The contents of issue 5 of Warlock magazine included a multi-player scenario for the Fighting Fantasy rôle-playing game, In Search of the Mungies' Gold, by Steve Jackson (the British one). Though I did at one point run a campaign using FFRPG, I never put the group through Search, largely because (spoiler alert) the player-versus-player bloodbath with which it was supposed to end was not exactly conducive to campaign play.
At some point after the announcement that Ian Livingstone was developing his non-FF mini-adventure Eye of the Dragon into a new(ish) FF gamebook, a rumour started circulating that Steve was similarly going to turn Search into a gamebook. I don’t know if the rumour had any basis in reality, or if it was just some fans’ wishful thinking/searching for new reasons to complain about Wizard Books. In any case, nothing came of it, and the next sort-of-new-though-based-on-old-material FF book to come out was Bloodbones.
Then, some years later, a single-player adaptation of Search was published, though not in the way suggested by the rumours. Instead of being a semi-new addition to the Wizard range, it was the mini-adventure in issue 4 of Fighting Fantazine, and it had been adapted by Warren McGuire rather than Steve Jackson (though with Steve's permission).
Having read the source material back in the 1980s, I could remember some of the encounters in the original scenario, and this did influence some of my actions when I previously had a go at Search. Maybe I would have been wary of a certain encounter in any case, but the knowledge that there was a cerebrophagous Champaque around somewhere enhanced my suspicion. As I recall (my playthrough being another of the ones lost when the forum hosting it was deleted), my character eventually attracted too much attention, and died in combat against a large group of some kind of simian. Probably Howl Cats (misleadingly named on account of the lion’s mane-esque ruff of fur they have), but there are several different varieties of ape in the adventure, and I may be getting them mixed up.
The Warlock version of Search wasn’t really substantial enough to make for a decent mini-adventure on its own, and the Background section of the Fantazine variant makes it clear that the expansion of the original material has been handled differently from the way Ian Livingstone turned Eye into a full-length gamebook. Whereas Eye seemed to just cram in lots of new encounters willy-nilly, Search makes the Warlock material part of a bigger picture. The basic premise (Mungies are a species of ape that crave gold even more than humans do, rumour has it that they’ve pilfered a vast quantity and stockpiled it somewhere near the Cloudcap Mountains, you’ve decided to seek this treasure and take it for yourself) is still there, but this information is presented against a backdrop of events that have no direct connection with it. Doubtless at least some of them will become relevant for anyone who survives long enough...
It is around the time of the Sorcery! saga. Various factors are contributing to unrest on the streets of Kharé: fortune-hunters seeking to grab a share of the vast sums being paid for the addictively tasty delicacy known as the Mutton Fish, rioting in response to the Merchants’ Guild’s attempts to impose licensing on this new trade, fears of an invasion from Analand in the wake of the theft of the Crown of Kings (they didn't have much to worry about there, did they?), and concerns over the Archmage of Mampang’s sudden rise to prominence. Troubled times generally providing good business for the adventurous, I have travelled to Kharé to try and take advantage of the brouhaha, and it is there that I hear of Jan van Harack’s doomed expedition to find the Mungies’ gold. Only three of van Harack’s party returned, and before dying of fever, they confirmed that they had found great mounds of gold, but had been driven off by numerous frenzied Mungies. For some deranged reason I believe that I might be able to succeed where a large and well-equipped group failed, and arrange for a fisherman I know to provide me with passage to the region.
In addition to the standard stats, I get to pick three Special Skills from a list, and I have a Disturbance score, which starts at 0 but increases whenever anything that is liable to attract attention occurs (whether it's my fault or not), and can lead to run-ins with a wide range of predators if it gets too high. Allocating the dice, I get:
Skill 11
Stamina 14
Luck 11
and I select Climb, Observation and Sneak as my Special Skills.
I start out with a decent amount of money but no Provisions, so a trip to the market before I set off seems like a good idea. The stalls sell assorted items in addition to food, and while it’s possible that some are of no use in this adventure, there are a couple of things listed that I’d rather have and not need than need and not have. Hoping that my Climb Special Skill will eliminate the need for rope and grapple, I get a Potion of Fortune, a string of garlic, a skeleton key and an Ivory Mungie figurine, spending what remains on food. The Mungie figurine turns out to be a powerful lucky charm, so even if it doesn’t somehow provide protection from the Mungie horde guarding the Mungie hoard, it’s a worthwhile purchase.
Proceeding towards the docks, I see a fancily-dressed man entertaining the crowds with a hat-wearing Mungie on a leash. Luck determines what happens here, and but for that charm, things would not have gone well for me. As it is, I proceed to the harbour without being robbed, assaulted, cursed, or whatever it is that would have happened on an Unlucky roll.
We set off across Lake Lumlé, and Jilani, the boat's owner, tells me assorted geographical facts on which I hope I'm not going to be quizzed later. After spending the night on Nilgiri Island, we set off again the following morning, and Jilani is just starting to give me what could be some useful information about birds that act as guides to travellers when a shoal of Flying Fish attacks and distracts us. I drive the fish off, but one has fallen into the boat and is flapping around, helpless. The last time I played this, I attempted to add the fish to my Provisions, thereby discovering that it is not edible and will spoil the rest of my food if brought into contact with it. In view of that, I think cooking the fish here and now is unlikely to be wise, which only leaves the option of throwing the fish back into the water. I do that, and the ungrateful cod bites me. (Taxonomic error intentional for the sake of a lousy pun.)
At last we reach the north shore of the lake, and as there's no natural harbour to be seen, Jilani gets as close to land as he can before I disembark. Or possibly just pretends to for a joke, as I sink to my waist in mud as soon as I leave the boat. As Luck would have it, I experience nothing worse than embarrassment (incidentally, the directions for being Unlucky and Lucky are not in the conventional order here, though the section numbers are still right).
Jilani tries another area, where the terra proves that bit more firma, and we part company, Jilani promising to stay for five days. I set off towards the forest that stands between me and the mountains, and a scrawny lunatic rushes out from the trees, yelling fit to give me a Disturbance point, and attacks me with his teeth and nails. On my previous attempt, I spared his life after beating him down to his last couple of Stamina points, and he launched into a rant that I shouldn't have found as amusing as I did, as a result of which I gained another point of Disturbance. This time round I fight my crazed assailant to the death, and incur a Luck penalty for my lack of mercy. That's two unavoidable encounters in which every decision has a less-than-desirable outcome. If I wanted to be penalised no matter what I do, I can think of a couple of online communities that would welcome me back with open opprobrium. I don't need this sort of thing in gamebooks.
Two paths lead into the forested foothills of the mountains. I don't remember which one I took before, or what happened to me on it, so all I have to go on is the choice between a valley and the edge of a ridge. I'll go with the valley. My gamebook manager reveals that this is not what I chose to do on my previous attempt, so whatever I encounter will be new to me.
After travelling for a while, I catch sight of a Jubalani tree. Its fruit are a rare delicacy. Stopping to pick some will doubtless lead to some kind of trouble, but judging by the last couple of encounters, passing by may also have adverse consequences, so I might as well make the bad decision that could net me something of value.
My approaching the tree disturbs the Skunkbear that I failed to notice scavenging fallen fruits in the undergrowth. So not only do I attract attention with almost everything I do, but (even with Observation) I'm also spectacularly oblivious to the activities of whatever local fauna might be around until my clodhopping provokes them into hostile action. I can't help but notice that the section number for retreating is the same as the one for not approaching the tree (and that there's a 'to' missing from one of the sentences). Backing away reveals that the section isn't ideally suited to covering both 'walk past without approaching the tree' and 'attempt to move away from a hostile animal without provoking it to attack'. I've seen worse section transitions, but it's still a bit clumsy. Unless it's indicating that my character's lack of awareness is so profound that as soon as I look away from the Skunkbear, I forget that it's even there.
Moving away, I reach a junction, and the Observation Special Skill that proved so useless at detecting large furry animals chomping on windfalls enables me to spot boot-prints in the ground along one of the turnings. I might as well check to see what the wearer of the boots is up to, though I am a little concerned that this could lead to an encounter I vaguely remember provoking a bit of a rant on my previous attempt.
It's something else. I find a log cabin, showing plenty of signs of being in use. I can retrace my steps to the fork in the path and go the other way, or I can proceed to what looks like another 'every outcome is undesirable' choice: offend the occupant by barging in uninvited, or gain Disturbance by yelling a greeting. I’ll risk a shout.
No response, just another point of Disturbance. I must turn back or take a look inside. Might as well investigate. I have the option of helping myself to some of the contents, but the items listed are mostly food and weapons (well, a literalistic reading of the text would allow for the taking of a lit wood-burner, a table, a chair and a bed, but I think the intent is that only the items in the third and fourth sentences of the paragraph are up for grabs), so this could be the home of a survivalist, and that’s not the kind of person you want to annoy by stealing his stuff.
Especially when it turns out that he did hear me calling out, and is standing right behind me with an axe in his hand. Not unreasonably, he asks what I’m doing in here, and I’m offered a choice between talking and attacking him. This isn’t Firetop Mountain, so invading the man’s home and killing him would not be appropriate behaviour. Beyond checking whether or not I’ve helped myself to any of the Woodsman’s possessions, the text is a little vague on how the conversation gets started, but it appears that I avoid making any further social blunders, and the man invites me to a meal.
While we’re eating, I attempt to gain the benefits of his local knowledge, asking what he knows of hazards I might encounter while exploring the region. He mentions a variety of hostile fauna that will do nothing good for my life expectancy, and when I ask how he copes, he indicates his axe. Not massively helpful, then, but he does also warn me to avoid all contact with the Shield Maidens of Lumlé, as they will not tolerate my presence in their territory.
As I prepare to set off again, the Woodsman offers me a couple of Provisions’ worth of food, and if I’d lost my boots back when I sank into the mud, he’d provide me with replacements. There’s another proofreading error as I head back to the fork in the path; the text says ‘you’ where it should be ‘your’.
That other turning leads down to a valley, where a cloud of midges bites away a point of my Stamina. That’s not the worst that could happen here, but my Disturbance score is just low enough that the combination of my Sneak Special Skill and my high Skill score makes it impossible for me to get a bad outcome on this check.
Eventually the path forks again, and Observation assists me in spotting a couple of small birds following a line of ants along one trail. Are these the sort of bird that Jilani was telling me about? When a gamebook author provides clues, it's generally advisable to follow them, so I go the same way as the birds, which turns out to take me back into territory I covered on my first go at the adventure.
After a while, the trail leads through a clearing with another obviously occupied hut in it. I head across to the door, and see that the hut is occupied by a stereotypical Witch concocting something in a cauldron. She turns to look at me, and I greet her: no point in being needlessly aggressive. She points out that it's wise to seek shelter for the night around here, and as it's now getting late, she will allow me to stay in her hut if I'm willing to pay the price. I lack most of the items she'll accept as payment, and that Mungie figurine is too valuable to hand over, so I make my apologies and leave. The Witch cackles as I depart, but takes no hostile action.
At some point after the announcement that Ian Livingstone was developing his non-FF mini-adventure Eye of the Dragon into a new(ish) FF gamebook, a rumour started circulating that Steve was similarly going to turn Search into a gamebook. I don’t know if the rumour had any basis in reality, or if it was just some fans’ wishful thinking/searching for new reasons to complain about Wizard Books. In any case, nothing came of it, and the next sort-of-new-though-based-on-old-material FF book to come out was Bloodbones.
Then, some years later, a single-player adaptation of Search was published, though not in the way suggested by the rumours. Instead of being a semi-new addition to the Wizard range, it was the mini-adventure in issue 4 of Fighting Fantazine, and it had been adapted by Warren McGuire rather than Steve Jackson (though with Steve's permission).
Having read the source material back in the 1980s, I could remember some of the encounters in the original scenario, and this did influence some of my actions when I previously had a go at Search. Maybe I would have been wary of a certain encounter in any case, but the knowledge that there was a cerebrophagous Champaque around somewhere enhanced my suspicion. As I recall (my playthrough being another of the ones lost when the forum hosting it was deleted), my character eventually attracted too much attention, and died in combat against a large group of some kind of simian. Probably Howl Cats (misleadingly named on account of the lion’s mane-esque ruff of fur they have), but there are several different varieties of ape in the adventure, and I may be getting them mixed up.
The Warlock version of Search wasn’t really substantial enough to make for a decent mini-adventure on its own, and the Background section of the Fantazine variant makes it clear that the expansion of the original material has been handled differently from the way Ian Livingstone turned Eye into a full-length gamebook. Whereas Eye seemed to just cram in lots of new encounters willy-nilly, Search makes the Warlock material part of a bigger picture. The basic premise (Mungies are a species of ape that crave gold even more than humans do, rumour has it that they’ve pilfered a vast quantity and stockpiled it somewhere near the Cloudcap Mountains, you’ve decided to seek this treasure and take it for yourself) is still there, but this information is presented against a backdrop of events that have no direct connection with it. Doubtless at least some of them will become relevant for anyone who survives long enough...
It is around the time of the Sorcery! saga. Various factors are contributing to unrest on the streets of Kharé: fortune-hunters seeking to grab a share of the vast sums being paid for the addictively tasty delicacy known as the Mutton Fish, rioting in response to the Merchants’ Guild’s attempts to impose licensing on this new trade, fears of an invasion from Analand in the wake of the theft of the Crown of Kings (they didn't have much to worry about there, did they?), and concerns over the Archmage of Mampang’s sudden rise to prominence. Troubled times generally providing good business for the adventurous, I have travelled to Kharé to try and take advantage of the brouhaha, and it is there that I hear of Jan van Harack’s doomed expedition to find the Mungies’ gold. Only three of van Harack’s party returned, and before dying of fever, they confirmed that they had found great mounds of gold, but had been driven off by numerous frenzied Mungies. For some deranged reason I believe that I might be able to succeed where a large and well-equipped group failed, and arrange for a fisherman I know to provide me with passage to the region.
In addition to the standard stats, I get to pick three Special Skills from a list, and I have a Disturbance score, which starts at 0 but increases whenever anything that is liable to attract attention occurs (whether it's my fault or not), and can lead to run-ins with a wide range of predators if it gets too high. Allocating the dice, I get:
Skill 11
Stamina 14
Luck 11
and I select Climb, Observation and Sneak as my Special Skills.
I start out with a decent amount of money but no Provisions, so a trip to the market before I set off seems like a good idea. The stalls sell assorted items in addition to food, and while it’s possible that some are of no use in this adventure, there are a couple of things listed that I’d rather have and not need than need and not have. Hoping that my Climb Special Skill will eliminate the need for rope and grapple, I get a Potion of Fortune, a string of garlic, a skeleton key and an Ivory Mungie figurine, spending what remains on food. The Mungie figurine turns out to be a powerful lucky charm, so even if it doesn’t somehow provide protection from the Mungie horde guarding the Mungie hoard, it’s a worthwhile purchase.
Proceeding towards the docks, I see a fancily-dressed man entertaining the crowds with a hat-wearing Mungie on a leash. Luck determines what happens here, and but for that charm, things would not have gone well for me. As it is, I proceed to the harbour without being robbed, assaulted, cursed, or whatever it is that would have happened on an Unlucky roll.
We set off across Lake Lumlé, and Jilani, the boat's owner, tells me assorted geographical facts on which I hope I'm not going to be quizzed later. After spending the night on Nilgiri Island, we set off again the following morning, and Jilani is just starting to give me what could be some useful information about birds that act as guides to travellers when a shoal of Flying Fish attacks and distracts us. I drive the fish off, but one has fallen into the boat and is flapping around, helpless. The last time I played this, I attempted to add the fish to my Provisions, thereby discovering that it is not edible and will spoil the rest of my food if brought into contact with it. In view of that, I think cooking the fish here and now is unlikely to be wise, which only leaves the option of throwing the fish back into the water. I do that, and the ungrateful cod bites me. (Taxonomic error intentional for the sake of a lousy pun.)
At last we reach the north shore of the lake, and as there's no natural harbour to be seen, Jilani gets as close to land as he can before I disembark. Or possibly just pretends to for a joke, as I sink to my waist in mud as soon as I leave the boat. As Luck would have it, I experience nothing worse than embarrassment (incidentally, the directions for being Unlucky and Lucky are not in the conventional order here, though the section numbers are still right).
Jilani tries another area, where the terra proves that bit more firma, and we part company, Jilani promising to stay for five days. I set off towards the forest that stands between me and the mountains, and a scrawny lunatic rushes out from the trees, yelling fit to give me a Disturbance point, and attacks me with his teeth and nails. On my previous attempt, I spared his life after beating him down to his last couple of Stamina points, and he launched into a rant that I shouldn't have found as amusing as I did, as a result of which I gained another point of Disturbance. This time round I fight my crazed assailant to the death, and incur a Luck penalty for my lack of mercy. That's two unavoidable encounters in which every decision has a less-than-desirable outcome. If I wanted to be penalised no matter what I do, I can think of a couple of online communities that would welcome me back with open opprobrium. I don't need this sort of thing in gamebooks.
Two paths lead into the forested foothills of the mountains. I don't remember which one I took before, or what happened to me on it, so all I have to go on is the choice between a valley and the edge of a ridge. I'll go with the valley. My gamebook manager reveals that this is not what I chose to do on my previous attempt, so whatever I encounter will be new to me.
After travelling for a while, I catch sight of a Jubalani tree. Its fruit are a rare delicacy. Stopping to pick some will doubtless lead to some kind of trouble, but judging by the last couple of encounters, passing by may also have adverse consequences, so I might as well make the bad decision that could net me something of value.
My approaching the tree disturbs the Skunkbear that I failed to notice scavenging fallen fruits in the undergrowth. So not only do I attract attention with almost everything I do, but (even with Observation) I'm also spectacularly oblivious to the activities of whatever local fauna might be around until my clodhopping provokes them into hostile action. I can't help but notice that the section number for retreating is the same as the one for not approaching the tree (and that there's a 'to' missing from one of the sentences). Backing away reveals that the section isn't ideally suited to covering both 'walk past without approaching the tree' and 'attempt to move away from a hostile animal without provoking it to attack'. I've seen worse section transitions, but it's still a bit clumsy. Unless it's indicating that my character's lack of awareness is so profound that as soon as I look away from the Skunkbear, I forget that it's even there.
Moving away, I reach a junction, and the Observation Special Skill that proved so useless at detecting large furry animals chomping on windfalls enables me to spot boot-prints in the ground along one of the turnings. I might as well check to see what the wearer of the boots is up to, though I am a little concerned that this could lead to an encounter I vaguely remember provoking a bit of a rant on my previous attempt.
It's something else. I find a log cabin, showing plenty of signs of being in use. I can retrace my steps to the fork in the path and go the other way, or I can proceed to what looks like another 'every outcome is undesirable' choice: offend the occupant by barging in uninvited, or gain Disturbance by yelling a greeting. I’ll risk a shout.
No response, just another point of Disturbance. I must turn back or take a look inside. Might as well investigate. I have the option of helping myself to some of the contents, but the items listed are mostly food and weapons (well, a literalistic reading of the text would allow for the taking of a lit wood-burner, a table, a chair and a bed, but I think the intent is that only the items in the third and fourth sentences of the paragraph are up for grabs), so this could be the home of a survivalist, and that’s not the kind of person you want to annoy by stealing his stuff.
Especially when it turns out that he did hear me calling out, and is standing right behind me with an axe in his hand. Not unreasonably, he asks what I’m doing in here, and I’m offered a choice between talking and attacking him. This isn’t Firetop Mountain, so invading the man’s home and killing him would not be appropriate behaviour. Beyond checking whether or not I’ve helped myself to any of the Woodsman’s possessions, the text is a little vague on how the conversation gets started, but it appears that I avoid making any further social blunders, and the man invites me to a meal.
While we’re eating, I attempt to gain the benefits of his local knowledge, asking what he knows of hazards I might encounter while exploring the region. He mentions a variety of hostile fauna that will do nothing good for my life expectancy, and when I ask how he copes, he indicates his axe. Not massively helpful, then, but he does also warn me to avoid all contact with the Shield Maidens of Lumlé, as they will not tolerate my presence in their territory.
As I prepare to set off again, the Woodsman offers me a couple of Provisions’ worth of food, and if I’d lost my boots back when I sank into the mud, he’d provide me with replacements. There’s another proofreading error as I head back to the fork in the path; the text says ‘you’ where it should be ‘your’.
That other turning leads down to a valley, where a cloud of midges bites away a point of my Stamina. That’s not the worst that could happen here, but my Disturbance score is just low enough that the combination of my Sneak Special Skill and my high Skill score makes it impossible for me to get a bad outcome on this check.
Eventually the path forks again, and Observation assists me in spotting a couple of small birds following a line of ants along one trail. Are these the sort of bird that Jilani was telling me about? When a gamebook author provides clues, it's generally advisable to follow them, so I go the same way as the birds, which turns out to take me back into territory I covered on my first go at the adventure.
After a while, the trail leads through a clearing with another obviously occupied hut in it. I head across to the door, and see that the hut is occupied by a stereotypical Witch concocting something in a cauldron. She turns to look at me, and I greet her: no point in being needlessly aggressive. She points out that it's wise to seek shelter for the night around here, and as it's now getting late, she will allow me to stay in her hut if I'm willing to pay the price. I lack most of the items she'll accept as payment, and that Mungie figurine is too valuable to hand over, so I make my apologies and leave. The Witch cackles as I depart, but takes no hostile action.
It starts to get dark. Trudging on through the night seems like a very bad idea, so I stop and make camp between a couple of fallen logs, startling a Monitor Lizard that was hiding under one of them, but suffering no adverse consequences. Settling down for the night, I soon doze off, but a while later some snuffling sounds close by wake me. I remember this from before, and I'm not going to make the same mistake twice - unless this turns out to be another 'every choice is a bad one' situation, in which keeping quiet and still turns out to have a worse outcome than investigating.
Nothing untoward happens, and after a while I doze off again. When I wake, I am startled to find that I have company: a small furry creature is sleeping on my stomach. Based on my memories of having played Search before, plus the description of my strange bedfellow, I’m pretty sure that this is a Jib-Jib – a harmless animal, but with a voice like a megaphone-toting Brian Blessed who’s just stubbed his toe. Waking it is liable to mean an increase in Disturbance, so I will attempt to shift the snoozing furball without rousing it, and hope that my lack of the Deftness Special Skill doesn’t cause me to fumble. Alas, the Skill penalty for not having Deftness is just enough to deny me success, so I startle the Jib-Jib and it emits a roar out of proportion with its small size before running off, continuing to shriek as it goes.
It’s definitely time I was on my way again. Elvins in the trees pelt me with acorns. I’m getting a bit tired of these unavoidable minor Stamina penalties – first the fish bite, then the insects, and now this. Food and rest have made good the first two, so it’s not as if this is the sort of attrition that contributed to my failing Prey of the Hunter the first time round. Just a series of tedious niggling amendments to my Character Sheet.
Threatening the Elvins seems unwise: I’m not going to be able to do anything to them while they’re up there (and my memories of one of the more ignominious deaths in Wizards, Warriors & You would make me wary of firing up into the trees if I had a bow and arrows), and responding to their provocation is likely to just encourage them, potentially leading to further Stamina loss, increased Disturbance, or even magical pranks. I ignore them and, after a little half-hearted mockery, they leave me alone.
Continuing on my way, I hear what sounds like a fight taking place somewhere to the left. Maybe this is what leads to the troubling encounter I mentioned earlier: the aftermath of a battle is a plausible setting for being offered the opportunity to murder a wounded Shield Maiden and steal her stuff. This time round I haven’t had my Provisions spoiled by that fish, so I could potentially try and offer help, but in view of the Woodsman’s warning and the way the adventure has previously penalised both mercy and the lack thereof, it’s probably safest not to get involved at all.
I keep going, and incur another minor Stamina penalty, this one for the hardship of slogging uphill on a muddy path. That would be a seriously rubbish way to die, and I’m sure it could happen with the right combination of regrettable choices and bad luck. On the other side of the hill I catch sight of a Resplendent Quetzal, a bird with golden plumage that is highly prized by people who like wearing bits of animal. I could try and help myself to a tailfeather or two, but doing so would be cruel (unless I’m looking for shed feathers, which is not what the text implies), and is liable to add Disturbance. Besides, another minor proofreading error has already deprived Quetzal of its definite article, so I think it’s suffered enough already.
I descend to a valley with a river running through it, and if I felt the need for a wash (perhaps as a consequence of getting into a tussle with that Skunkbear), I could bathe in the water here. Tracks run both upstream and downstream, and on this occasion there’s nothing for Observation to pick up on. Still, downstream probably leads back to the lake, and I don’t want to go back there just yet, so I head upstream.
That’s what I did last time. The trail leads into some trees, and the leaf canopy overhead adds a greenish tinge to the light. A voice with a peculiar accent starts making small talk. I still suspect that this is a Champaque impersonating a human in order to lure me to my death and eat my brains (though I doubt that he has a patio under which to hide the remains), so I don’t loiter.
The voice continues to speak, and the fact that the speaker is carrying on his side of a conversation even though I’m not giving the replies to which he is responding convinces me that there’s something dodgy afoot here, so I keep moving. And maybe somebody has been snacking on my brains, because I have zero recollection of having been attacked in spite of refusing the conversational bait, and yet that’s what happens now, and is indicated by my gamebook manager to have happened before. Odd, because getting hit with unavoidable Stamina damage and a temporary Attack Strength penalty for exercising caution is the sort of authorial unfairness that gets me ranting, and it’s not like me to forget a gamebook-inspired rant. This time round I lose the fight, so I doubt that I'll so easily forget Mr McGuire's shenanigans the next time I play Search.
Nothing untoward happens, and after a while I doze off again. When I wake, I am startled to find that I have company: a small furry creature is sleeping on my stomach. Based on my memories of having played Search before, plus the description of my strange bedfellow, I’m pretty sure that this is a Jib-Jib – a harmless animal, but with a voice like a megaphone-toting Brian Blessed who’s just stubbed his toe. Waking it is liable to mean an increase in Disturbance, so I will attempt to shift the snoozing furball without rousing it, and hope that my lack of the Deftness Special Skill doesn’t cause me to fumble. Alas, the Skill penalty for not having Deftness is just enough to deny me success, so I startle the Jib-Jib and it emits a roar out of proportion with its small size before running off, continuing to shriek as it goes.
It’s definitely time I was on my way again. Elvins in the trees pelt me with acorns. I’m getting a bit tired of these unavoidable minor Stamina penalties – first the fish bite, then the insects, and now this. Food and rest have made good the first two, so it’s not as if this is the sort of attrition that contributed to my failing Prey of the Hunter the first time round. Just a series of tedious niggling amendments to my Character Sheet.
Threatening the Elvins seems unwise: I’m not going to be able to do anything to them while they’re up there (and my memories of one of the more ignominious deaths in Wizards, Warriors & You would make me wary of firing up into the trees if I had a bow and arrows), and responding to their provocation is likely to just encourage them, potentially leading to further Stamina loss, increased Disturbance, or even magical pranks. I ignore them and, after a little half-hearted mockery, they leave me alone.
Continuing on my way, I hear what sounds like a fight taking place somewhere to the left. Maybe this is what leads to the troubling encounter I mentioned earlier: the aftermath of a battle is a plausible setting for being offered the opportunity to murder a wounded Shield Maiden and steal her stuff. This time round I haven’t had my Provisions spoiled by that fish, so I could potentially try and offer help, but in view of the Woodsman’s warning and the way the adventure has previously penalised both mercy and the lack thereof, it’s probably safest not to get involved at all.
I keep going, and incur another minor Stamina penalty, this one for the hardship of slogging uphill on a muddy path. That would be a seriously rubbish way to die, and I’m sure it could happen with the right combination of regrettable choices and bad luck. On the other side of the hill I catch sight of a Resplendent Quetzal, a bird with golden plumage that is highly prized by people who like wearing bits of animal. I could try and help myself to a tailfeather or two, but doing so would be cruel (unless I’m looking for shed feathers, which is not what the text implies), and is liable to add Disturbance. Besides, another minor proofreading error has already deprived Quetzal of its definite article, so I think it’s suffered enough already.
I descend to a valley with a river running through it, and if I felt the need for a wash (perhaps as a consequence of getting into a tussle with that Skunkbear), I could bathe in the water here. Tracks run both upstream and downstream, and on this occasion there’s nothing for Observation to pick up on. Still, downstream probably leads back to the lake, and I don’t want to go back there just yet, so I head upstream.
That’s what I did last time. The trail leads into some trees, and the leaf canopy overhead adds a greenish tinge to the light. A voice with a peculiar accent starts making small talk. I still suspect that this is a Champaque impersonating a human in order to lure me to my death and eat my brains (though I doubt that he has a patio under which to hide the remains), so I don’t loiter.
The voice continues to speak, and the fact that the speaker is carrying on his side of a conversation even though I’m not giving the replies to which he is responding convinces me that there’s something dodgy afoot here, so I keep moving. And maybe somebody has been snacking on my brains, because I have zero recollection of having been attacked in spite of refusing the conversational bait, and yet that’s what happens now, and is indicated by my gamebook manager to have happened before. Odd, because getting hit with unavoidable Stamina damage and a temporary Attack Strength penalty for exercising caution is the sort of authorial unfairness that gets me ranting, and it’s not like me to forget a gamebook-inspired rant. This time round I lose the fight, so I doubt that I'll so easily forget Mr McGuire's shenanigans the next time I play Search.
No comments:
Post a Comment