An Allansian Assassin and his absurdly acute armament.
Assassins of Allansia is the 68th book in the Fighting Fantasy series of Gamebooks. It was written by serious co-creator Ian Livingstone and published in 2019.
In it, the reader controls a down-on-their-luck adventurer who's taken a bet to live rough on an isolated island to earn a much-needed pouch of gold. However they haven't been there a night before it turns out someone has put a bounty on their head, attracting an entire rogues gallery of dangerous characters the reader will have to outwit and outfight if they hope to survive.
Assassins of Allansia provides examples of:
- Acquired Poison Immunity: In this case, it's the Death Hand spell. If you were victimized by an ancient version of this back on the island, you'll develop a resistance which saves you against an assassin that tries the spell on you.
- Avenging the Villain: Poor you! Why are you being hunted? Lord Azzur has your face on a Wanted Poster for the murder of Zanbar Bone from City of Thieves (1983) and The Port of Peril, he's a disciple of Zanbar and much of his power over Port Blacksand is derived from being known for having Zanbar's patronage.
- Big Damn Heroes: You don't actually beat the last assassin, a muscular gladiator, in a fight. Instead, if you manage to last enough rounds, a familiar one-eyed barbarian shows up and saves you.
- Bittersweet Ending: You earn the begrudging respect of Lord Azzur, who takes you off his hit list. However, in return you must be his champion in the Trial of Champions and forfeit over the 10,000 gold prize if you succeed. You won't succeed.
- Cool Sword: Early in the adventure, you kill the Dark Elf priestess Oleander Redfly who's prized weapon is the Astral Sword, a shimmering longsword made of the finest Salamonian steel and enveloped in a swirling mist of vivid colors. You'll gladly help yourself to her sword.
- Doomed by Canon: That friendly barbarian Throm, he'll end up getting bitten by a poisonous snake in the Trial of Champions. The poison will drive him mad, forcing the eventual winner to kill him. And the winner isn't you, the canonical champion was someone who never met Throm before and kept his earnings from the contest.
- Everything Trying to Kill You: The island you start on, is notorious for having horrific creatures and cursed items all over the place. After only a few passages, you could end up losing a sizable chunk of Stamina, Skill and Luck.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: On the island, you can find a barrel floating near the beach. Swimming out to it, you find the bronze Shield of Sentinels which you recover. This will greatly help you against dragon flame and arrows, and not too shabby in melee too.
- In the Back: If you don't get all the assassins before the end of the book, one shows up and decapitates you from behind with a One-Hit Kill.
- Mistaken Identity: It's highly likely that Azzur is mistaken and you're not the one that killed Zanbar Bone. The hero that did the trick has a uniquely ornate sword and a yellow unicorn tattoo on his forehead. He also finished rich as he completed his mission to the mayor of Silverton and was paid very handsomely. The character in this story lacks all of that and even in-story it's revealed that no one is sure you're the killer.
- You're much more likely the hero who killed Zanbar Bone after his resurrection in The Port of Peril, who started the story destitute and featureless, and earned no money at the end.
- Murder, Inc.: An entire assassins' guild is hunting you down.
- No Fair Cheating: When you're tallying up the number of assassins you've killed, there are options for more than the book actually contains, and trying to choose that automatically gets you shunted to the bad ending where you're killed from behind.
- Plot Coupons: The signature necklaces the assassins all wear. You need to count them up at the end of the book to show you got them all, and there's nobody left to take you out with a surprise attack.
- Plotline Death: Unless you pick the choice that gets you both killed, Captain Crow will always die by blundering into a giant Man-Eating Plant and you make off his boat.
- Prequel: The book turns out to be a lead-in to the events of Deathtrap Dungeon.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Even if you manage to kill all the assassins, you're still left with a horrible choice: immediate death at the hands of the city guards, or probable death in the maze of Deathtrap Dungeon.
- Stealth Sequel: The story events take place after City of Thieves (1983), and most likely The Port of Peril, where your character is possibly the hero from either story (though the latter is much more plausible).
- 13 Is Unlucky: That's how many assassins you have to kill to get the "good" ending.
