Hear ye

A quick note to let you know that the Fabled Lands CRPG expands today to include The Castle of Lost Souls, as revised and expanded by Paul Gresty. Read more about it here.

And the Dealing With Demons chapbook is free on Kindle till tomorrow. Get your copy here.

Tomorrow: Dragon Warriors goes east, with converted Tetsubo rules for hungry ghosts and dream eaters. See you then.

An old soul reborn

We'll have an in-depth report on this in a month or so in the form of a guest post by author Paul Gresty, but I couldn't let the summer pass without letting you know that The Castle of Lost Souls has been completely reworked as a Fabled Lands Quest.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you that it was originally published in four parts in White Dwarf magazine from April to July 1984. I revised it for the Golden Dragon series the following year, but those changes were nothing beside the transformation that Mr Gresty has wrought. The book is now more than twice as big at 700 sections, the action takes place in Golnir in the Fabled Lands, and you have the option of dropping in and out of the adventure at several points.

To quote from the blurb, this edition of The Castle of Lost Souls sports "a huge amount of original content, including resurrection rules, the ability to travel back and forth between this book and others in the Fabled Lands series, a range of completely new magical items for the Fabled Lands setting, and much more." And that's without mentioning all the scrumptious Leo Hartas illustrations, which haven't been seen since the original 1980s edition.

Eight crimson arrows

John Jones recently pointed out that there's a pretty glaring omission in the reissued edition of Castle of Lost Souls. Most of the illustrations are not in the paperback, for reasons I can't remember now but it may simply have been that I couldn't get good scans of them at the time. Okay, fine, you can use your imagination. So no harm done? Ah, but one of those illustrations contained a vital clue. Here it is, along with the corresponding section:

192

You go only a short distance before arriving at a door. On the floor in front of you, eight crimson-fletched arrows have been placed in an intriguing pattern. You can pick up the arrows if you wish; remember to note them on your Adventure Sheet if so. There is no other way on from here, so you step forward and open the door. Turn to 153. 

And while I'm about it, I should also thank John for having helped out with some very useful advice on The Eye of the Dragon, another of those '80s gamebooks that recently resurfaced from the tidal flats of time. It's thanks to him that the Dagger of the Mind spell now does 3 points' damage instead of 2. Mind you, if you find yourself thinking of using it as a free strike in combat then you might have trouble completing the adventure. Just saying.

Lost souls found

The Castle of Lost Souls is one of my least favourite of my own gamebooks. I guess that's what's called a soft sell, seeing as what I really wanted to tell you is that it's back in print again for the first time in over twenty years. Still, you don't have to take any notice of what I think. There are plenty of people who do like it, and the author is dead, after all. Well, not really dead in this case, thank goodness, but irrelevant.

I don't think very fondly of Lost Souls for probably just the same reason that its devotees would give for enjoying it. The style is quite tongue in cheek, almost to the point of being a send-up, and that's not the kind of fantasy gaming I go in for. No Scottish dwarves and Monty Python clerics in my role-playing sessions, no sirree.

It began life as a serial in White Dwarf magazine, and you can read that version by starting here and following the tags. The subsequent Golden Dragon Gamebook edition was softer-edged, the hero less cynical, less opportunistic and not so arbitrarily cruel to children. You can read that version as a free PDF here. And that's the version that Fabled Lands Publishing have released in paperback this week. The blurb should give you a sense of whether it's your thing:

Beyond the hills and haunted swamps towards the sunset lies the grim castle of the arch-fiend Slank. For centuries this demon has plundered the souls of mortal men, gathering them to his terrible abode to dwell in eternal torment. Now the secret magic that can destroy Slank is known at last. You agree to undertake this perilous adventure. But can you rid the world of the demon’s dark shadow, or are you merely destined to become his latest victim?

Blimey. Well, that was the tone of gamebooks in the early eighties. The flavour of the adventure is quite folklorish. If it were a Fabled Lands adventure it would be set in Golnir, probably somewhere west of Delpton. Spriggans in thorn hedges, meadows full of fairy rings, that kind of vibe.


You know, put like that, it's starting to grow on me. Not one of my best, perhaps, but maybe it deserves another look.

Sought is good, but giv'n unsought is better

It's the last day of Christmas (officially, sunset on January 5, which is of course the evening of Twelfth Day by old reckoning) and I thought there ought to be a final gift to mark its passing. So...

In case you want to compare the original White Dwarf version of Castle of Lost Souls with the book (which was sixth in my and Oliver Johnson's Golden Dragon series) you can pick up a PDF version here. I'm issuing this under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence. In other words, share it around all you like but please don't take my name off it.

For completists, there's also a non-profit print version available from Lulu. It doesn't have fancy typography or anything but - hey, non-profit, meaning you only pay what Lulu charges to print it.

Okay, better get my decorations taken down and eat that last turkey sandwich. The diet starts tomorrow!

Castle of Lost Souls part four: "The Evil Eye"

Maybe you were playing the original White Dwarf version of The Castle of Lost Souls and you thought I'd forgotten all about you? It has been over a year since the last instalment, after all. Well, um... Better late than never. Oh, and happy New Year. Jamie and I are looking forward to the spring, because 2013 is when a lot of our gamebooks are coming back into print - not to mention digital formats. Exciting times ahead!

INTRODUCTION

You are the Champion of the Greengosh family, chosen by its head, Hogron. He hired you to rescue his father’s soul, captured and taken to the castle of the demon, Slank. To do this Hogron told you that you needed some magical boots, a teardrop, a fragment of armour from the most chivalrous knight, a four leaf clover, the ashes of a saint and the hair of a nun. All these items you have collected in your journeys and have already undergone many hardships to reach the castle of Slank.

If you have not played previous instalments in this adventure (go here for part one, part two and part three) you will begin this instalment with an Honour score of 7, and should note on your Character Sheet that you have: chainmail armour, a sword, a dagger, a bow with six arrows, a lantern, flint and tinder, a Potion of Healing, 40 gold pieces, magical boots, a little girl’s teardrop, a fragment of a chivalrous knight’s armour, a four-leaf clover, a saint’s ashes, a crystal ball, and a nun’s hair. If you did play the earlier instalments then, of course, you have the equipment and attribute scores earned there.

The rules are here. When you are ready to begin, go to 1.

1: You stand at the very threshold of the Castle of Lost Souls. The mists of the swamp seem to shrink away from it. Its presence is awesome. You cannot grasp any sense of its size; it seems endless, eternal. The walls tower dizzyingly above you into the glowering, dull red sky. Perhaps in the castle’s unreal and inhuman architecture you glean something of the twisted mind of its master, Slank. You notice a twinkling light. A solitary candle burns in one of the windows – to the left of the doorway, apparently on the first floor. All else is shrouded in darkness.

The castle is not guarded. None of the tortured souls that enter ever leaves. With weapon in hand you advance slowly across the drawbridge. You reach out – does your hand tremble just a little now? – and push open the heavy mahogany door. Turn to 12.

2: After a short distance the corridor turns to the right. At the corner there is a low, fire-blackened door with a pewter handle. If you wish to open the door, turn to 73. If you wish to ignore it and carry on, turn to 6.

3: You dip your hand into the pool and take the stone bottle. Will you remove the stopper from it? If so, turn to 63. If not, note it down and turn to 44.

4: Your eyes are off him for only a moment as you reach for your backpack, but when you look again he is no longer there. Strange and inexplicable things are obviously commonplace here – you will have to be vigilant. You turn back; go to 41.

5: You double up in sudden and intense agony. For long minutes you crouch there by the fire, incapacitated by the terrible pain. At last you are able to rise, but you have permanently lost a point from your initial Constitution. You can now open the larder (turn to 22) or go through to the next room (turn to 58).

6: A little further along the corridor you come to a large oak portal with an iron latch in the shape of a bat. You push it open and survey the room beyond. Directly opposite is a high arch leading from the room. Staring down from above this arch is a rather noxious bas relief of a sneering inhuman face.

A low whimpering draws your attention to the occupant of the room – presumably one of the poor souls Slank torments for his pleasure. She is a slender woman with light brown hair, her wrists bound by leather thongs to a wooden beam above her head. Her feet rest on a red-hot metal plate. You can see the sick ingenuity of the arrangement. She is able to lift her legs clear of the plate, but eventually her arms ache so much that she has to stand on it again and get burned. She sees you and starts pleading for you to release her. If you do, turn to 53. If not, turn to 37.

7: Did you leave either the clover or the teardrop on Slank’s mask? If so, turn to 75. If not, turn to 43.

8: You could try to heat the knife using your lantern, which might help to cut the ice. If you do that, turn to 86. If you have a jar of salt, go to 55.

9: You find a twisting flight of steps leading up out of the dungeon. To your immense relief, the door at the top is not locked and you emerge into the candlelit entrance hall. You decide to try the stairs-turn to 34.

10: It is exhausting work, but you eventually manage to dig the mask out of the ice. Turn to 35.

11: The rauchwurm dissipates into the smoke from which it formed. You reach out and grasp the golden hilt of the sword you have fought for. Certainly it is a worthy prize: as you swing it through the air it follows your intentions with an almost sentient precision. You add 1 to your Fighting Prowess while fighting with this weapon. Seeing nothing else of value in the room, you decide to leave - and you are incidentally saved from electrocution a second time by your magic wristband. Turn to 6.

12: You step into a shadowy, cloistered hallway that reeks of funeral incense. All is bathed in the guttering, smoky light of myriad black candles. A wide staircase leads up to the first floor. Over to one side of the hallway you see double doors carved with arabesque designs. Will you open the doors (turn to 49), or proceed up the stairs (turn to 34)?

13: You walk along a short tunnel and enter a circular room with a pool in the middle. There is one other exit from the room: a door to your left. You can go back and take one of the other doors – either the one with the copper plaque (turn to 88) or the one with the bronze plaque (turn to 70). Or you can cross the room (turn to 83).

14: You leave the newt’s eye in the eyeslit of the demon mask. There seems to be nothing else you can do here, so you cross the icy floor to the archway and step through. Turn to 18.

15: You gulp back the magic potion. For the duration of your fight with the undine, you can strike three times in every combat round. Turn to 50.

16: Before you can go further you need a source of light. Will you take down the pine torch (turn to 25), or would you prefer to light your lantern (turn to 67)?

17: You can use the crystal ball (turn to 66) or the three strange silver coins (turn to 24). If you have neither of these, or decide not to use them, turn back to 37 and open one of the doors.

18: You are at the foot of a rough stone stairway that winds up around the walls of a narrow, circular tower. Staring into the gloom, you discern a crimson glow far above. You climb up and up – hundreds of feet, it seems. At last you reach the top of the tower. There is only one door off the landing -a heavy iron portal with a glowing, gloating red face inscribed into it. It swings back as you approach and you pass through into what must be the topmost chamber of the tower. Outside you can see massive, ponderous storm clouds against the starless night sky. There is a curtained alcove on the other side of the chamber. As you cross over to it, a sibilant voice seems to speak from within you, extolling the virtues of an eternity in service to the demon. If you have any Honour, try to roll equal to or less than your Honour score on two dice. If you succeed, turn to 46; if you fail, turn to 27. If you don’t have any Honour, turn to 74.

19: Chuckling humourlessly, he closes his grip on you. You cannot move. ‘Quite wrong,’ he says. ‘Clearly your riddling skills leave much to be desired, but perhaps they will improve when you’ve been a guest at my castle for an eternity or two!’ By his duplicity, the archfiend Slank has captured you. You are his prisoner forever, and the adventure ends here.

20: Do you have the ashes of a saint? If so, you scatter these over the demon’s body; turn to 89. If you don’t have any ashes, turn to 84.

21: He reaches into a pouch at his belt and produces a number of wicked-looking devices. ‘Pilliwinks is a game played with the fingers,’ he explains as he fixes the thumbscrews onto you. Paralysing pain shoots up your arms. Through waves of agony you see the figure before you dissolve and alter. He is no longer an old man, but a tall figure clad in black robes.

‘A generous soul is a lost soul,’ says Slank with a demonic smile. ‘Allow me to welcome you as my castle’s latest guest.’ Your adventure has ended, but the torment is just beginning...

22: Human torsos dripping with gore hang on rusted meat hooks along the larder walls. You can see maggots crawling on some of them. Slank obviously likes game adventurers. Ranged on wooden shelves you can see a number of jars and bottles. You lean closer to read the faded labels; they contain all manner of ingredients. There is a jar of newt’s eyes, another of frog’s toes, one contains a pickled dog’s tongue and the next holds fillet of fen snake. One bottle has no label, but its contents are unmistakeably lizard legs. Among the more normal ingredients, you notice red pepper, parsley and salt. You can take up to three jars if you wish - note them down on your Character Sheet. Feeling your gorge rise at the sight and stench of the demon’s awful larder you continue on your way (turn to 58).

23: ‘Oh. Well, at least you must have the ashes of a saint?' If you do, turn to 72. If not, turn to 33. (Gorbran was not a saint, by the way, if you met him in the previous instalment.)

24: You toss the three coins down on the floor in front of you. One lands with the unicorn’s head uppermost, the other two with the serpent’s head. Does that give you any ideas? You can retrieve the coins if you wish, then turn back to 37 and choose which door to open.

25: As you take the torch from the bracket, you set off a trap! A hatch you had carelessly failed to notice opens beneath you and you plummet some thirteen feet onto a cold stone floor. Somewhat dazed, you stagger to your feet and look around. In the bleary light and choking dust you can just make out a figure chained to the wall. As you approach with the torch you see he is an old man with a clouded, sightless right eye.

‘I am Vimbol Greengosh,’ he tells you. ‘Are you the champion my sons have sent to rescue me? If so, help me out of these chains and your reward will exceed anything you can imagine.’ If you wish to do as he asks, turn to 60. If you would rather leave him chained up, turn to 9.

26: You pull the folds of the rug around you. It is comfortably warm and you are glad you had the foresight to bring it. Will you now try to get at the mask (turn to 77), or leave through the archway (turn to 18)?

27: Slank is trying to convince you to serve him. You dimly realize that he is probably using magic, but you cannot resist. You have always been the sort of half heartedly unethical person who is easily led by those of strongly good or evil character. Slank is very definitely in the latter category. He steps from the alcove and you feel the last of your will desert you as you kneel before him. Now and forever, you are his cringing thrall...

28: You pound the door with your fist, producing a booming echo. After a few moments a small panel is slid back and the occupant of the room examines you. You see his eyes alight on the talisman Hogron gave you; immediately he gives a cry of delight and starts to clear his barricade from the other side of the door. You wait nervously in the passage, praying that all this noise won’t alert the demon. Finally the door opens and the old man ushers you in. The place is a vast, vaulted library with books and pamphlets lining every inch of the walls from floor to ceiling.

‘You’ve come at last!’ says the old man, crying with joy. ‘I knew my lads wouldn’t let me down –I’m Vimbol Greengosh, of course.’ He shows you to a leather armchair by the fireplace and thrusts a glass of tawny port wine into your hand. Obviously, although Slank’s prisoner, he is not completely without creature comforts. He takes down a musty tome and opens it at a chapter headed Dealing With Demons. ‘Now listen carefully, for there isn’t much time. You should have a number of items, and this book describes how each item will affect Slank. Firstly, a four leaf clover will have much the same effect on him as a crucifix has on a vampire – he won’t want to touch it or go anywhere near it. Second, if you throw my daughter’s teardrop into his left eye you’ll blind him completely, as I’ve already managed to destroy his right eye. Now, do you have the fragment of knight’s armour and the hair of a nun?

If you have both these items turn to 64. If not, turn to 23.

29: Somehow you manage to drag yourself the last few yards and slump through the archway. The coldness is presumably a magical effect restricted to the last room, for after a few minutes you stop shivering. Rubbing the circulation back into your sword-hand, you look around you. Turn to 18.

30: ‘That’s right!’ he says,’ his tone of surprise veiling a slight irritation. ‘I didn’t expect you to get that one. All the same, I don’t see how you could have cheated, so I suppose I’ll have to let you go for now...’ Suddenly he spits in your face! You blink and rub your eyes, and when you look again he is nowhere to be seen. You go back to the top of the stairs and try the other direction. Turn to 41.

31: As Slank flails about blindly, you raise your bow and shoot the specially prepared arrow straight into his evil heart. He falls dead at your feet. Turn to 20.

32. You descend a flight of stairs into what seems to be a pillared ballroom with a floor of polished white marble. There is a shadowed archway across on the other side of the room. However, as you walk warily towards this, you make a startling discovery – the floor underfoot is not marble at all, it’s solid ice. Several inches below you, frozen in the ice, you can see a bizarre demonic mask. As you peer down at this you suddenly realize how cold the room is getting. Your hands are turning blue and your teeth chatter uncontrollably. Do you have a bearskin rug? If so, turn to 26. If not, turn to 59.

33: Vimbol shrugs. ’Too bad. Still, maybe you can finish Slank off anyway. You’ll just need to be that much more careful. Now, I wish you good luck.’ He shows you to the library door and the two of you shake hands. As you continue along the corridor you can hear him replacing the barricade on the other side of the door. Turn to 2.

34: You climb up to the first floor landing. From here you can go left (turn to 41) or right (turn to 61).

35: The mask is of black-laquered wood decorated with silver, and could be a fanciful representation of a demon’s face. You have seen its like at several masquerade parties, although never crafted with such chilling effectiveness as this. Curiously, the mask has only one eye – the left – and that has a quartz lens set into it. Will you touch the mask (turn to 47), take out one of your items (turn to 79), or depart through the dark archway (turn to 18)?

36: You pour a little of the oil from your lantern onto the surface of the pool, thereby calming the troubled waters. The undine immediately becomes quiescent and sinks back into the pool. You cautiously dip your hand into the still water to take the stone bottle. If you wish to unstopper this now, turn to 63. If not, note it down on your Character Sheet and turn to 44.

37: After a brief, uneasy : glance at the bas relief, you pass through the arch and make your way along a narrow, twisting passage that leads deep into the heart of the castle. You pass through a succession of gloomy chambers and finally climb a worn flight of steps to a landing where three doors face you. Each of the doors bears a plaque with an inscription on it:

Copper plaque – To slay me you must pass through this door.

Bronze plaque – You should not pass through this door.

Lead plaque – The correct path is not beyond the copper-plaqued door.

You grit your teeth. The demon is obviously toying with you. His mistake. You could open one of the doors–the door with the copper plaque (turn to 88), the one with the bronze plaque (turn to 70) or the one with lead plaque (turn to 13). Or you could take an item from your backpack (turn to 17).

38: You enter a large, low-ceilinged room with no other doorways. In the centre of the room stands a tall man in voluminous robes. He wears a patch over his right eye and stands by a pool of blood which is flowing from a gash in his arm. If you want to talk to him, turn to 82. If you want to take an item from your backpack, turn to 4.

39: You lift the ladle and sip a little of the mixture. Roll five dice – if you score equal to or less than your Constitution, turn to 5. If you score greater than your Constitution, turn to 68.

40: You stand over the fallen body for several minutes, half expecting Slank to rise a second time, and ready to renew the battle at once if he does. But he used the last of his sorcerous power against you; this time he stays dead. Turn to 89.

41: You advance along a narrow corridor illuminated by the amber glow of oil lamps. Shortly you come to a door in the left-hand wall. You can try the door (turn to 51) or continue on along the corridor (turn to 2).

42: Do you have the Wristband of Lightning? If so, turn to 62. If not, an electrical discharge as you try to step into the alcove hurls you back across the room. Deduct 4 points from your Constitution; if you are still alive you decide to leave and continue along the corridor – turn to 6.

43: Smiling viciously, Slank steps from the alcove and stands before you, huge and awesome and casting no shadow. You hear the rumble of the approaching storm, drowned out by Slank’s laughter. His surcoat and boots and vambraces are as black as the night and trimmed with silver; his pale skin has a translucent gleam. At first glance the face might almost be considered handsome – but then you see the clouded, sightless right eye, the face around it scarred and mutilated by terrible burns. The good eye shines with an awful, corrupt light and the expression twisting those fine features is one of utter evil.

Slank holds a lacquered mask in his left hand, and he brings this up now to cover his face. The mask has a quartz lens which shields his good eye, so even if you have the teardrop you cannot use it. Neither is there time to draw your bow–you must fight him. Turn to 48.

44: Will you leave the circular room through the door to your left (turn to 58), or will you return to the landing and open the door with the copper plaque (turn to 88) or the door with the bronze plaque (turn to 70)?

45: Which of the following will you use against the undine? The Ring of Light (turn to 80); the Potion of Dazzling Speed (turn to 15); your lantern (turn to 36). If you decide not to try any of these, turn to 50.

46: Slank is using his foul magic to try and persuade you to serve him, but no demon will ever corrupt an honourable and undaunting spirit like yours. Grimly, you push the curtain aside. Turn to 7.

47: The mask is so cold that it burns your fingers. You try to wrap it in your cloak, but you can still feel the unnatural chill of it sapping your body heat. You cannot take it with you, then. Will you take an item from your backpack (turn to 79), or leave the room (turn to 18)?

48: Slank advances on you -. with a panther’s grace, his robes fluttering in the breeze. There is a cold, damp, earthy smell like a waiting grave. The talons of his right hand are almost a cubit long; they sparkle like crystal and are razor-sharp.

SLANK: Fighting Prowess: 12; Constitution: 23; 3-pt armour.

If you manage to defeat him, turn to 20.

49: Beyond the double doors you see a dimly lit room. A pine torch burns in a bracket on the wall. The same heavy incense you noticed before lingers here. At the far end of the room you can just make out a darkened archway. There is blackness beyond. Will you return to the hallway and go upstairs (turn to 34), or cross the room to the archway (turn to 16)?

50: You are fighting an undine, or water elemental. Every time you hit it you must roll your Magical Fortitude or less on two dice – failure to do this means you lose 1 point from your Fighting Prowess, down to a minimum of 4:

UNDINE: Fighting Prowess: 6; Constitution: 5; no armour.

If you win, turn to 3.

51: The door seems to be barred or barricaded shut. Will you knock (turn to 28), or carry on to the end of the corridor (turn to 2)?

52: The correct answer is ‘peerless’. If you answered this, turn to 30. If you answered anything else, turn to 19.

53: You slice through her bonds with your knife and carry her over to a corner of the room where you gently set her down. Gain 1 point of Honour for your charitable action. The woman nurses her blistered feet for a while, then looks up at you and speaks. ‘I was a witch, and I sold my soul to the demon in return for knowledge and occult power. For helping me, I will give you what little aid I can.’ She puts a catskin pouch around your neck – increase your Magical Fortitude by 1 above its initial level for as long as you wear this. She also gives you three silver coins. ‘These may show you the way,’ she murmurs cryptically. Each has a unicorn’s head on one face and a serpent’s head with a forked tongue on the other. You are about to question her further when you see that she has passed out. You moisten her lips with a little wine, then pocket the coins and leave. Turn to 37.

54: Curse the luck! Your knife breaks. If you didn’t have a sword then you are now without any weapon at all, and must subtract 2 from your damage rolls from now on until you find one. If you do have a sword, you are certainly not going to risk breaking its blade on the ice. You decide to leave the damned mask where it is and go through the archway. Turn to 18.

55: By pouring salt over the ice you lower its freezing point; it starts to melt, and you now have little difficulty in digging down to the mask with your knife. Turn to 35.

56: Before continuing on your way, you could take either the poleaxe or the now-lifeless rug. You cannot take both because they are rather bulky items. You then proceed to the double doors at the end of the room. Turn to 32.

57: You leave the teardrop in the mask’s one eye and then cross the room to the archway. Cross the tear off your Character Sheet. Turn to 18.

58: You enter a long, oak-beamed dining hall with fading portraits high up on the walls. Ignoring two smaller doorways, you make your way along the table towards the double doors at the far end of the room. You pass a wide stone hearth where a raging log fire crackles and spits. Over the hearth hangs a great poleaxe and on the floor in front of it there is a fine, white bearskin rug. You can either go over to the hearth (turn to 76) or carry on to the double doors (turn to 32).

59: You panic and run for the archway, but your feet slip on the ice and you scramble frantically on all fours. Roll four dice, attempting to score equal to or less than your Constitution. If you succeed, turn to 29. If you fail, turn to 65.

60: You have no trouble in breaking the rusty manacles from his wrists. ‘What a generous soul you are!’ he exclaims, favouring you with a rather peculiar smile. ‘How about a game of pilliwinks?’ Will you accept his offer (turn to 21), or decline to play (turn to 71)?

61: You walk along a short passage and come to a low door. If you want to go through this door, turn to 38; if you want to turn back and go the other way, turn to 41.

62: An incandescent bolt arcs across the alcove entrance as you step through it, but the energy is absorbed by your Wristband and you are unharmed. The sword hangs on the wall before you. The rubies glitter and the metal gleams in the wan light of the two braziers to either side of the alcove. As you reach for the sword, thick smoke billows up from these braziers and coagulates into a dark serpentine form in the air above your head. With a shock, you realize this smoke-creature is alive and intent on fighting you!

RAUCHWURM: Fighting Prowess: Constitution: 8; no armour.

If you win, turn to 11.

63: An emerald vapour issues from the open neck of the bottle. When it clears you find a tall figure with green skin standing before you. Arms folded across his barrel-like chest, he bows low. ‘Greetings, master!’ he booms. ‘I am Ghilbee, and for releasing me I can grant you skill, stamina or knowledge.’ If you choose skill, he will restore your Fighting Prowess to its initial level. If you choose stamina, he will restore 4 points of your Constitution. If you choose knowledge, he gives you a clue to defeating Slank (turn to 69 to find out what it is). After performing whichever of these services you request, he vanishes. Turn to 44.

64: Following instructions in his book, Vimbol affixes the sliver of armour to the point of one of your arrows. He then restrings your bow using the nun’s hair. ‘This will kill Slank at once if you shoot him through the heart,’ he explains. ‘Lastly, then, do you have the ashes of a saint?’

If you do, turn to 72. If not, turn to 33. (Incidentally, if you completed the previous instalment of this adventure and burnt Gorbran thinking he was a saint, you were wrong.)

65: You are only a few J. yards from the archway, but the terrible cold numbs your limbs and you slump down on the icy floor. You cannot feel any pain, but you realize you are dying. You note with dispassionate wonder the curious sighing sound your breath makes as it freezes on the air. Strangely calm, you surrender to the eternal dark.

66: The doors do not look any different when viewed through the crystal ball. Turn back to 37 and think again.

67: Holding up your lantern, you crossover to the archway – only to find that the passage beyond ends in a blank wall after only a few yards. You search in vain for a secret panel, but you are finally forced to accept that it is a dead end. Puzzled, you return to the hallway and try the stairs. Turn to 34.

68: The effect of the brew hits you like a poleaxe and you fall to the floor. This is the favourite soup of the demon, but to any mortal it is a virulent poison. The life ebbs from your pain-wracked body. Your quest has ended in failure.

69: Before he disappeared, the genie told you cryptically that ‘the eyes have it’ and suggested that you go back to the landing and try another of the doors. Turn to 44.

70: You open the door into what seems to be a kitchen. It is full of smoke and steam and is almost unbearably hot. Looking around, you see a cauldron bubbling over the roaring fire and a small doorway to one side that presumably leads to the larder. Directly across the kitchen from where you entered is a copper-bound door stamped with odd runic designs. You can look in the larder (turn to 22), look in the cauldron (turn to 85) or go to the next room (turn to 58).

71: He shrugs and seems to fade away into the shadows. You are alone. Go to 9.

72: ‘Excellent. After killing Slank you must scatter the ashes over his body. Now, I wish you good luck.’ You shake hands before taking your leave of him and continuing along the corridor. Behind you, you hear pushing the library furniture back against the door. Turn to 2.

73: The room consists of a hexagonal main chamber with a large alcove off the far end. Hanging on the wall in the alcove you can see a gilded longsword decorated with rubies. As you step closer, you notice an acrid smell in the room and a blue-white glow flickering across the alcove entrance. Will you step into the alcove (turn to 42), or continue along the corridor (turn to 6)?

74: You are one of the most disreputable and unprincipled degenerates of all time. Slank is trying to convince you to become his servant, but no way are you going to take orders from an upstart like him! You sneer and rip down the curtain. Turn to 7.

75: Smiling viciously, Slank steps from the alcove and towers over you in his robes as black as night. At first glance his face might almost be considered handsome – but then you see the clouded, sightless right eye, the face around it scarred and mutilated by terrible burns. The other eye shines with an awful, corrupt light, and the expression twisting those fine features is one of utter and inhuman evil. From outside the tower comes the rumble of distant thunder, and Slank answers it with triumphant laughter. If you have Perterra Greengosh’s teardrop, you can cast it into his eye – turn to 87. It you don’t have this item, you must fight him – turn to 48.

76: As you step forwards, the rug comes to life and rises up, challenging you with an eerie, hissing growl.

BEARSKIN RUG: Fighting Prowess 5; Constitution: 7; no armour.

If you defeat it, turn to 56.

77: You attack the ice with your knife blade, but it is refreezing as fast as you can chip it away. If you are determined to reach the mask you will have to think of something else to try – turn to 8. If you are ready to give up and go through the archway, turn to 18.

78: Slank can scent your fear and almost hear your racing heartbeat. Although blind, he is yet dangerous. He lunges at you with the long, sparkling talons of his right hand, using them as a fencer uses a sword.

SLANK: Fighting Prowess: 7; Constitution: 23; 3-pt armour

If you defeat him, turn to 20.

79: If you have them, you can use: the four leaf clover (turn to 81); the daughter’s teardrop (turn to 57); a newt’s eye (turn to 14). If you do not have any of these, or do not wish to use them, you now leave the room (turn to 18).

80: Your ring emits a blinding pulse of light, but this has no effect whatsoever on the creature. It strikes you with a watery fist as you fumble for your weapon – roll one die to determine the damage from this blow, then turn to 50.

81: You leave the clover in the mouth of the demon mask. That should prevent Slank from touching it. You trudge across the icy floor to the archway and step through. Turn to 18.

82: He comes over and lays his hands on your shoulders – apparently in a gesture of friendship, but you feel as if you are bound in shackles of cold iron. He fixes you with his one good eye and says, ‘I have a riddle for you. My first is equality, my last is inferiority, and my whole is superiority –what am I?’ Decide on your answer (think carefully!) and then turn to 52.

83: You notice a bottle of grey-green stone at the bottom of the pool. Before you decide whether to reach in and take it or not, the surface of the pool starts rippling and heaving like a lake in a storm. Suddenly a watery being rises up out of the turbulent pool. Will you draw your weapon (turn to 50), or find some other way to fight it (turn to 45)?

84: Hushed, whispering voices seem to call from outside the tower. ‘Awake, master. Death cannot hold you.’ You go to the window and look out, but there is nothing but the night and the howling wind.

Something stirs behind you. You freeze at the sound, then slowly turn... Slank has risen again, but altered now to his true form – he is much smaller than before, stooped, almost frail. His face is grey and lined, twisted and misshapen such that the hollow sockets of his eyes are not level. The effect is even more horrible than his previous appearance.

‘I still have one life left,’ he snarls. The voice is a strangled, halting croak. His power is greatly diminished, but you will have to fight hard to prevail against him.

SLANK: Fighting Prowess: 7; Constitution: 18; 2-pt armour

If you beat him, turn to 40.

85: You gets whiff of the stuff in the cauldron when you are only halfway across the room, and it almost puts you off taking a look. When you do look, you wish you hadn’t – it is a green, slimy broth full of unmentionable ingredients. If by any chance you want to drink this foul brew, turn to 39. Otherwise you could continue on into the next room (turn to 58) or investigate the larder (turn to 22).

86: Roll one die. If you score 4 or less, turn to 54. If you score 5 or 6, turn to 10.

87: The little girl’s teardrop is like an acid to Slank. He screams in rage and pain and clutches at his eye. Did Vimbol Greengosh explain to you the purpose of the armour fragment and the nun’s hair? If so, turn to 31. If not, turn to 78.

88: You pass along a winding tunnel and enter a vaulted room lit with a sombre green radiance. A dark silhouette takes form in front of you. A tall, majestic woman. She is – magnificent. You stand in awe. A watery green hue dissolves from the room as she lifts the veil covering her face and you stare into the unfiltered light of her eyes. They shine like polished jade. You try to turn away, but, try as you might, you cannot break her mesmerizing gaze.

Mournful voices seem to echo in your head, greeting you  – the voices of a hundred stony victims entrapped by the gorgon to become her companions and lovers. They stand in shadowed alcoves all about. Your world is with them now. Share silence...

89: From an upper window, you watch the exodus of the thousands of souls Slank had kept imprisoned here, some of them for aeons. They file from the castle and out across the swamps, where they fade from your mortal sight as they pass into the afterlife. You scan the milling throng for Vimbol Greengosh, and finally catch sight of him – capering merrily, he dances away from the castle towards whatever fate the afterlife reserves for merchants...

At last you are alone in the castle. You descend through the empty halls and stride away across the marshes. You do not look back until you reach the Mungo Hills, and by then there is no sign of the castle.

As you make your way back towards the town, you find that seers and wizards have already learned of your success. Balladeers roam the villages singing epic songs which tell of the archfiend’s destruction and which refer to you as Demonslayer, or Knight of Souls, or several other rather flattering titles.

Hogron and his brothers have invited the whole town to an alfresco party in your honour. You are carried shoulder-high through the streets to the main square, where Hogron delivers a long-winded speech and then presents you with a chest containing 700 gold pieces and a suit of enchanted chainmail!

Your quest is ended. But keep your Character Sheet somewhere safe, for who knows what great deeds yet await you?

Headcases (4)

As you go on, a soft low beating drifts across the barren moors. You listen to the sound and it seems to form words – slay, slay slay… 

You look up to see four dark shapes swooping down through the mist towards you. The creatures attacking you are chonchons. These disembodied heads fly using their large veined ears as wings and attack by biting with their chisel-like teeth. 

If the flying heads of the Orient belong to the province of Dream, being either nightmarish (penanggalan) or surreal (nukekubi), those of South America are the creatures of Delirium. What else are we of make of an entity that flies by flapping its ears, the only warning of its approach being the soft beat of “tue, tue, tue” on the hot evening breeze?

Chonchons made an appearance in The Castle of Lost Souls (illustrated by Leo Hartas) and I could have sworn I originally came across them in the West Indian horror stories of the Reverend Henry S Whitehead. I even had an explanation of their origins, in a story that an African slave might tell his children of seeing an elephant’s head peering over the treetops in the dusk. The snag is, I can’t find anything about chonchons in Whitehead’s work now, nor any evidence that they originated outside the New World. And it was such a beautiful theory, too.

By one account, chonchons are sorcerers who treat their neck with a magic ointment so as to be able to detach their heads. Alternatively, they could be a sort of Chilean vampire, arising from the graves of suicides and flitting off in search of blood. In classical myth, vampires frequently took the form of owls (striges) to screech out omens of death, and most versions of the chonchon have them feathered and/or taloned, so possibly there’s a connection there.

Anyway, as I’ve said before, the beauty of folklore is precisely that it is an incoherent jumble of sources. You want taxonomy, go to a zoo. Fantasy is far stranger than that.

Castle of Lost Souls part three: "The Demon Road"

If you've been waiting since August for the third part of The Castle of Lost Souls then I can only apologize that it's taken so long, and thank you for your patience. As already mentioned, this was my first ever stab at a choose-your-own type scenario, first published in White Dwarf magazine in the summer of 1984. The extremely skimpy prose was necessary because I only had four pages for each monthly instalment. Later we were to come full circle, using deliberately pared-down descriptive passages in the Fabled Lands books - though by then Jamie and I had, I believe, learned to write both well and economically.

I was sitting in the White Dwarf offices in Sunbeam Road one morning. Don't be fooled by the name, incidentally; it was on a grim west London industrial estate - there it is below, in fact. The very building. Anyway, the phone rang. "Yes, we do happen to have the writer here," said Jamie, handing it to me. A Scottish chap was on the line, demanding to know what he was supposed to do having triggered a poison trap in one of the episodes.

"Well, you're dead," I said.

"I know that. It says that. But what can I do about it?"

"Nothing - other than starting the adventure again from the beginning."

He sounded disappointed. Even a little peeved. "That's it? Start again, you say?"

He couldn't see me shrug. "Look on the bright side. If you were dead in real life, you couldn't even do that."

Another satisfied customer? No, he most certainly was not!

If you'll willing to risk death, you can find part one here and part two here, though the episodes were designed to be self-contained. If you're just launching in with this instalment, you'll just need the rules but note that you start off with an Honour score of 5 rather than 3. You have those items listed in the first paragraph too (all except the last two).

THE DEMON ROAD

You are the champion of the Greengosh family, chosen by its head, Hogron. He hired you to rescue his father’s soul, captured and taken to the castle of Slank, an ogre or demon. To do this Hogron told you that you needed some magical boots, a teardrop, a fragment of armour from the most chivalrous knight, a four leaf clover, a crystal ball, the ashes of a saint and the hair of a nun. These last two items you have yet to collect, and are hoping to do so during the journey to the castle. When you are ready to start, go to 1.

1: You take breakfast with the Greengosh family. Few of the brothers seem talkative so early in the morning. Some glower from obvious hangovers and one or two stare bemusedly at you as though trying to place your face. ‘This is the noble champion who will rescue our father’s soul!’ declares Hogron suddenly, and everyone sits up. Perterra Greengosh watches you with a look of palpable scepticism which you find disturbing in one so young. The butler brings you your weapons and backpack. ‘I have had Mortlake pack some provisions for your journey,’ Hogron continues. ‘And you will also find in your pack a small pot containing four applications of a magical Salve of Healing’ (a rather foul smelling preparation made from rancid milk, animal fat and rotting vegetables which actually has remarkable healing properties; spreading it on your wounds after a fight will restore 4 points to your Constitution each time it is used. Note it with your other items on the Character Sheet). But note also that you only have enough for four applications.

You take a few moments to prepare yourself for the great trials that await you. Will you succeed, and live on in legends until the end of time? Or will you sink into the mists of obscurity, lost to some nameless fate in a far-off land? Only the future will tell.

You pull on the magic boots and take up your belongings. Hogron, napkin still in hand, accompanies you as far as the dining room door. ‘I wish you good luck in your venture,’ he says through a mouthful of toast. ’I can offer you no help or advice save these two snippets of information. First, I have heard that the two principal goblin tribes of the Mungo Hills are the Drans and the Kabbagoos, and that one or the other tribe are inveterate liars. Secondly, it is said that strange phantasms can appear in the mists enveloping the Swamps of Bosh. These phantasms can cause a traveller no hardship as long as he or she disregards them. And now, farewell!’

You leave the Greengosh mansion and make your way to the town’s west gate. Somewhere on your journey you must find a saint’s ashes and the hair of a nun. But for now all that occupies your mind is that it is a glorious morning and you are about to embark on another challenging adventure. Turn to 42.

2: Ahead of you the horizon is lost in a blur of mist. Realizing that it will be difficult to find wood to start your campfire in the dank Swamps of Bosh, you start to gather kindling as you descend the trail. As you reach the low-lying moors and marshes of Bosh your progress is slowed considerably, for you have to wend your way around tracts of treacherous mire. Out of the corner of your eye you notice something – a crystal ball, of all things, just off the path to your left. It looks unsettlingly like the one you should have in your backpack. Will you go over to this crystal ball to examine it (turn to 25), check that the original ball is still in your backpack (turn to 53) or simply walk on (turn to 94)?

3: You walk on at a brisk pace. You are on your way out of the hills by mid afternoon. Up ahead, you see that the trail forks in two. One way will take you on into the Swamps of Bosh (where you are headed) but the other presumably leads to the notorious Dragonbreath Canyon (where you definitely do not want to go). Beside the fork there is a large flat rock on which squat two tiny, shrivelled goblins with large heads and a shock of white hair over their sharp, wily faces. ‘Are you a Dran or a Kabbagoo?’ you ask the first goblin as you stride up to them. He answers so indistinctly that you cannot hear him, but then the second goblin pipes up: ‘He said he’s a Kabbagoo. Are you deaf or something?’ Ignoring his disrespectful attitude, you demand of the second goblin which route you should take to reach the Swamps of Bosh. ‘Swamps of Bosh?’ he replies. ‘You want to go left.’ As you set off, he calls after you: ‘Go on, push off to Bosh!’ Both goblins start giggling, but you cannot be bothered to go back and teach them a lesson. Will you take the left-hand path (turn to 84) or the right-hand path (turn to 73)?

4: He jumps and weaves with confusing speed, and will be a difficult foe to beat.

TOLL COLLECTOR: Fighting Prowess: 9; Constitution: 10; no armour.

If you win, turn to 18.

5: Your sudden attack surprises the robbers, who took you for a fellow highwayman. You kill one of them with a single blow. Two more are occupied holding the captives, so you have four to fight:

‘HEADCUT’ AHOOL: Fighting Prowess: 6; Constitution: 6; 1-point armour.
IPCOLL THE SOUR: Fighting Prowess: 4; Constitution: 6; 1-point armour.
UKNORTHE BARBARIAN: Fighting Prowess: 5; Constitution: 8; no armour.
LIRRIPON DROOL: Fighting Prowess: 6; Constitution: 5; 1-point armour.

All four of them get to strike at you each round. If you drank the potion, however, you can strike back at three of them every round! If you actually manage to beat them all, turn to 86.

6: The mist’s fingers poke and pry, stroke and search, around your backpack. You realize that the mist is like an entity – a wraith which creates illusions to try and trick you. You are not fooled. Turn to 30.

7: After almost an hour you have not got any closer to your destination. It is obviously time to try something else, and you search in your backpack for inspiration. Turn to 72.

8: It takes real courage to attack a lammasu. No brains, just courage.

LAMMASU: Fighting Prowess: 10; Constitution: 20; fur counts as 1 -point armour.

You can escape after three rounds by running off (turn to 44). If you kill the lammasu, turn to 95.

9: The man, whose name is Garl, feeds you with a delicious and nourishing stew. The wine he offers is also excellent – nothing like the rough homebrew you had expected. Garl is obviously even drunker than you thought. He sits in his armchair watching you eat, taking great gulps from his mug and saying things such as, ‘You are an adventurer who has performed deeds of great credit while I am but a hermit with a dubious past. Yet when we belch, where then is the difference between us?’ Finally, noticing you stifle a yawn, he shows you to your room. Will you go to sleep (turn to 46) or sit up and keep watch (turn to 74)?

10: You identify some tracks leading to the other side of the valley. Following these, you are led to a sort of shrine. Turn to 90.

11: You are walking against a freezing wind. You see darkness on the horizon beyond the castle. The storm will soon engulf you. The whole sky darkens as the clouds billow up from the horizon and white stripes advance to hide the castle from view. Hailstones the size of a man’s fist pound down all around you. If you cannot find refuge from the storm quickly you will be pummelled to death! Even the mist disperses, taking shelter wherever it may. One of the tendrils of mist drifts down into the ground where you see a hole like the burrow of a large animal. If it is a burrow you may have to fight its occupant –but that is certainly better than being battered to death by the hailstones. You descend into the hole. Turn to 21.

12: Roll one die for the damage your arrow does. To bring the chonchon down you must roll 4 or more – otherwise, although winged, it still manages to fly off (turn to 41). If you bring it down, turn to 59.

13: ‘Ho there!’ he cries, struggling with the fishing rod. ‘A fine one has the bait this morning, but I need a net before I land him. Will you hold the rod a few minutes while I fetch one from my cottage? You can do as he asks (turn to 97) or decline and go on your way (turn to 68).

14: Four of the robbers see you coming and leave their comrades to massacre the guard while they deal with you. You will have to fight all four at once. They will each get to try to hit you every round. If you drank the potion, you will get three strikes every round (for duration of this fight only!).

EMAJ DOGBREATH: Fighting Prowess: 3; Constitution: 5: 1 -point armour.
IPCOLL THE SOUR: Fighting Prowess: 4; Constitution: 6: 1 -point armour.
‘HEADCUT’ AHOOL: Fighting Prowess: 6; Constitution: 6; 1-point armour.
UKNOR THE BARBARIAN: Fighting Prowess: 5; Constitution: 8; no armour.

If you beat all four, turn to 79. If you decide you cannot beat them, you can escape by running off towards the hills (turn to 50).

15: You open the phial and let the tear fall into your own eye, thinking perhaps that it will show you the true route to the castle. Unfortunately this does not work – and you have now used the teardrop (remove it from your Character Sheet). You grind your teeth and trudge on.
Turn to 82.

16: By the time you reach the tree, the strands of of hair are no longer there. Or perhaps they weren’t there in the first place... You continue on your way. Turn to 6.

17: You step back from the door as Garl’s ponderous footsteps approach. You watch as the latch is slowly raised. The door swings open and Garl stands there axe in hand, blinking as his eyes become accustomed to the darkness. With a yell you swing your sword. Turn to 64 for the fight. Because he is surprised, Garl will not get to strike back in the first round.

18: You climb down under the arch of the bridge and search through his belongings. You get 18 Gold Pieces and a magical Potion of Dazzling Speed. Note these down on your Character Sheet. After dumping the toll collector’s body in the river, you press on. Turn to 70.

19: You scramble frantically up the cliff. A voice calls up from below – to your astonishment, the lammasu can talk! ‘Look here,’ it says, ‘for one thing I can jump that high anyway, let alone fly, so you might as well come down. More importantly, I seem to have this bloody great thorn thing stuck right through my paw.’ Will you climb down to help the lammasu (turn to 60), or stay where you are (turn to 35)?

20: Lose another point of Honour – though you must surely have none left by now. You hide the bodies in a ditch by the side of the road. Gorbran had 9 gold pieces in his belt-pouch – a modest profit, but one which warms your evil heart. You continue on your way. Turn to 66.

21: The hole is damp, yet it is a great relief to be out of the icy bombardment. You hear a soft squelching. To your horror the surrounding ‘walls’ are closing in. A liquid oozes from them and trickles down around your feet, and you look down to see you are being sucked into the ‘mud’. An odour like bile rises about you. You cannot escape; your legs are trapped and you feel as though the strength is being drawn from you – as a piece of food might feel in an enormous stomach, perhaps! You have only moments in which to act. Desperately you search your backpack for something to use. Will you try using the ashes (turn to 36), the Salve of Healing (turn to 51), or the teardrop (turn to 77)?

22: The instant you strike the first spark from your flint, the marshons rush forward eagerly towards the source of light. You are engulfed by hundreds of slippery, clambering bodies. More and more marshons surge into the struggling horde, anxious to see the light, and you are soon overwhelmed and crushed by the stampede. Your adventure ends here.

23. You wend your way up to the hut and rap smartly on the door. A small flap opens and a bloodshot eye peers out at you. Then you hear bolts being drawn back and the door is opened by a heavyset man in red and black robes. Seeing you, he smiles and holds up the jug of wine he has in one hand. ‘As the sun sinks in its own blood and night strokes the land with fingers of shadow, let us drink together and pass merry comment on the transience of things!’ It is clear he has imbibed several jugs of wine already, as he seems to be slurring his words somewhat. Will you accept his offer (turn to 9) or decline and leave, preferring to camp outside for the night (turn to 33).

24: It occurs to you that if someone has left fresh flowers by the idol, there may be a religious community nearby. Perhaps you could get one or both of the items you need? Roll two dice, attempting to score less than or equal to your Cleverness. If you succeed, turn to 10. If you fail, turn to 76.

25: A bank of mist rolls in front of you. You walk forward through the mist but cannot find the crystal ball anywhere. Somewhat perplexed, you decide to return to the path and continue on. Turn to 94.

26: You have fallen victim to a spell of blood thinning. In future, whenever you are wounded you must deduct 1 extra point from your Constitution. While you bemoan your ill-luck, the detestable chonchon shrieks with laughter and flies off into the mists. Turn to 41.

27: You trek on towards the castle, but every time you glance away from it you look up to find it is in a different location. Nor do you seem to be getting any closer. You decide to try one of your items. Turn to 72.

28: The gods do not want their shrine sullied by the likes of you. They send one of their servants – a huge, halberd-wielding warrior clad in white armour who steps from a shining rent in the air in front of you. You are so taken aback by his sudden and miraculous appearance that you do not get to strike back on the first round. After that the fight proceeds normally.

ANGEL EXECUTIONER: Fighting Prowess: 8; Constitution: 14; 2-point armour.

If you beat him, he turns into a stream of clear water and flows away. Turn to 39.

29: You help the robbers to kill the last guard. Lose 1 point of Honour. One or two of the robbers start pushing the old man around while the rest go over to look at the palanquin. You hear a shriek and they bundle a white-robed damsel with long black hair out onto the road. One of the robbers shouts out that the old man has only a few gold pieces. ’In that case,’ snarls the leader, spitting into the dust, ‘we’ll have to entertain ourselves as best we can, won’t we, lads?’ You are not quite sure what to do now. You can attack the robbers and try to help the old man and the girl escape (turn to 96) or simply slink away while the robbers enjoy their ‘entertainment’ (turn to 66).

30: Since it is now getting late you start to look around for somewhere to make camp. You soon find a patch of high ground and get a fire going with the wood you collected earlier. After a light supper you settle down and go to sleep.

You come awake suddenly. Hours have passed -the fire is just glowing embers now. Creatures are stirring in the darkness all around you. Slowly you sit up. Your camp is surrounded by hordes of marshons. These are small, hairless, leathery creatures with webbed hands and large lidless eyes. They have been attracted by your fire and the starlight glinting off your sword, stuck in the ground beside you. They move around you like moths around a candle. From what you have heard, they eat only fungus and swamp weed – but nonetheless you are in the most deadly peril from them for, if they press forward towards the light which has attracted them, you will be smothered and crushed by the countless hundreds of bodies.

What will you do? You could toss your sword away in the hope that they will scurry after it (turn to 93), or light your lantern (turn to 22) or – if you have one – you could use your Ring of Light (turn to 67).

31: He scratches the back of his neck. ‘Don’t know about the strand of hair,’ he says after some thought. ‘Isn’t it true nuns shave their heads when they enter a convent, anyway? But there is a sort of shrine not too far from here where some old holy man was buried. Maybe he was a saint.’ He gives you directions and you set off in search of the shrine. Turn to 90.

32: The creatures attacking you are chonchons. These disembodied heads fly using their large veined ears as wings and attack by biting with their chisel-like teeth. Three of them fly in to engage you:

FIRST CHONCHON: Fighting Prowess: 5; Constitution: 8; no armour.
SECOND CHONCHON: Fighting Prowess: 4; Constitution: 4; no armour.
THIRD CHONCHON: Fighting Prowess: 7; Constitution: 5; no armour.

They will each get to strike at you every round, but you can only attempt to hit one at a time-unless you drank the magic potion, in which case you can attempt three blows a round for the rest of this combat. If a chonchon is down to 2 or fewer points of Constitution at the end of any round, it will fly up out of combat. If you are still fighting at least one of the chonchons after four rounds, turn to 65. Otherwise turn to 91.

33: You spot a niche in the ridge and scramble up the slope to it. The ledge is quite wide, and you are able to comfortably stretch out on it. You decide it is a good place to spend the night – wolves and the like will be unable to reach you. You awaken early the next morning. Add 3 Constitution points for your rest. You gather your belongings and continue onwards. Turn to 68.

34: You stumble on, only to trip over a clump of turf and fall flat on your face in the mud. Picking yourself up, you scowl, set your jaw and start trudging doggedly towards the distant castle. You decide to look for inspiration in your backpack. Turn to 72.

35: ‘You’re being remarkably unhelpful,’ says the lammasu coolly. ‘I mean to say, why do you humans have to be so preposterously timid, anyway?’ It walks off as proudly as its limp will allow. After some time you decide it’s safe to lower yourself to the ground and go on. Turn to 3.

36: You empty the ashes into the ‘hole’ and, with a sound very like a cough, it spits you out into the open. Luckily the hailstorm has now passed. Turn to 27.

37: You clamber through the bedroom window and escape into the night. You trek for several miles with only the wan moonlight to guide you. When you stop to check your belongings, you are distressed to find that you left behind half your cash in the hurry to get away. Deduct this from the gold on your Character Sheet. Cold, tired and impoverished you drift into a restless slumber and awake early the next morning. Turn to 68.

38: On a plinth in front of the idol, which depicts the god Lurga during his thirty-seventh Tribulation, you find a vase containing fresh flowers. You should note these down on your Adventure Record if you decide to take them. Will you now carry on towards the Mungo Hills (turn to 71), place an offering of gold on the plinth (turn to 48), or investigate further (turn to 24)?

39: You reach into the silvery glow and take the urn. Peeking within, you see that it contains a handful of ashes. You put the urn in your backpack and set off again. Turn to 71.

40: Norwena runs off shrieking. You roll Gorbran’s body into a ditch – discovering 9 gold pieces in his belt-pouch in the process – and continue on your way. Turn to 66.

41: You continue on for some time, but you still do not seem to be getting any closer to your objective. Perhaps the crystal ball will prove of use now? You take it from your backpack. Turn to 98.

42: You set out at a brisk pace and soon leave the fields and meadows around the town far behind. After some time you come to a river and, seeing a bridge only a few hundred yards away, you walk along the bank to it. As you ,are about to cross the bridge, however, a tall slender man in grey robes appears from under the arch of the bridge and calls up to you that you must pay a toll of 4 gold pieces to cross here. Will you pay him the money (turn to 52), or will you ignore him and cross anyway (turn to 62)?

43: A small band of robbers has attacked a group of travellers. Two guards lie dead in the road and a third is battling against impossible odds to prevent the robbers from getting at the palanquin he was accompanying. You see an old man with a staff cowering beside the palanquin. Will you:
Help the guard and the old man? (turn to 45)
Help the robbers? (turn to 29)
Avoid getting involved at all? (turn to 63)

44: The lammasu swipes at you as you turn to flee. Roll one die to determine the damage done by its raking claws. Your armour protects you from this as usual. If you are still alive, you run off. For some reason the lammasu does not pursue you. Turn to 3.

45: If you have a Potion of Dazzling Speed, there is time to drink it now before you engage the robbers. Considering the odds you face, it may well be a good idea – but of course, perhaps you’d rather save it for when you face the demon... Decide, and then turn to 14.

46: You awaken with a start, instantly aware of danger. You hurl yourself to one side just as an axe crashes down. A fraction slower and your head would have been split like firewood! You find your sword. Facing you in the half-light is Garl, wielding the massive axe as though it were a toothpick. You have removed much of your armour in order to sleep more comfortably – it will only absorb 1 point of damage from Garl’s blows in this fight. Turn to 64.

47: You hastily nock an arrow onto your bow and take aim at the retreating chonchon leader. To hit it, you must roll your Fighting Prowess or less on two dice. You have one chance to do this before the chonchon is out of range. If you hit, turn to 12. If you miss, turn to 41.

48: Deduct the amount you decide to leave from your current gold. You utter a short prayer to Lurga in which you compare your current adventure to his ninth Tribulation. There is no response from the god. Will you now carry on towards the hills (turn to 71), or investigate further (turn to 24)?

49: As you step towards the urn, a shower of glittering particles forms a cloud in front of you. This rapidly coalesces to form a warrior in shining white armour who advances to attack you.

ANGEL KNIGHT: Fighting Prowess: 7, Constitution: 11; 2-point armour.

If you beat him, he vanishes like mist. Turn to 39.

50: The robbers quickly give up the chase and go back to loot their victims. You press on briskly towards the setting sun, determined to put several miles between you and the robbers. Turn to 66.

51: You drop your remaining supply of the Salve into the ’hole’, which is unimpressed by the substance’s foul taste and hurriedly spits you out into the open air. The hailstorm has now passed. Turn to 27.

52: You throw the four coins down to him and he pockets them. You can now continue on your way (turn to 70) or ask him if he knows where you can get the last two items you need (turn to 31).

53: As you open your backpack, a thick bank of fog engulfs you, obscuring your vision for a moment. When you look into the pack, you find that the items you have collected to deal with the demon have gone! What will you do now: go back and tell Hogron that the mists stole your equipment (turn to 80) or walk on (turn to 88)?

54: The girl throws up her arms to the heavens with a howling scream. The skies answer with a thunderous rumble, and you see lightning flash between the clouds. Seeing the power of her prayer, the robbers turn and flee. She goes over to the old man and obviously finds he is still alive, for she revives him with a simple healing spell. They come over to you and the girl tells you that her name is Norwena and the old man is Gorbran. They and their guards were on their way to the convent of the Sisters of Pure Adoration when the bandits attacked. Since they now lack guards, you agree to escort them – Norwena admits that her prayer-magic looks more impressive than it actually is, and a skilled swordsman might come in handy. Turn to 61.

55: As you walk on, a few tendrils of mist return to swirl about you. You do not mind now. The mist is like an old travelling companion. Then, in the distance, you see the Castle of Lost Souls. It cannot be more than a few miles away. However, when you look up again after going only a few hundred yards, you find that the castle is no longer straight ahead of you. You walk towards it for almost an hour, keeping your eyes on it the whole time, but you do not seem to be getting any closer. Presumably the demon Slank has set enchantments around his castle to keep unwelcome visitors away, so what will you do now? You could just continue marching towards the castle, keeping your eyes on it continually so it does not change location again – turn to 11. Or you could use an item from your backpack – turn to 72. If you would like to try something else, turn to 83.

56: You are in a sacred place. The gods look into your heart and see your past actions. If your Honour is 7 or more, turn to 39. If your Honour lies between 1 and 6, turn to 49. If you have no Honour, turn to 28.

57: Since Norwena must have her head shaved anyway when she joins the Order, the Mother Superior is happy to give you a long, black strand of hair. You put this in your backpack and continue your journey westwards. Turn to 75.

58: You ransack his home in search of treasure he may have looted from travellers. You find a Potion of Healing, a Ring of Light and 4 gold pieces. Under the floorboards you are also revolted to discover human bones from over thirty bodies, neatly arranged in boxes with notes on the quality of the meal each person provided. You pass the rest of the night in a fitful sleep full of harrowing nightmares and depart this dreadful place before the sun is up. Turn to 68.

59. You walk over to where the chonchon leader has fallen. The arrow has torn its ear but it is still alive and thrashing. You grind it into the mud with your boot. Noticing a gold ring through its left ear, you take out your dagger and cut this free. The ring is large enough to fit around your wrist and is in fact a Wristband of Lightning. Note this down on your Character Sheet and turn to 41.

60: ‘Awfully decent of you,’ says the lammasu as you draw the thorn from its paw. ‘Rather embarrassing really – can’t think how I came to tread on the damned thing. If you’re heading west let me give you some advice. There are two tribes of goblins in these hills, the Drans and the Kabbagoos. You can never tell the difference between them because they mix freely and wear the same outlandish clothes. The only thing is that the Drans always tell the truth and the Kabbagoos always lie. I hope that’s of some help to you.’ After thanking you again, the lammasu takes its leave. Gain 1 point of Honour for helping this noble beast. Turn to 3.

61: It occurs to you that if you escort them to the convent, the Sisters will probably
be quite happy to give you a few strands of nun’s hair. If you decide to do this, turn to 69. Of course, if you are the treacherous sort you could just grab the damsel right now and shear her hair off (in which case, turn to 89).

62: With astonishing speed and agility he leaps up and lands on the bridge in front of you. As he does so, he draws a long curved sword from the scabbard slung across his back. ‘The fine for non-payment of the toll is 9 gold pieces,’ he says with a wry smile. ‘And the penalty for non-payment of the fine is...’ He glances significantly at the gleaming blade of his sword. Will you now pay him 9 gold pieces (turn to 87), or do you prefer to fight (turn to 4)?

63: You leave the road and sneak around the commotion. You continue on into the hills. Turn to 66.

64: You realize that Garl is not a human being at all, but a cold-hearted Ogre hungry for your flesh!

OGRE: Fighting Prowess: 6; Constitution: 13; no armour.

Because of his great strength, add 1 point to the die when rolling the damage for his blows. If you beat him, turn to 58.

65: The fourth chonchon, which has been hovering over you watching the fight, now starts to beat its ears furiously and fly off across the marsh. If you defeat any remaining chonchons within two rounds (refer back to 32 if you can’t remember their characteristics) you can try to bring down the escaping leader with an arrow (turn to 47). If the combat goes on for longer than two rounds then the leader is out of bowshot; if you kill or drive off the remaining chonchons after that, turn to 41.

66: Night is closing in as you enter the rolling, dusty landscape of the Mungo Hills. High on a ridge you see a ramshackle hut with a narrow, twisting path leading up to it. You can go and seek shelter for the night at the hut (turn to 23) or else make camp out here in the open (turn to 33).

67: You hold up the ring and cause it to emit a brilliant flash. The marshons clutch at their eyes and fall back whimpering, blinded by the light. They scurry off into the safety of the night. Turn to 78.

68: About mid-morning, you are just passing between two hills when you come face-to-face with a lammasu – a winged lion with an almost human face. However, it makes no immediate move to attack. You recover from your moment of petrifaction and consider your next action. Will you draw your sword and fight it (turn to 8), climb the cliff out of its reach (turn to 19) or wait for it to move (turn to 85)?

69: You escort Gorbran and Norwena safely to the convent. The Sisters of Pure Adoration are very grateful. If you have any wounds, they use their healing magic (restore your Constitution to its Initial score) and if you are subject to a curse they will remove it. They give you a hearty meal and a comfortable bed for the night. In the morning, will you continue on your journey (turn to 75), or will you first ask them for a nun’s hair (turn to 57)?

70: The path up into the Mungo Hills takes you along a valley. As you walk, you notice a stone idol down in the valley. Will you detour to inspect it (turn to 38), or carry on along the path (turn to 71)?

71: You trudge on for many miles. It is late in the afternoon and the sun is dipping towards the rolling Mungo Hills ahead of you. You are just estimating whether you will be into the hills by nightfall when you see a skirmish of some kind some distance away. Will you go closer to investigate (turn to 43), or will you go out of your way to avoid getting involved (turn to 63)?

72: Which of your items will you use? Perhaps the four leaf clover (turn to 92), the little girl’s teardrop (turn to 15) or the gypsy’s crystal ball (turn to 98).

73: The trail takes you down out of the hills. Increase your Initial Cleverness score 1 point. Turn to 2.

74: After two hours or so you are almost nodding off when a slight noise jerks you awake. You creep over to the bedroom door and peer through the keyhole. Garl is moving around laying the table for a meal. After putting out a fork and long sharp knife he comes to your door. You realize he is about to listen at the keyhole, so you pretend to snore. He turns away from the door. Peering out again, you see he is taking a huge axe out of a cupboard! Will you gather your things and make a getaway via the bedroom window (turn to 37), or draw your sword and get ready to fight him if he comes in (turn to 17)?

75: It is a fine morning and you enjoy your walk up into the rolling landscape of the Mungo Hills. After a little while you come to a stream where a burly man sits fishing. Will you greet him (turn to 13), or pass by (turn to 68)?

76: You cannot find any tracks to support your theory. With a shrug you turn away from the idol and press on towards the hills. Turn to 71.

77: You open the phial and tip out the teardrop, but to no effect. You can feel the stinging secretion on the walls eating into your skin. Will you now use the ashes (turn to 36) or the Salve of Healing (turn to 51)?

78: You drift back off to sleep and pass the rest of the night in comfort, apart from the clouds of gnats and the occasional far-off howl of moorland monsters. You wake at dawn. Add 2 points to your Constitution for the rest. You eat a hearty breakfast and then press on deeper into Bosh. Turn to 55.

79: Seeing you defeat four opponents single-handed, the remaining robbers turn tail and flee. Gain 2 points of Honour for your dashing rescue of the damsel who now steps out of the palanquin. Her expression registers a momentary disapproval at your bloodied and travel-soiled appearance. Then she smiles and thanks you for your intervention. The old man gets up, retrieves his staff and walks over to you. You glance at the guard who was valiantly fighting on to protect the palanquin, but you see that the robbers managed to slay him. The old man explains that he is Gorbran, a servant of the Sisters of Pure Adoration. He was escorting the damsel, whose name is Norwena, back to the convent, where she is to be initiated into the holy order. Since they now lack guards for their journey, you can accompany them. Turn to 61.

80: You make your way back up into the Mungo Hills. The two goblins are very amused to see you returning – so much so that one of them declares between giggles that he is a Kabbagoo. You travel on eastwards and, late in the afternoon of the second day, you arrive back at the town. Hogron is furious. He berates you for your incompetence in losing all the items and finally dismisses you. Your reputation in tatters, you gather your belongings and leave town. You have failed.

81: You resist the spell’s effect. Seeing this, the chonchon snarls and starts to fly away. You can try to bring it down with an arrow. Turn to 47.

82: As you go on a soft, low beating comes across the bleak moors. You listen to the sound and it seems to form words – slay, slay, slay...

You look up to see four dark shapes swooping down through the mist towards you. If you have a Potion of Dazzling Speed, there is time to drink it now before you are attacked. Cross it off your Character Sheet if you do. Then turn to 32.

83: You could try heading for the castle by an indirect route, either to the right or left of where it actually seems to be (turn to 7). You could try closing your eyes and heading on blindly in the direction you last saw it (turn to 34). Or you could use an item from your backpack (turn to 72).

84: You proceed along the trail, hoping that you have made the correct choice and that you will soon be in the Swamps of Bosh. Just then, a rumbling comes from below your feet. The ground shakes and great fissures and cracks appear across the path. You fall and are engulfed by scalding steam that issues out of the depths of the earth. You cannot see, and when you try to cry out the steam sears your throat. You have taken the trail leading to Dragonbreath Canyon, but you will never live to reach that terrible place. Your adventure ends here.

85: The lammasu holds up its paw to show you that there is a large thorn stuck right through it. Then, to your amazement, the lammasu speaks: ‘Um, I seem to have this thorn...’ You realize that the poor creature means no harm and decide to help it. Turn to 60.

86: The remaining two robbers let their captives go. The old man starts to hobble away, only to be felled by a throwing knife in the back. The girl drops to her knees, apparently crying. ‘Impressive,’ growls the leader, referring to your swordplay. ‘I’ve seen better,’ replies his equally laconic accomplice.

BLACK RAT: Fighting Prowess: 8; Constitution: 11; 1 -point armour
FAFNIR: Fighting Prowess: 8; Constitution: 13; 1 -point armour

You will have to fight them both at once. If you drank the potion it has now worn off. If you are still alive after two combat rounds, turn to 54.

87: You grudgingly hand him 9 gold pieces. You can now continue on your way (turn to 70) or ask if he knows where you can find the two items you need (turn to 31).

88: You have gone on only about a hundred yards when you suddenly come upon all your missing equipment. It is lying in a neat pile directly in front of you. Delighted at this happy change in your fortune, you gather up the items before continuing on your way with a spring in your step and a merry tune on your lips. Turn to 6.

89: You seize Norwena and draw your sword to cut her long black tresses. Gorbran thinks you are attacking her and jumps on your back. You shake him off, but he hits his head on a rock and lies very still. Norwena starts screaming and you have to hit her quite hard to shut her up. Lose 1 point of Honour. You cut off Norwena’s hair and put it in your backpack with other items. If you consider Gorbran a saint you can also burn him and collect the ashes. Will you now release Norwena (turn to 40) or kill her as well (turn to 20)?

90: The shrine consists simply of a marble dome supported by three thick pillars. Within, on a table of rock, you can see a verdigris-stained urn. As you step between the pillars, a silvery light appears out of nowhere to halo the urn. If you wish to stay, turn to 56. You can flee to the hills, in which case turn to 71.

91: Hovering directly above your head, the fourth chonchon glares down. ‘Nemo me impune lacessit!’ it hisses. It is obvious that it is not wishing you well, because the next moment you feel a hostile spell closing around you. Try to roll your Magical Fortitude or less on two dice. If you succeed, turn to 81. If not, turn to 26.

92: Some people claim that a four leaf clover placed under the tongue prevents one from speaking anything but the truth. But what use is such an old wives’ tale to you now? You replace the clover in your backpack and trudge on in the direction you imagine the castle to be. Turn to 82.

93: You hurl your sword away and the marshons scurry after it. They seize the gleaming object and carry it off. As they recede into the night you can hear their shrill, bubbly voices disputing ownership of this new prize. You are safe, but from now on you will have to use a dagger instead of a sword in combat, so all your damage rolls must be reduced by 1 point. Turn to 78.

94: Just ahead of you, draped over the gnarled branches of a tree, are several strands of long black hair. Could they have belonged to a nun? You could open your backpack (turn to 53), go over to the tree (turn to 16), or ignore it and walk on (turn to 6).

95: As you step past the lammasu’s body, you notice a large thorn stuck right through its paw. Just as well you killed the creature – it was probably in a vile temper and might have attacked someone. Turn to 3.

96: Do you have a Potion of Dazzling Speed? If so, you would be well advised to drink it before attacking the robbers. Remember to cross it off your Character Sheet if you do so. Now turn to 5.

97: You take the rod from him and soon find that you are barely able to hold onto it – the fish is putting up quite a struggle. Soon the big man returns with a net and takes the rod. With a mighty effort he draws up a spined, vicious-looking fish the size of a large dog. ‘Quite a whopper!’ says the man, showing a set of sharp white teeth as he grins. ‘How rare to find a person in these days of selfishness and antagonism who is prepared to lend a hand to a fellow creature! Allow me to offer my Ring of Light as a gift for your magnanimity. Moreover, and as a special favour to you, today I shall dine on fish.’ You are not quite sure what he means, but you take the magical ring and thank him before going on your way. Turn to 68.

98: When you gaze at the castle through the crystal ball, a shimmering path of green light is visible leading through the swamp. Holding the crystal ball in front of you, you make your way along the path. You have been walking for only a few minutes, intent on the ground directly in front of you, when you notice a dark shape looming ahead. You glance up from the crystal ball and almost drop it in shock. You are at the castle gates. A mixture of luck and skill has brought you to the terrible Castle of Lost Souls. You stand where no living person has ever stood. But have you the courage to enter? Find out in the next instalment: ‘The Evil Eye’.


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