All Nothing But Cold Calculation

The pattern which largely determines what I play here (subject to change based on various external factors) has brought me back to Proteus, and as the last issue of that to be covered was (to the best of my knowledge) the final one, that means it’s time for another go at an adventure I previously failed when covering it for this blog. Thus, I am now going to replay David Brunskill’s The Forgotten City.

Given that my last attempt at City ended badly because I failed a Courage roll and consequently missed out on an essential item, I shall be allocating dice for character creation, thereby winding up with:
Dexterity 13
Strength 20
Courage 10 (which is as high as it gets)
Overall inferior to my stats from last time, but that maxed-out Courage gives me just over 30% better odds of succeeding at the roll which doomed me before, so I’m probably actually better off.

So, do I enter the city by the secret passage I used last time, or try the main gate for variety’s sake? I have vague memories from when I repeatedly played City in order to review it, suggesting that there’s a whole region of the city that guarantees failure to anyone who enters it. As I recall, it ends with a choice that has both options lead to death, but shortly before that ‘doomed either way’ decision there’s a puzzle-based encounter which can redirect the reader onto what would be a viable route - except that players join that path after the point at which an essential item can be obtained, and thus wind up failing at an inventory check. What I don’t remember is how you end up blundering into the ‘ultimately dead whatever you do’ zone, and while I doubt that it’s a direct consequence of the very first decision in the adventure (pretty sure I’d remember a detail like that), I think that sticking with what I know worked before is still going to be the safer option. Doing something new just to avoid a little repetition will be counterproductive if it ultimately results in my having to replay the whole adventure again.

So, as before, I go through the tunnel, but this time the Bolgroth who’s trudging past fails to notice me, and I make it to the crossroads without incident. Here I’m going to take a chance on deviating slightly from the route I previously took, in the hope that going east will enable me to bypass the trap that did some serious damage to my previous character but enable me to rejoin the correct path before I miss anything essential.

And that causes me to encounter a completely different booby-trap, this one involving a tripwire that causes half a dozen crossbows to fire at me. Randomness determines the outcome, and I get a middling result, which costs me slightly less Strength than would be restored by one meal. Rather than waste healing, I'll hold off on eating until I've taken some more damage, and hope it's not incurred in the course of a combat that I narrowly lose. 

An enforced change of direction at the end of the alley sends me towards the glowing tree, which means that I’m still on track for now. Resting by the tree puts right the damage sustained in the trap, so I’m glad I deferred eating. When I continue on my way, I soon reach the well, and climb down into it as before. My exploration causes me to encounter the Serpent before the Lumberbug this time, but the important thing is that I still meet and kill both and claim their treasures. The Lumberbug wounds me a couple of times more than it would have my previous character, but that’s no big deal.

More serious is the fact that I still roll too high when encountering the Flying Skull (last time I needed 6 or less and got a 7, this time 8 or under would have got me through, and the dice gave me a flipping 10), and thus am again scared away from the key that I need.

Now that failure is once more unavoidable, I’m tempted to try and find out what befalls anyone foolish enough to attack the old man who poses the puzzle with the jugs, but I think there could be potential to learn something more useful after the fight against the Vortigern, and my chances of surviving that battle will be improved by having the reward for solving the puzzle, so for now I proceed as before. The Vortigern does a fair bit of damage when I encounter it, but I still prevail.

Venturing into new territory once I’ve claimed the spoils of victory, I wind up in a particularly run-down part of the city. Something gives me the impression that I’m being watched, and I hear laughter and spot signs of the presence of large numbers of rats in the ruins, but nothing occurs until rattling noises draw my attention to a run-down building in which two disconcertingly skinny individuals are tossing pebbles into a jar. Showing signs of hostility may provoke an attack by rats or worse, so I attempt to join in. My first throw somehow constitutes a win, earning me a sapphire.

Playing on may wind up costing me, but I’ve already lost the adventure, so I might as well assuage my curiosity here. One of the others does ‘win’ the next round, and wants the sapphire. It’s of no use to me, and wouldn't be of any value in game terms even if I still had a shot at winning the adventure, so I hand it over and ask for advice regarding the route to Chaladon’s palace. The men are clearly troubled by my question, but one of them does warn me of robbers and give directions for the next junction.

Proceeding on my way, I notice a foul smell, which emanates from an open sewer to my right. This is a part of the adventure I remember from my reviewing days, and it’s best avoided. Before I can make use of the directions provided, a trio of miscreants charges to the attack, and randomness determines that I fall into that sewer. My meals and restorative herbs are spoiled, and if failure hadn’t already been assured, it would be now. The odds on that roll slightly favour the less catastrophic outcome, but the chances of disaster are still too high, so I shan't be coming this way on any future attempts at the adventure now that I've been reminded of where the incident occurs.

Though the robbers find my misfortune amusing, two of them stop laughing and run off when I emerge from the filth, sword in hand and a wrathful expression on my face. Their Chief is not so easily deterred, but I kill him with little difficulty. The gold he has on him does not compensate for the essential item I lost in this encounter.

At the next junction I take the recommended turning, but at the two after that I head in what is probably the wrong direction, just to explore a bit more of the city. This leads to my falling into a crater, taking a little damage, and getting sent back to the second of those junctions to go the way that the text hinted was safer.

I don’t even get a choice of which way to go at the next junction, and before long I am at the house of the quasi-catatonic trio. Having lost my herbs, I can’t restore them to full awareness, and I’m not curious enough about how the author will penalise murderous behaviour to try attacking, so there’s nothing for me to do here.

Leaving the house, I get offered a choice of directions that wasn’t given the last time I played this adventure. It’s not often that I get the opportunity to go back the way I came, so I try that, and persistently going against the flow, combined with the odd enforced turning, eventually leads me to a still more run-down region, where somebody fires an arrow at me, and another Courage roll determines what happens. Again I fail, taking a whole point of Strength damage. Underwhelming, but this whole incident is padding, so I guess it’s only to be expected that the arrow barely penetrates. The archer flees, and I go on my way.

For a while I continue to shun the directions that have generally indicated progress, and nothing good comes of my defiance of authorial preference. At one point I get attacked by rats, which do more damage than that arrow, and ultimately I wind up just north of the waste ground where I fell into a pit. What with cumulative damage sustained since I fell into the sewer and lack of healing, I wouldn’t survive another fall, so I have to head back to the house with the unresponsive trio, this time choosing to continue past it. This takes me to the tunnel where I could encounter Miletus, but on this occasion the only thing I’d be able to get from him is a particularly sadistic demise, so I avoid his home.

I’m only delaying the inevitable, though, and while delivering the Vortigern’s barb to Tylwyth Teg gains me a little healing, it makes no real difference in the long run. As before, I reach the palace without the key I need. Having already checked out one of the futile ways of trying to break in, I now investigate the other: hitting the door with my sword. This apparently attracts Chaladon’s attention and, doubtless regarding me as a cold caller, he goes for the ‘ironic death’ option and turns my body to ice.

John at Gamebook Odyssey was seriously lucky to beat The Forbidden City on his first attempt.