Back from the dead, we traipse along Trader’s Rows and down the storm drain again in search of the thieves guild who will hopefully help me steal back the Talisman of Death from evil hands. Only this time, I’m not going to catch a harpoon in the chest. For the cost of 2 Stamina the bolt glances off my shoulder and I make my way through the entrance to the Thieves Guild, a magnificently furnished room with some familiar faces from the Red Dragon lounging on sofas like a bunch of students in a common room. They leapt to their feet when I appeared, brandishing swords, but I deflected this aggression by calmly stating I had been invited. Not entirely believing me, I was soon speaking to their Guildmaster, a wonderfully moustached man known as Vagrant.
To a stunned silence I made no attempt to hide my intentions and announced my desire to steal the Talisman of Death to the thieves. ‘We’ll mount an expedition before they move the Talisman’, said Vagrant suddenly – this was serious stuff now. He barked instructions at his crew and before I knew it, I was in a raiding party.
That evening I was led by the boys to the city roof-tops where we moved to a tall house, just below the top of the temple to Fell-Kyrinla. A hulking man named Bloodheart flung a grappling hook across and on the other side a slight man named Jemmy the Rat prised open a skylight and disarmed a poison dart trap, a quick descent down a rope and we were in. Unfortunately, we weren’t alone. An old servant, which in my mind I liken to the Butler in the Tomb Raider games, was shuffling along and although I couldn’t be sure he had seen us, I didn’t want to take the chance and knocked him out with my sword pommel. As I went to tie him up, one of the thieves stepped in and went to cut his throat. Call me a scumbag if you like, but I let him. For my sins I lost 1 Luck point, but I had earned us a clear route into the Inner Sanctum. Inside we found a raven haired woman praying at an altar, on top of which sat the Talisman of Death. ‘Hounds of hell! It’s Hawkana, the High Priestess!‘, shouted Jemmy the Rat, and within a blink of an eye, the thieves had all buggered off and left me there whilst Hawkana cast a spell, slamming the doors shut.
Unhappy that I’d interrupted her chat with her goddess, Hawkana hit me for 3 Stamina points with a pillar of flame from the ceiling, I had however avoided the worst of it and now it’s my time to retaliate! Last time around I’d bought a Vial of Vapours of Speed and here I was about to get the big pay-off as I was given the chance to use it. I’m such a canny so-and-so, I got this covered. Or so would have been the case if the vial had contained anything more than the purest fresh air! I’d been scammed! Before I could act, Hawkana hit me again, this time a sword blow to the arm taking off 2 Stamina and then I was thrust into combat. With very strong stats indeed (12/14), I was pushed down to only 2 Stamina, my Skill of 10 meaning I had to take advantage of every hit I could muster with some good Luck rolls. First thing was to grab up the Talisman, gaining one of my lost Luck points back, however I noticed Hawkana starting to pick herself up from the pool of blood in which she lay. A ring on her hand glowed green as he wounds began to close, I swiped off what was a Ring of Regeneration and her resuscitation thankfully ceased and I regenerated 6 Stamina for myself. However, detached from Hawkanas magic, leaving the inner sanctum reduced the ring to a useless piece of metal. Regardless though, it was time to get the hell out of there, making for the roof-tops by which we entered. One thief, Bloodheart, disappointingly decided to try and quite literally stab me in the back but was taken down by a flurry of crossbow bolts fired by a group of pursuing warrior-women! I was able to manage the rest of my escape on my own without anyone having it in for me for once. This lasted for about 5 minutes.
Remember Tyutchev and Cassandra? Well as soon as my feet hit the cobbled street from the roof-tops, there they were, waiting for me with a hideous squid creature hovering between them. Guys, please, gimme a break! The squid was called Thaum and he shifted shape into the man in flowing grey robes I saw earlier performing magic, whatever Thaum actually was, it was clearly a capable illusionist. A horrible looking troll with a hammer appeared, ‘Here is Harg‘, said Thaum. Harg swung his hammer at me, and I stood there unflinching only for Harg to vanish at the last second. Smiling, Thaum threw a fireball at me, which I decided was probably not as illusionary as I’d like, so I dived towards Tyutchev. In the spot I’d just been standing the fireball exploded, taking me for 3 Stamina and a bit of my clothing. Things got a bit out of hand from here on… Cassandra was upon me, Tyutchev had just been made invisible by Thaum and Thaum himself was probably about to fling more fireballs and conjure up some death-gnomes. It was time to turn to God for help. From a list of available Gods, I opted for the All-Mother, and in a stark contrast to real life, it worked!
Plucked from the streets, I soared above my assailants in the talons of a great white eagle viewing a mountain in the distance, the voice of the All-Mother in my head, ‘That is Mount Star-reach, your goal. At the summit lies the portal that will take you back to your own world‘. My hope of being flown straight there was dashed as the eagle landed back in the city, presumably weighed down by the Talisman. Set down on Store Street, it was market day, so I knew the followers of the All-Mother would be on guard. I decided to lay low until nightfall, but naturally, that didn’t stop someone trying to hunt me down. This time a Dark Elf (8/8) tried to take me down but didn’t really slow me down, infact my pals in the All-Mothers watch were soon found and helped me through the gate and out of the city. One Luck point was mine, as well as a long walk up the side of a mountain.
After putting a few miles between myself and Greyguilds I took a rest and slept in a hayrack, 2 Stamina points restored. I hiked all day across the muddy plateau towards the mountain and before I knew it, night was falling again and I set up camp. In my sleep I had dreams of Hawkana in a funeral robe, her wounds still bleeding. She beckoned me in towards the Valley of Death. I woke shaken and drained, 2 Stamina points lost. Easy come, easy go. Looking a little bit Wuthering Heights-ish here is old Hawkana…
The following night however, she caught up with me. In my sleep she drew me in and I was trapped in the spirit world, fighting her for a second time. Significantly weakened though at 10/12, she was a much more manageable opponent and she was defeated. All Stamina lost in the fight was restored when I woke. Hoping that would be the last time this frizzy witch would bother me, I trudged onwards.
A large shadow began to form on the ground beneath me, it looked like a bird. A big bird. Looking up, it was indeed a bird, only it didn’t look quite as friendly as the one sent by the All-Mother.
Luckily though, as I ducked down to fight, it flashed overhead and missed me completely and then became distracted by a wild horse, which it flew off with in it’s talons. Eventually, I came to the base of the mountain, red-stone cliffs stood before me with a flight of stairs cut into the rock. A refreshing waterfall was a more inviting proposition at this point though, so I rested there for a while. Naturally, behind a waterfall needs to be checked to see if there are secrets and I found a hidden cave. Managing to light a damp torch, I explored the back of the cave and discovered a black wooden door, a centre panel depicting a red dragon spitting flame and an ivory spear. The doorway creaked open into a musty passageway that led onto a cross-road where I went straight-ahead.
Stepping into a circular room of bare rock I could see a small pillar in the centre, on closer inspection it bore the words –
‘Behind the symbol on the first door,
lies that which you risk your life for.’
Presumably this was pretty important as after I finished reading, the ceiling cracked open, pouring in water and a slab of rock started to close up my exit! A successful Skill test was needed to get me through the quickly narrowing gap. Through the door and further down the corridor was a large iron door, written upon which was, ‘Only one can be read‘. Inside were more stone pillars, circular, rectangular and square. Only allowed to read one I guess, so I went for the rectangular one –
‘Put yourself in the place of the monkey.
To the left is danger; the idle shall act.’
I don’t think I’m going out on too much of a limb here when I say I think I might have to make key decisions soon. I moved onward.
And here it is! Damolh, son of the God Nil, Mouth of the Void stood before me in statue form before four doors. Now my first clue hinted that the first door was was bad (I’m risking my life for the Talisman of Death), the second clue suggested the same, that left of the monkey was dangerous, so being at a bit of a loss, I went for the Dragon as we’d already seen the image of one on the entrance to these caves. Inside was a crypt of some sort, a sarcophagus sat at the end just begging to be opened up!
The front door of the caverns helped me make my mind up again here as I was given the option of taking one of the weapons held by the inhabitant of the sarcophagus, an ivory spear was depicted, so that was what I made off with. Am I gonna be killing a dragon with this by any chance? Oh look at that, the spear had the word ‘Dragonsbane’ carved into the shaft… Who’d have guessed! An obligatory encounter followed as it goes almost without saying that the ex-owner of the spear came to life and offered a modest, if brief, challenge at 8/10. Noticing the base of the sarcophagus was hollow, I followed that route forward, a shaft of daylight leading me back out onto the mountain, some way above the roaring waterfall.
Avoiding crashing rocks as I climbed higher, the environment began to change as I entered a more humid, almost tropical region. I always thought it got colder as you went higher, but what do I know? In this new rainforest location, my clothes clung with perspiration and before I could gain my bearings I was besieged by wild Hogmen, I tried to help them understand I meant no harm. Genius that I am, I offered them some of my provisions, turns out though that they didn’t particularly want to eat salted pork! They took the to see their leader…
I was honest about my predicament and it seemed to do the trick, the Hoglord (what an awesome name!) said we could help each other out. My route to the portals on top of the mountain was blocked by an ancient Red Dragon that had been destroying the villages of the Hogpeople, if it happened to die, nobody would miss it. Any man who attempted to fight the beast would certainly be roasted by it’s flaming breath though and the only way to combat this was to fashion a shield from some of the beasts scales, Hoglord gave me Gum of the Amber Pine with which to do just this. We dined on guavas, mangoes and nuts for 2 Stamina points and I bid them farewell as I headed towards the sulphur-scented dragons lair atop the mountain.
Maneouvering by torch-light along a large, smooth-walled tunnel, the smell of sulphur continued to fill my nostrils. To the side I could see a narrow passage though and decided a more concealed route was the clever option. Good choice too as I had managed to sneak up on a sleeping dragon! The cavern had opened up massively and the 18-metre long beast lay snoozing on a pile of treasure, some of it’s scales were also littered around the floor and so I snatched up a few for my secret weapon.
Sneaking ahead, I left the caverns, shield nicely glued together and in the distance I could see the portal! Before I could get too enthusiastic about skipping the dragon altogether, a rush of wind preceded the red dragon landing next to it, ‘I am bound by the Gods to guard the portal’, it said.
No point wasting time chatting though, I plunged straight into an attack, my shield doing its job against the blasts of fire sent my way, my Skill helping me avoid a swipe of claws and my spear helping me to maximise my damage, increasing my output to 5 Stamina damage per hit, a necessary boost as the dragon was obviously very powerful (12/20). On reducing the dragon to 5 Stamina though, the creature turned into an old man, begging me to spare him, claiming that he had been cursed to take the form of a dragon until he was beaten in combat. Not buying it for a second I jammed my spear into him, blood spurting from his fatal wound before he proved my point by reverting into his normal form of a dragon.
With a prayer to the All-Mother, I stepped through the portal, the Talisman heavy at my chest. All went dark and then I was within a circle of stones, I had found my way back to Earth. As I left Orb a hero, the two beings who summoned me, Time and Fate, left me with the words – ‘We may call upon you again!’.
My adventure was over.
Fighting Fantasy Project 