[Fighting Fantasy] Bloodsword v1

[Joshua Randall]

(pushes glasses up nose) Sheet Lightning is when the lightning channel is not visible to the observer but you see the clouds illuminated by the discharge. So basically normal lightning that you can't see directly, but you see evidence of it.

Thus I'd like to think that this entire battle is lit up indirectly by Esmeralda blasting something else other than the lava demons, but they take damage from the sheer badassery of what they are seeing.

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Defend OP!

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I wonder if "Dirge" is the equivalent (or precursor) of the D&D demon the "dretch", which is the wretched little squishy thing that evil souls get turned into?

I also love, love, love the detail that when you piss off a wizard, he just kills you. EXCEPT if you are super evil, when the wizard instead sighs deeply, rolls up his sleeves, and takes the time to transform you into a Dirge.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

(pushes glasses up nose) Sheet Lightning is when the lightning channel is not visible to the observer but you see the clouds illuminated by the discharge. So basically normal lightning that you can't see directly, but you see evidence of it.

Thank you. Not being a native speaker, I had no idea it meant that. I thought it was a name refering to a blanket of lightning over an area. I'll keep the term, then...

Thus I'd like to think that this entire battle is lit up indirectly by Esmeralda blasting something else other than the lava demons, but they take damage from the sheer badassery of what they are seeing.

Especially now that you've given a badass explanation.

I wonder if "Dirge" is the equivalent (or precursor) of the D&D demon the "dretch", which is the wretched little squishy thing that evil souls get turned into?

I also love, love, love the detail that when you piss off a wizard, he just kills you. EXCEPT if you are super evil, when the wizard instead sighs deeply, rolls up his sleeves, and takes the time to transform you into a Dirge.

The series is full of little lore like that, often accessible only by being of a specific class, so playing the 4-PCs party is the only way to appreciate it to its fullest. So far, despite the intitial quest (enter a labyrinth) being very classic, it's living up to my memories of it.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

The story suddenly takes a bleak turn. As we hail the Dirge-Man and starts discussing what could be in for him, we're showcasing a bottle as our most precious bottle of liquor, offering to give it to the Dirge in exchange for safe passage. He's initially suspicious, but we make a show of drinking a few drops of chimera's spittle and saying how much it is delicious. As we do that, we're careful to drink the antidote as well.

The Dirge-Man, convinced to enter a fair deal of exchanging a bottle of swill for transportation, agrees to take us into his talons and we take to the sky, well, at least to the middle of the cavern. Then, he asks for the bottle mid-flight, saying that he could very well drop us into the lava, and getting the swill now ensures him we won't be tempted not to honor our part of the deal. We then explain the Dirge-Man that the bottle was laced with a potent poison called Chimera's spittle, and that if he wants to drink the cure, he should make sure we reach the other side safely.

When ashore, we give him... the bottle of poison, that he gulps, while we leaves before the onset time of the poison expires and he realizes he's been tricked.

There goes the idea that poison is a tool of evil. Not only did we cheat the Dirge-Man, who, as far as we know, entered a fair deal of alcohol for transportation, by giving him a poisoned drink, and when he (justifiedly) suspected we might not be totally honest, we just... play another trick on him and he dies.

Extra bonus, Trixie got back 3 HP during these non-combat sections, where she delighted in her healing powers and the death throes of the Dirge-Man.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

We continue treading on the plain, toward the mounds and monoliths area we saw from the ridge. The see several of them covered in runes that can no longer be read today, dating back from the time when the True Magi ruled over Krarth. 200 years ago.

On the plus side, language matters. On the minus side, 200 years is awfully short to totally forget a language that was widely spoken since the True Magi were the ruling class of Krarth at the time. The timeline is especially short because Legend, the local world, has several long-living species like the elves, many of whom might have been interacting with the True Magi.


Since we hurry, we finally catch up to... Icon the Ungodly, Magus Uru's champion. We had quickly seen it when we entered the pits. He makes some small talks, saying we should help each other and share the prize.

We know a trap when we see it, and we politely decline, only for Icon to attack us at once.

Icon FP 8, PA 8, Awareness 7, AR 2, HP 28, Damage: 2d6+2.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Pretty much all gamebooks are best played as amoral mercenaries. Or like Cugel the Clever, the Jack Vance anti-hero. (Although on a pound-for-pound basis most of Vance’s protagonists are actually good people!)

So: trick someone into drinking poison, then trick him again? Totally on brand.

—

Why does Icon the Idiot think he can possibly win a 1-vs.-4 fight?!

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Honestly I don't know.

He's empowered by some special rules, like a mental discipline that makes him immune to Enthralling and has cast Retributive Fire on himself before the encounter, so everyone who strikes him incurs 1 HP of damage not mitigated by Armour.

But even then, the fight against this foe, foreshadowed three times (once when we entered the Pits, once when we spoke to our patron over the Crystalphone, once when we saw him from the ridge... possibility other depending on our choices)... will be rather anticlimatic.

Given retributive fire is an automatic damage, there is llittle point for most of our crew to attack. Statistically-minded Trixie sees that hitting on a 7 or more and doing 1d6 damage is 0.87 DPR given Icon's AR of 2. So Icon is winning overall when being attacked. Winny has more damage (2.3 DPR) so it's worth for her to get into the fight. But barely.

Anyway...

Round1:

Trixie defends.
Icon selects his foe and attacks Salvia, missing on a 9.
Salvia defends.
Winny gets to contact at the left of Icon.
Esmeralda casts her Greenbolt (11) and deals 30 damage, reduced to 28 by Icon's Armour. He had... well, 28 HP. I didn't cheat the result.

Greenbolt does 7d6+7 damage, minus AR.

That's all folks.

Honestly, even withtout having a killer wizard in the party, a regular wizard would at this poitn cast Swordthrust, that deals 3d6+3 damage, on average 14 damage, so two spells will kill Icon... How could he hope to drop the melee member before getting to the spellcaster?

As we deal the last blow, Icon is contorted in pain, but he's not at dying... He's using his magic to retreat and heal, saying that he'll hate us forever for preventing him from winning the contest. With this parting words, he turns into a red mist (that was actually our plan, to turn him into a red mist...) and floats away, leaving only an item to loot: a bronze mallet.

As we proceed, we see a bronze gong. Probably Icon was going to ring that gong, and we meddled with his pans. So we ring the gong (I decide to do so because Icon wouldn't have carrried a BRONZE HAMMER in the maze for nothing).

We're teleported on top of a basalt platform on which sits a sarcophagus. On top of it, a ghost stands. He's been waiting for us across a thousand year of history. He introduces himself as Magus Zyn. The most powerful of the Magi, unjustly assassinated by his petty colleagues as he planned to rule them all, as they al did?

He's devised a plan, meticulously over the last 10 centuries -- it's not like he had anything else to do TBH -- and wants to enlist our aid to execute his plan.

 

[Joshua Randall]

He's empowered by some special rules, like a mental discipline that makes him immune to Enthralling and has cast Retributive Fire on himself before the encounter, so everyone who strikes him incurs 1 HP of damage not mitigated by Armour.

Well that's at least cool. I like opponents who have auto-damage; it reduces the amount of die rolling, and puts those uppity PCs in their place.

I also note this example of "boss needed to be made immune to action denial because (other than dead) action denial is the best debuff" way back in whenever this book was released. Far predating all the arguments from the 3e/4e/5e D&D days!

Esmeralda casts her Greenbolt (11) and deals 30 damage, reduced to 28 by Icon's Armour. He had... well, 28 HP. I didn't cheat the result.

That's all folks.

It's awesome, though. You can picture the movie scene -- the dramatic build-up, people in defensive stances, Winny comes close to Icon but shies away from his fire shield -- and then Esmeralda casually snuffs Icon with one mystical gesture.

Magus Zyn. The most powerful of the Magi, unjustly assassinated by his petty colleagues as he planned to rule them all

Why can't petty colleagues ever just appreciate my genius and submit to my rule? They are always with the rebellions and the assassinations and the hiring of adventurers to interfere with me. It's like they don't WANT to be my inferiors forever.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

I also note this example of "boss needed to be made immune to action denial because (other than dead) action denial is the best debuff" way back in whenever this book was released. Far predating all the arguments from the 3e/4e/5e D&D days!

Yes. Especially when surrounded. They gave action denial to the quarterstaff-wielding monk, but they made it very difficult (odds of succes = rolling 7 or less on 3d6 = 16%.

Defending might sound an OP strategy, but it reduces the odd of being hit by around 33 points of percentage (depending on the starting odds, on average), so this is more power than the 25% decrease caused by using the Dodge action. I guess we don't take enough dodge actions in D&D because it doesn't feel heroic.

Why can't petty colleagues ever just appreciate my genius and submit to my rule? They are always with the rebellions and the assassinations and the hiring of adventurers to interfere with me. It's like they don't WANT to be my inferiors forever.

At least Beldon regularly prevents these feuds by regularly encouraging colleagues to open Landor's office to prove they have bested him.

 

[Joshua Randall]

At least Beldon regularly prevents these feuds by regularly encouraging colleagues to open Landor's office to prove they have bested him.

Relevant link for anyone confused by our cross-thread in-joke.

[Gamebook] Sceptre of Power

At 15, Carr could live off 4 gp a day (or 4,000...) until the end of his life carousing and womanizing. There is a worse prospect for a teenager without any parental supervision... But with WIS 3, no, he prefers to focus on finding his father's inheritance. I agree that the two events are...

www.enworld.org

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

And, for our anticlimactic finale that started with the Icon fight...

We listen to Zyn's plan. A plan that was hatched over 1,000 years must be extremely devious and fool-proof.
This is the best choice. It is, actually, already the only choice. I read what if we just didn't want to learn about the plan... There are a false choice, which results in either Zyn's spirit becoming angry and summoning demonic spirit to tear our souls to Hell OR Zyn's spirit becoming calm and just leaving us on top of the basalt pillar to die, presumably from thirst and hunger when we'll run out of the nutritious rations we got. Apparently Balhasar doesn't care about us enough to pull us out, nor can we take the risk of climbing down the basalt pillar, nor can Salvia, who as Levitation as a power, gently float down carrying everyone one by one, or heartlessly abandonning the rest of the team to snatch the Victory Emblem for her...

So, what's that devious plan? Zyn congratulates us on being smart and saying that loyal servants of Zyn are rewarded. However, there will be no free stew for us, only a lump of granite. He explains that it's the fossilized heart of a creature named Skrymir. It's a giant that served him a millenium ago. He was destroyed by the Magi. His plan is to resurrect it and release them against the Magi.

That's it. In 1,000 years, his only plan was to release a creature that was already, previously, defeated. Sure, the current Magi aren't as powerful as the elder True Magi, but all of them could certainly, you know, cast Enthrall before the Giant has killed them all?

Before we can express our opinion about this stupid plan... Zyn uses his powerful magic to force us to go with the plan. Player agency is killed along Skrymir. Then he teleports us back to the solid ground.

In the following sections, we traverse the plains with the funerary mound, Zyn talks to us to command us to take a part of Skrymir skeleton, possibly using a word of power of his own to defeat whatever defense there was. He's the quintessential... DMPC. They are horrible in real games, but they are even worse in gamebooks, where the DM isn't even there to enjoy how miserable he makes us.

We walk through 3 kilometers on the plain. We gather a giant skull. He recounts us his version of the story, where he explains that the Magi cast spell that turned his heart to stone, split and broke his skeleton, boiled his blood, turned his flesh to dust... basically he apparently didn't last a single round last time.

We have no choice but to take that annoying giant head with us, because of Zyn's magic. Then we proceed to gather other parts of his skeleton, forcing us to clear our inventory for it.




The section continues emphasizing our helplessness.

You have no choice. Heck no I have no choice, I just crossed 12 sections without anything happening because DMPC intervened to remove the threat and because DMPC's magic forced us to take the remnants of his feeble giant. Almost without volition, you stoop and begin to place the huge bones into the iron frame. Your thoughts are still your own, but Zyn's magic has implanted a subconscious command that you are powerless to resist. [...]

As the body starts to reform, we're released from Zyn's magic. We get the chance to add an ingredient of our own to the ritual: an ice jewel? Too bad we throw it off in the lava earlier. A spiked gauntlet? Not very useful to put into a ribcage (also, we didn't take it). A... sliver of Kallium? Now that's fun.

Ourr dynamite-pacemaker in place, we stand back to see the giant Skrymir raise from the dead in his full glory... He pronounces a villain speech. At this point, our team of heroines know they have won. After mentionning that he rises on the Middle Earth again -- no, not Tolkien's Middle Earth, Norse Middle Earth, Midgard, and as the King of Jotunheim he'll reduce everything to cinders... starting by us, since someone as noble and powerful as him can't be in debt to puny mortals... You all see how it will end, don't you?

As soon as he raises his hand to squat us like flies, his heart pump blood into his system, moisturizing the Kallium and making explode in a thousands of tiny, fiery bits. As a Frost Giant, he was especially susceptible to fire magic.

I guess Zyn will spend another 1,000 devising new plan, probably involving gathering the bits in a single place to resurrect the mighty Skrymir.

We then leave the scene to collect the emblem of victory at the end of the road. We're teleported to the grand ballroom where the Magi gathered to party while betting on the groups performance. Magus Tor thanks us for our performance and especially for removing Skrymir. He orders servant to brings a few gifts as a reward for entertaining them.

• A +1 Sword (I'll call that the Sword of Redundancy +1. It's important to name correctly magical items)
• A shielding brooch (AR+1)
• A magic bow +1 to hit AND to damage (1d6+1)
• A ring of sorcery, PA +1.

This is good, but it needs a lot of reshuffling, since the character gifted each objects is right now the one with the less chance to use it. The Sword will go to Trixie (Winny has a better sword, even if we don't fight too many giants...), the brooch will go to Esmeralda (with so little HP, she needs more AR). The Bow will go to Salvia, as she's equally good with bow as the Trickster, but we use Trixie as our main Tank. The Ring of Sorcery goes to Esmeralda, because she's on her way to reach PA 19, at which point she'll be able to autocast Greenbolt and Enthrallment and have them memorized permanently...

We also get 1,200 xp to share equally, so that's 300 xp each. We're also warned by Balhazar that "There is one contestant who is left with bitter hatred in his heart" and that "we will meet him again".

As a result of or resouding victory, we reach rank 3. The game has table for each class, with a few incremental improvements. Winny and Trixie get 6 more HP and +1 damage, Salvia and Esmeralda +5 HP and +1 damage,

So we end book 1 with the following group:

Winny rank 3, FP 10/9, PA (psychic ability) 6, Awareness 6, Damage 1d6+2, HP 19

1. Armour AR3
2. Bludgetranker (+1 FP, +1d6 damage vs Giants)
3. An opal medallion to be tracked by magus Balhazar
4. A giant skull
5. Dagger of Vislet
6. Golden Snuff-Box
7. A Kalium container
8. A giant leg
9. A giant leg
10. A giant fossilized heart

Trixie rank 3, FP 8/7, PA 6, Awareness 8, Damage 1d6+1, HP 19

1. Sword of Redundancy +1
2. Armour AR2
3. Money pouch with 105 gp
4. Bow
5. Quiver (6 arrows)
6. A healing meal
7. A healing meal
8. A healing meal
9. A healing meal
10. A healing meal

Salvia rank 3, FP 7, PA 7, Awareness 6, Damage 1d6+1, HP 16

1. Quarterstaff
2. Armour AR2
3. Bow +1
4. Quiver (6 arrows)
5. A healing meal
6. A healing meal
7. A healing meal
8. A healing meal
9. A healing meal
10. A healing meal

Esmeralda rank 3, FP 6, PA 14/15, Awareness 6, damage 1d6, HP 10

1. Obsolete Sword of Uselessness +0
2. Armour AR2
3. 1 scroll of Invisibility (to freely flee a fight)
4. 1 scroll of Time Blink (to rewind a fight)
5. A charm of Shielding AR +1
6. A ring of Sorcery PA +1
7. A giant pelvis (3 spot)
8. A giant arm
9. A giant arm
10. An empty spot