[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 55 - Deathmoor

[Thaluikhain]

I vote for south wall this time.

[SGamerz]

You scramble up the wall, assisted by a low hanging branch of a rare Allansian Flare tree, part of the Baron's renowned arboretum. You rest on top of the wall and peer around. Beyond the flower-bed a well-kept lawn stretches almost to the rear of the house. A number of unusual trees stand in the grounds, and there are also patches of dense shrubbery. Although in the twilight you can see no smoke, your nose picks up the familiar smell of smouldering leaves and garden waste. It would be sheer idiocy to cross the open lawn, so will you approach the house by creeping stealthily round the walls and beds to your left or to your right?

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to try the left to reject the growing worldly threat of fascism.

[Queen of Swords]

Sure, might as well try left.

[Darth Rabbitt]

Left works fine with me.

[SGamerz]

As you creep through the shrubbery beside the west wall of the garden in the gathering dusk. some sixth sense tells you that something other than plant-life is in the patch of shrubs immediately ahead. Just then the Baron's pet, a tawny, sleek bundle of fur and savage claws, leaps with a low snarl out of the bushes and at your throat. You've never seen a Scytheran Desert Cat outside a zoo, and you certainly feel that that is where they belong - behind bars.

DESERT CAT SKILL 8 STAMINA 10

If you win, you lie low for a while, making sure that the fight didn't attract any unwelcome attention, then you leave the cat's body to the slugs and continue on your way. A deeper shadow directly ahead of you shows you where there is a narrow passage running along the side of the house. You can take this passage towards the front of the house or stay at the back of the house.

Queen of Swords pointed out a possible risk of guard dogs if we try to pass through the garden. Looks like the Baron is more of a cat person. Doesn't make the guard any less effective, though, considering it's as tough as a generic Ogre and slightly stronger than the one the Baron employs! And while it's never confirmed, this thing may be the reason for those dead birds.

COMBAT LOG:
Desert Cat 12, Waluigi 17. DC is at 8.
DC 13, Waluigi 17. DC is at 6.
DC 15, Waluigi 16. DC is at 4.
DC 16, Waluigi 16. Tie.
DC 14, Waluigi 13. Waluigi is at 10.
DC 15, Waluigi 15. Tie.
DC 13, Waluigi 19. DC is at 2.
DC 19, Waluigi 20. DC is killed.

Waluigi took a scratch, but comes out on top.

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Waluigi
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 10/16
LUCK 10/11
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: 10
Gold: 3
Boons: Cape Feather (x1), Magic Mushroom (x1)
Notes: Visit the City Guard station at room 56 next morning to check if the murderer has been arrested.
[/spoiler]

[Darth Rabbitt]

Stay at the back, where we'll hopefully be able to ambush the gardener.

[Queen of Swords]

Agreed, let's stay at the back.

[JourneymanN00b]

Sure, I vote to stay at the back as well.

[SGamerz]

You reach the corner of the house and reconnoitre the whole expanse of the rear of the house. A smooth, well-trodden earth path runs along its length, bizarrely littered with the corpses of birds. You don't know what to make of this. The ground floor windows are all securely locked, so there are only two ways to enter the house here: you could climb up some old, sturdy ivy and break in through an upper window, or you could lift a hatch-door which appears to lead to a cellar.

We're back at a familiar paragraph. Do we want to try the cellar again?

(Based on JourneymanN00b's earlier vote, I'm counting his as wanting to to open the hatch again now that we have the oil, unless he states otherwise.)

[JourneymanN00b]

I confirm my vote to open the hatch again, and also to eat a Provision before proceeding.

[Queen of Swords]

Sounds good to me, eat and open the hatch again, now that we have oil.

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, shame not to use the old we paid for, and may as well eat first.

[SGamerz]

Do you have any sallow-seed oil? If you have, turn to 164, otherwise, turn to 229.

This is one of those cases where we automatically use the item instead of choosing whether to use it.

You decide to drip a few drops of the oil on to the hatch's rusty hinges to prevent any unwelcome noises. Then you put the rest of the oil in its phial back in your pack, before opening the hatch and slipping through.

Ok, sounds like we don't have to cross off the oil since it's not used up. Maybe it'll come up useful again!

You drop lightly to the ground and find yourself, as expected, in a cellar. The floor is dusty and it doesn't look as though the room has been used for years. There are crates here and there, in no particular order, and half a bed, and a drawer from some long-forgotten chest. Will you search the room or not? If you decide not to, there is only a single exit: a wooden door to the east.

[Queen of Swords]

We probably have time to search the room since we haven't alerted anyone, so let's do that.

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, search everything.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to go to the wooden door to the east, since searching excessively seems to be punished in this adventure.

[SGamerz]

The door swings shut behind you, blocking out the last remnant of the evening light from outside. Do you have a tinderbox? If you have, turn to 109; if not, turn to 20.

We got one this time...

You strike a light and see that you are in a storeroom. Small, wooden packing cases are stacked one on top of another in neat piles. Every case is stuffed with bits of paper - letters, receipts, invoices, and so on - and labelled with a date. It is now late in the second week of the ninth month, which is called Forests Golden in Khul. Will you search this month's file or last month's?

EDIT: forgot to update the Adventure Sheet for the meal we took earlier:

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Waluigi
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 14/16
LUCK 10/11
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
Gold: 3
Boons: Cape Feather (x1), Magic Mushroom (x1)
Notes: Visit the City Guard station at room 56 next morning to check if the murderer has been arrested.
[/spoiler]

[Queen of Swords]

If we're given the option to search last month's file, there might be something helpful there. Try last month's.

[JourneymanN00b]

I vote to search for last month's file.

[SGamerz]

You come across a very interesting letter. Written in black ink so thick that a blind person could trace the letters with his fingertips, it is signed with a spiky 'A'. It says that, of the three half-giants, the bearer of the letter (whose name is Otus) is more to be trusted than the other two, who loathe each other. Their love of money and their hostility towards each other make them, the letter continues, 'less loyal to me personally and less useful for our plan. So tell Otus alone the time and place of the Princess's picnic. He will do the rest.' Make a note of the hostility of the two half, giants, and of the number of this paragraph.

The Baron is clearly implicated in the kidnapping of Telessa. You are on the right trail; regain 1 LUCK point. At this moment, however, a spark leaps out of your tinderbox and the flimsy pieces of paper and their dry wooden boxes catch fire with a whoomph! Within seconds, the fire is raging out of control. You have time to grab one handful of paper and run; your eyebrows are already starting to singe. Roll one dice. If you roll a 6 turn to 261; otherwise, turn to 218.

So we finally find evidence that point to/name the culprits of the kidnap, and promptly set fire to it by accident. Good job!

Die roll = 5.

The papers you grabbed are worthless. You leave the blazing room by turning to 192.

Close, but not enough to get one last bit of useful information...

Before long the whole house will be ablaze. You can remain in the Baron's house for a maximum of seven further paragraphs. If by then you are not out in the courtyard, you will be roasted alive. Keep track on a piece of paper of how long you are taking to get out. The next location you turn to will be the first of the seven. The door back to the previous room is blocked by the fire. Will you examine the room you are in or leave by the only available door?

And now we're on time limit! Do we think there's any useful stuff here worth finding to risk getting roasted?

(Number of sections remaining before getting roasted alive: 7/7.)

Adventure Sheet:
[spoiler]Name: Waluigi
SKILL 9/9
STAMINA 14/16
LUCK 11/11
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
Gold: 3
Boons: Cape Feather (x1), 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]

I vote to leave by the only available door, as I would like to make sure that our hero does not run out of time here.

[Queen of Swords]

I don't know. We already missed out on something by not rolling a six, so I'd like to see if there's anything valuable here.

[Darth Rabbitt]

I feel like we’ve already lost the good thing that can be found here (really weird that it doesn’t use a luck test to see if we don’t burn the clue) so we should probably leave the room. That timer of 7 paragraphs or instant death is rough.

[SGamerz]

The room you now find yourself in is lit by torches in brackets on the walls. The flickering light reveals a grim torture-chamber. In the centre of the room stands a stretching-rack on the walls, pincers, chisels and other sharp implements are neatly arrayed. You see whips with metal balls at the end of leather thongs, and a coffin-shaped box whose open lid reveals vicious spikes that are designed to sink slowly under the weight of the closed lid into the flesh of a victim lying in the coffin. As you step into the chamber, a plaintive voice from the room you have just left whimpers, "Help! Help me, please!" Will you return to the previous room or leave the torture-chamber by the stone stairs leading up to a sound-proof door?

(Number of sections remaining before getting roasted alive: 6/7.)