Freeway Fighter - Attempt 5

Regular commenter Unknown reminded me last week that my first attempt at Freeway Fighter ended when I was blown up while crossing a bridge, so not every attempt I've had ended by running out of petrol.  Still, three such anticlimactic endings in a row are bad enough.  I'm confident now that I've figured the petrol thing out: I've found the first two cans, and I know how to get the third.  If my sense of Fighting Fantasy pacing is correct, I shouldn't need any more, so I feel like I have a decent shot this time.

For my stats on this attempt I rolled a Skill of 10, a Stamina of 27, and a Luck of 7.  For my car I rolled a Firepower of 8 and an Armour of 26.  Skill aside, those are some very bad rolls indeed.  A lot of 1s and 2s in there (literally and figuratively, if you know what I'm saying).  I may have cracked the fuel problem, but I get the feeling that I'll struggle to win through otherwise.

I kicked off the adventure in my now customary fashion, ignoring the first few encounters and shooting the Red Chevvy with a missile.  (It bugs me that Ian spells it with two Vs, but my personal style guide dictates that I have to follow his lead.  That don't mean I gotta like it!).  I soon got a radio message about an attack on New Hope, and the kidnapping of Sinclair.  At the first junction I decided to turn right rather than left.  I knew from previous games that there was petrol to the left, but there was also a bridge I had to jump, and I didn't want to risk failing the required Skill check.  I passed an ambulance on the side of the road, and decided to ignore it (having discovered that it was booby-trapped in an earlier game).  I also ignored a road leading south, which is where I got blown up on my first attempt at the book.  I continued east, into unexplored territory.

It wasn't long before I came to a roadblock made of upturned cars and trucks.  I thought about blowing it up with a rocket, but I'd already used one, and decided to keep it in reserve.  Instead I drove around the roadblock, and as I did I was surprised by two leather-clad bikers in an armoured motorcycle.  One of them shot at my car while the other slammed a limpet mine against my rear wheel arch (reducing my Luck to 6).  I decided to keep on driving as the mine exploded, blowing my wheel off the rear axle (and reducing my Armour to 24).  

I had to fight the Motor Cycle (Skill 6, Firepower 9) while my car was stationary, so I was at a disadvantage (my Firepower was temporarily reduced to 6).  The bikers got one good hit on me before I was able to kill them (reducing my Armour to 18).  I went over to the wrecked bike with a med-kit in one hand; it might have looked like I was trying to save them, but I still had my pistol drawn and I was really going over there to finish the buggers off.  I needn't have bothered.  One was already dead, and the other only survived long enough to utter his final words: "Fat Jack and the boys will get you for this."

I looted their bike's side pannier, where I found 200 credits and a pair of handcuffs.  I also found a map, and on it was the location of New Hope circled in red.  No doubt this was the same gang that attacked my home town, and took Sinclair.  I noted that a town named Rockville was also marked with an X, and figured that it was probably their home base.  Fat Jack better watch his back, because I was coming for him.

I changed the wheel on my car and took off.  Soon I came to a dirt road heading south, with a sign that said "Rockville".  I turned to the south, determined for a measure of vengeance.  As I neared the town, worried that the dust I was kicking up would announce my presence, I saw a flash of light from some boulders in the distance.  A bazooka shell exploded a few metres to my left (missing due to a successful Luck test that reduced my score to 5).  I pressed down on the accelerator to close the distance on my attackers, and saw them race off on a pair of motorbikes.  I gave chase, and saw them disappear into a cluster of farmhouses.

Add this one to the roster of Very Boring
FF Illustrations.

I heard gunfire coming from the houses, and once again thought about using a rocket to flush my attackers out.  I was feeling conservative though, so I kept on driving towards the houses.  I avoided the gunfire (with a successful Skill test), but was not so lucky when they fired another bazooka shell at me.  A bullet punctured my tire, and I was a sitting duck as the bazooka shell exploded, badly damaging my car (this left me with an Armour score of 12, and a Luck of 4).

With little choice remaining to me, I fired a rocket at the farmhouse, and watched in satisfaction as it was blown to pieces and engulfed in flames.  Eat that, Fat Jack.  I quickly fixed my punctured tyre, and heard someone calling for help from the wreckage.  Against my better judgement I want to investigate, and found Sinclair, miraculously alive (which restored my Luck to 5).  He gave his thanks, and drove off on a motorcycle, heading for New Hope.

I decided to stay and search the general store.  I found a can of meat, which I greedily devoured, and a can of petrol, which I chucked in my boot.  Feeling good about my finds, I decided to keep searching the town, and headed for the nearest house.  Inside, I was faced with a hallway and a choice between two doors.  I chose the door to the right, only to find that it was booby-trapped with a crossbow.  The crossbow bolt thudded into my shoulder (reducing my Stamina to 21, and my Luck to 4).  Figuring that both doors couldn't be booby-trapped, I tried the other.  Inside I found a toolkit containing a pair of wire-cutters.  They were hardly worth getting shot with a crossbow, but I took them anyway before driving out of town.

I soon came to a junction, and turned east.  After a time I came to another junction, and turned south towards San Anglo.  As night was falling I had to stop and refill my car with petrol.  I slept in my car overnight (restoring my Stamina to 23) before heading off in the morning.

As I was driving, and Armoured Car attacked me from behind, but I took care of it with an oil spray, which sent it skidding off the road.  At the next junction I turned west, and drove about 80 km before turning south again.  I soon came to a rough road leading off to my right, and decided to investigate.  I had found a Blitz Race, and I decided to stake 200 credits to enter and win a can of petrol.

My opponent was driving a yellow Ford.  We drove up to the starting line, and waited until the flags were waved.  I got the better start (with a successful Skill check) and took the lead.  The Ford rammed me from behind, but I was able to maintain control (with a Luck test that reduced my score to 3).  I decided to slow down and let the Ford overtake me for a bit, but realising that I had no forward weapons that were legal in the race, I tried to overtake again.  I rammed the Ford, but it had steel-plated crash bars, and I only succeeded in damaging my car further (reducing my Armour to 10).

My son tells me this could be a GT40, or
maybe a Ford Capri. I have no idea.

I managed to overtake the Ford (with a successful Skill check), and decided to retaliate with some iron spikes.  Unfortunately, the spikes failed to release correctly (due to a failed Luck test that reduced my score to 2).  The Ford fired a grenade at me from its launcher, and it exploded underneath my car (reducing my Armour score to 1).

We reached the halfway point of the race, and both U-turned to head back to the finish line.  I was slightly in front, and the Ford decided to start ramming me once again.  My car was in such a bad state that the first ram wrecked it.  With no car I had no chance of reaching San Angle, and my adventure was over.

THE POST-GAME

I had a real run of bad luck with the dice in the game.  I started by rolling some terrible scores, particularly that Luck of 7, and from there had a string of bad rolls that significantly damaged my car.  I was probably too conservative with my rockets, as well.  My only consolation is that it's likely I wouldn't have survived to make it through the rest of the book anyway.  Ah well, at least I didn't run out of petrol this time.