but the light fades as quickly as it sprang up. Turn to 199.

199

A sword of black steel, etched with glowing red runes, appears in Ikiru's shadowy grasp and you both fall to combat, dark against light. Each time you hit him, deduct STAMINA as usual, but also Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 235. If you are Unlucky, just fight on. Each time Ikiru hits you, not only do you lose the normal STAMINA, but a powerful surge of force erupts from his black runesword and threatens to overcome you. Roll two dice: if the result is more than your STAMINA, turn to 47; if it is not, fight on.

IKIRU     SKILL 12     STAMINA 12

Round 1: Us 14+[2d6:7]=21, Him 12+[2d6:7]=19; we hit.
Test of Luck: [2d6:6]<8, lucky!

235

Singing Death cuts into Ikiru's side and he hisses with pain. A jagged bolt of lightning leaps from the sword blade and into Ikiru's cowled face. There is an almighty thunderclap, the black runesword disappears, and Ikiru is destroyed utterly. No vestige of his being remains in the chamber. Turn to 400.

400

The black robes that encased the Master of Shadows fall to the floor in a head. Ikiru is no more. The walls of his dark hall begin to shudder and his throne to crumble. The pit falls in on itself. Great cracks appear in the floor. Desperately you search for an entrance, but then part of a wall falls away and clean sunlight passes in. Wincing from the glare, you run out to find yourself in the Shios'ii Mountains. Behind you the great black palace of strange alien design is crumbling away, the palace of Ikiru.

You find yourself in the midst of a camp of Shikome, but they are ignoring you. Some of them are staring in horrified fear at the palace, others are running hither and thither in panic. You take this opportunity to leave quickly and you escape unmolested.

A few days later, you are safely back in Konichi, the capital, where the Shogun holds a state banquet in your honour. With the return of Singing Death, his rule is assured and the lords of Hachiman unite under his banner to repel the barbarian invaders. With Ikiru slain, his army of Shikome disperse and the threat is lifted. An age of peace and prosperity lies ahead of you and the people of Hachiman.

Well done, guys.

Gogo Yubari
SKILL: 14/12
STAMINA: 17/20
LUCK: 7/8
HONOUR: 7
SPECIAL SKILL: Kyujutsu
GEAR: Katana and Wakizashi, Battle Armour, Backpack, Bow, 3 Willow-leaf Arrows (2 STAMINA damage), 1 Bowel-raker (3 STAMINA damage), 1 Armour-piercer (2 STAMINA damage, required for use against certain opponents), 3 Humming Bulbs (1 STAMINA damage, makes a frightening noise), Headband of Shinmen, 115 Gold Pieces, Suit of Samurai Armour, Talisman of Fortuitous Circumstance (jade talisman shaped like a dragon), Ivory Horn
PROVISIONS: 4
OTHER: Won over Tatsu, Ki-Rin, and the Golden Company.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Oh wow, we were really close to winning. Thanks for finishing it, angel. (And thanks to JourneymanN00b for starting the LP).

As for questions:
What did the silver helmet do? Was avoiding it the right call?
Did the order in which we sent out our allies in the arena matter?
What happens at the final choice if we wait to see what happens to Ikiru rather than approaching him? How about throwing Singing Death at him (or throwing it in the pit?)

[Queen of Swords]

Thanks to angel and to JourneymanN00b! That was fun, though I wish we'd had more opportunities to use a humming bulb arrow.

Throughout, I've also been amused by the mental image of ourself as a cross between an honored samurai and a seventeen-year-old girl in a school uniform, so this was a very entertaining playthrough in general.

[Beroli]

The silver helmet is the Helmet of Befuddlement which you can offer to Eleanor later if you kept it and used it. There's no upside to it: it costs you Skill immediately, and if you manage to reach Eleanor with it and offer it to her in some notion that it will have a double negative effect and restore her memory, she recognizes its nature and reacts as if you'd threatened her.

Yes, only the beast (tiger or serpent) can defeat the first one, only the fiery companion (Tatsu or phoenix) can defeat the second one, only the human or humans can defeat the titan, and the Ki-Rin can't affect any of them but the Dai-Oni. If you send the wrong companion that companion dies. This does mean that, even going in with maximum companions, if we'd chosen to send the tiger last, we would have had to fight the other three alone.

If you face Ikiru without Singing Death, then instead of him instant-dying if you hit him and succeed a Luck test, you instant-die if he hits you and you fail a Luck test. Letting Singing Death out of our hands would have been a really bad idea (and Ikiru might have helpfully pointed this out, with "You fool!").

[SGamerz]

How about throwing Singing Death at him (or throwing it in the pit?)

Throwing it at him means you lose the sword for the end battle (and the conditions are as Beroli described).

Throwing it into the pit actually defeats Ikiru...but it also destroys the sword, which means you still failed your mission, because your Shogun master loses the symbol that unifies his people. Ikiru is just one of many enemies for him, and he needs to get the sword back.

[Queen of Swords]

...if we'd chosen to send the tiger last, we would have had to fight the other three alone.

Is it even possible to successfully defeat the other three alone?

[Beroli]

Yes. It only takes you to "you auto-lose" if none of your companions defeat any of them (meaning, you don't have the tiger or the serpent).

Also, the other path is vastly harder, starting right off with you needing to lose an eye to get one of the items that will recruit allies at the end, and since the Phoenix Ruby doesn't come with the Tatsu's advice about the Dai-Oni, you automatically need to fight the Dai-Oni twice.

If you choose to wait when Ikiru summons shadows, you have to fight ten of the guardian shadows, one by one; because your sword will automatically destroy them, each of them has Skill 9, Stamina 1. If you defeat them all, you go to the "if you approach" passage.

[SGamerz]

Also, the other path is vastly harder, starting right off with you needing to lose an eye to get one of the items that will recruit allies at the end, and since the Phoenix Ruby doesn't come with the Tatsu's advice about the Dai-Oni, you automatically need to fight the Dai-Oni twice.

From what I recall, it's not exactly losing an eye (although these authors do seem to like giving the PC eye afflictions, considering what happens Avenger in Way of the Tiger) in that he doesn't actually go blind in that eye, but poison gas causes the PC's eyeball to roll around uncontrollably and make it impossible to focus, which gives him a permanent SKILL penalty.

Also, I'm pretty sure you can't pick up enough Honour in the harder path to win over the Ki-Rin, so the fight against Dai-Oni will be much harder too.

[Beroli]

That's what happens if you trigger the gas trap but back out without the item (-1 Skill). If you stick around long enough to get the item, you lose the use of one eye entirely (-2 Skill).

Oh, also the flask of liquid none of us voted to drink is actually a healing potion.

[pragma]

Is Kyujustu just better than all the other skills? I never saw another one called out.

[SGamerz]

Is Kyujustu just better than all the other skills? I never saw another one called out.

It's defnitely the best if you take the "easy" path. On the harder path, both Fast-draw and Heroic Leaping are more useful.

Ni-to-Kenjutsu isn't checked much (if at all), but it's practically useful in itself in all combats anyway.

[Thaluikhain]

Thanks to JourneymanNoob and angelfromanother pin for running this. Only took 7 pages, Revenge of the Vampire is still going on 4 times that.

[JourneymanN00b]

Congratulations on winning the adventure! And I appreciate everyone who gave me thanks, and angelfromanotherpin for taking the time to finish the adventure.