In all probability I got Proteus issue 17, Ken Bulmer's Black Crag Castle, from the newsagents near my school. I remember reading part of it in one of the classrooms where we did French, and as the sequence I was reading occurs near the beginning of the adventure, I can't have spent much of the walk to school looking at the magazine. Then again, it was February, so I might have been prevented from reading en route by filthy weather.
I have already explained that the relatively short shelf life of the magazine motivated me to get the issues as they came out even when I wasn't particularly motivated to play the adventures, and that issue 16 was the last one to which I gave negligible attention at the time I bought it. It's possible that by the time this one came out I had already rekindled my interest in gamebooks by buying Midnight Rogue. Or it could be that the Proteus adventure helped get me out of the gamebook doldrums. Either way, I had a proper go at it, and subsequently took the time to figure out how to beat it. Which wasn't easy, as Mr. Bulmer proved quite devious in places.
Mechanically it's not that different from your average Proteus adventure. Most of what needs to be found along the way is information rather than items, and there's one 'hub' region that allows a little more freedom to explore than the majority of issues, but overall it follows familiar patterns structurally. The writing is another matter. It's a bit quirky (nowhere near as wacky as Grailquest, but doesn't take itself as seriously as the preceding adventures (with one exception)) and has, for want of a better word, attitude. I remember being a little surprised to read my character using a naughty word at the end of the brief introductory passage. Mild cussing, by today's standards, but my upbringing was such that 'd*mned' still constituted strong language in my eyes.
Such an utterance is understandable, given that the introduction has my character (in flashback) discovering my home village in ruins, my parents dead or dying, and the family's most precious possession stolen. All I know is that the perpetrator of these outrages is a pirate with one ear, and I intend to make him pay for his crimes, and to recover the Talisman he has taken, as the survivors of the massacre will have no hope for the future without its protection. Not that it did much to help them against the one-eared villain, but my character is too furious to make picky observations like that.
For a Proteus adventure I need to know more about my character than just 'too angry for quibbling'. I remember that there are a couple of nasty fights in this one, so I reserve the right to allocate dice if doing so would avert a 'fat chance' Dexterity and/or an unhealthily low Fate. And a minor tweak gives me:
Dexterity 12
Strength 21
Fate 11
That should give me a reasonable chance, as long as I don't forget anything important.
I have never visited the nearby town of Alfanzar because of what I've heard about it, but those same tales make it sound the sort of place that the pirate I seek might frequent, so now I go there. Finding a tavern named the Blue Anchor, I bide my time until a mob of pirates enters. Their leader, addressed by his companions as Panash, removes his hat to reveal that he has lost an ear. That'll be the man I want, then. But attacking him right now, while he's surrounded by comrades, would not be all that clever. Also rather less than smart is the sloppiness that has me learning Panash's name a second time while waiting for a more propitious moment to deal with him.
Eventually they leave the tavern, and I discreetly follow. While trailing them through the streets, I hear Panash mention the location that, for them, is home - the first of the nuggets of information that I must note down if I'm to have any chance of success. I also learn that I'm not as discreet as I think, as some of the pirates abruptly round on me and promptly render me unconscious.
I come round in the gutter outside the Blue Anchor, down two Fate points (an unavoidable loss). The tavern is closed, so I have to choose which way to head along the street. I'd forgotten about this choice - wonder if it's a fake one.
Proceeding to a jetty, I learn that Panash and crew have already set sail, and am advised to see Tiny Matison at the Boiled Lobster. The Boiled Lobster turns out to be another drinking establishment, and I arrive outside it just as a large man is sweeping out the debris from last night's festivities. A vigorous swipe with the broom leaves a mound of broken glass and other mess (including a dead ginger cat) piled around my feet, and the man responsible laughs at the sight. Again suppressing the urge to resort to violence, I ask to speak with Matison, and the man with the broom becomes enraged and attacks me.
This fight won't be to the death, but it could take a while, as my fists and Tiny's broom only do half the damage of most weapons. Fortunately for me, despite Tiny's size, he's not much of a fighter, and I pummel him into submission without incurring any damage myself. I demand information on Panash, and Tiny reveals that the one-eared pirate killed his cat because he can't abide them, and mentions the name of the villain's galley. That's as much as he can tell me, but there are two vital hints in there.
What I've found out isn't much to go on, and I've started to attract attention. Exactly how much attention only becomes apparent when an unseen assailant delivers a hefty blow to the back of my head, causing me to black out for a second time.
Regaining consciousness, I find myself chained up, in the company of several similarly immobilised and unhappy people, and subject to another two-point Fate penalty. Somewhat disgracefully, players are guaranteed to lose between a third and just over half of their Fate (depending on what was rolled during character creation) during the early stages of the adventure. And yes, there will be at least one unavoidable Fate roll with fatal consequences for failure.
A new arrival, wielding a whip, orders us onto a jetty, where we see the galley that is to be our new place of work, and most Proteus readers have the word 'coffle' added to their vocabulary. As we're being herded aboard, I get an opportunity to attack one of the crew, but there's no way anything good can come of doing so. Swallowing whatever remains of my pride, I go where I am directed, and am chained to an oar alongside a few other unfortunates. Following a brief tutorial on the basics of galley-rowing, the ship departs from Alfanzar, propelled by me and my fellow-slaves. Sneakily, there's an essential clue concealed within the description of my predicament, though at this stage of the adventure there's no indication that calculating how many oars the galley has is an essential step along the way to not getting sliced into little bits.
A quarter of the galley slaves die over the course of the next week. I should probably be thankful that there's no randomised chance of being among their number. As the galley heads for land in order to 'recruit' replacements, the somewhat deranged slave next to me on the oar reveals that he and another slave intend to make an escape bid tonight, and asks if I wish to join them. Their plan is too poorly-plotted to have much chance of succeeding, so I decline.
After the would-be escapees have failed and been fed to the sharks, I decide to start work on a properly organised escape plan, and begin discreetly recruiting reliable slaves and weakening chains. Our chance comes a week later. The ship passes by a rock inhabited by a trio of... well, they're subsequently revealed to be mermaids, but the initial description mentions no tails, leaving the impression that this is either a very select nudist colony or some uncharacteristically non-predatory Sirens. Anyway, while the crew are busy gawking at the preening beauties, my co-conspirators and I break the weakened chains and rush up to the deck.
A fight breaks out, and I seize a cutlass from a downed seaman. The Captain attacks me, and as I parry his initial blow, a conducted tingle indicates his blade to be Blessed - which may explain the high Dexterity. Not high enough, though: I take a few blows, but kill him, at which point the rest of his crew surrender. The other escaped slaves choose me as their new Captain, and I get one Fate point back, plus use of the late captain's Blessed sword.
Another of the slaves is dragged before me, and my comrades reveal that he tried to raise the alarm when we broke free. They want him made to walk the plank, but I decide there's been enough bloodshed for one day. Accepting my judgement, my new crew content themselves with a few kicks before herding the old crew down to the oars to take up our former posts. The liberated slaves decide to become pirates, and as that's not a career path that particularly appeals to me, I ask if they'd mind dropping me off at Panash's base of operations before they start plying their new trade. At this point, any reader who failed to make a note of the location mentioned by Panash just before the first knock-out is in trouble... unless their gaze strays to the section below, which has him naming the place, and thus makes cheating remarkably easy.
I remember the name anyway, so my allies take me there. During the voyage I recover all lost Strength and prepare some Rations. We pull into a cove during an ominous sunset, and the sight of the fortress overshadowing the island convinces the rest of the freed slaves to stick with their original plan. As I step ashore, Maltby, the collaborator I spared, expresses his gratitude by revealing that he once knew Panash, who revealed the location of the safe entrance to the castle while drunk one night. While telling me about this entrance, Maltby also mentions the name of the Necromancer who was the previous occupant of the fortress, which would be another essential datum if not for a bit of careless game design about which I'll say more later.
I head towards the castle, which is on the other side of a chasm spanned by a drawbridge. Ignoring the bridge, I turn to one side and keep walking until a clump of thorn bushes blocks the path. A quick search reveals the trapdoor under one of the bushes mentioned by Maltby, and I raise it, revealing a flight of steps. Lighting my lantern, I see a rusting handrail against the wall. The steps are so creepy that I lose the Fate point I only recently recovered.
Descending the steps, I see a green glow to the north. A dishevelled man carrying a skull approaches, and I greet him. He introduces himself as Amdi and seems unimpressed at the sight of me. Apparently everyone he's seen come through here, other than Panash, has met with a nasty end. It is possible (and advisable) to work out from his rambling account how long he's been working here, though that can easily be missed owing to the more obviously helpful revelation that Panash always heads east whenever entering the castle this way.
I go east, and the passage changes direction a few times, leading through a subterranean graveyard and down more steps. By the time I start heading up again, I'm confident that I'm past the chasm. I wind up in a tunnel heading west, and then see a side passage branching off. This is one of the areas where I could fail the adventure: somewhere in this warren of tunnels there are two facts I need to learn graffitied on the walls, and I don't remember the route that takes both in.
The side passage leads to a dead end, but then the wall rotates, and I find myself standing at a corner of a passage that glows purple. Heading south, I get into a fight with a giant spider with an alarmingly high Dexterity. It only wounds me once, though, and doesn't seem to be venomous. Continuing through the maze, I next encounter a Shambler, whatever that might be. Easier to defeat in battle, at least. And then, to my annoyance, I reach the chamber I know to be the way out of the maze. Well, I'm doomed. Still, might as well go as far as I can before my ignorance undoes me.
I've just entered a torchlit hall containing an imposing-looking black marble mausoleum. Set into its base are two doors, but of more concern right now is the giant snake's skeleton coiled around the plinth, as an eldritch glow has started to illuminate its eye sockets, and those bones are moving.
The Giant Skeleton Snake attacks me, of course, and I kill it with ease before turning my attention to the mausoleum. Beneath a sheet I find a set of scales and a sack of pebbles, and when I give a slight push to one of the pans on the scales, a panel in the plinth slides open to reveal an inscription. The writing outlines a simple mathematical puzzle for determining the correct number of pebbles to put in the right hand pan, thereby opening the doors.
Beyond the doors another flight of steps leads down, ending in a tunnel that heads north. When I descend, a huge block of basalt drops down, blocking off the way back. The tunnel leads to a flimsy brick wall, which I manage to break through on my second attempt. On the other side is a slope leading up, and I ascend for a while before realising that at times water flows down the slope. A lot of water, by the sound of it. Catching sight of a small opening in the ceiling, I make a leap for it, and succeed at the Fate roll required to catch the edge.
Once the water has thundered past, I decide to investigate the opening more carefully. It leads to a room containing the skeletal remains of a Warrior Woman. By her side is a sword with precious stones set into its hilt. Taking it, I discover that it has more powerful magic than the blade I took from the Captain, which will give me a bonus in combat. Saluting the spirit of the Warrior Woman, I receive a Strength boost that heals what damage I took fighting the Spider and breaking down that wall.
Returning to the slope, I continue up, eventually coming to a choice between a side passage and a ladder set into the wall. I don't remember which way I should go here, but I have a sneaking suspicion that one option is the way forward and the other is a detour that will provide another essential factoid. This sort of thing is the reason why it's worth carrying on even when failure is guaranteed: I now have a chance of establishing what I should do at this stage, reducing the risk of making a fatal error on my next attempt.
I ascend the ladder, and go through a trapdoor into a well-lit room with one exit. Probably the way I should have gone second, then. The exit leads to a location I remember well from previous attempts at the adventure: a hall decorated with the proceeds of innumerable pirate raids, from which lead another six doors, each one with an animal carved above it.
This is the hub I mentioned earlier. One of the doors leads on to the next stage of the adventure, one leads via a series of ultimately irrelevant choices to unavoidable death, and at least three of the others lead to areas in which something helpful but non-essential may be obtained. And there are assorted perils to be faced behind almost every door.
On this occasion I think I'll skip the optional doors I know to be of potential assistance, so I can cover them in a future playthrough. There's no point in trying the invariably lethal one, so that just leaves the one I'm not sure about and the eventual exit, and I'm not entirely sure which is which. I'll try the Lion door.
Behind it is a long hallway, its walls adorned with weapons and shields. Lion pelts are strewn on the floor, and as I advance along the hallway, I think I see one or two of them twitching. Nevertheless, I reach the doors at the far end without incident. The door I choose leads to a square chamber, but I only get a glimpse of it before something falls over my head and shoulders. This turns out to be another lion pelt, and its claws scratch me as I struggle free of it. Not wishing to loiter, I take the other exit from the chamber, which leads back into the Hall of Animals through a door that cannot be seen or opened from the other side. Well, that was fruitful.
The text says nothing about only being able to go through an animal door once, so I could try the Lion one again and see if the other exit from the hall leads to anything more useful or hazardous, but I think I'll try the Tiger door instead. The hallway beyond this one leads to a trophy cabinet, and the floor is decorated with tiger pelts. Three of them come to life, so I grab a spear from the wall and hurl it at the lead tiger as it bounds towards me. A successful Dexterity roll means that the spear kills that tiger, so I need only fight the other two. The rules governing fighting both simultaneously are a little less clear than they should be, but I definitely kill both tigers, and the only question is how much damage I take along the way. It's not likely to matter.
As I recover my breath, a red-faced individual enters the room and asks if I have the Captain's spyglass. When I indicate that I don't, he makes a snide comment and hurries off. I leave the scene of the fight, and another one-way door takes me to the Hall of Animals again. So I was right about the non-exit big cat door leading to nothing of note, and have now identified the unnecessary one. Time to try the Lion door again.
The alternate exit from the preliminary lion hallway takes me into another hall with lion pelts on the floor, though this time they completely cover it. And come to life as I approach the far door. A Fate roll determines whether or not I get to the door before the animated rugs get to me, and I fail this roll and am shredded.
Unless I am very much mistaken, the best case scenario requires the reader to score 8 or less on two dice to pass beyond this stage of the adventure. There are certainly worse odds to be had in some gamebooks, but that's still an unnecessarily high chance of getting killed.
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