I Imagine It Will Be a Most Disagreeable Death

My post-Sky Lord indifference to new Fighting Fantasy books continued when Luke Sharp's Daggers of Darkness came out, and I doubt that I'd have been any more interested if I'd been aware that it was by the author of Chasms of Malice. When I finally got around to buying the preceding book, Stealer of Souls, I got Daggers at the same time, and after my successful dice-free readthrough of Stealer, I had a go at Daggers without dice, failing for reasons I'll go into once I've explained some of the premise.

Daggers is a definite improvement on Mr. Sharp's earlier gamebooks, though I didn't really notice that first time round because the principal improvement regards the difficulty of the dice-based aspects of the adventure. While still a bit heavy on the random chances of suffering, it's nowhere near as merciless as Chasms, and while I have yet to win it by the rules, I'd say that there's a realistic chance of doing so. Another problematic aspect of his first two books that is less of an issue in this one (as I recall) is the profusion of arbitrary Instant Deaths towards the end of the adventure. There are still plenty of ways of getting killed - I'm pretty sure that since creating my Gamebook Manager I've failed Daggers more often by choosing poorly than because of bad dice (though not on the attempt I previously wrote up online) - but there's generally been a sound reason for my actions getting me killed, unlike the 'open this door and die, open that one and survive to the next blind choice' nonsense that mars the endgames of Chasms and Star Strider.

Anyway, time I was getting on with the plot. This adventure is set in the kingdom of Kazan, which has a kind of meritocratic monarchy. Parents nominate talented children as candidates, and those who pass the preliminary tests (thereby earning the title of 'Select') get financial support for several years, after which they are exiled from Kazan and must do their best to survive in the outside world. When the reigning monarch dies, the Select are recalled to Kazan, and must attempt to prove their worthiness by passing trials to gain enchanted Medallions. The one who reaches the Throne first becomes the new ruler.

Well, that's how it works in theory, but on this occasion the Vizier Chingiz wants to seize power, and has suppressed the news of the old King's death and sent assassins to kill off the Select. My character is one of the Select, and the book starts at the point where the Wizard Astragal semi-foils an attempt on my life. I say 'semi', because while I survive the attack, I am wounded with a Death Spell Dagger, which introduces an unusual poison into my system. The toxin has few noticeable effects while spreading through my body, but once it's permeated every cell, I'll die, and the only way to be cured is to hand the Dagger back to its maker. The progression of the spell is tracked with Poison units: every so often (usually after significant exertion) I'll be instructed to mark off more Poison, and once I've marked off 24 units, it's game over.

That's how I failed first time round: while I didn't bother resolving combats, and assumed automatic success on any roll, I did keep track of accumulated Poison, and eventually hit my limit. At which point I cheated and pretended I'd never got into that fight with the Creature from the Black Lagoon, which would mean I didn't get the Poison increase that came with the fight, and was thus still alive and able to read on. It's funny which minor misdeeds your conscience will not let go of...

The harshness of the ordeal faced by the Select while the ruler lives neatly explains away one common gamebook absurdity: the character who's supposed to be one of the best, yet has pathetic stats thanks to bad luck with the dice. Sure, I was something special years ago, but life in exile isn't pleasant. Maybe it toughened me up, forced me to excel to survive, and helped me realise the potential that got me through those tests, and maybe it took its toll, leaving me a shadow of my former self. Let's see how this character has come out of the intervening years:
Skill 10
Stamina 19
Luck 10
Not bad. Only just above average, but respectable scores, and while those stats would doom me in a lot of books, I think they could get me through this one.

I start to make my way across the mountainous border between Gorak and Kazan, and the poison begins to spread. Eventually reaching the frontier, I find another of the Select lying on the obelisk that marks the border, a dagger in his chest (though the accompanying illustration makes it look a lot more like a sword in the stomach. Taking a closer look at the body, I am startled to find that he's not quite dead. He tells me which way his attackers went, then expires, at which point he instantaneously becomes a skeleton and his possessions evaporate.

I take the path his killers didn't follow. It forks again, and I keep going the same way. For some time I trudge through the snow, and then I hear the sound of approaching horses. I don't hide, partly because this encounter could be worth having, and partly because my footprints would give me away if I did attempt to conceal myself. Upon sighting me, the riders loose a Gryphawk, but it veers away from me when I draw my sword. One the riders draw level with me, they demand to know why I'm not bowing to them, and threaten me with death if I don't grovel appropriately. I answer that the Select don't abase themselves like that, and one of their number casts bones to the ground, reading in them confirmation that I am what I claim to be.

That changes everything, as their tribe, the Yigenik, has custody of one of the Medallions, so I must now prove myself worthy of it. I am offered a choice of horses on which to travel to my Test, and pick the one reminiscent of the name of the pub where I celebrated my not-yet-40th Birthday a few years back. It's a good choice, and the ride does me a little good. We don't reach the testing ground before nightfall, though, so we make camp, and during the night, Orcs attack.

Do I fight or not? Doing so will mean an increase in Poison, and while the Medallions are useful, they're not essential, besides which the Test could prove fatal. And there's some risk of my being separated from my companions even if I don't run. On the other hand, fleeing is no guarantee of evading danger, and I might run into something worse than Orcs. If I survive, the Yigenik are going to be some of my subjects, so I have a kind of duty to them. Fight.

Arrows are fired, but none hit me. I kill two Orcs, but become separated from the Yigenik in the darkness. There are two sources of noise in the vicinity, and the one for which I head turns out to be my fellow travellers, looting the dead Orcs. Once it's light enough we ride on, and an old woman asks me if I think I'm strong enough for the Test. Might as well give it a go.

Phase 1 of the Test involves running on hot coals and trying to dodge as the warriors on either side of the track attempt to hit me. I dodge well, only taking one wound, and am taken to the Maze with the Medallion in. Just as the Fangtigers are being released into the maze, a large Grypvulture flies out of it. The bird is carrying an Orc, and the Orc has the Medallion. Forgetting the Test, the Yigenik fire arrows, wounding the Orc and causing him to fall to earth. He survives and runs off, and I give chase.

The Orc enters a house, and as approaching with caution meant letting him escape on a previous attempt, I just charge at the thief. Three Goblins block my path, and while I kill them with little difficulty, they've bought the Orc time to go through one of two doors. Sticking with the direction that's served me well so far, I see the Orc disappearing into a tower. There's a bridge leading to it, and if I can evade the Goblin clinging onto the bridge and the arrows fired by Chingiz' men on the ground, I might be able to catch up with the Orc before he gets back to the Grypvulture.

I don't catch him. Well, no point crying over stolen Medallions. I've had enough of mountains for now, so I travel on along a forested valley. Cutting my way through the vegetation is tiring, but not such hard work that it accelerates the spread of the poison. The book has me eat Provisions just as I was thinking of doing so myself - could be tricky if I'd been weaker and unluckier and had to consume the lot just to last this far. Then an arrow hits me in the shoulder, and I am surrounded by black-haired women who tie me up and take me to a settlement. They tell me that as punishment for trespassing, I must Run the Arrow or take the Test of the Three Cuts, with death the consequence of failure. I risk the former, and it's much the same as a similarly-named trial in Deathtrap Dungeon: an arrow is fired, I start running, and as soon as I pass wherever the arrow hit, my pursuers can chase after me. If I outpace them, I live. If they catch me, I lose my head.

I run like a Medallion-pilfering Orc, and retain the ability to wear a hat. My flight takes me to a clearing with a Troll in, and I approach him, hoping to brazen things out. It works: he mistakes me for one of the Vizier's men, and admits to being lost because he can't read the map. It's a good map, too, and helps me find my way to the road, where a couple of the Troll's more astute fellow troops recognise me as an enemy, so I have to run for it again. This time my favoured direction lets me down, and I run into another two Trolls. That arrow in the shoulder reduced my Skill, as a result of which I'm not able to defeat the second of them.

Not a very satisfying ending, but the dice could just as easily have gone my way rather than the Troll's. And as there's no 'one true path' through the book, I can have a completely different set of encounters the next time I attempt it, and still be in with a relatively fair chance of triumph.

A Colourful Imagination and a Glib Tongue

One way or another (I'll say more about that in the final paragraph), I'm moving on to the second sub-series of the Lone Wolf gamebooks. As I'm trying to play the adventures in order of internal chronology, and the Mongoose Books mini-adventure accompanying book 6 sets up some of what happens in the main adventure, that means it's time for me to have a go at Joseph C. Williams' The Key to the Future.

In this adventure I play Gwynian the Sage, previously seen being cryptic and dispensing poetry in book 4. Astrology actually works in Magnamund, so unexpected developments in the constellation of the wolf have alerted me to the fact that Lone Wolf is embarking on a quest to find the mystical McGuffins that will enable him to start up a new Kai order and spin the series out to book 12. I must now present my findings to the Solain, a council of other prominent sages in the city of Varetta, and I'm guessing that there's more to come than just an official meeting, since the specific-to-this-adventure rules for character creation don't include such skills as Proper Procedure, Exploit Loophole and Call Quorum.

My character actually looks a good deal more like this -
Combat Skill: 15 (better than some iterations of Lone Wolf)
Endurance: 17
Sage Abilities: Divination, Solar Eclipse, Sight, Detection, Counter
The first of those should be self-explanatory, the second is rather vaguely worded but could possibly have Mindshield-esque aspects (unless it just make places darker), the third is remote viewing with a range of 129 feet (interesting number to choose), the fourth is what you'd expect, and the last one can negate hostile magic.

I'm kept waiting for almost an hour. It's an overcast day, which I find foreboding. The caption beneath the accompanying illustration indicates that the chamber-master adjusts his spectacles, but the man in the picture isn't wearing glasses. When I'm finally let in to announce what I've learned, Solain leader Austerion gets nitpicky, and after a while (and an unnecessary section break) he dismisses me while my request to assist Lone Wolf is debated. I could use Sight to spy on the discussion, but that would be rude, and liable to prejudice my case if they have some way of detecting it.

Not that it would have made much difference, as they vote 5-4 in favour of not getting involved, on the grounds that Lone Wolf is too inexperienced to be trusted with the Lorestone he seeks, besides which he's so competent and efficient that it wouldn't be safe to let him have it. While tempted to punch Austerion in the faces, I just leave, resolving to help Lone Wolf even without official approval.

That night I am visited by my friend Cyrilus, who advises me to take a look at the star associated with war and rebellion. It's brighter than it should be. I didn't pick the Ability of Portents, but based on its description and what I remember of the main adventure, I suspect that having it would enable me to perceive a reddish, shirt-like aura around Cyrilus' torso.

The two of us are members of a secret society of proactive pacifists, and we make arrangements for a meeting of the group, even if it does mean defying Austerion. At this meeting, Cyrilus delivers a hefty info-dump about why we should be helping Lone Wolf, and there's another superfluous section division. This adventure's 187 sections long - what is the point of creating excess sections if you're not even trying to make a round number?

Based on the plot of the main adventure dictates of the stars, I must not meet Lone Wolf again until I can give him the key he needs, but I make arrangements for one of our number to meet him and help him evade detection by Austerion, as I've somehow got it into my head that by 'abstaining from all involvement' the Solain leader meant 'actively opposing Lone Wolf in his quest'. Finding myself revealing more of my plans than intended, I start to suspect that someone is using Metaphysics on me, and use Solar Eclipse to find out what it actually does. It should enable me to metaphysically eclipse the star governing deceivers and trickery, and thereby see through any false pretenses present, but instead it just causes me pain because someone more powerful is using Solar Flare on the star. There is a traitor in our midst.

Nevertheless, I must go on with my plan, and I need two people to accompany me. Cyrilus volunteers, and I must choose the other. Despite there being ten people present, there are only three candidates, two of whom haven't been mentioned before. So what are the odds that the one who's already been named is the traitor? He's also the one with the most potentially useful skillset - an alchemist rather than a naturalist or a political scientist - which further increases my suspicions. But even if I'm right and the author is that unsubtle, that doesn't make the decision of whom to pick that much simpler: am I better off bringing him along, so I can keep an eye on him, or should I take someone loyal and wait for the traitor to come after me? The problem is, I cannot be sure that my character shares my suspicions, so the book might not allow me to carry out whatever plans I may make. Well, they do say 'Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer,' so I'll have Ferrel tag along, and if that results in my dying on account of his sudden yet inevitable betrayal, that'll just be another instance of shoddy mini-adventure design on the part of Mongoose.

Ferrel isn't expecting to be selected, and gets all modest and embarrassed. Or at least pretends to be. Once the meeting has been adjourned, I spend a while watching the night sky and reflecting that the Ability of Portents probably does a lot more than its description in the rules makes out, since there's little point in the book calling for a check on the ability to foretell the future of the person with you when you're on your own.

Next day I head for the East Gate and meet Cyrilus, who tells me that there's a shop nearby where I can buy stuff, as I'm apparently way too other-worldly to have realised that without prompting. Given that there's no mention of my other travelling companion, and the 'don't buy stuff' option implies leaving without him, I'd better see if the shop has more to offer than just the inevitable Meals and Laumspur potions. No potions, as it turns out, but items of potential use include a whistle, a waterproof canvas and an empty flask. And the shop name is a pun: as this place deals in high-quality merchandise, the sign indicates that it doesn't sell goods - it sells betters.

When I get back to the gate, Ferrel is there (and would be even if I'd picked someone else - now I half wish I'd gone for the political scientist, just so I could find out what pretext is used to have me take the companion Mr. Williams wants me to take rather than the one I chose). We set off, and along the way we pass through a village with a shrine in the middle. The shrine is closed, and randomness determines that I have no idea why. I could ask someone (and, very carelessly, the section for doing so is directly below the one that offers that option), and as there's little point in trying to avoid attracting attention when I have a spy for the bad guy riding alongside me, I do so.

It turns out that today is a holy day for the shrine-keepers, so they're performing a cleansing ritual. This denies me the opportunity of buying some of the Combat Skill-enhancing Alether berries that they usually sell, and Cyrilus disapproves of my plan to trespass in the garden, take some berries anyway, and leave a few coins in return (a plan the book has me come up with regardless of whether or not I have any money left - and it's definitely possible to spend everything in the Betters shop, even if you start with the maximum possible gold). Not wishing to give Ferrel an opportunity to pin a crime (however trivial) on me and thus get me discredited, I also disapprove of my plan.

We ride on until Ferrel forces a Meal check. While we're eating, Cyrilus talks of a recurring dream involving a shield, a wolf, a bridge and casks of alcohol. Portents gets checked again (as does Solar Flare), and the text can't make up its mind whether this is an optional Ability-use incident or a compulsory one - the choice is between 'if you have and want to use the Ability' and 'if you do not have either ability'. I have neither, so the lack of an 'or you do not want to use them' makes no difference to me, but this kind of carelessness is a bad thing even when I'm not personally affected by it.

Since I lack both relevant Abilities, Ferrel uses the dream interpretation skills that are so closely associated with alchemy to deduce that Lone Wolf will be staying at the Barrel Bridge Tavern in the town for which we are heading. Eat your heart out, Sigmund Freud. Cyrilus decides to stay there so he can help Lone Wolf make a new enemy meet Lone Wolf.

Towards the end of the day, we stop at the Halfway Inn, and the text again assumes that I still have money on me, so I've just double-checked the section set in the shop, and there is no instruction there to save some coins for later on. Just failure on the part of the author and editors to consider possible outcomes of the choices provided.

Ferrel and Cyrilus sit at a table, and I join them. A serving girl tells us the price of a room and food, and lets slip that the cooking's not that great. At last we get an acknowledgment that I might be out of funds (I'm not, but only because of a last-minute decision to get the flask instead of a tent). I decide not to bother paying for a helping of rabbit stew without so much rabbit in it, but cough up for the room.

The book has me decide not to loiter downstairs, because local gossip is liable to be inaccurate. It's cloudy, so I'm spared another implicit jibe for not having chosen Portents. In my sparsely-furnished room I must eat a Meal, Magnamund evidently not being like the gamebook worlds where you can get by on one meal a day, and try to forecast the weather. Still cloudy, and now drizzling, so I turn in. Judging by the question I'm asked here, it's a good thing I didn't try to get those berries, as doing so might (or would) have led to my being attacked by the villagers.

The next day we set off again. It's foggy, but Cyrilus doesn't mind, as he should get to meet his brother later today. We see a cemetery that will feature more prominently in the main adventure, and Ferrel goes in there to find something he can use in his alchemy. I am suddenly overwhelmed by nausea and dizziness, and Divination finally gets called on. Though only to make it slightly more obvious that this is where Lone Wolf will shortly be encountering some bother. It is the impendingness of that incident that is making me feel bad, so I want to move on, but Ferrel is still looking for grave fulgurite. I could use Detection to help him, but doing so may well put a weapon in my enemy's hands. Either that, or not using it will mean I'm forced to wait here until he finds what he's after, losing Endurance from the bad vibes, and he'll still get what he needs to increase his chances of knifing me in the back.

I insist on moving on, and he insists on staying to complete his search, but agrees to catch us up once he's found what he's after. And that's what happens. No damage taken, but I have a strong suspicion that his acquisition will make things unpleasant for me at a later stage.

We reach the Denka gate, where Cyrilus' brother works. While we don't see the brother, the family connection does enable Cyrilus to get our toll fees waived. He proves that he's related to him by mentioning his birthmark in so much detail that it's almost certain to be asked about at some later stage in the adventure. Said birthmark is apparently triangular, which makes me wonder if the brother's leg can be unlocked with the appropriate item.

We have to eat again, and as I'm out of food and can't afford the prices here, I shall be very cross if that expensive waterproof canvas never proves of any use. The text offers me a choice between asking the food-server about local news (what happened to not trusting gossip?) or just eating and leaving. As I can't eat, I suppose I'll have to chat. And doing so just nets me another continuity reference to the main adventure, and has me finishing my meal.

Deep breaths. Calm down. It's still not as bad as the Lemmings book.

Making a mental note to come back again some time and enjoy the cooking once more (if this was playtested, they did a poor job of it), I set off again, riding past the continuity reference. We reach our destination, and Ferrel pays the toll for each of us. Good to avoid another cash-based internal continuity snarl-up, but given that Joe Dever once had an undercover villain pay what Lone Wolf couldn't, I can't help but wonder if Mr. Williams is being 'clever' here.

We reach the Barrel Bridge Tavern, and Divination kicks in again. Regrettably, the Ability only seems to be there so the author can go, 'Did you see what I did there? This is where something BIG happened in the Lone Wolf adventure. Dig my continuity references, man!' While Cyrilus stays behind to await the encounter that will lead to his death, I set off in search of former Solain leader Simyn, who knows the location of the key I'm after. Ferrel is surprised that I'm getting on with my mission so quickly, and asks to accompany me. Perhaps worried that he may have been too subtle with his hints about Ferrel's duplicity, the author all but comes out and says, 'There's something very dodgy about this,' but still offers me the choice of letting the traitor tag along. Not this time.

When I refuse to let him accompany me, he confesses to having accepted a bribe from Austerion to spy on me, but says he's really on our side and spent all the money to help us get this far (a pretty stingy bribe if that's the case). He claims to be a big fan of Simyn, and just wants to meet him, but if I insist on going alone, he'll go back home like a good boy. If I had Solar Flare, I might get some hint of how sincere he is, but I don't, so I just reflect on how shocked, shocked I am to find that he's not entirely reliable, and get a second chance to let him come with me. The answer is still no.

Ferrel leaves in a bit of a huff, and I wait for a while before setting off, in theory to ensure that he won't follow me, but as there's nothing to prevent him from just hiding nearby and waiting as long as it takes, I see it as more of an authorial contrivance to ensure that he has time to perpetrate whatever new treachery he has in mind. Once I'm on my way, I start to worry about Cyrilus, left on his own, and then I get worried about myself, also alone, and then I see some shops still open and think about shopping instead. Between my lack of funds and the fact that I've already given Ferrel a head start, I don't stop to browse, but press on.

Along the way I encounter a mounted patrol, who ask what I'm up to, so I ask for directions to Simyn's, which should make me suspect number one with the local authorities if Ferrel's branched into assassination. And the fact that Simyn's front door is ajar lends weight to that suspicion. For propriety's sake, I choose to knock (the text is missing a 'the' in the option, causing a momentary lapse into the kind of vernacular used in early text-based computer games), and to my surprise, Simyn opens the door just as I'm raising my hand. He welcomes me in and offers me tea.

Dreams have indicated to him that I would be coming to ask about the key, and he tells me that it's 'in the lower right hand drawer of the High Sage's personal quarters' (so are the drawers built in to the room, or is the name of an item of furniture missing from that sentence?), and I'll need a key to get the key. He then warns me of the forces opposing Lone Wolf, which take on the form of a wolverine in his dreams (feral, perchance?), mentions a comet that will herald Lone Wolf's arrival, and suddenly senses the presence of a third person the dream didn't mention. Indeed, he seems under the impression that only Cyrilus and I came here. I say we were accompanied, but don't name the third man because that information might provide just enough warning to save his life, and obviously we can't be having that. Oh, and there's another proofreader's error here: 'did you tell Ferrel you did not want to meet Simyn with you?' Or maybe I'm not so keen on bringing myself along when I meet people.

When I finally name the unforeseen companion, Simyn makes the Ferrel/feral connection, casts a spell to keep us from being scried upon (a little late when he's already given away the location of the key) and warns me that I'm in danger. Too late: Ferrel enters, one hand hidden inside his cloak, and boasts about how he scry-proofed himself. I move to protect Simyn, and he warns me that Ferrel is hiding something in his cloak (really? And there I was thinking the hand shoved in there was just evidence of a Napoleon Complex), and I must stop him from using it. I get asked if I have the Ability of Detect, and as there's nothing of that name on the list, I'm going to assume that Mr. Williams means Detection, and couldn't be bothered to check what name he'd actually given the Ability when writing this paragraph.

Anyway, I try and use Detection, Ferrel tries to Counter it, a random number determines who succeeds, and with one outcome four times as likely as the other, I may be about to get very angry. I get the more likely result, which is the favourable one. Okay, no need for a rant there. Or only a minor one - if the other outcome is lethal, that's still twice as likely as the much-hated 1 in 10 chances of Instant Death in several of the Lone Wolf adventures. So I discover that Ferrel is holding a flask, and am able to dodge when he hurls it at me. Lightning erupts from it when it shatters (I bet that's what he wanted the fulgurite for) and, worried that he might have more such weapons on him, I shove Simyn out of the door and follow him.

Ferrel gives chase, wounding me with a Vassagonian scimitar, and he has a depressingly high Combat Skill and Endurance. The ensuing fight will only last two rounds before something intervenes, but I need to survive that long if I'm to find out whether that's a good interruption or a bad one. I do last long enough, and Simyn fireballs Ferrel. Nice. Would be nicer if the text didn't make assumptions: 'Ferrel's last attack has driven you to the ground.' Regardless of my Combat Skill, there's always a 1 in 10 chance of my taking no damage in a round of combat. Given the right combination of Abilities and numbers, it could be as much as 3 in 10. But apparently Ferrel would have knocked me down even if he hadn't managed to hit me.

Singed, in pain, and glaring murderously, Ferrel throws something else. I only take a grazing blow from the missile, which is still enough to render me unconscious thanks to the poisonous weed Ferrel took from the graveyard. Just before blacking out, I see him punch Simyn. When I come round, it's a day later, and Simyn has almost bled to death. But he managed to fireball Ferrel again, wounding him badly enough that he was unable to kill two incapacitated foes, yet still healthy enough to set off back to Varetta.

Since there was a Laumspur potion in my starting equipment, and that could conceivably bring me back to reasonable health, the author has me use it to stabilise Simyn. I might have chosen to do so anyway, but I'm not happy about being forced to keep myself, if not quite at death's door, at least within sight of death's doormat.

My horse is gone, of course, of course, and the first two locals I ask for help cry out for assistance, as a result of which I almost get arrested by a patrolman. When I tell him that an assassin tried to kill me and Simyn, and that the latter is in urgent need of help, he dashes off to investigate, ordering me to stay put. Naturally I don't, and at the nearest inn I am presented with a choice that's no choice. Not having enough money to buy a horse, I can either steal one or... Well, the text doesn't make it clear what the alternative is (and the way the book's laid out makes it easy to miss that there even is one, sticking the final option over the page), but I strongly suspect that it involves standing around like an idiot until that patrolman catches me, and missing my opportunity to help Lone Wolf while assisting the local militia with their enquiries.

So I have to steal a horse. That bit's easy, and I decide to ride without rest until I reach Varetta. Once I'm on my way, it occurs to me that I'd have to pay the toll to leave by the gate through which I entered. Lacking the money, and (surprisingly) not having the option of remembering the Gatekeeper's birthmark and trying a bluff, I have to take an alternate route that passes by another name-drop for the main adventure.

Having decided which way I will go to avoid the gate toll, I am now told that I need to try and find a route that will take me to Varetta without passing through the gate. The quality control on these mini-adventures is abysmal. Eventually I sight the main road and head for it - and suddenly I'm unsuccessfully trying to get into an inn. What about 'ride without rest'? Resuming my journey, I have to eat the food I don't have on me, and I'm sorely tempted to take advantage of the fact that the text neglects to mention the standard 3 Endurance penalty for missing a Meal. Hang on, it's not been forgotten, it's just in the next section for no rational reason.

I ride on to Varetta, where I am stopped by a guard. He's an old friend named Norlinar, and hasn't seen Ferrel (but there's more than one gate, so that doesn't mean the wretch isn't back). The guard has seen something of note, though: a warrant for my arrest. He can't get away with letting me through, but he does offer to arrange things so I have a chance of escaping.

There's even been a reward offered for my capture, so the other guards are a bit peeved not to have caught me. Still, I doubt that Norlinar will be getting the money, either, as he makes good on his word, and even compels me to punch him hard in the face to add verisimilitude to the tale of my escape. I ask him to get word to Algrun, my only friend on the Solain, and then make myself scarce.

Taking shelter in the observatory, I discover that the portent of which Simyn spoke is a comet. Well, that was so obvious from the way he described it that I never noticed his failure to use the word, and just called it what it had to be. But upon rereading, I can see that his words could also indicate a meteor, so this realisation isn't quite as absurd as I initially took it to be.

Guards burst in and drag me before the Solain. Austerion demands to know why I disobeyed his orders, and knows that I visited Simyn. So do I lie and say I didn't, obfuscate and make out that it was just a social call, or tell the truth? No doubt he's already heard from Ferrel, so I'll tell the truth: being caught in a deception will only weaken my case. He has me placed under house arrest, and indicates that steps have been taken to deal with Cyrilus. Considering what actually happens to Cyrilus in the main adventure, if his fate is in any way a consequence of Austerion's actions, that would mean that, rather than just being ignorant and pig-headed, the Solain leader is actually evil. I'm not sure which is more tiresome, actually. While being dragged away, I pointlessly continue to explain my actions, and a satisfyingly crispy-looking Ferrel gloats about my impending doom.

The source of this image has an amusingly appropriate title.

In my quarters, all my equipment confiscated, I fret about Cyrilus' fate, think vengeful thoughts about Ferrel, and then decide to do something productive. Solar Eclipse enables me to knock out the guard on my door, and I risk stopping to search him. Either he's unarmed or I'm too stupid to take his weapon, despite having been deprived of my own, because I only take his keys.

Proceeding to Austerion's tower, I find the door locked. Section numbers indicate that if I hadn't searched the guard, I'd be able to go back to him and fetch the keys without facing any complications, so there was little point in making that search optional. Heck, a randomised chance of being spotted when going back for them could have brought the section number count up to a nice round 190, and a penalty for not taking the opportunity when it first presented itself would not have been unreasonable.

Ascending the tower, I use Sight to establish that Austerion is asleep, and then enter his room. After sniggering to see that he uses a nightlight, I turn my attention to the desk, which is where Simyn would have told me the key was kept if this had been remotely competently proofread. Detection is again referred to as 'Detect' (there's a joke about atoms to be had in there), and I use it to find the key to the drawer with the crypt key in. It's under Austerion's pillow, and it looks as if I have a 1 in 10 chance of waking him when I take it. I get a better number, and take the key. Then I notice my confiscated equipment and reclaim that before leaving again.

Ferrel is waiting for me outside, having foretold my escape, and wanting to kill me in person. He spells out that Cyrilus' inevitable doom is a consequence of his counsel to Austerion, gloats about having destroyed every clue that could lead Lone Wolf to the location of the Lorestone he needs, and announces his intention to confront and thwart Lone Wolf. The comet lights up the sky, and while the locals are kicking up a fuss about it, I attack Ferrel. While weakened by his burns, he's still a formidable opponent, and the odds of my winning this fight are low. I don't quite survive. Though I might have if I'd bought more food rather than wasting money on could-be-useful items that turned out to be red herrings.

Well, that was down to Mongoose's usual standard. At least I'll have a good idea of what to avoid, should I ever bring myself to attempt it again.

Getting back to what I was saying at the start of this post: having failed book 5 during the climactic confrontation, I have no Lone Wolf to carry across into book 6. Given that it's the first of the Magnakai sequence, there's a partial reboot of the character anyway, so a freshly-generated one won't be missing out on Disciplines in the same way as someone starting any of books 2-5 from scratch. But it would mean not having any of the useful items that can be acquired in the first run of books, which include a number of enhancements to Combat Skill. So I'm undecided on whether to just start afresh, or try and get a Lone Wolf through books 1-5 intact. If I go for the latter, I won't be blogging about the early books again, as I already have more than one entry on each of them, but I would give a summary of anything noteworthy that happened during the replay. Anyone reading this who has a preference, please comment to let me know. I'm not saying that I'll definitely go with the majority vote on the issue, but I will at least take my readers' preferences into account when I make my decision.

Take a Look in the Mirror and Cry

David Tant's gamebook series The Legends of Skyfall initially made more of an impression on some of my friends than it did on me. I remember Simon, who later helped me get over my concerns about J.H. Brennan's Horror Classics books, waxing enthusiastic about one of them as we headed to school together one morning. Still, the book in question was not the first in the series, so I'll say more about that another day.

Nevertheless, he liked that book enough that he subsequently tracked down a copy of the series opener, Monsters of the Marsh, and I remember taking a quick look through his copy while visiting his home, when he was otherwise occupied. This peek showed me an unconventional means of contracting lycanthropy, which stuck in the memory but did not motivate me to get or even borrow the book.

Around four years later, when a German schoolgirl was visiting the family in connection with an exchange trip my sister had gone on, the family took our guest to Sevenoaks for the day, and at the market I came across a stall selling cheap gamebooks, of which the only ones I lacked and had any interest in were three of the Skyfall books, so I got them, and looked through them (not necessarily in the right order) on the train journey back home. Monsters was one of the three, and my first attempt at that ended quickly for reasons I'll explain later.

More recently I ran the book for a group at rpg.net (majority vote determining which decision was taken at any given point). You can see how that went here, if you're interested. For this attempt I shan't refer to the map I made in the course of running the adventure, though I will make use of my memories of the book where appropriate.

The Skyfall books are an odd bunch in many ways. They're set in the distant future, on a world colonised by humans, which has reverted to medievalism and replaced science with magic, but in most of the books the background is largely overlooked, so the adventures take place in a largely generic fantasy world. While each book after the first clearly follows on from the preceding one, and the viewpoint character is obviously intended to be the same person throughout the series, no items or attribute bonuses (or penalties) can be carried over from one book to the next. The rules break away from gamebook norms by using the toss of coins rather than the roll of dice as a randomising element, yet the attributes for the player character read as if Mr. Tant took the standard Fighting Fantasy set-up and then used a thesaurus to find equivalents that weren't quite so obviously cribbed from FF. The books proudly proclaim that they have been 'structured carefully to reward the thinking player and to penalise the careless', and while they generally do a decent job of providing clues (sometimes pretty obscure ones) to indicate when certain courses of action are less than advisable, most if not all of them contain at least one situation where you can end up doomed without any warning that you're doing something catastrophically wrong.

My character is an adventurer, and at the start of the book I return home from unspecified exploits in the south. The docks are uncharacteristically quiet, and nobody wants to talk about it, but when I corner a friend, I learn that barges with valuable cargoes have been inexplicably vanishing from the Doone river. Only when I reach my father's house do I discover that he was on one of the barges that have gone missing, at which point I realise that I'm going to have to do some investigating.

While I have a more detailed background than many gamebook heroes, from a mechanical perspective my character is a lot more generic than usual. Only one of the stats is actually randomly determined (which eliminates the problem of balancing combats so as to be challenging to tough characters and yet still winnable by weaker ones). On this occasion I'll still list the set to illustrate what I was saying about their 'FF with a respray'-ness.
Expertise 12
Vitality 20
Fortune 11
The first two will start out the same in every subsequent Skyfall adventure, while Fortune could be any odd number from 7 to 13, depending on how the coins fall.

In the morning I decide to consult the Guild of Bargemasters. They warn me that a well-equipped expedition set off to investigate the disappearances a fortnight ago, and nothing's been heard of them since. Still, as the family connection means that I'm not going to be deterred, they offer a couple of suggestions. I can get a letter of authority and either travel on or shadow the next barge of valuable ores, or I can explore on my own initiative, in which case the Guild will provide and equip a canoe.

You know how, in films and TV shows, there'll often be a scene (or more than one) showing some expendable character fall victim to the villain's traps or minions, just to establish the threat, and later on the hero goes into the same situation and, whether by virtue of superior capabilities, better preparation, or authorial contrivance, triumphs where their predecessor failed? That's not how it works here. Travel on that next barge (as I did first time round), and I'll fare just as poorly as the guards, mercenaries and magicians who were trying to protect previous barges.

Thus, I choose to set off on my own, but with additional resources provided by the Guild. While the rules governing the need for food and rest aren't implemented as well as they should be, they're an important aspect of the adventure, and being able to set off with more than a week's supplies, rather than the two days' worth I'd have using just my own resources, could simplify matters a lot.

It's getting late by the time everything is ready, so I resolve to spend the night at home and set off in the morning. During the evening I have a visitor, who keeps her hood up, speaks with an unusually sibilant accent, and claims to be a Druidess sent by the Guild to help me. I tell her I work alone, and shut the door on her, and she's not a competent enough assassin to have any response to that.

In the morning I set off, and within an hour I've reached the confluence of the Rivers Sol and Doone. Another mile or so either way will take me into the Dunmarsh, through which the vanished barges were travelling when they disappeared. Since they were all on the Doone, I head up there. Seven tributaries flow into it along the stretch where the trouble has been occurring. It'd take me two days to reach Howard's Crossing, which is the next town up the river, but I shan't be going that far. For now I'll check the tributaries in sequence until I find anything of interest.

It takes me 7½ hours to reach a fork in the first tributary, at which I can go north-east or north-west. The Doone flows north-east, so I go that way. Another two hours' rowing takes me to a lake, which takes an hour to cross and has two other streams flowing into or out of it. I investigate the one that goes north, and things get complicated. Not in a good way: after three hours I find further progress in this direction is not possible, so I'll have to turn back. But it's not that simple.

According to the rules, I may travel for a maximum of 14 hours in one day, and a quick calculation will reveal that I've already had 11½ of them. It takes 3 hours to discover that this stream terminates in an innavigable peat bog, which would take me over my limit, so I just have to stop part of the way along the stream. It must be assumed that I manage to find a spot of ground solid enough to make camp, because the book never goes into the consequences of being unable to settle down as required. The book also states that I need to eat once a day (and neglects to specify what will happen if I don't), and can only do so when specifically told I may. For simplicity's sake, I'll take it that I can eat when I make camp. Later books handle the need for food and rest a lot better. Still, it's decidedly frustrating to be trying to abide by the rules and find that they don't take into account the practicalities of actually playing the book.

So the first 3½ hours of the next day are spent discovering that this is a dead end and returning to the lake. From there I can head south, or return to the tributary I initially explored and check out its other branch. South may just take me back to the Doone, but it might connect with other streams, so I'll risk checking that out. It turns east and eventually forks north and south. Section number recognition indicates that the south branch goes back to the river, so I go north. That stream meanders, and the day is over before I reach the lake to which it leads. The lengthy stretches of nothing happening may be realistic, but they don't make for the most entertaining gameplay. There are encounters to be had elsewhere in the marsh, I promise.

On day 3 I reach the lake from which this channel issues. While exploring it, I see a group of Centaurs on the north eastern shore (described as 'one of the rare areas of firm ground in the Dunmarsh, which further complicates the 'find a place to spend the night' business, but it's not my fault the author overlooked things). The Centaurs tell me that a friend of theirs is in trouble, and they need fire in order to rescue him. Lacking any means of creating one, they require the assistance of a human. Glad of the opportunity to do something less dull than paddling up and down stream, I agree to help.

The endangered Centaur is caught in a mass of web in a cave inhabited by Giant Spiders, and fire is needed both for illumination and to heat the blades of the Centaurs' knives to make them pass through the webs more effectively. The Centaurs offer information in return for my accompanying them to the cave and creating the required fire. Seems like a good deal, so I ride to the cave and light the fire. Freeing the Centaur is a lengthy process, as the knives don't retain the heat for long, and soon become gummed up with web, but that burns off very quickly when the knives are brought back to the fire. I could try to speed things up by setting light to the web, but the trapped Centaur would get burned if I did that, and his friends would be less than appreciative of my 'initiative', so I just sit and wait for them to go about it slowly and meticulously.

Towards dusk the Giant Spiders attack, distracting the Centaurs. Trying to sneak away would mean missing out on the reward for helping (and other, unpleasant, consequences), so I draw my sword. A Spider swings at me on a strand of web, and the hot air above the fire interferes with its flight path, leading to a bad landing and immolation. Another scuttles across the floor towards me, and I have to fight it. It's an easy victory, and the Centaurs deal with their attackers equally well. By midnight their friend is free. After a night in the cave (at least this time there's no need to worry about finding solid ground), the Centaurs tell me of having seen barges being towed by Giant Turtles, ridden by Frogmen.

No, the 'amphibious humanoid' sort.

They always left the lake by the stream that flows north-west. That's my first solid lead all adventure. The Centaurs also reward me with a bag of leaves and an amulet. The leaves can be boiled to make an infusion that, when drunk, will reduce the Vitality loss for not eating to 1 per day (that'd be more impressive if I knew what failure to eat normally meant in terms of Vitality cost), and the amulet indicates me to be a friend of Centaurs and worthy of respect from other members of their tribe.

It takes around an hour for the Centaurs to return me to the lake, and I go the way they saw the barges being taken. There's an error in the book here: the obstacle I'm about to confront can be reached from two directions, and the 'approach from the south-east' section describes the encounter as if I'm coming from the north-west and vice versa. Having had to straighten the text out for the rpg.net thread, I can get through the mess without difficulty, but anyone reaching this part of the marsh for the first time could easily get confused.

Anyway, after two hours I see a large whirlpool up ahead. The marshy verges here look far too boggy for carrying the canoe around the whirlpool on foot, so I must either row into the maelstrom or turn back. Fearlessly, I advance, and drift across the illusion, experiencing only mild nausea. Another three hours take me to the next junction, but the one after that is only another hour away. And then I waste five hours heading up to and back from another dead end. Still, from that last junction it only takes an hour to get to another lake. The rest of the day is spent checking out the lake, and again I moor my canoe in the hole in the rules until morning.

The next day I take the other stream leading from the lake, which is another dead end. I'm eight hours into the day by the time I get back to the last turning I have yet to investigate. That one leads, after two hours, to yet another lake. There's one other stream running out of it, and that passes another of the 'rare stretches of firm ground', so as the day is nearly done, it makes sense to make camp there. Besides, the land is occupied by water buffalo, and there's one straggler that could be used to supplement my food supplies.

In fact, I can't land without getting into a fight with the lone buffalo, but the fight is easy. The subsequent fight with the panther that was stalking the same buffalo and now challenges me for the corpse is trickier, but I still prevail, and after butchering the buffalo and adding a week's supply of burgers to my backpack, I settle down for the night.

The next morning I continue the way I was going, reaching a junction and taking the less likely-looking of the options, as sensible-seeming turnings haven't done me a lot of good of late. Naturally, on this occasion the unpromising turning is the one that goes nowhere, so that's six hours I'm not getting back. Going the other way, and taking the more sensible-seeming option at the next couple of junctions I reach, towards the twelfth hour I spot a rocky island. Well, I probably spot the Giant who's standing on it first. He has webbed fingers and toes, and eagerly waves me closer upon catching sight of me.

There's one inadvisable option here that has no adverse consequences beyond wastage of time, but is rather amusingly handled. It's already been made clear that I'm downstream from the Giant, so if I take the time to retreat out of sight and disguise my canoe as a mound of drifting vegetation in the hope of being able to float past the Giant, I wind up facepalming at the realisation that it's not actually possible to drift against the flow of the current. But I'm not going to actually do that now: instead, I row towards the Giant.

Drooling unpleasantly, he addresses me in rhyme (doggerel, but better constructed than much gamebook poetry), indicating that I must answer a riddle to get past him, and if I get it wrong, I wind up in a pie (he already has the dish and crust). I agree to give the riddle a go. It's one of the, 'My first is in x, but not in y,' type, and more than one proper word can be made based on the clues. Still, there is another hint that makes it easier to figure out which possible solution is the best one, and if I'd been paying attention the first time I got this far in the book, I wouldn't have gone for the wrong one. Not an error I shall repeat today.

The Giant is displeased at my giving the correct answer, and pleads (still in verse) for something to put in the pie, explaining that a Mage has trapped him on the island with a perpetually regenerating pie crust, compelling him to kill or beg for a filling. As I have plenty of food to spare, I give him some buffalo, and by way of thanks he gives me a ring too small for his fingers (which, being webbed, aren't really suitable for ring-wearing anyway). This is one of the more useful treasures in the book, doubling all Fortune bonuses from now on (and the endgame involves significant expenditure of Fortune Points).

An hour's travel takes me to another junction, and I head the way I've been trending for a while. That stretch of water takes 2½ hours to navigate, so I have to stop part of the way along for another night's rest. In the morning I proceed to the most interesting lake in the book: it has an island in the middle. Two trees grow on the island, and there's also a mound of coloured timbers. Upon closer investigation, the wood turns out to be the remains of the deck houses from a number of barges, and I find a plaque bearing the name of one of the missing vessels. There are also a lot of footprints in the mud, which appear to have been made by Frogmen and Lizardmen.

As I reflect on this discovery, a large Crocodile emerges from the water and approaches, so I hurry to a tree and climb it. The Crocodile lumbers over to the foot of the tree and settles down to await my eventual descent. I climb higher, catching sight of a large nest. A closer look at this reveals it to be pretty filthy and foul-smelling, with two eggs and some bones in it. Unimpressed at the owner's standards of cleanliness, I kick the nest out of the tree, the stench so nauseating me that I actually lose a little Vitality. Good thing I was at full strength: a bad smell would be a particularly shameful cause of death. The eggs smash when it hits the ground, and their contents smell so vile that the Crocodiles immediately flee (yes, I know there was only one, but Mr. Tant slipped up slightly here: delaying my ascent for some time would have resulted in the Crocodile being joined by several friends, and this section follows on more naturally from the wait).

Leaving the lake, I catch sight of the rocky peak known as Dragon's Mount, and eventually wind up on the River Luna, just a mile or so south-west of the Mount. I make for the Mount, which gets its name from legends that a mighty Green Dragon had its lair there, and speculate on the possible existence of caverns within the mountain, which might have been taken over by the barge-pirates.

There are a number of points of potential interest around here. I start by investigating a stream which issues from the Mount, and has a meadow inhabited by deer on one bank. The meadow is suitably solid ground that I need not worry about getting stuck in the mud, but one of the Stags takes me for a threat to the herd, and attacks. I add some venison to my backpack.

I soon discover a cave mouth, and investigate further. There's a holly bush in front of it, and I have to crawl under to avoid getting scratched. After that I need to light a torch, but I had several among my starting equipment, so that's not a problem. The light reveals the cave to have been dug by sapient beings: there was a cave here, but a landslide blocked it off, and someone tunnelled through the blockage. The book offers frequent opportunities to turn back, but I advance anyway, and eventually I find the Dragon. Well, its skeleton - evidently it starved to death after being trapped by the rockfall.

The cave with the Dragon's remains in has four exits, including the passage by which I entered. I check the others, going clockwise. Stairs lead down to a long-abandoned living area, from which two other exits lead, one secured with bolts, the door of the other hanging from one hinge. Behind the latter door are sleeping quarters, in which I find a coin minted two centuries ago and a plan of the caves, which has an 'X' marked west of the Dragon's cave, and indicates the passage north to be wholly artificial, whereas the others were developed from existing caverns and fissures.

The sturdy door is difficult to open, and leads to a room full of with a dozen dead people in it. Most are just skeletal remains, but one still looks pretty fresh - and starts moving towards me. The door shuts a lot more quickly than it opened, and I ascend the stairs more rapidly than I descended them. Skyfall Zombies are not the kind of pushover that the Fighting Fantasy variant are.

Returning to the central cave, I proceed to the west passage. It's the next one in sequence anyway, the 'X' on the map singles it out as being worthy of attention, and the dust on the ground near it has been disturbed, whereas there are no tracks by the north one, and only mine to the south. This leads to what my character is too ill-educated to recognise as a laboratory. There are signs of violence (broken bottles, shredded couches, chunks gouged out of the door), but also indications of recent use, with a ceramic bowl containing a mauve liquid that's the end product of some chemical or alchemical process. I take a sip, and am restored to full health. This is the part of the book I read when taking a look in Simon's copy, and I looked up the consequences of taking a deeper draught to see what adverse consequences it would have (transformation into a werewolf unaffected by the lunar cycle, and abandonment of the quest in favour of preying on the deer in the meadow).

Spurning the rest of the liquid, I also avoid the other door out of the room, which is made of sturdy metal and secured by heavy clips. There are greater dangers than Zombies locked away here.

The north exit from the central cave leads to a room containing a motionless Sphinx in a pentagram. I move closer, and the Sphinx animates. Favouring diplomacy over violence, I wait for the creature to regain its senses. It thanks me from releasing it from imprisonment and asks me to show it any food I have. When I do so, the Sphinx indicates a biscuit (Mr. Tant evidently having neglected to consider the possibility that a player might have exhausted their starting supplies before getting this far, and have only the meat of local fauna in their backpack), instructs me to break it into quarters, and mutters an incantation over them. Any time I eat one before a combat, I'll get a bonus to Expertise and do double Damage, which is no bad thing.

The Sphinx then vanishes to find out how the world has changed while it was trapped, and possibly to have a word with the magician who trapped it here, if he's still alive after all this time. There's one other exit from this room, which leads to a dead end. For some reason, the workers who excavated this tunnel just stopped. I wonder what the story behind that is.

Nothing I've left unexplored in here is worth exploring, so I leave the cave and continue to follow the stream until I reach the cave mouth from which it issues. The source of the stream is a pool of water, fed by cascades from the rock face of the far wall. Ledges, cracks and outcroppings make that wall appear climbable, but to get it I'd have to swim across the pool, and when I step into the water, a number of fish take an interest in me. Hurriedly retreating, I only get bitten once. Detaching the fish after emerging, I note the disproportionate teeth-to-body ratio and throw it back into the water, where the rest of the shoal promptly shred it, drawn by the traces of my blood. My narrow escape gets me the Fortune bonus I was angling for when I risked encountering the fish.

The cave also contains a crude altar, carved torch-holders in the shape of hands, and a large face carved on the wall. The altar appears to have been used for human sacrifices in the past, while the mouth of the carved face looks as if it could be the opening to a hidden passage. I climb into the mouth (without priming the trap the rpg.net mob managed to set off) and follow the tunnel to another cave. There's a wooden chest in here, surrounded by a circle of sand and gravel, and a human skeleton lies about half way between the circumference and the chest. Reluctant to learn what killed my predecessor, I use my rope to drag the chest across the sand to me. Then I throw the chest away, spending a Fortune Point to ensure that when the chest hits the ground, it bursts open, so any traps designed to catch out somebody opening the chest will go off at a safe distance.

Keeping my hands well away from the envenomed blade revealed by my violently cautious opening method, I investigate the chest's contents. There's a dagger that's too badly designed to be of any use in a fight, a mask resembling the face carved on the wall, and a couple of gauntlets that, while worn, increase my Expertise, but make me too belligerent to retreat from a fight. I take them, but put them into my pack: while they won't help if I'm taken by surprise, being unable to resist the call of battle would be a lot more dangerous.

There's nothing else worth looking into here, so I head back to the meadow, where the new alpha male of the deer herd is foolish enough to try and consolidate its position by attacking me. Even without the gauntlets on, the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

Continuing my exploration of the Mount (it is a bit of a design flaw that there are multiple locations of interest clustered here in one place, when nothing happens, slowly, in so much else of the swamp), I see a ledge that could take me to the caves I noticed higher up when initially reconnoitering the area, and start to ascend. An Eagle attacks, but I kill it with ease. The mouth of the first cave smells more like a stable than an eyrie. I put the gauntlets on and make for the next cave. Annoyed at having been ignored, a Hippogriff emerges from the cave I bypassed, and my toughest fight yet occurs - without the gauntlets, I'd be dead. As it is, I'm just badly injured by the time the Hippogriff stops being an annoyance, so I down one of the healing potions I've been carrying since the start of the adventure.

Fluttering and squawking noises issue from the higher cave, so I go in to investigate, finding the Eagle's nest. The mother is here, ready to defend her young, and but for my knowledge of the important item concealed within the nest, I'd leave them in peace. As it is, I reluctantly fight again. Once I've killed the mother and spared the chicks a slow death by starvation, I rummage through the nest until I find the 'Neutralise Poison' potion it contains, and then turn my attention to the crevices in the cave wall. There's something glinting in the first fissure, so I reach in to get it (needing to remove the gauntlet in order to fit my hand in).

After all, what's the worst that can happen?

Just as I grab the item, something stings my hand, but I manage to retain my hold on the shiny item as I yank my arm out of the hole. The potion I just got from the Eagles' nest counteracts the venom, and once I'm feeling in good health again, I turn my attention to my newest acquisition. Which turns out not to be such a smart thing to do, as I'm holding a Mirror of Mind Erasure, and have to spend a few Fortune Points in order not to spend the rest of my life gaping inanely at the contents of my hand. Still, now I know what effect it has, I can potentially use it as a weapon against any enemy intelligent enough to be affected by its stupefying capabilities.

Ignoring the second fissure, which contains just as much Scorpion but no actual treasure, I leave the cave and descend to the one I ignored earlier. Climbing down looks likely to be trickier, and there's the risk of attracting the attention of a second Hippogriff, so I secure my rope in the late Eagles' cave and abseil down. Then, putting the gauntlets back on, I enter the lower cave, where I find the first Hippogriff's mate guarding their nest, and get attacked. This fight goes more easily, and afterwards I can rest and eat a meal. I could try taking the eggs in the hope of selling them to an animal trainer, but the practicalities of keeping them safe and warm are off-putting.

At the back of the cave is a flight of stairs leading down, but I ignore them as they only lead to trouble. This section of the adventure could be argued to go against the 'reward the thinking player and penalise the careless' ethos, because when was ignoring the warning signs on a tomb ever the wise thing to do in a gamebook? Well, it is here, and as soon as you step past the entrance, you are guaranteed an unsuccessful ending to the adventure.

After that I return to my canoe and set off to Dragon's Mount. Yes, that is where I've just been, but problematic design means that the only way of investigating the possibility of interesting goings-on beneath the waterline is to return to the river and then moor the canoe in a different spot. Not far from this new place I see signs of activity: worn patches of grass, and a few bits of broken weapon. This sight does not deter me from shedding most of my clothes and equipment and diving into the water.

The water is clear enough that I can see the river bed and the plants growing out of it. Some of which seem to be less plant-like, and more humanoid, and I feel an urge to swim closer. The expenditure of more Fortune helps me resist this compulsion before I wind up forgetting the need for oxygen, so the Water-Kelpies are denied their prey.

Taking more care about where I focus my attention, I swim on and catch sight of an underwater cave mouth. Surfacing and looking more closely, I discover that the cave mouth actually extends above water level, but a wooden screen, camouflaged to resemble the rock, is hiding that fact. Reassured that I'll be able to find air within the cave, I dive down and swim under the screen.

It turns out that there's a whole hidden harbour in there, with a number of barges moored by the natural dock or wooden quays. Reflecting that most denizens of the marsh are nocturnal, I opt to investigate while things are quiet. A rope ladder hangs from one of the quays, but there are Lizardman guards on the quay, and I have to spend Fortune to avoid being spotted. The barges are under less scrutiny, and I'm able to use one of them to get out of the water. Hiding in the shadows, I watch a Lizardman with a halberd wander across to a large fence and prod one of the humans trapped behind it, tormenting prisoners for fun.

Once he's gone, I move closer to the fence, which turns out to be a hedge of thorns. The people trapped behind it are all from the vanished barges, and my father is in their midst. I learn how many Lizardmen there are here, and that their shape-shifting leader has magical powers. The prisoners are keen to break out and take revenge on their captors, but I advise a more subtle approach, and wait for the next guard to come along. Then it occurs to me that I'm not really equipped for a fight, so I return to the canoe to gather useful equipment like the broken biscuit, the gauntlets and the mirror, and down another Potion to restore myself to full health. While outside I also relocate the canoe to somewhere less close to where the Lizardmen probably hold their combat drill at night. That turns out to be a wise decision as, by the time I'm ready to return to the enemy base, around a dozen Frogmen are practising with weapons in the meadow.

Alas, while some of the enemy forces are now outside, those who aren't are a lot more alert, so I need to spend more Fortune to not get noticed, and postpone the rescue until things quieten down again. Once the next day has dawned and most of the Lizardmen and Frogmen are asleep, I swim back in, return to my hiding place near the hedge, and ambush the next guard. What with the gauntlet bonus, the fact that my base Expertise is higher than the Lizardman's, and a particularly impressive SURPRISE penalty applied to the Lizardman (it's capitalised like that in the rules, okay?), it is literally impossible for me to lose a round, and a little Fortune expenditure to increase damage ensure that he's dead before he can raise the alarm.

Once the prisoners are free, we decide to retain the element of surprise as long as we can. A dozen of the healthiest escapees hide on a barge that has yet to be unloaded, and when one of the other guards gets curious about the failure of the dead one to return, a prisoner who's learned a little of their language makes a slurred response indicating having found a store of wine on the barge. Evidently there's no term for 'I don't drink on duty' in the Lizardman tongue, as the guards rush away from the alarm gong in order to partake of their friend's discovery. The ambush is a success, and my comrades-in-arms guard the tunnels leading to the other Lizardmen and Frogmen's quarters while I confront the leader.

His quarters are a little odd, lavishly furnished in parts, but with ramps leading down to a central pool of water. Sleeping in this pool, but with its head resting on a cushion at the foot of a ramp, is a reptile that on first glance resembles a crocodile, but upon closer examination turns out to have a number of humanoid characteristics. Remembering the prisoners' claims of the enemy boss being able to shift his shape, I guess that this is the leader, and wake him to show him the pretty mirror I found higher up the mountain. Spending more Fortune ensures that he is unable to shake off its effect, and the beast transforms into a bearded man, who starts to drool before collapsing. When I finish him off, the body repeatedly transforms between man, crocodile, and the intermediate form in which I found the leader, eventually stabilising as the hybrid.

In the aftermath, Lizardman prisoners reveal some of their late leader's history. He was a Druid, who developed the mauve potion that I found in the semi-trashed laboratory, which turned him into a Were-Crocodile. Allying with the Lizardmen, Frogmen and a few human agents, he developed the scheme for stealing the barges, teaching minions spells to incapacitate their crews. He claimed to be working towards establishing a kingdom for his non-human allies, but evidence suggests that he may have been planning to abscond with the best treasure once he had enough.

Regardless, he's been defeated, and a strategy is devised to help with the capture of his accomplices outside the marsh. Meanwhile, I start planning a new expedition, to somewhere less damp and muddy. But that's another adventure, for another day.

Well, for the most part I enjoyed that. Still, I can see that it might have been a lot more frustrating if I hadn't become so familiar with aspects of it thanks to running it at rpg.net. Considering the number of gamebook series being revived these days, I'd be interested to see a revised and improved edition, though I can see that some of the problems wouldn't be easy to fix.

This Could Lead to Excellence Or Serious Injury

Once I'd made up my mind not to buy Sky Lord back in the late 1980s, completism was no longer a motivating factor when new FF gamebooks were published. I took a look at Stealer of Souls, the first contribution to the range by the prolific Keith Martin, when it first came out (memory suggests that I did so in the recently-opened Hammicks bookshop close to the Five Ways), but there was nothing particularly outstanding about it. It didn't help that I confused the wizard Alsander with Astragal from the not-that-great Chasms of Malice, and the erroneously inferred connection with the earlier book did nothing to enhance Stealer's appeal.

My reasons for getting a copy several months later are, in hindsight, mildly embarrassing, but I'll say more about that in a subsequent blog post. Once I had bought it, I had a go at it without dice, succeeded, and largely lost interest in it. It turned out to be more challenging when I played it by the rules after getting back into FF, and I believe my first attempt with dice ended in my character's being suffocated by a Stone Shapeshifter. I may have legitimately won it once, but an ambiguous rule near the end made it unclear just who won the final battle. Owing to the deletion of the Unofficial FF Forum (and my failure to keep adequate back-ups), I'm not able to link to my playthrough of that questionable victory, so I'll just have to hope for a more decisive one here. And at least I can now make quips and in-jokes without feeling the urge to check and see if I'm repeating gags from the older write-up.
Edit: Having been better at creating back-ups than I'd thought, I was eventually able to recover a write-up of my possibly-successful attempt and post it here.

Of course, a decent character will be a help if I'm to have any hope of winning. While not as merciless towards the low in stats as many a Fighting Fantasy book, Stealer doesn't tend to come up in discussions of books that can be beaten even with minimal scores. Still, today I don't even need to allocate dice, as I get a highly satisfactory
Skill 12
Stamina 21
Luck 10
Still no guarantee of success, but I'd say I'm in with a fair chance.

A mage who's never been mentioned before this book offers me a quest: to rescue a different wizard who's never been mentioned before this book from the dungeons of a notorious evil wizard who's never been mentioned before this book. All right, there are always new characters in new gamebooks, but by now Titan is rather too well-established for it to be convincing that the previously unheard-of Mordraneth has achieved a near-Voldemortian level of infamy. The abducted Alsander had found out something about Mordraneth's schemings just before he got captured, and my mission is just to rescue him so his discoveries can be shared and acted upon. There will be no need for me to fight Mordraneth, as my employer's spies have ascertained that he isn't even in the same location as Alsander. But Mordraneth doesn't know that they know where Alsander's being held, so a decoy army is being sent to inconvenience him while I do the 'lone hero who might just succeed where a larger force would fail' thing at the Iron Crypts on the Isle of Despair.

On the way to the Isle, a gale blows up and a large bird attacks. Not a difficult fight for me, though a below-average character might have difficulties. The text implies that this is my character's first adventure, which is a little odd - wouldn't a veteran be better for a mission of this importance? The crew are impressed at my victory, and if I'd taken any damage during the fight, I'd get it healed now. The Captain points out that such birds are rare in these parts, and wonders if the attack was magically directed at me. One of the other sailors gives me a jar of insect repellent that may come in handy on the Isle.

There are no natural harbours there, so I have to use a rowing-boat for the last stage of the journey by sea. A large crab takes an interest in me, but I know that fighting isn't the best option, so I just row harder to outpace her. Once ashore, I am greeted by a Giant, and as he's not being aggressive, I reciprocate. He apologises for the misbehaviour of his pet, notes that it's going to rain, and offers food and shelter. I accept, and get given a large helping of fish stew. The Giant notes that the island is becoming increasingly evil, and gives me a scroll he found. Its contents are mildly cryptic, but its description of 'singing in the wind' as 'the harbinger of death' is a fairly clear warning.

After an uneventful night, I set off again, provided with extra Provisions by the Giant. Good thing, too, as the rain seeps into my backpack and spoils some of the food, but overall I'm still better off than I was. Still, this is an early manifestation of Mr. Martin's minor obsession with Provisions, which would go on to inspire additional rules in many of his later books.

I go north at a junction, and nothing happens until dusk, at which point I find a cave in which to spend the night, and get bitten by a centipede while checking to see if there's anything to be wary of in the cave. Next morning I encounter a talkative lizard, which asks if I'm lost. I chat to the lizard, which offers me a pearl if I'll kill the Giant Stormbirds that keep stealing its eggs. I point out that I've already killed one, and the lizard remarks that I shouldn't have much trouble dealing with the other, then. Fair point, well made.

Climbing up to the nest, I see eggs and gold, and am attacked by the mother Stormbird. Though defending her young, she's not as good a fighter as her mate, and this side quest is rapidly concluded. In addition to the gold that was in the nest, I get the promised pearl, plus a Silver Medallion purported to provide protection against evil, and a dose of a potion that will help me get back to the junction and on with the primary mission without further ado.

Towards night I am offered hospitality by a Tree Sprite, whom I subsequently catch trying to pilfer my treasure. In return for my not breaking his neck, he gives me some 'Luck powder' and leaves me alone for the rest of the night. Continuing on my way in the morning, I reach a crossroads. Two of the paths onwards have signs of a kind: a skull on a pole, and a pointed stick with bloodied feathers stuck on it.

Investigating the skull-marked path, I hear a laugh behind me, and turn to see that the skull is now facing the way I came. Very Scooby-Doo. Hurrying on, I reach woodlands, where that insect repellent comes in handy. Further on is a hut, with two Hobgoblins fighting outside it. I watch from concealment as one of them runs the other through, and the dying Hobgoblin manages to retaliate with a lethally accurate dagger-throw before expiring. Saved me a bit of bother.

Inside the hut is a man tied to a chair. He unsuccessfully attempts to gesture, and I approach with caution, spotting and avoiding a tripwire on the floor. The man explains that he's a herbalist who came here in search of plants with medicinal properties. He wants to do something to show his gratitude, but the Hobgoblins burned his herbs, so he has nothing to offer. I ask his opinion of that strange scroll, and he can make no sense of it, but advises me to get advice from Alkandi, shaman of the tribe to the south. As I set off that way, I spot some money that one of the dead Hobgoblins dropped. Odd that I didn't search the bodies before entering the hut, as looting the dead is de rigueur for most gamebook heroes.

Back at the crossroads I take the herbalist's advice, and soon encounter a couple of tribesmen. Giving a friendly greeting, I get escorted to their village, where I meet Alkandi, who can speak my language. After a meal, he asks if I'd like to do trade with his people, so I decide to see what he has to offer. Quite a bit, as it turns out, and I can't afford much unless I want to throw in that pearl - for rather less than its market value. Still, better to lose out slightly on the deal than wind up dead for want of an ebony key, or an ivory cat statuette, or a phial of oil... It's not always easy to tell what's going to be of use, but memories of past attempts indicate that at least two of those items could come in handy.

Following a restful night, I show Alkandi that scroll. He speaks of having sensed tormented souls trapped by something evil, and advises me to beware of singing voices. He also says not to follow the path north from the crossroads, as it leads to Hobgoblin territory. Somewhat redundant advice, but I'll take the Luck bonus that comes with it all the same.

Back at the crossroads I take the only remaining path, and after heading along that for a while, I see a building up ahead. I can remember some details of what can be found in there, but not all, so I'll risk the danger within on the off-chance that there's something useful to be had. Inside, I see a man chained next to an altar, and hurriedly attack him, because one of the things I haven't forgotten is that what I can see is an illusion, and any delay will allow the Dark Priest responsible to cast some harmful spell. My prompt action prevents him from doing me any harm, and as it's getting late, I decide to ignore the morbid paintings on the walls and spend the night here. There's a trapdoor in the floor, but once I've dumped the former occupant of the building on top of it, I needn't worry too much about anything nasty coming up through it. Unless Mr. Martin has read and been inspired by The House on the Borderland, which doesn't seem to be the case here.

I have bad dreams, but that medallion keeps me from being harmed by them, and implies that some of the threats I have yet to face will be illusory. In the morning I have the option of opening that trapdoor and seeing what's under it, but I don't think it's worth the risk. I could find a hidden way into the Iron Crypts, but it's also possible that I'd get to reenact my first failure at this book. Besides, the main entrance to the Crypts turns out to be only a short distance down the path.

Before long I encounter guards, but they're only Goblins, and don't put up much of a fight. I take their dice and wander around tunnels until I get into a fight with an Ogre. His last action is to trigger metal bars blocking off one of the exits from his cave. I take his belongings, which include a pewter tankard, and head through the other way out. It leads through a pool of water, and an albino aquatic Cave Snake attacks me while I'm wading through, but I kill that with little trouble.

Further on an unusual formation of stalagmites catches my eye. Upon closer examination, I can make out that there's a body under them - must have died some time ago. I take the time to chip it out, and find that it's probably the remains of an Elf. The only noteworthy item on the body is a white metal flask, which turns out to contain a healing potion.

Somewhat randomly, a flail-wielding Skeleton Man attacks, and a couple of unlucky rolls see me taking a bit of damage. When I smash my opponent, smoke issues from the skull, taking on the form of a rat and vanishing into the floor. I can expect a lot more of this weird stuff if I make it through to the final stages of the adventure. Moving on, I reach a junction, and go west. After a short time I hear singing, so I promptly turn round and go back east. Some warnings should not be ignored.

The passage east smells of death and leads to a darkened chamber. I have the option of turning back and going west, but it takes more than darkness to scare me off. Nor am I persuaded to turn back when another skeletal figure, this one with a big sword, advances on me. Despite being a better fighter than the previous one, it doesn't hit me as often. Steps lead down to another chamber, this one with a rather ugly face carved into one wall. My medallion lights up (it would do so even if I didn't have it, which is a bit sloppy) and the face opens its eyes and looks at me. Judging by the illustration, it's far too big for this to be the janitor peering through cut-out eyeholes, so I move along quickly.

Behind the next door I find, Orcs are drinking and gambling. Not recognising me as an intruder, they invite me to join them, and I accept. The mood changes when I get out that tankard, as one of the Orcs recognises it and, aware that its owner wouldn't have given it away, twigs that I must have killed him. So I have to kill them, too. I take their money, but don't add the rat pasties on which they were snacking to my Provisions.

There's one exit other than the door by which I came in. It opens onto a passage leading to a room containing a Troll, who puts up no better a fight than the Orcs did. His dying words imply that there's a password I'll need to know to get somewhere, but for obvious reasons I can't interrogate him for further details. Searching the room turns up some keys, and I discover that a fire has started in the Orcs' room and is spreading this way. Time to get a move on.

The other door is locked. None of the keys will unlock it. I try that ebony key. It vanishes! I start to suspect that the password the dying Troll mentioned is required for getting out of here. The smoke from that fire begins to dissolve the Troll's body. This is not good... In the nick of time I find a concealed exit. As I'm about to depart, a voice asks not to be left behind, and offers assistance. The smoke is getting too close for me to risk searching for the speaker - and what if this is another trick?

Stairs lead up from the exit I discovered. The book tells me I'll need a light source to go up them safely, but doesn't specify what would happen if I'd misplaced the lantern from my starting equipment and had no alternate illumination (assuming that that's possible - and if it isn't, why bother to mention the need for light at all?). Eventually I reach an overhead trapdoor, and sneak through into an Orc's bedroom, which is currently in use. Rather unpleasantly, the book has me kill him before he can wake up.

After taking a rope from his room, I leave by the only exit, and further wandering takes me to a larder, in which the only palatable thing is a jar of fruit preserve. My explorations next take me to a dead end, and while looking more closely I am attacked by a giant, eight-legged, acid-dribbling beetle, which the medallion reveals to be an illusion, thereby removing the need to quibble about excess limbs. The dead end is also an illusion, so I advance, and further wandering takes me to a chamber that's open to the outside world. It contains a Birdman, and when I talk to him, he reveals that his people are being driven away by the denizens of the Crypts, who have a prisoner of some importance on a lower level.

There are fungi growing in the next cavern I reach. They're not edible. Further on I see a badly-placed illusion of a wall: somewhere close by is another opening to the outside, and the nonexistent wall is no blockage to the sunlight shining through it. Stepping through, I find myself in a north-south tunnel, and am curious about the sounds of cawing and rending from the north. The source is not a Birdman shredding one of Mordraneth's minions, but a Razorbeak bird stripping a humanoid corpse of its flesh. Mistaking me for the next course, it attacks, and I spoil its appetite for good. A high ledge on a sheer rock wall is the only potential source of treasure here, and the rope is unhelpful without a grappling iron, so I can only head south.

That leads to an east-west junction, but more smoke fills the way east, so I head west. That passage soon turns south, and I see doors set into both walls.  The east door is very stiff, but that oil lubricates the lock and hinges, and I gain access to the room beyond, which contains only a few blocks of incense. The west door opens more easily, and I just manage to dodge the spear trap it activates. Sounds approach from the north, so I make myself scarce.

Again I get told I need a light source, and not what happens if I lack one. A door with a grille set into it catches my attention, and I check it out, spotting a couple of prisoners on the other side. The Troll's keys open the door, and I find that one prisoner is already dead, the other in bad shape. I give him some food, which makes his final moments more bearable, and he tells me about a secret door near the guard room and indicates a brick in the wall before dying. Behind the brick is a box containing a vial. The contents have dried out, but adding water to the residue creates a Healing Potion.

I then seek the secret door, which leads to the guard room and enables me to take the Orcs within by surprise, killing the first one before he can get up from his meal of roast Dwarf. The second one has time to fight back, but fares no better. Further on I encounter and defeat another Orc, but he calls to his master as the fight begins, so I can expect more trouble soon. Indeed, a door opens to reveal another Dark Priest, and I just manage to attack him before he can let off a spell. He's not a bad fighter, either, but not good enough to pose a real threat. For a moment the fact that I was told only Mordraneth could use magic here makes me wonder if that's who I just killed, but I conclude that it's much more likely that I was misinformed.

The Priest has a bracelet that I'm not so stupid as to try on, and the room from which he came radiates evil, so I don't loiter there. The other exit leads to a room containing some fine food, more than making up for the wounds inflicted by the Priest, and beyond that room I find a spartan bedchamber containing an incense burner and a barred trapdoor (and a bed, otherwise it wouldn't be a bedchamber). I can now burn some of that incense at any convenient moment, and it'll provide a little healing when I do.

After a rest that helps restore me to full health, I open that trapdoor and descend to a landing. Two doors lead on, and after a while I reach a room containing a young man who toys with a dagger and reproaches me for not knocking. One of the options here is to say that I'm a tradesman. I suspect that this is a dig at the gamebooks that have vendors of assorted tat inexplicably set up shop in inhospitable locations, but confirming this could lead to my incurring a penalty, so I claim to have been sent by the people upstairs. The man assumes that I'm a torturer, sent to extract information from a troublesome prisoner. Guessing that the prisoner in question might be Alsander, I make out that I wasn't given directions to the cell, and the man tells me which way to go and gives the name of (presumably) the jailer.

Following his directions means ignoring a door marked 'DANGER! KEEP OUT!', but it's just possible that the sign is accurate, so I try the door I was told to go through instead. It leads to a smoky chamber containing a fountain, with two exits. The door that doesn't lead to the presumed Jailer's room is barred and 'clearly' magically locked (I wonder what gives that away), so I have no choice but to call on Mehrabian, who isn't human. Can I maintain the imposture? Yes, I can, thereby discovering that my charmless companion is a half-Ogre. From his comments, the prisoner in question must be Alsander, so I wait for the Half-Ogre to bring me the wizard before revealing my true intentions. Once Mehrabian is dead, I unlock Alsander's chains, and the book tells me I must give him food or a healing potion. I still have Provisions to spare, but what if I'd had a tougher time getting this far and already used up all my healing?

Alsander reveals that Mordraneth is actually here, rather than where the decoy army has been sent. As twists go, it's not up to Tales of the Unexpected standards. Still, it means that I can get the glory of killing the big bad (or die trying). Alsander tells me of Mordraneth's plans to start conquering places with his Illusionary Army, and offers to teach me a few spells (with a throw-away explanation of how he managed to get around the 'only Mordraneth can use magic here' restrictions) before he teleports himself to the first planned target to help them prepare for the attack in case I fail.

I can learn three single-use spells, and select Speed, Dispel Fear and Restore Skill. Alsander then shows me a secret door leading to the lair of the Dark Elves who guard the teleport device that will take me to the Empire of Illusions. Mordraneth's lair. That done, he teleports off. I deal with the Dark Elves, help myself to their food supplies, and find the device that will take me to the final phase of the adventure.

I find myself in a shimmering circular chamber with three exits that won't keep still. I enter the yellow one, and find myself in mid-air, being attacked by an Eagle. I defeat this illusion, and a voice welcomes me and implies that I'll soon be dead. The corridor I'm now in gets black at one end, green at the other. Not having anything to declare, I head towards the green, and find that the passage goes on for ever. The voice returns, offering me a swifter death, and the tunnel fills with water. I drown.

It's not game over, though, as I get revived by a young man who introduces himself as Mordraneth's apprentice. He warns me that Mordraneth is mad, gives me a golden flask, and vanishes. I sample the contents of the flask, which turn out to be rancid vinegar. The voice gloats again, revealing that my 'rescuer' was Mordaneth, and he's toying with me because killing me would be so easy. Idiot.

The passage now leads to a sewer. Rats converge on me, so I get out that cat statue, which transforms into a spectral cat that scares them off. Random items unexpectedly proving useful is one of the more absurd staples of gamebooks, but in this realm of illusion, it kind of makes sense.

The passage forks, and I head for the rainbow-coloured light. There I sense goodness and encounter three shimmering beings, who claim not to have been corrupted by Mordraneth, and offer a blessing. I took the risk of accepting the last time I got this far, so I know that I can trust what I'm seeing and hearing here. Actually, I'm in good enough shape that much of the blessing is wasted on me, but the bonus I can use could make a significant difference later on.

I take the ochre exit, which proves a bad choice, as the walls start closing in, and I have to use the Speed spell to avoid a fatal bout of claustrophobia. My escape brings me to a cavern in which a narrow walkway leads between flaming chasms. A blood-dripping black skull flies at me, and I must fight it. Though it's the most formidable opponent I've yet faced this adventure, it does no more damage than the second Dark Priest.

Proceeding along a light, airy passage, I am almost swept away by a strong wind, but manage to drag myself onto a rocky plateau. My medallion dispels a Skeletal Illusion and runs out of power, so I have to fight the illusory winged jumping giant spider that I encounter next. It's not so tough, which makes it a little surprising that that's the final guard before Mordraneth's chamber. He's on a balcony, and has time to inconvenience me with a couple of spells while I'm ascending the stairs to get to him, but my superior Skill enables me to defeat him in combat, with no ambiguity this time. The souls he'd imprisoned are freed, and I can now head home. And, despite my hopes, probably into obscurity, because Mordraneth is no Zagor. But I won, and that's the important thing.

So, that's Stealer of Souls done. One of the less unfair books in the range, and while the marching along corridors gets a bit samey, and there are bits that haven't been thought through as much as they should have, it never made me want to throw things or shout, which puts it above a depressingly high number of other gamebooks.

They Send You Here for Life, and That's Exactly What They Take

After all this time, I've finally reached the first Tunnels & Trolls adventure I ever played. As I've mentioned before, my first experience of the series was one of the Corgi two-adventures-in-one-book reissues. More specifically, the one featuring Beyond the Silvered Pane. And that adventure was partnered with Steven Estvanik's Captif d'Yvoire, which came first in the book, so it got played first.

I was at my grandparents' home when I tried it, and I don't remember much beyond how my attempt ended. Even those memories are hazy enough that I'm not sure things happened in quite as bizarre a manner as I recall: while heading along a tunnel, I was given the option of casting a spell, and did so. This awakened some amorphous monstrosity that had been caked on the wall, and the thing either devoured me or transformed me into a frog - the text seemed open to interpretation regarding that point. If this attempt lasts long enough, I may get to find out how confused those memories are.

It's a big if, though, as the dice have provided me with a particularly poor character this time round.
Strength: 8
Intelligence: 13
Luck: 12
Constitution: 6
Dexterity: 8
Charisma: 11
Speed: 12 (but only because the rules for this adventure specify rolling it on four dice rather than the usual 3 - it'd be half that but for the extra roll)
I could theoretically make a less inadequate character by turning him into a Dwarf, but while the adventure doesn't ban non-human characters, it requires one who could be mistaken for a human, and even if I got the maximum possible roll on the height table, I'd still be under five foot.

At the start of the adventure I am a prisoner in the Chateau d'Yvoire. Constructed by powerful mages, and reputed to still house strange forces, the Chateau has been taken over by the Duc de Binaire, who had me captured while I was travelling to join my new employer, Gastar d'Alcene, the rightful owner of the chateau. As far as I'm aware, all I need to do in this adventure is escape and make my way to d'Alcene, rather than single-handedly thwarting de Binaire's schemes, but there's plenty I don't know about what transpires.

Anyway, after enduring assorted deprivations down in my cell, I decide that I should try to escape. Or rather, I would, but before I can start making plans I have to make a roll to see what kind of toll imprisonment has taken on me, and it turns out that I'm dead. So dead, in fact, that I think I must have passed away last month and somehow failed to notice until now. I think that's a new record for rapid failure.