1. You walk up the path on your way as usual to the Fantasia Tavern, Dimble’s finest proprietor of food and drink(or at least you believe it is). Having walked this path hundreds of times you let your mind focus on important decisions that must be made before you go inside the Fantasia’s welcome walls, are you having mead or ale, and who is going to pay for it. Your mental deliberations are abruptly cut short as you walk directly into a wall…of people. A huge crowd of Dimble-ites has gathered in the middle of the square in front of the Fantasia. Confused and stunned as to what is going on, you look around for a familiar face that might be able to answer your questions. Your search ends when you notice Cecily and Brath standing outside the Fantasia’s doors. Cecily waves as you approach but Brath just stares at the crowd, anger and disgust coursing through his rugged face.
“What the bloody Nath is going on out here?” you are almost afraid to ask.
“Everybody’s waiting for the shoppe to arrive.”, Cecily answers you. Brath just snorts.
“The shoppe? What kind of shoppe could be just opening to get all these people so excited?”
Cecily looks at you and chuckles.
“They’re not excited. They’re preparing for war.”, She replies through her giggles. “It’s not just any shoppe. It’s Hill’s. It’s a traveling shoppe that comes around once a year. People buy most of their holiday gifts at it. Some will even finish for the season all in one day today. “
Brath snorts again.
“You said they’re preparing for war, what war?”
Cecily looks at you a little puzzled then laughs.
“Hello, the shopping war, duh. It IS Black Friday.” She says smacking you lightly on your forehead. “Those people are going to fight and scrap for everything they can get their hands on. It’s going to be a battle in there.”
Black Friday is real? You have heard the rumors before, but you always thought it was a myth. You turn and stare at the crowd in both awe and amazement.
“What’s Brath pissed about?” you ask, sort of forgetting he was there. Brath turns to you and his face tightens.
“That bloody Hill’s. Them people are going to fill up on that bloody orangy drink they sell and them salty dough twists. Nobody will come in tonight, and the ones that do will be like ‘OOO I got this on sale’, ‘OOO I got that on sale’. The evenin’ will be bloody ridiculous. It’s the same every year”, Brath bellows at you. He turns back to face the crowd and snorts.
All of a sudden the crowd erupts with cheers and howls. The Town Guard doubles up to hold them back. A team of several horses ride into sight. The horses are pulling a good size wagon behind them. Mistrals on top of the wagon seem to be playing music but it can’t be heard over the crowd.
“There it is.” Cecily says.
The wagon comes to a halt. A man stands up from the drivers seat of the wagon and addresses the crowd, which is still too loud for the man to be heard. It doesn’t appear anyone is listening as it is. A door on the side of the wagon slowly opens. The crowd overtakes the Town Guards and disappears through he door in a matter of minutes.
“Where’d they all go? Granted that’s the biggest wagon I’ve ever seen but it was still only half the size of the crowd.” You ask in astonishment.
“Oh it’s much bigger on the inside.” Cecily replies.
Brath just snorts.
“Oh for bloody Nath’s sake Brath, it’s once a year. Get over it.” Cecily scolds Brath then turns and goes inside the tavern.
Brath snorts, glares at you, then follows Cecily inside.
To say that your curiosity is piqued about Black Friday is an understatement. Do you satisfy that curiosity(2) or do you just want to stay out of it and maybe preserve your sanity by going in the tavern and having a drink(6).
2. You enter the door and are immediately overwhelmed by the size of the place. The kind of magic that it would take to do something like this must be awesome indeed. You are brought back to your senses by the sounds of screaming and yelling, worse than on any battlefield. You look around and see people everywhere arguing and fighting with each other over the items on sale here, grabbing at things as if in a twisted game of tug-o-war. Make a Level 2 Save against your Luck right now. If you make it go to (12). If not go to (8).
3. The goblins have a MR of 26 each. If you win the fight you can go to the left(5) or to the right(16). You can also choose to go through the curtain to see just who this “Master” is(7).
4. There’s a curtained doorway here. A sign above the curtain reads “Magic Items”. A smaller sign underneath it reads “One To A Customer”. You go to check it out but too goblins on either side of the curtain stop you.
“Hold on Hoss. You can’t go in there until the Master is done shopping.” Says one of the goblins.
“Yeah, he’s got a coupon to use.” says the other.
You look up at the signs again and notice a third one that reads “Sorry. No Coupons.” Something’s not right here you think. These goblins are up to something.
Suddenly a woman comes running out of the curtain screaming. On of the goblins trip her and she goes sprawling into a pile of stuffed wyvern. Both of the goblins burst out laughing. Do you do something about this(3) or do you just move along to the left(5) or to the right(16).
5. There is a neatly stacked display of boxes here. A weird sort of croaking can be heard coming from random boxes. Make a Level 2 Save against your Luck. If you make it then you can go to the right(20) or down another aisle(15). If you miss a Urook Manager swears at you in your native tongue, pulls out a wand and zaps you with it for 1 die of damage. You can run down the next aisle(15) or head to the right(20).
6. Brath looks a little shocked as you walk into the Fantasia and sit at the bar. Cecily smiles at you and then continues cleaning up the place. Brace places a large mug of ale in front of you and…smiles.
“Good choice.” He says then turns to straighten the shelves behind him. “This one’s on the house.”
You smile to yourself as you sip the ale. You decide you’ll have some mead next, and you might even pay for it.
You get a free drink and 200 AP for your choice today.
7. You enter through the curtain to find a room stocked with any kind of magical item you can think of(yes, even that). A group of people are huddled together in fear. A large goblin with a crown is standing there holding several wands and laughing in merriment. Someone from the huddled group tries to run for the exit. The Goblin King lashes out with a particular wand and the person is suddenly turned into a brightly colored flarg.
Do you take down this Goblin King(9)? If you try to sneak back out make a Level 2 save against your Luck. If you make it then go to (20). If not then the Goblin King notices you and zaps you into a colorful flarg as well.
8. You have been hit by a flying Take That You Fiend spell for 10 points of CON damage. If you are still alive you shake it off and look for who might have cast it at you. Quickly realizing it could have been anyone, you decide to move on. Do you go left(10), right(13), Straight ahead(4), or go back to the Fantasia(6)?
9. The Goblin King has a MR of 36. If you have a ranged weapon or try to get off a TTYF or similar combat spell(one that makes a ranged attack) make a Level 2 Save against your Speed. If you make it then you get a free attack. If you miss or don’t make a ranged or cast a spell then each round you must make a Level 1 Save against your DEX or Speed(whichever is higher). If you make it then you get an attack in with your combat dice. If you miss roll 1 d6. On a 1-5 you get zapped by a wand for 2 dice of damage. On a 6 you get turned into a flarg just like the poor person before you.
If you win the fight go to (14).
10. You come across a huge display of nicely polished and new hafted weapons in the center of the aisle, which you’d probably stop and take a look at if it wasn’t for the rather large female ogre standing in front of it. You feel a little nervous twitch in your guts as she locks eyes on you.
“Don’t even think about it.” She says to you. Her eyes throwing imaginary daggers in your direction. “My Bub is coming to take a look at these and I gots them covered until he gets here. Yous can look after he’s done.”
Without breaking eye contact on bit, the ogress pulls out a large club and begins tapping her open palm with it.
You can make a break for it and go to the entrance(19) or head down the next aisle(17). You can also try to take her on.
If you choose to take her on she has a CON of 26 and her club does 3+2 dice of damage. If you manage to get her CON below 5(You don’t kill her even if her CON goes to 0 or less) she runs away crying and yelling for her “Bub”. As she runs away, the mob that’s been waiting for her to leave converges on the display stripping bare before you can even take a glimpse at it. You can pick one of the choices in the previous paragraph to go next.
11. You come to an area filled with pots, pans, and magical automatic food preparers. A raggedy old woman with a wart on her nose and a glint of evil in her eye spits at you and quickly grabs the last of something called a “juicer” off of the selves in front of you. She laughs at you and makes a gesture. Two skeletons quickly rise from the floor. She says something to them that you can’t hear. The skeletons turn and begin to head right for you. They have a MR of 18 each. If combat last more than three rounds then the skeletons crumble into dust and the woman and her “juicer” are nowhere to be found. You can go down the aisle(13) or to the left(4).
12. You have the strange feeling that you just barely missed something bad happen to you. You think now might be a good time to move on. Do you go left(10), right(13), Straight ahead(4), or go back to the Fantasia(6)?
13. You find yourself in the “Unmentionables” section. Apparently you can only mention them if you are female. If you are male make a Level 1 Save against your INT. You if you make it then you notice an arrow coming your way, so make a Level 1 Save against Speed. If you missed the Speed roll then the arrow just grazes you and you take 1 die of damage. If you missed the Luck roll then the arrow hits you in the leg for 2 dice of damage. No matter if you male or female or you make the Saves or not you should get out of here quickly. You can go to the entrance(19) or up the next aisle(11).
14. The Goblin King falls dead at your feet. The group of people huddled together slowly rise and begin clapping in your honor, thanking you verbally for saving them. A well dressed man bursts through the curtain. You recognize him as the driver of the wagon. He looks in shock at the body of the Goblin King on the floor then at you and smiles. He runs up to you and begins to shake your hand.
“Thank you so much! I’m Mr. Hill. The owner of this fine store. I want to thank you personally for vanquishing that pest.” Hill turns and looks back at the Goblin King’s body. “He’s been a bother every time we come here.”
Hill begins to rummage through his pockets until he pulls out a piece of paper. He turns to you smiling again and hands the paper to you.
“Again I can’t thank you enough. Please take this coupon for 10% off any item. Oh, on your next visit and not on magic items I’m afraid. Thank you. Thank you again.”
Hill snaps his fingers and two huge Urooks come out and carry off the body of the Goblin King.
“I’m afraid this department is closing. Everyone will have to please vacate this area. Please enjoy yourselves in the rest of the store and help yourselves to some of our great deals!” He turns and walks back through the curtain.
Give yourself 50 AP for vanquishing the Goblin King. You can follow the rest of the shoppers back through the curtain(20) and try to make it back out of the store.
15. There is nothing here but an empty display of what was apparently hafted weapons on sale. You can go to the entrance(19) or head down the next aisle(17).
16. There is a sign here that says Juicers and a bunch of empty shelves. You can go down the next aisle(15) or to the left(20).
17. In your haste you run smack into a display of boxes. Make a Level 1 Save against your Luck. If you make it then nobody has seen you and you can make a quick escape to the right(4) or back down the aisle(15). If you miss the roll then a nasty Urook of a Manager has seen you. He does not look happy at all, but when does a Urook ever.
“Hey, what’s the big idea? It took me all morning to stack those boxes. Now see what you’ve done? Now I’ll have to catch all those flargs before they get away.” He scolds.
You look down and see large, colorful, frog like creatures with one eye hoping all around. If you try apologizing make a Level 1 Save against your CHR. If you make it the Manager tells you it’s ok but you better hope he doesn’t catch you in this department again. You can take off to the right(4) or back down the aisle(15). If you miss the roll then the Manager pulls out a wand and points it in your direction. You feel suddenly compelled to catch all the flargs, put them back into the boxes, and fix the display. Before your finished the Manager blurts something out harsh in Urook then kicks you promptly in the shin(take 1 CON damage). As he storms away you feel back in control of yourself. You can now go to one of the above directions.
18. You fight upstream against the customers who are still pouring in through the door. You get stuck at the door, still fighting your way out. Suddenly there is a loud “POP” and you are sent flying through the air, landing on you posterior in front of Wendis Portay. The 8 year old girl points at you and giggles before skipping off. Give yourself 50 AP for surviving Black Friday, but subtract points from your dignity.
19. You are at the entrance. People keep filing in. You can go to the left(6) or to the right(13). You can also just leave(18).
20. There is a sign on the wall that reads “Magic Items”. Underneath the sign is an iron door with a huge bar across it. A sign on the door reads “This Department is CLOSED”. There is also a scattered bunch of stuffed wyverns here. You can go to the left(5) or the right(16).