[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 42: Black Vein Prophecy

[Thaluikhain]

Join in

[Beroli]

Credas traces a symbol in the air, and moments later you are aware of the symbol hanging before your eyes. You feel the blood pumping through your arteries, the sinews tensing and relaxing, your mind's unconscious orders to your body speeding their way along conduits too narrow to imagine. You sense Credas's command to the bandits, and feel a part of it. Silently they turn and make their way out of Credas's retreat.

You shake your head. You are back to normal once more.

Credas speaks 'If I am to help you, you must perform a task for me. Fetch the Sitting Prophet from the midst of the Zushan Jungle, to the south of here.' He passes you a small jar of sharp-smelling orange syrup. 'This will sustain you in times of need.' Then he leads you down a long tunnel and out by a hidden exit under a rotting tree stump [which sounds like he takes you out the way you came in, but you might have come in with the bandits--yes, these are the same bandits you briefly joined--so the gamebook can't know that for sure]. He bids you an abrupt farewell and disappears back down the tunnel, leaving you wondering if this was all a dream.

Make your way south to bring back the Sitting Prophet?
Abandon this task and head for the nearest settlement?

[spoiler=Adventure Sheet]
Name: Maior?
Skill: 10/10
Stamina: 16/19
Luck: 7/7

Greatsword
Jeweled dagger
Haversack
Provisions: 5
Brooch with Izkhao
Filthy clothes
Chang whistle
His Highness ?????'s battle-plans
Jar of orange syrup
[/spoiler]

[Thaluikhain]

To the sitting prophet, I guess

[Queen of Swords]

Agreed, get the Sitting Prophet.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Go south to follow the new plot hook.

[Beroli]

(One day, someone should come out with a gamebook where the choice to "ignore the plot hook and continue wandering aimlessly" is part of the true path.)

After a day spent travelling, you come to a wide river. Following its course downstream, you see it disappear into the fringes of a sprawling jungle. Looking upstream, you watch it meander off towards a distant line of hills. Neither of the routes looks promising.

Go upstream?
Follow the bank toward the jungle?

[spoiler=Adventure Sheet]
Name: Maior
Skill: 10/10
Stamina: 16/19
Luck: 7/7

Greatsword
Jeweled dagger
Haversack
Provisions: 5
Brooch with Izkhao
Filthy clothes
Chang whistle
His Highness ?????'s battle-plans
Jar of orange syrup
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to follow the bank toward the jungle, as Credas told Maior to go there.

[SGamerz]

Yeah, stick to the agenda. Jungle.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Follow the bank to the jungle.

[Beroli]

Thick vegetation clogs both sides of the bank and walking becomes more difficult. Eventually, the reeds become impenetrable, and you are forced to come to a halt. Looking around for a means to continue, you espy a small boat, lodged in a thicket of reeds on the opposite bank. Strong currents seem ready to tug it free.

Swim out to it?
Turn back and follow the river upstream?

[spoiler=Adventure Sheet]
Name: Maior
Skill: 10/10
Stamina: 16/19
Luck: 7/7

Greatsword
Jeweled dagger
Haversack
Provisions: 5
Brooch with Izkhao
Filthy clothes
Chang whistle
His Highness ?????'s battle-plans
Jar of orange syrup
[/spoiler]

[Queen of Swords]

Swim out to it.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to swim out to the boat.

[SGamerz]

Swim out to the boat.

[Thaluikhain]

Swim out to it. If only we had a magic spell to turn the water solid so we could walk across.

[Beroli]

You walk back up the bank, slip into the water, and push out for the opposite side. The current is strong and carries you swiftly down towards the boat. You grab its side and begin to haul yourself up into the craft. Sprawled across the boards are the horrific remains of its owner. Barely able to set eyes on the bloody mess, you kick the corpse into the river. Hurriedly, you push out and steer downriver, struggling against the cross-currents and floating vegetation.

A faint rushing sound comes from ahead, and you brace yourself for rapids. Sure enough, you see a torrent of water rising up in the distance. As you approach, you can make out the writhing forms of thousands of thick, grey eels.

You have a Chang whistle. (Technically, the book asks if you choose to use it, but since it offers no alternative approach and "no" leads straight to "you are summarily eaten alive by eels," I feel comfortable skipping that vote.)

These vicious looking eels form into a single seething mass of destruction. Acting quickly, you unravel the whistle and spin it furiously above your head. A high-pitched whining sound fills the air, and the creatures stop their thrashing. Calmness returns.

As you drift down the river, contemplating what lies ahead, a fine mist begins to spill out from the jungle; it hangs above the water and cuts your field of vision to only a few metres. The river narrows, forks then narrows again, until you find yourself in a remote stretch of slow moving water. Strange plants crowd in on either side, and the gnarled limbs of trees glide in and out of view. The temperature has risen dramatically and the moist, insect-laden air clogs your throat.

Continue on land?
Continue on the river?

[spoiler=Adventure Sheet]
Name: Maior
Skill: 10/10
Stamina: 16/19
Luck: 7/7

Greatsword
Jeweled dagger
Haversack
Provisions: 5
Brooch with Izkhao
Filthy clothes
Chang whistle
His Highness ?????'s battle-plans
Jar of orange syrup
[/spoiler]

[Thaluikhain]

Got a new boat, keep using it (and good thing we had the whistle, since apparently our turning water solid thing doesn't work on eels)

[Queen of Swords]

Continue on the river, because struggling through the thick undergrowth of a jungle is probably going to be more difficult.

[SGamerz]

Continue in the boat.

[Beroli]

You continue on your voyage downriver. The mist thickens and brings with it a chorus of strange animal cries. The banks rise up some five metres or more above you, and dark shapes flit among the foliage. The noises suddenly stop. A slender arrow bursts through the undergrowth, arcs lazily towards you and thuds into the prow. You crouch on the deck as more arrows rain down from the unseen attackers.

You have the small jar of orange syrup.

A low humming fills the air but from your prone position you can see nothing. The drone grows louder until it is directly above you. Feeling a light touch on your back, you twist around to look up.

High above you hovers an immense Dragonfly. Its diaphanous wings beat furiously, and from its magnificently coloured abdomen trails a thick silken cord. Arrows fly past, missing it by inches, but the beast refuses to depart.

Seize the dragonfly's cord before it flies away?
Stay in the shelter of the boat?

[spoiler=Adventure Sheet]
Name: Maior
Skill: 10/10
Stamina: 16/19
Luck: 7/7

Greatsword
Jeweled dagger
Haversack
Provisions: 5
Brooch with Izkhao
Filthy clothes
Chang whistle
His Highness ?????'s battle-plans
Jar of orange syrup
[/spoiler]

[Queen of Swords]

Seize the dragonfly's cord like we're trying to ring one of the bells of Notre Dame.

[Thaluikhain]

Seize the cord so it can pull us through the water like a motorboat.

[Darth Rabbitt]

If you get a chance to seize a dragonfly, you take it.

[Beroli]

You grab the thread and twist it round your wrist. The creature senses your contact and lifts off, jerking you up into the air, high above river and out of arrow-shot. Beneath you, the river runs deep into the jungle, occasionally disappearing beneath the rich canopy. Just as your arms seem ready to pop from their sockets, the dragonfly begins its descent. When you are no more than five metres from the ground, your grip finally breaks and you land safely in a shallow swamp. The creature remains above you, hovering expectantly. Wading through the scummy water, you come to a clearing.

A few metres ahead of you, sitting amid the vines and creepers, you confront an imposing statue. The idol's hands are clasped above its head, and its face wears an expression of deep serenity. Judging from its size, you estimate it to be the work of many hands. As you approach it, a thousand pairs of emerald eyes flick open around you, peppering the darkness. From out of the shadows and beneath the water emerge strange, semi-human figures. Distended eyes sit proudly on their flat faces, and spindly limbs support their large, warty heads. You near the statue. The massed Kreehuls move closer and emit deafening croaks from their fleshy throat-sacs.

Examine the statue?
Seek aid from Izkhao?
Cast a Disruption spell?
Cast a Harmonization spell?
Cast a Lock spell?
Cast a Mutation spell?

[spoiler=Adventure Sheet]
Name: Maior
Skill: 10/10
Stamina: 16/19
Luck: 7/7

Greatsword
Jeweled dagger
Haversack
Provisions: 5
Brooch with Izkhao
Filthy clothes
Chang whistle
His Highness ?????'s battle-plans
Jar of orange syrup
[/spoiler]

[SGamerz]

Lock seem appropriate here. Those things are submerged in water just like the bathers were, so we can solidify the water like we did last time.

[JourneymanN00b]

Yeah, I vote to cast the Lock spell again to solidify the water so that we can disable a large group, if not all of our attackers.