Tried, and not a champion

I’ve played Deathtrap Dungeon, and the third book in a loosely-associated trilogy, Armies of Death. But last week I realized that I hadn’t played FF21 – Trial of Champions, the second installment. I really have no idea what it’s about, except that it involves the famous dungeon, so let’s find out.

Skill 11 / Stamina 17 / Luck 10 Sounds pretty good!

And no other mechanics, no starting potion or equipment at all. Hm, okay.

Our story opens with my boat being run down by a galley, and my being chained to an oar for a week. Oh great, we’re off to a bad start. We arrive at Blood Island, where Lord Carnuss will have us fight in the Arena of Death until he’s killed us off, then send the one survivor to Fang for the Deathtrap Dungeon.

• Gladiator slave whose owner is trying to get them killed
• Then on to the ol’ D.D. which will surely finish the job. Honestly, the original DD was flatly impossible without cheating.
• And some goofy names like Blood Island and Arena of Death.

On the first day, it’s a foot race. Last one behind will be killed. This boils down to a single Skill test, which I pass (rolled a 10, I have 11). Then back to bed.

Day two, arena combat with a Bonecrusher beast, which looks both really scary and also really silly. It has tentacles over its mouth like Cthulhu, and big scary arms with claws, but is so top-heavy that if it falls over it can’t get up. It also has a skill of 9, and a special instruction that if I receive even one hit during combat, turn to… the creature automatically grabbing me and ripping my head off.

So, that was brief.

I do  notice that this one does NOT have the usual reassurance in the instructions that there is a path and that you can complete it with even minimal stats. I don’t wonder why not…