Sentinel's "None Shall Pass" (Talisman)

And later we played a second game.

This time with Minstrel, Minotaur and Grave Robber.

It's kind of funny what you can find by grave robbing. I mean, the guy dug up at least Mephistopheles and some other more generic Devil.

Minotaur almot looked like a sure winner, thanks to its character progress. Well, it didn't really build up Strenght all that much, but main weakness of low Craft was undone when it gained Craft 4 and even 5 inn short order. After that it started pumping the iron on Strenght, too.

All the while Minstrel and Grave Robber were just struggling to survive. Both seemed to be unable to raise their Strenght. This was somewhat mitigated by a Unicorn that Grave Robber found, and later in the game Minstrel luckied out by finding both Ring (+1 Strenght & Craft) and Maiden (+2 Craft).

Minstrel did have a dark phase during his poetic career, though. Aforementioned Mephistopheles had turned him evil (Faust, anyone?), but shortly before or after hooking up with the Maiden he was absolved by succeeding at Warlock's Quest, turning back to Good alignment.

Minotaur wins a sort of prize for stubborness. He really really wanted to get through Sentinel.

Sentinel, however, just would not let it. Not when Minotaur was at Strenght 8. Not when it was at Strenght 9. Not even when it was at Strenght 10. At least not on the first try. Maybe Sentinel asked confusing riddles from Minotaur.

Anyway, once Minstrel found the Ring and Maiden his Craft started soaring up, raising to 10. His strenght was only 4, though, with only one animal companion.

Still, he tried to get into Inner Region. All went absolutely perfectly and fine up until he faced Pit Fiends. There were 3 of them, and those buggers stalled Minstrel for a short eternity. In fact Minstrel would have died there were it not for Armor that saved his songful arse a couple of times.

When he finally got to Crown of Command, alternative ending was Battle Royale.

Important statistics were: Grave Robber strenght 4 or 5, Craft 8. Minotaur: Strenght 10 or 11, Craft 6. Minstrel: Strenght 4, Craft 10. Yes, everyone had a Talisman by then.

Things looked pretty good for Minstrel, because he could declare attacks with Craft.

There were a couple of scary situations against Grave Robber (losing even once would've probably taken victory away from him) but thanks to amazing amount of Fate and being at least +2 against other characters finally made his songs famous.

Now everyone liked those, because Minstrel held the Crown of Command.