[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 55 - Deathmoor

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, lets not wait here.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote NOT to do as he says, as Arachnos does not appear to be one who will keep his word, based on his description.

[SGamerz]

Stealthily, you follow Otus at a safe distance. Once, he half turns his head, as if sniffing the air, and you have to duck down behind a fallen tree-trunk, your heart in your mouth. After that, you let him get further ahead. It is clear that he is making for Deathmoor, a region of legendary harshness into which no man within living memory has travelled and surrvived to tell the tale. Once, long ago, it was home to an advanced civilization, wise in the ways of the stars. Now it is a chill place of cruel, strange beasts and swirling, magical mists, the residue of the sorcerous battle which caused the downfall of that ancient culture. Folk say that when the mist descends, a traveller's sense of direction is utterly ruined, until only luck and common sense can bring one through. It will be very hard lo track Otus through Deathmoor, but you are confident of your abilitie.s Suddenly a pheasant rises with a noisy clatter of wings from some tall grass to your left. Otus is too far ahead to hear it, but you wheel in that direction just in time to see a dark shape hurtle towards you. Test your Luck. If you are Lucky, turn to 97; if you are Unlucky, turn to 187.

Dice roll = 10 - just barely Lucky!

Although it all happens too fast for your conscious mind, you somehow register the fact that the dark shape is Fang-zen and that he has hurled a spear at you. You fall to the ground, and the spear ricochets off a rock, snaps and falls harmlessly to the ground. Then Fang-zen himself is upon you, seeking revenge for the theft of his quest. He is a hardy adventurer too, and his SKILL is only 2 less than yours, while his STAMINA is 12. Only luck will see you through this fight unscathed. If you win, tum to 30.

Because Waluigi isn't exactly a god-tier warrior himself, Fang-zen's actual SKILL (7) turns out to be less impressive then the text attempts to make it sound. Still, we may well need luck for this battle, because Waluigi is still pretty beat up from the side-track to the Baron's house, and his STAMINA is only half of Fang-zen's at the moment!

In light of our low STAMINA, should we use LUCK (or even the Mushroom boon) for this combat?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Waluigi
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 6/16
LUCK 9/11
Equipment: Sword, leather armour, Potion of Fortune, King Jonthane's letter (number '88'), large phial of sallow-seed oil, a needle and some thread, tinderbox and flint, lodestone
Provisions: 9 (only restores 3 STAMINA per meal for rest of the adventure)
Gold: 4
Boons: Magic Mushroom (x1)
Notes: Visit the City Guard station at room 56 next morning to check if the murderer has been arrested. 2 of the 3 half-giants (not named Otus) working for 'A' loathe each other, and their love of money and their hostility towards each other make them less loyal to 'A' personally (reference from section 312).
[/spoiler]

[JourneymanN00b]

After our Stamina gets to 4, I vote to use Luck to deal extra damage and reduce the damage our hero takes. I then choose to eat 3 Provisions after this fight.

[Queen of Swords]

That plan sounds good to me.

[Thaluikhain]

That sounds reasonable.

I like that our rival's skill isn't set at a fixed number, but set relative to our own.

[SGamerz]

COMBAT LOG:
Fang-zen 15, Waluigi 14. Waluigi is at 4.
Fang-zen 12, Waluigi 18. Luck test roll = 5 (Lucky). Fang-zen is at 8.
Fang-zen 15, Waluigi 16. Luck test roll = 5 (Lucky). Fang-zen is at 4.
Fang-zen 19, Waluigi 13. Luck test roll = 3 (Lucky). Waluigi is at 3.
Fang-zen 14, Waluigi 15. Luck test roll = 4 (Lucky). Fang-zen is killed.

We were thankfully Lucky with every single LUCK test, considering our LUCK was at 6 for the final test! Waluigi survives the fight with 3 STAMINA and 5 LUCK.

Regain 1 LUCK point for surviving a difficult fight. Moreover, you find 4 Gold Pieces on Fang-zen's body, together with 3 portions of Provisions and a lamp. But all this is small compensation for the fact that, by the time you try to pick up Otus' trail again, it has gone cold. It is as if he has vanished in to thin air. It is now evening, so you decide to rest for the night. There is a village called Outpost a short way to the north, and the edge of a great forest lies to the south. Will you seek shelter in Outpost or in the forest, or will you stay out in the open?

So much for the PC being "confident of your abilities" to track Otus through Deathmoor. :/

Well, we were going to eat 3 meals, and Fang-zen just provided them for free! How convenient for us! STAMINA is back up to 15!

How do we spend the night?

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Waluigi
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 12/16
LUCK 6/11
Equipment: Sword, leather armour, Potion of Fortune, King Jonthane's letter (number '88'), large phial of sallow-seed oil, a needle and some thread, tinderbox and flint, lodestone, lamp
Provisions: 9 (only restores 3 STAMINA per meal for rest of the adventure)
Gold: 8
Boons: Magic Mushroom (x1)
Notes: Visit the City Guard station at room 56 next morning to check if the murderer has been arrested. 2 of the 3 half-giants (not named Otus) working for 'A' loathe each other, and their love of money and their hostility towards each other make them less loyal to 'A' personally (reference from section 312).
[/spoiler]

[Thaluikhain]

There might be some clues in Outpost on where to go next, so I suggest there.

[JourneymanN00b]

After the Luck bonus, Waluigi should be at 6 Luck. And Waluigi is only at 12 Stamina after eating 3 Provisions due to the poison. I vote to eat another provision to get to 15 Stamina, and seek shelter in Outpost to get more clues.

[SGamerz]

After the Luck bonus, Waluigi should be at 6 Luck. And Waluigi is only at 12 Stamina after eating 3 Provisions due to the poison.

Oops, thanks for the reminder. Amended.

The inhabitants of Outpost lock up early and are deeply suspicious of strangers. Shutters are closed with a bang as you walk down the only street. You get the message: we don't want your kind here. Will you turn around and retrace your steps, or persist in trying to spend the night here? If you stay, turn to 102. If you leave, the forest is loo far away to reach before nightfall, so you must spend the night in the open.

Are we sure we want to spend the night here?

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to persist in trying to spend the night here, and to eat a Provision to get to 15 Stamina if we have not done so already.

[Thaluikhain]

Persist, since we are here already.

[Queen of Swords]

Agreed, let's persist. Seems safer than spending the night in the open.

[SGamerz]

It is difficult to know what to do. The village consists of only half a dozen peasant cottages, and there is no tavern or obvious place to stay. There is a burned-out shell of a cottage that looks uninhabited: if you spend the night there, you may at least avoid these surly villagers. Or you could knock on the door of any of the inhabited cottages - for instance, the one next door to the fire-damaged one.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to go to the burned-out shell of a cottage, as I feel that we do not want to further anger the villagers right now.

[Thaluikhain]

That seems reasonable, empty shell.

[Queen of Swords]

Agreed, go to the empty shell.

[SGamerz]

As you approach the ruined cottage, you can smell that it has been burned down only recently. In fact, when your hand touches the doorpost,it is still slightly warm. inside, you can see smoke trickling from what were once roof-beams. But much worse is the fact that you also touched something sticky on the doorpost; even in the dim evening light you can see that it is blood. Will you cross the threshold of this cottage or beat a hasty retreat to the other place that caught your eye?

[Darth Rabbitt]

If it's burned down recently there might be clues. Cross the threshold.

[Queen of Swords]

Cross the threshold.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to cross the threshold as well.

[Thaluikhain]

Cross threshold.

[SGamerz]

Nothing stirs as you enter the cottage. You glance quickly around then step across what remains of the single room to look out of the hole in the back wall which served as a window. A charred piece of sackcloth curtain flutters in the breeze. You shiver, although it is not cold: something evil has taken place here. Suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you glimpse a faint movement from a rounded shape, tucked away in the corner of the room. In mounting fear, will you whirl and strike at the shape before it has a chance to do anything more or merely draw your sword in preparation for whatever it may tum out to be?

[Queen of Swords]

Draw our sword in preparation but don't attack until we know it's actually an enemy.

[Thaluikhain]

Draw sword, don't attack until we have positive identification.