Overlord! – Attempt 4, Part 4

Overlord! – Attempt 4, Part 4

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Here we go.

My previous opponent collapses, dead.

I stride over the body, resisting the urge to step casually on the unbreathing chest as I pass.

The corridor opens into a well with a spiral staircase heading down.  In a ‘no duh’ moment, I note that the spiral is doubtless in honour of the whirlpool symbol of Nemesis.

At the base of the stairs I face my final opponent of this little burglary : the Grandmaster of Shadows.  He is in front of a man-size idol of Nemesis, and wields an odd weapon – a blade joined to a metal ring by horsehair (see picture).  This is apparently called a Kyoketsu-shoze.

Aside : Although my young self didn’t know it, this weapon is an actual thing, and I distracted myself for 10 minutes in writing this post to check out Youtube videos of devotees making and wielding examples of it.  Love this series – bad ass ninja adventures and I feel like I’ve learned something!

Second aside : I’ve played through this encounter in my youth, and the strategy and tactics are fantastic, but also fantastically difficult.  Let’s see how many of the right choices I remember.

The other Grandmaster (remember, dear readers, that I am also a Gramdaster of the Five Winds) greets me with some boiler-plate villain monologuing about how he didn’t expect me to get this far, he’s my final opponent, blah, blah, threatcakes etc.

I accidentally typed ‘dead readers’ in the first sentence of that paragraph.  I guess anything’s possible.

Let’s begin!  Grandmaster v Grandmaster, in a battle you wouldn’t normally see outside a chess tournament!

My opponent (who is unnamed) sends the ring section of his weapon at my head.  I can either catch or evade.  Catching seems too obvious, so I choose to dodge.  For all I know the ring could be coated in poison or even chocolate syrup.

As I dodge he whips the ring back into his hand, and now sends the blade towards me. Catching here would be a bit more unexpected, so I go for it (yeeouch in advance).

I have the right idea, but my execution is lacking.  My Block roll fails and I miss the blade and it sinks into my shoulder, causing 4 damage (I’m down to 3 – trouble ahead).

I wait for him to make a move, and he stabs at me, I block him, and we have some cursory back-and-forth before he again spins, stabbing at my chest.  I need an 8 or less to block and manage a 5.

I can choose between a Leaping Tiger kick or a Dragon’s Tail throw.  Trying to stick with moves that might surprise him, I go for the sliding Dragon’s Tail throw.

Showing no mercy whatsoever, the book calmly informs me that the Grandmaster somersaults forward, landing behind me as a I slide on now-empty floor.  He twists and stabs me in the neck, severing my spinal cord.  Avenger dies instantly.

Yikes.

Not even a chance to spit a Poison Needle?!

This book is unforgiving.

 

 

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May 20, 2016 at 11:13PM