Redeemer! – Attempt 2, Part 2

 

When we left Avenger, he was in a spot of bother.  The Keeper was doing a typical villain gloat about how Glaivas and I were surrounded by the Black Widow’s minions and had no hope of escape or survival.

Aside : I now have a mental image of being surrounded by these little guys :

Ahem.

I am now please to confirm to the book that I am carrying both the Paladin’s Sword, and Tyutchev’s Belt Pouch.

Aside : I was pretty sure that I’d collected the Belt Pouch, but hadn’t included it in my notes.  It wasn’t until after I’d reviewed all paragraphs that I’d traversed in Redeemer! so far, that I checked the latter half of Inferno! and saw that I picked up Tyutchev’s pouch in the latter part of Inferno!  In fact, I even noted it here in my recap.

Glaivas takes possession of the Paladin’s Sword (no word as to whether I flip it over, so he can melodramatically catch it in mid-air.  At the same time, the pouch I collected starts glowing, and opening it reveals a heart-shaped crystal.

Avenger mentally bangs his head on his (metaphorical) desk because he hadn’t thought to check out the contents of the pouch until this point.

Glaivas conveniently recognises the crystal as the ‘Heart of Illustra’ presumably taken when Tyutchev and crew slaughtered the High Priestess while I was messing around with Yaemon.  The crystal restores up to 4 points of lost Endurance and the Keeper transforms into a small spider (!) of yellow and black.

Another of the cells opens and a ninja (naturally) emerges, introducing himself as Amin, who apparently specialises in killing followers of Kwon.

Pleased to meet you.  I specialise in kicks TO THE FACE.

His band are a ‘fanatical sect of assassins’ who exploit the weaknesses of other fighters and martial artists.

Well, my main weakness has apparently been Cyclops of the Horned variety, so I feel quietly confident.

I have the choice of literally every kick, throw or punch that I have learned through the course of the books.

Absent any other information, Kwon’s Flail has served me well, so that’s my first option.

To my bemusement, I don’t even get a dice roll, but rather simply miss, and need to roll 10 or less from Amin to miss me.  I get a 6 and suffer no damage.

Alright.  Let’s go for the Teeth of the Tiger throw.  That’s unorthodox enough to surprise this foe, I hope.

I need a 7 to succeed, and roll….exactly 7.  I follow up with a Winged Horse kick, and use a precious point of Inner Force, in the hope of finishing the fight quickly.

My kick finds its mark, and my damage will be : 1 Dice +2 (for a kick) +2 for a successful throw +1 for YubiJutsu and then the whole thing doubled.

The result is (drumroll) : (4 + 2 + 2 + 1) x2 = 18!!

Wouldn’t you know it, Amin’s starting Endurance was…..18.

Awww – what a shame.

Glaivas, after what I assume was a titanic struggle, has managed to thoroughly squish the small spider that was the deceptive Keeper.

The remaining cells in this room open, but each of them contain a block of ice, in which there is a prisoner.  For some reason, Avenger just ‘knows’ that touching an Amulet of Nullaq to the ice will free the prisoner within.  Umm….ok.

The prisoners seem to correspond with the adventurers from the start of Talisman of Death – a man with robes and a golden mask, an armoured man with a white tunic and red cross and an armoured man.

Well, I’m not going to ‘use’ my knowledge from playing a Fighting Fantasy Gamebook, so, going off Avenger’s experience, I’m assuming that he would recognise the red cross as the symbol of a good God, and would free that priest first.

Even after the ice has melted, this priest appears frozen in place.

I can choose another.  I go for the robed man.

He comes to life and essentially states that he is imprisoned for stealing a ‘Talisman of Death’.

 Like this?

On a more practical level, he says that he has been forced to drink a poison which caused him pain for eternity, but has ‘enough’ magic to transport us both up one ‘tier’.  On that level there is a cave dedicated to Fate, which provides a quick exit from the Rift.  The catch is, that he needs to use the power within the Torch of Lumen to teleport us.

Its a tough sacrifice, given that I’ve been relying on the light from the Torch to stay alive.  But I guess if these yellow minions gang up and kill me, the need for light will become secondary.

I give my consent.

The scene before me abruptly changes……

 

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