Temple of Terror - Attempt 3

I had another crack at Temple of Terror this afternoon, and let's just say this will be a quick one.  I rolled a Stamina of 19 and a Luck of 11 (not bad), but I also rolled a Skill of 8.  This is yet another Ian Livingstone book where a low Skill makes it pretty much a suicide mission.

After choosing my spells (Create Water, Open Door, Read Symbols and Fire), I decided to take the overland route again.  I didn't relish facing the Giant Sandworm with such a low Skill, and I knew that fight was unavoidable on the path via Port Blacksand.

Heading south, I ignored the encounter with the Dark Elves, as well as the trapped amulet left by Malbordus.  The Dark Elves have a bow and some arrows, but I figured I could go without them.  That night I camped near some boulders, and one a die roll I scored a 1, meaning I was attacked by a Cave Troll (Skill 8, Stamina 7). I started well, dropping it down to 1 Stamina, but then it hit me a few times in a row.  My Stamina was 13 by the end of the fight.

Following that I was attacked by a Harpy (Skill 8, Stamina 5), which further dropped my Stamina to 11.  Then I was picked up by a Giant Eagle sent by Yaztromo, and attacked by a Pterodactyl.  This is where I discovered that I really should have gone for that bow (or taken a Magic Arrow spell): not only does it wound the Pterodactyl, but it also drops its Skill by a point.  As it is, I had to run the Eagle vs. Pterodactyl fight at a 2 Skill disadvantage.  Nevertheless, I managed to scrape through by using a lot of Luck to increase the Eagle's damage.  I'm not sure if that's strictly following the rules, but it's not like Ian Livingstone plays fair so I feel perfectly justified.  My Luck by the end had been reduced to 9.

Further south I found a mirror buried in the sand (and ignored the clay pot with the poison gas inside).  After that, I came to my nemesis from the last game: the Sand Snapper.  This creature has two tentacles, each one with Skill and Stamina of 7.  If at any point the Snapper hits twice in a row, it's an instant death.  I was keen to get this fight over with as quickly as possible, so I burned some Luck here as well.  It hit me twice, but this time I managed to kill it.  Much to my disgust, the bite it had given me before the fight started resulted in me losing a further 4 Stamina, and 1 Skill.  I ate a provision, and at the end of this whole ordeal my Stamina was at 7, and my Skill at 7.

Continuing on, I saw a large lizard-like creature approaching, with large yellow eyes.  It was a Basilisk, but I had the perfect defense: a mirror to reflect its deadly gaze.  I killed the beast and moved on.  (It's odd to see a Basilisk that kills with its gaze, rather than turns its victims to stone.  Killing is more mythologically accurate, as far as I'm aware, but usually these kinds of books take their lead from Dungeons & Dragons).

I found some footprints and decided to follow them, but they only led to a dead body with a horrified expression.  I figure this guy got killed by the Basilisk, and with little else to do I took his water canteen and continued.  Past that I came the tent of the nomad merchant Abjul, who I'd met in my first attempt at the book; I'd finally reached the point where the paths converged.  With a full coin purse, I bought everything Abjul had to offer.

I needn't have bothered, because the next encounter was with the Giant Sandworm.  With Skill 10 and Stamina 20, it made very short work of me.  I didn't even get a single hit in.

THE POST-GAME

Once again I didn't make it far, but I did manage to fully explore the overland path.  Having done so, I think I'm going to ignore it from now on.  First off, it doesn't get around the Giant Sandworm; that one seems to be unavoidable.  Secondly, it has two very deadly battles in addition to the Sandworm: the Sand Snapper and the Giant Eagle/Pterodactyl aerial duel.  Finally, it only has two items to pick up (the bow and the mirror), and both of them are already useful by the time the Sandworm is reached: if I know my Ian Livingstone design sensibilities, they won't be used at all later in the book.  From now on, I'm going to persist with the Port Blacksand path, until such time as it is proven to be the wrong one.

Temple of Terror - Attempt 2

I'm back for another round with Temple of Terror.  Last time I got myself killed by a Giant Centipede very shortly after making it to the lost city of Vatos.  Dying in battle is maybe the most annoying way to lose in Fighting Fantasy.  If you lose because of a choice you made, or because you weren't carrying the right item, at least you gleaned some information from that.  Don't open that chest.  Don't eat that mushroom.  Make sure you find that silver hammer.  If you get killed in a fight, it's no help for future games, except to tell you that maybe you need to roll a better Skill next time.  So, I'm going into this attempt without much in the way of guidance as to what I should and shouldn't do.

For this game, I rolled a Skill of 9, a Stamina of 19, and a Luck of 12.  Not terrible stats, but I didn't fancy my chances in that unavoidable battle with the Giant Sandworm.  There are two paths at the beginning of this book: you can either take a boat downriver to Port Blacksand, or you can journey to the desert on foot.  I'm not sure where these two paths converge, so I decided this time - after choosing my spells from Yaztromo (Create Water, Read Symbols, Open Doors and Fire) - to travel overland in the hope that I wouldn't have to tackle the Sandworm this time.

After an hour of travel through scrubland, I spotted a plume of smoke rising to the east. I decided to investigate, and saw that the smoke was coming from a burning hut.  Two Dark Elves in black hoods were shooting flaming arrows at the hut.  When the owner of the hut was driven outside by the smoke, they shot him dead.

Paragraph 316 says I just burned down your
house and shot your ass full of arrow.

Figuring that the Dark Elves might be servants of Malbordus, I attacked them with my sword.  The first Elf (Skill 5, Stamina 6) got one blow in (reducing my Stamina to 17), but I managed to kill the second (Skill 6, Stamina 5) with ease.  On their corpses I found 2 gold pieces (which brought my total to 27), as well as a bow and two arrows.  I took time to bury their victim before moving on.

Further south I came to a patch of land that was completely blackened, with a smell of decay in the air.  In the middle of this area was a bronze medallion etched with the letter M.  Taking this for another sign of Malbordus' passing, I ignored the obvious danger and picked it up.  Instantly my hand started to burn, and I dropped the medallion to the ground.  Luckily I had not used my sword hand, but the medallion still left the letter M branded on my palm.  (The hand I used was determined by a Luck test, which I passed (reducing my score to 11).  The burn dropped my Stamina to 16.)

When night fell, I took shelter in a clump of boulders and went to sleep.  During the night I was awakened by heavy footsteps, and attacked by a Cave Troll (Skill 8, Stamina 9).  The fight went well for me initially, but the Troll responded viciously, and by the time I killed it I was close to death myself.  (It dropped me all the way to 4 Stamina.  At one point it won four consecutive combat rounds, so things got pretty hairy.)

In the morning I ate a meal (restoring my Stamina to 8, and leaving me with 9 provisions).  Not long after I set off, I saw a bird-like creature swooping down at me, and heard a piercing shriek.  I was being attacked by a Harpy, and I knew enough to stuff cloth into my ears to keep out its mesmerising call.  (This was assumed by the book, not a decision I had to make.)  With no Magic Arrow spell, I was forced to fight it with my sword.  The Harpy (Skill 8, Stamina 5) proved to be an easy foe, and I emerged from the battle unscathed.

As I continued, a leather pouch dropped from the sky, containing a note from Yaztromo.  He informed me that Malbordus was ahead of me, and that he had sent a Giant Eagle to speed me on my journey.  I gratefully boarded the Eagle, who carried me south, but that gratefulness became shortlived when a screeching Pterodactyl swooped out of the sky.  I shot it with an arrow (requiring a roll under my Skill on 2d6+3), but when I tried to shoot it again I dropped my bow.  There was nothing I could do now but hold on as my Giant Eagle (Skill 6, Stamina 11) battled the Pterodactyl (Skill 7, Stamina 9).  I had my doubts as to whether my Eagle was up to the task, but despite sustaining some wounds it managed to kill the Pterodactyl, and we were soon on our way again.

We flew over the Whitewater River, and at dusk we reached the edge of the Desert of Skulls.  I camped for the night, but when I woke up I discovered that the Eagle had flown away.  I would have to make the rest of the way on foot.  After a short time in the desert sun I became parched, and had to use a Create Water spell to refresh myself.  I also took the chance to eat a meal (restoring my Stamina to 12, and leaving me with 8 provisions).

Soon I walked past the bones of some huge creature, and noticed a box half-buried in the sand.  I decided to open it, and found a mirror and a sealed clay pot.  Curious, I cracked the pot open, and got a face-full of poison gas for my trouble (leaving me with 6 Stamina, and reducing my Skill to 8).

Is this the only skeleton in FF history that
doesn't spring to life and attack?

That night I slept out in the open, and ate a meal in the morning..  By mid-morning I was getting thirsty again, but I found some water by cutting open a cactus.  I ate another meal before pressing on. (These two meals restored my Stamina to 14, and left me with 6 provisions remaining.)

Suddenly my foot sank into the sand, and I felt a sharp pain.  I stabbed my sword into the ground, and was shocked when a great beast emerged, like a crocodile with two grasping tentacles.  It was a Sand Snapper, and I would have to sever both of its tentacles to survive.  The first tentacle (Skill 7, Stamina 7) wounded me twice before I could cut it off.  The second, though, managed to wrap itself around both of my arms, and I was helpless as it dragged me below the sand to my death.

A lesser author would have called this a
Croctopus.  And by lesser author, I mean me.

THE POST-GAME
I didn't actually lose all of my Stamina in that last fight.  The Sand Snapper has a special ability whereby it gets an automatic kill if it wins two consecutive Attack Rounds, and that's how it did me in.  I probably owe my death the the Skill penalty I copped when I breathed in the poison gas; I'll have to avoid that next time.

Unfortunately, that early death meant that I didn't get to find out where the two paths at the start of the book converge.  I was hoping to check both out fully, so that I could assess which of them looked the most likely path to victory.  I have stronger memories of the Port Blacksand path from playing this as a kid, so I suspect that's the one I need to take.  At the moment, though, I have no idea, so I have to keep trying both.

Temple of Terror - Attempt 1

So, uh, about that emotional farewell I gave at the end of my last post...

It seems I'm back.  My circumstances haven't improved, but after a few weeks of not blogging I found that I missed it.  It turns out that I'm mentally better off when I'm producing something, even if that production happens to be as insignificant as a blog about Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.  So, for the moment, the blog continues, with Ian Livingstone's Temple of Terror.

Cover by Christos Achilleos

The dark, twisted power of the young Malbordus is reaching its zenith. All he needs now is to retrieve the five dragon artefacts which have been hidden for centuries in the lost city of Vatos, somewhere in the Desert of Skulls. Each day that passes brings him closer to them and only YOU can stop him! YOUR mission is to reach the lost city before Malbordus and destroy the treasures he seeks. But beware! Each step you take leads you closer to your doom...

Temple of Terror really is the end of an era for Fighting Fantasy, as pretty much the tail end of Ian Livingstone's run as the series' main author.  Of the books before this, Ian wrote or co-wrote seven.  Of the 45 books that follow in the original series, he writes four.  Opening the series up to different writers gives it more scope and variety, and was the only way it was ever going to have any kind of longevity.  But for me, regardless of the many gameplay issues his books have, Ian Livingstone's books are the core of Fighting Fantasy, and the series loses a lot without his regular contribution.

(That said, I had no sense of this back in the day, because I thought Ian and Steve wrote all of them.  After all, their names were right there on the covers.  I was even convinced that they drew the pictures themselves, never mind the wildly differing art styles.  Some kids are dumb, and I was one of them.)

The background of this book begins with Malbordus, a child abandoned by his mother in Darkwood Forest and raised by evil elves.  As Malbordus grew it became apparent that he was gifted in the ways of dark magic, but he had to pass one final test before the elves would teach him their secrets: find five dragon statues in the lost city of Vatos, and bring them to life to lead an army in the conquest of Allansia.

The wizard Yaztromo got wind of this plot, and hurried to Stonebridge to find a hero to go to Vatos to stop Malbordus.  Yaztromo, introduced in Forest of Doom as little more than a means by which the player could buy magic items, comes into his own here as the most important good wizard in Allansia.  He'll fill that role in most of Ian's books going forward, and while he's pretty much a Gandalf knock-off, well... every generic fantasy setting needs a good Gandalf knock-off.  It comes with the territory.

Yaztromo finds the hero of the book resting in Stonebridge after a recent adventure, and while it's not outright stated that this is a sequel to Forest of Doom, it's pretty heavily implied.  The hero is tasked with travelling to Vatos, and destroying the dragon artefacts before Malbordus can get his hands on them.  We're back in familiar territory here, with a classic hero-vs.-evil-wizard plot.

We're in familiar territory as far as the rules go, as well, because Temple of Terror doesn't add anything new to the basic FF ruleset.  Creating my character, I rolled a Skill of 11, a Stamina of 18, and a Luck of 9.  For equipment, I had a sword, leather armour, a backpack, a lantern, and 10 provisions.  Yaztromo also gave me a pouch containing 25 gold pieces (which may very well be the same gold pieces I used to buy stuff from him back in Forest of Doom).

Before sending me off on my quest, Yaztromo took me to his tower to teach me some magic.  He had ten spells to choose from, but only had time to teach me four.  (This is a little ridiculous, honestly.  Pretty much all fantasy fiction treats magic like it's something that takes years of painstaking study to master, but here Yaztromo can teach someone a few spells in what feels like at most a matter of hours.  At least in Scorpion Swamp Fake Steve Jackson had the decency to explain this with one-use spell gems when he wanted to pull the same trick.)

The ten spells are Open Door, Creature Sleep, Magic Arrow, Language, Read Symbols, Light, Fire, Jump, Detect Trap and Create Water.  For my four, I chose Open Door, Read Symbols, Detect Trap and Create Water.  That last one seemed especially vital, given that I was heading into the desert.  For the others, I opted mostly for spells that would allow me to detect and avoid danger.  Or, in the case of Open Door, avoid losing because I failed to find a key somewhere. I know your tricks, Ian.

There's no specific limit on the number of times a spell can be cast, but each casting drains a small amount of Stamina.  The only spell of the four I chose with no Stamina cost is Create Water.

Led by Yaztromo's pet crow, I headed south until I reached Catfish River, where an old barge crewed by unsavoury characters was moored.  There was also a rope bridge across the river, but rather than take it I decided to approach the barge crew and book passage to Port Blacksand.  (Allansia has really come together as a setting by this point.  Pretty much the entire opening of this adventure is made up of elements that were established in earlier books.)

The captain told me it would be 5 gold pieces for passage, and I decided to pay it rather than haggle with him.  I spent the whole journey asleep on a coil of rope, and before long I disembarked in the infamous "city of thieves".  (The hero of this book must be young man, because I'm pretty sure that if I slept on a coil of rope I wouldn't be getting up again for at least a few days.)

As night approached I started looking for a place to stay.  An old man in tattered clothes jumped out of a doorway in front of me, and told me that for 1 gold piece he could lead me to a place that offered a room, soup and bread.  Impressed by this man's obvious integrity, I was 100% convinced that his offer was genuine, so I gave him the gold and followed him to a dilapidated house.  As soon as he knocked on the door, two club-wielding things burst out and attacked me.  I'd been set up in a manner so subtle that I had not even the slightest inkling that it was ever going to happen.

The Robbers (Skill 8, Stamina 7 and Skill 7, Stamina 7) attacked one at a time, and the first one landed some strong hits early, but once I recovered from the shock I made short work of them.  (I was hit twice during the battle, reducing my Stamina to 14.)  The old man had run off with my gold piece, but a search of the robbers' pockets turned up a brass telescope and 3 silver buttons.

Continuing down Clog Street and into Harbour Street, I soon found the Black Lobster Tavern. I paid a gold piece for a room for the night, and another for an introduction to a ship captain who could take me down the coast.  Gargo was the captain of the Belladonna, and the price of passage was 10 gold pieces.  He didn't seem like the sort of man to haggle with, so I paid his price before retiring to my room. Along the way a clumsy patron spilled some ale on me, and I made amends by buying him another round.  This cost me another gold piece, and I started to wonder how long my funds would last.  (Buying these drinks reduced my Luck to 8, and left me with just 6 gold.)

The next morning I boarded the Belladonna, which I was surprised to discover was a pirate ship (because Belladonna sounds like the name of a respectable trade vessel, sure).  Due to crew shortages, I was told that my job would be to man the cannons, and it wasn't long before my services were required.  A ship was sighted off the starboard bow, a man-of-war that opened fire on us.  The Belladonna was no match for a warship, and after a brief skirmish it started to sink.  I managed to get safely to the deck before the ship sank (with a successful Skill check), and decided to float away on a piece of masthead rather than trust to the mercies of the enemy crew.

For two days I drifted on the sea, growing weaker and weaker.  (I had to roll two dice, and subtract the total from my Stamina. I rolled a 10, which reduced my Stamina to a worrying 4.)  On the third day, I was washed up on a sandy beach, with desert stretching to the horizon.  I still had my backpack and belongings, but water had seeped into my provisions, ruining three of them.  Luckily (due to a Luck test that reduced my score to 7), I had washed up near a grove of palm trees, and was able to replenish some of my strength by eating some coconuts.  I ate one of my provisions as well, to get back as much strength as I could for the journey ahead.  (This restored my Stamina to 11.  The loss of provisions was determined by a die roll, for which I scored a 3.  It also caused me to lose a point of Luck, leaving my score at 6.)

I decided to walk south along the coast for a while rather than head inland.  Soon I came to a strange pattern made out of seashells, with a feathered spear thrust into the ground at the centre.  I cast a Read Symbols spell (reducing my Stamina to 10), which revealed that the beach ahead was sacred, and that walking on it would anger the "demon of the beach".  I decided not to risk it, and headed inland.

Not long after I heard a buzzing sound overhead, and was attacked by a trio of giant Needle Flies.  With no spell that could harm them, I was forced to fight them with my sword.  The Needle Flies (Skill 5 Stamina 6, Skill 6 Stamina 7, and Skill 7, Stamina 6) were weak, and attacked me one at a time; only the last one managed to wound me (reducing my Stamina to 8).

Following my battle with the Needle Flies, I stumbled over a dead man lying face down in the sand.  In his hand was a pouch, which contained a small golden key.  I pocketed it before moving on.

As the day wore on, I saw a rider on a camel approaching through the heat haze.  I decided to approach rather than hide, and he offered to trade me a canister of water for some treasure.  I gave him one of my silver buttons, and gladly took his water.

After departing from the rider I was caught in a sudden sandstorm (which reduced my Stamina to 6).  When the storm subsided, I found a brass handbell half-buried in the sand (due to a successful Luck test that reduced my score to 5).

I continued on, slaking my thirst with water from my canister.  Half an hour later I came across the tent of a desert nomad, and decided to enter.  The nomad, whose name was Abjul, was a merchant.  After providing me with a meal (that restored my Stamina to 10), he showed me the wares he had for sale.  None of the items seemed all that practical, but I bought a crystal key and a brass flute (this left me with 1 gold piece).  Abjul told me that he thought Vatos was to the south.  I thanked him, and continued on.

Soon after, a tremor in the ground warned me of danger, just before an enormous Sandworm broke the surface.  I had no choice but to fight the Sandworm (Skill 10, Stamina 20), and it was a long, drawn out affair.  I eventually killed the great beast, but it was a close call (I was left with just 4 Stamina).  I took one of the Sandworm's teeth with me, and ate a provision (restoring my Stamina to 8) before moving on.  (This is the sort of thing I hate most in Ian's books: an unavoidable fight with a really strong enemy.  The Skill here isn't super-high, but that Stamina is ridiculous, and guarantees that the fight is going to take ages.  And let's be honest, the FF combat system isn't interesting enough to justify long, drawn out battles.)

After a cold night which sapped my strength, I woke up in the morning and ate another provision.  (The cold dropped my Stamina to 5, and the food brought it back up to 9).  I passed by an oasis with birds circling above, but decided not to risk drinking from it, as I already had some water (as well as my Create Water spell if I needed it).  I instead decided to investigate a pile of rocks nearby, which turned out to be a bad idea, as I was stung on the hand by a scorpion (reducing my Stamina to 5).  After crushing it with my boot, I found a sack beneath the rocks.  Inside was a glass orb, in which a Sprite was trapped.  I broke the sphere and released him, and in gratitude he blessed me with good luck (restoring my Luck score to 6).  He also informed me that I could use the sack as a headscarf to protect me from the sun, and I gave him my thanks before he left.

Soon I finished the rest of my water, and managed to avoid heatstroke due to the sack I was wearing on my head.  (I do wonder how the Stamina loss from the heatstroke compares to that from being stung by the scorpion.)  Eventually, through the desert haze, I saw the ruins of a walled city in the distance.  Finally, I had reached the lost city of Vatos.  I ate one of my provisions before approaching (restoring my Stamina to 9, and leaving me with just 3 provisions remaining).

The entrance gate was closed, but there was a smaller wooden door nearby.  I opened it with my Open Door spell (reducing my Stamina to 7).  On the other side was an open square, with an archway on the other side.  I entered the archway, and descended some stairs.  At the bottom of the stairs was an iron casket, which I opened.  Inside was an iron helmet.  It seemed suspicious that a helm would be sitting here in the open without being looted, but this was a lost city after all, and presumably uninhabited.  I put the helmet on my head, and was pleased at the fit (and the +1 Skill bonus).

As I continued down the corridor, I was started by a tap on my shoulder.  Turning around, I saw a horrid, gaunt figure, with thick slime oozing from its eyes and mouth.  It whispered one word to me - "Death!" - before it disappeared.  This was a Messenger of Death, who had been sent by Malbordus to assassinate me.  The Messenger delighted in playing games with its victims, and had hidden letters of the word "death" in my path.  If I found all the letters, the Messenger would appear and drain my life.  (I've always loved this encounter, but it's a terribly inefficient method of assassinating someone.  Malbordus would have been better off sending ten blokes with knives.)

The corridor ended at a T-junction, with some drapes hanging on the wall ahead.  I was wary of uncovering any death letters, but also determined to find the dragon statues, so I drew back the curtain.  It concealed a door, which I opened.  The door led into a bare stone room, with a bucket hanging from the ceiling.  I was alerted by a skittering, just before a Giant Centipede appeared and attacked.

I was unable to escape, and the Centipede (Skill 9, Stamina 7) proved to be a formidable foe.  So formidable, in fact, that it killed me, and my adventure ended in its crushing mandibles.

THE POST-GAME

After losing 10 Stamina while drifting at sea, I felt like I was in a constant struggle to maintain my Stamina.  I also got low on Provisions, and got a little conservative with them.  Even so, I should have beaten the Centipede, as its Skill was two points lower than mine.  The odds were in my favour, but the dice weren't, unfortunately.  Next time I need to try to make it to Vatos without losing so much Stamina.