Post by thealmightymudworm on Aug 28, 2017 4:42:26 GMT
Following on from the discussion thread, this is the start of a collaborative amateur gamebook. If anyone's interested in getting involved, they should post about it there (holding back on any crucial twists and other details) and/or PM me.
Edit (22 March 2020): If you give this a playthrough, you might want to comment below.
If so please start by saying how long the adventure is when you tried it.
Eg "Played this through when it was 131 sections long" or "Played this through when the latest scene was the one starting at section 103." Thanks.
Credits:
Based on an idea by deadshadowrunner
Introduction by thealmightymudworm
Scene starting at para 1 by thealmightymudworm
Scene starting at para 5 by babbagefart with edits/additions by thealmightymudworm
Scene starting at para 6 by thealmightymudworm
Scene starting at para 29 by kieran
Scene starting at para 83 by stevendoig
Scene starting at para 98 by thealmightymudworm (h/t daredevil123 )
Scene starting at para 103 by stevendoig with edits/additions by thealmightymudworm (added 22 March 2020)
Scene starting at para 137 by thealmightymudworm (added 23 July 2020)
Scene starting at para 182 by thealmightymudworm (added 30 July 2020)
(to be continued...)
Roll for SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK as usual. You also have a TRAIL score which starts at zero.
Introduction
It was a crisp, beautiful autumn afternoon when you wandered into Carey's Curios. You usually drop in once a week or so to see if anything special has been brought in. Carey nods a greeting as always, but you see immediately that he is troubled. He beckons for you to follow him to the back of the shop.
"Tell me what you make of this." he says, gesturing to a small pile of clothes: a shirt, trousers, sturdy boots, leather armour and a sword in its scabbard. You look back at him, puzzled. "Were these delivered?"
"Not really. There was someone in them when they arrived, but I never saw him come in – just turned round and he was there, already struggling out of his things. Scared the life out of me. Then he hobbled over to the counter – seemed to be in quite a bad way – and spluttered a couple of things at me.
"First he said, 'Fear the great beasts!' and then, 'Hide this and don't call the birds.' before slamming this crystal ball-thing down on the counter and shambling out of the door. He was barefoot – almost naked in fact."
Whilst Carey has been talking you've been inspecting the clothing. The shirt and trousers are not in your size, but the boots could fit over your shoes and the leather armour could fit you too. Most fascinating of all is the sword – you remember your swordsmanship training from a few years back, but you've never raised a weapon in anger. This battered blade still has a sharp edge and traces of fresh blood.
You look at the bundle Carey has produced from behind the counter. It seems to be an object no bigger than your fist, wrapped in a dark red cloth, which weighs more than you expect when you pick it up. "Have you unwrapped it yet?"
"I tried once," says Carey, "and the strangest thing happened: a bird appeared from nowhere. I didn't see it fly in. So I put the cloth back over, caught the bird and put it in one of the cages. But when I looked again it was… ARRRGH!"
You spin round to see the face of a gigantic wolf, clear and colourless as a still lake, peering in through the doorway. As you watch, transfixed, the shopfront shimmers and the beast, twice as tall as you, begins to pass through. Carey dashes towards the back room, but you can only duck behind the counter as it begins to pad towards you…
In desperation, you take out the glass sphere – perhaps it is why the wolf is here and even if it isn't it might be used as a distraction – and glance down at it. At the centre is a bird facing you with its long beak opened in a threatening fashion. You fancy you glimpse the silvery word 'Aleff' in the crystal-clear glass. Then the orb darkens.
Immediately you feel a hand on your shoulder – no, not a hand, a pair of feet belonging to a bird which has settled on you from nowhere. You flinch as it swishes its blade-like beak from side to side. When you look back in front of you there are two more, then three. They are a grubby white hue at the front though you can see traces of colours on the upper side of the wings as well as a greenish stripe down their backs. You guess they might look spectacular from above with their wings spread.
Suddenly one swoops in from the far side of the shop – over dozens of others now pacing around – and banks so the white breast is about to hit your face... Then everything goes black and you know not where you are.
Turn to 1.
1.
Unaccustomed as you are to the mysterious Aleff, you are unprepared for the ground to have shifted beneath your feet and you nearly tumble down the barren hillside on which you find yourself. You have the Aleff, re-wrapped, and sword, boots and armour from the shop. You also still have your knapsack, containing only the two very large sandwiches you'd made to get you through the day (enough for two provisions). Recovering your balance you look around you: in the distance is a tower from which smoke appears to be rising. A little closer in another direction is a hayfield, but the only landmark close to you is a stout tree.
To your surprise you spot a dishevelled man edging along a branch towards a bird – a white dove – which he abruptly lunges for and grabs, falling to the ground in the process. He looks so exhausted and wild eyed that you almost expect him to eat it, but instead he caresses it gently until it is calm before tying it to a heavy rucksack by the tree with a loose thread. He settles down and begins to write something on a strip of parchment as long as your forearm but no wider than your finger.
Quite suddenly, he becomes aware of your presence, snatches up his sword and leaps to his feet, glaring at you suspiciously. "What are you and who do you serve?!"
Unfortunately your first response to this question is a stifled guffaw: this is the first time you have seen the man's greasy hair swept away from his brow and you are startled to see his face is daubed with a crude image of an exploding horse. There is nothing funny about his stare, however, which is wild and fearful.
A quick answer is needed…
"I have been brought here by magic" Turn to 2.
"I am fleeing an enemy I do not understand" Turn to 3.
2.
3.
4.
5.
You come to your senses quickly. You are in a small room – a cell by the look of things. A few bundles of hay are strewn across the stone floor, presumably to provide bedding for inmates, but this is the only furnishing of any kind. The place is dark and your attention is drawn to a skirmish in the corner between two people who don't appear to have noticed your sudden arrival. On the floor a young man is bleeding from a wound in his throat and on top of him a muscular Easterner with tattoos and a headband is trying to finish him off with a long, sharp pin. This is clearly a fight to the death.
You have been thrown in at the deep end this time.
If you would like to aid the wounded man and attack the unsuspecting Easterner, turn to 30.
If you would prefer to try to side with the Easterner, who looks to be the stronger of the two, and deal a killing blow to the wounded man, turn to 31.
If you would rather simply wait in the corner to see who wins and then come up with a plan, turn to 32.
Alternatively you could quickly use the Aleff to transport you away from this mess. If so, turn to 33.
6.
You focus on the bird which has wet feathers and a patch of extra plumage over one eye. As if in reply, it soars upwards and then just as suddenly plunges steeply toward your face. At the last moment you instinctively blink, but the bird never touches you…
…instead you snap your eyes open to the sting of saltwater! You are deep under the ocean, near the sea bed! Unable even to get your bearings for a moment, you cast your eyes one way and another and see a gleam of sunlight in what must be the upward direction – but a considerable distance away. In pure terror you thrash your limbs around frantically and scream, losing your breath and opening your lungs to a rush of cold water. You begin to choke…
Then something snags your ankle and hoicks you back down to the ocean floor with some force. You feel your surroundings change again and you are slapped firmly down against a hard floor. Coughing out your mouthful of water you gasp gratefully at the air. Suddenly exhausted, you lie still and flat, staring at the blurred ground as the sea water slowly escapes your eyes and ears. Shortly, the latter clear enough to receive the end of a tirade of insults.
"…imbecile! Moron! Stupider than a sea-ogre! Oaf!"
You turn to see an old man staring at you in frustrated disbelief. Then he bursts out laughing.
"Actually, that was the funniest thing I've seen in years." He mimics your desperately flailing limbs. "My name is Greylock. I thought my last visitor was clueless but he had the excuse of being thrown overboard – you seem to have delivered yourself here. Might I ask how?"
Once you finally get your breath back, will you…
Tell the truth? Turn to 7
Make something up? Turn to 8
7.
You open your pack – which has remained surprisingly dry inside – and take out the Aleff in its cloth before disrobing it for Greylock. His eyes widen.
"The Aleff! I heard a story about it years ago but dismissed it as a fantasy. No wonder your arrival was chaotic. No, no, put it away! If the stories are true it works by summoning birds through the dimensions, does it not? If Tiddles tries to catch one he might be the one to get transported away – and knowing his luck he'll end up being eaten by an orange blob or something."
It is the first time that you've spotted the cat. He is a black, fluffy creature, who looks like he gets plenty of fish but not much exercise – and who couldn't catch a bird if they were tied up in a sack together. This is hardly surprising since while the house is dry, seawater comes right to the door, held back by some powerful magic.
"I see you've just noticed my cat." Greylock observes, "You're only alive because his excitement at seeing you alerted me to your plight. He spends a lot of time staring out through the door. In fact that reminds me: would you be interested in taking on a dangerous task to help out my cat?"
Yes – turn to 9
No – turn to 27
8.
You do not feel comfortable revealing everything to this seemingly powerful stranger – but it is difficult to come up with a plausible story which explains your arrival point.
"I was out swimming near the shore when this huge shark dragged me under, you stammer, and it brought me all the way down here before deciding it didn't like my taste."
Greylock stares at you, unimpressed. As he replies he takes out a wand and traces a square around you like a frame.
"Do you often go swimming with a heavy backpack and a sword? I suppose the leather armour explains your un-punctured state. What was the name of the shore you were swimming out from?"
He pauses and then as you hesitate he adds, drily, "At least make up an amusing name to colour the story."
An uncomfortable silence follows. At length Greylock speaks again.
"I was hoping that you could help me out with something, but there's no point if I can't trust you. My magic is sufficient to tell me that you came here by some sort of teleportation device. I suggest you use it again. Try not to place yourself in open sky or anything like that."
Glumly you take out the Aleff and stare into it. You worry for a moment that the birds might not be able to reach you down here, but they start to appear as before.
Two seem to jostle for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
9.
"Tiddles doesn't get out much, for reasons that must be even more obvious to you than anyone else." Greylock explains, "Some would say it is cruel of me to have brought him down here as cats like to wander. But I can arrange for him to explore a little from time to time."
So saying, he produces a beautiful silver pearl from a drawer and intones a magic word: 'Bro-zy-ttik!' and to your amazement it grows to 20 times its size and takes on a ghostly, shimmering look. The cat immediately trots over to the pearl without any prompting and somehow climbs into it, though you can see no opening. Greylock picks up pearl and cat and takes them over to the doorway, pushing them into the water. The pearl begins to move around, apparently in response to the movements of the cat inside.
"As you can see, silver pearls are of value to me – all the more so because with that spell on them they break down in the water after a few dozen hours. I don't suppose you have any with you?"
You shake your head.
"No matter! I know where you may be able to find some. I received a message in a bottle from a recent visitor. It was from a visitor from some time ago, one of the pentagram lot, and the letter said something about how he was stuck on an island with the shape of a skull and if I helped him he had some silver pearls to pay me with. At least I think that's what he's saying – the letter was quite muddled"
Whilst he's been talking, Greylock has wandered over to the window and now seems to be blowing bubbles out in between sentences.
"It's a little inconvenient for me to go myself, but perhaps you could pop over and see what he wants."
At that moment, something hurtles towards the doorway and you dive for cover. When you recover your position you see a mermaid has arrived and is standing on the point of her slippery silvery-grey tail in an impressive feat of balance and sheer muscular power. You have never seen a mermaid before and are startled by her appearance: sharp-featured with a baleful gaze and red hair slicked down her back, you marvel at how her athletic upper body joins seamlessly to her fishy lower half. You are somewhat uncomfortable looking as she is entirely unclothed. You stare at the point where her scalier half meets the floor.
"Oi!" snaps the mermaid, "Stop looking at my tail!"
"Selachimorpha will take you to the island." Greylock explains, "You will have to just hold your breath until you arrive I'm afraid, but it won't be for long. Go and stand by the doorway, facing out please. When you need to return, blow Selachimorpha's name into the water."
Then to the mermaid, Greylock adds alarmingly, "Don't bite this one."
Before you can react, you are grabbed from behind and propelled head-first into the water with some force. Turn to 10.
10.
You hurtle through the water at tremendous speed, terrified of losing your breath but sure that you are nearing the surface. Then you feel the unmistakeable sensation of the mermaid sinking her teeth into your hip. They feel remarkably sharp.
Will you...
Grit your teeth and try to last it out? Turn to 11.
Turn and lash out? Turn to 12.
11.
The pain is intense – deduct 2 STAMINA points – but brief as just a count of 10 later you burst through the surface of the water and feel Selachimorpha detach from you before you both land on a sandy beach. Her skill allowed a sudden drop of pace and there is no impact.
With an unpleasant look on her face, Selachimorpha blows you a kiss with lips wet with your own blood, before flipping back into the water. You shudder and walk up the beach nursing your hip. You have been deposited right in front of a cave. This cannot be a coincidence.
Turn to 13.
12.
You yank out your sword and jab clumsily at the mermaid's head. Immediately she stops biting ...and swimming. Looking up, you see that you are indeed near the surface, but you can now feel a hand gripping your ankle. Selachimorpha is spitefully holding you down. You must fight her.
SELACHIMORPHA SKILL 10 STAMINA 18
Selachimorpha attacks by attempting to club your legs and lower body with her powerful tail. She does damage as normal.
The first time you win an attack round, turn to 14.
If you lose (and/or draw) three attack rounds, turn to 15.
13.
You trudge up the beach and pick your way into the cave. The tunnel immediately winds round to the left but does not darken as quickly as you would have expected. You begin to fancy you can hear a faint noise, like a small snuffling creature or a muttering human.
The tunnel makes another sharp turn to the left ...and you reel back as you come face to face with a glowing skeleton!
You stagger backwards and raise your sword. The skeleton, which appears to be leaning up against the wall, twitches and moves slightly as if to look at you. At the same time you hear the background noise stop, and it is replaced by someone or something pacing towards you.
Will you...
Strike down the skeleton and prepare to fight whatever is coming to join you? Turn to 16.
Wait and see what happens? Turn to 17.
14.
The first time your sword bites into the mermaid's flesh – little more than a nick – she relinquishes her grip on you and plunges to the depths at speed. Even though the surface is close, you struggle up to reach it, sucking in water in the last few moments. Fortunately little reaches your lungs before you can choke it up and drift in towards the island on the tide. As you near the sands, you see a cave close by.
Note on your Adventure Sheet that you cannot call for Selachimorpha, and turn to 13.
15.
Your flailing attacks make you ever more desperate for a fresh breath, but the mermaid is too agile for you and refuses to let you go. At last you suck water into your lungs and your sword slips from your grasp. The mermaid releases you, but it is too late and you can only gaze longingly up at the sunlight on the surface as you drown.
16.
The skeleton is unable to prevent you swinging a heavy blow at its chest region which slips between two ribs and shatters its spine. It crumples in a heap. But you have barely withdrawn your sword when a bearded man hurtles towards you out of the darkness, shrieking and hacking at you with a sword-like weapon.
CAVE-DWELLER SKILL 9 STAMINA 6
Deduct 1 from your Attack Strength for the length of this battle as you are not as accustomed to the dark as your opponent.
If you win, turn to 28.
17.
A scrawny, dishevelled man shambles out of the darkness, brandishing a sword-like object – possibly taken from the remains of a swordfish. He gestures to the skeleton which awkwardly hops twice to stand alongside him. It seems not to be fully functional somehow. The man begins to speak, apparently with some difficulty.
"Us disturb what why? Make talk good or make dead."
That seems clear enough. Will you...
Show him the Aleff? Turn to 18.
Tell him you have come from Greylock? Turn to 19.
18.
You tell the man about your experience in the shop and on the hillside, explaining slowly as his wits seem addled. But as you present the cloth-covered orb from your pack he seems to catch on only too well.
"Freedom!" he cries, snatching it from your grasp. Before you can react, he shoves the skeleton at you and runs back into the cave, gazing into the Aleff as he goes.
The skeleton is of little danger to you, but it scrabbles at you and its ribs and fingers snag your clothing, allowing the man several seconds to run ahead. Moments later there are birds fluttering in his vicinity and then ...nothing. Even the skeleton has vanished.
You have lost the Aleff, and with it your only chance of leaving this world. Whether or not you try to return to Greylock your adventure ends here.
19.
It takes only a couple of sentences from you and especially the name 'Greylock' for the man to become lucid once more.
"Yes! Yes! I put that message in a bottle a few years back." He looks uncertain. "I had already been here for some time by then. My name is Morgan by the way.
"I'd been trying to get home but that damn dolphin misunderstood and dumped me here. I built a boat well enough but I'm far too weak now to row the great distance home fuelled by a few fish – even if my navigation by the stars were perfect.
"I remembered that Greylock had taught me how to raise skeletons using pairs of black pearls. I thought if I could raise one which would fight for me maybe it could be made to row for me too. The trouble was I only had one black pearl and I didn't even think it was worth trying. I was so happy for a moment when I thought it had worked ...and then I understood."
So saying, he gestures to the skeleton. "Come here, Boney Hop-Hop." he says, and as the skeleton bounces over to Morgan on one foot you see that only its left side is animated, with the right shoulder, arm and ribs slumped and the right leg dragging.
"I trained him to row! I did! We tried to go for it – to take the boat and go home. But he can only do one side. I tried to do the other side to compensate but he's so much stronger than I am, pumping away furiously with that stupid death grin." Morgan's voice is rising as he becomes more agitated, "We started spinning faster and faster on the spot and I had to be sick over the side. And then the boat was rocking so much that it dunked my head after each stroke. And then I fell in! And had to cling to the side as it swung round and round and round and round and round and ...DON'T YOU LAUGH AT ME!!"
In fact you had managed to stop yourself from laughing, but Morgan is sounding quite unhinged now. Then he takes a step towards you and his voice drops to a normal tone, though it remains desperate and his eyes wide and wild,
"But you've got the black pearls? Haven't you?! At least one?! I found a pile of shellfish full of silver pearls at the back of the cave. I knew Greylock would help me if he only knew. Where are the black pearls?"
Suddenly you realise that Morgan intended to mention black pearls in his letter to Greylock, but in his addled state he left it unclear.
If you have some black pearls anyway and are prepared to trade, turn to 20.
If not, turn to 21.
20.
Morgan dashes to the back of the cave and returns with a large bag of pearls. For obvious reasons he is only interested in an odd number of black pearls. He will pay you 10 silver pearls for the all important first pearl and then 10 more for each additional pair of pearls. So you will gain 10 silver pearls in exchange for 1 black pearl, 20 for 3 or 30 for 5.
Then you watch as Morgan, calmer and chanting quietly, presses a pearl into the right eye socket of Boney Hop-Hop. The effect is remarkable. The skeleton gleams darkly – that is the only way to describe it – and after a moment's pause it raises its right hand in front of its face as if puzzled that it can move it. Then, unsteadily at first, it begins to walk. Morgan is delighted. He bids you farewell as he needs to go and work on making the boat seaworthy again.
The question is, can you return to Greylock with your new silver pearls? Can you call for Selachimorpha or is this now impossible?
If you can, turn to 25
Otherwise, you can only pull out the Aleff and gaze into it once more.
You watch the birds as they begin to appear and perch on the rock around you.
Two seem to be jostling for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
21.
Morgan lets out a howl when you tell him that you have no black pearls.
"No black pearls?? None?? THEN WHY DID YOU COME?! Are you here to laugh at me? Maybe offer yourself as food?!"
He raises his weapon high and charges at you. The skeleton follows, bouncing in his wake.
Will you fight? Turn to 22.
Or even now will you continue to try suggesting alternatives? Turn to 23.
22.
You must fight Morgan and Boney Hop-Hop simultaneously
MORGAN SKILL 9 STAMINA 6
BONEY HOP-HOP SKILL 4 STAMINA 4
If you win, turn to 28.
23.
It is impossible to stop Morgan slashing at you as you back away trying to reason with him. He catches you with two painful cuts. Deduct 4 STAMINA points. But have you anything worth telling him?
If you are still able to call to the mermaid, you could suggest he goes in your place, in which case turn to 24.
Otherwise you must belatedly defend yourself - turn to 22.
24.
Morgan struggles to stop himself attacking you. He stands gripping his weapon tightly and through gritted teeth hisses "Show me!"
You kneel by the water's edge and uncertainly blow Selachimorpha's name into the water. You are not as practised as Greylock and snort a lot of saltwater without being sure you're doing it right. A tense couple of minutes follows.
Then the water erupts (with a good measure of it smacking you in the face) and a mermaid crashes inelegantly down onto the beach. This is not Selachimorpha, but a shorter, broader creature who is less attractive than the first, but looks somewhat less 'bitey'. She introduces herself as Thunnini.
Morgan leaps into action, explaining who he is and that Greylock will want his pearls, ("The pearls! My pearls! My pearls!") and then scrambles back into the cave in such haste that he falls over repeatedly. You are left for a few moments with Thunnini who explains that Selachimorpha is unavailable as she is munching on the corpse of one of the Deep Ones. You explain about the one-sided skeleton. The two of you then discuss the weather for a bit.
At length Morgan returns clutching a triple-wrapped bag full of pearls tight to his chest. He pauses for a few moments over by Boney Hop-Hop and seems a little solemn as though wanting to say goodbye to a friend. Then he utters a magical word and the skeleton collapses, leaving only a black pearl. He gives you a cursory wave and then a few moments later he and the mermaid plunge into the water with an almighty splash.
You may take the single black pearl if you wish, but there is nothing else to do except gaze into the Aleff.
You watch the birds as they begin to appear and perch on the rock around you.
Two seem to be jostling for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
25.
You kneel by the water's edge and uncertainly blow Selachimorpha's name into the water. You are not as practised as Greylock and snort a lot of saltwater without being sure you're doing it right.
Then the water erupts (with a good measure of it smacking you in the face) and a mermaid crashes inelegantly down onto the beach. This is not Selachimorpha, but a shorter, broader creature who is less attractive than the first, but looks somewhat less 'bitey'. She introduces herself as Thunnini. She explains that Selachimorpha is unavailable as she is munching on the corpse of one of the Deep Ones. Once you have steeled yourself once more for the terrifying plunge, Thunnini wraps her arms around you and backflips into the water.
Soon – though it can't be soon enough – you are gasping the wholesome air of Greylock's abode once more. While you recover, Greylock appears to be compensating Thunnini for the job with some jewellery, though from the long explanation it seems to have some magical function. His cat appears to be fascinated by her.
Once she has made her exit, Greylock turns to you.
"Now then adventurer, I see you have some silver pearls to trade with me.
What would you like to buy?"
What indeed...
A potion of fortune?
A healing potion?
A potion of vaporous essence? (each potion costs 10 silver pearls)
Some provisions? (5 silver pearls)
A magic word which can create a skeleton from a pair of black pearls? (5 silver pearls)
A magic word which can create a monster from a black pearl and a silver pearl? (10 silver pearls)
Greylock will not force you to make purchases if you insist on holding on to your silver pearls – although he may come out with some choice comments. If you do make some purchases, complete them and then turn to 26 for more details.
Otherwise you take out the Aleff and stare into it.
You worry for a moment that the birds might not be able to reach you down here, but they start to appear as before.
Two seem to jostle for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
26.
Once he has sold them to you, Greylock explains what your purchases do in more detail:
The potion of fortune increases your initial LUCK by 1 point and brings your current LUCK to that number.
The potion of healing restores your STAMINA to its initial value.
The potion of vaporous essence will cause your body, clothes and possessions to dissolve into a mist which can flow through the smallest crack or hole. Your solid form will be restored after a few minutes. Greylock says that this will work on land as well as in the water, but suggests that you "...avoid high winds and suchlike."
If – and only if – you have purchased the following spell names you should write them down on your Adventure Sheet:
To make a skeleton from two black pearls: mubo-nsbiry-nam
To make a minor thassaloss from contrasting pearls: ype-ercy-kaerc
For provisions, Greylock gives you two – in the form of fish finger sandwiches. Greylock explains that fish with fingers are commonplace once you get deep enough – and are frankly rather a nuisance.
Once you have pocketed and/or memorised your purchases you take out the Aleff and stare into it.
You worry for a moment that the birds might not be able to reach you down here, but they start to appear as before.
Two seem to jostle for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
27.
Greylock becomes a little frosty at your refusal.
"I would have thought that you might have been a little more grateful, stranger, given how close you were to death. Furthermore you do not seem like a seasoned warrior who could do without help and guidance. Still the decision is yours. Leave by your own means."
Greylock picks up his cat and walks towards a back room, cradling the creature close to his chest and looking indignantly at you over his shoulder.
You may still change your mind and agree to help out (turn to 9)
Otherwise you take out the Aleff and stare into it. You worry for a moment that the birds might not be able to reach you down here, but they start to appear as before.
Two seem to jostle for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
28.
You search the cave but struggle to find anything of value. Its owner seems to have hidden his possessions carefully. After some time poking around you are shocked to see a huge, luminescent tiger wander past the cave entrance! Add 1 point to your TRAIL score. You pull out the Aleff and watch the birds as they begin to appear and perch on the rock around you.
Two seem to be jostling for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
29.
Awareness returns with the feel of a great heaving and buckling beneath your feet. You are standing on a lurching wooden floor, the tang of salt in the air and the cry of excitable voices and sea birds. Your stomach roils as you try to lift your head to look about you. You seem to be on the deck of some sort of crude and antiquated sailing ship, bouncing upon the ocean without a care for the well-being of your stomach’s contents. No-one aboard seems to be taking any notice of you, intent on some commotion going on off the port bow. The ship comes plummeting down from a mighty crest and your stomach lurches with it. Roll 4 dice. If the total is less that or equal to your current STAMINA score, turn to 59. Otherwise, turn to 60.
30.
Your attack takes the Easterner completely by surprise and he is unable to defend himself. He swings around ready to face you but you are prepared for this and deal another blow – this time fatal! The Easterner falls dead on the stone floor. You go to the wounded man and prop his head using some straw. ''Thank you. . . stranger.'' he says through dying breath. ''I don't have long left in this world. . . but you must. . . succeed. . . the trial. . . Carnuss. . .'' He passes away. Not quite sure what to make of what he was trying to say you think it obvious that something is going on here that is much bigger than the battle that was fought in this cell. You are not keen to find out what. Turn to 34.
31.
You boldly stride across to the battle and deal the death blow to the young man. The Easterner is at first surprised but then quickly attacks you. His long pin sinks deep into your shoulder and you fall back clutching your wound (deduct 2 STAMINA points). You barely have time to fumble around for your weapon before he is on top of you.
EASTERNER: SKILL 8 STAMINA 6
If you win, turn to 34.
32.
It doesn't take long for the Easterner to overpower the young man and deal and thrust the pin once again into his throat – this time a fatal wound. The Easterner stands up, panting, holding the blood-soaked weapon. Then he stills. He has sensed your presence. There will be no reasoning with him. There will be another death in this cell before the night is out.
EASTERNER: SKILL 8 STAMINA 6
If you win, turn to 34.
33.
Trusting the Aleff to take you anywhere but here, you prepare for a rapid change of scenery but something is wrong. The Aleff is dark and seems inert. A sudden pain grips your shoulder and you slump to the floor, fumbling around for your weapon. The Easterner has finished off his opponent and now is intent on bestowing the same fate upon you, dealing first blood as his pin stabs into you. Deduct 2 STAMINA points and then turn to face your adversary. This will be a fight to the death.
EASTERNER: SKILL 8 STAMINA 6
If you win, turn to 34.
34.
Now alone in the the eerie peace of having only corpses for company, you take a look around your cell for something useful or reassuring. But the cell looks more and more grim at every turn. You take the Aleff out again and again, but it remains dark and unresponsive. No birds appear. How can this be? And what do your jailers want with you?
It isn't long before the doors are opened and your second question at least is answered. Turn to 35.
35.
Both the Easterner and the young man lie dead in the cell and this comes as something of a shock to the guard who comes the following morning. ''I don't know what happened in here last night,'' he grunts although you sense he is amused by the carnage, ''and I don't know why there's an extra man in here or where you came from but I was asked to bring one from each cell into the Arena of Death and that is what I am going to do. Let's go!'' He leads you away.
There appears to be some kind of lethal games going on here where contenders are eliminated each day via a series of violent contests until a winner is declared when only one remains. For how many days this has been going on you cannot be sure but there are around twenty men and two women still involved and you are one of them. With the Aleff stored safely in your backpack and hidden under some straw back in your cell, you will have to survive whatever deadly game is thrown at you this morning and use the Aleff to teleport you away from this place when you are locked back up. You can only hope that you are returned to the same cell and that your possessions are not discovered. You and your fellow competitors are fed and then one by one led into the arena. You are asked to pick from either a sword and shield or a trident and net. Make your choice and turn to 36.
36.
A guard opens the door to the arena and you step barefoot onto the hot sand. Dried blood stains show the carnage that has been happening here for days. Suddenly a door at the other end of the arena opens and your eyes widen as a GIANT SCORPION scurries into the arena. It moves with frightening speed and agility and its body is around a metre in length – a deadly stinger on the end of a long, scaly tail. Its pincers look as though they could cut you in half without much effort. It wastes no time in heading straight for you and it is clear that its intention is to add another blood stain to the scenery. If you have a Ring of Fire and wish to use it, turn to 58. Otherwise, if you are fighting it with a broadsword and shield, turn to 37. If you are using a trident and net, turn to 38.
37.
You have made a good choice. While the scorpion is a deadly foe you will be able to protect yourself using the shield while attacking with the broadsword when you get the chance. The scorpion moves very quickly and so you will have to be at your best to survive this.
GIANT SCORPION SKILL 9 STAMINA 10
Fight two attack rounds, (noting damage you do to the scorpion as normal). If the scorpion wins one of them, turn to 41. If it wins both of them, Test your LUCK. If you are Lucky turn to 57; if you are Unlucky turn to 42. If you win or draw both attack rounds (or win outright), turn to 43.
38.
Cursing yourself for such a poor choice in weapon you only just manage to dive out of the way of its first attack as it attempts to crush you with its huge claws. It backs up for a second attack. It might just be possible to use the net to tangle the pincers which would leave it temporarily open to attack. The trident could then be used to stab at its head. It won't be easy though. It is travelling once again very quickly across the sand while you prepare the net. Roll two dice. If the total is less than, or equal to, your current SKILL, turn to 39. If the total exceeds your current SKILL, turn to 40.
39.
Your throw is on target and the scorpion's claws become entangled in the net. Seizing your chance you stab the trident at the enraged, but heavily disadvantaged creature.
GIANT SCORPION SKILL 6 STAMINA 10
The scorpion's pincers are tangled in the net and so it will try to attack you with the deadly stinger on the end of its tail. If at any time you lose an attack round, turn to 46. If you win without losing an attack round you have survived this deadly test. You don't have time to regain your breath before rough hands grab you and you are escorted out of the arena and back towards the dungeons. Turn to 44.
40.
You throw is close but the net lands harmlessly on the sand of the arena floor. The scorpion snaps at you with its claw. Lose 3 STAMINA points from the nasty gash across your back as you leap to reclaim your net. The creature attacks once more and again you try to throw the net at its manic pincers. Test your LUCK. If you are Lucky, turn to 39. If you are Unlucky, turn to 42.
41.
The huge claw of the scorpion manages to catch your arm and you drop your sword. Deduct 3 STAMINA points. If you can get your sword back you still have a chance. Without it you are as good as dead. The creature strikes again as you dive across the arena floor to pick up your weapon. Roll two dice. If the total is less than, or equal to, your current SKILL, turn to 45. If the total exceeds your current SKILL, Test your LUCK. If you are Lucky, the scorpion's stinger thuds harmlessly into your shield as you recover your sword - return to 37 to complete the fight. If you are Unlucky, turn to 42.
42.
The frightening speed of the scorpion's movements take you by surprise. You are defending against an attack from the claws but fail to notice the stinger flying towards you at deadly pace. This scorpion is a Black Scorpion – the most poisonous in Allansia. Even at their normal size survival after a sting is unlikely without immediate antidote. At this dramatically increased size even all of the antidote in Titan couldn't save you. The Arena of Death claims another soul – one that didn't even know what it was fighting for. Your adventure ends here.
43.
The scorpion comes in for another attack but you block it successfully with your shield and bring the broadsword down on its head with all the force you can manage. To your surprise the blow strikes so cleanly that the scorpion's head is lopped off and rolls across the arena floor. Frantically it snaps its claws and swings its stinger wildly about in its death throes before slumping onto the sand, twitching several times, and then it is still. You have survived this deadly test. You don't have time to regain your breath before rough hands grab you and you are escorted out of the arena and back towards the dungeons. Turn to 44.
44.
The guards march you to the dungeon and throw you into a cell. Your heart sinks as you notice it is a different cell from the one you spent last night – the one which currently houses both your possessions and the Aleff! ''The next test will be at dawn tomorrow. Don't go anywhere." the guard sniggers. He tosses you a hard, stale biscuit which you just about manage to crunch through. Restore 2 STAMINA points.
There seems to be nothing you can do except wait.
If you do in fact just wait it out, turn to 47.
If you try to draw the attention of the guard in the hope of overpowering him, turn to 48.
45.
You grab the hilt of the broadsword just in time to avoid the deadly stinger which thuds into the sand beside you. You hack at it, drawing blood. The battle is back on. Return to 37 to finish the battle, deducting 2 points of STAMINA from the monster.
46.
The frightening speed of the scorpion's movements take you by surprise. Even without its claws it is deadly in attack and you fail to notice the stinger flying towards you at pace. This scorpion is a Black Scorpion – the most poisonous in Allansia. Even at their normal size survival after a sting is unlikely without immediate antidote. At this dramatically increased size even all of the antidote in Titan couldn't save you. The Arena of Death claims another soul – one that didn't even know what it was fighting for. Your adventure ends here.
47.
The grey light of first dawn lends an eerie feeling to your cell. All too soon a guard appears at the door and you are once more bundled down the corridor faster than you would like. It seems that yours is to be the first fight of the day. Somehow you feel even more uneasy than yesterday – perhaps it's the way that the guards are looking at you? This time there is no choice of weapons: a sword is pressed into your hand, but the weight feels wrong somehow. Your misgivings are of no interest to the guards and you are shoved out into the arena.
There, to your horror, is waiting a monstrosity: a muscular humanoid creature with the head and huge sharp horns of a bull! No sooner have you set eyes on it than the MINOTAUR lowers its head and charges at you. You duck to one side at the last moment and swing your weapon heavily at the join where a horn meets the skull and ...your sword shatters like an icicle.
Wheeling round, you see the guard who gave you the sword grinning by the arena entrance. Does he have a grudge against you? Or just a bet? Then a horn drives up under your ribcage and snuffs out these questions. Your adventure ends here.
48.
For some time you are stuck for an idea that will make the guard open the door to your cell. He wouldn't care if you were injured and if you bluffed that you were going to bribe him he would ask to see the gold through the door's viewing slit. The one thing you have in your favour is your mysterious arrival: if you can convince him that you've left in the same fashion you arrived perhaps he will panic....
You begin to chant furious nonsense close to the door, getting louder and louder until you hear someone coming, then you stop abruptly and duck out of sight. You hear the keys frantically grinding in the lock and then the door swings open and as your jailer shambles in you tackle him. Cursing, he pulls a cudgel from his belt and attacks.
As you have no weapon you must fight this battle with a 2 point deduction to your Attack Strength, and your blows do only 1 STAMINA point of damage (2 or 0 with a LUCK roll). It is lucky for you that he is not a skilled fighter.
JAILER SKILL 6 STAMINA 6
If you reduce his STAMINA to 2 or 1, turn to 49.
49.
A wild haymaker sends the guard reeling and you manage to grab his cudgel. When his eyeballs roll back into place he stares at you in fear.
Will you...
Talk to him? Turn to 50
Finish him off? Turn to 51
50.
"Your struggles are useless." hisses the guard, "Every escape route is guarded by many armed men. What's more, a search party will soon be sent to discover why I have not returned."
"Show me the cell I was in before."
The guard looks baffled.
"Why?! There's nothing there but a couple of bodies we haven't shifted yet..."
But when you raise the cudgel he simply leads the way.
As soon as you reach your old cell you waste no time in knocking out the guard. He is carrying a small hunk of bread which you may eat and recover 2 STAMINA points.
Turn to 52
51.
You have no interest in trusting the guard to stay quiet for any length of time at all. One good clout to the temple and he's lying face down and motionless on the ground. (He is carrying a small hunk of bread which you may eat and recover 2 STAMINA points.) You take his keys and edge out into the corridor. But where is your cell? All these corridors look the same.
Test your LUCK.
If you are Lucky, turn to 52
If you are Unlucky, turn to 53
52.
The cell is unchanged except that the corpses have become stiffer and the smell slightly worse. Sifting through the straw you are relieved to find your possessions including your sword still hidden in the hay ...but then you feel a sinking feeling: the Aleff remains dark and dull. Worse still, your scalp crawls as you hear the unmistakeable sound of a search party coming closer. You duck down below the level of the viewing slit and barely breathe as they pass. Then, just before they move out of earshot, you hear one of them mutter that "If we can't find him out here, we'll have to check every cell."
In desperation, you rummage around the cell for anything useful. Aside from your own belongings all you can find is what the Easterner was carrying: the pin you saw him using in combat earlier and a small stone disc with some letters or runes scratched into it, which was tucked into his headband.
As you listen at the door you hear the unmistakeable sounds of keys in a lock, a door swung open and then slammed shut again. The same sequence over and over, sometimes varied by shouting and the sound of a prisoner getting coshed. They have yet to turn the corner into your section of the corridor, but it won't be much longer.
Your cell is close to a set of a dozen steps. You daren't reopen the door, but perhaps if you flick an object through the observation slit and down the steps it might distract the guards from the cells for a time. The only items available which will fit through the slit are the Easterner's pin and stone disc.
If you would like to try...
Flinging the pin, turn to 54
Flinging the disc, turn to 55
Or if you stand your ground and wait, turn to 56.
53.
You just can't get your bearings in the dirty stone corridors. You sneak this way and that, gradually getting faster and louder in desperation, but you are not quick or not quiet enough. Rounding a corner you are confronted by four guards with swords and haven't a chance of defeating them. Your adventure ends here.
54.
Shortly after the pin leaves your hand you hear a sharp clink and a more muffled jangling sound. Immediately there are excited voices and the hammering of feet. You hear the search party race past your door and then after a while wander back and forth arguing about which way a runaway could escape or hide. They know that no door was opened on this level after they heard the noise going downstairs and this seems to have fooled them. But with the Aleff still inert you can only try to get some rest and wait.
Turn to 47.
55.
The tiny disc flicks easily from your hand and you hear it skip down the steps with a dull clatter. You strain to hear how the search party is responding – they seem to have paused in their door opening and seem to be talking, presumably about what the sound was. Then you hear them tramping down the corridor in your direction in no great hurry. Have you distracted them? Or have they sussed you out – are several armed guards about to corner you here? Perhaps you'll be piled up with the other corpses by sunrise.
You glance back to where your sword is ...and gasp as you see the Aleff is glowing once more! A sense of great relief washes over you. Restore 2 LUCK points.
You quickly gather up your things, including the Easterner's pin if you want it, and start to watch the birds as they appear.
Two seem to be jostling for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
56.
You plant your feet and hold your sword ready, but when five armed guards burst in through the door you simply have no chance. You cut one of them down but the others overpower you and you are powerless to prevent another swinging his sword at your throat. There will be three corpses slung out with the waste in the morning. Your adventure ends here.
57.
Before you can block or dodge it, the scorpion's stinger hurtles towards your face! You fall backwards in a chaotic effort to escape and it glances off the edge of your shield and carves a brutal gash into the top of your head (deduct 4 STAMINA points) but its poison squirts harmlessly past you.
If you survive this you realise you have dropped your sword. If you can get your sword back you still have a chance. Without it you are as good as dead. The creature strikes again as you dive across the arena floor to pick up your weapon. Roll two dice. If the total is less than, or equal to, your current SKILL, turn to 45. If the total exceeds your current SKILL, turn to 42.
58.
As the terrifying creature scuttles towards you, you wait as long as you dare and then jump to one side and blast it in the face with a jet of flame. The scorpion thrashes furiously, making a horrid cacophony of frantic clicks and raising a cloud of sand. Whether it is due to the sand cloud or the magic is just exhausted, the ring ceases to function almost as quickly as it began. Cross it off your Adventure Sheet, but note that when you fight the scorpion you may deduct 1 SKILL and 2 STAMINA points from it.
Now, did you choose to fight it with a broadsword and shield (turn to 37) or a trident and net (turn to 38)?
59.
You take some deep gulps of the salty air and your stomach begins to settle. Confident now that you will not be sick, you totter across the wobbling deck towards the crowd of yelling sailors lined up along the port bow. Turn to 61.
60.
Your stomach cannot take any more and all of a sudden your last meal comes launching out of your mouth, soaking the deck. Lose 1 STAMINA point. Still, you feel a lot better once it’s all out of your system. Taking a deep breath of the sea air, you stagger across the rolling deck towards the commotion along the port bow. Turn to 61.
61.
The port bow is lined by cheering sailors and passengers who are looking out across the waters to where another larger vessel is moored. The vessel seems to be a pirate ship of sorts judging by the range of weapons gripped by its scar-faced, pantaloon-wearing crew. The pirate crew are also cheering as one of their own swings his scimitar at a nightmarish creature seemingly made of pure darkness. A robed man upon your ship has his arms outstretched as he calls out arcane words in a leaden voice; it seems he is commanding the shadow creature. The pirate captain swings his scimitar one more time and the shade dissipates into a cloud of smoke and dust. The magician who was controlling it falls silent to stare aghast at the loss of his spectre.
‘What did you summon that monstrosity for?!’ cries a well-dressed sailor on your own ship, the captain no doubt. ‘The pirates are sure to kill us all now!’ He turns to his crew. ‘A reward for whoever throws that stupid magician overboard!’
The crew immediately moves towards the magician who turns tail and flees across the deck. Will you join in the chase (turn to 62), try to hide in the confusion (turn to 64), or seize the opportunity to look at the Aleff to find a more hospitable world (turn to 63)?
62.
It seems you have found your sea legs as you are soon leading the chase, though the magician is a slippery customer who always manages to stay just out of reach. If you were sick on the deck earlier, turn to 65. If not, turn to 68.
63.
While sailors mill past you in pursuit of the unfortunate mage, you unwrap the Aleff. You gaze into its depth, the now familiar bird starting to appear… when suddenly it is knocked from your grasp as the desperate magician barrels into you. You watch in horror as it falls to the deck rolling towards the starboard bow. Pushing the magician away, you race after it, only to see it tumble over the side of the ship into the sea below. Luckily, it floats upon the surface and with no other way of getting away from this place, you take a deep breath then dive in after it. The sea hits you like a brick wall and you come up spitting out salty water. The Aleff bobs upon the waves not far from you though so you begin to swim for it. You are almost there though when a shark bursts out of the water, the Aleff snatched triumphantly between its jaws. Unwilling to let a shark rob you of the only means of getting home, you swing your sword at it, slicing into its flesh. It drops the Aleff then turns upon you.
WOUNDED SHARK SKILL: 7 STAMINA: 6
If you win, turn to 67.
64.
You find some barrels by the steps up to the fo’c’s’le and crawl behind them. Peering out over the deck, you see the poor magician doesn’t manage to evade his captors long before they leap upon him. Protesting at the top of his lungs, he is lifted off the deck by several pairs of hands, carried over to the port bow then tossed over the side of the ship, his shrieks drowned out by the loud splash. The pirates then throw grappling hooks over to the ship and climb aboard. The merchantman captain apologises profusely to the pirate captain offering him gold and spices to placate him and even a few slaves. The crew and passengers turn pale as the captain looks amongst them for likely candidates for slavery. Quickly, you duck your head below the barrels. Test your LUCK. If you are Lucky, turn to 68. If you are Unlucky, turn to 69.
65.
Suddenly the magician gives a shriek and throws his arms into the air as he goes skidding forwards to land heavily on his back - he has slipped on your vomit! Thanking your lucky stars, you seize the struggling mage and lift him above your head, walking to the port bow. The mage begs and pleads but you take no notice and fling him over the edge. He shrieks then hits the water with an almighty splash. Turn to 70.
66.
The mage is very close but you’re starting to get tired and you’re not used to running on the slippery deck of a bobbing vessel. Test your SKILL. If you succeed, turn to 71. If you fail, turn to 72.
67.
The shark rears up then falls back into the water, blood spreading over the frothing waters. You seize the Aleff, but as you grasp it in your hands, you see something else moving through the water towards you. Whether attracted by the shark’s blood or the Aleff you don’t know but a massive serpentine creature, golden-scaled and with a face shaped like that of a dragon from a storybook, is heading for you with all the might of its swishing tail. In desperation, you look into the Aleff. The birds appear once again and circle lower and lower towards you, just as the great sea monster opens its jaws to snap at you (add 1 TRAIL point), you focus your attention and a bird dives straight at your face.
It is not one of the usual green-back ones however, though you recognise it from somewhere.
Turn to 98
68.
You stay still for what seems like hours, hardly daring to breathe despite the fact you would never be heard over the roar of the waves, the curses of the sailors and the screams of those they haul away. At last they seem satisfied with those they have captured and you can hear a gangplank being lowered and the sobs of men and women who are forced to cross to the pirate ship. Assuming all eyes are now on this sorry scene, you unwrap the Aleff and gaze into its depths once more. Almost instantly there are birds swirling around you competing for your attention. This time, however, one bird alone manoeuvres ahead of the others. It is not one of the usual green-back ones though you recognise it from somewhere.
Turn to 98
69.
It seems a crewman spotted you just before you ducked out of sight. Several calloused hands seize you and you are dragged kicking and screaming to the captain.
‘Who in Titan are you?’ he snarls. ‘No matter, you’ll do as a slave - better a stowaway than a passenger or crewman I say.’
Turn to 73.
70.
‘Well done,’ cries the captain, slapping a heavy hand on your shoulder. ‘Say, who are you? Well never mind, don’t care if you’re a stowaway, you’ve just saved us all.’
He walks over to the ship’s rail to converse with the pirate captain vessel, pleading for mercy and denying any involvement in the mage summoning the spectre. In the end he is able to negotiate an agreement where the pirate vessel will leave with just a handful of slaves and loot.
Once the pirate ship has sloped off into the distance, the captain pulls you aside, takes a gold locket from his neck and hands it to you.
‘A small reward for saving us all from the slave pens, my friend.’
You thank the captain and hang the locket round your own neck. Once he strides away bellowing orders for the crew to set sail once again, you unwrap the Aleff and gaze into its depths once again. Almost instantly there are birds swirling around you, competing for your attention. This time, however, one bird alone manoeuvres ahead of the others. It is not one of the usual green-back ones though you recognise it from somewhere.
Turn to 98
71.
You are tiring, but so is your quarry, his ragged gasps audible above the cries and cheers from the deck. His cloak is caught in the breeze and you seize it, yanking him back to fall painfully on the deck. While he is stunned, you raise the frail mage above your head, stride to the ship’s railing and throw him into the sea with all your might. Turn to 70.
72.
The mage is agile and eludes every attempt at seizing his trailing cape. You lose your footing on the sodden deck and the mage races ahead of you, only to run straight into the arms of a burly crewman. With a toothless grin, the crewman lifts the exhausted wizard above his head then throws him over the side of the ship to the crashing waves below. A cheer goes up from the rest of the crew and then one of them turns to you. ‘Who on Khul are you?’
Thinking you are a stowaway or perhaps in league with the mage, several sailors seize you. Meanwhile, the captain is negotiating with the pirates. Placated by the rough treatment of the mage, the pirate captain agrees to spare the vessel in exchange for some loot and a handful of slaves. The crew eager to be rid of you, you are the first to be chosen as a slave. Turn to 73.
73.
You and the rest of the slaves are marched at cutlass-point across to the pirate vessel. You are searched by the scar-faced crew and your weapons taken (cross them off your Adventure Sheet). The crew also find the Aleff and passes it over to the captain, a well-dressed swashbuckler with an oddly nondescript face. He holds the Aleff aloft admiringly.
‘A fine treasure indeed,’ he says. ‘this ought to show Amcha who is the greatest buccaneer of the Inland Sea.’
Alarmed at the loss of the Aleff, you and the other slaves are marched into the hold, your left leg chained to a wooden beam. At least no galley work beckons. ‘You’re far too precious a commodity to be worn out on the oars.’ chuckles a hare-lipped pirate.
Indeed, you are well treated for the next few days and even recover up to 4 lost STAMINA points.
However things take a turn for the worse when a vicious storm strikes the ship while it is sailing through some place named the Shoals of Trysta. The ships buckles and shakes and then there is a great crash as water bursts through the side of the ship, flooding into the hold. The slaves shriek in fear as the water hits them, some of the less lucky ones knocked unconscious immediately. You shiver in the icy water, trying with all your might to burst the lock on your chain. If you have a pin, turn to 74. If not, turn to 75.
74.
Remembering the pin you took from the mad man in the cell, you pull it from your shirt and work on picking the lock. Surprisingly it bursts open very easily. Gain 1 LUCK point. You are about to help your fellow slaves when another great wave crashes into the hold and sweeps you away. You are washed against a wooden chest and coughing and spluttering you haul yourself out of the surging water. Lose 2 STAMINA points and turn to 82.
75.
You grab the chain with both hands and haul with all your might, hoping against hope that you can snap it. Test your SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK (rolling 4 dice against your STAMINA). If you succeed at all three rolls, turn to 78. If you succeed at two, turn to 79. If you fail two or more, turn to 80.
76.
You battle through the raging maelstrom to the stern of the ship, the deck shifting and cracking beneath your feet, the howl of the wind drowning your senses. You stumble through an open doorway to what was once a richly adorned cabin but is now a shambles, overturned tables and stools scattered amongst fallen drapes. One of these drapes starts to move of its own accord, then the blade of a cutlass cuts through it from within, slicing it open to reveal the bedraggled captain. His right arm flops at his side and the side of his head oozes blood. Delirious, the captain screams and races towards you, cutlass raised. You just have a chance to pick up a wooden stool leg to defend yourself.
WOUNDED CAPTAIN SKILL: 8 STAMINA: 7
If you win, turn to 81.
77.
You plunge into the freezing water and are immediately swept up by a colossal wave. Trying to swim in this tempest is impossible and you are thrown about like a rag-doll. Then there is an almighty roar of water and a great golden serpentine shape breaks the waves. It eyes you with what seems through the sheets of rain like contempt before plunging towards you, enveloping you in its cavernous maw and sparing you the agony of drowning.
78.
Sinews about to pop, you snap the chain and collapse exhausted, just as another great wave crashes into the hold and sweeps you away. You are washed against a wooden chest and, coughing and spluttering, you haul yourself out of the surging water. Lose 2 STAMINA points but gain 1 LUCK point for freeing yourself before turning to 82.
79.
You can barely take the strain, your tendons on fire, your muscles ready to explode (lose 1 SKILL point). Then suddenly, the chain pops and you are free. You barely have a chance to congratulate yourself however before another great wave crashes into the hold and sweeps you away. You are washed against a wooden chest and, coughing and spluttering, you haul yourself out of the surging water. Lose 2 STAMINA points but gain 1 LUCK point for freeing yourself before turning to 82.
80.
You try with all your might to break free but the chain is just too strong. You collapse to the floor of the half-submerged hold. Then another great wave bursts forth, filling the hold completely with water and pouring into your lungs. You die in agony.
81.
The pirate collapses and you help yourself to his cutlass. It is exceptionally well-made and will add one to your Attack Strength in combat. You have no time to admire its keen edge however as the ship creaks ominously and the rocking grows more intense. Hurriedly, you search the captain’s cabin and find the Aleff lying in a small chest. Hurriedly you gaze into its depths. You have never been so pleased to see the familiar birds appear as they swirl around you. You take one last look out through the door of the cabin and down the deck of the rapidly sinking ship as it rolls and pitches violently. For a moment an expanse of sea is revealed, and you fancy you see a golden dragon-like head appear from the churning waters and watch you intently. Gain 1 TRAIL point.
This time, one bird alone manoeuvres ahead of the others. It is not one of the usual green-back ones though you recognise it from somewhere.
Turn to 98
82.
The ship about you creaks ominously and water seems to be pouring in from all directions. You hear shrieks from the deck above you, but with nothing else for it, you race up a set of semi-ruined steps to the soaking deck. The wind howls and the rain hits you in sheets, the ship rocking horribly upon the chaotic waves. You spy two sailors jumping over the edge of the ship, taking their chances on the open water rather than risk staying on the sinking ship. In fact, you think you can spot some large rocks not far away which you could perhaps swim for. Will you dive into the sea after them (turn to 77) or will you seek out the captain’s cabin in the hope of finding the Aleff (turn to 76).
83.
You find yourself in a feast room. You have appeared next to a friendly giant. Against a wall a birdman is chatting with a small man. Sitting at a large wooden table are two humans. The one on your right is a short fat man with a large beard and strange short arms, his expression suggests either anger or merriment. The figure to the left is a powerful warrior of indeterminate gender wearing leather armour and a burnished helmet with a pentagon inscribed upon it. Two swords are strapped to their person and a rucksack with a circular crystal mirror sticking out the top is sitting on the table beside them.
The short fat man notices you, stands up and bellows
“Who are you that would appear in the corner of the feast room of me, Hever? Do you not know that anger and merriment are equally pleasing to me? Explain yourself at once!
Will you tell him about the Aleff? Turn to 88
Or make up a story? Turn to 86
Or ignore him completely? Turn to 90
84.
You listen intently and politely to the conversation
“Now, Ruler of Arion” says Hever “No one comes to Fallow Dale without good reason – tell me why you are here”
The Ruler looks strangely coy and averts their eyes at Hever “Kevin told me you would give me the horn”
“Aye, it happens” says Hever “I would need something in return though”
“Name it” The Ruler replies, suspiciously quickly.
“I have problems with a rather large cat-“
“A pussy?” The Ruler interrupts with a very odd expression.
“I can handle such matters on my own!!” Hever roars with a mixture of anger and merriment “No, a Sabre Tooth Tiger is causing a bit of bother – kill it for me and you shall get what your heart desires”
If you wish to interject and offer to kill the tiger turn to 93
If you would never be so rude, instead turn to 89
If you have had enough of this nonsense and wish to leave with the Aleff then turn to 102
85.
The Ruler looks at you strangely. “I suppose you could help, but Hever will end up giving me the horn, not you – understand?”
Turn to 91 but reduce the tiger’s SKILL by 3 as the Ruler will be fighting with you.
86.
Luckily you were always good at telling stories. You confidently weave a thrilling narrative about your journey to Hever and his feast room. From nowhere you craftily construct a ludicrous tale incorporating an encounter with a Kraken, some ghostly warriors, a couple of Spriggans, an elf massacre, and a journey down a mine. You notice the mysterious stranger to the left is staring at you dumbfounded while you speak, they try to speak a few times but are cut short by Hever who kindly lets you ramble on for three quarters of an hour. When you finish, Hever grins broadly-
“Bravo! – an incredible but entirely truthful account I’m sure – I am full of merriment at the moment – please, sit at the table and help yourself to some food” Hever gestures to a chair where you sit down and start gnawing at a ham bone. Add 1 LUCK point & 2 STAMINA points.
The so far unnamed stranger is staring at you.
Will you chat with them? Turn to 92
Or continue to chat with Hever? Turn to 94
Alternatively you may feel you have accomplished all you can here and leave with the Aleff turn to 102
87.
You cut off an obvious piece of the tiger and bring it back to Hever. He is delighted to see you. To your surprise he hands you an actual object – a horn.
“My horn may not look like much, but blow it before battle and it will strike fear into any enemy’s heart!”
You may use the horn before a battle with any humanoid and deduct 1 from their SKILL.
Hever stretches out a stubby sweaty hand and shakes yours. “I’m afraid I must take my leave of you, I have just been informed that Kevin has arrived…” He sighs, shakes his head and walks away.
There is nothing more to be done – you leave with the Aleff turn to 102
88.
You attempt to explain how the Aleff brought you here but are almost immediately brushed off by Hever “No matter!!!” He booms “Sit down while I consider what I should do with you, I have business to attend to with my ‘cousin’ here first” Hever gestures to the strange individual to his right, who at the moment is in an almost perpetual state of excitement.
Will you sit quietly and listen? Turn to 84
Try and chat with Hever? Turn to 94
89.
The Ruler volunteers to fight the tiger, you watch in utter bemusement as Hever lays down a grid on the table and watches while the Ruler rolls a dice and stabs a pencil at the grid between throws. Hever asks the Ruler for an account of his journey while this difficult operation is performed.
“Firstly, I had an encounter with a kraken, then some Spriggans, then I killed a Wight, then I was given an antique by a crazy man, then I found a heap of junk in a Doragar’s cave-“
Hever interrupts “Yes, and you also walked across one of my subject’s ploughed fields, you ignorant rascal...”
Once they are finished you may offer to assist the Ruler – turn to 85
Or make your farewells and leave with the Aleff – turn to 102
90.
Hever’s expression changes, he looks pleased. The occupants in the room immediately stop what they are doing and gasp in horror.
“I said anger and merriment are equally pleasing to me!!” shouts Hever hysterically as he cleaves your skull in two.
THE END
91.
Some of Hever’s soldiers lead you into a vast forest. They take you into a clearing where two feeble guards are holding a huge Sabre tooth tiger at bay with very small swords. They see you and run away leaving you to fight the tiger.
SABRE TOOTH TIGER SKILL 11 STAMINA 10
If you win, is the Ruler with you? If so turn to 96
Otherwise turn to 87
92.
The stranger sits silently and stares at you for a while. Just as you are about to accuse them of being rude they decide to talk
“I see that you are staring at my helmet. Be wary, only I and dear Kevin are allowed near it. However, I have two items I might want to trade with you – my magic sword and my crystal mirror. To be honest they are wearing me down a bit so I’d even accept a sandwich for one of them. I think Hever (Gods bless him) has left this food out for a bit long.
Will you trade a sandwich for a magic sword? Turn to 97
Will you trade a sandwich for a crystal mirror? Turn to 95
Alternatively you notice that Hever keeps wanting to chat with the stranger, you can listen by turning to 84
93.
You immediately interrupt and bravely offer to kill the tiger. The Ruler of Arion looks crestfallen but stays silent. “Excellent” booms Hever “I was going to make it tricky for the Ruler here, probably involving a grid and lots of dice rolls, but I like you, so I’ll take you straight to where my soldiers have the tiger cornered. Be warned though, he’s a VERY strong beast and he might easily kill you if you aren’t particularly strong hint hint”
Will you go and fight the tiger? Turn to 91
Or leave with the Aleff? Turn to 102
94.
“Not now!!” screams Hever. “I need to chat to this other person – you have angered me slightly (which oddly has also pleased me at the same time)”
Lose 1 LUCK point and turn to 84
95.
The stranger practically throws the crystal mirror at you.
“Hever!!” the stranger cries “Look what they have in their hands!”
Hever frowns in recognition at the item you are now holding, he snatches it from you and snarls – “What evil or foolhardy deed have you committed to end up with an Elven crystal mirror?”
He points the mirror in your direction, opening up a portal and trapping you inside for eternity.
THE END
96.
“Thank you for your help” The Ruler says “ I wish Hever could give you the horn as well, but I have the feeling neither you nor he would be so inclined” However, you saved me a lot of trouble so please take this Potion of Fortune, I feel Lucky enough already!!”
The potion has enough for one measure and may be taken at any time and will restore your LUCK to its initial value plus 1.
Later you make your farewells to Hever and the Ruler and leave with the Aleff. Turn to 102
97.
This is an incredible deal! The magic sword gives you a +1 bonus to your Attack Strength. You are curious as to how the stranger came across it. They are very keen to tell you;
“It is a Wight’s sword! well, they said they were a Wight, although I’m not too sure because normally you would expect to become inexplicably slightly malcoordinated when fighting the undead, which didn’t happen. To be honest, he may have just been am odd hermit with crazy hair living in the hills”
You notice Hever wants to talk to the stranger – turn to 84
98.
You find yourself in a rocky cavern but you have no time to take in your surroundings before three figures burst in.
The first is a man wearing robes and bearing a long staff. Mysteriously, he has a picture of himself in a circle on his tunic.
The second is a simply dressed, studious looking man – he is unarmed but holds a book in one hand and a scroll in the other.
The third, bearing a shield on her back, and holding a crossbow levelled at your throat, is ...a giant puffin.
They all stare at you.
"What?!" squawks the puffin, "this doesn't make a lick of sense. What are you doing here?"
Will you reply...
- I am leaping between worlds, aiding by magic birds, fleeing a giant wolf and possibly other beasts (turn to 100)
- I absolutely refuse to talk to a giant puffin (turn to 99)
99.
"We don't have time for this" snaps the puffin, "we are being pursued by ranks and ranks of the forces of death – or deadlines as we call them. Tell us what you're doing here or I'll peck you really hard."
Startled, you tell them everything. Turn to 100
100.
You expected the motley group to be somewhat incredulous at your story, but none of them question it for a moment, rather they react with rolled eyes and nods of weary understanding. At length, the puffin replies:
"So, you have been entrusted with the most powerful object known to be in existence and have no idea what you are supposed to be doing with it? Yes, entrusted – it is certain that the Aleff was supposed to fall to you. But it seems that the gods have failed to reveal their divine purpose to you, which is not entirely a surprise."
"Which gods?" you ask.
"The gods of Death and Confusion. They are responsible for sparking the collection of worlds through which you travel, and created many parts of it personally."
The scholar chips in:
"In fact, according to the great library of Allansia, they created every part of these worlds."
This interruption is not greeted with enthusiasm by the others. The puffin fluffs her wings irritably, whilst the wizard produces what seems to be a bloodied bone covered in wolfskin from his robes and shakes it in the scholar's direction.
"I think you had better go and speak to them now." intones the puffin. She turns to the wizard and says, "Use your magic to send this fool to meet our makers."
"Don't tell me what to do, Geraldine." snaps the wizard, but he points his staff at you just the same. You are whisked up into the skies.
Once the wizard's spell has taken effect you feel a sense of blind panic as you find yourself apparently floating on a cloud. You reach down between your feet and your hand passes straight through it, yet you do not fall. You start to feel nauseous at the fact that only magic you know nothing about is preserving you from a terrifying death. The moments following, which you spend alone without distraction, are torture and you are relieved when you see two figures striding towards you.
They are not reassuring figures however. The first is inexplicably dressed as a butler, yet he wears a green wig. He seems to be constantly shifting in incomprehensible ways: suddenly he appears to be a terrifying beast, now holding some kind of futuristic looking gun, then he is back in his original form but there are three of him, and so on.
The second figure has a face which looks almost like a skull and which bears a diadem. One of his arms is much longer than the other and he wears dark robes decorated with a thousand eyes. A long slick of blood follows where his clock drags along the cloud.
The shapeshifting butler is the first to speak:
"Wfabr feth fo gpd sopfo cpnfv sjpn abnd edf bth...."
"He said 'we are the gods of Death and Confusion'." the other figure interrupts, before adding "So, you have survived for long enough to meet us." in a tone suggesting both congratulation and disappointment, "That is just as well from our point of view, and indeed perhaps we should have arranged to meet you earlier, but that would not have been in our nature. We could not give a mortal a quest which lacked a little dicing with death from early on..."
"...not to mention a baffling start." interjects the other deity. "That is the way that we have always conducted our business. We created this reality you see, and crafted much of it ourselves. One of the first things we created was a maze, before we'd even finished working out the continents. The rest was designed by others but still our influence left its mark. In fact," he chuckles, then begins to laugh uncontrollably, "when we first enlisted the help of another, we chose a great mage who happened to have the name 'Gudolf Konfu Sian' just so that people would think it was the work of me, the god of Confusion!"
"We began in the world of Titan," explains Death, taking up the story once more, "and that remains the heart of this reality, but it contains many other worlds too – even parts of Earth. Now that object you hold in your backpack is not one that we have created. It was made by one of those who helped us craft this reality, but he has turned against us. As you have discovered, it permits its owner to travel throughout this universe – not just to any location, but also through time, and relative ...well the point is it's very powerful. Unfortunately the same sorcery that created a hard shell around the Aleff weakened the walls separating other realities from this one. Now gods and mages from other worlds have sensed that we are vulnerable and have dispensed minions to capture the Aleff and tap all the wealth and power of our creation. Only you can save it. All you need to do is to hide the Aleff somewhere where no sentient being can find it for a year and day."
"Unless it's a leap year" interjects the other deity, "or... wait do have those?"
"Well, long enough to outlast any of those monks who 'follow headless oxen to the next turn' anyway." the god of Death replies, "The hard shell around the Aleff will collapse, the magic will dissipate and the boundaries between the worlds will reassert themselves. That will be sufficient to save all the creatures and beings of these worlds from great peril."
"So this is a quest in the cause of Good?" you ask.
For the first time it is the turn of the gods to look baffled. They close together and an involved, whispered debate follows. At length the god of Death turns back with a flourish,
"On balance, yes! Now it is time for the two of us to present... you with something to see you on your way."
So saying, he reaches into a pocket in his cloak and draws out the corpse of a seabird – a gull or possibly a tern – and plonks it down in your outstretched hands. Then he reaches into the other side of his clothing and produces another bird, similar except for the fact that the number '101' has been gruesomely and inexplicably scored into its body.
The god of Death grins insanely and – as the second bird lands on top of the first – you feel the cloud give way beneath you.
Turn to 101
101.
You scream in absolute terror as you plummet down from the skies. Suddenly, to your astonishment, the two terns come back to life – perhaps animated by the distance put between them and Death. Together, they clamber over your shoulders and tug open your backpack. You feel them working the Aleff out from amongst your belongings, somehow bearing it as they climb back over you, and suddenly it is in front of your face as the two terns are diving with the orb pressed between their backs.
Once again you can see the green-backed birds starting to appear below you, now hovering just a little so that you might be able to grab one as it goes past... but what is that? You can see far below you something beginning to coalesce in the air – a huge glowing tiger no doubt seeking you here. Will it pounce from below before you can grab one of the birds? Two are 'rising' compared to you and they are equally distant from you...
Roll one die. If the result is less than or equal to your TRAIL score, turn to 182.
If it is greater, you manage to grasp a bird from the air before the tiger reaches you, and the world darkens...
But what did you focus on?
To one side was the bizarre sight of a flock of birds managing to fly vertically – somehow maintaining contact whilst still flying. Their arrangement could only be described as a stack or a column or, dammit, a conga line. If you focussed on them, turn to 103
To the other side was a rather primeval-looking bird, with a dark circle of plumage at its centre like a hole. If you focussed on that, turn to 137
102.
You pull out the Aleff. Some folk from the feasting hall stare at you quizzically, but no one interferes.
Almost instantly there are birds swirling around you competing for your attention. This time, however, one bird alone manoeuvres ahead of the others. It is not one of the usual green-back ones though you recognise it from somewhere.
Turn to 98
103.
You appear in a small room. There are large and really tacky looking dolls along the left wall, there is a big box on the right wall with a door just beyond it. However the most interesting things in the room is a glass jar with a live beastie of some sort inside it lying in the middle of the floor, and three very ugly monster children huddling under a table. They keep pointing to the jar and making unsettling noises. You sense something is not quite right here. What should you do?
Will you walk straight through the room and exit out the door? Turn to 108
Talk to the horrible children? Turn to 112
Pick up glass jar? Turn to 125
Have a look in the big box? Turn to 116
104.
You hold up the daft looking Spider Man in a Jar.
“Racknee!!!” the Ganjee says “You have returned! We are well pleased to have one of our ointment associates brought to us! Please, put down the jar and open the lid.”
Will you do so? Turn to 117
Or absolutely refuse? Turn to 107
105.
You charge at the door with your shoulder. Roll one dice. This is the amount of STAMINA points you fruitlessly lose because the door still won’t open. To be honest you are beginning to find it a little scary as well. LOSE 1 LUCK point and turn to 126 to try the other door.
106.
You clear your throat. “I’m a fairly normal human with a magic Aleff, who likes a laugh as much as the next person, so it would be really good if I could see what was going on!”
The giggling stops and suddenly a materialisation occurs right in front of you.
A disembodied head is floating six feet off the ground. He would probably knock quite a few points off your stats if it wasn’t for the fact that his face was smothered in a white creamy substance. You decide not to pass comment in the hope that he will explain himself. When he speaks, he tries his best to sound a bit spooky but his voice is tinged with humour.
“Foolish adventurer, you have entered the domain of the GANJEES!!! We are slightly busy at the moment. Another adventurer who left us just moments ago tossed us the OINTMENT OF HEALING. The effect is awesome, though I fear there will not be enough to go around. If you could just bear with us for a short while, we’ll get round to killing you soon enough”
Are you wearing a golden locket? If so, turn to 120
If not...
Will you protest? Turn to 119
Offer them something? Turn to 115
Run around madly in the dark and try to find a way out? Turn to 110
Summon a skeleton or a thassaloss if you know how? Turn to 128
107.
“I was not born yesterday” You say. “If you want your Spider friend, in return, I want safe passage and maybe a little of your incredible ointment”
The Ganjee vanishes and you hear it quietly conferring with its brethren. After a moment it reappears.
“Brave words adventurer. Here take this free sample of the OINTMENT OF HEALING, put down the jar and leave us be.”
A tiny fun sized tube of ointment appears at your feet. You put down the glass jar.
Turn to 111
108.
You leave the room and find yourself at the foot of a spiral staircase. At this point you feel an urge to check the Aleff. As you suspected, it remains cloudy. Clearly there are powerful magics in this place interfering with it. Perhaps you will have to leave the building to make it function again. There are no other options available so you climb the stairs. You reach a landing with two doors.
Will you open the door to the right? Turn to 118
Or the door to the left? Turn to 126
109.
Even though the larger child is clearly deserving of at least a slap, you manage to resist the urge. You step away from the table and the horrid little monsters continue to stare at you.
Will you now pick up the glass jar if you haven’t already? Turn to 125
Or leave the room? Turn to 108
110.
Deftly, you dodge the floating Ganjee and his slimy Ointment face and find a door. You dash out of it and topple over a balcony.
Will you gulp a potion of Vaporous Essence if you have one, and save your life? Turn to 113
Or let yourself fall? Turn to 127
111.
Having passed through the door at the far side of the room, you find yourself at the bottom of some spiral steps. Climbing up them you find yourself in a room with some sort of enormous... snake... thing, partially covered by some golden sheep hide. This is getting just too weird. You pull out the Aleff once more, and to your relief it no longer seems to be blocked. Perhaps this part of the tower is unaffected by the same magic, or perhaps its source is distracted. As you stare into the little orb you hear someone, somewhere retorting "No, YOU'RE an impudent peasant!"
This time however, as you stare into the swirling mists of the Aleff, the birds which manifest themselves are black like ravens and have a raucous cry. "Copout! Copout!" they screech. As one flies at your face, the darkness sweeps over your mind, blurring memories, and your body, clearing scars.
You find that you can remember nothing of use except what you knew when you first unwrapped the Aleff in Carey's shop the first time. Likewise your belongings have been switched back to those you had right before you left. Your SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK have all been restored to their initial values (and those initial scores are what they were originally, if they had been changed).
To your TRAIL score, however, add 1 point.
Turn to 1
112.
The three children really are ugly. They stare at you with watery gungey eyes and it’s clear they all need their nappies changed. The child on the left is slightly larger than the others and you don’t like his attitude. You’re not terribly keen on hitting children but he really is asking for it.
Test your SKILL
If you succeed turn to 109
If you fail turn to 124
113.
In desperation you grab the little vial from your waist and glug down the contents. It... works. You are suddenly a mist little denser than the air and it takes around a minute for you to drift down the last 50 feet or so to the ground.
The only trouble is that with the wind blowing back and forth the mist gets rather spread out. As you begin to coalesce you find yourself wandering back and forth trying to inhale the remaining mist. Halve your current STAMINA (rounded down). If you survive, you find that you feel like you have a hangover after a full day of drinking brandy, but better than you might expect after jumping out of a window.
You pull out the Aleff and are relieved to see that it is working again. You gaze into it.
This time however, as you stare into the swirling mists of the Aleff, the birds which manifest themselves are black like ravens and have a raucous cry. "Copout! Copout!" they screech. As one flies at your face, the darkness sweeps over your mind, blurring memories, and your body clearing scars.
You find that you can remember nothing of use except what you knew when you first unwrapped the Aleff in Carey's shop the first time. Likewise your belongings have been switched back to those you had right before you left. Your SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK have all been restored to their initial values (and those initial scores are what they were originally, if they had been changed).
To your TRAIL score, however, add 1 point.
Turn to 1
114.
The door opens into complete darkness. The childish giggling and squealing continues. You catch vague glowing forms out of the corners of your eyes. An indistinct voice laughs ‘Ah, the ointment, the ointment!’ another cries ‘It feels so good, ahhh, hey give it back!’ Then there are more giggles, laughs and squeals. It is a shame it is so dark, whoever is in the room with you is having a good time!
Will you call out and hope they notice? Turn to 106
Use a ring of fire to provide some light? Turn to 129
Try and find some means of lighting the room on the walls? Turn to 122
115.
What item will you produce to hopefully placate them?
A big cheap doll that looks a little like your father? Turn to 123
A Spider Man in a glass jar? Turn to 104
A sandwich? Turn to 121
116.
The big box opens easily. Inside are a few more hideously cheap and nasty large dolls. You decide to take one which reminds you a little of your father. It’s really big and heavy so you decide that’s it’s time to leave the room.
Turn to 108
117.
You place the jar on the ground and unscrew the lid. The spider crawls out and grows to a tremendous size. It looks just as ridiculous as before but you will have to fight it.
SPIDER MAN SKILL 7 STAMINA 5
If you lose an attack round, you find that the spider man has a deadly, creamy bite and you die.
If you kill him, the Ganjees are very angry and call you names and you will have to protest turn to 119
118.
The door won’t open. You put your ear to the door and hear some very odd noises. You can try and force the door open? Turn to 105
Or you can try the left hand door, turn to 126
119.
You protest most strongly. The Ganjees listen briefly to your pleas but it is no good. You get completely destroyed by the Ganjees in a most strange creamy manner.
THE END
120.
Suddenly there is a gasp in the darkness.
"It wears something around its neck! Could it be the amulet that holds the cursed Jewel of Light?!" Some fearful noises are made from all around you.
You are so startled at this apparent recognition that for a moment you too are convinced – until you remember that there is no jewel in there at all. Still, you're not sure that reassuring the creatures of your helplessness is the way to go.
Will you...
Stride boldly across the room to find the exit? Turn to 131
Offer them something? Turn to 115
Summon a skeleton or a thassaloss if you know how? Turn to 128
121.
“Wait!!” you cry “Surely if I offered you this tasty sandwich you would let me live?”
The Ganjee considers what you say for a moment- “We are magical creatures, we need no sustenance, only the OINTMENT OF HEALING!!!!!!!”
You have no choice but to protest. Turn to 119
122.
It's not clear just what you're expecting to find, but whatever it was, it's not there. You make quite a noise scrabbling against the walls and whoever is in the room hears you. LOSE 1 LUCK point for being silly.
“Who dares interrupt us when we’re having fun?” says a voice.
You better answer – turn to 106
123.
“What foolishness is this?!!!” shouts the Ganjee, creamy ointment dripping from his jowls.
“It’s a big cheap doll that looks a little like my father.” You reply.
“Hmmm. A reasonable gift indeed. You may go with our blessing. Please leave us to our OINTMENT OF HEALING!”
Turn to 111
124.
You cannot resist. You give the largest child a backhanded slap to his cheek. His watery gungey eyes fill with tears and he very quietly starts sobbing. The other two children cower away from you. It is not your finest hour. Lose 1 LUCK point.
You decide to leave the room before you make a name for yourself – turn to 108
125.
The glass jar contains a frankly ludicrous spider with the face of an old man. These kind of items can fetch a pretty penny, and Carey often had them at the front of his shop when you visited. You decide to take the jar with you. Choose another option you have not previously taken
Will you look in the big box? Turn to 116
Talk to the ugly infants? Turn to 112
Or leave the room? Turn to 108
126.
The door opens into room with a pit in the middle and a door round the far side, there is a treasure chest on a raised bit of ground in the middle of the pit. To one side of the pit is a rope. However, it looks like a lot of hard work so you decide to walk around the edge of the room and leave through the other door. You may, however, take the rope if you wish.
The door opens onto another spiral staircase. You start climbing up the stairs and before you even reach the next landing you can hear strange giggling and childish laughing from behind the solitary door. There is nowhere else to go: turn to 114
127.
You decide to let yourself fall as an interesting experiment. As expected you die when you hit some rocks.
128.
You throw down the pearls and suddenly clusters of bones spring together from nowhere, forming a skeletal being. It glows gently in the darkness and looks quickly from one side of the room to another, poised to join battle.
There is some muttering in the background. Then *CHONK* ...and your monster's skull is knocked clean off its spine. A moment later the rest of it collapses in a heap. Cross the pearls you used off your Adventure Sheet.
The creatures are murmuring in a way that suggests you are much more interesting than they were expecting. Unfortunately they're still intending to kill you.
Will you...
Offer them something? Turn to 115
Run around madly in the dark and try to find a way out? Turn to 110
129.
Just for a brief moment the room is bathed in light, revealing several hideous, greasy, floating faces, and a door in the far corner of the room. A look at these creatures tells you that you do not wish to fight them.
Are you wearing a golden locket? If so, turn to 120
Otherwise, will you:
Sprint for the door you saw? Turn to 130
Engage the creatures in conversation? Turn to 106
Summon a skeleton or a thassaloss if you know how? Turn to 128
130.
"Stop them! They mean to escape – and possibly steal our Ointment of Healing!"
It's hard to know whether the blast of fire helped or hindered you. As you know where the door is, you can make for it directly. But the creatures are fully focussed on you.
Test your LUCK twice. Each time you are Lucky, a glancing blow lands on you (lose 2 STAMINA points) with the creature skidding off due to its greasiness. If you are Unlucky, a more thumping blow lands on the back of your head: lose 4 STAMINA points for each.
If you were Unlucky both times, you stumble punch-drunk off the edge of the balcony on the far side of the door and plummet towards the ground. In this case, will you drink a potion of vaporous essence if you have one? (turn to 113) or simply fall (turn to 127).
If you are Lucky at least once, you manage to pass through the door and close it behind you. The greasiness is a little disgusting, but you find yourself rubbing it into your skin regardless. It makes your skin feel strong and supple, and you feel like the kind of handsome, confident adventurer who is destined to succeed. You even find yourself humming a little tune.
"What a feeling – ointment of healing."
Restore 2 LUCK points and turn to 111.
131.
You stride purposefully across the room, brandishing the locket as you go. You find a door and shut it firmly behind you. A certain smugness rolls over you at escaping with no drama required. Restore 1 LUCK point.
Turn to 111
132.
You remain on the ground and raise your hands in conciliatory fashion. Blinking as colour and detail return to the scene, you take another look at those around you. They are a motley crew of dwarves, humans, elves, gnomes and perhaps other humanoids, all of them clearly aghast at what you have done, with the one exception to both being a huge brown bear. Seated apparently in a place of honour, the bear seems to be roaring with laughter.
Perplexed, you look back at the warrior who is one of the few not to have drawn his weapon, a sword. Like most of the others present he has a tattoo on his forehead which looks, well, phallic. Still, it's only the second silliest forehead tattoo you've seen since you started this adventure. Nearby stands a human in robes, who is clearly some sort of priest.
You exchange stares with the warrior for a few seconds before he reacts to what is happening behind you. You turn to see the woman – her sharp-featured, furious face visible in what is clearly a wedding garment, though it is made from a coarse fabric – has picked up a spear of her own and is preparing to drive it through you! "Please, my queen, a moment's restraint!" the warrior beseeches her, "This outrage may be an error." He gestures at some recent injuries on his arms as though he had been whipped. The woman hesitates, and then begins to pace up and down, still holding her spear aloft and muttering colourful oaths in your direction.
The warrior gestures to a man and a dwarf standing together, perhaps in the role of guards. "Have the interloper secured in a hut and well-guarded." You are taken away.
Turn to 152
133.
You pull out the little sphere with your heart in your mouth. Can in work here? Or will the birds somehow be held outside the thick stone walls?
But no – sure enough it darkens and you see birds beginning to appear. Restore 1 LUCK point.
Turn to 147
134.
The talisman has arcane symbols scrawled on it. You lift the leather thong on which it is suspended over your head, and just for an instant sense that you are making a mistake as the stone seems to triple in weight, as if impatient to drop into place. Then as it does so, it is as though a portcullis falls on your mind and you shuffle on into the forest. How odd that you choose to take the place of the elf.
135.
Keen to take the initiative, you dart forward and swing your sword at the humanoid's head... but the 'skeletal' arm lurches up and deflects your weapon with a clink. The being gives a feeble gasp of surprise. This is just an ordinary old man, save for an extraordinary mechanical arm. For a brief moment you put your sword up, expecting him to surrender, but he does not. Instead he shrieks at you in manic tones:
"So, you are here to steal the gold are you? Well I shan't let you! I shan't! No one shall claim the gold from me but Horfak, once he has recognised my brilliance and sacrifice." He swings his metal arm wildly at you.
OLD MAN SKILL 5 STAMINA 8
Although he is clumsy and unarmed, the man's metal arm is considerably stronger than him. If he hits you, roll one die. On 1-4 he does 2 STAMINA damage as normal; on 5-6 he does double damage.
If you win, turn to 165
136.
Somehow you manage to gather enough of your wits together to direct yourselves out of the ceremony and get your feet moving into a sprint. A spear thwacks into the ground just to your right and you hear others landing behind you and an axe slams into a tree. But the noise behind you dies away quite quickly. They have decided not to give chase.
Now, you must decide where to go. Will you...
Bear right out of the forest? Turn to 148
Bear left out of the forest? Turn to 164
Or if you feel the danger here is too great, use the Aleff and turn to 147
137.
You arrive in baffling surroundings: crouching in near darkness surrounded by fabric, perhaps in a tent made for a child, but the only source of light filtering in is somewhere near the top. Instinctively you stand up to see better, and experience several things at once.
Firstly, your face finds the small opening and you are confronted by the extremely startled face of a battle-scarred warrior. Then you realise that this is not a tent, but a voluminous garment and you are not alone in it. There is a slim, but muscular woman behind you wearing little else. Her presence is made obvious to you, first by brushing contact, then an ear-splitting bellow of rage from inches behind your head and finally by a knee driven in between your spine and right kidney. You collapse in pain – deduct 1 STAMINA point.
As you lie squirming on the ground, the fabric of the garment sweeps back over your face and you are dazzled by the sudden bright daylight. Squinting around you, you see that you are near-surrounded by a three-quarter circle of faces – the nearest just half a dozen yards away – with many of them appearing to brandish weapons. There are too many to fight.
Will you...
Make a run for it? Turn to 157
Attempt to parley/surrender? Turn to 132
138.
Pouches of igneolite pop and scatter over the stone, and it bubbles and ripples, congealing over every opening. You rush round the outskirts of the building desperately searching for an untouched window or door, but find none. The place has darkened considerably and after a few minutes so has your mood. It seems that you are trapped.
Do you still have the Aleff in your backpack?
If you do, turn to 133
If not, turn to 146
139.
The powers of the gateway are not so strong as they once were, but they remain stronger than you. You feel yourself bloating enormously, swelling up with muscle and fat alike. You topple forward as your legs meld together, as do your fingers as your hands and forearms spread wide. Two of your teeth grow dozens of times longer in an instant. Then it is over.
You flop onward into the caves, still dimly aware that horrible things will happen when the malign force of the gateway realises the power of an object in your backpack. But you are now a walrus, and your main concern is finding water with fish in it.
140.
The force crushes your mind. You let out a howl of despair, but by the time it has finished echoing you have no idea why. Understanding, memories and will are all gone. Before pacing stiffly onward, you take a moment to slough off your backpack. It will be a dark day for hundred worlds when the portal grasps the significance of the little glass ball within it. But for you, there are no more dark days or bright days. Your body is run through by soldiers within a week and left lying on a hillside as still as your mind.
141.
The man – for that is all the humanoid is – seems a little uncertain. "Are you one of Horfak's miners, sent to help me complete my work?"
You decide that it is easier to say that you are. The old man sighs with relief and introduces himself as Azudraz (or confirms it, as he is assuming you had heard his name before.)
"It is nearly complete – so near! But these hands cannot work together even for a simple wheelbarrow. You could finish the job in a few hours, while it would take me days."
With your eyes becoming accustomed to the light, you can clearly see that the rocks you saw before are gold – a mix of genuine nuggets and lumps of ordinary rock flecked with gold. As for the man's arm, it is not skeletal but an extraordinary mechanical construction. You can help him with no real cost to yourself, but you have little idea what the purpose of the work or why you should be doing it.
Will you...
Ask for payment? Turn to 149
Ask for an explanation of the process? Turn to 168
142.
If you are to safely exit the building, the first thing you must do is ensure that not all of the pouches of igneolite are set off. Since your difficult conversation, Azudraz has begun watching you suspiciously, but you snatch a moment to rip a couple of inches out of one of the tapers.
As you finish up with your task of depositing gold – and Azudraz seems close to finishing as well – you take out the Aleff and prepare to cast it into its watery grave. But perhaps this is unwise? Make a note on your Adventure sheet as to whether you let it sink or hold onto it for the time being.
Azudraz returns. "Good work" he says, "now head back to the centre of these fuses and wait for me." You do as he asks.
Turn to 172
143.
You are dragged to a clearing where a full circle of tribe members are standing, all with spears, swords and axes drawn. In the centre of the circle is a triceratops – apparently young or stunted as it is a fraction of the size of what you might expect.
The meeting is brief. Everyone is uncomfortable that you are still amongst them and not dead. An elf in dark, tattered robes reads out a verdict of sorts to say in a broken, arcane version of your language that you are guilty of dishonouring their queen and that you have three days grace to flee their lands or risk the full wrath of the People. The triceratops is tame, and has been trained to travel to the opening of the caves where there is a 'sorcerous gateway' in the words of the elf.
The warrior is the only one who shows you anything other than hostility. He subtly passes you a slab of warm steak wrapped in something like a cabbage leaf (it can restore 4 STAMINA points, but will spoil if you don't eat it within the next 5 sections), then adds some items to your backpack: some texts written on animal skins, two torches and a shrew, currently asleep. You do not feel that you can ask for further explanations.
Once the verdict has been read out, two of those present grab you and dump you on the back of the dinosaur, facing backwards as a mark of indignity. The creature is set moving and it seems unwise to get off. Instead, you spend the time reading the documents that the warrior shoved into your backpack.
There are two lengthy well-written letters to people named 'Gloten' and 'The Margrave' saying similar things: that the warrior found the source of the evil turning men to slave warriors and beasts: an evil portal. Once he had passed through, he defeated its counterpart, an evil mine-owner named Horfak. The warrior goes on to explain that he has no intention of returning to Khul and that they should give any rewards to the bearer of the letters, provided that they have destroyed the portal. The letter to Gloten is more informal, with some cryptic reference to him as "standing atop balanced pick-axe handles to tower over the rest", from which you conclude that Gloten is a giant with spindly legs.
The warrior has clearly taken some time over these letters, making you think that perhaps he was hoping to persuade one of the People to take the mission on. There is a shorter, scrawled note to you saying simply, "Remember to light all your torches and keep your mind intact!"
It takes some hours to reach the caves. The route in is, initially at least, wide enough that you could continue riding the great beast (forwards this time).
If you wish to enter the caves, make a note of whether you ride in, or dismount and walk in, then turn to 153
If you do neither and instead use the Aleff? Turn to 147
144.
The path out of the mine is not a long one – though it is of course mostly uphill – but it seems too long to be free of the place. It's a great relief to exit into the daylight. A little tired already, you clamber up to the top of a ridge and take in the scene.
It seems that there are broadly two ways that you can head on – either somewhat downhill towards the woodland (turn to 145) or further uphill, sticking to the higher ground (turn to 175).
145.
Tracking a path through the woods, you hear a set of shuffling footsteps off to one side. Out from behind a tree emerges a shortish, slender figure, apparently an elf – but something is very wrong with it. It has a vacant expression, some untended wounds and the string of the bow slung across its shoulders has rotted away. The thin sword in its hand, however, is only a little rusted and quite capable of cutting you down.
ZOMBIE ELF SKILL 7 STAMINA 8
If you win, you notice a stone talisman around the elf's neck. You may take this with you if you like.
Now, will you try cutting back to try to leave the woodland? (Turn to 175)
Or press deeper into the forest? (Turn to 155)
If you try putting the talisman around your neck, turn to 134
146.
You realise with a sense of horror that you are utterly trapped in this place. The stone walls are thick with no obvious place to tunnel under them. You can just about make out the Aleff amongst the gold nuggets in the tank, but of course it is set fast.
Azudraz, who seems to be unaware that you knocked him out cold, has not held back any food and can't see why you think that this is a problem. "We could buy food with gold." he explains over and over, and then when you point out that there is no one to supply it, adds, "Horfak will come." He clearly isn't interested anyway and seems happy to waste away as you become more frantic.
After a week of starvation and hammering the pommel of your sword ever more feebly on stone, you become desperate and clamber into the tank. Grasping the Aleff with both hands and planting your feet to brace, you crouch underwater and pull with all your might ...but the Aleff will not budge.
After around a minute of straining, you are forced to give up and come up for air – but suddenly you realise that your hands, feet and haunches are all locked in position. After a few dozen seconds of blind panic, you inhale the 'water' and drown. Azudraz will spend his final hours cursing you for besmirching the gold with your corpse.
147.
Once more, you stare into the swirling mists of the Aleff. This time however the birds which manifest themselves are black like ravens and have a raucous cry. "Copout! Copout!" they screech. As one flies at your face, the darkness sweeps over your mind, blurring memories, and your body clearing scars.
You find that you can remember nothing of use except what you knew when you first unwrapped the Aleff in Carey's shop the first time. Likewise your belongings have been switched back to those you had right before you left. Your SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK have all been restored to their initial values (and those initial scores are what they were originally, if they have been changed).
To your TRAIL score, however, add 1 point.
Turn to 1
148.
The path you make for yourself veers over ridges and down dales. You feel you are getting nowhere. Then as you near a copse a terrifying dinosaur sprints out from amongst the trees. It is agile, and though it is a little shorter than you with small forearms it has large teeth and a nasty, sickle-like claw on each of its hind legs.
VELOCIRAPTOR SKILL 9 STAMINA 8
The creature has two attacks: roll twice for its Attack Strength for each time you roll for yours. Only if yours is higher than both have you evaded both blows; if it is lower than both you will be hit twice.
If you win, you decide you had better cut your losses and use the Aleff. You may take one of the velociraptor's claws if you wish. Turn to 147
149.
You ask Azudraz cautiously if you may take a small portion of gold for payment, picking up a small nugget of gold which could fit in your hand as an example and gesturing to your backpack. To your surprise, he doesn't argue or try to negotiate but just lets out a long, slightly unnerving laugh.
"It makes no difference!" He says, walking away. Puzzled, you add the little nugget to your pack and start rolling the wheelbarrow to where Azudraz indicates you should unload it – a wide tank filled with water just a couple of feet deep.
Azudraz doesn't observe you much once he's explained what he needs you to do. He busies himself running long strips of paper out to the edges of the building.
Turn to 170
150.
Slowly, but surely, you push back against the force until it feels as though it is only touching the edges of your mind. It keeps probing, but you are fortified against it. Suddenly it is gone. You take a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Just as you are beginning to relax you are seized by new forces which leave your mind clear but sweep over every inch of your body, pinning you to the spot. You feel pinched and contorted everywhere. Here part of you seems to be hardening; here something seems to be trying to grow. You clench your muscles against it – but can you hold them off everywhere?
How many animals are you in the presence of?
None? Turn to 139
One? Turn to 171
Two? Turn to 158
151.
You are waiting for maybe a couple of hours before you hear the bolt being drawn back and the warrior enters. He closes the door quietly behind him. "Anxis is furious beyond your comprehension." he whispers, "But I've managed to persuade her not to have you killed, provided that you take on a mission for us. She was convinced only because whether you succeed or fail, she will never have to set eyes on you again. Did you come here from Khul, through the portal?"
You shake your head. The warrior is surprised, but continues after a short pause.
"That explains why you arrived here rather than in the caves I suppose. But perhaps it does not matter. Listen: I am a warrior from Khul, sent to find the cause of men having their minds wiped and made into zombie-like creatures, or their bodies twisted to make them into beasts. You may have seen Dirlin, the bear, at the ceremony? Well, I found the cause was a portal between worlds which, having failed to wreak its havoc upon me, brought me here. I slew the warlord, Horfak, with whom it shared power, but it still exists and may do evil until it is destroyed.
"I do not know how it could be destroyed – perhaps by a great quantity of the gunpowder the miners sometimes use in Khul – but no one knows how to make it on this side. Someone must pass back to Khul to find a way to destroy it, but I am tired. The portal might be able to attack me once more, and there are risks on the far side that I do not wish to face alone. The reward from Gloten and the Margrave would be great, but I am happy to remain in this world, wed my beloved Queen Anxis and be venerated by The People – a fine community."
He hesitates, then flushes scarlet and adds in a haunted whisper:
"Besides, in the forest in Khul I met a horrible dryad named Lignia who used magic to make my clothes fall off. All of the other dryads saw my bum! I can never go back."
"So you wish me to pass through the portal and complete a mission that if I am successful I will be unable to return to tell you of its success?" you ask, puzzled.
"Yes! Mostly what Anxis is offering you is a stay of execution for three days. After that time, if any of The People catch you on this side of the portal you will be killed. I will give you some assistance in passing through the portal ...though not *all* of it for free. Once on the other side, I cannot compel you to seal it shut, but it will be in your interest even if you care about neither this place nor that. I will draw up and sign a parchment explaining what has come to pass for me and confirming that my part of the reward should fall to you. Do you agree?"
Since the other option seems to be immediate execution, you nod.
"Excellent. Now, the portal will seek first to wreck your mind which will test your focus, then twist your body which will test your strength, then simply to kill you. For the first, this would help a little." He shows you a plain, flat, silver ring and tells you it is known as the Ring of Zombie Warding. For the second you will need animals around you. We will provide you with a steed and another animal such as a shrew. Finally, you must be surrounded by light. We will provide a torch for each hand, but you may also want this miner's helmet with a candle."
The warrior explains that he would like items to impress Anxis, mostly jewellery (she is not impressed by the plainness of the Ring of Zombie Warding). He will swap each of the ring or helmet for any of the following: an amulet, a ring (any kind), 1 black pearl, 5 silver pearls or the Horn of Hever. Make your trades as you see fit.
The warrior then strolls over to the door, calls for the guards and speaks to them. He then passes your sword back towards you, having overcome the reluctance of those outside. You take it together with your other belongings. As the warrior exits, the guards enter, advancing in a less friendly fashion.
Turn to 143
152.
Marched away by a man and a dwarf with tattoos on their heads, you are shoved into a very small hut – one too small for anyone to live in. Your guards are not sure how to treat you, whether you are a guest under suspicion or a foul besmircher of their queen. For now, they merely relieve you of the sword you have at your belt but do not take away, or even look at, your other possessions. You hear a bolt sliding into place on the door, while no footsteps away from it, which suggests both guards remain.
You take out the Aleff and briefly uncover it. It appears to be working. If you use it now you will not get your sword back, but if you have a back-up weapon or you would simply rather risk travelling without one than remaining, (you would be fighting with a 2 point Attack Strength penalty and causing 1 point of damage) you could try this.
Will you...
Use the Aleff? Turn to 147
Wait it out? Turn to 151
153.
As you progress deeper into the caves, a feeling of something or someone malevolent nearby begins to grow. Finally you arrive at a sort of gate made from three blocks of black rock covered in strange symbols and shrouded in darkness.
At this point something odd happens – or does it? Just for a moment you think you hear a whisper in your mind: "Adventurer! Would your will be for the power of a god? Oh... but you are on a higher quest..." but perhaps this is a half-remembered dream crossing your mind in the darkness.
Having come this far, you feel you are committed to passing through.
The moment you enter the sinister structure, you feel a strange force grasping your mind like a potter's hands grasping clay. You feel numb, your hearing muffles and your sight dims further. Thoughts which are not your own drift into your mind and your own drift out. You feel strangely drowsy though your body is tense and upright. You sense this is not a slumber from which your mind would awaken and you set yourself against it. Something to focus on would help.
Do you have a Ring of Zombie Warding? If so, turn to 163, if not turn to 174
154.
You knot your muscles against the invisible onslaught. After what seems an age, and to your utter astonishment, the shrew leaps from your backpack, no longer a shrew, but a bright blue hedgehog. It scurries away at surprising speed.
With that, the gateway's invisible grasping fingers seem to slide exhausted off you.
Turn to 160
155.
You soldier on through the forest, watching out for more elf-zombies, but you don't seem to be finding anything of interest. Then, with a sinking feeling, you spot a familiar creature padding towards you. The huge, ghostly wolf seems to be heading precisely in your direction, yet hasn't laid eyes on you yet. You duck behind a tree, snatch the Aleff out of your pack and stare into it.
Add 1 point to your TRAIL score and then turn to 147.
156.
Your remaining torch flame dwindles and goes out. Wave after wave of darkness rolls into you and you distantly feel your limbs turning limp, but you do not feel the fall to the ground. At least when your heart stops beating a few seconds later your mind is too chilled even to notice.
157.
Roll two dice to test your SKILL. If the total is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 136. If it is higher, turn to 159
158.
As you knot your muscles against the invisible onslaught, you hear frantic squeaking from your backpack followed by a tremendous bellow from the beast between your legs.
In the gateway's painful grip, it seems as though a long time passes, but it is simply not sufficient to twist all of you. Suddenly you feel a collapse and re-rising beneath you and the dinosaur – to your utter astonishment – is suddenly a young giraffe, struggling to hold its long neck off the ground but beneath the roof. Your sense of bafflement is only increased when the shrew leaps from your backpack, no longer a shrew, but a bright blue hedgehog which scurries away at surprising speed.
With that, the gateway's invisible grasping fingers seem to slide exhausted off you.
Turn to 160
159.
You scramble to your feet and try to make tracks away from the gathering, but you manage to lurch off towards one group of the assembled throng before sprinting off, and you've only gone a dozen steps before a horrific pain shoots through your calf muscle as a spear penetrates as deep as the bone. You crash to the ground and are immediately surrounded by humans and humanoids with their weapons pointed at you. Deduct 4 STAMINA points and turn to 143
160.
Just when you think the gateway has given up on preventing your progress you see it has one more trick: clouds of darkness drop from the structure like curtains and sweep against you. You instinctively raise your torches to meet them, and the darkness swirls around them. It is cold – no, just numbing – to the touch.
You already had a torch in each hand. Do you have a third light source? If so, turn to 162. If not, turn to 176.
161.
Picking a moment when Azudraz's back is turned, you simply sprint headlong for the entranceway. As you near it you hear his cry of anger behind you, but he does not seem to do anything. Perhaps he realises that you could not run that fast and be carrying much gold.
Once you are safely two or three hundred paces down the slope outside you pull out the Aleff.
Turn to 147
162.
With the miner's helmet and its candle flame beaming light over your face, you feel a little protection from the darkness, and use your torches to push back against the inky clouds. Sometimes the clouds cause the flame to dwindle on one of them, but you simply bring them together for a moment and both are burning bright once more. Soon the blackness fades to the commonplace dimness of a poor lit mine.
You have survived the onslaught of gateway. Restore 1 LUCK point.
You resolve to return and destroy this malevolent force once and for all. For now you press on and soon you see light at the end of the tunnel.
Are you, to your surprise, riding a giraffe? If so turn to 166.
If not, turn to 144.
163.
The moment your eyes fix on the pale, flickering light of the plain silver ring, your resolve stiffens. Roll 2 dice and compare the result to your STAMINA. If the result is greater, turn to 140, if it is less than or equal to your STAMINA, turn to 150.
164.
You follow a path taking you meandering through a valley and a patch of woodland until you finally reach a set of caves. Somehow you feel a sense of evil emanating from them. Will you enter?
If so, turn to 153.
If you would rather use the Aleff, turn to 147
If you would prefer to double back on yourself, turn to 169
165.
After a minute or two of straightforward but unnerving combat you plunge your sword into the old man's chest and he dies with a gurgle. You cannot help feeling guilty for hacking a defenceless old man to death without good cause. Lose 1 LUCK point.
You feel that your time in this world should perhaps be wound up. There is no point in inspecting the equipment without someone there to explain it to you, nor is the idea of wandering aimlessly attractive to you. However there is a wheelbarrow full of gold here. It is too heavy to carry any significant quantity, but you may take a nugget if you so choose. You take out the Aleff and stare at it.
Turn to 147
166.
It is something of a strain coaxing the young giraffe through the tunnel. Even if it were used to its shape, the creature would struggle underground and it makes pitiable cries as it scrapes its chin on the ground one minute and then bangs its head on the ceiling the next. At length you are able to exit the mine and it lets out an indescribable sound in relief.
Only a madman would continue to try using a giraffe as a steed. However, you cling on as the beast gambols to the top of a ridge and stands still to get its own bearings. You take the opportunity to stand up on its back, steadying yourself with a hand on its boney neck, and survey the land.
There is a lot of forest around you. In the distance however you spot a stone building and conclude that if you wish to find means to destroy the gateway or make other useful human contact it would be best to make for there. At this point, the giraffe decides to take its leave of you. It if clearly hungry, and prefers the look of the forest.
If you make for the stone building, turn to 175
Alternatively you may use the Aleff. If you do this, turn to 147
167.
For several minutes you are frantic, sprinting round the outskirts of the building as pouches of igneolite pop and scatter over the stone, and it bubbles and ripples, congealing over every opening. All is dark and you are convinced that you are sealed in.
In your desperation, as you are doubling back, you nearly fall into the tank of aqua viscosi – but then you find the broken taper leading away and follow it to the wall. Near where the reaches the edge you find another unbroken taper and then the remains of a side door. Igneolite has changed most of it to smooth, thick, solid rock, but a slanted gap several inches high remains at the base and at length you find that, with effort, you and your pack can separately scrape through.
Wasting no more time you return to the tank and, if you have not already done so, allow the Aleff to sink to the bottom. Viewing it by torchlight, you can barely see it there – just the hint of a bubble between the nuggets.
Collecting several bags of igneolite, you leave the building for the last time. Setting one of them alight in the gap, you watch as the building is sealed completely.
It takes you three days to find your way to meet the Margrave and Gloten (who proves, bafflingly, to be a dwarf – he chuckles at his letter, apparently understanding a joke you do not). Once they have finished reading their letters and you have told them of the igneolite you are carrying (you leave its origins unclear) they look to you with respect and hope.
The next day you begin riding back to the gateway, surrounded by half a dozen mercenaries sworn to protect you. Soon you are setting light to pouches around it, and you hear it scream in your head as you reduce it, too, to smooth rock.
On returning to Kleinkastel, you are greeted with thunderous cheers and addressed as a hero by all: humans, elves, dwarves. A banquet is held in your honour, but the gratitude of all lasts longer than that. Even the forest goblins scamper up to you in the woodland paths to shower you with wondrous magical gifts by way of thanks. You settle in the town and live a life of ease, provided for generously by a hundred smiling faces.
Yet you have one little niggle at the back of your mind and everyday you go for a long walk, long enough to circle the stone building, searching for breaches and hoping not to see ghostly wolves or tigers.
Weeks and months pass, until one day you are startled to be greeted by a near-invisible figure with just a hint of a humanoid shape. Somehow you know immediately that this is the God of Confusion and, once you have inquired about his appearance, ("I'm working on something new – it's just an outline at the moment") he explains why he is there with surprising clarity.
"You have succeeded! The Aleff's power has lapsed and our world is safe from outsiders once more. Your brilliance has saved us and you deserve to be showered in jewels." As he is speaking, gemstones begin to fall from just about your head. You shield your skull with your hands, but none of the stones hit and they simply build up around you in a pleasing fashion. "Without the Aleff, you are stranded of course, but if you wish I can now send you back to your home town on Earth."
You think of returning home – but your mind strays to the elven massage you're expecting to receive in the evening. It is literally magical. Then there's another feast in your honour next week. The god laughs heartily.
"Very well! But know that whenever you wish to return you may call on me. There are few who can claim to have a god in their debt! With that, he vanishes and you walk back to Kleinkastel with a big smile on your face.
168.
Azudraz is only too happy to be asked for an explanation and launches into a lecture with enthusiasm.
He begins with a long exposition of his experiments, which you struggle to follow, but the conclusion concerning the fruits of his work are clear enough:
"...the first of my inventions I call 'aqua viscosi'. It looks like ordinary water, yes! But if you leave objects in it they stick firmly in place. As a side-effect, it blocks magical scrying. Even a sorcerer could not detect there is gold in there without looking directly in."
He ushers you over to the tank in which there are many lumps of gold in clusters at the bottom, some in piles. He invites you to try shifting them with your sword. Your weapon passes easily through the 'water', but you marvel as the nuggets refuse to budge, as though still set in rock.
"Don't leave your sword in there for too long – it is quite capable of disarming one." Azudraz quips, and lets out a peal of unhinged laughter which you find chilling. You extract your blade.
"The second invention is 'igneolite'. The presence of fire activates it. It can make solid stone flow like water, and like water the stone will draw together to close holes. I have set bags of igneolite at all the doors and windows to seal them shut. Then the gold shall be truly safe!"
At this point the conversation begins to become strange. You ask Azudraz what exit he is leaving unsealed. He says, gleefully, that there are none. Robbers will have no way in at all. Then you ask how the two of you are to exit before the igneolite seals the building. Azudraz raises his eyebrows and explains, as though to an idiot, that this would separate you from the gold.
The conversation goes round and round until Azudraz becomes exasperated and you feel you must end it. It is quite clear that he intends the two of you to be sealed in the building with the gold until you die. Clearly he has lost not just an arm but his mind.
Still, perhaps you could turn this situation to your advantage. If you left the Aleff in the building, surely it would be safe for more than a year?
Azudraz is laying long paper tapers for the igneolite while you run the wheelbarrow back and forth. A germ of a plan begins to form in your mind, but it is risky. You could be sealed in forever.
While you are pondering, you take the opportunity to sneak a small nugget of gold into your backpack. But that is an easy decision, what will you do about the harder one?
If you stay to try your plan, turn to 142
If you make a run for it, turn to 161
169.
After a few hours of picking a route through the unfamiliar world in which you find yourself, you see a tiny spec in the sky above you.
Just a moment later you are diving for cover in a panic as a huge, ghostly falcon plunges towards you. Sheltering between two rocks you desperately grab the Aleff out of your pack. Add 1 point to your TRAIL score.
Turn to 147
170.
You work diligently enough, tipping lumps of gold and gold-speckled rocks into the water. Azudraz wanders back and forth, glancing over to see how your work is going, while laying down long strips of paper. Possibly these are fuses, although you begin to wonder if he really knows why he's doing anything he does. He does a lot of muttering to himself and what he says sounds a lot like gibberish.
"Melted windows keep us safe! Still water keeps it frozen better than ice." and so on.
At length, noting that you are nearly finished with you wheelbarrow – he wanders back past you towards the way you came in. A minute later all hell breaks loose. You see flames speeding along the paper strips and then you can hear fizzing and popping from all directions and the building suddenly gets rapidly darker.
In the gloom, you hear a shriek of glee and some unhinged gabbling from Azudraz and instinctively scamper in the other direction. Investigating a point where you knew there to be a window, you find only smooth stone. There is no point in checking anywhere else, instead you reach into your pack for the Aleff.
Turn to 133
171.
As you knot your muscles against the invisible onslaught, you hear frantic squeaking from your backpack. The gateway is trying to twist the two of you at the same time.
Roll two dice and deduct two from the result.
If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 154
If it is greater, turn to 139
172.
Arriving back at the nub of fuse-papers, you are struck by how many of them are here and how interwoven they are. It is impossible to know which taper is the one that you have broken. Soon, Azudraz returns, beaming with satisfaction and carrying a lit torch.
"We are ready! It is failsafe – the charges at every exit are overdetermined. If one taper should fizzle out, enough igneolite will still be activated to seal everything."
Azudraz gives you a comradely nod, not noticing your aghast expression. He turns to release the torch...
A moment later the pommel of your sword slams into the back of his head, but it is too late. As he crashes senselessly to the ground the flames are already snaking out in every direction. You leap to stamp out one flame, then aim to snuff out another before it speeds away.
Roll one die. Make a note of the number, then roll again to see if the second one matches the first. If it does not, Test your LUCK. If you are Lucky, you manage to stamp out another flame: roll once more.
If you manage to match the first number you rolled (either time) turn to 167
Else, turn to 138
173.
The world has almost dwindled to a point behind your eyes in the chilling numbness and pitch-black darkness when the second torch flares into life. You pull both of them back almost against your face just to feel something. Then you press each one out boldly in turn. Slowly but surely the darkness recedes. Soon it is no more than the commonplace dimness of a poor lit mine.
You have survived the onslaught of gateway. Restore 1 LUCK point.
You resolve to return and destroy this malevolent force once and for all. For now you press on and soon you see light at the end of the tunnel.
Are you, to your surprise, riding a giraffe? If so turn to 166.
If not, turn to 144.
174.
Your eyes cast about for a point of focus, but settle on nothing. The force fills ever more of your mind. You grit your teeth and make one final effort to regain control. Roll 4 dice and compare the result to your STAMINA. If the result is greater, turn to 140, if it is less than or equal to your STAMINA, turn to 150.
175.
Keeping to open ground as much as possible, you make your way away from the mine. You cross what seems to be the aftermath of a grotesque battle with the corpses of strange humanoids and goblins with a surprising number of feathers strewn about. A huge statue of a many-armed goblin surveys the scene. You scamper on, unnerved.
Arriving at the entrance to the stone building, you see a few steps leading down into its large, open rooms. The day is getting near its end and only a modicum of sunlight reaches in, but you think you can make out a table, a wheelbarrow, some shiny rocks and, further back, some larger equipment. To the front of all this, however, is a human or humanoid figure shambling towards you. There is something strange about his right arm – as though it is skeletal. You fancy you can see through it.
Will you attack immediately? Turn to 135
Greet him in a friendly fashion? Turn to 141
176.
You are glad of your two torches, but even with them both you feel under pressure. One cloud of darkness sweeps over the torch in your left hand, snuffing it out. You press it hard to the lit torch in the hope of rekindling it whilst the darkness sweeps closer and seems to be seeping into your face, so you can't feel your lips, your nose, your throat...
Test your LUCK.
If you are Lucky turn to 173
If you are Unlucky turn to 156
177.
You fling two pearls at the ground (cross them off your Adventure Sheet) and a boney monstrosity springs up, which begins to advance on the sorcerer. This draws a smirk from him. He gestures at the figure's weapon and it is transformed into a large rose. Clearly it is not going to strike him down but perhaps it will provide a moment's distraction.
Will you...
Sprint for the cave entrance? Turn to 184
Close for battle? Turn to 181
178.
Realising that you probably can't defeat the mage with your sword, you point the ring at his head hoping to catch him by surprise. A jet of flame shoots across the cave, but halts in a disc in front of the mage's face. When the ring is exhausted (cross it off your Adventure Sheet) the disc clears to reveal the enraged features of the sorcerer.
"So you like to play do you, warrior?" he asks and reaches into a pocket to produce a many-faceted sapphire which he rolls along the ground to you as if throwing dice. As it does so it grows rapidly, from the size of a knuckle to ten feet tall. You bolt for the cave mouth.
Roll two dice, adding two to the result. If the result is equal to or greater than your SKILL, turn to 179.
If it is less than your SKILL, you reach the cave entrance and move to the side as the gem rolls past – and suddenly it is not the problem.
Turn to 185
179.
You stumble as you flee from the great gem and are dragged under it. You expect to be crushed, but instead find yourself trapped within its walls. Then you are horrified to find that it is shrinking once more and you are shrinking with it. There seems to be a huge bubble appearing behind you, but then you realise that it is simply the Aleff, which remains the same size and bursts through your pack before slipping easily through one of the sapphire's faces.
You see the mage pick up the Aleff with one hand and your gleaming prison with the other. He reaches for some rings on his left hand and uses a catch to release a green gem, which you're sure had a corpse inside it. He pockets the green gem and locks your blue one in its place.
You will live there long enough to see many horrible triumphs that the Aleff will bring to Manse the Deathmage.
180.
As the mage points at your chest, you feel your heart beating faster and faster and sharp pain all around it. A moment later your ribs shatter and your heart bursts from your chest and floats in a lazy arc into the mage's hand.
You slump down to the ground and feel a pool of blood collecting beneath you while your sight begins to fail. The last thing you see is the Aleff floating from your pack to the mage, who casually casts your heart to the side in order to catch it in his bloody hand. The deeply malevolent grin which spreads across his face tells you that you have let the incredibly powerful object fall into the worst hands possible.
181.
You see a look of rage flare up in the mage's eyes as you charge at him with your sword. The suggestion that anyone as puny as yourself would stand a chance against him is profoundly insulting. He jabs a long finger at you whilst muttering under his breath. You feel a twitch in your chest.
Are you wearing an amulet? If not, turn to 180
If you are, test your LUCK
If you are lucky, turn to 186
If you are unlucky, turn to 180
182.
Deduct 4 STAMINA points.
If you survive this, you come round feeling dizzy and nauseous, lying on the ground in what seems to be a cave, going by the rocky walls. Lifting yourself up on an elbow you catch sight of the floor and feel another wave of dizziness as there is a sort of swirling effect: someone has painted a huge black whirlpool which spans from wall to wall.
Looking round, you are relieved to see no sign of the huge ghostly tiger. It occurs to you that it would be a good idea to use the Aleff straightaway in case it returns, so you fish it out of your pack.
"I see that you've brought a gift for your visit." says a voice nastily from the shadows.
You scramble to your feet and stare as a tall, wiry figure with a white, gaunt face and bloodshot eyes stops skulking and draws himself up to his full height before slowly pacing towards you. He wears the robes of a mage and carries a black staff with a dark green snake's head carved into the top of it. The staff raps the ground at every other step.
Immediately you sense that even yielding the Aleff will not buy you your life.
Now that you have adjusted to your surroundings, you see that the cave mouth is not that far behind you. Perhaps 5-10 seconds away at a sprint.
Will you...
Summon a skeleton or a thassaloss (if you know how?) Turn to 177
Make a run for the cave entrance? Turn to 188
Close for battle with your sword? Turn to 181
Use a Ring of Fire? Turn to 178
183.
It goes against every instinct in your body to dive off, but the desperate strategy has two crucial advantages: it takes you away from the mage at speed and it keeps your hands free.
Although you scream in blind terror as you plunge towards the rocks and water, the birds begin to blink into view alongside you and you can choose which to focus on.
As you make your hasty choice, a thunderbolt blasts close by you. In the distance above you a voice screams "You shall not escape the power of Manse the Deathmage!!" but for the moment you have done just that.
What did you pick:
To one side was the bizarre sight of a flock of birds managing to fly vertically – somehow maintaining contact whilst still flying. Their arrangement could only be described as a stack or a column or, dammit, a conga line. If you focussed on them, turn to 103
To the other side was a rather primeval-looking bird, with a dark circle of plumage at its centre like a hole. If you focussed on that, turn to 137
184.
You turn and run for the entrance to the cave. You hear a terrifying crackling sound behind you and the mage begins throwing thunderbolts, first at your skeletal fighter and then at you.
Roll one die to determine how long it takes the mage to demolish your hapless boney warrior – and so how many thunderbolts he throws at you!
On 1-2, he throws just one bolt; on 3-4 he throws two; on 5-6 he throws three.
For each bolt, test your LUCK. For each time you are unlucky, you lose 5 STAMINA points and 1 SKILL point.
If you survive this far, you find yourself with a difficult choice at the mouth of the cave.
Turn to 185
185.
You reach the cave entrance and duck off to one side ...but there barely is a side – you are teetering on the edge of a cliff! The cave is placed in the rockface dozens of times higher than would be enough for the fall to spell certain death. Dazzling sunshine shows a river cutting through rocks far, far below.
Squinting back upwards you think you might be able to see the top of the cliff a hundred feet up or so. There is nowhere to run to, or even take cover and there are only seconds before the mage can set eyes on you again. You can try to climb to safety, or take the Aleff in your hands and jump.
What will it be?
Climb? Turn to 187
Jump? Turn to 183
186.
Whether it's some minor charm on the amulet you can't be sure, but for a moment the pain in your chest dissipates. The mage flicks his wrist irritably and the amulet snaps from round your neck flies through the air to smash against the wall (cross it off your Adventure sheet).
You take the moment's respite to bolt for the cave mouth. Turn to 188
187.
You begin to clamber up the vertical surface, finding decent handholds and footholds, but you only make it ten feet or so up before you see the mage appear in the corner of your eye. Even from that angle you see him give a broad, malicious grin, and point at you.
A sort of numbness seeps into your arms and then ...you are falling backwards with your arms detached from your shoulders, still clinging to the rock. For a brief moment as you plummet down you see the Aleff as it floats out of your pack. But then it is just a speck in the distance and you have only the long wait until you hit the ground.
188.
Somehow you sense that whilst the mage has brought you to him, that this cave – with its clear exit – was not the place he would have chosen to face you. You bolt for the cave mouth – but you hear a loud, threatening crackle behind you...
Test your LUCK *four* times as thunderbolts are flung towards you. For each time you are unlucky, deduct 5 STAMINA points and 1 SKILL point as one slams into you.
If you survive this far, you find yourself with a difficult choice at the mouth of the cave.
Turn to 185
Edit (22 March 2020): If you give this a playthrough, you might want to comment below.
If so please start by saying how long the adventure is when you tried it.
Eg "Played this through when it was 131 sections long" or "Played this through when the latest scene was the one starting at section 103." Thanks.
Credits:
Based on an idea by deadshadowrunner
Introduction by thealmightymudworm
Scene starting at para 1 by thealmightymudworm
Scene starting at para 5 by babbagefart with edits/additions by thealmightymudworm
Scene starting at para 6 by thealmightymudworm
Scene starting at para 29 by kieran
Scene starting at para 83 by stevendoig
Scene starting at para 98 by thealmightymudworm (h/t daredevil123 )
Scene starting at para 103 by stevendoig with edits/additions by thealmightymudworm (added 22 March 2020)
Scene starting at para 137 by thealmightymudworm (added 23 July 2020)
Scene starting at para 182 by thealmightymudworm (added 30 July 2020)
(to be continued...)
Roll for SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK as usual. You also have a TRAIL score which starts at zero.
Introduction
It was a crisp, beautiful autumn afternoon when you wandered into Carey's Curios. You usually drop in once a week or so to see if anything special has been brought in. Carey nods a greeting as always, but you see immediately that he is troubled. He beckons for you to follow him to the back of the shop.
"Tell me what you make of this." he says, gesturing to a small pile of clothes: a shirt, trousers, sturdy boots, leather armour and a sword in its scabbard. You look back at him, puzzled. "Were these delivered?"
"Not really. There was someone in them when they arrived, but I never saw him come in – just turned round and he was there, already struggling out of his things. Scared the life out of me. Then he hobbled over to the counter – seemed to be in quite a bad way – and spluttered a couple of things at me.
"First he said, 'Fear the great beasts!' and then, 'Hide this and don't call the birds.' before slamming this crystal ball-thing down on the counter and shambling out of the door. He was barefoot – almost naked in fact."
Whilst Carey has been talking you've been inspecting the clothing. The shirt and trousers are not in your size, but the boots could fit over your shoes and the leather armour could fit you too. Most fascinating of all is the sword – you remember your swordsmanship training from a few years back, but you've never raised a weapon in anger. This battered blade still has a sharp edge and traces of fresh blood.
You look at the bundle Carey has produced from behind the counter. It seems to be an object no bigger than your fist, wrapped in a dark red cloth, which weighs more than you expect when you pick it up. "Have you unwrapped it yet?"
"I tried once," says Carey, "and the strangest thing happened: a bird appeared from nowhere. I didn't see it fly in. So I put the cloth back over, caught the bird and put it in one of the cages. But when I looked again it was… ARRRGH!"
You spin round to see the face of a gigantic wolf, clear and colourless as a still lake, peering in through the doorway. As you watch, transfixed, the shopfront shimmers and the beast, twice as tall as you, begins to pass through. Carey dashes towards the back room, but you can only duck behind the counter as it begins to pad towards you…
In desperation, you take out the glass sphere – perhaps it is why the wolf is here and even if it isn't it might be used as a distraction – and glance down at it. At the centre is a bird facing you with its long beak opened in a threatening fashion. You fancy you glimpse the silvery word 'Aleff' in the crystal-clear glass. Then the orb darkens.
Immediately you feel a hand on your shoulder – no, not a hand, a pair of feet belonging to a bird which has settled on you from nowhere. You flinch as it swishes its blade-like beak from side to side. When you look back in front of you there are two more, then three. They are a grubby white hue at the front though you can see traces of colours on the upper side of the wings as well as a greenish stripe down their backs. You guess they might look spectacular from above with their wings spread.
Suddenly one swoops in from the far side of the shop – over dozens of others now pacing around – and banks so the white breast is about to hit your face... Then everything goes black and you know not where you are.
Turn to 1.
1.
Unaccustomed as you are to the mysterious Aleff, you are unprepared for the ground to have shifted beneath your feet and you nearly tumble down the barren hillside on which you find yourself. You have the Aleff, re-wrapped, and sword, boots and armour from the shop. You also still have your knapsack, containing only the two very large sandwiches you'd made to get you through the day (enough for two provisions). Recovering your balance you look around you: in the distance is a tower from which smoke appears to be rising. A little closer in another direction is a hayfield, but the only landmark close to you is a stout tree.
To your surprise you spot a dishevelled man edging along a branch towards a bird – a white dove – which he abruptly lunges for and grabs, falling to the ground in the process. He looks so exhausted and wild eyed that you almost expect him to eat it, but instead he caresses it gently until it is calm before tying it to a heavy rucksack by the tree with a loose thread. He settles down and begins to write something on a strip of parchment as long as your forearm but no wider than your finger.
Quite suddenly, he becomes aware of your presence, snatches up his sword and leaps to his feet, glaring at you suspiciously. "What are you and who do you serve?!"
Unfortunately your first response to this question is a stifled guffaw: this is the first time you have seen the man's greasy hair swept away from his brow and you are startled to see his face is daubed with a crude image of an exploding horse. There is nothing funny about his stare, however, which is wild and fearful.
A quick answer is needed…
"I have been brought here by magic" Turn to 2.
"I am fleeing an enemy I do not understand" Turn to 3.
2.
Before you have the chance to explain further, the man howls with fear and slashes at you with his sword. He is far from full strength, but wields his weapon with great dexterity.
EXPLODING-HORSE-FACED MAN SKILL 11 STAMINA 7
If you reduce his STAMINA to 3 or fewer, turn to 4.
EXPLODING-HORSE-FACED MAN SKILL 11 STAMINA 7
If you reduce his STAMINA to 3 or fewer, turn to 4.
3.
The man slowly puts his sword up and relaxes. "My apologies" he says, at length, "when you fight someone as steeped in dark magic as the Night Prince you never quite know when you're out of reach of his revenge."
The two of you sit together under the tree for a time whilst your new friend finishes his note on the strip of parchment. It seems to be a very angry message – though you do not wish to pry, you catch sight of a couple of phrases such as "…no thanks to YOU!" and "…maybe Wraggins has his reasons…"
When he has finished, he attaches the strip to the leg of the dove and releases it. The strip is so hefty that the bird has to run down the hill to take off. Only now does your companion turn to you and ask how you came to be on the hillside. Feeling that you can trust him, and keen to know more of the mysterious Aleff, you earnestly explain what happened and offer to show him the little glass ball. But he just laughs.
"By every star in the heavens, no! I have had my fill of adventure for a long while and want no part of any strange charm that might divert me from the welcome I will receive at home. All I desire is a ride or at least some new boots or good meat to ease my journey. Come to think of it…
He fetches a bag of six black pearls from his pack and shows you two rings on left hand. "The pearls were never of use to me," he explains, "and these rings have served their purpose. This one, known as 'the Golden Eye' dispels some illusions and this one…." he touches it and a jet of flame shoots past you, "…does this."
You prepare to tell the warrior that you have no money, but he continues, "All I want from you for each of these items is a decent meal. You'll never see a better deal."
You can exchange your provisions one-for-one with the items the warrior is offering or not – he is not offended if you refuse.
Once you are done, the warrior cordially takes his leave of you.
There seems nothing to be done, except to unwrap the Aleff and watch for the birds.
Soon they are all around you, with two catching your attention in particular. One of which has a little piece of extra plumage covering its left eye, and wet feathers all over. If you focus on this bird, turn to 6
The other bird has a battered look as though it has been fighting, and seems to be dusted with sand. If you stare at this bird, turn to 5.
The two of you sit together under the tree for a time whilst your new friend finishes his note on the strip of parchment. It seems to be a very angry message – though you do not wish to pry, you catch sight of a couple of phrases such as "…no thanks to YOU!" and "…maybe Wraggins has his reasons…"
When he has finished, he attaches the strip to the leg of the dove and releases it. The strip is so hefty that the bird has to run down the hill to take off. Only now does your companion turn to you and ask how you came to be on the hillside. Feeling that you can trust him, and keen to know more of the mysterious Aleff, you earnestly explain what happened and offer to show him the little glass ball. But he just laughs.
"By every star in the heavens, no! I have had my fill of adventure for a long while and want no part of any strange charm that might divert me from the welcome I will receive at home. All I desire is a ride or at least some new boots or good meat to ease my journey. Come to think of it…
He fetches a bag of six black pearls from his pack and shows you two rings on left hand. "The pearls were never of use to me," he explains, "and these rings have served their purpose. This one, known as 'the Golden Eye' dispels some illusions and this one…." he touches it and a jet of flame shoots past you, "…does this."
You prepare to tell the warrior that you have no money, but he continues, "All I want from you for each of these items is a decent meal. You'll never see a better deal."
You can exchange your provisions one-for-one with the items the warrior is offering or not – he is not offended if you refuse.
Once you are done, the warrior cordially takes his leave of you.
There seems nothing to be done, except to unwrap the Aleff and watch for the birds.
Soon they are all around you, with two catching your attention in particular. One of which has a little piece of extra plumage covering its left eye, and wet feathers all over. If you focus on this bird, turn to 6
The other bird has a battered look as though it has been fighting, and seems to be dusted with sand. If you stare at this bird, turn to 5.
4.
You only land a couple of blows on the warrior, but he clearly has survival at the front of his mind and suddenly runs full pelt down the hill. It doesn't seem worth giving chase.
You check his belongings. The only thing there which might be of any value to you is a pouch of six black pearls, which you take.
There seems nothing to be done, except to unwrap the Aleff and watch for the birds.
Soon they are all around you, with two catching your attention in particular. One of which has a little piece of extra plumage covering its left eye, and wet feathers all over. If you focus on this bird, turn to 6
The other bird has a battered look as though it has been fighting, and seems to be dusted with sand. If you stare at this bird, turn to 5.
You check his belongings. The only thing there which might be of any value to you is a pouch of six black pearls, which you take.
There seems nothing to be done, except to unwrap the Aleff and watch for the birds.
Soon they are all around you, with two catching your attention in particular. One of which has a little piece of extra plumage covering its left eye, and wet feathers all over. If you focus on this bird, turn to 6
The other bird has a battered look as though it has been fighting, and seems to be dusted with sand. If you stare at this bird, turn to 5.
5.
You come to your senses quickly. You are in a small room – a cell by the look of things. A few bundles of hay are strewn across the stone floor, presumably to provide bedding for inmates, but this is the only furnishing of any kind. The place is dark and your attention is drawn to a skirmish in the corner between two people who don't appear to have noticed your sudden arrival. On the floor a young man is bleeding from a wound in his throat and on top of him a muscular Easterner with tattoos and a headband is trying to finish him off with a long, sharp pin. This is clearly a fight to the death.
You have been thrown in at the deep end this time.
If you would like to aid the wounded man and attack the unsuspecting Easterner, turn to 30.
If you would prefer to try to side with the Easterner, who looks to be the stronger of the two, and deal a killing blow to the wounded man, turn to 31.
If you would rather simply wait in the corner to see who wins and then come up with a plan, turn to 32.
Alternatively you could quickly use the Aleff to transport you away from this mess. If so, turn to 33.
6.
You focus on the bird which has wet feathers and a patch of extra plumage over one eye. As if in reply, it soars upwards and then just as suddenly plunges steeply toward your face. At the last moment you instinctively blink, but the bird never touches you…
…instead you snap your eyes open to the sting of saltwater! You are deep under the ocean, near the sea bed! Unable even to get your bearings for a moment, you cast your eyes one way and another and see a gleam of sunlight in what must be the upward direction – but a considerable distance away. In pure terror you thrash your limbs around frantically and scream, losing your breath and opening your lungs to a rush of cold water. You begin to choke…
Then something snags your ankle and hoicks you back down to the ocean floor with some force. You feel your surroundings change again and you are slapped firmly down against a hard floor. Coughing out your mouthful of water you gasp gratefully at the air. Suddenly exhausted, you lie still and flat, staring at the blurred ground as the sea water slowly escapes your eyes and ears. Shortly, the latter clear enough to receive the end of a tirade of insults.
"…imbecile! Moron! Stupider than a sea-ogre! Oaf!"
You turn to see an old man staring at you in frustrated disbelief. Then he bursts out laughing.
"Actually, that was the funniest thing I've seen in years." He mimics your desperately flailing limbs. "My name is Greylock. I thought my last visitor was clueless but he had the excuse of being thrown overboard – you seem to have delivered yourself here. Might I ask how?"
Once you finally get your breath back, will you…
Tell the truth? Turn to 7
Make something up? Turn to 8
7.
You open your pack – which has remained surprisingly dry inside – and take out the Aleff in its cloth before disrobing it for Greylock. His eyes widen.
"The Aleff! I heard a story about it years ago but dismissed it as a fantasy. No wonder your arrival was chaotic. No, no, put it away! If the stories are true it works by summoning birds through the dimensions, does it not? If Tiddles tries to catch one he might be the one to get transported away – and knowing his luck he'll end up being eaten by an orange blob or something."
It is the first time that you've spotted the cat. He is a black, fluffy creature, who looks like he gets plenty of fish but not much exercise – and who couldn't catch a bird if they were tied up in a sack together. This is hardly surprising since while the house is dry, seawater comes right to the door, held back by some powerful magic.
"I see you've just noticed my cat." Greylock observes, "You're only alive because his excitement at seeing you alerted me to your plight. He spends a lot of time staring out through the door. In fact that reminds me: would you be interested in taking on a dangerous task to help out my cat?"
Yes – turn to 9
No – turn to 27
8.
You do not feel comfortable revealing everything to this seemingly powerful stranger – but it is difficult to come up with a plausible story which explains your arrival point.
"I was out swimming near the shore when this huge shark dragged me under, you stammer, and it brought me all the way down here before deciding it didn't like my taste."
Greylock stares at you, unimpressed. As he replies he takes out a wand and traces a square around you like a frame.
"Do you often go swimming with a heavy backpack and a sword? I suppose the leather armour explains your un-punctured state. What was the name of the shore you were swimming out from?"
He pauses and then as you hesitate he adds, drily, "At least make up an amusing name to colour the story."
An uncomfortable silence follows. At length Greylock speaks again.
"I was hoping that you could help me out with something, but there's no point if I can't trust you. My magic is sufficient to tell me that you came here by some sort of teleportation device. I suggest you use it again. Try not to place yourself in open sky or anything like that."
Glumly you take out the Aleff and stare into it. You worry for a moment that the birds might not be able to reach you down here, but they start to appear as before.
Two seem to jostle for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
9.
"Tiddles doesn't get out much, for reasons that must be even more obvious to you than anyone else." Greylock explains, "Some would say it is cruel of me to have brought him down here as cats like to wander. But I can arrange for him to explore a little from time to time."
So saying, he produces a beautiful silver pearl from a drawer and intones a magic word: 'Bro-zy-ttik!' and to your amazement it grows to 20 times its size and takes on a ghostly, shimmering look. The cat immediately trots over to the pearl without any prompting and somehow climbs into it, though you can see no opening. Greylock picks up pearl and cat and takes them over to the doorway, pushing them into the water. The pearl begins to move around, apparently in response to the movements of the cat inside.
"As you can see, silver pearls are of value to me – all the more so because with that spell on them they break down in the water after a few dozen hours. I don't suppose you have any with you?"
You shake your head.
"No matter! I know where you may be able to find some. I received a message in a bottle from a recent visitor. It was from a visitor from some time ago, one of the pentagram lot, and the letter said something about how he was stuck on an island with the shape of a skull and if I helped him he had some silver pearls to pay me with. At least I think that's what he's saying – the letter was quite muddled"
Whilst he's been talking, Greylock has wandered over to the window and now seems to be blowing bubbles out in between sentences.
"It's a little inconvenient for me to go myself, but perhaps you could pop over and see what he wants."
At that moment, something hurtles towards the doorway and you dive for cover. When you recover your position you see a mermaid has arrived and is standing on the point of her slippery silvery-grey tail in an impressive feat of balance and sheer muscular power. You have never seen a mermaid before and are startled by her appearance: sharp-featured with a baleful gaze and red hair slicked down her back, you marvel at how her athletic upper body joins seamlessly to her fishy lower half. You are somewhat uncomfortable looking as she is entirely unclothed. You stare at the point where her scalier half meets the floor.
"Oi!" snaps the mermaid, "Stop looking at my tail!"
"Selachimorpha will take you to the island." Greylock explains, "You will have to just hold your breath until you arrive I'm afraid, but it won't be for long. Go and stand by the doorway, facing out please. When you need to return, blow Selachimorpha's name into the water."
Then to the mermaid, Greylock adds alarmingly, "Don't bite this one."
Before you can react, you are grabbed from behind and propelled head-first into the water with some force. Turn to 10.
10.
You hurtle through the water at tremendous speed, terrified of losing your breath but sure that you are nearing the surface. Then you feel the unmistakeable sensation of the mermaid sinking her teeth into your hip. They feel remarkably sharp.
Will you...
Grit your teeth and try to last it out? Turn to 11.
Turn and lash out? Turn to 12.
11.
The pain is intense – deduct 2 STAMINA points – but brief as just a count of 10 later you burst through the surface of the water and feel Selachimorpha detach from you before you both land on a sandy beach. Her skill allowed a sudden drop of pace and there is no impact.
With an unpleasant look on her face, Selachimorpha blows you a kiss with lips wet with your own blood, before flipping back into the water. You shudder and walk up the beach nursing your hip. You have been deposited right in front of a cave. This cannot be a coincidence.
Turn to 13.
12.
You yank out your sword and jab clumsily at the mermaid's head. Immediately she stops biting ...and swimming. Looking up, you see that you are indeed near the surface, but you can now feel a hand gripping your ankle. Selachimorpha is spitefully holding you down. You must fight her.
SELACHIMORPHA SKILL 10 STAMINA 18
Selachimorpha attacks by attempting to club your legs and lower body with her powerful tail. She does damage as normal.
The first time you win an attack round, turn to 14.
If you lose (and/or draw) three attack rounds, turn to 15.
13.
You trudge up the beach and pick your way into the cave. The tunnel immediately winds round to the left but does not darken as quickly as you would have expected. You begin to fancy you can hear a faint noise, like a small snuffling creature or a muttering human.
The tunnel makes another sharp turn to the left ...and you reel back as you come face to face with a glowing skeleton!
You stagger backwards and raise your sword. The skeleton, which appears to be leaning up against the wall, twitches and moves slightly as if to look at you. At the same time you hear the background noise stop, and it is replaced by someone or something pacing towards you.
Will you...
Strike down the skeleton and prepare to fight whatever is coming to join you? Turn to 16.
Wait and see what happens? Turn to 17.
14.
The first time your sword bites into the mermaid's flesh – little more than a nick – she relinquishes her grip on you and plunges to the depths at speed. Even though the surface is close, you struggle up to reach it, sucking in water in the last few moments. Fortunately little reaches your lungs before you can choke it up and drift in towards the island on the tide. As you near the sands, you see a cave close by.
Note on your Adventure Sheet that you cannot call for Selachimorpha, and turn to 13.
15.
Your flailing attacks make you ever more desperate for a fresh breath, but the mermaid is too agile for you and refuses to let you go. At last you suck water into your lungs and your sword slips from your grasp. The mermaid releases you, but it is too late and you can only gaze longingly up at the sunlight on the surface as you drown.
16.
The skeleton is unable to prevent you swinging a heavy blow at its chest region which slips between two ribs and shatters its spine. It crumples in a heap. But you have barely withdrawn your sword when a bearded man hurtles towards you out of the darkness, shrieking and hacking at you with a sword-like weapon.
CAVE-DWELLER SKILL 9 STAMINA 6
Deduct 1 from your Attack Strength for the length of this battle as you are not as accustomed to the dark as your opponent.
If you win, turn to 28.
17.
A scrawny, dishevelled man shambles out of the darkness, brandishing a sword-like object – possibly taken from the remains of a swordfish. He gestures to the skeleton which awkwardly hops twice to stand alongside him. It seems not to be fully functional somehow. The man begins to speak, apparently with some difficulty.
"Us disturb what why? Make talk good or make dead."
That seems clear enough. Will you...
Show him the Aleff? Turn to 18.
Tell him you have come from Greylock? Turn to 19.
18.
You tell the man about your experience in the shop and on the hillside, explaining slowly as his wits seem addled. But as you present the cloth-covered orb from your pack he seems to catch on only too well.
"Freedom!" he cries, snatching it from your grasp. Before you can react, he shoves the skeleton at you and runs back into the cave, gazing into the Aleff as he goes.
The skeleton is of little danger to you, but it scrabbles at you and its ribs and fingers snag your clothing, allowing the man several seconds to run ahead. Moments later there are birds fluttering in his vicinity and then ...nothing. Even the skeleton has vanished.
You have lost the Aleff, and with it your only chance of leaving this world. Whether or not you try to return to Greylock your adventure ends here.
19.
It takes only a couple of sentences from you and especially the name 'Greylock' for the man to become lucid once more.
"Yes! Yes! I put that message in a bottle a few years back." He looks uncertain. "I had already been here for some time by then. My name is Morgan by the way.
"I'd been trying to get home but that damn dolphin misunderstood and dumped me here. I built a boat well enough but I'm far too weak now to row the great distance home fuelled by a few fish – even if my navigation by the stars were perfect.
"I remembered that Greylock had taught me how to raise skeletons using pairs of black pearls. I thought if I could raise one which would fight for me maybe it could be made to row for me too. The trouble was I only had one black pearl and I didn't even think it was worth trying. I was so happy for a moment when I thought it had worked ...and then I understood."
So saying, he gestures to the skeleton. "Come here, Boney Hop-Hop." he says, and as the skeleton bounces over to Morgan on one foot you see that only its left side is animated, with the right shoulder, arm and ribs slumped and the right leg dragging.
"I trained him to row! I did! We tried to go for it – to take the boat and go home. But he can only do one side. I tried to do the other side to compensate but he's so much stronger than I am, pumping away furiously with that stupid death grin." Morgan's voice is rising as he becomes more agitated, "We started spinning faster and faster on the spot and I had to be sick over the side. And then the boat was rocking so much that it dunked my head after each stroke. And then I fell in! And had to cling to the side as it swung round and round and round and round and round and ...DON'T YOU LAUGH AT ME!!"
In fact you had managed to stop yourself from laughing, but Morgan is sounding quite unhinged now. Then he takes a step towards you and his voice drops to a normal tone, though it remains desperate and his eyes wide and wild,
"But you've got the black pearls? Haven't you?! At least one?! I found a pile of shellfish full of silver pearls at the back of the cave. I knew Greylock would help me if he only knew. Where are the black pearls?"
Suddenly you realise that Morgan intended to mention black pearls in his letter to Greylock, but in his addled state he left it unclear.
If you have some black pearls anyway and are prepared to trade, turn to 20.
If not, turn to 21.
20.
Morgan dashes to the back of the cave and returns with a large bag of pearls. For obvious reasons he is only interested in an odd number of black pearls. He will pay you 10 silver pearls for the all important first pearl and then 10 more for each additional pair of pearls. So you will gain 10 silver pearls in exchange for 1 black pearl, 20 for 3 or 30 for 5.
Then you watch as Morgan, calmer and chanting quietly, presses a pearl into the right eye socket of Boney Hop-Hop. The effect is remarkable. The skeleton gleams darkly – that is the only way to describe it – and after a moment's pause it raises its right hand in front of its face as if puzzled that it can move it. Then, unsteadily at first, it begins to walk. Morgan is delighted. He bids you farewell as he needs to go and work on making the boat seaworthy again.
The question is, can you return to Greylock with your new silver pearls? Can you call for Selachimorpha or is this now impossible?
If you can, turn to 25
Otherwise, you can only pull out the Aleff and gaze into it once more.
You watch the birds as they begin to appear and perch on the rock around you.
Two seem to be jostling for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
21.
Morgan lets out a howl when you tell him that you have no black pearls.
"No black pearls?? None?? THEN WHY DID YOU COME?! Are you here to laugh at me? Maybe offer yourself as food?!"
He raises his weapon high and charges at you. The skeleton follows, bouncing in his wake.
Will you fight? Turn to 22.
Or even now will you continue to try suggesting alternatives? Turn to 23.
22.
You must fight Morgan and Boney Hop-Hop simultaneously
MORGAN SKILL 9 STAMINA 6
BONEY HOP-HOP SKILL 4 STAMINA 4
If you win, turn to 28.
23.
It is impossible to stop Morgan slashing at you as you back away trying to reason with him. He catches you with two painful cuts. Deduct 4 STAMINA points. But have you anything worth telling him?
If you are still able to call to the mermaid, you could suggest he goes in your place, in which case turn to 24.
Otherwise you must belatedly defend yourself - turn to 22.
24.
Morgan struggles to stop himself attacking you. He stands gripping his weapon tightly and through gritted teeth hisses "Show me!"
You kneel by the water's edge and uncertainly blow Selachimorpha's name into the water. You are not as practised as Greylock and snort a lot of saltwater without being sure you're doing it right. A tense couple of minutes follows.
Then the water erupts (with a good measure of it smacking you in the face) and a mermaid crashes inelegantly down onto the beach. This is not Selachimorpha, but a shorter, broader creature who is less attractive than the first, but looks somewhat less 'bitey'. She introduces herself as Thunnini.
Morgan leaps into action, explaining who he is and that Greylock will want his pearls, ("The pearls! My pearls! My pearls!") and then scrambles back into the cave in such haste that he falls over repeatedly. You are left for a few moments with Thunnini who explains that Selachimorpha is unavailable as she is munching on the corpse of one of the Deep Ones. You explain about the one-sided skeleton. The two of you then discuss the weather for a bit.
At length Morgan returns clutching a triple-wrapped bag full of pearls tight to his chest. He pauses for a few moments over by Boney Hop-Hop and seems a little solemn as though wanting to say goodbye to a friend. Then he utters a magical word and the skeleton collapses, leaving only a black pearl. He gives you a cursory wave and then a few moments later he and the mermaid plunge into the water with an almighty splash.
You may take the single black pearl if you wish, but there is nothing else to do except gaze into the Aleff.
You watch the birds as they begin to appear and perch on the rock around you.
Two seem to be jostling for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
25.
You kneel by the water's edge and uncertainly blow Selachimorpha's name into the water. You are not as practised as Greylock and snort a lot of saltwater without being sure you're doing it right.
Then the water erupts (with a good measure of it smacking you in the face) and a mermaid crashes inelegantly down onto the beach. This is not Selachimorpha, but a shorter, broader creature who is less attractive than the first, but looks somewhat less 'bitey'. She introduces herself as Thunnini. She explains that Selachimorpha is unavailable as she is munching on the corpse of one of the Deep Ones. Once you have steeled yourself once more for the terrifying plunge, Thunnini wraps her arms around you and backflips into the water.
Soon – though it can't be soon enough – you are gasping the wholesome air of Greylock's abode once more. While you recover, Greylock appears to be compensating Thunnini for the job with some jewellery, though from the long explanation it seems to have some magical function. His cat appears to be fascinated by her.
Once she has made her exit, Greylock turns to you.
"Now then adventurer, I see you have some silver pearls to trade with me.
What would you like to buy?"
What indeed...
A potion of fortune?
A healing potion?
A potion of vaporous essence? (each potion costs 10 silver pearls)
Some provisions? (5 silver pearls)
A magic word which can create a skeleton from a pair of black pearls? (5 silver pearls)
A magic word which can create a monster from a black pearl and a silver pearl? (10 silver pearls)
Greylock will not force you to make purchases if you insist on holding on to your silver pearls – although he may come out with some choice comments. If you do make some purchases, complete them and then turn to 26 for more details.
Otherwise you take out the Aleff and stare into it.
You worry for a moment that the birds might not be able to reach you down here, but they start to appear as before.
Two seem to jostle for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
26.
Once he has sold them to you, Greylock explains what your purchases do in more detail:
The potion of fortune increases your initial LUCK by 1 point and brings your current LUCK to that number.
The potion of healing restores your STAMINA to its initial value.
The potion of vaporous essence will cause your body, clothes and possessions to dissolve into a mist which can flow through the smallest crack or hole. Your solid form will be restored after a few minutes. Greylock says that this will work on land as well as in the water, but suggests that you "...avoid high winds and suchlike."
If – and only if – you have purchased the following spell names you should write them down on your Adventure Sheet:
To make a skeleton from two black pearls: mubo-nsbiry-nam
To make a minor thassaloss from contrasting pearls: ype-ercy-kaerc
For provisions, Greylock gives you two – in the form of fish finger sandwiches. Greylock explains that fish with fingers are commonplace once you get deep enough – and are frankly rather a nuisance.
Once you have pocketed and/or memorised your purchases you take out the Aleff and stare into it.
You worry for a moment that the birds might not be able to reach you down here, but they start to appear as before.
Two seem to jostle for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
27.
Greylock becomes a little frosty at your refusal.
"I would have thought that you might have been a little more grateful, stranger, given how close you were to death. Furthermore you do not seem like a seasoned warrior who could do without help and guidance. Still the decision is yours. Leave by your own means."
Greylock picks up his cat and walks towards a back room, cradling the creature close to his chest and looking indignantly at you over his shoulder.
You may still change your mind and agree to help out (turn to 9)
Otherwise you take out the Aleff and stare into it. You worry for a moment that the birds might not be able to reach you down here, but they start to appear as before.
Two seem to jostle for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
28.
You search the cave but struggle to find anything of value. Its owner seems to have hidden his possessions carefully. After some time poking around you are shocked to see a huge, luminescent tiger wander past the cave entrance! Add 1 point to your TRAIL score. You pull out the Aleff and watch the birds as they begin to appear and perch on the rock around you.
Two seem to be jostling for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
29.
Awareness returns with the feel of a great heaving and buckling beneath your feet. You are standing on a lurching wooden floor, the tang of salt in the air and the cry of excitable voices and sea birds. Your stomach roils as you try to lift your head to look about you. You seem to be on the deck of some sort of crude and antiquated sailing ship, bouncing upon the ocean without a care for the well-being of your stomach’s contents. No-one aboard seems to be taking any notice of you, intent on some commotion going on off the port bow. The ship comes plummeting down from a mighty crest and your stomach lurches with it. Roll 4 dice. If the total is less that or equal to your current STAMINA score, turn to 59. Otherwise, turn to 60.
30.
Your attack takes the Easterner completely by surprise and he is unable to defend himself. He swings around ready to face you but you are prepared for this and deal another blow – this time fatal! The Easterner falls dead on the stone floor. You go to the wounded man and prop his head using some straw. ''Thank you. . . stranger.'' he says through dying breath. ''I don't have long left in this world. . . but you must. . . succeed. . . the trial. . . Carnuss. . .'' He passes away. Not quite sure what to make of what he was trying to say you think it obvious that something is going on here that is much bigger than the battle that was fought in this cell. You are not keen to find out what. Turn to 34.
31.
You boldly stride across to the battle and deal the death blow to the young man. The Easterner is at first surprised but then quickly attacks you. His long pin sinks deep into your shoulder and you fall back clutching your wound (deduct 2 STAMINA points). You barely have time to fumble around for your weapon before he is on top of you.
EASTERNER: SKILL 8 STAMINA 6
If you win, turn to 34.
32.
It doesn't take long for the Easterner to overpower the young man and deal and thrust the pin once again into his throat – this time a fatal wound. The Easterner stands up, panting, holding the blood-soaked weapon. Then he stills. He has sensed your presence. There will be no reasoning with him. There will be another death in this cell before the night is out.
EASTERNER: SKILL 8 STAMINA 6
If you win, turn to 34.
33.
Trusting the Aleff to take you anywhere but here, you prepare for a rapid change of scenery but something is wrong. The Aleff is dark and seems inert. A sudden pain grips your shoulder and you slump to the floor, fumbling around for your weapon. The Easterner has finished off his opponent and now is intent on bestowing the same fate upon you, dealing first blood as his pin stabs into you. Deduct 2 STAMINA points and then turn to face your adversary. This will be a fight to the death.
EASTERNER: SKILL 8 STAMINA 6
If you win, turn to 34.
34.
Now alone in the the eerie peace of having only corpses for company, you take a look around your cell for something useful or reassuring. But the cell looks more and more grim at every turn. You take the Aleff out again and again, but it remains dark and unresponsive. No birds appear. How can this be? And what do your jailers want with you?
It isn't long before the doors are opened and your second question at least is answered. Turn to 35.
35.
Both the Easterner and the young man lie dead in the cell and this comes as something of a shock to the guard who comes the following morning. ''I don't know what happened in here last night,'' he grunts although you sense he is amused by the carnage, ''and I don't know why there's an extra man in here or where you came from but I was asked to bring one from each cell into the Arena of Death and that is what I am going to do. Let's go!'' He leads you away.
There appears to be some kind of lethal games going on here where contenders are eliminated each day via a series of violent contests until a winner is declared when only one remains. For how many days this has been going on you cannot be sure but there are around twenty men and two women still involved and you are one of them. With the Aleff stored safely in your backpack and hidden under some straw back in your cell, you will have to survive whatever deadly game is thrown at you this morning and use the Aleff to teleport you away from this place when you are locked back up. You can only hope that you are returned to the same cell and that your possessions are not discovered. You and your fellow competitors are fed and then one by one led into the arena. You are asked to pick from either a sword and shield or a trident and net. Make your choice and turn to 36.
36.
A guard opens the door to the arena and you step barefoot onto the hot sand. Dried blood stains show the carnage that has been happening here for days. Suddenly a door at the other end of the arena opens and your eyes widen as a GIANT SCORPION scurries into the arena. It moves with frightening speed and agility and its body is around a metre in length – a deadly stinger on the end of a long, scaly tail. Its pincers look as though they could cut you in half without much effort. It wastes no time in heading straight for you and it is clear that its intention is to add another blood stain to the scenery. If you have a Ring of Fire and wish to use it, turn to 58. Otherwise, if you are fighting it with a broadsword and shield, turn to 37. If you are using a trident and net, turn to 38.
37.
You have made a good choice. While the scorpion is a deadly foe you will be able to protect yourself using the shield while attacking with the broadsword when you get the chance. The scorpion moves very quickly and so you will have to be at your best to survive this.
GIANT SCORPION SKILL 9 STAMINA 10
Fight two attack rounds, (noting damage you do to the scorpion as normal). If the scorpion wins one of them, turn to 41. If it wins both of them, Test your LUCK. If you are Lucky turn to 57; if you are Unlucky turn to 42. If you win or draw both attack rounds (or win outright), turn to 43.
38.
Cursing yourself for such a poor choice in weapon you only just manage to dive out of the way of its first attack as it attempts to crush you with its huge claws. It backs up for a second attack. It might just be possible to use the net to tangle the pincers which would leave it temporarily open to attack. The trident could then be used to stab at its head. It won't be easy though. It is travelling once again very quickly across the sand while you prepare the net. Roll two dice. If the total is less than, or equal to, your current SKILL, turn to 39. If the total exceeds your current SKILL, turn to 40.
39.
Your throw is on target and the scorpion's claws become entangled in the net. Seizing your chance you stab the trident at the enraged, but heavily disadvantaged creature.
GIANT SCORPION SKILL 6 STAMINA 10
The scorpion's pincers are tangled in the net and so it will try to attack you with the deadly stinger on the end of its tail. If at any time you lose an attack round, turn to 46. If you win without losing an attack round you have survived this deadly test. You don't have time to regain your breath before rough hands grab you and you are escorted out of the arena and back towards the dungeons. Turn to 44.
40.
You throw is close but the net lands harmlessly on the sand of the arena floor. The scorpion snaps at you with its claw. Lose 3 STAMINA points from the nasty gash across your back as you leap to reclaim your net. The creature attacks once more and again you try to throw the net at its manic pincers. Test your LUCK. If you are Lucky, turn to 39. If you are Unlucky, turn to 42.
41.
The huge claw of the scorpion manages to catch your arm and you drop your sword. Deduct 3 STAMINA points. If you can get your sword back you still have a chance. Without it you are as good as dead. The creature strikes again as you dive across the arena floor to pick up your weapon. Roll two dice. If the total is less than, or equal to, your current SKILL, turn to 45. If the total exceeds your current SKILL, Test your LUCK. If you are Lucky, the scorpion's stinger thuds harmlessly into your shield as you recover your sword - return to 37 to complete the fight. If you are Unlucky, turn to 42.
42.
The frightening speed of the scorpion's movements take you by surprise. You are defending against an attack from the claws but fail to notice the stinger flying towards you at deadly pace. This scorpion is a Black Scorpion – the most poisonous in Allansia. Even at their normal size survival after a sting is unlikely without immediate antidote. At this dramatically increased size even all of the antidote in Titan couldn't save you. The Arena of Death claims another soul – one that didn't even know what it was fighting for. Your adventure ends here.
43.
The scorpion comes in for another attack but you block it successfully with your shield and bring the broadsword down on its head with all the force you can manage. To your surprise the blow strikes so cleanly that the scorpion's head is lopped off and rolls across the arena floor. Frantically it snaps its claws and swings its stinger wildly about in its death throes before slumping onto the sand, twitching several times, and then it is still. You have survived this deadly test. You don't have time to regain your breath before rough hands grab you and you are escorted out of the arena and back towards the dungeons. Turn to 44.
44.
The guards march you to the dungeon and throw you into a cell. Your heart sinks as you notice it is a different cell from the one you spent last night – the one which currently houses both your possessions and the Aleff! ''The next test will be at dawn tomorrow. Don't go anywhere." the guard sniggers. He tosses you a hard, stale biscuit which you just about manage to crunch through. Restore 2 STAMINA points.
There seems to be nothing you can do except wait.
If you do in fact just wait it out, turn to 47.
If you try to draw the attention of the guard in the hope of overpowering him, turn to 48.
45.
You grab the hilt of the broadsword just in time to avoid the deadly stinger which thuds into the sand beside you. You hack at it, drawing blood. The battle is back on. Return to 37 to finish the battle, deducting 2 points of STAMINA from the monster.
46.
The frightening speed of the scorpion's movements take you by surprise. Even without its claws it is deadly in attack and you fail to notice the stinger flying towards you at pace. This scorpion is a Black Scorpion – the most poisonous in Allansia. Even at their normal size survival after a sting is unlikely without immediate antidote. At this dramatically increased size even all of the antidote in Titan couldn't save you. The Arena of Death claims another soul – one that didn't even know what it was fighting for. Your adventure ends here.
47.
The grey light of first dawn lends an eerie feeling to your cell. All too soon a guard appears at the door and you are once more bundled down the corridor faster than you would like. It seems that yours is to be the first fight of the day. Somehow you feel even more uneasy than yesterday – perhaps it's the way that the guards are looking at you? This time there is no choice of weapons: a sword is pressed into your hand, but the weight feels wrong somehow. Your misgivings are of no interest to the guards and you are shoved out into the arena.
There, to your horror, is waiting a monstrosity: a muscular humanoid creature with the head and huge sharp horns of a bull! No sooner have you set eyes on it than the MINOTAUR lowers its head and charges at you. You duck to one side at the last moment and swing your weapon heavily at the join where a horn meets the skull and ...your sword shatters like an icicle.
Wheeling round, you see the guard who gave you the sword grinning by the arena entrance. Does he have a grudge against you? Or just a bet? Then a horn drives up under your ribcage and snuffs out these questions. Your adventure ends here.
48.
For some time you are stuck for an idea that will make the guard open the door to your cell. He wouldn't care if you were injured and if you bluffed that you were going to bribe him he would ask to see the gold through the door's viewing slit. The one thing you have in your favour is your mysterious arrival: if you can convince him that you've left in the same fashion you arrived perhaps he will panic....
You begin to chant furious nonsense close to the door, getting louder and louder until you hear someone coming, then you stop abruptly and duck out of sight. You hear the keys frantically grinding in the lock and then the door swings open and as your jailer shambles in you tackle him. Cursing, he pulls a cudgel from his belt and attacks.
As you have no weapon you must fight this battle with a 2 point deduction to your Attack Strength, and your blows do only 1 STAMINA point of damage (2 or 0 with a LUCK roll). It is lucky for you that he is not a skilled fighter.
JAILER SKILL 6 STAMINA 6
If you reduce his STAMINA to 2 or 1, turn to 49.
49.
A wild haymaker sends the guard reeling and you manage to grab his cudgel. When his eyeballs roll back into place he stares at you in fear.
Will you...
Talk to him? Turn to 50
Finish him off? Turn to 51
50.
"Your struggles are useless." hisses the guard, "Every escape route is guarded by many armed men. What's more, a search party will soon be sent to discover why I have not returned."
"Show me the cell I was in before."
The guard looks baffled.
"Why?! There's nothing there but a couple of bodies we haven't shifted yet..."
But when you raise the cudgel he simply leads the way.
As soon as you reach your old cell you waste no time in knocking out the guard. He is carrying a small hunk of bread which you may eat and recover 2 STAMINA points.
Turn to 52
51.
You have no interest in trusting the guard to stay quiet for any length of time at all. One good clout to the temple and he's lying face down and motionless on the ground. (He is carrying a small hunk of bread which you may eat and recover 2 STAMINA points.) You take his keys and edge out into the corridor. But where is your cell? All these corridors look the same.
Test your LUCK.
If you are Lucky, turn to 52
If you are Unlucky, turn to 53
52.
The cell is unchanged except that the corpses have become stiffer and the smell slightly worse. Sifting through the straw you are relieved to find your possessions including your sword still hidden in the hay ...but then you feel a sinking feeling: the Aleff remains dark and dull. Worse still, your scalp crawls as you hear the unmistakeable sound of a search party coming closer. You duck down below the level of the viewing slit and barely breathe as they pass. Then, just before they move out of earshot, you hear one of them mutter that "If we can't find him out here, we'll have to check every cell."
In desperation, you rummage around the cell for anything useful. Aside from your own belongings all you can find is what the Easterner was carrying: the pin you saw him using in combat earlier and a small stone disc with some letters or runes scratched into it, which was tucked into his headband.
As you listen at the door you hear the unmistakeable sounds of keys in a lock, a door swung open and then slammed shut again. The same sequence over and over, sometimes varied by shouting and the sound of a prisoner getting coshed. They have yet to turn the corner into your section of the corridor, but it won't be much longer.
Your cell is close to a set of a dozen steps. You daren't reopen the door, but perhaps if you flick an object through the observation slit and down the steps it might distract the guards from the cells for a time. The only items available which will fit through the slit are the Easterner's pin and stone disc.
If you would like to try...
Flinging the pin, turn to 54
Flinging the disc, turn to 55
Or if you stand your ground and wait, turn to 56.
53.
You just can't get your bearings in the dirty stone corridors. You sneak this way and that, gradually getting faster and louder in desperation, but you are not quick or not quiet enough. Rounding a corner you are confronted by four guards with swords and haven't a chance of defeating them. Your adventure ends here.
54.
Shortly after the pin leaves your hand you hear a sharp clink and a more muffled jangling sound. Immediately there are excited voices and the hammering of feet. You hear the search party race past your door and then after a while wander back and forth arguing about which way a runaway could escape or hide. They know that no door was opened on this level after they heard the noise going downstairs and this seems to have fooled them. But with the Aleff still inert you can only try to get some rest and wait.
Turn to 47.
55.
The tiny disc flicks easily from your hand and you hear it skip down the steps with a dull clatter. You strain to hear how the search party is responding – they seem to have paused in their door opening and seem to be talking, presumably about what the sound was. Then you hear them tramping down the corridor in your direction in no great hurry. Have you distracted them? Or have they sussed you out – are several armed guards about to corner you here? Perhaps you'll be piled up with the other corpses by sunrise.
You glance back to where your sword is ...and gasp as you see the Aleff is glowing once more! A sense of great relief washes over you. Restore 2 LUCK points.
You quickly gather up your things, including the Easterner's pin if you want it, and start to watch the birds as they appear.
Two seem to be jostling for your attention: Will you focus on...
The bird with extra plumage over one eye and crimson feet – turn to 29
The bird with extra thick feathers around its beak, as if it were wearing a faceplate – turn to 83
56.
You plant your feet and hold your sword ready, but when five armed guards burst in through the door you simply have no chance. You cut one of them down but the others overpower you and you are powerless to prevent another swinging his sword at your throat. There will be three corpses slung out with the waste in the morning. Your adventure ends here.
57.
Before you can block or dodge it, the scorpion's stinger hurtles towards your face! You fall backwards in a chaotic effort to escape and it glances off the edge of your shield and carves a brutal gash into the top of your head (deduct 4 STAMINA points) but its poison squirts harmlessly past you.
If you survive this you realise you have dropped your sword. If you can get your sword back you still have a chance. Without it you are as good as dead. The creature strikes again as you dive across the arena floor to pick up your weapon. Roll two dice. If the total is less than, or equal to, your current SKILL, turn to 45. If the total exceeds your current SKILL, turn to 42.
58.
As the terrifying creature scuttles towards you, you wait as long as you dare and then jump to one side and blast it in the face with a jet of flame. The scorpion thrashes furiously, making a horrid cacophony of frantic clicks and raising a cloud of sand. Whether it is due to the sand cloud or the magic is just exhausted, the ring ceases to function almost as quickly as it began. Cross it off your Adventure Sheet, but note that when you fight the scorpion you may deduct 1 SKILL and 2 STAMINA points from it.
Now, did you choose to fight it with a broadsword and shield (turn to 37) or a trident and net (turn to 38)?
59.
You take some deep gulps of the salty air and your stomach begins to settle. Confident now that you will not be sick, you totter across the wobbling deck towards the crowd of yelling sailors lined up along the port bow. Turn to 61.
60.
Your stomach cannot take any more and all of a sudden your last meal comes launching out of your mouth, soaking the deck. Lose 1 STAMINA point. Still, you feel a lot better once it’s all out of your system. Taking a deep breath of the sea air, you stagger across the rolling deck towards the commotion along the port bow. Turn to 61.
61.
The port bow is lined by cheering sailors and passengers who are looking out across the waters to where another larger vessel is moored. The vessel seems to be a pirate ship of sorts judging by the range of weapons gripped by its scar-faced, pantaloon-wearing crew. The pirate crew are also cheering as one of their own swings his scimitar at a nightmarish creature seemingly made of pure darkness. A robed man upon your ship has his arms outstretched as he calls out arcane words in a leaden voice; it seems he is commanding the shadow creature. The pirate captain swings his scimitar one more time and the shade dissipates into a cloud of smoke and dust. The magician who was controlling it falls silent to stare aghast at the loss of his spectre.
‘What did you summon that monstrosity for?!’ cries a well-dressed sailor on your own ship, the captain no doubt. ‘The pirates are sure to kill us all now!’ He turns to his crew. ‘A reward for whoever throws that stupid magician overboard!’
The crew immediately moves towards the magician who turns tail and flees across the deck. Will you join in the chase (turn to 62), try to hide in the confusion (turn to 64), or seize the opportunity to look at the Aleff to find a more hospitable world (turn to 63)?
62.
It seems you have found your sea legs as you are soon leading the chase, though the magician is a slippery customer who always manages to stay just out of reach. If you were sick on the deck earlier, turn to 65. If not, turn to 68.
63.
While sailors mill past you in pursuit of the unfortunate mage, you unwrap the Aleff. You gaze into its depth, the now familiar bird starting to appear… when suddenly it is knocked from your grasp as the desperate magician barrels into you. You watch in horror as it falls to the deck rolling towards the starboard bow. Pushing the magician away, you race after it, only to see it tumble over the side of the ship into the sea below. Luckily, it floats upon the surface and with no other way of getting away from this place, you take a deep breath then dive in after it. The sea hits you like a brick wall and you come up spitting out salty water. The Aleff bobs upon the waves not far from you though so you begin to swim for it. You are almost there though when a shark bursts out of the water, the Aleff snatched triumphantly between its jaws. Unwilling to let a shark rob you of the only means of getting home, you swing your sword at it, slicing into its flesh. It drops the Aleff then turns upon you.
WOUNDED SHARK SKILL: 7 STAMINA: 6
If you win, turn to 67.
64.
You find some barrels by the steps up to the fo’c’s’le and crawl behind them. Peering out over the deck, you see the poor magician doesn’t manage to evade his captors long before they leap upon him. Protesting at the top of his lungs, he is lifted off the deck by several pairs of hands, carried over to the port bow then tossed over the side of the ship, his shrieks drowned out by the loud splash. The pirates then throw grappling hooks over to the ship and climb aboard. The merchantman captain apologises profusely to the pirate captain offering him gold and spices to placate him and even a few slaves. The crew and passengers turn pale as the captain looks amongst them for likely candidates for slavery. Quickly, you duck your head below the barrels. Test your LUCK. If you are Lucky, turn to 68. If you are Unlucky, turn to 69.
65.
Suddenly the magician gives a shriek and throws his arms into the air as he goes skidding forwards to land heavily on his back - he has slipped on your vomit! Thanking your lucky stars, you seize the struggling mage and lift him above your head, walking to the port bow. The mage begs and pleads but you take no notice and fling him over the edge. He shrieks then hits the water with an almighty splash. Turn to 70.
66.
The mage is very close but you’re starting to get tired and you’re not used to running on the slippery deck of a bobbing vessel. Test your SKILL. If you succeed, turn to 71. If you fail, turn to 72.
67.
The shark rears up then falls back into the water, blood spreading over the frothing waters. You seize the Aleff, but as you grasp it in your hands, you see something else moving through the water towards you. Whether attracted by the shark’s blood or the Aleff you don’t know but a massive serpentine creature, golden-scaled and with a face shaped like that of a dragon from a storybook, is heading for you with all the might of its swishing tail. In desperation, you look into the Aleff. The birds appear once again and circle lower and lower towards you, just as the great sea monster opens its jaws to snap at you (add 1 TRAIL point), you focus your attention and a bird dives straight at your face.
It is not one of the usual green-back ones however, though you recognise it from somewhere.
Turn to 98
68.
You stay still for what seems like hours, hardly daring to breathe despite the fact you would never be heard over the roar of the waves, the curses of the sailors and the screams of those they haul away. At last they seem satisfied with those they have captured and you can hear a gangplank being lowered and the sobs of men and women who are forced to cross to the pirate ship. Assuming all eyes are now on this sorry scene, you unwrap the Aleff and gaze into its depths once more. Almost instantly there are birds swirling around you competing for your attention. This time, however, one bird alone manoeuvres ahead of the others. It is not one of the usual green-back ones though you recognise it from somewhere.
Turn to 98
69.
It seems a crewman spotted you just before you ducked out of sight. Several calloused hands seize you and you are dragged kicking and screaming to the captain.
‘Who in Titan are you?’ he snarls. ‘No matter, you’ll do as a slave - better a stowaway than a passenger or crewman I say.’
Turn to 73.
70.
‘Well done,’ cries the captain, slapping a heavy hand on your shoulder. ‘Say, who are you? Well never mind, don’t care if you’re a stowaway, you’ve just saved us all.’
He walks over to the ship’s rail to converse with the pirate captain vessel, pleading for mercy and denying any involvement in the mage summoning the spectre. In the end he is able to negotiate an agreement where the pirate vessel will leave with just a handful of slaves and loot.
Once the pirate ship has sloped off into the distance, the captain pulls you aside, takes a gold locket from his neck and hands it to you.
‘A small reward for saving us all from the slave pens, my friend.’
You thank the captain and hang the locket round your own neck. Once he strides away bellowing orders for the crew to set sail once again, you unwrap the Aleff and gaze into its depths once again. Almost instantly there are birds swirling around you, competing for your attention. This time, however, one bird alone manoeuvres ahead of the others. It is not one of the usual green-back ones though you recognise it from somewhere.
Turn to 98
71.
You are tiring, but so is your quarry, his ragged gasps audible above the cries and cheers from the deck. His cloak is caught in the breeze and you seize it, yanking him back to fall painfully on the deck. While he is stunned, you raise the frail mage above your head, stride to the ship’s railing and throw him into the sea with all your might. Turn to 70.
72.
The mage is agile and eludes every attempt at seizing his trailing cape. You lose your footing on the sodden deck and the mage races ahead of you, only to run straight into the arms of a burly crewman. With a toothless grin, the crewman lifts the exhausted wizard above his head then throws him over the side of the ship to the crashing waves below. A cheer goes up from the rest of the crew and then one of them turns to you. ‘Who on Khul are you?’
Thinking you are a stowaway or perhaps in league with the mage, several sailors seize you. Meanwhile, the captain is negotiating with the pirates. Placated by the rough treatment of the mage, the pirate captain agrees to spare the vessel in exchange for some loot and a handful of slaves. The crew eager to be rid of you, you are the first to be chosen as a slave. Turn to 73.
73.
You and the rest of the slaves are marched at cutlass-point across to the pirate vessel. You are searched by the scar-faced crew and your weapons taken (cross them off your Adventure Sheet). The crew also find the Aleff and passes it over to the captain, a well-dressed swashbuckler with an oddly nondescript face. He holds the Aleff aloft admiringly.
‘A fine treasure indeed,’ he says. ‘this ought to show Amcha who is the greatest buccaneer of the Inland Sea.’
Alarmed at the loss of the Aleff, you and the other slaves are marched into the hold, your left leg chained to a wooden beam. At least no galley work beckons. ‘You’re far too precious a commodity to be worn out on the oars.’ chuckles a hare-lipped pirate.
Indeed, you are well treated for the next few days and even recover up to 4 lost STAMINA points.
However things take a turn for the worse when a vicious storm strikes the ship while it is sailing through some place named the Shoals of Trysta. The ships buckles and shakes and then there is a great crash as water bursts through the side of the ship, flooding into the hold. The slaves shriek in fear as the water hits them, some of the less lucky ones knocked unconscious immediately. You shiver in the icy water, trying with all your might to burst the lock on your chain. If you have a pin, turn to 74. If not, turn to 75.
74.
Remembering the pin you took from the mad man in the cell, you pull it from your shirt and work on picking the lock. Surprisingly it bursts open very easily. Gain 1 LUCK point. You are about to help your fellow slaves when another great wave crashes into the hold and sweeps you away. You are washed against a wooden chest and coughing and spluttering you haul yourself out of the surging water. Lose 2 STAMINA points and turn to 82.
75.
You grab the chain with both hands and haul with all your might, hoping against hope that you can snap it. Test your SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK (rolling 4 dice against your STAMINA). If you succeed at all three rolls, turn to 78. If you succeed at two, turn to 79. If you fail two or more, turn to 80.
76.
You battle through the raging maelstrom to the stern of the ship, the deck shifting and cracking beneath your feet, the howl of the wind drowning your senses. You stumble through an open doorway to what was once a richly adorned cabin but is now a shambles, overturned tables and stools scattered amongst fallen drapes. One of these drapes starts to move of its own accord, then the blade of a cutlass cuts through it from within, slicing it open to reveal the bedraggled captain. His right arm flops at his side and the side of his head oozes blood. Delirious, the captain screams and races towards you, cutlass raised. You just have a chance to pick up a wooden stool leg to defend yourself.
WOUNDED CAPTAIN SKILL: 8 STAMINA: 7
If you win, turn to 81.
77.
You plunge into the freezing water and are immediately swept up by a colossal wave. Trying to swim in this tempest is impossible and you are thrown about like a rag-doll. Then there is an almighty roar of water and a great golden serpentine shape breaks the waves. It eyes you with what seems through the sheets of rain like contempt before plunging towards you, enveloping you in its cavernous maw and sparing you the agony of drowning.
78.
Sinews about to pop, you snap the chain and collapse exhausted, just as another great wave crashes into the hold and sweeps you away. You are washed against a wooden chest and, coughing and spluttering, you haul yourself out of the surging water. Lose 2 STAMINA points but gain 1 LUCK point for freeing yourself before turning to 82.
79.
You can barely take the strain, your tendons on fire, your muscles ready to explode (lose 1 SKILL point). Then suddenly, the chain pops and you are free. You barely have a chance to congratulate yourself however before another great wave crashes into the hold and sweeps you away. You are washed against a wooden chest and, coughing and spluttering, you haul yourself out of the surging water. Lose 2 STAMINA points but gain 1 LUCK point for freeing yourself before turning to 82.
80.
You try with all your might to break free but the chain is just too strong. You collapse to the floor of the half-submerged hold. Then another great wave bursts forth, filling the hold completely with water and pouring into your lungs. You die in agony.
81.
The pirate collapses and you help yourself to his cutlass. It is exceptionally well-made and will add one to your Attack Strength in combat. You have no time to admire its keen edge however as the ship creaks ominously and the rocking grows more intense. Hurriedly, you search the captain’s cabin and find the Aleff lying in a small chest. Hurriedly you gaze into its depths. You have never been so pleased to see the familiar birds appear as they swirl around you. You take one last look out through the door of the cabin and down the deck of the rapidly sinking ship as it rolls and pitches violently. For a moment an expanse of sea is revealed, and you fancy you see a golden dragon-like head appear from the churning waters and watch you intently. Gain 1 TRAIL point.
This time, one bird alone manoeuvres ahead of the others. It is not one of the usual green-back ones though you recognise it from somewhere.
Turn to 98
82.
The ship about you creaks ominously and water seems to be pouring in from all directions. You hear shrieks from the deck above you, but with nothing else for it, you race up a set of semi-ruined steps to the soaking deck. The wind howls and the rain hits you in sheets, the ship rocking horribly upon the chaotic waves. You spy two sailors jumping over the edge of the ship, taking their chances on the open water rather than risk staying on the sinking ship. In fact, you think you can spot some large rocks not far away which you could perhaps swim for. Will you dive into the sea after them (turn to 77) or will you seek out the captain’s cabin in the hope of finding the Aleff (turn to 76).
83.
You find yourself in a feast room. You have appeared next to a friendly giant. Against a wall a birdman is chatting with a small man. Sitting at a large wooden table are two humans. The one on your right is a short fat man with a large beard and strange short arms, his expression suggests either anger or merriment. The figure to the left is a powerful warrior of indeterminate gender wearing leather armour and a burnished helmet with a pentagon inscribed upon it. Two swords are strapped to their person and a rucksack with a circular crystal mirror sticking out the top is sitting on the table beside them.
The short fat man notices you, stands up and bellows
“Who are you that would appear in the corner of the feast room of me, Hever? Do you not know that anger and merriment are equally pleasing to me? Explain yourself at once!
Will you tell him about the Aleff? Turn to 88
Or make up a story? Turn to 86
Or ignore him completely? Turn to 90
84.
You listen intently and politely to the conversation
“Now, Ruler of Arion” says Hever “No one comes to Fallow Dale without good reason – tell me why you are here”
The Ruler looks strangely coy and averts their eyes at Hever “Kevin told me you would give me the horn”
“Aye, it happens” says Hever “I would need something in return though”
“Name it” The Ruler replies, suspiciously quickly.
“I have problems with a rather large cat-“
“A pussy?” The Ruler interrupts with a very odd expression.
“I can handle such matters on my own!!” Hever roars with a mixture of anger and merriment “No, a Sabre Tooth Tiger is causing a bit of bother – kill it for me and you shall get what your heart desires”
If you wish to interject and offer to kill the tiger turn to 93
If you would never be so rude, instead turn to 89
If you have had enough of this nonsense and wish to leave with the Aleff then turn to 102
85.
The Ruler looks at you strangely. “I suppose you could help, but Hever will end up giving me the horn, not you – understand?”
Turn to 91 but reduce the tiger’s SKILL by 3 as the Ruler will be fighting with you.
86.
Luckily you were always good at telling stories. You confidently weave a thrilling narrative about your journey to Hever and his feast room. From nowhere you craftily construct a ludicrous tale incorporating an encounter with a Kraken, some ghostly warriors, a couple of Spriggans, an elf massacre, and a journey down a mine. You notice the mysterious stranger to the left is staring at you dumbfounded while you speak, they try to speak a few times but are cut short by Hever who kindly lets you ramble on for three quarters of an hour. When you finish, Hever grins broadly-
“Bravo! – an incredible but entirely truthful account I’m sure – I am full of merriment at the moment – please, sit at the table and help yourself to some food” Hever gestures to a chair where you sit down and start gnawing at a ham bone. Add 1 LUCK point & 2 STAMINA points.
The so far unnamed stranger is staring at you.
Will you chat with them? Turn to 92
Or continue to chat with Hever? Turn to 94
Alternatively you may feel you have accomplished all you can here and leave with the Aleff turn to 102
87.
You cut off an obvious piece of the tiger and bring it back to Hever. He is delighted to see you. To your surprise he hands you an actual object – a horn.
“My horn may not look like much, but blow it before battle and it will strike fear into any enemy’s heart!”
You may use the horn before a battle with any humanoid and deduct 1 from their SKILL.
Hever stretches out a stubby sweaty hand and shakes yours. “I’m afraid I must take my leave of you, I have just been informed that Kevin has arrived…” He sighs, shakes his head and walks away.
There is nothing more to be done – you leave with the Aleff turn to 102
88.
You attempt to explain how the Aleff brought you here but are almost immediately brushed off by Hever “No matter!!!” He booms “Sit down while I consider what I should do with you, I have business to attend to with my ‘cousin’ here first” Hever gestures to the strange individual to his right, who at the moment is in an almost perpetual state of excitement.
Will you sit quietly and listen? Turn to 84
Try and chat with Hever? Turn to 94
89.
The Ruler volunteers to fight the tiger, you watch in utter bemusement as Hever lays down a grid on the table and watches while the Ruler rolls a dice and stabs a pencil at the grid between throws. Hever asks the Ruler for an account of his journey while this difficult operation is performed.
“Firstly, I had an encounter with a kraken, then some Spriggans, then I killed a Wight, then I was given an antique by a crazy man, then I found a heap of junk in a Doragar’s cave-“
Hever interrupts “Yes, and you also walked across one of my subject’s ploughed fields, you ignorant rascal...”
Once they are finished you may offer to assist the Ruler – turn to 85
Or make your farewells and leave with the Aleff – turn to 102
90.
Hever’s expression changes, he looks pleased. The occupants in the room immediately stop what they are doing and gasp in horror.
“I said anger and merriment are equally pleasing to me!!” shouts Hever hysterically as he cleaves your skull in two.
THE END
91.
Some of Hever’s soldiers lead you into a vast forest. They take you into a clearing where two feeble guards are holding a huge Sabre tooth tiger at bay with very small swords. They see you and run away leaving you to fight the tiger.
SABRE TOOTH TIGER SKILL 11 STAMINA 10
If you win, is the Ruler with you? If so turn to 96
Otherwise turn to 87
92.
The stranger sits silently and stares at you for a while. Just as you are about to accuse them of being rude they decide to talk
“I see that you are staring at my helmet. Be wary, only I and dear Kevin are allowed near it. However, I have two items I might want to trade with you – my magic sword and my crystal mirror. To be honest they are wearing me down a bit so I’d even accept a sandwich for one of them. I think Hever (Gods bless him) has left this food out for a bit long.
Will you trade a sandwich for a magic sword? Turn to 97
Will you trade a sandwich for a crystal mirror? Turn to 95
Alternatively you notice that Hever keeps wanting to chat with the stranger, you can listen by turning to 84
93.
You immediately interrupt and bravely offer to kill the tiger. The Ruler of Arion looks crestfallen but stays silent. “Excellent” booms Hever “I was going to make it tricky for the Ruler here, probably involving a grid and lots of dice rolls, but I like you, so I’ll take you straight to where my soldiers have the tiger cornered. Be warned though, he’s a VERY strong beast and he might easily kill you if you aren’t particularly strong hint hint”
Will you go and fight the tiger? Turn to 91
Or leave with the Aleff? Turn to 102
94.
“Not now!!” screams Hever. “I need to chat to this other person – you have angered me slightly (which oddly has also pleased me at the same time)”
Lose 1 LUCK point and turn to 84
95.
The stranger practically throws the crystal mirror at you.
“Hever!!” the stranger cries “Look what they have in their hands!”
Hever frowns in recognition at the item you are now holding, he snatches it from you and snarls – “What evil or foolhardy deed have you committed to end up with an Elven crystal mirror?”
He points the mirror in your direction, opening up a portal and trapping you inside for eternity.
THE END
96.
“Thank you for your help” The Ruler says “ I wish Hever could give you the horn as well, but I have the feeling neither you nor he would be so inclined” However, you saved me a lot of trouble so please take this Potion of Fortune, I feel Lucky enough already!!”
The potion has enough for one measure and may be taken at any time and will restore your LUCK to its initial value plus 1.
Later you make your farewells to Hever and the Ruler and leave with the Aleff. Turn to 102
97.
This is an incredible deal! The magic sword gives you a +1 bonus to your Attack Strength. You are curious as to how the stranger came across it. They are very keen to tell you;
“It is a Wight’s sword! well, they said they were a Wight, although I’m not too sure because normally you would expect to become inexplicably slightly malcoordinated when fighting the undead, which didn’t happen. To be honest, he may have just been am odd hermit with crazy hair living in the hills”
You notice Hever wants to talk to the stranger – turn to 84
98.
You find yourself in a rocky cavern but you have no time to take in your surroundings before three figures burst in.
The first is a man wearing robes and bearing a long staff. Mysteriously, he has a picture of himself in a circle on his tunic.
The second is a simply dressed, studious looking man – he is unarmed but holds a book in one hand and a scroll in the other.
The third, bearing a shield on her back, and holding a crossbow levelled at your throat, is ...a giant puffin.
They all stare at you.
"What?!" squawks the puffin, "this doesn't make a lick of sense. What are you doing here?"
Will you reply...
- I am leaping between worlds, aiding by magic birds, fleeing a giant wolf and possibly other beasts (turn to 100)
- I absolutely refuse to talk to a giant puffin (turn to 99)
99.
"We don't have time for this" snaps the puffin, "we are being pursued by ranks and ranks of the forces of death – or deadlines as we call them. Tell us what you're doing here or I'll peck you really hard."
Startled, you tell them everything. Turn to 100
100.
You expected the motley group to be somewhat incredulous at your story, but none of them question it for a moment, rather they react with rolled eyes and nods of weary understanding. At length, the puffin replies:
"So, you have been entrusted with the most powerful object known to be in existence and have no idea what you are supposed to be doing with it? Yes, entrusted – it is certain that the Aleff was supposed to fall to you. But it seems that the gods have failed to reveal their divine purpose to you, which is not entirely a surprise."
"Which gods?" you ask.
"The gods of Death and Confusion. They are responsible for sparking the collection of worlds through which you travel, and created many parts of it personally."
The scholar chips in:
"In fact, according to the great library of Allansia, they created every part of these worlds."
This interruption is not greeted with enthusiasm by the others. The puffin fluffs her wings irritably, whilst the wizard produces what seems to be a bloodied bone covered in wolfskin from his robes and shakes it in the scholar's direction.
"I think you had better go and speak to them now." intones the puffin. She turns to the wizard and says, "Use your magic to send this fool to meet our makers."
"Don't tell me what to do, Geraldine." snaps the wizard, but he points his staff at you just the same. You are whisked up into the skies.
Once the wizard's spell has taken effect you feel a sense of blind panic as you find yourself apparently floating on a cloud. You reach down between your feet and your hand passes straight through it, yet you do not fall. You start to feel nauseous at the fact that only magic you know nothing about is preserving you from a terrifying death. The moments following, which you spend alone without distraction, are torture and you are relieved when you see two figures striding towards you.
They are not reassuring figures however. The first is inexplicably dressed as a butler, yet he wears a green wig. He seems to be constantly shifting in incomprehensible ways: suddenly he appears to be a terrifying beast, now holding some kind of futuristic looking gun, then he is back in his original form but there are three of him, and so on.
The second figure has a face which looks almost like a skull and which bears a diadem. One of his arms is much longer than the other and he wears dark robes decorated with a thousand eyes. A long slick of blood follows where his clock drags along the cloud.
The shapeshifting butler is the first to speak:
"Wfabr feth fo gpd sopfo cpnfv sjpn abnd edf bth...."
"He said 'we are the gods of Death and Confusion'." the other figure interrupts, before adding "So, you have survived for long enough to meet us." in a tone suggesting both congratulation and disappointment, "That is just as well from our point of view, and indeed perhaps we should have arranged to meet you earlier, but that would not have been in our nature. We could not give a mortal a quest which lacked a little dicing with death from early on..."
"...not to mention a baffling start." interjects the other deity. "That is the way that we have always conducted our business. We created this reality you see, and crafted much of it ourselves. One of the first things we created was a maze, before we'd even finished working out the continents. The rest was designed by others but still our influence left its mark. In fact," he chuckles, then begins to laugh uncontrollably, "when we first enlisted the help of another, we chose a great mage who happened to have the name 'Gudolf Konfu Sian' just so that people would think it was the work of me, the god of Confusion!"
"We began in the world of Titan," explains Death, taking up the story once more, "and that remains the heart of this reality, but it contains many other worlds too – even parts of Earth. Now that object you hold in your backpack is not one that we have created. It was made by one of those who helped us craft this reality, but he has turned against us. As you have discovered, it permits its owner to travel throughout this universe – not just to any location, but also through time, and relative ...well the point is it's very powerful. Unfortunately the same sorcery that created a hard shell around the Aleff weakened the walls separating other realities from this one. Now gods and mages from other worlds have sensed that we are vulnerable and have dispensed minions to capture the Aleff and tap all the wealth and power of our creation. Only you can save it. All you need to do is to hide the Aleff somewhere where no sentient being can find it for a year and day."
"Unless it's a leap year" interjects the other deity, "or... wait do have those?"
"Well, long enough to outlast any of those monks who 'follow headless oxen to the next turn' anyway." the god of Death replies, "The hard shell around the Aleff will collapse, the magic will dissipate and the boundaries between the worlds will reassert themselves. That will be sufficient to save all the creatures and beings of these worlds from great peril."
"So this is a quest in the cause of Good?" you ask.
For the first time it is the turn of the gods to look baffled. They close together and an involved, whispered debate follows. At length the god of Death turns back with a flourish,
"On balance, yes! Now it is time for the two of us to present... you with something to see you on your way."
So saying, he reaches into a pocket in his cloak and draws out the corpse of a seabird – a gull or possibly a tern – and plonks it down in your outstretched hands. Then he reaches into the other side of his clothing and produces another bird, similar except for the fact that the number '101' has been gruesomely and inexplicably scored into its body.
The god of Death grins insanely and – as the second bird lands on top of the first – you feel the cloud give way beneath you.
Turn to 101
101.
You scream in absolute terror as you plummet down from the skies. Suddenly, to your astonishment, the two terns come back to life – perhaps animated by the distance put between them and Death. Together, they clamber over your shoulders and tug open your backpack. You feel them working the Aleff out from amongst your belongings, somehow bearing it as they climb back over you, and suddenly it is in front of your face as the two terns are diving with the orb pressed between their backs.
Once again you can see the green-backed birds starting to appear below you, now hovering just a little so that you might be able to grab one as it goes past... but what is that? You can see far below you something beginning to coalesce in the air – a huge glowing tiger no doubt seeking you here. Will it pounce from below before you can grab one of the birds? Two are 'rising' compared to you and they are equally distant from you...
Roll one die. If the result is less than or equal to your TRAIL score, turn to 182.
If it is greater, you manage to grasp a bird from the air before the tiger reaches you, and the world darkens...
But what did you focus on?
To one side was the bizarre sight of a flock of birds managing to fly vertically – somehow maintaining contact whilst still flying. Their arrangement could only be described as a stack or a column or, dammit, a conga line. If you focussed on them, turn to 103
To the other side was a rather primeval-looking bird, with a dark circle of plumage at its centre like a hole. If you focussed on that, turn to 137
102.
You pull out the Aleff. Some folk from the feasting hall stare at you quizzically, but no one interferes.
Almost instantly there are birds swirling around you competing for your attention. This time, however, one bird alone manoeuvres ahead of the others. It is not one of the usual green-back ones though you recognise it from somewhere.
Turn to 98
103.
You appear in a small room. There are large and really tacky looking dolls along the left wall, there is a big box on the right wall with a door just beyond it. However the most interesting things in the room is a glass jar with a live beastie of some sort inside it lying in the middle of the floor, and three very ugly monster children huddling under a table. They keep pointing to the jar and making unsettling noises. You sense something is not quite right here. What should you do?
Will you walk straight through the room and exit out the door? Turn to 108
Talk to the horrible children? Turn to 112
Pick up glass jar? Turn to 125
Have a look in the big box? Turn to 116
104.
You hold up the daft looking Spider Man in a Jar.
“Racknee!!!” the Ganjee says “You have returned! We are well pleased to have one of our ointment associates brought to us! Please, put down the jar and open the lid.”
Will you do so? Turn to 117
Or absolutely refuse? Turn to 107
105.
You charge at the door with your shoulder. Roll one dice. This is the amount of STAMINA points you fruitlessly lose because the door still won’t open. To be honest you are beginning to find it a little scary as well. LOSE 1 LUCK point and turn to 126 to try the other door.
106.
You clear your throat. “I’m a fairly normal human with a magic Aleff, who likes a laugh as much as the next person, so it would be really good if I could see what was going on!”
The giggling stops and suddenly a materialisation occurs right in front of you.
A disembodied head is floating six feet off the ground. He would probably knock quite a few points off your stats if it wasn’t for the fact that his face was smothered in a white creamy substance. You decide not to pass comment in the hope that he will explain himself. When he speaks, he tries his best to sound a bit spooky but his voice is tinged with humour.
“Foolish adventurer, you have entered the domain of the GANJEES!!! We are slightly busy at the moment. Another adventurer who left us just moments ago tossed us the OINTMENT OF HEALING. The effect is awesome, though I fear there will not be enough to go around. If you could just bear with us for a short while, we’ll get round to killing you soon enough”
Are you wearing a golden locket? If so, turn to 120
If not...
Will you protest? Turn to 119
Offer them something? Turn to 115
Run around madly in the dark and try to find a way out? Turn to 110
Summon a skeleton or a thassaloss if you know how? Turn to 128
107.
“I was not born yesterday” You say. “If you want your Spider friend, in return, I want safe passage and maybe a little of your incredible ointment”
The Ganjee vanishes and you hear it quietly conferring with its brethren. After a moment it reappears.
“Brave words adventurer. Here take this free sample of the OINTMENT OF HEALING, put down the jar and leave us be.”
A tiny fun sized tube of ointment appears at your feet. You put down the glass jar.
Turn to 111
108.
You leave the room and find yourself at the foot of a spiral staircase. At this point you feel an urge to check the Aleff. As you suspected, it remains cloudy. Clearly there are powerful magics in this place interfering with it. Perhaps you will have to leave the building to make it function again. There are no other options available so you climb the stairs. You reach a landing with two doors.
Will you open the door to the right? Turn to 118
Or the door to the left? Turn to 126
109.
Even though the larger child is clearly deserving of at least a slap, you manage to resist the urge. You step away from the table and the horrid little monsters continue to stare at you.
Will you now pick up the glass jar if you haven’t already? Turn to 125
Or leave the room? Turn to 108
110.
Deftly, you dodge the floating Ganjee and his slimy Ointment face and find a door. You dash out of it and topple over a balcony.
Will you gulp a potion of Vaporous Essence if you have one, and save your life? Turn to 113
Or let yourself fall? Turn to 127
111.
Having passed through the door at the far side of the room, you find yourself at the bottom of some spiral steps. Climbing up them you find yourself in a room with some sort of enormous... snake... thing, partially covered by some golden sheep hide. This is getting just too weird. You pull out the Aleff once more, and to your relief it no longer seems to be blocked. Perhaps this part of the tower is unaffected by the same magic, or perhaps its source is distracted. As you stare into the little orb you hear someone, somewhere retorting "No, YOU'RE an impudent peasant!"
This time however, as you stare into the swirling mists of the Aleff, the birds which manifest themselves are black like ravens and have a raucous cry. "Copout! Copout!" they screech. As one flies at your face, the darkness sweeps over your mind, blurring memories, and your body, clearing scars.
You find that you can remember nothing of use except what you knew when you first unwrapped the Aleff in Carey's shop the first time. Likewise your belongings have been switched back to those you had right before you left. Your SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK have all been restored to their initial values (and those initial scores are what they were originally, if they had been changed).
To your TRAIL score, however, add 1 point.
Turn to 1
112.
The three children really are ugly. They stare at you with watery gungey eyes and it’s clear they all need their nappies changed. The child on the left is slightly larger than the others and you don’t like his attitude. You’re not terribly keen on hitting children but he really is asking for it.
Test your SKILL
If you succeed turn to 109
If you fail turn to 124
113.
In desperation you grab the little vial from your waist and glug down the contents. It... works. You are suddenly a mist little denser than the air and it takes around a minute for you to drift down the last 50 feet or so to the ground.
The only trouble is that with the wind blowing back and forth the mist gets rather spread out. As you begin to coalesce you find yourself wandering back and forth trying to inhale the remaining mist. Halve your current STAMINA (rounded down). If you survive, you find that you feel like you have a hangover after a full day of drinking brandy, but better than you might expect after jumping out of a window.
You pull out the Aleff and are relieved to see that it is working again. You gaze into it.
This time however, as you stare into the swirling mists of the Aleff, the birds which manifest themselves are black like ravens and have a raucous cry. "Copout! Copout!" they screech. As one flies at your face, the darkness sweeps over your mind, blurring memories, and your body clearing scars.
You find that you can remember nothing of use except what you knew when you first unwrapped the Aleff in Carey's shop the first time. Likewise your belongings have been switched back to those you had right before you left. Your SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK have all been restored to their initial values (and those initial scores are what they were originally, if they had been changed).
To your TRAIL score, however, add 1 point.
Turn to 1
114.
The door opens into complete darkness. The childish giggling and squealing continues. You catch vague glowing forms out of the corners of your eyes. An indistinct voice laughs ‘Ah, the ointment, the ointment!’ another cries ‘It feels so good, ahhh, hey give it back!’ Then there are more giggles, laughs and squeals. It is a shame it is so dark, whoever is in the room with you is having a good time!
Will you call out and hope they notice? Turn to 106
Use a ring of fire to provide some light? Turn to 129
Try and find some means of lighting the room on the walls? Turn to 122
115.
What item will you produce to hopefully placate them?
A big cheap doll that looks a little like your father? Turn to 123
A Spider Man in a glass jar? Turn to 104
A sandwich? Turn to 121
116.
The big box opens easily. Inside are a few more hideously cheap and nasty large dolls. You decide to take one which reminds you a little of your father. It’s really big and heavy so you decide that’s it’s time to leave the room.
Turn to 108
117.
You place the jar on the ground and unscrew the lid. The spider crawls out and grows to a tremendous size. It looks just as ridiculous as before but you will have to fight it.
SPIDER MAN SKILL 7 STAMINA 5
If you lose an attack round, you find that the spider man has a deadly, creamy bite and you die.
If you kill him, the Ganjees are very angry and call you names and you will have to protest turn to 119
118.
The door won’t open. You put your ear to the door and hear some very odd noises. You can try and force the door open? Turn to 105
Or you can try the left hand door, turn to 126
119.
You protest most strongly. The Ganjees listen briefly to your pleas but it is no good. You get completely destroyed by the Ganjees in a most strange creamy manner.
THE END
120.
Suddenly there is a gasp in the darkness.
"It wears something around its neck! Could it be the amulet that holds the cursed Jewel of Light?!" Some fearful noises are made from all around you.
You are so startled at this apparent recognition that for a moment you too are convinced – until you remember that there is no jewel in there at all. Still, you're not sure that reassuring the creatures of your helplessness is the way to go.
Will you...
Stride boldly across the room to find the exit? Turn to 131
Offer them something? Turn to 115
Summon a skeleton or a thassaloss if you know how? Turn to 128
121.
“Wait!!” you cry “Surely if I offered you this tasty sandwich you would let me live?”
The Ganjee considers what you say for a moment- “We are magical creatures, we need no sustenance, only the OINTMENT OF HEALING!!!!!!!”
You have no choice but to protest. Turn to 119
122.
It's not clear just what you're expecting to find, but whatever it was, it's not there. You make quite a noise scrabbling against the walls and whoever is in the room hears you. LOSE 1 LUCK point for being silly.
“Who dares interrupt us when we’re having fun?” says a voice.
You better answer – turn to 106
123.
“What foolishness is this?!!!” shouts the Ganjee, creamy ointment dripping from his jowls.
“It’s a big cheap doll that looks a little like my father.” You reply.
“Hmmm. A reasonable gift indeed. You may go with our blessing. Please leave us to our OINTMENT OF HEALING!”
Turn to 111
124.
You cannot resist. You give the largest child a backhanded slap to his cheek. His watery gungey eyes fill with tears and he very quietly starts sobbing. The other two children cower away from you. It is not your finest hour. Lose 1 LUCK point.
You decide to leave the room before you make a name for yourself – turn to 108
125.
The glass jar contains a frankly ludicrous spider with the face of an old man. These kind of items can fetch a pretty penny, and Carey often had them at the front of his shop when you visited. You decide to take the jar with you. Choose another option you have not previously taken
Will you look in the big box? Turn to 116
Talk to the ugly infants? Turn to 112
Or leave the room? Turn to 108
126.
The door opens into room with a pit in the middle and a door round the far side, there is a treasure chest on a raised bit of ground in the middle of the pit. To one side of the pit is a rope. However, it looks like a lot of hard work so you decide to walk around the edge of the room and leave through the other door. You may, however, take the rope if you wish.
The door opens onto another spiral staircase. You start climbing up the stairs and before you even reach the next landing you can hear strange giggling and childish laughing from behind the solitary door. There is nowhere else to go: turn to 114
127.
You decide to let yourself fall as an interesting experiment. As expected you die when you hit some rocks.
128.
You throw down the pearls and suddenly clusters of bones spring together from nowhere, forming a skeletal being. It glows gently in the darkness and looks quickly from one side of the room to another, poised to join battle.
There is some muttering in the background. Then *CHONK* ...and your monster's skull is knocked clean off its spine. A moment later the rest of it collapses in a heap. Cross the pearls you used off your Adventure Sheet.
The creatures are murmuring in a way that suggests you are much more interesting than they were expecting. Unfortunately they're still intending to kill you.
Will you...
Offer them something? Turn to 115
Run around madly in the dark and try to find a way out? Turn to 110
129.
Just for a brief moment the room is bathed in light, revealing several hideous, greasy, floating faces, and a door in the far corner of the room. A look at these creatures tells you that you do not wish to fight them.
Are you wearing a golden locket? If so, turn to 120
Otherwise, will you:
Sprint for the door you saw? Turn to 130
Engage the creatures in conversation? Turn to 106
Summon a skeleton or a thassaloss if you know how? Turn to 128
130.
"Stop them! They mean to escape – and possibly steal our Ointment of Healing!"
It's hard to know whether the blast of fire helped or hindered you. As you know where the door is, you can make for it directly. But the creatures are fully focussed on you.
Test your LUCK twice. Each time you are Lucky, a glancing blow lands on you (lose 2 STAMINA points) with the creature skidding off due to its greasiness. If you are Unlucky, a more thumping blow lands on the back of your head: lose 4 STAMINA points for each.
If you were Unlucky both times, you stumble punch-drunk off the edge of the balcony on the far side of the door and plummet towards the ground. In this case, will you drink a potion of vaporous essence if you have one? (turn to 113) or simply fall (turn to 127).
If you are Lucky at least once, you manage to pass through the door and close it behind you. The greasiness is a little disgusting, but you find yourself rubbing it into your skin regardless. It makes your skin feel strong and supple, and you feel like the kind of handsome, confident adventurer who is destined to succeed. You even find yourself humming a little tune.
"What a feeling – ointment of healing."
Restore 2 LUCK points and turn to 111.
131.
You stride purposefully across the room, brandishing the locket as you go. You find a door and shut it firmly behind you. A certain smugness rolls over you at escaping with no drama required. Restore 1 LUCK point.
Turn to 111
132.
You remain on the ground and raise your hands in conciliatory fashion. Blinking as colour and detail return to the scene, you take another look at those around you. They are a motley crew of dwarves, humans, elves, gnomes and perhaps other humanoids, all of them clearly aghast at what you have done, with the one exception to both being a huge brown bear. Seated apparently in a place of honour, the bear seems to be roaring with laughter.
Perplexed, you look back at the warrior who is one of the few not to have drawn his weapon, a sword. Like most of the others present he has a tattoo on his forehead which looks, well, phallic. Still, it's only the second silliest forehead tattoo you've seen since you started this adventure. Nearby stands a human in robes, who is clearly some sort of priest.
You exchange stares with the warrior for a few seconds before he reacts to what is happening behind you. You turn to see the woman – her sharp-featured, furious face visible in what is clearly a wedding garment, though it is made from a coarse fabric – has picked up a spear of her own and is preparing to drive it through you! "Please, my queen, a moment's restraint!" the warrior beseeches her, "This outrage may be an error." He gestures at some recent injuries on his arms as though he had been whipped. The woman hesitates, and then begins to pace up and down, still holding her spear aloft and muttering colourful oaths in your direction.
The warrior gestures to a man and a dwarf standing together, perhaps in the role of guards. "Have the interloper secured in a hut and well-guarded." You are taken away.
Turn to 152
133.
You pull out the little sphere with your heart in your mouth. Can in work here? Or will the birds somehow be held outside the thick stone walls?
But no – sure enough it darkens and you see birds beginning to appear. Restore 1 LUCK point.
Turn to 147
134.
The talisman has arcane symbols scrawled on it. You lift the leather thong on which it is suspended over your head, and just for an instant sense that you are making a mistake as the stone seems to triple in weight, as if impatient to drop into place. Then as it does so, it is as though a portcullis falls on your mind and you shuffle on into the forest. How odd that you choose to take the place of the elf.
135.
Keen to take the initiative, you dart forward and swing your sword at the humanoid's head... but the 'skeletal' arm lurches up and deflects your weapon with a clink. The being gives a feeble gasp of surprise. This is just an ordinary old man, save for an extraordinary mechanical arm. For a brief moment you put your sword up, expecting him to surrender, but he does not. Instead he shrieks at you in manic tones:
"So, you are here to steal the gold are you? Well I shan't let you! I shan't! No one shall claim the gold from me but Horfak, once he has recognised my brilliance and sacrifice." He swings his metal arm wildly at you.
OLD MAN SKILL 5 STAMINA 8
Although he is clumsy and unarmed, the man's metal arm is considerably stronger than him. If he hits you, roll one die. On 1-4 he does 2 STAMINA damage as normal; on 5-6 he does double damage.
If you win, turn to 165
136.
Somehow you manage to gather enough of your wits together to direct yourselves out of the ceremony and get your feet moving into a sprint. A spear thwacks into the ground just to your right and you hear others landing behind you and an axe slams into a tree. But the noise behind you dies away quite quickly. They have decided not to give chase.
Now, you must decide where to go. Will you...
Bear right out of the forest? Turn to 148
Bear left out of the forest? Turn to 164
Or if you feel the danger here is too great, use the Aleff and turn to 147
137.
You arrive in baffling surroundings: crouching in near darkness surrounded by fabric, perhaps in a tent made for a child, but the only source of light filtering in is somewhere near the top. Instinctively you stand up to see better, and experience several things at once.
Firstly, your face finds the small opening and you are confronted by the extremely startled face of a battle-scarred warrior. Then you realise that this is not a tent, but a voluminous garment and you are not alone in it. There is a slim, but muscular woman behind you wearing little else. Her presence is made obvious to you, first by brushing contact, then an ear-splitting bellow of rage from inches behind your head and finally by a knee driven in between your spine and right kidney. You collapse in pain – deduct 1 STAMINA point.
As you lie squirming on the ground, the fabric of the garment sweeps back over your face and you are dazzled by the sudden bright daylight. Squinting around you, you see that you are near-surrounded by a three-quarter circle of faces – the nearest just half a dozen yards away – with many of them appearing to brandish weapons. There are too many to fight.
Will you...
Make a run for it? Turn to 157
Attempt to parley/surrender? Turn to 132
138.
Pouches of igneolite pop and scatter over the stone, and it bubbles and ripples, congealing over every opening. You rush round the outskirts of the building desperately searching for an untouched window or door, but find none. The place has darkened considerably and after a few minutes so has your mood. It seems that you are trapped.
Do you still have the Aleff in your backpack?
If you do, turn to 133
If not, turn to 146
139.
The powers of the gateway are not so strong as they once were, but they remain stronger than you. You feel yourself bloating enormously, swelling up with muscle and fat alike. You topple forward as your legs meld together, as do your fingers as your hands and forearms spread wide. Two of your teeth grow dozens of times longer in an instant. Then it is over.
You flop onward into the caves, still dimly aware that horrible things will happen when the malign force of the gateway realises the power of an object in your backpack. But you are now a walrus, and your main concern is finding water with fish in it.
140.
The force crushes your mind. You let out a howl of despair, but by the time it has finished echoing you have no idea why. Understanding, memories and will are all gone. Before pacing stiffly onward, you take a moment to slough off your backpack. It will be a dark day for hundred worlds when the portal grasps the significance of the little glass ball within it. But for you, there are no more dark days or bright days. Your body is run through by soldiers within a week and left lying on a hillside as still as your mind.
141.
The man – for that is all the humanoid is – seems a little uncertain. "Are you one of Horfak's miners, sent to help me complete my work?"
You decide that it is easier to say that you are. The old man sighs with relief and introduces himself as Azudraz (or confirms it, as he is assuming you had heard his name before.)
"It is nearly complete – so near! But these hands cannot work together even for a simple wheelbarrow. You could finish the job in a few hours, while it would take me days."
With your eyes becoming accustomed to the light, you can clearly see that the rocks you saw before are gold – a mix of genuine nuggets and lumps of ordinary rock flecked with gold. As for the man's arm, it is not skeletal but an extraordinary mechanical construction. You can help him with no real cost to yourself, but you have little idea what the purpose of the work or why you should be doing it.
Will you...
Ask for payment? Turn to 149
Ask for an explanation of the process? Turn to 168
142.
If you are to safely exit the building, the first thing you must do is ensure that not all of the pouches of igneolite are set off. Since your difficult conversation, Azudraz has begun watching you suspiciously, but you snatch a moment to rip a couple of inches out of one of the tapers.
As you finish up with your task of depositing gold – and Azudraz seems close to finishing as well – you take out the Aleff and prepare to cast it into its watery grave. But perhaps this is unwise? Make a note on your Adventure sheet as to whether you let it sink or hold onto it for the time being.
Azudraz returns. "Good work" he says, "now head back to the centre of these fuses and wait for me." You do as he asks.
Turn to 172
143.
You are dragged to a clearing where a full circle of tribe members are standing, all with spears, swords and axes drawn. In the centre of the circle is a triceratops – apparently young or stunted as it is a fraction of the size of what you might expect.
The meeting is brief. Everyone is uncomfortable that you are still amongst them and not dead. An elf in dark, tattered robes reads out a verdict of sorts to say in a broken, arcane version of your language that you are guilty of dishonouring their queen and that you have three days grace to flee their lands or risk the full wrath of the People. The triceratops is tame, and has been trained to travel to the opening of the caves where there is a 'sorcerous gateway' in the words of the elf.
The warrior is the only one who shows you anything other than hostility. He subtly passes you a slab of warm steak wrapped in something like a cabbage leaf (it can restore 4 STAMINA points, but will spoil if you don't eat it within the next 5 sections), then adds some items to your backpack: some texts written on animal skins, two torches and a shrew, currently asleep. You do not feel that you can ask for further explanations.
Once the verdict has been read out, two of those present grab you and dump you on the back of the dinosaur, facing backwards as a mark of indignity. The creature is set moving and it seems unwise to get off. Instead, you spend the time reading the documents that the warrior shoved into your backpack.
There are two lengthy well-written letters to people named 'Gloten' and 'The Margrave' saying similar things: that the warrior found the source of the evil turning men to slave warriors and beasts: an evil portal. Once he had passed through, he defeated its counterpart, an evil mine-owner named Horfak. The warrior goes on to explain that he has no intention of returning to Khul and that they should give any rewards to the bearer of the letters, provided that they have destroyed the portal. The letter to Gloten is more informal, with some cryptic reference to him as "standing atop balanced pick-axe handles to tower over the rest", from which you conclude that Gloten is a giant with spindly legs.
The warrior has clearly taken some time over these letters, making you think that perhaps he was hoping to persuade one of the People to take the mission on. There is a shorter, scrawled note to you saying simply, "Remember to light all your torches and keep your mind intact!"
It takes some hours to reach the caves. The route in is, initially at least, wide enough that you could continue riding the great beast (forwards this time).
If you wish to enter the caves, make a note of whether you ride in, or dismount and walk in, then turn to 153
If you do neither and instead use the Aleff? Turn to 147
144.
The path out of the mine is not a long one – though it is of course mostly uphill – but it seems too long to be free of the place. It's a great relief to exit into the daylight. A little tired already, you clamber up to the top of a ridge and take in the scene.
It seems that there are broadly two ways that you can head on – either somewhat downhill towards the woodland (turn to 145) or further uphill, sticking to the higher ground (turn to 175).
145.
Tracking a path through the woods, you hear a set of shuffling footsteps off to one side. Out from behind a tree emerges a shortish, slender figure, apparently an elf – but something is very wrong with it. It has a vacant expression, some untended wounds and the string of the bow slung across its shoulders has rotted away. The thin sword in its hand, however, is only a little rusted and quite capable of cutting you down.
ZOMBIE ELF SKILL 7 STAMINA 8
If you win, you notice a stone talisman around the elf's neck. You may take this with you if you like.
Now, will you try cutting back to try to leave the woodland? (Turn to 175)
Or press deeper into the forest? (Turn to 155)
If you try putting the talisman around your neck, turn to 134
146.
You realise with a sense of horror that you are utterly trapped in this place. The stone walls are thick with no obvious place to tunnel under them. You can just about make out the Aleff amongst the gold nuggets in the tank, but of course it is set fast.
Azudraz, who seems to be unaware that you knocked him out cold, has not held back any food and can't see why you think that this is a problem. "We could buy food with gold." he explains over and over, and then when you point out that there is no one to supply it, adds, "Horfak will come." He clearly isn't interested anyway and seems happy to waste away as you become more frantic.
After a week of starvation and hammering the pommel of your sword ever more feebly on stone, you become desperate and clamber into the tank. Grasping the Aleff with both hands and planting your feet to brace, you crouch underwater and pull with all your might ...but the Aleff will not budge.
After around a minute of straining, you are forced to give up and come up for air – but suddenly you realise that your hands, feet and haunches are all locked in position. After a few dozen seconds of blind panic, you inhale the 'water' and drown. Azudraz will spend his final hours cursing you for besmirching the gold with your corpse.
147.
Once more, you stare into the swirling mists of the Aleff. This time however the birds which manifest themselves are black like ravens and have a raucous cry. "Copout! Copout!" they screech. As one flies at your face, the darkness sweeps over your mind, blurring memories, and your body clearing scars.
You find that you can remember nothing of use except what you knew when you first unwrapped the Aleff in Carey's shop the first time. Likewise your belongings have been switched back to those you had right before you left. Your SKILL, STAMINA and LUCK have all been restored to their initial values (and those initial scores are what they were originally, if they have been changed).
To your TRAIL score, however, add 1 point.
Turn to 1
148.
The path you make for yourself veers over ridges and down dales. You feel you are getting nowhere. Then as you near a copse a terrifying dinosaur sprints out from amongst the trees. It is agile, and though it is a little shorter than you with small forearms it has large teeth and a nasty, sickle-like claw on each of its hind legs.
VELOCIRAPTOR SKILL 9 STAMINA 8
The creature has two attacks: roll twice for its Attack Strength for each time you roll for yours. Only if yours is higher than both have you evaded both blows; if it is lower than both you will be hit twice.
If you win, you decide you had better cut your losses and use the Aleff. You may take one of the velociraptor's claws if you wish. Turn to 147
149.
You ask Azudraz cautiously if you may take a small portion of gold for payment, picking up a small nugget of gold which could fit in your hand as an example and gesturing to your backpack. To your surprise, he doesn't argue or try to negotiate but just lets out a long, slightly unnerving laugh.
"It makes no difference!" He says, walking away. Puzzled, you add the little nugget to your pack and start rolling the wheelbarrow to where Azudraz indicates you should unload it – a wide tank filled with water just a couple of feet deep.
Azudraz doesn't observe you much once he's explained what he needs you to do. He busies himself running long strips of paper out to the edges of the building.
Turn to 170
150.
Slowly, but surely, you push back against the force until it feels as though it is only touching the edges of your mind. It keeps probing, but you are fortified against it. Suddenly it is gone. You take a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Just as you are beginning to relax you are seized by new forces which leave your mind clear but sweep over every inch of your body, pinning you to the spot. You feel pinched and contorted everywhere. Here part of you seems to be hardening; here something seems to be trying to grow. You clench your muscles against it – but can you hold them off everywhere?
How many animals are you in the presence of?
None? Turn to 139
One? Turn to 171
Two? Turn to 158
151.
You are waiting for maybe a couple of hours before you hear the bolt being drawn back and the warrior enters. He closes the door quietly behind him. "Anxis is furious beyond your comprehension." he whispers, "But I've managed to persuade her not to have you killed, provided that you take on a mission for us. She was convinced only because whether you succeed or fail, she will never have to set eyes on you again. Did you come here from Khul, through the portal?"
You shake your head. The warrior is surprised, but continues after a short pause.
"That explains why you arrived here rather than in the caves I suppose. But perhaps it does not matter. Listen: I am a warrior from Khul, sent to find the cause of men having their minds wiped and made into zombie-like creatures, or their bodies twisted to make them into beasts. You may have seen Dirlin, the bear, at the ceremony? Well, I found the cause was a portal between worlds which, having failed to wreak its havoc upon me, brought me here. I slew the warlord, Horfak, with whom it shared power, but it still exists and may do evil until it is destroyed.
"I do not know how it could be destroyed – perhaps by a great quantity of the gunpowder the miners sometimes use in Khul – but no one knows how to make it on this side. Someone must pass back to Khul to find a way to destroy it, but I am tired. The portal might be able to attack me once more, and there are risks on the far side that I do not wish to face alone. The reward from Gloten and the Margrave would be great, but I am happy to remain in this world, wed my beloved Queen Anxis and be venerated by The People – a fine community."
He hesitates, then flushes scarlet and adds in a haunted whisper:
"Besides, in the forest in Khul I met a horrible dryad named Lignia who used magic to make my clothes fall off. All of the other dryads saw my bum! I can never go back."
"So you wish me to pass through the portal and complete a mission that if I am successful I will be unable to return to tell you of its success?" you ask, puzzled.
"Yes! Mostly what Anxis is offering you is a stay of execution for three days. After that time, if any of The People catch you on this side of the portal you will be killed. I will give you some assistance in passing through the portal ...though not *all* of it for free. Once on the other side, I cannot compel you to seal it shut, but it will be in your interest even if you care about neither this place nor that. I will draw up and sign a parchment explaining what has come to pass for me and confirming that my part of the reward should fall to you. Do you agree?"
Since the other option seems to be immediate execution, you nod.
"Excellent. Now, the portal will seek first to wreck your mind which will test your focus, then twist your body which will test your strength, then simply to kill you. For the first, this would help a little." He shows you a plain, flat, silver ring and tells you it is known as the Ring of Zombie Warding. For the second you will need animals around you. We will provide you with a steed and another animal such as a shrew. Finally, you must be surrounded by light. We will provide a torch for each hand, but you may also want this miner's helmet with a candle."
The warrior explains that he would like items to impress Anxis, mostly jewellery (she is not impressed by the plainness of the Ring of Zombie Warding). He will swap each of the ring or helmet for any of the following: an amulet, a ring (any kind), 1 black pearl, 5 silver pearls or the Horn of Hever. Make your trades as you see fit.
The warrior then strolls over to the door, calls for the guards and speaks to them. He then passes your sword back towards you, having overcome the reluctance of those outside. You take it together with your other belongings. As the warrior exits, the guards enter, advancing in a less friendly fashion.
Turn to 143
152.
Marched away by a man and a dwarf with tattoos on their heads, you are shoved into a very small hut – one too small for anyone to live in. Your guards are not sure how to treat you, whether you are a guest under suspicion or a foul besmircher of their queen. For now, they merely relieve you of the sword you have at your belt but do not take away, or even look at, your other possessions. You hear a bolt sliding into place on the door, while no footsteps away from it, which suggests both guards remain.
You take out the Aleff and briefly uncover it. It appears to be working. If you use it now you will not get your sword back, but if you have a back-up weapon or you would simply rather risk travelling without one than remaining, (you would be fighting with a 2 point Attack Strength penalty and causing 1 point of damage) you could try this.
Will you...
Use the Aleff? Turn to 147
Wait it out? Turn to 151
153.
As you progress deeper into the caves, a feeling of something or someone malevolent nearby begins to grow. Finally you arrive at a sort of gate made from three blocks of black rock covered in strange symbols and shrouded in darkness.
At this point something odd happens – or does it? Just for a moment you think you hear a whisper in your mind: "Adventurer! Would your will be for the power of a god? Oh... but you are on a higher quest..." but perhaps this is a half-remembered dream crossing your mind in the darkness.
Having come this far, you feel you are committed to passing through.
The moment you enter the sinister structure, you feel a strange force grasping your mind like a potter's hands grasping clay. You feel numb, your hearing muffles and your sight dims further. Thoughts which are not your own drift into your mind and your own drift out. You feel strangely drowsy though your body is tense and upright. You sense this is not a slumber from which your mind would awaken and you set yourself against it. Something to focus on would help.
Do you have a Ring of Zombie Warding? If so, turn to 163, if not turn to 174
154.
You knot your muscles against the invisible onslaught. After what seems an age, and to your utter astonishment, the shrew leaps from your backpack, no longer a shrew, but a bright blue hedgehog. It scurries away at surprising speed.
With that, the gateway's invisible grasping fingers seem to slide exhausted off you.
Turn to 160
155.
You soldier on through the forest, watching out for more elf-zombies, but you don't seem to be finding anything of interest. Then, with a sinking feeling, you spot a familiar creature padding towards you. The huge, ghostly wolf seems to be heading precisely in your direction, yet hasn't laid eyes on you yet. You duck behind a tree, snatch the Aleff out of your pack and stare into it.
Add 1 point to your TRAIL score and then turn to 147.
156.
Your remaining torch flame dwindles and goes out. Wave after wave of darkness rolls into you and you distantly feel your limbs turning limp, but you do not feel the fall to the ground. At least when your heart stops beating a few seconds later your mind is too chilled even to notice.
157.
Roll two dice to test your SKILL. If the total is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 136. If it is higher, turn to 159
158.
As you knot your muscles against the invisible onslaught, you hear frantic squeaking from your backpack followed by a tremendous bellow from the beast between your legs.
In the gateway's painful grip, it seems as though a long time passes, but it is simply not sufficient to twist all of you. Suddenly you feel a collapse and re-rising beneath you and the dinosaur – to your utter astonishment – is suddenly a young giraffe, struggling to hold its long neck off the ground but beneath the roof. Your sense of bafflement is only increased when the shrew leaps from your backpack, no longer a shrew, but a bright blue hedgehog which scurries away at surprising speed.
With that, the gateway's invisible grasping fingers seem to slide exhausted off you.
Turn to 160
159.
You scramble to your feet and try to make tracks away from the gathering, but you manage to lurch off towards one group of the assembled throng before sprinting off, and you've only gone a dozen steps before a horrific pain shoots through your calf muscle as a spear penetrates as deep as the bone. You crash to the ground and are immediately surrounded by humans and humanoids with their weapons pointed at you. Deduct 4 STAMINA points and turn to 143
160.
Just when you think the gateway has given up on preventing your progress you see it has one more trick: clouds of darkness drop from the structure like curtains and sweep against you. You instinctively raise your torches to meet them, and the darkness swirls around them. It is cold – no, just numbing – to the touch.
You already had a torch in each hand. Do you have a third light source? If so, turn to 162. If not, turn to 176.
161.
Picking a moment when Azudraz's back is turned, you simply sprint headlong for the entranceway. As you near it you hear his cry of anger behind you, but he does not seem to do anything. Perhaps he realises that you could not run that fast and be carrying much gold.
Once you are safely two or three hundred paces down the slope outside you pull out the Aleff.
Turn to 147
162.
With the miner's helmet and its candle flame beaming light over your face, you feel a little protection from the darkness, and use your torches to push back against the inky clouds. Sometimes the clouds cause the flame to dwindle on one of them, but you simply bring them together for a moment and both are burning bright once more. Soon the blackness fades to the commonplace dimness of a poor lit mine.
You have survived the onslaught of gateway. Restore 1 LUCK point.
You resolve to return and destroy this malevolent force once and for all. For now you press on and soon you see light at the end of the tunnel.
Are you, to your surprise, riding a giraffe? If so turn to 166.
If not, turn to 144.
163.
The moment your eyes fix on the pale, flickering light of the plain silver ring, your resolve stiffens. Roll 2 dice and compare the result to your STAMINA. If the result is greater, turn to 140, if it is less than or equal to your STAMINA, turn to 150.
164.
You follow a path taking you meandering through a valley and a patch of woodland until you finally reach a set of caves. Somehow you feel a sense of evil emanating from them. Will you enter?
If so, turn to 153.
If you would rather use the Aleff, turn to 147
If you would prefer to double back on yourself, turn to 169
165.
After a minute or two of straightforward but unnerving combat you plunge your sword into the old man's chest and he dies with a gurgle. You cannot help feeling guilty for hacking a defenceless old man to death without good cause. Lose 1 LUCK point.
You feel that your time in this world should perhaps be wound up. There is no point in inspecting the equipment without someone there to explain it to you, nor is the idea of wandering aimlessly attractive to you. However there is a wheelbarrow full of gold here. It is too heavy to carry any significant quantity, but you may take a nugget if you so choose. You take out the Aleff and stare at it.
Turn to 147
166.
It is something of a strain coaxing the young giraffe through the tunnel. Even if it were used to its shape, the creature would struggle underground and it makes pitiable cries as it scrapes its chin on the ground one minute and then bangs its head on the ceiling the next. At length you are able to exit the mine and it lets out an indescribable sound in relief.
Only a madman would continue to try using a giraffe as a steed. However, you cling on as the beast gambols to the top of a ridge and stands still to get its own bearings. You take the opportunity to stand up on its back, steadying yourself with a hand on its boney neck, and survey the land.
There is a lot of forest around you. In the distance however you spot a stone building and conclude that if you wish to find means to destroy the gateway or make other useful human contact it would be best to make for there. At this point, the giraffe decides to take its leave of you. It if clearly hungry, and prefers the look of the forest.
If you make for the stone building, turn to 175
Alternatively you may use the Aleff. If you do this, turn to 147
167.
For several minutes you are frantic, sprinting round the outskirts of the building as pouches of igneolite pop and scatter over the stone, and it bubbles and ripples, congealing over every opening. All is dark and you are convinced that you are sealed in.
In your desperation, as you are doubling back, you nearly fall into the tank of aqua viscosi – but then you find the broken taper leading away and follow it to the wall. Near where the reaches the edge you find another unbroken taper and then the remains of a side door. Igneolite has changed most of it to smooth, thick, solid rock, but a slanted gap several inches high remains at the base and at length you find that, with effort, you and your pack can separately scrape through.
Wasting no more time you return to the tank and, if you have not already done so, allow the Aleff to sink to the bottom. Viewing it by torchlight, you can barely see it there – just the hint of a bubble between the nuggets.
Collecting several bags of igneolite, you leave the building for the last time. Setting one of them alight in the gap, you watch as the building is sealed completely.
It takes you three days to find your way to meet the Margrave and Gloten (who proves, bafflingly, to be a dwarf – he chuckles at his letter, apparently understanding a joke you do not). Once they have finished reading their letters and you have told them of the igneolite you are carrying (you leave its origins unclear) they look to you with respect and hope.
The next day you begin riding back to the gateway, surrounded by half a dozen mercenaries sworn to protect you. Soon you are setting light to pouches around it, and you hear it scream in your head as you reduce it, too, to smooth rock.
On returning to Kleinkastel, you are greeted with thunderous cheers and addressed as a hero by all: humans, elves, dwarves. A banquet is held in your honour, but the gratitude of all lasts longer than that. Even the forest goblins scamper up to you in the woodland paths to shower you with wondrous magical gifts by way of thanks. You settle in the town and live a life of ease, provided for generously by a hundred smiling faces.
Yet you have one little niggle at the back of your mind and everyday you go for a long walk, long enough to circle the stone building, searching for breaches and hoping not to see ghostly wolves or tigers.
Weeks and months pass, until one day you are startled to be greeted by a near-invisible figure with just a hint of a humanoid shape. Somehow you know immediately that this is the God of Confusion and, once you have inquired about his appearance, ("I'm working on something new – it's just an outline at the moment") he explains why he is there with surprising clarity.
"You have succeeded! The Aleff's power has lapsed and our world is safe from outsiders once more. Your brilliance has saved us and you deserve to be showered in jewels." As he is speaking, gemstones begin to fall from just about your head. You shield your skull with your hands, but none of the stones hit and they simply build up around you in a pleasing fashion. "Without the Aleff, you are stranded of course, but if you wish I can now send you back to your home town on Earth."
You think of returning home – but your mind strays to the elven massage you're expecting to receive in the evening. It is literally magical. Then there's another feast in your honour next week. The god laughs heartily.
"Very well! But know that whenever you wish to return you may call on me. There are few who can claim to have a god in their debt! With that, he vanishes and you walk back to Kleinkastel with a big smile on your face.
168.
Azudraz is only too happy to be asked for an explanation and launches into a lecture with enthusiasm.
He begins with a long exposition of his experiments, which you struggle to follow, but the conclusion concerning the fruits of his work are clear enough:
"...the first of my inventions I call 'aqua viscosi'. It looks like ordinary water, yes! But if you leave objects in it they stick firmly in place. As a side-effect, it blocks magical scrying. Even a sorcerer could not detect there is gold in there without looking directly in."
He ushers you over to the tank in which there are many lumps of gold in clusters at the bottom, some in piles. He invites you to try shifting them with your sword. Your weapon passes easily through the 'water', but you marvel as the nuggets refuse to budge, as though still set in rock.
"Don't leave your sword in there for too long – it is quite capable of disarming one." Azudraz quips, and lets out a peal of unhinged laughter which you find chilling. You extract your blade.
"The second invention is 'igneolite'. The presence of fire activates it. It can make solid stone flow like water, and like water the stone will draw together to close holes. I have set bags of igneolite at all the doors and windows to seal them shut. Then the gold shall be truly safe!"
At this point the conversation begins to become strange. You ask Azudraz what exit he is leaving unsealed. He says, gleefully, that there are none. Robbers will have no way in at all. Then you ask how the two of you are to exit before the igneolite seals the building. Azudraz raises his eyebrows and explains, as though to an idiot, that this would separate you from the gold.
The conversation goes round and round until Azudraz becomes exasperated and you feel you must end it. It is quite clear that he intends the two of you to be sealed in the building with the gold until you die. Clearly he has lost not just an arm but his mind.
Still, perhaps you could turn this situation to your advantage. If you left the Aleff in the building, surely it would be safe for more than a year?
Azudraz is laying long paper tapers for the igneolite while you run the wheelbarrow back and forth. A germ of a plan begins to form in your mind, but it is risky. You could be sealed in forever.
While you are pondering, you take the opportunity to sneak a small nugget of gold into your backpack. But that is an easy decision, what will you do about the harder one?
If you stay to try your plan, turn to 142
If you make a run for it, turn to 161
169.
After a few hours of picking a route through the unfamiliar world in which you find yourself, you see a tiny spec in the sky above you.
Just a moment later you are diving for cover in a panic as a huge, ghostly falcon plunges towards you. Sheltering between two rocks you desperately grab the Aleff out of your pack. Add 1 point to your TRAIL score.
Turn to 147
170.
You work diligently enough, tipping lumps of gold and gold-speckled rocks into the water. Azudraz wanders back and forth, glancing over to see how your work is going, while laying down long strips of paper. Possibly these are fuses, although you begin to wonder if he really knows why he's doing anything he does. He does a lot of muttering to himself and what he says sounds a lot like gibberish.
"Melted windows keep us safe! Still water keeps it frozen better than ice." and so on.
At length, noting that you are nearly finished with you wheelbarrow – he wanders back past you towards the way you came in. A minute later all hell breaks loose. You see flames speeding along the paper strips and then you can hear fizzing and popping from all directions and the building suddenly gets rapidly darker.
In the gloom, you hear a shriek of glee and some unhinged gabbling from Azudraz and instinctively scamper in the other direction. Investigating a point where you knew there to be a window, you find only smooth stone. There is no point in checking anywhere else, instead you reach into your pack for the Aleff.
Turn to 133
171.
As you knot your muscles against the invisible onslaught, you hear frantic squeaking from your backpack. The gateway is trying to twist the two of you at the same time.
Roll two dice and deduct two from the result.
If the result is less than or equal to your SKILL, turn to 154
If it is greater, turn to 139
172.
Arriving back at the nub of fuse-papers, you are struck by how many of them are here and how interwoven they are. It is impossible to know which taper is the one that you have broken. Soon, Azudraz returns, beaming with satisfaction and carrying a lit torch.
"We are ready! It is failsafe – the charges at every exit are overdetermined. If one taper should fizzle out, enough igneolite will still be activated to seal everything."
Azudraz gives you a comradely nod, not noticing your aghast expression. He turns to release the torch...
A moment later the pommel of your sword slams into the back of his head, but it is too late. As he crashes senselessly to the ground the flames are already snaking out in every direction. You leap to stamp out one flame, then aim to snuff out another before it speeds away.
Roll one die. Make a note of the number, then roll again to see if the second one matches the first. If it does not, Test your LUCK. If you are Lucky, you manage to stamp out another flame: roll once more.
If you manage to match the first number you rolled (either time) turn to 167
Else, turn to 138
173.
The world has almost dwindled to a point behind your eyes in the chilling numbness and pitch-black darkness when the second torch flares into life. You pull both of them back almost against your face just to feel something. Then you press each one out boldly in turn. Slowly but surely the darkness recedes. Soon it is no more than the commonplace dimness of a poor lit mine.
You have survived the onslaught of gateway. Restore 1 LUCK point.
You resolve to return and destroy this malevolent force once and for all. For now you press on and soon you see light at the end of the tunnel.
Are you, to your surprise, riding a giraffe? If so turn to 166.
If not, turn to 144.
174.
Your eyes cast about for a point of focus, but settle on nothing. The force fills ever more of your mind. You grit your teeth and make one final effort to regain control. Roll 4 dice and compare the result to your STAMINA. If the result is greater, turn to 140, if it is less than or equal to your STAMINA, turn to 150.
175.
Keeping to open ground as much as possible, you make your way away from the mine. You cross what seems to be the aftermath of a grotesque battle with the corpses of strange humanoids and goblins with a surprising number of feathers strewn about. A huge statue of a many-armed goblin surveys the scene. You scamper on, unnerved.
Arriving at the entrance to the stone building, you see a few steps leading down into its large, open rooms. The day is getting near its end and only a modicum of sunlight reaches in, but you think you can make out a table, a wheelbarrow, some shiny rocks and, further back, some larger equipment. To the front of all this, however, is a human or humanoid figure shambling towards you. There is something strange about his right arm – as though it is skeletal. You fancy you can see through it.
Will you attack immediately? Turn to 135
Greet him in a friendly fashion? Turn to 141
176.
You are glad of your two torches, but even with them both you feel under pressure. One cloud of darkness sweeps over the torch in your left hand, snuffing it out. You press it hard to the lit torch in the hope of rekindling it whilst the darkness sweeps closer and seems to be seeping into your face, so you can't feel your lips, your nose, your throat...
Test your LUCK.
If you are Lucky turn to 173
If you are Unlucky turn to 156
177.
You fling two pearls at the ground (cross them off your Adventure Sheet) and a boney monstrosity springs up, which begins to advance on the sorcerer. This draws a smirk from him. He gestures at the figure's weapon and it is transformed into a large rose. Clearly it is not going to strike him down but perhaps it will provide a moment's distraction.
Will you...
Sprint for the cave entrance? Turn to 184
Close for battle? Turn to 181
178.
Realising that you probably can't defeat the mage with your sword, you point the ring at his head hoping to catch him by surprise. A jet of flame shoots across the cave, but halts in a disc in front of the mage's face. When the ring is exhausted (cross it off your Adventure Sheet) the disc clears to reveal the enraged features of the sorcerer.
"So you like to play do you, warrior?" he asks and reaches into a pocket to produce a many-faceted sapphire which he rolls along the ground to you as if throwing dice. As it does so it grows rapidly, from the size of a knuckle to ten feet tall. You bolt for the cave mouth.
Roll two dice, adding two to the result. If the result is equal to or greater than your SKILL, turn to 179.
If it is less than your SKILL, you reach the cave entrance and move to the side as the gem rolls past – and suddenly it is not the problem.
Turn to 185
179.
You stumble as you flee from the great gem and are dragged under it. You expect to be crushed, but instead find yourself trapped within its walls. Then you are horrified to find that it is shrinking once more and you are shrinking with it. There seems to be a huge bubble appearing behind you, but then you realise that it is simply the Aleff, which remains the same size and bursts through your pack before slipping easily through one of the sapphire's faces.
You see the mage pick up the Aleff with one hand and your gleaming prison with the other. He reaches for some rings on his left hand and uses a catch to release a green gem, which you're sure had a corpse inside it. He pockets the green gem and locks your blue one in its place.
You will live there long enough to see many horrible triumphs that the Aleff will bring to Manse the Deathmage.
180.
As the mage points at your chest, you feel your heart beating faster and faster and sharp pain all around it. A moment later your ribs shatter and your heart bursts from your chest and floats in a lazy arc into the mage's hand.
You slump down to the ground and feel a pool of blood collecting beneath you while your sight begins to fail. The last thing you see is the Aleff floating from your pack to the mage, who casually casts your heart to the side in order to catch it in his bloody hand. The deeply malevolent grin which spreads across his face tells you that you have let the incredibly powerful object fall into the worst hands possible.
181.
You see a look of rage flare up in the mage's eyes as you charge at him with your sword. The suggestion that anyone as puny as yourself would stand a chance against him is profoundly insulting. He jabs a long finger at you whilst muttering under his breath. You feel a twitch in your chest.
Are you wearing an amulet? If not, turn to 180
If you are, test your LUCK
If you are lucky, turn to 186
If you are unlucky, turn to 180
182.
Deduct 4 STAMINA points.
If you survive this, you come round feeling dizzy and nauseous, lying on the ground in what seems to be a cave, going by the rocky walls. Lifting yourself up on an elbow you catch sight of the floor and feel another wave of dizziness as there is a sort of swirling effect: someone has painted a huge black whirlpool which spans from wall to wall.
Looking round, you are relieved to see no sign of the huge ghostly tiger. It occurs to you that it would be a good idea to use the Aleff straightaway in case it returns, so you fish it out of your pack.
"I see that you've brought a gift for your visit." says a voice nastily from the shadows.
You scramble to your feet and stare as a tall, wiry figure with a white, gaunt face and bloodshot eyes stops skulking and draws himself up to his full height before slowly pacing towards you. He wears the robes of a mage and carries a black staff with a dark green snake's head carved into the top of it. The staff raps the ground at every other step.
Immediately you sense that even yielding the Aleff will not buy you your life.
Now that you have adjusted to your surroundings, you see that the cave mouth is not that far behind you. Perhaps 5-10 seconds away at a sprint.
Will you...
Summon a skeleton or a thassaloss (if you know how?) Turn to 177
Make a run for the cave entrance? Turn to 188
Close for battle with your sword? Turn to 181
Use a Ring of Fire? Turn to 178
183.
It goes against every instinct in your body to dive off, but the desperate strategy has two crucial advantages: it takes you away from the mage at speed and it keeps your hands free.
Although you scream in blind terror as you plunge towards the rocks and water, the birds begin to blink into view alongside you and you can choose which to focus on.
As you make your hasty choice, a thunderbolt blasts close by you. In the distance above you a voice screams "You shall not escape the power of Manse the Deathmage!!" but for the moment you have done just that.
What did you pick:
To one side was the bizarre sight of a flock of birds managing to fly vertically – somehow maintaining contact whilst still flying. Their arrangement could only be described as a stack or a column or, dammit, a conga line. If you focussed on them, turn to 103
To the other side was a rather primeval-looking bird, with a dark circle of plumage at its centre like a hole. If you focussed on that, turn to 137
184.
You turn and run for the entrance to the cave. You hear a terrifying crackling sound behind you and the mage begins throwing thunderbolts, first at your skeletal fighter and then at you.
Roll one die to determine how long it takes the mage to demolish your hapless boney warrior – and so how many thunderbolts he throws at you!
On 1-2, he throws just one bolt; on 3-4 he throws two; on 5-6 he throws three.
For each bolt, test your LUCK. For each time you are unlucky, you lose 5 STAMINA points and 1 SKILL point.
If you survive this far, you find yourself with a difficult choice at the mouth of the cave.
Turn to 185
185.
You reach the cave entrance and duck off to one side ...but there barely is a side – you are teetering on the edge of a cliff! The cave is placed in the rockface dozens of times higher than would be enough for the fall to spell certain death. Dazzling sunshine shows a river cutting through rocks far, far below.
Squinting back upwards you think you might be able to see the top of the cliff a hundred feet up or so. There is nowhere to run to, or even take cover and there are only seconds before the mage can set eyes on you again. You can try to climb to safety, or take the Aleff in your hands and jump.
What will it be?
Climb? Turn to 187
Jump? Turn to 183
186.
Whether it's some minor charm on the amulet you can't be sure, but for a moment the pain in your chest dissipates. The mage flicks his wrist irritably and the amulet snaps from round your neck flies through the air to smash against the wall (cross it off your Adventure sheet).
You take the moment's respite to bolt for the cave mouth. Turn to 188
187.
You begin to clamber up the vertical surface, finding decent handholds and footholds, but you only make it ten feet or so up before you see the mage appear in the corner of your eye. Even from that angle you see him give a broad, malicious grin, and point at you.
A sort of numbness seeps into your arms and then ...you are falling backwards with your arms detached from your shoulders, still clinging to the rock. For a brief moment as you plummet down you see the Aleff as it floats out of your pack. But then it is just a speck in the distance and you have only the long wait until you hit the ground.
188.
Somehow you sense that whilst the mage has brought you to him, that this cave – with its clear exit – was not the place he would have chosen to face you. You bolt for the cave mouth – but you hear a loud, threatening crackle behind you...
Test your LUCK *four* times as thunderbolts are flung towards you. For each time you are unlucky, deduct 5 STAMINA points and 1 SKILL point as one slams into you.
If you survive this far, you find yourself with a difficult choice at the mouth of the cave.
Turn to 185
In theory we should expect some since three forum members indicated to me they were intending to write sections.