[Let's Play] Fighting Fantasy 71 – Shadow of the Giants

[deaddmwalking]

Feel like there should have been more to 'paying our respects' than observing the gravestone, so might as well examine the tomb.

[JourneymanN00b]

Votes recognized; examining the tomb.

86

A shadowy figure in a long and ragged black gown

The tomb is built of sandstone which has turned black over time. There are carved stone gargoyles on each of the four corners of the flat roof and broken steps which lead down to a wooden door almost hidden by thick vines. You walk down the steps and cut away the vines with your sword to reveal a handle which turns in your hand. The door is wedged shut, blocked at the bottom by dirt and debris, but you manage to barge it open with your shoulder. You stare into the musty-smelling tomb, your eyes trying to adjust to the near darkness. You step inside and walk slowly towards a stone sarcophagus which lies in the middle of the tomb. You feel a cold draught of wind on your neck and spin round to see a shadowy figure in a long and ragged black gown hovering above the cold stone floor. Its face, but for its glowing red eyes, is hidden by a large hood. ‘Welcome! I’ve waited a long time for this moment,’ it says in a hissing whisper. Vicious long claws suddenly appear from out of its baggy sleeves as the WRAITH glides forward to attack you. You draw your sword quickly to defend yourself.

     WRAITH     SKILL 10     STAMINA 8

If you possess a Vampire Sword, add 2 to your Attack Strength for each Attack Round. If you win, turn to 159.

Lixx does not possess a Vampire Sword.

The fight:
Round 1: Wraith Attack Strength: 19, Player Attack Strength: 15
Wraith Stamina: 8, Player Stamina: 10
Round 2: Wraith Attack Strength: 17, Player Attack Strength: 12
Wraith Stamina: 8, Player Stamina: 8
Round 3: Wraith Attack Strength: 21, Player Attack Strength: 11
Wraith Stamina: 8, Player Stamina: 6

Lixx has unfortunately failed to deal a single blow to the Wraith, who flawlessly hits him for 6 Stamina points of damage during the first 3 rounds. Should Luck be used for the rest of the fight? If so, should it be used to reduce the damage that our hero takes or to inflict additional damage? And should the Clover Leaf Button be used in any Luck tests?

The first choice to receive two votes will be used to resolve the rest of the battles. If no option has a winning margin before 7:00 PM PDT, I will make the choice based on which votes are cast.

Adventure Sheet
Lixx
SKILL: 8 Initial Skill = 9
STAMINA: 6 Initial Stamina = 16
LUCK: 8 Initial Luck = 11
EQUIPMENT AND TREASURE:
Broken Sword
Backpack
Map
Fire Sword
Shiny Dagger
Crown of Chaos
Silver Medallion
Clover Leaf Button (Use to Pass a Luck Test)
GOLD: 29
JEWELS:
None
POTIONS:
Potion of Skill
PROVISIONS: 7

[deaddmwalking]

I think we should save the clover. Our odds of passing a luck test are only a bit better than 50/50 right now and our odds of winning each round are less than 50/50. I say we use luck to reduce damage until we win or die...

[Beroli]

Since we're here, use Luck to increase damage for the rest of the fight, not to reduce damage unless it's that or die. The fight will only end when one of us is dead, and +2 damage increases our chances of surviving more than -1 to incoming damage.

[JourneymanN00b]

Thank you for your votes. I am going to resolve the tie by having Lixx use his Luck to increase the damage that he deals and only use it to reduce the damage that our hero takes if the damage would otherwise take him to 0 Stamina. He will not use the Clover Leaf Button for this purpose.

The fight:
Round 4: Wraith Attack Strength: 15, Player Attack Strength: 14
Wraith Stamina: 8, Player Stamina: 4
Round 5: Wraith Attack Strength: 20, Player Attack Strength: 16
Wraith Stamina: 8, Player Stamina: 2
Round 6: Wraith Attack Strength: 15, Player Attack Strength: 16
Luck Roll: 8, Player is Lucky and deals 2 extra Stamina damage
Wraith Stamina: 4, Player Stamina: 2, Player Luck: 7
Round 7: Wraith Attack Strength: 21, Player Attack Strength: 14
Luck Roll: 8, Player is Unlucky and takes 1 extra Stamina damage
Wraith Stamina: 4, Player Stamina: -1, Player Luck: 6

Despite Lixx getting a Lucky blow of 4 Stamina damage against the Wraith, the Wraith unfortunately kills Lixx, as expected.

Bonus death entry:
The Wraith manages to slice up Lixx’s jugular vein, causing him to collapse to the ground and drop his sword. Lixx’s last moments are filled with a searing pain and a growing numbness as his blood spills from his throat and spreads all over the tomb’s floor. With the Wraith letting out a ghastly burst of triumphant laughter, Lixx’s body shakes uncontrollably as his life comes to a painful and tragic end. As Lixx’s soul attempts to leave his dead body, the Wraith wrenches it and transforms the poor spirit into a specter that is under its eternal control.

Lixx’s quest may have concluded in failure, but his soul’s torment would continue … for eternity!

Yikes. Now that is a sad way to conclude this adventure and the entire Fighting Fantasy series. As it turns out, examining the tomb was not necessary for our hero to win this adventure at all. Even if our hero did win the battle against the Wraith, the resulting treasure that our hero could have got would have been in the “nice but not necessary” category at best, and downright dangerous at worst. The correct decision that our hero should have taken after giving Rosa his horse was to walk into Hamelin instead.

Well, this brings us to the (cringeworthy) life lesson to top off our long experience in playing this series: Always respect the dead, and do not engage in any acts of desecration. And tomb robbery definitely falls into the acts of desecration category. It is a lesson that I always heed, and I actually spent this weekend visiting my late mother’s gravestone with my close family members. Apart from saying a couple of Bible verses and sharing stories, none of us entered any buildings, let alone any mausoleums or vaults.

With the ending of this playthrough, we have officially finished every Fighting Fantasy title that has been published at the time of this post. That is a huge, HUGE accomplishment for any forum to achieve. I sincerely hope that this will allow our forum to stand out among the Internet’s many message boards in a good way.

With that, I am declaring an extended break from hosting Let’s Plays, as I am very exhausted right now and need to reserve my energy and time towards my work projects. This means that I will not be able to run Lone Wolf’s Magnakai series or any other series any time soon. However, there is a new Fighting Fantasy book titled The Dungeon of Blood Island that will be published in September this year. I *might* be able to run that book at that time, but I am not sure if things will improve enough for me to do that.

I would like to give a huge thank you to everyone who participated in this Let’s Play, as well as in my previous threads that date back to December 2021.

Adventure Sheet
Lixx
SKILL: 8 Initial Skill = 9
STAMINA: -1 Initial Stamina = 16
LUCK: 6 Initial Luck = 11
EQUIPMENT AND TREASURE:
Broken Sword
Backpack
Map
Fire Sword
Shiny Dagger
Crown of Chaos
Silver Medallion
Clover Leaf Button (Use to Pass a Luck Test)
GOLD: 29
JEWELS:
None
POTIONS:
Potion of Skill
PROVISIONS: 7

[Thaluikhain]

Thanks for running this.

[deaddmwalking]

I figured the tomb was a trap but I really like knowing what there is to find. If I think it's a wraith and I don't find out it hurts a bit - even though finding out that it is ALSO hurts. Thank you for running these!

[JourneymanN00b]

I highly appreciate the thanks headed my way.

[Beroli]

Thanks for running this.

So everything after the crown encounter referenced Higgly, so apparently we need him to get that far. What would have happened if we'd chosen Gibbly?

[JourneymanN00b]

Hiring Gibbly will have Gibbly tell the player that he will get his gear and ask for 3 Gold Pieces to him, with one extra so that he can "buy some climbing rope", promising to be back in under an hour. As the player gets impatient, Higgly informs him that he is fooling himself if he thinks Gibbly is coming back. Higgly then adds that Gibbly is down the mines by now and that this is not the first time that Gibbly has run off with somebody's money.

The player then has the opportunity to hire Higgly instead. If the player declines, the player finds out that Gibbly does not come back, loses 1 LUCK, and is forced to pay Higgly 6 Gold Pieces to hire him, with Higgly claiming that this is "the price for doubting me."

[Dogopolis]

Well thanks anyway. I'd like to see a full playthrough sometime though, (I think it's the only main line book I've never read). Is it possible for whoever maintains the Let's Play list to put an asterisk on this one that it ended quickly, in case somebody else wants to run it again?