Inferno! – Attempt 1, Part 6

Inferno! – Attempt 1, Part 6

http://ift.tt/28YqwrT

For several hours I follow the ‘circuitous twisting’ of tunnels down (there it is!) towards the third tier.

Apparently I’ve been listening to the ‘sounds of pursuit’ for so long, I can no longer tell if the noises I hear behind me are real or imagined.

Aside : Who is pursuing me?  There’s no indication that anyone knows that I have penetrated the Rift or that my disguise has failed.

I confirm to the book (as I cross a ‘huge hall’) that Foxglove is not with me and that I was not spotted crossing the Sacred Vault in the second tier.

Aside : I’m assuming that successfully bluffing my way past those Dark Elves doesn’t count as being ‘spotted’, since previously being ‘spotted’ means, at this juncture, that you are being pursued.

Interestingly, as I leave the second tier ‘far behind’, I note the scene of a previous battle, where 6 Dark Elves and orcs have been brutally killed.  Thanks, anonymous killers, for narrowing down the odds!  Even more interesting I see a ‘used’ scroll of magic that has been invoked by a Sage who worships Gauss, enchanter of arms and general ‘good’ god. Finally, there is a remnant of a vile and noxious gas in the air (Probably sambuca. Yeeech.

I’ve been spoiled about the identity of these killers because I’ve played the book before, but the narrative is dropping some pretty heavy-handed hints about a group that Avenger has met in a previous book.

I’ll be coy about this for now, though.

At any event, the killers of these bad guys emerged from a side passage, and I move down it, rather than continuing down the exposed and wide staircase.

This passage again descends, and I remain paranoid about things such as supposed sounds of pursuit and a regularly sounding ‘gong’.

I reach the third tier, whereupon I notice that the braziers burning everywhere fill my lungs with perpetual smoke, but at least remove the need for the use of my Torch of Lumen.

I am annoyed by a constant hum in the background, until i realise that it is nothing more than the noise of a large population going about their everyday tasks.

Um… yeah, because I’d never been in a city (Doomover) with a large (Spires of Foreshadowing) population  (Mortavalon) before (Irsmuncast).

I move across one of the ‘dark caverns’ and am reminded that I am disguised as a shambler.

In an interesting decorational choice, hanging from various points on the ceiling are skeletons.  More importantly, I hear a voice asking, presumably of myself “What on Orb is that?”

In another attempt to bluff my way through, I demand that he (or they) identify themselves.  As we get closer, I see that they are a swordsman and two priests, one of whom is wearing a red cross on white.

Aside : In about three paragraphs, it is confirmed that there are actually four (4) adventurers in the group.

Well, I can straight away pick that this is the same group of adventurers who I saved from a fairy sticky situation in book 2.  I can tell this because :

1. The description matches them pretty exactly.
2. Only that particular group of absolute idiots would think it was a good idea to attempt to penetrate the most evil den of villains in Orb while wearing bright tunics which loudly proclaim their allegiance to the forces of good (sigh.)

I’m thinking the odds that, at some stage, I’ll have to save these buffoons from themselves are pretty good.

There is an extended description of the appearance of these adventurers, which appears fairly unnecessary when, literally one paragraph later, after I confirm that I recognise them, the book openly states their names and background (Thybault, Taflur, Eris and Vespers).

The contents of our conversation must, for the moment, remain confidential

Stats: Endurance : 20, Punch Modifier : +2, Kick Modifier: +3, Throw Modifier : 0, Fate Modifier : +1, Inner Force : 5

Number of dice rolls in this entire book so far : 0

 

 

Gamebook blogs

http://ift.tt/28YqwrT
via The Way Of The Tiger Playthrough http://ift.tt/1Rp7BSZ

June 25, 2016 at 05:42AM