Don't You Know We're on the Eve?

A little while after parting with my original copies of Fighting Fantasy books 43 and 45, I found some more FF books I'd never played in the same charity shop. At least half a dozen, and most (if not all) of them from the 50s. If prices on eBay are anything to go by, that little stack could probably fund a week's holiday on another continent these days. But it was the mid-nineties when I found them, and I chose not to buy the lot because I had no intention of getting back into gamebooks full-time, and just felt like picking up a couple to provide a little short-term entertainment. Consequently, I read the blurbs and just bought the two that looked as if they might be a bit different from the norm.

The first of these was Spellbreaker, the FF debut of Jonathan Green, who would go on to become one of the most prolific writers for the series other than Livingstone and Jackson. What caught my eye was a little detail on the secondary blurb, on the first page of the book: somehow I was partially to blame for the villain's having acquired the McGuffin with which he intended to cause all manner of unpleasantness.

Funnily enough, I bought my present copy of Spellbreaker (original version) in the same charity shop where I'd found my first one, on probably the second most fruitful day of the not-quite-a-year I spent rebuilding my gamebook collection. But I'll have more to say about that day in a subsequent blog post.

As I recall, my first attempt ended in a blazing barn full of plague-infested rats. I played the book (and the other one I'd bought) a few more times, and gradually lost interest because of the difficulty level. In terms of ludicrous harshness, this book is right up there with Crypt of the Sorcerer (though I rate Spellbreaker more highly than Crypt owing to its atmosphere). When Wizard Books reissued it in 2007, some edits were made in an attempt to make the book less unfair, but the changes don't help much as they did nothing about one of the worst elements, and made a total hash of rectifying another. I shall go into more detail about these problems if my character survives long enough to encounter them.

My character is, as usual for FF, a warrior, but this one is taking a break from adventuring (fat chance) and has embarked on a pilgrimage to the shrine at Hallow's Well. On what Mr. Green refrains from openly describing as a dark and stormy night, I have got lost on the way to Rassin Abbey, and trying to avoid attracting the attention of the wolves in the area. I catch sight of a fire in a copse, tended by a pale and world-weary-looking young man who invites me to join him, and we exchange potted biographies. Not exactly The Canterbury Tales, but as gamebook info-dumping goes, it's not bad.

It turns out that he is also on a pilgrimage to the Abbey, but he isn't lost, and is merely sheltering from the storm. As he knows the way, we decide to set off at once, and catch sight of the abbey just before an unpleasant noise reveals that numerous Demons are bearing down on us. None too surprisingly, we speed up at this point, and in next to no time I'm hammering on the door, yelling to be let in. The door opens, and I stumble through. My new companion is too intent on the pursuing Demons to have seen the door open, so I yell at him to get inside sharpish.

And that's how I doom the world. The thing is, the other 'pilgrim' is actually a bad guy, and is so evil that he can't enter holy places uninvited. But apparently, despite my not being one of the residents of the Abbey, my urging him to hurry after me was sufficiently invitationy to allow him access. Not that my character is aware of that yet, as the loophole-exploiting villain doesn't take action until after I've gone to sleep. A convenient-ish bad dream wakes me in time to spot him sneaking out of the dormitory, and I follow him, but am not quick enough to prevent him from gaining access to a black book that's being kept in the Abbey. He mocks me and magically teleports away, and a Brimstone Demon starts to manifest in his place.

The first section of a Jonathan Green FF book almost always has the viewpoint character in a confrontation with something or someone hostile. This is the only one of them to launch straight into the fight in section 1, rather than giving the reader the option of making some kind of strategic blunder before battle commences. Time for some stats. I shall allocate dice, as the Demon I'm about to fight has an effective Skill of 9, and dying in the first combat never makes for that good a blog entry.
Skill 12
Stamina 20
Luck 10
There's also Faith, but that always starts at 1.

I take one wound during the fight, but the healing provided afterwards is more than adequate to make up for it. Then I'm taken to see the Abbot, who reveals that the book which was stolen is the Black Grimoire, a virtually indestructible tome packed with evil magic, which was being stored in the Abbey to keep it out of the hands of characters like the man who stole it. He has belatedly been recognised as Nazek, a former foundling raised here, who became fascinated with 'the dark ways' and disappeared on a night like this one.

After explaining how I'm to blame for the theft (rather conveniently glossing over the lack of guards, locks and traps that could have supplemented the flimsy protection that existed), the Abbot also points out that one of the spells in the Grimoire could be used to release a particularly nasty entity from its prison. That prison is in Claybury monastery, a couple of days' travel to the west, which strikes me as being rather closer than seems entirely prudent. On the bright side, there's only one night on which that spell can be cast, but that night, Shekka's Moon, is less than a week away, so that silver lining comes with a very heavy cloud.

In the morning I prepare to set off on an attempt to avert the cataclysm I have played a small part in making possible, and am given the option of using the Abbey's library before I go. Consulting a book on astronomical events, I discover that Shekka's Moon only occurs once every 37 years (better make a note of that number), and that Shekka is an ancient goddess of witchcraft, whose powers are (unsurprisingly) strongest on that night.

I also get to visit the Abbey's herb garden before I leave. Owing to damage caused by the storm, I may only take one of the three potentially useful plants that grow there (well, it's not as if my mission is important enough to justify the expense of replacing two varieties, is it?). I'm pretty sure that despite the impending supernatural shenanigans, I'm not going to have to deal with any Vampires, so the garlic is something of a red herring. Glebe Balm's healing properties are more likely to come in handy, but probably not as much as the protection from disease provided by Aramance, so that's the one I take.

The Abbot blesses me before I depart, slightly increasing my Faith, and I am asked if I would accompany one of the other pilgrims to Hallow's Well, which is on the way to Claybury. I agree to do so, as it won't significantly delay me, I could do with the money that's being offered in return for my protection, oh, and I'll miss out on a bit of vital information if I don't.

Lady Attana, the pilgrim in question, is wealthy and has a lot of servants with her, and it takes a little while to get organised, but before too long we're on our way. After a while the road passes through a forest, and I signal for a halt when a suspicious rustling catches my attention. The brigand who was lining up a crossbow doesn't anticipate my stopping, and thus fails to hit me, but his companions still charge to the attack, and I have another fight on my hands.

It's even easier than the combat against the Demon, but the next Brigand to go for me wears an iron mask, wields a sword that appears magical, and is altogether a more formidable opponent (though slightly less so in the Wizard edit of the book). The masked brigand wounds me twice before he and his men ride away. Giving chase would be fruitless, so I stay with Lady Attana and her entourage. They're all right apart from a few minor injuries, but the brigands did get away with Lady Attana's jewellery box. It's enchanted, so they won't be able to open it, and Lady Attana gives me the key in case I should happen to encounter the brigands again and retrieve the box. As is often the case, the key has a number on it, but this one is slightly more justified than most, as the box was a wedding present, and the number on it is the year the wedding occurred.

No further trouble befalls us on the journey, and I opt to spend the night at the same hostelry they choose, the Pilgrim's Rest. On my way in I notice the inn's sign, which depicts a staff-bearing pilgrim on the road to Hallow's Well.

After receiving my payment, I join a group of well-off pilgrims by the fireplace. They're having a story-telling competition, and I've just missed the local equivalent of The Miller's Tale. There's a prize for the best story, and I'm going to need a lot of money if I'm to get everything I'll need in order to have a shot at completing this adventure, so I join in. There's one other storyteller before me, who tells of the Warrior-Priest Gwythain, who cut out the canker of Aryn's Hill. I'm not sure that my audience would appreciate the tale of the unwise Abbot who failed to increase security measures in the weeks leading up to the once-every-thirteen-and-a-half-thousand-plus-days event when the forces of evil would most like to get their hands/claws/tentacles/miscellaneous appendages on the artefact he was supposed to be protecting, thereby threatening to bring down disaster upon the region, so I tell of more conventional heroics (the in-text description of the story I tell is, alas, a poor match for any self-referential in-jokes), and sufficiently impress everyone else that I win 6 gold pieces.

Turning in for the night, I have a dream about meeting the pilgrim from the inn's sign, who offers me aid on my quest and gives me his staff. When I wake in the morning, there's a real-life version of the staff by my bed, and the pilgrim on the sign no longer holds a staff. This dream (which I only had a 50% chance of having) also gives me a small but potentially crucial Faith bonus.

Leaving the inn, I soon reach the Market Square, which is where the book's first serious flaw starts to manifest. For no good reason, I may only visit the healing well if I do so before looking around the market stalls (and there's not even any warning of this: you're just forced to leave town as soon as you've looked around the market). That might not sound like much, but there are additional factors that I will cover as they come into play.

The temple containing the well is surrounded by beggars in varying states of ill health. One of them calls out to me for alms, and I give him a gold piece. He blesses me, and I get another Faith bonus, but I'd have been cursed and suffered a Faith penalty if I hadn't tossed him a coin (in spite of the fact that it is possible to be robbed between the inn and the well, and thus not have any money to give).

Straight after the book rewards charity (or punishes the lack thereof), it provides another opportunity to give money to a worthy cause, but this second chance to give is a distraction that would cost me my slim chance of acquiring an essential item. Having learned this on a previous attempt, I ignore the martyr's shrine and head for the well. There, I have to pay 2 gold for a gourd (with no explanation of what happens to anyone who's been robbed), which I fill with water from the well. A Faith roll determines what happens next. Now, I have the highest Faith achievable at this stage of the adventure (including the point I only had a 50% chance of getting at the inn), and to succeed at this roll, I need to get less than 2 on one die.

I did it! Got a 1! The gourd is transformed into a Heal-All, which could be used to restore my Skill and Stamina to maximum at almost any time (but will actually be needed to prevent me from dying at a later stage of the adventure). That's only about the second time I've managed it in all my attempts at this book. And my chances of winning are still negligible...

Returning to the Market Square, I must now visit one of the taverns on the outskirts. Two catch my attention: the Brass Farthing and the Baited Bear. Not being a fan of cruelty to animals (or fighting mistreated animals after they escape), I choose the former. There's only one other person in there, a Dwarf who invites me to play a game called Eclipse. As I recall, the game is dull and irritating (and the book neglects to specify who starts, which could make a significant difference), but the mandatory wager on it provides me with my only chance of getting enough money to be able to afford everything I need from the market. Losing would ultimately be catastrophic regardless of exactly how much it costs me, so I bet the maximum possible stake - if I succeed, I'll have a chance of buying some non-vital but still helpful items as well as the essential ones.

I let the Dwarf go first because it's his game, and that does help determine the outcome. We roll a die to move around a circular board, collecting tokens when we land on them. I start by picking up a token with a negative value, and after a couple of circuits I'm 3 or 4 'points' behind my opponent, but then I land on the space that he's on, which means he has to give me one of his positive tokens. From then on my fortunes continue to improve, and in the end, my score is more than twice his.

Okay, time to go shopping. The first stall to catch my attention is selling relics. Even with my Eclipse winnings I can only really afford the cheapest item on sale, a scrap of linen purported to be from the shroud of Aline the Innocent. It's only 3 gold because the stall-owner believes it to be a fake, but it's actually the real thing, and adds to my Faith. If I'd been able to buy it before going to the well, I'd have had much less harsh odds of getting the Heal-All, and anyone who'd rolled too high at the Pilgrim's Rest would still be in with a chance.

There's at least one more useful item on the stall, but buying that would leave me short of funds for something that might be more important, so I move on to the next stall of interest, This is run by a falconer, and as I pay his high prices, I make a quip about needing a bird of pray on my holy quest.

The next stall is run by a couple of shifty-looking apothecaries. While I'm not interested in their snake oil or surgical services, some of the herbs they sell will prove essential at a later stage of the adventure, and another could save my life a little sooner.

That's everything worth getting at the market. There are two ways out of town, one leading west, the other south. Claybury is to the west, but the direct route is almost never the best one in gamebooks. Funnily enough, on my first attempt at this book, I chose the 'right' exit thanks to inattention: thinking the deadline for stopping the ritual made speed essential, I picked what looked like the quick route, but I hadn't spotted that the map at the start of the book has an unconventional orientation, with east at the top of the page, so I mistook west for south and accordingly chose the south gate.

As I head south, I catch sight of a figure in rags, lying in an alley. Investigating, I find the man to be afflicted with some nasty-looking illness. I give him food, and he tells me that he is from the town of Aryll, which is suffering from plague brought by rats which accompanied a mysterious stranger who came there five days ago. The man staggers off in the direction of the well, and I continue south.

Passing through another square, this one full of entertainers, I stop to watch a puppet show, taking note of the fact that the hero of the tale performed uses a golden sickle to cut the mistletoe that helps him resist the powers of the sorceress he opposes. I'm offered the opportunity to buy one of the puppets, but it's out of my price range and, as far as I can tell, of no great importance.

Just outside the entertainers' square I catch sight of a busker. He's playing pipes, and has a rat on one shoulder. Somehow sensing that I have spoken with the plague victim I passed earlier, he starts playing a hypnotic tune, but resisting it is based on a Skill roll, which I cannot fail. Then his rat leaps at me, and I also succeed at the Luck roll to not get bitten. I stamp on the rat, and the piper attacks me. He's nowhere near my equal in fighting ability, though, and dies quickly.

As I help myself to his Charmed Pipes, some of the town militia charge at me. Despite the fact that I've probably saved the town from infection, and was definitely fighting in self-defence, they mean to arrest me, and this is where the bungled improvement in the Wizard Books edit that I mentioned earlier comes into play.

The thing is, it is actually necessary to get arrested to acquire another important item, but in the original text, the only way to get arrested is to take so long fighting the militiamen that reinforcements arrive, and anyone with a Skill high enough to have a chance in some of the fights later in the book will almost certainly kill the militia too quickly. The edit got around this problem by adding the option of surrendering rather than resisting arrest - but only in the context of the miscarriage of justice that can occur at the west gate (leaving Hallow's Well without getting into trouble with the law because some evil git attacks you is not easy). At a no longer extant FF forum of which Jonathan Green was a member, I asked him if the surrender option was supposed to be available at the south gate as well, but he never answered.

Still, working on the assumption that the added surrender option was a misplaced attempt at making the book more playable rather than flagrant trolling of the readers, I have taken the liberty of making it available here, too, so (back in character) I allow the militia to take me to a blockhouse and throw me into a cell. Also in the cell is an old man who introduces himself as Cynric, aka 'the Mad Beggar', and his uncommunicative companion Gerald, who turns out to be a skeleton manacled to the wall. Do I detect a slight homage?

Observing my reluctance to stay here, Cynric offers his assistance - provided I can solve his riddle. It's a simple one, and when I answer correctly, Cynric gets out the skeleton key hidden close to Gerald and unlocks the cell door to let me out. He's staying, as the prison provides him with food and shelter free of charge.

There's more than one cell down here, and the occupant of another one asks me to free her as well. She says her name is Tira, and explains that she was apprenticed to a witch, but had second thoughts and fled here to warn the authorities of a coven gathering in the west. They didn't believe her, except for the 'witch's apprentice' bit, for which they locked her up. I let her go, and she gives me a jar of powder that will prevent her former mistress from changing her shape, should I encounter her. The guards don't spot us escaping, and we part company once we're beyond the town's walls.

This, incidentally, is where the most successful Wizard Books edit occurs. The section number to which the reader is directed following Tira's rescue is woefully incorrect in the original version of the book, but has been put right in the reprint.

It's also where this particular blog post concludes. Yes, I'm afraid my Spellbreaker playthrough is going to be another split one (though I hope not to leave as long between instalments as I did with Night Dragon). I'm stopping here because it's already been more than a week since my last post, because of the thematically appropriate date, and in order to create a 'save point'. I'm almost certain to wind up failing this attempt at the book sooner or later, and it could easily take more than a dozen retries before I next succeed at everything I need to achieve in Hallow's Well, so if I restart my next go at the book from here, that would cut out a lot of unnecessary repetition and help avert a series of near-identical failures liable to become almost as tiresome for my readers as they would be for me.

Mind the Gap

The successful ending to the second of Ruth Pracy's Warlock magazine mini-adventures blatantly left things open for a follow-up. Having undertaken to find the secret that lies beyond the mountains surrounding the edge of the world, or die in the attempt, the hero learned of a route below the mountains...

And then Warlock got cancelled before the sequel could come out, which must have come as a disappointment to anyone who still cared about Ms. Pracy's ongoing saga. But only for a little under a year. Then rival magazine Proteus brought out In Search of the Lost Land, which (to anyone familiar with Warlock's Ruth Pracy adventures) was obviously the continuation of the series. I say continuation rather than conclusion, because while ISotLL does resolve the quest from the preceding adventure, it does also hint at a further sequel (though as far as I can tell, that never saw publication).

The introductory section mentions most of the relevant information from the Warlock adventures, though it does rather gloss over the climactic revelation, perhaps to try and conceal the strangeness of what has transpired since the preceding adventure. That is, despite the 'or else die in the attempt' aspect of the quest, and the revelation of the secret that would make it possible to actually undertake the quest, the viewpoint character has spent the intervening time amassing wealth, power and glory instead of doing anything remotely related to the quest.

So, what does this prize procrastinator look like stats-wise?
Wisdom: 3
Dexterity: 7
Strength: 23
The highest possible starting Wisdom, funnily enough. A rubbish Dexterity, but as I recall, that's not the automatic death sentence that it would be in a lot of gamebooks.

I start the adventure in the presence of Gether, Lord of the Lower Kingdom, and a good friend ever since he first told me the secret I've been ignoring for so long. He notices that I am troubled, and asks why. My response, while in keeping with certain authorial preoccupations indicated by earlier adventures, is a poor one: I'm bored of riches, fame and responsibility. Not feeling guilty about getting sidetracked by self-centred side quests. Not suffering some mystical punishment for having failed to make good on my vow. No, I'm just fed up with doing all this stuff I should never have been doing in the first place.

Gether advises me to go adventuring again, and suggests that I might like to seek the Sariram, three stones that are somehow connected to the might of his kingdom (not that the kingdom appears to be in any trouble or decline). As a bonus, they will be found in the presence of the key that holds the secret of the universe. You know, that thing I pledged to find or die trying. Yeah, I suppose I could have a go at that.

Anyway, I get together my sword and a few meals and nothing else, because it's not as if all that tiresome money I've accumulated could be used to buy any useful equipment, right? Then Gether leads me through dusty, winding tunnels to a rune-inscribed door, which he unlocks with a 'curious' key. The text doesn't go into any detail about what makes it so curious: for all I know, it could be made of cheese and shaped like a rugby ball. Gether tells me that a magical road lies beyond the door, and I step through into the darkness.

The passage leads me to a T-junction, and a patch of the wall lights up. A voice tells me that I must swear to pursue wisdom first of all on my quest. I do so, though considering my track record in such areas, I'm probably just as likely to prioritise games of FreeCell, attempts to remember the titles of every episode of seasons 1-10 of The Simpsons in order, and the identification and disposal of the tattiest of the socks I own. Regardless, the voice congratulates me, and I receive a silver-bound horn for blowing when needed.

I must now choose which way to go, and I don’t remember whether or not picking the wrong direction guarantees failure. I choose to go east, and a block of stone descends behind me to ensure that I don’t change my mind. After a while the passage turns south, and the air becomes unpleasant, writhing ‘like rank treacle’ (does treacle writhe when it goes rank, and if so, what led Ms. Pracy to discover that it does?), turning my lantern dim and muffling all sound.

Eventually I reach a stone door leading on, while an alternate route leads west. I go through the door into a chamber with a moister atmosphere. Faintly phosphorescent weeds grow here, dripping slime and emitting unpleasant smells when trodden on. Something glows greenly nearby, and I risk investigating. There’s a silver wristband in the weeds and, having found it, I have no choice but to put it on before continuing forwards.

Further on I see a turning west, and investigate. A door slams behind me, and I am attacked by Garm, one of the hounds of hell. Luckily for me, his Dexterity is no better than mine, and while the dice slightly favour him, my Strength is so much higher than his that I still win by a narrow margin. His corpse decays with alarming rapidity, and beyond it another door leads onwards.

After a while the passage turns north, but just beyond the turning is another passage leading to a dead end with a fissure in it (so not exactly a dead end, then). I avoid the fissure in case it leads to one of the more arbitrary Instant Deaths I remember from previous attempts, and just go north. Some time later I pass a door on the left, which I cannot open - probably a convergence with a path not taken. The walls of the passage beyond it are more rough-hewn, and have crystals sparkling in them, while the air becomes warmer.

Up ahead is a dead end, but a panel in the east wall slides open, closing again after I have stepped through it. The passage beyond turns south after a while, and the air becomes foul. This is starting to look (and smell) familiar, so it comes as no great surprise when I reach a stone door up ahead and a side passage west. This is actually a positive sign - when I reviewed the Proteus adventures more years ago than I care to recall, I did note that the correct path through this one includes looping round at one point. If I've looped round correctly, that would suggest that I need that wristband, but something else essential can only be found by going west here.

The door will not open this time (suggesting that my character hasn't figured out that I've gone full circle), so going west is the only option here. Before long the passage turns south, and a strange pattern in the rock of one wall catches my eye. It's just like the pattern on the wristband, so I press the wristband to the appropriate spot on the wall, and a secret door opens. Predictably, I step through, and the entrance seals behind me. Mist issues from the walls, enshrouding me, and unseen entities touch me, slipping a ruby ring on a leather thong around my neck. An intense sensation of sweetness overloads my senses (reminding me of the time in my schooldays that I consumed way too many Parma Violets in one go, with... interesting consequences).

When I come round, my mind is still a bit fuzzy, and I pass through an archway to the west. The passage leads through multicoloured mists, changing direction a few times and eventually bringing me up a slope to near the roof of a large, circular cave. And just as I start to become capable of making my own decisions again, the ground beneath me gives way, dropping me into the cave.

The fall does no damage. A passage leads west, but to the south is another opening, waist-height and shrouded with cobwebs. Above it is carved a rune signifying danger. Of course I investigate, and beyond the curtain of web I find... a small bird in a cage. It looks like the chick of some kind of bird of prey. I release it, and it hops onto my backpack.

Taking the passage west, I head down a slope that rapidly becomes very slippery, and soon lose my footing. I slide out of control down the rest of the tunnel, which ends some way above a fast-flowing river. Falling into the water extinguishes my lantern, and might do the same to my life, except that before I can drown, a huge bird of prey swoops down from the sky. In a display of remarkable cluelessness for a veteran adventurer, my character assumes that the bird is attacking, but of course she's rescuing me in return for my having freed her chick.

The bird carries me a great distance, then leaves me in a pretty inhospitable-looking region. I go west because the text tells me I do, and eventually I come to a vast ditch, spanned by a bridge, with a massive wall visible on the other side. Lacking any other option, I cross the bridge, and a beautiful (and, judging by the illustration, bizarrely-dressed) woman with a sword steps out from behind a parapet and asks what I’m doing crossing the Echoing Bridge so noisily. With some alarm, my character recognises her as Modgud, guardian of the gate to the kingdom of Hell. I have been brought, still living, to the realm of the dead.

Explaining my quest can’t get me into any more trouble than either of the alternatives (attacking her would probably not be clever even if I had a decent Dexterity, and I doubt that she’ll be convinced if I claim to have wound up here as a consequence of taking a wrong turning at Albuquerque (or words to that effect)), so I tell my tale (omitting the bit about having put the quest on hold for ages for no good reason). Modgud reflects that it’s not going to be easy for me to get to the Lost Land, not least because this place is as tricky to leave as the Hotel California, but then she figures out a route that the not-dead can take to get away from here. She also offers to swap her emerald ring for the ruby one I got in the mist, and I accept. I also receive a Wisdom bonus just for getting the option of trading jewellery with a deity.

Beyond the bridge, a path leads south towards a cliff wall. When I reach the cliff, I spot a cave entrance that is the only way forward. The only other exit from the cave is a granite chimney, and climbing it is a bothersome endeavour. I need to go up 50 yards, and must repeatedly roll a die to determine how I fare: on 4 or more I ascend 10 yards, but any time I roll lower, I slip back 5 yards and take Strength damage. Since the fight against Garm I’ve already consumed a few meals, but I have another before commencing the climb, so I start at full Strength – an average distribution of rolls is liable to cost me around three quarters of that before I reach the top.

I don’t get an average distribution of rolls. A literal reading of the rules for climbing would indicate that I sink 20 yards into the ground before I manage to ascend at all. Working on the assumption that it’s not actually possible to fall a greater distance than I’ve gone up (but still taking damage for every roll of 1-3), and taking advantage of the loophole in the rules that allows me to eat at any time when not in combat, I finally get to the top of that blasted chimney with no meals left and just 2 Strength remaining.

After catching my breath, I clamber through a less challenging opening and along a ledge. Some way below is a vast expanse of ice, leading up to a ravine, on the far side of which the land appears to be ablaze. I make my way along the ledge until I reach a point directly above the mist-filled ravine. This is Ginngungagap, the meeting point of shadow and substance, where worlds have their beginnings and ends. Stepping out into it seems an insane idea, but the alternative is turning back, which seems even more unwise in view of who wrote the adventure.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained: I step off the ledge. Rather than plummeting to my doom, I drift down onto an island in a moonlit lake. Pleasant scents fill the air, and somewhere a flute plays. I feel tired. In view of my low Strength, I risk resting. Somehow this causes me to walk to a cave, which leads to a hall containing a massive throne, a fire and a pile of weapons. Taking a closer look at the weapons, I find my attention drawn to a bow and arrows and a mace, and take the mace.

Three giantesses emerge from behind the throne, and one of them scowls down at me. I try defending myself with the mace, which gives me no bonus. Considering that the giantesses’ Dexterity is significantly higher than mine, and it’ll only take one blow to kill me anyway, I’m not expecting to survive – and I don’t. The fight takes significantly longer than I expected, and I do more damage to the giantesses than they do to me, but at the end of it I’m just as dead as I would have been if they’d swatted me in the first round.

The Different Accidents of Life

I have already told of my initial experience of The Curse of Frankenstein, the second of J.H. Brennan's Horror Classics. One thing I didn't mention previously was that my memories of reading part of it at an employment agency came from a diceless attempt at the even-numbered sections - like the other Horror Classics book, Curse contains two intertwined adventures, each with a different viewpoint character, and the even-numbered sections cover the adversities and absurdities experienced by Baron Viktor Frankenstein in the Arctic wastes.

I'm here to track down and destroy the creature I was lunatic enough to give life with my Mad Science (capitalised because Mad Science is one of my special abilities, though given the (at least) 1 in 6 chance of it proving fatal to use, I doubt that I'll do much with it in the course of the adventure).

It is unlikely that I will succeed, in part because so few of Brennan's gamebooks actually offer a remotely decent chance of winning, but also because I have some pretty dismal stats.
Life Points: 100 (the default starting score)
Speed: 1
Courage: 1
Strength: 6
Skill: 4
Psi: 1 (further reducing the likelihood of my using Mad Science)
Still, even with such a mediocre Speed and Courage, surely I can't fare any worse than I did when playing Count Dracula (see the third of the above links). Can I?

Before setting off, I can pick six items from a list. The ice pick and 50ft rope seem obvious choices. Vague memories incline me towards taking the box of matches and the copy of The Manchester Guardian. Given its medicinal properties (at least in this adventure), I'd be wise to take the bottle of laudanum. And a tent is probably going to be of more use than a pair of warm socks or a pith helmet (though with Brennan you never can tell).

All four points of the compass look equally uninviting, so I go east. Mainly because I didn't go that way much when playing as the monster. Nothing catches my attention, and I get the option of changing direction, but I might as well try to be systematic and thorough, so I'll keep going east until it's no longer an option or something happens to make another direction look more promising. As I continue, rocky outcrops block off the south and west (eh?).

Suddenly I catch sight of the monster. Throwing caution to the wind, I lunge at it, and find myself grappling with a snowman built by the monster to lure me into a snowdrift. My survival here depends on a roll of the dice, and while I don't roll low enough to drown, I don't roll high enough to keep myself from freezing to death, either.

Rather a humiliating demise, but I think it's a better death than I had as Dracula. Just.

After All It's Not Easy

Some years back, at one of the now-defunct FF forums, several fans cooperated in the creation of a new adventure, which involved a search for villains and McGuffins in around half a dozen different locations in Allansia. I wound up writing the passages covering travel between those locations, and did my best to ensure that there was always at least potential for something interesting to happen on the way from one place to another. In view of how well I knew the books, I suspect that Night Dragon was less influential than Keith Martin's earlier gamebook Tower of Destruction in showing me the sort of thing I wanted to avoid, but both books feature lengthy journeys on which hardly anything of note happens. While the multi-authored adventure to which I contributed is not as good as those two books, I do find its travel sequences more enjoyable, and I'm pretty sure that that's not just because I wrote them.

Resuming Night Dragon (rather later than intended), I have a lot of travel ahead of me. The Green Dragon who took me to the Conclave offers to transport me part of the way, but remembering Nevill's advice (and the nasty fate which befell the Dragon on the one previous attempt at this book when I took him up on his offer), I decline, thereby gaining my first Honour point.

To start with I seek the magic sword. After a day's uneventful travel, I reach a fork in the path. The side route leads to Carnex, and presents me with a minor dilemma: there's useful stuff to be had in Carnex, but getting hold of it would require me to get into a fight that's currently out of my league. So do I go anyway and hope for some really lucky rolls, or continue on to the Mist Crypts and hope for another opportunity to visit Carnex once I've got my hands on a decent magical item or two?

Carnex can wait. I hope. So I go on my way for a couple more days, during which nothing of note happens. Maybe the assassins on my trail are hoping to bore me to death. Finally I reach the mountain that houses the Crypts, and find an obvious entrance. Too obvious? I try seeking another way in, and my low Nemesis score means that I miss out on some fun or trouble while doing so. My search is unsuccessful, but not entirely fruitless, and I add some edible flora to my belongings before heading down the tunnel leading into the mountain.

After a while, I reach some steps leading down into the darkness. They eventually lead to a landing with a door at the far end, and as I head for the door, two skeletons 'melt' out of the walls to menace me. There appears to be a mistake in the text here: apparently these 'Stonemelders' are no ordinary animated skeletons, but are composed of both bone and bone.

Though I have a higher Skill than either of these creatures, and manage to position myself so they can only attack one at a time, I get some appalling rolls, and the second Stonemelder manages to kill me. A rather more abrupt ending than I'd hoped for, but with those dice I'd have done even worse in Carnex.

Someone Always Gets to Them First

Of the original run of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, Keith Martin's Night Dragon was the one I played last. It wasn't the last one I acquired - as previously explained, that was Siege of Sardath - but I'd already had a couple of goes at a library copy of Siege a while before I properly restarted my FF collection. As with most of the last additions to that collection, I got ND on eBay.

I had previously encountered a copy at Brown's bookshop, on the sale table (which was a little further south than it had been when I'd come across similarly reduced copies of Black Vein Prophecy or Moonrunner there), and had had a very brief look inside, coming across an Instant Death involving a drugged biscuit. I was not impressed, and left the book for someone else to buy.

ND also has the distinction of being the most recent FF gamebook I've definitely won. While my first attempt ended badly in a fight against assassins, and I've failed the book more than once since then, the time I played it at the unofficial FF forum, I succeeded. It's not as essential to visit locations in just the right order as in most of Mr. Martin's later books.

Another factor that makes this book less harsh than those that surround it is a small addition to the rules that makes character creation a little less hazardous. In recognition of the fact that my character is a seasoned adventurer, I get a couple of points to add to the stats of my choice (with certain restrictions), to at least slightly compensate for any poor rolls. For this reason, I'm going to take the dice as they come, getting:
Skill 9
Stamina 20
Luck 8
Mediocre, but it'd be even worse without that rule.

Hints of an epic quest have brought me to the Hemlock tavern in Port Blacksand to meet with a stranger. He turns out to be a Dark Elf, but this isn't a trap. Things are bad enough that he's prepared to put aside traditional enmities for his people's sake. As are the land's different Dragon communities: the Dark Elf attended a Conclave of Dragons, at which were representatives of every colour of Dragon, and some of the different types really do not get on with certain of the others.

It seems that the Night Dragon, an Ancient Dragon far more powerful than any of the contemporary breed, has been sleeping for centuries, but is starting to wake, and growing in strength as it does. There is little that the other Dragons can do about it, as they are bound by an oath that would inflict a lethal curse upon any of their number who dared oppose an Ancient. Already reptilian servitors of the Night Dragon, known as Stalkers, are guarding the Night Dragon's resting place and beginning to roam further afield. They defeated the Dark Elves who sought to eliminate the Night Dragon, and are responsible for the injuries that will probably soon kill the one telling me this.

There is one loophole to the Dragons' oath: they can talk. And they know the whereabouts of several powerful magical items that might give me a chance to defeat the Night Dragon in battle. The Conclave will see me and tell me what they can, and the Dark Elf gives me the key to a room where I can meet a messenger who will take me to them. He also gives me money for the voyage to the tavern where I'll meet the messenger, in a place called Rentarn, and then limps away, leaving me to dwell on the trials ahead.

In the morning I opt to do some shopping before leaving town. Unlike some gamebooks, this one specifies that I need to save a certain amount for anticipated expenses, so I limit my purchases to a rope, a mirror, an ice pick and a Luck potion. I almost went for the carved ivory polar bear, but despite looking like your classic 'seemingly non-essential, but actually invaluable in a certain situation' item, it's not something I've ever actually had any use for in previous attempts at the book, so I shan't bother with the expense for once.

Avoiding some kind of Unlucky incident (most likely having something stolen, given Blacksand's reputation), I proceed to the harbour. I have seen it argued that it's better to travel on foot than by boat at this stage of the adventure, but the misadventures of a fellow member of the 'played every FF book in order' club taught me of a potentially lethal Test your Luck early on the land route to Rentarn, and as I don't know how to avoid it (or if it's even possible) and my Luck isn't that impressive, I'd rather go by sea.

There's a ship heading my way. My spending in town has left me with too little money for the fare, but my Stamina is just high enough that I can get passage on the ship at an affordable price by agreeing to assist the crew with assorted tasks. Towards the end of the first day, the ship is attacked by a couple of Greels, aquatic monsters with which I'm not familiar.

Despite what some might think, they don't look like this.

One of the Greels targets me. Its Skill is equal to mine, but a string of lucky rolls enables me to kill it at very little Stamina cost. The other manages to kill a couple of the crew before succumbing to their shipmates' blows, and I soon have cause to be thankful that 'skinning and butchering furred sea serpents' was not one of the duties for which I signed up.

The following day is foggy, and ice floes drift past as we head up the coast. I catch sight of something that doesn't look like ice on one of them, and as the ship is having to go slowly because of the weather conditions, the captain has no objections to my borrowing a rowing boat in order to take a closer look. The mysterious object turns out to be a black-robed corpse, frozen onto the floe. Closer examination of the body turns up a tattoo, which could be taken as implying that the dead man came here from a completely different gamebook series. I use my ice-pick to chip away at the ice on the body, and find that the man was carrying a pouch. It contains some money, a bit of frozen food, and a scroll bearing a partially illegible message. What I can read includes a mention of my name and a reference to a town with a name ending in '-rnex'.

The ship has pulled away while I've been investigating, but I am able to attract the attention of someone on board, and they allow me to catch up with them and resume my northward voyage, so for the rest of my trip to Rentarn I experience nothing more horrific than a dish of boiled Greel.

Rentarn turns out to be a cold and not-very-hospitable trading outpost. Stopping off to do a little shopping on my way to the tavern where my contact waits for me (while this book does track the passage of time, the reception awaiting me in the tavern will be the same no matter how long I take getting there), I get an empty bottle (there's a lot of demand for them in FF books from around this time) and some extra Provisions. Thinking of the meeting that awaits me in the tavern, I eat one portion of those Provisions before setting off to it. As I draw near, I think I see a grey-robed figure duck into the shadows, but don't worry about that as I enter the tavern, ascend the stairs and unlock the door to which the Dark Elf directed me.

In a shocking twist, the person I'm here to see has been murdered, and three armed fanatics in grey robes are waiting for a chance to kill me, too. I manage to manoeuvre into a spot where they can only attack one at a time, and consequently only lose just over half my Stamina fighting them. Searching the body of my contact, another Dark Elf, I find some money and a silver plaque with the word 'Endimion' scratched onto it.

Someone hammers on the door, demanding to know what's going on in the room. I search the bodies of my attackers, and though I'm supposed to be a seasoned adventure, the book has me go for their money first, so the people outside the room are able to force the door open before I can turn my attention to the paper that one of the Assassins carries in an inside pocket. The landlord and a couple of the local militia burst in, and I decide not to make myself look even more suspicious than I already do by trying to escape through the window. Consequently I spend the next couple of days in the local jail on a charge of Resisting Being Assassinated or something.

Once I'm released, the only real lead I have to follow is the word from that plaque. It looks like it could be a name, so I start discreetly asking if anyone knows somebody called Endimion. After two days of nothing but, "Did you mean Endymion?" and fourth wall-breaking references to Keats and Dan Simmons, I catch sight of a man in grey robes entering a tanner's workshop, and decide to see if I can find out anything useful from my enemies. Listening at the door, I hear enough to deduce that my next contact is due to arrive on a ship today, and the men in grey intend to prevent him from talking to me.

Aware that I have as much chance of averting his death as I did that of the Dark Elf in the tavern, I keep listening. The robed killers want to stop the messenger from the ship from going east to investigate the activities of the Frost Giants, and 'to deal with that idiot they recruited in Blacksand'. There are Stalkers in the wasteland and, predictably, an assassin at the docks. That seems to be all I can find out here, so I enter the tannery. The grey-robed man holds a dagger in one hand and a pouch of money in the other, and turns to attack me with his sword (don't ask). He's my equal, Skill-wise, and to complicate matters, the tanner starts throwing pots of acid at me. Amusingly, while the dice favour my opponent in the actual combat, they also give the tanner abysmal aim, as a result of which the Assassin gets hit by three vessels of vitriol, so the one blow I manage to inflict upon him is enough to finish him off.

The tanner flees, and I take the money before proceeding to the docks, where I find a sailor who knows about the Endimion, which is due in later today. When it arrives, I catch sight of a figure in a black cloak lurking on board, and the book has me fail to remember that my enemies favour grey robes, so I assume he's a villain, yell at him, and thereby draw the dock-based assassin's attention to the Dark Elf I'm supposed to be meeting, so my final lead gets a poisoned dart in the neck before he can tell me anything.

I hurry over to the dying Dark Elf, who is competent enough to make his last words matter. He tells me where to go next, says to take firewater to the Frost Giants, and leaves me with a new unfamiliar word to puzzle over: Ismater. Before following his directions, I head to the shops again to stock up on Provisions.

After a day's uneventful travel along a little-used pass, I reach a junction. One turning leads the way the Dark Elf said to go, but there's a weathered sign indicating that the other one goes to a place with a name that starts with 'Is-' and ends in '-er', so I investigate that first. Not entirely surprisingly, it leads to a village named Ismater. I risk spending a day doing manual labour to earn a bit more money, and then visit a tavern, which appears not to charge for the food and drink I get there. A grey-robed individual with a scar and a tattoo is watching me, so I stroll across to make conversation.

Night Dragon actually has three non-standard characteristics to track. Time and Honour are nothing new, but there's also Nemesis, which reflects the extent to which I have made myself noticeable to the fanatics who serve the Night Dragon. So far I've only acquired one Nemesis point, following the fracas in the tanner's workshop. No doubt some of the late Assassin's associates caught up with the fleeing tanner, who may have told them a less than entirely accurate account of the fight, downplaying his own substantial contribution to the outcome. Regardless, I am not yet notorious enough for the scarred man to be certain that I'm the person he seems to think I might be, so when I approach him, he makes his excuses and leaves. I attempt to follow and see where he goes, but he eludes me.

As I'm wandering around the village anyway, I decide to see if it contains anything of note. There are two potentially significant shops: the Firewater Emporium and a place with a weathered sign that appears to read 'EVIL'. Remembering the most recent dying Dark Elf's words, I first pop into the former establishment to buy a bottle of intoxicating spirits. Then I try the other place on the off-chance that the grey-robed mob have situated their local headquarters in the most unsubtle venue imaginable and can be eavesdropped upon. In this regard I am disappointed, as it turns out to be a junk shop owned by a man named Nevill, who needs to repaint the sign. Amidst the useless clutter (which, judging by the illustration, includes a Facehugger in a jar!) I find a few items that could be worth having, and I buy another Luck potion and a dose of Poison Antidote.

Nevill looks like the sort of person who keeps his ear to the ground, so I casually ask if he knows anything about the Conclave of Dragons. Alarmed at the possibility of being overheard, he pushes me out of the shop, at the same time whispering a warning that if I accept an offer of help from a Dragon, that Dragon will die.

Before leaving Ismater, I spend my remaining gold on more Provisions. Now it's time I was heading to the Conclave, and the book provides nonsensical directions for doing so: at the last junction Ismater was to the north-east, and the conclave was north-north-west, yet the text advises me to head east-north-eastwards to get from Ismater to the conclave. What's the betting that the author or editor of this book has a few birds of prey in his toolbox?

The path is uneven, and I stumble, twisting my ankle. After a while, a Green Dragon flies towards me and carries me to the cave where the Conclave is being held. Somehow this doesn't qualify as the sort of assistance that would doom a Dragon, though I know from a past attempt at the book that accepting a ride after I've spoken with the Conclave will cause the Dragon to die. Nastily.

Anyway, the Dragons of the Conclave tell me (purely as a matter of academic interest, I'm sure) that the humans who defeated the Night Dragon before used three magic items: a sword which is now located in the Mist Crypts to the south-west, armour crafted by the dwarven artisans of Slate Peak, to the north-west, and a shield which is currently owned by the Frost Giants to the south-east. The Night Dragon itself is somewhere to the north: the Dragons here don't know exactly where, but the Loremaster does, and I'll meet him if I find the three magic items needed. He also has an unlikely-looking servant whom I might encounter if I get lucky. And now that we've had this nice chat, if I should happen to start looking for the items in the hope of using them to kill the Night Dragon, that's entirely my own business, and the Dragons of the Conclave cannot in any way be held responsible for the consequences, right?

Those who expressed an opinion following my previous post were in favour of my breaking playthroughs into smaller instalments if that helped me get back to posting less infrequently, and the revelation of the three sub-quests lying ahead seems like a good point to take a break and post the story so far. I'll try to get my next post up before the end of next month.

That Don't Leave No Time Left to Play

Apologies for the lack of updates here of late. I haven't given up on this blog, but there's currently a lot going on in other areas of my life, keeping me from giving it much attention.

Much of this is good stuff. I have an actual job again - only part-time, but that's still much better than being unemployed. Thanks to this blog, I've also become a playtester for some new mini-gamebooks (unpaid, but worthwhile). That does, of course, take up a lot of what time I do have for playing gamebooks, as it takes multiple attempts at an adventure to make sure it all hangs together (or identify the places where it doesn't and help fix them). Then there are other interests and responsibilities, friends and family...

It doesn't help that the next playthrough for here is for another gamebook that takes a long while to complete successfully (and, thus, could also take a significant time to fail, depending on how close to the end I get before reaching a bad ending). I've made some progress in it, but I doubt that I'm even half way yet. Would readers be interested in split playthroughs (as I did for Slaves of the Abyss) if taking 2+ posts to get through an adventure meant that updates here would become less infrequent?

Anyway, I hope this reassures anyone who's still keeping an eye on this blog that I shall be continuing with it. I promise not to leave it so long before the next update.

I Don't Think Much of Your Hospitality

I have memories of reading some of The Jungle of Horrors, the eighth of Joe Dever's Lone Wolf books, at my grandparents' home, and vague impressions suggesting that that was during a school holiday rather than on a normal Friday. These recollections mainly focus on the voyage by river that can be taken during the book, and as I'm planning on taking that route again for this playthrough, I shan't say any more about those sequences until I reach them in this attempt at the book.

I also remember reading the final section, which enabled me to finally get the point of something I'd read in an unrelated gamebook some time before. That one was the first of the Zork gamebooks, a series which made so little an impact on me that I've never bothered trying to get my own copies. The one detail that did grab my attention was the anti-cheater ending: a check for an item not available in the book, which sent readers claiming to have the object in question to a fail ending where they were reprimanded for their misbehaviour. This reprimand included a comment along the lines of, 'You're probably the type of person that reads the last section first, too.' When I came across that section while flicking through the book (in a branch of WHSmith, as I recall), I couldn't see what was so bad about reading the ending ahead of time. But in Jungle, the final section makes the correct decision in the book's last choice obvious. Not that it would have been that tricky to work out even without advance knowledge of the ending, but the experience made me more wary of such looking ahead from then on.

Jungle was also the book in which I experienced one of the most frustrating failures of my early nineties 'play through the whole series in order, and go back to the start of book 1 after every defeat' folly. Partly because it was a rubbish ending – an optional detour serving no purpose but to provide the opportunity to get knocked into a ravine and die – but also because it happened so close to the start of the next term that I wasn't going to have time to get through the series before I had to travel back to Swansea. And as I was using public transport for the journey, and would be carrying all my luggage on my own, adding a dozen books (or even just eleven books and my rapid guide to the first one) to my case or rucksack did not appeal. So a whole term had to go by before I could get back to my attempt at the whole saga.

That's enough reminiscing for now. Time to get on with the adventure, which means deciding which new Discipline to add to the line-up, and picking extra equipment from whatever is offered. As I indicated the last time I was making such a decision, I'm picking my Disciplines with Lore-Circles in mind, and if I want to complete the Lore-Circle that provides the highest Combat Skill bonus before I reach the first 'Die, long-standing reader, die!' fight, I need to get either Psi-Surge or Nexus now, and the other of those two next. I remember some circumstances in which Nexus is important, but they're in the next book in the series, so this time I'll go for Psi-Surge.

I also get to select a new weapon proficiency. As I'm unlikely to wind up in a situation where I can use neither my bow nor the Sommerswerd (that was last book), it probably doesn't matter, so I'll choose Axe, in memory of Lone Wolf's first weapon. As for equipment selection, I'll get a new rope, a healing potion, a couple of extra Fireseeds, and a replacement quiver of arrows. I'll also retrieve a helping of the Combat Skill-enhancing Alether berries I put into storage at the Kai monastery. Not entirely sure how I manage to nip there and back when it's hundreds of miles away, but the rules say I can store excess gold there, and thanks to the money pouch provided at the equipment selection stage, I'm 16 coins above my limit. Besides, this book also introduces restrictions on the number of Special Items I can carry, and says anything above the limit must be stashed at the monastery. If I'm going all that way just to drop off some spare cash and assorted clutter, I can retrieve a bit of Alether, too, right?

Some significant things have happened between books. The Elder Magi taught me about a prophecy concerning the 'sons of the sun', two men born centuries apart, but both destined to seek the help of the Elder Magi in the course of a quest, and to oppose the forces of darkness at a time of great peril. The first, identified in the prophecy with a name meaning 'eagle', was Sun Eagle, the first Kai Grand Master. The name given to the second in the prophecy translates as 'wolf'. Wonder who that could be...

The location of the third Lorestone I seek has been discovered: the Temple of Ohrido, the Elder Magi's most sacred place of worship. Which is rather less accessible than the description might suggest: after a plague wiped out a load of the Elder Magi, they abandoned the Danarg, the region in which the temple was situated, and since then it's become a swamp-jungle inhabited by a variety of unpleasant creatures.

Oh, and the Darklord civil war that started after I killed their ruler back in book 5 has finally ended. Their new ruler, Gnaag, has united the other survivors of the conflict under his banner, and they are likely to start causing bother for the civilised world quite soon, so the sooner I complete my quest, the better.

On my journey to the Danarg, I am to be accompanied by Paido, the hero of the mini-adventure in the Mongoose edition of Jungle. He's the Vakeros (warrior-mage) who travelled with me in section 1 of the previous book. For a brief time we also have an even more illustrious escort, but news of an invasion by Zegron, Warlord of Xanar, forces him to return to his cousin, the Queen of this region, to help prepare for war. He provides us with a Pass that will guarantee the cooperation of any loyal subject of the realm, and 21st-century Joe Dever gives a vote of no confidence in his readers by adding a warning against throwing away the Pass. Okay, it's a Special Item, so I need to ditch something to make room for it, but is there really much risk of a player going, 'Well, the Pass would help keep me out of needless fights with soldiers, but then there's this key that I picked up several books ago that might somehow come in handy in the middle of the jungle, so I think I'd better just go with the collateral damage,'?

Paido and I must now decide whether to complete the next stage of our journey, oddly referred to in the book as 'the first leg', as if the days of travel that help pad section 1 out to 4-odd pages in length don't count. We can go by road or by barge, and I've generally picked the barge when playing this before, so I'll stick with what I know well. Our departing escort has paid our fares for us and arranged to have a private cabin made available. A pretty poor-quality cabin, as it turns out (and the revised text takes care to point out that the patches of mould on the walls are 'unsightly', lest any reader think them picturesque), but mixed in with the junk stored in it is a nutritious liqueur, which I add to my pack.

Paido and I go up on deck to get away from the unpleasant smell of the cabin. After a while, a storm threatens, and the Captain urges us to go back below. Reluctant to return to the cabin, Paido suggests we check out the barge's tap-room, and offers to buy me a pint, and I am directed to the same section to which I'd have turned if I'd chosen to head straight for the tap-room rather than checking out the cabin. I wonder if any reader who headed straight for the bar gets to find out what a dump the cabin is.

The tap-room is busy, and offers a choice of three ales. Paido chooses Ferina Nog, which I remember from my first attempt at the book as ranking slightly below the cheaper export lagers in terms of drinkability. I could go for Chai-cheer, which is more palatable, but my character developed a taste for Bor Brew a few books ago, so that's my choice. Upon hearing me place my order, many of the patrons express doubts about my sanity, and even the barman backs off quickly after setting the tankard in front of me. The Mongoose edit here is one of the better ones, doing away with the implication that I down the drink in one. Sensible, though that will make it that bit more embarrassing if I fail the sobriety roll.

I don't fail, and the others in the bar are impressed when I demonstrate the ability to hold my drink. There's a particularly clunky Mongoose edit here, spelling out the nature of my achievement in needless detail. Now that I've drunk without passing out, Paido tries his beer - and promptly spits it out as he finds out how bad it tastes. The man into whose helmet he spat it is unimpressed, and tips the spat-out Ferina Nog onto Paido's shoes. Paido goes for his sword. I'm tempted to sit back and see how Mr. Dever contrives a way to defuse the situation if I don't intervene to calm things down, but I step in anyway, just in case inaction leads to one of the series' more ridiculous Instant Deaths (though even getting randomly killed in a bar fight wouldn't be anywhere near the worst ending that the Lone Wolf books have to offer).

I point out to Paido that the man whose helmet he defiled wears the uniform of the troops garrisoned at our next port of call and, Pass or no Pass, starting a fight with one of their number is not going to do us any favours. He sees reason, apologises, and offers to buy the soldier a drink. This offer is accepted - provided the drink in question isn't Ferina Nog.

Over a round of Chai-cheer (oddly renamed Chai-caveat in the first edition) we become friends. The soldier, named Trost, is returning to the garrison after visiting his family. Silence falls as a fancily-dressed man steps into the centre of the tap-room, introducing himself as Count Conundrum. He intends to baffle everyone with puzzles, and is offering money to anyone who can solve the first one. 27 years ago this was the only one of his puzzles that I wasn't able to figure out. By now, I've worked out how to solve that one as well. Should have put more coins into storage at the monastery, as I have to take 15 Gold Crowns out of my pouch to make room for the 60 Lune (local currency, equivalent in value and size to 15 Crowns) I win from the increasingly disgruntled Count.

As has happened before, modern-day Joe Dever has unnecessarily edited each 'right answer' section to specify that it is the correct answer to the puzzle from section such-and-such. Each such section has my character showing off the reasoning that produced the correct answer anyway, so even in the unlikely event of a reader getting a wrong answer that happens to be the right answer to a different puzzle, the error would soon become apparent.

The barge makes a stop, and I go up on deck to watch the departing passengers. A man with a hat, dark clothes, a sword and a leather-bound book comes aboard. He attempts to probe my mind, but I'm experienced enough that my Psi-screen protects me. Going back below, I spot the sinister stranger in the tap-room. Trost recognises him as a wanted man, Kezoor the Necromancer, and offers a share of the reward money if I'll help capture him. Even with a three-way split, drastically rounding my share down, I'd still need over a dozen extra money pouches to carry the loot, but I'll help anyway because I don't like it when people try to snoop on my thoughts. Besides, I don't think there's any way of evading this fight.

I'm chosen to guard the way out while Paido and Trost apprehend the Necromancer. Guess how well this plan works. Hint: within seconds, Trost is covered in boils and writhing on the floor. Onlookers cheer as a sword fight breaks out between Paido and Kezoor, but they're less keen to be watching when the Necromancer summons a horde of big spiders. They converge on Paido, and if I were unwilling to fire my bow at this juncture, I'd now be turning to 291. I do fire, though, and despite having to wait for screaming passengers to stop interfering with my line of sight, my shot is on target. Not lethal, but Kezoor's not going to get much use out of that arm for a while.

The Necromancer summons more of those spiders, but Paido uses his battle magic to incinerate them, and the two of us converge on Kezoor. He's a competent swordsman, but no match for the two of us, and we barely take any damage in the fight. Paido decapitates the corpse to ensure that it won't rise up to avenge Kezoor's slaying, and we then turn our attention to Trost. Who is by now a charred corpse, covered in burned spiders. By this stage any Magnakai-era veterans of the rpg.net Lone Wolf playthrough must be kicking themselves - that's up to three new alcoholic beverages, three puzzles and one doomed companion that they missed by opting to walk rather than take the barge.

The barge Captain demands compensation for the damage done during the fight, so Paido tells him to take the cost of the repairs out of the reward money and give the rest to Trost's family. Once he knows who we were fighting, the Captain is less concerned about fixing the place up anyway, reasoning that charging people to see where the infamous Necromancer met his end is likely to be more profitable.

I turn my attention to the book Kezoor was reading. Divination tells me that it's not magically protected, but also warns that it contains details of vile acts and rituals. I don't think reading about such things will provide any assistance as regards preventing them, so I don't look inside.

The bodies are disposed of - Trosts's with honours, Kezoor's just weighted with bricks and dumped overboard - and the barge continues to its next stop, where a couple of farmers disembark, doubtless eager to gossip about the events that occurred on the journey. Nothing significant occurs on the last leg of the barge trip, and that Pass ensures our entry to the town of Tharro. There's no 'If you do not have the Pass' option in either version of the book, eighties Joe Dever having relied on his readers' common sense, while his older self has evidently assumed that nobody would disregard his warning (or deliberately defy him in protest at being treated like an idiot).

Three streets lead from the square beyond the town gate. I pick Globe Walk, which leads to a square in which a sign points down an alley. There's no mention of anything written on the sign, which makes me that bit more curious, so I head down the alley. It's lined with shops, most of them closed, but a mapmaker's is still open, so I go in. The proprietress greets me and shows off some of her handiwork. I ask about maps of the Danarg, and she starts to cry. She and her father were on an expedition into that very jungle when he was killed by a creature that lived there, and one of her hands was scarred in the fight. Her notes and equipment were lost, but she does recall seeing the Temple I seek from the top of a 'Scarlet Tor' situated on firm ground around thirty miles from the end of the track leading to the jungle.

Returning to Globe Walk, I continue north, presumably still accompanied by Paido, though he hasn't been mentioned for a while, and reach a quadrangle. An imposing building bears a flaming sword-shaped sign that reads 'Temple of the Sword', and beyond it a track leads to a watchtower. The Mongoose edit has fixed some bad grammar here, and also sorted the different options into a more sensible order. I don't have a map of Tharro (wherever you have to go to get one, it's obviously not the local mapmaker's) or Pathsmanship, so I miss out on some hints about the region, but that flaming sword reminds me of my own magical weapon, so I decide to check out the Temple.

An old man greets us and leads us to a refectory. A monk brings us bowls of stew, and at this point I must act on metaknowledge because Divination is slacking again. Between my memories of past attempts at the book and the fact that referring to The Magnamund Companion reveals the 'blessing' the monk said over the stew to be Giak for, 'Die in pain,' I think I'll abstain from eating.

The books are inconsistent regarding Lone Wolf's knowledge of the Giak tongue: I couldn't understand what was yelled by one of the Giaks attacking Banedon back in the first book, and obviously I'm not expected to have understood the 'blessing', or the text would have said something, but in book 2 I was able to understand the scroll carried by my would-be assassin, which was written in Giak. Obviously it's possible to know a written language without being able to understand the spoken version - otherwise deaf people couldn't learn to read - but given the potential advantages of being able to make sense of what enemy troops are saying, it's odd that I've apparently not bothered trying to learn spoken Giak.

While I've been waffling on about this minor annoyance, Paido has eaten his stew. There's no way of preventing him from doing so, as far as I can tell. The monks are perturbed at my refusal to eat, and fetch a black-robed monk who carries a black iron staff. He asks if Paido has eaten, and the monks state that he did and I didn't. A little belatedly, Divination kicks in and lets me know that I'm in the presence of great evil. I draw my bow, not because I'm expecting to achieve much with an arrow, but because doing so may allow me to finish healing the 'didn't eat' damage before the inevitable fight breaks out.

The black-robed monk orders the two others present to 'summon the brothers'. I manage to shoot one of them, but the other gets out of the refectory and slams the door behind him. I've finished healing by now, so I draw the Sommerswerd and attack. The monk parries my blow with his staff, and Paido cries out and collapses. While I'm distracted, the monk launches a psychic attack, but Psi-screen blocks it. He then drops his disguise, transforming into the hideous shape of a Helghast. And a remarkably powerful one, too: its Combat Skill is significantly higher than that of the Darklord I had to fight at the end of book 5. At least it's vulnerable to Psi-surge, and while using that Discipline costs me Endurance, the expense is justified by the extra damage I'll inflict (and the slightly reduced damage I'll take) as a result of using it. I'll further improve my odds by taking that Alether, as I'm pretty sure this is the toughest fight in the book.

Too tough for me on this occasion: a series of poor rolls meant that I wound up dying, and the Helghast narrowly survived. Still, it was just a string of low numbers that doomed me there, so I shouldn't have to redesign my character to have a chance of winning on a subsequent attempt (good thing too, as I'd have to replay at least the preceding book as well for any changes in Discipline selection to make enough of a difference).

Incidentally, as I've so often been critical of edits made for the Mongoose Books reissues, I think it only fair to point out that the section covering this fight contained a serious error in the first edition (referring to Combat Skill rather than Endurance when describing the effect of the Helghast's psychic attack if Lone Wolf lacks Psi-screen), which has been put right in the newer version.

Out of curiosity, I worked out what the outcome of the fatal fight would have been if I hadn't bothered with Psi-surge. I wouldn't have died so quickly, and based on what I rolled for the additional rounds, the Helghast would have died at the same time I did, but I still wouldn't have survived. Still, that does make me wonder if it really is worth using Psi-surge after all in this instance. Food for thought when I replay the book.