#5 - City of Thieves

Back to Ian Livingstone and what is regarded and one of the classics of the original line up. Will it hold against its high praise and will I hold up against whatever is in Port Blacksand?

My history with the book.

Never owned this one growing up and, strangely, never found the time to catch up on it. I think it was released as an app but never got round to buying that one. (Although, since I started playing this book, it has been released as part of the Fighting Fantasy Legends app). So I effectively have no idea at all how to beat this one, which could be interesting...

What's it all about?

I am an adventurer of some repute apparently. I've been hired by all sorts of posh nobs to slay local beasts and rescue damsels etc. Whilst out adventuring, I stumble upon Silverton. It seems like a nice place so I wander in, only to find everyone freaking out, barring their windows and letting out involuntary yelps every time I bark at them. Seems they have a curfew too, as they all leg it into their houses at nightfall. I use this opportunity to head to the pub, thinking that nervous villagers means a shorter queue for the bar. My reputation certainly does precede me, as villagers mutter as I walk in. Soon the mayor, a Mr Owen Carralif comes in and requests my time. It seems that ten days ago, two ne'er do wells entered town and proclaimed that the Night Prince himself, Zanbar Bone was in the neighbourhood. For reasons that aren't entirely clear, he demanded Owen's daughter come to stay with him. Having politely declined the offer, the villagers soon found that they were routinely being torn to pieces every night by Zanbar Bone's 'Moon Dogs. Despite this, Owen continued to refuse to send his daughter and so intends to find someone who can stop Zanbar Bone. That someone is m....er someone else! Seems Owen intends to recruit super wizard, Nicodemus, to help him. Unfortunately, Nicodemus has taken up residence in the terrible Port Blacksand. You'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy, for Port Blacksand is a city filled with criminals and bandits - a city of thieves if you will. So, with a shiny new sword and 30 gold coins, Owen sends me on my great quest - to find a hero more capable than myself!

The Adventure

Skill: 12
Stamina: 19
Luck: 10

Generic angry guard. Nice fella really though.

My reputation is obviously warranted, as I appear to be a fairly skilled warrior. I get to the entrance of Port Blacksand ready to find Nicodemus, when I'm stopped by a guard who wants to know what business I have there. I try to blag my way past him by claiming I'm a merchant trying to sell my wares in the city. He isn't buying it though and asked to see what I'm claiming I want to sell.
"Er...yeah..I would, but they're really cursed," I mumble to which he states that my bullcrap is no worse than anyone else's bullcrap around here so I might as well go on in. Nice guy. He also offers to sell me advice but I decide that I can simply blag my way through town from now on.

I walk in and find a cross roads. I decide to go east along Clock Street. I stroll along the road, ignoring a crazy looking hobo I see at the roadside, and turn north. I see a house on the left that looks impressive enough to go snooping around. I walk in and find a grumpy ogre. What's upset him I wonder? Seems someone has stolen his lunch and so he demands that I give him some of mine. Much like Joey however, I don't share my food with anyone. Ogre isn't happy about this turn of events so attacks me. So I, in turn, kill him. I have a nose around his house and find some nice shiny gems, which I pocket.

I continue up the road, passing some kid who reckons he sells magic healing water (I have full health anyway). I turn the corner and am suddenly attacked by three midget muggers. Fortunately, I duck and smack one in the face. The others panic and run away, so I leave them and press onwards.

I stop at a flower shop and buy some magic petals (they react with dogs blood which is....kinda weirdly specific) and head into a shop with barred windows. Turns out this is a jewellers shop. He buys my stolen gems off me for a few bob and then offers some magic rings. I opt to buy a ring of fire (normally only achieved on curry night) for a reasonable price.

I end up at a crossroads and head north to the market area. I join the crowd in throwing vegetables at some fella in the stocks and get my pocket picked for the effort. I meet a strong man who has some kinda throwing game - we throw a heavy ball and whoever drops it first loses. Strongman throws me the ball. I catch it. I throw it back. He drops it. Kinda makes me wonder how he can make any money from this event when he loses so quickly. I ignore the other sideshow attractions and find myself on a bridge.

Taking the 'strong' out of 'strongman'. So, just man.

Spotting some steps on the side, I stroll down and see a small shack. Seems I've discovered the dwellings of great wizard Nicodemus. He listens to my story and decides, nope, not gonna do it. He claims he is too old for adventures like this so will instead tell me how kill Zanbar Bone. First, I will need to paralyse him by shooting a silver arrow into his heart. Once paralysed, I will need to kill him by rubbing a compound of Black Pearls, Hag's Hair and Lotus Flower into his eyes. Which seems kinda weird. Oh yeah, not forgetting that Zanbar's enchanting stare can only be over come by me tattooing a white unicorn on a yellow sun across my forehead. Part of me thinks that he might just be trolling me now, but who am I to question the wise wizard Nicodemus? Who lives under a bridge. In the worst city in the world.

And I'm sure he won't ever let us down again.

So I trot off with my massive shopping list and eventually reach a junction. I opt to go east. I walk past an ominous looking door and then another house which contains some shouting people. Eventually I hit a wall with a great deal shouting behind it, and it is this that piques my interest. Seems this is a stadium containing some oddbods playing what I realise to be the famous game Bays ball. This game involves hitting a ball with a stick to win. Bays ball. (Clever pun or some kinda copyright thing? Who knows?). I ask to join in and, with my superb skill, wallop the ball for miles. They are so impressed with me, they hand over all sorts of crap. Bananas, eye patches, chalk, potions of Mind Control. All sorts.

This place is a dead end, so I go back to the junction and head west to Harbour Street. I have a quick nose down an alley way where I am suddenly attacked by two dogs. Once they're dead, their blood mixes with my magic flowers to make some lovely gold coins which I pocket. As I continue back along Harbour Street, I find a pirate ship which I sneak on board of. I'm confronted by two doors, one quiet and one with a lot of snoring. I creep into the snoring room and am confronted by three sleeping pirates, one with a bag around his neck. I fortunately steal the bag without waking them. Inside? 6 Black Pearls! 1 down.

I soon reach another junction and head east down Clog Street. Passing a candle shop, I soon happen upon a silversmith. Seems like good odds for list item number 2, so I go in and converse politely with the smith - Ben Borryman.
"Silver arrows?", he says. "No problem. 10 coins."
Seems like a bargain, so I pay up and have another list item ticked off.

I proceed east at the next junction and find a manhole, which I inexplicably decide is worth exploring.    Seems I'm now in a sewer and decide to explore to the north, where I come across 3 giant rats. Giant does not mean strong though, and I kill them all quickly. I notice a skulking shadow and investigate it. Turns out this is where local hag's like to hang out, and the one I've just met starts mumbling at me. I decide she's casting a spell and so down my Potion of Mind Control, walk up to her, and cut a chunk of hair off. Which seems kinda mean, but hey ho - three list items gone already. I head back to the sewer entrance and go south. This time I find a giant centipede. I have no means of dealing with it other than hitting it with my sword. So I do that until it dies. I climb over its corpse and find the sewer blocked off with a grill. I can't get the grill off but do find a small hole which I reach into and find a mirror.

Back to the streets now, and I continue east which quickly becomes north. I spot some unruly looking thugs who begin to approach me. Thinking quickly, and not bothering to ask if they're friendly or not, I launch my throwing knife into the nearest one. The other two look rather upset that their friend is dead and carry his body into a nearby alleyway. So all in all, a rather sad encounter that one.

I nip into a posh house, shout out I'm a tax collector and get given a bag money for my trouble. I immediately spend all my ill-gotten gains on some nice chainmail from a nearby blacksmith's.

Moving north and I see a nice looking garden which costs but one coin to enter. So I pay up and stroll in, immediately desecrating the place by stealing a lotus flower I spot. Some leaf monsters try to take it back, but I burn them to a cinder using my fire ring. So the only scenic place in Port Blacksand is now a charred mess, but hey, I got me item number 4 - The Lotus Flower.

Port Blacksand public gardens - pre burning.

Moving more northwards, I nip down an alleyway where I see a sign for Jimmy Quicktint's tattoo shop. Unable to ignore a coincidence like this, I pay him 10 coins to get a ridiculous tattoo emblazoned across my forehead. At least I'll always be welcome at Pride festivals when this is over.

I now have all list items so begin looking for an exit, when I run into two troll guards - Sourbelly and Fatnose. They ask to see my merchant's pass and then, seeing as I don't have one, demand all my money. I'm pretty rich right now so I instead decide to stab them. They are tough cookies but eventually die. Unfortunately, the noise attracts some other guards so I run, eventually bumping into a small boy whose father sneaks me out of the city as thanks for killing the trolls.

Sourbelly and Fatnose. Which is which? Answers on  a postcard.

So, I'm out of the city now. I set up camp for the night and receive a bird delivered message from Nicodemus. Seems that he's not only too old for adventure - he's too old to even advise other adventurers. I don't need three items to rub into Zanbar's eyes, I need two. Which two? Dunno. All I know that I have a 1 in 3 chance of guessing the correct combination. So, yeah, thanks Nic. I choose the Lotus Flower and Hag's Hair because...they're easier to grind up then pearls? I dunno. It's all guess work here. Speaking of random things, a cave troll blunders out of the forest and attacks me, but is swiftly dispatched.

I approach Zanbar's tower and am confronted by two Moondogs. The second one takes a few chunks out of me, but I finish them both off and knock on the tower door. A creepy butler opens up and lets me stay the night, which seems very considerate. I'm not that tired though, so I nip out of my room. I move upstairs, past doors on floors 2 and 3. I reach floor 4 and hear Zanbar's voice taunting me. I find a white door and a black door, so decide to move through the white one. I find myself in a room containing a sarcophagus and open it. Surprise! It's a Mummy. Luckily, my Ring of Fire is still on, and I swiftly incinerate him. In the now empty sarcophagus, I find a Ring of the Golden Eye. Dunno what it does but it sounds lovely.

I decide to try the black door room next and find nothing of interest - a chest and a cat. I investigate the chest when suddenly my brand new ring exposes that the whole room is an illusion. That ain't no cat, it's Zanbar Bone. He whips out three of his teeth and throws them on the floor, where they turn into skeletons (which is an amazing party trick, you gotta admit). I dispatch the minions and whip out my bow. Strangely, my immense skill isn't enough to fire an arrow accurately - I need to be lucky. I am though, so Zanbar freezes long enough for me to rub my concoction into his eyes. Seems I chose wisely, as he disintegrates before my eyes.

With the Night Prince dead, I stroll back to Silverton to win the immense praise of Mayor Owen and a truckload of money.

And still no-one bothers to ask what Zanbar Bone wanted with his daughter to begin with....

Success!


So, How'd it go?

Certainly not as well as previous adventures. It took me 9 attempts to beat Zanbar Bone.

Adventurer 1 - Killed fighting a Giant Centipede.
Adventurer 2 - Left Port Blacksand without a tattoo or the Hag's Hair.
Adventurer 3 - Killed fighting Moondogs
Adventurer 4 - Lured to my death by a vampire in Zanbar's tower.
Adventurer 5 - Killed by Moondogs.
Adventurer 6 - Fooled by Zanbar's illusion and so given the touch of Bone (errr...)
Adventurer 7 - Used the wrong combination of items on Zanbar.
Adventurer 8 - Used the wrong combination of items on Zanbar.

Obviously, I expected to take a while as I had no idea where to go, but I figured once I found the list items it'd all be simple. I didn't count on the Moondogs (skill 9 and skill 11) and the fact that my guess work is not great.

Still, this lives up to its rep of being a great book. As I didn't know where to go, I got to explore the city to its fullest. I loved that some adventures ended with me buying up the place with my vast sums of money, and others involved me being penniless and mugging shopkeepers in an effort to find items. Just like real life. The city itself is positively buzzing and, even when I knew where to go, I enjoyed meeting all the inhabitants and criminals. It's also the first one so far I felt I had to draw a map for.

And here is said map!

However, the guessing game at the end is a bit cheap and the moondogs effectively made any adventure with a skill less than 10 a dead loss. (Owning up time: After adventure 5, I invented a new rule that meant that if I rolled less than 10 for skill, I simply re rolled. I knew where to go by that point and couldn't face constantly walking through the same bits of the city knowing that the Moondogs would end me when I got out). Also a minor point, but I'm not sure why I needed luck rather than skill when attacking Zanbar Bone at the end.

It was good to have a challenge in a book though, and hopefully I won't encounter another book this hard for a while. So, what's next? Deathtrap Dungeon? Sounds pretty simple.....