kieran
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Post by kieran on Feb 9, 2017 11:04:09 GMT
Ok, I'll give it a go:
You're not really a spa person, but Sid was insistent you should check this one out. 'It's called the Optimal Spa,' he says with a smile as he drives up to the front gate. 'And trust me it's a name well deserved.' Sure enough, you have to admit it is a beautiful building, the sunlight streaming through the sycamore trees to fall upon a stone-clad façade, draped with hanging ivy. The staff are bright and friendly, with the kind of toothy smiles that belong in a Colgate commercial. After a couple of hours, you've enjoyed the swimming pool, the sauna, numerous backrubs and a cucumber face rub that you must admit makes you look about 10 years younger. You decide to try out the steam room next while Sid excuses himself to visit the hot tub.
You open the door of the steam room and find it empty. With a contented sigh, you take a seat on the bench as the warm steam gently flows into your airways and pores. You haven't been sitting long though when the door opens and through the haze of steam you catch a glimpse of massive pectorals and rock-hard abs. You are feeling slightly intimidated but that's nothing compared to when he sits down heavily next to you and you catch sight of his head through the billowing steam - he has a head like a bull! Utterly stunned, you sit in silence until the door opens again. The steam clears slightly through the open door and a creature equally terrifying enters. This one is tall and broadly muscled, you could almost call him a giant, but not quite. In fact there is a greenish tinge to his skin. He sits on your other side and leans his head back, taking in the relaxing steam.
You almost dread to think what's going to stride into the steam room now as the door opens once more. This one at least seems less of a fitness nut than the last two. Rather than a hulking tower of muscle, this man looks like he hasn't eaten in days. His ridiculously skinny body is draped with long ragged hair and an even longer and more ragged beard. Even in the sweaty atmosphere, he stinks of animal hide. He takes a seat and mutters to himself. Once more the door opens but this time no-one steps through. After about 30 seconds, the long-haired man stands up and slams the door irritably before sitting down again. He hasn't been sitting down long though when the door opens once more, the steam dissipating to reveal the most terrifying sight yet. If you thought the long haired man was all skin and bone, this one dispenses with the skin. The skeletal figure takes a seat opposite you and you try to avoid looking at him as the steam billows down his eye sockets and through his ribcage.
You sit back and try to enjoy the relaxing steam despite your strange companions, but a noise at the door makes you start. Someone is yanking on the handle like they're having trouble turning it. Your stomach tenses at the thought of what monstrosity lurks outside when it finally succeeds in pulling the door open. Your heart leaps at the sight of it, a creature shaped somewhat like a lion, but you can just make out other odd details through the haze. Are those wings? And that tail looks like nothing a lion should have. But what's most disturbing is the creature's face. It almost looks like your grandpa! You watch, absolutely transfixed with terror, as it settles down on the tiled floor, far too big for the bench.
And then the door opens once more. But who - or what - will step through now?
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Post by a moderator on Feb 9, 2017 22:53:23 GMT
Someone with a really bad skin complaint - positively scaly in appearance - and what looks like a spider infestation in his hair?
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Feb 9, 2017 23:49:22 GMT
Haha yes indeed. I'm impressed!
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Post by Wilf on Feb 10, 2017 7:48:04 GMT
I'm going to guess George VI steps in, but there's something wrong with his skin - it's all scaly like a reptile's.
I think you're trapped in a room with the most ferocious opponents from each book in turn; the Minotaur from the Warlock's maze, Balthus Dire, less sure about the next two, but Zanbar Bone and the Manticore would point to books 5 and 6, so the seventh through the door could well be a Lizard King.
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Post by Wilf on Feb 10, 2017 7:49:15 GMT
Just twigged that Greenspine had the same idea!
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Feb 10, 2017 7:57:41 GMT
You were close Wilf but not quite. Each person who steps in is the last combat you have to fight in each book in sequence on the optimal path (hence the name of the spa):
1-Minotaur 2-Gark (not Balthus Dire as he should be defeated by sunlight rather than fighting him) 3-Wild Hill Man 4-Nothing 5-Skeleton (not Zanbar Bone, just a normal skeleton) 6-Manticore Which would make 7 the Lizard King.
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Post by a moderator on Feb 10, 2017 21:20:16 GMT
What comes next in this sequence?
The Archmage's unsleeping guardian The keeper of Zagor's final key (at least from the neck up) Bezenvial's sons Mungo's inhuman killer
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Feb 10, 2017 23:33:36 GMT
The Lizard King's feline companion?
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Post by a moderator on Feb 11, 2017 12:47:14 GMT
Correct.
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Feb 12, 2017 15:54:59 GMT
Two were possessed by Yaztromo Zagor and Feior had one The same was true of Zanbar Bone While Zharradan Marr had none
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Feb 12, 2017 16:57:07 GMT
Two were possessed by Yaztromo Zagor and Feior had one The same was true of Zanbar Bone While Zharradan Marr had none 'O's?
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Feb 12, 2017 17:15:04 GMT
Quite so
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Feb 17, 2017 17:34:27 GMT
A quick cryptic crossword featuring various entries from Encounters lists. Sorry to have taken a while in coming up with it. I don't know how many of you do cryptics, but perhaps johnbrawn1972 will be tempted to have a go if no one else does. Apologies for any errors - either FF- or crossword-related. E.T.A: Dammit, there's a singular/plural snafu in 2 down. I thought I'd fixed that. I used the crossword maker on Puzzle Maker.com to help make this. By the way, I'm still clueless about greenspine's last puzzle.
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Post by a moderator on Feb 17, 2017 19:27:50 GMT
Got most of them, though I'm not 100% sure about 7A, and 9A eludes me entirely. Across 4 Dryad 6 Mandrake 7 Lich 8 Elemental 9
Down 1 Caarth 2 Werewolves 3 Gark 4 Demons 5 Pixies A cryptic clue about the one that's still baffling you: Confused as to glory.
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Feb 17, 2017 23:07:32 GMT
Got most of them, though I'm not 100% sure about 7A, and 9A eludes me entirely. Across 4 Dryad 6 Mandrake 7 Lich 8 Elemental 9
Down 1 Caarth 2 Werewolves 3 Gark 4 Demons 5 Pixies A cryptic clue about the one that's still baffling you: Confused as to glory. Everything you have so far is right - impressively quick. The remaining clue suffers slightly from the singular/plural issue the other one does, (but the correct version is implied rather than flatly contradicting the clue).
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Feb 19, 2017 19:20:19 GMT
There's probably a good case for greenspine being declared the solver of this puzzle whoever gets the last clue (9 across), but let's get it tied up anyway... Hints: 'Point' can mean compass point, giving the letter N, E, W or S The clue gives you the singular, but 'these' suggests plural Anyone will know this word, even if they've never read any FF.
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Post by a moderator on Feb 19, 2017 22:23:19 GMT
Now you've clarified the point, I think 9A must be Elves If it's not that, I'm stumped. Did that cryptic clue about my previous puzzle help you at all?
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Post by thealmightymudworm on Feb 20, 2017 2:12:19 GMT
Now you've clarified the point, I think 9A must be Elves If it's not that, I'm stumped. Did that cryptic clue about my previous puzzle help you at all? That's the one. Not yet - it may have been unrealistic of me to expect to understand given the holes in my knowledge. In particular my grasp of Sorcery is very poor and I don't know/can't recall what the last guardian is.
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Feb 20, 2017 9:13:44 GMT
You might be able to work it out just based on the other clues.
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Post by a moderator on Feb 22, 2017 22:06:48 GMT
Resuming the ongoing saga of the visit to Sid's...
The side passage leads to a room with no other exits bar an ominous-looking hole in the floor.
Arranged around the edge of the hole are several crude origami figures, each of which looks something like a hybrid of a chicken and a tyrannosaurus rex. Upon closer inspection, they turn out to have been constructed out of photocopies of gamebook pages. One is made from section 59 of Caverns of the Snow Witch, another is composed entirely of interstitial art from Appointment with F.E.A.R., a third started out as Legend of Zagor paragraph 210, section 322 of Deathmoor provided the raw materials for the fourth, and the last one was once paragraph 185 of Eye of the Dragon.
Also beside the hole is a well-worn sledgehammer. Photocopies of the 'G' from the Wizard series 2 FF logo have been sellotaped to its handle and head. Like a pen in a bank, it is attached to a length of chain, the other end of which vanishes into the ground, so you can wield the hammer in close proximity to the hole, but will not easily be able to take it away from here.
What will you do here?
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Feb 24, 2017 0:15:44 GMT
I would use the sledgehammer to destroy the origami figures in this order:
- Legend of Zagor - Caverns of the Snow Witch - Appointment with FEAR - Deathmoor - Eye of the Dragon
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Post by a moderator on Feb 24, 2017 12:39:07 GMT
Having correctly identified the situation as a recreation of the endgame in Temple of Terror, Kieran picks up the hammer and brings it down on the first of the origami creations (which still don't look much like Dragons even now it's clear that that's what they're supposed to be).
The hammer crushes the 'Dragon', and there is a clang as the head of the hammer makes contact with a concealed metal plate beneath the flattened 'Dragon'. It now becomes apparent that the chain must be threaded through the entire handle and connected to the head, as this completes an electrical circuit, activating the motor of a hydraulic lift at the bottom of that hole.
The lift platform judders slowly upwards, and turns out to be mercifully free of any kind of facsimile Malbordus. Stepping onto the platform, Kieran crushes the rest of the 'Dragons' in the correct sequence (with this electrical lash-up, the consequences of not following the pattern could be literally shocking). The last one reactivates the lift, which starts to descend, taking Kieran to whatever insanity Sid has lined up for him next.
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Feb 25, 2017 13:49:31 GMT
The lift stops in a small, square room. An iron door seems the only way onward. On one wall is a blackboard with some writing on it. A nearby shelf holds some chalk. Most alarming is what lurks in the corner - a human skeleton! The skeleton is sitting in a wooden chair, his eyeless gaze upon a book he holds tightly in his fleshless hands. The book is a heavy-bound tome entitled "Ten Men from Mississippi". Peering over the skeleton's bony shoulder, you see it is open on a page with the following text: "Ten men from Mississippi left the big city to seek their destiny. The first found more riches than he ever expected. The second became a government agent, bringing down dangerous warmongers. The third man disappeared for a time but returned telling strange stories of the exotic things he saw on his travels. The fourth took up a life of backpacking, hiking hill and dale. The fifth chose to live in the city of sin but eventually found his way out. The sixth chose the mundane life of an exterminator but his life was still a tale to be told. A life of crime was led by the seventh man who stole some priceless jewellery. The eighth would not speak of what befell him except vague mutterings of the horrors and trauma he encountered. Celebrity came to the ninth after he garnered the reputation of a local hero. The tenth-" The page ends here. Try as you might you cannot wrest the book out of the skeleton's grasp to turn the page. Shrugging, you try the door but find it won't budge. You look over at the blackboard and see scrawled upon it "What befell the tenth man from Mississippi?" You pick up a piece of chalk, surmising that if you scrawl the tenth man's fate upon the blackboard, the door should open. But what will you write?
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Mar 6, 2017 14:25:32 GMT
I thought it was something to do with the number of letters in the word but there are 11 letters. These puzzles all seem more The Times level whereas I am more Daily Express level. Nevertheless probably better too hard than too easy.
My computer is still not working so I am posting from work.
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Mar 6, 2017 14:53:55 GMT
A couple of clues if people are struggling: Clue 1: The men supposedly left "the big city" but Mississippi isn't a city, so where is it they left? Clue 2: The order of the men is the key here. Does it mirror the order of anything else?
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Post by a moderator on Mar 6, 2017 19:28:00 GMT
Did the tenth become a pilot, undergo some monstrous medical procedure, and after a bout of amnesia, eventually recover and go back to his old job (albeit with new colleagues)?
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Mar 8, 2017 13:11:44 GMT
Greenspine, realising that the fates of the first nine men correspond to the events of Steve Jackson's first nine Fighting Fantasy gamebooks in publication order, surmises that the tenth must have had a fate similar to the hero of Creature of Havoc, Jackson's tenth book. After inscribing as much on the blackboard, there is a click and the iron door swings open to reveal a dark corridor beyond.
(Well done. Out of interest, did you need the clues?)
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Post by a moderator on Mar 8, 2017 23:24:34 GMT
I needed the first clue. Once I'd discovered that the biggest city in Mississippi is called Jackson, it was pretty simple to match the men's fates with the plots of Steve's gamebooks, which gave me the confidence to ignore the second clue where it reinforced a small error in the puzzle ( House of Hell came out before The Crown of Kings, so the seventh and eighth men are the wrong way round). This was inspired by one of the wrong ideas I had regarding Kieran's puzzle. That's probably only a clue if your brain is warped in much the same way as mine. The dark corridor ends in a square room, this one with three doors in the wall facing you, and two each in the walls to left and right. The doors all have pictures attached to them. On the door directly in front of you is a childlike drawing of the sun. The door to the left of it bears a scrawled flame, and a cartoonish face with puffed-out cheeks adorns the one to its right. The doors set into the left-hand wall are decorated with photographs of the lunar surface and the planet Earth, while those on your right show a stylised droplet and a clock face. Also on your right, beside the entrance to the room, is a small bookcase, its top two shelves stacked with books, the spines of those on the top shelf all radiating a familiar shade of green. A closer look confirms that they are all FF titles, though this collection is far from complete, and contains several duplicates. From the Puffin run, there are books 3, 4, 10, 12 (two copies), 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 22, 31 (two copies), 32, 35 (two copies), 43, 44, 48 (two copies), 53, 55, 56 and 59. On the second shelf are the original Steve Jackson's Sorcery! box set (containing the first part of the saga and, in a separate volume, the Spell Book), a second copy of the Sorcery! Spell Book, book 26 of the first Wizard run, the final book of the second Wizard run, and a brown paper-wrapped bundle on which has been written 'For pedants and sticklers'. It contains copies of Clash of the Princes: The Warrior's Way, issues 3 and 9 of Warlock magazine, Steve Jackson's one Fighting Fantasy novel, the first of The Adventures of Goldhawk, volume 3 of The Zagor Chronicles, the first and third Advanced Fighting Fantasy books, The Riddling Reaver, and two copies of The Fighting Fantasy 10th Anniversary Yearbook, along with print-outs of Fighting Fantazine issues 1, 7 and 11, and a sheet of paper bearing the message 'Lone Wolf doesn't count'. A sheet of paper lies folded on the lowest shelf. Opening it, you read the following: Find what they all have, which the absent have not. Ignore all but what constitutes the common factor. With what remains, you can name but one of the Seven. Behind its door lies the way onward.
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kieran
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Post by kieran on Mar 9, 2017 10:12:38 GMT
I needed the first clue. Once I'd discovered that the biggest city in Mississippi is called Jackson, it was pretty simple to match the men's fates with the plots of Steve's gamebooks, which gave me the confidence to ignore the second clue where it reinforced a small error in the puzzle ( House of Hell came out before The Crown of Kings, so the seventh and eighth men are the wrong way round). Oops! Hope no-one else was thrown off by that.
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Post by johnbrawn1972 on Mar 9, 2017 18:55:00 GMT
Serpent of Time. Oops just realized that bit is obvious but I do not have all the books. Well I stated one obvious thing.
Someone else will have to do the deduction a la the doors in Talisman Of Death?
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