Post by pip on May 5, 2020 13:05:43 GMT
Book 4 has you accidentally explore mythological Greece after Merlin’s teleportation spell goes awry. Unlike with the previous books, you start with no equipment and no spells, and you are not allowed to keep any item you might have found in your previous adventures.
This is a particularly deadly book, with terribly dangerous encounters and many lucky dice rolls to make. However, the book understandably expects you to die a lot and actually incorporates that aspect into the gameplay: the key items (10 gold keys) remain with you when you die, and all of the other items can actually be obtained again during subsequent runs. If you add the fact that you are allowed to explore the islands in any order you want, death is not as bad as usual here.
The presented solution is my attempt at an optimal path that presumes you will not die, but this volume is so open-ended and random that there are certainly other worthy paths to take. Completing your adventure in a single run is possible but quite unlikely. Should you die, you are better off breaking sequence and collecting the best items again so you can use their powers more than once.
SOLUTION
- Whether you’ve played the previous books or not, you can get a recap of the rules but do not receive any equipment or spells. Merlin’s teleporting spell fails and you wake up in an unknown location.
- Search the room.
- Continue searching.
- Take the rusty dagger (+2 damage).
- Try the door.
Use the boat’s map at the end of the book to choose your next destinations.
- Optionally, go to section 31 for a chance to find a measly 10 gold pieces that probably won’t make a difference, but you never know.
- Roll 2d6:
o 2-4 : You find nothing.
o 5-8 : You find nothing (do not open the last chest).
o 9-12 : Take 10 gold pieces.
- Go to section 74.
- You may take up to six items here. Take the rope, the grappling hook, the flint and steel, and the ceramic lamp. You will not need anything else.
- Go to section 18.
- Pick the lock.
- Roll 2d6:
o 8- : You fail to pick the lock.
o 9+ : You succeed and find a bunch of weapons, including swords (+3 damage), spears (special rules for extra damage, but you’ll be skipping attacks), daggers (+1 damage, you can attack twice per round) as well as armour (which comes with a dangerous penalty). Also remember this place for later.
- Go to section 13.
- Search the room further.
- Take the Wallbanger Ritual scroll. It can be used once to help you in a fight, at the cost of half of your LP. Save it for later.
- Open the new chest.
- Take 1000 gold pieces.
- Open the battered chest.
- Roll 1d6, then another 1d6.
o Roll 1 > Roll 2 : You open the chest and take a poison stiletto.
o Roll 1 <= Roll 2 : You fail to open the chest.
- Open the skull and crossbones chest.
- Roll 1d6, then another 1d6.
o Roll 1 > Roll 2 : You open the chest and take a healing potion (6 doses), salve for wounds (5 doses), and a bottle of quinine.
o Roll 1 <= Roll 2 : You fail to open the chest and get poisoned. You will lose 2 LP for every new section you visit until you are cured.
If you get poisoned, it’s not a big deal because you will be cured soon enough. Missing out on the chest’s contents is the bad news. Healing items are rare in this adventure, so you may have to rely on Dreamtime to heal yourself if you cannot open this chest. Taking the risk of opening it is worth is, as the reward outweighs the potential penalty.
- Go to section 67.
- Fight / bribe the three Guards one at a time (25 LP each, +2 damage, -2 from your damage). Use the gold you found in the chest in the previous room to try and bribe two of them. Whether it succeeds or not, you don’t have enough gold to bribe the third guard so you will at least have to fight that one.
- Free Jason and the Argonauts. If you had been poisoned, you will be cured now. If you had managed to open the door to the weapons room, equip the Argonauts with the weapons of your choice now.
- Go to section 5 or section 11.
- Take the stairs.
- Fight the ten Scoundrels (25 LP each, +3 damage), with the help of the Argonauts.
- You may now navigate freely using the sea chart found at the end of the book. Every time you attempt to reach a new island, you must roll 2d6 and, if you roll 4-, you will have to refer to the dangerous Cross-Eyed Navigation section.
We are first going to tackle the Maiden Call island, the most randomly deadly one, just to get it out of the way.
- Go to Maiden Call (118).
- Risk the visit.
- Roll 1d6:
o 4- : proceed
o 5+ : you die
- Go north and roll 1d6:
o 5- : proceed
o 6 : you die
- Say the monster has one eye.
- Take a gold key.
- Let’s take a risk and go west. Roll 1d6:
o 5- : proceed
o 6 : you die
- Enter the boat.
- Make yourself a paper boat using the instructions at the end of the book (not that easy!). From now on, you won’t have to deal with Cross-Eyed Navigation. Should you die, depending on how many travels are still required, you may want to make another trip here to get yourself another boat. Go back to the Argo.
Let’s grab an easy key now.
- Go to Five Fingers (85).
- Examine the old well.
- You have rope and a grappling hook from the ship.
- Take a gold key. You do not need to translate the message, but for the record, it reads: “waiting for you on lost island stop saxon invasion imminent stop come at once stop key enclosed stop merlin stop”.
Now we are going to tackle a fight that may or may not go well. If you end up doing multiple runs, you can wait to do this until you get the best items that are otherwise used in other fights.
- Go to Five Fingers (79).
- Investigate the ring fort.
- Fight the Hydra (7 heads with 10 LP each, +1 damage). Use the Wallbanger Ritual here, and possibly the poison stiletto if you have it.
- Take a gold key and return to the Argo.
Let’s take a trip to another deadly island.
- Go to Five Fingers (147).
- Release the brute.
- Insist on freeing him.
- Roll 1d6, then another 1d6.
o Roll 1 < Roll 2 : The spell misses you. Fight Princess Hecate (25 LP, hits with 4+, +2 damage). Take a gold key and the pig spell scroll.
o Roll 1 >= Roll 2 : You are turned into a pig, you now have 15 LP and presumably cannot wield weapons anymore. Fight Princess Hecate (25 LP, hits with 4+, +2 damage). Even if you win, you do not get the gold key, meaning you are as good as dead now, as you will necessarily need to die and come back here in another run to get the key.
We are now going to obtain several keys, assuming you have avoided the spell and therefore own the pig spell scroll.
- Go to Five Fingers (142).
- Accept to carry Long John Silver’s bribe to Merlin.
- Take a gold key and 100 gold pieces.
- Go to Skull Island (109).
- Fight the Shadows (special fight). You have the lamp and something to light it from the ship.
- Explore the cave.
- Take the left-hand tunnel.
- Fight the Cyclops after turning him into a pig with your pig spell scroll (you definitely need a special item to win this fight).
- Take a gold key and explore the right-hand tunnel.
- Take one step further.
- Hire Gopi. He will take 10 gold pieces for every section you visit, but thanks to Long John Silver’s gold, you will have enough to keep him with you until his services are no longer required. Go back to the Argo.
- Go to Demondim Isle (12).
- Risk the journey.
- Head for the southern inlet.
- Use Gopi’s services here to get you rid of the Sea Serpent. You lose all of your equipment. Take the piece of driftwood (+2 damage). You can dismiss Gopi now.
You can now, optionally, try climbing up the cave by rolling dice (9+ on a 2d6 roll). If you pass the dice roll, you can find either good armour or a good weapon. Both are good, but I personally prefer the weapon, which is riskier to obtain but a greater help in this particular adventure. Should you fail the dice roll, you will lose 15 LP and find yourself in the same situation as if you’d moved forward to meet the Demondim. If you don’t want to risk it or cannot afford the potential LP loss, move forward to meet the Demondim and skip to the next section.
- Try climbing up to the cave.
- Roll 2d6:
o 8-: You fall and lose 15 LP. Skip to the next section
o 9+ : Proceed.
- If you want to try and get the armour, go to section 27.
- Roll 1d6 six times to calculate the strength of the pillars, then roll 2d6 for each of them until you manage to get a higher score than a pillar’s strength. If you succeed, proceed. If you don’t, you will have to return to the map room and go to section 66, as detailed below.
- Go south.
- Accept the challenge.
- You are sure you want to try.
- Fight Vulcan (18 LP to knock off, hits with 9+, +50 damage). You are wearing the breastplate, meaning his first two successful blows will be negated, and from then on it gives you +4 protection. Take Vulcan’s breastplate.
- Go north.
- Say “PRODUCTOVIT” and skip to the next section.
- Now, this is the path to take if you want to try and get the weapon, or if you failed to break the pillars. Go to section 66.
- Search the cavern if you want to try and get the weapon.
- Fight the Superlizard (18 LP, hits with 9+, damage multiplied by 6). His hits can really hurt you, but hopefully you will manage to dispose of him quickly.
- Take the crossbow.
- Now, go east and you will leave the cavern.
If you skipped the previous section, move forward to meet the Demondim. Regardless of the way you got here, you will now be in an arena.
- Wait to see how things turn out.
- Lie on the altar stone.
- Take a gold key and the crystal-bladed knife. Complete the Fiend’s limerick.
- You are back on the Argo.
Moving on to the dangerous Dragon Island.
- Go to Dragon Island (128).
- Go east.
- Go north-east.
- You read a clue you will need to solve an upcoming puzzle.
- Go north.
- Take (2d6 x 2) x (2d6 x 50) gold.
- Return the way you came.
- Go north-west.
- Fight the Rock Them (15 LP, hits with 5+, -6 from your damage, only strikes every two rounds). The difficulty here is his damage protection which may make this a long fight, and for every blow struck you have to roll 2d6 and die to a cave-in on a result of 3-. If you have the crossbow, use it here to improve your chances. Go north.
- Ignore the advice and go to section 101.
- Roll 2d6:
o 9+ : The Tyrannosaurus is asleep, proceed.
o 8- : Fight the Tyrannosaurus using the crystal-bladed knife (you definitely need a special item to win this fight).
Note that even if the Tyrannosaurus is asleep, you will have to roll for this again as you exit the cave! Go to section 115 after either creeping past or fighting.
- Nibble a piece of the moss.
- Restore all LP.
- Go to section 83.
- Remember the clue and press red, green, blue.
- Take a gold key.
- Go to section 101.
- You are back in the Tyrannosaurus room. If you haven’t killed him, deal with this encounter exactly as explained above. Go to section 191.
- Go to section 169.
- Go east.
- Return to the Argo.
We are now going to an island where your fighting abilities will permanently change for the duration of the run. The change is half good and half bad, but veer more towards bad when you consider the fights you have to tackle in this adventure, which is why we’re only paying a visit now.
- Go to Five Fingers (102).
- Choose the key.
- Take a gold key. Lose 1 LP. From now on, your maximum LP are 25 and you can only strike with 7+. On the other hand, enemies will only hit you every second round.
On to a large island where, for a change, Jason will come and fight with you. There are two keys to be found there. Note that, strangely enough, the Argonauts will kill you if you decide to renounce going after the Golden Fleece, but will not mind if you return empty-handed. The Golden Fleece actually turns out to be a useless Golden Sweater, so don’t bother looking for it.
- Go to Shipwreck Island (137).
- Reach Shipwreck Isle.
- Reach the village.
- Fight the Boar (35 LP, hits with 5+, +3 damage) and search the sty.
- Take a gold key.
- Reach the cottage (the reference is poorly printed in some editions, it is 120).
- Cross the walkway.
- Fight / bribe the three Harpies (25 LP each, hit with 5+, +3 damage, you need 8+ to hit them). Use the gold you found on Dragon Island to try and bribe them and potentially avoid this fight.
- Use the map at the end of the book to choose your next destinations. Go to section 104.
- Search further.
- Take a gold key.
- Go to section 110.
- Leave the ornaments alone and go to section 89.
- Approach the chalice through the pillars.
- Next time you fight, your opponent will only score half the normal damage.
- Go to section 136.
- Try for a friendly reaction. If you fail, leave the old man alone and return to the Argo.
- If you succeeded, take 3 dragon’s teeth and return to the Argo.
You now have ten gold keys in your possession. Let’s head to the final island.
- Go to Lost Island (122).
- You have ten gold keys.
- Continue following the arrow trail.
- Enter the pyramid.
- Fight the Mummy (33LP, hits with 4+, -5 from your rolls, if you get hit you become poisoned and lose 5 LP per combat round). If you were lucky enough to sneak past the Tyrannosaurus, you still have the crystal-bladed knife to use here. Otherwise, just use every weapon and every spell you have left and hope for the best. Should you die here, I recommend grabbing the crystal-bladed knife again before coming back to fight the Mummy.
- You return to your time and repel the Saxon invasion.
This is a particularly deadly book, with terribly dangerous encounters and many lucky dice rolls to make. However, the book understandably expects you to die a lot and actually incorporates that aspect into the gameplay: the key items (10 gold keys) remain with you when you die, and all of the other items can actually be obtained again during subsequent runs. If you add the fact that you are allowed to explore the islands in any order you want, death is not as bad as usual here.
The presented solution is my attempt at an optimal path that presumes you will not die, but this volume is so open-ended and random that there are certainly other worthy paths to take. Completing your adventure in a single run is possible but quite unlikely. Should you die, you are better off breaking sequence and collecting the best items again so you can use their powers more than once.
SOLUTION
- Whether you’ve played the previous books or not, you can get a recap of the rules but do not receive any equipment or spells. Merlin’s teleporting spell fails and you wake up in an unknown location.
- Search the room.
- Continue searching.
- Take the rusty dagger (+2 damage).
- Try the door.
Use the boat’s map at the end of the book to choose your next destinations.
- Optionally, go to section 31 for a chance to find a measly 10 gold pieces that probably won’t make a difference, but you never know.
- Roll 2d6:
o 2-4 : You find nothing.
o 5-8 : You find nothing (do not open the last chest).
o 9-12 : Take 10 gold pieces.
- Go to section 74.
- You may take up to six items here. Take the rope, the grappling hook, the flint and steel, and the ceramic lamp. You will not need anything else.
- Go to section 18.
- Pick the lock.
- Roll 2d6:
o 8- : You fail to pick the lock.
o 9+ : You succeed and find a bunch of weapons, including swords (+3 damage), spears (special rules for extra damage, but you’ll be skipping attacks), daggers (+1 damage, you can attack twice per round) as well as armour (which comes with a dangerous penalty). Also remember this place for later.
- Go to section 13.
- Search the room further.
- Take the Wallbanger Ritual scroll. It can be used once to help you in a fight, at the cost of half of your LP. Save it for later.
- Open the new chest.
- Take 1000 gold pieces.
- Open the battered chest.
- Roll 1d6, then another 1d6.
o Roll 1 > Roll 2 : You open the chest and take a poison stiletto.
o Roll 1 <= Roll 2 : You fail to open the chest.
- Open the skull and crossbones chest.
- Roll 1d6, then another 1d6.
o Roll 1 > Roll 2 : You open the chest and take a healing potion (6 doses), salve for wounds (5 doses), and a bottle of quinine.
o Roll 1 <= Roll 2 : You fail to open the chest and get poisoned. You will lose 2 LP for every new section you visit until you are cured.
If you get poisoned, it’s not a big deal because you will be cured soon enough. Missing out on the chest’s contents is the bad news. Healing items are rare in this adventure, so you may have to rely on Dreamtime to heal yourself if you cannot open this chest. Taking the risk of opening it is worth is, as the reward outweighs the potential penalty.
- Go to section 67.
- Fight / bribe the three Guards one at a time (25 LP each, +2 damage, -2 from your damage). Use the gold you found in the chest in the previous room to try and bribe two of them. Whether it succeeds or not, you don’t have enough gold to bribe the third guard so you will at least have to fight that one.
- Free Jason and the Argonauts. If you had been poisoned, you will be cured now. If you had managed to open the door to the weapons room, equip the Argonauts with the weapons of your choice now.
- Go to section 5 or section 11.
- Take the stairs.
- Fight the ten Scoundrels (25 LP each, +3 damage), with the help of the Argonauts.
- You may now navigate freely using the sea chart found at the end of the book. Every time you attempt to reach a new island, you must roll 2d6 and, if you roll 4-, you will have to refer to the dangerous Cross-Eyed Navigation section.
We are first going to tackle the Maiden Call island, the most randomly deadly one, just to get it out of the way.
- Go to Maiden Call (118).
- Risk the visit.
- Roll 1d6:
o 4- : proceed
o 5+ : you die
- Go north and roll 1d6:
o 5- : proceed
o 6 : you die
- Say the monster has one eye.
- Take a gold key.
- Let’s take a risk and go west. Roll 1d6:
o 5- : proceed
o 6 : you die
- Enter the boat.
- Make yourself a paper boat using the instructions at the end of the book (not that easy!). From now on, you won’t have to deal with Cross-Eyed Navigation. Should you die, depending on how many travels are still required, you may want to make another trip here to get yourself another boat. Go back to the Argo.
Let’s grab an easy key now.
- Go to Five Fingers (85).
- Examine the old well.
- You have rope and a grappling hook from the ship.
- Take a gold key. You do not need to translate the message, but for the record, it reads: “waiting for you on lost island stop saxon invasion imminent stop come at once stop key enclosed stop merlin stop”.
Now we are going to tackle a fight that may or may not go well. If you end up doing multiple runs, you can wait to do this until you get the best items that are otherwise used in other fights.
- Go to Five Fingers (79).
- Investigate the ring fort.
- Fight the Hydra (7 heads with 10 LP each, +1 damage). Use the Wallbanger Ritual here, and possibly the poison stiletto if you have it.
- Take a gold key and return to the Argo.
Let’s take a trip to another deadly island.
- Go to Five Fingers (147).
- Release the brute.
- Insist on freeing him.
- Roll 1d6, then another 1d6.
o Roll 1 < Roll 2 : The spell misses you. Fight Princess Hecate (25 LP, hits with 4+, +2 damage). Take a gold key and the pig spell scroll.
o Roll 1 >= Roll 2 : You are turned into a pig, you now have 15 LP and presumably cannot wield weapons anymore. Fight Princess Hecate (25 LP, hits with 4+, +2 damage). Even if you win, you do not get the gold key, meaning you are as good as dead now, as you will necessarily need to die and come back here in another run to get the key.
We are now going to obtain several keys, assuming you have avoided the spell and therefore own the pig spell scroll.
- Go to Five Fingers (142).
- Accept to carry Long John Silver’s bribe to Merlin.
- Take a gold key and 100 gold pieces.
- Go to Skull Island (109).
- Fight the Shadows (special fight). You have the lamp and something to light it from the ship.
- Explore the cave.
- Take the left-hand tunnel.
- Fight the Cyclops after turning him into a pig with your pig spell scroll (you definitely need a special item to win this fight).
- Take a gold key and explore the right-hand tunnel.
- Take one step further.
- Hire Gopi. He will take 10 gold pieces for every section you visit, but thanks to Long John Silver’s gold, you will have enough to keep him with you until his services are no longer required. Go back to the Argo.
- Go to Demondim Isle (12).
- Risk the journey.
- Head for the southern inlet.
- Use Gopi’s services here to get you rid of the Sea Serpent. You lose all of your equipment. Take the piece of driftwood (+2 damage). You can dismiss Gopi now.
You can now, optionally, try climbing up the cave by rolling dice (9+ on a 2d6 roll). If you pass the dice roll, you can find either good armour or a good weapon. Both are good, but I personally prefer the weapon, which is riskier to obtain but a greater help in this particular adventure. Should you fail the dice roll, you will lose 15 LP and find yourself in the same situation as if you’d moved forward to meet the Demondim. If you don’t want to risk it or cannot afford the potential LP loss, move forward to meet the Demondim and skip to the next section.
- Try climbing up to the cave.
- Roll 2d6:
o 8-: You fall and lose 15 LP. Skip to the next section
o 9+ : Proceed.
- If you want to try and get the armour, go to section 27.
- Roll 1d6 six times to calculate the strength of the pillars, then roll 2d6 for each of them until you manage to get a higher score than a pillar’s strength. If you succeed, proceed. If you don’t, you will have to return to the map room and go to section 66, as detailed below.
- Go south.
- Accept the challenge.
- You are sure you want to try.
- Fight Vulcan (18 LP to knock off, hits with 9+, +50 damage). You are wearing the breastplate, meaning his first two successful blows will be negated, and from then on it gives you +4 protection. Take Vulcan’s breastplate.
- Go north.
- Say “PRODUCTOVIT” and skip to the next section.
- Now, this is the path to take if you want to try and get the weapon, or if you failed to break the pillars. Go to section 66.
- Search the cavern if you want to try and get the weapon.
- Fight the Superlizard (18 LP, hits with 9+, damage multiplied by 6). His hits can really hurt you, but hopefully you will manage to dispose of him quickly.
- Take the crossbow.
- Now, go east and you will leave the cavern.
If you skipped the previous section, move forward to meet the Demondim. Regardless of the way you got here, you will now be in an arena.
- Wait to see how things turn out.
- Lie on the altar stone.
- Take a gold key and the crystal-bladed knife. Complete the Fiend’s limerick.
- You are back on the Argo.
Moving on to the dangerous Dragon Island.
- Go to Dragon Island (128).
- Go east.
- Go north-east.
- You read a clue you will need to solve an upcoming puzzle.
- Go north.
- Take (2d6 x 2) x (2d6 x 50) gold.
- Return the way you came.
- Go north-west.
- Fight the Rock Them (15 LP, hits with 5+, -6 from your damage, only strikes every two rounds). The difficulty here is his damage protection which may make this a long fight, and for every blow struck you have to roll 2d6 and die to a cave-in on a result of 3-. If you have the crossbow, use it here to improve your chances. Go north.
- Ignore the advice and go to section 101.
- Roll 2d6:
o 9+ : The Tyrannosaurus is asleep, proceed.
o 8- : Fight the Tyrannosaurus using the crystal-bladed knife (you definitely need a special item to win this fight).
Note that even if the Tyrannosaurus is asleep, you will have to roll for this again as you exit the cave! Go to section 115 after either creeping past or fighting.
- Nibble a piece of the moss.
- Restore all LP.
- Go to section 83.
- Remember the clue and press red, green, blue.
- Take a gold key.
- Go to section 101.
- You are back in the Tyrannosaurus room. If you haven’t killed him, deal with this encounter exactly as explained above. Go to section 191.
- Go to section 169.
- Go east.
- Return to the Argo.
We are now going to an island where your fighting abilities will permanently change for the duration of the run. The change is half good and half bad, but veer more towards bad when you consider the fights you have to tackle in this adventure, which is why we’re only paying a visit now.
- Go to Five Fingers (102).
- Choose the key.
- Take a gold key. Lose 1 LP. From now on, your maximum LP are 25 and you can only strike with 7+. On the other hand, enemies will only hit you every second round.
On to a large island where, for a change, Jason will come and fight with you. There are two keys to be found there. Note that, strangely enough, the Argonauts will kill you if you decide to renounce going after the Golden Fleece, but will not mind if you return empty-handed. The Golden Fleece actually turns out to be a useless Golden Sweater, so don’t bother looking for it.
- Go to Shipwreck Island (137).
- Reach Shipwreck Isle.
- Reach the village.
- Fight the Boar (35 LP, hits with 5+, +3 damage) and search the sty.
- Take a gold key.
- Reach the cottage (the reference is poorly printed in some editions, it is 120).
- Cross the walkway.
- Fight / bribe the three Harpies (25 LP each, hit with 5+, +3 damage, you need 8+ to hit them). Use the gold you found on Dragon Island to try and bribe them and potentially avoid this fight.
- Use the map at the end of the book to choose your next destinations. Go to section 104.
- Search further.
- Take a gold key.
- Go to section 110.
- Leave the ornaments alone and go to section 89.
- Approach the chalice through the pillars.
- Next time you fight, your opponent will only score half the normal damage.
- Go to section 136.
- Try for a friendly reaction. If you fail, leave the old man alone and return to the Argo.
- If you succeeded, take 3 dragon’s teeth and return to the Argo.
You now have ten gold keys in your possession. Let’s head to the final island.
- Go to Lost Island (122).
- You have ten gold keys.
- Continue following the arrow trail.
- Enter the pyramid.
- Fight the Mummy (33LP, hits with 4+, -5 from your rolls, if you get hit you become poisoned and lose 5 LP per combat round). If you were lucky enough to sneak past the Tyrannosaurus, you still have the crystal-bladed knife to use here. Otherwise, just use every weapon and every spell you have left and hope for the best. Should you die here, I recommend grabbing the crystal-bladed knife again before coming back to fight the Mummy.
- You return to your time and repel the Saxon invasion.
