Fighting Fantasy #11 - Talisman of Death

Title: Talisman of Death

Author: Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson

Illustrators: Peter Andrew Jones (cover), Bob Harvey (interior)

Published: 1984

Level of previous knowledge: I remember almost nothing about this adventure, which is quite exciting. I distinctly remember the names Tyutchev and Cassandra for some reason, and that I probably shouldn’t mess with them. Otherwise I’m pretty blind going into this one, although I’m sure things will come back to me along the way.

Plot summary: Having awoken from sleep to find myself in some kind of elaborate hallucination, I learn from a talking bird that I have been chosen as the Champion of Fate. Apparently someone needs to do the thing and save the world, but it’s not entirely clear what the thing is. As they send me to the surface of this alien world with no information whatsoever to help me survive, they helpfully advise me not to die. Yay?

Attempt #1

Stats rolled: SKILL 11, STAMINA 20, LUCK 9

Potion: LUCK

My adventure began in a huge vaulted chamber, with some roaring in the distance and footsteps rapidly approaching. I drew my sword and waited until the most obviously goodly-aligned party of adventurers I’d ever seen burst in, and demanded to know my story. Believing that my story was too ridiculous to tell (and still wondering what I’d taken for hallucination to go on so long) I told them I was on a quest against evil, figuring I probably was, even if I didn’t know it yet, and it seemed like the sort of thing that would appeal to them. The wizard of the party cast a spell which revealed that I was lying, and I was forced to admit that I was a drug-addled idiot from Earth who didn’t have a clue what he was doing here. The wizard’s spell confirmed my story (including the idiot bit, apparently) and they immediately let their guard down. Unsure why they suddenly trusted me, I listened to the shieldmaiden as she told me a long-winded story while the roaring noise came over so slowly closer (I was unsure how they had the time for this given the speed at which they entered), the upshot of which was that I was to take this talisman thing and return to my world with it, which would save this one. Pleased that my quest was pretty much over already – I could only assume that those who brought me to this world in the first place were watching closely and could now just send me back… no? – I was about to ask a load of questions when some generic D&D monsters charged in and killed the whole party, but not before the wizard’s teleport spell transported me to the surface. A Dimension Door would have been nice, but I guess he was too low level.

Heading into a nearby forest rather than heading across open ground where I would be highly visible, I soon stumbled into a clearing where a large she-wolf was looking after her cubs. Offering her some alien meat (alien to her, anyway) I convinced her I was friendly, and an old druid emerged nearby to reward me by replacing the food with a golden apple. Being more of a meat kind of guy I wasn’t too impressed, but I didn’t want to offend and I had the feeling he was probably a vegetarian (if he was a vegan, he would have told me so). Rather than ask any questions, directions, or anything else that would be useful, I simply left him to it.

Slipping past a sleeping basilisk (I wasn’t actually aware it was a basilisk until after I’d risked my life trying to creep past it) I approached a serene-looking pond. There was something about it which I couldn’t quite put my finger on, until I heard a cry and realised that what I believed was a perfectly ordinary severed head floating on the surface in fact belonged to an old woman, who begged for help to escape the weeds. How on earth she ended up in such a comical situation was unclear and slightly suspicious, but confident in my abilities to deal with the situation I waded in to help, and was rewarded when she transformed into a beaked/tentacled monster and tried to eat me, before I dealt with the situation.

Continuing my journey, I was soon surrounded by a group of mounted horsewomen, who demanded to know my story. Inwardly grumbling that everyone in this world seemed to be a nosy parker, I told them the truth just in case one of them had access to the same spell as the wizard earlier. They told me to give up my sword and go with them, and doubting my ability to take on all twenty of them, I agreed heartily. They escorted me to the city I was looking for, but insisted on taking me to see their boss, Hawkana, who proved to be a rather unpleasant High Priestess. She had me stripped of the Talisman and kicked out on to the street. I’d lost the most important item in the world and my weapon – not the most auspicious start to my quest.

Given no option to go back inside and give her a darn good talking to, or follow her as she departed for the temple she said she was heading for, or knocking politely and asking if they wouldn’t mind awfully returning my weapon so I could lay waste to the whole lot of them, I chose a street to walk down disconsolately. As hoped I soon came to a blacksmith who sold me a sword for the princely sum of seven gold pieces (actually I had no idea if this was a bargain or not, this being the first purchase I’d ever made in this world). Further down the street I came face to face with a local hoodie, who had distinct characteristics such as no physical body and a pair of glowing coals where his eyes should have been. Demanding the Talisman, he refused to believe my protests that another thief had already gotten to it first, and attacked me, draining a SKILL point. Rather irritated by this point, I hacked the thing to bits of nothingness and moved on.

Further down the street I overheard some thugs plotting to rob the jewellery store. Reflecting that this city contained more thieves than Port Blacksand, I decided to do my bit and went to the jeweller’s to await them, and if possible, see them off in front of the rich owner with access to all the jewels. This actually worked out rather well, and I left with a bulging purse once more along with a shiny ruby. Expecting to be re-robbed at any moment,  I headed for the safety of the public library, where I perused a book telling me about the recent history of the city, most helpfully informing me that the goddess that Hawkana and the warrior women worship was of the evil variety. Great.

Looking for an inn to stay the night, I wandered straight into a man-trap which snapped shut around my leg. Shadowy figures emerged from the, er, shadows and informed me that they were the priesthood of Death, before attempting to rob me of the Talisman which I still didn’t have. Stifling my annoyance that this city was determined to deprive me of my belongings, even the ones I didn’t have, I was roughed up a bit before the city watch arrived on horseback and saw them off.  Sniggering at my predicament, they left me to rot. Swearing revenge on everyone in this foul city (except maybe the jeweller) I was unable to free myself until a descriptionless man approached and released me, before offering me a room for the night. Despite my lack of trust in anyone in the city at this point I was exhausted and accepted the offer, sleeping deeply before waking to find the man watching me closely. Being half awake I babbled my entire story to him, and was relieved when he actually turned out to be helpful, giving me a ring to increase my weapon skill, some gold and a jade rose with which I should prove that I was ‘not a shapechanger’ when I returned. While I considered that any potential shapechangers would probably rob me for the rose anyway, he also advised me to visit the Thieves’ Guild and raze it to the ground, er, look for help with regaining the Talisman of Death there.

On my way to the Red Dragon Inn where I hoped to find members of the Thieves’ Guild, I was nearly bowled over by a pair of fighting students. A brass tiger charm dropped to the ground, and enjoying the chance at some revenge on this thieving city, I grabbed it and wore it around my neck with pride. Arriving at the inn, I cut the barman down to size with a scathing insult before realising that the tiger charm was cursed and had caused me to take leave of my senses. The ensuing fight fortunately didn’t last long, and the suddenly-respectful barman told me a story about a scary bloke named Tyutchev and how I might be a match for him, before giving me directions to the hidden entrance to the Thieves’ Guild. Then, who should enter but Tyutchev himself, accompanied by Cassandra, who plonked herself down on the seat across the table from me before Tyutchev joined her. Standing to leave, I was curtly instructed to stay put by the man, who asked what I was doing at the Red Dragon. Mumbling something vague about looking for thieves, he quickly lost interest in me and I made my way outside before anything kicked off.

On my way back to the sage’s  house I was approached by a small boy who offered me the chance to help out a ‘very clever scholar’ and make some money. Following him, I arrived at a greenhouse where I met two scholars. Wondering which was the clever one, I accepted their offer to fight their weird monster creation in exchange for twenty gold pieces. I defeated it handily, much to the disappointment of the men, who clearly expected it to put up more of a fight, and claimed that they attempted to stop the fight but their ‘spell’ didn’t work. Shrugging, I asked for my twenty gold pieces, and wasn’t surprised when they turned out empty pockets. They did offer me a ‘Scroll of Agonizing Doom’ though, which sounded entertaining if not necessarily valuable.

Arriving at the sage’s house I spent the evening chatting with him and his friend who was apparently some kind of interplanar travel agent. He gave me directions to where I could find a portal back to Earth, typically on top of a mountain a long distance away – I suppose it was too much to hope that it would be in his spare room. Then they taught me a chant which would entreat the All-Mother’s aid should I ever find myself in dire straits.

On my way the Thieves’ Guild I stopped to watch a terrible magician in the street, during which I was randomly handed a card inviting me to take sherry with a man named Mortphillio. Not suspicious at all! Going along with it for now, I was guided into an odd house where a predictably decrepit-looking old man had me attacked first by a talking winged skull and then a horde of skeletons. Escaping the latter, I ran straight into a congregation in the Temple of Death. Oopsy. Grabbing a black robe (why don’t death cults ever wear bright colours?) I melted into the congregation, and was soon handed a chalice of human blood by the vampire next to me, and expected to drink. Unable to think of a reasonable excuse, I did so and suffered greatly for it as my stomach twisted in agony. Eventually the ceremony ended and I left hurriedly to find a bathroom somewhere.

Eventually finding my way to the coal-hole I believed to be the entrance to the Thieves’ Guild, I crawled through a filthy passageway before emerging in a lavishly-furnished room where some men awaited me. Waiting for them to speak first in case I’d unwittingly entered the hideout of another twisted cult, I was soon introduced to Vagrant, the guild leader. Intimidated by the man’s moustache, I blurted out my mission to him, and he suspiciously agreed to help out with no discussion about price whatsoever. This was not going to end well…

Taking a rooftop route to the temple of Fell-Kyrinla, one of the thieves open a window and disarmed a trap, allowing us to get inside unnoticed. I silenced a serving man with the pommel of my sword and interrupted one of the thieves’ attempt to finish him off with his knife, an action which unfortunately involved knocking said weapon down a flight of steps where it made enough noise to wake the dead. You’d think thieves would put some padding on their knives, just in case. The alarm soon sounded, and the thieves disappeared into the shadows, leaving me wishing I hadn’t taken so many fighter class levels. Running headlong down some steps, I dived behind an arras as a gang of guards ran past. Not knowing what an arras was, I had no idea if it could hide me or not, so I was relieved when no-one spotted me. Opening the next set of doors, I found myself in the holy sanctum of the temple, where a slightly annoyed-looking Hawkana awaited, dressed for battle. She began by setting me on fire, which I felt was most unsporting, so I whipped out the Scroll of Agonizing Doom, and was delighted when it almost lived up to its name and weakened her considerably. Finishing her off was no easy task, but finally she fell and I grabbed the nearby Talisman of Death. Frantically looking for an exit before more guards arrived, I found the doors jammed shut, and turned back to find Hawkana’s wounds healing and her getting to her feet. Defeating her once again was easier, and I removed the magical ring she was wearing and in a fit of madness put it on my own finger. Luckily it turned out that no gods were offended by this, and some of my wounds were healed. Trying the doors again, they opened and I found the thieves waiting for me on the other side. As we made our escape, the predictable betrayal arrived in the form of a clumsy knife thrust from the thief named Bloodheart. I used him as a human shield as crossbow bolts peppered the air around us, then shook my fist at the other thieves until they turned tail and ran for it. All in all, a successful night’s work.

Unfortunately for me, the thieves had already gone crying to their friend Tyutchev, who appeared in the street ahead of me with his companion Cassandra and the weird magician chap from earlier. Demanding the Talisman, they summoned a troll-like creature with a huge hammer, which lumbered towards me intimidatingly. However as I knew the magician to be an illusionist, I ignored the creature as it struck me and it faded into nothing. Then a ball of fire was heading my way, and literally scarred by my recent experiences with fire I dodged it by running directly at Tyutchev, catching him off guard and managing to wound him. He then turned invisible and Cassandra decided to join in, which made things rather unfair. Desperate, I called on the All-Mother as explained to me earlier, and a giant eagle swooped in and carried me away in its claws. A voice in my head told me that the mountain I sought was over there in the distance, then the eagle got tired and put me down in another part of town. A shame the eagle was so unfit – it could have carried the One Ring, er,  Talisman to the portal by itself. But that would be too easy.

Looking for a way out of the city, I soon found my path blocked by a monk with a praying mantis tattooed on his head. Thinking that this was way cooler than, say, a unicorn tattoo, I asked him to move out of my way politely, then less politely when he failed to respond. Things got ugly, but not for long, as a well-placed foot to my jaw knocked me unconscious. I awakened to find the monk had robbed me of the now-useless ring I found on Hawkana’s finger, but my gold, provisions, ruby and ring of hit-things-better were still on my person. Weird.

Finding my way to the graveyard I had a brief altercation with one of the restless denizens, before finding the gate leading out of the city. Heading towards the hills I was soon attacked by a large griffin which knocked me to the ground and took advantage of my predicament by impaling itself on my sword repeatedly. Eventually it gave up the fight and we had a nice chat. It offered to carry me wherever I liked, so I hopped on its back and we headed towards the mountain. Musing on how this was far too good to be true, I was unsurprised when a Pteranodon slammed into us and knocked me off my mount (OK, I was slightly surprised it was a pterosaur and not, say, an electrical storm or a flock of angry pigeons). Luckily I landed on a giant fern and was able to handily defeat the creature as it swooped down in an attempt to finish me off. Wondering where the griffin had got to, I struggled through the oversized undergrowth and was soon accosted by a flipping triceratops. After a few rounds of combat, things escalated even further when none other than a Tyrannosaurus lumbered out of the undergrowth. Realising that I had gotten myself into the path of a fleeing Triceratops, I slipped away while a titanic battle ensued between the dinosaurs, a loud crash indicating the Tyrannosaurus’s defeat.

Arriving at the side of Mount Star-reach I began the arduous climb towards my goal. After a while I came to a tunnel in the mountainside, which for some reason I decided to investigate, because messing about in tunnels is a great idea when half the world is trying to prevent you from fulfilling your quest. Inside I eventually came face to sleeping face with a dragon, slumbering on a huge pile of treasure. Given the option to back away and continue my quest rather than the incredibly foolish-sounding options of attacking the dragon, creeping towards the dragon or stealing his prized treasure, I made my outside and continued my climb. Eventually I arrived at the peak and saw the portal back to Earth hanging in the air. Delighted that my quest was over, I ran towards it, only to be confronted by the dragon I ignored earlier. Almost reluctantly, he announced that he was unable to allow me to pass through the portal for some reason, and burned me to a cinder. Oh.

Luckily, this was a world of second chances, and as my spirit floated through the Valley of Death, it met the people who originally summoned me here in the first place. They offered to send me back, which I thought sounded like a great offer, until I materialised back outside the city of Greyguilds. Gah.

Taking a more direct route towards the mountain this time, I passed the rest of the day without incident. After the sun set, however, I was met by some kind of horse-riding ghost (well, a ghost-horse-riding ghost) who was really quite insistent that Death would come for what was his. I soon saw him off by waving my torch frantically at him, and the rest of the night passed with no further interruptions. The following night, however, saw him return with five of his ghostly friends. This time brandishing the Talisman and yelling at them seemed to do the trick. Worries that they might return with a whole army of Death-botherers didn’t last and I settled down to a restful sleep.

Arriving at a different side of the mountainside, I climbed up the giant steps carved into the rock, until, exhausted, I stopped for a rest by a waterfall. Checking behind it as any seasoned adventurer would do, I noticed a cave entrance, which I entered to find a door bearing the symbol of a dragon and a spear. Opening it and continuing onward, I found myself in a room with a circular pillar. Reading an inscription on its surface gave me a cryptic clue about a ‘first door’ and risking my life, which I didn’t have time to dwell on as the ceiling collapsed. Diving for safety I managed to avoid being crushed to death and continued down the passage, soon finding myself in another room with pillars, and some writing telling me that ‘only one can be read’. Foolishly reading the circular pillar, I shouldn’t have been surprised to find exactly the same clue I had read earlier, before the other pillars disappeared into nothingness. Curses. The next room contained a bizarre statue of some kind of serpent-wolf god named Damolh, and four doors, each displaying a different symbol: a serpent, a monkey, a beetle and a dragon. Reasoning that the door I entered these caves through had shown a dragon and a spear, I entered the dragon room and found myself trapped as a portcullis dropped behind me. Having flashbacks to previous adventures and with little else to do, I opened a nearby sarcophagus which contained some mummified remains. Grabbing the spear from its dead hands, I discovered that they weren’t entirely dead, and was forced to fight the mummy with my newfound weapon, which proved most helpful. Then I found a secret tunnel under the sarcophagus which led me back outside, further up the mountain. Result!

Dodging some falling rocks, I eventually arrived at a plateau and sat down for a rest. Then a group of ‘Hogmen’ burst out of the undergrowth before me and grunted at me a bit. Barely able to stand, I offered them a shiny ruby to leave me alone, and they were so pleased that they invited me to their village. Wary of offending them, I agreed and went along with them to their village where I met their chief, who gave me some very useful advice about defeating the red dragon which guards the portal – that being to fashion a shield from the dragon’s very own scales. Easy then.

Soon I arrived at the dragon’s cave once again, and headed inside, this time taking the a side passage out of curiosity. Imagine my delight when the passage led directly behind the dragon, within reach of several of its scales! Grabbing three of them I crept back outside again, before fashioning a shield out of the scales using the gum the hog-chief had provided me with. Clambering once more to the very top of the mountain, I was greeted again by the red dragon, and attempted to strike up a conversation. The dragon tried to con me into leaving my weapons behind and walking through the portal, a ruse which was embarrassingly easy to see through. Combat was joined, and an epic confrontation it surely was, until suddenly the dragon turned into a wimpy old man and begged for his life, telling me that I had lifted his curse and he could now accompany me through the portal to Earth. Not a chance. As he was run through with my spear, he transformed back into the sneaky red dragon as he died. With that, the last obstacle to my quest was removed, and I walked through the portal, finding myself on Earth once again. Voices spoke to me, thanking me for my service, and suggesting that they might call on me again one day. Pick someone else next time, you lazy sods.

Conclusion: Success!

Number of combats: 18

Review

Writing: The plot here is somewhat interesting, with the hero being plucked from Earth and deposited in the strange world of Orb, having no idea what awaits. The reasoning for your summoning may be a bit thin but once you get going it’s a very enjoyable adventure. The section of the story that takes place in the city of Greyguilds is by far the most interesting, especially the interactions with the Thieves’ Guild and breaking into Hawkana’s temple. The tiger charm was a nice touch which hilariously causes a fight in the pub, as you’d expect, but doesn’t derail the story. I found the environments in the second half of the book a bit less interesting although the prehistoric-style jungle was fun to imagine. The trip to the mountain didn’t hold my interest as much as the first half of the book, however, and I think keeping the whole story in and around the city would have been more fun and allowed the authors to flesh out the city a bit more.

Writing: 3/5

Artwork: Pretty good, with some illustrations much better than others. The cover is dramatic if slightly unclear what is happening, while the interior drawings give a good impression of the weirdness of the world of Orb. I particularly like Bob Harvey’s representation of undead creatures, the envoy of death being a nice example.

Artwork: 4/5

Design: The journey around the city of Greyguilds in particular felt like a good example of a non-linear adventure where several paths can lead to success while others are doomed to failure. The way the city almost bullies the adventurer is fun (and reminiscent of City of Thieves) and for the most part common sense and caution are rewarded while poor decisions are punished. After the city you are presented with three routes to the final destination  - as I completed the book in one attempt I wasn’t able to explore all of them but it’s good to enhance replayability, presuming that victory is possible regardless of route.

The fact that you can die in many ways and be given a second chance (or third, or fourth…) is quite forgiving and lets you try again without making you start all over again, increasing the likelihood that a player will stick it out and finish the book. It’s odd that this only applies to deaths outside combat, which is still mostly as deadly as ever.

Design: 4/5

Fairness: The level of difficulty in this book is reasonably high but rather than this being due to a shopping list of items or 50/50 instant death decisions, it’s mostly down to the number of combats in the book, in particular a couple of SKILL 12 encounters – however both of these encounters can be made easier if you make the right decisions (although their SKILL stays the same). Many deaths are the result or a lack of common sense (trusting the wrong people for instance) and even when you get it wrong you are usually presented with another chance.

Fairness: 3/5

Cheating index: 0 Razaaks

Average enemy stats

Successful path: 19 enemies, SKILL 8.1, STAMINA 10.6

Entire book: 63 enemies, SKILL 8.2, STAMINA 10.0

Instant death paragraphs: 11

Any player can win no matter how weak initial dice rolls: A low skill will probably see you worn down throughout the book such that you’d be unlikely to survive the big combats, even if you rule that SKILL bonuses from weapons and armour add to your attack strength. Therefore I’d say this is a LIE.

Final thoughts: An enjoyable story which gives you a fair chance at succeeding without multiple playthroughs as long as you have half decent stats. The world of Orb seems both interesting in places and bland in others, and something about the experience is lacking in that even though it’s better than many previous books in many ways, this one doesn’t seem as memorable for some reason. Nevertheless this is a very well written and strong entry in the series.

Final score: 7/10